Sam and E-J's Adventure

Having arrived in Puno, E-J was still struggling form the Inca trail and was in need of some well earned sleep! With the local annual fiesta occuring that week and the relentless street processions occurring, Puno didn´t seem like the best place to be!

Having found accommodation we battled our way through the street processions and hundreds of people to book a two day island tour to the Uros Islands (the Floating Islands) the Amantani Island (where we stay with a local family) and the Taquille island.

The night before our tour we enjoyed a good meal. Sam tucked into some juicy Alpaca meat, concerned that this may be the last good meal he ate for 48 hours!

Rising in the early morning, we headed for the Puno docks and boarded are 16 man boat. The Uros Islands were our first stop and after a pleasant 30 minute trip, E-J took in the Floating Island, whilst Sam rested his eyes!

We also took one of the local´s reed boats across to another floating island. Sam found all of this very unpleasant and commercial, what with being crammed on a tiny boat with sixteen other tourists and the fact that the boat was called Titanic..., but E-J seemed to love every minute!

We then boarded the boat for another 3 hour journey until we reached the Amantani Island. Although it felt very far away, it was only 30 kilometres, but the rough boat journey over seemed to make it take forever! By lunch time we had found our destination and were introduced to our hosts for the evening, Patrick and Anastasia. Our slight concern was that they spoke little spanish (though neither did we) so there would be a lot of communication via gesture and hand movement... Their main language was Quechua, which can only be described as sounding very similar to the language of Donald Duck!

When we arrived at their farm, we quickly helped peel potatos, which were to be used for lunch. At this point we were slightly concerned about the purple patched potatos as we really didn´t fancy an uncomfortable night with very limited bathroom facilities! For lunch, we had potato soup, followed by rice, meat in bread crumbs and potatos, which was more than enough carbs!

In the afternoon we met with our guide again and were told about the area and the history of the families who lived on the island.

As the sun came down, E-J climbed up 1000 feet to the point of 4200m above sea level to catch a beautiful sunset. Whilst Sam enjoyed a rather breathless game of football with the locals.

In the evening (after E-J had discovered she had seriously scorched her face in the sun, with the stupid lack of sun block) we sat in our hosts kitchen/bedroom and enjoyed a meal of (once again) potato soup, rice, chicken and potatos! After the evening meal we were quickly changed into the local, authentic dress and headed for the town hall for some local dancing!

We were quickly excorted onto the dance floor by our hosts and to the sounds of a local band. Being swung around in a huge group can only be described as a Peruvian conga and with the aid of a few beers this continued into the night, until we were completely worn out by 11pm. We both slept extremely well that night!

In the morning there was just enough time for a quick pancake breakfast before saying our goodbyes and heading back onto the boat. An hour later we arrived onto the Island of Taquille. Taquille is an incredibly honest place where there is no crime, so no one locks their houses and there are no police. Also, it is common for the locals to be married before 20 and if the girls exceed this age they are looked upon as a bit of a spinster! After a stroll around the island and taking in the beautiful surroundings we enjoyed a lovely, fresh trout lunch.

We then had a 4 hour boat trip back to Puno and by the time we arrived back we were both absolutely shattered and enjoyed a quiet night in, watching terrible Peruvian television!

Sams Comments: Fantastic trip, great family, only problem was the frenchman who took offense to one of my mistimed football tackles!

EJ Comments: I really enjoyed the experience but a skeptical side of me can´t help thinking that maybe it is all a bit of a tourist scam and the Amantani people don´t actually live in this basic accommodation that they entertain us in, but have a large pad behind this with all the modern compliances and possibly even a plasma screen! This may also explain why they kept leaving the room whenever they had to get something...

Day 1
At 5:25 am we were greated by our guide, Puma at our hostel. From here we got on the bus to see the sixteen people we would be spending the next four days with, and then sat in silence along with the rest of the group until we reached Ollantaytambo where we would be having breakfast before beginning the trail.

After the breakfast and almost at the beginning of the trail our bus suddenly broke down and we were stranded on the side of the road for a good 40 minutes. This allowed us time to get to know the group and realise that we had a guide who was incredibly passionate about his job and teaching the past to his fellow travellers. The group was a mixture of ages, people from England, America, Canada, South Africa and Australia. Immediately we sussed out the rotten eggs, a couple who seemed to complain about everything before the tour had even begun, as well as interrupting everyone mid sentence and laughing in Sam´s face when Sam politely asked the man if he had been to Cape Town much. But refusing to allow them to taint our experiences of the Inca Trail we kept positive and excited about what lay ahead. E-J´s only concern was for the hygiene of the loos for the next four days!

After Sam politely declined the offer of Marijuana at the start, we eased into the first day. We were incredibly lucky with the weather as there was beaming sunshine when really it should be the wet season. We started at 2600m and ascended to 3000m. There were a couple of up and down hills but nothing to really challenge us. The only challenge Sam experienced, was when we reached the first set of ruins and he was unable to stay awake during the guide´s enthusiastic explanation about their history. Despite thinking he´d got away with it by wearing his dark sunglasses as he lay sprawled on the grown, everyone in the group noticed!

After a three hour hike, we reached the destination where we were to have lunch and as explained in the guide, the porters had erected a tent to fit sixteen people for lunch and the cook had prepared an amazing three course meal. We then continued our hike for another two and half hours, feeling rather full after such an indulgent quantity of food. At around Five thirty we reached our camp site Wayllabanba and were shown to our already erected tents, which E-J was very pleased to see, where clean, big and bug free.

That night we were treated to another filling three course meal and Sam alone decided to have a beer with this. The rain began to pour and we began to worry that this might be what the rest of the trip would be like, so decided to get an early start ready for our 5am wake up the next morning.

Day 2
We were woken up by the porters and a cup of coca tea at 5am and relieved to see that the sun was shinning outside. After a quick and delicious three course meal we packed our belongings together and began the walk, which we knew was going to be the hardest of all four days. The first part of the walk was relatively pleasant as we walked through the beautiful landscape and over a couple of small streams. As we reached the first meeting point, the lady from the unpleasant couple was struggling terribly (having caught some bug overnight) and Sam being the gentleman that he was offered to take her bag for her. E-J, although realsing this was the right thing to do, was a little concerned that this now meant she would have to carry a load of stuff, but refusing to allow any bad feeling to ruin the day, kept a smile on her face.

It was only two hours later when we were in the middle of the first hard section, that E-J´s affections for Sam weren´t as loving as usual. Seeing Sam bouncing up the steps with absolutely no effort as she struggled to pull herself up, slowly step by step only seemed to frustrate her, especially since she had be so concerned about him and his asthma at the beginning. As he would continually, loving ask 'How are you doing? Do you want a rest?¨, E-J would bite back with the comments, ' I´m fine, stop patronising me!'. When we finally reached Dead Woman´s Pass at 4200m, she was incredibly apologetic for her earlier trantums at Sam and tried to justify, that it was a good test of the relatonship!

At the Dead Woman´s Pass as the group were all reunited together our guide performed a ceremony on the top of the mountain thanking Pacha Mumma (Mother Earth) for the wonderful weather she had given us so far and hoping for more. We all then toasted each other with a shot of Sambuca and the guide played a little tune on his flute.

After this, the next part of the day was a 2 to 3 hour descent down to the camp site, Pacamayo. We were all in need of a beer and when arriving there were informed that this would have to wait until tomorrow´s campsite. Sam was not best pleased with this!

We then had a delicious tea followed by a three course meal a couple of hours later. It´s true what people say about the Inca trail, you really do end up putting on weight!

Day 3
The next day we awoke, all a bit stiff but excited to be only a day away from Machu Picchu. This was to be the longest trek of 15 km, but also we were to walk through the most beautiful sights. The first part of the day was a steep ascent up to some Inca ruins, which were once used as a look out point for the Inca´s. After this the majority of the rest of the day was flat or down stairs, ending with what is know as the Gringo killer as the stairs descend a 1000m. E-J found this day the most pleasant as we passed through waterfalls, caves and the most unbelievable scenery. Sadly however, these pictures can only be captured in our heads and the battery on the camera was starting to run out, and we wanted to make sure we had it for Machu Picchu.

When we finally reached the campsite we made our way to the Inca ruins, Winay Wayna, just next to it. Our guide explained that these were his favourite and it was fasinating to see how the Inca´s so appreciated the Mountains shape and would literally shape their city to the natural curves of the mountains.

After a small talk from our guide we headed to the bar at the campsite for a quick beer or two before having our final three course meal. We then headed back to the bar for a few more drinks, to ensure we slept well.

Sam could have easily been on a drinking mission, but E-J and her words of wisdom reminded him that we would be getting up at 3:45am the next day so by 10pm we retreated to bed.

Day 4
Woken at 3:45am in the pitch black, we managed to gather our things together and rush a quick breakfast before heading to the gates for the final part of the trek. Desperate to be the first to get to the starting point, we all literally ran down to the gates and with great excitment descovered that we would be the first to start the one hour trek to the Sungates. However, this also meant we had to wait a good forty minutes before the gates would open. When we finally set off, we could see queues and queues of groups behind us and we felt the pressure to stay in front. Somehow E-J found herself at the front of the group behind the guide and feeling the responsibility of keeping the group first tried to keep a steady pace, striding to the gates. As our trek began, a few sneaky characters started to overtake us and before we knew it we were practically running to the Sungates. After forty-five minutes and a steep ascent up the final steps we finally arrived at our destination. Excited and exhausted to finally be one of the first to reach the first point that you see Machu Picchu we were confronted with a mass of white cloud! Bloody typical..! We spent 10 minutes resting and gaining our breath before we started to descend down to Machu Picchu and to the famour point where all the photos are taken. Forty minutes later we had arrived at our destination, dirty, hot and tired but as we stood there the clouds began to part and the most impressive, mesmersing sight of Machu Picchu began to reveal itself. The clouds around it seemed to give it a more dramatic effect and seeing it properly for the first time was everything and more we had hoped for.

We then made our way through Machu Picchu with the guide, with explanations about the Sun Temple, the way the rocks were made and the bedrooms of the priests and other details.

Seven of our group, not exhausted enough decided to walk up Wanya Picchu, which is the big mountain at the back of Machu Picchu. The ascent was suppose to take an hour and when walking up we realised how steep and precarious some of the steps were. Sam, having been very patient with E-J throughout the entire Inca Trail, always keeping behind her and offering kind words of support, decided to take this opportunity to challenge himself, so raced up to the top with some fellow Inca trail trekkers. Twenty minutes later, he sat on the rocks on the very top waiting for E-J to arrive another forty minutes later.

The view from the top was spectacular and looking down at Machu Picchu it seemed so small. What was so amazing about Wanya Picchu was when you reached the top, you were literally balancing on a couple of rocks with a very steep drop, and what added to the slight fear factor was the fact that the space at the top was relatively small and yet more and more people were coming up and pushing their way past others!

Below is the view of Machu Picchu from the top of Wanya Picchu.

After descending Wanya Picchu Sam headed to the cafe at the bottom while E-J determined to get her perfect postcard picture of Machu Picchu, climbed up to the look out place again to take the photo of what is at the top of this entry.

We then all got a bus down to Agua Caliente where we had a quick lunch followed by goodbyes and thank yous to the guide. We then caught a 4 hour train back to Cusco (which seemed to take forever!) and finally arrived back at our hotel at 10pm at night absolutely shattered!

Sam´s Comments: Waiting to start the last day, had the air of waiting for Willy Wonker opening his choclate factory, everyone was far too excited! Racing up Wanya Piccu was definetly a mad piece of exercise but great fun!!

E-J´s Comments: This has been an amazing experience which will stay with me forever. I just need to learn to control my tongue, when Sam tries to offer encourging words of advice!

We caught a night bus from Arequipa to Cusco and arriving in Cusco in the early hours of the morning we headed to our prebooked hostel and went to sleep for the first few hours of the morning.

Once awake we decided to explore Cusco. Sam was much more awake from the power nap, but E-J seemed to be more spaced out than ever, which she thought was due to the altitude. As we had five days in Cusco before the Inca trail we decided to take the first day easy. We walked the streets finding a better and cheaper hostel to stay in and looked into a couple of possible tours as well as getting the final details from our tour company about the Inca Trail.

The following day, E-J started to feel really ill and with the most excruciating stomach cramps had to return to the hostel and spend the rest of the day in bed with a fever. Sam on the other hand felt fine and with his first time to explore somewhere alone spent the rest of the day shopping for bargains and wandering the streets.

Being a Saturday, we had hoped to party in Cusco, but with E-J sick in bed we resorted to an early night.

The next day we took a tour of the Sacred Valley which began with a one hour bus trip to Pisac Market followed by a quick excursion of the ruins, a quick stop at Urubamba for lunch, then onto the ruins of Ollantaytambo and finally to Chinchero market.

On arriving in Pisac market we were overwhelmed by the commercial style of it and after a brief walk through it, were pleased to be back on the bus. We then reached Pisac Ruins and began to walk to the top of them. It was during the walk that E-J realised that she was still not 100%, with the colour draining from her face and her lips turning white, Sam realised that there was definitely something wrong. Running to the guide for help, the guide simply turned to Sam and said, it´s ok, we´ll go back down in 10 minutes. Realising that the guide was pretty useless Sam returned to E-J, reassuring her and getting her to drink water, so that she was able to gain her full consciousness again. Slowly returning back to the bus.

On the way to Chinchero market, we saw the most spectacular views of the Andes and moutainous landscape. We then arrived at Chinchero, to barter a few good buys. This market was very impressive and is known for being a traditional and authentic place. After picking up a few bargins we headed back to Cusco to enjoy a traditional Peruvian meal.

The next day we had a lazy day around Cusco, preparing ourselves for the Inca Trail. We also bumped into a few friend that we had met recently and arranged to go for a meal and a few drinks together. The "happy hour" was exploited excessively!

The next day was the day before the Inca Trail, so we decided to go for a big English breakfast. This had nothing to do with the beers consumed the night before. Usually, when we´re abroad the last thing you want to do is eat the same old food you eat everyday in England, but having been away over a month now, nothing was better than a good, old traditional, English fry up!

After that, the rest of the day was again, low key and after another enjoyable evening with Tobias and Lou, we prepared ourselves for the 5:20 call the following morning for the Inca Trail.

Sam´s Comments: Cusco was beautiful, with great food. However locals only speak to you to sell you something!

E-J´s Comments: I´ve enjoyed the colonial style of Cusco, but haven´t enjoyed the way that it has become so commercial. Within every three minutes someone runs up to you trying to sell you something and after the sixth person it gets a but much. I´m sure that, the fact that I have been bed bound has not also helped my opinions, but hopefully the Inca Trail is going to be an unforgettable experience.

Being accompanied by our friends Dave and Michelle, we met our group of trekkers and boarded the full local bus at six-thirty and headed for the Colca Canyon, although not too excited by the hundred mile bus journey! As we left Arequipa we realised that the bus was not direct and the thirty seater bus had soon got an additional twenty people standing in the isle, as the bus driver seemed to stop for anyone every five minutes. With Panpipes being played by a beggar, the thought of a quick powernap was quickly eliminated.

After two and a half hours we stopped for a "five" minute toilet break, in Chivay. An hour later we set off again and finally arrived to sit down for lunch in Cabanaconde. At this point any excitment of treking the deppest canyon in the world was lost on Sam, who was not too happy after the unconmfortable trip. E-J as usual was full of conversation with the group and sat down indulging in conversation with everyone.

After lunch we put are backpacks on and started to descend two thousand four hundred metres down the Canyon. As we started to descend down we soon embraced the landscape. With the hot sun on our backs we saw an Andrean Condor swop down the valley. We would regularly stop and take in the amazing surroundings, however this was not to everyones liking and our guide soon got tired of waiting for us!

After a few little trips from E-J down the steep paths we finally arrived at our camp, San Juan de Chuccho. Where we were shown to our beds carved out of oak wood. We skipped the cold showers and all opted for a well deserved beer instead. After an enjoyable meal washed down with a few beers and plently of games of cards it was time to give our feet a rest and go to sleep, ready for an early start the next day.

The second day was a two and half walk to the camp of Sangalle and after a few more slips from E-J we arrived all ready to jump in to the oasis pool, and after a long lunch we had the luxury of resting in the Sun at the bottom of the Canyon drinking a few cool beers and resting in the hammocks, watching a beautiful sunset.

After another 3 course evening meal we all knew that an early night was required as the two thirty morning start was not going to be pleasant. We therefore all set off to our bamboo huts to get ready for bed. With the basic toilet facilities requiring you to pin down the outside with a sheet of tarpoling Sam decided to water the vegetation. Suddenly, an uproar of screams and shouts could be heard and Sam thought he had been caught watering the flowers only to discover a bush fire fifteen metres away. With the locals in complete panic Sam and Dave started filling up pans of water to help reduce the fire. Despite the girls attempts to help, they were told to not get involved, much to all of their frustration. After fourty minutes we all managed to control the fire and extinguish the flames.

At two forty five and very little sleep we started to climb three thousand two hundread and thirty metres to the top. With steep narrow paths it became hard work in the dark and Sam started to regret only letting E-J buy one head torch for the trip! As the sun rose over the mountains the views became even more impressive and the thought of breakfast eased the pain in our aching legs.

The feeling of arriving at the top was fantastic although some where more worn out than others! After breakfast we headed in the direction of the Cruz del Condor to view the local wildlife. At this point fatigue was setting in and any interest in the wildlife along with the surroundings was starting to diminish. A trip to the hot springs of Calera was next to replinish the body followed by a painful two and half bus journey back to Arequipa.

Sams Comments: No fireman sam jokes!

E-J Comments: It suddenly dawned on me just how unfit I am and I am going to seriously struggle on the Inca Trail. Though I am relieved to have Fireman Sam with me!

Having all been reunited, (the boys clearly with their tails between their legs) we set about finding accommodation. After viewing four Hostels which resembled something similar to a prison cell, we finally found a good place in the city centre.

After a two hour power nap, we made our way to another hostel, which Sam had located to watch the Rugby World Cup final.

Disappointed with the result, we headed back into town to drown our sorrows. By the end of the evening it is safe to say that Michelle and E-J were over refreshed, the boys took comfort in finding the best Kebab house in Peru!

The next day was a national censos, the whole city was completely shut down. The streets of Arequipa were desolate apart from the occassional tourist and this enabled us to really explore the city and take in the beauty of the architecture. Arequipa is known as the White City, due to the colour of its buildings.

The only place open to the public was the Santa Catalina Monastery, so E-J decided to explore it. Sam, thought at five pounds this was too expensive, so set off for a walk!

It is the size of a whole block and is like a city within a city. It has the most vibrantly coloured walls in bright blues, reds, oranges and white. It is also full of religious murals which have been restored. It was an amazing place to visit with all it´s small rooms and secret gardens.

After this we spent the rest of the day walking around Arequipa, taking in the sites. Then in the evening we booked our three day trek to the Colca Canyon and had an early night.

Sam´s Comments: E-J eating a kabab was a great sight after singing down the streets of Arequipa in the early hours of the morning!

E-J´s Comments: I loved Arequipa. It has definitely been my favourite city so far. The place has the most amazing architecture and I felt it had a much safer feel to it than any of the previous cities we have visited so far. I loved the monastery as well, it was a place so full of vibrance.