Peru

A dry desolate change from the north. Driving down to our next stop we found the northern part of Peru similar to Egypt with desserts and poor nothing towns. This dryness continued through to the southern coast with greener areas starting in the inland higher altitudes. The traditionalism just stopped after crossing the Ecuador-Peru border, only starting again in the historic centres around Machu Pichu.

6 – 10 June Surfing in Huanchaco

It was time to hit the coast again and try out some more surfing. We loved this spot! A hamlet sized town situated on a strip of land between the dessert plateau and the chilly coast. We found one of favourite backpackers here and another travellers reunion began as a huge group from Ecuador followed us due south. The swell seemed perfect for us so Kate took up some seriously good surfing lessons while Seb paddled around the edges enjoying some “sick waves”. We also managed to throw in a half day of culture by visiting the dessert castles of previous Kings in Trujillo. After thousands of years the original decorated walls are still in tact and colourful!

Oh yes and how could we nearly forget – our first super market since Panama – and what do we find? Fanny Tuna!

11 – 14 June The Capital: Lima

Not the prettiest capital in the world, but still contained the modern luxuries that we craved. This included a first night out dining on sushi and kicking back in a cinema. The Old City and Chinatown had some beautiful buildings and yummy Dim Sum, followed by some feet regenerating reflexology by the blind.

This was also the time where Kate's boet, Trevor, joined us for a 2 week vac. It was a crazy busy 2 weeks to follow with tonnes of road time – Peru is one big country with a few local disgruntled farmers to help make the journeys that much longer (explained later).

15 June Dune Bugging in Huacachina

A fleeting visit of this little oasis town, Huacachina – famed for its sand boarding and crazy life threatening tummy turning feet tingling dune bugging. So we did what backpackers do and joined the craziness. Words to describe the dune bugging: jet engine attached to an aluminium frame with huge ass tires which speeds over dunes becoming airborne over their 60+ deg edges, or does a hairpin bend just before taking flight so we land up motoring it down the mountainous dune instead. We also challenged our fitness, which was literally zero at this stage, negative for some of us, as we headed up a 60 deg vertical sand dune.

16 June Nazca Lines

Another short stop, in Nazca to take a chartered flight over the famous Nazca drawings in the sand – can you spot the astronaut, humming bird and pair of hands?

This was followed by the coolest bus trip ever – well for 90 year old geriatrics anyway – but we still loved it – free bus entertainment BINGO with the winning prize being a bottle of Pisces (40% pure). Seb had the winning numbers, so with cheeks blushing and a voice yelping – B.I.N.G.O – we had won the infamous Cruise Del Sur BINGO tournament!

17 – 19 June White City Arequipa

We arrived in the city surrounded by volcanoes, one of Peru's gems. This was our adventure capital where we headed out for some river rafting run by a crazy bunch of mate drinking Argentineans. A key learning tip – never white river raft at the foot of a glacier capped volcanoes where the river is fed by the melt-waters. Our toes literally froze in the first 4 min's and all we could think was: get us out of here.

Another session of altitude training was the order of the day (Arequipa sits at 2400m) as we hired bikes and rode around the terraced farm lands – many of the terraces are still in tact from when the Incas first conceptualised this farming technique over 1000 years ago.

20 June Road Block Nightmare

Not sure if any of you saw the news reports on the protests happening in Peru, initially for land rights in the Amazon and then subsequently land rights in southern Peru. When the voice doesn't work in negotiations the locals turn to chaos and disruption – road blocks. And they are patient, a 3 week, 24 hour manned roadblock is not unusual in this country.

It was time for us to make our journey from Arequipa to Cusco, and we had to be there at least 2 days before the Inca Trail began as altitude acclimatisation is key to being fit during the trek. We had heard that there were some protests going on, but we really didn't realise the extent of them until it was too late. We got chatting to the hostal owner and mentioned that we were planning on heading to Cusco in a few days. She was like – “have you heard about the hectic road blocks, they have been protesting on the main bus route to Cusco for the last 3 weeks, so you may have trouble, there are a few options though”. Basically it boiled down to 4 options:

1. Take a flight via Lima to Cusco but which would cost $500+ each
2. Retrace our steps and head back up north via Lima to Cusco – a mere 30hrs more bus time! Not very appealing.
3. Chance the standard 8hr bus route where there have been road blocks for the last 3 weeks. And on arrival at the roadblock walk the reported 20min across the blockades and catch transport on the otherside to complete the balance of your journey to Cusco.
4. Take the rural backroads, switching buses a few times and maybe hiring a private taxi, basically winging it as it is not a very well travelled route – estimated travelling time 9 hrs.

Option 1 and 2 were definitely out, too expensive and no way we could deal with another 30hr bus trip. Option 3 risky cause we weren't sure about the violence and the true extent of the blockades. So option 4 was the obvious choice – and then the day before we were due to leave – road blocks on route 4!!! Headache – what now? In the end we tossed a coin and tried our luck with option 4, thinking that the road blocks would be less severe given that they are only 1 day old and not 3 weeks old.

Our trip started off well on schedule, 5hr bus ride, 4 hr taxi ride, a blockade which our local Peruvian fellow passenger was able to talk our way through - stop time = 30min! Yey we were home free, or thats what we thought until we arrived at the next one. Shit another one! But given the time at the last stop we were hopeful for another quick get away. After about an hour it looked like we were on the home straight as all the massive boulders and tree logs were cleared from our path and the taxi started to edge forward. Suddenly, screams and shouts and the locals stopped the removal and completely reversed their actions – full force road blocks again. The Peruvian, fellow passenger, found out later that a mini bus of American youngsters started yelping “its against our rights not to have water and be stuck in the car”, commotion commotion, with the end result of us being blockaded for another 6 hours!!! Total travel time 20hrs as opposed to the normal 8hrs.

In Cusco we met some travellers who had taken option 3 – their journey was so much worse – an 8hr overnight bus ride followed by a walk over the blockades with all their baggage strapped to their backs with each local saying “the blockades are only another 30 minutes, you can catch a bus soon”, this story repeated for the next 14 hours. Can you imagine 14hrs of walking with a 15kg+ bag on your back?

21 – 23 June Cusco

On hearing of the roadblocks we got news to Kate's folks, who were due to join us in Cusco after the Inca Trail, travelling from Bolivia via bus virtually the same route as option 3. They, Mike and Sue, were lucky enough to find a cheap flight from La Paz and with a little bit of rescheduling arrived in Cusco earlier than expected – unbeknown to us (our mobiles were not working, and email was not an option) we would be sharing breakfast together the very same morning after our arrival in Cusco. After 5 months on the road and away from family it was a great surprise! Especially the biltong that came with them too!

Cusco is a lovely city, once the capital of Peru, which has maintained its ancient Inca and Spanish architecture. Our time here was spent enjoying the R30 (USD3) 4 course meal deals, perusing over the colourful fabrics and sipping fresh fruit juices in the local markets. There were also big celebrations in Cusco, as 24 June marks the Sun Festival of Inti Rayma – so many a festivities were enjoyed too!

24 – 27 Inca Trail

The only way to do the Inca Trail is through an organised tour, and what a blessing cause the luxury of having your tents carried, food cooked and cinema quality popcorn at the end of each days walking made the hike so much more enjoyable. Like our guide, Rubin, would say “you're on holiday this is not a serious Mount Everest climbing excursion”.

It was a 4 day epic trail, the walking was relatively easy (we copped out and hired extra porters for our sleeping bags and clothes) as Rubin would make sure we only walked as fast as the slowest person, so walk an hour, rest 30min was the general order of the trek. Frustrating for some, but a really good way to make sure we enjoyed our surroundings and didn't finish the Inca Trail thinking – all I saw was my North Face walking shoes! The walking stick was a blessing too and saved Kate's knees.

The first day we met our team in Cusco and took a 2 hr bus ride to Ollantaytambo. Once all the formalities of trail licences were taken care of, we spent the rest of the day hiking a relatively flat path along a river. We were also lucky enough to have permits to not camp in the main camping ground but an hour or more walk ahead of the majority of the hikers. This gave us the advantage of having a more peaceful campsite, and when hiking the following day our view of the surroundings wasn't marred by strings of other trekkers.

There were 2 to a tent, so Trev shared with Danish Jasper – we are not sure who was worst off – Trev with Jasper's nuclear toxic hiking shoes or Jasper with Trev's hot air balloon tent warming techniques! Each morning we were woken with a cup of hot tea and a hot basin of water set outside our tent for the morning wash. Royalty! The oldest porter was responsible for hot water basin duty, and can you believe this tiny 60 year old still does the Inca Trail in record time whilst carrying a 20kg pack! It puts us youngsters to shame.

The second day was the toughest walking as we spent the morning climbing to the highest point 4200m. Seb and Trev motored ahead, whilst Kate took a more 4-step-breath-rest approach! At around this point the original Inca stone pathway also began and many archaeological sites were visited along the way – including what is assumed to be the Inca University. Unfortunately no written records were left by the Inca's so all historical information is based on archaeologists best guess.

A daily treat was being met at the nights campsite with tents set up, cinema quality popcorn, “kulu pita” biscuits and a hot cup of coffee. A yummy hot toddy we had on the 2nd night, the chilliest night, was “Te Machu” a mix of black tea, sugar, lemon, sliced apple with whiskey being the key ingredient. Shithead (card game) was the order of most evenings followed by early to bed, cause it was always early to rise!

What a beautiful rising we had on the third morning, on top of a hill surrounded by snow capped mountains, low lying clouds, crystal blue sky and with the sun creeping through a crack in the mountain lighting up the Inca University spectacularly. It was an easy day walking and we arrived in time for lunch at our final camp. As we always camped ahead of majority of the trekkers we had the afternoon to shower (another luxury) and chill in the sun, whilst some hikers only arrived at 7pm.

It was an early start on the final day to make sure we reached Machu Pichu for sunrise and before the bus loads of non-trekking tourists. But on arrival it all made sense, why we had walked for the last 3 days. What struck us at Machu Pichu were not necessarily the extensive buildings but the physical setting. The Inca's lived on top of a mountain peak, surrounded by even higher jagged glacier carved out luscious green mountains. The views were spectacular. That said the actual architecture and positioning of each building was all designed with the rising sun in mind. Through certain doorways/structures the sun on specific dates shines through perfectly lighting the doorway golden. Specifically on 24 June (Hence the Inti Rayma Festivities) the sun shines perfectly through the sun gate! We missed this by only a few days so could see the slightly imperfect version.

We met up with Mike and Sue here, and successfully hiked up Waynu Pichu – well done Mom and Dad, an even higher peak which over looks Machu Pichu. If one hadn't arrived by the trek it is the all essential view, as one gets a perfect birds eye view of Machu Pichu. We then headed into Aguas Caliente town for a cold beer just before catching the train/bus back to Cusco.

28 June Road Blocks...not again

We said farewell to Trev – back to the real world of slave labour articles! And the rest of us had planned on spending a few more days enjoying Cusco, but over a late lunch got wind of the fact that road blocks had been stopped for 3 days (whilst we were on Inca Trail) and were due to start again tomorrow and cover the entire route to the Bolivian border town! So a little mad rush, tickets were bought, bags were packed, hotels were checked out of and we were on a night bus crossing into Bolivia. No way we were going to risk being caught in one of them again!

Good bye Peru we're off to freezing cold Bolivia!

Tips for other travellers

Huanchaco
Accomo: Naylamp Hostel great option, from outside nothing much, but room 19, ocean views, priv bath (Soles 55 double)
Food: Naylamp restaurant has a great female chef – the pastas are excellent! Otherwise the chicharon at one of the local restaurants is tasty
Activities: Surfing, and for those that need lessons head to Chicho (something like that) surfing school on the main road. He is so thorough, really helped me improve my technique. (Soles 20 board and wetsuit whole day). We also did a day trip to Trujillo, Sol y Luna archaeological site. Worth the visit to see the paintings, Chan Chan apparently not that good.

Lima
Accomo: Difficult to find available accomo, only place battled the entire 5 months in South America. Expensive for what you get. Stayed at….., but an option which we like but booked out was…….
Food: Had good sushi at the restaurant in Miraflores shopping mall on the cliffs. Good Chinese at….in China Town
Activities: Catacombs at San ….Church is worth a visit

Huacachina
Accomo:
Food: Foreign owned restaurants way over priced, Menu of the Days in the local restaurant tasty and good value
Activities: Go on a sand boarding dune riding jeep tour. Adrenaline 101. Clamber up the huge sand dune and watch the sunset

Nazca
Accomo:
Food: Restaurant above
Activities: Take a 4 seater plane over the Nazca lines ($55 per person). We didn’t get to visit the open burial grounds but wish we had.

Arequipa
Accomo: La Casa de los Pinguinos, great rooms and owner very helpful ($35 triple room, incl bfast)
Food:
Activities: We went river rafting, but never again – so freezing after 5 mins my feet were dead and we just wanted it over with. Enjoyed the cycle around the terraced farm lands, the visit to the mill along the way was a waste of money!

Cusco
Accomo: Stayed in San Blas at Home Sweet Home (rooms right on common areas so a little noisy, rooms are chilly, but views are great). Also stayed at Amaru 2, great rooms and bfast. But our luggage was broken into and our medicine and cell phone stolen, best hotel we had stayed in Peru so was very disappointed.

Inca Trail
We went with SAS and were very happy with the service. Maybe slightly more expensive than other companies, but would go with them again, especially because the porters appear well treated. All wearing proper hiking shoes, decent backpacks and good north face gear to keep them warm on those chilly nights. A lot of other companies let the porters walk with rubber homemade shoes, make shift backpacks and basic clothing. Llama Path is another company who looked decent.
The food was tasty and always plentiful, popcorn in the evenings done to perfection. Suggest taking a few extra chocolates, toilet paper, face wipes to “bath with”, but water purification tablets a bit pointless we all drank the boiled water and no one got sick. SAS was also one of the few front groups so we got to camp an hour walking ahead of majority of the hikers, great because it was more peaceful on the trail and in the campsites, this might change though so check it out at booking.
We caught the late train back 6pm, try and book an early train in advance so you can get some daylight viewing on the train ride. Might mean sitting in Ollantaytambo waiting for the rest of the SAS group but look like some nice restaurants in the area. Aguas Caliente looks like a nice town to chill in if you have a day to spare, but apparently the hot springs aren’t that great.

Bus Companies – Northern Peru: Linea, Southern Peru: Cruz del Sur – expensive but v good service
Strikes – if you hear of strikes in Peru check out travel routes and road blockages – may be worth booking flights, especially around festival time