Beautiful Peru

Cusco and I got of to a relatively good start, especially considering we swapped the arduous 21hr bus journey for a mere 50 minute flight. We had set off from Lima pretty early and had touched down in Cusco before 09:00am. We were checked into our new home for the night before 10 in the morning. Next we all sat around patiently listening to another welcome orientation while drinking coca tea, in the desperate hope of a quick acclimatisation to the altitude! The information in this meeting seemed a little more accurate, it would be cold, it would be quite hard and we were told to leave any negative energy at home. As Ally said, we´re more likely to struggle with attitude sickness rather than altitude, very clever I thought.

Cusco was a very beautiful city and unlike any I´d ever seen before. On first impressions it could appear old and dirty, but to me these are the main characteristics that contribute to its beauty.The city is an imperfect mix of modern day peru, living along side colourful indigenous locals and the old colonial buildings that line the narrow, old cobbled streets. There are at least 10 beaten up old taxi´s to every road and all of them beeping their horns as if part of one large, monotonous Cusqueña orchestra.

It´s proximity to Machu Picchu is obviously what draws most people to Cusco, however Cusco stands on its own two feet in terms of a tourist attraction. With its charming plaza´s and hectic nightlife there is something for everyone. Emily had already decided that Cusco was her favourite cuidad in South America and she and I were perfectly happy to just enjoy the city by day while we acclimatised to this new thing called altitude.

The city by night did seem to become a little more of a mysterious place. It´s beauty was emphasised by the orange glow of street lights, but it appeared that all the actions starts once the sun goes down. I had made the mistake of pointing out how thin our windows were before going to sleep, and it the middle of the night these windows were tested and scared the life out of both of us.

A fight kicked off between two groups´s of locals on the road along side our room in the middle of the night. There was initally lots of shouting and then bottles were being smashed, one in particular that I remember was smashed against the bars which protected out thin windows. Emily screamed and I lept out of bed, the curtains were closed so we thought it had been our window that had been smashed. The group slowly moved further down the street, and I could see that they had belt-like pieces of leather in their hands, presumably as some sort of weapon. The shouting slowly moved further and further down the street, and once our heart rates had dropped back below 100 we got back to sleep, the smell of beer lingering all around us.

The next day we were packing up 8kg worth of belongings and we were on our way to Ollantaytambo and the Sacred Valley, another step closer to Machu Picchu.

As a result of not knowing any better, we had booked our trek to Machu Picchu about 9 months before having even set foot in South America. In hindsight this was a poor decision as the tour cost us around $1100, and that was with discount. When you arrive into peru it is possible to book equivalent tours for somewhere in region of $150 to $200. Also the infamous ´Inca Trail´is closed during the month we visited, February, probably due to the enormous amount of rainfall and low cloud at this time. So we had enrolled on the Lares Trek, which seemed to have its own highlights! With everything seeming against us on paper, we were determined to have a great trip and our morale started on an all time high.

So besides the rip-off price and the dreadful weather, the Lares Trek did seem to have redeeming factors.

• We were all going to be tested against the altitude something I'd never encountered before

• The highest point of the trek is an Altitude of more than 4550m, higher than that of the Inca Trail

• We were due to see some great views of the Peruvian Andes, waterfalls and wildlife

Like I say the tour started in Lima. It included a nights accomodation in a nice hotel in Miraflores and a flight the next day to Cusco. The hotel was a palace compared to some of the places we´d stayed in during our trip thus far, and on the first evening we had our welcome meeting with the Lima based tour guide. She was a bit nutty and kept using unusual phrases, but was nice enough, the only problem was she lied about everthing.

The initial information vs. the reality: -

1. ´It won´t be too cold, the temperature will never drop to below 10 °C´ / It was bloody freezing, the first night was -4 °C

2. ´The guides will be carrying radio´s for safety reasons should anything happen on the trek´ / There was no radio, just a chuckle from the guide when we asked if he had one

3. ´I have done this trek and it is not difficult´/ Half of this was correct, it wasn´t too difficult, but she´d definitely never been on the trek

But that aside, our long awaited trip was finally underway, we seemed to have a nice group and in the morning we´d be getting ready to fly off to Cusco, life couldn´t be better!

One of the cities in South America I was advised to avoid was Lima. Apparently it is abundant with taxi muggings and street theft, however I´d paid $1100 on a tour to visit Machu Picchu and this tour just so happened to start there.

We arrived into the bus terminal in Lima some 24hrs after we´d left Iquique in Chile. The skies were grey, the city was in full swing and every taxi driver in the complex appeared to have a guilty look on their face.Within minutes we´d collected our bags, I was writing a registration plate number on my hand and we were on our way to Condor´s House Hostel. The brightly coloured hostel was in the centre of Miraflores, a wealthy suburb of Lima. On arrival here there was a completely different feel in the air. The houses appeared well kept, the shards of glass typically seen cemented on top of every wall were exchanged with electric fences and gates complete with camera´s and speakerphones. Run down old American cars were replaced by their brand new Japanese counterparts and everyone seemed to walk around with their heads up high. It was all quite a relief to be honest, the icing on the cake was the supermarket, better stocked than I´d find at home, just two blocks up the road!

As it turns out, both Miraflores and the historical centre of Lima were very beautiful and safe places. We strolled through the streets that connected Lima´s historical Plaza De Mayor and Plaza San Martin and explored the shopping centres, flower-filled gardens, and beaches of Miraflores. All of which left us feeling positively guilty about our inaccurate preconceptions of this seemingly pleasant city.

One afternoon, whilst walking along the cliffs that loomed over the beach we could see dolphins playing in the waves with the surfers. We watched them splash in and out of the water for a good half hour before we bumped into an old friend from our Ios days. Nick Deman had changed a fair bit, lost a bit of weight and grown long hippy hair so it was just as well he recognised us. Sadly it was his last night in South America and he was leaving the next day, so we arranged to go out for drinks that night.

The evening involved our first taste of Ceviche, a delicious peruvian dish comprised of raw fish marinated in Lime juice, prawns, calamari, sweetcorn and salad. A gigantic green cocktail called ´The Hulk´ which was served in a 2ft tall, novelty martini glass and a finally a few beers with an old friend. Nick had to set off pretty early the next day, so we all got ourselves an early night. It didn´t bother us too much since the next day was the beginning of our tour.

What is a Canyon? I tend to envisage a large, barren crater. A dull, sandy-brown coloured, uninhabited land. I have to admit this is probably based on the Grand Canyon in Arizona, however after trekking into the deepest canyon in the world, in Peru, I had a very different view.

Situated 3 hours away from Arequipa in Southern Peru, the Colca Canyon welcomes those looking for a short adventure. Emily and I booked ourselves onto a two day trek with Aprils Mum and her friend Sue. Having finished the Inca Trail together we were all on a bit of an adventure spree and well and truely acclimatised to the altitude which dominates most of Peru. The two day trek starts from the top of the Canyon and walks to an Oasis at the lowest point of the basin. The first part of the walk was all down hill and lasted around 2 hours. We were all blown away by the scenary. It was far from barren, it was Green, laced with grass, bushes and tree's. There were Condors flying around above our heads and the path zig-zagged around the craggy moss covered rocks. It was a world apart from what we'd imagined we were visiting.

Once we'd arrived into the bottom another of my canyon preconceptions was proved wrong. The land is not uninhabited, there are many small communities living around the canyon. The largest settlement had a fully staffed medical centre and people from all the surrounding towns would walk or ride to it if they fell ill. The food and drink within the basin was very expensive, however it all has to be delivered on mules to the stalls and houses, so its quite good value realistically.

Once at the bottom of the canyon, our group walked along side the river until we reached the oasis. We walked through numerous beautiful towns on the way, most of them sporting their brightly coloured flags in preparation for the impending Carnival that was about to take place. In one town a child was sat in his window practicing the trumpet, at the top of his lungs, providing us with good walking music. The houses varied greatly, from mud houses with no roofs, to brick houses with satellite television,. However, regardless of the varying levels of grandeur it offered quite an insight into life in one of Peru's most remote towns.

We arrived into the oasis just before dusk, and whilst it was very basic, it made a perfect respite for the big day to follow. We had the 'Matrimonial, honeymoon room. Which was a double bed with blankets in a mud hut complete with candle. The accomodation was very fitting for the location, definitely not for everyone, but adequate. The oasis offered a swimming pool for us to use, so everyone was very quickly into their bathers and dipping in, not for long though as the sun had gone down and it was getting quite cool. After dinner we all tucked ourselves in by candle light and rested for the second day.

George Burns once said 'Everything that goes up must come down, but there comes a time when not everything that's down can come up'. Burns was refering to age in this statement, however regardless of how old everyone was, we all made it to the top the next day. Some definitely found it harder than others and we all did it at our own pace, but we all met up at the top in good spirits. Emily and I were the first out and after a well deserved 'pre-10am beer' Dianne and Sue made it to the top. There was the option of riding a mule out of the canyon available to everyone, but we all walked. I am leaving out the details here, for example the frequent conversations about the top never getting any closer, the water stops, the photo stops, the biscuit stops, the any excuse we could find stops. But to summarise it wasn't anywhere near as bad as we'd all anticipated.

We were all quiet on the way home, but we were all pretty chuffed with what we'd achieved too, the thought of the hot springs on the way home were helping!

So in answer to my initial question, a Canyon is a deep ravine between cliffs, often carved from the landscape by a river. They are much more common in arid areas than in wet areas because physical weathering has a greater effect in arid zones. The Colca Canyon is a wet, green, luscious exception to this rule.