Surprising Quito

On our last night we met a lovely Dutch couple while playing cards in the dining room of Casa Verde and spent a few hours drinking and chatting. It made getting up for our bus trip back to Quito a bit difficult. Our local taxi driver Adolphi was very disappointed that he was only driving us to the Banos bus stop and not Quito.  So much so that Deryn and I agreed that he could in fact drive us all the way to Quito, saved us from hanging around the bus stop.

Our hotel Real Audiencia was in the heart of Old Quito, which made wandering around the old town very easy.  Quito felt very different to the other South American cities we had visited – a weird mix of very old, run down but tidy, loads of cops and tourist police (made you feel safe, mostly) and some of the most intriguing looking people we had encountered to date.  We spent the first afternoon exploring the old town’s squares – the Plaza Grande and Plaza San Francisco.  We then headed to the Basilicia del Voto National – a church whose spires dominated the eastern skyline of the old city. 

We paid $2 to check out the cathedral – OK – and then paid another $2 to climb the towers. The views of the cathedral from within the towers were amazing – we wasted $4 – and then you got to walk across the the roof of the cathedral, following which you could climb 3 flights of incredibly steep stairs to the top of the spire. Like climbing ship stairs. Just a a lot higher.  Definitely worth doing. Dinner was our most expensive since Cusco at $32.  Hell’s teeth.

We did a 3 hour guided walk of old Quito the next morning. The tour started at the Community Hostel – a really buzzy, nice place. We wished we had stayed there – everyone was so friendly. The first stop of the tour was the local market with numerous stalls visited and sampled.  The rest of the tour was more historical but really, really good.  A nice mix of history, culture and even economics. After a lunch in one of the many dodgy looking chicken places, and a kip, we headed back out to explore some of the stuff we had seen in the morning but wanted to see more of.

First on the list was the Casa Gangotena – the best museum I have ever seen for making history real.  After a bit of a battle with a big group of students, we found our mojo and enjoyed a hour of trying to figure what the hell was going on in these lifelike scenes.  All the signs were in Spanish – except the names of course.  We also took a fair few photos after being told we were not allowed.  Tsk.  Tsk.   It was then a quick viewing of the Salvador Dali exhibition of a whole load of his sketches. He was one weird, organ obsessed fellow.  We had dinner in a pub in the old town’s party zone which was a wee bit spoiled by my dodgy chicken.  Two bites and I knew it was wrong. No after effects thankfully. 

We moved to the Swissotel on Friday morning as part of our Galapagos package.  We got there early so was told to go have breakfast (second for the day) while our room was being prepared. Nice.  We then headed up the TelefericQo – Quito’s gondola up the east side of Pichincha Volcano – to a height of 4000m.  Our taxi to the start did not have the grunt to get up the steep last km of the road so Dits and I had to get out and walk.  Not easy at 3100m.  Compounded with this was the fact that it was overcast with rain up top.  However we soldiered on, paid our $8.50 and had a gondola to ourselves. It was a spectacular climb, even with the last 5 mins being completely clouded over. The top was shrouded for the first 30 minutes before the cloud lifted and we got to see some of the spectacular scenery. Once again the ever popular swing was sampled – best yet!  We could not see the other 5 or 6 volcanoes but it was still magic. Even after getting soaked in the hail downpour.  We had our own gondola again on the way down – dodgy looking gringos perhaps?

We walked some of the journey back to the hotel – not the most attractive area actually. Then it was cards and our free Mojito, followed by a buffet in the executive lounge. We gorged before crashing nice and early on account of our 5.15am pick up in the morning. 

And now some Quito observations – they sell motorbikes with TVs, beds an fridges. Like Harvey Norman with a motorbike section. They have triple length buses. And coffee comes in a concentrated form that looks like soy sauce. You mix it with hot water. There are many desperate looking Venezuelans. Mostly selling lollipops on the side of the road. One traveller we met said the border crossing from Colombia was a tragic sight. She said there were literally hundreds of Venezuelans, some in UNICEF first aid tents, all desperate to escape.

Banos de Agua Santa

Had a great night sleep to the sound of the swollen Rio Pastaza roaring in the background. We walked the 2km into town and spent an hour or so exploring its centre. I think it’s clear you don’t come to Baños to experience the architectural wonders of the town.  It’s all about outdoor adventures. 

In the afternoon we got a $10 taxi to the Casa Del Arbol at the top of the mountain above Baños. It’s area is renown for the many swings perched on the edge of cliffs, giving you spectacular views of the area while swinging. Deryn enjoyed it more than I did as it made me feel a bit sick. FFS – getting older is pain!  We also had a cursory go on the flying fox before starting the walk down. 

The walk entailed a couple of kms on the road before heading off into a very steep muddy path down the mountain. It was hard going but quite spectacular views of Baños and the very rural environment made it worthwhile.  The 10km walk took us 90min. We grabbed an early meal at a steak house – chicken for me and fish for Deryn. We then headed to the local hot pools at the base of the Cascade Cabellera de la Virgen Falls (someone saw the Virgin Mary there a few years back). $2 entry fee and another $1 to ‘rent’ a head cap. We were told to shower before getting in the pool by a stern matron who was immediately obeyed. The first pool was hot spa temp but the second one was considerably hotter. I loved it while Dits found it a tad too hot. I then jumped into the cold plunge pool which to say was invigorating would be an understatement. However the hot pool after that was a breeze. 

We both felt amazing afterwards and agreed it needed to be a nightly occurrence. Dits unfortunately was hit by the Ecuadorian tummy bug in the middle of the night. Now being fhe champion she is, she agreed to go ahead with our planned biking trip along south of Banos to all the waterfalls, fishing at the Pailon Del Diablo (Devil’s cauldron) The waterfalls were not bad – certainly a lot of them – but even more impressive were the number of zip lines running across the valley.  We counted at least 10 – some of them look decidedly dodgy so given Dits was not feeling well, we decided to give them a go next time we passed by.

It was a 12 km to Pailon Del Diablo, the best bits of the road were on the old road that bypassed the single lane tunnels in which bikes were not allowed.  It was cobblestoned with amazing views as it snaked along the mountainside.  There were 2 entrances to the falls – Dits and I went down one and I then did the other by myself as Dits was fading fast.  We grabbed a truck back to our hostel – they line up like taxis outside of the falls and for $12 (can fit 6 bikes) they take you the 12km back to Banos.  As there was only Deryn and myself we had to pay the full $12.

The next couple of days were spent doing very little while we waited for Deryn to recover. Plenty of reading and sleep.  We headed into town a few times to grab some food, headed back to the hot baths and booked our canyoning trip. Deryn thankfully had recovered in time for my birthday so we found a cool bar in town and got on it. Felt very, very old the next day. 

Unfortunately it rained for our last 3 days in Banos so all our planned outdoor activities were canned.  We were up early for our canyoning so when it was cancelled decided to walk to the other side of town to the Balneario El Salado hot baths.  It was a fair hike but worth it in the end.  It was nice and quiet when we arrived but after an hour the hordes of arriving school kids soon had us on our way.  A quick scan of the local cemetery and then lovely meal at a Rasta Vege joint before heading back to La Casa Verde for our last evening in this cool little town.

And then there was this tail..

La Paz – highest capital in the world

Well, as is often the case, a few hands of cribbage with me supping on whiskey and Deryn on Bolivian wine, turned into a bit of a bender.  Once the mini-bar acquired booze was finished we headed into town to a local Thai resultant for a feed before finishing the night in the Red Lion pub to watch a local band.  Deryn kept forcing Irish coffees down me believing it would stop me keeling over. 

I was in better shape than Deryn next morning for our flight to La Paz.  Once again the flight was incredibly easy and it wasn’t long before we were in the Hostal La Posada De La Abuela in the artisan area of La Paz, just around the corner from the witches market.  A great location. We explored the area before getting an early night to recover from the previous night’s excesses.  

We arranged a taxi to take us to Tiwanaku the next morning – while more expensive than a bus (about $80), it meant we had the freedom to come and go at our own pace. The drive to the ruins took about 3 hours – with nearly half of that just getting out of La Paz’s and El Alto.  We made the decision that we would catch the Mi Teleferico (cable car) back to our hostel to avoid the worst of the traffic. 

The Tiwanaku dominated a large area of the southern Andes around 500 to 900AD.  The ruins included temples, a pyramid and some amazing sculptures. The huge stones used in the construction (weighing up to 25 tones) were transported from quarries over 90km away.  Insane.  Also the quality of the carving (straight lines of the H’s) shows a incredibly sophisticated society.  The belief is that a severe drought eventually led to the demise of the empire.  While impressive, it didn’t quite match up the quality of the many Inca ruins we had seen.

We got dropped off at the first station of the Mi Teleferico on our way home.  We had to change lines twice – each time getting off and buying another 3B ticket (60c) – before we arrived back at our local station. It was incredible. Firstly we got to go above the El Alto market – South America’s largest outdoor market.  The scale of the market was unbelievable – it stretched as far as the eye could see off every street. We then got to drop down onto La Paz with amazing views of this unique city.

The next morning it was an early start to get down to the Higher Ground Cafe where we were being picked up by Gravity for our Death Road (Yungus Road)  mountain bike ride. The trip didn’t start well when our guide Nate said he had expected us the previous day.  It wasn’t a major hassle though as they just needed the shop to load more bikes and gear which delayed our start by 30 minutes. 

Death Road was cut into the side of the Cordillera Oriental mountain range by Paraguayan prisoners in the 1930’s during the Chaco War.  The road was the only connection between La Paz and the Yungas region.  Between 200 and 300 people were killed every year and as late as 1994 a car was going off the edge on average every 2 weeks.  The worse accident was in 1983 when an overcrowded bus went off the edge killing over 100. A new road was finished in 2006 so now the old road is mostly used by mountain bikers (25,000 a year), although 30 bikers have died since 98.  Including a Kiwi who was riding with Nate only 3 months ago.

We started the ride at 4730m.  The first 22km was on the new sealed road (so we basically just bombed it). We then voted to get back on the bus for the 10km uphill bit before starting the Death Road proper.  It’s 33km to the town of Coroico (1200m) at the end of the road.  It was a shame that the top half of the ride was shrouded in cloud because we did not get to appreciate the views – or the sheer drops!!  While not technically difficult (half our group had not mountain biked before), you still had to be careful because of the sheer drops off the side of the road (some more than 400m) and that the road narrowed to about 3.5m wide at times – how big trucks and buses drove along this road is beyond me.  Rails were put on some dangerous corners a few years ago by the parents of a child that was killed on the road.  Nate, and Gravity, did a great job in managing the group although, as I pointed out to Deryn, we could have done the whole thing easily in a third of the 6 hours it took our group with the many stops and rests on the way.  The quickest is apparently 47 minutes which you would need to be mad to attempt to beat.  Nate was also asked by a group of Americans to guide them on riding up the road.  He declined.  

The ride finishes at the La Senda Verde Wildlife Sanctuary. It’s a sanctuary set up by a couple of locals to care for animals rescued from trafficking.  It has lots of the impressive Bolivian parrots, spider, howler and squirrel monkeys, capybaras and even a tapir (which Deryn was lucky enough to see!).  When booking the ride we had also booked the Tree Hut at the sanctuary, deciding it would be nice to stay the night rather than get the Gravity bus back the same day.  What a great idea!

We did a walk around (the noise from the parrots was amazing) before having dinner and heading to bed in our tree house. It was magic sleeping in the ‘wild’ and waking up to the noise of the birds and howler monkeys. Sitting out on out little deck and watching the Spider monkeys was also cool, including a few that got very close and personal.  We then did a tour with Sally, a Brit who was volunteering there.  The size of the place was impressive although it appeared that they were doing it a bit tough – Sally confirmed this saying that they are just not getting tourists staying like they used to.  Our guess was that the state of the accommodation would put a few people off.  We hired a taxi to take us back to La Paz.  The new road itself was impressive and thankfully the weather was good so we got to see a lot of the scenery that we missed on the way down. 

We spent the afternoon walking around again before getting enthused and heading into a bar for some Pisco Sours. We then caught the Mi Teleferico again to see how it looked at night – still impressive – before finishing the night off in the local English Pub playing cribbage again. On that front Deryn now leads 38 to 35 games. 

We had a 545am taxi to get us to the airport for our 7.56am flight to Quito, Ecuador via Lima.  Deryn left her glasses and headphones in the hotel room (that’s 2 lost headphones with mine left in Rurrenabaque).  The perils of early morning departures.  We had arranged a taxi to meet us at the airport for the 3 hour drive to Banos de Aqua Santa, the hillside town near the Tungurahua volcano.  The name of the town reflects the healing powers of its many hot springs.  We finally arrived at the La Casa Verde Eco Guest House around 3.30pm.  It had lovely views of the surrounding hills and fast flowing Rio Pastaza.  

And again we finish with a dog.  Or a Banos dog lookout to be more accurate 

Sweet as Sucre

The day started with a lovely breakfast in our hotel with amazing views of the city. We then spent the rest of the day basically just walking around the old town.  Lots of lovely white walled building and one way streets. The local market was as fascinating as all these markets are, full of all sorts of fresh produce, raw meats and a huge array of miscellaneous products. 

We decided the University of Sucre, founded in the 1600’s would be worth a visit so spent an hour walking to the campus only to be incredibly disappointed at what we found.  It looked more like an industrial zone than a place of learning. At least we got to explore another part of the city. 

We had read good things about the nightlife in Sucre given the backpackers and student population so we headed out at 6 to find place to drink.  Two lessons here. Firstly do not walk around old Sucre at 6pm as its effectively rush hour and the streets are clogged with lung busting fume throwers. Secondly, if you are planning on partying with backpackers and students, their night does not start until 9.30pm.  A Sucre Sour at Joy Ride Club followed by several Sucre Mojito’s at the very long named Kultur Berlin Hostel Restaurant Bar Nightclub (and some chicken wings and Brushettas) and we were ready to leave as the place was starting to wind up. I wonder if anyone even noticed the two wise nomads playing cribbage in the middle of the pub?

The next day we headed into town to grab the local dinosaur bus to Parque Cretacico.  Sitting on the top deck of the bus was interesting, not because of the sights but because of observing how close the bus came to taking out power lines running across the road and the odd shop sign. 

The park, in a word, was incredible.  The park was (is) part of a concrete factory that was built in the 1940s to help rebuild Sucre after an earthquake. They factory basically cut vertically away a mountain of limestone until it reached a layer that was high in magnesium and hence unsuitable for concrete. So they moved to another area and left the cliff to get eroded by rain and gravity. 26 years later, In 1994, the first dinosaur footprints were exposed. Turns out the cliff was once the shore of a freshwater lake that was pushed vertical by tectonic plates over 50 million years ago.  The footprints of sauropods, tetrapods and others were preserved in the lakeside mud.  The footprints were roughly 60 million years old  – at this stage 12,092 of them.  

The tour started with a walk amongst life size replicas of dinosaurs whose footprints are on the cliff – the Titanosaurus (Argentinasauros) was incredible in both size and the noise that emanated from it. We then walked down to the cliff-face to get up close to the footprints. A local guide provided a lot of detail and made the guided tour a must.  Bolivia is looking to have the site listed as a world heritage site in order to get the funding to preserve the footprints – failing that they will be lost by 2020 through erosion.  Interestingly the concrete factory is increasing dramatically in size which appears at odds with the preservation argument.

The day finished with a climb to the Recoleta to watch the sun set over the city. Once again we were amazed at the number of kids playing in the square – waiting to be picked up by working parents was my guess. There are that many kids that the schools here in Bolivia operate on 2 shifts – morning and afternoon. 

Our last day in this lovely city was spent walking around the place. First we visited the local Cathedral museum – I reckon there is a strong dose of masochism in the local Catholic community given the gruesome artworks in the Cathedral and it’s museum. No photos allowed unfortunately.  We then walked to the lovely Parque Bolivar – the Eiffel Tower replica is not a replica!!   The afternoon was spent reading and kipping in preparation for our busy 4 days in La Paz, where we head to tomorrow morning. 

Samiapata – a bohemian myth

We finally got out of Rurrenabaque, even though the weather remained dodgy with low cloud cover and were told when checking in they were uncertain as to whether the plane could land.  An hour and a half later we landed in Santa Cruz and in no time we were in a taxi on our way to Expresso Samaipata – the shared taxis going to Samaipata.  When I say shared, I mean shared.  The taxi was a normal minivan and in our case had 8 passengers plus the driver. I guess you get what you pay for – 30 Boliveros per person ($6 for a 3 hour drive).

The road to Samaipata was pretty brutal, having to navigate multiple slips, huge trucks and loads of dogs.  Turned out they had had an unusual amount of rain for the area over the previous and hence the number of slips. We arrived in Samiapata as the sun was setting but thankfully it was only a 10 minute walk to Casa Lynda. Lynda wasn’t home but she had emailed us instructions to find our room.  A quick turnaround and we were back in the village square looking for a pub.

The town had a good vibe which was reinforced as we entered a pub called The Bohemian.  Our host Lynda was sitting at the bar and introduced herself as we entered.  She was from Toronto and had been traveling through the area 5 years ago with her son when she fell in love with the place and bought the house on her second day in Samaipata. She had been home once in the 5 years. I asked her whether her parents were still alive (we guessed her to be in her 60s) – she said that was a vey odd question, particularly since her mother had died on this day 23 years earlier. I told her my ancestors were witches.  The pub was owned by 2 Aussie’s and was run by a Kiwi lad from Wellington. Certainly the number of expats in the bar far exceeded any indigenous folk.  The prices may have something to do with it.  It was our most expensive night in Bolivia so far – 4 pints of beer, 3 wines, 1 whiskey and 2 burger and chips came to a whopping 270 Bs ($54). 

Samaipata is at the intersection of 3 cultures – Inca, Andes and Amazon.  The statue in the main square said as much. The next morning we walked about 2 km on a gravel road to a small animal refuge, set up by a local family and helped by volunteers.

The entry fee was 20B and you get to walk around freely to see the different animals they have rescued from illegal trafficking, road accidents and some that were unauthorized pets. In some cases you can enter cages with the animals – the Toucan and Llama enclosure had a cool tree house we climbed. In addition to Toucans and Llamas we saw monkeys, tortoises and a variety of birds. On the way back to the village we stopped at a small cafe called la Vaca Loca, “the crazy cow” for delicious ice cream.

Prior to dinner we booked our trip to the Fern Forest at the local tourist office.  In this case it was manned by a very young girl (11 or 12 was our guess) who needed to be schooled by Deryn that 2 x 175 = 350, not the 300 she first stated. Dinner and cards followed including a soup for me that reminded my very much of Aunty Divina’s famous pea soup. Any thoughts of getting up to mischief after dinner was dispelled by the vast number of kids running around the main square. The prior view that our stay in Bolivia would be wild has evolved into more of a family holiday. It’s not surprising when I found that 30% of the population are 14 and under. 

After another dodgy night sleep (not a great bed and the odd rogue mossie), we rose relatively early for our excursion to the Fern Forest.  We had to sit in the main square until 8 for a brekkie joint to open – the one that did though did a cracking, no pun intended, omelette.  We were joined on our trip by 2 other couples (one couple older, the other about the same age).  Our view of Samaipata is changing from the original bohemian to a bar-bell of young and old.  Our planned 3 nights will be enough.

The drive to the start of our walk was on a very bad dirt road and we travelled mostly at walking pace.  One couple was from Brazil, the other from France but they both knew Spanish so chatted the whole way.  We arrived at the start of the walk and was given some background by our guide in Spanish first and then English on what to expect on the walk. Within 5 minutes of starting he stopped to talk about some of the plants. Nope, this was not going to work so Dits and I headed off on our own, stopping every now and then to let them catch up to make sure we were on the right path before heading off again. Walking through the giant ferns certainly made us feel like we were back in NZ – the main difference being that there were very few birds.  The view from the top was pretty cool – a vast expanse of forested mountains and deep valleys. 

When we arrived back at the van we decided to start walking down the road rather than wait for the others at the van.  After 30 minutes of walking we waited at the entrance of the national park for another 15 minutes before the van caught up with us. Slow pokes.  I was feeling a bit dodgy so it was an early dinner (vege burger and chips) over a couple of games of cribbage and then finish up our GoT binge.  

I was still feeling a bit dodgy the next morning so was not sure about joining Deryn for the waterfall excursion. I was glad I was talked into it although only made it to the first of 3, before deciding to retire to finish off Dickens “A Christmas Carole”.  How that is rated as Dickens best book beats the hell out of me.  Deryn enjoyed the other 2 waterfalls and even got in a swim.  Another early night althoughI spent the entire night scratching the slow release sand sly bites from the waterfall.  

We arranged a shared taxi to pick us up at 930 and to drop us off directly at Santa Cruz airport. The drive back was easier than the drive down here as most of the slips had been fully cleared.  Once again the Bolivian health and safety standards were on display – no seatbelts and the lady in the front seat holding an infant on her lap.  No helmets and 4 on a motor bike is one thing, but unconstrained infants. Eek!   It still took us over 3.5 hours to get the airport .  We both agreed, on reflection, that Samaipata did not really live up to the time and effort of getting there. Once again our flight left 20 minutes early – we have noticed that in Bolivia with both busses and flights, once all the passengers are on board, they leave. It was a short 30 minute flight to Sucre Alcantari International airport – the landscape out of the plane window was once again incredibly hilly and dry.  The airport was 22 km from Sucre.  Both the airport and the road into Sucre looked new.  Our hotel, Mi Pueblo Samary Hotrel Boutiquewas in Old Sucre, a world heritage listed area.  Our hotel was stunning, built to resemble a village. It was previously the Brazilian embassy in Sucre.  Felt good to be here. 

And to finish again with our favorite topic, dogs. This pup was our companion and endless entertainer at Casa Lynda. A real gem.

Pampas Paradice

We spent a couple of days hanging out in Rurrenabaque, staying at the delightful Hotel Maya de la Amazonia. Found a nice little cafe that became our place to hangout and play cards.  Interesting the number of Israelies around the place and also the locals love of very loud music.  It’s also the first time on our travels that we felt like we could be in Asia – except the food is not as nice. 

We met with Norman, the owner of Madidi Expeditions https://www.madidiexpeditions.com on Monday night to talk us through our 3 days in the Pampas.  The pampas are basically low lying grasslands that flood during the wet season and then slowly drain during the dry months. They are teeming with bird life, monkeys and other smaller mammals. 

Norman and his driver, Michael, picked us up the next morning at 9.30 (was meant to be 8 then 9) for a 3 hour drive to Santa Rosa del Yacuma.  The Chinese are building a road connecting eastern Bolivia with Brazil – at this stage the road is still unsealed with lots of work ongoing. Hence the drive was incredibly dusty, quite scary at times as the visibility was zero while overtaking another vehicle. Anyway we made it safety to our idyllic retreat in Yacuma.  At this stage it was just Deryn and I, with another couple joining us for the second day.

We had a great lunch (love the fried chicken) and then headed out in a longboat into the pampas for some viewing and piraña fishing.  Norman told us that this pampas wears one of the 1000 plus tributaries that flowed into the Amazon. Amazing. First to be seen was the Caiman – basically a croc.  Also we saw lots of the very shy, but noisy, Serere.  They looked like a cross between a vulture and a turkey.  We saw heaps of cranes, herons, kingfishers and even got invaded by a troop of Yellow Squirrel Monkeys. We then stopped for some fishing and before long was hauling in red belly piranhas (the most dangerous – no way were we taking the hook out of their mouths!) and some sardines. We kept some of the bigger ones for dinner. Eat or be eaten!  On the journey back we saw some Howler Monkeys, not howling at this stage.

We sat on our private little deck playing cards with the teeming birdlife all around and some pink dolphins frolicking in the lagoon in front of us.  After another fine feed (Pino the cook is great), including some very tasty piranha, we headed out into the pampas for some night viewing. We finally figured out that our torches were best held in our hands and not fastened to our heads – it stopped us getting a face full of insects – which Norman found very funny. The setting sun was spectacular as was the glowing red eyes of the Cayman. Sleep was steamy but thankfully we did not have to sleep under the mosquito net as the room was reasonably insulated. 

The next morning we drove to another part of the pampas, including crossing the Beni river in a hand drawn ferry, to look for anacondas. We did not manage to see any anacondas but saw a lot of Capybaras – basically giant Guinea Pigs. We returned to base for some hours chilling on the deck watching the wildlife at play while reading. Our other guests turned up around 2 – Swiss banker was my guess. We heard them talking German over lunch so asked where there were from. Switzerland.  Damn I’m good. 

Back into the boat after lunch for some more viewing. We got to see the rare Jabiru stork and even a sloth (sort of!).  We also got to hear a troop of Howler Monkeys howling in the distance.  Quite an eery sound.   We flagged the night trip and instead decided on an early night – this viewing stuff is exhausting – plus we were heading out at 6am for a sunrise trip. The mosquitoes were brutal before dawn but once out in the boat, not too bad. Watching the sun come up was great, as was getting to hear properly the early morning wake up calls of the Howler Monkeys.   

We then spent a few more hours chilling and reading on our favourite deck.  Pretty special being in the middle of all this wildlife. Could spend days just sitting there.  Unfortunately our time had ended and it was back into the car for our drive back to Rurrenabaque.  It had been raining so the trip was not as dusty but the water filled potholes made it potentially even more dangerous. It was a bit sad saying goodbye to Norman – he seemed to enjoy us as much as we enjoyed him. A mutual love of humour!  Another night in the lovely Maya del la Amazonia before heading to Santa Cruz in the morning. 

It was raining when we woke up so were a bit concerned the flight might be cancelled. We were assured it was OK so headed to the airport only to find that our flight was actually the next day.  Duh.  Oh well, back to the Maya for another day of chilling in the rain. I have managed to download the final Game of Thrones series so maybe a G o T binge. 

Coping in Copacabana

We arrived at Copacabana around 5.30pm – just in time to see a spectacular sunset.  Copacabana is a small town in northern Bolivia, nestled on the edge of Lake Titicaca, the highest (3850m) navigable lake in the world – the lake is huge (58,000 square kilometers).  We arrived at our beautiful, and funky little hostel called Los Olas.  It was perched on the hillside with amazing views of the lake.

Both Deryn and I struggled once again with the altitude and hence did not do a lot for the first couple of days.  We explored the village on the first day and did very little else. We did bump into a couple of fellow Kiwi nomads from Wellington (Graeme and Julie) on the first night while waiting for dinner so ended up sharing a table. It was was a real pleasure.  As was the cost of the meal – things certainly are cheaper in Bolivia. 

On the second day I managed to find a local bar that was showing the second leg of the Leeds Derby promotion semi. I really wish I hadn’t.  At least I did not have to share my misery with anyone as the bar was completely empty.  By the end of the day we had enough energy to climb the hill behind the village to watch the sunset – spectacular. Although we were a bit premature in descending the hill as the colours continue to look incredible a good 30 minutes after the sun had gone down. 

We bumped into a couple of Brits earlier in the day (Ian and Nikki) who recognized us from Humahuaca in northern Argentina. Nikki said she recognized my face but I suspect it was my t-shirt which I remember her commenting on at the time.  We met up for dinner and had a very pleasant couple of hours swapping nomad stories.  They had been traveling for 4 years blogging, mixing up back-packing with house sitting. This house sitting definitely sounds like something to explore further.  https://www.aboveusonlyskies.com

Day 3 we got up early (ish) and caught the local boat out to Isla del Sol (Island of the Sun).   Apparently the birthplace of the first Inca.  We clambered aboard the boat for a 80 minute journey to the island – its wasn’t that far, its just that the boat travelled at a slow walk in order to preserve fuel.

We jumped off at an old Inca ruin and then after a bit of a climb walked along an elevated path that took us to the main village on the south of the island called Yumani.  We then took a path along the top which took us close to the northern part of the Island – we were not allowed to enter as there was an ongoing dispute between the north and the south and tourists were banned from entering. A Korean tourist was killed last year after wondering into the north.  The island was beautiful – very rural but dry. We were amazed at the number of eucalyptus trees, which I guess goes with dry!

We then climbed to the Cerro Palla Khasa, the highest point on the island at 4065m.  The views from an abandoned house were amazing.  We wandered back into the village for a lovely meal overlooking the vast expanse of Lake Titicaca.  There were a few fun and games getting back on the boat to Copacabana before the mind numbing crawl back to port.  We met a couple of young Brazilians who were biking around Bolivia who gave us some tips where to go in La Paz.  Deryn and I kicked on a wee bit that night after having a couple of fantastic Pisco Sours over our Thai meal.

We grabbed a bus the next morning to La Paz – 35 Bolivianos ($A7) for a 3.5 hour journey.  The drive across the peninsula was spectacular. Snow capped mountains and lake everywhere. We had to jump of the bus and catch a small boat across the lake at Tiquina – the bus went on a separate tiny ferry.  Once in La Paz – the city looked incredible, can’t wait to get back there – we grabbed a quick feed before catching a taxi to the airport and our flight to Rurrenabaque, a tiny town on the Beni river where we were going to head into the wilds.  The 35 minutes flight over the mountains in a small 30 seater plane was great.  Rurrenabaque was both very warm and only 270m above sea level – bliss. 

We caught a tuktuk to our hostel El Curichal Hostel, at which we only lasted the night before moving to the much more comfortable Hotel Maya de la Amazonia. Once again a lesson learnt that it does not pay to go too cheap (US$25 for a double room with en-suite).  I’m the fussy one, not Deryn mind. We spent a couple of days chilling in the village before heading off on our Pampas adventure. 

And finally, to finish with a donkey and a pig, rather than a dog!

Machu Picchu and the recovery

We were all up nice and early to be near the front of the queue for the 6am bus. We met Fernando at 5am and then waited in the dark to board the bus. It didn’t seem that long until we were snaking our way up the mountain with the improving light highlighting the incredible landscape.  There was also an endless stream of torch lights of the poor sods walking to the top. A one hour steep climb.

The number of people allowed entry into the site is controlled but even then you want to be in before the 400 limit is reached. In no time at all we were in looking at the magnificent Machu Picchu – not before being warned that there were no toilets inside and if you leave you cannot go back in. In addition, you have to move around the site in one direction – no going back. 

The place was everything we had imagined. Even better if that is possible. It was great having Fernando as a guide to explain what they understand about the place, but there is so much they don’t know. They are not even sure if it was a temple, a monastery or even a place of learning. 

It is believed between 200 and 500 people lived there. All would have been nobles, commoners were not allowed unless they were working there – everyone had to give a year of labour to the government. Food was not a constraint, it was water. 

It’s mind blowing to think that someone picked the site to build Machu Picchu given the incredible challenge.  There were a lot of strategic reasons for its location, not least of all its challenging access. 

The sophistication invoked in the construction was incredible – even down to the work done in building the foundations. Personally I believe aliens had to be involved. 

Standing on these sheer drops layered by terraces, you can’t help but think that even today people would not attempt to build what they did. I hate to think how many people died in its construction.  They know it was inhabited for about 100 years during the 1500’s but have no idea why it was abandoned – certainly the Spanish never found it.  It was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911 and at that time had 3 families living in it. It was completely overgrown. Fernando says that another site has been found and they have no idea if there are even more such Inca sites around the place.

After 4 hours of awe, we said goodbye to Machu Picchu and Fernando and caught the bus back down to the town. We did a bit of shopping before sitting down for lunch at midday. A couple of rounds of Pisco Sours and things started moving. Next it was beers and whiskey for me. 

We got the 3.30 train back to Cusco and continued our merry drinking on the train throwing in a game of cards to help the mood. I feel sorry for the other passengers in our carriage.

Carlos from Peru Summits met us at the station and took us back to Ricoleta Hostel. We popped into a divey little restuarant around the corner to the hostel (wouldn’t have dreamt of doing it a week earlier – nothing like living rough for a while). It was than a very sad farewell to our Aus mates – Daryl and I tried to keep going but eventually sense prevailed. AKA Cath

We had an early start to catch the Perú Rail Titicaca Express to Puno. It was 10 hour luxury train trip which unfortunately I spent 90% of asleep – I did wake for the meals. 30 minutes out of Puno we passed through a horrendous town called Juliaca. What was so memorable was for a 3 or 4km stretch we passed an endless number of massive petrol stations. I am talking 20 or 30 petrol stations side by side. The same brand would repeat every 3 or 4 station. I wonder what led to this madness??? We arrived in Puno around 6.30 and spent a bit of time walking around trying to find our hotel. We were back at 3800 metres so any walking was tough. 

Puno, to be generous, is bland but we were not too fussed as we basically just wanted to recuperate from our incredible trek. I think the last afternoon festivities didn’t help!!

We spent 48 hours in Puno before catching a rather pongy bus to Copacabana in Bolivia.  Lack of Spanish was a bit of a challenge particularly going through the border into Bolivia. We had no idea if we had to pay something, had the right documentation etc. We worried for no reason as it was a breeze. 

Twenty minutes later we were in the lovely little village on the shores of Lake Titicaca, Copacabana and our really cool little hostel called Hostal Las Olas. It felt so nice after Puno. We immediately changed our stay from 3 nights to 4 – a perfect spot to chill for a few days.

The long winding road and the big up and down

Our trek on day 3 was basically following the road to Lucamabamba.  It was also time to say goodbye to our mulers and their mules who were returning to Soraypampa, taking 1 day rather than the 2 we took getting here.  All our gear was now being transported in a van – a bit sad as it meant we were getting back into civilisation.  

Fernando  decided that we would walk the road because the track had experienced some slips and was too dangerous. Personally I think he made the call a lot earlier when he saw our ages. Anyway, it was fine for the the first couple of hours but soon the traffic started to pick up resulting in us being covered in dust. In addition, we could see the track winding through the jungle across the river looking far more enticing. 

A lot of trekkers walked the first half of the track and then bussed the second half. We all agreed that no way would we want to drive along that road. The number of times the road was undercut by huge slips was scary, not to mention outright dangerous. We passed a huge grader doing road repairs that literally had 50cm spare either side of its wheels. 

It was incredible to see where the locals grew produce. Seriously, some of the patches of land were on vertical cliffs.  How they harvest them, never mind plant, is beyond me.  We tried to take some photos but they just don’t do justice. 

We arrived at Lucamabamba around 2 to find our campsite set up in a lovely private area at the back of a coffee plantation. Only 18.3km taking nearly 6 hours with a measly 400 of climbing today. Another magnificent lunch was followed by a planned kip in the sun. Firstly a group of German (?) tourists tried to crash our campsite only to be given a short shift by Fernando. Then as we were dozing off when we were interrupted by this awful noise over a PA system. A mixture of screeching voices and bad music. Turns out it was Mother’s Day and they were having a celebration in the field next door. However, Andy and I still managed to get some sleep through the noise.

Before dinner we had a tour of the coffee plantation (Katimore & Arabika coffee beans), got to pick, roast and grind and then drink our own coffee. Dinner was then followed by an incredible cake baked by Ebanhulio (on a camp stove!) to celebrate Daryl’s 50th. We then had some ales over a few games of cards. 

Another early start to make sure we were in the cool air for our 3 hour climb. Daryl set a cracking pace which suited Deryn and I. The others trailed at a more leisurely pace. We passed quite a few trekkers on the way up, not surprising given that we reached the summit after only 90 minutes. Unfortunately in our haste we missed the famous swing over the valley at a coffee shop half way up. 

However the benefit of our haste was that we had 90 minutes of privacy at the mirador just north of Llactapata with incredible views of the mountains and Machu Picchu in the distance.   It was then a rather arduous descent for nearly 3 hours to Hidroelectrica and our final lunch with Ebanhulio and his crew.  Andy and Daryl hoisted him on to their shoulders as a sign of respect for his incredible work.  13.1km, 7 hours and 980m of climbing on day 4.  

We then boarded our train to the town of Machu Picchu and our interesting Flowers Hotel.  Interesting in that the acoustics meant we could hear clearly Daryl showering in the room above. Fernando took us to his favorite local restaurant for our last meal together. A bit sad.  Early to bed again as it was another 430am rise to get the 6am bus to Machu Picchu.

And its been a while since we shared a dog photo.

Four seasons in 1 day.

We were woken by our local support team at 5am for a cup of hot cocoa tea – becoming a favourite of the whole group.  There was a severe frost, so getting out of bed was tough although the rising sun illuminating the surrounding peaks made it worth it.  We were away by 6.15am to once again climb over the Salkantay pass – the weather was great so we were treated to spectacular views of the incredible peaks.  

The rest of the day was basically a descent. We were making good time so Fernando suggested we have lunch at the Andenes ruins rather than planned small community of Wayracmachay.  It seemed like a good idea at the time but it soon started raining and combined with our growing hunger, made us wonder if we had made the right call. The scenery was amazing – a huge mossy valley filled with massive, multi coloured boulders and towering peaks and the odd glacier gauge through the hills. We got a great feel for farming life in the valley where the animals were allowed to roam free. We finally all arrived at the lunch site by 130pm to be treated to another great feed and some sunshine. 

It started raining again soon after we started walking but it was not too heavy and we had some tree cover. It lasted for an hour after which the sun burst through once again. Thankfully the mosquitoes were not a problem and it was nice not to be struggling for breathe. About an hour out of our campsite at Collpapampa, a few other (younger) trekkers started to pass us.  However we had our own private campsite out the back of a local’s house. It was perfect with chickens and dogs running around the place.  We negotiated for warm showers while downing a cerveza – 50 souls for 6 of us.  Shame the showers were only luke warm but still they were a relief. We then convinced Fernando to arrange a fire (20 solos for the wood) which was magic to sit around after dinner.  Day 2 involved 17.6km, over nearly 9 hours but with only 270m of climbing – like I said, it was mostly downhill!

We left our support team to the fire about 10 for another night of slumber with a small mat and a sleeping bag.  The support crew were still at it when I got up for a piddle around 2.30!  Hopefully we will still be getting breakfast in the morning! The roosters decided to start to crow around 3am – didn’t know that roosters suffered from insomnia!  However we were woken at 545am to a cup of hot cocoa tea by the team, with little apparent effects from the late night sojourn. However Fernando did not rise until 630 and looked as bad as anyone I have seen with a hangover.  Although full credit to the man, he soldiered on as engaging as he had been on the previous 2 days. I guess it helps that he is only 32!