Machu Picchu

Wow.

We took the bus and train to Aguas Calientes in a day and arrived with time to look around. It is a nice little town where there are no cars on the roads. I suppose there aren's really roads. The only vehicles you see are the buses that take you up to Machu Picchu. outside our hostel was a big stadium and it was really sweet to see all the kids running around playing.

the Sacred Valley

Machu Picchu

The next day it was an early start to get an early bus up to Machu Picchu. We could have walked but we had the bus tickets included as part of the package and didn't want to waste the money (/we were feeling a little lazy). We arrived and found our tour guide. It seemed like it was quite busy even at six in the morning but it wasn't really that bad. By a happy coincidence we happened to be on the same tour as some of the other volunteers so we got to catch up with them.

Our tour guide was very good and told us lots of interesting facts about the Incas and Machu Picchu. We started the tour with a view of the whole city, standing on one of the terraces. Some of the terraces were for culñtivation but some were also to support the mountain. The Incas had to import food into the city becuase not enough was grown to support the whole population. Also the people that built Machu Picchu were not the people that lived there. People would come from other villages to pay their taxes by working for three months. They spent 60 years building the foundations of the city and then 40 years building the buildings. It was still under construction when it was abandoned. You can see the different quality of stones that the buildings are built of. The less important buildings are made with rougher, less pretty stones. The temples and other more important buildings are built with bigger, smoother, better fitting pieces. The stones come from the natural quarry at the top of the city.

notice the different qualities of stones

We walked around the city learning lots and getting a great view of the valley as well. I tell you if the city wasn't set where it was it would be so much less impressive. Huge mountains all around with deep valleys. It looks like a giant just ripped handfuls of rock out of the ground.

No one actually knows the name of the city. It's called Machu Picchu because it's built on Machu Picchu mountain. It's real name was lost with the Incas. It was lucky that the Spanish didn't find the city. They went around some of the other mountains and the shrubbery helped the city stay hidden for centuries. When the city was found it was so overgrown that it was unrecognisable. The Incas abandoned the city at the orders of their king as he wanted all his people in one place to help fight off the Spanish.

sunrise over Machu Picchu

When the tour ended we walked up to the gaurdhouse and got a great view of all of Machu Picchu and WaynaPicchu in the background. It was a bit strange to be there to be honest. It felt like being at any other ruin but then you'd remember that it was Machu Picchu and you's see the valley and it was just amazing. It felt very real being there. Much less fantastical than it always seems on TV.

The people that lived in Machu Picchu were the intelectuals. The women were chosen for their beauty and the men for their skills. The Incas never actually invented anything. When they conquered another civilisation they would send the intelligent people to Machu Picchu to teach the Incas. So it was a bit like a university city. Families didn't live there, it was only the people the incas chose to be there.

The Incas were vegetarian except for eating meat three or four times a year. Animals were not killed in the city apart from at these rare sacrifices and animals were not raised in the city. The people ate lots of natural foods and chewed cocoa leaves a lot. People were not buried in the city and the nearby river was pure as they would never pollute it.

There is a central plaza where people would meet for games or meetings. Up a little hill there is the sundail which was used to know when to plant certain crops or start harvesting. I learned so many facts. I think that's all of them.

We wandered around the city for quite a while. Had lunch hiding under a tree. It started off a little cloudy (we were in a cloudforest) but it got nice and sunny as the day went on. We were apparently the first day this year that it hadn't rained. We did hear some ominous thunder rumbling towards the late afternoon but nothing came of it while we were there. It was the busiest around 12 but apparently even then it wasn't that busy. By three it was quite empty again. We were going to stay for a little longer but I started to feel a bit ill. I thought it was the height (looking into the valley could be a little dizzying after a while) but then I started to feel really sick. We returned to Aguas Calitentes and hung around in a cafe for a couple of hours until it was time to catch the train. Oh what a journey. I was very sick. The other volunteers had told us that they'd all been sick and we'd thought we'd been lucky to avoid it. Shame we didn't. I ended up making a bit of a mess and they had to lock the toilet so that no one else would go in. Really glad this happened at the end of the day and that I'd had a great time in Machu Picchu first. It really was a great day.

The next day in Cuzco we took really easy as Amina was starting to feel a little ill as well. We saw a little of the city. It's really pretty. The prettyest place we've been so far. We went to the chocolate museum where we learned a lot about cocoa. First grown in Peru. Midges fertilise the trees (we did have a bit of a laugh when the guide said that midgets fertilised the trees). Met up with the volunteers again and we ended up going out in the evening for a birthday meal.

The day after I was feeling much better. We went on a free walking tour of Cuzco. Had lots of free food and drink and learned a lot. Cuzco is a heritage site. Eight years ago two guys were drunk and spray painted a wall. They went to prison for two years. Cuzco is really lovely. I didn't want to leave.

Sorry about the lack of pictures in this blog. This computer is really slow. I'll put some up when I get to a better computer. Done :)

A Whole New Horizon

Hey guys.
Sorry it's been a while but things have been crazy.

I guess I should start off by telling you all about the end of our time in San Pedro.

San Pedro de Atacama

We visited the Valle de la Luna one day, so called because it looks like the surface of the moon. We had to go through a dark cave which was a bit freaky. The guide said there were no lights so that it would be more of an adventure... So I took out my torch. I hate caves! But it wasn't for too long so it was alright. We climbed some rocks that were made entirely of salt. In fact there were intire hills that looked like rock but were actually salt covered in dirt. Because it hardly ever rains they stay dirty. We visited the grand dune, which was a huge 50m high sand dune. It was a pretty cool viewpoint. The wind would blow sand and it would really hurt your skin. We also visited Valle de la Muerte, which was supposed to be called Mars Valley but the local people didn't understand the Frenchman who said 'Mars' in French, they heard 'muerte'.

la cordillera del sal 

the great sand dune

sunset over Valle de la Muerte

Our last two days in San Pedro were spent in a lazy haze of walking around the village, plannng bike trips but not going on them because we were chatting to people in our hostel too much. We met some really lovely people. On our last night we had just had a big dinner of pasta, when we were told that the owners wanted to throw an asado for us seeing as we were leaving. Thanks to several months of living in Chile our stomaches have expanded enough that we were able to force some food down.

Arica

We arrived in Arica and walked up the big hill there called 'el morro'. It gave us a great view of Arica. It's like the city is built in a valley, with big hills on either side. Saw lots of birds flying below us. We walked to the docks and saw lots of crabs, turkey vultures, seals and other birds. Amina has a thing about dead animals and made me take a picture of them all. This was sad when we saw a dead baby seal being eaten by the vultures.

Arica

The Pacific again

So much fruit!

We found the scariest family of manikins ever

"Why did the vultures have to eat the seal?!"

We found a desert puddle

We chatted to people in the hostel, I now know all about how trains work in Germany and where not to stand if you don't want to die in a train crash. We had some evening walks along the beach and saw the pelicans flying in the sunset. It was really funny to walk by the fish market and see the pelicans standing on the roof and being chased away from the fish.

Peru

I should probably mention that our plans changed in San Pedro. Meeting so many travellers that have been places we decided we just couldn't ignore thie country. So we moved back all our Bolivia hostel bookings and got on the first bus to Arequipa. Crossing into Peru was quite easy. We took a taxi from Arica to Tacna, stopping at the border on the way. We had to eat all our fruit standing in the customs queue. When we asked our taxi driver what we should do with our oregano, he said to put it down our trousers. 

In Tacna we had our first experience of Peru. First it is quite noticeable the difference in the econemy. Everything was just not as nice as in Chile and things were a lot cheaper. Lots of ladies were in the traditional dress which is really cute. Skirt, socks, top, cardi, hair in plaits and a hat. And we saw lots of people carrying stuff on their backs by tying a blanket around their necks.

 The bus to Arequpia was quite long. We didn't leave until an hour after we were supposed to, and the bus was searched three times on our journey bus customs officers. Apparently some people hadn't declared some new clothes or something. Bus driver in Peru are insane. It was pretty scary because we were sitting at the front and could see everything that was happening. Basically he had to overtake every vehicle that was in front of us. Sometimes you wouldn't be able to see around the corner and didn't know if there was traffic coming, but they would overtake anyway. Freaky.

Arequipa

We arrived in Arequipa around 10pm and it was raining. It was glorious! After two weeks in the desert you miss the cold and wet. So soothing for the soul. Took a taxi to our hostel and settled in. The next day we explored the city. The roads are full of taxis, there's basically nothing else. Makes it really easy to get around. The central plaza was really pretty and full of pigeons. We met up with some friends by chance and went out for lunch together. Me and Amina shared a meal of rice and chicken, while our friends had guinea pig! In mind of trying new things I tried a little bit. It was quite tasty, quite like chicken, but I could just feel Maisie turning in her little grave. 

Cathedral 

Guinea Pig :(

The highlight of our time in Arequipa was our trip to the Colca Canyon. At 4.5km deep it's the deepest canyon in the world (although not as striaght down as the Grand Canyon). We went on a trekking tour down the canyon. It was so beautiful. Very green which was a nice break from the desert landscape we'd been in for a while. There were six in our tour group and the guide and they were all lovely. We managed to get down the canyon in two hours which is 2km (seeing a condor on the way) and had a break to recover from our shaky legs. Then we walked a little bit uphill to get to a little village for lunch. I comp`letely forgot about the altitude we were at (around 4200m I think) and I tried to keep up with our guide. I was dead after 10 steps. You really have to go slow at that altitude. We had rice and alpacca meat for lunch and after resting for a while we continued on. The rest of the days trek was a mixture of flat and uphill. It was a bit freaky at times walking along and peering down the steep slope right next to you. I'm glad no one fell. We spent the night in an 'oasis' hostel which was really nice. Our room was lit by candlelight.

The next day we climbed out of the canyon. It took me just under three hours to make it up to the top. It was such hard work! I didn't think I could make it at one point but by resting a lot I made it. It got harder the further up you got as the altitude was higher. I think at the top the altitude was 4800 metres above sea level. We had breakfast in a small village and then started driving back to Arequipa. Along the way we stopped quite a few times to see things. One time it was to see the Inca terraces that are still being cultivated. It's really hard to describe the valley because it was just so huge. And long. You would stand there and be completely surrounded by hills and greenery and then in front of you was just this huge drop. So pretty.

Another time we stopped at 4900m up to have a snowball fight. We stopped in a little village to get photos with an eagle on our heads and we also went to a natural hot spring swimming pool. This was really nice and we used it as an opportunity to stretch our muscles and relax a bit. Lastly we stopped in a reserve and saw lots of llamas and alpaccas. They are so cute!

The Inca terraces

(If you think that's a lot of photos you should see how many I have on my camera.)

We're currently in Cuzco. We've explored a bit today and bought some mangoes. They are so cheap here! Cheaper than apples. I think we're just going to live on them. We went to a kareoke bar last night with an Australian guy which was fun, though Amina didn't sing. She did beat us both at darts though.

Really excited because we're heading to Aguas Calientes tomorrow and the day after we're going to Machu Picchu! I'll tell you all about it when we get back.

My Chilean Safari

Well I have arrived in San Pedro de Atacama. First impressions were that it was what I'd expected South America to be like all along. All the walls are made of clay and stone, the buildings are low, and it is really hot! There are trees which is great. Chañaral looked really flat and empty without trees. The main road is quite touristy but nothing stnads out too much so as to ruin the charm of the place. San Pedro is really small. Only became a real tourist destination about 12 years ago. People come for the nature that surrounds this place. It is all pretty amazing.

 

Laguna Cejar

Our hostel is really nice. Five minutes out of town (so practically in the desert) and it's really calm. Me and Amina have our own room with BEDS! We appreciate them so much after four nights of camping and two night buses. We also like being able to cook again. Living off bread and crackers those last couple of days in Pan de Azucar was a bit boring.

Our first day here we pretty much just slept, after having arrived at half nine in the morning. The sun is so hot, you stand in it for a minute and feel like you're on fire. I have been using so much sun cream. The air is also a lot dryer as we are inland so there is no moisture from the sea. San Pedro is about 2500 metres above sea level so Amina felt a bit dizzy our first day. I seem not to be affected by the change in altitude really.

So after a soundingly boring first day (although we did book some tours), day two was a lot more exciting. We went on a tour to Laguna Cejar which is about 20 minutes away from SP. It's a laguna that is 30% salt so you can float in it. It's a lot of fun. The water is cool but not freezing so it's a nice escape from the heat of the sun. You really don't have to make any effort to stay afloat when you're in there. You just have to keep your balance and try not to get the water in your eyes. The water is so dense that swimming is actually a bit of a challenge. Well not a huge one, you just have to go slow. We had a great time in there. When you come out and your skin dries you are covered in a fine layer of salt. Luckly our tour guide had a pump of fresh water so we could clean ourselves off a bit.

 

Me floating in the Laguna

 

The Salt Flat

Next we went to the Ojos de Salar, which are two round pools in the salt flat. Actually there are five but the ones that everyone goes to are two that are quite close together. People were allowed to swim in them but no one in our little group wanted to. I should say that the laguna and the Ojos were in the Salar de Atacama, which is the largest salt flat in Chile. It doesn't look anything like the salt flat in Bolivia. It's like lots of rocks and then when you look closer you see that some are coated in salt. Then you notice that some are made of salt. It's really cool. And the Salar is surrounded by mountains and volcanoes.

 

One of the Ojos de Salar

Finally, to end the tour, we went to Laguna Tebenquiche which is much shallower than the Laguna Cejar so you can't swim in it. But the bottom is made entirely of salt. Really pretty. We wandered around in the water (it went up to ankle height) for a while. I liked the saltbergs. After a while we had piscosours and snacks at the van with the four other couples that were on the tour with us. It was really nice!

Today we had to get up at three in the morning to go on a tour to the geysers del Tatio. We drove for two hours, arriving at sunrise at the geysers. They were pretty cool. Big plumes of steam rising out of the ground. The reason geysers explode is because of the cold water from the mountains/volcanoes reacting to the hot rocks underground. Sadly there wasn't enough cold water today (there's generally more in winter) so none of them exploded, but they did bubble quite a lot. It was a bit weird to think that we were standing inside the crater of an active volcano. We had to be careful not to stray off the paths otherwise the ground might be unsafe. We had breakfast and then went off to a hot spring swimming pool. Amina enjoyed herself greatly because (as I have recently figured out) she is an amphibian. She likes both heat and water.

 

The Geysers

 

It was really cold until the sun came up properly

 

We weren't allowed to stand too close because of the fumes

 

Amina enjoying the hot spring

Afterwards we started driving to a river. Our guide was called Max and he was great and knew lots of information. Our driver was called Carlos and he must have very keen eyesight because everytime he spotted one of the animals of the park he would slow the bus down so that we could have a look. We saw lots of vicuña. They are the ancestors of the llama and alpacca (I think) and are still wild. Their fur is the second finest fibre on earth (first is the silk worm). We saw zorros (desert foxes), and lots of types of birds, a small rodent creature and llamas. It was really cool. It felt like being on a safari. And the landscape was incredible. Big mountains hills, rock with some plants managing to grow. There was one type of fauna that only grows 4 or 5 millimetres a year.

 

Vicuña (picture taken through a bus window, sorry)

 

A tagua. Three different species. Can be told apart by the colour of their legs; red, yellow or black

We drove to a village called Machuca where the people of Lickanantay (gente de esta tierra) live. There are only ten people that live there because it is very remote.  The government is trying to encourage more families to return and preserve the way of life. The buildings are made of volcanic rock, mud and white straw. Every New Year they go to the church, and throw eggs at the church bells. If they hit the bells they will have a prosperous year. I tried a llama kebab. It was alright. Tasted a bit like beef bit a little different.

 

Llamas!

 

A house in the Machuca village

Had a really nice couple of days. Two more days here in San Pedro and then it's off to Arica.

Happy Birthday Mum! Hope you have a great day and a nice meal out tonight!