Day 6 TOTORA-AGUAS CALIENTES

Day 6 TOTORA-AGUAS CALIENTES

Written by Sidney:

The next morning was our first day taking a car. We had to wake up early to catch a mini-bus to make two connections to Santa Theresa where we would walk solo for 2.5 hours to Aguas Calientes, at the foot of Machu Pichu. Unfortunately after a slightly late wake up call, and a slow start to the morning, we missed our minibus. Even worse, we were so late that we missed the next (and last) minibus out of town. As our guide scrambled to get everything ready to go, our host began scolding us; apparently our only option now for continuing was to walk.

Miraculously, one truck drove by which had an extra seat and we were able to catch a ride. Wilfredo and I ended up in the bed of the truck, and the views along the road were spectacular. Luckily there were no cows in the back with us, so I stayed vomit-free. Taking the truck eliminated the two transfers we would have done, and we ended up in Santa Theresa a good two hours early. We sat playing cards in a restaurant, killing time until lunch. We tried not to act starving when our guide was fed two hours before us, then fed with us again at lunch, but I think he noticed our pitiful glances (that or Marley's soft cries for "snacks..snacks"), and brought us some snacks for the next leg of our journey, which Marley promptly ate before her lunch dishes were cleared.

We said goodbye to Wilfredo as we hopped into a taxi to the Hidro Electrica (Hydro Electric dam), where we would start our walk to Aguas Calientes. The walk was beautiful, along the train tracks beside a river below the mountains of Machu Pichu and Wayna Pichu. It was the first truly flat hike that we had done, and we practically skipped along (though later talking to a fellow traveler we were surprised to hear that she had found it awful, and the uphill had almost killed her, and did we know that there was a total of 300 m elevation gain along the trail? It was a nice reminder that perspective is everything).

As was becoming the norm on this budget-trip, things didn't exactly go smoothly upon arrival in the town: our designated hotel and did not have a room reservation, our guide had also changed the time we were meeting and dinner wasn't going to be until 8pm. As was also the norm on the trip, everything worked out just fine, with only a slight amount of discomfort: the hotel called our company and eventually got us a room, our guide showed up flustered, ran away with our passports to our distress and we had dinner with the other tourists in our group (surprise we had a large group tour through the ruins!). We were happy that we had eaten a pre-dinner, when dinner was delayed, and then when dinner was tiny we went and had a post-dinner meal. Hiking is hungry work!

Day 5 YANAMA-TOTORA

Day 5 YANAMA-TOTORA

Written by Sidney:

We were a bit sluggish starting out in the morning of the 5th day, which may have had more to do with delaying putting back on our shirts which already contained four days worth of sweat and dust, than actually exhaustion from the four days of hiking. After breakfast with the guinea pigs, we were pointed in the direction of the trail, and started to walk.

Yanama felt just like the Shire, so we were in good spirits walking first thing that morning (though when Marley started saying how she felt like Frodo I started getting suspicious of what her expectations for the big mountain pass we were walking towards were). The tidy grassy hills, soon transitioned to more barren rocky mountainside. After 2.5 hours, the gradual incline became more steep and the air became thinner. We put our heads down and continued to trudge up hill, at a much reduced pace with far more frequent stops. Up to this point, I had always been the pace-setter as Marley preferred to match my natural walking pace, but when the switchbacks became even more challenging, Marley took the lead and carried us (figuratively, not Samwise Gamgee style), pushing the pace to the 4600 m summit. The view from the top was spectacular facing Totora, but we were being chased up the mountain on the Yanama side by some thick clouds, so we didn't spend long at the top.

We arrived to our designated lunch spot at 12:30, when the meeting time had been set for noon. We took inventory of our snacks and rationed out half of them to eat while waiting for Wilfredo, our guide, to bring us lunch. After over an hour of sitting, surrounded by cows, we saw a mining truck making its way down the switchbacks of the road from the pass. In the back of the truck was a large Bull, and standing in front of it was none other than Wilfredo!! Wilfredo cheerfully fed us a hearty lunch, apparently motion sick cow vomit on the pants is all in a day's work.

That night, we ate dinner in the kitchen among the guinea pigs, while the family that owned our campsite ate dinner nearby around the fireplace. We made friendly, if limited, conversation with some of the family members. The World Cup is easy to discuss with limited vocabulary, you just act very expressive while saying your favourite country's name. Like all other Peruvians, they were cheering for Argentina. It seemed like all animals were allowed in the kitchen (guinea pigs, cats), except for the dog who was sitting forlornly outside the door looking in. We got a good chuckle from the family when we  started singing "should I stay or should I go" in an imitation of the dog.

Trek Day 4 Maizal to Yanama

Day 4 written by Marley:

There isn't much to say about day 4 of our trek since it went surprisingly smoothly. The terrain changed as we made our way for a mountain pass at 4500 meters. Initially instead of the dry dusty path we were used to encountering we met a  thick slippery mud terrain which we gracefully maneuvered and avoided falling into.

We made our way to the pass in the morning then waited for our guide to bring lunch. In our many weeks of traveling we hardly encountered any rain but today at lunch it poured in the pass as we waited...Luckily we were protected by a shelter as we waited. Our guide was not so lucky and showed up a little wet and cold. The pass was particularly cold because of the altitude and the mountains made a tunnel for the wind.

In the afternoon we descended down between the mountains into what looked like the shire. It was gorgeous and perfect.  Each property had a little wooden gate leading into a  little brick house. Each strand of grass appeared trimmed to the same height...which almost seemed impossible considering they wouldn't mow the hilly area; instead the goats and other animals must have kept the grass tidy. It was obvious the little community of maybe 30 houses took pride in its appearance. I nominates this little town as one of my favorites of the trip.

That evening we helped our guide prepare dinner and ate among guinea pigs. Sidney gradually warmed up to the little critters roaming and squeaking by our feet but I never became a fan (I likely inherited my father's dislike for rodents and had a good chuckle imagining him eating in the little hut surrounded by them).

Day 4 summary: Yanama "the shire" is perfect and makes for a mind calming walk at the end of the day.

Trek Day 2 Playa to Choquequiarao

Guest Written by Sidney:
Day two of the trek, despite not actually including the highest altitude, probably had the highest highs and the lowest lows.

The day started early with a massive omelette each and an exciting ride across the river in a man powered cable car; our guide did the pulling while we giggled nervously reading the "dos personas maxima" sign. It was only when we reached the other side that we noticed our guide was not carrying his bag. He explained that today was "solo hiking" and that he would meet up with us later for lunch after organizing some pack horses to carry our gear to the camping spot.

We felt pretty good about ourselves after crushing the 4-5 hour steep uphill hike in 2 hours 15 minutes. Only afterwards did we realize that this would mean waiting 2 hours for our guide. We warmed up with some delightful mint tea at the lunch spot, which came made with freshly picked mint.

We succeeded in our goal of making friends when two Canadians also stopped at our lunch spot.  The friendship may not have been voluntary on their part, but it ended with them feeding us their leftover lunch snacks, so we considered it a win.

Our guide eventually arrived, but without our bags or any horses. We ate lunch, then continued our solo day with a self guided tour of Choquiquerao, the first ruins we were scheduled to see on our trek. We spent over four hours wandering through the ruins, which were empty save six other travelers (quite the contrast to Machu Pichu which sees 2000 visitors per day!). The self guided tour was a bit questionable in terms of accuracy (Guide Marley, are you sure that the meter high stairs meant that ancient incas were giants?), but it covered more ground than any of the others we saw. We got off the beaten track, finding loops of hidden trails through partially restored terraces and well labeled must see centers. A highlight was a steep trail down to terraces decorated with white granite mosaics in the shape of llamas. We also added another friend making success to our list when we hiked to the llamas with a solo traveler from Luxemburg after offering to take his picture.

Our friend making streak continued when we returned to camp and our guide wasn't there to meet us yet, and we found a Mexican-Canadian couple who we had bumped into on the trail earlier in the day. They were super friendly and helpful, translating from their cook news that our bags had yet to leave the Playa, our previous campsite. When our guide's backpack arrived with all of his warm layers, we started to accept that we might be alone for a while in the cold, as the Playa was a minimum 5 hour hike away (mental math: 5 pm plus 5 hour hike = 10 pm tent/bag/food arrival). Our new friends turned out to be interesting and friendly AND guardian angels. As the sun went down and we started getting cold and hungry, they offered us extra layers and all of their day's leftover snacks. When we were cuddling for warmth in the dark alone outside, debating eating our emergency cliff bar,  they were in their food tent eating dinner and convincing their cook to feed us as well (oh what beautiful words: "dinner in 20 minutes"). Relieved that we wouldn't in fact starve, we enjoyed the wonders of the inside of their mysterious food tent, where a cook worked away busily on the opposite side of a tarp, and only his head would pop up periodically when he delivered delightful foods including soup, spaghetti and dessert.

Once more, while we were enjoying the comfort of their food tent, our new found foster parents were organizing our accommodations. Ana  would share her tent with us while Daniel would sleep in his guide's tent to preserve our honour.

We cuddled, swaddled in all of our borrowed layers, and slept soundly until 2:30 am when knocking on our tent prompted an automatic "no gracias" from me. Marley had the presence of mind to prompt me to accept our bag from our guide who was knocking on the tent.

The day had the potential to be extremely uncomfortable, but it ended up with us up on the new friend count, well fed, warm and happy with our experience at the ruins. Oh Canada, we love you and our fellow countrymen/women.

Trek Day 3- Choquequirao to Maizal

Post by Marley:

Day 3 definitely completes for having some of the most challenging parts of the hike. It is at those challenging parts that you are thankful for your travel partner. We made a pretty good team never complaining and using one another to push through steep switch backs that sometimes lasted 15 minutes. I was grateful to have a mentally tough champion wrestler with me that day.

There were 2 highlights of the day. The first was my first outdoor poop. The urge came on rapidly and there was no other choice. As scary as it was taking the leap of faith with knowledge of possible liquid poops on the way...There was relief  and celebration once there was successful execution.

The second was conquering a massive incline at the end of the day. This incline lasted  2 hours and ten minutes and it very steep and filled with relentlessly long switch backs. It required mental toughness when the sign said 10 minutes to the campsite and we were at our designated snack break time...Instead of stopping we pushed through. I was fairly certain I was at the verge of passing out from hunger but we made it to the campsite and collapsed in a heap with our Ritz crackers and peanuts.  Now, we just had to wait for our guide and horses to arrive.

"SOS we're so hungry"...we chuckled thinking of the French back at the salt flats in Uyuani trying to break back into the hostel.

Since the incident on night two we were lucky our guide was able to find horses. Unfortunately he wasn't able to find a horseman so again we solo hiked the day while he doubled as a horseman. Overall the day involved 1 hour up from the ruins, 3 hours down deep into the canyon with mosquitos then the 2 hours and ten minutes to our campsite.

Since we arrived at the campsite early in the afternoon and thoroughly drenched in sweat we decided that we should probably attempt the shower. Let's just say it was numbingly cold. Even worse the air in the mountains was so damp that nothing (our quick dry towel, Sidney ' s hair, worst of all our sweaty shirts which we would have to put on the next morning would dry). Things may have even gotten wetter through our tent that night.

A quick note on the campsite. It was a small home run by an older women and gentlemen nestled within the mountains. The cutest aspect was their farm. Roosters, chickens, ducks, cows, and pigs alike wandered the area. Roosters would grow to be our 5 am alarm along the trek. It was calm and peaceful but looked like a challenging life for the couple. I wonder if they are there for tourists or if that is just a growing benefit.
Day 3 summary:
Finally fed a late lunch followed by dinner so we went to bed slightly cold, well fed, and exhausted and proud of our mountainous climb.

Trek Day one- Cusco-Cachora-Playa

Post by Sidney and Marley:

Our first day involved gradually coming to the realization that we were on a budget tour and warming up our legs with a 10 km hike.

The hike supposed to be 21.5 km turned into a 10 km hike because our start time was little late when our 5:30 pick up time got changed to 7:15 am but don't worry 10 km gave us amble time to get into hiking spirits. Most of the days hike involved singing or making fun of our forest thick leg hair which Sidney could actually feel blowing in the wind.

We reached our camping spot just in time to join the mosquito party where we tried to dance and swat our way out of millions of bite. Somehow the bite count at the end of the day was only around 10. Luckily our budget tour included plenty of food...we enjoyed popcorn, hot chocolate,   soup, chicken and rice.

That evening we tried to get to know our guide by playing Go Fish. We aren't sure that we communicated the rules quite correctly since he asked for a 5 when Sidney had just put down the stack of 4 5's.  We kept trying as he awkwardly laughed at our attempts to play.

We went to bed early knowing we would be in for a long day and to escape the mosquitos.

Day 1 Summary: excited, hairy, and a little itchy.

10 signs you're on a budget tour

post written by Sidney and Marley:

We have recently returned from our seven day trek through Choquequiarao and machu pichu in peru. We had an amazing time, but it was important for us to recognize that we were definitely on a budget tour. For anyone considering doing a trek, here are ten simple signs that you are on a budget tour.

1. LAST MINUTE CHANGES:
-A pick up time of 5:30 am becomes 7 am
-Initial 10 km of trek becomes a 10 km taxi ride (after a suspiciously long wait at starting point)
-"family issues" cause a change of guide last minute

2. MOST COMMON WORDS FROM GUIDE ARE "SORRY SORRY"

3. MAJORITY OF TREK IS SOLO HIKING (on your "guided tour")

4. TOUR OF MAJOR ARCHEOLOGICAL SITE IS ALSO SOLO
- Helpful tip: use of imagination is key to understanding the wonders of the past

5. THE PROMISED GUIDE, HORSEMAN AND COOK ARE ALL ONE PERSON

6. SHODDY EQUIPMENT
- Moldy tent, with faulty zipper that allows bugs in (hard to complain though when your guide doesn t even have a tent)
- Kettle has no handle
- Helpful tip: bring extra repellant and Tylenol for your guide

7. "PRIVATE TOUR" OF MACHU PICHU INCLUDES TEN OTHER PEOPLE

8. JEALOUSY OF OTHER NON-BUDGET TOURS
- You find yourself gazing longingly at the non-budget tour's mysterious food tent, with cook inside

9. JEALOUSY OF SELF GUIDED TOURS
- When your dinner is 2 hours late you are jealous of the people who carried their own food and camping equipment up 2000m of elevation gain

10. YOUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON THE PITY AND GENEROSITY OF NON-BUDGET TOURS
-second night after solo hiking, instead of meeting guide at 5 pm, wyou meet only his bag, which is ominously filled with all of his warm clothing
- Other tour gives you snacks, additional layers and dinner (You finally see inside the mysterious food tent!!)
- Other tour shares their tent with you when night is setting in and your bags and guide are nowhere in sight (you now owe a life debt to your new Canadian friends). Guide arrives at 2 am

Full details on our awesome trek soon to come!!

Beautiful Day

Tired, smelly, and dirty but our feet were happy to take in Machu Pichu today.

The last leg of my 5 week journey

Sidney and I have now arrived in Cusco, Peru. It took a full day (with a 4 hour break in Arequipa) and a night bus to reach Cusco.

What little we saw of Arequipa was beautiful. Mostly my favorite part of the day was sitting in a little alley people watching over dinner then enjoying an ice cream cone in the town square. For being the second largest city in Peru it didn't have the hustle and bustle one might expect in the town center so it made for a relaxing afternoon.

Today July 3 we spent the day trying to plan the last leg of our adventure. We had heard of a beautiful sister ruins to Machu Pichu called Choquequirao that is only accessible by a 4 day hike and had our hearts set on that with hope that we could then do 4 more days to Machu Pichu.  We were hit with disappointment at first with a few travel agents laughing at our plan. With only 2 people this would be outrageously expensive. Normally, we might be able.to find a group but with the World Cup travel is a little slow supposedly. Heart broken we set out to find our own group asking random strangers if they had planned there trip.  Most had chosen the typical 5 day trip just to Machu Pichu. 

We sat in the city plaza discouraged but then decided we should ask a few more. We somehow found a company willing to operate a tour four with a guide, cook, and horses for our gear for a reasonable price. It will still be an expensive expenditure but I really think this is a once in a life time opportunity since we will see one set of ruins that is not yet open to the world and has not been entirely restored and the famous Machu pichu.  So on Saturday we head out for an 8 day trek through the wilderness. It sounds epically challenging and we were told by other traveling athletes that it is the most challenging thing they had ever done (and that was just the 4 day tour). So needless to say I am a little nervous and scared about what is to come but Sidney and I are also really excited to see and experience everything.  Let's hope I'm not to tired to enjoy Machu Pichu when we arrive there after 6 days of walking.

photo's

Canyon del Colca

Sidney and I departed the Bolivia June 29th and made our way to the Canon del Colca which is about 5 hours from Arequipa, Peru. It took us a whole day and a half to reach the canyon by bus and required us to spend one sketchy night in a hostel near the bus station in Arequipa. Let's just leave the details about our sketchy night out and say we were happy to arrive safely at the canyon.
We hadn't actually planned on traveling to Arequipa or the canyon initially but kept hearing that it was worth seeing so decided to head blindly in that direction.  We met some kind Americans on the bus who took sometime over lunch to show us some of the sights to see on a map.

With their information and the bus ride into the canyon we quickly found ourselves in a pickle. There was so much we wanted to do and not quite enough time if we wanted to make it to Cusco and do a trek and see Machu Pichu.  Luckily, I chose my travel partner well, Sidney sat down with the map and with some help from the locals planned everything we wanted into 2.5 days.

Before I elaborate on our two day adventure I should desctibe the drive into one of the deepest canyons in the world. The views were breath taking. I don't think I had ever seen such a sight but it may have been comparable to the Grand Canyon for Sidney.  The canyon edges had been terraced to trap melting water from the volcanoes  by the locals over the last 2000 years. It made for millions of little puzzle pieces making layers upon layers into the depths of the canyon. My favorite part about this affect is how natural it still seemed...it is hard to believe that humans have impacted the land for so long in fact when walking deep into the canyon it is easy to forget people have been around.

Day 1:
So when we arrived at the Canyon on June 30th we headed to pachamamba a highly regarded hostel which offered us unbiased advice for our trip. We quickly packed our sling bags with water, tooth brush, camera and bathing suits and headed off for the night leaving the rest of our possessions at the hostel. Packing light allowed us to walk the first days recommended 5 hour walk in 3.5 hours. It was a steep hike down into the canyon often walking only meters from the edge. Along with the views of the canyon and surrounding mountains we got to enjoy geysers on our way down.  We luckily reached the river at the bottom and our little hostel in a small town called Llahuar  before dark which meant we were able to sit in the hot springs and watch the stars emerge. It was so peaceful listening to the roar of the canyon, star gazing at the unknown southern constellations,  while dipping my toes into the steamy water.

That evening we enjoyed a delishes cream of corn soup and spaghetti with only our new American friends and 3 other travellors. I was so famished I can't tell if the soup was amazing because I was hungry or if it was just creamy goodness. Sidney has taken to sharing her meals with me since I think she can tell how hungry I am and she swears she is full. All I know is was greatful for the extra portion of spaghetti that night.

We packed it in pretty early that night since we were getting up at 6 to eat breakfast and start hiking plus we were a little sleep deprived from the night before.
Day 2:

We awoke to Roosters at 6 am. Well actually the roosters started at 5 but we stayed in bed until 6 when we knew breakfast would be available. I was stoked to have pancakes...well only 2...not quite as hardy of a breakfast as I was hoping for but they were a treat. I am looking forward to pancake breakfasts with papa bear once I am home again though. 

Anyways, we were on the road around 7 and again had a estimated 5 hour journey ahead of us to the Oasis. We walked up hill for about an hour and a half on a thick dusty road (no joke it was several inches of dust that could have made a beach) winding our way back up the canyon before the ground became level. We spent another hour or so walking along before the trailed dove down again to the level of the river.

It was here where the trail dipped down again that Sidney and I shared a bonding moment unlike any we have had yet. Keep in mind Sidney has been with me through a lot...In the last 3 years. Anyways, nature called that morning and as the trail dipped down into the canyon I had to pee like a race horse. I have a natural fear and angst of peeing and pooping as you know from my previous blog in nature. I mean I shouldn't the donkeys clearly do it (often this was the marking of our trail) and so do the birds but I just couldn't quite calculate how to ensure I wouldn't pee on myself or have the wind blow it onto me. So Sidney the big little sister (as her older sister Jesse-she calls her) stepped up and said "here watch my form" and I did. She is a  natural pee-er in nature. I then took form and adjusted as instructed and peed in the exact same spot to ensure things went smoothly. Sweet sweet success!!! Of course we had a really good laugh before we continued on.

We reached the oasis at around 10:30 luckily before the canyon was getting to hot and in under our estimated time.  The oasis was a beautiful resort like area with several hostels looking into the canyon with pools to swim in. We spent the next 3 hours dipping in the pool, hanging in hammocks, and eating lunch waiting until 2 before we would finish the estimated 3 hour straight up climb out of the canyon. Well that isn't exactly the truth...The oasis part went more like this for me:

step 1: dunk in pool to cool off
step 2: sit poolside to dry enough to move into the shade to enjoy hammock
step 3: sit on hammock
step 4: fall out of hammock stereotypically
step 5: look dumbfounded now covered in mud while Sidney cries with laughter
step 6: rinse all the mud off
step 7: sit pool side embarrassed as I warm up again
step 8: attempt hammock again with success
step 9 : do not dare to move before lunch is prepared in case one should fall out of said hammock again.

Wow this is turning into a long post. Anyways at 2 we headed up the steep canyon working ourselves out of the intense heat with water. I was pleasantly surprised as I was expecting the climb to be deadly as when we looked across the canyon at our path it was a steep zig zagged path up one of the deepest canyons in the world...and don't get me wrong it was a challenge but I was just relieved to know that I would be able to make it out of the canyon by foot and not by donkey or helicopter. We were able to complete the climb in 2.5 hours and were exhausted by the time we reached the top.

It is a remarkable feeling to conquer your fear of the unknown. Setting off I was worried about getting lost or hurt in the canyon or just being to tired to continue but I survived and the experience, views and memories from the 2 days was well worth it.

Day 3:
Because this post is so long already I will just quickly mention that we arose on day 3 at 5:30 to catch a 6:30 bus so we would be able to see Condors which are  known to fly in the morning in one area of the park. They are the largest flying birds with a 3 ft wing span and they come within 10 to 20 meters of the viewing area. It was really neat to watch 8 condors soar the sky's over the canyon.

That ladies and gentlemen is how Sidney and I crammed a ton of canyon adventure into 2.5 days. It was hard to leave since there was so much more to do but Machu Pichu is calling!