Climbing to New Heights in Peru
South America has been on my Travel TO DO list for eons. While Peru was never on my hot list, it seems to be the place to go these days, so when I found a great deal on a three-week Intrepid tour "Peru Encompassed" I thought I’d give it a try.
Sometimes a Good Honk is All You Need!
Arriving in Lima is intense. After an anxiety-ridden three weeks back at home, I needed some space, time alone and quiet. And I got exactly the opposite.
Driving into town from the Airport, cars covered in Crash-Test-Dummy decals and dents honked for every inch they travelled and sifted past each other in a series of near misses on roads with seemingly no rules.
The craziness of the city streets seemed to mimic how I was feeling inside and it was oddly comforting. I walked the streets of Lima as free and curious as the countless stray dogs that hung about and fell asleep to the sounds of Gangnam Style playing first in the electronics store below my hotel window, and then by the boomboxes set up by street vendors once the stores closed.
Ballroom Dancing on the A Deck (Group Travel 101)
Day 2 and my solo reverie was hijacked when I met one of my fellow tour participants, the jubilant Jenny from Switzerland. I have never travelled with a group before and really do like to travel alone. I swear I have other options, but I usually choose the single ticket for a host of reasons, one of which being that I am a pretty intense traveller (I pack my days with shopping, sightseeing, eating and walking very fast) and I hate being a burden on others. But there are some times, in some countries when a group is probably best and in my opinion, this is one of them.
Most people I've talked to don't love Lima, but being a people watcher and a city girl at heart, it was perfect for a stroll. Jenny and I visited the Catacombs and the ridiculously rich (and American...TGI Friday's anyone?) suburb of Miraflores with stunning cliffs and succulent Ceviche (raw fish cooked in Lemon or Lime).
We met the rest of our tour group that night: the charismatic Frenchman Tarek, the sweet German Anne and our tour guide William (named after a certain writer from England). And our 21 days began with Pisco sours (yummy) and a Rotisserie Chicken dinner (the number one fast food option in Peru - they loooove it. Swiss Chalet should seriously consider opening some franchises in this country).
Life is a Festival if You Just Follow the Beat of the Drum
After an official tour of Lima the next morning, we followed the sound of beating drums and happened upon a stunning parade. There was almost no one watching and the participants were still dancing and playing music. The streets were lined rows deep. And unlike our Santa Claus Parade in Toronto, where teens dressed as Christmas Trees and Elves walk along in an orderly fashion waving like Queens, these people were twirling and jumping and celebrating full force.
That afternoon we headed to Pisco and bought some ingredients to make our very own Pisco Sours (which I would later regret intensely – they are made with raw eggs). After what I thought was a lovely fish dinner at the hotel, we headed out to another Parade. This time excessive floats with teenage girls dressed like mini-Miss Americas representing each of the South American countries, and we had a great bonding night as a group. Luckily I had my own room that night otherwise our bonding would have expanded to include holding each other's hair as I vomited aggressively for most of the evening. Food poisoning extraordinaire: shivers, shakes and honest moments of reflection where I reasoned that there was no way I would make it out of that hotel alive.When the Aussie Dude Says it Isn't Safe, Fasten Your Seatbelt
And what does everyone want to do the morning after they've had food poisoning? A three-hour boat tour of course! With no bathrooms on board, I was seriously making plans to pee my pants. We headed out to see the Ballestas Islands plentiful with penguins, sea lions, and seagulls. The afternoon was spent sand dune buggy-ing and tobogganing at the Huacachina Oasis. Thankfully Imodium is a girl's (and anyone travelling in Peru's) best friend and I made it through the day without incident.
It was actually pretty awesome, minus the 20 minutes where our buggy broke down and we sat in the sweltering sun waiting for the engine to unflood. This is when the Aussie guy tells me that they would never let this type of thing fly in Australia (the adventure sports capital of the world in my opinion). Thanks, Mate! He obviously had no idea who he was talking to. I worried my way over the remainder of the roller-coaster ride!The next stop was Nazca to see the phenomenon of the Nazca lines (a series of ancient geoglyphs located in the Nazca Desert. Scholars believe the Nazca Lines were created by the Nazca culture between 400 and 650 AD. The hundreds of individual figures range in complexity from simple lines to stylized hummingbirds, spiders, monkeys, fish, sharks, orcas and lizards - thanks Wikipedia!!!). We also visited the Chauchilla desert cemetery and learned from the Mummies inside about some of the ways of the pre-Inca inhabitants.
My first real "I'm on vacation and I like it" moment came in the next city we visited, Arequipa. It was modern in places, yet still quaint and charming and rife with history. I fell in love with the Santa Catalina Nunnery for its gorgeous blue, red and yellow walls. If you were rich in the late 1800s, you could be lucky enough to get sent here to spend the rest of your days as the family’s donation to the church. At least they had colourful walls ;).
I was able to drink and eat in Arequipa without incident, which I didn't really appreciate until this trip. We had a fun night out as a group, I got to do a little shopping, people-watching, and sightseeing and I got to behold my beloved Starbucks. Add to that probably the cleanest, quietest and prettiest hotel we stayed at for the entire 21 days and it ranks really high on my list for faves. In addition to all of that, we got to eat Guinea Pig, so all in all fantastic (guinea pig is really just crispy, salty fried skin with minute amounts of chicken-like meat – not recommending this one).If the Air Gets Too Thin, Just Breathe
The Colca valley was next (it's more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) to see more incredible vistas, check out the Condors, and have our first homestay in a small village.
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| The highest point on our bus ride |
To combat these ill feelings, we were told to chew coca leaves (which unpleasantly leave half of your mouth and tongue asleep), suck on coca sweets or sip on coca tea. I can't attest to their effects, not even placebo, as I didn't really feel a difference. We were also told to drink up to 4 litres of water a day. With my bladder being the size of a thimble most days, this left me either feeling sick or lusting for a squat toilet. Not the most pleasant of experiences.
So the best option to deal with this altitude adjustment is to take your time, relax, throw back your shoulders (to open your lungs – another good reason to stand up straight) and take a deep breath. Good advice in general! Though next time I visit I'm definitely taking the prescribed altitude medication.
We saw Condors (Tarek and William were even blessed by them flying overtop), soaked in luxurious hot springs, had a gorgeous hike in the mountains, ate a yummy meal at our homestay and did a little sample work in the fields. All in all a fabulous time.
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| Llamas and Alpacas on the side of the road |
We saw Condors (Tarek and William were even blessed by them flying overtop), soaked in luxurious hot springs, had a gorgeous hike in the mountains, ate a yummy meal at our homestay and did a little sample work in the fields. All in all a fabulous time.
A Roof Over Your Head Doesn't Mean the Same Thing Everywhere
In between cities, we saw such a varied landscape. From some of the most incredible views I have seen, to the coolest ruins, to the poorest towns. Some towns had been ravaged by an earthquake. Others were just minimalist and aesthetically downtrodden and dusty. Most of the houses had one floor and then just mesh wire and a foundation for the second floor. When I asked why, our guide said that often people wanted to build a second floor but didn't have the money to finish, so it was a plan for the future. And they paid fewer taxes for having an unfinished home. Ugly but smart…
You Went and Saved the Best for Last…
From the Colca Valley we headed to the start of the highlight portion of our tour. Puno was the gateway to Lake Titicaca (best lake name ever), the highest lake in the world which is trapped water from the ocean from when the Andes were formed. Its height means that the clouds are low and it is breathtaking.
We visited an island with knitting men (I am now totally set for knitwear this winter) and then settled on another island for our second homestay. There was really no time to sit and enjoy the view however as we were put straight to work herding sheep to the water for a drink (I think I could happily retire as a sheep farmer...they are so cute and terrified of humans), breaking up potato dirt, playing volleyball (the local favourite sport) and finally dressing up in the heavy, itchy, pilgrim-like local costume and heading to the dining hall to peel carrots and potatoes and then eat a delicious vegetarian meal.
The Titicaca experience finished with a visit to the floating reed islands. Made entirely of reeds, originally to avoid threats on land, these islands are about the size of a small skating rink and sink every 10 years.
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| Baby Sheep! |
While the locals do live here (despite there no longer being said threat from land), I suspect it is for the benefit of tourists, and we were given a staged show about how they build the islands and how they barter at markets. It was cute and charming, if not a lot touristy.
You Can't Get Pecunia for the Price of Alpaca
Cuzco was up next. Modern and lots of Inca ruins in this city, along with massage parlours, great restaurants and SHOPPING! We headed to the Sacred Valley from Cuzco and it was gorgeous.
Visited a few Inca ruins and it is amazing to see the work that went into these towns. It seems almost impossible that they carried these massive rocks down the mountain and cut them (without modern tools) so precisely to form these incredible structures. It just goes to show what time, patience, strength and perseverance can construct. 
We visited a Silver market (my rings have since turned green - I guess I can't spot the good ones) and had the most incredible buffet lunch of our trip. I also bought a Pecunia (local animal) blanket for about 40 bucks. After showing it to our tour guide, he professed that you can’t get a Pecunia anything for less than $1000 US. After assuring me that my bargaining skills were not that good, he proceeded to scold the vendor letting him know that he should not be taking tourists for a ride. Above and beyond the call of duty if you ask me!
That night was Halloween in the city and as a variation on the house-to-house trick-or-treating in North America, thousands of kids converged on the city streets and went store to store screaming Halloween, and were given mostly hard candies in little plastic pumpkins and Smurf heads. I tried to impart the “trick-or-treat” phrase-ology but sadly made little impact.
My Mind is a Trap, my Body a Cage
I am an adventurer (admittedly soft) until the lightning strikes and the mudslides. When I booked my trip the Inca trail (maximum capacity 500 people a day) was booked, so I took an "alternate route", the Quarry trail. The trail was more natural terrain (as opposed to the Inca trail’s steps) and we were the only tourists in sight, camping in completely secluded areas of the mountain.
It was amazing, though not without incident. The first day it started to rain midway through the day and the dust from days before turned into slippery mud. I thought that I was going to slide off the mountain. These things do happen! Then we got to our campsite at about 1PM and with the heavy rain and thunder, after a very fulsome lunch (it's absolutely incredible what the cooks can make in a tent) we had to retreat to our one-man tents. There was just nowhere else to go.
Now I am slightly claustrophobic and a bit of a worrywart. So lightning and thunder in a small one-person tent threatening to expel me from the universe with one zap to the metal rod giving shape to my dwelling caused me much consternation. I even found myself humming "Raindrops on Roses and whiskers on Kittens" as I tried to focus on reading/journaling and napping. Luckily the rain cleared long enough for us to visit some local ruins, and then head for dinner.
One of the lovely stories that were recounted during dinner was that 10 local goats had been killed the year before, their intestines pulled out through a small hole in their stomach. Apparently, some locals reported seeing a dog/woman in the nights following that they presumed was the attacker. Needless to say, in the 6 trips I made in the pouring rain to the bathroom that night, I was on the lookout for this crazy dog-woman and I barely slept a wink. I also had a dramatic incident on one said bathroom trip, but that's an in-person story!Which made the next day pretty unbearable. I have never felt so physically trapped in my own body. My stomach was doing somersaults and I couldn't eat or breathe without the threat of everything in me bursting out. My legs felt like lead and I couldn’t catch my breath. My head pounded incessantly. This all culminated when we reached our highest point of 4,450 metres. The sights were incredible, but I was struggling to take each step.
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| The first pass on our hike |
No goat stories that night and little rain so I had a night of much better sleep, and with next to no altitude issues the next day it was a pleasant trip down to Ollantaytambo, past the quarry which provided rocks for the Inca town there. We then took the train to Aguas Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu, for a sweet dip in the hot springs and hot shower before heading to the famed Inca site the next morning.
Incas or Aliens?
What can I say about Machu Picchu? Well first of all, when you pronounce it, say Picchu with a hard C and you will be one of the few tourists who call it by its rightful name “Old Mountain” as opposed to what most of the tourists call it “Old Penis”.
It looks just like the pictures and is pretty incredible. We took a 6AM bus up to the site, avoiding the masses of tourists present later in the day. We trekked up to the sun gate, which is what the Inca trail folks arrive through and visited an Inca bridge on the side of a very steep drop. All of it was absolutely beautiful and definitely worth the visit. Lush green, pristine terraces, surrounded by impressive mountains. The construction is so incredible that it seems next to impossible that humans created it...maybe Aliens? Lots of Frogs, Even a Tarantula or Two, but no Prince Charming
Back to Cuzco for a regenerating day of shopping and massages and a phenomenal night of dancing and bonding. And then it was off to the Amazon for two sweaty days of animal/insect watching and hammock hanging.
We stayed in a beautiful wooden building with no ceilings and beds that require a hefty mosquito net so that cockroaches, lizards and beetles didn't disrupt our sleep.
We hiked, boated, and spotted Macaws, tarantulas, monkeys and a host of other creepy crawlers.
Nights in the Amazon were something to remember. Sweaty and fitful slumber surrounded by mosquito nets, set to the soundtrack of a million creatures and critters. After nightfall, headlamps and candles were the only way to see your way around. It was quite the experience for this city gal! All in all, a great couple of days and then we were back in Lima to say our goodbyes.
So Long, Farewell, for Now…
The trip was intense. Early wake-up calls, constant movement, little free time and lots of sick days. But the beautiful views, interesting culture, vivid history, cool group, and kind people made it worthwhile!
Check out the pics on the right panel.
Now...where to next?!?
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