Week 21
Wednesday. 4am. The border crossing was again a stress free affair and conveniently both immigration offices were in the same building. Once we had our exit and entry stamps sorted we got back on the bus and travelled another 3 hours to Máncora, Peru.
We stayed at Kimbas Bungalows and thankfully they allowed us to check in early which allowed us to get some much needed quality sleep! Afterward our nap, we took a little stroll along the beach (5 minutes away from our new home) and then had a very delicious lunch at Sirena Cafe Bar!
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| Kimbas Bungalows - our home for 3 nights |
Máncora seems to be a popular beach destination with South Americans. While drinking our first Pisco Sour, we chatted to a group of girls from Chilli. Apparently Peruvians hate Chileans because of a dispute over sea and land territories .
Feeling a little merry from our cheap cocktails we headed out to a fish restaurant for dinner. I had the most amazing ceviche which is a native dish originating from Peru. Roland had a perfectly cooked tuna steak (86S including 2cocktails)!
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| Birds chasing fish scraps |
Thursday and Friday. We enjoyed being by the sea and spent the rest of our time here strolling along the beach, relaxing and eating lovely food!. There are so many good restaurants here with amazing seafood. I really didn't expect this in Peru! I thought it would be all empanadas and roasted guinea pigs.
We did have a little incident though. Annoyingly I managed to walk away from an ATM after getting some money out, leaving my card in the machine! Grrrrrr! Luckily we have backup cards!
Friday to Wednesday. Friday night we started our mammoth trip to Cuzco - eventually arriving on Tuesday! This took a little longer than expected. And when we couldn't get a connecting bus to Cuzco in Lima on Saturday, we decided to pop over and visit Arequipa.
During the 92 hour adventure :
We covered 2644km
Spent 52 hours sat on our bums
Spent 3 hours in Lima
Spent 33 hours in Arequipa
Walked 4 hours with our heavy backpacks.
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| Posh bus! |
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| ... even gave us food and drink! |
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| Peruvian pacific coast |
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| Passing through a `sorry looking town´ |
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| Messages made of stones in the mountains |
As part of a travelling adventure about 11 years ago, I visited Arequipa. It was interesting to see how much the town had changed, mostly due to tourism. Back then you were lucky if you saw another traveller and anyone who spoke English. Now, there are sightseeing buses (which we went on), a Starbucks, a Burger King and a large number of travelling agencies offering English speaking guided trips!
Monday. On our bus journey from Arequipa to Cuzco, the bus came to a standstill opposite a bridge in a small village, which was 1 hour from our destination. The villagers had blockaded the bridge ahead of us with tree trunks, rubble and broken glass! And after 2 hours watching them protest with banners, chanting and setting tires on fire we were told that they were not moving until the following morning! This was not good as we had a flight booked, leaving Cuzco in the morning. With no other choice, we collected our bags along with 10 other travellers (all from Chilli) and started walking the route towards Cuzco!
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| Setting car tires on fire! |
Even though we didn't plan to do this hike, it was lovely to walk among the Andean mountains and pass through small villages - each one had prepared their own blockade making it impossible for vehicles to make their way to Cuzco. On some occasions we were bombarded with water balloons or attacked with water guns by the children taking part in the protest!
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| View when crossing the bridge |
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| Fellow travellers. |
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| More blockades ... |
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| Sports day! |
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| Much needed rest after 2.5 hours walking! |
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| With no other choice, I had to go to the loo with some spectators! |
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| Women washing and drying clothes by the river. |
After about 3 hours walking, we came to the last village before Cuzco and luckily for us a Taxi was passing by (I have no idea how it got through the blockades) and had enough room for 2 bums - as we had a flight to catch the Chileans suggested that we go. The taxi took us as far as he could in Cuzco (more blockades) and after another hour walking we finally made it to our hostel. We were absolutely knackered!
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Much needed hot chocolate!! It was cold in Cuzco at night!
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Week 22
Wednesday to Saturday. On Wednesday we flew to from Cuzco to Puerto Maldonado for our Amazon jungle adventure ($57 each). Its amazing that a flight that takes 45 minutes would take about 14 hours on a bus!
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| Cuzco from above. |
We stayed at the Anaconda Lodge and really loved it! The place is run by a Thai lady and a Swiss man, who have resident howler monkeys. We had our own private wooden hut (160 soles) surrounded by all sorts of trees and plants. We really felt at one with nature, especially at night when the sound of all the insects and animals roaming around, kept you awake - thank goodness for ear plugs!
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| Our hut! |
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| Bob and Sue enjoying lap time! |
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| Sooo cute! |
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| Roland held the baby monkey! |
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| Bridge to Brazil - recently opened |
Wady (Thai lady) recommend a great guide from Rambatira Manu Expeditions and suggested that we do the full day trip to the Lago Sandoval ($50 each). This was a great day out (8am - 7pm) and we were lucky to see all sorts of different animals. The highlight was watching giant river otters and watching the guide catch a Cayman for a closer look.
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| Amusingly I was given white wellies to trudge around in the mud! |
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| Mud, glorious mud! |
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| Giant river otters!! |
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| Black Cayman |
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| Can you spot the chicken bird ...? |
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| Roland on the look out for Spider Monkey action |
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| Lunch - rice with chicken and egg steamed in a banana leaf. |
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| More chicken birds - they were everywhere and made funny noises! |
The following day we got up at 5am to view lots of different kinds of parrots lick a clay cliff - called a 'parrot clay lick'. Again we were lucky to actually witness this (we patiently waited for about an hour). Any kind of loud noise or predatory birds can scare the parrots away. By 8am we were back at the lodge to eat a lovely breakfast and then went back to bed!
I made sure that I had a big breakfast as I had to fast for the rest of the day in preparation for my evening activity - Ayahuasca ceremony which is an ancient form of spiritual medicine used by the natives from the Amazon jungle. I had read about this while travelling in Colombia and finally decided that I would give it a go while in Puerto Maldonado.
At 8:30pm I was picked up by the translator (also training to be a shaman) and taken to a small private room at the lodge next door. I was introduced to the Shaman who would be looking after me during the ceremony and told to take a seat on the mattress on the floor. The ceremony started with the Shaman sparking up a pipe, while standing over me and blowing tobacco smoke all over me. He then placed his hands above my head and whispered some words. This was to ensure that I had a good Ayahuasca experience.
The Shaman then took a plastic bottle filled with some sort of leaf and vine stew and poured some into a small glass. The Shaman chanted something to the glass filled with the brown liquid, puffed some smoke into it and then passed it to me, telling me to mentally wish for a pleasant experience. I then downed it in one. It was disgusting!
The translator switched off the lights and I was told to shut my eyes and wait for the feeling of heaviness to come over me. When it did, I had to lay on my side on the mattress and concentrate on the what I wanted the Ayahuasca to tell or show me. It took about 1 hour of sitting in complete darkness and listening to the Shaman chanting before I laid on my side.
What I saw in my 'mind' would be extremely hard to explain and would make no sense what so ever! The visions seemed to be linked to the loudness and the speed of the shaman's chanting. At first I was seeing extreme colours and patterns as if my mind was a kaleidoscope. This was then followed by scenes of everyday life, past and present, changing as soon as I 'saw' them. At one point I even 'heard' my name being called out by a female voice - later the translator told me that this was Ayahuasca reaching out to me.
At one point the visions turned to the 'dark side' and were so strong I had to go to the toilet to 'release all the bad spirits'. This is a common in the Ayahuasca ceremony and is interpreted as the more you 'release' the cleaner your soul will be. Let's just say that my soul must have been well cleansed!
The ceremony lasted in total about 4 hours and was concluded with the Shaman blowing more smoke over me and chanting his final words of protection. The following day I felt really good, almost as if a weight had been lifted off my shoulders. I am not sure what to make of this experience and I kind of wish I had the opportunity to try it again. Speaking to the translator he has witnessed many medical miracles due to people participating in Ayahuasca ceremonies and he believes that this is the best way to reconnect with mother earth ...
Sunday to Wednesday. On Sunday we flew back to Cuzco to complete final preparations for the Inca Jungle trek. We booked this with the help of Roni (the owner of the Ukukus Hostel). This was an alternative to the classic 4 day Inca Trail trek and worked out to be much cheaper ($240 per person)!
Day 1. 6:00am on Monday, we were picked up by our guide along with 8 others and driven about 4 hours to the starting point of the 70km down hill bike ride! This was really great and the scenery was fantastic. Roland was a little nervous at first, especially when we were told to put on all the protective clothing but by the end of it he was zooming past me and speeding through mini fjords.
After a quick lunch, we walked for about an hour to our hostel for the evening where we stayed with a family in the mountains. We were all completely knackered and as soon as we ate dinner, we all went to bed.
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| Strange flower known as `pig balls´! |
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| View from the home stay. |
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| Building we stayed in. |
Day 2 involved walking for about 8 hours in amongst the mountains and trekking on a newly discovered Inca trail. The scenery was breathtakingly beautiful and we were lucky to have sunshine for most of the day.
About 1 hour away from our destination it decided to absolutely poured down with rain, just as we had to cross the river in a cable car. I did not enjoy this experience as I had visions of the cart being struck by lightening as we were crossing! Once we landed on the other side, it was a quick march to the hot springs!
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| OMG!!!! |
We stayed at the hot springs for about 2 hours. It was just like sitting in a massive bath filled with hot water - just what we needed!
Day 3. The morning started off with a zip line adventure and then followed by a relatively easy day which only involved 3 hours of walking along the railway to Aguas Calientes - the nearest town to Machu Picchu. Again it absolutely poured with rain in the afternoon so we chilled until dinner and then went straight to bed for the early start the next day.
Day 4. 4:00am start! The aim of getting up this early was to be almost the first in line for when the gates opened up at the start of the hike up to Machu Picchu (5am). This was a hard walk and after almost 45 minutes of constantly climbing up steps, we reached the entry point into Machu Picchu - we were dripping with sweat!
It was amazing to be back here (I first came here almost 11 years ago as part of another travelling adventure). We spent almost 5 hours exploring the site before trekking 1.5 hours back down to Aguas caliente.
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| View from huayna Picchu |
Our train back to Cuzco was not until 6:45pm. Once we ate our much deserved lunch of pizza and chips we chilled at the hostel and watched a few movies until it was time to leave. We arrived back at our hostel at 11pm and went straight to bed!
Week 23
Thursday. Our last day in Peru and Cuzco. We really loved Cuzco and could have quite easily stayed here a few more days as there are so many things you can do other than just the Inca trek to Machu Picchu.
We stayed at Ukukus Hostelagain for the 3rd time and I cannot recommend this Hostel enough. Roni the owner was so helpful and even booked our bus tickets to La Paz whilst we were on the Inca Jungle trek.
We spent most of the day wondering around the San Blas area, purchasing some artworks to take back home. At 10pm we caught our bus to La Paz in Bolivia.
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| View of Cuzco from San Blas area |
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| Loved the recycled bike theme of this little cafe |
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