masey » Travel

Move. Eat. Learn.

masey — Wed, 03 Aug 2011 13:42:51 +0000

Three simple words that encapsulate so many experiences we wanderlust travellers crave when visiting foreign lands.

What you are about to see below are three such themed short films that were launched today on Vimeo by a trio of talented Aussie lads – Rick Mereki, Tim White and Andrew Lees who spent 44 days travelling 38,000 miles across 11 countries linked by 18 flights shooting a terabyte of footage in order to create the 3 stunning short films below.

Boy, I would have LOVED to have been part of this. *sigh*

Anyway, grab a comfy seat, check out these fantastic short films, and be prepared to have your travel bug stimulated.

On a side note, stoked to see my old mate “Julio” from Gap Adventures Peru mentioned in the credits. Well done champ!

Win an HP Pavilion dm1 Notebook – The Ultimate Travel Companion

masey — Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:03:27 +0000

If, like me, you’ve spent countless hours sitting at antiquated, faulty desktop computers in tiny, dungeon like, hole-in-the-wall Internet cafes around the world while attempting to tap out emails, then you too will no doubt have experienced the frustration that comes with trying to connect online with family and friends while on the road.

Take heart. More and more Wi-fi connections are popping up all over the place on the global backpacker trail, and I’m about to give you the chance to win the ultimate travel companion which will enable you to easily connect where you want, when you want.

The awesome people at HP are giving away to one lucky Aussie Masey.com.au reader, the HP Pavilion dm1 notebook!

WE HAVE A WINNER!!

Congratulations to Lisa Pentony for your creative, winning entry:

Never whines or wastes time,
Sophisticated, simply sublime!
Ever dependable, reliable,
My adoration’s undeniable!
Sleek, Chic, innovative, unique,
HP Pavilion’s the travel companion I seek!

Thanks to everyone for entering!

Valued at $699, this slim-lined and ultraportable notebook weighs in from only 1.57kg and is the perfect tool for checking flight times, uploading latest holiday photos or blogging about your latest adventure.

The dm1 is equipped to handle anything on the go, running on AMD Dual-Core Processor E-350 with AMD Radeon™ HD Graphics. With an 11.6 inch display, VISION technology from AMD enhances what you see, share and create.

For travelling enthusiasts, the HP Pavilion dm1 delivers performance in the perfect small package.

Sounds great, doesn’t it?!?!

HOW TO ENTER

For your chance to win an HP Pavilion dm1 notebook, tell me in 25 words or less, what or who would be your ultimate travel companion?

Submit your answer in the Facebook, or Blog comment sections below. Whoever I judge as providing the most impressive answer will become the lucky owner of a new HP Pavilion dm1 notebook. Awesome!

The contest closes 5pm (AEST), 30th June, 2011 and is open to Australian residents only.

HP Australia is providing one HP Pavilion dm1 notebook to one lucky winner. The HP Pavilion dm1 notebook prize will be sent directly to the winner after I announce the winning entry on Monday, 4th July, 2011.

Follow me on both Twitter & Facebook to make sure you’re the first to find out if you have won.

TELL YOUR FRIENDS

Tell your friends about this fantastic contest. Copy and paste the following tweet:

For your chance to win an #HP Pavilion dm1 notebook, tell @masey what or who would be your ultimate travel companion? http://j.mp/kIjBhV

You can also go nuts clicking any of the buttons over there on the right!

FOLLOW HP!

Find out more about HP Australia’s awesome range of products by following them on Twitter and Facebook, or by visiting them at www.hp.com.au.

G Adventures South America – Day 14 – Refugio Amazonas

masey — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 13:10:09 +0000

Well, there’s a first time for everything. And, while I sit here by candlelight, surrounded by mosquito netting, writing this post about today’s journey deep into the Amazon Forest, I can safely say this is a new first for me. Actually, where I am sitting right now on my bed in my private, but open walled room, is a stone’s throw from the rattling, shaking, hooting and hollering forest.

There ain’t no silence here, way out in the middle of nowhere. No siree. That there forest is ALIVE and there’s but a thin sheet of mesh separating me from anything that wishes to just enter the hut and say g’day. What an invigorating and slightly terrifying feeling!

But hey, I don’t want to get too far ahead of myself here. First, we need to deal with the events of the past 24 hours…

About Last Night…

When I signed off last night after a HUGE and memorable day wandering the ruins of the breathtaking Machu Picchu, I should have been tucked away in bed in our cosy hostel in Cusco. Due to some recent pretty heavy rain and resultant landslides, however, we were still anxiously waiting in the tourist town of Aguas Caliantes along with hundreds of others, stranded while the train tracks somewhere between Machu Picchu and Cusco were cleared.

Julio, our G Adventures guide was a superhero by the end of the night, dealing with all of us tired, cranky and somewhat tipsy (bar hopping to fill time will do that to a person) as well as doing his best to wheel and deal our way onto any next departing train.

We eventually did get aboard a train at around 1am after some pretty crazy pushing, shoving and running to grab a seat, and after that it was all a bit of a blur as we did our best to get any amount of sleep possible.

Above (L to R): Atholl, Rob and Julio get some long-overdue shut eye.

Above: The lovely Germans Leonie and Florian follow the trend, across from me.

Somewhere along the way, out in the middle of nowhere, we all disembarked and transferred to a small bus which carried us the rest of the way back to “Hostel Corihausi”. Again, a super human effort from Julio getting everyone conscious and vertical long enough to get us all off the train, considering our sleep-deprived, zombified states of being.

And here’s where the fun really started for me. Considering today was our first day in the Amazon, I was all scheduled to start a course of “Doxycycline” anti-Malaria tablets last night. My tablets were in baggage storage at the hostel in Cusco so the only thing I could do was take them as soon as we returned this morning. As instructed, the first dosage was a double one (2 tablets). The instructions also call for the tablets to be taken with meals. I was soon to find out why not obeying this suggestion was a bad idea.

With our flight out of Cusco and into the Amazon but a few hours away, I took the Doxycycline tablets (on an empty stomach), organised some washing and jumped straight into bed in an attempt to grab a couple of hours of dead-to-the-world slumber before having to pack and leave again.

After having dozed off for no more than say 25 minutes, I awoke to what I can only describe as the most intense heartburn I think I’ve ever had the misfortune to endure. To all those people who have had coronary episodes that took the form of severe indigestion-like symptoms… I think I know where you’re coming from…

Doxycycline 1 – Rob 0

All I could do was throw up violently, guzzle a LOT of water and try to go back to sleep. Needless to say, by the time I was packed and heading back out to the airport with our reduced group, participating in the Amazon trip, I was no better off in the sleep department. Not a great start to the day.

Rainforest Expeditions

A short flight north-east from Cusco to the town of Puerto Maldonado and we found ourselves in the super warm and muggy surroundings of the Amazon Forest. Talk about a surreal experience. Yesterday, the cool, oxygen-starved Inca Trail through the Andes mountains, and today, the sweaty, humid Amazon Forest.

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I rarely ever get sick – maybe once a year if I’m really unlucky, but when I do, it’s usually at the turn of the seasons when temperatures vary greatly from one day to another. It’s like my body freaks out and shuts down in protest. So far I feel fine (despite this mornings little episode), but considering the vast difference in atmospheres and temperatures I’m now experiencing, I’m a little nervous at how the next few days are going to go.

But I digress…

Arriving in Puerto Maldonado, we were met by our local “Rainforest Expeditions” guide, Johan. He collected us all from the baggage carousel of the airport terminal and escorted us out to the company bus waiting in the parking lot for us.

Climbing aboard, we had no sooner taken our seats when we were each presented with our own basket of rainforest snacks including salted banana chips (A-MAZING), brazil nuts and a native orange which was messy to eat, but delicious.

As we demolished our culinary gifts in a fashion that would have suggested we hadn’t eaten all day (which for some of us was the truth), Johan introduced us to the rest of his crew and explained that we were on our way to a port where we would transfer to a long boat and cruise up river to our accommodation – “Refugio Amazonas”.

Once at the port, we had the opportunity to stretch our legs, purchase snacks and drinks, visit the loo, chase around some chickens and generally stretch our legs a little before heading down to the river to board our next form of transport.

With a good 3-4 hour river journey ahead of us, all we could do after doning our life vests was grab a position on the wooden benches that lined the sides of our long boat, and try to get comfortable. Johan, meanwhile, ran through a few safety notes including providing us with reassurance that, should we end up in the drink for whatever reason, we were likely more at danger from camen alligators than from flesh-stripping piranha. Reassuring indeed. Thanks Johan.

Next, we were each handed another unique snack – this time a gourmet rice of some kind served wrapped in a large banana leaf. Yum! The meal certainly kept us quiet for the first quarter hour or so as we headed off along the muddy waters of the river, deep into the Amazon!

Above: I think that’s Florian’s “I can’t wait for this…” face!

Over the next couple of hours we had plenty of time to sit back and observe the vastness of the country we were in as thick forest after thick forest passed us by on the river bank. The increasing feeling of isolation was broken up from time-to-time by the rare passing of other boats and by the odd roughly constructed mud hut that appeared on the banks.

An abundance of wildlife is something I’m obviously keenly interested in seeing throughout this short visit into the Amazon. And while we didn’t see all that much with our naked eyes on the river this morning, we sure as hell could hear a massive amount of critters all around us, even over the top of the boat’s motor. There’s absolutely no doubt that the forest is alive with activity and I couldn’t wait to hit land and check it all out.

Above: Leonie watching the world go by…

Above: Simon keeping watch for any signs of wildlife at the front of the boat…

A couple of hours into our river journey and we were required to dock at a small checkpoint where we registered our entry into the “Tambopata” region and received some pretty cool stamps in our passport validating our visit to this amazing part of Peru. I wasn’t aware that you were allowed to stamp your passport with anything other than official country entry and exit stamps, but I was soon assured that it was all above board, so I jumped in line and got my passport inked!

It was here at the checkpoint that we all got out first close up glimpse of some Amazon wildlife as the trees above rustled with the playful movement of a couple of monkeys of some kind. It seemed to trigger a run of good luck for us as, over the next couple of hours on the river we saw more monkeys playing in the forest canopy and also a family of capybara foraging the muddy shoreline.

My camera simply doesn’t have the telephoto power to capture such sights with amazing clarity (damn you Peruvian thieves!!), but here’s a shot I captured of the capybara.

A pretty nondescript set of old wooden stairs leading up the muddy bank from the river’s edge and into the forest was all that marked our arrival at home for the next couple of nights – “Refugio Amazonas”.

Considering none of us really knew what we were in for over the next couple of days in terms of accommodation and activities etc, exiting the boat and heading along the muddy trail into the forest was pretty exciting in itself.

The unknown soon presented itself as we entered a clearing and set our eyes, for the first time, on the amazing “Rainforest Expeditions Lodge” like an oasis at the end of a lush, leafy green desert (or something), with its high pitched hardwood frame and just all-around awesomeness.

Needless to say, with available light starting to fade, cameras were quickly whipped out and everyone captured the memory of coming across this amazing construction in the middle of nowhere.

Seated in the bar area, Johan gathered us all around, introduced us to some of the lodge staff and tossed up the idea of heading out on an evening activity. We were all pretty tired after our hellishly long night last night and a long day of river travel today, so we passed on the idea, opting to push the activity to tomorrow evening.

Instead, we opted for the opportunity to settle into our amazing individual rooms, and enjoy a few cold beers set amongst our amazing new surroundings. This was followed up by a surprisingly decadent buffet dinner that left each and every one of us well and truly satisfied.

And that brings me full circle to now. In my much needed cage of mosquito netting, scribbling away by candlelight wondering what the heck it is that’s nestling and rustling away in the walls above me. To be honest I don’t really care. I feel oddly safe on the bed here and now I think it’s time to try the ol’ sleep thing, assuming the creature (whatever it is), that’s just started screaming out there to my right, gives it a rest soon.

Wish me luck!

G Adventures South America – Day 13 – Machu Picchu

masey — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 13:03:04 +0000

Oh boy. There’s not a fibre in my body that would have believed that, what has become one of the longest days of my life, would also be what will become one of the most memorable days of my life, considering the way it all kicked off in the wee, dark hours of this morning.

For those of you who have been following my journey along the Inca Trail as part of a larger month-long “G Adventures” tour of Peru and Bolivia, you would know that I signed off yesterday’s entry, day 3 on the Inca Trail, crossing fingers hoping for good weather this morning. I mean, we’ve heard stories over the past few days about groups that have trekked all the way in dry weather only to wind up in an unidentifiable “Machu Picchu” covered in low, thick cloud – not something I wanted to encounter.

All the finger crossing in the world, however, was not going to save us this morning. Up and at it before 4am, the nightmare reality of having to deal with heavy rain as we made our way up to the Sun Gate, overlooking the ruins of Machu Picchu, became all too real. By the time we had washed, packed, eaten and broken camp, there were already a number of groups ahead of us waiting at the park entry check point. Not too keen on lining up behind in the rain, we decided instead to take shelter at the campsite restaurant/bar building along with scores of others and wait for our turn to head down.

Patience paid off as we eventually had our credentials verified and we set off as a group, away from Wiñay Wayna and into the damp darkness with our head lamps on hand to light the way. Only a couple of hours hiking was required this morning through a forest of large trees and giant ferns, before a final push upwards towards “Intipunku” (the Sun Gate), where we would either be met with breathtaking views over Machu Picchu, or, being more realistic considering the current weather conditions, views over a valley filled with dense cloud.

Alas, although the rain had stopped by the time we reached the Sun Gate, the ruins that we so desperately wanted to lay our eyes upon were blanketed in swirling cloud.

Intipunku – The Sun Gate

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“So what’s this ‘Sun Gate’ thing all about”, I hear you ask? Well, for those of us who had taken up a resting spot near our guide, Nancy, we received a quick rundown on the significance of the ruin. Consisting of two discernable stones flanking a narrow passageway leading through a crevice in the mountain, the “gate” is consistently struck by the first rays of sunlight each morning. Hence, the name “Sun Gate”.

Given the vast focus Inca religion placed on the worship of the sun and the essential role it played in all aspects of life, providing light, warmth and fuel to their crops, it’s safe to assume that this place of worship would have played host to many ceremonies in ancient times.

Right now, however, we were just hoping that the sun was going to answer our collective prayers and burn off the cloud which, thankfully, looked to already be dispersing as we made the decision to start the descent along the trail that led directly into Machu Picchu.

About 300 metres down the gentle sloping trail, from the back of our group I began to hear a number of gasps as we approached the clearing of another, smaller temple ruin. Sure enough, in the short time we had taken to hike down to this next point, the screen of cloud that was obscuring any views we had of the valley lifted and there it was – the stunning, silent, mysterious, Machu Picchu drenched in sunlight.

It was really interesting to observe the split reactions of our group at this point. On one hand you had a bunch who instantly reached for their cameras and set about madly snapping away, filling up their precious memory cards with their first glance of this ancient wonder of the world. On the other hand, there was a group of us who chose to take a moment, sit down, stare and just reflect on the magnitude of what we had accomplished over the past few days, and the significance to our lives of what we were about to explore and experience…

…then we TOO got our cameras out and started snapping madly! Haha!

After hundreds of frames had been snapped – panoramic shots, telephoto shots, individual shots and shots with friends (that’s me and the big man, Sam, above), it was time to continue past the odd grazing Llama and into the actual grounds of Machu Picchu.

Although we had been hiking the same stone pathways as the ancient Incas for the past couple of days, there was something special and surreal about treading this final section.

With a few minutes up our sleeve to observe the magnificent stone walls and unfinished structures from a different perspective prior to assembling and meeting Julio down at the visitor centre, the cameras started firing again. In a little over an hour’s time Machu Picchu was likely to be overrun by tourists traveling up to the site on day tours from nearby Aguas Calientas, so it was somewhat a priority to grab as many “unblemished” scenic shots as we could, while we could.

Reaching the visitor information centre, we were immediately met by the beaming, unmistakable smile of Julio, our lead guide on the Peruvian leg of this G Adventures tour. Julio was all ready to congratulate us all on completing the Inca Trail and propose a toast using a couple of champagne bottles that he distributed to the group.

Simon and Rob (above) took on the job of popping the corks, and the cool bubbly liquid was soon flowing into small plastic cups which were raised for multiple toasts in honour of finishing, of Nancy’s expert guiding over the past few days, and to the Incas, without whom we wouldn’t have had the opportunity to be standing where we were.

Above (L to R): Lou, Helen, Atholl, Anna & Johnny raise their cups for the first of a few toasts.

Above: Lou struggles to make sure that her EVERY last precious golden drop of bubbly doesn’t go to waste!

Above: The lovely Nancy shares a “cheers” moment with Simon.

Machu Picchu – A day of ancient exploration

With 20-30 minutes of free time allocated to take care of whatever “comfort” things we needed to do (change clothes, hit the loos etc) we also had a brief opportunity to check out the visitor centre, gift shop and snack bar to stock up on munchies in preperation for the next few hours that would be spent exploring every last square foot of the magical site.

It’s funny, while we whole-heartedly appreciated the semi-sanitary pay toilets, have the opportunity to purchase drinks and put our daypacks into storage (allowing us to “take the load off” for the remainder of the day), I couldn’t help but be a little dismayed with even the existence of the large visitor centre so close to the site. It undoubtedly impacts the romance of the experience.

I had the same feeling when I visited “Stonehenge” in England. Had I been forced to hike over rolling green hills and descend into a hidden valley protecting the massive formation of druid stones, I probably would have appreciated the occasion more than I did. Pulling off the highway, getting out of the car and walking no more than 20m to stand at the foot of the circle kinda crueled it for me. Just saying…

Anyway, with Nancy’s expert and informative guidance at our disposal, we spent the next 2 hours visiting and becoming familiar with the more notable sections of Machu Picchu. Features such as the “Watchman’s Hut”, “Intipata” (Inca bridge), “Temple of the Three Windows”, “Intihuatana”, the “Main Plaza”, “Condor Temple”, “Intimachay”, “Ceremonial Baths”, “Temple of the Sun”, “Royal Sector” and more.

I could literally spend the next 2 weeks writing all about each of the aforementioned ancient attractions in turn. Although I appreciate all my reader’s thirsts for knowledge, I have neither the time, nor the literary stamina to indulge in that exercise right now, so the fairly comprehensive collection of images following, accessorised with captions (where I can) will have to do you all this time around.

Just know that Machu Picchu is absolutely everything you would expect the ancient wonder to be, and more! As evidenced by the hundreds, if not thousands of shots I took over the course of the day, I was well and truly blown away by the experience. Hopefully you’ll be able to absorb some of my amazement from the following shots.

Above: I wasn’t sure whether there was going to be too many signs of wildlife within the site other than the iconic Llamas that skilfully wander the terraces. Then I found this little guy…

Above: Standing strong and silent to the north of Machu Picchu is the mountain “Huayna Picchu”.

It’s hard to imagine any photo of the ruins without this iconic rock featuring prominently. While the hike to the top of this mountain is known to be quite treacherous, you can pay to be part of two regulated groups that make the climb daily. While the views from the top would no doubt have been quite spectacular, I wasn’t about to devote a couple of hours of exploration time to yet another ascent.

Above: Throughout the urban sector, examples of the intricate stone work the Incas were renown for, were in plentiful supply.

Just like in the stone walls found throughout Cusco, the stone blocks are so tightly and accurately aligned that despite the lack of any kind of mortar, it’s impossible to slide even a coin in between the huge bricks.

Above: The extraordinary entrance to the “Royal Tomb”, located directly below the “Temple of the Sun”.

The three steps you can see to the bottom right of the entrance is representative of “Pachamama” (Mother Earth). The inside walls of the cave (roped off to tourists) are covered with perfectly united cobblestone bricks punctuated by four, door-sized trapezoidal niches.

Above: I’m not sure why the above photo is one of my favourites from the day. Maybe it has something to do with the multiple elements – “Huayna Picchu” shrouded in cloud, terraced ruins of Machu Picchu under blue skies and a couple of birds in flight. Nice.

Above: The view from the urban sector back up towards the “Watchman’s Hut” where I had read presented one of the best all-inclusive vantage points over Machu Picchu. It’s where the watchman would have been stationed, so I guess that makes sense.

Above: Nancy demonstrates how two simple slabs of stone could be effectively used by the Inca people to crush grain and prepare food.

Above: More wildlife spotting – this time a mountain viscacha (Lagidium viscaccia), a member of the chinchilla family.

This little guy was spotted perched in one of the high niches in the walls of the “Principle Temple”. I guess he feels safe since tourists are not permitted to enter the temple due to the danger the weakened rear wall (due to seismic activity) presents.

Above (L to R): Sam (UK), Leonie (GER), Johnny (NZ), Molly (UK), Sophia (UK), Florian (GER), Victoria (UK), Rob (UK), Me (AUS), Lou (UK), Helen (UK), Simon (AUS), Ali (AUS), Atholl (UK), Anna (AUS), Sara (AUS).

Above: On the road leading to the top of the pyramid where “Intihuatana” is located, there’s a stone which has been carved to imitate the shape of the distant mountains behind. Neat!

Above: Just in case you forget which way to head to get to the base of the unmistakable “Huayna Picchu”.

Above: The winding road, clinging tightly to the steep slope of the mountain, that carries hundreds of tourists to and from Machu Picchu down to the nearby village of Aguas Calientes – modern engineering feat in itself.

Above: Remember what I was saying earlier about the “Watchman’s Hut” being perhaps being one of the best vantage points in the whole site? Here’s the proof. Iconic profile picture anyone?

Back up to “Intipunku”

Despite the soaring heat and the fact that after 4 days of solid hiking my bad knee was no longer my friend, Rob and I made the decision to follow through on our earlier plans to hike back up to the “Sun Gate” in an attempt to capture the view “from the top” that we missed this morning because of all the cloud cover. Armed with an estimated amount of water to keep us going for the 1km hike back uphill, we set off at a relatively easy pace.

Once arriving at the elevated viewing position, the rewards were immediate. Machu Picchu in all its beautiful glory to our left and the soaring, vegetation covered surrounding mountains rising up from the Urubamba River, to our right.

With our agreed meeting time back down in Aguas Calientes rapidly approaching, Rob and I headed back down to the visitor centre, pausing briefly to snap a last couple of frames, grabbed our respective gear from storage and boarded a rickety old bus back down the mountain along the winding road we had spied from the ruins earlier in the day.

I’d love to describe what would have been a pretty hair-raising experience, I am sure. But the reality is I think I snoozed nearly the whole way down until the raging waters of the Urubamba were right alongside the bus.

I took a little bit of time to explore the banks of this powerful river before heading up to the tourist strip where I would meet the rest of the group for lunch. The power of the thrashing water was awe-inspiring. I took a bit of video of what I was witnessing, and hopefully it will give you a bit of an idea of what I saw. Anyone got a kayak?

R&R in Aguas Calientes

For all intents and purposes, the town of Aguas Caliantes is simply a tourist trap built around a train station, obviously constructed to allow visitors to be delivered on the doorstep of Machu Picchu. Even the main restaurant strip sits directly on a section of the train platform. Filled with colour, music, activity and smells that would cause absolutely anyone to start salivating, it was the perfect place to meet the rest of the crew who had made their way down at various times throughout the afternoon.

I have to be honest, while the first full-sized meals on offer to us for a good few days was an attractive prospect, it was the “tallie” beers that I had my heart set on. I was hot, tired, and an ice-cold bottle of Peruvian “Pilsen” had been on my mind since climbing aboard the bus topside. I think my resultant smile (below) says it all.

As was the case for Rob up on the Inca Trail a couple of days ago, today was Simon’s birthday – an occasion we were more than happy to celebrate. I mean it was the perfect excuse for more rounds of “Pisco Sours” and cake… let’s not forget the cake!

The Long Wait

The process post-lunch was supposed to be real easy. Get our gear together, head through town to the main train station, board a train back to Cusco around 3:30pm, settle back into our “Hostel Corihausi” for a good night’s sleep before some of us take off for the Amazon tomorrow.

Travel wouldn’t be travel without a few hiccups to challenge the best laid plans, and this evening has been no different. As I sit here writing this, we still don’t know if we’re going to get out of Aguas Caliantes tonight. *sigh*

Let me explain.

There’s no doubt that we had our fair share of rain on the Inca Trail, but we had no idea that there had been so much rain in the area over the past couple of days that a number of land slides over the train tracks has made it difficult for us to get back to Cusco by rail. I can’t really tell you too much about what has happened because the flow of information from authorities to rail staff and then to waiting, anxious passengers here is pretty poor.

All that has been left for us to do is explore town a little, check out the markets, invest a few Sols at pretty much every bar in town (without getting TOO drunk) and play LOTS and LOTS of cards.

I think we all feel a little sorry for Julio. He’s been glued to his phone for the best part of the last 4-5 hours trying to find out from the G Adventures office in Cusco what’s going on and attempt to make alternative arrangements in case we do get stuck here (in a town with VERY limited vacant accommodation options). We’re all starting to get tired and a little cranky and, bless him, he’s shouldering all the frustration.

Nothing we can do at this point other than visit another pub, play some more cards and keep checking to see if there is any new developments. I guess I’ll fill you all in on what happened tomorrow night from deep in the Amazon Forest (I hope)!

NOTE: For those of you who’d like to learn more about Machu Picchu, check out this great article on the National Geographic website: Top 10 Machu Picchu Secrets.

G Adventures South America – Day 12 – Inca Trail (Day 3)

masey — Tue, 22 Mar 2011 12:43:46 +0000

Day three began in a similar fashion to day two in that we awoke to the sound of rain falling on the camp in the “Pacamayo Valley”.

It was a little heavier than the wet stuff we encountered yesterday morning, as evidenced by the fact I could clearly hear it falling, over the top of the dull sound of water rushing down the nearby stream. No point in mulling over the weather, however, so it was business as usual as brekky was consumed, packs were packed, wet weather gear was donned, hiking poles were strapped to wrists and we were off!

With the promise of a much easier day on the Trail with plenty of downhill stretches as opposed to uphill slogs, I was beginning to wonder how truthful Nancy’s (our guide) words actually were, as we left the camp leading straight into a steep incline which we followed towards our first pass for the day.

Half way up, we entered our first ruins for the day – a beautiful rounded rock wall structure known as “Runkuracay”. Serving as an outpost or tambo (resting stop), the building would have been used by chasquis (running messengers) who would stop over to eat and rest before continuing on their journey along the Inca Trail.

We gathered around and took a little time to pause and listen to Nancy chat some more about the role of the immensely important chasquis during ancient Incan times. I have to say, it’s pretty cool to have a guide as educated as Nancy on board with us on this trip. Being able to actually understand the significance of these amazing ruins we have been coming across along the Trail has been really great.

Kudos to you G Adventures for hiring good people!

From the ruins of “Runkuracay” it was another climb up an ancient Inca staircase, which had been transformed into a mini waterfall overnight, to the next pass roughly 3,850m (12,631 ft) and the last of the high points for the day.

The descending journey, while easier on the lungs, is by no means easier on your legs (knees in particular), and it didn’t take long for me to be reminded that my old left knee injury from my teenage years was probably going to come back and bite me over the course of the next couple of days. All the more reason to take it easy I guess.

We wound through more grassy alpine valleys past peaceful lakes and free flowing streams as the cloud began to lift around us, removing with it any need for us to continue hiking wearing our stuffy rain gear.

The trail we were following also changed at this point from a mixed rock and dirt trail into a narrow stone roadway, an indication that we had reached the true Inca Trail constructed by the Quechua people back in the day.

Next on the sight-seeing agenda was a second, larger Inca ruin known as “Sayacmarca” or “Town in a Steep Place”. We were given quite a bit of time to either rest or explore the ruins.

Access to the main section of the ruins was via a single narrow stone staircase which clings to an overhanging stone wall on the left, and gives way to a sheer drop on the right. Great views of the smaller “Conchamarca” (“Shell town”) ruins in the valley below could be found from the top of the precarious staircase, so they were definitely worth scaling.

The next section of today’s hike was probably my favourite and a highlight of the Trail so far, as far as scenery goes. Leaving the sparse alpine vegetation behind us, we entered a vast moss-drenched “cloudforest” which engulfed us over the next 2 hour gentle climb.

Featured along this section were a few amazing examples of Inca engineering including an 8m tunnel which was constructed making use of a natural fissure in the rock and ultimately allowing the passage of both man and animals. The mind boggles as to how the engineers and workers during the period of the Inca Empire were able to achieve feats like this.

With spectacular views of the Vilcabamba Range appearing from time to time from behind the swirling cloud, we wandered into lunch camp where a pretty spectacular feed was put on consisting of some kind of Peruvian quiche, wild rice, fish and pasta. It was ALL GOOD, let me tell you!

Trust me when I say I’m not overselling the quality of the meals on this trek. While I would have probably wolfed down anything over these past few days without so much as a murmur considering how hungry the hiking makes you, these chefs of ours sure know how to knock together a decent feed with limited facilities.

I’m pretty sure my knee will never quite forgive me for the punishing, yet scenic descent down to the next set of ruins after lunch. Making our way through a forest of what appeared to be some kind of bamboo, we emerged at the extensive ruins of “Phuyupatamarca” (“Cloud-level Town”).

The ruins consist of a number of terraces flanked by a series of tiered, intricate ceremonial baths connected by what you can only assume are water channels. Apparently, the higher baths were reserved for the nobles, while the lower class citizens were left to use the lover level facilities fed by the polluted water flowing from the nobles baths above. Mmmmmm… nice.

On the homeward stretch for the day, all that was left for us to negotiate before hitting camp for the evening was a 1,000m plunge down into the massively impressive ruins of Wiñay Wayna (“Forever Young”). Perched on a steep hillside overlooking the Urubamba River, the ruins are surrounded both above and below by an expansive series of agricultural terraces – all able to be explored from a path that runs throughout.

To reach the ruins themselves, some of the group had to make a slight diversion and split off the main trail down into the campsite. My knee had really had enough for the day, so I settled for the stunning views from afar, and instead opted to settle in camp and enjoy the first decent toilet and shower options we’ve had for a good few days.

As everyone else gradually made their way to our tents and freshened up, Rob and I set about collecting tips for our porter/chef team. With all the cash collected, we had to sort out how the cash was going to be split up between Nancy, the porters and the chefs using a suggested ratio provided by G Adventures. It seemed the best way to go about this was to head over to the information centre/bar where we could grab a couple of ice cold beers and sit down and work it all out.

We grabbed a few more beverages “for the road” and headed back to camp where we met up with some of the others and perched ourselves on the edge of a really beautiful vantage point from where we could watch the sun set over the mountain range in the distance. It was a pretty sweet feeling knowing what we had achieved over the past couple of days and the fact that the spectacular “jewel in the Andes crown”, Machu Picchu, was literally just around the corner and only a couple of hours hiking away.

Being the last night we’d spend with our Peruvian porter buddies, we all gathered in the meal tent post-dinner to thank them all for their tireless work over the course of the trek and presented them with the collected tips along with a nice speech from Rob, who stepped up when we needed someone to speak on our behalves.

With a super early start on the cards in order to beat the crowds up to the Sun Gate overlooking Machu Picchu, nobody was up for any extended sessions of card games this evening. All that’s left to do is to get some sleep with fingers crossed that the persistent patches of rain that seem to be hanging around, make themselves scarce in the next few hours.

I’m about to put a BIG tick next to one of the more special items on my “bucket list”. The last thing I, or anyone else want, is for the shine to be taken off the experience by bad weather.

Anyway, I’m beat. HUGE day tomorrow. Time for bed. Night!

*fingers crossed*

G Adventures South America – Day 11 – Inca Trail (Day 2)

masey — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 11:12:57 +0000

Day two on Peru’s famous “Inca Trail” as part of my month-long “G Adventures” South American experience kicked off in a pretty soggy fashion. Having slept like a log through the night, I woke to the unmistakable sound of light rain falling on the walls of my cosy tent. Not exactly music to my ears knowing that the morning’s hike upwards was now going to be done in the wet.

Nancy, our guide on the trail, somewhat assured us during a surprisingly hearty breakfast that we’d leave the wet weather behind us as soon as we climbed out of the forested region, reaching more exposed alpine country at a higher altitude.

Speaking of altitude, it was the hot topic of conversation around the brekky table in the tent this morning as we all fuelled up for the day. A few people, Ali and Sara for example, were already feeling the effects of how high we were while for others, like me, we were just eager to tackle today’s hike to see if slogging our way up to the highest point on the trail was going to have any major effect on us.

Having spent the best part of the last week at altitude already, I was feeling pretty acclimatised (not that I had any point of reference), and it was with a spring in my step that I set off with the group, full of enthusiasm.

As we huffed and puffed our way towards the sky, our band of ever-amazing porters who broke down camp in seemingly record time began to pass us along the trail with relative ease, pushing onto our next rest stop. I don’t think any pictures I take of these little blokes do any justice to the “height/weight to load” ratio that is put on display as they breeze by. Truly amazing.

With around an hour of hiking behind us, Nancy pulled us all together into a clearing off the trail to take us through a traditional offering ceremony made to “Pachamama” or “Mother Earth”. The brief ceremony involved making an offering of coca leaves to the goddess in the hope that she will protect us in our journey down into Machu Picchu. Happy to oblige if it meant she was going to keep the rain away from us for the rest of the day.

I guess I’d better explain the image above, eh? During our brief rest/snack time in the clearing, Rob decided it was the perfect time to break out a rather unique balaclava he picked up in the markets in Cuzco. I think he believed it elevated him to God-like status up there with “Pachamama”… or something… Haha!

The next section of the trail, while pretty steep, took us through some of the most beautiful country we had the pleasure to journey through today. A rocky path ran parallel with a fast flowing stream for quite a distance leading us into another section of dense forest, which eventually spat us out into a large alpine valley.

This dramatic change in vegetation signalled the start of the final tough climb up to “Warmiwañusca”, more commonly known as “Dead Woman’s Pass” at 4,198m or (13,769 ft). Remember, Australia’s highest peak, Mount Kosciusko, is at 2,228m (7,310 ft), so it should come as no surprise that it was about now that the altitude started to chew away at my lungs…

My “Footprint” guide to Peru, Bolivia and Equador isn’t kidding when it suggests that, “The feeling of relief on reaching the top is immense.” I have to be honest, it was a REAL good feeling as the cool cloud vapour raced through the pass cooling us down.

As we waited for the rest of our group to complete the killer final climb, we had the opportunity to sit down alongside some of our porters who were quite rightly taking a well-deserved breather of their own.

Plenty of photos were taken alongside the post marker giving evidence to our achievement, and Sam and the younger girls also found excuse to reach for their oxygen canisters, sucking down a few good sized breaths of pure O₂.

With everyone topside (big congrats to Ali and Sara (the back markers) for making it to the top of the pass in really good time), we got the mandatory group shot out of the way before turning our attention to the tricky downward trek over damp ground into the incredibly picturesque “Pacamayo Valley” where we found our campsite for the night.

Unbelievably, our camp was perfectly set up all ready for our arrival, yet again. Our well-drilled and obviously super experienced porters sure don’t miss a beat. Dishes of warm water, presumably taken from the nearby alpine stream and heated, were delivered to our tents for a rough bathing, before we had a little time pre-dinner to explore the camp.

Coming together once everyone had freshened up and rested a little, we had the awesome opportunity to learn a little more about our porters and chefs, with Nancy introducing them one-by-one. The smiles on these super-human Peruvians were infectious and helped alleviate some of the aches and pains that were creeping into limbs after a tough day’s climbing.

With dinner being served, I seized the chance to don Rob’s balaclava for a photo opportunity. I mean, you gotta do it, right?

A yummy dinner followed which was wolfed down by one and all while we all shared stories about our individual struggles throughout the day making it up to Dead Woman’s Pass and beyond.

With the dinner plates all but licked clean and removed from the tent, Rob, who celebrated his birthday today, was presented with one hell of a birthday cake! How the heck our chefs managed to whip a professionally dressed cake together, just like my buddy Chad did in the remote wilds of the Yukon a couple of years back, is beyond me. I wasn’t about to stand around and ponder the achievement, however.

As soon as Rob’s face had been ceremonially pushed into the icing, we all received a decent-sized slice which was subsequently consumed with much greedy gratitude. To close out the night of fun, the ever trusty deck of cards was produced once again and a number of rowdy card games broke out and were enjoyed by a group of us – Johnny, Anna, Simon, Atholl, Helen, Rob, Lou, Ali, Sara, Leonie and Florian.

All cake and carded out, it was back on with the head lamps for a quick last trip to the loos for the night before heading back to our tents and snuggling in for a good night’s sleep!

G Adventures South America – Day 10 – Inca Trail (Day 1)

masey — Sun, 20 Mar 2011 13:05:25 +0000

Just like the numerous roosters that scurry through the tight alleyways throughout Ollantaytambo, I was up with the rising of the sun and headed out into the town to stretch my legs a little before breakfast. Considering the amount of kilometres we’re about to cover in the coming days, this probably wasn’t required, in retrospect, but it gave me the opportunity to explore some areas that I know the rest of the gang hadn’t and wouldn’t get to.

Morning exercise out of the way, I headed back to the hostel to grab some breakfast, meet up with the rest of the gang, repack everything for the 4 day hike one last time, and sit back and relax while, as predicted, a number of the girls fretted and panicked about the packing weight allowances for the bags set to be carried by our army of porters all the way to Machu Picchu.

With everything seemingly squared away, we made the short bus trip from Ollantaytambo to the traditional tourist “head” of the Inca Trail in an area called Piccacucho, or simply “km82″. A bunch of VERY excited G Adventurers piled out of the bus and onto an assembly area that was bustling with numerous different coloured teams of porters busily assembling their gear ready to hit the trail ahead of us.

We all took some time to make final adjustments to our own hiking gear and to take in the breathtaking views of the raging Rio Urubamba and the valley the river was cutting its way through. Ultimately we were looking to assemble at the bridge shown in the photo below – the official start of the famed Inca Trail.

Pausing more than was probably necessary to take WAY too many photos along the way (let’s put it down to nervous energy), we eventually made it to the check station where our park passes were checked, passports were stamped, more pictures were taken from the sturdy cable bridge by pretty much everyone, and we were off chasing the river down into the valley ahead of us.

For the next few kilometres, we pretty much followed the river, eventually rising from the valley floor and heading up into the flanking mountains stopping occasionally to say hi to some of the locals in transit, to let groups of amazing (and did I mention TINY) porters get past us, and also to gulp down some water and assess how we were stacking up against the altitude at this easy, relatively flat stage of the hike.

For me? So far, so good!

Roughly 6kms into the trail at km88, we came across the first of the Inca ruins we will be encountering over the next few days. Known as “Llaqtapata” the site, made up primarily of large farming terraces, was probably used to supply a number of the smaller Inca Trail sites. Our knowledgable guide, Nancy, spent some time explaining the significance of the site and what it meant to the immediate region, as well as take the opportunity to sit us all down and chat a little about what we are likely to encounter in the coming days on the trail.

I suspect the chat was probably somewhat of a stalling tactic with lunch being the next stop on the schedule. Our well drilled team of porters and cooks were well ahead on the trail and no doubt had things well and truly under control setting up camp for our arrival, but the extra time afforded them by our educational pause was probably appreciated.

Pushing on ahead for a few more kilometres covering a series of gentle climbs, we arrived at the lunch camp which was very professionally set up and ready to go for our arrival complete with washing bowls and a food tent we could retreat to for a little respite from the sun.

Funnily enough, no sooner had we all got snuggly within the confines of the tent and a small sun shower hit the area. With anticipation building over what food we were likely to be served today and in the coming days, a little wet stuff outside was of no consequence to us at all.

And boy, were we ever pleasantly surprised. Within 15 minutes of being seated a yummy meal of fish, rice and vegetables was delivered to each of us by our ever smiling lunch crew. You’ve never heard a tent full of hungry hikers fall silent so quickly before as plates were literally licked clean! Haha!

With suitably full bellies achieved, we had some time to make a decision whether or not to switch to “wet weather” mode with shell jackets and backpack covers, or to just take our chances as the clouds above continued to change in colour and density from minute to minute.

The remaining couple of hours afternoon hike to the final camp for the day was a relatively easy one, so I knew a bit of rain wasn’t going to hamper my progress at all and I opted for keeping everything packed away in my daypack where it would definitely stay dry regardless.

Before we knew it, we’d covered the couple of kilometres left to hike on the trail for today and we arrived at “Huayllabamba”. At 2,912m above sea level, we were still pretty much at a comfortable level as far as altitude goes. To put things into perspective, however, Australia’s highest lump of rock, Mt Kosciuszko was already well below us at a paltry (in comparison) 2,228m. And we still have the largest altitude gain of the entire hike to cover in a supposedly tough day tomorrow!

Once again our porters had been well and truly busy ahead of us on the trail and the entire camp – food tent, individual sleeping tents and more were all neatly erected on a grassy terrace, set amongst rows of corn, awaiting our arrival. As far as the entire camp area was concerned, I may be biased, but I’m pretty sure we had the pick of the real estate in terms of proximity to toilets, cover from weather etc. Sweet!

First things first though. Time for a wash. Delivered to us in our tents by our still smiling porter friends, was a bowl of warm water which we could use to bath to the best of our ability and desire. After a pretty warm day 1 on the trail, I had both the ability AND the desire!

Freshened up, I grabbed my camera and wandered off around the small camp while some of the lads from a number of the groups camping at the site for the night headed down to a dirt strip where a pretty intense game of soccer broke out between them and a passionate group of porters.

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but soccer does nothing for me (ice hockey (CAN) and AFL (AUS) is where it’s at) so it was easy for me to slip away and explore for an hour or so before dinner. Enough time for me to be convinced that we are already in a stunning part of the world, regardless of what lies ahead of us on the trail tomorrow and beyond!

Another great meal capped off a fantastic day on the trail en route to Machu Picchu! I still have to pinch myself knowing that I’m but days away from a dream encounter with not only a treasured bucket list item for me, but also one of the most amazing archeological sites on the planet!

But first, some rounds of cards in the mess tent by gas light with Rob and some of the crew, followed by hopefully a good night’s sleep ready for, by all accounts, a tough day of climbing tomorrow. Night!

G Adventures South America – Day 9 – Ollantaytambo

masey — Sat, 19 Mar 2011 13:15:38 +0000

After a big day exploring the sites and historical attractions of the beautiful city of Cuzco all day yesterday, we kicked things off this morning with a bus ride up into the hills behind the city and into the vicinity of a significant set of ruins known as “Sacsayhuaman” (pronounced Sexay Woman).

As we only had time to slowly observe the magnificent ruins from the bus as we passed, all I can really do is show you the one photo I snapped below and tell you (following a little research) that the fortress-like structure, which actually served as a sanctuary and temple to the Sun, features no less than 21 bastions and an impressive 360m long wall containing massive rocks that weigh up to 130 tons. How the hell these huge lumps of stone were fitted together with such perfection back in the days of the Incas is beyond me!

While the numerous sets of ruins that we passed on our way out of Cuzco heading north continued to impress, I couldn’t help but be distracted by the fact that the ruins were scattered amongst huge, healthy eucalyptus forests. Honestly, had you not known that you were traveling through some of the most significantly historic parts of Peru, you could have sworn you were cruising through the country somewhere out back of Tenterfield in NSW! Bizarre!

Planeterra

The main attraction of the morning was a visit to a local community known as “Ccaccaccollo” where G Adventures, the tour group I am currently travelling with, have helped developed a women’s weaving co-op as part of a sustainable community development initiative known as “Planeterra”.

While the men of the community are routinely employed as porters by the company for their Inca Trail tours into Machu Picchu, the women are busy creating incredibly high quality textiles that passing travellers, like us, have the opportunity to purchase directly from the ladies who created them.

By the time we rolled up in our bus, narrowly dodging numerous dogs and alpaca scattered throughout the village as we went, the women, all brightly and beautifully dressed in traditional clothing, were already hard at work. As Alpaca wool was sorted through and coloured yarn was transformed into textiles before our very eyes, we were encouraged to move around, peer over shoulders and take a good look at the precision and expertise with which these articles were created.

A few of the group (me included), were curious to learn how the women produced the vibrant coloured yarn. Nancy, our local guide for the Sacred Valley and Inca Trail sections of the tour was able to adequately fill us in with a detailed demonstration of how they extract coloured dyes from plants readily found throughout the area.

She ably assisted one of the local women in showing us how they set up dyeing pots over small clay stoves and used the plant extracts and other minerals, added to water, to create the beautifully coloured yarn (hopefully adequately illustrated below).

While this was going on and holding most of our attention, Julio was off behind us wrangling a couple of the community Alpacas – critters that have been purchased over the past couple of years using funds generated through the good work of the “Planeterra” project.

For more information on the G Adventures Planeterra Foundation, check out the information page on the G Adventures website:

http://www.gadventures.com/planeterra/

The Sacred Valley

Next stop enroute to our final destination for the day was a neat lookout perched on the edge of and overlooking the “Sacred Valley of the Incas” (El Valle Sagrado de los Incas), so called due to its special geographical and climatic qualities in the eyes of the Incas when it came to the production of maize and other crops. The incredibly fertile valley is fed by numerous rivers which descend through adjoining valleys and gorges.

The scheduled stop gave us one of our first opportunities in this part of Peru to all jump in together in a group shot with the valley forming the background. Good stuff!

Moving on to another set of ruins perched on the side of a hill above the village of Pisac, our good looking Peruvian tour leader Julio (not to be confused with the good looking bloke above *cough*) took the opportunity to impart some of his own wisdom regarding the historical site.

Over the half hour or so we had to explore the ruins and terraced hillsides at a fairly leisurely pace, both Julio and Nancy were able to cover the defensive, religious and agricultural significance of the ruins and give us some kind of insight into how the Incas lived in this particular spot, back in the day.

From L to R (above): Helen, Anna, Simon and Atholl receive an “Incan Interior Decorating 101″ instruction from Nancy.

Heading back down into the valley and the town of Pisac, those with the ol’ shopping bug had the chance to run wild through a large, well laid out artisan market where a large selection of locally crafted clothing and other goods were on offer for whatever price you could bargain the stubborn little buggers down to! Haha!

Ollantaytambo

We finished the day of travel in the picturesque village of Ollantaytambo. I know I have probably referred to a number of places throughout Peru already as being picturesque, but believe you me – this time I MEAN IT! What a beautiful, rustic town it is, built directly on top of the original Inca town, or Llacta with plenty of visual cues spread throughout to remind you of the once great civilisation that dwelled here.

View Larger Map

No time for exploring the streets and alleyways this afternoon, however. Upon arrival we drove straight to the base of the famous ruins which we quickly set about scaling in an attempt to continue our training and acclimatisation preparations with the exciting Inca Trail trek kicking off tomorrow morning.

Boy did a few large stepped terraces remind us, very quickly, that the next few days aren’t going to be a “walk in a large Peruvian Park”. No Sir. I felt my lungs screaming by the time I made it to the top section, where Nancy was able to point out the unique rock carving on the valley’s opposing mountain face that takes the shape of a white bearded God called “Wiracocha”. As legend has it, Wiacocha entered the town and blessed the people (again, back in the day). This wowed the town folk to such an extent that they felt compelled to carve his face into the mountainside.

If you’re struggling to make out what I’m talking about in the photo below, check out the following photo I took of an artists impression of how the mountain face may have appeared back in Inca times. That should help you out.

Bewildering scenery and history-through-ruins aside, Ollantaytambo will perhaps remain etched in my memory mainly due to the size of some of the massive orange lichen encrusted stone monoliths that were positioned as part of what was likely to be a shrine or temple of some sort.

Again, how the heck the Inca people managed to get these monoliths up in this position after removing them from a quarry in neighbouring hills is completely beyond my comprehension. I mean just look how tiny weeny I am compared to just one of the chunks of rock (below)!

Don’t even get me started on how they got the monoliths to fit so snuggly and accurately without mortar or gap filler of any kind!

Training over, the rest of the evening was ours to explore the town and settle into our rooms at the comfy “Hotel Tika Wasi Valley”, about a block from the main square.

Before I sign off for the night, a quick explanation for the pair of clay cows that appear on everyone’s roofs here in the Sacred Valley region. Usually paired with a crucifix, the brightly painted beasts are positioned atop one’s home as they are thought to bring good luck, fertility and protection to the household.

Just like religion, whatever “floats your boat”, I guess.

Heading out to dinner with everyone shortly, then it’s time to return to the hotel to receive our Inca Trail briefing and to receive our duffel bags for packing. There’s a set limit as to how many kilos are allowed to be carried by our porters, so me thinks there’s going to be all sorts of entertainment ahead in watching some of the girls get their bags weighed tonight and tomorrow morning.

Can’t wait! Tomorrow is going to be the start of something pretty special!!

G Adventures South America – Day 8 – Cuzco

masey — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 13:52:28 +0000

For someone who isn’t all that keen on early morning starts, I’m sure getting my fair share of them on this G Adventures Tour. Today’s early rise in Arequipa resulted in us shuffling like sleep-deprived zombies onto a LAN Peru flight bound for beautiful Cuzco – the historical capital of the “Inca Empire”, and the gateway for us on our journey along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.

View Larger Map

Once on the ground in Cuzco, we climbed aboard our very own private G Adventures mini-coach and made our way through the centre of town through blocks of mud brick and white walled buildings featuring distinctive terracotta-roofing, until we made it to the top of a long bricked laneway leading off the main plaza, known as “Gringo Alley”.

Here we settled into our comfy “Hostel Corihausi”, got the quick rundown on what to see and where to go from our tour leader, Julio, and we were off! Breakfast was pretty much all a majority of us had on our minds, so the primary goal quickly became finding a fantastic Western-style, Australian-run place to eat that someone had been tipped off about called “Jack’s Cafe”.

To get there, about 8 of us made our way down into the Plaza de Armas where we were able to catch a decent glimpse, for the first time, of Cuzco’s impressive “Cathedral of Santo Domingo” and the “Church of La Compañia”. With nothing but food on our minds, we vowed to return to these architectural treats in due course, and instead made our way up an alley known as “Hatunrumiyoc” where we found probably the most famous example of the incredible mortarless Incan masonry skills that are beautifully preserved throughout Cuzco.

The former Inca Palace wall that lines one side of Hatunrumiyoc features a perfectly masoned “12-sided-stone” that is flanked by no less than 11 other flawlessly carved rocks. This unique, massive stone isn’t sign posted, nor is it labeled in any way, but its sheer awesomeness is a bit of a giveaway as you wander down the alley. While I didn’t try it for myself, apparently you can’t even slide the blade of a pocket-knife around the edges of the 12-sided-stone… the gaps simply don’t exist. Amazing!

Full bellies complete, and the good stories heard about “Jack’s Cafe” 100% confirmed and verified, I headed back through town with Lou, Rob and Johnny, down “Del Sol” to a large indoor market where we had been told we would have some of the best chances of getting good bargains on Peruvian trinkets and souvenirs. With Lou being the expert shopaholic that she is, tagging along seemed like the intelligent thing to do.

Before heading into the market, Rob took the opportunity to get what he was promised was going to be a 2 soles shoe shine from an enterprising young bloke. Some smooth talking and a procession of special show treatments and chemicals later and Rob had the shiniest Puma leather trainers this side of the Equator and a bill that had magically risen from 2 soles to 35 soles! Haha!

We wandered the half dozen aisles of market stalls for an hour or so with Lou finding all sorts of things to get excited about and Johnny coming closer than ever to finding the perfect Alpacca wool jumper he was looking for. I, on the other hand, felt like I was looking at the same stuff stall after stall, aisle after aisle, so I wished everyone the best of luck and headed off on my own to explore a few of Cuzco’s landmark attractions. First stop – Convento de Santo Domingo.

Convento de Santo Domingo

On the surface, the 17th Century cathedral of Santo Domingo is reminiscent of any number of Catholic churches you see around Europe. The UNESCO World Heritage Site, however, is perhaps best known for the origins of its foundations and a number of ruins found within the grounds – all remnants of the once magnificent Inca temple known as Kiswarkanchar (Coricancha). The treasures of gold and silver that were discovered by the Spanish within the Golden Palace and Temple of the Sun in this location were so vast that it took them almost 3 months to melt all of the precious metals down (thieving buggers)!

In 1534, Coricancha was turned over to the Dominicans who set about dismantling much of the temple and using the site’s stone foundations to build the Cathedral as it stands today.

I spent a good 90 minutes exploring the beautifully manicured grounds marvelling at the incredible further examples of precision Inca masonry and browsing the fine collection of works from the “Escuela Cuzquena” (Cuzco school) of art. The school was originally set up so the Spanish could teach the Incas the methods and disciplines of European renaissance style artwork. Restrictions placed on the Quechua students of the school were such that their impressive works were not able to be signed.
This resulted in a number of noteworthy paintings whose artists will never be identified.

I have to be blatantly honest when I say although impressed by what I had seen, I walked away from the Convento de Santo Domingo with a distinct sense of anger. What the Spanish conquistadors and, in particular the Catholic Church, did to a once glorious population of intelligent Quechua people and their Inca culture in this region is down right disgusting.

Tearing down their architecture, stealing their riches and enslaving their people – none of this is portrayed anywhere in any of the touristy places I visited today as being of a negative nature. This is no doubt due, at least in part, to the stranglehold the Catholic Church has over the current people of Cuzco. It’s no doubt not the done thing to speak out against the historical crimes committed by the Church.

Simmering as I was, I still took some time to peruse the feature piece of Cuzco’s Plaza de Armas, the “Church of La Compañia”. Photography isn’t permitted within the three-church complex, so you’ll just have to believe me when I say it’s quite impressive and well worth the visit. Tucked inside is a number of baroque style ornate alters, Cuzco’s oldest surviving painting which depicts the devastating earthquake of 1650 which destroyed much of the city at the time.

With a few of Cuzco’s main attractions done and dusted, there really was only one thing left to do with the day and that was to return to Jack’s Cafe to indulge in a coffee and large molten chocolate muffin with ice-cream. Heaven!

While relaxing and chatting away with Florian and Leonie who had joined me since the cathedral, a young girl appeared at the entrance to the cafe. The adorable little thing proceeded to thoroughly entertain both herself and onlookers for quite a while with her antics with a simple toilet roll. It was one of those “you had to be there” moments, but it just showed how in this age of expensive, technical do-dads and thingamejigs, a simple sheet of rolled cardboard can still hold value to those whose innocence is still firmly intact.

I foresee more visits to Jack’s, this little culinary slice of heaven here in Cuzco, before our time here is over.

With angry weather rolling in and the daylight rapidly slipping away, the only thing left to do this afternoon was spend some time taking in the sights and sounds of the main square here in Cuzco, which seems to be quite the gathering space for the local population.

The Plaza de Armas is a large colonial style square consisting of patterned trees, benches and a beautiful bronze fountain which proved to be quite the decent prop for a selection of photos I moved around taking for about 15 minutes.

Making my way back up the energy sapping “Gringo Alley” back to our hostel, I found that most of the G group were still out and about in town exploring, or in their rooms resting, so I spent some time taking a few shots of the quaint hostel grounds and the fantastic elevated views you get of Cuzco from the many windows and balconies throughout.

With the sun setting on yet another fun and interesting day filled with historical and cultural learning, Julio gathered the troops together and we all headed back towards the square to find a wood-fired pizzeria that he (a Cuzco native) had been visiting since he was a young boy. With a testimonial like that, we all had high hopes which, by the time the beer and personal sized pizzas were flowing to our table, were well and truly met. For those of you looking for a good feed of pizza when in town, check out “El Molino” on Platería Street.

Last thing to do before heading back up to the hostal for the night was to join Rob in a little night shoot around the Plaza de Armas. Not exactly the easiest thing to do when you don’t have a tripod on you, but we gave it a crack anyway in a bid to paint a bit of a picture for you as to how beautiful the centre of town is after the sun goes down.

Time to get some sleep now, as in the morning we embark on our quest to reach Machu Picchu, starting with a journey by road into the Sacred Valley! Can’t wait!

G Adventures South America – Day 7 – Colca Canyon

masey — Thu, 17 Mar 2011 13:33:22 +0000

First of all, let me wish all those concerned a HAPPY ST PATRICK’S DAY! Usually on this day you can find me bolted to a bar stool in an Irish pub somewhere sucking down way too many pints of Guinness, toasting (multiple times) probably one of my favourite celebrations on the annual calendar.

Not today, however!

Today, was the day I travelled out to the breathtaking Colca Canyon!

Rising early after a great night’s sleep in our “Hotel La Casa de Mamayacci” I headed down to the dining hall where I found a few of the crew already tucking into cereal and bread, and making faces at the resident hotel pet llama who was milling around on the patio just outside.

Once we got all the crew out of bed and ready to go, it was onto the coach for the drive up to the world famous Colca Canyon. Along the way we stopped at a few small villages, affording us the chance to have a bit of a poke around a number of small churches and other community buildings.

There were customary gatherings of locals in brightly coloured traditional clothing pretty much every spot we stopped, eager to show us their wares, or in one gentleman’s case, hand off his large, impressive, incredibly sharp-taloned bird of prey for a photography opportunity or two, in return for a few soles.

Continuing on, gradually climbing through lush, green terraced farming land as we went, we began pausing less in little villages and more at impressive miradors (lookouts) where we had the chance to grab some photos and, if we hadn’t already, purchase any number of Peruvian hats, scarves, gloves and other trinkets from the awaiting, smiling vendors.

Colca Canyon

What can I say about the Colca Canyon other than – WOW! Being almost twice the depth of the Grand Canyon in the USA, it is marketed, here in Peru anyway, as the deepest canyon in the world and it’s hard to argue with the promotional tag line. While it didn’t blow me away to the same extent the vista did when I perched on the edge of the Grand Canyon a decade ago, it sure was impressive as the grass and shrub covered cliffs dropped away, sometimes further than the eye could see, down to the Colca River rushing along below.

View Larger Map

We spent an hour or two hiking the well groomed tracks that rimmed some of the deeper parts of the canyon, eventually arriving at the tourist-ridden “Cruz del Condor” a section of the canyon known for its excellent and reliable opportunities to view soaring Andean Condors.

While it took a little patience, we were lucky enough to eventually lay eyes on around 3 HUGE condors that were cruising the rim of the canyon, which was about 3,960ft (1,200 m) deep at this point. The condors, which have a wing span that can reach up to an incredible 3.2m or 10.5 ft in length, were using the morning thermals to hunt roughly 10m below our position on the trail.

Try as I might, with my new Canon G12, I wasn’t able to capture a decent (non-blurry) image of one of these magnificent beasts, but the wonderful Florian (German), who had the luxury of having his SLR camera with him, has kindly allowed me to post one of his great pics!

Making sure I was positioned on the right side of the bus to maximise the views on the return trip back to Arequipa, I was able to enjoy more sweeping, green vistas like the one below. Both these images and the images taken of the canyon (above) really don’t capture the scale of the country and therefore don’t really do the region justice, but it should give you a pretty good idea nonetheless.

We were making good time back through the high alpine country and down towards the Arequipa when all of a sudden our bus decided to break down due to a broken fan belt.

Evidently, our bus driver wasn’t as savvy a mechanic as he was a driver and we were divvied up into 3 smaller groups which hitched rides with other tour operators that arrived on the scene, back to our hotel in Arequipa.

An eventful end to what was a pretty fantastic day exploring an impressive geographical wonder, and a couple of days spent up in Peru’s true alpine country.