Montinita

Day 1 – Stop-Over

Getting up early again we went to book a taxi to the bus terminal to be met with a pretty decent breakfast of fresh fruit juice and scrambled eggs.

A quick 10 minute taxi ride to the bus station and we were pleased that we had done a reckie the day before and could go straight to the ticket office and get a bus ticket to Montinita which was leaving in around ½ hour.

We went to the bus stop which was on the 3^rd floor and waited in the heat for our bus to turn up, fortunately it turned up on time and we were pretty pleased to be boarding an air-conditioned coach.  Also, we were pleased that this was only due to be a 2-hour bus ride.

 

Pulling out of the terminal it took some time to drive through town until we reached the countryside.  Along the way, we read and checked out the views, passing through small villages until we pulled up in Montinita.

Our first impressions were that it was a very dusty/rustic town but was quite a travellers town with plenty of hostels, restaurants and bars.  After a quick conversation with a local for directions we found our hostel for the night which was just off the main drag.

The hostel was quite quaint and had been built out of bamboo and we were given a choice of rooms.  Once again, I think we may have been the only people staying there.  The room was quite spacious with a small balcony and a very hard bed.

Once unpacked we headed downstairs where we had a quick “welcome to Montininta” beer before heading into town to try and sort some stuff out, money and a Sim card.

We found a small shop that did Sim cards, but whilst we managed to get it understood that we wanted a Sim card, we had other problems.  Despite roping in various people that allegedly could understand English we could not get them understand that we wanted the card set up with internet data.  After a frustrating hour we were getting nowhere so we had to give up and try somewhere else.

Leaving the Sim card to later, we wandered down to the beach which was lovely and you could see why it attracted travellers and surfers alike.  We then had a wander around the streets trying to find another Sim shop (without luck) and a cashpoint to get some currency out as we knew the next place we were going to did not have ATM’s.

 

Cash on hip we wandered for a bit more before finding a restaurant/bar where we could get a cold beer to combat the heat (I’m finding excuses now!!).  We sat there for a bit fending off the odd hawker with jewellery and straw hats, before considering getting something to eat.

We left in search of food, but instead of taking the easy option of one of the nearby tourist restaurants we found a small road where the locals seemed to be eating.  Sitting down in one of them we found they had a set menu, where Shell had a Ceviche dish where I opted for some curried mixed fish and rice. After some nice little starter’s the main courses turned up and they were both pretty good.

As it was boiling hot and we had no specific plans we then headed back to the hostel for the afternoon to relax and cool down in front of our fan, it must have been over 90 degrees.

In the evening as it was a bit of a party town so we headed out to check out the action, we had a quick drink outside our hostel before hitting the streets.  We walked around for a bit then found a quite noisy street with lots of little stalls serving cocktails.

 

We didn’t think it was wise to hit the cocktails, even though it seemed the thing to do (most probably cheap?), instead we found a bar nearby.  We sat outside the bar and had a few beers whilst we people watched, although it did seem that it was still out of season as it was not too busy and a lot of the bars were still shut.

A few more beers later and feeling a bit tired we headed back to the hostel as we were quite excited about moving on to our Air BnB the following day.  We did think that Montinita was nice though and we may consider coming back here for New year’s Eve as we thought it would be lively.

Ecuador – Guayaquil

Day 1 – Getting to Ecudor

Finally leaving Trujillo at 2am in the morning we quickly settled down into our 180 degree coach seats and tried to get to sleep.

Waking up in the morning, we were still in Peru and waited for our breakfast.  We made very slow progress and we figured we would arrive in Ecuador very late in the evening.  It wasn’t helped when we reached a check-point where we thought we had reached boarder control, we hadn’t.

 

 

Instead we had to wait in a queue of buses and then get off and get our documents checked whilst officials checked out the bus, I’m guessing a smuggling check?  We waited around for another ½ hour and then got back on the bus before setting off again.

 

 

About an hour later we actually reached the boarder where we had read it was a pretty simple affair to get through as the Peru and Ecuador border control were in the same building.  It would have been simple if it wasn’t for the very long/slow queues, the whole process took about an hour to complete.

It wouldn’t have been so bad but we had to wait around until the whole coach had been processed and then had to wait a further ½ hour until we could board the bus once again.  Just to rub salt into the wounds before we left boarder control we were all kicked off the bus again and made to stand around in the blazing sunshine for another ¾ hour.  It appeared that our coach had been singled out for a customs search, most probably checking that a consignment of Peruvian marching powder was not accompanying us on our journey.

Finally, we were on our way again and we got our first glimpses of Ecuador and on first impressions in looked very hot with jungle type countryside.

Once across the border the journey continued for about another 4 hours until we got to our destination which was the large city of Guayaquil at around 8.30pm, about 18 hours since we started our journey.

The bus station was absolutely huge and once we had retrieved our bags we hunted around the station trying to find the office to buy our tickets for the next day.  After some confusing conversation exchanges with some ticket desks we finally found the office we needed on the top floor, but it was closed so we will just have to take our chances the following morning.

Gauyaquil was not really our end destination but we could not get a bus connection to where we wanted to go the same day, so we had just booked a hostel for the night to break up the journey.  So, we jumped in a cab and went to a small hostel that was run by an elderly couple and we appeared to be the only guests staying there.

The room was OK, but we were keen to get out and get some proper food to eat so we quickly locked up our bags and got some directions from the owner to some nearby restaurants.

Walking around the corner and not spotting any bars we noticed a parilla restaurant and as it was getting late we decided to give it a go.  The food when it turned up was bigger than we expected and we wish we hadn’t ordered a side dish, but it was welcome after our days coach food.

We stayed at the restaurant for a bit but were a bit concerned at the prices of their beers, we hoped this was restaurant prices and not standard for Ecuador!  Once fed and watered and a bit tired from our travelling we headed back to the hostel for the night.

Shell's Peru Round-Up

Shell’s Peru Round-Up

 

Loved loved loved Peru, Machu Picchu, Jungles, stunning Spanish cities, good food, the odd mummy and lots and lots of history what’s not to like? Well the Mosquitoes and the altitude for a start but we won’t go there again!

 

There’s lots to do here and we certainly didn’t cover everything. If I was to visit Peru as a 2/3 week holiday and not have the luxury of traveling, I’d recommend combining it with the best bits of Bolivia. Whilst there are Cholita’s here, they don’t seem very authentic. Most are carrying a lamb or pulling a Llama along to get a paid photo opportunity, Bolivia will give you the South American authenticity.

 

One of our most favourite things was the Nazca lines, something a lot of travellers we met didn’t do. Its only when you see it from the air that you can really get a sense of how very perfect the diagrams are, and nobody still knows why they are there. If you go, don’t opt for the cheaper excursion to the tower, it’s well worth the $85 flight

 

Glenn was really impressed with Machu Picchu and I enjoyed it too but in all honesty, I was far more blown away by Las Huacas del Sol y de la Luna from the Moche period. Built around 100 AD, its 700 years older than Chan Chan and 1100 years older than Machu Picchu. It’s much more intact, offers up a lot of history and a lot of questions as they simply can’t get the funding to excavate further. It’s currently off the tourist beaten track so nobody really knows it’s there, we didn’t!  The Inca’s get a lot of credit for their agriculture and medicine but here we can see that Coca leaves were used back in this period too.

We loved the cities, especially Arequipa and to think we almost missed this town. It was only when we noticed it was closer than Cusco so headed there first to break up our journey. It’s at an altitude you can live with, lovely weather and in beautiful volcanic surroundings. The Spanish influence is very evident with lots of beautiful plazas, cobbled streets and pretty buildings. Well worth a visit. We both preferred it to Cusco.

A couple of useless facts we may have missed in our blog: Like in Bolivia, Coca Cola is their no. 1 drink,so much so that Coke has brought out an alternative flavour named Inca Cola. A bright green, very sweet fizzy drink that tastes a bit like cream soda. In fact, (we were told) Coca Cola originally contained extract of Coca leaves and was created by a pharmacist as a medicinal drink. However, you won’t find any cocaine in it today as the ingredient was removed back in the early 1900’s.

 

The other thing that we never got explained but you could hazard a guess as to why: Every time you board a bus, a guy comes around the bus videoing you so he has a record of each passenger on board. A bit disconcerting!

 

We’ve also broadened our culinary palates tasting Alpaca, Llama and guinea pig, although neither of us would be in a rush to try guinea pig again.

 

So come to Peru! It’s pretty safe, clean and lots to do, just bring a suit of armour with you to avoid the mosquito bites (they bit through denim here!)

Huanchaco

Huanchaco - Beach Time!!

 

We had visited quite a few cities so decided it was time to hit the beach as we made our way towards Ecuador.

 

We had managed to secure the bus tickets from Cruz Del Sur (The best buses in Peru) online. However, the confirmation showed a much earlier time to the website. Erring on the side of caution, we headed to the bus station at the earlier time and glad we did. It turned out the later time was from another terminal on the other side of town.

 

We boarded the bus for our 10.5 hour journey, settling into our comfy seats. You get your own entertainment system (a bit like you do on planes) so Glenn quickly found a rock channel and settled back to listen to music. Because of this, he was totally oblivious to the 2.5hr gruelling but white knuckle ride out of the city. The driving here is awful! On two occasions we played chicken, once with a local bus and once with an articulated lorry!

The rest of the journey was uneventful but very slow with traffic jams at each large town. We did get fed twice with aeroplane type meals which were edible. Why is it that if you know you are being fed on a plane or bus, you spend your whole time impatiently waiting for the meal to arrive regardless of whether you are hungry or not? The meal arrives and you excitedly rip off the foil and attack the grey/brown meat and veg lying underneath? You then spend the next 20 minutes impatiently waiting for your tray to be removed. Or is that just me?

 

The bus terminated at Trujillo which is a largish and reportedly dangerous city. As we were arriving in the dark I had booked a transfer with the hotel. Unfortunately due to the traffic jams, we were  around 1 .5 hours late and the poor driver had to wait for us.

His name was Douglas, a very friendly grandad type fellow who we were later to take an excursion with. Feeling guilty, we have him a tip when he deposited at our hostel.

The hostel was close-ish to the beach and had a really laid back vibe with hammocks and beanbags. It also had an upstairs bar belting out salsa music which is where we headed after locking up our bags.

We had a few cervezas and got chatting to a Czech guy who was an agricultural student who studied in the jungles of Peru. An interesting if somewhat intense guy who shared some amazing stories.

It was a long day traveling so it wasn’t long before we hit the sack listening to the sound of the waves (and Salsa music from the bar).

Day 2 – Chilling

It was quite overcast so we had a lazy morning, having a bit of a lie in and relaxing before heading out for some brunch.

We found a vegetarian place and ordered some eggs and bread which honestly took around 45 minutes to turn up! We were the only people in the café too! However, when it did arrive it was served on homemade rye bread which was a nice change.

Still over-cast, we decided not to go for a dip and instead wander along the seafront. We stopped and watched various spear fishermen coming in with their catch. Also, ladies collecting seaweed which is edible and they add to ceviche.

There was a ramshackle pier where we had to pay a small entrance fee. On it there were a number of stalls selling fishing gear (a bit like what you use to catch crabs) and a few people successfully catching fish. Well apart from one guy who had a full-on rod and didn’t catch a thing! We spent some time watching them to get our monies worth from our entrance fee.

We then carried up along the front until we quickly came to the end and had to turn back. Still not fancying a swim we headed for a cold drink and a bit of people watching.

Earlier we had seen a really funky surfers hostel which was belting out tunes so we headed there next. We were greeted by Julie who was a really gregarious Texan in her 60’s. there were murals adorning the walls and it wasn’t long until she was explaining the stories behind them.

The first was blond in a car with lots of luggage on top, this showed her journey from Texas to California. The second was a car with a blond head and a dark headed quiff with their feet on the dash star gazing. This, she told us, depicted the time she met Elvis, they didn’t ‘make-out’, just watched the stars and listened to music. The final one was again of a car with a blond and dark head, this captured the time she met Sly Stalone (I believe they did make-out!). I like Julie

The bar emptied as the surfers hit the waves so I asked her to play some rock music for Glenn. Perhaps the wrong decision as we didn’t move for the rest of the day/night.

We met a really nice couple from Canada, Anna and Paul who were around our age. I don’t know if it was the beer but Anna quickly became my new best friend! And I kept telling her so in case she forgot! At one point, I popped out god knows where only to return to see Glenn doing a very loud full blown rendition of a guns and roses track with his new best friend, an Irish guy he had met.

After promises to our bezzies that we would join the surf classes the next day and pouring ourselves in a taxi for the 2 minute journey home, we said our goodbyes.

Day 3 – Ouch!

Our heads hurt, I was a mess! Deciding we weren’t going to do anything more ambitious than eat and breath today, and certainly not surf! So, we lazed around and Glenn did some blogging until hunger got the better of us. 

We found a place a few doors down for some food before quickly returning to our room where we read and slept. As it was a Saturday night we felt obliged to leave our room in the evening but could only make it as far as the upstairs bar.

There we found a South American band setting up for the evening. The boys were from Argentina and had spent the last 3 years traveling around South America, funding themselves through gigs. The guitarist was excellent and we were treated to various songs from different genres across South America.  The band was a good idea as it meant we could sit and listen and not make conversation, we did this until it was time to turn in.

Day 4 – Time for some culture

Feeling we had wasted a day, we booked Douglas to take us to the various historical sites close by. He met us with a hug at 8:30 and we were soon driving to our first stop.

This was Chan Chan, part of the Chimu empire and the largest pre-Colombian city which was built around 1300 AD (Pre-Inca) and the largest Adobe city in the world (thank you lonely planet).

We paid our entrance fee which also gave you access to 3 other sites and after some debate, paid for an expensive guide. We waited for the tour to start and took a few pics of the Peruvian dogs who were milling around. I think they are quite cute!

The guides English was quite difficult to understand and he spoke as if he was reading text from a book. However, we were glad to have him as there was absolutely no plaques or information available so all you would be left with was walking around walls of mud and trying to make sense of it, and finishing in 5 minutes.

Only one of the palaces has been properly excavated and is open to tourists. There are 9 palaces in total as each new king built a new palace after the death of the previous king. The majority of the palace is dedicated to the cemetery where the king is buried, together with 45 of his nearest and dearest who are sacrificed upon his deathbed so that they can join him in the afterlife. Makes you think twice about being a queen!

The rest of the palace is made up with the royal residence, big plazas where they performed ceremonies and offerings to the gods and a number of tax offices.

Next stop on our ticket was the Chan Chan Museum. It was crap, full of replicas and no information so I’ll move on.

After a coffee pit stop, Huaca Esmeralda was next and not much better, no info available (and not much more if you google it) but it was again from the same dynasty and consisted of an adobe building with a few ramps and not much else. We dawdled so we didn’t return back to Douglas within 5 minutes.

Huaca Arco Iris was our final stop on our ticket, it was a religious and administrative site of the same era. Again, no guide or plaques here again so just more mud walls with some colourless engravings depicting dragons. Slightly more interesting but again we walked around slowly so we didn’t look like complete philistines

To be honest, we had had enough by now but Douglas insisted on taking us to another site. We drove for about 20 minutes before we came to a museum where we had to pay an entrance fee for both the museum and Huaca de la Luna.

 

This was from the Moche dynasty who came before both the Chimu and the Incas. There are actually two Hucaca’s, La Luna and Del Sol. Only enough funding has been raised to excavate La Luna (madness) which is believed to be the religious site where important sacrifices happened and nobles and priests were buried. Del Sol was the administrative site and then there would have been a huge town lying between them.

The museum was very interesting with lots of original artefacts which were excavated from burial sites. It spoke about the many sacrifices done to appease their god which was a mountain over looking the temples. Basically, they sent warriors to battle against each other, the losers were then imprisoned and sacrificed to the gods by decapitating them. Nice!

Next it was time for the tour of La Lunas. This was only discovered in the 90’s by a couple of girls on a school trip. They climbed (what they thought was) a hill and sat down to rest. There they spotted some adobe bricks, did some digging and came across an engraving. The whole temple had been buried under sand for hundreds of years

The Temple structure itself is set out as a pyramid across 7 levels. Each new level is created as they brick up the old temple beneath it and build the new one on top. They are not clear why they did this.  Inside the temple itself, the structure is an inverted pyramid. And has a huge plaza just outside where the warriors were imprisoned and sacrificed.

We really enjoyed the tour, very informative and a lot of it is still undiscovered as some of the site is very fragile from when the Spanish looted it. The outside wall still shows the colourful engravings depicting their god as each new level/temple is built. If ever in the area, I’d opt to see this rather than Chan Chan.

We finished the tour and was back in town around 4pm where we headed to a local’s café for some food. I thought I’d left my sunglasses (yes, another pair) in Julies hostel so we headed there. We were warmly greeted by our new friends and Julie, and both mocked for missing the surfing.

She didn’t have my sunglasses but gave me another pair (We were later to find mine in the pocket of Glenn’s shorts) and had a couple of beers before saying our goodbyes. We had a bus to catch at midnight so couldn’t hang around.

Back at the hostel, we packed and then went to the bar to have a final beer with the last of our Peruvian Soles. Some cheeky sod came up to Glenn and asked to share his beer! He received a polite but very firm NO!

Douglas then took us to catch our midnight bus back in Trujillo. It was a bit disconcerting as there was an armed guard on the door checking and allowing access to only those who had tickets. Well they did say it was a dodgy city!

The bus was almost 2hrs late so it wasn’t much before 2am before we could board and settle down and hopefully sleep through some of the 17 hour Journey.

Lima

Day 1 Lima – Back down to Sea level

Although at a height of 3,400m Cusco wasn’t the highest altitude we had been to, we were both glad to be leaving so we could get a good night’s sleep. The altitude didn’t cause us too many problems in the day but after constantly being woken up each night, feeling like an elephant was sitting on your chest and gasping for breath, we had had enough!

We saw some poor guy sitting in reception on an oxygen tank so we were luckier than others. A shame as you could see why ex-pats opt to settle in Cusco, but it wasn’t for us. However, to help combat altitude sickness you are supposed to avoid alcohol so I don’t think we did ourselves any favours!

Today we were heading to Peru’s capital. The bus would take 22hours but the flights were reasonably priced so we treated ourselves.

Arriving a little earlier than expected as the airport is right in town, we waited to check-in and were soon flying to Peru’s capital, Lima.

I always get a little nervous (Shel not Glenn) when we arrive at a new destination as you are disoriented and have all of your worldly possessions on you. It’s when you feel at your most vulnerable. So, unless there are well organised city transfer buses or shared taxi’s, we always treat ourselves to a private taxi. We did this in Lima and soon arrived at our hostel.

The hostel was recommended to us by Dave and Dori and was in the more affluent Miraflores area. It was affordable as it was around a 20-minute walk to the centre.

We locked up our belongings, consulted the guide book and headed to an area which was nicknamed Gringo Central, a big Plaza and the meeting point for the walking tour we would be doing the following day.  The walk was through a lovely neighbourhood with colonial style houses, a pleasant surprise as we had imagined Lima as a concrete jungle.

We found a little side street full of bars and restaurants and settled at one of them for our ‘welcome to Lima’ cerveza.

We then went for a wander around the area which was quite cosmopolitan with lots of trendy shops and outlets but not much else. Neither of us wanting to part with money for new clothes, plus we are now quite attached to our traveller garb which looks like we’ve been attached to the back of a car and then dragged through a hedge backwards, we decided to head for some food instead.

Lima is famous for its cuisine and has a number of Michelin star restaurants. Clearly this would be outside our budget so we opted for a nice outside restaurant where we decided we would treat ourselves to an aperitif of Pisco Sours (Peru’s national drink, Chile’s too!) a couple of Peruvian fish dishes and a bottle of red.

As it was now getting quite late we headed back to the hostel for a good, low altitude night’s sleep…. Well that was until a couple of idiots in the next room came back in the wee hours and decided to have a natter at the top of their lungs!

Day 2 – Downtown Lima

At breakfast, we got chatting to a very interesting Italian guy who lived in Brazil. He was a football photographer which you wouldn’t have guessed as his eyesight was appalling. He had thick lensed glasses and print on his nose where he held the newspaper so close!

The tour wasn’t until 11am so we took a leisurely stroll to the meeting point where we were quickly escorted to a bar to wait and given a free artisan beer. 11am is a little early for a beer, even for me and Glenn, but it was free so it would be rude not to oblige.

 

The tour would be in the downtown area so we were first escorted to a bus station where we would need to catch a bus. The buses here have exclusive lanes and are colour coded with junctions where you can pick up connections. A bit like an over-ground tube, very effective and fast! There were around 15 people in our group so we each paid the fare to the guide and was hustled onto the bus and on our way.

The tour proper started in the main Plaza where the palace and other important buildings were, very pretty.  We were in time to see the changing of the guard and then headed off to do the usual tour of cathedrals, monuments, the old post office, a snack stop, and the oldest house in Lima. When we reached the oldest house, I asked the guide to repeat what he had said as I thought I had misheard, I hadn’t! Basically, the oldest house in Lima has been destroyed several times by earthquakes and rebuilt. I asked how, if rebuilt, it could be the oldest house but was reassured that some parts of it remain…. Triggers broom springs to mind!

 

The tour was interesting but nothing really stands out when I think back. Apart from how corrupt their government is (like the rest of South America) and that it was difficult to get in and out of certain areas as they were barricaded off due to some demonstrations that were going on.

The guide would have to coax policemen to let us through. At one point though the police Flatley denied us access as the demonstration was close. We did start to worry a bit when a water cannon went by but the guide assured us it was a peaceful demonstration and the cannon was just a precaution.

Managing to avoid the demo, the last stop was at a little stall for Pisco tasting. Pisco and Beer, good tour! We had a horrible one, a nice fruity one and one that tasted like Baileys…..we would have bought a bottle for xmas but thought a glass bottle wouldn’t last long on the many bus journeys we were due to take.

 

We then headed back to the station to make our way back to Miraflores. As we didn’t have their equivalent of and Oyster card, this meant negotiating with a local to add the money to their card and then use it to get through the turnstile. We had the help of the guard so it was a lot easier to do than you would imagine.

We were back on home turf around 4pm and headed off to find some food. We decided to just get a couple of starters and see how we would go from there. We were glad of this when a huge plate of fried fish turned up (plus a cheese thing for Glenn).

We stayed until what looked like the local Mafia turned up. Two fat guys who were shortly joined by a hareem of women. They were greeted warmly by a waiter but the waitress didn’t look too keen and promptly took herself to the other side of the restaurant, muttering as she went.

We headed back to the hostel relatively early. The hostel was out of drinking water so we were pointed in the direction of a shop. On the way back, we passed a funky little bar so popped in to have what turned out to be a ridiculously expensive beer before heading home.

We didn’t get to see much of Lima but what we did see we were impressed with.

Cusco – Part II

Day 1 – Dirty Franchises!!

Today we had a lie in due to not feeling great after our exertions of the last few days, this resulted in us missing breakfast and having to take advantage of the nearby Starbucks (yes, they are everywhere!).

After a nice coffee, we headed to the laundry to get some of our soggy/smelly trekking gear washed and then we headed to a travel agency to enquire about another trip.  Unfortunately, the agency we went to was shut so as it was lunchtime we headed to the Norton Pub to decide what to do next.  Also I was pretty sure they would be showing a live West Ham game!!

At the pub, they were indeed showing Liverpool v West Ham so we got a beer and settled down to watch the game.  Whilst watching it I realised that the guy on the next table was a Liverpool fan so we started chatting football.

The game finished 2-2 so no one was too upset (even though the Hammers had been winning 1-2) and after the match we joined the guy and his wife on the next table.  Chatting to them we found out that Dave was an ex-pat worked for a luxury tour company and his Peruvian wife Dori.

 

Dave and Dori were really interesting and did a lot of motorbike tours of South America, liked football and rock music so we had plenty of stuff in common to talk about.  It was also very useful as between them they came up with a few recommendations of places to visit in Peru, which then meant we made a decision to put off our jungle trip to somewhere else in South America…. I don’t think Shel was ready to face  more mosquito’s either

A few drinks turned into a lot of drinks and it was now getting late so we said our goodbyes and thanks to Dave and Dory and then headed to a nearby KFC where we got lots of dirty fried chicken to take back to the hostel to devour.  Shortly after our chicken feast it was lights out!!

Day 2 – Cusco Culture

Waking up a bit worse for wear we headed for breakfast passing the remnants of our KFC on the way out of the door. The breakfast here was pretty decent with eggs, cereals and fresh fruits, so we filled up on that before heading out.

As the weather was pretty overcast and with the threat of rain we decided against Dave’s recommendation of a quad bike tour and headed for one of the churches we had seen on our walking tour.

 

The church was one of the oldest in Cusco and we had been informed that there were catacombs you could visit there.  We paid our entry fee and were led to a courtyard with paintings all around the walls and waited there for our guide (included in the entry fee).

Firstly, we were shown some really large paintings and given the meanings before heading to another room where one of the catacombs were.  We were led down into a small room that was bestrewn with bones of the monks and clergy that had lived here, but it was really small and not that impressive.

We were then led around the rest of the rooms which had more large painting, one of note had the last supper scene (yet again) but this time Jeassy Creassy was tucking into some monkey/lamb hybrid dish, once again to get the locals on the catholic band wagon.

About 45 minutes later the tour was finish and I can’t say we were that impressed, we thought the catacombs were going to much bigger and impressive.  So, after the church we had a wander around the streets of Cusco with the intention of visiting the main cathedral in the Plaza.

However we were both a bit tired and as we were moving on the next day so we decided to go back to the hostel to relax for the afternoon, doing a bit of blogging and watching some TV.

In the evening, we took Dave’s and Dori’s advice and headed to an Indian restaurant a few blocks from where we were.  Walking up to the restaurant we really liked the streets and vibe of the area and were a bit disappointed that we hadn’t stumbled across it before.

 

We entered the restaurant which did have the feel of an authentic Indian restaurant. Although the service was pretty slow the food was fairly decent and it was nice to be eating something other than undetermined meat covered in chips/with rice.

After getting some nice spicy food in our bellies we then headed for our final drink in the Norton pub as we had made tentative plans to meet up with Dave and Dori there again before we left. 

 

At the pub we had a drink but there was no sign of the other couple so we called it a day and headed back for an early night.

Machu Picchu

Day 1 – Jungle Trek – Biking and rafting, fucking Bueno!

Another early start as we were picked up at 7.20am to start our jungle adventure, we were collected and walked to a nearby mini-bus which we then spent some time going around town picking up more people for the trip.

Once out of town, we then drove for around 2 hours through nice countryside until we came to a small town where we stopped at a café for breakfast, well a coffee in our case.  The owner of the café did his best to drum up business by telling everyone it was the last place where we could pick up snacks and essentials such as sun cream and repellent (he also informed us that none of our hostels would have toilet paper – not the case).

 

After breakfast, we the headed up through some beautiful mountainside, through winding bends and climbing high up into the mountains and clouds.  When we got to the top of the mountain at roughly 4000 metres we parked up and got off the mini-bus, it was time for the adventure to begin, which was with a downhill bike ride.

We put on all our safety equipment and as we did the heavens opened and after a bit of consideration we opted to stay on the mini-bus for the first stage, together with 5 others, as we did not have many clothes for the 4-day trip and wanted to keep our boots dry for tomorrows 7hr jungle trek.  However, 3 brave souls and our guide took to the road in terrible conditions.

 

Continuing down the mountainside for some time we stopped again and were given the option to start riding. But it was still raining heavily and the clouds had come and you couldn’t see much in front of you, so we declined.  Although another couple started the ride, however their guide did not fancy it and stayed on the bus, which was a bit naughty.

 

One final stop and our guide told us it was the last leg of the ride and urged us to get on the bikes for it, as the rain had started to ease off we agreed.  The road was full of hairpins and still very wet so we took it fairly gently, but still getting very wet.  Along the way just as we were drying off it started to rain again and this was not helped by the fact that we also had to ride through large streams that crossed the road, getting us soaked. Shel decided to negotiate the streams at around 30mph getting herself absolutely drenched, but fun to watch!

Just as we were nearing the end I heard a squeal of brake behind me and I turned around to check that Shell hadn’t come off, but as I did so I steered myself into a large ditch at the side of the road.  Fortunately the only thing I hurt was my pride as the guide came to check that I was OK.

Eventually we made it to the end where we both looked like drowned rats and was soaked though to our underwear.  Worse still, our walking boots were soaked through, with 3 days of hiking ahead of us this was the last thing we wanted.

Climbing back on the mini-bus we then headed to the town of Santa Maria where we were taken to our hostel for the night and given some lunch with a very tasty quinoa soup.  Our room was fairly basic but OK, it had little room to dry our wet gear but we managed to improvise and found a fan in the room which we propped up to dry our boots.

An hour later it was time for another activity and despite being soaked through today we were heading out for some white water rafting!  After a short drive out of town we were deposited at the side of a large river where we donned yet more safety equipment and were given instructions on how to do the rafting.

Whilst we were waiting to get in the boat Shell was being flash-mobbed by lots of hungry mosquito’s that were drawing blood at a rapid rate, so she was very happy when we got in the boat and started down river.

The river was not as manic as the one we had done in Chile, in our expert opinions we recon it was a grade II so the danger of coming out the boat was not that great.  However, it did not stop us getting wet as there were three boats going down the river and we took it in turns to attack each other, splashing each other with our paddles as we got close.

After negotiation of a number of rapids we were still attacking each other, but the boat guides took it to another level, hooking people with their paddles and throwing them out the boat into the river. Each successful boat battle, or rapid we had cleared, we had to bang our paddles together and shout ‘Fucking Bueno’.  Luckily Shell and I didn’t get thrown in and made it to the end still on board.  The rafting was not as exciting as our first experience, but with the fun and games it was enjoyable all the same…..apart from the mosquito’s.

Back on dry land when Shell checked she had been absolutely hammered by the mosquito’s, I recon she must have had about 80 bites on her legs and was not going to be a happy bunny tonight!

We were then taken back to the hostel where the group (7 of us) sat down to an evening meal which included another quinoa soup (we were to have a lot of soup on this trip!).  After dinner, the guide explained what the plan was for the next day, a 9 hour trek which if we liked we could turn into a 7 hour trek if we paid about £1 each to get a mini-bus for the first flat section.  A debate took place between us all with a couple of the girls (obviously on a tight budget) saying they would be happy to walk. Happily common sense won the day and in the end we all agreed we would go for the mini-bus option and have a slightly later start to the day.

In the evening we had a few beers speaking to the guide (Sandie/Andi depending on who spoke to him) and getting a bit of an impromptu Spanish lesson off of him, before heading to bed for an early night and some scratching for Shell.

Day 2 – Rain Rain Rain, oh and a 7hr Jungle trek, Fucking Bueno!!!

Waking up early once again we were happy to find the fan had done the trick and our boots were dry. We headed down for breakfast which was pancakes and banana’s before boarding the mini-bus at around 7am.  Fortunately Shell had the foresight of buying plastic mac’s off of the hostel owners which we used to cover our day packs, which was a good thing as when we got off of the mini-bus for the start of the trek it started raining again.

Not only was it raining but the start of the trek was up and we learned that it was going right to the highest point of the hike. 

 

Puffing and wheezing our way up through the path we were passing through jungle containing mango trees various jungle fauna and flora until after an hour or so we stopped at a place called the monkey house. Apparently, they had three resident monkeys there, but now there was only 1 as the others had escaped into the jungle, which for us was a good as the remaining one was tied to a piece of rope.

We stopped at the monkey house for some time as Sandi filled us in with information on the Inca civilization. He also took some time for us to sample some jungle produce which included chocolate and honey coated cacao beans.

 

It was also time to sample some of the local hooch/firewater and Sandi produced one bottle containing a fermented snake inside that we all had to have shots of (not nice).  We then had two more shots of other varieties of spirits, one with lots of plants inside (that cure all illnesses) and another coffee one which was marginally better, all at about 9 in the morning.

With the aid of the spirits inside of us Sandi then decided it was time to show us a local plant used for make-up and dying clothes, which he then used to paint all our faces.  Not content with that he decided it was time for a bit of dressing up and got us all dressed up in local costume for a photo opportunity.  As you can see Shell picked out some very natty headwear!!

 

Fun and games done it was time to head out into the rain again to finish the hike to the very top of the cloud strewn mountain.  I can’t say it was much fun, the rain was getting worse!But you did get some wonderful views of the Jungle and river below.

Once at the top we were very relieved as we were promised the rest of the track was fairly flat or down.  At this point we actually joined up with the Inca trail proper, which were very narrow, cliff hanging affairs, which a couple of the girls who suffered from vertigo were not too happy with.

Still persistently raining we headed along and down the Inca trail taking it very carefully down slippery steps for around another hour or so, by which time the heavens had truly opened, until we reached another local house where we stopped to rest.  Here we were told we could eat some snacks that we bought with us, what snacks??  Shell and I had not packed anything!

Anyway it wasn’t too bad because after that stop we hiked down for about an hour past torrents of streams that were gushing down the mountainside due to the amount of rain, before stopping at a local house for dinner.

 

We had a soup starter again, which was nice after being rained on for about 4 hours and a main course of spaghetti bolognaise which was pretty good.  After dinner the guide said we would hang around here for a while to see if the rain would ease off…..it didn’t.

 

So after about an hour Sandi made the call and we had to head out to get wet again.  We hiked to the bottom of the mountain where we then picked up a path that ran alongside a raging river until we got to a very precarious looking hanging bridge.  Crossing the bridge you had to watch out for missing and rotten slats until you reached the other side, the vertigo girls did well over this!!

 

On the other side we continued alongside the river for another hour or so and then had to climb a bit up the side to get to the next river crossing point.  Here there was a very interesting (or scary if you have vertigo) mode of transport, it was basically a couple of cables that went high across the river below to the other side.  Attached to the cables was a hanging cradle which was manually pulled to one side and then two people got in and the cradle slid across to the other side of the river.  It looked hard work for the guys operating it, you had to pay £2.50 a person at the other side sowit  it appeared to be quite a prosperous occupation!

Once across the void (still raining) we headed through a very dark tunnel, only lit by peoples mobile phone torches before finally finishing the trek at the end destination which were some hot springs.  Shell and I after being soaked all day did not fancy getting into the springs and getting back into wet clothes, also Shell did not fancy getting some additional bites so we opted to sit and have a beer instead with Sandi whilst the others took their thermal baths.

After an hour or so of waiting for the bathers to return we were once more given an option, either a final ½ walk into the town we were staying at or pay for a mini-bus instead.  Once again Shell and I took the easy/sensible option (as did our guide) and got the bus whilst the others opted for the walk, we think we made the right decision as it turned out to be a steep hike up to the town.

We were taken to our hostel and shown to a room, which turned out to be flooded, the owner wanted to try and mop it up but we insisted on another room.  The second room apart from not being flooded was not much better, pretty pokey with a cold shower, which was just what we needed after hiking 7 hours in the rain!! Oh, and the bathroom had a window that looked out into the corridor so anyone walking down the stairs got treated to a view of our white bits!

As we had got back before the others, we had some time to kill before our evening meal so we headed to a nearby restaurant for a quick beer before returning to the hostel to get ready.  Still having some time, I did the caring thing and applied tiger balm to Shell’s bites, but as I did I thought it would be interesting to do a head count……..107 bites on her legs (and arse!!).

Sandi the guide had told us tonight was party night as we were in a bigger town (Santa Theresa) with bars and that we had a far easier day and later start the next day.  We went to a restaurant where we had our evening meal, but after that it turned into party night.  Firstly, we were given about 4 shots of Inca Tequila each and then it got silly with the guides producing a large penis drinking vessel which we all had to drink more Inca tequila from (with the added bonus of the end of it having condensed milk applied to it……nice).

The restaurant got quite raucous with a number of trekking groups there (including the two aussie’s that we had met waiting in the bus station in Ica) all doing these various shots, concluding with a large conga dance around the restaurant.

After the restaurant, we then headed down some streets until we were led to the local night club and went in there for a few more drinks.  Most of the trekking groups were in there celebrating with the guides, some bad dancing was done (especially by the young German guy, Benedict, who had inadvertently joined our group) and a bit of pole dancing. However after a few drinks, tired legs and not being able to stomach much more of the dodgy Peruvian techno music, Shell and I decided to slope off back to the hostel around 12ish and let the others continue.

Day 3 – Naughty Guide, no rain, Fucking Bueno!!

The next morning we awoke with slight hangovers but were surprised to find we were the first ones to arrive for breakfast at the restaurant.  When the others turned up and we started chatting we found out a couple of things from the night before.  Firstly, someone had entered one of the girls rooms in the hostal and riffled through her bag and stolen her passport copies, which was a bit alarming. But secondly and more amusingly, Sandi had got pretty plastered and made a clumsy pass at one of the girls in our group back at the hostel.  Apparently another girl in another room had heard ‘Tengo un Novio’ (I have a boyfriend) coming from outside her door!!  When Sandi turned up at the restaurant looking suitably hungover and sheepish!!

After breakfast it was onto our next activity and we were back in a mini-bus and were driven a short way out of town to a site where we were going to do zip-lining.  We waited around for a bit then were kitted out in our harnesses, helmets and thick gloves, after which we were given a demonstration on the position to adopt on the zip-line.

Once we were all ready we then actually had to hike up a side of a hill, which wasn’t good with tired legs and hangovers until we reached the point where the first line was.  It was about 1000 metres long and stretched high above the river below.    

 

The vertigo girls were really nervous but they courageously managed to do the first zip-line and then Shell took to the air just before me so I could get some snaps of her.  It was then my turn and I must say I was a bit nervous as I started to wonder how old the cable was!!  You did not have that long to think about it as once you were attached to the cable the instructor pretty much instantaneously launched you on your way.  It was OK but it did worry you when you started twisting on the line with your head getting closer to the cable.

 

Once the first one was done there were two more which were traversing the valley which we did, one of which I stopped short of the landing point and had to turn around and manually haul myself, using the cable, until I reached the end (Shell had to do this on one also).

At the final line we were given the option to be a bit more brave and do a ‘Superman’ whereby they change the position of your harness so you are dangling on the line by you back and you can whizz down the line, flying like superman.  Shell and I both went for this option, which was cool apart from when you started to twist again, travelling sideways.

 

Just when we thought the fun and games were over we were then directed to a very precarious rope bridge that crossed back over the river.  You were then clipped to one of the side cables and had to walk about 200 metres along the bridge which was made from slats with huge spaces in between them whilst it bucked and turned, your feet sometimes at 60 degree angles.  The vertigo girls did so well on this activity having conquered their fears.

 

Back at the start we rested for a while, until I saw Sandi having a football kick about with his mate.  I had chatted to him previously and he was really into football too, so when he invited me to join in I couldn’t resist, even if I was wearing walking boots.  Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea as I was then hot and sweaty when we got back on the mini-bus.

From the zip-lining venue we were then driven for around an hour to a place called hydro-electric where we were due to start the next part of our trek.  But before we did we stopped at a local restaurant where we had some lunch, with the now obligatory soup starter.

After lunch we learned that Sandi was not going to be joining us on the trek as he maintained he had left something back at the hostel and had to collect it (he handed over to the other guide, who was Benedict’s Guide), he would then get the train and meet us at the next town in the evening.  However we think he was really hanging from the night before and gave his guide mate a bung to take us on.

The trek started off ominously as we climbed up for a bit, but then it was OK as we found that we basically had a 3 hour walk following the train line to our final town and base for Machu Pichu, Aguas Caliente.

 

Even though our legs were heavy the walk was fairly pleasant, made better by the fact that it wasn’t raining.  The railway cut through the jungle running alongside a large river and along the way we got our first glimpse of Machu Pichu and the surrounding mountains which was nice.

 

Three hours later and feeling a little tired we arrived in Aguas Caliente and found that it was a really bustling tourist town.  After a few phone calls, our temporary guide managed to find Sandi in town and he then took us to our hostel for the night.  Fortunately, this hostel was much better and we were put in a room with a window view over a raging river next to the hostel, hope that doesn’t keep us awake.

 

We had a couple of hours until our evening meal so we headed out to have a look around the town, we headed to a small square, complete with a plastic bottle xmas tree where we found a restaurant that overlooked it and had a drink.  On the way back to the hostel we came across a traditional Peruvian dog, bald apart from its tail and what looks like a Mohican haircut on its head, not very attractive!

 

Back at the hostel Sandi then gave us another decision to make, either do the Inca steps trek up to Machu Pichu, which was over 1000 steps straight up or pay to get the bus up to the top, which also meant not starting climbing at 4am in the morning.  As we had climbed so many mountains, volcano’s, etc we both decided we had nothing to prove so went for the easy option.  We can appreciate the Inca steps on the way down!  So we were taken to the bus station before dinner so we could get our tickets.

Our evening meal was different as we actually had a choice of what we could eat, so we didn’t have to have a soup starter which made a nice change.  After dinner Sandi came and sorted our various tickets for the next day and handed us all pack lunches for the next day too.

We also learned that Sandi would not be coming to Machu Pichu with us as he was going to get the train back to Cusco early the next day.  Instead he said the other guide, who was a Machu Pichu expert would be going with us and would be giving us a two hour tour when we got there.  So, when dinner was over we said our goodbye’s to Sandi and he got a reduced tip from us, based on his last two days inactivity!

After dinner it was still fairly early so Shell and I found another restaurant where we had a couple more beers before turning in for the night.

Day 4 – Machu Picchu at last, Fucking Bueno!!

Today we were up very early again at 5am as we had to get to Machu Picchu for sunrise so we got ready and walked to the bus station to queue for our bus, together with two others from our group.  Whilst we waited we met up with two of the people from our group and grabbed a coffee from a nearby café.

On the bus, we then crossed the river before heading up the hill passing hikers that looked very tired climbing up the 1000+ steps, a very wise decision by us to do it the easy way.  At about 6.15 we reached the top and met up with the rest of our group who had climbed the stairs and looked very hot, sweaty and tired.

 

Our guide then led us into a very foggy/cloudy Machu Picchu and we worried that after 3 days of trekking we would not be able to see a thing, but the guide assured us that by 8am the fog will lift.

The guide took us to one quiet corner of the site and then began his tour/commentary.  He had told us the night before that we all had to listen to him and not take pictures whilst he was doing his thing.  Being honest this was easier said and done as the fog began to lift and you could see the magnificence of the place, whilst he banged on for about an hour and a half about the Inca civilisation.

 

The explanations he gave to be fair were very interesting and he had a vast knowledge of Machu Pichu, his theory was that this was not the hidden city as so many Inca trails led to it.  In fact, what he said was it was a sort of University where the Inca came to learn trades, such as building, agriculture and astronomy.

 

After going on for a while we were all chomping at the bit to go and explore it for ourselves and exhaust our camera’s.  But then he led us around some of the site pointing out various astronomical instruments (two pools of water that reflected the sky), a very neat and accurate rock compass and explained the methods in which the rocks were split to build the city.

 

Finally, we were released so we could explore ourselves so we wandered around for a bit taking far too many photo’s, trying to find angles that excluded the hordes of tourists that were all around the site.

 

Once we had exhausted the photo’s we then decided to trek up to the Sun gate where you could get your picture postcard shot of the whole of Machu Pichu from an elevated view.  We started to hike up a path which turned out to be far further than we thought, so after ½ we stopped and rested whilst we ate our packed lunch.

Setting off again it was another ½ of uphill walking to reach the Sun gate and we were pretty pleased that we hadn’t done the steps at the start of the day.  Eventually we reached the top only to discover that it was a total white out there, all the clouds totally obscured the view of the city that we were hoping we would see!!

As we had struggled up there we decided to hang around for ½ hour or so to see if the clouds would clear/burn off…..they didn’t!  So, giving up on getting ‘the shot’ we headed down to the main site where we continued to wander around and get yet more pictures.

 

Having been there for around 5 hours and managing to get the classic llama shots we decided it would be nice to head back into town to get a bite to eat before the long trip back to Cusco.  Machu Picchu was amazing and it’s another thing off our bucket list which is good as they are threatening to close it to the public within the next 5 years (although I cannot see that happening).

Now it was time to tackle those Inca steps we had avoided on the way up.  After a brief rest at the top we started to head down them, which once again made us realise that we had made the right decision not to climb them.

Around halfway down them one of my knees was killing me and we were getting passed by lots of people desperate to catch there mini-bus at Hydro-Electric a further 3 hours away (and by plenty of dogs along the way, who made it look easy!).

 

I had to stop about 2/3 of the way down to rest my knee before attempting the rest of the decent which seemed to go on forever.  At the bottom, we still had about another ½ walk to take us back into town.  Once entering the town, we stopped in the first bar we found for some liquid refreshments.

 

It was soon time to return to Cusco and once again we had our easy heads on and rather than do the 3 hour walk to meet the mini-bus followed by a 7-hour road journey, we had paid a little extra and opted for the train journey followed by a 2 hour mini-bus trip.  So, on the way to the train station we grabbed a sandwich and an Empanada at the waited at the station for our train to board.

 

On board the train it was really nice as it had been designed for tourists so not only was it very comfortable, with a free drinks/snack service but it had glass panels in the ceiling so you could really appreciate the view.  The journey was stunning passing through jungle and mountain scenery. It was just a shame that it was hard to keep our eyes open after an early start and quite a bit of hiking.

 

After two hours, we reached a small town where we got off and were met by a guy who took us to a mini-bus for the rest of the journey.  The mini-bus journey was fairly un-eventful and once again we dozed along the way before arriving back in Cusco around 6 in the afternoon.

We walked back to our original hostel and checked back in and collected our bags which had been stored whilst we were away. 

Once we had unpacked again we headed up to the Norton bar where we had some drinks on the balcony whilst watching the people down in the main Plaza.  It appears like in the UK, Saturday is a wedding day and it was amazing to see that there were at least 7 wedding couple that came to the main cathedral, after getting married, to get their wedding photos done in front of it

As it had been a very long day we only stopped for a couple of drinks before heading back to the hostel for an early night.