Journey to the seat of the Incas; Machu Picchu

Having made our way to the former capital of the Inca Empire, at Cusco, high up in the Peruvian Andes, Gemma and I made our way to the mystical mountain-top city of Machu Picchu.  We had decided to take part in a 2-day/1-night excursion to the ruins, and not to take part in the Inca trail, due to 1) having to book it approximately 4 months in advance; and 2) January is the rainy season (as we would find out!) and the trail can be treacherous to say the least.

So we headed off with around 20 others at 8am in the morning bound for the Incas Sacred Valley (the route of the Rio Urabamba river which passes below Machu Picchu), and our bus lurched up the hills of Cusco and onward towards the towns of Urabamba and Ollyantambo, both situated deep down in the Sacred Valley.  We arrived in Ollyantambo mid-morning to find a small traditional Peruvian town full of colourfully clothed locals, and equally colourful tourists buying second-hand walking sticks, snacks, and crazy hats for the myriad of routes that would culminate at the site of Machu Picchu.  As we dropped down towards Ollyantambo along the steep sides of the Sacred Valley, we could see glaciers high up in the surrounding mountains, and the rising clouds added to the atmospheric thoughts of the Incas making their way through the valley.

Following our brief stop in Ollyantambo we climbed hundreds of metres along a winding mountain road, before dropping down the other side towards the lowland jungle of the area.  Soon the cold draught coming through the minibus windows was replaced by a humid breeze, and the sounds of birds tweeting away in the sunshine.  We passed through a couple of small jungle settlements before crossing the Rio Urabamba, swelled and raging due to the rain at high altitude.  What followed was an hour of the most frightening driving I have ever experienced, as we made our way to the mountainside town of Santa Theresa along a dirt-road carved into the side of the mountain, with sheer drops of over 200 metres to the raging Rio Urabamba, and little room for a single car to pass, let alone two! I barely looked down until we reached Santa Theresa for fear of requiring a new set of boxer shorts!

Alive and well, we rolled into Santa Theresa, a jumping off point for the train that leads to Machu Picchu Pueblo (formerly Aguas Calientes), the small town at the base of Machu Picchu.  There are no roads to the town due to the topography of he area, and the train lines from Santa Theresa and Ollyantambo are the only ways of getting to the area by public transport.  So we headed for the hydroelectric plant nearby where we would hop on the train. 

Chugging from Santa Theresa to Machu Picchu Pueblo

When we arrived at the train, there were clearly too many people to fit onto the three small carriages waiting patiently on the track. So what followed was a free for all biundle for the train, and Gemma and I managed to jump onto the last carriage (knocking some Argentinians out of the way in the process!) before the engine chugged into action and we made our way up the side of the mountain.  We began to pass through dense jungle, punctuated by the gushing sounds of the Rio Urabamaba, before arriving in Machu Picchu Pueblo around 30 minutes later.  From here we would climb to Machu Picchu the following morning.

DAY TWO

We awoke at 4am this momrning to head up to Machu Picchu.  It was of course, pitch black, and we headed down through the deserted streets of Machu Picchu Peublo armed with our waterproof jackets, snacks, and camera, ready for a steep ascent to Machu Picchu itself.  There was a steady stream of tourists looking weary, all heading along the banks of the Rio Urabamba lit up intermittently by head torches, and we all made our way across the bridge and the start of the climb.

In short, the climb was strenuous, up 1731 steps (counted by a male American model we met) and due to the altitude (2,060 up to 2,430 metres) our breathing was made harder.  As we began, the heavens opened and for the 1 hour and 15 minutes we were climbing, the Incas deposited most of the Rio Urabamba on us!! We had to have plenty of rests to catch our breath in the thin atmosphere as we climbed, and the rain began to ease as we passed above the cloud. 

We arrived at the entrance to Machu Picchu very wet, and were greeted by a large group of equally wet and tired looking walkers. Then the smug wimps that had caught the bus arrived!! It was fine though, and we passed through the gates and into Machu Picchu at 7am, just as the rain began to stop, the clouds rose from the valley below to make the atmosphere of the place as mystical and dreamy as possible, and mountain peaks began to poke out from the mist in the valley.

The mist begins to rise above Machu Picchu…

We met with our excellent guide, John (he was Peruvian so I doubt this was his real name!), and as we turned a corner we were struck by the majesty of Machu Picchu.  It was an incredible sight, particularly as the mist was passing over the ruins like a thin veil revealing its secrets, and we were soon passing over the large southern agricultural terraces, in awe of the spectacle before us.

An awesome backdrop at Machu Picchu

We passed through the Temple of the Sun, a huge room built around a large boulder with stone blocks weighing several tonnes (how did they move them!?), and John explained that the Incas would not move parts of the mountain that they worshipped as their god.  Everywhere, 3 steps could be seen, reflecting the upper, middle, and lower worlds (the Condor, Puma, and Snake), and we passed through an area thought to have been a palace for the royal Inca.  There are too many areas of interest to list, and so I will let the photos do the talking, but as the morning passed the sun came out to light up the area.  An awesome sight.

The Three Windows

We spent approximately 4 hours up at Machu Picchu, attempting to take in the amazing sighting of a city that was never discovered by the Spanish conquerors, and were shown rooms where sacrifices of llamas would have been made, as well as the main square where the Inca royalty would have addressed his subjects.  The surrounding landscape was incredibly dramatic, with the peak of Wayna Picchu rising immediately above the city, and the steep drop down into the Urabamba valley and up to even higher peaks almost touching distance away.

One of the most awe-inspiring experiences of my life…

Agricultural terraces

A boyhood dream fulfilled…

Bolivia Links

New links added for our Bolivian destinations down the right hand bar!

Bold, Beautiful, Bolivia, and the Salar De Uyuni

Its been a while since I last updated this blog, and since we have travelled overland from northern Chile, across the Atacama Desert and the Salar De Uyuni, through the cities of La Paz and Sucre, to Lake Titicaca, and down to Peru.  So I feel a little comment about Bolivia is in order!

We arrived into Bolivia in dramatic fashion, on a 3 day 2 night jeep crossing of the Atacama desert, and the Salar De Uyuni; at 12,000km2 the largest salt flat in the world.  It was an incredible journey, through some of the most inhospitable terrain on the planet (the Atacama is the driest desert in the world!), and we made it on a dodgy old Land Cruiser which we prayed wouldn’t fall apart during the journey!! Luckily for us we had done our research and picked a company with a very good reputation for not crashing, breaking down, or letting llamas eat you for breakfast!!!

We began at the tiny Bolivian border post, a concrete block where the border guards eat, drink, and sleep, and after getting through we crammed into a Land Cruiser with our Bolivian driver, two Germans and two Aussies, and we were away across the desert.  We soon came to one of the many lakes that we would see, emerald green, backed with a volcano at a height of over 5000 metres.  The rocks were a myriad of colours, reds, oranges, and creams which contrasted beautifully with the lake.

On the first day we manged to reach a height of 4,975 metres, as we reached some fumaroles spewing bubbling hot mud across the surrounding rocks.  We kept a safe distance whilst other crazy tourists decided to dance with death and get stupidly close to the white-hot rocks and mud.

Our first night was spent literally in the middle of nowhere.  As we drove across what appeared to be completely deserted tundra, our abode for the night came into view like an oasis.  This was our first experience and sighting of the traditional Bolivian dress we would come to expect in Bolivia.  The women, known as the ´chola´, wear a combination of a very wide dress and a bola hat, complemented by long hair set into two plats stretching down their backs.  They spoke no English, and so our miniscule amount of Spanish came into its own.  The evening was spent recovering from the lack of oxygen at such a height (we were still at 4,300 metres here), and drinking a couple of cans of beer whilst enjoying our dinner with our group (4 Germans, 4 Aussies, a South African, and a Belgian).  At this height, beer makes one hell of an impact, and we hit the sack ready for the next day!!!

The second day took us to a series of stunning lakes, mountain vistas, and lava flows that had run from the nearby volcanoes.  First on the itinerary was the impossibly beautiful Laguna Colorado, a deep red lake full of stunning pink flamingoes.  To see this first thing in the morning took our breath away.  The sky was blue, the surrounding mountains red, and the pink flamingoes captivated us as they searched for food in one of the most inhospitable environments on the planet. 

We drove for hours through the heat of the desert and across tracks – how the driver knew where to go seemed impossible.  We later learned that he uses the mountains as markers on the three-day drive. Certainly somewhere we would not want to get lost!! We visited another beautiful lake, this time Laguna Verde, an emerald green lake that lapped the shore where the salt had begun to crack, reminiscent of one of the Oil of Olay adverts you see on the TV with the cracking skin!  We ate our lunch here whilst trying to take in the sheer majesty of the place.

Our second night as spent in a hotel made completely out of salt blocks! Incredible but true, as the nearby Salar De Uyuni also acts as a major salt mining area.  Even the floor was covered in millions of salt crystals, making for an unforgettable and truly unique place to stay.

The third and last day saw us reach the apex of the trip, the Salar De Uyuni.  As we approached the expansive salt flat in our jeep, the 6 of us inside gazed out of the Land Cruiser in amazement as we began to glide over the completely flat and blindingly white surface.  It was like nothing we had ever seen before, with only the distant mountain peaks differentiating between complete white and the blue sky.  We seemed to drive over the perfectly flat surface for an eternity before we began to spot an oasis in the middle of the white gleaming salt.  An island rose from the salt flat, and soon we arrived beside it.  The island was covered in humongous cacti, some reaching up to 8 metres into the sky.  The island looked completely out of place within such a strange environment, as if someone had decided to just chuck this huge piece of rock into the middle of a sea of white.  We we were able to climb up to the highest point on the island where we could see the tiny land cruisers set against the brilliant white of the Salar, a sight which accentuated the sheer size of the salt flat.  We also saw hummingbirds on the island, feeding on the flowers that were blooming from the majestic cacti.  The contrast between the lush green of the island, the brilliant white of the salar, and the blue of the sky was beautiful.

Next was to use the Salar to create some optical illusions, using the flat horizon to make it look as if we were jumping into hats etc.  This may seem a bit confusing but I will post photographic evidence (for those of you not on facebook!) soon.

And then our trip across the Atacama Desert and the Salar De Uyuni was over, as we sped across the rest of the slat flat, via a salt mining station, and arrived in our first Bolivian settlement of Uyuni, a deprived and sorry-looking town that used to be the key to the outside world for Bolivia due to its train link to Chile.  The train still runs, but only two says a week, the town now relying on the Salar trips for income.  Next stop would be the colonial city of Sucre.

Humboldt Penguins!

We have just seen lots of these little critters on Isla Damas.  They were hilarious!!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humboldt_Penguin

Bottom to top…

Since the amazing expanses of Patagonia a few weeks ago, Gemma and I have travelled up to the centre of Chile and the ‘Norte Chico’ or ’small North’ region, where we have spent the past week or so.

Before we travelled back up though, we spent five days in and around the Chilean area of Patagonia, in the extreme southerly towns of Puerto Natales and Punta Arenas.  The two towns are pretty much as far south as you can get in the world, save for the small villages and the town of Tierra Del Fuego and Puerto Williams in Chile, and Ushuaia, in Argentina.  It really did feel as though we were far away from a lot of things, as much of the landscape was dotted with mountains, and cold channels and shipping straits.

The town of Puerto Natales was the gateway town to the famous trekking national park of Torres Del Paine, but after our exertions in Chalten we decided to relax and spend a few days just chilling out.  Punta Arenas was larger than Puerto Natales, and we stayed in a homestay here for two nights before flying back up to Santiago.  This was a really good experience, as we basically lived with a Chilean family, who prepared us lovely breakfasts as well as allowing us to use the kitchen.

However we said goodbye to southern Chile and Patagonia, flying back up to Santiago on the 5th December.  The flight was with Sky Airlines, the budget choice, and they didnt disappoint.  We were fed twice on our 5 hour flight back up to Santiago, which gave us impressive views of the Chilean fjords, as well as some of the glaciers in and around Torres Del Paine.  The southern part of Chile cannot be accessed by road unless you are prepared to travel through Argentina, and this isolation was evident as we passed over jagged mountain peaks as well as chilly looking inlets and channels.  The flight was strange though, as we landed and took off 3 times!! This was really strange, but the flight picked up people in Puerto Montt and another smaller settlement before we finally arrived in Santiago.

We were straight on a bus from Santiago down to the seaside city of Valparaiso, the navy headquarters of Chile built on several leg breaking hills or ‘Cerros’.  The city was unique for its many funicular railways, ferrying workers, tourists, and schoolchildren up the many hills back to their homes.  The city really did feel like one of two very differing areas.  The flat ‘El Plan’ area beside the sea, with people buzzing around and home of all the commercial activities, and the Cerros.  As soon as we boarded he tiny boxes used by the funiculars and were let out a minute or so later at the top of whichever hill we had decided to visit, the atmosphere changed almost instantly to a mor relaxed vibe.  It was very strange to be so close to all the activity of the city and yet be far away.

Valparaiso is UNESCO listed due to its unique architecture, and this was immediately evident as we explored Cerro Concepcion, full of colourful 19th century homes and businesses painted a myriad of bright colours.  Murals were everywhere as well, lighting up small lanes beside the cobbled streets with images of Valparaiso and its maritime past.  It was here that we also found the ‘Brighton Hotel’, perhaps a palimpsest of the city’s past, when the port was a vital trading post for ships rounding the south of South America and travelling up to the USA and other Pacific coast destinations, and workers from Britain, Croatia, Spain, and other European countries lived and worked here.  Valparaiso suffered hugely following the opening of the Panama Canal, as ships suddenly had a much quicker route through to the Pacific coast of the Americas. But thankfully the aesthetically pleasing architecture remained intact through these difficult economic times thanks to an appreciation society who eventually manged to get the city UNESCO listed, and the tourists then followed.

We managed to visit Cerros Concepcion, Bella Vista, and La Sebastien, taking in the good views over the port’s navy vessels, and up the coast to the affluent beachside resort of Vina Del Mar, which we managed to walk to despite suffering nasty blisters!

Next stop would be Santiago and then we would head north to La Serena in the Norte Chico.

Patagonia images

Ice crashing into the glacial lake at the Spegazzini glacier, Parque De Los Glaciares, Argentina.

More ice shaving, this time the Perito Moreno glacier.

Chilean firebush, near the Perito Moreno glacier.

Posing by Laguna Torre, with Cerro Torre behind the glacier. Some Russian bloke actually went swimming in that lake while we were there…!

Nice birds! Prizes for who can tell me the bird species.  During our walk to Laguna Torre.

Stunning woodpecker during the hike on the Cerro Fitzroy trail.

“Right, tomorrow we are going to climb up that sharp looking one up there…”

On the way to Cerro Torre…

Mental Russian in Laguna Torre.  Can you believe his expression!? You´d think it was warm in there!!!

Cerro Fitz Roy; aka the ´Smoking Mountain´

Ice Ice Baby!

Our second full week in Argentina saw us travel deep down into the heart of Patagonia, from the Argentinian Lake District town of Bariloche to El Calafate in Santa Cruz province.  Before we arrived in El Calafate though, we had to negotiate a 30-hour bus journey through the expansive wastes of the ´Pampas´ to the Atlantic coast, down to the town of Rio Gallegos, and then finally across and up to El Calafate, the gateway to the Parque Nacional Los Glaciares.

Luckily for us, coach travel in Argentina is luxurious to say the least, with fully reclining seats as standard, quite often food and wine served, and plenty of stops to inhibit deep vein thrombosis!!!  So a potentially uncomfortable trip was actually a pleasure, and after a good sleep we arrived relatively fresh to the barren town of El Calafate, set above Argentina´s largest lake Lago Argentino.  The town itself is a collection of holiday homes, hostels, and a few hotels, and a pleasant town centre with restaurants serving the local speciality; Patagonian Lamb! Yum!!!

We were here to see the Patagonian Ice Cap though, and after checking into the America Del Sur hostel, complete with crazy staff (very nice but buzzing!) we organised a full day trip to see the largest glacier in South America, the Upsala, as well as the Spegazzini and Onelli glaciers.  The most famous, Perito Moreno, would also be somewhere we would visit by boat and land!!

We spent the full day on Friday travelling by catamaran across Lago Argentino to view the glaciers, and after a short drive from the hostel along the coast of Lago Argentino, we headed onto our very smooth and efficient catamaran! Our first stop would be the Upsala glacier, the largest of all the 47 in the national park, and as we travelled across the turquoise waters, we began to pass larger and larger icebergs, remnants of ice shedding from the glaciers we would soon be face to face with.  It was extraordinary to see these beautiful pieces of ice floating past the boat, fully aware that although they looked big, only 10-15% was actually peeking out of the depths!! We certainly didnt want a Titanic situation, and the captain had to be sure to swerve past a few of them!  They were beautiful though, carved into all kinds of shapes and sizes, and deep blue in colour.  SOme must have been as big as terraces of houses, and some very small, but all fascinating.

We reached the Upsala glacier after around an hour of speeding past the huge icebergs, and we were met with a huge barrier of icebergs, blocking the entrance to Onelli Bay and the front of the Upsala glacier.  It was an incredible sight, with the faces of some of these glaciers at heights that must have exceeded 20 or so metres.  The boat was able to get very close so everyone had the opportunity to take photos, and luckily nobody fell off in their rush to get photographic evidence of this amazing natural sight.  The glacier is receding at present, and due to the huge pressures, a gigantic shelf of ice had sheared off the front of the glacier, meaning that access was impossible.  However, to see this barrier of ice was awe-inspiring, and we just stared at it for what seemed like forever, until the catamaran started up and slowly led us away.

The second stop was probably my favourite.  The Spegazzini glacier is not the largest, but as we approached its face, humongous shards of ice stuck up into the sky like huge shark´s teeth, and the glacier looked ominously calm as we began to sail closer.  The height of the face was approximately 60 metres, with the depth up to 100 metres.  Thats a colossal chunk of ice!!  The boat sailed us up and down the face of the glacier around 200 metres from its face, not getting closer in case of falling ice.  What happened next was truly astonishing.  Some small looking pieces of ice began falling off and crashing into the water, and then suddenly an area of ice which was 60 metres high by around 10-20 metres wide let out an almighty crack and began falling into the water!! The crash it made into the calm glacial waters was almost deafening, and as it disappeared beneath the placid waters, a HUGE wave began to head towards us on what we perceived was a safe boat!!  Luckily for us it was, but as the wave passed underneath the catamaran it tipped it up and down and we all had to hold on! Incredible.  Luckily I managed to get some photographic evidence of this whilst almost dribbling in amazement!

Still in shock at what we had seen, and after around an hour of watching the glacier and listening to its creaking and cracking, we left it to head back down Lago Argentino to the most famous of all the glaciers in the park, the Perito Moreno (see links!).  The Perito Moreno is the only glacier that can be viewed from land, and reached by car, and was probably the most pretty looking of the three glaciers we saw today, with jagged peaks poking up into the blue sky.  We visited the glacier by land and watched in amazement as every 20 minutes or so we would see another huge chunk of ice descend into the icy waves.  We spend around 3 hours just watching the ice and listening to its cracks and creaks from the elevated board walks just across from the gigantic river of ice.  We were very fortunate to have good weather as well, and the contrast between the clean whites and blues of the ice and the surrounding trees and clear blue sky was just beautiful.

An inspiring place, and probably my favourite place on our trip so far. Id recommend it to anyone! For more facts and figures check out the links down the right hand side of the page!!!

Confessions of a lazy blogger!

Hi all,

I have to say I was very lazy in New Zealand as we bombed our way around clocking 8,000 kilometres in 7 weeks! (not bad!!).  I didnt really get time to update the blog but have provided links (for those of you who are interested) to  some of the places we visited. Just scroll down the right-hand bar and click on them!  Enjoy!

Ruta 7 and Mendoza

After a few days staying with my cousin Justin, in Santiago, Gemma and I headed across the Andes towards Argentina!! The route across the mountains was nothing short of spectacular, and as we left the bustling early morning traffic of Santiago, we headed across the rural outskirts of the city, scattered with small vineyards and single storey brick huts.

AT the Chile-Argentina border crossing high up in the Andes on Ruta 7. Chilly.

 

The landscape began to change very quickly as we headed up the side of the mammoth Andes range, and soon we had left the sunny warm climate of the Santiago lowlands, and were approaching the snow line. As we arrived at the border crossing, the weather wasnt the only thing that was frosty (!), the atmosphere between the Chileans and the Argentinians also matching the temperatures outside! We walked through Argentinian immigration, which was very ordered and quick (for a change!), and walked out into the snowy wilderness of the Andes, just as snow began to fall around us.

We didnt have long before we were back on the bus, and we quickly descended below the snow line and past the highest mountain in the Southern and Western hemispheres; the mighty Aconcagua, at 6959 metres!!! Puts Ben Nevis to shame really!! The landscape quickly changed as we made our way down towards the city of Mendoza, Argentina´s 4th largest city and capital of wine production in the country, where a very good bottle of their speciality, Malbec sets you back a whopping 12 pesos (around 2 quid!!). We were soon heading through the frontal mountains of the Andes, and the views resembled more of a desert than anything else, with cacti growing on the parched, copper coloured rock.

Posing in front of the mighty Aconcagua, the highest mountain outside of the Himalayas.

 

We were soon rolling into Mendoza bus station, and being careful with our bags (reports of bag snatching here are rife!), we jumped into a taxi for the short trip to the Lagares hostel on Corrientes street, our abode for the next 4 nights. Now we had read that Argentina has a much worse road safety record than in any other South American country, and this was proved true approximately 30 seconds into our taxi ride, as (thankfully) another taxi just ahead of us was completely cut up by another car and rammed into a tree!! Luckily everyone was well, but we had our warning to watch the traffic here!!!

Wine tasting in Mendoza. Yum!

 

Mendoza had a very European feel, particularly due to the beautiful plazas, reminiscent of Barcelona, with old men falling asleep on benches in the afternoon sun, and kids running around playing without the threat of being mown down by a crazy driver!! It was clearly South America though, with the omnipresent Andes above the skyline, and every other male walking around in an Argentinian football shirt! They really do love their football here!!

We spent our first day taking a wander through the city centre, where we checked out the Mercado Central, where you could purchase a traditional parilla full of every cut of beef you could name, from the intestines right up to the prime topside cuts and fillets. Something we had to try at some point. Italian-style food seemed to be everywhere as well, due primarily to the number of Italian descendants now resident in Argentina.

 

No visit to Mendoza would be complete, either, without a visit to one or more of the 1,000 or so vineyards (or Bodega) in the surrounding area. We managed to fit in 4 on a day long tour, which took us to four completely different types of vineyard; a large Industrial vineyard with vines that seemed to go on forever to the foot of the Andes; an organic winery where everything was obviously done without any chemicals or artificial methods; and two in the small town of Maipu, just outside of the city of Mendoza.

The industrial vineyard exported mainly to the US, where a bottle is no doubt more pricey than in Mendoza, and we learnt about how French oak barrels give a much different taste to the American oak barrels that produce a more acidic taste. The most important part was of course the tastings, and we got to try a Chardonnay (nice, light, good with cheese apparently!), and a Cabernet Sauvignon (a bit dry and acidic for me). It was alcohol at 11am though in 35 degree heat, so I was happy!!

The organic Bodega was next and was probably my favourite, as the building where all the magic was played out was a lovely old farmstead, and everything seemed much more natural and real. Not surprising giving it was the organic vineyard!!

Finally we stopped for lunch in Maipu, and I have never seen such an amazing spread of food (bearing in mind we had paid around 25 pounds for the package of 4 vineyards and lunch!). The appetisers filled the entire table, which we were sharing with 10 or so others on the tour. There was everything from the entrails of cows (I tried it and dint like it!), through to tasty cheeses, salamis, and fresh bread and veg in herb sauces. The waiters didnt let us go thirsty either, topping up our glass with Malbec as quickly as we could drink it!!! Excellent value.

Before we left Mendoza, we topped up with the lovely Malbec and headed off towards San Carlos de Bariloche in Patagonia, a 17-hour bus journey away!!!

Links update!

I have updated the wikipedia links on the right hand bar of the screen!!!