Day 18 – 23/08/09
LARES TREK day 1

Our porters and chef!! The Lads!

In brief...walked for 4 hours on Sunday to base 1- at an altitude of 4700m that’s the same as Mount Everest base camp!!! That was all up hill!! Guess who made it there first...yes ME (Danielle)!! Winner!!

I got such an adrenalin buzz out of it!! And that wasn’t the coca leaves... they taste awful! Rob had a mouthful and he said it did numb his air ways making it a lot easier to breath. Mouth of Coca Leaves!

Either way we were pretty giddy that night! But when it got to bed time wow it was cold! I put on all my clothes...8 layers of tops in total & 2 trousers and 2 socks, hat, gloves and scarf!! I was roasting- During the night I got up to go to the loo...or hole in the ground! It was totally frozen outside... -5!!! ahh! Unfortunately Rob was freezing all night cuz his sleeping bag is for summer months! So I got plenty of cuddles that night!!! Ha ha!
Up at 6 the next morning for a full day of hiking! We had a huge breakie, pancakes and hot coco!! This is not camping, this is luxury!

Day 19 – 24/08/09
LARES TREK day 2

Morning Wake-up Coffee!! Freezing...

Day 2 was tough! Up hill was so steep and rocky- but worth it when we made it (Rob was first- his power legs kicking in) to the first pass -between two mountains, also highest point at 4900m! It overlooked a glacier and a lake! Then came the hard part… Down hill! Both Rob and I are not down hill people! You see I consider the up hill a challenge, and an achievement when you reach the top….down hill is about cautiousness and prevention of ankle breaking!! Ha ha! Donnelly competitiveness coming out...no..! Anyway by the end of that day we had gone through many local villages, so we got to see loads of kids legging up the hills to meet us or to get the bread that we were told to buy for them! We were all huffing and puffing on this trek but these kids weren’t even out of breath and they ran past us so they could jump out somewhere else!! Local Bob the builder....

We were so tired we didn’t know they were the same kids and we ended up giving them loads of bread!
Anyway, that night we chilled out at camp, at a lower altitude -3600m- so much milder, still at about 1 or 2 degrees though!

1st pass at highest point 4900m - Group ShotFirst time to see an ipod...he watched the Simpsons, and didn´t want to give it back!! Rob´s Fweind!!

Day 20 – 25/08/09
LARES TREK day 3
This is what you call first class camping!

We were up so early this morning at 5 am! It was so cold, but we trucked on! 6 hrs of farmer’s treks and some new treks made up by our guide and Rob, we were going up a really steep hill full of vegetation to reach ancient Inca ruins and Rob was hacking down the shrubs to clear the way for all us girls!! Then more down hill to a village (most modern one we’ve seen in two days!) then we hoped on a train and arrived at our hotel with leg cramps and in serious need of a shower! The village was just for trekkers heading to Machu Picchu. So not much to do other then have a hot shower and relax before the next day!

Inca Calfs!! (after walking 47km)

Day 21– 26/08/09
MACHU PICCHU

We were up at half 4 in the morning, and headed down to the bus station where we assumed we’d be some of the first in the queue… we were wrong there were at least 300 people there already! Anyway we finally got up there and unfortunately it was quite misty. So we didn’t quite get a full view of it for sun rise but the cloud added to its mystique appearance!

So we had our tour of Machu Picchu, understood the area and how advance the Incas were for their time. Then we wandered around ourselves, taking it all in and viewing the whole site from the top, now that the mist had cleared it was pretty spectacular, and nice to just sit and remember how we had got here. We may not have done the original Inca Trial but the Lares Trek had serious altitude heights and extreme weather conditions so it was quite an achievement when we sat there and realised we had trekked 47km in three days to get here!

That afternoon we made it back to the city of Cusco. We were all pretty chuffed with ourselves so headed off to Paddy’s (the worlds highest Irish bar) to celebrate! We headed on to a local club, full of local and tourists so it was a great laugh…needless to say that was a good night!!


Day 22– 27/08/09
SACRED VALLEY

We woke the next day at 8.55am, our tour started at 9…. But we made it! Another day of Inca sites…more ruins and more steps, which was a lot harder today! After the Sacred Valley we had an hour or so in the market, this is one of the largest tourist markets here! Of course we had to buy something so Rob got a Peru T-shirt and I got a bag – for all my wooly clothes that I’m currently collecting! We had the evening off to ourselves to sleep before our next adventure to the jungle!!

Day 23– 28/08/09
AMAZON JUNGLE

Early flight at 7am, on our way to the jungle!!! Also with 3 new people to the group, 2 Aussies and 1 Paddy! Looked in a few places for a Rambo red headband but no joy! When flying into the jungle you could not see anything but vegetation, miles and miles of it.
Cautious Kate last min prep for the jungle!!

The humidity was awful stepping off the plane, 33degrees and 90% humidity. It was an hour and a half boat journey down the Madre de Dios River. The water was exactly the same as in any jungle movies, really dark and muddy and only 7 meters deep. When arriving to our hotel (Eco Lodge) which was in the heart of the jungle, the first thing we saw was a tarantula spider the size of my hand!!!!!!! Not the best thing to see the moment you step into the jungle. Lunch was locally presented in a banana leaf using bark to hold it together, with rice and steamed chicken inside, very tasty. Making our way to our lodge we were taking in the surroundings, swimming pool, games room, snooker and fuss ball. It was a great place. Our Lodge

Our room was on 4 stilts 3 meters high to keep all the bugs and animals away. It had no windows only netting to keep the flies out. It was more then what we thought we were going to get! We had a chill out room in our lodge with 2 hammocks which we slept on every evening.
In the afternoon we went to monkey island, (sorry Aaron no chimps) we saw 3 different kinds of monkeys, black spider monkey, brown capuchine, white capuchine. I scared the crap out of Danielle by hiding in the bushes; she thought that I was a monkey attacking her!!!! Very funny!!
After dinner we headed out at 8pm to go caimans watching. We were in the middle of the river and it was pitch black, with the local guide talking to us about the stars, until he said “ok lets be quiet for 7 minutes and listen to the jungle” well if you know us, we even get the fit of giggles in a lift let alone being on a boat in complete silence for 7 minutes!! It was so quiet until Rob let a little laugh out, this got Danielle going and then it was over, giggling for 3 minutes of the 7, very embarrassing as some people actual wanted to listen!! But we did manage to spot a few caimans (alligators) in the end which was pretty cool. In the middle of the night Danielle woke up shouting, thinking there was a spider in her hair, until she found out it was my hand in her hair!!!! Classic!!! The two of us went to bed not feeling the greatest probably from the changes in altitude and in temperature.

Day 24– 29/08/09
AMAZON JUNGLE

We were woken at 6am, to head off on a 5km jungle trek. Luckily it was early enough so the temperature was still cool-ish! We were covered from head to toe because we had been seriously bitten the day before on Monkey Island! The temperature obviously did start to rise and we all started to look and feel like we were melting! These extreme weather changes are playing with our bodies!! To Rob’s disappointment we didn’t get to see any pumas, but we did see a huge bull frog and a large group of centipedes all moving together! There were loads of trees that had different functions for the local tribes, like a ‘drum tree’ well that’s the translation for it, not the correct name – if you hit the tree with a log of wood it made a really loud noise that echoed for a radius of 3km! There was also a ‘garlic tree’ that was several meters high, and the bark stank of garlic… this is not edible but used to fend off evil spirits and vampires! We also got a chance at being Tarzan and Jane -swinging from vines!!

After lunch we went piranha fishing, unfortunately we only got nibbles from tiny little see-through fish!!

Chillin on the Amazon...

Then we headed to a non polluted area of the Madre de Dios for a swim. (There are many gold mines along the river and the mercury used pollutes the water) Rob had forgotten his swim shorts so went for a dip in his super tight cycling shorts… this got all the girls going!! Full Moon!!

We really need another guy on this tour otherwise my Rob is going to be mauled!! Ha ha!
That night we chilled out in the bar, a nice evening off after a long day in the heat!

Day 25– 30/08/09
CUSCO

Flight was at 11am back to Cusco, where we happily had a day off, which was needed because we have been doing something everyday. So we bought phoned home to catch up with gossip from family’s and updated our blog. It was amazing just to chill out for the day after the Inca trail and Amazon. But it was not to last as we will have a 6 hour bus journey to Puno (Peru) the next day. But that’s what we are here for, right???

Day 13 – 18/08/09
NAZCA

We had free time until 2pm, so we just chilled out by the pool and relaxed in the sun. We had an opportunity to fly over the NASCA lines but turned it down happily because I think it is a load of baloney!!! 9000 years ago they said man made these lines in the ground; some of them look like a monkey, sparrow, spaceman and a humming bird!!!! They are still clear to this day; I think it is a tourist trap!! Well that’s me, you probably have your own views.

Chauchila Cemetery open graves

We took a trip to the Chauchila cemetery which holds 12 graves dug up by archeologists which have human remains. We thought our guide for the tour was deaf because she was shouting all the time and we were in the desert so it was very quiet!!!

Cool hair - it was plated and all!!

Nearly got in a fit of laughter! We had more free time after this which we loved because the trip is jam packed with things to do and you don’t get much free time, but that’s what we are here for I suppose.
We were all getting ready for a 10 hour over night bus to Arequipa(Peru) I have never done this so I didn’t know what to expect. It was exactly like a plane we had food, movie and drinks but when the person in front but there seat back there was no getting out!


Day 14 – 19/08/09
AREQUIPA

Didn’t sleep much on the over night bus, the driver was all over the place, but we all made it to Arequipa in one piece! We went for an orientation walk around the ‘White City’- most of the buildings are made from local volcanic rock – sillar. It has a beautiful square surrounded by double arched buildings that have hidden markets inside! So much alpaca and llama woolen hats, jumpers, scarves and more!! I gave in a got a pair of gloves; I’ll wait til Cusco to buy the hat and jumper! But Rob found a super alpaca wool hat – I think he should have gotten it – check out photo!!

Suits ya!!!!

It was a free day for us so we just wandered around the city, went to the museum of Juanita (the ice mummy found in the Andes, she was only about 12 or 13yrs old – some say she was a sacrifice, really interesting history and beliefs over here with loads of rituals and sacrifices, but I don’t want to bore you with it too much but it is what makes the place so facinating), then went for a few drinkies on a roof top terrace that over looks the main plaza.

The views were spectacular!! Snow capped mountains, clear blue sky, the sun setting and a few Pisco Sours….ahh perfect!
Rob, Danielle, Sian and Abbey in an Irish bar!!!

Day 15 – 20/08/09
CHIVAY

Up at 6am to make our way to Chivay and the Colca Canyon. We met our tour guide Daniel. This guy was packed full of knowledge he explained things so well, plus he looked like Maradona as well, have a look below!!!

"Maradona" - Daniel the tour guide
So many to choose from!! So many pretty colours!! How cute?!

The drive had some amazing sites of the Andes. Daniel explained to us how we were going to be at 4900 meters high, which had the highest toilets in the world!! When getting outside he told us not to run just be relaxed and take it easy because you can lose your breath very easy. The air was so thin; we had to take slow deep breaths to get enough oxygen in. From here we headed to Chivay Village to our hotel (3300m) which we had to travel on a dirt road for 7km. Checked in and headed down for lunch which was Alpaca!!!!! This is like a sheep with a long neck or a small camel. Tasted like very tough beef. After lunch we went for a hike up one of the mountains, this was quite hard with the altitude because we were at 3300meters so we all got out of breath very easy. Every so often on the hike there were locals playing instruments and kids putting on plays, remember we are in the middle of nowhere here so it was very strange seeing people just pop out putting on shows. mmmm... Lunch!

When we made it back we relaxed on the hammock which was needed!

Chilled out!

After that we headed off to the Hot Springs - as Chivay is surrounded by at least 3 volcanoes – heated from the 85°C natural springs of the volcano the 3 pools are controlled to be 36°C - 39°C. We ran between the pools out in the freezing air!!
At dinner we went to a local restaurant which had dancers and a band playing all the local songs.

Local dancers...yes both wearing skirts!

After dinner it is common to make a ceremonial sacrifice to Mother Earth, in this case 2 people are asked up on stage to partake, of course they had to ask me (Rob) to be the symbolic sacrifice so I had to kneel down and blow on 3 coca leaves and raise them up to ‘heaven’ (higher life, middle life and lower life) a few times and then eat them!!! This tasted like cattle feed, but thank god I didn’t have to dance because the next couple had to!!!!

Rob´s offering!
Day 16 – 21/08/09
COLCA CANYON

A seriously early start, we were woken at 4.50am!! Eeek! We took another dirt track to the Colca Canyon, stopping for some coca tea (little fact: the coca leaves are used to prevent altitude sickness, chewed or brewed in tea it’s a light stimulant (containing half a percent of cocaine) that gives you energy and slightly numbs your throat to help you breath deeper…if you chew enough leaves it will give you a bit of a kick!! But they taste like dry grass or coincidently leaves!! Not very tasty)
We then took a short hike to a view point over looking the canyon and waited to see some condors. After an hour of watching them in the distance, the temperature rose and they flew higher which meant we got the see then right over head!! Well I (Danielle) certainly did, I over heard a little French girl calling to her mom saying that she had a better view… so up I went getting there before her mom!!! Ha ha!! The condors were pretty massive with up to a 3m wing span, quite impressive! After that we got back on the bus and made our way over the seriously bumpy road… not fun! We stopped at the highest point to make a wish and build little stone towers…. it’s what you do there - so I had fun building a few (to both families – there is a little stone tower up there with a wish for you!!)
Back at the hotel in Arequipa, I was suffering with an altitude headache, that or my head was knocked about from the bus journey, so we rested till dinner.
Got a few early starts ahead of us, up at 5am again tomo followed by all the early mornings of the Lares Trek, (the alternative Inca Trail)


Day 17 – 22/08/09
CUSCO

Happy Birthday Ken!
We left the hotel at 5 and flew out of Arequipa to Cusco arriving by half 7am!! Alex gave us an orientation tour of his home town! The town is beautiful! The birth place of the Incas, known as the ‘Navel of the Earth’. All the streets are narrow and generally up hill and lined with original Inca ruins and Spanish colonial buildings.
After a hearty breakfast in ‘Jacks’ we headed off to the local market… this was an experience!! The local people sell all kinds off food, corn, pulses, fruit, veg and of course meat… all out in the open with plenty of flies and cross contamination!! The most interesting area was the meat section selling pretty much any part of the animals including tongue, stomach, gallbladder, and head!! Check out the photos! As this country, especially the areas or the Incas, is full of rituals we got to see some one the typical offerings that they would use. Llama fetus used in August as a gift to mother earth, this is to prevent the dry season taking their animals or children. They kill the llama and the fetus, the blood and fetus is an offering to the lower life or soil/earth; the llama meat is for the middle life or physical life; and the spirit of the llama is offered to the higher life.
Rob and I then splashed out in the tourist market where we got all our warm hats and scarves for the Lares Trek. Rob also got a traditional festival face mask (a balaclava with a mustache!!)
After our briefing with our trekking guide we went up to the top of a restaurant to get a full view of the city…

Day 11 – 16/08/09

LIMA, PERU

Peruvian Flag

Arrived in Lima at 3am after another flight delayed for 2 hours, also with no Visa card!!!! I’m going to try and defend myself (Rob) here, when receiving money from an ATM in Dublin or any big city in Europe the visa card comes out first from an ATM machine then the money then receipt!!! But not over here your money comes out first then your receipt then your card 15seconds later!! Enough time for me to walk off happy to get the money and leave my card in the machine!! I’m sure you can ALL totally understand how I did it!!! Luckily enough no money was taken and card was cancelled. Anyway, Danielle got us up at 8am to be down in reception to meet our group for a 35day trip from Lima to Santiago. Well at least Danielle thought it was 8am it was really 7am so we were waiting down in reception for a half hour till we realized!! This was a much more serious note then the Visa card!!
We met Alex our tour guide and our small group, Sian(English), Abbey(Aus) and Diane(Kiwi) yes all girls!!! (I now know how you feel Conor) all very nice people. We took a small tour around Lima with our group and we saw the coolest dog in Lima. (below)

Coolest dog in Lima

Again another city I thought was going to be small and have no shop fronts and people begging and again I was wrong.
We made our way to the bus station were we had a 4 hour trip to Pisco for a boat ride to Ballestas Islands and some sand boarding!!


Day 12 – 17/08/09

PISCO

Local Taxi in Pisco (Tuk Tuk)

Our Hotel in Pisco(had an earth quake 2 years ago)

An early start to the day, out by 7 to catch a bus to the port, so that we could head out to the Paracas National Reserve (The Peruvian Galapagos) - a boat tour of the Ballestas Islands. We got the worst seats on the boat, right at the back breathing in the fumes and we couldn’t hear the tour guide, but we figured out what he was saying. We got to see loads of birds, sea gull, penguins, sea lions and dolphins! It was a pretty good sight but not really our thing – one funny fact though was that every 7 years locals come out to collect bird shit….. it can reach 2 meters high in that space of time – and is used for fertiliser!!

Freeeeezing!! This isn't cruelty its a Pervian dog (voted ugliest dog in the world)

Thought to be spiritual guides in Peru!!!

After lunch we headed by bus to Huacachina where we got to go sand boarding and race around in sand buggies!! This was so much fun; firstly it was sunny and warm!! Yippy!

Group Shot!

We headed off in a buggy – fully strapped in for a crazi ride over the sand dunes, it was like being in a roller coaster - a dodge viper 8 cylinder engine belting it around this vast desert!! Then the driver would bring us to the top of a sand dune and give us a waxed up board and push us off!! You go on you belly, elbows in (to prevent sand burn) and either feet down to control the pace or like Rob feet up and free fall down the slope and skim across the flat sand like a rocket!! So much fun, I did eventually pick up the courage to lift up my feet and my god you literally fly down, such a rush! We went to 4 different slopes each got harder but more fun!

Then we headed off in an ‘American Taxi’ – Cadalac – to Nazca. Our driver was so funny, once he saw Rob falling a sleep he started to sing really loud, it was great entertainment though – check out the video! Along the way we got to view some of the Nazca Lines at sunset from a high tower – Alex told us some of the theories as to how they got there… Rob is cynical and doesn’t believe, I’m still on the fence about it we’ll have to wait til tomo!!

BUENOS AIRES

Day 7 – 12/08/09
Trip adviser.com suggests that the best tourist attraction in BA was the BA free tour walk which is a 3 hour walk around the city pointing out the main attractions in the city. This to me was hell but when we got to a church I woke up because it was where Maradona the “hand of god” footballer was married so it was starting to get a little interesting. Also visited the Pink house balcony where Evita or you could say Madonna in the movie spoke out to the city.
After walking the legs of ourselves we hit a steak house, Argentina is known for there huge tender steaks. So 2 beers, bottle of Vino, 3 fillet steaks (knowning we only ordered 1), tomato mozzarella and bread for a staggering 16euro later……it was true!! Greatest steak ever but for a record price. We were obviously ready for the sack after that, ready for more free tours tomorrow!!!!!

check out the house on top of the building!!
Day 8 – 13/08/09
We started our day with a cup of coffee in “Café Tortoni” BA’s most famous and oldest café, founded in 1858. All the interiors are still as it was when it first started, and all the waiters dress in old fashioned clothes.The little house on the top of this building is the owners house of the property, he decided to build it becuase it was too far to travel into the city from his farm!!! After that we headed off to San Telmo - a cute little area with loads of antique shops selling really old TV’s and telephones. We sat in the square for a bit to watch people dance the tango! Then we headed to San Martin Square to start the evening tour – with BA free tour – It was super cold so we got quite giddy, and started laughing at this “know it all” on the tour. He didn’t stop talking and using his hands to talk as well…they were going everywhere!! So that kept us amused as we went through the salubrious side of town- we’re talking Vico Road stuff!! The houses were massive palaces. Our tour guide was hilarious too, she said that loads of people get plastic surgery over here so she calls this area a safari, sometimes you see them sometimes you don’t! To point them out she shouted “LION, LION, LION” – Luckily we saw one, the poor old bag got such a fright with all of us shouting - yet her face didn’t change!!

Day 9 – 14/08/09
We headed off to the Recoleta Cemetery, to visit Evita’s grave. The place was quite creepy – obviously it was a cemetery – but it looked like a small version of a posh city, the graves were like mini palaces. They had as much detail in the grave’s as they did with the massive houses we saw the evening before! You could even look through the doors or windows and inside were coffins with seats, tables and photos! After that we walked through a hippy market, Rob got his first hippy ‘man’ bracelet and I got hippy earrings…ha ha many more of this to come!! We walked for literally hours to find a well known steak house “La Cabrera”, but Rob got cranky walking for so long so we stopped in an Irish bar – “O’Sullivans” – so Irish it even had Irish prices!! €6.30 for a pint of Guinness! After quenching our thirst we walked again for ages looking for this restaurant, eventually we found it! It was so full we had to sit outside, on the corner of the path, right at the entrance, which meant that the queue formed around our table!! But the steak did make up for it, we ordered a steak for one again but 4 fillets arrived with two plates of condiments! Yum!

Day 10 – 15/08/09
So we’re currently waiting to head to the airport to catch a flight to Lima, Peru, to start our 35 day tour to Santiago, Chile!

RIO TO IGUAZU FALLS

Day 5 – 10/08/09
Early flight to Iguaçu Falls, Brazilian side. 82 meters high 5th largest in the world. 3 countries meet in the middle of the Falls- Brazil, Argentina and Paraguay. We decided to head to the Brazilian side first for a day then the Argentine side. Each side gives its own spectacular views on the Falls.
Getting off the bus with our oversized 23kg rucksack praying that they would have a locker to store them or else we would have to trek 3km around the Falls with them on our back or with 2 of them on Rob’s back!! Luckily enough that didn’t happen. When walking over to the viewing point of the Falls for the first time, I know a lot of people say words can’t describe something in life but in this case words could not describe what we were seeing here, 80.000 Gallons of water per second traveling over the falls. To get a closer look you could travel along a board walk that brings you out to the middle of the Devils throat, this is the strongest point of the falls. Half way out I was thinking this wasn’t such a good idea because we were soaked to the bone already so when we got to the end it was worth early second, standing 15metres away from the bottom of the waterfall, you can only imagine the power of the water hitting the ground and the noise. Well enough of me saying how amazing Iguaçu falls was, you just have to go and view it for yourself. Here is a taster below!!!!

We made our way to the border of Brazil and Argentina, who the Policia Federal thought it was funny to open Rob’s bag to have a look inside which was packed perfectly and instead to just flirt with Danielle and having a laugh with her!!! But got into our second country with no problems thanks to our Irish passports. Quickly got a taxi, checked into our hostel which was 5 minutes away, ready for the Argentine side of the Iguaçu falls the next morning.


Day 6 – 11/08/09

After a perfect nights sleep, we got up to have breakie outside in the hostel garden….it is so cold!! But cups of hot coffee and cornflakes with hot milk hit the spot! Mmmm…

We headed off with our massive bags to the Iguaçu Jungle Park. We booked the Grand Adventura, which brought us into the jungle on a big 4x4 through the Yacaratia Trail….we only saw birds and butterflies, no pumas unfortunately they are nocturnal!!
Then we got into a speed boat and went up the rapids of the Iguaçu River and luckily all our belongings and shoes etc. were packed away because we drove straight into the Devil’s Throat canyon and got “baptised” under San Martin Fall! It was so much fun!! We got totally drenched, and Rob literally went for a bath!!!

After that thrill! We walked through the lower circuit trail, which took our breath away; the falls we saw were unbelievable, rainbows and everything!! (from now on I will sound completely star struck but I’m not messing this place is so spectacular…and our pictures won’t even do the place justice!) After the trail we got on a train to the Devil’s Throat Station. This brings us to the top of the falls. We walked out along a long bridge and then came to the top….. WOW!!!! The sheer power of the water falling is unbelievable and the feeling you get from the place is indescribable. I was speechless! You just forget about everything and it makes you feel so happy!! J The place is really surreal and totally hypnotic, honestly this is something everyone should see in their life time!!!

From the Park we headed to the airport to fly to our third destination - Buenos Aires!! We arrived quite late but even at night the city looked amazing. It looks like a mix of Paris, London and Barcelona. Our hostel is so cool it had huge wooden double doors with wrought iron detail, like a French apartment block! And our room is massive with a TV!! Ha ha!