The Great 8

The number 8 is considered lucky particularly in Asian cultures which perhaps makes it particularly auspicious that 8 of us are heading off for a 2 week adventure around Vietnam and Cambodia.

This bunch of reprobates is comprised of Petra, Kieran, Mikey, Jules, Megs, Oren and Rob.  With an average height hovering somewhere around the 6’ mark, a penchant to break into dance and no limit of outgoing personalities, I’m reasonably confident that we will get noticed wherever we go.

The trip has been organised by the amazing Petra.  She has not only concocted an adventure worthy of several boys-own editions, she has managed to do it on a shoestring budget.  Her organisation skills have stretched to organising our visas for us, in fact pretty much the only thing she didn’t do was pack our bags (although she may well have packed Kieran's).  It is a unique experience for me as an adult to just turn up to the airport with everything having been done for me, but I have to say it is a pretty excellent one.

As a result of her efforts we have a fantastic adventure ahead of us.  Already one flight and two Qantas Clubs down and we have proved to be enthusastic at annoying levels, inappropriate to a rarely seen degree and having the ability to have fun, even in an airport.

Stay tuned for updates on our escapades as often as access to the internet will allow.

Flight delays and dodgy South American airlines

This is one of those travelling adventures we are happy our families get to hear about when it is over and they know we are safe and sound – not when we are watching bits of plane rattle in ways they really shouldn’t.

From my last blog you will know we were stuck at the airport in Arequipa. Our plane was delayed – because it was broken. So broken they had to fly in a new one. So we sat around an airport with all the excitement factor of Canberra airport for about 9 hours. They did give us a meal voucher and we had a lunch of what is kind of the national Peruvian dish – stir fried beef, onion and capsicum served with chips and rice. It is pretty nice.

But that didn’t fill in much time, so we wandered the length of the airport a few times, bought and ate chocolate, bought books and read, but were generally bored.

Finally after 9pm, our new plane arrived. I use the word “new” in the sense that it was a different plane because there is nothing about our Sky airlines plane that could be described as new. It was so old the carpet was fraying, the seats basic, hard and missing the headrest covers so you hair stuck to the Velcro. The seats were so hard it was like sitting on a wooden bench – which vibrated – for 5 hours. We were in the last row, which meant that we also got frozen at each stop when they opened the back door.

Yes, I did say each stop – there were three. At the first one we got out and were quite quickly and efficiently processed through Chilean Customs and Immigration, the next one we just sat there and froze as they loaded food (yes they did give us actually quite decent food for dinner at 1.30am) and the third stop was Santiago where we could finally get out, into a cab and our hostel.

Take off and landing in our ancient plane was a shaky experience. On the first takeoff Anna and I agreed that we would just be thankful to make it to Santiago alive, although flying a very dodgy airline did complete the South American experience. The landings confirmed this, hard and bouncy would be a couple of pretty accurate adjectives. But we did make it and despite all the discomfort and tiredness, we shouldn’t complain, not after we found out what the Dutch girl sitting next to us had gone through.

When we checked in, we had our bags searched to the point that we had to completely unpack our packs (the woman doing my bag even opened and smelled my shampoo but I wonder if she just wanted to know what it smelled like). This happened to everyone, but the Dutch girl and a Mexican girl were both singled out for extra attention. She was told that due to Holland’s drug laws, she had to have extra searches and was taken off to the toilets where they made her strip, and even bend forward and open her buttocks for them to check for drugs! The poor thing was just shattered by the whole experience – especially as there was a drug sniffer dog there who hadn’t reacted to her at all!

So we were pretty happy that we hadn’t had to go through an experience like that.

Today we had a bit of a sleep in, then a wander about the city. It is quite cool, about 15 degrees and very smoggy so combined with our lack of sleep from the past few days we are not really feeling very touristy. Tomorrow is the last day then we head home – looking forward to seeing you all soon!

Dancing and Waiting

Our last 24 hours in Arequipa have been at opposite ends of the spectrum, from partying to sitting around.

Last night Anna and I were in the mood for a dance, so we headed out to try some Arequipa nightlife. We had been given lots of warnings to be careful of drink spiking and pick pockets but we had a fab time and only met really lovely people. We began with the best pizza we have had on the trip and a few pisco sours before heading to a few of the local clubs. We had a dance, spoke bad spanish to the locals and only got back to the hostel at 5.30am.

Feeling a bit delicate in the morning, we packed then carbo loaded before heading to the airport for our flight to Chile. Unfortunately there was a problem with the plane and it is delayed for 7 hours - so we are sitting in the airport for the next few hours.

Only a couple of days till we head home, but a new country to explore in that time. Peru has been great, but look out Chile here we come!

The crazy things you do when travelling

Over the last two days Anna and I spent about 20 hours in busses, so that we could spend about 30 minutes in the air. However, the flight was over the famous Nazca lines, so crazy as it may seem, all that bus travel really was worth it.

We took an overnight bus on Thursday night and managed to get Cama seats. These are the ones that open the flattest and are also much wider and cushier so we both slept really quite well. We arrived in Nazca at about 6am and made our way to the travel agent, luckily just across the street from the bus station. Originally our flight was scheduled for 8am but there was low lying fog, so we were moved to a 9am start.

We spent the next couple of hours sitting in the hostel next door before we got loaded into an amazing car to head out to the airport. It was one of those huge Ford monstrosities, gold with a lovely shag pile dash cover edged with gold tassel. It really made me think of that line from “Love Shack” that he has got him a car as big as a whale!

We got out to the airport after having to wait for people who were late and were rushed onto a plane as we were now late for our takeoff time. We were also delayed as each plane took 5 people and we were 5 groups of 2. Anna and I stood our ground and didn’t get split up, so we raced out to a tiny Cessna and headed up the runway.

Then we headed back down the runway. There was a problem with the radio. By the time it was fixed it we had missed our takeoff time and had to be rescheduled. The rescheduled time was 11.15am – not good as we needed to be back at the bus station just after 12! We were also starving as we hadn’t had breakfast – it isn’t recommended because so many people get airsick on the flights. But luckily they snuck us in just after 10am and we were soon in the air.

I can tell why so many people get airsick, they do lots of tight turns and tip the plane right on its side to let you see the lines but I’m glad they do because the view is amazing. The lines are both pictures and geometric figures. They were made by simply pushing the dark top layer of rocks to the side to reveal the pale clay below, but they are HUGE. The pictures are often over 50m long and the geometric figures stretch with precision for miles sometimes.

No one knows why they were made, there are lots of theories, star maps, maps to water sources (the Nazca valley is one of the driest deserts on earth) and of course alien landing strips, but why ever the people did it, they are truly one of the most amazing sights I’ve seen.

We got back to Nazca, had a really good lunch then were back on the bus to Arequipa. Being a day bus we got to see some of the countryside and it was spectacular. Most of the time while it was light we were travelling along the highway which runs on the narrow strip of land between the coast and the desert mountains. The land is dry, just dust and rocks rising sharply up into mountains which catch the sea mist at the top. It was really exciting seeing the Pacific Ocean from the other side as it crashed into Peru. The whole effect was fascinating.

The bus trip was fine except that we didn’t get fed which is unusual, but luckily we were well prepared with snacks, so we napped, watched a few films and arrived back at about midnight.

Now we will hopefully have a couple of quiet days before we head home. One of the movies on the bus was Australia and I’m feeling quite homesick for the accent now! Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

When laughing causes an asthma attack

On Monday night Anna and I farewelled Cusco and took an overnight bus to Arequipa. There we were lucky enough to get the last room in a great hostel and spent the day planning the last week of our trip. We also managed to visit a museum and see “the ice princess” a frozen inca sacrifice which was found on top of a volcano. She really is frozen rather than mummified by the cold temperature and dry atmosphere like the other ones we have seen and they had lots of artifacts on display which made it a really interesting visit.

Much of the rest of the day was spent focused on food. We treated ourselves to a cooked breakfast (ham and cheese rolls aren’t doing it for us any more), had lunch in a rooftop restaurant with views of the volcanoes which surround Arequipa and found a chocolate shop which made really great chocolate milkshakes – believe it or not the first of our trip! We even managed to order in some Chinese for dinner.

Arequipa is over 1,000 meters lower than Cusco and it made a real temperature difference. We spent the day wandering around in t-shirts which seems slightly surreal with a background of snowcapped mountains.

On Wednesday morning we jumped on another tour bus and headed off for a tour of Colca Canyon, which is one of the key reasons people go to Arequipa. It was then that we realized we have become a little tour jaded. After all our tours, we just couldn’t summon up much enthusiasm for more photos of llamas, alpacas, vicunas, desert and mountains. This made the roughly 6 hour bus trip fairly boring! Also as we rose significantly in altitude, the cold began to get us down.

But at last we arrived at Chiva. This small town is the gateway to the canyon and is basically there to serve that purpose – it is small, dusty, full of hostels and not much more. We had a good lunch, then a little free time in which Anna and I explored the town and confirmed its boring status. There were the usual markets which contain all the same things that we have seen time and time again, the girls in traditional dress holding an alpaca wanting to be paid for a photo and not much else. However, things did manage to get more interesting.

Being surrounded by volcanoes, Chiva also has hot springs and we headed down to them. An hour in 38 degree water and we (and our trek sore muscles) were feeling much happier. We headed back to town and went to dinner at a local restaurant complete with entertainment. There was a small traditional band, pan pipes, drums and various guitar like instruments and a pair of dancers. They demonstrated a range of traditional dances, each time getting people from the crowd to participate. The French couple on our table who had been sharing a jug of pisco sour with me and Anna were some of the first.

The final dance was one they do for Corpus Christi. Ever since we arrived in Cusco we have been seeing the strange knitted masks that they wear, think a balaclava crossed with the V for Vendetta mask only knitted and in bright colours. Anyway, the dance seemed to involve the couple taking turns lying on the floor while the other whipped them. It was pretty funny, then Anna got pulled up. I don’t think I have laughed so hard as that in ages as Anna took her turn whipping and being whipped by the strangely masked man to music. Poor Anna was laughing so hard she could barely stand. Then, just as she thought she had finished, he decided to pick her up over one shoulder. The ensuing chase as he tried to pick her up and Anna tried to pick him up, nimbly getting out of the way was so funny I had an asthma attack!

After a relatively decent night’s sleep we got up early (we are very much sick of the 5am starts) to head out to the canyon and see the condors. This was the real reason for our trip and after a couple of stops to admire the view – the canyon is spectacular but it was freezing – we made to the condor lookout. We had been told recently by someone that they went all that way and didn’t see any but we were lucky enough to see quite a few. In fact at one point there were 5 circling overhead.

Condors are seriously big birds, with wing spans of around 3m they can weigh up to 14kgs and have been known to live for 70 years! The immature birds are dark brown, but once they reach adulthood, they are black with white feathers on the back of their wings and around their necks. One of the immature birds was obviously a bit into the show and kept buzzing the crowd flying about 5 meters above causing gasps from those assembled below.

Obviously this is a major tourist attraction and there were lots of people there, including the New Zealand couple who we continue to run into on our trip. But apparently numbers are down hugely on previous years because of the economic crisis, so I guess that has been good for us.

We stayed for over an hour watching the condors wheel above, below and in front of us before walking along the canyon for awhile. It is massive, at its widest over 2km across and 4km deep. The vegetation is really nice, lots of cactuses along with many flowering plants. We have been a bit deprived of flowers on this trip seeing as it is winter so it was a really nice change. They also have these huge nectar eating insects which could almost be hummingbirds with the size of their noses. They love the colour blue so Anna spent a lot of time fending them off her entirely blue outfit.

The day ended with a long bus ride back to Arequipa. We may be a little over the whole tour thing but seeing the condors was a real highlight of the whole trip.

Exploring Inca Style

It has been a week or so since our last update, but it has been an action packed week where we fought illness as we hiked through the Andes and finally made it to Machu Picchu, so get set for a looong entry.

The week began with Amy unwell, so Anna and I set out to explore Cusco. That day we had lunch in not the nicest place we have eaten and Anna ended up with food poisoning. It could have been worse but she was still feeling rather delicate the following morning.

I went out and ran some errands, stocking up on things like chocolate for our trek then in the afternoon Anna was feeling ok so we headed out on a tour of some of the sights around the city. Cusco is the oldest constantly inhabited city in the Americas, so while the Spanish built enormously, the entire foundation of the city is Inca.

Our first stop was the Temple de Sol which was in Inca times the main temple dedicated to the worship of the sun. Of course there isn’t much left because the Spanish tended to build their own churches on top of sacred sites in an effort to bring the Incas to the catholic religion. But it must have been amazing in the day. When they arrived the Spanish spent 4 months working 24 hours a day to melt down all the gold and silver that had covered the temples there!

What is left of the original is just a few rooms, but include one where sacrifices were made. Our guide informed us of the three main ways human sacrifices were made. Firstly, the victims were chosen as very small children from the lower classes and raised specifically to be human sacrifices. Then as young teenagers they were generally sacrificed in one of three ways:

1. Coca leaves were made into a powder which the priests blew into their lungs until they suffocated.
2. They were fed a hallucinogenic drink then had their head bashed in with a rock.
3. Their chest was cut open and their still beating heart was pulled from their bodies.

All in all, fairly grim. But probably the grimmest bit was the three small holes in the wall. These were drains to take away the blood from the human and llama sacrifices. Only the upper classes witnessed the actual sacrifice, so the lower classes would gather outside to get hold of some of the blood which drained away for their own ceremonies!

From there we went to the main cathedral in Cusco. It is over the top opulence at its best, or worst as you may consider it. Interestingly most of the paintings were done by Incas who the Spanish taught to paint in the European style. As a result they often secretly incorporated ancient symbols into the works of art, so the Cathedral still contains Inca objects of worship.

Leaving the actual city behind we went to Saccsayhuaman (pronounced sexy-woman) which is the remains of a massive fortification which sits above Cusco. Only 10% is left as first the Spanish raided it for stone to build their buildings, then the locals did the same until it was protected only a few decades ago. It must have been amazing, but like so many Inca remains, there is very little left. Those stones that are left however are massive. Some weigh literally hundreds of tones and are at least three times my height – and that is just what you can see above the ground. They were quarried 16 km away so it is just amazing that they were able to move them.

We saw a few other ruins, less exciting than the first few, although still really interesting then headed to our briefing for our trek the next day. There we learnt more about what we were in for and met the group we would be trekking with. We were very lucky to be part of a really lovely group of people. There were 12 hikers from the US, Belgium, Germany, Peru and Canada. Ages were early 20’s to mid-30’s and everyone had a great attitude. A couple of the boys had a really hard time with the altitude but everyone worked together to get everyone through the trip. They were so nice I think we will be staying in touch with lots of them.

Briefing over, we headed back for one last dinner with Amy and an early night to bed. Early didn’t quite happen as packing took awhile but at 5am we were up and out the door and off on our trek. Originally we wanted to do the Inca trail, but it is heavily regulated with limited permits per day and we were unable to get any. As a result we did the Lares trek, another traditional Inca trail but not ending at Machu Picchu.

It was, without a doubt, the hardest physical challenge I have ever given myself. The first day, we crossed two mountain passes, the first a climb from 3,600m to 4,2000m and the second a climb from 3,700 to 4,100m. The next day was even harder as the mountain pass was 4,600m! The third day saw us descend for over 1,000m. Going down might sound easier but believe me it was just as hard on the body. The paths were either rocky, loose shale, or soft dirt causing you to slide as you walked. Often they were next to drops of hundreds of feet and crossed waterways, meaning you had to balance on slippery rocks.

All of that would seem enough of a challenge, but we had a few more to help us on our way.

For Anna, the challenge on the first day was that she was still recovering from food poisoning and hadn’t been able to eat very much, so really had to call on every ounce of reserved energy. On day two, she woke feeling much better, only an hour later to be almost crippled with the worst period cramps she has ever experienced. We don’t know if the food poisoning or altitude exacerbated them, but whatever, they were truly horrible and I consider it an amazing act of courage that she managed to walk the whole trail without resorting to getting on the horse which a couple of the boys had to.

For me, I had the usual asthma issues and a pretty sore ankle after we ended the first day walking in the dark and I twisted it, but the main issue was that our lead guide took a shine to me and wasn’t keen on taking no for an answer. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say, he got nicknamed the octopus and I ended up being incredibly wary of being alone – even being in our tent on my own was not necessarily a safe place. But I looked after myself and he didn’t get away with much more than a few forced kisses before being put out in the cold. Anna and I have made an official complaint to the tour company so hopefully it won’t happen to anyone else.

Despite or perhaps because of our various challenges we are incredibly proud of our achievements over those three days.

The tour team (with the exception of the octopus) was also really lovely. It was amazing how they could get ahead of us and get camp set up before we arrived. They made amazing meals, usually 2-3 courses including baking bread and freshly making pizza! My favorite was the wonderful quinoa porridge they made for breakfast, it truly kept me going all day.

At the end of day three we met up with Amy again (who couldn’t hike because of her chest infection) and took the train to Agnes Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located. We had hot showers – bliss after the last few days (despite the altitude it gets really hot during the day so we were all sorely in need of showers) and dinner before heading to bed early. The idea was to get a good night’s sleep before we got up at 4am to get to Machu Picchu for the sunrise.

That may have been the idea, but there was a massive fiesta in town which went ALL night. Loudspeakers, music, fireworks, it didn’t make for the best night’s sleep, although I have to say I was so tired I slept through most of it. The biggest problem was despite our early start, by the time we got to the bus, there were already hundreds of people in line as none of them had slept either.

Still we made it up the mountain in time to be there at sunrise. It was a stunning experience, sitting high above the city and watching as the sun first hit the sacred plaza, then the sun dial before slowly lighting the whole city. Despite all we had seen and all the hype, Machu Picchu was as amazing as can be expected. It is just a stunning piece of engineering, perched high on the mountain top, although possibly more amazing is the building on top of Wanapicchu.

Wanapicchu is the mountain, shaped like a thumb that you will have seen in the back of all the famous photos of the city. Each day 400 people are allowed to climb it, and despite my major fear of heights Anna convinced me to go up. It is a difficult climb, rock steps often carved directly into the side of the mountain with a drop on the other side and no safety rail except the odd piece of rope – and yes people have died falling off it. On top there are all sort of Inca buildings but I will admit to by then being pretty much prone by a major panic attack. I did all I could to control it but there was no way I was getting to some of the places Anna climbed.

For Anna it was a major highlight of the trip, for me it was terrifying. I’m proud I did it but I can say with 100% certainty that it is never, ever happening again!

We came down (which was an adventure in itself), found Amy and explored the city more. It was never completed as the Spanish arrived in Cusco while it was still being constructed and it was abandoned by the Incas then, however the Spanish never found it so it is incredibly intact. The buildings are magnificent, the stone work stunning and the views, well breathtaking.

But it was also very hot up there, high 20’s at least so eventually the heat combined with the last few day’s activities wore us down and we headed back to Agnes Callientes where we had some lunch and a wander before getting the train and bus back to Cusco.

Yesterday Amy headed home early in the morning and Anna and I spent the day catching up on some much needed sleep, before heading out for a dinner of guinea pig – yes Jessica, I did eat one. They were surprisingly big, a huge meal and very delicious. They had been seasoned with rosemary, salt and olive oil then oven baked till crispy. There was quite a lot of fat in some places but the meat was tender. If I had to compare it to anything it would probably be quail, both in the taste and the hands on eating method. It seemed quite odd to be digging in with fingers and teeth in quite a posh restaurant!

We ended the day meeting up with the Canadian couple from our trek for a few pisco sours (the national drink of Peru) at the pub, it was lovely.

Today was our last day in Cusco. We met up with one of our guides from the trek (not the octopus) and he took us on a bit of a tour of the city as well as taking us to a local restaurant which was hidden down a lane behind a building. It was great and a really excellent way to wrap up our time in this beautiful city.

We have enjoyed our time here immensely. I still find it hard to comprehend that we really did hike all that way and that I have finally been to Machu Picchu. The last week has been simply fantastic!

Blog Update

Sorry for the delay in blog posts, we have been hiking through the Andes! Lots of adventures to report, will get an entry up as soon as we can.