tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6093277049561802552024-03-08T01:19:46.871-08:00Kate in South America 2008Jill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-3332491327734943822008-12-29T04:20:00.001-08:002008-12-29T04:20:50.687-08:00Nazca, Huacachina and Paracas<B>23rd December 2008, Peru</B><br />Nazca, despite being a hole, was pretty action packed. We arrived on the night bus at 6am, managing not to have been hijacked or incurred any violent robberies as was suggested in the book. I read the warning about travelling at night on that route AFTER arriving!<br /><br /> After dropping our stuff and having breakfast we headed straight off in a taxi to Cementerio de Chauchilla (200BC) which is the grave robbed cemetery out of the latest Indiana Jones film.<br /> <br />This visit was extremely interesting not only as I could tick off another box in my <I>I Spy: Cemeteries in the Desert</I> book, (trains AND pre-Inca religious mummies) but also because it was so old and well preserved, - well some of it at any rate...<br /> <br />Having already diverted from the Panamerican Highway we seemed to drive through desert for quite some time, when in the middle of nowhere the driver stopped. The guard from the cemetery appeared and was wedged into the boot behind us! We then drove for another 20 minutes or so across the desert till we stopped at a shack in howling winds and mini sand tornadoes. We then realised why the guard doesn't hang out there. It was soooo creepy! <br /> <br />We were the only people there and there was a network of graves in the ground with mummies inside, 2000 years old and perfectly preserved with giant dreadlocks and bits of skin still on their bodies, dressed in finely woven cloth with the colours and pattern as bold as ever 2000 years on!<br /> <br />They were all sitting in the foetal position and facing East where the sun rises ready to be re-born. There were mummified babies in there too, lying down with their skin stretched over their tiny rib cages like oven ready chickens.<br /> <br />All the gold masks and other valuables had been taken away but there were ceremonial ceramics in the graves with them and bits of corn and corn mills made of stone for them to take to the afterlife. <br /> <br />This whole thing was totally open to the elements, with nobody guarding it. I couldn't believe it! What's more, when the grave robbers had found and ransacked the other graves back in the 1960´s, they threw all the bodies and mummies across the desert. There were so many, nobody bothered to clear them all up and they were still strewn willy-nilly across the desert. <br /> <br />We were walking along in our flip-flops saying "oh, there's a bit of embalming cotton stuck between my toes" and "oh dear, I've just got a splinter from a bit of 2000 year old sacred mummy femur" Ridiculous! Plus there were chunks of pottery and bits of incredible ancient weaving just lying around poking out of the sand. Only the gold masks and trinkets were considered to be of any value, we could have just picked up and taken anything we wanted as a souvenir but thought it might be a bit weird and wrong, the whole place was so creepy!<br /> <br />On the way back we visited a pottery and the man threw some intact pieces of 2000 year old pottery at us - presumably robbed from the graves but not considered of too much value. With what seemed like his last breath he gave us an explanation of how it was traditionally made, demonstrating how the pots were polished using nose grease and showing us some of the original brushes, made with baby hair and used to paint with natural pigments.<br /> <br />We then popped into the gold mining museum where the curator was asleep and drunk out of his head on Pisco (local brandy) but he happily showed us his collection and played us a slurred song on his guitar. Part of the process involved the drunk man waving around a plastic drink bottle full of mercury, easily enough to wipe out the whole of Nazca, probably more!!<br /> <br />Apparently Nazca is really suffering due to the economic situation. Nobody is buying minerals and all the miners are out of work, sales have dropped by 70% this year and it's only China buying them and tourism that's keeping people going...no wonder the curator (a miner) was so drunk!<br /> <br />In the evening we went to the Maria Reich planetarium, which was very interesting but not very convincing, to find out a few theories about the Nazca lines and how they correlate to the stars, before our visit.<br /> <br />For those who don't know, the Nazca lines are giant geoglyphs, shapes in the desert, mostly lines and geometric shapes but also many giant animals like monkey, whale, spider and even a heron – (actually more likely to be a flamingo) and an astronaut (WAS god an astronaut??) They are only visible from the air and were discovered in the 1920's by pilots flying over. So nobody knows their purpose but many theories abound; that they are a giant calendar relating to the stars; that they are a reminder to the gods to bring water - it only rains for around half an hour a year in the Nazca desert; that they were used for ceremonial walking; that they were landing pads for aliens; or whatever. They are very lucrative for Nazca with flights at $55 a pop and hoards of tourists flying over!!<br /> <br />The flight the next day was amazing! I nearly cried, mostly because I was so scared! We had a four seater plane and the pilot flew over each geoglyph so we were at a 45 degree angle, i.e.face down, flying over it once on each side. There are lots of them and by the end I was struggling to look at much and feeling very queasy but it was so worth it. I'll never forget it.<br /> <br />After Nazca, we headed for Huacachina, an oasis in the middle of dunes joining on to a national park. <br /> <br />There is nothing to do there apart from relax and go sandboarding and dune buggy riding in the giant dunes which was brilliant. Riding in the dune buggy feels like flying as you have nothing to gauge your speed against. There are no landmarks, just piles of sand as far as you can see and the buggy drivers drive like nutters! It was a brilliant adrenalin rush and when we stopped to do the boarding, we managed to stand up all the way down the dune. <br /><br />But the best was when he took us to the highest, steepest dune he could find - and damn it was big, like a skyscraper! He made us lie on our bellies on the board and explained how to hold on, what to do with our legs etc. Rhi asked "how do we stop?" but he just replied "no stop" and pushed her over the edge! It was so much fun but we had sand in every orifice, I am still finding it a week later!<br /> <br />We then got a bus to Paracas next to Pisco on the west coast to visit the marine reserve Islas Ballestas or the poor man's Galapagos - we prefer the title small Galapagos. Here the man from our hotel invited us over to his place to see his penguin! It was a great line which turned out to be actually true. He has a penguin in his utility room, which fired projectile poo at Rhi. Apparently he was washed up as a baby in El Nino and they tried to take him back to the islands but he didn't want to go!<br /> <br />Taking advantage of being by the sea, we had a seafood feast with fish, mussels and scallops in parmesan which was delicious.<br /> <br />The islands were amazing, but a bit like a scene out of <I>Birds</I>, I've never seen so many birds in my life! There were boobies, pelicans, cormorants, penguins... and lots of sea lions too! But all in their thousands! The stench of ammonia from the guano was overbearing even from the boat.<br /> <br />Next stop was a beach resort called Cerro Azul which was pretty much deserted as everyone is at home with family at this time of year so we had the beach to ourselves. It was like being at the even poorer man's Galapagos or in a nature documentary. We saw pods of dolphins frolicking in the surf whilst we were having breakfast on the beach, before taking a walk the length of the beach (3.5K each way) without seeing anyone apart from some naked fishermen on the rocks at the end. We watched lines of pelicans flying over the surf scooping fish in their beaks. There were hundreds of orange fist-sized crabs running all over the beach which Minton sized up as ´ginger on ginger´. We also found a washed-up dolphin, a washed-up sea lion and thousands of washed-up baby pelicans looking like little Christmas turkeys. We managed to make it a festive walk though when we saw a crab with sandy claws!!<br /> <br />Finally, we found a live baby pelican, more of a teenager really, and by luck I also found a pile of washed up fish further down the beach which I carried back and fed to the baby pelican till it started to choke on one and I panicked and ran away.<br /> <br />In the evening we inadvertently ended up gate crashing an office Christmas party in a beach hut restaurant and they kept trying to get us to salsa dance with them! <br /> <br />All in all a good bit of nature in action and good to spend a bit of time by the coast but still not feeling over - festive!!<br /> <br />Nevertheless sending lot of Christmas love. Hope Sandy Claws brings you a dead baby pelican for your dinner.<br /> <br />Love Kate xxxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-61226473537141194822008-12-20T06:17:00.000-08:002008-12-20T06:18:24.213-08:00Chile and Colca Canyon<B>17th December 2008, Nazca, Peru</B><br />We arrived in the incredibly touristy desert oasis town of San Pedro de Atacama on the Chilean side of the border. It's in the middle of the Atacama desert, the driest desert in the world, some places have never had any rain recorded! Hit me with those desert facts I hear you cry!<br /> <br />Despite it being very touristy and expensive compared to Bolivia we decided to have a good time as the setting was gorgeous. We even ventured as far as a night out which ended up taking us to sunrise! No small feat for a bunch of oldies like us! <br /> <br />Can't remember a massive amount but we befriended lots of Chileans, drank demasiado caipirinias in happy hour and went to a couple of clubs open to the stars with braziers in them as the desert gets mighty cold at night. And I might add that it has the best stars I have ever seen as it's also quite high up. It's possibly a made up desert fact but I think it's the highest altitude desert in the world. <br /><br />Our inebriation led us to believe we were fluent in Spanish, in fact one couple we were chatting to told me I was almost bilingual but hey, what do they know, they also told us they'd taken LSD!! <br /><br />We also, according to some photos but not my memory, spent much of the evening with a mummy - the wrapped up in toilet roll type, not the parental type or they would have ensured that we were tucked up in bed long before the ensuing debauchery.<br /> <br />We ended dancing up the sun in some warehouse in the desert outside town. We were the only westerners in the place, bar one man who is a photographer who writes speeches for politicians. Minton ended up spending the dawn chatting Bolivian politics (what the hell does she know about that) with him whilst I fell asleep spooning a feral puppy on the floor.<br /> <br />We did squeeze in a spot of culture and hired bikes to explore Devil's Gorge, ruins, caves, Valle de la Luna and the appropriately named - after so much cycling at altitude in the hot desert - Death Valley, for the sunset.<br /> <br />We decided it was time not just to leave San Pedro, but Chile altogether after our night out, so hot-footed it up to Peru again to visit Arequipa and the Colca Canyon.<br /> <br />Arequipa was fairly non-descript as a town but has a gorgeous volcano, el Misti, towering over it and a lovely Plaza de Armas with a big cathedral and a giant plastic Christmas tree! Very surreal. We sat by it for some time trying to absorb the Christmas vibes but it just doesn't feel quite like Christmas!!<br /> <br />We visited the museum to see Juanita the ice princess, a frozen child sacrifice which was discovered on the mountain next to Arequipa when one of the volcanoes went off and melted the 50 metres of ice she was buried beneath. She's incredibly preserved. It was absolutely fascinating if a bit odd.<br /> <br />We booked a trip for just the three of us with a lovely but pompous guide who is listed twice in the Lonely Planet and also in the Rough Guide... he insisted on showing us. He is also unsuccessfully learning the art of British sarcasm, which became rather grating after three days with him. However, he scored ten out of ten for lack of pervyness which is a first with South American guides, so fair play to him!<br /> <br />As usual, the bus rides were the most entertaining part of the journey. It was festival time in the canyon and there were several drunk passengers. One particular old lady in traditional embroidered costume, which is standard in the mountains, was steamingly drunk. Apparently she'd been drinking for three days. This was 9am, and she was trying to drag us up to dance with her in the aisle of the bus. She was really quite persistent and had a petrol canister of locally brewed chichi - a lethal corn beer made from chewed-up spat-out corn to start the fermentation. She was very friendly but gave up in the end and when we eventually got off the bus she was covered in food, giggling and still drinking with her mate!<br /> <br />Colca Canyon - wait for my next world record which is also probably partly made up - is the deepest and longest canyon in the world, and we decided to walk into it and then back out again. It was a bit silly when we could have just looked at it from the top I suppose, but there was a lovely oasis at the bottom with palm trees and a crystal clear swimming pool with only us using it most of the time. <br /><br />There were loads of avocado trees with avocados lying all over the floor. So when we couldn't eat any more we smeared the rest all over ourselves so we looked like the incredible hulk and also got to moisturise our burnt, dry skin. <br /> <br />The climb down was much harder than the climb up as there was so much scree and we kept slipping with the very real danger of skidding right over the steep edge into the canyon. We had ruined knees and were exhausted from heat and concentration by the time we reached the bottom. Minton´s knees gave way and she collapsed three times!<br /> <br />We were fed alpaca Bolognese for our tea which was a bit sad as there was a very sweet fluffy white alpaca trotting round the lawn.<br /> <br />Managed to get sunburnt in our bikinis in our tropical paradise at the bottom of the canyon, and looking straight up there were snowy peaks which seemed very odd but proves how deep the canyon is!<br /> <br />We spent a mosquito and sand-fly infested night there before trekking back up again the next day where we spent the evening in a candle-lit bar at the top, huddled round a brazier with a carton of cheap Chilean wine and some yummy soup.<br /> <br />We got up early the next day to trek to Cruz del Condor to spot....wait for it.... condors! It really was a stunning walk and we got a real feel for the immenseness (is that a word?) of the canyon. A couple of condors were circling below us on the way to the Cruz del Condor too so we got a bonus preview!!<br /> <br />Unfortunately, the public bus we were booked on broke down so our guide managed to wangle the three of us a space on a private school bus which was doing a tour. This was very amusing, wedged on the rickety bus with the inquisitive children. The driver had to climb in and out of the window to operate the bus but it was all very good humoured! At one point the driver thought he'd found a dead condor so the bus was stopped and everyone piled out to find it was just a plastic bag! <br /> <br />He then, whilst we were going through a long tunnel cut into the rocks, turned all the lights off and continued driving at breakneck speed through the pitch black of the tunnel for the amusement of the children who all screamed loudly.<br /> <br />As with all South American buses, although most of it didn't work and it was mostly unroadworthy, the speakers worked perfectly and he blared out classics like Michael Jackson's "Thriller" to entertain us all. He stopped only for the young children to pile out and have their photos taken with birds of prey, only fractionally smaller than a condor, on their tiny heads! They must have weighed a ton and it looked very wrong. The birds could easily have flown off with them in their talons!<br /> <br />We stopped off for lunch in - can't remember but somewhere beginning with a C or maybe an L - and they had a spectacularly translated menu which is one of my favourite things in the world. We had a choice from: Plates of bottom, sweaty trout, kill of chamomile and jumped loin!!! mmmm! I got a sandwich!<br /> <br />We got straight onto a night bus to Nazca after a three day trek. We scoffed empanadas and polished off the rest of the carton of wine at the bus station before getting on the bus where we were then served dinner!!<br /> <br />That's it for now, still got Nazca and Ica and then I´m up to date but can't be bothered now.<br /> <br />Looooovvvvveeeeee xxxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-66415393811410542992008-12-20T06:15:00.001-08:002008-12-20T06:15:57.417-08:00Sugar and Salt<B>16th December 2008, Nazca, Peru</B><br />We're finally getting to catch up with ourselves in a little oasis near Nazca called Huacachina with a pool at our hotel and not much to do apart from eat, sandboard and email, of course. We seem to have been so hectic, squeezing in so much in a short time. We now need a couple of days to rest so I can hopefully catch up with my emails. Be warned, there may be a few...<br /> <br />On our way to Uyuni, a desert town in the south of Bolivia, we decided to pop in on Potosi, and pretty, whitewashed Sucre - which is the oldest university town in Bolivia. <br /><br />Potosi is now a very poor mining town but was once the biggest, richest and highest altitude city in the world. It still is the highest! (God they love their world records in South America, don't they!) Its wealth was due to the Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) above the city which was choc-a-block with silver and dead miners. They say that for every ten men that went in the mine, only three made it out alive. <br /> <br />The mine is still in action although the silver is all long gone. They now mine minerals. Conditions are archaic and inhuman and apparently there is a huge workforce of children working in there in 40 degree heat as well as the extreme altitude- 3,800 metres. There are toxic gases, damp and regularly collapsing mine shafts. It's barbaric! The miners all drink raw cane alcohol, chew coca and smoke strong black tobacco cigarettes to cope with the conditions, and avoid eating as it absorbs all their energy and oxygen at that altitude. They often stay underground for days at a time. The city does really have a very depressed air about it, so we only passed through rather briefly.<br /> <br />Sucre was very pretty with a lovely market and a more upbeat, young feel, but I had my bag stolen when we were in a restaurant there with my phone and camera in it.<br /> <br />Gutting, but it did lead to very amusing evening in the police station, culminating in a young policeman telling me I had beautiful green eyes. He managed to produce a police car out of nowhere with three police escorts to take us to the "crime scene" to do a "full investigation." They were all giggly and asking questions, trying out their English, about whether we were single, how old we were and whether we knew various bars etc. It all had nothing whatsoever to do with the police process! I finally managed to get a police report the next day from a slightly more professional and older policeman.<br /> <br />We then had an exciting excursion to see a wall of fossilised dinosaur footprints, the biggest of its kind in the world. This entailed boarding the ´Dino bus´ - a rickety, open top truck with the motor of a moped and two large, scaly, dinosaur hands protruding from the front of the vehicle. We had a very enthusiastic tour from Juan Carlos where we learned lots about dino stuff. It was like being on a school trip but without being told off! Note, I am giving no dino-facts as just like in school, I've forgotten them already!<br /> <br />After a very bumpy eight hour bus ride to Uyuni, with everything in the luggage rack, including a big tool box, falling off on to people's heads, we arrived and met our Irish friends. We then booked a 4x4 tour of the famous salt flats at Salar de Uyuni and arranged to be dropped off afterwards in San Pedro de Atacama in Chile.<br /> <br />Uyuni salt flats were totally amazing, the whole tour just blew me away. It was three days and two nights. <br /> <br />The first day we visited a train graveyard where they stripped anything useful from the trains and then dump them in the desert. Quite eerie. Neil, it would have made you cry. There were lots of other ´´kind but stupid´´ engines there! <br /> <br />Then we drove out into a whole desert made of salt from an ancient lake which dried up but still releases the salt. It was completely flat and white as far as the eye could see with thick, hexagonal plates of salt. It looked exactly like ice but it was baking hot and we could see mirages and floating rocks and mountains that were not attached to anything. It sort of blended into the sky. In the middle was what was once an island, covered with giant cactuses and a cave made of fossilised coral where we hung out taking silly photographs and eating lunch. <br /> <br />The evening was spent in a hotel made of salt - tables, chairs, beds, floor covering, walls etc. the whole lot! I produced my standard carton of red wine in the evening, after a spot of high altitude desert star gazing, and managed to spill some. But it didn't matter as it was immediately absorbed by the salt - as was any trace of liquid in our bodies by the morning! I was like a giant, embalmed prune! Salt just absorbs all liquid! A salt hotel is a nice idea but not very practical. <br /> <br />We dragged our dry, crispy bones up to watch the sun rise over the salty white desert. We then spent the day visiting different coloured lagoons out there in the middle of the desert. They were bright red and green because of the minerals. They were full of flamingoes, and had huge volcanoes - one of which was smoking. It's just so high and dry that it's hard to do anything apart from stand and look at stuff.<br /> <br />We saw a broken Andean fox, probably run over by a 4x4 full of tourists, who literally chased our vehicle, in a very hobbly three-legged way, so we stopped to give it some biscuits which was all we had but it seemed chuffed. It just seemed very wrong somehow.<br /> <br />We slept in a cold dorm at 4,200 metres in the middle of nowhere. We felt a bit like prisoners actually and to add to out prison style punishment, were had to get up at 4am. and minus 10 degrees, with no lights in the icy darkness. We left before breakfast to visit steaming geysers and arrived at some open air hot springs to watch the sun rise. We climbed in despite the innate wrongness of getting undressed in the open air in sub-zero temperatures before the sun had even risen!<br /> <br />The springs felt totally boiling but the view was stunning and we were surrounded by three types of flamingo in our steaming natural tub at 5,000 metres at the foot of a volcano. Best sunrise yet!! When we got out, we were served a pancake breakfast and whisked off to Chile!<br /> <br />Chile is a whole other story though! Off for some lunch now, next one will be Chile and the Colca Canyon, xxxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-4971108131732143272008-12-11T09:26:00.000-08:002008-12-11T09:29:54.292-08:00The jungle and the hairy hitch-hikers<B>8th December 2008, Chile</B><br />Sorry, I'm running slightly behind with messages, but I'm still alive mum - and I'm still wearing a vest and washing behind my ears of course!<br /><br />About the jungle. It was brilliant and very rugged. From Rurrenabaque we went on a 3 hour boat ride through Maididi National Park, down the Tuichi River - 6 girls in a boat: all we were missing were the pina coladas!<br /><br />I must add mother that I am now engaged to both Tarzan AND Mogli but I shall come to that later...<br /><br />We arrived at our camp and lugged all the food and water for our 3 days through the jungle to a clearing with some open thatched huts on sticks. Here we discovered a plethora of biting creepy crawlies that were to literally 'bug us' for the rest of our stay. They including bedbugs, ticks, sand flies and mosquitoes, not to mention all the bees and spiders. And there were far too many ants. Our guide classified them as sweet, bitter or toxic – it's all about whether you can eat things here! They included the famous bhuna ant which is massive and has the most painful bite ever - it is agony for 24 hours. There were also bats nesting above our beds which was quite cool.<br /><br />The jungle was really dense and hot with all sorts of exciting sounds but not nearly as much wildlife as in the pampas. There were however, beautiful big red and yellow macaws. Poor things, they should have been safely snuggled up in a pet shop! Noisy buggers they are! <br /><br />Our first stop was to visit the macaw wall in the jungle where all the macaws and parrots go to feed off of the minerals on the wall. It did seem funny to see so many of them together in the wild. Many of these parrots are extremely endangered.<br /><br />Our guide introduced us to lots of creepy crawlies and made us swing on vines, Tarzan style, managing to fit in a good grope on each of us as he kindly helped us to swing by pulling our waists and pushing our bottoms.<br /><br />We discovered there was no running water or electricity at our camp, which was great as we had to bathe in the river which was beautiful, especially as it was so hot and sticky, as you can imagine. We had a good old mud bath and exfoliation whilst we were in there, probably massaging innumerable parasites into our skin.<br /><br />There was a group of boys already at our camp who were making jewellery with their guide Milton (AKA Tarzan... see where I'm going with this?) Their guide made me a ring (anillo de promeso) and put it on my finger, so we are now officially engaged, greatly to his delight and amusement. <br /><br />However, whilst the boys were making their jewellery, we girls insisted on trekking to the other side of the jungle to make a camp, literally using a sheet of plastic and sleeping on the floor of the jungle. No frills, just a bit of plastic below us and a mosquito net. We fished for our supper. We were described as 'chicas vlientes' by our surprised and reluctant guide but we insisted we go.<br /><br />When we got there we were just so sticky, and I had been attacked by the biggest bug we ever saw, apart from a tarantula! I looked down and saw that I was being watched by a massive pair of eyes on my leg! Of course I instantly thought it was a spider and had the guide running back through the jungle to locate my scream. He practically licked his lips when he saw the bug on me! I'm sure it would have made quite a feast as it was so huge, but my only concern was removing the thing!!<br /><br />We were so relieved to reach our camp on the next river after a day's sticky trekking. The river was covered in iridescent butterflies in blues, oranges and yellows and we had to literally climb down a vine to get to it so we could wash and access water - which we boiled over a fire so we could drink it. We cooked all our food on the fire and prepared plenty of water for our journey back the next day. We then spent several hours swimming, attempting to catch fish and being nibbled by them in the river.<br /><br />We managed to catch a big catfish and after dinner went for a night walk which was terrifying considering my fear of spiders. We found, unsurprisingly, a tarantula pottering about. We had seen jaguar prints on our way across the jungle, near our camp, so went to look for them. Rhi was convinced we were being stalked by one so we turned off our torches and froze, hearts pounding, only to turn them on and find we were being stalked by an armadillo! We also saw night monkeys who were following us curiously and several herds of chancho (wild pigs) who are incredibly noisy, making weird clicking and snuffling noises. Couldn't quite understand our guide who only spoke Spanish, and that in a whisper. I think I understood that they had just killed something and that there were about 80 of them, which scared the hell out of us although I could well have been wrong. It's just so intense in the heat and noise of the sweaty night jungle and with all lights off you can't see a thing but you can hear sounds all around you.<br /><br />Needless to say it was a fairly sleepless night amidst the jungle sounds on the hard floor. A herd of chancho raided our camp in the morning to wake us up, and after a greasy breakfast of dunkin donuts (fried doughballs with sugar) and biscuits, we divided the rest of the food up to carry back. As I was unloading the bag, a MASSIVE orange and black hairy spider trundled out of the bag towards my hand. Not for the first time I nearly soiled myself and squealed like a dying piggy!<br /><br />Our return journey was very educational, learning about all the different medicines from Doctor Carl Kennedy - our guide was called Carlos and was a doctor of jungle medicine from an indigenous local tribe. Deep in the Selva his family still lives from the plants and animals there. We saw trees where one drop of sap could kill you within minutes but if prepared properly could cure all sorts of ailments. It is used to tip the spears for hunting. We saw trees that can cause abortion, increase fertility, get rid of parasites, and cure rheumatism and malaria. The trees have bark that tastes and smells like garlic and repel mosquitoes etc. We also learned how the ants chew leaves which emit a toxic gas so that bears don't eat their nests.<br /><br />When triumphantly back at our camp, after a swim, Carl Kennedy made each of us a ring out of a nut, and a necklace, once again taking advantage of the opportunity to have a quick grope as he put them on us. Hence, I am now also engaged to Mogli (Dr. Carl,) although so are Rhi and Minton!!<br /><br />On our boat back we stopped to pick up a mad Frenchman from the shore who had some kind of jungle fever and talked and swore to himself for the entire journey, not making eye contact with anyone, wandering up and down the tiny boat and rocking it so we all feared for ourselves!!<br /><br />The next day we went to get our plane back to La Paz only to discover they had booked us on the wrong flight - for the day before! So after a nasty confab where they accused us of missing our flights, and told us the present flight was full, we had to pay again to change the flight even though it was their mistake. We were then delayed for 9 hours due to fog!! Apparently this is quite normal though and we were lucky to go at all, the planes are so small and there is no proper airstrip. In the rainy season sometimes people are stuck there for days on end!<br /><br />Anyway, I'm boring myself now and there's so much more to tell since then so I'll abandon ship for now. Next one will be the end of Bolivia – we're now in Chile but on our way back to Peru.<br /><br />Hope all's well. Hopefully I won't leave it so long next time,<br /><br />Lots of love, Kate xxxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-45540908382460484022008-12-05T06:14:00.000-08:002008-12-05T06:15:48.022-08:00Rurrenebaque and the Pampas<B>30 November 2008, La Paz, Bolivia</B> <br />Our holiday within a holiday was the trip to the Madidi National Park in the Bolivian Amazon, based from a place called Rurrenebaque.<br /> <br />It is an 18 to 30 hour bus ride on unmetalled roads so we chose to take a flight in a tiny 19 seater plane. Rhianon described it as like being in one of the pods on the London eye, catapulted across the sky. Quite accurate actually. Although I'm not scared of flying there were moments in the turbulence when I thought we wouldn't make it! The co-pilot was really sick and had to be rushed out first when we landed on a strip of grass cleared in the midst of the jungle!<br /> <br />Flying over the rainforest was quite an eye opener as the bits which were not national park had been heavily deforested and many areas were being burned, causing a huge smog to hang over Rurrenebaque. This brought home the importance of eco tourism, (although I guess flying there isn't so 'eco' - guilty gulp). Although I wasn't sure about the ethics of going to the jungle as part of a tour, I realise now that at least it is an alternative industry to logging and cattle and it ensures that the rainforest is preserved in some areas at least.<br /> <br />The 40 degree heat really hit you as you got off the plane, especially as it was only 45 minutes from La Paz where you were surrounded by glaciers. The views on the flight were stunning though, flying over the Andes.<br /> <br />Whilst we looked for a hostel to stay in tiny Rurrenebaque, we scrumped some mangoes which were just lying around, fallen from the trees, and later had a little fruity feast in our leafy hostel.<br /> <br />The next day we booked a trip to the Pampas which is a sort of marshland on the edge of the rainforest with a river running through. This is where you take the boat trip. It's a bit like being on a wet production line with all the other tour boats going up and down the same strip. It can't be good for the wildlife but as it was the very end of the dry season and everything was dried up except the river, there was really concentrated wildlife, and there was just so much of it about!!<br /> <br />Within seconds of getting into the boat we were surrounded by alligators, caiman and numerous birds including herons, several varieties of kingfisher, and storks. There were great families of capybara, various types of monkeys, pink river dolphins, anacondas, piranahs, macaws, toucans and many different sorts of large birds of prey. I just don't know why they don't eat each other and seem to get on. It's almost as if they have a pact to share the river as it's the only water left for them all. You'd never see such concentrated wildlife together normally.<br /> <br />Our camp was extremely basic, there was a shower and a tap which we used to brush our teeth for the first 2 days till we reliased that is was just the filthy, condensed river water pumped up! Our guide thought it was hilarious that we were brushing our teeth in 'peepee de Alligatorés.' If we haven't got tropical diseases and parasites now, we're not gonna get them.<br /> <br />After night fall we got back in the boat to look for caiman by torchlight. Unfortunately it was the night of the giant moths which only come out once a year. Every time we put our head torches on to look we got a mouthful of moths. It was bloody awful and eventually the guide made us turn them all off as he was freaked out. In the end it was lovely as the sides of the river were lit up by fireflies so the guide could steer the boat back using those and we listened to all the night time jungle sounds along the way.<br /> <br />We were woken early the next morning by the howler monkeys in the trees above our camp and an orphaned bambi crying. It was like a scene out of Snow White with the bambi and the brightly coloured birds - just needed someone to burst into song. I would have done so but people were already throwing rotten fruit at the bambi to get it to shut up and I didn't fancy my chances!!<br /> <br />After breakfast we went on an anaconda walk to look for anacondas (surprisingly). After traipsing through a potato field with ostriches, giant snails, capybara skeletons and snake skins littered everywhere, we found a swampy spot with long grass and our guide told us to break up and look for cobras and anacondas in the grass! I nearly soiled myself, I thought that was HIS job!<br /> <br />Within seconds one of the lads had found a 3 metre cobra constrictor which the guide proceeded to grasp by the tail and swing round his head so it wouldn't bite him till someone found a stick for him to pin it down with so he could grab the head.<br />The poor thing had just eaten a toad which it regurgitated (fortunately not in mid swing or we'd have got a faceful of half digested toad!) It had war wounds of alligator bites all over it. The guide reckoned it was about 20 years old. I wondered how many times it had been caught for tourists in its life!<br /> <br />We didn't manage to find our anaconda 'til we got back to camp and there was one, still alive but barely, on the river bank. Its head had been half eaten by an alligator but it was still moving about. Whilst we were watching the dying anaconda, our camp was invaded by a troupe of squirrel monkeys who came down to play with the kittens. It was rather sweet and a good opportunity to watch them closely.<br /> <br />The evening was spent fishing for piranahs from the boat. I managed to catch a twig and Minton and Rhianon both caught the same damaged fish with no tail and one eye, but everyone else caught lots of piranhas! It was great fishing with a toucan and curious capuchin monkeys in the tree above, surrounded by alligators and with the sound of howler monkeys settling down for the night as a backdrop.<br /> <br />The following morning we got up at 5 to go and watch the sun rise and were then taken to swim with 25 pink river dolphins - and 2 massive caiman - in the river. We made sure we washed off all our sun cream and insect repellent but not everyone else did. There are so many tourists doing it every day that it must be so poisonous for the wildlife!<br /> <br />It was a brilliant experience but I knew the river was full of piranhas as we'd just been catching them and the caiman were right next to us, dipping in and out of the water, but apparently the dolphins protect us from them. How thoughtful of them - such an altruistic act and what a load of nonsense! I don't know how it works but apparently if you're swimming with the dolphins, the caiman won't go in amongst them as there are so many of them. The dolphins are really eerie and creepy looking, pinky-grey and silent, popping up occasionally and snorting. I can't say I think they're all that nice to be honest. They gave me the heeby-jeebies a bit!!<br /> <br />I don't think I've seen so much interesting wildlife close up in all my life put together. It was truly special and I just hope that tourism doesn't kill all that wildlife off!<br /> <br />Will write about our more rugged jungle adventure next time, got a bottle of Bolivian wine winking at me! xxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-46555293318289024792008-12-05T06:12:00.001-08:002008-12-05T06:13:33.355-08:00La Paz<B>30 November 2008, La Paz, Bolivia</B><br />Just returned from a fantastic week or so in the rainforest to La Paz and heading off to Potosi, the highest altitude city in the world. It was once one of the richest, biggest cities in the world, due to its silver mines, and is now one of the poorest.<br /> <br />La Paz is an amazing city. It's strange being in a bustling, overpopulated town built at such high altitude in such an improbable location. You look down the bustling streets with their major banks and you can see a Glacier at the end of them. It's 3,600 metres above sea level and you can really feel the altitude.<br /> <br />Just outside the city is Valle de la Luna, the badlands. The rock formations are like being in a Dali painting! It is a totally surreal landscape where rain has washed away parts of the rock and corroded it into turrets. There are bright red sandy bits of rock and also some white so it's really striking. The red rock reminded me of home in Devon especially as we took some saltenyas (Bolivian pasties) and some Bolivian fudge and had a picnic there. We just needed a cream tea to feel right at home!<br /> <br />We visited the witches market (a walk-by not a proper visit) which has aborted llama foetuses a-plenty, dried toads, jaguar skins hanging up, various spells and potions and - rather charmingly - human fat, amongst a multitude of rumoured much darker things, including children's bones. But we didn't investigate that far!!<br /> <br />Our first night was spent in gringo tourist hell, the Adventure Brew Hostel, overpriced and full of drunk partying young people (we are the oldest people we've met bar a couple from Brighton). They include a free beer in the room price and a beer spa - literally bathing in beer! also trips to watch Bolivian women wrestlers - you get the picture... The staff were arrogant and rude and we were delighted to find feedback forms in the rooms for the first time. However they were totally patronising with options ranging from 'crap' to 'wicked' and obviously aimed at a certain type of young traveller. <br /><br />It was definitely not for us so we found an amazing crumbly old colonial hotel next to the cathedral called Hotel Torrino. Here we were greeted by a gaggle of Bolivian women in the foyer in their stripy shawls and bowler hats having some kind of women's meeting. They all laughed at us and shouted chicas!! hola gringitas!!<br /> <br />It has shutters and balconies, really rambling and quirky and a quarter the price of the cringy Brew hostel. It really is (very) faded colonial grandeur, with a massive central courtyard full of old statues and columns. The rest is like a labyrinth of corridors and rooms with rickety colonial furniture. Quirky, however at night time, it turned into how I imagine Guillermo Del Torro's 'The Orphanage' to be and I completely freaked out wandering down the creepy abandoned corridors to go to the loo in the night. Back into our little room with our beds all in a row, just like in an orphanage, I spent the night watching for ghosts in the mirror of the wonky dark wood old wardrobe with the shaft of light coming through the equally wonky shutters! Must be the altitude!<br /> <br />The streets are a comedy, full of what we initially thought were some kind of terrorists with lads with balaclavas on following you and shouting. We discovered they are the local shoe shine boys who wear the balaclavas to avoid the pollution as they wander the streets. There are also people dressed as Zebras who wear advertisments on their backs and help blind people across the street! There are street vendors wandering round with wheelbarrows heaped high with giant popcorn - the corn kernels are much bigger here.<br /><br />There are also peaceful protestors everywhere - groups of women, students, miners etc. flanked by military, who all look about 12 years old, carrying massive guns and wearing combat fatigues. The protestors seem to be having a lovely time, almost like an excuse for a get together, it seems to be very much part of Bolivian life. However, the pollution is unbelievable!! The brilliant old dodge buses painted in bright colours chuff out ridiculous smog. I don't think emissions testing is a priority in Bolivia!!<br /> <br />Got to go now but will write up about the jungle when I can get to another internet cafe!!<br /> <br />All the best, love Kate xxJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-36020816295677133792008-11-17T10:19:00.000-08:002008-11-17T10:39:09.320-08:00Land of hats and plaits<B>Saturday 15th November 2008</B><br />Hello, we're now in Bolivia in Copacabana, due to travel to La Paz, the highest capital in the world tomorrow. <br /> <br />Our journey from Cuzco was very interesting, travelling on a condemned local bus with a smashed windscreen and seats that stood up with you and skidded around the filthy bus. <br />The journey was stunning though, travelling through the Altiplano with herds of llamas and alpacas and Incan ruins scattered around the otherwise barren landscape, with snow capped mountains in the distance. We were going to take the train which had been written up in the Guardian as the most beautiful train ride but the cost was 175 dollars, ridiculous, nearly a week's budget, so we got the bus which follows almost exactly the same route along the tracks for only four quid.<br /> <br />Somebody had crammed a white bag into the luggage rack and we watched it wriggle around throughout the journey until it made it's final bid for freedom and whatever creature/s was contained within fell onto some unsuspecting person's head!<br /> <br />We arrived in Puno on the Peruvian side of lake Titicaca and ended up staying close to the port in what can only be described as the Ghetto, totally run down, people making fires in the streets, packs of dogs and intimidating young men, holes in the ground, smashed windows... you get the picture. When we got into our room in a hostel, there were men showering in our supposedly private room so we had to wait in another room whilst they finished and left us with a filthy bathroom. The ´breakfast in bed´ made up for it though, a plastic bag of rolls and a flask of hot water, one knife, no plates and 3 mugs. My how we laughed as we scattered crumbs onto the floor of the seedy hostel where rooms could presumably be rented by the hour.<br /> <br />Anyhow, the next day we went down to the port and haggled for boats to an island called Taquile on lake Titicaca (which used to be a sea apparently.) Taquile is pretty much self-contained and an anthropologically intact tribe still live there. <br /> <br />We ended up being the only people not on a tour boat and joined the local ´collectivo´, our second virtually condemned vehicle in 2 days - this time a boat. The captain however was lovely and very proud to have tourists on his boat despite the fact that it broke down in the middle of the lake - he pulled the pipes out of the engine, sucked the fuel into his mouth and spat it all over my bag which was next to the motor. We weren't concerned however as before the boat had departed, the captain and his toothless, coca chewing sidekick, had blessed the boat and thrown an offering of coca leaves into the lake for good luck on the voyage.<br /> <br />I ended up teaching noughts and crosses to a little boy from the island whilst his mother and her friends giggled at us. I hope this was a good influence on him as I later looked up from my book to see him playing with a syringe, complete with needle, and injecting his toy plane, which was slightly disturbing.<br /> <br />When we arrived at the island, the captain had a word with the officials of the community and they waived the fee to let us on the island. He wrote down his details and promised to collect us on the other side of the island the following day in order to take us for a free visit to the reed islands where his mates live on our return to Puno.<br /> <br />The island of Taquile was incredible, a fascinating place, inhabited for thousands of years. It has no running water, roads or electricity. Life still continues pretty much as it always has, the local community not intermarrying, farming the land, still using the original Inca terraces and traditional cattle ploughs and working as a cooperative for tourism. <br /> <br />We had to sign in a book and local families take turns to put visitors up in their homes for a night. We stayed with a gorgeous family who made us great meals and really looked after us. We stayed in a mud and straw hut which had views of the lake and Cordillera Real peaks covered in snow over in Bolivia. We gave them gifts of fruit and Minton's head torch which one of the ladies had been going gooey over!<br /> <br />Everyone spoke in a whisper which was really surreal but made sense as the loudest noises on the island are sheep bleating and the buzzing of bees which seemed deafening, no traffic or TV or anything, it made us feel like right loud - mouths!<br /> <br />The men wander around the island knitting and the women wander around spinning wool. <br /> <br />It is quite fascinating how the traditional culture is still very alive. The men wear knitted wee willie winkie hats (which is what they wander round knitting) and if they are married they are all red, if they're single they are half white - it´s like an anthropological traffic lights party! <br />The women wear multi-layered colourful skirts and black shawls with bright pompoms on the corners, however, if they're married they are smaller pom poms in only one colour. All the men carry a little embroidered ´man bag´ in which they carry coca leaves and when they say hello, they shake hands and exchange coca leaves. We had noticed the men on our boat doing this also and chewing away on them on the journey.<br /> <br />We spent our time scampering around the island watching this living anthropological museum and exploring the unguarded Incan ruins dotted about the place, it really was rather special. We are growing rather fond of picnics and power - naps in Incan , although our power - nap in Machu picchu had to be the best!<br /> <br />We were gutted to leave but Marcello (our captain) picked us up the next day and took us over to the floating reed islands, very strange places and extremely touristy now. They were first made by people trying to flee the Incas and set up remote communities. They are literally made by piling reeds on top of the old rotten ones, they just keep replacing them. It was such a weird sensation walking onto them and they are moving about - our one was particularly small though. There are several islands and he took us to one where we didn't have to pay an entrance fee. <br /> <br />We were immediately bundled by a load of grubby little girls who forced us to the floor and insisted on doing our hair the same as theirs (in plaits). It was really rather painful but hysterically funny. We were so bullied by them and paid them for our hairdressing session with a banana and a half eaten packet of biscuits, but they seemed pleased. We were a source of great entertainment for the locals on the boat and the women on the island who all stood around to watch and laugh at our pain!<br /> <br />After another night in the ghetto we crossed over into Bolivia where we are now, staying on Copacabana where everyone has an exciting hat of some description. I have now developed an unhealthy obsession with hats. I want one of all of them, especially the see-through American style visors with Copacabana written on them for playing poker!<br /> <br />We spent our first night watching the sun set over the lake and eating fresh trout from the lake with the local police who all bundled in for their beer and trout, then went for happy hour mochitos and were still in bed by 9!<br /> <br />The next morning we went to the square of the cathedral, a pilgrimage site as it contains the most religious icon in Bolivia (a Madonna in a pretty frock) to watch Challah (or the blessing of the cars). People going on long journeys bring their cars to be blessed by the priest who emerges from the cathedral in white robes with a bucket of water and a big red carnation and splashes water with his flowery wand all over and inside the car. They attach bunches of flowers all over the car and throw flower petals in the engine and all over it, then finally they shake up some bottles of beer and spray it all over the windscreen and inside the bonnet. It really is quite a spectacle but I cant help thinking that it would be safer not to do it, as a sticky windscreen covered in petals and flowers flapping about somewhat obscures one's view, plus beer and petals in the engine cannot be good, but perhaps I'm just a fuddy duddy.<br /> <br />Yesterday we visited Isla de la luna, supposedly the birthplace of the Incas but we know it's not really. It was lovely but a bit disappointing compared to our experience on Isla Taquile. We walked the length of the island through several communities all of whom make you pay to pass through! The ruins were great however, a complete labyrinth overlooking white sandy beaches on the vast lake - so hard not to keep calling it the sea. It was weird seeing the animals on the beach drinking the water as it's not salty. There was even a tied up fishing cormorant which they train to catch fish for them.<br /><br />We managed to rescue a Peruvian hairy piglet who had become all tangled in its ropes and stuck in the scorching sun, and it tried to follow us. If anyone has time can they research rare breeds farms with Peruvian hairy pigs, I definitely want one!!<br /> <br />We spent the night on the island in a sleety storm which was quite exciting but soooo cold!<br /> <br />We're now back in Copacabana for a Saturday night out - might even make it 9.30 tonight!!<br /> <br />Off to La Paz and then to the jungle for a week so next instalment should be a while away<br /> <br />All the best, Kate xxxx<br /> <br />P.S Just saw a poodle called ´chico´ dressed in combat gear chasing another dog it had fallen in love with. All the men were shouting its name trying to get it back. I managed a photo for the collection thank goodness!!Jill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-609327704956180255.post-27625464583257227202008-11-17T10:16:00.000-08:002008-11-17T10:19:39.320-08:00Arrival in Peru<B>Thursday 13th November 2008</B><br />Hello, you dont have to read this all but some people expressed an interest so there is the option for vicarious travelling if you so wish!!<br /> <br />We've been having a brilliant time so far...<br />We've visited lots of Incan adobe pyramids (or piles of crumbly mud) at Pachacumac and Huaca Pucllana in an around Lima (the second one was only recently discovered under a rubbish tip in Ventral Miraflores in Lima, pretty much opposite out hostel and only a month ago they discovered a mummy of a child and a gold mask) My highlight was managing to film a Peruvian hairless dog eating llama poo. I felt very cultured! <br /> <br />We had a guided tour of the monastery of San Francisco and everyone was blatantly only there to look at the catacombs below, with 250 000 skeletons excavated so far, arranged in bizzare patterns of femurs and skulls in pretty circles. Very artistic. The rest of the tour was boring apart from the picture of a man licking someone's ulcerated leg.<br /> <br /> We had a fine luncheon of chicken with some weird corn custard on top and a glass of chicha which when we looked it up was apparently beer made by people chewing and spitting out the corn to start the fermentation process, but we then realised this is only in the Andes and it was just a drink made from red corn. Shame, I quite liked the idea of spit juice. <br /> <br />They like to dress up their dogs in Peru to my delight, I have seen a cocker spaniel wearing some kind of medieval tabard and a Yorkshire terrier in a checked shirt and jacket amongst many other spectacular outfits.<br /> <br />We've eaten alpaca but cant quite bring ourselves to eat guinea pig yet. We have seen some fabulous menu translations however such as ´Guinea pig to the furnace´ and for those wishing for a lighter bite, ´hand sandwich´.<br /> <br />We only spent 2 nights in Lima and then flew to Cuzco, the ´gateway to the Incas´ or tourist party capital of Peru, depending on how you look at it. We chose to take the first tack. We instantly met some boys from Brighton who only wanted to talk about estate agents in Brighton and which bars we were planning to go to, how drunk they got last night etc. so we discreetly had to make our excuses and leave!<br /> <br />We all took about 3 days to adjust to the altitude but took the opportunity to be lazy. After locking myself in a toilet and having to get a Peruvian woman to kick the door in whilst I nearly hyperventilated inside, we took a leisurely wander up to some Incan ruins above Cuzco. However, the prices for entry were too expensive for our budget so we found a local ranch and haggled with them for some horses to take us to some other (free) ruins - temples of the monkey and the moon which were great but our horses were a little worse for wear and somwhat flatulent (the cheeky ranch boy told me it was a ´turbo horse´!) It was a beautiful ride through a eucalyptus forest and we managed to understand what we were told by our 12 year old guide in Spanish so were very pleased with ourselves.<br /> <br />Cuzco centre is very pretty with lots of old colonial churches and buildings, many built using the Incan structures there previously as a base and from pilfered stones from the ruins around Cuzco.<br /> <br />They have taken on Halloween in a big way there and the streets in the evening were awash with children in cute costumes carrying plastic pumpkins, so we went and got our bag of haribo sweets from England (well, from the hostel) and as soon as we'd given one out, we were totally mobbed and swamped by children. It was quite scary but good fun and some people wanted to have their photo taken with us!<br /> <br />Nov 1st was All Saints day and all the women from the mountains came down in their brightly coloured clothes and hats with buckets full of quarters of roast suckling pig and everyone gathered in the squares to eat it. There was also what I can only describe as babies baked in bread. There were hundreds of bits of pig and bread with dolls' heads and Jesus heads (with glasses on weirdly) baked into plaits of ornate bread. We did try some but it was a bit stale and the eyes and teeth (and flies) on the pig put us off trying that!<br /> <br />There was also some procession in the Plaza de Armas with the military doing their Ministry of Silly Walks impressions and lots of brass bands, flags, speeches etc. (and even more dogs in clothes).<br /> <br />The local market is ace. We have our daily juices there. Stalls are piled high with assorted fruits and a whole row of women serve fresh pressed juices and smoothies with anything in them from aloe vera to beetroot, and you can mix and match. There's such a great atmosphere and if you're in a hurry, they put it in a plastic bag for you to take away! Next to the smoothies is the offal section where you can find whole cows noses with teeth, furry nostrils and tongue hanging out, complete with putrid stench, necks hanging up, miscellaneous bags of entrails and a dog eating the brains out of a cow's head, complete with horns, on the grass outside!!<br /><br />There are also stalls with all sorts of spells and potions on them, in all seriousness, some for love, fidelity, power etc.<br /> <br />We decided to get the local bus out and visit some villages and Incan sites around Cuzco. The bus journey was stunning, one of the most beautiful I've been on, winding through high glacial Andean peaks and thundery skies at high altitude (a great excuse to eat coca toffees which help with altitude) and it only cost about 50p for the whole day!!<br /> <br />We ended up at the Sunday market in Pisac which was really pretty but full of western hippies. We found a little cafe for our menu del dia with the locals and 2 girls came in busking in their tie dye, one with a clarinet and one on guitar. They played really loudly (and badly) and then expected the locals, who are really poor, to give them money. It was so cringy and embarrassing, I didn't know whether to laugh or be angry with them!<br /> <br />The local ruins were again far out of our budget but we managed to sneak in through a back alley when a local girl pointed us in the right direction, saving us 20 dollars each. We paid for it in our steep climb up the mountain though but it as well worth it. A stunning Incan complex high on top of a mountain, close to the gods with incredible views of the surrounding mountains and Urubamba river which flows into the Peruvian Amazon.<br /> <br />The next day we were aching from our climb to the ruins, so decided to visit some hot springs which were rumoured about. This involved 2 bus journeys and a ride in a car with 9 people. I was in the boot with a local mountain woman, who had her cloth strapped to her back containing whatever she was taking to market, and a grubby street urchin with her pet in a cardboard box. We were dropped in the middle of nowhere in a bizarre building with filthy brown pools of water which smelled of wee where lots of local boys stared at us and giggled. It was not the outdoor natural pools of clean spring water we were dreaming of. We stayed about 10 minutes before heading off up the mountain to find some more rumoured ruins. <br /> <br />After several kilometres' hike up hill in the midday heat we realised that they weren't there and started to head back. Eventually we managed to hitch a lift with someone who asked Minton in Spanish where we were looking for. She misunderstood and thought he asked where she was from and said "England", which he thought was hilarious. He kindly informed us that England was not in that direction! Anyway, apparently the ruins were another 3 hours walk from where we had made it to so we were saved!<br /> <br />We had lunch in the bus station, I enquired as to the filling of the empanadas (Spanish pasties) the lady had on her stall and she said something which totally sounded like condor. I reiterated the words "condor empanada" to her quizzically and she fell about laughing. I think it made her day!!<br /> <br />On the way back we stopped for sunset in another village, Chinchera, and broke into their ruins, again without paying the 40 soles fee for sunset overlooking the glacial mountains. It was quite magical being in the ruins at twilight with the backdrop of the Andes and sunset over the glaciers opposite.<br /> <br />We then went on the Inca Trail which was the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu which was totally amazing!! <br /> <br />We all got ill at some point. I was ill the first day with sickness and nausea, couldn't eat and had to trek in the midday sun not having slept the night before because of sickness. We left at 4.30am so I was totally exhausted but after the second day I got better and the other girls got ill!! Anyway, in the end it didn't ruin the experience, only added to it!<br /> <br />The porters were incredible, they provided 3 course lunches and dinners every day including fresh trout, cakes, pancakes and fruit salad for breakfast and several different meat dishes, all carried with them on the trek and served seated at a table in a big tent lit by gas lamp up a mountain. <br /> <br />It was really clear so we had views of the snow-capped mountains whilst walking through cloud forest full of butterflies and iridescent green hummingbirds. We saw wild, grey deer who came right up to us and even the porters stopped to watch them. Other wildlife included a comedy mouse in someone's tent, I was very jealous, it took about 6 triumphant porters and several different languages to catch it, and a moth dragging a giant (and fortunately dead) hairy black spider. <br /> <br />We scampered through several different sets of Indiana Jones style ruins along the way and the 3rd day was by far the hardest with 1200 uneven Incan steps to descend. Our legs were ruined but it was so worth it. The cloudless sky that night showed us the best array of stars before the moon rose and it was quite magical imagining the Incas in the same cloud forest next to Machu Picchu, worshipping the same stars and mountains.<br /> <br />The final day was a ridiculous race of people running to get to the sun gate to see the first glimpse of Machu Picchu as the sun rose. We however, walked at a steady British pace with Minton proclaiming ´it's been there for centuries, it's not going anywhere,´ but she was in fact wrong, as we discovered that it's actually moving at a rate of about 2 cm a year!<br /> <br />We had some cheesy photos taken and a tour of the ruins, 'discovered' in 1911 by the American Hiram Bingham, (the locals all knew they were there all along and in fact took him there). At the time there were only 2 farming families living in what is now Aguas Calientes or Machu Picchu town.<br /> <br />On our way back on the train, we were treated to a fashion show of Alpaca jumpers, the man and woman who pushed the drinks trolley disappeared into the toilet, cheesy 80´s music was pumped out the speakers and they emerged in flouncy alpaca jumpers and paraded up and down the isle of the train, it was hilarious!! The whole point of the ridiculously expensive train ($75 for 1.5 hours) was that it was a viewing train, to see the view. Not that we had any choice in the matter as Peru rail have the only train line so there was no other option as there are no roads - it's get the train or hike through the mountains!! Anyway, all in all it was stunning and I'd recommend it to anyone.<br /> <br />Must go now, well done if you've made it to the end. Next instalment will be lake Titicaca and Bolivia.<br /> <br />Lots of love, Kate xJill, Ian and Modestinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04122859105828936321noreply@blogger.com0