march 26
Departed london with fellow fellwanderer Peter "muppet" Muir and flew to LA. In spite of delays we still had time for some quick mexican food and a run to a camping store for a water filter.
march 27
Woke up stupidly early to pack. Breakfast at a local deli. Got the most expensive sandwiches imagineable for the road - piled high with meat - ick. Hupe queues at the airport. Us security has got out of hand. Boarded flight for Lima.
march 28
Landed in Lima at 1am. 5 hour layover. Passed some of the strangest chicken like birds in customs. None looked very healthy. Pete looked after the bags while I fell asleep on the check-in floor. Boarded flight to Cusco and landed at 7am. After a bit of a debate and some confusion over whether or not there was a bus going to the town centre we took a taxi to our hostel. Our room was not ready so we went wandering into town delirious from both jet lag and altitude. We were both zombies and the dozens of street children in the area hounded us with cigarettes and postcards that they were selling. Had lunch, retreated to the hostel, slept for 7 hours, and then went out for some pizza before falling asleep in the room again.
march 29
Early morning breakfast. We went off in search of the tourist office to get info on local buses but could not find it. Later discovered that it had moved. We then went to sort out all transport tickets that we felt we would need for our trip. Lot`s of logistics and not very much fun. Got lost on our way to the train station but ran into the post office while lost and got stamps for postcards. Eventually found the station, got train tickets to the Andes, and then returned to hostel. Slept more.
march 30
Went rafting today down the Urubamba river. None of the rapids were particularly technical which was a good thing because the guides were not particularly capable nor prepared. A girl sliced her hand open and the guide just looked like a moron trying to use dirty duct tape to patch up her wound. I should have brought my med kit in a dry bag. The group was a nice international mix... one peruvian, one brazilian, one german, two dutch, pete, and myself. All nice folks. I swam through a few rapids and had a brilliant rush of adrenaline that I had not felt in a long time. The waves were huge and I was well pleased that I had lots of experience with whitewater - not sure I would have been able to navigate my way out of a few holes without my prior guiding experience. Finished up the day with a nice meal and drinks with the group at a local bar.
march 31
Lazy morning of postcard writing followed by lunch with the german girl from the previous day (Elisa). We wandered to Merced's cloistures and saw lots of gold and diamonds... all of it impressive, none of it very inspiring. Met Russell, Elisa's scottish roomate in the afternoon and went to the ruins at Sacsaywuman. Huge stone blocks and lots of natives posing for pictures. Pete went over to an Alpaca and it spat green stuff at him. He doged and the spit landed on my hat. Russ, Elisa, Pete and I sat on a stone promintory for quite a while and played "name the nationality" game as various tour groups wandered through the area. Went to look for a stone puma in the side of a building... very lame. Then went for dinner at the most rancid restraunt I have ever eaten at. It was Russ's idea and it was a bad one. My burgers, which I am certain was mostly lips and arse, had crunchy bits of bone in it. Foul!
April 1
Woke up sick as a dog at 1am from the burger I had eaten. Spent most of the night dumping my stomach contents into the toilet. Took a taxi at 5am to San Pedro station and boarded the train to Machu Pichu. After a 4 hour journey of self imposed starvation I finally ate a bit of bread and felt better. Got off the train and took the bus to the ruins. What an amazing sight! Verdant mountains, flowing clouds, and amazing stone structures. After wandering the site for an hour we set off on to hike to the top of the sun temple high above the ruins. Sadly, we didn't quite make it. A woman hiking in front of us had a panic attack of vertigo on the stupidly steep Incan stairs near the top and scared pete enough to get him to turn back. I kept climbing, but then it started raining and I too decided to turn back before the stone got too slick to walk on. We had a nice meal in Agua Caliente, the town at the base of the ruins, and then headed back to Cusco.
April 2
Slept in dring the morning and went to the Cusco Cathedral where there is a painting of the last wupper with Cuy (fried guinea pig) as the main dish in front of Jesus. The place was filled with so much gold, it was unbelievable. Went to the Incan museum later in the day. Nothing much to see there with the exception of the mummy room and the deformed skull displays. Both were hideous and yet simultaneously fascinating. Got somewhat ill in the afternoon and took a nap. Got up a few hours later, went to yet another church stuffed with gold and then went out for the andean specialty of Alpaca pizza. Quite good actually.
April 3
Took a long and tiring bus ride from Cusco to Puno. I am fairly certain the bus had fleas on it because I got bitten, lots. We drove through extreme altitude and serious poverty. The "city" of juliaca is basically filled with squatters. No sewage system, no piping, no pavement, such a different world. When we arrived at the bus terminal we were whisked away by our hostel and shoved into our room in less than ten minutes, it was quite impressive. Felt a bit like we were being kidnapped! Lunch was a interesting. Pete ordered minestrone, which was a real mistake and I ordered avocado and pizza - which somehow worked as a good combination. We met some nice Norwegians in the restraunt who gave us lots of information on Arequipa - a city we would be visiting later. We had a fantastic dinner. I tried to local drink, hot wine mixed with pisco and got smashed very quickly.
April 4
Didn't have time for breakfast so went looking for bakeries. All were closed so we went to the city market and as we approached Pete simply said "no way". It looked like it belonged in a demilitarized zone and had been hit by a bomb. Went to the bus terminal with empty stomachs and were introduced to the corruption of the peruvian transport system. We were told that we were sold false tickets to Bolivia by the cusco bus company and the fellow at the desk said that for the right price he could sort things out for us. I hit the fucking roof and threw a real fuss stating that if the matter was not settled I was going to take it to the police. Oddly enough, things suddenly got a lot better and a seats on a bus to bolivia were provided for us. Unfortunately there was a civil revolt taking place on the bolivian border (sub-machine guns and all) and our bus was forced to return to Puno. Pete did not want to stay in Puno for another minute and when our bus company offered to compensate us with cheap tickets to Arequipa we accepted. This was a big mistake. The tickets were for a non-ventilated bus filled with locals. It was the most horrible journey I have ever taken, I was certain that with all of the coughing, sneezing, and lack of fresh air that I was going to catch something. Six hours of total hell.
April 5
Day started well. We wandered around inquiring about treks into Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. Got details on rafting, went to see mummies but they were closed for restoration. I started feeling somewhat ill around 3pm and went back to the hostel. Ears and throat were very soar so bagan treatment for a bacterial infection. By midnight I was in total agony. Stabbing pains in joints and very dizzy. Having trouble walking At 3am I made an emergency call to my family doctor in the US. Diagnosed with both biral and bacterial infections, initiated treatment for both.
April 6
Horrendously ill. Spent morning at hostal and was convinced to go for lunch with Pete nearby. Bad idea. Had bad food and got even worse in afternoon. Couldn't see straight, couldn't walk, it was horrid. Started to consider evacuation from Peru. Agreed with doctors that if not better within 24 hours that emergency measures would be taken using travel insurance and trip ended. Could not walk out for dinner.
April 7
Very ill in early morning but improved as hours passed. Continuing on diet of bread and juice. Did nothing all morning and mustered up the energy in the evening to go out for dinner. Had excellent chicken soup at the restraunt Ary Quepay and started feeling much better. Slept most of the night.
April 8
Woke up feeling much better. Still very weak, but not ill. Went to the "luxury club" of all nunneries that was built as an exclusive place for the second daughters of rich Spanish families. Very impressive. Somehow, in spite of all the sunblock and the fact that I had a hat on I still got cooked! It must be the white volcanic rock found everywhere in this city, it seems to be highly reflective. Anyhow, because I have been so ill we have had to cancel our plans of trekking down into Colca Canyon... a detail which upsets me to no end. So we will tour to Colca tomorrow with hordes of tourists. This is not what I wanted.
April 9
Took a long bus journey up and over the mountains. Got to over 4,800 meters which is the highest I have ever been. There were lots of Alpacas and Llamas to be seen along the way. The tour guide spoke of many legends along the way and I spent most of the trip translating them for Pete. After a nice lunch in the town of Chivay we went to the local hot springs. They were situated just below a large rocky cliff which was lovely as the sun dipped below the horizon. Dinner was dire. Went to bed feeling ill from the food.
April 10
Saw Andean Condors in the morning and chatted with our guide, Juan Carlos, over lunch. We had a great conversation about the politics of peru and how lucky we are to have stable, mostly non-corrupt governments. One interesting fact that I noted was that the Peruvian avg monthly wage is 350 sol, their politicians make 10,000 sols while the Uk monthly avg is 22,000 GBP and our politicians make around 45,000 GBP. The differences in magnitude simply staggered me. Got back to Arequipa and Pete treated me to a superb Alpaca steak with avocado for my birthday dinner.
April 11
I wish this day had been my birthday! It was outstanding. We set off early for a whitewater run down the Rio Chili, a class IV stretch. The brothers Marco and Pierro Vellutino, who own the Cusipata Company, ran the trip themselves and did a superb job. We had a mix of Peruvian and English rafters which meant that commands needed to be made in both languages which was a bit confusing. The rapids of white canyon were particularly impressive with some excellent drops.
April 12
Rode horses up the Chili Valley, the valley in front of El Misti, the large volcano situated next to Arequipa. Great scenery but the trip could have been better planned. For starters, they did not have enough horses! So I had to share with the guide for the first hour. He was very chatty and kept expecting me to translate for Pete which got tiresome quickly. He also kept singing mexican songs very loudly in my ear (la cucaracha). In the end he shared with a polish girl who was having trouble managing her mount and the horse went lame from the added weight.
April 13
Flew back to Cusco, dropped off our bags at the hostel and made our wat to the Cusco Natural History Museum. It wasn't exactly awe inspiring, but I wasn't really expecting much to begin with. The bird collection was good but the things that really took me by surprise were the babies in jars. HUMAN babies in jars. Not something you get to see too often in the UK. There was also a display showing the developmental stages of Cuy (guinea pig) - again, all of the embryos in jars. Continued on to a cathedral in the city centre built by the spanish on top of an incan temple which were built on top of pre-incan ruins. Nobody even knew anything was below the cathedral until a massive earthquake knocked a bunch of walls down. Went to a local store in the afternoon and bought a peruvian version of Monopoly for the equivalent of two US dollars. We brought it back to the hostel and played it with some belgians.
April 14
Slept in and played some chess after breakfast. Packed and considered going to get a haircut since my hair is getting a bit shabby. I walked over to the local peluqueria. The place had no power, thus no clippers, and I therefore had my doubts about the barber's ability to give the sort of haircut I wanted. It would have been cool though to get a haircut for the equivalent of $1.50 when I normally pay fifteen pounds! Oh well. Went to a lovely peruvian restraunt and had my last Alpaca steak along with a very nice margarita before departing for the airport... back to the western world.