Huaraz & The Cordillera Blanca

When we got back from the jungle we were a little ahead of our initial plan so we had to find something to fill the time before our flight from Lima to Rio.

We spent a day in Cusco relaxing and and pondering - given the reports we have had from other people we certainly didn´t want to spend to much time in Lima so we debated Sand Boarding in Ica and getting a scenic flight over the famous Nazca lines or a trip to Huaraz for a four day hike around the Santa Cruz route in the Cordillera Blanca.

I was feeling fairly weary after all the previous trekking so wasn´t so keen but Kim was definitely favouring the trek option. We meet up with Ant and Lisa who we had been travelling with in Bolivia and they had been recommended a tour operator for the Santa Cruz trek by someone else they had meet which pretty much swung it so we booked a flight to Lima the following morning hoping to catch a bus to Huaraz the same day.

The following morning we were delayed 4 hours while the airport at Cusco was closed but managed to get to Lima around midday, we booked a night bus to Huaraz and then spent the afternoon exploring Miraflores, particularly the Lacomar mall which is build into the side of a cliff overlooking the ocean... before catching the bus to Huaraz. From Huaraz we spent the morning looking for a tour company before settling on the same company we were recommended for the following day.

The following day we started the trek with a small group of six tourists, two guides, four donkeys and a donkey driver. Over the four days we covered 63km, starting at 3,200masl, reaching a maximum of 4,750masl and finally finishing at 2,900masl.

Along the way we saw Artesonraju, a mountain supposedly used as the basis for the Paramount pictures logo you see in the movies and Alpamyo which is also supposedly "the most beautiful mountain in the world" due to its perfect triangular shape. Weather or not this is actually the truth is debatable but the fact that the Cordillera Blanca has 50 peaks higher than 5,500m and covers an area 21 by 180 kilometres, means this part of the Andes is the second highest mountain range in the world behind the Himalayas and home to some extremely spectacular scenery.

The trek was physically harder than the Inca Trail because of the altitude, but also far more scenic and in our opinion the new highlight of the trip to date. For anyone who likes hiking this trek is definitely a must do, and for anyone coming to South America even if they hate hiking this should be on the list of places to go...

So that ends our adventures in Peru - after spending today taking in central Lima we catch a flight to Rio tonight for the final week before heading to London.

Make sure you check out the pictures from this one....

Until next time (from London), Take Care

Dave & Kim

The Jungle - Manu Biosphere Reserve, Peru

Along with the Machu Picchu trek, our trip to the jungle was the only other organised activity for the trip, a compromise given just how far we are from lower parts of the Amazon.

Anyway, we learned a valuable lesson - if you book in advance you don´t always get the best price... especially here in Peru where once you hand over the money you will never see it again...

After returning from Machu Picchu we spent a day relaxing and organising ourselves in Cusco before heading off on the tour.

Manu Biosphere is a UNESCO World Heritage site and covers 18,811 km² which is divided into three areas, which are progressively harder to access (access to the deepest forest is limited to TV crews and researchers) - We only went into the outer area known as the Manu Cultural Zone.

After an early start we spent most of the day driving including the jungle road that rivaled the worlds most dangerous road at points... (we definitely would have felt safer on bikes than the bus, especially as we pulled to the edge for giant Volvo trucks to pass on the inside). We spent the last hour walking down the road and saw some Brown Capuchin Monkeys (like the one Ross had in Friends and the ones in Pirates of The Carribean) and Peru's national bird, the Cock of the Rock before arriving at our lodge for the evening. The lodge was fairly rustic and we spent the evening wondering what was under the floorboards only to find out in the morning there was a fairly large mouse nesting in the bedside drawers...

Day Two and we drove further stopping at a Coca plantation and getting a lesson in how to manufacture cocaine!!! Afterwards we rafted down a Grade 2 stretch of river for an hour and then meet up with the bus and boarded a boat for a further 20 minutes downstream where we found our second lodge. We spent the rest of the day relaxing (until we were awoken by a lady in our group as a monkey found its way into the lodge and climbed across the wall dividing our rooms...) and taking a walk around the jungle in the evening where we saw more monkeys, several birds, some serious ants, termites nests, wild pigs and some fairly decent spiders...

Day three we started early and headed downstream to a clay lick where Parrots and Macaws come to feed every morning. We watched patiently from the other side of the river for about an hour but unfortunately the birds didn´t land on the clay lick as they sensed a predator nearby. Next up was a series of five flying foxes through the canopy of the jungle reaching a maximum height of 70m which proved to much for Kims fear of heights and finally we walked around a lake which used to be part of the river where we saw some more birds....

The final day was the return journey we started with a hour long boat journey back upstream which included pushing the boat through two sets of rapids before hoping on the bus back up the road for a 10 hour return journey... we were blessed with another South American Travel moment as there was a protest in Cusco the following day so the roads were being closed. We found an alternative route only to find that a truck was dumping piles of dirt on the road for the grader that was three hours away to flatten... Fortunately this wasn´t going to stop us and we all got out of the van, leveled the thirteen piles slightly and then watched the driver drive over them in what was a very impressive display of driving bordering on insane...(videos soon)

Anyway we survived, and are booked for another four day trek from Huaraz tomorrow...

Until next time take care,

Dave & Kim

Photos from the Death Road

Hello All,

I just had an email from the people at Gravuty Assisted Mountain Biking with a link to all the pictures from my ride down the Worlds Most Dangerous Road.

If you follow the link to Shutterfly above and enter the password - photos - you can browse and even buy copies...

(I´ve never done this before but think the title of this post might be the link...)

Dave

The Inca Trail & Machu Picchu

We arrived in Cusco two days in advance of the Inca Trail, and spent those exploring parts of the city, resting and getting supplies for the Inca Trail. While the city is definitely beautiful it is very touristic which starts to get on your wick after a while. There are constantly people offering paintings, tourist information and massages on the street...

Regardless of the mayhem the real reason for or visit was to walk the Inca Trail which we booked way back in January to ensure we got one of the 500 spaces available on the track daily.

I could go on for hours about the trail and post all of the 350 photos we took over the four days but without making the trip yourselves it is hard to appreciate the beauty of this trip - we both agree this has to be the best thing we have done on the trip so far.

Basically, the trail covers 43km over three days, finally arriving at Machu Picchu early in the morning on the 4th day. The plan being this:

Day One: Covering only 12km and gaining 500m in altitude passing one set of ruins at Patallacta this considered the easy day. The scenery is a preview of the things to come, and the walking is RELATIVELY easy...

Day Two is the hardest day of the trek covering 12km and climbing some 1200m to the highest point "Dead Woman's Pass" at 4200masl before descending 800m to the campsite for the night - definitely a challenge, especially the last push to the top of the pass, but highly rewarding.

Day Three is the longest day at 15km and passes several ruins sites where the guides give great explanations of the purpose and history of the sites. This day is dubbed "the unforgettable day" because of the Inca sites and scenery.

Finally on Day Four you start at 4am for the final walk to Machu Picchu, which is probably the most demanding day of all as everyone is tired but really pushing hard to get to the ruins first for that special photo.

In our group we had 14 trekkers (mostly american), 20 porters (including the 2 cooks) and 2 guides, which made for an interesting group, and much entertainment along the way.

The company we used (Peru Treks) is well respected and prides itself on the ethical treatment of its porters (and given what we observed this is definitely the case) and extremely knowledgeable guides. We were lucky to get three days of great weather before a spot of rain overnight on the last night and some cloud as we passed over the "Sun Gate" on the final morning where we would have got our first glimpse of Machu Pichu.

Once we arrived in Machu Picchu the cloud lifted and after our group tour of the ruins we were fortunate to be two of the 400 persons allowed to climb to the top of Wayna Picchu which is the extremely steep mountain that overlooks Machu Picchu (the one that appears in all the postcard photos and definitely recommended for the view, but not for those who find heights intimidating).

Finally, we spent the afternoon in Aguas Calientes Town (Literal Translation: Water Hot Town) enjoying Pizza and Beer before the train and bus rides back to Cusco.

Overall it was an amazing experience, and one we will not forget anytime soon...

Take Care,

Dave and Kim