AREQUIPA & THE COLCA CANYON, PERU - NOVEMBER 4 - 9

Arequipa Main Plaza

My bus arrives in Arequipa from Cuzco at about 6:30AM which is a bad time to arrive in a new city. I decide to wait in the bus station for a while until it is a little later and a better time to try and find a room. I pull out my guide book and start to mark off some potential hostels on my map. While I'm sitting there, Shane and Seleka walk by, they decided to come to Arequipa as well and have just arrived on another bus. It's now after 7:00AM so we share a taxi with another tourist named Michael who is from Germany. Michael already has a reservations in The Point Hostel but Shane, Seleka and I get dropped off in the main plaza so we can start looking for a hostel. We go to 7 or 8 different hostels before finally settling on Home Sweet Home which is only a few blocks from the main plaza where I get a private room for about $16US per night.

Shane and Seleka plan on doing the Colca Canyon as well but they want to do it without a tour. I decide to check out what the tours offer and for just over $50US, I can get a 3 day, 2 night tour including all meals, accommodations, guide, and transportation there and back. This is likely less than I could do it on my own so I decide to book it. I will spend another day in Arequipa though because the tour leaves at 3:00AM and I did not sleep that well on the night bus so I want at least 1 night of good sleep before I go to the Colca Canyon.

I spend the rest of that day exploring the city centre of the Arequipa. Arequipa is the one of the largest cities in Peru with a population of over 1 million. The main plaza and the area around is beautiful and so clean. I see city workers everywhere cleaning the sidewalks and streets of garbage which I haven't seen anywhere else except Cuzco. After a couple of hours, I head back to the hostel to work on uploading photos and my blog.

Cruz del Condor Viewpoint

Shane and Seleka are keen to go see the new James Bond movie Skyfall, so I check online where it is playing. We catch a cab to a large mall a few blocks away and have dinner at the mall's Food Fair before seeing the movie. The movie was awesome, it's another throw back to the old Sean Connery Bond before there were tons of gadgets in the Bond series. We all really enjoyed Skyfall. We had caught the early show so we would have some time to sleep before going on the tour.

Shane and Seleka are also leaving for the Colca Canyon this next morning and they have to catch a bus at the station at 3:30AM so they are

Andes Condor

already gone before I even get up. The bus tour van comes just before 3:30AM. We stop at another couple of hostels and the van is full and we are on our way. There is about 15 people on the bus including Michael who I shared the cab with and I'm sitting next to a couple of young women from northern England named Nicola and Jenn.

It takes 3 hours to drive to the town of Chivay where we stop for breakfast. Within and hour, we are back on the road. Our next stop is in about 1.5 hours at a viewpoint called Cruz del Condor along the rim of the canyon. This is supposed to be the best spot for viewing the

Michael, Andrew, Nicola, Jenn and Andres

Andes Condor. I'm not even out of the van yet, and I can see one of these huge birds soaring past the van. Once I'm out of the van, I head to the viewpoint. I can't see any Condors but within a few minutes, one comes soaring up inside the canyon riding the thermals that radiate up. This is what makes this the ideal spot for seeing them. Within a few minutes there is 2 of them, once they have ridden the thermal up the canyon, they just start soaring higher and higher. One of the guides tells us that these are juveniles because they have not got the mostly black with some white colouring of a mature adult but they still are huge. Mature adults can get up to a 3.5m wingspan. I then see another Condor coming up the canyon and this one is a mature adult. It flies by quite close but it is a real challenge to catch a good photo of them.

I wonder up to another part of the viewpoint and stumble across Brad and Liz. This is now the 3rd time I've seen them since meeting them in Guatape Colombia. After a few minutes of speaking with them, it is time to go as my tour van is leaving. We drive for another 40 minutes or so before coming to a stop along the wall of the canyon, this is where our trek will start. It turns out that some of the people in the van are doing a 2 day, 1 night trek while others are doing a 3 day, 2 night trek. We all hike exactly the same trail, the 2 day trek people just hike a lot farther the first day. So, we a split into 2 groups accordingly and my group is the 3 day trek and there is only 5 of us plus our guide, the other group has 10 people plus their guide. In my group is Nicola, Jenn, Michael and Andres from Italy along with Armondo our guide.

After some quick introductions, we are soon on our way. We will be hiking down the canyon and crossing the river on a small bridge to get to the town of San Juan de Chuccho which is almost 1000m below the start of the hike. The first hour we traverse across the rim of the canyon until we cross a small ridge and then we follow the trail down with many switchbacks as it descends into the canyon. It gets quite warm in the canyon with temperature in the low to mid 30s Celsius but the view of the canyon and the river below are beautiful. We also see the 4 towns that are in the canyon, there is San Juan de Chuccho, Cosnirhua, Malata and Tapay. The green fields that surround each of the towns really stands out as they rest of the Colca Canyon is desert like.

We get to the bottom of the canyon in about 4 hours and cross the bridge and hike up a small embankment to get to San Juan de Chuccho. We come to a families house where we have lunch. There are a bunch of small bungalows built near the main house where we are staying the night. The girls have a bungalow to themselves, Michael and Andres share one and I get one all to myself. So far, the other group had been with us including lunch but now they are on their way as they have another 3 to 4 hours to hike before getting to their accommodations. I'm glad I chose the 3 day trek as my knee is sore again after the long descent and it's nice to do a little more leisurely trek.

After lunch, we all end up having a little siesta because none of us got much sleep with the early departure time and later, we all gather at the covered eating area and get to know each other better. There are also a bunch of cats that live here and one small one really catches our attention as it had the most interesting eyes, one is light blue while the other is a very vibrant green. I tried to get a good picture of it but it just would not cooperate. After a nice dinner, we all are in bed quite early as we are still tired from the early start and there's not much to do here at night.

The next morning we have breakfast at 7:30AM and are on our way just after 8:30AM. We walk through most of San Juan de Chuccho which is small, only a couple of hundred people live here and then we hike up along a river and up an embankment to the village of Cosnirhua. It's not a long way and takes Michael, Andres and I about 45 minutes but the girls take quite a bit longer. They tell me about some struggles they had on the Inca Trail hike, mostly with the altitude but I can tell they are already concerned about tomorrow's hike out of the canyon.

We walk through Cosnirhua which is a little larger town but still only 3 or 4 hundred people. There is a small strip of desert between Cosnirhua and the next town called Malata which is about the same size. As we leave Malata, we soon come to some road construction. A gravel road is being built to Malata for the 1st time so everything will not need to be brought in by mules or donkeys which will make things easier and cheaper for everyone in the 4 towns in the canyon but the way of life in these towns will likely change forever. Tapay is farther up this wall of the canyon and is the largest of the 4 towns but we do not go there as it is a fair bit out of our way which is just as well as it is about 10:30PM and already over 30C.

Our destination is an Oasis at the bottom of the canyon next to the river. The Oasis is a bunch of small resorts built specifically for tourists visiting the canyon and each has a pool. After we leave Malata, the trail starts to weave downhill, we need to descend 300m or so. It's now really getting hot and we are all thinking about the pool and lunch that is waiting for us at the Oasis. It takes more than 90 minutes to get to the river and we cross a small bridge. We now have a small uphill section that Jenn and Nicola don't like too much but we finally get to our resort at about 1:30PM.

It is beautiful, there is an incredible pool carved out of a huge rock. The pool is surrounded by beautiful gardens, grass and a bunch of small bungalows where we are staying. This is one of the most beautiful places I have stayed at since leaving the Caribbean. It does not take long for us to get changed and find our way into the pool, the water is colder than I was thinking it would be but it is just perfect. We hardly even want to leave the pool for lunch.

After more pool time, we all head to another resort where some people we met on the trail are staying. There is a happy hour at their bar for Mojitos

which we all think would be a nice way to end the afternoon. This resort is nice but the pool, gardens and cabanas at our place are much nicer. The Mojitos are OK but they are kind of strange without ice. By 6:30PM we need to head back for dinner, it is already dark and our way back is via a trail through thick brush. It's a good thing I brought my headlamp because no one else has a light. It's actually pretty funny to lead 4 other people along a twisting trail in the pitch black with only the one light.

Dinner's ok but nothing special and then we meet with Armondo to discuss tomorrow's schedule. He

wants us all to be ready to start hiking at 5:00AM, it is almost 1200 meters straight up tomorrow and it should take us about 2.5 to 3 hours of walking along switchbacks to get to the top. If we leave at 5:00AM, will should finish before that side of the canyon receives the morning sun. Nicola and Jenn are concerned that they will not be able to do the hike in 3 hours and will end up doing much of it in the hot sun. I can tell Armondo is concerned as well and so are Michael, Andres and myself. Jenn and Nicola ask if they can start an hour early which we all think is a good idea and Armondo will meet them at 4:00AM and us 3 guys will start hiking an hour later. I give Jenn and Nicola my headlamp as it will be dark when they start but light out when we start.

Nicola and Jenn Climbing the Canyon

The next morning, Michael, Andres and I get started at 5:00AM and are surprised to find Jenn and Nicola sitting by the pool. Armondo never showed up at 4:00AM and they have been waiting in the cold for an hour. We wait for another 10 minutes and he still does not show up. It doesn't make sense to wait any longer and Jenn and Nicola are starting to get nervous that they will have to hike in the hot sun. We don't know where Armondo is sleeping and no one else at the resort is up, so I decide we should just start and Armondo can catch up to us later.

We are not sure exactly where the trail begins but we find it right away and start up. Michael and I

decide to just stay with Jenn and Nicola as moral support. Yesterday they had seemed a bit defeated whenever a hill came along but today they have a different attitude. Maybe it was Michael and I staying with them or maybe they were just pissed off that they waited an hour in the cold and dark, but they start off at a nice steady pace and maintain it.

The canyon wall is so steep that it is hard to know how far we have come but a couple of hours into the hike, Jenn and Nicola are a little worried that the sun will finally light up our side of the canyon which seems to spur them on. We see the rim of

Armondo, Nicol, Jenn, Andrew & Michael at the Top

the canyon a few hundred meters above us when Armondo finally catches up to us. We had found out from other guides that it is his birthday today and I think he was celebrating it last night which is why he was not there this morning.

We get to the top about 3 hours and 15 minutes after we started and Andres only arrived about 40 minutes ahead of us. Jenn and Nicola really surprised me today with how fast they were hiking, we even passed a few people on the trail and I think they really surprised themselves. About 10 minutes after getting to the top, the sun finally had moved far enough west to light up the entire canyon so we got to the top just in time.

We have to hike another 20 minutes through some fields to get to the town of Cabanconde where breakfast was waiting for us. We never really got an apology or explanation from Armondo but I could tell he was really embarrassed.

After breakfast, we all pile into a van with another tour group and get started back. We stop in the town of Pinchollo at a market but none of us were interested in buying anything. There were also some locals at he market with live birds and Impacas. You could get your photo with them for a small fee. There were 2 Eagles and a Falcon and I got some nice photos with the Falcon for about $.50US. The Impaca was pretty funny though. its name was Jose and he knew his name. All the tour company drivers and guides knew Jose and would call out his name. Jose would turn quickly to see who called him and he seemed to recognize most of these guys. The tour guys would try to grab or poke Jose and he would respond by charging into them with his chest at least he would charge as far as his short leash would let him.

We then continue on to Chivay where we stop at a nice hot springs. I'm very stiff after the climb today so a nice soak is a perfect way to relax all my aching muscles. The climb was tough and unrelenting so it was nice to actually slow down the pace a bit like we did this morning. After an hour, we are back in the van and drive a few minutes to a restaurant for lunch. Lunch is not included and of course they are taking us to the most expensive buffet restaurant in town for $10US but we find a real nice restaurant full of locals and have an excellent meal including a soup for $4US.

An hour later, we are back in the van and we leave


Chivay at about 3:00PM. It is 3 hours back to Arequipa and although we drove this section of highway, it was dark and we never saw it. The highway winds up to a high plateau that continues most of the way back to the city. This high plateau is only good for grazing Alpacas and Llamas because is ranges from 4500 to over 5000m. We even see the 3rd member of this family called the Vicuna which is basically a wild Llama with colouring and a coat like a deer. Alpacas and Llamas are quite different, the Llama is much larger standing almost 2m tall and is often 2 different colours. The Alpaca is much smaller under 1.5m tall. It always is a single colour usually white or black and has a much thicker wool coat. The wool is much finer and is a much better quality wool than that of the Llama. The Impaca also looks much cuter than a Llama and has a much gentler disposition and is not known to spit like a Llama.

Vicuna

We get back to Arequipa just after 6:00PM and I head back to the Home Sweet Home hostel. I relax for a couple hours before having dinner and then go to bed early. I'm going to catch a morning bus to Puno which is about 6 hours away to the south right on Lake Titicaca near the Bolivian boarder. I plan to do a tour of the floating islands before crossing the boarder and heading to Copacabana followed by a bus to La Paz a few days later where I'll probably meet up with Itamar and Rachel along with Shane and Seleka.

More on Puno and Copacabana next time. Adios for now.

CUZCO & THE SACRED VALLEY, PERU - OCT 31 TO NOV 3

Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I arrived back into Cuzco around 7:00PM. The van was supposed to drop us off near our hotel but we finally get the driver to drop us off near the Plaza de Regocijo because the traffic is so crazy. There are hundreds of kids all dressed up but they seem to be Trick-Or-Treating in the centre of the city. They even ask us as we walk back to the hostel for candy. The whole Plaza Aramis is just packed with people. The day in Machu Picchu was awesome but the early mornings and all the hiking and steps have really tired me out and I'm not sure if I'm up for partying tonight or not and I think everyone else feels the same way.

After a shower and a change into clean clothes, we have decided to spoil ourselves and go to a really nice Indian Restaurant near the hostel. It's a bit expensive but after the trek, we feel we deserve it. We all opt for some curry and Nam bread. I order the Lamb Vindiloo which is hot but awesome. In other restaurants throughout SA I have found that what the locals call hot I would barely call medium. With that in mind, Shane, Itamar and Rachel order extra hot curry. The chef in this restaurant is from England and when he says it's extra hot, it's extra hot and we are all quite amused watching them eat the extra hot curry. They all say they like it but it takes a side order of yogurt for them to finish their dinner.

It's almost 10:00PM by the time we leave the restaurant and we decide to head down to an English pub in the main Plaza Armis. Brad and Liz are there with some people that they did the Inca Trail with. We stay for a couple of drinks but by 11:00PM we all head back to the hostel to crash. It's too bad as many people on the streets and in the pub are in costume and it looks like it will be a big night in all the local bars.

Hills Above Cuzco

The next morning, I'm sitting in the main common area on my computer when a doctor enters the hostel and heads up to Shane and Seleka's room. Shane's cold has not gone away and although he feels pretty good he's had a real bad, dry chest cough that is worse at night. Apparently he coughed a lot last night and then started coughing up quite a bit of blood. Next thing I know, an ambulance arrives. Shane walks out of the hostels on his own with Seleka and the doctor and heads to a nearby hospital for some tests. I'm hoping that his dry cough just irritated his throat to the point where a blood vessel broke. This happened to me once years ago, it freaked me out but was not serious at all.

Sacsayhuaman

My first priority today is to get some laundry done and my excitement for the day is to meet Rachel and Itamar at the food market where we all have a nice 2 course lunch for a little over $2US. Today a local celebration referred to as "The Day of the Dead" is happening. This is a day for the locals to remember loved ones recently departed. They go to the cemetery with food and drink that the departed liked and have a party at their loved one's grave. It is supposed to be quite festive because it is a celebration of life not death. Rachel and I go looking for a cemetery while Itamar heads back to the hostel for a nap. We thought we had some rough directions but after about 45 minutes of walking, we give up and go sit in the Plaza de Armis for a while before heading back to the hostel.



Inca Wall at Sacsayhuaman

 We've all been thinking about Shane all day and I'm very pleased to find him in his room when I get back and we have a little chat. They took x-rays of his chest when he went to the hospital but nothing conclusive showed. They wanted to admit him for a few days but he feels fine other than the cough and he did not want to get stuck with some unnecessary hospital bills. He has travel medical insurance but he's been getting the run around when he was trying to find out exactly what the insurance would and would not cover. He's about to head back to the hospital to get a camera scope put down his throat because they suspect a blood vessel in his throat may have burst too. I wish him my best and let him rest.

I also spend some time posting pictures on Facebook of my treks in Huaraz, uploading photos to Picasa, downloading the most recent episodes of The Big Bang Theory and The Walking Dead and writing my blog. It's a fairl quiet day what is just what I need as my cold is still hanging around.

Terraces at Sacsayhuaman

That evening I meet Rachel and Itamar and another Israeli couple that we trekked with in Huaraz named Sagi and Bar for dinner at the Blue Impaca restaurant where we have some delicious Impaca Burgers. When I get back from dinner, Shane and Seleka are back so I decide to go check on them. The news is good and the blood was coming from his throat. He has a chest infection but it is not serious, he just needs to take some antibiotics and rest. Somehow I don't think Shane is going to be a good patient as he is a high energy guy and other than the cough, he feels fine but hopefully he is gets some rest so he can shake his cough.

The next morning, Itamar, Rachel and I hike up into the hills behind San Blas. There is a viewpoint above the city that is supposed to be great and where a huge white statue of Jesus stands overlooking the city. There are also several Inca ruins here including a religious temple called Sacsayhuaman and a small temple to the moon. Sacsayhuaman is supposed to cost $28US but as we approach it, there does not seem to be anyone collecting tickets so we decide to try and just walk in because we don't want to pay this much. Of course we get all of about 5m past the entry point before we are stopped but we just play the dumb tourist card and leave.

The viewpoint is just next to these ruins so we head there for some photos and then decide to try and find the Temple of the Moon. We keep asking directions and get different directions each time. In truns out, we were with a couple hundred meters of it but end up walking several kilometers in a big loop before we find it. Other than the foundation walls, the temple is pretty much destroyed which is probably why it was free. When we get back, we run into John and the 4 of us go to a local pizza joint and it was the best pizza I've had on this trip.

John is heading to catching a plane tomorrow to Colombia to do some kite surfing, Rachel and

Inca Terraces at Pisac

Itamar are going to Puno on Lake Titicaca later in the week before crossing into Bolivia at Copacabana and Shane & Seleka are not quite sure what to do based on Shane's cold. For me, it is time to get moving and I figure Shane and Seleka need some private time after the stress of he last couple of days so, I decide to go to Arequipa in southern Peru. Everyone except John figures they will be in La Paz within a week or so, hopefully we will meet again there. I decide to book a night bus for tomorrow to Arequipa and book a day tour to the Sacred Valley through German at Puma Peru Tours who we booked the Salkantay Trek with.


When I get back to the hostel, I run into Shane and Seleka. Shane's cough is not as bad and they have been running errands today. He mentions that the Indian Restaurant is having a 2 for 1 entree sale because it is their 1 year anniversary tonight and asks if I want to go again. I say hell yeah and so does John, Rachel and Itamar. We all order different curries this time and no one has the extra hot. The meals awesome again.

The next day, I check out of the hostel and walk down to Puma Tours at the Plaza Armis where I leave my bags for the day. I am catching an 8:30PM bus to Arequipa but first I'm going on a tour of the Sacred Valley. I meet the tour bus in

the Plaza de Regocijo at 9:00AM but we are about 40 minutes late in leaving. We drive to a market at Huaullarcocha. I was expecting it to be a local market in the centre of town but instead it is just a tourist market that has been built specifically for the tour buses.

We're there for about 40 minutes before we drive another hour to Pisac where there are some Inca ruins of the same name. The ruins are some massive terraces that go up the mountains overlooking the town several hundred meters. The Incas that farmed these terraces lived in a fortress above the terraces that included religious temples and homes.

I can see another small cluster of building a couple kilometers away above some more terraces but we don't have time to hike to this part of the ruins. There are also many caves dug into the hills above where thousands of mummies were found. All the tombs have been looted since many of the mommies were buried with gold and other valuables. The size of the terraces themselves is very impressive. The only negative thing was that there were dozens of tour buses and the ruins were just swarming with tourists. I think I have been spoiled because I have not seen a site of ruins this crowded since I was in Tikal.

Inca Terraces at Ollantaytambo

We then drive to Ollantaytambo where the train dropped us off a few days ago. There is another massive set of Inca terraces with a few stone buildings. It similar to the other but just different enough to make it very interesting. Unlike at Pisac, the main town was located in the valley below the terraces at Ollantaytambo. There are some crop storage building carved into the cliffs on the other side of the valley. They are up high so they could not burn if the town below had a massive fire which was known to happen because all Inca buildings had thatch roofs. It also protected their food supply from major floods that would occasionally happen during rainy season and made it easy to defend their food from any possible invader. Again the ruins were very crowded with tourists.

We then drive over an hour to the town of Chinchero where a Catholic Church was built over top of a massive Inca temple. This is one of the oldest standing churches still in use in all of Peru. Construction was started around 1570 and completed just after 1600. The Inca stone foundations are evident around the church and the stone plaza that it is built on. The interior of the church has been restored and there are some fantastic frescoes on every wall and the ceiling. Unfortunately, we are not allowed to take any pictures in the church. We arrived just as the sun was setting which worries me because my bus to Arequipa leaves in about 2 hours and we are about 45 minutes away from Cuzco.

Chinchero is known for the quality of the textiles they produce and after seeing the church, we go to a collective where women make cloth using traditional techniques. One of the women gives us a 20 minute presentation on how they take raw sheep or impaca wool and turn it into a finished product including how they dye it. After the presentation, I mention to the guide that we were scheduled to be in Cuzco now and I have a night bus to catch to Arequipa at 8:30PM which is 90 minutes from now. He quickly gets everyone on the bus and we leave for Cuzco.

Churchb at Chinchero

Traffic is terrible getting into Cuzco. I finally ask the bus to drop me of a block from the Plaza de San Francisco because we are stuck in gridlock and it is now 7:55PM. I run the 3 blocks to Puma Tours and grab by baggage and then flag down a cab. It's now just past 8:00PM and I'm supposed to be at the Terminal Terreste (bus station) 30 minutes before my bus leaves but the buses are normally never on time and the terminal is only about 15 minutes away so I think I should be fine. Right after I get in the cab, it starts pouring rain.

As we drive, it seems every car is heading to the terminal as well and we crawl along. It's Friday and the start of a long weekend here and the cab driver says that the terminal will be very busy. It's just past 8:20PM and the taxi is stuck in traffic a few blocks from the terminal. So, I decide to jump out and make a dash for it. It is still pouring rain and the road is more like a small river and I run for the terminal but I'm soaked when I get there. I've never seen a bus terminal so busy in my entire 8 months of travel. It is hard just to move through the crowds in the terminal while I try to find out what gate my bus is leaving from. It's 8:30PM by the time I find out which gate and I quickly head there.



Textile Demo at Chinchero

 The bus is not under cover and there is a huge line-up of passengers getting on the bus and they are all screaming at the staff because they are getting soaked. I throw my bags into the lower storage space and head back into the terminal. I'm starving as I have not eaten since lunch at about 12:30PM and this bus ride is over 9 hours. I find a little store in the terminal and by some snacks and drinks. When I get back to the bus people are stilled lined up screaming. I just wait under cover until everyone gets on since seats are pre-assigned and I'm wet enough already.

By the time I get on it is almost 9:00PM and the bus is completely full. This is one of the nice double decker bus with a stewardess and she was the target of all the shouting and she is really pissed off at everyone. It is quite amusing as she walks down the aisle and has heated conversations with many of the passengers. I can't believe what a zoo the terminal was and how crazy everyone was when they were trying to get on the bus but I'm just glad I made it.



Inca Food Storage Site at Ollantaytambo

 I'm looking forward to getting to Arequipa which is located in the southern desert of Peru and it should be warm, sunny and dry. The main reason I'm going to Arequipa is to visist the Colca Canyon which is a deeper canyon than the Grand Canyon and is an excellent place to see the Andes Condor. I then plan to stop at Puno on Lake Titicaca before crossing into Bolivia. I want to spend a month or so in Bolivia before heading south to Chile where I will work my way as far south as the roads will take me over a 4 week period before crossing into Argentina on my way to the southern tip of the continent in Patagonia sometime in January. I will then work my way up the east coast of Argentina and then Uruguay on my way to Rio de Janeiro where I want to spend Carnival in February. I'm worried I will be a bit rushed so I may skip some places and then double back after Carnival. I'm planning on using most of the 90 days that I'm allowed in Brazil (once I actually get my visa) before heading north to Venezuela. I may slip Guyana in there along the way and will likely fly home from one of the Caribbean Islands just off the coast of Venezuela in April or May. The cost of flying from Port of Spain in Trinidad or Oranjestad in Aruba is about half of the price from Caracas in Venezuela.

This is the plan for now but I'm sure something will change it along the way. Hasta luego amigos.

SALKANTAY TRAIL & MACHU PICCHU, PERU - OCTOBER 27 TO 31

It's the day of the start of the Salkantay Trail trek and I'm up by 4:15AM and put my big pack with most of my stuff in a storage closet at the hostel. Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I grab our small packs and we walk down to the Plaza de San Francisco to meet our tour van. There is a couple of vans waiting with about 25 people and within a few minutes, we are on our way west from Cuzco 3 hours to the town of Mollepata where our trek will begin at 2900m altitude. My sinus cold seems to be about the same or maybe a bit better but I will soon see how it is once we start our trek.

Rachel & Itamar

We get to Mollepata around 8:00AM and have breakfast. It turns out that there is 2 different tour groups here at the restaurant, our group consists of 10 people and the other group is almost 20 people. Our guide is Edwin and he introduces us to the cook, the cook's helper and the porter who looks after the mules. Joining us for the trek are 2 brother's from South Africa named Maneer and Omar and there are 2 medical student's from the US named Stewart and Michael. After a quick introduction to everyone, we are soon on our way.

We head north along a gravel road that slowly winds its way uphill through farmland. It's a very gentle incline and I hardly notice my cold but my

energy level seems a little low and we have to travel 19kms today. The only time the incline gets steeper are when we get off the road and hike up trails which are shortcuts between some switchbacks on the road. As we climb in elevation, we get a look at the valley and river below. It's nice but it would be better if we were to leave the road for a trail more like the Santa Cruz trek.

We continue on for about 4 hours and I feel pretty good. The drugs you can by over the counter in South America are much stronger than what we can get in Canada and the decongestant I bought seems

to be working really well. Around 12:30PM we stop for an hour for lunch which is a hot soup, pasta, rice and some vegetables. Within an hour of walking in the afternoon, we see some snow capped mountains and a little valley called Soraypampa in the distance. Edwin tells us this is where the road ends and is also where our 1st night's camp is set up.

We continue along the gravel road for another 2 or 3 hours before finally reaching the valley. We see a huge house or hotel ahead of us, Edwin tells us this is a lodge for the wealthy who do the Salkantay trail at a cost of over $5000US for the 5 day trek. It looks very nice but staying in a place like this seems to defeat the purpose of doing a trek through the mountains.

Lodge in the Soraypampa Valley

Our camp is setup about another 30 minutes walk past the lodge. It is nestled at the top end of the Soraypampa valley between some mountains at an elevation of 3600m. The camp is much more permanent than I was expecting with a large covered enclosed structure where all the tents for both groups are located. There are a number of permanent building as well including bathrooms, cook house and accommodations for the guides. I ask Edwin why the tents are in an enclosed structure and he tells me that this valley between the mountains is prone to some really heavy rainfall, though hopefully we won't see any rain.

I can't believe it, once again we seem to be 1 tent

short. When we booked the trek, we specifically requested a separate tent for John and another tent for me and of course there is only one for both of us. John's not keen to share a tent with some one who is sick with a cold and I don't blame him. Edwin apologizes and asks us to wait because between the 2 groups, maybe there is a spare tent. Half an hour later, he comes to us and says there is an extra tent, these are 3-man tents and there are 3 Australian women travelling together who want to share a tent and somehow he convinces 3 guys to share a tent as well. Way to go Edwin, your tip just went up.

Shane, Seleka, Itamar, Rachel, John & Edwin

By the time we get the tents sorted out, it is about 5:00PM and getting cold. Since I was able to bring a little more stuff with the mules, I have a nice alpaca sweater to put on and  I put some jeans on over my light weight MEC pants. Our group sits down for some tea, coffee and popcorn which is our pre-dinner snack except Michael and Stewart. They decided to hike to a nearby lake which surprises us since we already hiked 19kms and it will be dark in an hour. Oh well, more popcorn for us. Dinner is served around 6:30PM but Michael and Stewart are not back yet. I can tell Edwin is a bit worried and he hangs around outside watching for them and about half an hour later he sees some flashlights up in the hills above the camp. At about 7:30PM, they finally get back, by then we have all finished dinner which was soup, beef, rice, potatoes, fries and vegetables but we have save some for them. Once again they are loading us up on the carbs.

Leaving the Soraypampa Valley

After dinner, Edwin gives tells us our schedule for tomorrow. We will be up at 5:00AM and hiking by 6:00AM. It will be our longest day distance wise at 21kms, the first 4 hours will be uphill for 8km with an elevation change of over 1000m to the Salkantay Pass summit at 4650m. We will then descend for 13kms to our next camp called Challway at an altitude of 2950 which is 1700m below the pass. If my cold is going to cause me problems during this trek, it will be tomorrow.

The night it is cold but not as cold as nights on the Santa Cruz trek but I am so glad that Shane and I arranged for larger sleeping bags because I actually fit and it does not feel like being in a straight jacket. The next morning I feel pretty good when I get up and during breakfast, maybe my cold is

getting better. Right from the start of the hike, the incline is a little steeper than yesterday but I would describe it as moderate. I am able to keep up a nice steady pace without having to stop to catch my breath and let my heart rate slow down but I know that kind of incline is coming. Although I feel good, I don't have the kind of energy that I normally have. I feel that I am already in my top gear and I don't have a spare gear to kick in when the altitude and the trail starts getting tough like I did on the Santa Cruz trek and I know I will not be in the front group of trekkers that reach the pass.

Looking Back at Soraypampa

Now that we have left the road, the terrain is a lot more interesting. The trail climbs along side a river valley. There are mountains that seem to tower on both sides but it is pretty misty and we can only see up for 500m or so. It kind of looks like it could rain but I have my fingers crossed. The trail is starting to get steeper and I start to drop a bit behind most of the group. Rachel and I seem to be going at the same pace and we have some nice conversation as we slowly climb.

We get to the top of the first ridge, the trail flattens out for a while but we can see a steep incline that traverses back of forth along a towering ridge. So far, we have only climbed a little over 300m so

I'm pretty sure this is not the summit as the top of the ridge is probably no more than 400m above us. The weather seems to be breaking though and we are starting to see glimpses of the glacier capped peak of the Salkantay mountain and within 20 minutes, the clouds almost disappear completely and the view is fantastic.

When I'm half way up this next climb and I really start to slow down. Between the altitude and my cold, this climb is kicking my butt. There is 4 or 5 other tour groups with 70 people or so doing the climb with us, most have passed me but there are

Rachel & Andrew

still 15 or so people behind me so at least I'm not last. I little farther up the trail, I find Shane, John, Maneer and Omar waiting for me. They know I'm not feeling great and they have decided a little moral support might help which is really nice and I think it actually helped speed me up a bit.

We finally get to the top of the ridge and find a small lake nestled against the start of the next climb. We rest for about 10 minutes here and have a snack. There is one 40 minute climb left of about 300m altitude before reaching the pass and this last climb is not as steep as the section we just finished. So we start up the last climb and soon reach the top. I'm so glad the climb is done, with

Last Stop Before the Summit

my cold it was so much harder than the other climbs I've done before. We reach the summit in about 3.5 hours which is 30 minutes faster than Edwin has estimated so I guess I was not as slow as I thought.

Just after we take some group photos at the summit, clouds move in and our view disappears. It's cold up here and the descent will be cold as well so I add some layers to stay warm. As we start down the descent, a misty rain begins. It hardly seems to be raining but after an hour of walking, I'm starting to get pretty wet. So for the first time since I left Vancouver 7 months ago, I get my Gortex jacket out of my pack and put it on. I

Itamar, Rachel, Andrew, John, Omar, Seleka, Shane & Maneer

think the views of the mountains around the valley we are descending into are supposed to be spectacular but with the clouds and mist, we don't see much of it.

The descent seems to last forever and the trail has lots of loose rock on it and is slippery. My knee is starting to act up a bit as it never seems to like these long descents. We arrive at a nice covered eating area for lunch at about noon after 2.5 hours of walking in the rain. We are all cold and hungry so a nice hot soup with chicken, rice and potatoes is just what we needed. After about and hour, we are on our way again. The trail is still down hill but the valley has narrowed into more of a river canyon.

We continue to descend for a couple of more hours. The rain has steadily slackened until it stopped completely and we start to get a nice look of the mountains around us. Finally, we come to a small village called Callway, this is our camp site for the night. Our tents have been setup in the backyard of one of the local families. They have a large covered deck where we will eat our meals but the best thing is that they sell beer. We have some beer and are served tea and popcorn. Despite my cold, I feel pretty good, a little sore maybe but not too bad.

At Callway Camp Site

The other tour group is once again staying with us at the camp. In general, this group is quite a bit younger than us and they like to party. They end up playing drinking games for several hours. One of the 3 Australian girls in this group has what might be the most annoying laugh I have ever heard and unfortunately she laughs at everything whether it is funny or not. After a while, it just starts to drive you crazy but we are amused when all the Peruvian guys working for the 2 tour companies started mimicking her.

After the worst veggie spaghetti dinner that I have ever had, Edwin reviews tomorrow's schedule with us. We will be up again at 5:00AM and we have another 18km to trek to the valley of Sahuayaco with most of it being downhill. Sahuayaco is at 1930m so we will be descending more than 1000m. We will then be meeting a car and will drive 40 minutes to the town of Lucmabamba where we will have lunch and then we will drive a little further to another town called Santa Teresa where our next camp is located. Santa Teresa also has a nice hot spring which we are all looking forward to.

We are up again at 5:00AM and are awaken with some Coca tea as usual which is always a nice way to wake up. We're on our way and once again we are on a road but after a couple kilometers, we cross a river on a small bridge and are back on a trail. My cold seems to be a bit better and my knee seems pretty good today as well. We hike along the river, the trail goes steadily down but there are many sections that are up or flat. After a couple of hours, we come across a couple of houses and there are some covered rest areas where we stop for snacks.

Edwin has been challenged to a soccer game by one of the other guides so we play a game 6 on 6 on what is basically a field for cows and sheep. Edwin, Maneer, Omar, Itamar, Stewart and I take on a team of 6 English guys. These guys all seem to be close fiends in their mid twenties and it looks like they have played some soccer together. We play for about 30 minutes and we lose 2 to 1. It's a good thing that we stop playing when we did as things were getting a bit heated as one of the bigger guys on their team took out both Stewart and Maneer on hard but dirty tackles and they did not seem to like it when I upped the physical play as well.

When we resume the hike, my knee is sore again. I probably should have skipped the soccer game. We steadily continue descending for almost 2 hours before finally coming to the valley below and the start of the road. A van is waiting to take us to lunch in Lucmabamba, we pile in and are on our way. While we are waiting for lunch, there is a bit of a line up to use the bano. Itamar decides he can't wait and walks through some fields to a remote spot near a river. As he is about to do what bears do in the woods, a large bore pig comes running at him squealing. Itamar starts running with his pants down and ends up jumping off the embankment he is on down to the sandy area along the river below, luckily the pig does not follow. Later he brings me down to see the pig and it's pretty big, around 150kgs, and it seems pretty agitated just to see us. I'm not sure what the pig would have done but I would have ran too.

After lunch we get back into the van and drive to Santa Teresa. Our camp site is once again in a local families backyard but the yard is huge with nice gardens and a great covered eating area. We are all keen to head to the hot springs and we head there at little after 3:00PM. The hot springs look really nice, there are 3 large rectangular outdoor pools that are feed by the hot springs. One is for young kids and then there is a hot pool and a very warm pool for everyone. After 3 days of hiking over 58kms, it is so nice to get in these pools where we spend the next 1.5 hours. We then enjoy some beers on a patio, too bad we couldn't have beers in the pools, before we catch a ride back to our camp as it is almost time for dinner.

Dinner is a little better today but we are all tired and in bed before 9:00PM. Edwin explains a few options today regarding tomorrows trek. One option was to walk 4 hours along the road next to the river to the Hidro Electrica (a dam) where we would then start to walk another 4 hours along a beautiful valley along a pathway next to some railway tracks. The other option is to skip the walk on the road as that 4 hours is not supposed to be very scenic of a walk, so we opt to skip this road part and drive to the start of the railway tracks. This will allow us to sleep in until 7:00AM and get to the town of Aguacaliente earlier. Aguacaliente is at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located.

The next morning we are up at 7:00AM and on our way just after 8:00AM. It is a spectacular day with barely a cloud in the sky. Within about 30 minutes driving, we arrive at the start of the tracks. The tracks run along a very narrow valley with towering mountains on either side. There is a nice river on one side of the tracks and a narrow jungle on the other. The views of the river, jungle flora and the mountains above are fabulous. After about 2 hours, Edwin points to the mountain across the river on our right, this is the mountain that Machu Picchu is on and we can actually see Huayna Picchu, some Inca Terraces and a few stone building. The walk is basically flat which is a nice change from the previous 3 days.

Machu Picchu Above Us

After about 14km and 3.5 hours, we reach Aguacaliente. Augacaliente means hot water and there are more hot springs here but they aren't supposed to be as nice as the ones we were at yesterday. We are staying in hostels which were included in the cost of the trek. Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I are in a really nice hostel owned by the tour company we booked the trek with called Puma Peru Tours. It is the nicest place I have slept in since being in Playa de Carmen. Maneer, Omar, Michael and Stewart are in a different hostel just down the street that is not so nice.

Huayna Picchu

We explore the small town and it is bursting with tourists. The river winds right through the town which is built on a hill along the narrow valley. There is no decent road to Aguacaliente and all tourists either walk to the valley like we did or catch a train. We all meet a 6:30PM and head to a nice local restaurant for dinner which again is included in the cost of the trek. Dinner definitely better than the food we had on the trek. We all head to bed shortly after dinner as we will be up very early to go to Machu Picchu.

The next morning, I am up shortly after 4:00AM and I meet up with everyone at 4:20AM. It's about a 30 minute walk to the entrance to Machu

First View of Machu Picchu & Huayna Picchu

Picchu and after a 10 minute wait, they start to admit visitor's into the park. We are at 1900m and are walking up over 1700 steps to Machu Picchu above at 2500m. It is already warm and humid when we start and the steps are very steep and irregularly spaced. I'm feeling a bit better but decide to pace myself with Rachel. We want to be up to the top by 6:00AM when the upper gates open and for sunrise but we don't get through the main gates until almost 5:15AM.

These steps remind me of climbing the huge rock in El Penol Colombia but they are over twice as many steps. Rachel and I are trying to keep up a steady pace so we are at the top by 6:00PM.

Within 5 minutes, I'm sweating buckets. These steps are the hardest climb I've done yet, they just never seem to end. Because of the thick bush around us, we can't see the top so it is hard to know how far we still have to go. After about 50 minutes of climbing steps, we are finally at the top, I wish I had taken the bus and I look like I just got out of a swimming pool. I'm glad Edwin warned us and I have my last clean shirt in my pack to change into.

As we enter Machu Picchu, we are walking along a terraced hillside. Much of the city is below and in front of us with Huayna Picchu in the background

quite similar to the many famous photographs I have seen. But photographs just don't bring justice to the view we see. Over the next 2 hours, Edwin gives us a walking tour through the ruins. The condition of the site is simply amazing. The Spanish never found the city which was great because they normally would destroy what they found while looking for buried tombs and treasure and it remained undiscovered until 1911. I can't help but snap off lots of pictures especially with the mountain of Huayna Picchu in the background because the view is just so entrancing.

Finally at about 8:00AM we say good-bye to Edwin and we now have 4 to 5 hours to explore more of the ruins before we catch our train back to Cuzco. We decide to head to the Sun Gate. The Sun Gate is at the other end of the city from Huayna Picchu and is where trekkers doing the Inca Trail first catch a glimpse of Machu Picchu. Along the way, we stop at a large stone structure called the Guard House on the hill above the city. This is the location

where the most famous photos of Machu Picchu were taken and we can't resist taking a bunch of photos too. One photo I really like is of Stewart doing a hand stand with the city and Huayna Picchu in the background.

We continue up to the Sun Gate which is about 350m above the city and takes about an hour to walk to. The views of the city and the surrounding mountains are fantastic. After spending a few minutes there, we need to head back as Shane, Seleka, John, Rachel, Itamar and I have tickets to hike Huayna Picchu that are valid for 10:00AM.

We get back with about 5 minutes to spare and are soon climbing more steps. This time more than 1100 and they are even steeper than the steps we did earlier.

Once again Rachel and I find a nice steady pace while the others leave us behind. Some sections are so steep, they are almost ladders carved into the rocks with ropes to hold on to. I am exhausted by the time we get to the top and join everyone else after almost an hour of climbing, all these steps are taking their toll. At the top, there are more ruins to go along with the awesome views. I snap a bunch of

View From the Sun Gate

pictures and it is time to head down if we want to have time to eat before catching our train.

Going down is almost worse than coming up as my knee is really sore. Rachel and Itamar stayed for a while at the top and will meet us at the train station but I find Seleka and Shane waiting for me at the bottom. We then walk to the upper entrance where John is and we decide to take a bus down instead of the stairs which I don't think my knee would have liked too much. We grab lunch in a Aguacaliente and then head back to the hostel to grab some baggage that we left in storage and then it was time to head to the train station.

View From Huayna Picchu

Our train leaves at 3:00PM and will take us to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley. We should arrive around 4:40PM where a van should be waiting for us to drive us another 2 hours to Cuzco. The view along the train ride are great but I can believe how much the train bumps and rocks as we go. When we get to Ollantaytambo, we are expecting a driver to meet us with a sign saying Puma Peru Tours. We walk around for 15 minutes and can't find anyone. Just when we are about to call the tour company we find the driver. He had been walking around asking people for Andres (my name in Spanish) but none of us noticed him and he decided to pick up some other passengers that needed a ride when he couldn't find us so

The Gate House & Machu Picchu Mountain

now there is only room for 4 of us in the van. He wants 2 of us to stay behind and he would come back and get those 2 in a few hours. We say forget it and no one is staying behind waiting for hours. After some heated discussion, he finally hires another van to drive us.

So we are on our way back to Cuzco. We are all exhausted but it has been a fantastic 5 days. the trek itself was not as visually stunning as the Santa Cruz Trail but the ending in Machu Picchu was incredible. I've been looking forward to seeing Machu Picchu ever since I started planning this trip and it did not disappoint and Cuzco has been awesome as well. It is Halloween tonight which is

supposed a big party in Cuzco. We specifically paid extra to catch an earlier train to get us in Cuzco at a decent time to join in the festivities but I'm not sure if we have the energy left or not to go out. I'm sure we walked another 15kms today so we are getting close to 90km over the last 4 days.

See my next blog on the return to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Ciao.