Busy times!
Wow. Crazy busy few weeks and so much to think about. Leela and I met up in Lima without any troubles -- my night bus (I didn´t get a ¨cama cama¨ bus in the end, to my disappointment) arrived more or less on time and so did Leela´s flight. We spent our free day in Lima looking at Miraflores, the new Lima, and then took a cab over to Lima Centro to see the old colonial buildings. I have pictures that I put specially onto my memory stick to post here today, but unfortunately this computer is not reading it, and so the uploading of new photos will have to wait. Which is really unfortunate, as I took more than 400mb of photos in the last nine days! Anyway, old Lima is beautiful, with big open plazas, Africa yellow buildings with white trim, and taxis and police everywhere (including the guards with semis in front of the government building -- yikes!). We went on a long involved search for cake, but were stymied by the lack of supply. Alas! But in the evening we made it back to our hotel (which I would just like to note was a very large step up from the places I´d been staying at the previous week) to meet up with our group from GAP Adventures. The meeting was brief and the people nice and we stayed up too late talking (surprise surprise!) afterwards.
The flight to Cuzco was uneventful, but I sure could tell that we´d gone a long way up from sea level when we arrived. The air was thin and clear and I was light-headed and a bit headachy for the first few days. But the free day in Cuzco was fun and Leela and I made friends with two other Canadians on the tour over sandwiches and juice at a local joint by the Plaza de Armas. A good deal! The following morning we left early for a bus tour of the Sacred Valley and got to see our first Incan ruins -- Pisac, and at the end of the day, Ollantaytambo. Awesome and awe-inspiring in scope, for sure! The stonework is mind-boggling. Unfortunately a killer altitude headache rather curtailed my enjoyment, but it was still an awesome day.
Day three of the tour saw us starting up the first of three mountain passes in the Lares Valley. Wow. Talk about hard work! The first pass was very steep, and we´d eaten breakfast at around 5am... lunch wasn´t until after 3pm and well, that wasn´t the best state of affairs for any of us, but certainly not for me. I struggled with getting enough air on the way up, but the views of the emerald and turquoise lakes, snow-capped mountains and little indigenous villages more than made up for the bodily deprivation! After a very civilized lunch of hot soup and then trout in a dill cream sauce (!) we started hiking again towards camp. We arrived just before dusk to find our tents set up already, bowls of hot water to refresh ourselves and a hot dinner an hour later. I have to say it´s a very nice way to camp...
Day four saw us climb two passes of over 4200 metres. Wow. But I´d altitude acclimatised and didn´t have a headache or the same trouble breathing as the day before so I found the whole day a lot more enjoyable. The views in the morning were awesome and the walking just felt natural. Leela tells me that I seemed like I was in my element :) I like that idea... I will say that the landscape spoke to me in ways that I haven´t experienced in other places. The clarity of the air, the sharp mountain peaks, the valleys with the indigenous people in their bright woolens and interesting hats... it all felt really good. After lunch though the mists came down (or more to the point, we climbed into the clouds, methinks) and we made our way to the third and final pass, of 4300 or 4550m, depending on who you ask! The land was alien -- greenish yellow bogs, llamas in the mist, and finally, grey scree that was wicked difficult to climb. I was the first to make the highest point of the pass though, which I admit felt good :) Camp was another 45 minutes trek from the peak and half way down the mists cleared and we could see the stunning valley where we camped for the night. Again, wow. That night was too cold though -- my feet couldn´t warm up and Leela had altitude related sleep apnia, which I think was scary for both of us. Perhaps sleeping at 4100 metres was asking too much?! But the morning was so lovely -- thick frost everywhere and the herds of llamas and the wooly pack horses making their ways to the river and forage. It was almost worth the freezing night part!
Day five was a three hour walk, all downhill, towards roads, electricity and tourism, culminating in the ¨Vistadome¨ train to Machu Picchu. Wow. The views were awesome out of the roof of the train and we had gourmet snack service that included excellent coffee and a passion fruit tart. Quite the contrast with our stinking, dirty, dust-caked selves, I must say. I don´t think that I imagined the dirty looks that the well-heeled, nicely dressed (and better smelling) set bestowed on us...
I´ll continue with more on Machu Picchu and the days that Leela and I spent in Cuzco on our return tomorrow or when I next find a computer with a working USB connection! I´m on the night bus to Arequipa tonight, hopefully to leave (and arrive) before the promised transportation strike and road-blocks starting at midnight. Normann and Nicola, I´m on the cama (or bed) bus tonight -- I´ll take pictures and post them when I can!!
The flight to Cuzco was uneventful, but I sure could tell that we´d gone a long way up from sea level when we arrived. The air was thin and clear and I was light-headed and a bit headachy for the first few days. But the free day in Cuzco was fun and Leela and I made friends with two other Canadians on the tour over sandwiches and juice at a local joint by the Plaza de Armas. A good deal! The following morning we left early for a bus tour of the Sacred Valley and got to see our first Incan ruins -- Pisac, and at the end of the day, Ollantaytambo. Awesome and awe-inspiring in scope, for sure! The stonework is mind-boggling. Unfortunately a killer altitude headache rather curtailed my enjoyment, but it was still an awesome day.
Day three of the tour saw us starting up the first of three mountain passes in the Lares Valley. Wow. Talk about hard work! The first pass was very steep, and we´d eaten breakfast at around 5am... lunch wasn´t until after 3pm and well, that wasn´t the best state of affairs for any of us, but certainly not for me. I struggled with getting enough air on the way up, but the views of the emerald and turquoise lakes, snow-capped mountains and little indigenous villages more than made up for the bodily deprivation! After a very civilized lunch of hot soup and then trout in a dill cream sauce (!) we started hiking again towards camp. We arrived just before dusk to find our tents set up already, bowls of hot water to refresh ourselves and a hot dinner an hour later. I have to say it´s a very nice way to camp...
Day four saw us climb two passes of over 4200 metres. Wow. But I´d altitude acclimatised and didn´t have a headache or the same trouble breathing as the day before so I found the whole day a lot more enjoyable. The views in the morning were awesome and the walking just felt natural. Leela tells me that I seemed like I was in my element :) I like that idea... I will say that the landscape spoke to me in ways that I haven´t experienced in other places. The clarity of the air, the sharp mountain peaks, the valleys with the indigenous people in their bright woolens and interesting hats... it all felt really good. After lunch though the mists came down (or more to the point, we climbed into the clouds, methinks) and we made our way to the third and final pass, of 4300 or 4550m, depending on who you ask! The land was alien -- greenish yellow bogs, llamas in the mist, and finally, grey scree that was wicked difficult to climb. I was the first to make the highest point of the pass though, which I admit felt good :) Camp was another 45 minutes trek from the peak and half way down the mists cleared and we could see the stunning valley where we camped for the night. Again, wow. That night was too cold though -- my feet couldn´t warm up and Leela had altitude related sleep apnia, which I think was scary for both of us. Perhaps sleeping at 4100 metres was asking too much?! But the morning was so lovely -- thick frost everywhere and the herds of llamas and the wooly pack horses making their ways to the river and forage. It was almost worth the freezing night part!
Day five was a three hour walk, all downhill, towards roads, electricity and tourism, culminating in the ¨Vistadome¨ train to Machu Picchu. Wow. The views were awesome out of the roof of the train and we had gourmet snack service that included excellent coffee and a passion fruit tart. Quite the contrast with our stinking, dirty, dust-caked selves, I must say. I don´t think that I imagined the dirty looks that the well-heeled, nicely dressed (and better smelling) set bestowed on us...
I´ll continue with more on Machu Picchu and the days that Leela and I spent in Cuzco on our return tomorrow or when I next find a computer with a working USB connection! I´m on the night bus to Arequipa tonight, hopefully to leave (and arrive) before the promised transportation strike and road-blocks starting at midnight. Normann and Nicola, I´m on the cama (or bed) bus tonight -- I´ll take pictures and post them when I can!!
Comments
We love you lots and will try to call very soon - maybe tomorrow??!!
Love you!