Piura and Chiclayo
11/22/2001
So the bus goes through the night, going down from 2400m to sea
level. We stop at the Peruian border, and immigration is quick and
without any problem. Pretty funny, one time the bus driver opens the
luggage compartment. In there, on top of the lugguage, lies a guy!
Not sure who he was, maybe the second bus driver, had a good sleep in
the lugguage compartment!
We arrive in the Peruian town Piura at 6 in the morning. My main goal
in Peru is to see Machu Pichu and do the Inca Trail (more about this
later), so I have to get to Cusco. Cusco is best reached by a flight
from Lima, and I plan to take the bus to Lima. However, I've met two
German guys in the bus who are optimistic to get a cheap flight to
Lima from here. Since my schedule is tight, I join them on the ride
to the airport, to check prices. It turns out that the flight is
almost $85 US, too much for me, so I leave for the bus terminal.
The taxi driver is very nice, first he drives me to two ATMs (the
first one did not like my credit card), and then checks two bus
terminals and asks there for the appropriate bus for me. There is no
direct bus to Lima that fits my needs, but I decide to take the 9am
bus to Chiclayo, from where are good connections to Lima.
The bus finally leaves one hour late, at 10am.
A nice man from Peru is sitting next to me, and we chat quite some
time. The landscape I see through the bus window is so different to
what I've seen in Ecuador - it is desert, sometimes a bush or tree
here and there, but basically, desert. The view also shows poverty -
here and there are some very poor 'buildings' of people leaving in
that desert area.
In Chiclayo, I buy a bus ticket for the ride to Lima, which goes
through the night. Since the bus leaves in the evening, I decide to
spend an hour at the beach close To Chiclayo. It turns out that the
beach is not very pretty, and the water to cold to swim; however, an
ok place to spend an hour without for sure. Chiclayo itself is very
busy, hundreds of people on the street, markets, traffic, and my
first encounter with the so unavoidable shoe-shine boys.
The bus to Lima is very luxurious - surprisingly, for a bus ride of
12 hours and the price of just $10. I actually ask two times if I'm
really sitting in the right bus - a stewardess even served
sandwhiches and drinks!
Lima
11/23/2001
After a comfortable ride, I arrive 7am in Lima, but my luggage does
not. Pretty annoying, but the people from the bus station are able to
track it down - it basically only went half-way to a place whose name
I forgot. So they tell me, come back at 10pm tonight, and my backpack
will have arrived. Pretty bad, since I plan to fly out to Cusco
already next morning!
So I take a taxi to the hotel Espana, without most of my stuff. The
hotel is pretty cool, a big house with dormitory style beds, a big
staircase, and many paintings and sculptures in the hallways. A
typical backpacker place, and so I meet some other travellers in my
room.
Next task is to buy a flight ticket to Cusco, which turns out to be
pretty easy. Since many airlines went out of business in Peru, the
market is pretty much monopolized by two airlines, and to whatever
travel agency you go, you'll get a price of $69. My flight will leave
at 9:10am tomorrow morning. Pretty risky, since I still don't have my
luggage, but sometimes you have to gamble.
Lima is as lively as Chiclayo, and not too ugly. There are several
placas and colonial buildings, churces etc. Many people are in the
streets, and sales guys are pushing everyone that passes by. As
always my timing is pretty good (since I was in Mexico for the
Indepedence Day, and in Ecuador at the time of the soccer
qualification game), today is the Ibero-American summit, almost all
leaders of Latin America are meeting today in Lima. A couple of
blocks of the city (close to my hotel) are closed - The police does
not let anybody through.
When I'm going to the bus station, I start having my doubts about the
taxi drivers in Lima - the first does not know the bus station, the
second will not know the way back to my hotel! Well, the first taxi
driver at least found the bus station finally after asking other
people, and to my surprise, my backpack is there. Actually, the
people of the bus company are quite helpful and friendly. On my way
back to my hotel, I really get into trouble, because most roads are
closed to the Ibero-American summit. I can only describe the way by
foot to the hotel, which does not help very much, and the taxi driver
does not know my hotel anyway. After several attempts leading to one-
way streets, I leave the taxi and walk the last couple of blocks.
So finally I got my stuff, and I'm ready to go to Cusco, the
touristic center for Machu Pichu and the Inca Trail.
Cusco
11/24/2001
I'm ready to go to the airport, but the taxi driver told me he is
waiting for another guy - it turns out to be Ben, a guy from Calgary,
Canada. He is having the same flight to Cusco, and the same plans to
do the Inca trail. His luggage is huge - basically he is carrying
twice as much as I do. He brought his complete moutain gear, since
he's got some ambitious climbing projects (including the Aconcagua,
Argentinia, with 6956m the highest mountain in the western
hemisphere).
Hence, as we arrive at the airport, there is a bad surprise for Ben -
additionally to the $69 for the flight, he has to pay $44 for his
overweight luggage. The airplane is a big one, since Cusco is a
preferred tourist destination. The flight goes north from Lima along
the coast, then turns into the country over the Andes. The landing is
difficult, the pilot does some monuevres to get over the moutains,
and down to the valley where Cusco lies, at about 3350m.
On our way to our hotel, Ben and I already feel the effects of the
altitude - physical activities make you quickly breathless. The woman
from our hotel made us the typical drink in Peru (Bolivia as well),
the mate de coca, a tea made from the coca leaf. Yes, it is the same
leaf that is used to make cocain, after some chemical processing, but
the tea is harmless. It arguably helps against the effects of high
altitude. Often, people just chew the coca leaf to get the same
effect. The tea, which was only used for ceremonial and religious
purposes during the Inca times, became widely used when the Spaniards
gave it to the Indian slaves to supress their pain of work and make
them work even harder.
After some, and organizational stuff, and lunch, we walk through the
city of Cusco, which is very pretty. Just the main placa with the
huge cathedral is a must visit. But also, Cusco is annoyingly
touristic - it is not possible to cross the Plaza de Armas with at
least meeting five shoe shine boys, three postcard sellers, and four
people trying to convince you to it in their restaurant. In terms of
restaurant and nightlife, the competition is huge, such that you can
enjoy a nice three course meal for $3, and free drinks in the bars.
Big part of the equation is the archaelogical site of Machu Pichu
nearby - there are 100s of travel agencies in Cusco, selling all the
same tours! In an attempt to find a good one, we check a couple of
them and ask them for the Inca Trail, which is a tour that consists
of four days hiking to Machu Pichu, a classical trail walked by
thousands every year.
11/25/2001
First thing in the morning, we move to a different hotel - our old
one had insufficient showers ;)
We do a city tour that includes the big cathedral, which is very
impressive, and a couple of archaeological sites around the city.
Cusco itself was a center at Inca times (Its name in Quenchua, Qosqo
means "Navel of the World", which derives from when the city served
as a hub for a vast network of roads interconnecting virtually the
whole of South America, from the southern part of present-day
Colombia to the northern part of what is now Argentina).
We also decide to book the Inca Trail tour with a travel agency
called Sumac Travel. It costs $135 for four days, $25 less for
students.
11/26/2001
First thing in the morning, we move again to a different hotel. The
beds were really bad with holes that you sink to the ground. Also too
expensive. Only the showers were absolutely great, so commented Ben,
as I told him that I want to move to a different hotel: "...but the
showers!!!" ;)
Today is the last day before we go on the Inca Trail - it was planned
to stay three days in Cusco to get used to the altitude. So the day
is filled with some preparations for the trail, a visit to the market
(I buy an Indiana Jones style hat), and the cheapest lunch so far on
my trip (50 cents for a menu with soup and main, plus drink!).
Luckily, we check back with our travel agency in the evening - they
had actually desperatly tried to find us, but couldn't, due to our
continuous change in hotels. The reason was that the pickup time for
the trail has changed from 7am to 4am! They tell us it is due to road
work, and we go to bed pretty pissed, expecting 3 hours less sleep
before we go on the trail.
The Inca Trail
The Inca Trail is a four days hike, leading the most important
historic site of South America, Machu Pichu, on the forth day. The
trail was mainly built by the Incas to connect different cities and
places. It is said that the Incas in the mountains could have fresh
fish in the mountains, since the extensive road network and fast
runners on it were so efficient to carry the fish from the coast into
the mountains quickly.
Here already I have to mention some differences of what I read in
books (for example my travel guide), and what our guide on the Inca
Trail says - for our guide the Incas were only the leaders, a small
number of people. The people he calls Quechuas (which is the name for
the indigenous people here). As compared to that, my books refers to
the people when it talks about "Incas". Whatever, I will refer to all
people, leaders and common people, as the Incas. However, I will not
give a lot of historic background, as I'm not so knowledgable in that
area, and I'd like to focus on my personal experience rather. There
are many good books about the historic background, and probably also
many websites.
11/27/2001
The Inca Trail shall start! At 4am in the dark and cold in front of
our hotel, Ben and I wait for the tour bus to pick us up. While I got
some sweet rolls, Ben tries to put some Avocado on bread for
our "outdoor breakfast". Finally, with a good delay of 30 minutes, we
see the bus in the distance, and the driver gestures us to walk over.
The bus is full with about 25 people, and slowly we understand that
this is all our party. I knew that the groups on the trail are big,
but rather expected something like 10-12 people (it turned out to be
16 people plus porters in our group). The thing I didn't like, but is
normal in the Inca Trail business, is that they lumped us together
with people that booked from different travel agencies. What I really
didn't like is that some other people paid less than Ben and I did.
The drive to the starting point of the trail, a couple of hours,
gives a good taste of what to come - at some point there is a nice
view of snowcapped mountains, one is called Veronica, the other I
don't remember. One guy gets up and introduces himself, he is called
Willow, and should be our guide for the next days on the trail. From
the first moment, he appears to be arrogant. However, he already
starts to give some good information about the valleys we pass, for
example what kind of fruits and vegetables grow there. For example,
there are a couple of hundred types of potato in Peru!
We arrive at the starting point of the trail. People sell walking
sticks, but most of us don't buy them - we can do without! Everybody
has to carry their water, change of clothes, personal items etc, plus
the matts we will be sleeping on. We have 8 porters who will carry
the tents, food and cooking utilities. The porters are actually the
ones that work hardest, and are extremely underpaid.
I actually don't feel very well, since I had stomach problems the
last couple of days, and the short last night sleep did not help
either. I also developed a cold, which should keep my nose annoyingly
clogged during the hike. But ready to struggle, I go on the trail.
After a short breakfast at the Urubamba River, we cross the river at
a wardens post, where everybody has to sign in for the trail. Our
group is mixed, some Canadians, three Germans (including me), an
Australians, some Americans, two Brits. Most people are in their
early 20th, I'm the oldie except an American couple in the late 50th.
The trail begins at the altitude of 2400m along the Urubamba River.
On the way, Willow explains us some plants and insects, their origin,
and their use. For example, one bug (forgot the name) is used to make
lipstick!
The portes walk faster than us, carrying a heavy weight of up to 20kg
or more! Whenever a porter walks by, we give way to ensure that he
can keep his walking rhythm. The porters don't walk upright, to carry
the big load better. And they don't have fancy ergonomic designed
backpacks like us, their load is often just tied with some ropes on
their back.
The path is well prepared and easy to walk, also not very steep, so
this first part goes easy. We reach the first archaeological site
(not ruins" as Willow points out), Patallacta, but we only see it
from across and don't go down. After a couple hours of walking a more
steep path, we arrive the village of Huayllabamba at 3000m, which is
our first campsite to stay at tonight. It is the last village on the
trail. The tents are already set up by the porters, pairs of two go
in each tent. The tents are pretty small, and Daniel, the German guy
that joins me in our tent, has his feet hanging out on one end ;)
So all in all the first day was not very difficult at all - however,
it should not end! We got invited/challenged to have a soccer game by
our guide, the porters and some locals. It shows quite nicely the
soccer enthusiasm in South America - one will notice that in the
smallest villages and the poorest placest, there will be a soccer
field! As the Brits and Germans are same crazy about soccer we get a
team together quickly. The soccer game is in front of an awesome
scenery - the snowcapped mountains in the background! The soccer
field couldn't be really called flat and smooth and also there is not
really any grass left, whatsoever, the game is good fun. Our team has
to cope with thin air in 3000m, which makes running quite tough.
Also, there is quite a difference between the locals, going for
everything, and us, having in mind to continue the trail to Machu
Pichu, which would be problematic with a broken leg. So I retreat
after 30 min, while others (like on of the Brits), seems to have
unlimited energy, and continue until sunset.
Then, dinner is served. The meals are usually quite simple, a good
soup, followed by lots of rice with some vegetable, sauce, or meat.
Willow introduces all the porters with the hint that we should give
them a really good tip. It is already getting pretty cold at night,
but there are no bonfires on the trail. The reason is quite simple -
thousands walk the trail every year, and use of the wood for fires
and cooking has already caused a significant effect on the
environment on the trail. Last year or so, the regulations were
changed such that people can only take organized tours, and the tours
carry they own fuel and stove for cooking.
Pretty early we crawl into the tents and sleeping bags, resting for
the second day, which is supposed to be the hardest.
11/28/2001
5:30, the wakeup call goes through the tents, and 6:00 am breakfast is
ready. After that, people fill up their water bottles, and use
purification tablets to make it clean. Everybody is preparing for the
tough second day, that should bring us to 4200m, when passing the
so-called "dead womans pass".
7am we leave Huayllabamba, and the path steadily goes steep uphill,
with very few passages of flat walking. My recipe is to drink loads of
water and to keep walking with very few breaks - rather walk slow than
stop. It works out fine for me - others rather decide to go quick and
make frequent breaks, which seems to destroy the walking rhythm.
After passing through a rain forest part, there is fewer vegetation
the higher it gets. Besides our group, there are at least 8 more
groups, and we meet many other people fighting with the exhausting
walk and higher altitude. Most of the morning, I did not have any
problems with the altitude, but now we are getting higher, and the
dead womans pass is already in sight. It gets more and more difficult
to walk, and many people are having a break every minute just to
catch their breaths. The pass seems to be very close, but does not
seem to come any closer and walking gets harder. Finally, the last
couple of steps are in sight, and I need to take a break after every
5-10 steps or so. The last 20 meters are annoyingly slow, but finally
I reach the pass, welcomed by people in my group that have already
reached it. It is very cold here, and a strong wind in blowling.
Finally, all members of our group arrive, including the older couple,
which gets welcomed with applaus. After some 20 minutes of rest
and "summit photos", we continue our way.
I thought after the 4200m pass the toughest would be over, but now,
after the pass, on the steady way down to 3600m, I can suddenly feel
my exhausted legs, and the walking down is kind of a pain. As opposed
to later, the big stone blocks that build the steps for the way down,
are not built by the Incas, rather later.
Finally, we reach our second camp in the early afternoon. It sits in
a valley, surrounded by some nice waterfalls. Everybody is exhausted,
many sleep in their tents. After lunch, later in the afternoon, it
starts raining, and a couple of thunderstorms are nearby. The food
tent gets flooded, and the porters and the cook bring the food to the
tents. Flashes of thunderstorm hit to the ground nearby, but later at
night, the wheather gets better, allowing us a good night sleep.
11/29/2001
Breakfast is very little today, and people complain. Also, there does
not seem to be enough gas to boil water for our hike today, so we
have to take and purify the water from the river, without being
boiled. Apparently, some people played cards yesterday with our guide
Willow, and got annoyed by his behaviour. I also hear the story that
yesterday, on of the porters did something wrong (don't know what),
and Willow set up something that is called "Spiessrutenlaufen" in
German, the porter had to walk through the line of the rest of the
porters, and everybody was allowed to hit him. Apparently, the other
porters did not hit him really, but Willow did. Well, I just got told
this story, I haven't seen it myself, but the bad way our guide
treats the porters was becoming more and more obvious. And more and
more people started complaining about him...
The third day presents two more passes to us, but lower ones. The
first one we reach after some tough walk (right in the morning, after
the little breakfast) at 3950m. On the way to the pass, we reach the
archaeological site of Runcu Raccay. We get rewarded for the hard
work with a stunning view of snowcapped mountains on the horizont.
The wheather proves to be quickly changing - a group of people that
reach the pass just 10 minutes later get to see a big band of clouds
instead of the great view.
After this pass, the trail goes down to the Inca town of Sayac Marca,
and later, we pass a couple of small lakes. After lunch, we go
towards the third pass at 3650m. This is one of the nicest parts,
since the trail is not very steep, is original Inca work, and even
contains two small tunnels that were constructed through the rock.
Right after the pass is the archaeological site of Phuyu Pata Marca,
and we stop to get some background from our guide. After the site,
there are about 3000 tiresome stone steps continously down, to our
last camp site. Our group splits up, and everybody is going their own
speed. After the path goes mainly through rain forest, I reach the
archaeological site of Winay Wayna, from where the campsite is
already visible. The leading group did not stop to wait, so I don't
get any background information about this site, but apparently Willow
did not give one anyway, as I hear later. Hence, I keep walking by
myself. As I pass a pylon, I get the feeling to get back to
civilization... Half hour later, I arrive the camp at 2700m.
The camp site is well equipped, has a small hotel and a cafeteria.
But we will sleep in our tents again tonight. Dinner is served in the
cafeteria, and we also enjoy the first beers since three days. Willow
urges us to give a tip to the porters, and a little discussion starts
among us about how much to give, and especially, to make sure that
Willow does not get anything, as we all were dissatisfied with him.
Finally, as it is a standard procedure, the porters are presented to
us one by one, welcomed with applaus, and they get their tip.
People start dancing in the cafeteria later, but I rather get another
beer and talk to the people. Finally, I get to bed later at 12, in
the need to get some good sleep to be ready tomorrow, for Machu Pichu!
Machu Pichu and a Long Day
11/30/2001
4.00am is the early start in the Machu Pichu day. The reason is to be
there early, before all the tourist buses come and the place gets
crowded with people. Not yet is all hiking over - 2 hours walking
until we reach the site. After breakfast we reach the warden's post
at 5am (which does not open earlier unfortunately, due to safety
reasons, they don't want people to walk in the dark. So no sunrise at
Machu Pichu :( ). There, they check tickets and we get delayed by a
couple of discussions about people who claim to be student but whose
ID does not get accepted (for students, Machu Pichu is $25, $50
otherwise).
After passing the post, most people of our group starts walking fast,
almost running! Actually, our group was called the 'fast group' by
the others... ;) I join in, and we pass lots of people who left
before us and who were not delayed at the warden's post. The sun
starts getting up behind the mountains and the view is great. The
path is similar to yesterday, going through the forest, with many
steps going down and up. I feel I have more power today, the altitude
is lower, there is more air! Finally, an hour later, I reach the
Intipunco, the 'sun gate', the first place where Machu Pichu comes
into sight. Down there, half hour walk away, it lies at the bottom of
the mountain 'Huyana Pichu', which looks, 90 degrees turned, like a
man's face with a big nose.
I reach Machu Pichu at 7am as one of the first people, glad to have
hurried up - it is a special atmosphere being there by yourself. The
city looks great in the rising sun, casting many shadows. I find a
quiet place to sit, relax, and enjoy the atmosphere. I have to add
that I'm in general not a big fan of archaelogical sites, when people
start to interpret anything into a couple of stones standing around.
However, Machu Pichu is different and very well preserved. It's walls
of stone clearly build houses, rooms, and temples, and the structure
of the city is pretty clear. It sits on a plateau with the mountain
walls going steeply down at the edge of the city, this is the reason
that it cannot be seen down from the valley. As a matter of fact, one
the mysterous trademarks of Machu Pichu is that it was not found by
the Spaniards, therefore it is often called 'The Lost City'. It was
finally discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911. Unclear is also what the
purpose of the city was, it probably served as a religious/ceremonial
center as well as it might had military and political function. Here
is a nice site about Machu Pichu:
http://www.sacredsites.com/2nd56/21422.html
Later, the whole group has reached Machu Pichu, and Willow gives a
little tour. After that, three of us decide to climb Huyana Pichu,
the step summit right behind the city. It is actually another
remarkable part of Machu Pichu, as on the steep summit, the Incas
built the 'temple of the moon', and one can imagine the incredible
effort to erect a building at that place.
The others decide to rather grap something to eat, and a little later
we descend down from Machu Pichu to a little village called Aguas
Calientes, where the train will return to Cusco. It is another (the
last) one hour hike down, and I think we all got enough from hiking
for now ;) Aguas Calientes is actually a great "after Machu Pichu
place" - it has hot springs! So after some dinner, the German guy
Daniel and I walk up to the springs. One has to image something more
like a bath with a couple of pools in it - of course the hot water
comes from the natural springs. Our guide Willow gave us a bad
impression of the springs, saying that the porters come here in the
morning, and make the water very dirty. Interesting enough, as we
enter the springs, we meet... him!
Sure the springs are a little dirty, but we don't care at that point,
having been unable to take a shower for the last four days. So the
water does its amazing effect on us, and we are able to wash
ourselves and relax greatly. After, we walk to the meeting point, a
restaurant in Aguas Calientes, where we meet the others.
First, some chaos starts regarding the train tickets that were
included in the tour, that brings us back to Cusco. Typically, the
organization is choatic, and nobody is sure who will get tickets and
who won't. Willow, the guide, is in the middle of all chaos and tries
to arrange things. Ben and I get our tickets pretty quickly, but for
example, the British guys run around for the next hour, making
telephone calls, to get what they already paid for.
Ben leaves to go to the hot springs as well now. Which causes some
problems, since at 4:15pm he is still not back, the train is leaving
at 4:30pm and he's got our tickets! While I keep patiently waiting,
Willow gets nervous and reminds me that the train will be leaving in
a minute. It is already almost 4:30pm now... Suddenly Ben comes
running around the corner, and I join him, running to the train. In
the last minute we make it. And this should not be the end of a busy
day, don't be surprised that this is going to be my longest day
report...
Happy that we made it, we stretch out on our seats and Ben tells me
that the way from the springs to the train station was longer than
expected... The train starts moving, and, to our surprise, it does
notappear to be the smooth, relaxed ride that we expected. The train
goes fast, violently shaking. As we sit right at the end of our car,
we can see the next car through the door is shaking around like hell.
Well, fortunately, we make it to Ollantaytambo, where we leave the
train to take the faster bus. Our plan is to reach back to Cusco
earlier to be able to catch the night bus to Puno, which is our next
stop. Leaving the train station, we catch a minibus, which gives us
the planned time advantage. In the bus, we discuss the problems of
the Inca Trail with tour tour operator, summerize all bad things,
with the objective to complain at our tour operator and ask money
back.
Back in Cusco we do as planned. Apparently disappointed, we talk to
the people in the "Sumac" travel agency, about the little food, the
bad guide, and other things, like stuff that disappeared (forgot to
mention this earlier, my flashlight was gone, and some stuff of other
people,maybe taken by the porters). The situation is tense, we push a
lot, but the people from the agency are not willing to accept the
problems, desperately trying to reach the guide Willow by phone. Time
passes, and our bus is leaving soon. Finally we get to the point
where we get $10 each back - not sufficient to us, we found more
would be appropriate. However, we have to hurry back to our hotel,
where we left some of our stuff that we did not want to take on the
trail, and then to the bus terminal.
At the bus terminal, we meet some other travellers that advise us to
go to Copacabana, Bolivia, instead of Puno, Peru. Apparently,
Copacabana is the better place, and we can visit Lake Titicaca better
from there. I ask at the office of the bus company, and they tell me
the bus would go later to Copacabana, no problem. But there is a
problem of a different nature - our seats has been sold two times!
Unclear what this means, I wait, with the assurance of the bus
company it won't be any problem. Finally, they change the seat number
of Bens seat, and the guy tells me something about my seat, which I
don't understand in Spanish. Finally, we walk to the bus, and he
shows me what he meant - I will sit on the co-driver seat, right next
to the bus driver!
At the beginning, it is the expected fun-ride. I see the bus driver
choosing the CD for the trip and putting it in the CD player while
driving, I see him avoiding to hit a late-night runner on the street
and later almost hitting a cow on the street. We are three already in
the front of the bus, the driver, me, and the co-driver, who is
sitting on a small camping chair (!) between us. At the next stop,
another guy comes into the bus, the one that has the same seat as Ben
does. I tell them there is no way that Ben moves as well, so the bus
driver convinces the guy to join us! So finally we are four people
sitting in front of the bus!
It starts to become uncomfortable. We are four cramped together, and
the bus driver has the window open for whatever reason (maybe to stay
awake). The guy at the bus terminal has told me that in two hours,
enough people would leave the bus and a seat would get free for me.
The bus driver now tells me that won't happen before four hours! As
we stop at a gas station, the bus driver opens the luggage
compartment and gestures to me that this would be a nice place for me
to stay during the driver! I decline politely, and continue the ride
in the front. It starts getting pretty unbearable. Finally, after 5
hours, at 2:30 in the morning, I get a place inside the bus. It is
still cold, but more comfortable, and I manage to sleep a little.
On to Bolivia...