Peru

We left the Chachapoyas area for Tarapoto, a city 6 hours away by car and the gateway to the Amazon. Instead of doing a 3 or 4 day bus/boat combo to Iquitos in the Amazon, we opted to go with a cheap airline on a 1 hour flight from Tarapoto.

Iquitos is the largest city in the world with no road connections to the outside world. You can only arrive by boat or by plane. Many travellers come here to do a jungle trek or stay at a jungle lodge, but we opted to use Iquitos only as a jump off point for going much deeper into the Amazon. Today was spent doing admin, buying some supplies and hammocks (for the cargo boat rides) etc. We plan to take a boat tomorrow to the border with Colombia and Brazil from where we hope to travel down the Amazon for a few hundred kilometres to Tefe and Manaus. There is a specific ecolodge we want to visit in Tefe - very far from anything and everything else...

Culture shock: we read an article in a local tourist newspaper about day trips around Iquitos where 'you will be able to see and photograph huge trees logged out of the deep Amazon jungle...'

In February 2006, the third highest waterfall in the world was discovered close to Chacha. It has never appeared on any map nor was the outside world aware of it before then. We decided to grab the opportunity to be some of the first visitors to this 771m high waterfall in a remote and pristine valley. We are sure that it would be an entirely different experience in 5 years' time.

We (4 of us) set off with a small travel company from Chacha and drove to the village closest to the falls. It was wonderful to arrive in a village where there were no tourist facilities! Everything was so authentic. The guide, Pedro, was brilliant. He is one of the locals of the village and walked with us the 3 hours to the falls through pristine forests. Walking sticks were hacked out of the jungle (a practice that will have to stop before mass tourism arrives!). The walk was up and down and beautiful!

The waterfall (in two main steps) could be seen right from the start of our walk and was visible from time to time through the forest. We arrived to share the moment with students from a nearby town. Johan went for a swim under the falls and nearly froze to death! The guides were as excited as we were to be part of something so beautiful and unspoilt...

During our walk back we saw (and heard!) another flock of about 50 green parrots flying by. Overall it was a fantastic experience, one of the highlights of our trip. We count ourselves very privileged and blessed to be able to share such a day.

Chacha, as the locals call it, is a wonderful and friendly place. Very few travellers go this far and we really loved the authenticity of the place - no tourist bars, souvenir shops, etc. We had a great stay at the Hotel Ravesh next to the Plaza de Armas (town square). For the first time in a while, we had real warm water for a good shower!

The first day we just chilled and walked around - we had lots of admin to do as well. The next day Johan went to the remote ruins of Kuelap, some 3 hours away by car. The road was very steep next to a huge gorge on a single gravel track - reminiscent of the death road in Bolivia. Tourism is in its infancy in this region and we (about 8 of us) were the only visitors at this huge pre-Inca ruins on the ridge of an enormous mountain. The caretaker greeted each one of us by hand to welcome us personally!

The ruins were spectacular - both due to the location and the remoteness. On our return we saw a flock of parrots flying and screaching past us! After Machu Picchu, these ruins were the most spectacular we have seen on our trip. The experience, however, beats Machu Picchu hands down...

The objective: get to Chachapoyas (Peru) as soon as possible.

The outcome:

Day 1
6:00-6:10 leave our lodging in pick-up taxi for Vilcabamba bus stop
6:10-6:15 wait for bus to arrive
6:15-11:45 in bus through incredible cloud forests and high cliffs to Zumba
11:45-14:30 wait for transport
14:30-16:20 transport on converted cattle truck to border at La Balsa
16:20-17:00 walk over bridge at border + formalities
17:00-19:00 squeeze into car 7 people plus luggage for trip to San Ignacio
19:00 check into cheap hotel for US$6 per room - wooden walls with holes...

Day 2
7:35-7:40 leave hotel in mototaxi (motorbike with 3 wheels and space for passengers) to collectivo (car or minibus that fills up with various people and leaves when it is full) terminal
7:40-8:15 wait for more passengers
8:15-10:15 travel to Jaen in minibus collectivo
10:15-10:45 wait for minibus to be fixed after overheating
10:45-11:45 continue to Jaen
11:45-11:50 mototaxi from one collectivo terminal to another
11:50-12:00 wait for car collectivo to fill up
12:00-13:00 travel to Bagua Grande in car collectivo
13:00-13:05 mototaxi from one collectivo terminal to another
13:05-13:10 wait for car collectivo to fill up
13:10-14:30 travel in collectivo to Pedro Ruiz and try to keep driver awake
14:30-15:15 drive around Pedro Ruiz in minibus collectivo looking for other passengers
15:15-17:00 travel to Chachapoyas on a most beautiful (but terrible) road
17:00 check into hotel next to Plaza

Observations:

when a guidebook states 'beautiful scenery', it actually means 'not a single straight stretch, just winding bends on washed out gravel roads in over-crowded transport going incredibly slowly due to the poor condition of the road and the huge differences in altitude every few kilometres'! It was arguably, however, the most beautiful and remote route we had travelled to date.

Our driver from the border smuggled in about 60liters of cheap fuel from Ecuador to sell in Peru - seemed like a separate tank which he emptied in his home town on the way to San Ignacio. Everything works like a well-oiled machine - while he is draining the tank, his kids dig out plastic containers from under the seats and from other secret compartments throughout the car!

We may also have smuggled a person in! This one guy was dropped of just before the police check point where everyone needs to register and rejoined us after the checkpoint!

We first planned to stop somewhere along the north coast of Peru for Johan to surf. After reading many reports on the internet of the increased danger of being robbed at the surf spots (and after seeing a dismal swell forecast), we decided to head north to Ecuador. So we boarded another overnight bus in Lima, this time a bus all the way to Quayaquil, Ecuador. The bus ride that would have taken 25 hours eventually took almost 28 hours! But the road was straight and our seats were almost fully reclining. The drawback - we were bombarded with the screening of extremely violent DVD's on the bus - all dubbed in Spanish...

The road north from Lima is beautiful - the desert meats the ocean and the potential for good surf is almost endless with the many left-handed sand points all along the coast. Fortunately the swell was small so the torture for Johan was limited...

I never thought that one can really still find an oasis in the desert. Haucachina is such a place - a tiny village around an oasis, surrounded by the huge sand dunes of the coastal desert of Peru. The village is some 4 hours south of Lima and very close to the town of Ica.

We decided to rest for a few days (to recover from our bus ride and to prepare for the next one) and stayed in a semi-upmarket hotel for 3 nights. It was great - Swiss/Peruvian run and everything was clean and beautiful and they played classical music (a welcome break from Spanish covers of popular songs!). We slept for hours or just strolled around the oasis or rested at the pool.

This is also sandboard country and Johan rented a sandboard and walked (read 'struggled') up a high dune and sandboarded down.Much easier than what he thought it would be like even though he complained about his terrible board. He was too tired, however, to go back up with another board!

After a few days we left to head north - not completely knowing where we will stop and when, but Lima was en route...

Culture shock: since Bolivia, we had been looking for bread spreads (anything other than jam) and found absolutely none - no bovril, marmite, etc

After returning from Machu Picchu, we shipped a box of souvenirs home, ate a great steak, went to the bus terminal to buy our own tickets (removing the middleman) and boarded another overnight bus, again in the same seats as when our camera gear was stolen the last time - just with even better security measures! This bus ride was probably the worst bus ride of our lives (yes I know we keep saying it!). The road curved every 100 metres - not a single straight for 13 hours and Janine felt terrible the whole way. But our gear was safe...

At 6am we arrived at the desert town of Nazca, renowned for its mysterious figures and lines drawn on the desert floor by a pre-Inca people, more than 500 years ago. These lines were only discovered in 1920 when commercial pilots began to fly over the area. Again there are various theories surrounding the figures and lines, but what remains remarkable is how these figures were drawn to be seen from the air - most of them measure more than 100 meters and one would not notice them from the ground!

After a shower and breakfast we went to fly over the lines in a small aircraft - Janine (still recovering from the terrible bus ride) wisely chose not to fly. The flight lasted about 40minutes and the plane really banked from side to side so that one could view the figures, experiencing the g-forces previously reserved for fighter pilots.

We decided not to stay in Nazca and caught a local bus (2.5 hours) to a town called Ica and from there a taxi to the desert oasis called Haucachina.

We also went to the Sacred Valley, a valley that eventually leads to the lost city of the Incas (Machu Picchu). It is a beautiful valley surrounded by high mountains full of Inca ruins. Our first stop was at a market where we enjoyed some corn and also juice made of black corn. Peru has 383 different types of corn and more than 2000 types of potatoes!

We then visited the hilltop ruins of Pisaq and Ollantaytambo. Quite impressive, especially those at Ollantaytambo. From here we caught the train to Aguas Calientes (meaning hot spring) which is the base for exploring Machu Picchu. The only transport there is by a 2 hour train ride through a beautiful valley next to the Urumba river. We arrived at 10pm at night and were just too glad to hit the bed (best mattresses of our trip!).

Early the next morning we took the bus for the 8km zigzagging ride up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu is spectacular. We were some of the first people there and enjoyed the sunrise over the ruins. The ruins were much bigger and in a much better condition than what we expected. This may be due to the fact that the Spanish invaders never found Machu Picchu and it was only discovered by the outside world in 1911. This comes as no surprise if one considers its location - high on top of a mountain, surrounded by other higher mountains, separated by a river.

The people who build Machu Picchu must have been astronomically advanced as almost every building and stone were specifically positioned relative to the stars and the sun considering the solstices etc. We scaled the mountain called Wayna Picchu (the one often seen behind the city in pictures). The steep 45 minute climb brings one to more ruins on top of that mountain with beautiful views into the valley and over Machu Picchu.

We returned the next day to Ollantaytambo from where we briefly stopped at the big circular ruins of Moray before continuing home to Cusco.

A note on the Incas: the best way to think of them is as of a royal family. Inca means "king" and they were therefore the royal house. They subdued many different cultural groups who became their servants. They were wiped out by the invasion of the Spanish bringing new diseases and using horses in battles - something that frightened the local people as they had never seen horses before. The last Inca was killed in 1572.

We went horse riding for a few hours to some of the nearby ruins. Johan's horse was so small that his feet almost touched the ground while Janine's horse was clearly very unfit and we feared that the beast may collapse at any moment. This was, however, not to be and we visited a few Inca ruins with a guide who travelled by car and waited for us at the various ruins. Our horses came with a horseman (a guy walking next to them to make sure they behave). I must add that our horses were in reality walking as slowly as a horse can walk.

The guide also seemed very strange - he never took off his sunglasses and walked with a limp - and in general it seemed to us as if he had had one coca leaf too many.

The ruins of Sacsayhuaman were quite impressive. It is situated on the hill just above Cusco and consists out of huge terraces of enormous boulders that fit each other perfectly. The name means either "head of the puma" (if you want to believe the "Cusco is in the shape of a puma" story), or something about a condor. The name is fortunately quite easy to remember as it sounds like "sexy woman".

Cusco is the oldest continuously inhabited city in South America. Like all cities taken over by the Conquistadors (the Spanish invaders), life revolves around the main square with its associated churches. The main one here is called Plaza de Armas. Most streets are made from cobblestones and are very narrow, only wide enough for one car at a time. This probably explains why the taxis are extremely small cars. Johan has, however, witnessed a major traffic jam involving 7 cars at a t-junction! There are no stop signs - cars drive and squeeze in in front of each other as they see fit, especially at junctions.

The (undercover) tourist police took us to a semi-dangerous, far-off market to restock our electronics. They were very willing to do anything from camera purchasing to being tour guides to purchasing bus tickets for us - hmmmm... Johan obviously did not want a further party (read middleman) involved, so we went back later on our own to get the electronics for cheaper. Janine also managed to accumulate quite a bit of wares - so much so that we had to ship a 10kg box home. She loves Cusco and especially a little German run restaurant called Granja Heidi which we visited no less than 5 times in the 2 days that we knew of it!

The foundations of many buildings are still beautiful original Inca masonry. Huge stones fit each other perfectly and were designed to withstand the many earthquakes that destroyed much of the rest of the city in the past.

There are many myths and legends surrounding the chief Inca city of Cusco - some tour leaders show you maps with the "old" Cusco in the form of a puma, and state that it was designed by the Incas in such a shape. They are also quick to point out many puma figures in the masonry (which is not too obvious to anyone else, perhaps including the original builders?). But as one guide said - "mythical tourism" is now Cusco's bread and butter - stories were made up (and other histories were mixed in) over the past few decades that amaze tourists and result in the sale of more (often unrelated) souvenirs.

We also visited one or two of the main cathedrals. A highlight included a huge 6m x 4m (or bigger) painting of the last supper where a guinea pig (a Peruvian delicacy) is pictured as the main meal! This may have been the inspiration for Janine to try a guinea pig (called cuy here) for lunch. She will write more about this in her culinary blog, but I could not look at the poor thing, outstretched on her plate, complete with teeth and eyes. She was brave though and struggled through her childhood pet memories to try to finish the beast.

The night bus from Arequipa to Cusco was a beautiful modern, double story bus. We managed to get seats right in front on the upper level. Unbeknown to us at that stage, this would be the place where we would experience the professionalism of Peruvian criminals first hand.

As always, our cameras were locked in our day packs which we carry with us without ever letting them out of our sight. I was sitting next to the window and Janine next to the aisle. Our bags were locked and literally under our feet, away from the aisle and there was no seat behind us, just a cupboard that restricted access to our bags. Even the sides of the seats had covers, so the only way to our bags could have been from right in front of our seats which was the front seats.

At about 1am, I still enjoyed some fruits that I kept in my bag for the trip and everything was still there. When we arrived to our hotel the next morning, I unlocked my bag and noticed that the lock seems bent. Inside we only found the empty camera and video camera cases - gone!

What an awful experience after all the precautions we took. One feels so helpless and angry at the injustice. The rest of the morning was spent at the Tourist Police getting a declaration for the insurance.

Fortunately we managed to get great replacement cameras in Cusco, even better ones than we had for lower than the price back home. Fortunately we did not loose too much footage as we back-up regularly. Unfortunately we lost our condor footage and photos which I think was world class. We will however put some photos in the gallery from the web and also from a very kind Chinese lady (Erwina) which we met in Arequipa who also went to the Colca Canyon.

But for now, we are armed (with cameras) and dangerous again!

Arequipa is also Canyon country. The deepest canyon in the world (Colca Canyon, about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon) is some 3hours from the city. We went on a two day, one night tour to see the wild condors that made the Colca Canyon famous.

We travelled to a little village called Chivay (with some impressive ruins nearby) where we stayed the night. The early evening was spent in the nearby hot springs as our accommodation did not have hot water and the temperature drops to well below freezing at night.

Early the next morning we travelled to Cruz del Condor, a lookout point over the canyon. At this point the canyon is already some 2100m deep. It increases in depth towards the coast. Wild condors nest in the canyon and soar on the thermal air as it heats from the sun. When we arrived we saw a few condors some 100m lower than us, but it was difficult to make them out. Then suddenly as the air in the canyon warms up, they started to fly at eye level just metres from us and also started to swoop over our heads! It was an awesome experience to see birds with wingspans of 3 meters flying so close that it feels as if one can touch them! We were just stunned and watched in silence!

From here we travelled back to Arequipa in time to catch the night bus to Cusco, the city from where the Incas ruled over much of South America.

Arequipa is also called the "white city" as most of the buildings are made from a silvery white type of volcanic rock that is only found in the area. It is Peru's second largest city and like all other Peruvian towns or cities, it is full of marches by various schools, bands and political parties with the accompanying musical procession.

Our accommodation was in a suburb close to the city, some 15 minutes on foot. It is a great place where we also shared a BBQ (braai!) with the hostess and her friends - alpaca meat is really good (although Janine does not agree). We spend a day or two resting and doing washing (much needed) and also visited two well-known "attractions".

The first was the monastery of Santa Catalina. The following history is not guaranteed to be accurate, but is what I can remember and could gather! Build some 500 years ago, it is filled with hundreds of little alleys and rooms - the entire area covers a few city blocks (the only monastery that was a "city" in its own right) and covers some 20000 sq meters.

Apparently the original nuns were from noble families and the 2nd daughter of the nobles had to become a nun. Obviously this did not work too well and they had wild parties to such an extent that the pope heard of it and send some nun like Heidi's schoolteacher to sort them out. This happened a few 100 years ago before e-mail.

I am not a lover of monasteries nor old buildings in general, but this visit was very interesting - thought it would be a great place for playing laser quest! It is open for the general public, except for a small part that is currently still in use by nuns.

We also went to see the ice mummies. In Inca times, local girls were sacrificed on top of the high mountains to appease the "gods" of the volcanoes and the earth. During the visit much emphasis was laid on the "fact" that it was such an honour to be sacrificed in a ritual at some 6000m high, almost as an apology to the evil act of killing one's own children. A procession would take up to a few months to reach the designated spot. Sometimes the sacrifice dies from exposure, but other times a hard hit to the head was used.

The most famous mummy is called Juanita. She was about 12 years old and is almost perfectly preserved, 500 years later, due to the low temperatures. Even her organs are completely preserved. An American mountaineer discovered her some 15 years ago and since then about 10 others were also discovered in the region.

Cultural shocks: an "ice cream cart tune" sounds when any vehicle of size reverses; streets can be very narrow and would fit only a single car - this leads to numerous traffic jams; political party campaigns include painting slogans on rocks and mountainsides with bright paint.

We also visited the Uros islands, the only floating islands in the world made entirely from reeds. Every 2 or 3 months a new layer is added to the top as the bottom layers rot away. It was great to walk (and jump) on these islands - the soft spongy movements caused a ripple effect over the island.

We caught the bus to Arequipa, the 2nd largest city in Peru. The 5-6 hours ride became 7 hours as the bus ran out of petrol some 1.5hours from our destination. Today (4 June 2006) is a resting day for us and presidential election day for the rest of Peru.

Culture shocks: all shops/buildings, no matter how small, must have a big green sign pointing to the exit; a loaf of bread is 1.5 times longer than what we are used to.

We stayed in Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca for a few days after we left Bolivia. We found this part of Peru to be even cheaper than Bolivia. Interesting new things include guinea pig on the menu...

Lake Titicaca should actually have been called Lake Titicala ("Puma rock"), but a transliteration error to Spanish resulted in the last part of the name being as it is with a similar meaning to that word in Afrikaans!

We visited some pre-Inca and Inca ruins called Sillustani which was used as ancient burial grounds. Whole family groups were buried in these mysterious burial towers with treasure and food. Amazing to see how perfectly these stones (weighing several tons) fitted each other. The first use of this site dates back to 2000BC.

Culture shock: We noted that we have hardly seen any cell phone usage in our travels thus far - there are many cell phone call vendors, however, who stand in market centers and offer you the use of their cell phone which is chained to themselves. Cell rates in Peru are exorbitant (as far as we could make out in our less than perfect spanish).