I've not always been able to keep this thing updated as I should.
Hopefully I can post a few photos from Cusco and Puno soon. I have now crossed the border from Peru into Bolivia, via Copacabana. Tried to go to Uyuni and the famous salt flats 12 hours south of La Paz, but the wet season here has been harsh, flooding roads and making them impassable and sadly causing many many people to lose their homes.
This being the case, I will now not be travelling down to Uyuni. Instead I'm going to be in La Paz for a few days, which is fine by me in fact because La Paz doesn't deserve any adjective less than incredible.
It's noisy, unbelievably busy, chaotic, the air is thin on oxygen, because of the altitude, and thick with pollution and it's also incredibly beautiful. In an unexpected way.
Wednesday, 2 March 2011
At the top of Huaynupicchu mountain
And thanks so so much to the lovely person who took this and emailed it to me when I had failed to load my own camera with it's battery!
Monday, 28 February 2011
MachuPicchu - Part 2
Safely arrived at the entrance to MP, valid ticket for 10am entry to Huaynupicchu mountain in hand, I was left with an hour to spare before my guide turned up for my tour. I wasn´t sure how I was to find him, but had been told somewhat cryptically that "His name is Miguel and his jacket will match his flag." Further clarity was not possible due to the mutual lack of common language between me and my contact at 4 in the morning.
It was ineveitably raining hard, so I waited under cover close to the entrance.
At 45 minutes past when my guide was supposed to show up, I decided that South-American scheduling or no, I had to go hunt for him. After establishing that he had in fact somehow already started the tour and was somewhere within MP complex, another guide raced me round almost the whole mountain in an attempt to find my tour, which, breathlessly, we eventually did. He was wearing an orange poncho and carrying a rainbow coloured flag. Hmmm.
Anyway, the tour was all pretty informative, the usual stuff about rocks that look, sometimes quite dubiously, like either a condor, a snake or a puma - each of these representing a different aspect of the Inka world view. Lots of stuff to do with shadows in various shapes of llamas and such that only appear during summer or winter solstice. Windows that align with the sun during solstice. And so on....
All very interesting, but having seen a fair number of Inka sights by now I could probably reel off this stuff by heart. And sometimes,just sometimes, I think a person could be forgiven for saying that, on occasion, a rock doesn´t have to look like anything except, perhaps, a rock.
Tour done, I made my way to the entrance to Huanupicchu (I´ll call it HP now). I should explain; HP is a mountain that rises monument-like to 300m above MP, at the opposite end from the entrance. Intrepid people that have slung themselves out of bed at 4am and beat their way to the front of the bus queue are permitted the privilage of climbing up for an extraordinary view down into the MP complex.
At 10am I began my hike up. The climb was extremely steep, essentially 300 vertical metres of crazy, uneven, rain-slick, gigantic-stepped stairs. Standard sheer drops to one side or another. A clamber through a couple of caves. A last few steps up a perilous little ladder. And then I emerged at the glorious summit.
Into a cloud.
Everything around was solid white. An infinity of whiteness, as opaque as the blackest night but filled with blinding light. There was nothing else to do but sit around and wait. And at least the rain had stopped.
Gradually the light broke through the clouds, and they shifted, to reveal what has to be one of the most stunning views I´ll ever get to lay eyes on. Hundreds of metres below the whole complex of MachuPicchu is laid out like a miniature city shining golden in the morning sunlight, white clouds drifting over and constantly concealing and revealing different aspects of the scene. You can see all the way to the river far below, and all the neat horizontal lines of the Inka terraces cut into the hillsides. A few metres away from where I was sitting, little whirring birds chased through the shrubbery and astonishingly bright and metallic green hummingbirds were feeding from the fushia pink flowers. Incredibly beautiful. It wa svery easy to see why the Inkas considered the mountains to be holy and built their temples high up in the clouds.
Waiting in the rain at 4am for an hour and a half after an hours sleep in order to get my ticket for HP, it did cross my mind on not a few occasions that perhaps nothing was really going to be worth this much effort. Well, it really was.
Sadly, no sleep and chaotic planning don´t really do anything for my organisation. I forgot to but my fully charged battery in my camera. There are no photos to come of any of this. So, you´ll all just have to believe me when I say I´ve been to these incredible places. I don´t think I could forget them, so photos seem a little beside the point anyway. If you want to see what it was like, you´ll all just have to go!
xoxo
It was ineveitably raining hard, so I waited under cover close to the entrance.
At 45 minutes past when my guide was supposed to show up, I decided that South-American scheduling or no, I had to go hunt for him. After establishing that he had in fact somehow already started the tour and was somewhere within MP complex, another guide raced me round almost the whole mountain in an attempt to find my tour, which, breathlessly, we eventually did. He was wearing an orange poncho and carrying a rainbow coloured flag. Hmmm.
Anyway, the tour was all pretty informative, the usual stuff about rocks that look, sometimes quite dubiously, like either a condor, a snake or a puma - each of these representing a different aspect of the Inka world view. Lots of stuff to do with shadows in various shapes of llamas and such that only appear during summer or winter solstice. Windows that align with the sun during solstice. And so on....
All very interesting, but having seen a fair number of Inka sights by now I could probably reel off this stuff by heart. And sometimes,just sometimes, I think a person could be forgiven for saying that, on occasion, a rock doesn´t have to look like anything except, perhaps, a rock.
Tour done, I made my way to the entrance to Huanupicchu (I´ll call it HP now). I should explain; HP is a mountain that rises monument-like to 300m above MP, at the opposite end from the entrance. Intrepid people that have slung themselves out of bed at 4am and beat their way to the front of the bus queue are permitted the privilage of climbing up for an extraordinary view down into the MP complex.
At 10am I began my hike up. The climb was extremely steep, essentially 300 vertical metres of crazy, uneven, rain-slick, gigantic-stepped stairs. Standard sheer drops to one side or another. A clamber through a couple of caves. A last few steps up a perilous little ladder. And then I emerged at the glorious summit.
Into a cloud.
Everything around was solid white. An infinity of whiteness, as opaque as the blackest night but filled with blinding light. There was nothing else to do but sit around and wait. And at least the rain had stopped.
Gradually the light broke through the clouds, and they shifted, to reveal what has to be one of the most stunning views I´ll ever get to lay eyes on. Hundreds of metres below the whole complex of MachuPicchu is laid out like a miniature city shining golden in the morning sunlight, white clouds drifting over and constantly concealing and revealing different aspects of the scene. You can see all the way to the river far below, and all the neat horizontal lines of the Inka terraces cut into the hillsides. A few metres away from where I was sitting, little whirring birds chased through the shrubbery and astonishingly bright and metallic green hummingbirds were feeding from the fushia pink flowers. Incredibly beautiful. It wa svery easy to see why the Inkas considered the mountains to be holy and built their temples high up in the clouds.
Waiting in the rain at 4am for an hour and a half after an hours sleep in order to get my ticket for HP, it did cross my mind on not a few occasions that perhaps nothing was really going to be worth this much effort. Well, it really was.
Sadly, no sleep and chaotic planning don´t really do anything for my organisation. I forgot to but my fully charged battery in my camera. There are no photos to come of any of this. So, you´ll all just have to believe me when I say I´ve been to these incredible places. I don´t think I could forget them, so photos seem a little beside the point anyway. If you want to see what it was like, you´ll all just have to go!
xoxo
Saturday, 26 February 2011
MachuPicchu finally!
I finally managed to book myself ont6o a 2 day tour to MachuPicchu and the sacred valley and set off for more rain-enhanced hiking. Day one was visiting Pisac (where I´d already been) and the sacred valley, which was pretty and interesting and rainy as usual. Inka ruins at Ollantaytambo done, I was left with an unholy 6 hours to kill in the little village, until my train at 11pm. I´d met a couple of people on the bus so we all had dinner together and I trouped off for my train, eventually arriving in Aguas Calientes (the town with hot springs, literally Hot Waters) at 2am where I was met by Betty, my connection person, and marched up soggy streets to my bed for the night.
Sleeo was incredibly brief, since I wanted to climb Huaynupicchu mountain the next day, a feat which requires a person to be within the first 400 people to the entrance gate of MachuPicchu in the morning. This means getting up at 4am, to be first in the queue for bus tickets up when the bus station opens at 5.30am. An hour and a half of standing in the cold, dark and rain later, followed by a bumpy bus ride over potholed, perilous roads and I finally got to the gate of MP. I was number 281! Amazing joy!
I spoke to some London girls who said they had hiked up, and the road was so badly flooded they were walking in a waterfall the whole way: "We just assumed we were going to die, but we might as well try and keep going anyway." Yes indeed. Glad I didn´t try that then!
Anyways, have to go now. Will relate more of the Epic adventure later.
xoxo
Sleeo was incredibly brief, since I wanted to climb Huaynupicchu mountain the next day, a feat which requires a person to be within the first 400 people to the entrance gate of MachuPicchu in the morning. This means getting up at 4am, to be first in the queue for bus tickets up when the bus station opens at 5.30am. An hour and a half of standing in the cold, dark and rain later, followed by a bumpy bus ride over potholed, perilous roads and I finally got to the gate of MP. I was number 281! Amazing joy!
I spoke to some London girls who said they had hiked up, and the road was so badly flooded they were walking in a waterfall the whole way: "We just assumed we were going to die, but we might as well try and keep going anyway." Yes indeed. Glad I didn´t try that then!
Anyways, have to go now. Will relate more of the Epic adventure later.
xoxo
Tuesday, 22 February 2011
Beaurocracy and beautiful dresses
Urgh!
So I was supposed to be at MachuPicchu yesterday, having worked pretty hard to book my train tickets and the entrance to MachuPicchu. We got up around 4am to leave for the station, sat on a replacement bus service for 2 hours, sat in the train station at Ollantaytambo for 2.5 hours (where we should have made our connection for the town near MP), eventually realised the trains weren´t running, waited around for another hour or so while Rail Peru discussed their options and finally were herded back to Cusco on another bus (2.5 hours) where we could queue for another hour to collect our refunds.
This done, there was still the matter of changing the dates on our tickets for MachuPicchu at the Ministeria de Cultura. Let me say, they do know how to take lunch in Latin America.
All in all, a day involving epic amounts of queueing, stamping documents, herding, arguing and resignation.
Today I still had the MP ticket to sort out in the morning, despite the 2 hours in the Ministeria de Cultura the day before. Luckily today was relatively hassle free and all was well wihin 45 minutes! A huge South American success story!
This afternoon I went wandering down the pretty wonky little alleyways in Cusco and discovered a Dutch cafe where I bought byself a warm cinnamony slice of apple pie and a bitter hot chocolate for lunch. Just round the corner and up a couple of steep little staircases in the backstreets I was amazed to find a really beautiful little dress shop in which to shelter from the afternoon rain showers. It was a magical little discovery with lovely unique dresses hanging all around the studio and red-haired Irish Eibhlin was sat in the corner at her sewing machine quietly working on new pieces with the stero playing. We had a chat about Ireland and London, the weather and the Irish bar in Cusco and fashion, ceramics and illustration and then I fell for a wonderful dress in the corner, a simple black shift style dress with a big collar and a strip of silvery graphic patterned fabric down the middle.
Eibhlin said I could have some money off as it´s rainy season in Cusco and trade is slow, and she even pinned it and took it in for me so that it fits perfectly!
Such a delight to find a wonderful little boutique in touristy Cusco!
Here´s her website.
So I was supposed to be at MachuPicchu yesterday, having worked pretty hard to book my train tickets and the entrance to MachuPicchu. We got up around 4am to leave for the station, sat on a replacement bus service for 2 hours, sat in the train station at Ollantaytambo for 2.5 hours (where we should have made our connection for the town near MP), eventually realised the trains weren´t running, waited around for another hour or so while Rail Peru discussed their options and finally were herded back to Cusco on another bus (2.5 hours) where we could queue for another hour to collect our refunds.
This done, there was still the matter of changing the dates on our tickets for MachuPicchu at the Ministeria de Cultura. Let me say, they do know how to take lunch in Latin America.
All in all, a day involving epic amounts of queueing, stamping documents, herding, arguing and resignation.
Today I still had the MP ticket to sort out in the morning, despite the 2 hours in the Ministeria de Cultura the day before. Luckily today was relatively hassle free and all was well wihin 45 minutes! A huge South American success story!
This afternoon I went wandering down the pretty wonky little alleyways in Cusco and discovered a Dutch cafe where I bought byself a warm cinnamony slice of apple pie and a bitter hot chocolate for lunch. Just round the corner and up a couple of steep little staircases in the backstreets I was amazed to find a really beautiful little dress shop in which to shelter from the afternoon rain showers. It was a magical little discovery with lovely unique dresses hanging all around the studio and red-haired Irish Eibhlin was sat in the corner at her sewing machine quietly working on new pieces with the stero playing. We had a chat about Ireland and London, the weather and the Irish bar in Cusco and fashion, ceramics and illustration and then I fell for a wonderful dress in the corner, a simple black shift style dress with a big collar and a strip of silvery graphic patterned fabric down the middle.
Eibhlin said I could have some money off as it´s rainy season in Cusco and trade is slow, and she even pinned it and took it in for me so that it fits perfectly!
Such a delight to find a wonderful little boutique in touristy Cusco!
Here´s her website.
Monday, 21 February 2011
Pisac
Ah, all thes posts are getting gloriously mixed up and out of order, but it{s a rainy day in Cusco today, so heres a little update.
I headed up to Pisac a yesterday because it was Sunday and the artisan market was on, filling a huge square with silver and mother-of-pearl jewellery and colourful woven scarves, bags, rugs and all manner of things alpaca, but also to see the Inca ruins in the hills above Pisac.
My companions for the day decided that the one of them hated rain and the other hated walking and, both of those being fairly unavoidable to the exploration of Pisac ruins, I left them to peruse the endless opportunities of the market while I hired a cab for the 20 minute drive uphill from Pisac town centre. At the top, I got myself a guide who had plenty of interesting banter about the place and filled in breathless hikes up Inca stairways by playing little tunes on his homemade flute. It was a little bit of genius.
Anyway, I think I{ll just let the pictures speak for this one for the most part. Only to add a few fun facts of the day:
The Incas made great use of everything in their environment, ie.
They used a plant that lathers in water to wash their hair and the llama wool
Meteor rock was used to carve out tunnels through the rocks
Mint from the mountain was used to make tea to help with altitude sickness and also to scent their homes.
The Incas communicated by flute from their watchtowers, the sound travelling echoeing through the hillsides for large distances. Each tune would be a code.
At the end of the tour I returned to Pisac market for fried alpaca on a skewer with a potato stuck on the end. Nom. Pisac - done.
Friday, 18 February 2011
Colca Canyon - Edit
Ha. So I read back my last post, and I{m thinking that in my eagerness to convey the experience as truthfully as possible, I neglected to mention that the canyon is awesome. Literally the landscape inspires awe. It{s one of the most amazing places I have ever been, and one of the advantages of rainy season, treacherous paths aside, is that the canyon is incredibly lush and green now, much against expectations. There are lovely terraces overflowing with the purple, yellow and white flowers of a variety of potato plants and cacti growing on every possible surface.
Watching the cloud shadows move across the canyon in the golden morning sunshine, and a condor hunting in it{s natural environment was an incredible moment not to be missed. And last but not least, the inhabitants of the canyon are amazing. Being easily outhiked by a middle aged Peruvian lady in sandals towing a sheep, who made walking up steep staircase-like narrow tracks look like standing on an escalator - priceless.
Just to put the record a little straighter.
xo
Watching the cloud shadows move across the canyon in the golden morning sunshine, and a condor hunting in it{s natural environment was an incredible moment not to be missed. And last but not least, the inhabitants of the canyon are amazing. Being easily outhiked by a middle aged Peruvian lady in sandals towing a sheep, who made walking up steep staircase-like narrow tracks look like standing on an escalator - priceless.
Just to put the record a little straighter.
xo
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