Hi everyone
A quick upate following the posting of some pictures last night - and an explanation of the moon photo.
Quick response to Laura´s question. It is really hot most of the time in the day. Most people wear trousers as it is all they have or protection from the sun. (or they look lame in shorts...). But on the Uyuni photos we were up quite early (4.30am) and it was freezing (-5), so everyone is wearing about 20 layers under the trousers. Also, in the evening before sunset you get good photos, but it can be pretty cold!
So on our last night in San Pedro, we went star gazing (or astronomical observation) at a local observatory just outside of town. It is in the middle of the desert away from towns or villages to spoil the sky and we got picked up at 11pm. It is run by alain and his wife, both of whom are lovely and speak several languages. It is probably worth the money alone to see the sky so clearly with the naked eye and we had an hour long ´tour of the sky´so we can both identify orions belt, sirius, andean cross, pleiades and Jupiter (unfortunately the sky is different in the northern hemisphere, so we will have to practice there). They use a big laser wand (technical term) whch identifies the stars they are talking about as well. We also spent about an hour looking through their 10 or so large telescopes which they trained on Jupiter, the moon, far off galaxies, and nebulas. At the greenwich observatory the equivalent equipment would probably be behind closed doors or velvet ropes where untrained people couldnt touch it. Anyway, so Alain used our cameras to take a photo of the moon through the telescope, hence the good picture with my camera! He knew all about cameras too, so modified the exposures and stuff to make it a good picture (he discovered aspects to my camera I didn´t know about).
We finished with hot chocolate and got back about 3am. Cool night. It was like the Salare Uyuni- so big and natural, it makes you feel both special and insignificant as well.
Then a 23 hour bus ride to Santiago. Not much to say except low quality films (ghosts of girlfriends past and the proposal) and not much choice of food (glenn had empanadas/pasties, nina had crisps) but good seats and warm so not much complaining from us. It stopped at several towns along the western coast so we saw some of the nicer seaside resorts and the Pacific.
So we have spent the last few days in a hostel in Santiago called ´terra extremus´. It is pretty laid back, cheap and central so it works for us. Santiago is a great city and feels pretty European. There are a lot of students and it is just a normal city, which is nice after a week or so of being in the middle of nowhere. We have been on the metro, to the fish market (top lunch), up a massive hill for the views, round the main square etc. etc.
Glenn keeps talking about the ´battle of santiago´which is not a historical battle, but part of football history apparently (!). According to glenn, it is the worst/best game in world cup history. It puts the thierry henry controversy into perspective. We can see the stadium around the city but they don´t let tourists in (Nina is very upset). We have put a you tube link below.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOtL1m1o_ok
Tomorrow (30 Nov) we get on a flight for Punta Arenas for the next stage of our travels, which is a trek in Patagonia in Torres del Paine. It is really far south, so we are enjoying the last few hours of warmth. We past a google map which should show you where we are headed.
Torres del Paine, ChileEnlace: <http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&geocode=&q=torres+del+paine+chile&sll=53.800651,-4.064941&sspn=11.071054,28.168945&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Torres+del+Paine,+Chile&ll=-50.981577,-72.499074&spn=2.946821,7.042236&t=h&z=7>
Love to everyone
Nina and Glenn xxx
Sunday 29 November 2009
Saturday 28 November 2009
Salar Uyini photos # 2 and San Pedro De Atacama
1) Us on the salt plains.2) More Doctor Who sets.
3) Glenn at the geysers
4) Nina´s picture of the moon from San Pedro stargazing night (1am)
Salar Uyini photos # 1
1) Group shot (two Aussies, two Poms, a Korean and a Dutch guy, good crowd).2) On the salt flats.
3) Nina in the geothermal springs (7am)
4) Us wandering through the geothermal geysers and mud pools.
Monday 23 November 2009
Hello Chile!
Hey everyone
So we have reached Chile (San Pedro de atacama) and are staying in a nice hostal (double bed, private bathroom) but we are practically in the desert so it is very hot. We are just staying here for a couple of days before we take the 23hr bus ride to Santiago which is leaving on the 24th. Below, we have pasted a link to google maps which should show where we are and where we came from (uyuni).
http://maps.google.cl/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&geocode=&q=san+pedro+de+atacama+chile&sll=-35.675147,-71.542969&sspn=66.902547,135.175781&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=San+Pedro+de+Atacama&ll=-22.919883,-68.209896&spn=9.785507,16.896973&z=6
We have spent the last few days on the Salar de uyuni which is basically a massive plain made of salt. It goes on for thousands of miles and the landscape is entirely flat which means the perspective is very odd. We basically had a tour for 3 days of the most interesting sights of the salar - such as the ´tree of rock´ ´fish island´and the salvador dali desert. It is really difficult to describe so we will put up some pictures when we get a chance. It was beautiful, weird and a highlight of the trip.
The accomodation on the trip was basic to say the least! So it is nice to have a comfortable place to sleep. What is cool, is that some people we met in La Paz on the biking trip took a different tour and are now in San Pedro, so we have met up with them for a drink. They are an Irish couple, so obviously we talked about the football match!
The tour we took had 6 people on it - us, a couple of australians, a korean guy and a dutch guy. The Korean guy taught us all the different ways to address each other in Korean, the dutch guy acted as translator for the driver/guide and the australian guy discussed sport with Glenn (for ages!). So it was a cool trip.
We will post again when we reach Santiago, so love to everyone.
Nina and Glenn xxx
So we have reached Chile (San Pedro de atacama) and are staying in a nice hostal (double bed, private bathroom) but we are practically in the desert so it is very hot. We are just staying here for a couple of days before we take the 23hr bus ride to Santiago which is leaving on the 24th. Below, we have pasted a link to google maps which should show where we are and where we came from (uyuni).
http://maps.google.cl/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=es&geocode=&q=san+pedro+de+atacama+chile&sll=-35.675147,-71.542969&sspn=66.902547,135.175781&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=San+Pedro+de+Atacama&ll=-22.919883,-68.209896&spn=9.785507,16.896973&z=6
We have spent the last few days on the Salar de uyuni which is basically a massive plain made of salt. It goes on for thousands of miles and the landscape is entirely flat which means the perspective is very odd. We basically had a tour for 3 days of the most interesting sights of the salar - such as the ´tree of rock´ ´fish island´and the salvador dali desert. It is really difficult to describe so we will put up some pictures when we get a chance. It was beautiful, weird and a highlight of the trip.
The accomodation on the trip was basic to say the least! So it is nice to have a comfortable place to sleep. What is cool, is that some people we met in La Paz on the biking trip took a different tour and are now in San Pedro, so we have met up with them for a drink. They are an Irish couple, so obviously we talked about the football match!
The tour we took had 6 people on it - us, a couple of australians, a korean guy and a dutch guy. The Korean guy taught us all the different ways to address each other in Korean, the dutch guy acted as translator for the driver/guide and the australian guy discussed sport with Glenn (for ages!). So it was a cool trip.
We will post again when we reach Santiago, so love to everyone.
Nina and Glenn xxx
Wednesday 18 November 2009
The worlds most dangerous bike ride...
Hey everyone
Well we both survived a bike ride down the ´worlds most dangerous road´. This is basically a road from La Cumbre (4,700ft) to Yolosa (3,600) just outside La Paz. It starts in the mountains and ends up in a jungle like region and is amazing, awesome and vvvv scary. We went with the best company around (gravity assisted mountain biking) and if you go on their website you can see more about the ride.
www.gravitybolivia.com
Lots and lots of other companies offer this route but Gravity is the original and has the best write-ups in the guidebooks. They are probably more expensive but bearing in mind the need for safety they were well worth it.
The bikes were top quality (worth easilyGBP1200) with professional disc brakes and suspension. We were told if we didn´t wear the helmet, gloves and visibility bib we would be put on the bus and off the bikes. Emphasis was on safety and security as well as having fun and they catered to those of us who were ´nervous beginners´(that´s nina and glenn to some extent) as well as those who had mountain biking experience.
It was a ride which took c 4-5 hours but was broken up into sections. The biking instructions were like skiing instructions (direct with your eyes, move your body weight to corner etc). However, even the easier parts were dangerous- just like when you let your skis run on an easy blue run then you can easily lose control and head over the edge of the mountain. Ditto on the bike. But we had to contend with rocky roads, and staying on the left hand side which happened to be closest to the 600m drops.
It was surprisingly hard work (for biking downhill) and we were both tired at the end. We both had tummy bugs (everyone has them in Bolivia) so couldn´t fully appreciate the food included, but it did look nice.
We ended the day with one person down - he came off the bike and cut his face and dislocated a finger so went to hospital. It was on the first section and he went 15m down the cliff face. After that we kept our brakes applied even more!
We had tea at the animal sanctuary where there were hot showers, swimming pool and dinner. We didn´t have long there unfortunately but would have liked to stay longer.
The 3 hour trip on the bus home was up the road we cycled down. On the bikes we had focussed on the road, not the views, so it was good to see the views (and vertical drops) on the way back. The guides had some beers and were telling lots of amusing and not-so amusing stories. They told us about some people who had died on the route which was v sad. We counted the crucifixes on the way back which marked the people who had recently died. Lots of people agreed on the bus that if they had experienced the ride up the mountain before getting on their bikes, they would possibly have not done it. Someone said ís it possible to retroactively #### yourself´?
So why did we do it? It was a great day and really good fun. The company were very professional and gave us the right instructions to have a safe day. In all honesty, Nina didn´t know how dangerous it was before we did it and just thought it was a tourist myth. But it was awesome and to be fair, you could go as slow (or quick) as you liked.
We got a dvd, t-shirt, postcard and free pen so it we have some souvenirs at last (we haven´t bought any yet)!
We are getting a bus tonight to Uyuni where we will try and book a 3-4 day tour across the salt plains. The tour should take us across the chilean border to San pedro de atacama. So we might not be posting for a while until we get to Chile.
Hope everyone is well. Good luck to england vs the all blacks at the weekend,they will need it.
Nina and Glenn xxxx
Well we both survived a bike ride down the ´worlds most dangerous road´. This is basically a road from La Cumbre (4,700ft) to Yolosa (3,600) just outside La Paz. It starts in the mountains and ends up in a jungle like region and is amazing, awesome and vvvv scary. We went with the best company around (gravity assisted mountain biking) and if you go on their website you can see more about the ride.
www.gravitybolivia.com
Lots and lots of other companies offer this route but Gravity is the original and has the best write-ups in the guidebooks. They are probably more expensive but bearing in mind the need for safety they were well worth it.
The bikes were top quality (worth easilyGBP1200) with professional disc brakes and suspension. We were told if we didn´t wear the helmet, gloves and visibility bib we would be put on the bus and off the bikes. Emphasis was on safety and security as well as having fun and they catered to those of us who were ´nervous beginners´(that´s nina and glenn to some extent) as well as those who had mountain biking experience.
It was a ride which took c 4-5 hours but was broken up into sections. The biking instructions were like skiing instructions (direct with your eyes, move your body weight to corner etc). However, even the easier parts were dangerous- just like when you let your skis run on an easy blue run then you can easily lose control and head over the edge of the mountain. Ditto on the bike. But we had to contend with rocky roads, and staying on the left hand side which happened to be closest to the 600m drops.
It was surprisingly hard work (for biking downhill) and we were both tired at the end. We both had tummy bugs (everyone has them in Bolivia) so couldn´t fully appreciate the food included, but it did look nice.
We ended the day with one person down - he came off the bike and cut his face and dislocated a finger so went to hospital. It was on the first section and he went 15m down the cliff face. After that we kept our brakes applied even more!
We had tea at the animal sanctuary where there were hot showers, swimming pool and dinner. We didn´t have long there unfortunately but would have liked to stay longer.
The 3 hour trip on the bus home was up the road we cycled down. On the bikes we had focussed on the road, not the views, so it was good to see the views (and vertical drops) on the way back. The guides had some beers and were telling lots of amusing and not-so amusing stories. They told us about some people who had died on the route which was v sad. We counted the crucifixes on the way back which marked the people who had recently died. Lots of people agreed on the bus that if they had experienced the ride up the mountain before getting on their bikes, they would possibly have not done it. Someone said ís it possible to retroactively #### yourself´?
So why did we do it? It was a great day and really good fun. The company were very professional and gave us the right instructions to have a safe day. In all honesty, Nina didn´t know how dangerous it was before we did it and just thought it was a tourist myth. But it was awesome and to be fair, you could go as slow (or quick) as you liked.
We got a dvd, t-shirt, postcard and free pen so it we have some souvenirs at last (we haven´t bought any yet)!
We are getting a bus tonight to Uyuni where we will try and book a 3-4 day tour across the salt plains. The tour should take us across the chilean border to San pedro de atacama. So we might not be posting for a while until we get to Chile.
Hope everyone is well. Good luck to england vs the all blacks at the weekend,they will need it.
Nina and Glenn xxxx
The worlds most dangerous road pictures
So pictures for our bike ride on 17 Nov - pretty self-explanatory 1) Group at the bottom of the road, 2) Nina on a bike going through water, 3) Glenn on a bike going through water and 4) picture of the road we went through. See next blog for detail!
Monday 16 November 2009
Second go at uploading pictures
OK so thought I would have another go at posting some pictures. I am not sure how the text comes out, so am just going to do the explanation all at once.1) Nina at the top of a hill on the MP trail. I might be smiling but have just walked a helluva long way up!
2) Glenn and Nina at the top of dead woman´s pass on the MP trail. This is the highest point and takes ages to get up there. V pleased we made it.
3) Glenn near Lake Titicacaa on the Peruvian side in Puno. Its as cold as it looks..
4) Nina in a poncho - it seemed only fair as we put glenns up. Although it was wet and rainy that was a really good afternoon on the inca trail (lots of singing).
5) Nina in a street in la Paz. It is the best example of colonial architecture in the city - most of the rest of it is new. You can just see the surrounding hills in the background.
Bye bye Peru, hello Bolivia
Hi everyone
This post is just from Nina. I am sitting in our new hostel in La Paz, Bolivia (Arthy´s guesthouse) which is a nice quiet and basic hostal. We have a twin room and share showers, toilets etc. (all very clean) but there is a big communal room and it only costs us c $10 a night, so it is pretty good value. The only odd thing is that there is a midnight curfew...
So on Friday 13th (always good day for travel) we left Arequipa for a 5 hour bus ride to Puno, which is closer to the border with Bolivia and next to Lake Titicacaa. Bus ride was uneventful (we travelled with Flores) and we arrived at hostal Pukara. Really nice hostal - more like a hotel- which was lovely. I thought it was really good value at 35 soles (or about $10) with a double room and private bathroom. Realised our mistake when it cost $35 instead - still it was probably worth it.. The only downside of the place was that our room was on the 4th floor and no lift - still have to keep all those muscles discovered on the trek to MP in play.
We were only staying one night in Puno as we wanted to cross the border. So we quickly bought a ticket to La Paz, went for a quick look round Lake Titicacaa (massive!) and then got some food. Last night in Peru so we enjoyed one of their famous drinks (Pisco Sour) and it was lovely. We were going to spend some time in Puno but wanted to press onto Bolivia. The main tourist attraction is going to some islands in the middle of the Lake which we have been told is a bit like a ´human zoo´- so we skipped that.
OK - quick run down of the fun that was crossing the border day - Sat 14th. (Most over-used phrase of the day...íts all part of the travelling experience´).
1. Got to bus station at 7am for bus to desaguerdo (went with pan americano and they seemed fine).
2. 3hr ish bus ride. Fine.
3. Everyone gets off at desaguerdo, which is just a border town described as unscrupulous in the guide book. Join a line for peruvian border. With all our luggage as the bus isnt allowed across the border.
4. Stand in line for ages and ages. In the sun. With 2 chinese people singing the beegees behind us (great).
5. Get stamped at the peruvian embassy after c 1.5 hr wait. Cross border bridge and show passports to scary looking police on way over. We were braced to be asked to pay ´gringa tax´which is just people trying to take money off non-south american people, but were fine.
6. Join line on Bolivian side. Have immigration card all filled out as were given it on bus.
7. Get to front of queue. Have wrong immigration card, so ours were taken off us and we were given new ones to fill out. Exactly the same info, so don´t really understand. Happens to the group that were on the bus so pretty chaotic.
8. Get on bus with luggage. Eat skittles we saved for a treat once we had crossed border.
9. 10 mins down the road, everyone off bus, and scary looking police check everyones passport. Overkill methinks.
10. Get to La Paz after another 3 hr bus ride and walk 15 mins uphill to hostal....Really tired!
La Paz is pretty different to the places we stayed in Peru - which were mainly small-ish towns and had quite a lot of tourists in. Don´t get me wrong, there are a stack of travellers here, but this is a capital city and really feels like it. It is sooo busy with everyone running around like London. Lots of cars beeping and absolutely loads of street stalls run by ´mature´women. They sell everything from wallets to nappies and the weird thing is they come in clumps. So you have 3 selling nappies and then 5 mins later 3 selling wallets... Also Peru was mainly sunny - it seems to rain a lot here. Really like it though as it has a good buzz. We went to an English pub last night and met a guy from Brum who works in the bar - we started talking about the Gun Barrels (a student pub in selly oak) which was the most random conversation ever.
We have mapped out our time in Bolivia and we don´t have very long as we need to be in Santiago (Chile) for 1 Dec as we have an internal flight to Patagonia. So we have already booked a bus to Uyuni on Wed 18th (overnight) where we will do our next tour and have spent today wandering round the city. There are some pretty aspects and some cool places, but we haven´t really got enough time to spend here. I am going to buy some alpaca wear though (very warm stuff) before we go. Bolivia is supposed to be a lot more ´basic´and slightly less travelled than Peru and Chile so it is a bit of an adjustment, but so far we are really enjoying it (once we were allowed into the country).
Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride on one of the most dramatic roads in the world. ...Will let you know how it goes in the next blog.
We will also keep trying on the pictures - as you can tell from our try yesterday we managed to upload them but it wasn´t very successful and it really took ages. We are both worried about losing all our photos so burned them onto a CD which we are going to send home. Might also try to upload photos to an album on flickr...
So its bye bye Peru and hello Bolivia!
This post is just from Nina. I am sitting in our new hostel in La Paz, Bolivia (Arthy´s guesthouse) which is a nice quiet and basic hostal. We have a twin room and share showers, toilets etc. (all very clean) but there is a big communal room and it only costs us c $10 a night, so it is pretty good value. The only odd thing is that there is a midnight curfew...
So on Friday 13th (always good day for travel) we left Arequipa for a 5 hour bus ride to Puno, which is closer to the border with Bolivia and next to Lake Titicacaa. Bus ride was uneventful (we travelled with Flores) and we arrived at hostal Pukara. Really nice hostal - more like a hotel- which was lovely. I thought it was really good value at 35 soles (or about $10) with a double room and private bathroom. Realised our mistake when it cost $35 instead - still it was probably worth it.. The only downside of the place was that our room was on the 4th floor and no lift - still have to keep all those muscles discovered on the trek to MP in play.
We were only staying one night in Puno as we wanted to cross the border. So we quickly bought a ticket to La Paz, went for a quick look round Lake Titicacaa (massive!) and then got some food. Last night in Peru so we enjoyed one of their famous drinks (Pisco Sour) and it was lovely. We were going to spend some time in Puno but wanted to press onto Bolivia. The main tourist attraction is going to some islands in the middle of the Lake which we have been told is a bit like a ´human zoo´- so we skipped that.
OK - quick run down of the fun that was crossing the border day - Sat 14th. (Most over-used phrase of the day...íts all part of the travelling experience´).
1. Got to bus station at 7am for bus to desaguerdo (went with pan americano and they seemed fine).
2. 3hr ish bus ride. Fine.
3. Everyone gets off at desaguerdo, which is just a border town described as unscrupulous in the guide book. Join a line for peruvian border. With all our luggage as the bus isnt allowed across the border.
4. Stand in line for ages and ages. In the sun. With 2 chinese people singing the beegees behind us (great).
5. Get stamped at the peruvian embassy after c 1.5 hr wait. Cross border bridge and show passports to scary looking police on way over. We were braced to be asked to pay ´gringa tax´which is just people trying to take money off non-south american people, but were fine.
6. Join line on Bolivian side. Have immigration card all filled out as were given it on bus.
7. Get to front of queue. Have wrong immigration card, so ours were taken off us and we were given new ones to fill out. Exactly the same info, so don´t really understand. Happens to the group that were on the bus so pretty chaotic.
8. Get on bus with luggage. Eat skittles we saved for a treat once we had crossed border.
9. 10 mins down the road, everyone off bus, and scary looking police check everyones passport. Overkill methinks.
10. Get to La Paz after another 3 hr bus ride and walk 15 mins uphill to hostal....Really tired!
La Paz is pretty different to the places we stayed in Peru - which were mainly small-ish towns and had quite a lot of tourists in. Don´t get me wrong, there are a stack of travellers here, but this is a capital city and really feels like it. It is sooo busy with everyone running around like London. Lots of cars beeping and absolutely loads of street stalls run by ´mature´women. They sell everything from wallets to nappies and the weird thing is they come in clumps. So you have 3 selling nappies and then 5 mins later 3 selling wallets... Also Peru was mainly sunny - it seems to rain a lot here. Really like it though as it has a good buzz. We went to an English pub last night and met a guy from Brum who works in the bar - we started talking about the Gun Barrels (a student pub in selly oak) which was the most random conversation ever.
We have mapped out our time in Bolivia and we don´t have very long as we need to be in Santiago (Chile) for 1 Dec as we have an internal flight to Patagonia. So we have already booked a bus to Uyuni on Wed 18th (overnight) where we will do our next tour and have spent today wandering round the city. There are some pretty aspects and some cool places, but we haven´t really got enough time to spend here. I am going to buy some alpaca wear though (very warm stuff) before we go. Bolivia is supposed to be a lot more ´basic´and slightly less travelled than Peru and Chile so it is a bit of an adjustment, but so far we are really enjoying it (once we were allowed into the country).
Tomorrow we are going on a bike ride on one of the most dramatic roads in the world. ...Will let you know how it goes in the next blog.
We will also keep trying on the pictures - as you can tell from our try yesterday we managed to upload them but it wasn´t very successful and it really took ages. We are both worried about losing all our photos so burned them onto a CD which we are going to send home. Might also try to upload photos to an album on flickr...
So its bye bye Peru and hello Bolivia!
Sunday 15 November 2009
Thursday 12 November 2009
Return from Colca Canyon, Arequipa
Hey everyone
So we are sitting in this cute little hostal called posada del cacique in Arequipa, it has a sun terrace and really friendly owners. Plus we have a private bathroom - bit of a luxury but really nice. We are having a recovery, relaxation and planning day.
http://www.laposadadelcacique.com/
Thanks for all your comments, but please can you put your names in the text as they are all signed anonymous. Obviously mostly we can work it out, if you don´t, and of course we really appreciate them. As you can tell, we can´t upload photos on this computer so we will try at the next place we stay!
So we caught the overnight bus from Cusco to Arequipa and it was an experience but pretty good. We had semi-reclining seats with a company called cruz del sur and they served airport type food (Nina didn´t touch!). We got enough sleep but were still a little out of it when we arrived last monday. We didn´t get up to much,but were finalising the dates of our trip to the colca canyon and did a bit of shopping. Arequipa is much less tourist than cusco and it is nice to cross a street without a child or woman wondering if you want to pose for a photo with a goat or llama, if you want to buy some finger puppets or have a massage (seriously). It is surrounded by volcanic mountains and is a really pretty little town.
So on Tuesday we got picked up by 3.30 am (!!!!) by the tour bus and they took us to Chivay (4 hours away, all spent sleeping) which is a stop for seeing condors. We had ten minutes for brekky which was a stale roll and some tea - not the best start...
Anyway, we went to the top and saw two condors pretty much straight away, which was pretty cool seeing as it is nesting season and we were only there for ten minutes.
Our guide then took us on a bus to cabanaconde for 2 hours and then we had lunch at a little place. They gave us soup and then rice with avocado for Nina and beef and lentils for glenn. We were walking with only one other guy (Miguel) and the guide, so it was a big difference to MP. We basically spent the afternoon walking down the canyon - it took about 3 hours and was pretty hard work. We were carrying our personal items (incl clothes etc) for the three days and it was really hot. The path is steep, dusty and there are mules going up and down, with people in traditional peruvian dress on them. The environment is a bit like the wild west or uma thurman in Kill Bill walking across the desert - dry, dusty, trails and cacti! Our guide kept stopping to explain stuff about the local fauna, flora and people that lived there so we took it pretty easy going. And we got to use Glenns A-level geography when it came to understanding the different rock formations.
Worryingly we knew we had to walk up the canyon again, given our perspective on how deep it was and how long it took to get down.
We stayed at a little place called House of Roy at the bottom of the canyon- which was really nice. Great food, comfy, warm, amenities (so much better than MP) and we basically stayed in our own little huts. There was even a shower, plus dogs and chickens around. Downside - beer cost 10 soles (about triple what it should, but still only 2.50 ish GBP) but it was nice having one under the stars. The guy travelling with us was a peruvian doctor called miguel and was really friendly.
Next day - up at 7-ish (what a luxury) and we spent the morning walking through the canyon. We walked up several ridges and a long a pass to see several settlements and then down the other side to see an óasis´called Sangalle. It is basically a little resort with pools and lush greenery in the middle of the canyon. It really stands out from the top of the canyon as we could see it as we descended. We stayed in a little hut again, but spent most of the day beside the pool after three hours walking, we really needed it. The pool was filled up with the water from the local springs and was lovely (if a bit cold)... Nina spent a good 2 hours swimming as it was so nice).
So a good two days and then the last one...
We had two options - get up at 2.00 (possibly see more condors) or 4.00am (not see condors) - we took the second option (what is it on treks and getting up in the middle of the night?). And then we spend the next 3.5 hours walking up a dry, dusty trail which we couldn´t see for the first hour, on no breakfast. Wow that was fun. It was dark when we started and the moon, stars were really clear - but we didn´t get a chance to appreciate them. We took the slow and steady approach again (well Nina had to, to be fair) and appreciated the difference between the MP trek and this one. The big group and the organised rest stops, plus a positive aim really made a difference on MP; but this was different - it is no fun being at the back of a group of 4 people.... When the sun came up, we could see the trail a lot better and it made a difference when Nina decided to stop and have some breakfast (energy bar) and some coca sweets. With the sun coming up, the shadow was chasing us up the valley and finally caught as near the top at about 7.30 which made it ten times harder. We kept seeing (sensible) tourists coming up on mules which went up quickly- they are the local 4 wheel drives and are really expensive in the area.
Anyway, we got to the top, feeling slightly ill but happy to have made it. Quick walk to cabanaconde for breakfast (glenn had nina´s cos she felt ill) and then trip to chivay again. We then had a quick trip to the natural hot springs - which were really really hot and sulphurous but worth it. They are like the ones in iceland, but without the cold air around it which causes the steam (and are in another continent...). Then rushed back to Chivay to wait for our bus (no real time for lunch) and waited and waited and waited - it was late. Then 4 hour bus ride from hell on minibus with lots of tourists who wanted to take photos of everything (llamas, dogs, chickens, shanty towns....) and we were wedged in to tiny seats - not good for glenn with his long legs or nina with a tummy ache. PLUS the road is awful most of the way, not paved and the minibus just jolts from side to side.
Oh and Nina broke her sunglasses and lost her lame (but useful) hat.
Finally made it back and went straight to bed. Really tired.
Today feeling a lot happier (having had some sleep), glad we did the tour and appreciate that the bus journey is all part of the experience - can´t imagine that will be the worst road we ever go on in south america! Also, learnt to book tours in the place they leave from - we booked this one in cusco and think we paid over the odds. It was still not expensive - but we could have paid less.
Next stop Puno - still in Peru but near lake titicaca on the border with bolivia. So a 5 hour trip on the bus tomorrow (paved road!) and then Puno to see what is there! No real plans just see what Lake Titicaca is like and how we get to bolivia from there (bus again we think).
Here is the wiki for Lake titicaca.. rumoured to be birthplace of the inca empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca
We will blog again soon - love to everyone, plus pretty cool that the parents and grandparents are reading the blog too! Impressive!
Nina and Glenn xx
So we are sitting in this cute little hostal called posada del cacique in Arequipa, it has a sun terrace and really friendly owners. Plus we have a private bathroom - bit of a luxury but really nice. We are having a recovery, relaxation and planning day.
http://www.laposadadelcacique.com/
Thanks for all your comments, but please can you put your names in the text as they are all signed anonymous. Obviously mostly we can work it out, if you don´t, and of course we really appreciate them. As you can tell, we can´t upload photos on this computer so we will try at the next place we stay!
So we caught the overnight bus from Cusco to Arequipa and it was an experience but pretty good. We had semi-reclining seats with a company called cruz del sur and they served airport type food (Nina didn´t touch!). We got enough sleep but were still a little out of it when we arrived last monday. We didn´t get up to much,but were finalising the dates of our trip to the colca canyon and did a bit of shopping. Arequipa is much less tourist than cusco and it is nice to cross a street without a child or woman wondering if you want to pose for a photo with a goat or llama, if you want to buy some finger puppets or have a massage (seriously). It is surrounded by volcanic mountains and is a really pretty little town.
So on Tuesday we got picked up by 3.30 am (!!!!) by the tour bus and they took us to Chivay (4 hours away, all spent sleeping) which is a stop for seeing condors. We had ten minutes for brekky which was a stale roll and some tea - not the best start...
Anyway, we went to the top and saw two condors pretty much straight away, which was pretty cool seeing as it is nesting season and we were only there for ten minutes.
Our guide then took us on a bus to cabanaconde for 2 hours and then we had lunch at a little place. They gave us soup and then rice with avocado for Nina and beef and lentils for glenn. We were walking with only one other guy (Miguel) and the guide, so it was a big difference to MP. We basically spent the afternoon walking down the canyon - it took about 3 hours and was pretty hard work. We were carrying our personal items (incl clothes etc) for the three days and it was really hot. The path is steep, dusty and there are mules going up and down, with people in traditional peruvian dress on them. The environment is a bit like the wild west or uma thurman in Kill Bill walking across the desert - dry, dusty, trails and cacti! Our guide kept stopping to explain stuff about the local fauna, flora and people that lived there so we took it pretty easy going. And we got to use Glenns A-level geography when it came to understanding the different rock formations.
Worryingly we knew we had to walk up the canyon again, given our perspective on how deep it was and how long it took to get down.
We stayed at a little place called House of Roy at the bottom of the canyon- which was really nice. Great food, comfy, warm, amenities (so much better than MP) and we basically stayed in our own little huts. There was even a shower, plus dogs and chickens around. Downside - beer cost 10 soles (about triple what it should, but still only 2.50 ish GBP) but it was nice having one under the stars. The guy travelling with us was a peruvian doctor called miguel and was really friendly.
Next day - up at 7-ish (what a luxury) and we spent the morning walking through the canyon. We walked up several ridges and a long a pass to see several settlements and then down the other side to see an óasis´called Sangalle. It is basically a little resort with pools and lush greenery in the middle of the canyon. It really stands out from the top of the canyon as we could see it as we descended. We stayed in a little hut again, but spent most of the day beside the pool after three hours walking, we really needed it. The pool was filled up with the water from the local springs and was lovely (if a bit cold)... Nina spent a good 2 hours swimming as it was so nice).
So a good two days and then the last one...
We had two options - get up at 2.00 (possibly see more condors) or 4.00am (not see condors) - we took the second option (what is it on treks and getting up in the middle of the night?). And then we spend the next 3.5 hours walking up a dry, dusty trail which we couldn´t see for the first hour, on no breakfast. Wow that was fun. It was dark when we started and the moon, stars were really clear - but we didn´t get a chance to appreciate them. We took the slow and steady approach again (well Nina had to, to be fair) and appreciated the difference between the MP trek and this one. The big group and the organised rest stops, plus a positive aim really made a difference on MP; but this was different - it is no fun being at the back of a group of 4 people.... When the sun came up, we could see the trail a lot better and it made a difference when Nina decided to stop and have some breakfast (energy bar) and some coca sweets. With the sun coming up, the shadow was chasing us up the valley and finally caught as near the top at about 7.30 which made it ten times harder. We kept seeing (sensible) tourists coming up on mules which went up quickly- they are the local 4 wheel drives and are really expensive in the area.
Anyway, we got to the top, feeling slightly ill but happy to have made it. Quick walk to cabanaconde for breakfast (glenn had nina´s cos she felt ill) and then trip to chivay again. We then had a quick trip to the natural hot springs - which were really really hot and sulphurous but worth it. They are like the ones in iceland, but without the cold air around it which causes the steam (and are in another continent...). Then rushed back to Chivay to wait for our bus (no real time for lunch) and waited and waited and waited - it was late. Then 4 hour bus ride from hell on minibus with lots of tourists who wanted to take photos of everything (llamas, dogs, chickens, shanty towns....) and we were wedged in to tiny seats - not good for glenn with his long legs or nina with a tummy ache. PLUS the road is awful most of the way, not paved and the minibus just jolts from side to side.
Oh and Nina broke her sunglasses and lost her lame (but useful) hat.
Finally made it back and went straight to bed. Really tired.
Today feeling a lot happier (having had some sleep), glad we did the tour and appreciate that the bus journey is all part of the experience - can´t imagine that will be the worst road we ever go on in south america! Also, learnt to book tours in the place they leave from - we booked this one in cusco and think we paid over the odds. It was still not expensive - but we could have paid less.
Next stop Puno - still in Peru but near lake titicaca on the border with bolivia. So a 5 hour trip on the bus tomorrow (paved road!) and then Puno to see what is there! No real plans just see what Lake Titicaca is like and how we get to bolivia from there (bus again we think).
Here is the wiki for Lake titicaca.. rumoured to be birthplace of the inca empire.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Titicaca
We will blog again soon - love to everyone, plus pretty cool that the parents and grandparents are reading the blog too! Impressive!
Nina and Glenn xx
Saturday 7 November 2009
Return from Machu Picchu
Hey everyone
So today is Sat 7 November and we returned from MP last night at about 7pm. We were tired, smelly (v), overwhelmed but really happy and proud we did it. AND Glenn is feeling fine.
We have spent today just sleeping, showering, getting our laundry done, and preparing for our next trip - we are going on an overnight bus to arequipa and then on a trip to the Colca Canyon where we can see Condors. I paste a link below to the wiki explanation of the canyon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colca_Canyon
So we still haven´t worked on how to upload pictures but will work on that tomorrow as we have a free day to orient ourselves in arequipa. It will take a while to find those which make us look windswept and interesting as compared to knackered and like we are about to give up.
OK - so Machu Picchu:
Day 1: Meet at 5.15 - alarm went off at 4.30am - nice. Bus for about 3 hrs including stop for brekky. We walked for about 6.5 hrs mostly uphill and reached camp about 4.30 in the afternoon, including a stop for lunch. First impressions - this day was supposed to be the easiest, but was really really hard. Lots of out of breath, legs aching - for Nina it was challenging but could do it. Glenn was throwing up the whole day and felt really really ill. Another girl (Natasha) was the same and was actually taken to the medical centre. Glenn felt like death not even warmed up and was not eating anything (which makes the day even harder).
(n.b. at the same time we felt it was really hard, the porters who carry the main luggage, tents and food etc) were running past with 25kg on their backs not even out of breath).
Anyway the guides were really nice and gave Glenn some special tea plus some good advice about what food to avoid. He had 4 dry crackers for tea whereas the rest of us had loads and loads of food. It is a bit like skiing where you are working so hard that you have massive meals to keep the calories up. Result. Slept in the tent in a beautiful spot with the rain pouring down.
Day 2 - Glenn feeling better, but being very careful about what he eats (dry carbs and special tea) but no more throwing up - yey! This is the hardest day, basically 11 hours of walking in 4 stages: from 3,300 m to 4,200 m (dead woman´s pass), then down to 3580m, then lunch. Then up to 4000m and down to 3600 m. Inca people seemed to like really steep hills and loads and loads of steps. The downhill parts were almost harder because of the impact on the knees and it was slippy in the afternoon due to constant rain (we wore red ponchos, really good look). We had walking sticks to help - everyone did (not just us) and it really helped. In hindsight we would have had 2 rather than 1 each but didn´t want to look like british pensioners out for a sunday afternoon trek....
This day was really hard, but weirdly the best day as when you have climbed up loads and loads of steps which are practically vertical and got to the top, you feel amazing. Plus glenn was better and actually enjoyed it. On the return to camp, the porters clap you back, which feels good.
The air is amazing and the views are really amazing - every 5 minutes there is a kodak moment, so there will be lots to bore everyone with when we get back. Also, the group was really good. There was 14 of us (including craig and natasha - who felt better the second day) and it was an international group - we had people from USA, denmark, ireland, dubai, UK, ecuador and france. The camaraderie of the group really made the difference during the trek and made the evenings at dinner really fun.
The most over-used phrases of the day were át my own pace´and ´take your time´ and ámazing´. When we were tired, chewing coca leaves really helped (thanks for the tip, clare). The weirdest moment was when it was raining at the end of the trek and i was singing the grease medley to glenn. Lucky glenn.
Day 3: Easier day - but lots of downhill. Better weather today and a much easier pace. All the way through we were stopping at inca sites and receiving information on inca culture - so we could feel we learnt something as well as did the trek.
Day 4 - up at 3.30am to get to MP for an early start. Quite hard trekking up stairs (´gringo killer steps´) to get to the sun gate. The view was amazing as the mists rolled up - it was really mystical and weird. We waited to see if it would clear (it didn´t) and then walked to MP. After an hour or so, the mist started to clear and we walked round MP. It was amazing (that word again) and we could see the remains of various temples and buildings which gave an insight into inca culture. Marco and Francisco (our guides) were brilliant the whole way through - from motivating, to sorting our medical emergencies, to taking the piss, to giving hour long lectures on the inca culture. They have to do a 5 yr uni course to become guides and they basically made the trip as good as it was.
Then home, shower and a quick meal out (and beer) to belatedly celebrate Nina´s birthday and our wedding anniversary. Can´t think of a better way to have spent the time, and it was totally a trip of a life time!
OK, so we have to go and get our bus now. Thanks for all the comments, it is great to read them and makes us feel in touch with everyone. Missing everyone, but having a fab time (as you can tell).
Nina and Glenn (now back in the game).
So today is Sat 7 November and we returned from MP last night at about 7pm. We were tired, smelly (v), overwhelmed but really happy and proud we did it. AND Glenn is feeling fine.
We have spent today just sleeping, showering, getting our laundry done, and preparing for our next trip - we are going on an overnight bus to arequipa and then on a trip to the Colca Canyon where we can see Condors. I paste a link below to the wiki explanation of the canyon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colca_Canyon
So we still haven´t worked on how to upload pictures but will work on that tomorrow as we have a free day to orient ourselves in arequipa. It will take a while to find those which make us look windswept and interesting as compared to knackered and like we are about to give up.
OK - so Machu Picchu:
Day 1: Meet at 5.15 - alarm went off at 4.30am - nice. Bus for about 3 hrs including stop for brekky. We walked for about 6.5 hrs mostly uphill and reached camp about 4.30 in the afternoon, including a stop for lunch. First impressions - this day was supposed to be the easiest, but was really really hard. Lots of out of breath, legs aching - for Nina it was challenging but could do it. Glenn was throwing up the whole day and felt really really ill. Another girl (Natasha) was the same and was actually taken to the medical centre. Glenn felt like death not even warmed up and was not eating anything (which makes the day even harder).
(n.b. at the same time we felt it was really hard, the porters who carry the main luggage, tents and food etc) were running past with 25kg on their backs not even out of breath).
Anyway the guides were really nice and gave Glenn some special tea plus some good advice about what food to avoid. He had 4 dry crackers for tea whereas the rest of us had loads and loads of food. It is a bit like skiing where you are working so hard that you have massive meals to keep the calories up. Result. Slept in the tent in a beautiful spot with the rain pouring down.
Day 2 - Glenn feeling better, but being very careful about what he eats (dry carbs and special tea) but no more throwing up - yey! This is the hardest day, basically 11 hours of walking in 4 stages: from 3,300 m to 4,200 m (dead woman´s pass), then down to 3580m, then lunch. Then up to 4000m and down to 3600 m. Inca people seemed to like really steep hills and loads and loads of steps. The downhill parts were almost harder because of the impact on the knees and it was slippy in the afternoon due to constant rain (we wore red ponchos, really good look). We had walking sticks to help - everyone did (not just us) and it really helped. In hindsight we would have had 2 rather than 1 each but didn´t want to look like british pensioners out for a sunday afternoon trek....
This day was really hard, but weirdly the best day as when you have climbed up loads and loads of steps which are practically vertical and got to the top, you feel amazing. Plus glenn was better and actually enjoyed it. On the return to camp, the porters clap you back, which feels good.
The air is amazing and the views are really amazing - every 5 minutes there is a kodak moment, so there will be lots to bore everyone with when we get back. Also, the group was really good. There was 14 of us (including craig and natasha - who felt better the second day) and it was an international group - we had people from USA, denmark, ireland, dubai, UK, ecuador and france. The camaraderie of the group really made the difference during the trek and made the evenings at dinner really fun.
The most over-used phrases of the day were át my own pace´and ´take your time´ and ámazing´. When we were tired, chewing coca leaves really helped (thanks for the tip, clare). The weirdest moment was when it was raining at the end of the trek and i was singing the grease medley to glenn. Lucky glenn.
Day 3: Easier day - but lots of downhill. Better weather today and a much easier pace. All the way through we were stopping at inca sites and receiving information on inca culture - so we could feel we learnt something as well as did the trek.
Day 4 - up at 3.30am to get to MP for an early start. Quite hard trekking up stairs (´gringo killer steps´) to get to the sun gate. The view was amazing as the mists rolled up - it was really mystical and weird. We waited to see if it would clear (it didn´t) and then walked to MP. After an hour or so, the mist started to clear and we walked round MP. It was amazing (that word again) and we could see the remains of various temples and buildings which gave an insight into inca culture. Marco and Francisco (our guides) were brilliant the whole way through - from motivating, to sorting our medical emergencies, to taking the piss, to giving hour long lectures on the inca culture. They have to do a 5 yr uni course to become guides and they basically made the trip as good as it was.
Then home, shower and a quick meal out (and beer) to belatedly celebrate Nina´s birthday and our wedding anniversary. Can´t think of a better way to have spent the time, and it was totally a trip of a life time!
OK, so we have to go and get our bus now. Thanks for all the comments, it is great to read them and makes us feel in touch with everyone. Missing everyone, but having a fab time (as you can tell).
Nina and Glenn (now back in the game).
Monday 2 November 2009
Sacsayhuaman
Hey everyone - thanks for the comments!
This is a really quick post explaining Macchu Picchu...
Basically, we learnt a bit from our guide yesterday which I will try to summarise (he was very good but a tad longwinded). The capital of the inca (kings) empire amd quechua people was Cusco where I am now. When the Spanish came (1530s maybe) they conquered the incas pretty easily and then went onto colonialise a lot of south america.
There are a lot of inca remains around, including about 30 mins up a steep hill outside of Cusco, which is where we walked this morning. Lots of english people call this place ´sexy woman´(try and say it in the quechua).
The last fighting took place in S and after that the spanish went back to Cusco but no-one ever knew where the last inca went.... BUT in 1911 an explorer called Hiram Bingham went further into the jungle and discovered the remains of a total inca city on a mountain (Macchu picchu = old mountain). We are trekking there tomorrow - 4 days and 3 nights - through pretty hard terrain. Very exciting.
So we will be out of contact for a while but when we get back we will try and upload some photos (I look great in my hat and shorts...).
Nina x
This is a really quick post explaining Macchu Picchu...
Basically, we learnt a bit from our guide yesterday which I will try to summarise (he was very good but a tad longwinded). The capital of the inca (kings) empire amd quechua people was Cusco where I am now. When the Spanish came (1530s maybe) they conquered the incas pretty easily and then went onto colonialise a lot of south america.
There are a lot of inca remains around, including about 30 mins up a steep hill outside of Cusco, which is where we walked this morning. Lots of english people call this place ´sexy woman´(try and say it in the quechua).
The last fighting took place in S and after that the spanish went back to Cusco but no-one ever knew where the last inca went.... BUT in 1911 an explorer called Hiram Bingham went further into the jungle and discovered the remains of a total inca city on a mountain (Macchu picchu = old mountain). We are trekking there tomorrow - 4 days and 3 nights - through pretty hard terrain. Very exciting.
So we will be out of contact for a while but when we get back we will try and upload some photos (I look great in my hat and shorts...).
Nina x
Sunday 1 November 2009
Sacred Valley of the incas - Cusco - 1 November 2009
Hey everyone
Its nice to see our ´followers increase´- top stuff, makes us feel popular.
Today we did a massive long day trip to see about 20 different inca sites - really interesting- but lots of climbing steps. It gave us a taste for the Macchu Picchu trek which we have coming up in a couple of days, think that will be really knackering. We met a couple (Craig and Natasha) who will be doing the trek with us and they gave us plenty of tips for dealing with Glenn´s altitude sickness - including these really good coca sweets, we bought a massive bag so may well be addicts by the time we get back!
It has started to get a bit cold here at nights and will be freezing on the trek so I bought some peruvian gloves - very patterned. I was haggling and then realised I was haggling over 50p and felt mean so just paid the money.
Glenn is a lot better but still not firing on all cylinders - the only wrong with nina is a touch of sunburn from sitting in the courtyard drinking tea a couple of days ago (see last post) - apparently you can get sunburn at 8am.
Tomorrow is our last day of prep before the big trek so it will be all about getting prepared and an early night (we get up at 4.30 on Tuesday).
We are having a great time and feel like we have done a lot and we have only been here 5 days!
Its nice to see our ´followers increase´- top stuff, makes us feel popular.
Today we did a massive long day trip to see about 20 different inca sites - really interesting- but lots of climbing steps. It gave us a taste for the Macchu Picchu trek which we have coming up in a couple of days, think that will be really knackering. We met a couple (Craig and Natasha) who will be doing the trek with us and they gave us plenty of tips for dealing with Glenn´s altitude sickness - including these really good coca sweets, we bought a massive bag so may well be addicts by the time we get back!
It has started to get a bit cold here at nights and will be freezing on the trek so I bought some peruvian gloves - very patterned. I was haggling and then realised I was haggling over 50p and felt mean so just paid the money.
Glenn is a lot better but still not firing on all cylinders - the only wrong with nina is a touch of sunburn from sitting in the courtyard drinking tea a couple of days ago (see last post) - apparently you can get sunburn at 8am.
Tomorrow is our last day of prep before the big trek so it will be all about getting prepared and an early night (we get up at 4.30 on Tuesday).
We are having a great time and feel like we have done a lot and we have only been here 5 days!
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