Ecuador

Having left Punta Sal, and crossed another border (last one on this trip) into Ecuador, the first place we visited was Cuenca. This is another old colonial city with many churches, museums, and a couple of small Inca ruins. No photos because my camera got stolen on the morning we left the city.

Then it was on further north to Baños and a fun day of filling out police reports, phoning credit card & mobile phone companies, and trying to sort out an insurance claim. Had a little bit of a chance to look around Baños and at the volcano of Tungurahua which overlooks the town and is currently threatening to erupt (again - last eruption was in the middle of last year). Then it was time to move on again.

Back into the jungle and a few nights staying at the Anacaonda Lodge on the Rio Napo. Most of our time was spent on the water or on short treks through the jungle.

At times we even combined the two and trekked down the rivers. Fortunately I managed to stay upright, unlike many of the group, so managed to get some photos on another replacement camera.

A couple of visits were included: the village of Ahuana on the opposite bank of the river and demos of pottery, and Chicha making (alcohol fermented from yukka), a museum on tribal life. his last one included the chance to have a go with a 3 metre blowpipe. The target was a wooden parrot and one of us turned into an ex-parrot (yep, I admit, it was me - that´s my dart in the parrot´s wing).

Final visit was to a local animal rescue centre and a chance to meet the residents. One of them was more keen on meeting us than the rest and was on the boat before we had even reached the river bank. As well as woolly monkeys, the sanctuary also has spider, and brown capuchin monkeys, black lion tamarins, capybaras, peccaries, and whole load of parrots and macaws.

Then a chance to see some real wildlife when a troop of capuchin monkeys paid us a visit in camp. I missed out on some of the action, only arriving back just after they had raided the bar for some potato crisps. Fortunately, the monkeys were still in a tree behind the bar, so I had a chance to interact with them a little. We also fed them with some oranges (ok, maybe they are not as wild as I thought).

Penultimate stop on the Drago truck is the town of Otavalo for the craft markets (and a chance to bring this blog a bit more up to date). Tomorrow is the last day of travel on the truck and then after a week of free time in Quito, the fun of Spanish lessons and voluntary work on the Galapagos Islands.

Nascas, Chimus, and Moches

Moving on from Cusco, we have moved further north into Peru (after a brief flirtation with the south again and the condors). This has bought us into contact with pre-Inca cultures: Nasca, Chimu, and Moche civilisations.

Follow on from our trip to the Colca Canyon, we headed into another old colonial town - Arequipa. This is another place filled with churches, monasteries, and old colonial buildings. The surrounding countryside is not bad either - the town is surrounded by 3 volcanoes. Best of the bunch was probably El Monasterio de la Recoleta. This is not the most famous convent in town (Santa Catalina right in the centre has that claim), but the displays in Recoleta were more varied and it had a fascinating old library with books dating back to the 16th century.

A quick overnight stop by the beach of Puerto Inka followed. And then we were heading north again towards Nasca. A quick stop at the old Nasca cementery at Chauchilla before reaching the town of Nasca itself. A very hurried afternoon followed. We were expecting to take a flight over the Nasca Lines early the following morning, but the local tour guide said he had some planes available that afternoon. So tents were hurriedly erected, cameras grabbed, and off we went. Lovely small 4-seater Cessna plane. Took a little bit of time to "get my eye in" but soon managed to spot the figures mapped out on the ground a couple of hundred feet below us. Getting photos was a little more difficult as there was a little bit of turbulence so the plane didn´t stay nicely in place when you had you shot lined up. Luckily (and it was luck more than judgement), got some ok photos of some of the figures. Also had a second opportunity at some of them the following morning as we stopped off at a viewing tower by the Panamerican Highway.

A brief interlude for some wildlife watching at Paracas National Park followed. This included an early morning borat trip out to the Ballestas Islands. These have the nickname of "the poor man´s Galapagos" and the volume of birdlife and sealions certainly lived up to the nickname. Incidentally, if any of you saw the BBC report on the Magellan Penguin that had swum from the Magellan Straits and turned up in Paracas when we were there, I can assure you it had nothing to do with us. Ok, we visited the Magellan Straits and saw the penguins there and we were in Paracas on the day the penguin was discovered but linking the two together is entirely speculation on your part.

A quick visit to the capital of Lima followed and more colonial architecture. Oh, and a wonderful chocolate brownie at a cafe overlooking the sea. Then back on the history trail. First stop was Paramonga ruins, and then on to Huanchaco. This is another area with loads of archaeological interest. Just up the road is the old Chimu city of Chan Chan. This has 9 different temples/palaces inside it (every time a Chimu ruler died, he was buried in his temple, and the new ruler built a new palace). We got to visit one of the temples where lots of excavation work has been carried out. The site is enormous: 440 x 350 metres and we had a really good tour. The old adove (mud brick) walls even have a lot of the original carvings still on them.

Just up the road are the neighbouring sites of Huaca del Sol and Huaca de la Luna (temples of the sun and moon). Only one of these is actually now regarded as a temple and this was the one we visited - Huaca de la Luna. This was built by the Moche people and they had a different technique to the Chimu. When one of their rulers died, they buried the old temple with adobe and built a new one on top of it. Five layers of temples have been uncovered and we saw parts of several of them. These were possibly even more amazing than Chan Chan. Not only do the walls still have carvings on them, but they still have the original paintwork across large parts too. Then I headed into the town of Trujillo to see another smaller Chimu ruin and more colonial churches and buildings.

After all that activity, we had a couple of days to relax. The first was a long day on the truck and then a day on the beach at Punta Sal. A few people walked into town but the majority of us just took the chance to chill for a day. Sand was lovely, water was calm and warm, beer was cold and wet, frisby flew nicely across the beach.

And that was it for Peru. We crossed the border into Ecuador yesterday. Full report to follow next time on what we get up to here.

Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

And so on to one of the highlights of South America - Machu Picchu. But first four days of sightseeing in the Sacred Valley and trekking through the Andes.

Day 1 was spent doing visits by coach to the Inca ruins at Sacsaywaman and Pisac. The first is a big fortified hill overlooking Cusco, the second a settlement that covers an area greater than that of Machu Picchu itself.

Also managed to squeeze in a visit to a third ruin - Q´enqo - but only because the coach stopped their for a pee break. Had trouble getting a photo of the ruins because the local Inca "king" insisted on being in the shot. And then back on the coach to the start of our Inca Trail at the village of Quishuarani.

Our trek was an alternative to the classic Inca Trail laid on by Dragoman and a local tour company. The aim of it is to avoid some of the wear and tear to the Classic and to provide more interaction and income to the local communities (in terms of trade, work {porters, guides, cooks}, and donations). The main disappointment of doing it that way is that we missed out on a lot of Inca ruins that you would see by walking the Classic trail. The benefit is the look on the faces of the local schoolkids when they get presented with goodies by the visiting "gringos".

Either way, the scenery is quite spectacular and the walking strenuous. The trail we walked climbs even higher in to the Andes than the Classic - the highest point being over 4800 metres. Day 1 of the actual trek saw us walking steadily uphill for most of the morning at a very slow (almost unbearable) pace with very frequent breaks for everyone to get their breath and the group to get back together. A break for lunch was followed by a short downhill walk to another local village for out overnight camp. This was handily situated on the edge of a football pitch, so obviosuly a game had to be played between us trekkers and the porters/guides/cooks. The result of the big match was 2-0 to the visiting team (1st goal set up nicely by yours truly, the 2nd a hopeful punt downfield by one of our defenders that found the opposition goalie had gone awol). Honour satisfied, we then visited a local family in their home just up the hill from the campsite. The owner is apparently aged just over 100 and lives with several generations of his family, a few dogs, chickens, and loads of guinea pigs in a very cramped space. A very humbling experience.

Day 2 was another steep climb to another ridge. I had learned from day 1 by this time, so walked at the back of the group.

This meant I could walk at a pace I was more comfortable with and just catch up with the rest when they were taking a break. Pattern of the day was very similar to day 1, the morning being spent walking uphill, before a short downhill stretch to lunch, followed by an hour´s walk downhill to another beautiful situated campsite (probably the best of the 3 - mountains either side and a small stream running down past the tents). The final day was the easiest of all. Group photo time first of all, then we followed the stream down the valley for a half day walk to our waiting coach. Lunch in Urabamba, then onto Ollantaytambo and another amazing Inca ruin.

Well rested overnight, we then caught the train to Aquas Calientes early the next morning. Then onto a bus up the hill to Machu Picchu itself and a very busy day. Views of the ruins, from the very first to the very last ones were amazing. Early on in the day, 7 of our group decided we wanted to see as much of the site as possible (who knows when we´ll visit again?). This meant a hurried tour of the main part of the remains and some explanation of the history of their use, discovery by Hiram Bingham, and conservation (did you know they suspect that there is a geological fault running right through the middle of the main area that is slowly pulling the hill apart?). After the tour our next target was Huaynu Picchu mountain for the view back down on to Machu Picchu ruins. This is a very steep and (when combined with the heat that day) sweaty climb. However, the views from the top are spectacular, allowing excellent views of the whole of the Machu Picchu site and also the mountains all around. Then it was a quick walk down to get right across the site to the Sun Gate (Intipunku). A few of our grup of 7 were beginning to wilt in the heat but we all made it across and a view of the site from the other direction. Then a quick (almost) run back down to catch the 15:30 bus so that we could get back to Aguas Calientes in time to catch the train back to Ollantaytambo. Even managed to grab an omelette before getting on the train (day had been so busy, we forgot all about lunch). To complete this entry, loads of photos from Machu Picchu.