Well, its been a while since our last post and this will our last post from South America. A lot has happened since you read about the salt flats and the jungle.
We have left Bolivia, via lake Titticaca which was pretty nice but not what we were expecting. The Bolivian side had a nice town which allowed easy acces to the main attraction, Isla Del Sol, or the Island of the Sun. This was the supposed birth place of the Inca. There was a nice walk from one end to the other and we got to see our first Inca ruins (of which there was plenty around Cusco).
After leaving Bolivia, we got to see our first taste of Peru. We went to thier side of the lake which was very much the same except for the floating islands. They are islands made out reeds. They were all squishy under the foot but it was interesting to see the people that lived on them. It seems they now make a living from all the tourists, but I guess that is to be expected.
After the 5 hours we spent in Puno (Lake Titticaca) it was back on a bus for an overnight to Cusco. We arrive at 3:30 in the morning and ended up in a pretty nice room for fairly cheap and had a nice sleep. When we awoke explored the city which we found to be really really cool. There are a lot of things to do there.
In the time we had to fill in before our Inca trail started we did a day tour of some of the surrounding ruins, a half day walk of some more ruins and a fair bit of hopping. DVD’s were very cheap…
The day of the Inca Trail arrived and it didn’t start well. We were told that there had been an avelanch and that we would have to miss the last 5 km which included the Sun Gate. After we got over that, we figgured out that we would be walking for longer in less time, we had to get all the way to the town where we normally would have ended up after Machu Pichu by the end of the third day. It wasn’t to much trouble once we knew what was going on and we set off.
Brief overview:-
Day 1: The waking wasn’t to hard, the altitude got to us a bit but not enough to hinder our progress. We did a short day the first day in which we saw plenty of ruins and ate really well. The people on our group took a bit of warming up but when we got to know them they were all great. Mostly from the UK but there was a Thai guy who made us all laugh. He took 7 teaspoons of milo in each cup, and since we couldn’t pronounce his name we all started calling him Milo.
Day 2: We were woken up with tent service (a cup of coffee at the door) which was really nice as it was 5 in the morning. This was the hardest in terms of climbing. We did the first and the second pass both on this day, there was also a fair drop between the first and after the second. It rained a lot but we still managed a few clear spots. The clouds seemed to be always moving around the mountains which was a pretty cool effect. All in all the day was fine. We learnt a cool card game from an English couple to boot.
Day 3: This was from the bottom of the second pass, past the normal final camp and to the town. We decended 1700 metres all up. My knees did not thank me for it at all. the last few kms were along the train tracks. Thankfully there was only one train to avoid. We made it to the town and settled in for the night. One of the highlights was when we tipped the porters. They were so amazing the way they would just run past us with upto 25 kg on their backs. I was elected to make a speech and hand them the money, but before I did we had to make them pair up as we didn’t have enough small bills. They were all really funny how they found a mate and hugged or held hands, they were really excited. When we gave them the money they were so grateful which gave a good feeling.
Day 4: Machu Pichu. It lived up to all expectations. We had a 2 and a half hour tour, longer than we would have normally as we got there a lot earlier. It was cool learning about thier beginings, culture and tecniques. After the tour we were given free time. We used it to climb Waynu Pichu (the mountain at the back) which was hard work but one of the most rewarding things we have ever done. We also climbed up the other side where we would have come from but ended going off on some unused part of the trail until we were almost as high as the mountain at the back again. It was alright as we got to see the site from another perspective. We also made the decision to walk back to the town instead of taking the bus. It was more decending but luckily my knees had healed a bit from the previous day.
Thats all the major things since the last post. We went to Lima but spent the first day organising our flights. We have now changed our flights to leave from Quito (Ecudor) and fly to Toronto. Jay is living there at the moment and has promised me he will have a place for us to crash when we arrive. The NBA and NHL seasons have both finished so we might only be able to catch a MLB game which would still be alright. I’m sure we will find enough to do there in the week we have.
On Thursday we fly to the Galapagos Islands which will be our send off to South America. I’m sure it will be a fitting one as well. It has cost us enough :)
Ok, I willl leave it there. I don’t have time for photos at the moment but will probably get some up in the next day or so.
Till next time,
Glen and Robyn
PS Inca Kola is the drink of choice in Peru. It was almost up there with Coke…