Arriving to Bolivia

30 hours it took from Lima to La Paz. But I can´t complain as the Colombian I spent half the journey chatting to was enjoying the last leg of his 120 hour journey (Colombia to Santa Cruz, Bolivia, sat on a bus!). The Colombian was very chatty and so was the Peruvian next to me. I guess I would be too if I did those kind of 5-day journeys regularly. I did my best, Spanish dictionary in hand, as usual they didn´t speak a word of English.

Upon arriving in La Paz, I checked into the Loki Backpackers Hostel (they have a facebook group). People were amazed to find I´d had no bus trouble despite travelling the day after the Peruvian earthquake. Standing in Lima we had felt the ground shake for a whole two minutes, lamp posts swinging forward and back. As ignorant Europeans we had jumped and cheered, very excited by this incredible earthquake (7.5 on the richter scale). We soon became quiet as local Peruvians ran into the street, embracing each other, some crying. Unlike them we had never suffered casualties, families and friends, to such a catastrophe. Arequipa, Pisco and Ica were the worst affected. Ica, the city outside Huacachina, is reported to have had a quarter of its buildings destroyed. Fatalities were in the hundreds.

Arriving in La Paz was strange for me. This is the first part of my trip that I´m doing by myself. There are endless things to do at rock bottom prices, impossible to get bored, you meet a dozen new really cool people every single day. Some of them you click with almost instantly and spend the next few days partying away. The problem is that they then have to leave, off to see the next big sight or city, a new set of amazing experiences. Of course they ask you to come along, experience the world together, but you´ve already got plans, already seen that sight. There´s of course still a dozen new people for you to meet and click with, but you´re completely out of energy. No one can be happy and charming for weeks non-stop, and unfortunately first impressions really count. Still, now I´ve had my day of rest, I´m back on the ball. I hear there´s a party tonight; somebody´s birthday apparently. Should be good.

The Inca Trail

The Inca trail is a four day trek up to the recently voted new wonder of the world, Machu Picchu. The terrain here is incredible. The stone clad path leads you through deep forests, along gorgeous streams, through flourishing valleys and to the peaks of steep mountain tops. In fact, with so many gorgeous mountains, I was quickly introduced to the concept of “Summit Pants.” A simple concept: climb to the tallest summit, then ask a passing stranger to take a picture of you with your trousers around your ankles.

The second day was the hardest and coincidentally also my birthday. The day is a step climbing exercise, uphill all the way. Upon reaching camp everyone was totally exhausted, but the feeling of self satisfaction was great. Then as we sit down awaiting dinner a small candle appears out of nowhere from around the corner and the classic birthday song begins. Somehow, in the middle of nowhere, half way up a mountain, our cook has managed to bake me a cake. And a particularly good one at that.

I can’t stress enough how incredibly impressed we were with the Peruvians. Our Inca Trail cook made possibly the best meals of our Peruvian experience while our porters carried half an industrial-sized kitchen together with all our tents and enough food to feed two dozen people for half a week. But not only did they carry this, they also jogged the whole way up and down the mountains, without even breaking a sweat. My attempt to keep pace with one on the third day lasted all but an hour, despite the fact that his bag was twice that of mine and it was all down hill. My legs spent the whole next day living to regret it.

The fourth and final day starts as a race. The gates to Macchu Picchu open an hour pre-sunrise to allow the best views when you arrive. However first there’s a mad trek along a thin and narrow path which ends with a 45 degree climb up to the Sun Gate. The problem with this path is that its breadth only allows a single-file queue of one behind the other. So with hundreds of people urgent to finish the last leg of their trek there is serious pressure to keep pace with the fastest of the horde. One girl behind me soon broke down in tears, refusing to stop, despite her literally hyperventilating in the low-oxygen altitude. Passing people sympathized with her suffering, but no-one wanted to risk missing that critical moment as the sun rose and spread light over Macchu Picchu.

As you arrive to Macchu Picchu you are literally astonished at the beauty of this place, and you realise instantly where the inspiration for every “lost jungle city” style movie-set has come from. What you don’t realise, as you begin to relax, thinking that that trekking is finally over, is that they will now tell you that the enormous rock that appears in the back of every Macchu Picchu picture is in fact the ultimate view spot to observe this wonder. Put off we were not, as of course upon reaching the top, what better opportunity to add to our growing Summit Pants collection!

Cusco

Arriving in Cusco, the old capital, and definitely the tourist capital of Peru, we hit the town celebrating Rachel´s 19th birthday. Cusco is the kind of place where you can drink for free all night, as long as you move from pub to pub at a fast enough rate, making promises of staying that you never intend to keep. Among others, our favourite night spots included an irish bar serving classic british meals such as shepherds pie and BLTs, a danish bar with such classics as frakadella burger with remoulade and biksemad (some danish favourites), and a peruvian club with salsa lessons every night. We even managed to get a private 2-hour spanish lesson so that the locals no longer could dance circles round us “Gringos.” But by far the best find was the discovery of a dusty old Risk board hidden in the corner of the danish bar... need I say more!

Particular past-times worth trying here in Cusco are whitewater rafting, a full-body inca massage, breaking into a local park to play ultimate frisbee, and of course the San Pedro experience.

San Pedro is a cactus, the juices from which are very hallucinogenic. The experience involved tasting this delicacy and joining a rather amusingly dressed Shaman at the top of a hill for the duration of the afternoon. From here participants were able to feel at one with nature, after which you will throw up for hours on end. Note that this means it´s working...

Without mentioning names, one particular participant decided to film what he saw as the walls, clouds and buildings began to move in crazy unnatural ways. Unfortunately he was then completely baffled when later, playback of his video failed to show any evidence of what he was sure he had witnessed.

Peruvian sightseeing

The last couple of weeks have been packed. Included here is a quick taster of a few of the touristic highlights.

First there was the Nazca lines. In the middle of a desert, from the ground they simply look like strange dents in the ground, but from above, hundreds of metres in the air, these lines become shapes which represent well defined images. The best way to view these lines is therefore from a mini private plane. It is believed these images were created many years ago as messages to God, who supposedly at the time would have been the only “being” able to view them from a sufficiently high point.

The plane was great. In order for people on both sides to get equal appreciation of these sights it was necessary to bank left and right repeatedly, up to 90 degrees, as we viewed over a dozen different patterns. I can confidently say that despite the sickly feeling that builds up in your stomach, it is definitely worth the suffering for the experience.

The second highlight was biking from the top to the bottom of an enormous mountain. After reaching the bottom, with only one person suffering a bike-on-bus collision, we arrived to a quaint little village by the name of Yanque. Here we were fed well and spent the rest of the evening enjoying the boiling hot, outdoor natural springs. This was particularly satisfying when the weather was ideal for a hat, gloves and thermal underwear combo.

The next morning we were up early at 6, just in time to see the local children performing their weekly parade. Arguably an odd time to choose for a Saturday morning; a definite contrast to how I remember my childhood. An hour later we arrived at Colca Canyon, ready to see the condors rise up with the morning air. These amazing birds span a massive 3m and can weigh up to an average of 12kg; astonishing for any flying bird.

Lake Titicaca was our 3rd highlight. This massive lake that spans Peru and Bolivia, is home to the entirety of Bolivia´s, arguably pointless, navy (they have no coastline). In the centre here are the floating reed islands. These are man-made islands built entirely of reeds. A clever idea, as whenever a son grows old enough to move from home, he simply saws himself off a corner of the family island and floats away to live life in independent adulthood.