Sean, Author at Two Wise Nomads

All alone with the gods

We met our guide Fernando and the tour owner Carlos at the hostel around 5 to get a briefing on what to expect over the next 5 days. Didn’t sound too stressful, except maybe the very early morning starts. We were given a bag into which we had to patch our belongings for the 5 days – 7kg max. We then headed for a couple of drinks at the 180 View Escobar – best view of Cusco apparently or your money back – followed by a pizza at our favourite local pizza place. The guinea pig pizza was only tried by Andy.

We got picked up at 430am the next day and met the rest of our crew including Ebanhulio, our cook, the assistant cook plus the helper. We were all back to sleep in no time, to be woken up at the Inca ruins at Tarahuasi. Once again you could not help but marvel at their workmanship. We stopped for a great breakfast at Mollepata – a thriving little town that basically didn’t exist 15 years ago.

We arrived at Soraypampa around 10.30 for the start of our trek. We also got to meet our 7 mules and their 2 ‘mulers’. The numbers of trekkers was a bit scary but Fernando suggested we skip Humantay Lake, where they were all going, and head straight up to the Soraypampa campground – thus avoiding the crowds. It was a great move as we basically had the trail to ourselves. It was damn hard work climbing from the 3880m at the start to 4450m at the campground. The scenery was amazing although the lack of breath made it a wee bit of a challenge to really enjoy.

We arrived at the campground around 2.30 before getting stuck into an amazing lunch. – how Ebanhulio manages to cook the food on a few gas burners is incredible. The trout was amazing. A couple of our group took the opportunity of the tents being set up to catch some sleep, while the rest of us climbed another 200 metres to view the Salkantay lagoon. We were treated to a sunny afternoon which meant that colours of the lagoon, and the Salkantay and Palqay peaks, were amazing. We were also treated to several small avalanches. Day 1 involved a light 11km walk, taking us just over 7 hours for a total climb of 942 metres.

We all had a bit of a kip before joining Fernando in the mess tent for an hour of his history of the Inca empire. Very interesting. Amazingly we were the only campers on the whole site. We were treated to another great meal before all being tucked up in bed by 8 – bed was certainly the best way of avoiding the biting cold. Deryn and I were adamant we would not be getting up in the middle of the night for a pee as 1) it was too damn cold and 2) getting in and out of the tent required a degree of flexibility that we both lacked. We were both successful although we were told we missed an incredible night sky. Our hired sleeping bags were a bonus, albeit they were a bit like riding a bull, as they kept us warm while the rest of our crew struggled with the cold.

Incoming Friendlies

We both woke up feeling normal, the benefit of a decent workout the day before. We had a relaxed morning before chilling out and watching Zodiac on Netflix. The Sissons and Laws arrived around 6; a real pleasure to catch up with friends from home.

We headed into town for some Pisco Sours and then a cheap meal. We spent the next day exploring more of Cusco with our enthusiastic new arrivals. We walked up to San Cristobal for a look around the church. Again we were amazed at the glitz. We climbed the bell tower for a great view of Cusco – took all my willpower to not tug on the bell ropes! We then stopped in a local market for some incredible fruit juices and some lunch – Daryl was disappointed he could not find the horses heads he had read about.

The healthy tourists headed off for some massages while Daryl, Deryn and myself headed to a bar for some Pisco Sours and some cards. The massaged trio joined us before we headed off for a meal at a cool restaurant in the bohemian district of Cusco, just behind San Blas. We arrived at the restaurant at 7.25 for our 7pm booking to be told our table was gone. It was then simply a matter of waiting in the bar until another booking was more than 10 minutes later after which we could take their table. The highlight of the evening was the trout and the harp. We kicked on a bit when we got back to hostel with myself and Daryl giving life lessons to a 23 year old Dane called Andreas who wondered into our orbit.

We had arrange a minibus and guide to take us on a tour of the Sacred Valley the following day. The tour started with a visit to a weaving shop in Chinchero which we were shown how Alpaca and llama wool is spun and dyed into the incredibly coloured garments, all done using natural ingredients. Of course a collection of scarves, beanies and socks were purchased. We then walked around some Inca ruins and given a historical tour by Loosa, our guide. The Inca’s were amazing how they used terraces to grow corn in an environment where historically corn could not be grown.

Next it was an all you could eat lunch before moving onto the Ollantaytambo ruins. Again the incredible sophistication of the Inca’s were evident – in both the scale of their buildings but also how the harnessed the natural environment for their benefit. Ollantaytambo looked a really cool little village, just a bit of a shame it was overrun by hordes of tourists.

We finished off our tour with a visit to hilltop Inca Citadel in Pisac. We were all a bit road weary by this point and needed to be back in Cusco for our 7 pm booking at Chicha. The terraces were incredible but unfortunately we did not get the chance to explore the hilltop ruins. While we enjoyed the day, we all felt we spent too much time in the van driving from A to B to C. The meal was great – the wines were pricey though. Rest day tomorrow before we head off on our Salkantay Trek.

And to finish with a dog. This time with a friend.

Arriving at Altitude

We dropped our rental car off at the airport and then got a taxi into Plaza 9 de Julio. We planned to visit the Museum of High Altitude Archeology (MAAM), in particular to see the Llullaillaco Children, 3 mummified children who were discovered at 6000m near the peak of the Llullaillaco Volcano. These 13, 4& 5 year olds drunk an alcoholic drink which put them to sleep, enabling them to be buried alive as a sacrifice to the gods. They only display one at a time (some locals are not happy with them being displayed) so we only got to see the Llullaillaco Boy – the 5 year old. It was incredible how well he was preserved.

We walked around the plaza and popped into a few of the working Cathedrals. Incredibly gaudy. We then got the Teleferico San Bernardo to the highest point in Salta city. Pretty average really. Our view of Salta wasn’t great. Another great feed at the Poseda El Prado – cooked by the mother owner. The place is family run with the mother, son and daughter all living on site in their own houses with the main homestead effectively the B&B.

Gabriel, the son, took us to the airport at 4am the next morning for our 5.58am(!) flight to Cusco via Lima. We were at our hostel Hospedaje Turistico Recoleta by 10.30am. The hostel is a 15 min walk from the Plaza de Armas, the main square in Cusco. Cusco, the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America, is 3400m above sea level and so we were expecting to feel the effects for at least a couple of days.

We did not feel too bad so decided to explore the Plaza and do some of my chores – get a haircut and replace the battery on my watch. Both were achieved after a couple of hours of exploring so we popped in to watch the first half of the Liverpool v Barcelona Champions League Semi in a local sports bar. It was obviously a quality sports bar because it had multiple photos of the All Blacks around the place. The bar was packed and we ended up watching the full game with a young couple – Soy, an Cusco local and his English girlfriend Becker. They were very handy in helping us with some additional supplies.

We were in bed by 7.30 (Cusco is 2 hours behind Salta). We both woke up feeling like we had hangovers – a symptom of the altitude adjustment, not the beers during the soccer! We headed out for breakfast – 30 solo each at a local hotel. We thought it was OK value until we found out the the exchange rate was 2.3 solo to the A$, not the 3.3 we had thought. We then chilled at the hostel before heading out for a bit more exploring. Spent some time in the Monastery of Saint Catherine of Sienna – we even got to see a resident nun through a gate! We also visited the Cathedral of Santa Domingo – another working cathedral. Once again Deryn and I were amazed at the gaudy decadence inside the Cathedral, in stark contrast to the poverty outside. We boldly headed up the hill for our journey back to the hostel, really enjoying exploring the lanes and alleyways of this amazing city.

Our mates from Australia arrive tomorrow, ahead of us heading off on the Salkantay Trek next week. Can’t wait. And now of course, to finish off with a photo of a dog

Cafayate Chilling

After a lovely morning doing nothing, we headed out of town to tackle the Rio Colorado walk. We arrived at the car park at the start of the walk and was met by a couple of guides offering their services. We had read that it cost 50 pesos ($1.80) for a guide so thought we would provide some employment. We asked how much only to be told 300 pesos. When we said no, they told us it was mandatory and they would call the police if we did not use a guide. Our response was direct.

We did wonder if we had made a mistake turning down the guide after losing the path for the 5th or 6th time. However we soon got into the swing of it and enjoyed the physical and mental challenge – a bit like orienteering. We could not really get lost given we were following the river to a waterfall. At one stage however Deryn headed up a steep cliff trying to find the path and I did start to get a bit worried about her making it back down again – needlessly of course.

We finally made it to the waterfall and was encouraged to have a swim by a fellow traveler. Deryn pushed the boundary further by heading under the waterfall. The water was freezing!! We encountered lots of goats on our journey back, they certainly weren’t too concerned about humans.

Deryn visited the Museum of the Vine and Wine of Cafayate and said it was really impressive. Well worth a visit.

We hired some bikes the next day to visit a few of the many vineyards in the area. Paid an extra 100 pesos (600 pesos – $20 for a day hire) for the better mountain bikes although they turned out to be pretty average. Most of the vineyards we visited were either closed or ambivalent to our presence – it would have been useless doing a tour as they were only conducted in Spanish. We found an open vineyard (100m from our hotel) and paid 50 pesos for a tasting session. The Puerto Marini Vineyard was founded by an Italian 4 generations ago. The wine was very good. We spent the afternoon playing cards and backgammon in a cafe in the town square before another early night.

We spent a leisurely 4 hours driving back to Salta, stopping at the many little geological sites on the way to marvel at the splendour of Mother Nature (and time). We stayed at a lovely little hotel close to airport (Poseda El Paso – with amazing gardens and pool) due to our need to be at the airport at 4.15am. It was meant to be tomorrow but we’ve just found out we’ve been pushed back 24 hours due to a strike. Looks like we are going to spend a day in Salta after all.

And finally for some more dog (and a grey fox) photos.

Bottom of the Ocean in the Sky

We got the 11am flight from Iguazú Falls to Salta where we had arranged for a rental car to explore the provinces of Salta and Jujuy. Salta is 1152m above sea level in the foothills of the Andes. We picked up our rental car after receiving instructions how to drive a manual (?) and headed north towards Jujuy Provence. We had barely been in the car for 20 minutes when we thought we were being pulled over by 2 politcia on the side of the road – we were warned that there were endless police stops on the roads. In fact, it was simply 2 cops hitching a ride back home after their car had broken down. One of them spoke good English so we had a tour guide for the first hour.

The journey to Tilcara in the heart of the Jujuy Provence, a World Heritage area, was a 3 hour drive and with overcast skies and with my dodgy tummy, it was a journey of few stops. We arrived at our Tilcara Mistica Hostel around 5 – first impressions were not great and they did not improve. I guess you can’t expect much from US25 per night although I (everyone!) was thankful that we at least did not need to share a bathroom.

We got up early for our drive the next day to the famous 14 Coloured Mountain of Humahuaca. Breakfast was akin to prisoner rations which sort of suited my stomach. The drive to Humahuaca took about 40 minutes, we stopped briefly in the town to grab some cocoa leaves before heading into the mountains and the Hornocal Mirador (lookout). Shortly after leaving town we turned onto a dirt road for another 40 minutes or so of steep climbing and endless hairpins. Both of us could feel the effect of the altitude so we started chewing on the cocoa leaves – Deryn said they tasted like shit, given her obvious greater experience, I took her word for it.

We finally reached the Mirador which was over 4300m. We then had a 10 minute walk down to the best viewpoint. The colours in the mountains were spectacular – caused by shells and sediments when the mountains were at the bottom of the ocean. “Tony Abbott has a lot to answer for (R Dowling)”. We could have stayed there for days but the effect of the altitude combined with a cold wind meant we could only manage 20 minutes. The walk back took a while due to the altitude which left us feeling very lightheaded and fatigued even though we were chewing cocoa leaves like a couple of cows.

We headed back to Tilcara for some food before driving to Uquia for the Hike to Mars. The start of the walk required us to drive though the town and then on to a very, very rough road to a car park – I actually thought it was part of the walk. Unfortunately I was not up to doing the full walk but at least we got a feel of the area.

We planned to head away early the next day but needed a bit of a sleep in as a bunch of fellow guests (we were at least 25 years older than any of them) decided to have a bit of a party until 2am. The plan was to visit the Salinas Grandes (large salt plains) on our way to Cafayate, about 5.5 hours south. The Salinas Grande was a 40 minutes drive from the beautiful town of Purmamarca. It was another incredible climb with more endless hairpins – this road was at least paved as it was Ruta 52 through to Chile. The peak of the pass was around 4200m before dropping down into the salt plains. Again it was incredible to imagine this vast plain was once at the bottom of the ocean. We had some fun with the camera and the endless landscape to take some perspective photos – at least Deryn knew what she was doing. The altitude again required some cocoa chewing.

We had our fun and then headed back to Purmamarca for lunch. It is a beautiful town and we both wished that we had stayed there instead of Tilcara. After a few empanadas (cheese and spinach – yum) we started on our 5.5 hour drive to Cafayate according to the route chosen by Sygic, our GPS.

We soon realised that we were taking a different route to Salta than that on the way up, but were OK given we know there was 2 ways to get there. 75 minutes into our drive we found the road getting very narrow and most unlike a major route. Deryn gave the navigator a bit of stick and even turned around before confirming we were in fact on the right road and turned around again. The cop at the check point must have wondered what the hell was going on as we passed him for the third time.

Very quickly we were into dense mountainous bush on a road barely 1 vehicle wide, having to continually dodge all sorts of livestock – cows, horses, sheep, goats, dogs and even a piglet. It was hard driving but so different to the spectacular but barren landscapes that we had been driving through. We finally reached Salta and headed south to Cafayate. Yet again we were back in the mountains with the most incredible landscapes – I wanted to stop every 10 minutes to take photos but our desire to get to our hotel before dark prevented me from doing so. We arrived at our Hotel Asturias at around 630pm and was showered and sitting in a local cafe for dinner by 7!

The hotel was lovely and the following morning we agreed that rather than endure another day of tough driving to Cachi and even tougher driving back to Salta, we would spend 3 nights here and return on the decent road back to Salta. I am writing this blog in a cafe in the main square of Cafayate with the sun beating down on me, sipping on a coffee listening to the local music filling the air, feeling very good about that decision. Or maybe its just because I have overcome my tummy bug.

The Majesty of Water

We were both so glad we made the decision to head up here to Iguazu Falls. No photo can do justice to the majesty of these falls. The sheer number of falls (275) in itself is incredible. Deryn and I were saying that many of these falls in isolation would be a tourist attraction in NZ!

We arrived at Iguazu Falls airport on the Argentinian size and got a taxi to our hotel (the famous Belmond Hotel) in the national park on the Brazilian size of the falls. The taxi cost 1400 pesos (A$35) and made the border crossing a breeze. The hotel was beautiful. We checked in and decided to visit the falls via boat. It cost about A$100 each, took 2.5 hours door to door for a 15 minute dunk under one of the waterfalls. Confirmed Deryn and my aversion to group tours.

We then walked around the falls once the park had been closed for day trippers – a real perk of staying in the hotel. The falls were amazing.

We had arranged for Sergio (our taxi driver from the day before) to meet us at the park entrance at 730 the following day for an early start to get into the park on the Argentine side. It was a great strategy as it meant we could get the first train to the main falls vantage point before the hordes arrived. It was absolutely incredible. Everyone should try get to see these falls. By the time we left the viewing platform, the crowds had grown from a few to about 30 with an endless stream arriving as each new train disgorged its passengers.

We then walked the two other circuits – the Superior Circuit, which was a walk around the top of the falls – and the Inferior Circuit around the bottom. Both are definitely worth doing but Deryn and I agree the Inferior was superior. We also agreed that the Argie side was better than the Brazilian although both are incredible.

I came down with a tummy bug so spent the afternoon lounging by the pool and having a kip in our luxury room – decided to make the most of the amazing facilities before we head off to Salta and back to hostels. If anyone does head down to BA to watch the Wallabies or AB’s play the Puma’s, make sure you include Iguazu Falls in your agenda.

Last tango in Buenos Aires

We were feeling a bit sad that our time in BA was coming to a close. We had a leisurely start to the day before heading off to buy Deryn some new walking boots – the current ones were causing a few hassle around her left ankle. Amazing how all shopping centres look the same!

We then got back on the subway and headed back to San Juan on the C line to make our way to Feria De San Telmo. The primary purpose was to witness the famous tango in the market. We had decided against going to a show and dinner the night before figuring a 730pm start with a 1am finish was not worth the price. It was a lovely afternoon, exploring the cobbled streets filled with interesting stalls and activities. We We got to see the famous tango which was a highlight after which we spent several hours playing cards and supping ales in a cool cafe chock full of knick knacks.

By the time we got on the subway to return to our hotel we were both steaming. A great way to spend our last day in Buenos Aires!

The Wall of Ice

We arranged for a taxi to drive us to the Perito Merino glacier. It meant we could come and go as we pleased and also pop into the Glaciarium Museum on way home. We got picked up at 815am – after luckily finding an open bakery for a pastry breakfast. These Argies don’t like rising easily or eating brekkie.

It took us an hour to get to the glacier. It was incredible; the sheer scale of the wall of ice, the rifle shots coming from within the living mass and every now and then, a roar as the ice broke off into the water. It was also breathtaking watching the rising sun highlight the blue of the ice. The 2 hours we spent walking around on the impressive walkways passed in a flash.

On our return journey we stopped in at the highly rated Galcierium Museum. It was filled with glacial facts, the highlight of which was watching a movie on the colllapes of the ice bridge at the Perito Marino glacier. The glacier connects with the land every few years and creates a barrier between Lago Argentino. The water levels rises (27m in this case) on one side before the water pressure eeventually creates a passage through ice which then, over several days, causes the bridge to collapse. Amazing to watch the power of nature.

We then got on the lash (and cards and backgammon) before finishing off the night at a local bar. Before we go, a picture of a couple of Zorros .

Early bird gets the Condors

We got up early (7am!) to get to the Condor lookout by sunrise at 830. It was below zero so we rugged up well. We needed our headlamps to guide us up the gentle gradient to the lookout.

Watching Mt Fitzroy the accompanying peaks slowly getting illuminated by the rising sun was spectacular. Made us realise what we had missed on our first day’s hike to Laguna de los Tres. We then walked to Mirador de las Aquilas – with a view of the lake and surrounding plaines.

We got the 1pm bus back to El Calafate after which we spent an hour or so walking around rhetoric town centre. The town was a bit bigger than we expected with a lot of outdoor equipment shops!

Laguna de los Tres

Today we did the Laguna de los Tres trek starting from the village of El Chalten to the lagoon lake below the triple granite peaks of Poincenot (3,002m), Fitz Roy (3,375m) and Mermoz (2,732m).

The majority of the trek was on easy paths with not too much climbing. Both Deryn and I were wearing 4 layers of clothing as well as gloves and beanies for most of the trek. The landscape varied from lovely shady beech forests to quite bleak alpine meadows. We got some spectacular views of the three peaks on the way up but unfortunately never without some cloud.

The last 2km was a tough 450 climb up a very icy path. It was also made more challenging through having to pass overly cautious trekkers on their way up and avoid sliding trekkers on their way down. The lagoon was impressive but unfortunately we did not get the view of the peaks because of the cloud cover.

It started snowing a but heavier on the way down which made for very picturesque landscape. Much like the other treks, the cold water from the glacier rivers was incredibly refreshing. We were both tired by the end of the trek but 25.8km and over a 1,000m of climbing explains why.

We stopped and had dinner at a local restaurant called Padrilla La Oveja Negre – along the main road to the walk. The food was incredible and so cheap. My fresh trout pasta was perfect – an for only $A10.