More ruins??? sheesh...

Yup! More ruins! We can't get enough of them down here...

North of Cusco lies Pisac, a small town with a large Inca Ruins above it on the hill. The town square has been permanently turned into a crafts market, which looks exactly like every other crafts market around... We stayed at a nice hostal that housed not only people, but the cutest baby alpaca in the world... I've done the research believe me. It wandered around the inner courtyard and whined alot... but man was it soft and cute. We tried taking it's picture but the best one we got was this blurry one.

The next day we wokeup and hiked the hill behind the town to the Ruins. It was a neat hike up a small gorge with lots and lots of Inca Terraces the whole way up. The whole site was basically small pueblitos that looked after the many agricultural terraces. At the top was a pretty neat temple with a few local guides that would wander around playing bamboo flutes. We got there early enough to beat the hordes from Cusco, and sitting on a Inca carved bench rock, with bamboo flute echoing hauntingly off the stonework, was a perfect way to enjoy the sunny morning. The terraces were very large, and looked like they could feed the whole Inca Empire. Not only are they still around, but there was even some working aquaducts for irrigation, proof that it all worked really well. We finished off the day with a nap on one of the shady terraces before heading back down to town.

We took a bus that afternoon down the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo, another Inca ruins, that functioned as a temple and then a fortress. It was very humbling, as some of the rocks that were at the top of the hill, were bigger than a mini van. They were supposedly quarried 6km away, and moved across a river (by diverting it), up a hill, and painstakingly carved to perfection. Not a piece of paper would fit between. The whole experience of standing beside those rocks makes you wonder what things from OUR culture people in 500 years will travel around and look at. I can't think of one thing that wont look like cracked concrete and weeds. We lazed around the sight, checking out the really cool baths (that still have running water), before heading back to Cusco.

Deciding we'd had enough Inca culture, we left Cusco for Puno which is on Lake Titicaca, only to go visit some Inca burials today. Sillustani was a pre-inca and Inca burial site with gigantic funeral towers. We took the non tourist route again today, catching a packed mini-bus, then switching into the trunk of a combi with 2 other people. We made quite a few local friends on their way to and from Puno, (hard not to when you are sitting on their lap) and enjoyed the trip there and back almost as much as the ruins. The funery towers, or chullpas, are ginormous stone things that people were burried in, with lots of food and pottery (for the next life). The only way in was a tiny hole that you had to crawl through to get into. We snuck into one, creeeepy!

Tomorrow we go to Bolivia, but not before seeing the Temple of Fertility... supposed to be very interesting according to one lady we met today. heheheheh

The Sacred Trail to Machu Picchu!

So we made it! This was one of the reasons we came down here, and it is kind of surreal that it is over now...

Four days ago we rolled out of bed at 5:23 in the morning into our carefully laid out clothes. Our bags were packed up, so we snuck out of the hostal trying not to make much noise. As I walked down the hill to where our tour company would pick us up, I remember feeling extremely excited. It was hard to believe that in a few hours we would be walking on THE Inca Trail, and in a few days we would be at THE Machu Picchu. We joined up with the rest of our group who we had met the previous evening in a briefing. Everyone was wide awake despite the early hour, and ready to go. Our group was only seven people, which was great considering most are sixteen. There was quiet Barbra from Switzerland, Andy our British riverrat, Robert the un-stereotypical American, Ben and Will the Aussie entertainers, and Us, the nice canadians! Quite a mix. It was an hour bus ride to Breakfast, and then another two hours to the trail head.

We pulled into Ollyantatambo, to pick up the majority of the porters, and were bombarded by street vendors selling water, gatorade, ponchos, coca leaves and any last minute things they thought we might want to buy. I picked up a bag of leaves and some water, just the essentials. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road near the entrance to the trail, where a number of other groups were getting ready. There were tonnes of porters carrying boxes and bags and sacks of stuff around, someone handed us a brown paper bag, and we kindly refused thinking they were selling something to us again. It turned out to be our snacks, so we quickly changed our minds. It was drizzling slightly as we approached the trail gate, with our passports and trail passes in hand. We took a quick 'before' picture and set off over the raging Urubamba river.

The trail followed the river for quite awhile, before turning off to the left near the lookout ruins of Llactapata. From there it made its way slowly up a valley towards the village of Wallyabamba. The beginning of the trail is failry populated with locals. Some of them have hauled drinks and snacks up the trail past the first campsite even. There is something not quite right about being able to buy a beer half way up a mountain...

We camped the first night up above most of the other groups, which were down in the valley in the village. Carlos our guide, introduced us to the porters and cook(12 of them all together), who would be hauling our tents, food, and stools! It was a very different way of camping than any of us have been used to. First class service the whole way! We would wake up in the morning to Juan, who would give us hot tea in our tent! After leisurely packing up and wandering into the dining tent, we would receive hot porridge, pancakes or omlets, toast, jam, more tea, and South Americas greatest invention ever; Dulce de Leche. Basically dulce de leche is evaporated milk slowly heated until its a gooey paste that looks like caramel and tastes like heaven. While eating, the porters would pack our tents, fill up our water bottles, and set off before us to setup the lunch spot.

Day 2 was Dead Woman's Pass day. They call it that because of the womanly features the ridge line resembles, but I think it's probably because you feel like dying when(if) you reach the top. We set off just after 7am led by Carlos at a conservative pace in order to save energy for the last bit. Around 9:30 we reached our first main rest spot where someone had setup a table and stools for us. Popcorn and hot water for tea was laid out and everyone sat there grinning stupidly at how absurd we must look. We were the only group on the trail to enjoy 'Elevensies' as they called it, and it was pretty damn cool. The rest of the hike up to the top was... well.. hard. But man did it feel great taking those last few steps , dropping the pack on the ground, and looking back down the foggy valley to the campsite. We hungout at 4198m for a few minutes, enjoying our chocolate bars and congradulating each other on not dying, before heading back down the other side. Everyone always talked about how hard it is going to the top, and for some reason neglect to mention the knee jarring, calf burning descent to camp. The trail down was built in the 80's and was a series of rock steps that go down about 500m. Everytime you stop to take a break or check out the scenery your legs shake uncontrollably. We made it to camp early, around 12:30, and had the option to go on another 3 hours, but were not able to because the next site was booked full. We enjoyed a delicious 3 course meal and retired to our tents for a siesta, or nap.

Day three started off with a nice uphill climb, to where it joined up with the true original Inca Trail. We stopped briefly at another ruins, Runquracay, which served as another lookout to watch for people on the trail. To get to Machu Picchu the Incas had two roads, a short one followed the Urubamba river to Aguas Calientes, and the Sacred trek left Cusco and went through the mountain passes. People would take the Sacred trail to cleanse themselves of evil, and would be spotted along the way by these lookouts. The guards would send signals to the next lookout by blowing into a Conch Shell, all the way to Machu Picchu so they could prepare food and ceremonies. The trail was cobbled from stones and wound its way along the mountain side through cloud forest, up into the parámo, and even through some caves. Some of the steps had been carved right into the rock, work that would have taken months without iron tools.

After the Dead Woman's Pass the trail becomes more wild, and most evidence of civilization dissapears, so it was sad to return so abruptly to it on our third night. The campsite is up the hill from Aguas Calientes, there are powelines from the nearby Hydro Electric plant and even a cafeteria that we ate our meals in. On the last night it is tradition to tip the porters and cooks for the work they do, so we gathered outside and I was voluntold to say a small speech in spanish. After dinner, the cafeteria turned up the speakers and blasted Shakira for a roudy group of Argentenians who turned it into a dance party. Very strange.

(Sarah...) Day four we were woken up at 3:45 am, and by 4am we were eating breakfast in the dark. Our group left the campsite early and we were even the first group to arrive at the last checkpoint. We had to wait until 5:30 however until the gates were opened, so we turned off our flashlights and told jokes until finally we were let through. The trail was dark, and it was raining as we walked, I could only hope that the weather might clear. As the sun started to rise behind the clouds we were able to turn off our lights and continue through the foggy forest. The path was slippery, but we kept a quick pace now that we had left behind our 2kg sleeping bags and sleeping pads, and we were all very excited to reach our final destination. Around every corner and at the top of each set of stairs I would strain to look through the clouds for a glimpse of Machu Picchu, but the clouds did not rise fast enough for our pace, and we arrived at the Sun Gate only able to see a few distant mountains peeking through the clouds. Normally, this is where the trekking groups get their first view of Machu Picchu as the sun is rising behind them through the Sun Gate. As we caught our breaths at the top of our last climb more hikers from other groups arrived and the spot became crowded quickly. Carlos lead us down the last bit of trail and as we decended, the clouds rose and we could see the beginning of the foggy ruins. Colin left a traditional offering of a small rock pile at one temple in hopes of appeasing the Weather Gods. Our last stretch of trail took us into the top terraces at Machu Picchu and there was a great satisfaction from the whole group knowing we had made the trek and survived.

The site was amazing. So much larger and steeper than any of the photos make it out to be. We went on a small tour with Carlos around the city, seeing temples, water fountains, terraces, and houses. Most of the site has been reconstructed and excavated for tourism, and the cloud forests that once grew all over the site have been cleared away. We were amazed at the number of tourists already at the site when we arrived, some had caught a bus at 6am to see the sunrise, and the longer we stayed, the more people arrived from the busses. Machu Picchu can see up to five thousand people in one day alone!

After our tour we decided to climb the nearby mountain of Wayna Picchu, where there are some more ruins and a spectacular view of the saccred city. Our calf muscles were screaming as we climbed the incredibly steep steps up to the top, but now without backpacks, we were able to climb the 45 minute trail in 20-25 minutes! We spent time at the top exploring the steep stairways and relaxing on the topmost rocks and admiring the views of the surrounding mountains. The decent was terrifying, I found myself climbing sideways down the stairs at times so I didn´t have to look over the edge which dropped off to the river valley below.

We were only able to explore the city a little more before our group caught a bus down the winding road to Aguas Calientes to meet Carlos for lunch. We definitely could have used another entire day there to cover the whole site and really appreciate everything. But around 1:15, when we left, the site was crowded with tour groups and tourists, and it felt alot like Canada´s Wonderland or Disney World (but definitely way better). After our last lunch together at a small hostal, we all said our goodbyes to Carlos and Robert (who was staying one extra night) and headed to the train staition for the 2 hour trip. The roof had windows so we could look up at the towering mountains (though Colin enjoyed the gi-normous river much more) and we were even entertained by the stewards with a traditional dance and an alpaca clothing fashion show (very weird, and all the other day-tourists were snapping photos and gaping at the clothing). The tour company picked us up from the train staition at Ollyantatambo and took us another two hours over very bumpy road back to Cusco. We checked back into our hostal and had showers (unfortunately we had to change back into the same clothes, well a new t-shirt) and found a place for dinner before meeting up with the Aussies and the Brit at the worlds highest Irish owned pub.

We slept in this morning after a 21 hour day yesterday, and are planning on sticking around Cusco to see a few more sites and museums and let our leg muscles recover. We took lots of photos and some videos, so there's lots to see. Enjoy!






Part of the Inca Trail






Machu Picchu!






From the top of Wayna Picchu!

Getting a taste for Machu Pichu...

So while we´ve been anxiously awaiting our Inca Trail departure, we have been hanging around the city of Cusco, aclimatizing, site seeing and avoiding the 15 individuals who try to sell us massages everytime we walk back to our hostal.

We are staying in a small little hostal about a 10 minute walk up small cobbled walkways surrounded by collonial houses (some of which use original Inca stones) and artisan shops. Once inside the walls of the hostal the courtyard has a fantastic view of the city below, which is only surpassed by the fact that we are not actually staying in the louder city below.

Yesterday we forked out the 70 soles each for our Bolletos Turisticos (tourist tickets) wish give us 10 days to visit 16 museums, archeological sites and monuments around the city. Ofcourse this is the only way to visit any of the sites, even if we were only interested in one. So far the tickets have been worth it. We set off yesterday on a minibus to the site of Tambomachay, and then walked the 8 kilometers back to the city, visiting 3 other sites as we went.

Tambomachay is an Inca site where water has been diverted and flows through channels for the likely religious purpose of regeneration of the land. It was a small site, but it was nice to walk around admiring the Inca masonary without having to follow a guide in a big tour group.

The next site was across the road, Pukapukara, another Inca site, thought to have been a small rest or lodging area for travelers walking between cities. We explored the old rooms and pathways and found many similarities to some of the sites we saw in Ecuador and northern Peru.

We took a shortcut to the next site, avoiding the road, and ended up at a Huaca del Luna (moon temple) which we had thought was 1.5 kilometers out of the way. What looks like another large rock outcrop sitting amoung the grass hills, is a pre-Inca temple where they worshiped the moon and the sun. The inhabitants used the caves created in the limestone outcrops and added small rooms and altars where food and animals were offered as sacrifices. We would have kept walking had it not been for a guide at the site who showed us these two caves and explained some of the history of the site. Both caves used to be lined with walls of gold (which was later pillaged by the Spanish) and he showed us the pumas, falcons and snakes which were carved on the walls. In the cave dedicated to worshiping la luna, the moon rises from a certain vantage point on the horrizon only on one day of the year, and as it rises, the moon light shines through a small hole in the roof of the cave illuminating the altar below (and what would have been the golden walls of the cave). Must have been a pretty impressive sight.

Qenko was the next site, yet another rock outcrop with a few tunnels winding beneath. The site was used for ceremonies worshiping the sun, moon and stars. We stopped for a pb&j sandwich break on the top of the site sitting infront of what looked like a sacrificing block. One currious spot on the top was a small pool with a zigzag leading away from it all carved into the rock. We decided that it muct have been to direct the flow of water (or blood!) into another pool. Some old ruins of building s and walls surrounded the site as well. Thunder started to threaten our trip, so we bundled into rain jackets and headed off to our last site before Cusco, Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman...heh heh).
This site is a huge fortress that sits on a hill overlooking the city of Cusco. The walls of the fort are huge, and the stones used to construct it were carved from nearby limestone outcrops and are 90 to 120 tonnes! Many of them are twice as tall as me. What was even more impressive is the precise fit of the stones. Not all of the stones are rectangular (one stone in Cusco has 12 edges), yet each stone fits exactly with the ones next to it. There is no more than 2mm between one stone and the next. The fortress´s wall was zigzaged so as to expose the flanks of attacking enemies and has three different levels. Outside of the fortress, across the field, was the burrial grounds, and after exploring the walls and staires, we found a cave. We started down and within seconds we couldn´t see the slimy rocks surrounding us. Colin lead us through the passage, using the camera and its flash as a light source. I was a little worried that each photo would reveal a skeleton or something scarrier...heh. We soon emerged into the sunlight, and ran off to find more tunnels (we found some, but none quite as impressive as the first).

Another 20 minutes of walking and we were back in the small cobbled streets of Cusco. We leave tomorrow on the Inca Trail at 6am. We are incredibly excited, and are crossing our fingers for some good weather for the next 4 days. No worries Marcus and D., batteries will be charged, and yes we plan on taking lots of photos!


The cave mentioned above. It kept going for about a minute after this video ends... creeeepy.


Temple of the Moon, gives you a good idea of what it would be like on a full moonlit night...creeeeeepy!

Lima - Zoo - Busses

So we decided to head down to Cusco to get our Inca Trail trip sorted out, and broke up the long bus trip in Lima. We left Trujillo and Huanchaco around 10pm and arrived in Lima just after 6am the next morning, very tired and irritable. After sorting our bags out and agreeing to let the taxi driver take us to a hostal we had found in our guide book, we left the bus terminal. At first our taxi driver took us to a random hostal in Lima that he probably recieved commision from, which was definitely not the one we asked him to take us to. After kindly refusing he set off for our hostal. I was trying to keep up with the streets on our little map while he drove by and soon realized that he was going in the opposite direction, probably to another hostal he would get commision from. I got him turned around and directed him through the one way streets of Lima to where the hostal we picked should have been. Unfortunately as we have been finding out, our 3 year old guide book doesn't really have all the most recent information in it, and many things have either moved, closed or changed names. Reluctantly we agreed to a hostal he had a brochure for and we checked in paying almost twice what the driver told us the price would be. We dropped our bags off, choked down some bread and tried to figure out what to do for the morning. We were'nt allowed a bed (unless we paid for half a day) until around noon, so we checked out the local zoo!

It was really one of the only interesting non-museum thing we would think of doing, and it turned out to be pretty fun. We talked to three taxis to take us there, the first offering 120 soles ($40) for the ride. We settled on the last guy who offered a reasonable 10 soles ($3).

The zoo was pretty well run, with lots of infrastucture and they were in the process of expanding and updating many exhibits. It was a saturday, and there was a function of some sort going on with lots of moms and children running around. We strolled around in the sun, checking out the penguins and sea lions, who were very good at swimming upside down. We did find it kind of strange to see the lions and tigers caged in a fairly small enclosure, with only cement floors, wheras the turtles enjoyed a large forested enclosure with grass and water... we decided they must take turns at the good spot, maybe just to ease our consciences.

The main reason we came was to check out the local peruvian animals that either you have to spend a lots of time in the jungle or other areas, or get really lucky, or spend lots of money for a good guide, in order to see. They had a million different kinds of monkeys and birds at the zoo. The monkeys were very fun to watch as they ran along branches and ropes and tackled each other. The birds were mostly just loud and obnoxious, but they do look very beautiful.

We ended up spending most of the day at the zoo, and arrived back at the hostal late in the afternoon, thoroughly exhausted and went for a nap. The kitchen at our hostal was well stocked and had an oven, which is a rarity down here it seems, so we baked up a little veggie lasagna, and called it a night.

The next day we lazed around all morning, having decided to take off for Cusco at 4pm for the 18-26 hour bus ride. We checked out at noon, went downtown and bought our tickets then wandered over to a nearby park to chillax (that one's for you d). It was Sunday, so most people in the cities don't work, they spend time with the family or significant other at the park. We found a nice spot on the grass in the shade, but only had a few moments to enjoy it as we were hered off the grass by security. Apperently the park was a part of the Art Museum and sitting on the grass was not allowed. We snuck off to a far corner and grabbed a piece of grass just off the walkway, so we could scoot back if we saw the heat coming. The best part was when someone decided that on a busy sunday, it would be a good idea to turn on the sprinklers, much to the dissapointment of some poor guy napping under a tree.

We boarded our bus, well prepared with snacks and juice and water and music and games, ready for the 18-26 hours to come. The long distance busses down here are very different from the smaller busses in Ecuador, and much bigger than any bus we've seen back home. They are double decker, and the driver sits in the very front on the bottom level. The seats recline most of the way on the bus cama or bed bus, and they even have a steward(ess) to serve meals! It's not all posh and spice though, especially if you decided to be stingy and buy the cheaper upper level seat (we did), and if you decided to eat the suspect chicken and rice meal they served (we did), and realize in the middle of the night that all that swaying back and forth is very much like beaing on a boat at sea (yup, we did)... So after eight movies (all in spanish), 23 hours, no bathroom stops, a couple of ear popping mountain passes, here we are in Cusco! I definitely recommend taking the trip in 3 days, or flying if you don't think any of that sounded fun heheh.

We booked our trip for the Inca trail yesterday, managing to score two spots on a trek leaving as soon as it was possible. After hanging out in the city and surrounding valley for a few days, getting used to the altitude (3280m), we set out on the 17th!

Temple of the Moon by daylight...

Well, the beach is a wonderful place, but yesterday we decided that we would try and escape the waves and sand and go into the big city of Trujillo. This area where Trujillo and Huanchaco are located, once used to be a large Moche city called Chan Chan. From the highway we can see the hundreds of adobe brick walls of the old city which are being erroded from the wind and rain (sad). Instead of visiting the city, we decided to go see the Huaca del Luna (Temple of the Moon). It was a religious site (c. 200 A.D.) where prisoners were once sacrificed, high priests drank their blood, and the people watched and worshiped their god. ugh

The site is still being excavated and there is a considerable amount of work going into the protection of the site too. Most of the temple is covered by tall, modern roofs to keep off the rain, and thatched grass walls to protect it from the wind. There are five different step-pyramids, all built on top of eachother (just like a set of Russian nesting dolls stacked neatly inside one another). Because of this, the walls of the inside pyramids have been well preserved and the paintings and carvings still have all their original colours.

The small bricks which were used to build the site were all donated by the families of Chan Chan. And in order for the priests to keep track of who was donating, the bricks were labeled with different figures and symbols, all of which are still visable. The site even is the home of two Peruvian hairless dogs (extreemely ugly animals which look almost like overfed rats) and used to be used for their bodyheat.

After our tour and packed lunch, we headed back into Trujillo, where we went grocery shopping (and left only with the things we had not planned on buying, but we finally found some peanut butter!) and Colin braved another haircut. We are hoping to go to Lima tomorrow (though we dont think we will stay in the city long).
Ciao.

Videos!

Here's some video for the masses... gonna work on a few more over the next few days...

Went for a hike in Parque Podocarpus, near Loja, Ecuador. Very windy, logs of clouds up at the top... beautiful hike along a ridge.

Rented bikes in Baños awhile back. This is our ride down through the tunnel where I nearly wiped out on a speed bump i didnt see cuz i was filming, hehe oops. Pretty fun. Sarah says "glad I made it out alive" at the end (i think).


This is us on top of the Rucu Pichincha near Quito, Ecuador. We hiked up to the top, took so long... very high and tiring. GREAT VIEW THOUGH! We did this in our first week or so here.


This is a very bumpy road... typical of the smaller roads here, but strange since this is a main road... we spent a few hours on this road, all of it like this... whee.


That train ride back awhile ago. They let you sit on top. PRetty funny. The sock feet are ours.

If these didn't work you probably need to update your flash player or something... sorry!

Sunny Days...

Back on the coast warming up our bones...

did some updating of the map which is long overdue, finally got to upload the pictures from our Trek in the mountains... there are lots. I especially like the black and white ones of us wandering through the ruins.

Check out this blog post from a long lost friend Katie Quinn who's in Africa right now... it conveys lots of similar feelings we've been having travelling around down here.

We're looking desparately for a place with a 'happy hour' to celebrate our 2 months out. Hope all s well from home, sounds like lots of snow, hope the skis are selling down at the store!

Here's a sunset to warm you up :)