Jun 2007

We left Mancora last Friday, crossing into Ecuador on June 22nd, just on time to avoid a passport fine for Gregory - the Peruvians decided to give me 90 days but only 30 to Gregory...
This means that we spent the whole of 31 days in Peru, when the plan was to cross it in 2 weeks and disappear. Strange feelings about Peru... they are very tourist-oriented and this sometimes feels rather annoying, but generally I think we quite liked it. It certainly is very beautiful, especially the Andes part.
Paradoxically, in the Andean country with the most culinary culture, I got food poisoning and ended up sick for 3 weeks!! So I could not quite enjoy the cuisine here, and neither could Gregory, poor thing, who had to skip several meals as a result of things or eat roast chicken several times a week to stay on the safe side together with me. Exception was Mancora, where things went back to normal and we stuffed ourselves with the unmissable seafood. I think I would have eaten it even if I was still sick...

Anyways, back to Ecuador.
We had a bit of a traumatic border crossing, where I lost my temper with a greedy taxi driver and had to rush out of a frontier toilet while still closing my trousers in order to catch the bus to Cuenca which we were about to miss. There is one every hour except at the time when we were there, when the next would have been in 3.5 hours. Anyways, hopped on and five hours later we arrived in Cuenca, our designated spot for Spanish lessons. The weather was terrible: it was raining, the second rain in 5 months! We asked the taxi driver how long it had rained for: 2 MONTHS!! So we asked when does the rainy season ends? How is he supposed to know?!? It´s not supposed to be raining at the moment... So it emerges that it has been freak weather for a while, some parts of Cuenca have been flooded and it´s bloody cold. AND IT SHOULDN´T BE!! Delighted to stay here 8 weeks to learn Spanish.... Well, Gregory is having none of it and is very decided and eager to start his lessons, so I have had to give in and accept that this is where we are going to stay for a while. I will buy myself a hot water bottle.

We have spent the last few days checking out all the Spanish schools and hostels in town. Finally, we have decided to study at the Sampere School and stay in this shared flat just across the school which will only cost us $200 a month - which we found completely by chance while buying rum from a shop. The original plan was to stay with a local family, but they want $15 a day EACH and this is not affordable. Plus, I will only be doing an hour class a day, so I will have a lot of free time and I quite like the idea to buy my own food and cook it, for a while.
So we have found a roof and a school for when we are back from the Galapagos - we are GALAPAGOING THIS SATURDAY!

We are off to Guayaquil tomorrow so to have a day to spend in town before we fly off to the magic islands. Once on the boat, we won´t have access to the Internet till we are back - July 7th.

Will provide a full update with pictures as soon as feasible.

Cuenca

Trujillo was a touch and go stop. We got there on Sunday night - everything was closed because of Sunday and we struggled to find a place where to eat - on Monday afternoon we went to Chan Chan and by Monday night we were on a night bus to Mancora.

Chan Chan is a pre-inca site and is known as ´the mud city´. It is built entirely in adobe, that is - mud - and it is quite large, though only a small part is well preserved and displays the original mud drawings and patterns. We went on an organised 4-hour tour - which was a very wise decision, since the site is spread out and they take you to see the most important spots which one otherwise would probably not do.

Trujillo cathedral

Chan Chan

The journey to Mancora was pleasant, we managed to sleep and we were there by 5 am. The mototaxi driver that was there to receive the early passengers showed us a couple of hotel brochures and this is where we ended up staying:

http://www.vivamancora.com/penalinda/

View from our room:

Needless to say that we are enjoying this. There is absolutely nobody around and all you can hear is the sea. Great!

We left Lima for Huaraz on 12th June. It was another 8-hour trip on Cruz del Sur, but this time we brought our own food...

Huaraz is the biggest town in the Callejon de Huaylas, which is a 180 km valley about 400 km north of Lima which lies between the Cordillera Negra on the west side (no snow) and the Cordillera Blanca on the East side (many beautiful snow capped peaks). This is an area of really high and beautiful mountains, with Huascaran being the highest in Peru at over 6700 m. This is where the events of Touching the void happened!!!

We stayed in Huaraz just a couple of nights, to give us the chance to do a small trek up into the Cordillera Blanca. We chose to go up to Laguna Churup, which is described as a 5-hour moderate trek... While Gregory was not really that much for it, I insisted in going since I was feeling better and probably wanted to prove to myself that I really was so...Erm erm. The trek was NOT moderate. Thankfully we decided to pay double fare and get the combi to drive us all the way up to the last point, saving ourselves a couple of hours. From there it was still a painful 3 hours uphill, till we got to the last rocky wall before the lake, which turned out to be a lot more than moderate!! Until that point I was thinking we had wasted our money to hire a guide, what for, the path was fairly marked....But no, we did not waste our money at all. The climb up the rocky wall was not one that we would have attempted on our own, in fact even our guide relied on her cousin to help us all up to the laguna - her male cousin had come along to practice as he was studying to be a guide, and we were all so glad he did! On top of it all I was not as well as I thought. I had stomach cramps throughout the day and my legs turned out to be a lot weaker than I thought they would be. So Gregory was very right after all...for once :-))! Anyways, we did make it up to the top and the laguna was a nice reward. On the way back we stopped at a lodge for a drink and then missed the last combi back to town, so that we then had to walk most of the way down (15 km??). That was not what we hoped at all after walking and climbing rocks all day, but it did give us the opportunity to observe the local community while we were waiting for a vehicle that never turned up. As usual, lots of animals coming back home from the fields, old ladies overloaded with huge loads on their backs, children playing marbles in the dirt road, etc. It was a good day, despite my bad shape.

Next day we decided to move 60 km up the valley and booked a room at Llanganuco Lodge, which is a new place owned by a English young man up in the mountains above Yungay, near the famous Laguna Llanganuco. This laguna was actually the reason why we came to Huaraz in the first place, after seeing a picture of it in the book.
Yungay is one of the smaller towns in the Callejon de Huaylas, together with Carhuaz and Caraz at the end of it. Also, Yungay is the site of the single worst natural disaster in the Andes ever: in 1970 a earthquake loosened 15 million cubic meters of granite and ice from the Huascaran mountain, coming down at a speed of 300km/h and burying the town and almost all of its 18,000 inhabitants. Today the area has been turned into a Campo Santo and a new town has been built 2 km from there.

Llanganuco Lodge is about 18 km up the valley from Yungay, and it is a really beautiful place. It is being created by Charlie, a young chap from England who got fed up with chartered accounting and decided to give it all up for the mountains. Presently only two buildings are ready,the kitchen/lounge and one of the bedrooms building (one dorm and two double rooms - queen and king). We got the king room at discounted rate since the dorm was occupied and it was just such luxury! The biggest bed we have ever slept in, with a huge fantastic down duvet and the best view one can imagine! This is the website, though the buildings dont actually look like this yet:
www.llanganucolodge.com
Charlie´s mum, Ianina, is currently helping out and is the current chef at the lodge, so not only we had a great room and a great view, but we also had great food.
We spent 3 days here - the second day we just lazied around, given that I could not move as my stomach is still NOT ok, though a lot better.

On the last day we went up to the Llanganuco Laguna. Now,we were simply meant to walk along the mountain and reach the control entrance to the national park... except that on the way there we came across a really angry bull who was fighting with all other members of his herd. So we got a bit concerned and decided to walk away, but there was a ditch that we couldn´t jump...so... so we ended up walking away from where we were meant to be and soon we got lost in the shrubs. At one point I got a bit concerned because we seemed to become more and more entangled in the vegetation, not seeing a way out. Finally we did, thank god! We got down to the road we could see from our lost spot and found our way to the control point, paid our 5 soles entrance fee and got a taxi up to the laguna. To this laguna one can take a taxi, isn´t it great.

Once we got back, we had a drink and then descended from the lodge to Caraz (10 km away from Yungay), where we stayed at the most basic hotel we have had so far (just to make up for the luxury at the Llanganuco Lodge...) and then in the morning we jumped on a bus to Chimbote and then Trujillo via the Cañon del Pato, which is a really crazy road. Basically, the road follows the river all the way down to the sea through a very deep canyon with some really scary drops and many tunnels. Very scenic and worth the concern, though at one point we did slow right down on a road indent that I did not like at all!! 7 hours later we arrived in Trujillo in one piece, ready to visit Chan Chan the next day.

The climb up to the Churup laguna...

Laguna Churup:

Llanganuco Lodge and views

Laguna Llanganuco:

pic nic with the cows

The laguna

El Cañon del Pato

We left Cusco on June 8th, with some relief. Somehow, something was not square in Cusco. Maybe the fact that I wasnt feeling well?!! Possibly the altitude there made things even worse for me, 3,500 m above sea level is not that great when one is feeling rough. Or maybe it was just the karma of the place. Cusco is extremely commercial and most people on its street are out there to get at your money in whichever way they can. Trying to sell you tours, postcards, artesania, chewing-gums, flowers, you name it. Even the doctor managed to neatly sting me with a $75 bill!! Thinking about it, it was such a major rip-off. And I dont think that staying at Casa de la Gringa helped either. Yes, true, they had a cosy lounge with heater in the evenings, but that was just to make up for the tiny cramped oppressing room we had. The staff there were great and caring but still...it was the very same owner who recommended the thief doctor to us! Whatever it was, we are happy Cusco is behind us. Beautiful place as it is, full of history as it is, we much prefer Lima!!! We got here yesterday and have been fairly busy meeting the people and seeing a new doctor and having blood tests done. The new doctor charged us 50 soles for the consultation, actually visited me, checked my tongue, ears and belly, prescribed me yet another antibiotic and sent me off to a clinic to have blood and urine tests done, which cost the whole of 28 soles ($9) !!!! Well, the results have come back today (same day as well) and it is all fine. Yep, all fine, except that I still cannot digest what I eat and, incredibly, I still not have any appetite. I cannot wait to find out how many kgs I have lost!!!

Last night we went to meet Rob to catch up and book the Galapagos islands. In the end we got carried away and - together with the fact that apparently there is very little choice with cheap boats as we have entered high season - we have decided to go on the Sea Cloud yacht, which is VERY nice and VERY expensive. Check this out> http://www.discovergalapagos.com/SeaCloud/index.htm
As a result of booking this very expensive cruise we have decided to give Los Roques a miss, given that it would be another huge luxury package which frankly we cannot afford. We rather invest in the Galapagos.... So this is our first major change in itinerary - we will fly straight to Barbados from Ecuador and forget Chavez' land for now. Sorry Daniela!!

Here in Lima we have also met with Nader, Lella's Peruvian friend, who is a very fine artist and person. He has invited us for lunch on Monday and so we have decided to stay in Lima at least until Tuesday, given that the hostel where we are staying is very comfortable and inexpensive. Hostal Malka - nice and quiet, good location, has a table tennis table for Gregory's convenience.

Here are a couple of pics of Cusco and Gregory's birthday.

This was a restaurant we went to where all profits go to benefit street children. The whole restaurant is decorated for children and it looks like a kindergarden! very nice, the owner, Yuri (pictured below) is only 28!

Hello everybody

Yes, we are still alive, even though just about!!! We have been off line for a few days due to a couple of significant events, the first one being that we went on the Inca Trail, the second that I have been sick ever since arriving in Cusco.

It all started in Arequipa, we think. We took this super expensive Cruz del Sur overnight bus which looked like a spaceship. Fantastic bus, we got a cama seat for the modest price of $33 for an 11-hour journey from Arequipa to Cusco, dinner inclusive. It is a doubledecker bus where the lower level is furbished with 9 cama seats that look like aereoplane business class seats and recline to a full bed. There are movies on board as well as a hostess who serves you dinner just like in a plane. Except that I have never been sick on plane food!!! By the time we got to Cusco (29th of May) and checked in our hotel in San Blas, I had already started feeling a little strange. Gregory started having diarrea but it kept at that and nothing more, lucky him. For me, it was the beginning of two days of no food and feeling terribly. Nausea, fever, vomiting, and the Inca Trail booked for the 31st of May!!! OK, let s give Cruz del Sur the benefit of the doubt, maybe it was not their cold rice that caused all this, maybe it was something else. We cannot tell for sure, but one thing is sure: I will not eat bus food ever again!!!

On May 30th we decided to call the doctor, who prescribed me antibiotics and other tablets and assured me that this would sort me out to go on the Inca Trail the next day. The problem with the Inca Trail is that, ever since they have limited the number of trekkers to 500 a day, making the bookings not transferable, if you fall sick on the day you are due, you lose your chance to go along with all the money you have paid. This ensures that lots of people who are not feeling well still go on this fairly demanding trek as they are, like me. I felt like a wreck for most of the day before departure. When I realised that the antibiotics and annxed tablets hadnt given me my appetite back and I was still unable to swallow anything at 5 pm, we went down to the SAS agency to discuss our options. We were greeted by the most unsympathetic representative on shift, with whom we ended up arguing. At that point the situation wasn't great, since we had already paid $1,020 to do this thing and Gregory was so annoyed and disappointed that I could not go that he didn't want to go any more!! Thankfully, by about 6 pm I started to feel like a human being again. I think it was the dose of rehydration salts that gave me new life, possibly. So we went along to our 7 pm briefing session and I decided that, if I was still breathing the next morning, I would try to go along.

And I did. It was really hard, I was fairly sick throughout the trek, with different problems on different days. I think the worse was the morning of the second day, which is supposed to be the hardest day of all, since you climb from 3,000 m to 4,200 m at Dead's Woman Pass (...). I woke up with a tremendous nausea, went to the loo about 4 times and by 7 am I was done in. I went to see Ernesto, our lead guide, and declared that I didn't know if I could make it. He said ‘let’s give it a try’ and so off we went, 4 hours of a million steps ahead of us. Well, not only did I get to the top of the pass, I got there before 3 other people in my group!!!!!! What the hell. It was a kind of surreal hike uphill, going really really slowly, step after step, and frankly I still wonder how I made it up there in my very sick condition. I must say, on a few occasions I did think of the guy in Touching the void and that gave me the motivation I needed. If he crawled down a mountain with a broken leg for a week, surely I could climb up to Dead Woman´s Pass with an upset stomach? Gregory, god bless him, carried my rucksack for me. And one should see what the porters carry!!! The biggest packs I have ever seen, all the way up and down the mountains for 4 days. Not only the size, they run with it!! Yes, they run, because they need to be ahead of the group to plant the tents and make lunch-tea-dinner and await the tourists with a welcome and cold drink. I did actually feel a bit uncomfortable with the whole concept, these people serving us constantly and a complete separation between them and us. OK, there are a couple of opportunities where presentations are made along with applauses etc, and the tips giving at the end etc, but generally the whole business is one of great segregation between the Quechua-speaking porters and the rest of us. As usual Gregory diverted a little from the general trend, having bought a small Quechua-Spanish dictionary which he endeavoured to use while on the trek, mixing with the porters more than anybody else. Then, at the final greetings session he declared in perfect Spanish: Lo siento, no hablo suficiente quechua. Pero…La proxima vez!!!

So… the Inca Trail. What can we say. It is amazing, 50 km of a fine ancient paved path crossing beautiful mountains, passing a great variety of vegetation and many ruins, and fantastic food none of which you have to carry. And then, on the fourth day you get up at 4 am to ensure you are at the Sun Gate for 6 am. We had great weather and on day 4 the sky was clear and rays of sun came out from above the sun gate and slowly revealed Macchu Picchu!! When doing the Inca Trail, Macchu Picchu is reached from the top, which is a fantastic view. It looks so tiny!! Then the sun illuminates it and you realise that you have the finest Inca city in front of your eyes. From down below (400 m from Macchu Picchu to the bottom of the valley) you cannot see a thing.

We stayed in Aguas Calientes (Macchu Picchu Pueblo) an extra night as we had booked it as part of the tour, thinking the hot springs would be good for us. We did not even attempt going there, given that by day 4 in the afternoon I had a sore throat, fever again and could hardly walk. At any rate, all the people who went said it was quite pathetic and the water not even hot. The next day Gregory managed to change our train ticket for an earlier one and got me out of bed back to Cusco for about 5 pm, which was nice. Back at Casa de la Gringa hostel, which really feels like home, especially now that I am not feeling great.

So here are some pics...

Day 1. The gentle beginning...

Day 2. I did explain to Gregory that he was free to take the picture but I was not in a position to smile...

Towards Dead Woman´s Pass

At Dead Woman´s Pass

Inca tunnel

Yes, this was the food!!