Day 5: Trek to Machu Picchu

Today was the last difficult day of walking; our total elevation change was 1770 meters. Unlike the dirt paths of the previous days, the trail was made of stone steps, which wrecked havoc on my feet, knees, and butt.

In the middle of all of the walking, we visited two Inka sites; Runkurakay and Sayaqmarka. Runkurakay had a great view of the Inka trail from Dead Womans' Pass to the Paqaymayu campsite. Raul retold the history of the ruins; the structure was once used as a lookout tower, then an observatory, and lastly as a hospital. The site was a link between the highlands and the lower elevation where coca was grown. Did you know that novacaine is made from the coca plant? An alkaline from the plant is extracted and processed so that I don't have to feel my teeth being operated on.

We arrived at Sayaqmarka at 3pm - I was thanking Raul for getting started so early in the morning and pressing on. When we arrived the site was shrouded in fog, and we were the only people there. The fog made the site mysterious and made me feel like we were just discovering the ruins. Raul showed us a very small water canel that used to bring the glacial meltwater all the way from Salkantay - 12 km away!! The Inkas routed the water all the way from Salkantay because the mountain was believed to be sacred and holy.

Water plays an important part in the Inka culture, as it does in supporting any other life. From Salkantay, the water was routed through stone channels that ran along the top outer walls of the structure. The water was diverted into a fountain, which in turn drained underground to a second fountain, where once again is drained underground to a third fountain. The water in the first fountain was meant to worship the gods, the second fountain served the people, and the third fountain was used to worship the spirits of the underworld.

After an hour we were reminded that we were on the most travelled trail in Peru. The next two days on the Inka trail will be more crowded and noisy - lacking the solitude and contrasting with the beginning of our journey. I've been pleased with Raul and Q'ente; my expectations have been surpassed.

Day 4: Trek to Machu Picchu

I woke up around 5:00am and had a chance to enjoy the campsite while the glow of the morning sun was starting to overtake the dark blue sky. We were sleeping about 20 meters above a river, the sound of rushing water echoing off of the canyon walls. We were surrounded by mountains, so there was relatively wind.

I had finished my bottle of rehydrating salts, ate the remainder of a granola bar and then my appetite returned. We had sweet potatoes in a clear, sweet broth, bread with jam and Telivio cooked me the Peruvian equivalent of chicken noodle soup. It was a relatively simple made of rice, shredded carrots, and a salty broth.

After breakfast, we headed down the valley until we reached the next set of Inka ruins. It was here that Raul explained the signficance of the condor, puma, and snake. The Inkas believed that when someone died, their body was put in a cave. From this cave, the body would turn into water, where it then evaporated into the sky, where it turned into a rainbow and came back down to the earth as rain to restart the cycle of life.

Afterwards, we headed to Willaybamba where we bid farewall to our mules and their owners. We would meet our porters, who were responsible for carrying everything that was on the mules, in the afternoon. I could definately tell that we were back on the gringo trail; there were squat toilets in buildings with running water. While I was reminiscing on the solitude of the past 3 days, I was excited to continue the trek and see the city of the Inkas with my own eyes.

Day 3: Trek to Machu Picchu

The night was long - I probably slept for about 4 hours because I was freezing. In the morning, nature called and so I had to go outside and bare the cold temperature and the blowing wind. I was glad to leave that camp behind and head out towards the highest point of our trek.

We had to climb 1000 meters until we reached the pass at 5200 meters. It took Sanjay and I about two hours, and we were admiring the view, some coca tea, and the lack of oxygen as we waited for Nirupa and Raul. This ended up being a big mistake, as my body temperature plummeted while sitting on the pass and I was really sick for the remainder of the day. We celebrated on the pass with some coca tea before heading down towards a glacier. I managed to make it down to the glacier, but as soon as we reached it, all of my energy vanished and I felt a bit of nausea. Raul gave me a pill for nausesa, which stopped the feeling of wanted to vomit, but it didn't do anything for my ability to hike quickly. It was a struggle to put one foot in front of the other. I labored on for two hours, holding up the group. Raul made the decision (which I was in support of by this time, as this had not passed) to put me on a mule and take me to camp. We were only about 15 minutes away from lunch camp. When we arrived, they unpacked my sleeping bag and put me inside of the dining tent. I slept for an hour or two inside the tent, still feeling extremely cold even though Nirupa couldn't sit inside the tent because it was so warm. I dragged myself on top of the mule, and Raul lead the mule and I down the valley.

By 4:00 I was feeling much better. When we were crossing a river, I dismounted from the mule and walked the remaining 30 minutes to camp. When we reached the camp, I headed straight for my tent. I slept until 7:30, woke up to eat a few bites of rice, and went back to sleep. If I didn't start feeling better soon, the rest of the trek was going to be miserable. Raul sent me off to my tent with a half bottle of water and rehydrating salts.

Day 2: Trek to Machu Picchu

We woke up around 6:30, ate breakfast (warm pancake with no syrup!!) and then set out. The first half of the day was fairly easy, as we followed a water canal around one side of a mountain. After 4 hours of walking, we ate lunch in a large valley where I saw great views of the surrounding snow-capped peaks. Our team of porters and cooks setup the dining tent in the middle of this field where we had rice, soup, and some cooked veggies. We rested for about 30 minutes after lunch, as we had quite a trek to our next camp.



The worst part of the afternoon was the temperature - the sun had vanished behind clouds, and the wind was gusting. I had all of my layers on, and my hands and feet were still cold. When we reached camp, we were at approx. 4200 meters. I jumped inside my tent, put on my thermals, an extra t-shirt, wool socks, a hat, mittens, and both jackets. Because it was so cold, we didn't have our late afternoon tea and snacks. Instead, we stayed in our tents and tried to stay warm until dinner time at 7:30. I wrote a bit in my journal and then stayed inside my sleeping bag trying to get warm.

Day 1: Trek to Machu Picchu

Raul & the Q'ente team pick me up from my hostel at 8:00am. He seems to have an entourage, and they are all very polite and help me with my bag. We picked up Sanjay & Nirupa, my two travelling companions, from their hotel. I was a bit worried about travelling with a couple for 7 days, but they couldn't have been better people. They are funny and great to be around, and they made for great travel mates and friends.

We took a 2 hour ride to Mollepata, which is where we would begin our trek. We met our cook (Telivio) and his assistant, as well as the man that owned the mules that we would be using for the first 3 days to carry the tents, food, and our main rucksacks. All I had to do was carry my daypack; it was great. We only hiked for 4 hours, and we already arrived at our camp. The service that we're receiving is behind my expectations. For lunch, I assumed that we'd have cold food and sit on the ground to eat. They brought along a table and four very basic folding camping chairs. For lunch, I had a vegetable stir fry. Hot food! The cooks had also prepared hot water and placed it in warm basins, along with soap and a towel. This was the definition of luxury.

Our camp for the night was a secluded grassy area filled with horse shit. It sounds worse than it really was, as all of the manure had already dried. You just had to kick it out of the way when you wanted to sit down. We were protected from the wind on all sides, and the view of the surrounding mountains was fantastic. We were playing cards after dinner, and I don't think that I've laughed that much in a long time. Raul taught us a game called Nervioso, which requires you to slam your hand on the table when a certain type of card is flipped over.

Something that I would come to realize and cherish over the next few days was the solitude. We did not see any other tourists until we reached the Inka Trail. The 7 day trek past Mt Salkantay isn't the most popular trip for tourists, and I was surely glad of this. The trek felt like more of an adventure when it was just the 8 of us and the mules.

Inka Ruins with the Germans

This morning I met Hans & Margaret at my hostel. They hail from the northwest part of Germany and were in Peru for a marine biology convention. I was planning to visit all of the ruins around Cuzco (Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Q'enqo, and Sacsayhuaman), after I bought a second pair of pants and a rain jacket. I ended up not finding a decent pair of pants so I only bought the jacket (which was a good move as you'll read later).

I met Hans & Margaret back at the hostel and we caught a taxi up to Tambomachay. The route is approx. 6 km from Tambomachay through Sacsayhuaman to Cuzco. It was probably my second favorite of the 4; I was amazed at how the water was still running in the same channels as it had been for hundreds of years. While we were there, it started to rain so we had the ruins basically to ourselves. The stonework at all of these places is absolutely amazing. To think that ancient peoples had basic tools, and they were still master craftsmen. The integrity of the buildings is also a tribute to the quality of their work - most of the structures didn't use any mortar. The stones were fit together in such a way that they lock. It's similar to Legos, except they're not plastic and some of them are as large as a car.

As we visited Pukapukara and Q'enqo, the rain gradually increased in intensity. Then the hail came. It was good that the hail didn't last for more than 5 or 10 minutes, as it was stinging my already cold face. Q'enqo was quite different than the other 3 sites; it was carved out of stone instead of being built from stones. There were references to the snake, the puma, and the condor within the site. I would learn in the upcoming days what these animals symbolized, and the importance to the local culture.

Sacsayhuaman was the most impressive, and mostly because of the magnitude. The site is constructed of enormous black granite stones. The majority of the stones were taller than me, and several feet thick. To think that these stones were moved by hand is to leave one in awe. No electricity, no cranes, no hydraulics - only teamwork and a lot of brute force.

After grabbing a bit of apple pie (I don't think that this is a native Peruvian dish), I went over to Q'ente Adventure Tours, to meet my guide and get all of the information about the upcoming 7 days. Raul, my guide, gave me an overview of our trek and answered a lot of my questions. We would be joined by another couple tomorrow, and they would be trekking with us for the duration of the trip to Machu Picchu.

A slow day and a long bus ride

When I woke up this morning, I had a bad headache. I think it's the combination of alcohol at altitude (4000 meters). My hypothesis is that because of the dry climate, water evaporates from my body quickly - thereby concentrating whatever else is in my system. Now I'm no doctor, but it sounds feasible to me. I took an aspirin and headed for the shower - not knowing what scalding pain or frigid water awaited me. After taking a 30 second shower because of the ice cold water, I actually changed my clothes. It may sound somewhat disgusting, but it's been fairly cool during my stay and none of my clothes have gotten dirty.

After getting ready, I headed down to breakfast. I guess that I must have been the first one awake, as there wasn't anyone else around. I'm not sure if it's because the rest of the travellers were young (I know I'm generalizing) and had drank excessively the previous night, or if it's because I can't sleep very late. My opinion is that while I'm on vacation, I want to ensure that I'm maximizing every minute of this temporary freedom. In a short two weeks, I'll return home to continue living out of the american dream of capitalism and debt.

One great aspect of being out in the morning is that you get to see the real citizens of a place. Although there weren't all that many tourists, I can walk down the streets and market stalls thinking that I'm the only outsider observing daily Copacabana life. I began to hear clanking of steel on concrete - I walked a bit further persuing the noise only to find a line of people several blocks long. Everyone shared one commonality - they all had LP tanks. There was a truck exchanging full tanks for the depleted ones and the entire town must have come out.

After walking around and relaxing, I prepared myself for another 13 hours of bus travel. This time both of my bags were not going to leave my site! I couldn't get by with one pair of clothes for the remainder of my trip! I don't have many comments about the bus trip - it was long. We stopped for long periods of time without any explanations. The local police/military would come on the bus at checkpoints and rifle through the natives bags. I'm not sure what they were looking for, but they didn't treat them with a lot of respect. If they were looking for drugs, I bet that they would find far more on the travellers than on the citizens. The Bolivians must be used to it, because they sat there calmly looking at the officers going through their belongings.

Bus Journey to Bolivia

Yesterday I spent travelling to Bolivia by bus (Cuzco -> Puno, Puno -> Copacabana), headed out to Isla del Sol, and checked into Hostal Colonial in the center of Copacabana.

Katrine took me to the bus station on Sunday night, which was great. When I got onto the 'tourist' bus that I had a premium for, I was the only gringo on the bus. I threw my main bag (yes - I got it back, but only about 1 hr before my bus left to Copacabana) in the overhead compartment and kept my daypack with me. I was hoping to be able to relax and sleep, but as soon as we started on the trip, the bus driver turned on the televisions and turned the volume up to the maximum level. They were playing some movie called Kumkachaka (at least that's what I think it was). I watched the movie for a bit before falling asleep - it was a great 80's type of cop movie with smoking protagonists with aviator sunglasses.

I woke up sometime around 1am and noticed someone pushing things around in the overhead compartment. I didn't think anything of it and tried to go back to sleep. After a few minutes of sitting there, I realized that maybe it was my bag that someone was messing with - 'no big deal' I told myself, as I had locks on it. I grabbed my main bag and noticed that I forgot to lock the zippers! You're an idiot I told myself - but from looking in my bag I didn't notice anything was missing. My clothes had been messed up, but I figured that someone who will still on the bus was looking for valuables or money. When I reached Copacabana the next day, I was repacking my bag and realized that my 2nd pair of pants and (more importantly) my waterproof north face jacket were stolen. I guess things could have been worse, but I will have to look for an outdoor outfitter in Cuzco when I return, as I will definately need a waterproof jacket prior to my trek to Machu Picchu. I should also have a second pair of pants, in case something happens to the ones that I'm wearing.

The town of Copacabana is extremely small and has gorgeous views of Lake Titicaca. I wasn't able to get into the hostel that I had wanted to stay at (Hotel La Cupula - it looked really nice for $10/night), so I checked into Hotel Colonial. I got a single room w/ bath for 40 bolivianos. I washed up and headed out to look for information on visiting Isla del Sol in the afternoon. I had wanted to spend an entire day on the island, but due to my bus schedule back to Cuzco, I opted for the afternoon only. I met up with Kristina, a woman from Italy, and we explored the island. I wish I had had more time on Isla del Sol - the expansive views of Lake Titicaca were wonderful. The water was a deep blue, and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. I took a few photos, but concentrated on just enjoying the surroundings. After an hour, the boat was heading back to mainland, so we had another 1.5 hr ride back.

Kristina and I met up on the beach for the sunset and then went off to grab some dinner.

About 15 minutes into dinner, the power to the city went out. It made for a wonderful, relaxing meal - I guess that they were using gas to cook the food. After a wonderful 3 course meal (with a free glass of wine because of the power outage!) for a few dollars, we carefully crept back to the hotel. The hotel didn't have any candles, so we were feeling along the hallway so as not to stumble on anything. I got back to my hotel room safely and used my digital camera's LCD screen for a bit of light while I tried to take out my contacts in the dark. I went to sleep thinking about how I was going to maximize my time for my last day in Copacabana.

Viva el Peru

October 22, 2005

I'm not sure how to sum up my first day in Peru; I guess that things can only get better. Lan Peru lost my main bag - they said that it didn't make it onto the plan (although I had a 4 hour layover between Chicago -> Miami and the Miami -> Lima flight. Luckily, I was prepared and all of my really important daily items (money, guidebook, camera, toiletries) were in my daypack. The man at the Lan Peru lost luggage desk said that I could expect my bags to be sent to my hotel tomorrow morning. No worries, I told myself. One day without fresh clothes isn't a big deal at all. However, I would need my main rucksack prior to leaving for Bolivia, as it had all of my cold weather clothes.

The flight between Lima and Cuzco was amazing; the plane was flying over the Andes for most of the trip, and the sky was partly cloudy and sunny. I was imagining all of the great hiking that could happen 10,000 feet below me.

A woman from Amaru Hostel met me at the airport; I was worried that no one would be there to pick me up, as my flight had been delayed. She was pleasant and showed me to the car. On my way to the hostal, she started to tell me that my room was no longer available, but that I did have a room at their sister hotel. Always the pessimist, I started thinking that the wrong people picked me up. This is the oldest scheme in the book - tell the tourist that where they were originally staying cannot house them for whatever reason. I just listened and was polite during the remainder of the ride. When we got out, we had to go up about 50 steps - I could feel the elevation already. I was breathing heavy at the top of the stairs, and I was in good shape. She led me down this alley, to another dark hallway of doors. I started to get a bit nervous, but she assured me that we were going to the Amaru's sister hotel; Hotel Jaunita. We stopped at a doorway on the end of the hall, and buzzed the doorbell. I had my doubts about my safety; I didn't see any sign for a hostel, or any indication that this was a private residence.

The door finally opened into a lovely courtyard filled with flowers and chairs. 'This isn't all that bad' I told myself. It took some convincing, but I stayed the night here. After all, Lan Peru was sending my bags to Amaru Hostel and if I went elsewhere, I wouldn't be able to get my bags back. After collecting my wits, and leaving the bare essentials in my daypack, I headed out to explore a bit of Cuzco. The city has a few hundred thousand people, but it felt like a small town. The roads and sidewalks in the old part of the city are made of stones, which gave the area a historical charm. I could only imagine that someone laid the stones by hand several hundred years ago, and that they are still holding up today. It's ironic that we've advanced to asphalt and concrete in the US and those materials only last 5 - 10 years. The houses were made of stone and other earthen materials. My favorite aspect of the buildings were the brightly painted doors - I saw turqoise, yellow, and red within a matter of minutes.

When I left the hostel, I was wearing a jacket. I soon had to take it off, as the sun is extremely strong at this elevation. The temperature was 70 F, but it felt more like 90 F in the sun. Bringing my sunglasses on this trip was a good idea. I would learn in a few days that forgetting my baseball hat at home was a bad idea (or lack of an idea altogether).

Katrine - the woman from Amaru Hostel - said that she would gather information about night buses to Copacabana, Bolivia. I had about 4 days before my 7 day trek started, and I wanted to spend a few days visiting Lake Titicaca. I met Katrine at 7pm at my hostel, and she had options for me. I could take a nice bus for about $60US round trip, or I could pay $15 for a 'not nice bus'. I asked her to book tickets on the $60 bus for the following evening. I would leave Cuzco at 10pm and reach Copacabana at 12pm the following day.

I made some plans for the next day, sent an email to everyone letting them know that I had made it, and then headed back to the hostel to sleep.