Bolivia - La paz, jungles, caymans etc.

We got to la Paz from lake titicaca, over miles of desolate dusty plains. Considering that we have spent this trip following the Andes, the longest mountain range in the world, ive been surprised by the incredible flatness of this place. You just don't get flat like this in Europe. 

we then arrived at a solitary line of snow capped peaks, turned the corner and were blown away by the site of la Paz. Coming down from 'el alto', we saw a huge crater filled to the brim with housings and high rises. 

La Paz is kind of like how I had visualised south american cities to be like before we had started this trip. Its big, busy and dirty - but it does have a certain charm to it.

We decided, as this was our last stop in a city, to stay in a party hostal. We really haven't been part of that scene on this trip. There hasn't been much time between activities and the gringo bars just remind me of west street. So I prefer to save my money and party properly when I'm home with friends. 

It was a bizarre experience. The wild rover has all the home comforts including Irish pub, Sunday roasts and full Irish breakfasts. At night it has a reputation for a good party but when we arrived they were waiting for a police inspection so everything closed up early. 

Which was probably a good thing because on the monday we flew - in a VERY small plane - to rurrenbeque in the north for a pampas tour.

We spent three days with a group of Irish and Canadians going up and down the river in a boat looking at caiman, turtles, monkeys and birds. (see below).

The caiman were pretty scary at first as you're really close and some of them are up to two meters long, but you get used to them surprisingly quickly.

 Our guide victor reminded me a bit of cheech out of cheech and chong. His catch phrase was 'no problem!' and he would switch between 'jungle time' and 'German time' depending on if he wanted us to do something or not. His main method of steering the boat would be to crash it into the side of the river and then get us to rock the boat until we were pointing in the right direction. Which was a bit scary when we did a night tour on the first night. although it turned out to be brilliant because sardines kept jumping into the boat and everyone thought it was a caiman attack!

We also did some piranha fishing with bits of steak, which dermot thought was a bit of a waste but he's just jealous because I caught the first one.

On the second day we went anaconda hunting- which mainly involved sitting under tree while our guides traipsed around a field. Then victor asked us to help this cow that was stuck in the mud- ten of us started to roll the wretched thing out of the mud but it was obvious that it was nearly dead anyway - and then the vultures started circling. God knows what the farmer thought when he got to the field and found the cow lying upside down! bloody tourists.

We also sort of swam with pink dolphins- but I'll have to save that story for when we get back. 

It was a really amazing trip, although we still didnt see any toucans.... until we got back to the town and checked into a hostal - and there was a toucan sitting next to the pool! Unfortunately it was a hollow victory as it was an illegal pet and had had its wings clipped...... we decided to call it tupac. after both the rap star AND the inka king.

Our final days in Peru

We didn't see much of lima - dermot got a really bad stomach bug and was bed ridden. We were staying in the very upmarket area called miraflores in a bed and breakfast run by a friendly mumsy lady who helped us out loads. I got a bit tired of listening to a running commentary of dermot bowel movements so I spent the day wondering around near the hostal. You could be anywhere. Starbucks, burger king, shopping malls. They even had a Peruvian equivalent to waitrose. I tend to find being in these environments quite disorientating, I get the sense that I'm floating - like I'm not really anywhere. 

I couldn't help thinking about the village we stayed in just the day before. In huarez we had stayed in a hostal run by three really nice brothers. One of them knew an indigenous family in a tiny village only an hour away from the lake we were doing a trek to so we decided to stay with them for one night. Dermot was less keen than me, as we both find the "poverty tourism" trips to be a bit strange and we worry about the impact it has on those involved. 

In potosi in Bolivia you can visit the mines. You pay an agent loads of money then bring the miners TNT, coca leaves and the 90 % alcohol that they kill themselves with (if the working conditions don't first). On one level I think it's important for us to understand what's happening here, and the true human cost of the luxuries we take for granted. But as our friend Becki pointed out, it seems so hollow to see all that and then hop on a bus to your next activity. 

I had heard that there were several organised trips to traditional villages in the area, you stay with a family and visit the school, they show you how they make bread and farm the land etc. Leo, the guy from our hostal, explained that many of the villages are dying out; the land makes farming too difficult to be able to compete with the big farms on the coast. His parents village was already deserted. So the local people were losing their culture and being forced to move to the cities. It is plain to see by the number of indigenous people on the streets that this can be disastrous for many of them. Many can't speak Spanish and have no employable skills for that environment. So some villages and families are starting to encourage tourism simply as a way to allow them to maintain their way of life.

I also wanted to go as I felt that we had been firmly on the gringo trail in Peru and hadn't seen much of what life is like outside the cities. However the agencies I looked at were charging 150 soles per person per night and only giving 10% of that to the community. I've heard so many horror stories about agencies underpaying indigenous communities here. By going through Leo we paid 100 soles between us and all of it went straight to the family which seemed to be a better deal for everyone.

When we got to the village we were picked up by Julia. She took us to her house where we met her two year old son and her neighbour Justina and her three daughters. I was surprised to be met by the women as it is still a very macho society and many of the women can't speak spanish. Luckily both the women had just about enough for us to get by.

I was expecting it to he a bit awkward at first and there lots of uncomfortable silences at dinner. We spent most of the first night playing with the juggling balls with the girls.

The house had a little courtyard inside with very basic rooms, a traditional fire stove in the kitchen and and out door toilet. The electricity wasn't working, which apparently happens a lot, but it was scrupulously clean and tidy.

On the next day we got to know them all better and things were much more relaxed. We visited the school where its only class performed various songs in Spanish and Quechua and asked us about our countries. The kids were lovely and I really liked the teacher. The girls told me that their lessons were maths and oration. I don't think there is a big focus on literacy here. The school was being renovated so all the materials were in boxes but I would be surprised if they had many books; in all the south American countries we've been to books have been shockingly expensive ; around 15 to 25 pounds for a normal paper back - even if it's second hand.

I really wanted to keep in contact with the school, but with no computers or postal service it might be difficult. I'm going to post some things about England and Ireland to Leo and hope it gets to them.

We finished the day teaching the girls how to play dominoes (think we got some of the rules wrong!) and then got ready to take the bone shaking ride back to huaraz. when we asked for some photos they dressed all the girls in traditional clothes and even gave me a set to wear! I really wish we could have stayed longer as it felt like we were just starting to get to know each other.

I'm also really glad I went because we met a really nice  group of people. I hope that its also given me a deeper respect for the forgotten communities here, and perhaps a slightly better understanding of the economic restrictions that face such a large majority of the people on this continent.

Peru - the Egypt of South America

So we spent two days relaxing in Cusco after the trek. Cusco is actually really nice and there so much to do around there you could easily stay for a month to see all the inca sites. We just wondered round the centre a bit. Its really beautiful. The central square has a pretty gaudy gold statue of an inca in it - south america has some of the worst public sculptures i have ever seen - but we were shocked to discover that until 2011 the statue had been of an aztec!! what a kick in the teeth that must have been!

We also visited the medicinal and holy plants museum - which had some very interesting information on the socio historical issues around the coca plant. The coca leaf is legal in peru - but cocaine isnt. The leaf itself is sacred to indigenous culture and contains 12 alcaloids each with its  own special health giving properties. What I didn't realise is that Peru has overtaken colombia and bolivia in cocaine production and distribution in the last 5 years.

After cusco we had a short stop off in arequipa. Originally to do a tour of the colca canyon - which is twice as deep as the grand canyon. But i was really ill and couldnt do the 2am start. Arequipa itself was nice though - 360 days of sun a year! Its surrounded by four volcanoes that seem to just come up from nowehere. We visited the museum devoted to the ice mummies found there. Incas would choose a child from a rich family to be sacrificed to the mountain gods if there was any trouble from the volcanos. They were chosen from birth and kept in a special house to maintain their purity. If there was any unusual happenings in the climate the child would walk for anything up to two months up the volcano and then be hit over the head by a priest and buried. Pretty brutal, but it shows how unstable the climate and environment is here. nearly every where we have been was flattened by an earthquake at some point in the last fifty years. and all the civilisations that existed here up to the inkas were destroyed by either el niño  or eruptions.

We also visited the convent there - a huge complex cut off where the girls of rich families were sent to live out their lives in (albeit quite luxurious) isolation. Couldnt help drawing some comparisons.......








I also tried my first alpaca burger! in a very nice restaurant next to a park. After two months of chicken rice and chips (yes - rice AND chips.) we have been indulging a little in peru. The burger was pretty nice - kind of like a really lean beef. And i got to wear a dashing bib as it was served on hot volcanic stone which made the burger spit everywhere.

While we were eating there was a protest of indigenous people from the canyon in the park next to us. Aparently there is some kind of natural disaster taking place there and they wanted changes to the walk ways to be made. Political activism seems to alive and well in ecuador and Peru.

From Arequipa we flew to trujillo where there are more historical sites. It was only recently discovered that the first civilisation in peru (and therefore all the americas) actually occured around 3000 bc. That´s comparable to the first civilisations in greece,egypt and china. The caras culture was unique in that they had not developed ceramics - although this skill came to be the crowning technological glory of later groups. The most unusual thing about all the precolombine cultures is that they had no system of writing or money- right they way up to the conquestodores.

We visited some moche pyramids from around 100ad. They were really impressive - but it was also sad as not only had they been ´'mined' by the spanish and looters - extracting some 4 tonnes of gold artifacts which were melted down. But now, the largest - the pyramid of the sun - was being left exposed and unexcavated as the peruvian government has no money for it. Even though people believe that a big el niño is coming this winter which could do immeasurable damage when it floods the desert areas.

Peru has enough history to be as big a Egypt and the economic benefits of sustainable and well organised tourism is very much needed. Our guide said that they would have the infrastructure within the next five to ten years. i hope so.

We finished our time in Trujillo by visiting the house of Casinelli . Its a private collection of cermaic artifacts owned by an italian immigrant. The museum is in the basment of the petrol station he used to own. The pieces were incredible - moche art has a kind of graphic design quality to it. The museum has over 6000 pieces of which 2000 were on display - including the very explicit sex themed pots - which are locked in a cupboard and you have to ask the elderly lady attendant to open it for you. Highly embarrasing.  he spent most of the last years of his life campaigning to have his collection recognised by the government and put in a proper museum. Unfortunately he died at 94 this march. According to my book, he was quite a character and it is widely known that the vast majority of pieces were bought off looters.

Happy Birthday Pachamamma!!

My posts for Peru are not in chronological order!!!!! (oh no!)

This is because of our epic four day trek to Machu Pichu... and the 5 days it took me to recover from it!

We went with a company called Peru treks - we booked it way back in March - as they strictly control who gets into the national park now and the permits run out super quick.

I was a bit concerned because not only was it the most expensive thing we were doing on this trip, but we had had to do a huge circle round peru to get to it on time including the afore mentions 20 hours of pukey bus.

We were in a group of sixteen - us, two lovely irish girls who were doing a round the world trip and then a family of twelve from champagne illinois - which made quite a change from the traveller types we had been hanging out with up to then. Luckily everyone got on really well.

The stars of the show were the peru trek staff though. Our two guides, Elistan and Raulito, were really nice, very attentive and so enthusiastic! we felt so looked after right from the start. They even took the edge of the 5am starts by providing 'tent service' - a hot drink of your choice served to you while you still snug in your sleeping bag.

 

And the food! oh my god the food! three course meals for lunch and dinner - with the most amazing attention to detail - they even baked a cake for PJ's birthday! a cake! at 4000 metres above sea level! in a tent! the mind boggles.

So we did three days of walking - the first day was pretty easy - Elistan would stop off every so often to explain a ruin or the inka uses of a particular plant and we ended the day with flambéed bananas so that was lovely.

I had been told that the second day was going to be the hardest - it was basically 8 hours of walking uphill to a mountain pass 4200 meters asl. It was pretty tough - but Elistan had shown us how to chew coca leaves to help with the altitude. They really did help - it was like having a slow release caffeine drip. Dermot skipped up to the top first (then the two irish girls, then me)
In fairness though, the american group had brought double what we had - about 10 kilos each for the guys (the majority of which appeared to be beef jerky). And one girl was really struggling with the altitude. I was really impressed she made it - i dont think i would have.

The second day was also when we all realised how incredible our porters were. There were nineteen porters in the group, and between them they had to carry all our food, tents, tables, cooking equipment etc - and they are literally skipping up the mountain in front of you to set up the next camp! the law now states that they cant carry more than 25kilos each - but the bags are still the size of dermot! Apparently it wasnt so long ago that they were carrying double that. we were introduced to them all formally at lunch time, they ranged from 20 to 47 in age. We had paid extra to go with this specific company, because they were very clear about paying their employees properly. They had also created a kind of trust fund, which goes towards educating the porters children. Although they get a living wage working for Peru treks, its not the kind of job you can do forever and they will need a family which can support them once they have retired. Elistan, who was a porter while he studied his degree, says that he thinks his knees have about 5 years left before he will have to change jobs, and he cant be much older than me.

So we were in bed pretty early that night. Then the third day happened - another 10 hours of walking - my thighs felt they were on fire within the first 10 minutes! Luckily it was also the day with the most beautiful scenery too. And as we entered the amazon cloud forest i was able to indulge my new photographic hobby - moss!

 Plus we were given an extra treat at lunch when a romantic llama couple decided to er...... (see photo) directly in front of our lunch tent, much to the amusement of us and the group of high school students in the campsite next to ours. 

Naturally, we all felt bouyed by the experience, and i think it helped me survive the 'gringo killers' that were to come next. turns out down hill is more difficult than uphill. WTF.

 The fact is that the trek we do is not entirely the real inka trail as much of the 'royal pass' that we follow has been destroyed.  Anyway, the inkas were sensible enough to find flat paths through the mountains. Instead, the peruvian government has designated a route and 'paved' part of it. unfortunately the paving is not there to help you - it works against you - but to preserve the path during the landslides and floodings that inundate this area during the rainy season.

In fact, there are still plenty of inka trails - and inka ruins - still to be discovered in that area. which is a bit crazy, since there are 500 people treking through it every day in high season, and god knows how many archeologists around. In fact, Elistan disappeared for the second half of the third day to follow a new inca trail that had only been discovered last month!

Im currently reading a book on Peruvian archeology called Cochineal red. Its amazing to think that the vast majority of the archealogical disoveries that have been made in this country have happened only in the last 10 years. And that in every direction we looked as we passed into the beginning of the amazon cloud forest there could be a inka or pre-inka city still hiding right under our noses.

The third day also coincided with Pachamammas birthday. Pachamamma is mother earth and is still worshipped amongst many of the indigenous cultures in south america. Albeit many have mixed this beleif with catholicism insome form or other. Elistan lead us in an offering ceremony to pachamamma and Apus the male mountain god. It was difficult to work out on what level theguides followed this religion - but Elistan explained that for him Pachamamma makes sense as it isfrom the earth that we get food and ultimately everything we need. At any rate it seems that pachamamma really likes chocolate as we had clear skies throughout the trip (almost unheard of this close to rainy season) and we saw a condor - which is very rare these days - and a rainbow!. We finished the third day at the most beautiful site of the whole trek - inka farming terraces that look out over the valley. then i collapsed into my sleeping bag.

My only complaint about the trek was the state of the toilets. Oh. My. I thought we had seen the worst in Cuba, but these were ridonkulous. This unfortunatly resulted in many people choosing to use the 'inka toilet' (the great outdoors) with disasterous results.

On the last day we were up at 4am to allow the porters to pack up and run for their train. (the company is owned by a gringo who only lets them catch the 5:15 train - all the others are kept for tourists).

We then had to wait about in the dark to be allowed to enter the actual machu pichu site. unfortunately the coca leaves had meant niether me nor dermot had had very good sleep over the past couple of nights. so when dermot discovered that he had unfortunately put his bag in someone's inka toilet, neither of us were in a particularly good mental state to deal with it. Nevertheless - no way were we going to let some bastards unsanitary habits prevent me from seeing machu pichu hit by the first rays of light - so we doused the bag in hand sanitiser and practically ran the hour walk to the mirador. It was stunning, although i do worry that for dermot the edge had been taken of the experience.

We then marched on the machu pichu itself for cheesy photos and a guided tour by elistan. Although the tour was brilliant, i have to admit that i dont think it was the best way to see machu pichu itself. We were exhausted and dirty and all i could think about was having a shower. So after the tour we took the bus down to agua caliente to experience the natural hot springs.

ah........... it was lovely. Especially when we realised that if you waved your arms in the air a man dressed as a native (north) american would come and serve you cocktails in the pool!

Sangria, hot tub, mountain view and dark side of the moon playing over the sound system. mmmmmmm.