IncaFlora and Machu Picchu

One advantage of visiting the sacred valley of the Incas in February, the rainy season, is the lush flora around the inca ruins. This makes up for the inca trail to Machu Picchu being closed, so having to find our own way there. Another advantage is that Cusco, the main city, is not heaving with tourists, so people are desparate to give you a room and food for a reasonable price. Here are some pictures from inca sites near Cusco.
flowering cactus at Pisac, Sacred Valley.

After enquiring about heading up the valley to Machu Picchu, we realised that train fares were extortionate, as the only easy route up the steep hanging valley is by Rail. Peru´s government have sold of the railway and prices have jumped from $12 to $96 return over a few years. Considering we would have to fork out 100 quid to get up the valley from Cusco on the train, in a country where we can live for 30 quid a day, we had to find an alternative.

The alternative Inca trail started with an 8 hour bus journey across an andean mountain pass at about 4500m. My head started to be hit by hammers at the top of the pass, but some people were on hand to sell stuffed red peppers and water. Next was a 2 hour minibus trip with as many people as can fit in and on a minibus on some farm tracks, then a 1 hour trip to a hydroelectric station followed by a 2 hour walk along the railway track up the valley to Aguas Calientes (the town below Machu Picchu). All this was accomplished for about a fiver each. We thought that the local train staff might give us a ride on their work truck, but no such luck and we arrived in the dark.

Start of bus journey on mountain pass, Sacred Valley behind.

After a good night´s sleep induced with some Pisco sour we started up the mountain towards Machu Pichu at 7am. Some people woke up at 5 to watch the sun rise over the temple, which looked a bit foolish considering the thick clouds we went through. Thankfully this cleared at about 10am showing the site, and thick clouds moved across the site through the morning on and off. The clouds just added to feeling of the site and we got some great pictures.

Machu Picchu comes out of the clouds.

The mountain behind the ruins is called Waynapicchu, and here is the view from the sun temple`s observatory towards the mountain. This is a line that is exactly north, and each corner of the stone below marks a compass point. The stone is also angled at exactly 13 degrees, as Machu is 13 degrees south of the equator - all this from observation of the sun which was worshiped here. More evidence of the skill of the incas is in the incredible stonework, seen below. This stonework, unlike the spanish colonial equivalent, is earthquake-proof.

Lawnmower of type used at Machu Pichu.

After heading all the way up Machu Pichu, Wayna Pichu etc.. and back down it seemed we deserved a break, and forked out for a train back half way back to Cusco. Even this extravagance cost us 20 pounds each, for a 1.5 hour journey. Needless to say the train was 6 hours late after it's revised departure time and we didn´t get to Ollayantambo until 8pm! No chance of a refund of course. It was no surprise when we learnt that PeruRail is part owned by an English company called Orient Express!

More potential victims of PeruRail playing innocently at Aguas Calientes. There was little danger of this train actually going anywhere though.

The journey back up the remainder of the valley to Cusco was on local buses, which cost about 2 pounds each. Unlike on the tourist only trains, we got to talk with local people, and learnt about the barricades of roads and buses that had taken place the day before. Parts of the road were still blocked by boulders put there in protest at private companies taking money from the area and giving little back to the people. Here are some extracts from the remains of the protest in Cusco.

Tomorrow should take us to Puno, right on Lake Titicaca, again by bus for a few quid. This also should be a spectacular journey across the andes. We decided against the train journey at 70 quid each. We leave you with some more pictures from around Cusco and the sacred valley.

Stonework at Sacsayhuaman Temple, Cusco. Lou added for scale.

Lizard trying to find a crack in an inca stone wall.

Family in Cusco.

Nasca Lines

Here is the Cesna plane that took us up to see the Nasca lines. The pilot's door wouldn't shut properly, but apart from that everything was fine. Just to make sure we could see the monkey, spider etc.., the pilot did a series of sharp turns. I was starting to get used to his style of flying which involved looking backwards at us whilst shouting the names of animals. Lou was at the back of the plane and I was further forward in order to keep the plane balanced. Although the cockpit had a sign warning against aerobatic manoevres I was thankful that we hadn't had time to have any breakfast. Still, the flight lasted about 30 minutes and all sick bags remained unused. It is quite difficult to take pictures from a plane banking tightly to let everyone see a design on the ground, but if you double click the images to open them you will get clear views of some of the line drawings and funny shapes.

"Monkey, Monkey!"

"Alien Landing Strip" or perhaps just a shape pointing to a water source.

"Spider, Spider!"

"Parrot?" er, are we looking at the right thing?

There was also an 'astronaut' but I would debate it´s authenticity. Half way through the flight we managed to close the pilot´s door to only a small crack, and then made a nice landing at Nasca airport ready for the long debate with an official about who should pay our airport tax. A very Peruvian experience and highly recommended.

Altitude sickness of the Condor

Several Chileans gave me the sign of the cross and told me to keep my baggage close at all times when I was about to cross into Perú, however it has been safe and enjoyable so far. Lou even found a replacement for our Renault Clio in Tacna, Perú, and here she is taking it for a test drive. It may not do so well on the Motorway though.

Here is another way to get around the deserts of Northern Chile and Perú.

Thankfully, after spending a night in the world's noiseiest guest house, we made to Arequipa. This is a city full of buildings made of white Volcanic stone, and the taxi driver told me that we were at 2300m when I complained about the cold and rain. If this wasn´t bad enough the locals were busy throwing water at each other all weekend in the name of ´Carnival´. Naturally, tourists were also a target and we both got soaked on a Sunday walk. Apparently this is some sort of courtship ritual, however I watched from the hotel roof as a housewife dropped buckets of water over unsuspecting youths in the street. I too had a go and soaked some local girls and a few tourists who will probably get me back.

The cold water and altitude nearly made Lou seek shelter in the local convent, however the temptation of a sinful cake list at the convent cafe was too much for her. The Menu is well worth opening in a separate window.

Close to Arequipa, the Colca canyon is famous for its condors, and off we went to Calmay to be ready for early start to see them the next day. The first part of this drive was a climb to 4900m to cross the watershed. At this point my head started banging and we both felt pretty ill. I wondered why noone else on the trip was having this problem, but they were all fresh from walking to Machu Pichu. I managed to focus my mind on obtaining asprin from a local shop and went to bed for a while before visiting the hot springs bathing pool. Here some Peruvians invited me for to share a Pisco sour, which I had to decline as my head was already reaching boiling point.

At 5am the next day we woke up to a breakfast of pockets of air in bread bubbles and coffee substitute. We headed up the canyon to see the condors and apparently some dancing children in a village sqaure. The children didn't show (would you let you kids out at 6am?) and the condors didn't get up until much later, about 9am. When they did about 5 started circling the Colca canyon and the clouds slowly lifted to see the drop below them. The condors are carrion eating birds and circled the large groups of tourists, presumably hoping one of them might fall into the 4000m canyon. Close up they look like fat ugly vultures, but in flight they are slight and beautiful with silver on the top of the wings. This alone was worth the hammering headache which stayed with me until we got down to Arequipa.

Más Sal, por favor

A quick, but memorable, stop in Santiago with Luis introduced us to Chilean barbeque party (parilla), in fact the sceond barbeque of that evening. Starting at 10, the party went on until 4 and large quantities of beef were converted into some pretty good singing and crazy dancing. The catalyst for this recation was Piscola - a mixture of Coke and Pisco (spirit). We have to thank Luis for taking us to such a great event and putting up with our singing while several drunk chileans impressed us playing English songs on the guitar .

Luis, me and some Piscola

The party helped us to get some sleep on the 24 hour bus journey to San Pedro de Atacama the next day. We jhad been dreading this trip, but actually chilean busus are erxcellent and very comfortable. We woke up in the desert somewhere around Antofagasta, and still had a long way to go.

San Pedro is an oasis in the middle of the driest place on earth. There are vast numbers of tourists here, but most are Chilean. We took a trip out into the Salt Water Lagoons and Ojos de Salar (big holes in the floor of valley, into the salt lake below). I plucked up the courage to throw myself into an Ojo when I had seen the depth tested by a few Brazilians. Our new digital camera was not fast enough to catch me in flight, but did catch the large displacement of water, admired by witnesses of all nationalities present.

In the evening the trip crossed the dry Salt Lake (Sala de Atacama), and again we tried to follow the instrcutions of exactly where to walk to avoid falling through the crust. It was worth following some weighty people across the Sala just to be sure.

The mountains around San Pedro are also spectacular and some observatories are based there, as the sky is rarely troubled by clouds. Today we plan to go into the Valle de la Muerte, and hopefully come out again. In the main square is this Spanish mission, built in adobe like most other buildings here, and dating from the 16th Century. Presumably the Catholics came here to convert the local lizards, who probably weren't expecting the Spanish Inquistion.

Los Chilenos

Buenos de Chile. So far everything here has been pleasantly surprising, and Santiago was no exception. After managing to book into a nice hostal next to the Argentinian embassy, we settled into trying to interpret the local Spanish, primarily to get our hands on the best food possible. This involved several small errors and lots of Nescafe and Chips. The dictionary we have doesn´t seem to correspond to the local spanish.

Plaza de Armas, Santiago

Ignore the reasonable prices and friendliness, and Santiago could be Paris or Madrid. The metro seems to be better than anything in the UK and nightlife abounds (not so good after 10 hour time difference). Luis, a Chilean friend of Otso´s, invited us for lunch in the business quarter and I had a quick three courses for 2 quid. Digestion took place in the funicular and a cable car up onto the hills around town and we realised just how enormous Santiago is, sprawling outwards in a big valley.

Looking for quick trips away from Santiago before heading north, we went to the coast. Valparaíso is where the Chilean Navy is based and their HQ looks like a chateau dressed up as a wedding cake. It is an obviously colonial town. In fact, the area we´re staying in is the old Bristish quarter, and looks far more Bristish than most of even New Zealand and Australia. The local houses and church look like they´ve been transplanted from Bristol. There is also a lot of German influence here too, including a Lutheran Church. Looking around the town I realised how much the British helped to prize the Spanish out of Chile - Half the places around the town are named after Irish or Bristish independence heros. This might have had something to do with Chile´s mineral resources, rather than Bristish altruism. A relationship based on mutual backscrubbing still appears to exist - a look around the Navy museum found a letter from Margret Thatcher in pride of place, agreeing to help stop the Argentinians get hold of too many weapons. Speaking of the devil, also in a fairly proud postion was the edict declaring the reasons behind the 1973 military coup (Gen Pinochet et al.). I still think Chile is very divided over this, some being very proud of Salvador Allende and Pablo Neruda, who both died shortly afterwards, and others backing Pinochet. I saw a soldier using his spare time to peal socialist propaganda from a wall in town. Anyhow, this is only my first nieve impression of history in Chile.

Cerro Allegre, Valparaíso

Pelicans, Viña del Mar (Valparaíso)

Puerto, Valparaíso

The next stop will be an oasis in the Atacama desert, without the aid of a camel.

The stinking, steaming heart of New Zealand

In a fit of sleeplessness due to travelling across the Pacific faster than the speed of light and thus arriving before I left - here are some pictures of the throbbing mass that is the centre of the north island. We visited briefly and looked down some smelly pits. This is in fact the main attraction of Rotorua. We managed to find a campsite with en-suite geyser and volcanic baths.

After this, it was with great sadness that we finally let our camper van go, and you can see how attached we had become to it below. This left us to look around Auckland.

We stopped in a hostal - with real beds! Above is the view of Auckland from Devonport, a ferry ride accross from the city centre. Incidentally, we did go up the tower pictured and watched as someone threw themselves off the top (using a rope and harness) - something people here are very into. We decided not to try this ourselves.

In fact, as a final demonstration of how sporting and optimistic New Zealand people are, here is a picture of a preist trying to convert an ostrich. I am told that this mural is based on a true story.