GUAYAQUIL, ECUADOR!

Day 272

Guayaquil, (pronounced ´Gwhy-kil´!) Ecuador, South America

Here we are..in Ecuador! Left Lima at 11.20am...(our friendly travel agent girl, Ada, who wé seem to have become friends with saw us off at the airport! Which was so nice...)and arrived here, to the hotel, after all the airport kerffuffle at 3pm. (One hour 30 min flight!)

Our contact picked us up..after we saw our names in lights on a bit of paper..so nice for it to be all organised....unsual for us..but to come here, it really does have to be part of a tour or package organised by a travel agent.

We wouldn´t like to be organising flights and tours ourselves here in South America with the language barriers! Also..it´s cheaper this way...the discount structure, to organise tours within the country is quite extraordinary. From home, i´d imagine people would be paying triple what we pay when organising tours on the spot, within the country! We´re doing the same with our other internal flights as well...and there are a few! South America is such a BIG COUNTRY!

And guess what??? All the Christmas trees are up!!! IN the hotel, airport etc..even here as i look up..there´s a TREE all decorated!!!!! So funny....when we were away on our Inca Trail we didn´t give much thought to the fact that xmas is coming up in just over 3 weeks! In fact, nor did anyone else!

Then..when we got back..all the trees in the hotel´s were up!! And glowing..glittery and twinkling...

And it´s the same here in Ecuador - the hotel, the shopping centres..the centre of town..everwhere (almost!) is Christmassy..so, there you go, it´s not only the western countries that get into all the glitz and glamour!

Wow...thinking about xmas..where will we be???

We think, Bueonos Aires! Doing the tango! haha

Here in Ecuador the currency is US dollars. We wondered why and found out the inflation rate went through the roof in 1999 and the govt opted to adopt the US dollar to stabilise the currency..and so, it´s all US dollar here. Easier for us to exchange and use anyway. We wondered whether it´d be Soles as in Peru or what it would be.

And we were happy to find out the US dollar is still weak against the Aussie dollar..with the Labour Govt in power we thought we´d see the exchange rate go down! IT did in fact swing about 7% but it has stabilised. We notice things like that when travelling, always looking at the current exchange rates!

We don´t go to the Galapagas until tomorrow...so for tonight, we´re just enjoying being in this gorgeous little proud place. 2.8 million people..but it seems small!!We´ve had our dinner on the Guayas river front...and had fish (pescardo) and rice (aroz)and 2 beers each (it´s hot here, 32´C at sunset and the beer went down well!!!)and it cost US$11! Cheap! And we were told it could be expensive...nah, they don´t know what they´re talking about!

We went to the plaza and joined in the ´party´...bought a tee shirt saying, ¨Guayaquil De Pie! Whatever that means! On the back it says, ...Se Lo Siente Y Se Love!

Who knows...gotta join in the fun, and the teeshirt was something i needed for when we go snorkelling and swimming on the islands..with the mana rays..hehe...bought for $3!

Can´t stay here long...we´ve kicked the Admin guy off his computer cos the computer in the Business Centre isn´t working so he said we could use his...so better get going!

Hope all is well there! Thanks for all your emails today...we love knowing how you´re all getting on!

And Lisyloos..hope you and David got back from Bali ok..sounds like you had a BALL! Give the pussies a big smooch for us! haha xxxx

ADDED SOME PICS...

These women sang to us on Uros Island! Gorgeous hey..













Do you like the pom pom´s on this woman´s hair????? Cool hey...and they wear lots of pom poms on their clothes to show they´re single!! The things you learn!!!!

Just thought i´d add some pics (animals, kids, us!) on the following couple of pages...

I put a few pics on the Inca Trail blogs if you want to go back and look...but i also added a few here as well because i think they´re too big to send by email!

Mum, see Alexander using the spinning cone to spin wool? All the women and a lot of men do that..all day in the more remote parts of Peru - ie on the islands and in the highlands...

Okies, bed time now... Off to Ecuador (Galapagas Is) tomorrow...Got to get some beauty sleep in preparation for our big week snorkelling with the tortoises and sea lions!!!!

Apparently there are penguins and marine iguana´s there as well....

It´ll be interesting to see the Islands which were the inspiration for Darwin´s Theory of Natural Selection!

Big hugs and loves, jen and greg xxx

SPINNING AND WEAVING ON TEQUILE IS (Lake Titicaca!)

PERUVIAN ANIMALS!!!!

PERUVIAN US!!!!

By Candlelight on Lake Titicaca....

PERUVIAN KIDS WE¨VE MET ALONG THE WAY!!!

RESTING IN MIRAFLORES, LIMA

Day 271
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY GUITY!!!! Hope you had a wonderful day! With all our love and hugsª
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Lima, Peru

It´s been so nice to be able to catch up on ourselves in the last couple of days..and breathe again! (So nice to be in a normal altitude again!)

Check out the beach here in Miraflores...the cars park on the shore, and it´s not white....it´s a browny colour set against alluvial and mountainous terrain..














Yeah..so we´re just been mooching around Lima, do our laundry, go to our favourite restaurant, practice our spanish and organise the next couple of months in South America.

We´re off to the Galapagas Islands next, in Equador..which we´re really looking foward to...to do some snorkelling and see all the gorgoeus islands and wildlife...so we will let you know what that´s like there!

Love to all!
xx

BACK HOME TO LIMA!

Lima, Peru


The flight to Lima was without any problems at all...

In fact it´s nice to be back ´home´!

That´s how it felt anyway, like we were coming back home again. Seems silly really, to think that when we return to a place, it´s liké we´re going back home....

But this is our base..and this is not the last time we return here either!

We felt like we knew it all when we arrived this evening...because we landed, headed confidently and knowingly out to the luggage disposal area, collected our baggage..and bypassed the Green Taxi´s knowing that there was no way we were going to pay 40 soles for a taxi when we could pay 20! We learnt that one last time!

Taxi´s drivers in airports don´t seem to want to bother with people that don´t have that label written on their foreheads ¨I´m new here!¨ so we headed out to the street, away from the airport, and had plenty of drivers wanting to offer us their services...when we heard a driver say 25 we said, ´ce´and he pushed our trolley towards his car and we were off!

No trying to sell us anything, no conversation, just driving. IT was peaceful ... and he took the coastal road back to our hotel in Miraflores as well, which was even nicer.

We tipped him and watched his great big grin..and got into our comfortable room and now that´s where we are..here in Lima...and home again!

It did seem to be a generous couple of days. With Jose yesterday, Percy today (totalling a tip of about US$5 each per day) and then the taxi driver!

We decided we needed to calm down...realising we still have another 3 months before we come home is a bit of a reality check in the budget department!

Dinner at our ´fav´ restaurant (yummy pickled onion) took the brunt of our renewed decision to do the ´peruvian thing´ and that is....not to tip! Not Hugely anyway!

We´ve been doing the North American thing..and tipping from 15 - 20% because it´s just so cheap to eat out...on average we´ve been spending about 30 soles and that´s for the two of us. (about $10!) Custom tip according to the Lonely PLanet Guide, here is 8% - 10% for tourists. Tonight we tipped 5%!

But we found out locals dont bother to tip in restaurants. They say that it is not customary at all. And we found out on our tour. The guides all said in Peru, they do not tip!

Anyway, here we are..back home...just for a couple of days.

Next stop. Galagagas.

But before we do that..i´m going to spend a bit of time writing up the TREK blog.

Oh where, oh where, do i start....

I guess in the beginning!

HEADING BACK TO PUNO!

Day 270

Puno, Peru

Sunrise escaped us................................

After having an early night last night on Tequile Island we STILL ended up missing the sunrise which was meant to be about four or five am. This is when the Tequile people get up and about..to the sunrise...and they are meant to be quite spectacular on this island....

It was so SILENT it´s no wonder we slept on...the nights are silent, the mornings are silent...the whole island is silent. We felt if we farted it would create a stir!

It was around 6am when we finally arose..after a really chilly 6 blanket night in a single bed. No morning shower as it was cold (freezing to be honest!) and the sound of Percy´s boots on the pavement indicated it was breakfast time!

The Alexander Flowers ¨homestay restaurant´ was tended to by his son and breakfast was a fluffy pancake and jam and their local bread..which was a flour doggh that was fried on a gas stove. Because there is no elecricity everything is either solar pannelled (which didn´t work either, hence the candles over dinner last nght) or by gas. They used gas to fry the bread. Then came eggs..

Do they ever stop eating? It´s healthy..but geepers, i can´t keep up the pace that´s for sure. One dish is surely enough? I asked how they all kept so skinny - unlike on Uros Is where the women lack exercise due to being on such a tiny island, the women here are skinny..as are the men.

Of course the logical answer was that they don´t have vehicles (which is why it is so quiet!) and everything is done manually...collecting water, tending their animals, agriculture and just daily living.

People on this island have never even heard of TV! Some have, when their son´s go to Lima to work..but mostly...they are immune to the technolocial advances of the rest of the world.

What a great way to live eh?

Even tourism here is limited. After breakfast we chucked on our little front packs (we left our big packs back at the hotel in Puno) and trekked our way back to the Main Square to see if there were any textile for sale. That was afrer we saw a demonstration of weaving, knitting (by one of the men) and spinning by Alexander Flowers himself. It is something they all do...as if the cone shaped hand spinning device was attached to them at all times!














On the way back we saw teenagers heading out to the field with their axe shaped agricultural devices slung over their backs (the girls still in their heavy, layered and colourful skirts) and men getting ready to improve the roads by carrying cement equipment and buckets..and children walking down the path.

I saw three children walking by..the little boy of about 4 ahead..and a girl of about 7 carrying a baby of about 2. That is the way of it...the elder girls look after the babies. We saw it a lot. The women are rounding up alpaca´s and the elder girls and tending to the babies. I took a photo of the kids..and they skiddadled after filling their little outstreched hands with the gift of soles. (They always know how to put out their hand for a coin when tourist want photos!!!)

Unfortunately the Market Square was not yet set up with the textiles...only the movement of little boys playing soccer seemed visible.

It must be the off tourist season. Perhaps because it is rainy season now..from Oct till March.

It was time to get back on our ramshackle boat to head back on our 3 hour trip to Puno anyway..so we climbed the 500 steps back to the port and got ready for our history lesson of Lake Titicaca from Percy.

Thank god the boat did make it (on 3 of 4 cylinders) back to Port Puno...

Jose had kindly arranged for us to have a shower back at the hotel where we´d left our luggage which was not a blessing in disguise as it was FREEZING....but refreshing. Honestly...i don´t think i have had so many cold showers as we have had here in South America!!!!

By 2pm we were ready to head back to Juliaca in a private vehicle, guided by Percy in readiness for our flight to Lima.

And that´s where we are now...BACK IN LIMA!

OVERNIGHT TEQUILE ISLAND STAY

Day 269

Tequile Island, Puno, Peru

Tequile Island is really unique. And about an hour further than Uros....on the way we got peckish and decided to devour some of our remaining snack pack that we were given for the Machupicchu trek (which we later regretted)...

We listened to Percy give us an outline of the island as we slowly steamed to the port. About 2000 people that live on the island. It is an island of rules that is governed by very proud people. It´s named after the Spanish conqueror Pedro Gonzales de Tequile. It has a colourful history..apparently no crime and it even had a few political prisoners. One, Sanchez Cero, who stayed there for 20 years and later became the president of Peru!

From a distance we could see the little port where we were to moor our boat and we could see Percy felt very comfortable on this island. We were learning more about him as the day progressed. He had a great interest in archaeology and had an intense knowledge of the local islands...which there were about 4000.

He said his language was Aymara, a language that preceded the Inca´s, who spoke Quechna. His language is a very old island language. He seemed very excited to arrive here. As we walked he told us he had land also, and he had lots of alpaca´s and llama´s that he farmed. His land was called Pasiri.

Soon our conversation became strained as we climbed the mountain to our homestay...there were hundreds of steps to get there! On the way we saw children dressed in their traditional dress..the girls in wide skirts with layers and pompoms and boys in little alpaca jumpers with knitted pants. All warm clothes even though it was a warm day! One little boy came to meet us on the path saying, ¨bon bon whiski´which means...´do you have candy?!¨

Alexander Flowers met us, dressed in his ´costume´ of colourful traditional dress and ushered us into his ´house´ which is really a restaurant, but since the island does not allow restaurant they call it a ´house´. The room had a complete view of the still grey water, that reflected the sun, and as we sat on the wooden benches we were served kuinua soup and inca cola....then came the next course of chicken and potatos...then munya tea!

I felt so full..but Percy had a ´tour´ in mind. He allowed us an hour to rest before we were to climb to the top of the mountain to see where the sacred sites were!

And talk bout rest. I felt fast asleep on the 6 layers of alpaca rugs in the room that was prepared for us before Percy was beckoning for us to go on our hike!

500 more rock steps later we were at the top of the mountain, at an altitude of 4120m. Thank goodness we were drinking munya tea...apparently it helps with the adjustment to altitude. We weren´t affected by it though, having gotten used to it on the Trek! We did have breathy gasps though..it felt like we were back on the Trek all over again!

The top of the mountain had the most spectacular view! We could see all around..at the lake..and all the terraced plots of land..the children tending to the alpaca´s..the corn and potatoes in the field and of the religious sites at the top.

They were divided into two sections...one for Mother Earth and one for Catholics. The section where they worship Mother Earth, and Pachamama, had burnt rocks and sacrifices. The catholic section had a huge cross!

We stayed up there for a couple of hours...and then trekked back down the mountain and crossed the Main Square where we saw people locking up their shops. The main street had ´restaurants´ but they again, looked like homes. The women of the island were shrouded in black capes and colourful skirts. Percy said they were very shy here.

It was unlike URos where tourism was rampant. We only saw two other tourists during this whole time.

It was so peaceful..

We arrived back at Alexander FLowers at about 6.30pm and had half an hour before dinner.

Dinner?

By the time we headed back to our room we had our head lamps on as there is no electricity on this island. No water either. Well, there is water, but it is loaded up in buckets and taken to the houses by hand each morning at sunrise. No rest for the wicked here!

As a political gesture the island was given a water pump with a water hose running down to the lake..but it worked for a week..and that was that. It never worked again! There were cisterns dotted around the island too..but they never worked either. It seems no technology ever became successful on the island..and whether this was on purpose, or whether it was not, who knows.

The fact is..the island was living to it´s traditional and longstanding rules..and it is functioning beautuifully!

Dinner was soup again..vegetable..and the main dinner was spaghetti bolognaise with no meat which suited me fine! They are vegetarians..and i´m pretty sure after looking at the chook pen, that had no chooks in it, that we ate the very last chook on the island!!!!! Because the only animals we could see were cows (underfed ones because there is a lack of grass on the island) llama´s and alpaca´s!

Didn´t see any guinea pigs that they were meant to be famous for....hhmm..

Percy was going to do a presentation for us at night..but the island was so quiet..and dark (two lit candles at dinner!) that we all decided just to go to bed...

IT was 8.30pm!

UROS IS

Day 268

Lake Titicaca

Breakfast is so yummy at this hotel! Casa Andina. Displayed on the plates were alpaca, fruit of every description and an assortment of peruvian breads, which are the flatbread variety. At last we could eat and not worry about altitude! It was still pretty high here, around 3827 metres above sea level, but we didn´t have to walk as much as we did on the trek so it was ok to have a full breakfast.

Alpaca is the most tender of meats..and i would have to say, my favourite! If only i could stop envisaging that pretty face...............hence, i could only eat a taster but i´m sure if i were to live here i could get used to it! There are so many llama and alpaca´s here in Peru. It´s their most common of meats, along with guinea pigs! Lamb and chicken is popular too...as is the fish, particularly in the Lake Titicaca area, but the alpaca seems to be in abundance!

Jose met us in the breakfast room of the hotel and introduced us to our Lake Titicaca guide, Percy. We were told he had an interest in archaeology and in the local area and spoke Quechan, Aymara, Spanish and German! A multilinguist! Quechan is the Inca language and Aymara, an agricultural language is his preferred language and is pre incan. Both are the languages of the indians.

His lifestory is fascinating..i could write a lengthy epistle just about Percy!!!!

Meanwhile..we did have a little saga before we all loaded into the mini bus....Jose found out his backpack had been loaded into the wrong van (our worst nightmare!) so we had to wait while he sorted that one out!!!!

He was so calm about it! And just said, oh well, I´ll collect it next time! We were silently grateful it wasn´t our packs that took off in the van as we couldn´t have waited until any next time!

We spotted the boat we were to go over to the islands on...which looked like a real chug! The look on Greg´s face, as we discovered that was the boat we were to go on, was hilarious! Seemed to me the same look as the one he gets when he is a bit concerned about an aircraft...one of masked terror!!!

It really did look as though it was going to fall apart................

From the Puno port it took about 2 hours for us to get to our first island. Percy was in his element as he explained to Greg, Barb, Trish and I a little of the history of Lake Titicaca....

I wondered if that was distract us as we squished our way throught the reeds in our boat that was chugging along at about 5 knots.......

He saw us peering outwards and then told us a little about the varieties of fish in the lake and how tourism was very monitored in the Lake these days. To the extent that the locals direct where the boats will go.

The first island we landed on was called Uros Island. This is a floating island made of totora reeds and according Percy, their legend says they existed before the sun... when the earth was still dark and cold. They say they have "black blood"
and so therefore are immune to the cold!

Jose said they even drink blood.....

Their name is kotsuna which means they are the people of the lake and when you meet them you can see that is exactly what they are...people who live by fishing, weaving and relying on ¨gringo´s¨ (which is the name peruvians call tourists!) to buy their goods.

But when we arrived we were greeted by the nicest of people. After hearing all the stories i think we were imagining we´d be meeting canibals or something...

The island really is floating..and to stand on it, it is sqishy and soft and feels a bit water laden. The women were large and obviously spent most of their time spinning and weaving and cooking fried fish (as you can see belowª!)













One of the leaders of the island did a demonstration for us as well..to show us how the island was made.

He also showed us his boats..made of reeds..see below















They seemed such a proud simple people..and i bought a little textile from one of the children who was seated with all the beautiful colourful mats and things they had to sell! (how could i resist!)

We had to say goodbye to Barb and Trish after this...which was a bit sad, as they had become really good friends after spending 2 weeks together in the Amazon and on the trek.....and it was also time to say goodbye to Jose as well.

After this Percy, our new guide took Greg and i to Tequile Island for the night...where we were to stay in our homestay.

And that is where our adventure got really unique....

LAKE TITICACA, PUNO

Day 267

Puno, Lake Titicaca, PERU



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John Howard defeated in the National Election! Kevin Rudd to be Australia's next Prime Minister!!!
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Getting all our gear back into our two backpacks and two front backs was a bit of a nightmare..and we were lucky Jose gave us an extra half an hour to pack!!

We met him at 8.30 in the lobby, after buying myself a gorgeous silver inca bracelet to remind me of Cusco and Machupicchu and loaded up our gear in our trusty little white van.

Herman was our driver for the day...and he estimated we´d arrive in Puno around 4.30pm. And he was right..we arrived about 3.45 after a fantastic trip.

We had an option to catch the train which is owned by Orient Express or go by private vehicle. The latter option was a hundred US cheaper each..and we chose the right option. Train rides are definitely overrated! They left an hour earlier than us, and we passed them in the town of Marangani at 11am! It¨s now 4.30pm here..and they still haven¨t arrived here!! Jose said offering an elegant train journey was the peruvian tourist marketing way of providing a way to get more people to catch the train!!! Going by private vehicle allowed us to stop along the way..and see the local sights and experience the local foods....and of course, best of all, we had Jose, the guide all to ourselves..and we learned so very much from this knowledgeable man. We felt very privileged and in a way, grateful that the other¨s had gone home..or had chosen the train!!! (aww...)

And that¨s excactly what we did!!!! BIG TIME!
















Our first stop after leaving Cusco was to a town called Oropesa which is the peruvian breadmaking town that supplies about 40% of bread to Cusco! And it¨s such delicious bread..we saw them make it with a huge dough mixer..then mould it into shape and slap it onto a monstrous table..then put their ¨stamp¨on it, which was in the shape of a heart, then put it into their huge stone ovens...we tasted the end product as well..it had a sweetish cinnomon flavour..and looked like a frisbee or a pancake..Jose said that¨s what they call them as well..or Chuda Bread. So yummy!

We then passed this large textile town called Lucre which was where the pre incas, called the Wari¨s, apparently started their textiles..Apparently the textile machines were brought from Europe to here on mules...

We passed the main gate to Cusco, from Puno, that was originally built by the Wari¨s and then rebuilt by the Inca¨s...it¨s so interesting to see the difference in their stone work. The Wari stone building was more rudimentary and basic and the inca building was more symmetrical, solid and simple. As Jose says, The three necessities to inca building! ¨¨

We passed Pinipenya where there was a huge kiln and at that moment...got a message from Mum saying Rudd had defeated John Howard in the Federal Election!!!!! OH dear..i got a tear..and she said he also lost his seat as well........(?)

By 10am we had passed a lot of corn fields in a town called Urcos which had an interesting legend...the legend of the lost golden necklace in the lake there...the Urcos Lake..The National Geographic had gone to find it last year..but no one knows if they ever did! (And Jose said no one would say even if they did!)

It always seems such a shame that another country can just come over and pilfer what they like..just because they have the means...

We passed cow ploughs, a road that was being built to go to Brasil (in Munapata) and learned about corn farming and potato growing (as we were passing all the potato bags on the street) from the driver (interpreted from Spanish to English by Jose). Apparently people in Peru eat an average of 85kg potato per person per year. And in this town Pampacolca, the kids take time off from school whenever they need to attend to the pototoes! The driver also has one hectare of corn and says it yields on average of 18-20 thousand corn per year!!! ANd the corn in Peru..is to die for. The kernals are so plump and luscious!

At 11.30am we passed Piasacuni...then i (being the only female) needed a toilet stop! We stopped in the capital, Sicuani and i went to the train station toilet...and Jose said..leave your bag..lots of pickpockets!!! Funny...we did see a couple of well dressed men in the station looking very nervous...and they turned out to be Mormans. No tourists seemed to be anywhere. I think our private vehicle option of travel to Puno is rare. No wonder they kept asking if we wanted to go by train!

But we were learning more this way than ever....we wouldnt{ have traded this for anytying. We saw little carts being peddled, chooks being bagged up, llama´s galore in the fields...and then....

We got to the Continental Divide..in the town of Marangani and the altitude was 4313m! Just as well we were adjusted to altitude..and didn{t have a problem with it anyway....just a little less oxygen that{s all. We got out and looked out..so beautiful! The Peruvian ANdes are just so beautiful...

The whole trip was against the backdrop of the Andes..so wonderful..and spiritual. The mountains have such magic.










We climbed further..elevating another 1,500m to 4313m which was the highest point on our whole trip...we stopped at a little market where we had these amazing pasty things..ohlala..so good! Theyre ä Bolivain pasty called saltenas...

We passed Ansaac a medicinal university... and looked out at Jimbaya mountain..so gorgeous..sitting there so high and erect, covered in snow...

Then..we had our lunch stop!

In Ayabire, a province of Puno. They specialise in lamb..and the place where we stopped was just a little roadside place..and the woman cut lamb from a roasted lamb that was housed inside a huge brown bag! She served it with burnt whole baked potatoes..and then we ate it with our hands..and it was DELICIOUS! Spicy..and oh..so good. The four of us ate..and drank inca cola with it..and it cost Greg and i 10 soles! (3 soles equals 1 amercian dollar..which is about the same as the aussie dollar at the moment!)

What an experience...

And as we left..all the dogs were lined up on the side of the roads..and we found this quite unusal and asked about it..and apparently they sit on the side of the road...patiently..and wait for the bones to be chucked out to them!!! We decided a name for patience should be likened to the patience of the peruvian dog! Sometimes they waited all day, jose said! They are the dogs of the sheperds for the alpaca´s and cows!

By 1pm we left and travelled along thinking how much was going on outside our window with all the little towns along the way..3pm we reached Juliaca which is an industrial town with about 300,000 people..Jose told us bus horror stories here..because apparently his wife (from NY) and his daughter Sophia and his step daughter were practically killed here 3 years before! They were all on their way to a swimming carnival for Rachel and the driver just skidded and crashed. He killed 9 people and is in jail today. Reckless driving apprently. The bus was full of students and parents. Very sad. Jose said the town gave him bad memories.....

Then he told us about another bus he and Amy and Rachel were on..where the driver, in Spanish, was telling his assistant the bus had weak brakes. Jose decided to get them all off about 6.30am after they¨d been travelling all night..and the next day, when they were on a beach, he read the paper and saw that the bus had crashed and killed 3 people!

He said he´d never trust peruvian drivers!!!

I looked over at our peruvian driver at that moment.....

And Jose then...reassured us the driver of our little bus was a good one..but bus horror stories while travelling on peruvian roads is a bit disconcerting!!!!

Geepers..

We passed some little kids selling clay cows for one soles..and i couldn´t resist...they apparently have fertility powers...not that i need any of that! haha

We arrived in Puno to see the first entrance to Lake Titicaca at 3.30pm...and it looked so big! Dryish at this point..but so wide and large.....it{s the second biggest lake in South America...21st biggest in the world.

Puno has a pop of about 150,000 people..and it has houses that all look unfinished..when we asked about this Jose said it was because parents build the first floor..then put scaffolding up for their children when they get married and build...and they can go up four stories!! It looks so funny...

He then said in Bolivia it¨s the same..but they don{t finish building their houses because they have to pay taxes when the house is completed!!!!!

But the more specatcular view was as we passed over the town of PUno and there was the lake..so beautiful..full..blue..and majestic.....

Tomorrow we´re going to go on the Lake and see what Lake Titicaca holds....


NB Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the World. It's located approximately 2 hours from La Paz.

Hi Guys!

I haven´t got time to write anything here..and we can´t access our email..but just wanted five minutes on the puter to say WE ARRIVED IN MACHU PICCHU!!!!

WE MADE IT!!!! IN ONE PIECE!!!!

And we´re safe!!

It´s breathtaking..ethereal...beautiful..and everything you read about...

Will write more later..

Love ya´s

xx

PS It WAS hard yakka! Will write more later...xxxx

CUSCO

Day 266 Friday

Cusco, Peru!













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We can´t access email here as it has a security disclosure and we can´t understand enough Spanish enough to know if we´re saving our passwords on the computer or not..so we´re not accessing it at all! So if you haven´t got an email from me..that´s why!
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We´ve had a relaxing day today, in gorgeous, quaint Cusco..after all the excitement of the last week! Slept in, finished writing up my incomplete journal, read some more about the history of Cusco and Machu Picchu and met our group for lunch at this great local restaurant, called Kinta (restaurant)¨Eulalia¨ which Jose and his wife Aimee took us to...

We met Andreas, the owner of the tour company, who said we had to claim our loss of accomodation from our insurance company...and he did it in such a charismatic way that later we wondered why we didn´t ask him any questions at all! No wonder he is god father to so many children in Cusco!!!

Then we just went back to our hotel to just RELAX!

I can´t believe my legs have already recovered! I don¨t have any aches and pains and now i´m itching to see if we can go on the Milford Sound Track in New Zealand when we´re there! (Greg´s doing a search now!)

Greg has sore legs..but is mostly ok. We´ve just so glad to have been able to succeed in doing this trek. It was such a challenge, but it has motivated us to continue TREKKING!!!! We loved it..and are looking forward to more adventures!

Cusco is such a beautiful city...We´re off to dinner tonight with Barb, Trish, David and Nada to a local haunt in Plaza De Armas that one of group has found..and tomorrow we´re off again....to Lake Titicaca. We´ll be staying in a local home so we´re looking forward to that..and learning a bit more Spanish.

Jim and Carla left to go back to Melbourne today..and Nada and David are heading off to Buenos Aris tomorrow.

It´s been so great to part of a group, to belong to a team, and to have some familiar people to talk with for the last week!

xxx

ARRIVED IN MACHU PICCHU!!!!

Day 265

Wednesday 21st November 2007

Machu Picchu

After 4 days of hard trekking through the beautiful Peruvian Andes we finally ventured through the gates of Intiñunku at 3pm to get our first glimpse of the incredible and breaktaking MACHU PICCHU!!!

It brought tears to my eyes..to be standing here...overlooking the most incredible wonder...something we´d dreamed about reaching, not just for the last four ardous nights..but for a long, long time..ever since i can remember..

In the end, to our surprise, Greg and I arrived at the gate after Jim and Carly - the second couple, after having the feeling on day 2 and half of day 3 that we´d either never make it, or be hours behind everyone else!

It seems we were able to decend much more efficiently than we were able to ascend, as on day 1 and 2.

Today we had the formal tour of Machu Picchu. And on the way up to the site, from our hotel, Hostal Cusco Plaza, we saw another condor! Two in two days..and both on the bus on the way from and to Machu Picchu! We felt there was good luck in store for us along the way for sure!

Going back to Machu Picchu the second time felt sacred. We had the breathtaking experience of seeing it from the heights after we arrived from our trek..and today we experienced it at level ground and it looked even more overpowering and amazing. So much civilisation here..the Inca´s were brilliant stonesmith and engineers and it was all so well planned out.

They had only lived in the civilisation for 94 years so it wasn´t a long rule but in that time they had built such an amazing city, or civilisation. It´s situated in the province of Urubamba against the backdrop of the mountains and is the perfect spot. It is part of the Vilcabamba Batolite, a granite mountain range. Machu Picchu means öld mountain¨.

It looks amazing...its divided into two zones. An agricultural zone and an urban zone and is formed by terraces. Hundreds of terraces! THe agricultural zone is on the south and that has the terraces surrounding it. The urban zone is surrounded by a big wall and is separated from the agricultural zone by a big stairway that runs from the top to bottom by a big moat, which is now dry.

IT has a main entrance gate and has heaps of rooms...of all different designs and architectual styles..Jose says there are about seven styles there..and as well as all the different rooms there are temples, water fountains (channels) and squares, pyramids and lots of stairs. Literally hundreds of them!!! At the very top is a gatekeepers inn.

There are so many stories surrounding this sacred and lost city. There are still questions as to how it was built and what happened to the Inca{s and why and how did they flee when they did.

It was scientifically founded by Hiram Bingham in 1911 when he went there with a local farmer..and was searching for the last inca settlement called the Vilcabamba...but he found the machupicchu (on the signs here it´s all one word!!). In the end it was a farmer´s son, an eleven year old boy who showed him this site. Farmers had been farming the terraces..and when the boy pulled back the branches of all the overgrowth..that{s what Bingham found!!! THe first thing he saw was what he called, the Royal Residence¨¨.

Imagine how he must have felt???

He later got people involved in evacuating a lot of the things he found from here...in about 78 cartons apparently, to be stored in Yale University (which are coming back to Peru for the 100th Anniversary in 2001) but there was no record of gold. THey think it was either looted by the spanish or never recorded...

So many stories..

Who knows whether it was the Spanish conquest that stopped the development of the inca state...or whether it was fire that banished the people..or what it was...myth and legent make this site even more fascinating because no one really knows the answers to the mystery.

But so incredible to be here....in Machu Picchu, the lost city of the inca´s!

When we left...i had a sad feeling..of maybe never coming back.

And leaving the hotel, on the train to Cusco...was sad..but it had amazing views....Peru is so beautiful. The Andes are so special.

The train ride was another story....it was late..supposed to leave at 4.20 but ended up leaving at 5.30 and arriving in Ollanyaytambo at 6.30...and we left an elderly couple behind (?!)

We caught a bus to Cusco...and we eventually arrived in Cusco at 7pm. And still had the energy to go out for dinner at night!!!! I think we are still feeling exhilarated! And refreshed. Even though we felt sore all over after we´d first arrived!

But that couldn´t dampen our spirits...our feeling of conquer and achieving something..and knowing we´d been through a challenging experience...and survived!!!

This has been the highlight of our trip! The trek. And seeing Machu Picchu.

Memories will never cease..of being in this incredible place...and of the 4 day journey to get here!

I will publish the 4 DAY TREK journey here when i finish it..so far, the four days of trekking to Machu Picchu are still in draft!

xx

Day 4 Machu Picchu Trek on the INCA TRAIL

US AT THE TOP OF MACHU PICCHU!!!!







Day 264

Day 4 of Trek on the INCA TRAIL & ARRIVAL at Machu Picchu, Cusco, Peru

Machu Picchu Trek Day 4 of Trek 14 km´s today

Awoken by the kitchen staff...we stumbled out of bed..(see below; waking us up in the am!)
















We started off with a scrambled egg and bacon day. Except no one was feeling particularly hungry........................

But the cocoa tea got drunk! Apart from chomping on cocoa leaves it really does help to drink the tea. Not sure what it really does, but it has something to do with causing the body to pee and enables more oxygen in the blood. Or something. Anway it seems to naturally work and seeing i wasn´t taking anything i was downing the tea by the gallons.



Breakast Tent!











I was feeling positive about today. Day 4 and last day of the trek. Not only was it the last day and descending....it was the day we were to get our first glimpse of Machu Picchu. Our final goal and destination!

After stopping short yesterday we had to make up for it today so today we had to trek 14km. But the sight just near the campsite was apparently very beautiful, but only when it´s clear and not raining.

Luckily the rain had subsided. We were in for a beautiful day. Thank goodness.

Firstly we had to separate our duffle bags. One duffle bag was to contain the jackets, sleeping bags and whatever belonged to the company to be sent back to thier base in Cusco and the other one was to have all our gear packed so it got sent to our hotel in Machu Picchu.

We just hoped the porters got it right when they came to collect the bags. All porters were going back to Cusco today. We were to head to Machu Picchu without them. The cooks had prepared sandwiches and fruit to take with us in our back packs.

A goodbye ceremony was conducted for the porters and cooks. A suggested US$30 each was suggested as a tip for all of them for their hard work. There was a heirarchcy which Jose knew..so some got more than others..and some in the group felt ´the toilet boy´deserved an extra tip for all the disposals of the sick people! (The makeshift toilet WAS very gross!!!!!)



Our porter and kitchen staff!











Just think..no more porters to compete with the steps with! And no one yelling out, Porters coming¨which meant we had to quickly move out of the way! They were good value. And watching the on the trak with their sandles, gave us hope and inspiration. Today we were to rely on the sounds of only our own other footstep pounding way next to us.

Onwards we had to go, straight away after breakfast..no waiting about.

We walked down to Campsite Phuyupatamarka which was the place we meant to camp in, and had morning tea there. Very beautiful place. Breathtaking in fact. Such gorgeous waterfalls and lakes. Phuyupatamarca mans ¨place above the clouds´. We walked around the Intipata archaelogical compound in Winay Wayna.

The descent down to Winay Wyna at 2630m was a breeze. I´d found my forte! I kept thinking...see, it doesnt matter if you have a crap day, others might have a crap day some other day. And they did. Barb´s knees were giving her heaps..and David and Nada seem to lag back for whatever reason. Trish was feeling queasy today and suffering from what seemed a milder version of what David and Carly had.

Which was what? I wonder why they got sick???
All were on altitude tablets so it wasnt that..´was it all the food, the snack pack..something else they´d eaten. Weird that their partners were not affected, being that we were all in so close quarters with our partners.

By lunch time, 12.30, we had eaten our sandwiches and had looked at the museum where the orchids are being studied by botanists.

We saw lots of ruins today...all a lead up to the BIG EVENT.

And Jose pointed out other steps that were still covered by forest. How many terraces are still uncovered on these treks?

The Urubamba river was running and soumded close...

We were almost ´there´.....

At 2.30pm we made the Pergatory Climb. A steep climb.

The final steep upward climb that would bring us to the gate, Intipunku.

And there it was......through the gate, as the second couple to make it...we saw the awesome view of Machu Picchu in the distance..

IT WAS MAGNIFICANT.

A fit ending to a gruelling wet walk.

No wonder it is a wonder of the world.

After taking our victory photos..and shedding tears at the fact that ´we´d made it´ we topped up our very empty water bottles at the natural spring there...

And then took the last couple of kilometres peering over the Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Inca´s.

WHAT AN INCREDIBLE ACHIEVEMENT: From barely able to walk, due to an operation called the talonvicular coalition with bone graft, that was fraught with problems...here i am...and here is Greg, with his high blood pressure....having trekked the 43 kilometre trek from Cusco to Machu Picchu!!!!!

WE MADE IT!

AND WE WERE SORE ALL OVER AND DIDN´T CARE!!!!!!!