End of Tour .... Lima

Two weeks since I last wrote something for this blog. The time has swept by filled with interesting things and many miles.

I wrote from Puno where we had been out to the floating islands of the Uros people on Lake Titikaka, and visits to two islands, Amantani and Taquile.

Our journey then took us to Cusco by road, and 8 hour journey up over the high pass at Urcos. A short stop here for a shopping opportunity (nice things but expensive). The land to the souteast of this pass was drier than later and it seemed a much poorer farming area. Once over the pass the land was greener, more fields with crops and, suddenly it seemed, an abundance of eucalyptus trees Tasmanian Blue Gum or Eucalyptus Globulus. Apparently these were introduced in the 19th century. They grow fast and provide building material, cooking fire wood and seem to be used in an attempt to prevent gully erosion which is severe in some parts of the moutains around Cusco.

We stayed in a very nice hotel Tika Wasi (House of Flowers) up in the old part of Cusco. Cusco was the centre of the Inca Empire. It has a fascinating and wonderful old part and a distinctly less good new sprawl. Further information here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cusco

The next day we took off in a local taxi for the hour´s drive over the hills at the back of Cusco to the Sacred Valleyof the Incas. On the way we stopped in the small local village of Chinchero for a pottery demonstration and lunch with a local family. I tried my hand a throwing a pot on a foot driven potter´s wheel ... not a huge success but interesting just the same. Many of the buildings around here - and I noticed this on the way up to Cusco - are made of mud bricks and often to two stories. This wonderful building material, sourced locally, has a very high thermal insulation value and is easy to use. Very sustainable. The choice of roofing material is interesting too ... around and beyond Puno it was often a grass thatch or corrigated iron, and nearer Cusco there are clay tiles. There are many new buildings of mud brick (Adobe in Spanish) alongside the use of concrete post and frame with kiln fired brick infil. These latter are not well finished and look really shoddy. I know which I prefer. http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/MudBrickAdobeInPeru#

In the afternoon we continued by miniubs to Ollantaytambo http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollantaytambo. This is an old Inca town with an itact inca street sytem complete with water channels. The Inca were very advanced water engineers. Sadly their once potable water is not so any more. The hotel was really nice, and I visited Temple Hill. The website gives some good pictures and here are my own http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/Ollantaytambo#

The next day (Tuesday 13 January) was the start of our four-day hike up the Inca Trail. We were taken by minibus to the start know as Km82 which is a stop on the train line from Cusco to Aguas Calientes, the town underneath Machu Picchu. Here at Km82 we first met our Porters and Cook. We had previously filled small bags with not more than 6Kg of gear. There are now strict regulations on how much weight Porters can carry. The Porters are local men, small and wiry who rush ahead of us, erect the dining tent and next to it the kitchen tent. I was amazed. Tables and stools and steel cutlery. And what food. We feasted for the next 4 days. And each evening two-person tents were already erected when we got to the camp site. We were sharing, but as one girl dropped out at the end of Day 1 I got a tent to myself for the next 3 nights. All a bit luxurious really, but in truth it would have been hard carrying all our own gear in that high altitude without training. And it gives employment and considerable cash into the local ecomony. Local law now states that you must employ porters, and with a 500 person a day limit on the numbers allowed on the Inca Trail, going througha Tour Company is the best way. General photos from the trek are here http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/InkaTrail#

The flowers on the way are stunning and it was interesting to see some that grown domestically at home like begonias. A few pictures of flowers here http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/FlowersOnTheIncaTrail#

What followed was four days of the most stunning scenery. Day 1 was fairly easy, Day 2 chellening, Day 3 stunning and not hard walking, Day 4 was the remarkable walk down to Machu Picchu). The trail is especially steep on Day 2 which includes the climb up many steps to Abra Warmiwañuska (Dead Woman's Pass - at 4201m or 13,782ft one can see why it has its name. At this height walking for sea level dwellers is hard work. The air is thin). There is a good, accurate illustrated description of the trail here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Trail#Inca_trail_to_Machu_Picchu - keep scrolling through the first section. And there is a good article on Machu Picchu here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu

The Inca Trail is studded with a number of other ruins of great interest, and much less visited http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/InkaRuins# . We had some wonderful times in other ruins, but the one that stands out for me was that of Wiña Wayna http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiñay Wayna. It was close to out last camp site and is exquisite. Not a large site it looks to me like a noblemans home complete with private temple. Anyway it was a good deal more peaceful than the camp site to which all 500 people on the trail had converged ready to set off the next morning for Machu Picchu.

All through the trail we were blessed with excellent weather. It is the wet season here, but we saw very little rain, althtough Machu Picchu itself was actually the worse weather we had with cloud rolling over it periodically during our too-brief visit. http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/MachuPicchu#

Down then into Aguas Calientes for lunch and the by train back to Ollantaytambo and from there by bus to Cusco.

Our final day in this area (Saturday 17 January) was for relaxing, shopping, sightseeing again.

The next day we flew from Cusco to Puerto Maldonaldo down at 200m above sea level.... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Maldonado. The town does not have much to recommend it, but our resort, Corto Maltes, a few miles down river was beautiful. http://www.cortomaltes-amazonia.com/us/index_en.html The pictures are better than mine.

After lunch we went for a guided walk in the jungle with Lucy who knew her stuff. The leafe that paralyses the mouth (used by the locals to stop toothache) is disgusting and my tongue curls even at the memory of it. Brazil buts come in a cocnut-like pod which I hacked open with a machete, and then tried to shell the nut with same machete and nearly cut the end of my finger off. Not a good idea in mossie infested jungle. It has healed well.

That evening the boat trip sekking caymen (local crocs) was ruined by copious sickness over the side of the boat that was not sea-sickness. The next day was spent ahlf in the hammock and half asleep in bed with Montezuma's revenge (I know he was Aztec !) .... a more lovely place to be ill I cannot imagine. So I did not get to see too much of tropical Peru, but what I did see looks very like North Queensland.

The next day was spent mostly at Puerto Maldonaldo airport. Engines trouble then weather dealyed the inbound flight from Lima and Cusco. Our 11.30 left at 4.30pm - very late into Lima and thankfully Intrepid Tours Transport was there to bring us back to Inka Path Hotel.

Our final day together - me, Mick and Linda, Alicia and Janelle, and Michelle was that final sort of admin day ... shopping, posting stuff home, postcards, retrieving our stored gear and packing for the departures tomorrow.

Today is Saturday and they all left on Thursday. I have had a couple of days writing my journal, having fun on the local busses in Lima. This is an experience. Traffic is mad here and I wonder there are not more accidents. Haven't seen one yet.

And now this blog before I go to Panama tomorrow. Just added a few more pictures of Lima too http://picasaweb.google.com/Stephen.Couling/Lima#

Reflections ... Intrepid Tours are good. We had an introduction to the 3 areas of Peru - coast, mountains (Andes) and Tropical jungle. We have been with many local people and sampled quite a lot of local culture. The high point was the Inca Trail even more than Machu Picchu. After 3 days in Lima I am ready to move on. The rains apparently come in February and the city needs a good wash.

But its been a great adventure and one I am seriously pleased to have done. More info here http://www.intrepidtravel.com/trips/GSD