The Inca Trail (Day 2)..

Travel Diaries : Oct 5th


Wayllabamba to Pacamayo


Today is the toughest day on the trail. So we leave early. We were advised to hire the services of a porter if we hadn't already. I slept well last night.  The tent was roomy and comfortable.
Breakfast was delicious, especially the pancakes with some fruit layered into them (think it was Mango)
Pretty soon the team was off. The climb was steep.

 The Day's trek begins... Climbing our way up ..

After a good two hours or so we stopped for Brunch. I was famished. Today's climb was mostly uphill.
The little tips given by our guide, like walking zig zag greatly helped. Pacing was of paramount importance. So we did not give ourselves long breaks. Just a couple of minutes to catch our breath and nothing more. We kept climbing higher after lunch. Our destination 'Dead Woman's Pass'  is at 4200 m, the highest we get to on this trail.  We kept pushing ourselves. The last leg was incredibly steep and seemed to go on forever. And after what seemed like an inordinately long period of time we finally reached the top.

 Reaching Dead Woman's Pass

The entrance to the pass was full of trekkers calling our to others nearly there, cheering and clapping as everyone crossed the line.  It was almost festive up there. Who would not want to be celebrate getting to the top, for the toughest part of the trek was supposedly over.  The scorching sun along the way seemed to get stronger as we reached the top. The weather was confusing. It was really hot. But cold winds made sitting in the shade hard. Luckily it did not rain.

 At the Pass.. We were there :)

Once the entire team got here we were told about the history of the pass. The pass apparently gets its name from the way the mountains look - like that of a dead woman lying on her back.
Since we have climbed close to 1000 m today in a span of 7 hours, we were told to watch our for altitude sickness. Rehydration was of paramount importance. A few people in our group were already beginning to feel a little sick.

The entire team

Pictures were taken and it was soon time to head down.
Climbing down is just as hard, maybe even harder..  Knees hurt... Slowly we made progress. It was amazing to see porters run past us with really heavy bags slung over their shoulders. Some of them were just wearing flip flops. Its unimaginable the kind of pace they manage to maintain..
We were told to keep left to avoid accidents.

Climbing down form the pass..

We kept walking.. And we finally reached Paqaymayu (3500 m ,11480 ft).  Lunch was served late.
We were so tired that we headed to our tents for a quick power nap

Sights along the way..

Another round of introductions , this time with the support staff -the cook and the porters. It was amazing listening to their stories. Some of them were as old as 46.   We managed to introduce ourselves with all the Spanish we could muster :)
Dinner followed. No campsite is complete without a session on Ghost stories. The legend of a girl lurking in the woods (who was supposedly murdered) and who drags men out of their tents was told in graphic detail by our guide :). It was a fun night. We were exhausted after the day's walk of 12 kms and wanted to get to bed. So we called it a day early.

M

The Inca Trail (Day 1)..

Travel Diaries - Oct 4th


Cusco to Wayllabamba

We hardly slept. The need to rise early always interferes with a good night's sleep and today was no exception.  It was too early for breakfast though we did grab some tea and toast...
And we waited. Our pickup time had been specified as 5:40, and we did begin to get worried as we began to approach 6:00. Dawn was breaking. It was a beautiful day outside, beautiful but cold.
Soon the bus pulled up , and our guide E hurried us inside...

The drive was beautiful. The scenery kept me awake as we passed the lovely villages of Chinchero, Urabamba and Ollantaytambo.  We soon reached what was called Kilometer 82 in the map.
Ollantaytambo is where we had breakfast with our team and our time there was made of the stuff of first introductions and first time conversations. It was our last chance to buy anything we wanted, that we might have missed. So we got hiking sticks, and water. We collected the sleeping bags we had hired . We mulled over hiring the services of a porter as the sleeping bags and mats did make our backpacks bulky and unwieldy. We were in luck... Luggage sorted we followed our guide

Vilcanota River..

A river has many names... Here she was called Vilcanota, more popularly known as Urubamba, and elsewhere as Wilcamayu. We were told she has her origins in the Andes. The river flows across the Sacred valley and wore the freshness of the morning. Our trek starts here.

The Entire Group :) 

Inca Ruins - Llactapata

We hadn't gone very far and we got to see our first Inca ruin :). The ruins of Llactapata was discovered by Hiram Bingham (who also discovered Machu Pichu) in 1912.
De-cyphering the two words - 'llacta' means town and  pata means "height" Archaeologists believe that it was built by someone of high rank , and that it must have definitely been connected to Machu Pichu considering the proximity to the site. Like Machu Pichu this site was covered by dense vegetation which had to be cleared.

Hiking up..

The Ruins 

We walked past the ruin and spent some me taking pictures. The sun was moving higher up into the sky.
We were told the settlement comprised of more than a hundred buildings. They were to house soldiers and workers. It is believed that it might have been an agricultural station the purpose of which was to supply maize (the staple grain) to the important site of Machu Pichu.

Our Lunch spot from a distance..

We walked on. Hunger gnawed on our insides, Breakfast seemed to have beena  long time ago :).
Thankfully lunch was soon declared.

Our Dining Tent

The first sight of the lunch tent was really something, a well laid table, with the silver...
What followed was even better, a starter, sumptuous soup, and a main course. Amazing that so much and in such elaborate detail was done to such perfection in sparse conditions such as these

Playing footie with the locals..

We trekked 12 kms in all. We finally reached our tent spot Wayllabamba. Exhausted, we were delighted to find our tents pitched, two per tent. So we dumped our bags and headed off to watch some football action. Some from the gang decided to join the locals.. S had loads of fun and I was  a little worried that he would wear himself out. Tomorrow was a big day. We had been repeatedly told that it would be the toughest day. We retired early , bracing ourselves for the challenge ahead. It would be a crime not to mention that Dinner was an affair to remember!

M

Cusco..

Cusco did not want to be woken up in the morning or so it seemed. But when we got to out hotel, the staff readily greeted us and served us Cocoa tea which is supposed to be an antidote to altitude sickness. Our Bus ride from Arequipa was super comfy. We travelled with 'Cruz De Sur', and it was one of the rare times I've managed to sleep so well on an overnight bus. Bus is a neat way to travel in Peru. Its much cheaper than Air and you don't have the not very nice surprise of finding out that the Airport tax to be paid around here is pretty high. (For International flights it was as high as 25 dollars per person)



Our hotel was close to the city market.  And since we got there early, we got out of our rooms as soon as we could.  Our trail starts in two days,  Cusco is where we acclimatize. We booked our trek with 'Peru Treks'. We were required to pay the balance two days in advance. So we found our way to the Office. The staff were friendly. Once we paid up we were briefed on what the trek would be like , some do's and dont's. Lots of important information we were thankful for, things we would not have known. Our guide warned us about the dangers of drinking spring water(even with water purifying tablets). When we did trek we stuck to this piece of advice religiously and it served us well.

Once done with the briefing we left and wandered around town. Ravenous we searched the square for places to eat. We should have known that the ones close to the town square would be expensive. But hunger got the better of us :). Once bitten twice shy, especially if you are backpacking on a budget ;)

Boy selling (something)..

Cusco is touristy. Its full of backpacker's most of who were acclimatising in preparation for the trail.
Luckily for us our two days there were sunny. We had the option of visiting the sacred valley, but decided against it as according to the literature in the briefing we were going to be seeing loads of ruins along the way to Machu Pichu. The market place was full of people , some selling food, some clothes, and some others traditional Inca medicine.

Walking up from San Fransico

The city center is beautiful. A prominent feature of all the South American cities we visited, the Plaze De Armas as it is called, is flanked by the cathedral on one side,  the church of Jesus Maria on the other and scores or restaurants and tourist offices. The church we were told was built over the ruins of the palace of the Inca Viracocha.The plaza is cheerful place. We sat a while outside the church.
Vendors flocked, people trying to sell us stuff, Artists showing off their work...
I would have loved to buy some of the paintings, but the  prospect of carrying everything and not knowing how conditions would be on trail , made us decide against it. All shopping was postponed , we thought it wise to spend in our last stop :)

Views from the City Center

Cusco has an incredible historical past to boast of. It was once the capital of the Incas, the first amongst the Inca cities. It is believed to be built in the shape of a puma. The primary language here is Quecha and not Spanish. Some say the Incas considered this the center of the world.

Iglesis Cathedral 

Scenes from the city center

Typical neighbourhood in Cusco

The hilly nature of the region, makes ordinary walks through Cusco's charming streets open up vistas of colour, of red rooftops, of people peeping from high windows, bright white walls in stark contrast to black cobblestone streets, little market places, tourists wandering in leisure and locals hurrying about catching up with daily life...

12 edged stone

The Irish Pub :)

There are several good places to eat... We even found a Mc Donald's (Is that a good thing..?)...
We did visit the Irish Bar a couple of times. The portion sizes did leave us very happy :)

Inside the Cusco Market..

The City center again (from one of the many restaurants along the square). Two flags seen in the picture, The first is the the red-and-white Peruvian flag and the second is the  rainbow-colored flag, representing the four quarters of the Incan empire. 

It was wonderful being part of this city..We felt we left with our slice of Inca History :)

M

Arequipa (Part 3)..

'Santa Catalina' is Arequipa's best kept open secret, secret because we never guessed that within those walls was a town within this town. The monastery was built in 1579. It was opened up to the public only in 1970. Its an amazingly beautiful religious building. Unlike the grandiose churches we visited Santa Catalina was designed to be a place where the nuns lived. This makes it different from all the other colonial religious structures built around Arequipa.

Santa Catalina from the Outside

The building is made from the signature white stellar stone quarried from the volcanoes that abound around Arequipa.  And like all the other buildings of note suffered damage during the earthquakes of 1958 and 1960. It was restored

Entrance to Santa Catalina

The map shows the layout of the little town inside those walls

The Parlor

The Nuns communicated with the outside world through windows made of wood. Exchange of products that they might have needed also happened here.

First Courtyard

We started our tour , map in hand at the First courtyard and followed the signs around this little town. Along some of the corridors we found several paintings, most of them depicting scenes from the bible. The suffering and Crucifixion of Christ was told in elaborate details through the art of their time. The paintings are supposed to belong to the Peruvian Viceroyalty period.

Clay Oven

Inside we found a world which we never thought existed. The architecture was exquisite and charming in extraordinary ways. There was so much attention to detail . The colours of the walls were vibrant. There were flowers along the walkways. There were pretty little praying halls.

One of the streets leading to several rooms where the nuns probably lived

Communal Laundry made of Clay Jar

Streets lines with Germanium

The Bell tower

The Kitchen

The communal Kitchen (seen in the picture about) was supposed to have been built in 1871 and had a full fledged bakery, dispensary and multiple stoves

Confessionals

Confessional - An Enclosed Room

It took us a good two hours to explore the entire city, walking in and out of tiny rooms and into beautiful corridors opening up into courtyards at regular junctions.
No matter how beautiful it was , I still couldn't comprehend the kind of rigorous discipline it must take to stay put within those walls, the ability to shut oneself from the world outside.
Some choices seem so hard.

M

Arequipa (Part 2)..

Travel Diaries : Oct 1


We almost forgot Juanita. I had this feeling that we had missed something precious as we walked back to our hotel room and then it came to me in a flash and we hurried back to 'Museo Santuarios Andinos'...A detour we never regretted. :)

We were not allowed cameras inside the museum. The cost of an entrance ticket was 15 soles . This did not include guide charges. The tour started with a video presentation.

'Juantia', the ice princess, a beautiful young girl ,  sacrificed to appease the Gods, was discovered on the top of Ampato volcano, her body preserved for nearly 500 years. She was discovered by the anthropologist Dr Johan Rienhard. The video explained how her body was first found and spoke about how the eruption from a neighbouring volcano melted ice which made the excavation of Juanita possible.


The video spoke about how human sacrifice was viewed in those times. The Victim was apparently chosen at birth and was not allowed access to the outside world. So they grew up with others like themselves, chosen for a special cause. When the time came , the best amongst them was chosen. The video explained that best probably meant, Good at several things and endowed with talents as opposed to beautiful. Only the unblemished were chosen for this important occasion and so the victim was mostly a young virgin girl. Most times the victim viewed it as a rare honor bestowed upon them. It was believed that the victim would live on in the other world and thus it was some kind of chance to be immortal.

Part reconstruction, the video took the viewer on Juanita's journey from Cusco , where she arrived accompanied by a court of very important people. There she was greatedby the Inca , and there was some sort of ceremony where he transfers his divinity. As they climbed the mountain and reached the top, she was given 'Chi Cha' a local brew made from corn.

Initially the cause of her death was unknown. But research yielded that she was killed by a precise blow to her right eye brow.  It is also known that she was subjected to a fast to make the effects of the Chi Cha, (which was to serve as a sedative) faster. Analysis of her stomach has shown that she had Cocoa leaves close to 8 hours before she died. DNA analysis of her heart revealed that her ancestors were from Asia.

We were given a tour of the museum where other artifacts uncovered with the mummy were kept. Explanations on the Inca concepts of duality followed. Also there were more pictures and information about the Mummy itself. Like the clothes she wore  were red and white causing speculations that she was probably royalty.  She was discovered in the foetal position(to signify that she would be reborn if I remember right). There were couple other bodies discovered, a boy and a girl on the same mountain. The mummy of the boy had been hit by lightning couple of times as there were metal objects that had been buried with him.

Finally we got to see the Mummy itself, carefully preserved at -20 C , the same temperature at the top of the mountain where she was found. As I stood there seeing the Mummy I could not imagine what this young girl must have been through.. It was disturbing in some ways that someone so young was sacrificed for the greater good

Cheers,
M

Arequipa (Part 1)...

Travel Diaries : Sep 30

I didn't take to Arequipa too well initially. Flew into the city feeling woozy and extremely tired. Before I knew it I was hit by a severe bout of nausea and I worried myself sick if it could be the altitude. Luckily plenty of water and a good hours sleep proved to be all that I needed...
We were soon out exploring the white city, gorgeous in every way. The city sits on the Andes mountains at a height of 2380 m.  In search of restaurants we roamed Jerusalem street on the look out for Peruvian food.
The most famous dish in Peru is 'Ceviche'.   Though traditionally made of fish, there are several variants available. I was lucky enough to sample some of the Vegetarian alternatives. :)

'Plaza De Armas' , the main plaza with the Cathedral in the background

Strolling along the Main Square , we sat watching people feed pigeons. We were to discover that this was a ritual in most Peruvian cities. The Plaza was bustling with activity, and the laughter and noise was contagious.  Ironic as it may seem , inspite of the hustle and bustle the plaza seemed to lull us into a certain sense of calm and we lingered on watching the crowds and soaking up the sights and sounds. It was a day for pictures, bright and sunny and absolutely gorgeous. The cathedral in the background is twin towered and was originally  built in 1612.  It was later rebuilt following damage by Earthquakes and a Fire and boasts of beautiful intricate woodwork on the insides

The Ritual of 'Pigeon Feeding'

The Plaza is surrounded by Cafes, restaurants and life in general seems to revolve around this splendid center - the pulsating heart of the city. All the buildings are built from 'Sillar' a white volcanic stone and hence the name 'White City'

"Many of the almost 250 colonial buildings entitled as Human Heritage by UNESCO, are close to the main square. Some are turned to banks, stores, restaurants and departments. This practical way of preserving the city by finding a practical use to the historical buildings, provides a great experience to the visitor who feels like visiting a living museum."

                                                                                 - Wikitravel 

The Fountain at the Plaza

We spent the rest of the day discovering the town, resorting to our favourite pass time of tottering the streets.. There were numerous little cafes tucked away.

Pretty Streets of Arequipa

The traffic is just as choatic as it is in the Indian subcontinent. Small and weird reminders of home in a distant faraway :). The policemen intervene to regulate and decongest Arequipa's busy roads every now and then

Policeman..

There are several tours on offer and we decided to try a city tour. It was a four hour ride taking us to various points within and a little away from the city and the open bus gave us vantage photographic points

Saint Lazarus Neighbourhood

The neighbourhood of Saint Lazurus , is held to be the most traditional in Arequipa. The place was built by Dominican Priests around 1538 and was to serve as the fulcrum of the evangelist movement. It served as a center to develop and build a new Spanish city. The entire neighbourhood is built with white stones , and  is lined with quaint cobblestone streets. Inside is a cathedral (which we did not visit), and  a market place named n honour of the general who first owned it. 'Pan De Ripacha'  a special kind of bread made from wheat and baked on wood is something specially made only here.

Life in Arequipa..

Alpaca Sheering..

We visited a Alpaca shearing center. Alpacas are native to the land of Peru and closely resemble their cousins the Llama. Alpaca wool has been considered valuable since Inca times.

Local Dance Form.. Men on Horses perform to the tune of vibrant peruvian music and finish off with cheers of 'Bravo Bravo' from onlooking spectators

Paucarpata Terraces with ,El Misti, volcano in the background

We drove past the 'Paucarpata Terraces' which are now considered part of 'Peruvian Cultural Heritage'. The terraces serve as agricultural systems painstakingly built into the the rugged mountain sides by the people of the Andes(Pre Inca). Its amazing how advanced the people of this region were . Apart from the obvious function of preventing erosion, It has been established that the terraces served as sophisticated climate control mechanisms. The bigger stones were placed lower down and the smaller stones occupied the upper parts. This apparently trapped heat retaining it at night when temperatures fell . Vegetables like Potatoes, Corn, Onions were all grown here

Volcanos around Arequipa..

Arequipa is surrounded by three volcanoes. The Largest 'El Misti' stands at 5822 m above sea level and is classified as a Active volcano. It last erupted in 1985 Geologists predict an erruption is due, but when thats something impossible to say. Its a strato volcano and is built by many layers of hardered lava. in 1998 there were many Inca mummies discovered on the top of this volcano.
El Misti lies between two other volcanoes Chachani (6,075 m) and Pichu-Pichu (5,669 m/18,599 ft).

The volcanoes can be seen from most places in the city and the snow covered peaks are a captivating sight.

Local Taxis

Afternoon we head out to see 'Santa Catalina' and 'Juanita' the Ice princess.

Later Guys,
M

Foray into South America...

17 days ... close to 8 cities ..2 countries..
Back home.. More tired than should be from a holiday, happy , sun burnt and dizzy from one of the most exciting rides ever. South America is a beautiful continent.
It seemed easy enough to plan a vacation with information available on the net. We thought we had done our research, but when we got there we unearthed so many little gems tucked away, we heard tales from other travellers who we ran into and we left convinced that this was one place we would have to return ..

We landed in Lima, hurried across to Arequipa - stunningly beautiful , and intriguing, Before we knew it it was time to take the road to Cusco the cultural capital of Peru. Everywhere in Cusco we saw the imprints of Spanish colonisation, and the tenacity of the Inca civilization lingering on - Beautiful Churches, town centers and markets. Cusco played host as we acclimatised ourselves for the 4 day Inca Trail. From Cusco we took the road to Machu Pichu, along the way stopping along loads of Inca Ruins and listening to the history of how the mighty Inca empire was colonised by the relatively smaller numbered Spanish colonists.Four day arduous trek, sun burnt and blistered it was a surreal moment standing in front of Machu Pichu.With Machu Pichu done we headed to the sleepy town of Puno , Visited the reed islands before crossing the border into Bolivia. La Paz is a gorgeous city. The highest capital in the world is a pleasure to visit . Uyuni came next , A bumpy bus ride and we arrived at something that looked like the sets of a wild west movie. Glad we didn't stay on. The Salar De Uyuni was otherworldly.. Back to La Paz. A day in Lima the urban capital of Peru so different in character from her other Peruvian counterparts..And it was time to fly home.

Everywhere we went we met super friendly people. We did manage to confuse a few cause we could pass as Peruvians :), but their discerning eyes told them otherwise. So they would stop and enquire about the nature of our origins and when we said India their eyes lit up.. It was super sweet. From the co -passenger on the plane who insisted on dropping us off in our hotel, to random conversations with people sitting over crowded coffee tables (some of whom we discovered were Human Rights lawyers defending victims of dictatorships), to numerous people who invited us to Dinner and Lunch the next time we were around, the hospitality of the people here never ceased to amaze us. This should probably emphasise the fact that no matter what history says the Human race has a resilient kindness that cannot be annihilated by perpetuating stupid labels and stereotypes.

We shall return and I did feel like Ulysses when he said...

"How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnish’d, not to shine in use!

As tho’ to breathe were life! Life piled on life

Were all too little, and of one to me

Little remains: but every hour is saved

From that eternal silence, something more,

A bringer of new things; and vile it were

For some three suns to store and hoard myself,

And this gray spirit yearning in desire

To follow knowledge like a sinking star,

Beyond the utmost bound of human thought. "

Cheers,
M