Organization Day

Today was an organization day. I was feeling a bit of time pressure and needed to sort things out. I have to be in Iguacu Falls by November 17th to meet Christain and time is getting tight. I have things I want to do and see before I get there. So, yesterday I went to a travel and told him what I wanted to do. He said he'd work on it and get back to me this morning. So, today I spent time with him and he has organized a trip for me through southern Peru, Bolivia and into Chile. He's taken care of buses, transfers, hotels, tours and most meals. It will last nine days. Then I had him book me a flight from where the tour ends to Santiago Chile, so I can go to Easter Island. Then we checked flights for Easter Island and found they were all booked up! Finally he was able to find a flight there on November 9th and returning on November 12th. So that is great! Then I have five or six days to get to Iguacu. So, things are shaping up and I think I'm organized.

The rest of the day I went for a long walk, and got lost, before finding the main square again. I really like this city. Cusco is very touristy, but scenic, full of character and characters and I feel quite safe here. I've enjoyed my stay.

I spent a good part of the afternoon looking for a book all the travelers are talking about, but to no avail. I went back to that bakery for a repeat of yesterday's cheap and delicious dinner. Other than that I read for a bit and talked to Peter via Skype. That's all I have to report, but stay tuned for the next couple of weeks, it's going to be great!

Chris: and we worry about how we transport propane!

The Rainforest speaks for itself

Off All Too Soon

Thursday October 28.

We were awoken by red howler monkeys! Unbelievable noise. They sound like a cross between the wind roaring across the arctic ice and water running down the drain. Truly amazing noise and loud! There was no way you'd sleep through it.

Packed up our room, put our luggage out and went for a hike through the forest to the canopy tour. Climbed 185 steps to reach the top where we were up above the forest canopy. Amazing view. Mist coming up from the forest, trees everywhere, birds flying all over. Macaws and parrots screaming as they flew by.

Then back for breakfast and to leave, unfortunately. I would really have loved to stay another day. However, not to be. So, we were bundled up in the canoes, to the bus and then the airport, only to find my luggage wasn't there and my boarding pass said I was flying from Lima to Bogota (Columbia) instead of from Maldonado to Cuzco! Bit stressful and confusing, but luckily there were two young Canadian girls with us who were traveling with a GAP guide. She stepped up and was able to help me with both problems. My luggage was on a different bus that arrived a half hour later.

Short flight back to Cuzco. I got off the plane and left Mark on it. He's carrying on to Lima on his way back home to Perth Australia. He was a great companion on two trips and a great room mate. Hopefully we'll meet up again somewhere.

Taxi to the same hotel, Prisma. I decided to phone Ali and see if he could help me find a place to look at my laptop. He came to help in a matter of ten minutes! Walked me to a computer shop he knows, but when we started it up, it worked fine! Oops. Then he recommended a travel agent for me, because I want to organize the next leg.

Then back to the room to read all 25 messages I got from family and friends! Thanks for that, really appreciate it.

Then I went out to visit the travel agent, only to discover she didn't speak English. So, I found another one, a young man who spoke English, was very helpful and was from Quebec! So, he is working on an agenda.

Found a very clean bakery for dinner where I had an empanana (beef, spices, a few vegetables, in a pastry) and a delicious fruit salad. While there I met a couple about my age from Etobicoke who were going to Machu Picchu tomorrow by train. Talked to them for about an hour and then back to the hotel to update the blog!

Bungle in the Jungle

Wednesday October 27.

Woken up by Ruli at 4:00 and after breakfast off for the first of our four activities for the day.

1) Back into the canoes for a short ride downstream and then a half hour hike through the jungle to an oxbow lake. There we boarded a catamaran canoe for a leisurely paddle around the lake. We saw and watched numerous species of birds. Saw a giant river otter eating a fish in the water, and fished for piranhas. I caught a small one!

2) From the lodge we hiked through the forest to a blind where we sat and observed red and green macaws interact socially and lick the red clay cliffs where they apparently get nutrients from the clay that they don't get from their fruit diet.

3) After lunch we took the boat to a local shaman's medicinal farm. Gail would love this place! He took us on a guided walk through his farm/rainforest and showed us a number of plants that the natives have been using for years as medicines for just about everything you can think of from, bad skin to cancer, from love potions to erectile dysfunction. He spent a great deal of time explaining how you prepared the medicines, and I couldn't help think that sometimes you'd get better before the brew was prepared. He had us chew a plant leaf for a few minutes that made our tongues go numb and then squeeze and mush another leaf until we had a red ochre paste in our hands that we used for face painting. Unfortunately, Gail, I didn't take notes! All the while the mosquitos were dining on us in droves.

The highlight for me, was at one of the stops I noticed a large number of ants marching through the forest, all in line, carrying eggs... Army Ants!! Very cool. I've always found them fascinating.

4) A jungle night hike! Walking along very narrow paths with trees and vines all around us. The animals of the jungle making lots of noise and totally dark, except for our head lamps. A couple of times we turned them all off and imagined what was out there! Spooky. We found a small bird sleeping in a hollowed our part of a tree, several interesting insects, two tarantulas, another large spider and a vine snake. Really cool experience.

Then to bed early for another early morn.

Tarzan Goes to the Jungle

Tuesday October 26.

Mark and I were on our way by 7:00am. The bus picked us up and took us to the airport. It was raining hard and flights were delayed, so, we waited for awhile. At the airport, we met John and Saobhan from Ireland, who are making their way home; Richard, my dinner date in Lima, who was also heading to the jungle but a different lodge and Nicholas, from the cloud forest, who was also off to the jungle. It is a small world out here.

Finally left on our 35 minute flight over the Andes to Peurto Maldonado. Loaded onto a tourist mini bus for a half hour and then because the roads were under construction and very muddy, they took us to the river earlier than usual and we had a two hour cruise upon a motorized canoe upstream to the Pasada Amazonas Lodge on the Tambopata River. The river is full of sediment and is a reddy brown colour. Ate our lunch on the boat, that's chinese fried rice in a banana leaf! We saw two black cayman en route. Arrived about five pm.

We had a meeting about the facility, the rules, and the activities we'd be part of. Then it was dinner time. Food was good, pumpkin soup and lasagna. After a short mingling time we headed off to bed, as we have to get up by 4:00! When we got to the room, we found we had three walls and one totally open to the jungle. The jungle is incredibly loud, what with frogs, insects, birds and animals all call to each other. Amazing racket. Slept under mosquitos nets.

Tried to turn on my computer to write my journal for the blog later (there is no wi-fi here obviously), but it wouldn't work. It powers up but says I need to start it remotely and do a hard disc scan. Very frustrating and scary, because there is stuff on it I don't want to loose!

This lodge is run by a company called Rainforest Expeditions Peru. They are trying to get the local indigenous people to protect and respect the environment. The company takes 40% of the money we pay and gives the other 60% to the community of Infierno. They hire and train the locals as employees to run the facility, from cooks, guides, maids, gardeners, etc. Our guide, Ruli, told us that so far, since 1990 that money has bought the community a clean drinking water system, provided electricity and helped with education for the children of the community. The aim of the company is to have the community totally run the lodge and the ecotourism business by 2016. It's nice to see and be part of an effort like this. The locals in the area are involved in three industries that are harmful to the area: farming, logging and brazil nut harvesting. Ecotourism is becoming an ever increasingly important business here and through the Amazon.

Election Day

Monday October 25. So we have a new mayor. What did you say his name was?

Today was a rest day. My legs needed to recouperate. So, I took it easy. I worked almost all day uploading pictures and updating the blog - lot of work!! Had breakfast in the hotel with the group. And then this afternoon we all went to a local restaurant for a final lunch. Ali came too, even though it was his day off. I had a great trout with citrus salsa and orange flavoured mashed potatoes and a pumpkin and cheese soup. One of the girls ordered the guinea pig.

Had a meeting with GAP about my next trip, I'm off to the Amazon jungle for three days. So that should be very interesting. Again I will be out of touch until Thursday. My buddy Mark is going too.

That's it. Happy reading of all the new entries and I'll talk to you soon.

Friends New and Old

It's a small world on the gringo trail. This is just a short page as a tribute to some of the friends I have made so far.

This is Jannicke from Norway. I first met her on my Galapagos trip. Then when I arrived at my hotel in Cusco, she was there. She had just come back from the Inca Trail and I was just starting.

This is my newest friend, Mark from Australia. We did the Inca Trail together and are now heading off together into the Amazon.

This is Valerie. She too was on the Galapagos trip. I ran into her in Machu Picchu. She was on a different overland trip and had taken the train and bus to Machu Picchu.

John and Saobhan from Ireland who were also on the Inca Trail trip. Unfortunately John got food poisoning and had to head back after the first day.

And Richard (to the right of the lady with the Canada t-shirt). Richard and I spent one day together but had lots of laughs and a romantic dinner together at the LaRosaNautica restaurant in Lima. I met him again at Machu Picchu. He too had taken the train and bus there. Surrounding him are a group of Canadians from Toronto that he met. I didn't have a chance to talk to them, so, sorry no names.

This is a big part of traveling, meeting people. Because travelers are generally going to the same spots, it's not uncommon to meet up again at a later date. And with e-mail and blogs we can stay connected too. It's a small world on the gringo trail. (Gringo is what South Americans call tourists).

Porters and Final Thoughts

The porters are amazing! We had 14 people in our group and 19 porters. We were each given a green GAP dufflebag that we were allowed to put 6 kilos of stuff in. That included our sleeping bag, air mattress and whatever clothing we needed. Everything else, including snacks and water we carried on our backs in a day pack. Each porter carried 30 kilos on their backs!
That included all the tents, folding chairs, tables, our dufflebags, cooking utensils and equipment, all the food, propane tanks, and their own gear. They helped us load and unload the bus. They hiked the whole trail carry all of that.

They left after we left, and arrived before us, walking uphill or running downhill, to set up camp for us before we arrived. They boiled water for us to drink, they prepared all our food in a tent. The food was good, especially considering where and how they made it. We had trout, chicken dishes, omelets, rice, soup with every meal, porridge in the morning, no complaints.

They set out hot water in pans for us to wash our faces or feet with. They even blew up our air mattresses, because we had no air left! and deflated them the next day. Then we would leave, they'd clean up the whole camp, and race off, pass us and set up the next one. They worked hard and sweated a lot!! Without their help, there is no way that we gringos could have completed the trek. Thank you!

I asked Ali, why they have to keep moving camp. It seemed to me that if they were coming back over and over again to these camping sites, that they should be able to have semi permanent campsites, but, the government says that each site has to be cleaned and emptied after each night.

Everyday, there are 500 hundred people allowed on the trail and that includes porters.
I just realized that I haven't told you how far we hiked. So, over the four days we hiked: 11km, 13km, 16km and finally 6km for a total of 46 km of very challenging hiking.

After completing the trip, we lined up for a bus that took us, via dirt road switchbacks all the way down the mountain to small town at the base. From there we took a train back to Ollanataytambo and finally a bus back to the Prisma Hotel. We arrived at 9:00pm.

Ali had lots of great lines, but the best one was simple. He said "most people who can't complete the trek are defeated by attitude sickness, not altitude sickness". Having said that though, on average 10 people per year die on the trek from severe altitude sickness or heart attacks or maybe falling off!

There is lots more to tell or type, but that's enough for now.

Inca Trail Day 4 Machu Picchu

Sunday October 24. This is it! The reward for all the hard work, the final prize. Ali told us that all the groups would be up early and trying to be the first through the check point. So he talked us into a 3:00 start! He also told us to keep left on the path as we rounded Machu Picchu mountain and stay on the mountain side, because the right side has some very steep drop offs and there would be some people who would race to be at the front and be the first to reach the Sun Gate. So, we got up at 3:00 had a really basic breakfast and set off in the dark with our headlamps to the checkpoint. Thankfully, it had stopped raining! We were the first, but we had to wait one and half hours for the guard to come and open the gate! By the way there was no sign of Ali. The leader of the next group that come down, about fifteen minutes later, said "Ali's group, right?" Anyway, Ali finally showed up and we were allowed through. We began on a narrow undulating path. The prize was around the other side of the mountain. The last kilometre was a steep climb up to the Sun Gate where we could look down and have our first view of Machu Picchu. Beautiful. We descended and Ali gave us a two hour tour of the highlights of the site. There were lots of other tourists there who had arrived by train and bus. After that, Ali suggested that we climb to the top of the site and go to see an Inca bridge. Some of us headed there. That's the last photo. Look for the small wooden bridge and the steps that traverse the sheer rock face. No one is allowed to cross the bridge, viewing only. If you blow up that photo, look closely how much work they did to build up that walkway. Imagine working in those days and trying to build that path. This is a civilization that had neither written language or the wheel! And yet look what they had accomplished! They used nothing but harder rocks and primitive chisels to turn the top of a mountain into a city. Ali showed us a stone that marked the four directions that Inca trails headed out on. He placed his compass on it and it read directly all four cardinal points, north, south, east and west. They, apparently had an astrologer map the skies for a minimum of two years, before they would build any of their cities or temples, in order to make sure that they faced the right direction and that the two most important days, the winter and summer solstice would be reflected accurately in their temples. Amazing. That's it, what an amazing place, challenging hike and great tour.

Inca Trail Day 3

Saturday October 23.

Up and off again by 6:00. Right from the start there was a bitch of a hill with a 300 metre vertical rise. Mark and I fell into our routine and took it slow. The breathing gets harder the higher you go. We took breaks and admired the scenery, because it is a truly beautiful place to be and if you keep walking most of what you see is your feet! The hill had three fake summits, just when you thought you were at the top, you'd see the trail changed directions and kept climbing.

After we finally crested, the trail descended for awhile and then became an undulating path. We saw several Inca ruins along the route today and a small lake. Then came a second climb up to another pass. The view was spectacular, you could see we were entering a cloud forest. We had lunch in the cloud forest and the scenery constantly changed as the clouds drifted by.

Then came what Ali affectionately calls the Gringo Killer steps. Six and a half kilometres of uneven stone steps, some of which are very steep, down to camp three. Ali gave me the 'power' to lead the group down. I don't find it hard on my knees or my breathing, just the legs. It is at camp three that all of the various groups that are hiking the trail meet and camp in there separate areas. Because all five hundred people are in the same area, they have showers, with tepid water, toilets that are slightly better than we'd had before, (Ali told us the toilets were better, but not to bring him pictures!), and a restaurant and bar. None of this is five star, or even one star, but it's better than the other two camps that have basically nothing. So, I rushed to get into the showers before the crowd arrived. Felt good to scrub off three days of sweat. Then back to our area for a snack. We were too tired to take advantage of the bar, and our food is good and already paid for, so we gave the restaurant a pass.

After dinner and a final meeting about the next day, and a 3 am start, we head for our tents. About a half hour later it started to rain. It poured all night.