Travel E-mails

Well Well Well...

This is attempt 3 -- Count it! 3! at this e-mail! That means that twice I have lost the e-mail, the first time, I lost half an hour's worth of typing! and the second time about 7 minutes... Damned PC's! Crash crash crash.. that's all they're good for!

Well, Here it goes. I imagine that a lot of the heart will be left out of this e-mail, as it's already been poured into the last 2, and there's only so much heart to go around!

So, my last e-mail found me in Cuzco, Peru -- about to head off on the 4 day hike of the Inca Trail. That night I found myself eating a traditional sacred sort of meal, Cuy. What Cuy is I will leave up to google to answer for those of you who are so inquisitive. The next day I headed off. On the bus I briefly met all of the group. We were a group of 8 Argentenian students, 2 Aussie travelers, and another Argentenian couple... and me. That makes 13. Lucky 13. After a long dirt-road bus ride beside the winding river that would follow us for much of the way to Machu Picchu, we finally ended up at the end of the line. Km 82 as it's called. We stopped and had lunch and Coca tea... then headed to the registration booth. Once we were good to go, we crossed the river and so our journey began. Day 1 was about a 4 hour hike, gaining about 500 meters of altitude putting us around 3200 meters (and chewing a lot of coca leaves to keep out energy up). We saw 3 pre-incan ruin sites which were quie impressive, though 2 were seen from afar, being on the other side of the river. Eventually we got to our camp site -- about 3 minutes from the river, and with a spectacular view of the Andes mountain range and some glacial caps. Day 2 we awoke at 6:00 AM to Coca tea being served to our tents. We packed, ate, drank more tea, then headed off. Day 2 climbs from that 3300 M camp site to the "First pass" also known as "dead woman's pass". Why the name? well, it's 4200 meters altitude... they say that Altitude sickness usually kicks in at around 2500 meters. Lots of hufing and puffing as we passed the myriad of small streams that dot the mountain side and eventually stopped for lunch. Being at that altitude and climbing higher is really quite a feat... It's thoroughly exausting and you lose your breath very quickly. Luckily those blesses Coca leaves give you that boost of energy and keep you going. It's amazing how strong the Porters are -- They are the ones who carry most of the camp stuff. I was carrying about 25-30 lb in my bag, and the porters were carrying all the kitchen wares, tents, tarps, propane tanks (yes, propane tanks, the big BBQ ones strapped to their backs with strips of cloth) etc.... I tried many times along the trip to keep up with a porter... the best I could do was about 7 minutes. They just keep on going -- always getting to the camp site and setting up camp plus preparing tea for when you arrive. Our group had 9 porters, 1 chef, and 2 guides... making us a REAL total of 25 people, though only 13 were 'travelers'.. or 'paying'... So, After lunch on Day 2 it started to rain. Oh Joy! Rain on the hardest day of the trail! It continued to rain for the last 400 m climb, and most of the way back down. The last 100 m was almost unbearable... it was so utterly exausting to do so much as take one step... blisters were aching, lungs burning, muscles about to give out, head pounding... But in the end, we all made it. The last one up was one of the Australians who, for some reason, had a 30 kg pack (66 lb). Unfortunatley there was no view from the top, as we had ascended into cloud cover, which was often the case on this trip. After this climb we had another 3-4 km of trails to descend in order to get to our camp site (at 3600 m). The mountainside was riddled with waterfalls and rivers, evergreens and grass... the view was incredible as we parted from the cloud cover. Once again -- that spectacular mountain view of ice caps and peaks as far as the eye can see... rivers, trees, valleys.. clouds consumuing mountains slowly... We got to camp and the rain stopped. Enough of my stuff was wet to be a little miserable, and on top of that there were the blisters on each foot, and the hand that held my walking stick... My shirt was soaked in sweat from the poor ventilation of my pack on my back and the immence exertion that had made up the better part of that day. I slept well that night, eveyone did. We had covered about 9 km of uphill trails and 3 km of downhill all at high altitude. Day 3 was another 6:00 AM coca tea in the tent day. We put on what dry clothes we had, wet boots, and got some breakfast. Heading off around 7:00 for the "Second Pass" which is about 3850 m (but only about a 250 m climb) and we got to tour some ruins overlooking our campsite. We got to the top of the Second Pass and were rewarded with a spectacular view on either side.. You can really see how the forest thicks out at lower altitude, and up higher there is little more than small bushes and cold winds. On day 3 we also climbed the 3rd pass... so lots of climbing and descending, but much easier than day 2. The trails were just spectacular. The whole way it was like storybook scenery.. just incredibly beautiful. We also got to see about 5 ruin sites through out the day. We hiked through jungle, over mountains, through ruins, always overlooking valleys, mountains and clouds and waterfalls, small lakes etc. I remember when we saw a cloud making its way towards us... so slowly consuming the scenery, climbing up the valley and blocking the view until finally it made it to us -- spectacular seeing a cloud work its way to you over about 20 minutes, like a wave in slow motion.. Day 3 ended at a big camp site -- this is where the 2 day trail spends their night aswell, so a lot of people, a bar, a restraunt, and some small shops. Also some imcredible ruins about 5 minutes away. Knowing that this was out last night togeather, we had a few drinks. Drinking at high altitude is.. well... efficient. A few beers is like a 12-pack. We sang songs, chatted, danced to salsa music, and got to bed later than we should have. Day 4 was a 3:45 AM wakeup call. After a hurried breakfast we headed to the entry gate (about 15 minutes hiking in the dark) and waited for it to open at 5:30. We were the first group in, and rushed as fast as we could for the last few kilometers to see the sunrise at the sungate. Unfortunatley this several Km was mostly uphill, and by the time we crawled up the last steps to the sungate, there was still a thick layer of cloud, blocking the view of Machu Picchu and the sunrise. Regardless, we took a quick break here, and decided to just rush on. We climbed down past some more ruins and to the hill-top with "funeral rock" (where sacrifices were made) and finally got the view of the Lost City of the Incas. A spectacular view that everyone has been waiting for for ages... and that we had all worked so hard to get to. Everyone ached all over -- legs, sholders, backs, blisters, feet.... but we had made it. We had a break here than began the final descent to Machu Picchu. After a 1-2 hour tour with the Aussies (the spanish-speakers tour was with the other guide) we split up and egan exploring. I happened to... borrow.. a bottle of water from the water temple (and I have no idea what to do with it now... make coffee?) and wandered through the ruins for about 4 hours... finding lost trails into the untraveled paths... heading into the unrestored ruins and seeing the site as it was found.. taking an undisturbed nap here. Exploring caves into the mountain, and climbing up and down to see all the various sites... An unbelieveable place... Words cannot describe. All in all, the Incas were just brilliant! making ascending terraces up mountains for crops and decoration, perfectly fitting stone walls without mortar, diverting streams and waterfalls to fountains flowing through the heart of their cities... picking the obscure mountain tops to make their cities...

All in all the hike was incredible and VERY rewarding. I think I took over 100 photos. Constant breath taking views, ruins, rivers, mountains... Hiking through 45 km of exausting trails... Machu Picchu.. Just an unbelieveable time. Absolutley spectacular.

So, after Machu Picchu, I headed back to Cuzco, and slept a good 12 hours. The next day was spent relaxing, reading, chilling out, and drinking a tad in the evening... (mmm.. free drinks at almost every club makes for a good reason to pub crawl -- getting drunk for free!). the next day I came here, Puno -- on Lake Titicaca. I have been taking it easy here, trying to figure out where to go next, and finally I decided to head to Bolivia, as it is on the other side of the lake. Titicaca is at about 4000 m, and is the largest lake over 2000 m altitude. It's festial time here, 'Candlemass' -- music (drum and flute) and traditional attire... Tomorrow I head for Bolivia where I will see if I can catch a cheap flight into the amazon basin, catch a couple boats to the peruvian side, and then get back to cuzco and to Lima for my flight back to Panama.

So, There you have it... E-mail number 3 a SUCCESS! Take that you blasted, mischevious gods of technology! *knocking on wood*

Anyhow, my fingers are freaking freezing! not used to the 'cold' (gets towards 0 here at night...)

So, Until next time I guess. Who knows what stories will be to tell then.