Peru Summer ‘08, part 3 – Santa Teresa Trek

After a half hour of wondering if anyone was going to meet with us, our guide Edwin arrived and led us to our bus for the journey to Mollepata, “just in the next square” equated to a 1Km walk to a set of crossroads. The bus was of the basic standard we had become use to over the last couple of day treks. After throwing our rucksacs onto the roof of the bus we got our seats at the back and waited for the journey to begin. Like any journey, the vehicle was packed to the rim with people and kit with bags of chickens and corn all across the floor. It wasnt the most comfortable of bus journeys, the custom vetilation in the back (holes in the flooring) was a bit uneeded with the cool morning temperatures, but standing for the following 4 hours (the fate of some of the Peruvians) would have been far from amusing.

After a rather cold journey, slipping in and out of sleep with the cold, we arrived in Mollepata glad to get out of the fridge of a bus and get moving to warm up. Before entering the village we stopped on the outskirts while our guide bartered with the guards over the price of our entry, nothing in Peru seems to have a fixed price, even thigs with fixed prices. Breakfast was taken in a restraunt off the village square. Top tip; get the largest breakfast availible, “Grande Americano” I believe, as the larger portions are definately worth the extra couple of Sol. After breakfast, we had a quick brief from our guide a couple of photo’s and then set off on the trek, leaving our bags for Edwin’s mate and his horses to (hopefully) pick up.

Unlike the majority of other groups we started off in Mollepata, most others got driven up a further couple of K’s in the back of a flatbed, On leaving the village we passed a couple more shops, from which, you could get any last minute items of food that you needed, all be it for an increased price. After an hour’s walking it became clear that our route was to lead us up the inside of the valley, on a road that had been cut into the hillside to access the higher villages. Another hour and we stopped for a break, where we were very surprised to find a shop selling a variety of food and drinks. As you would expect the prices were again more expesive than in the Mollepata, but thats to be expected when you’re on a hill!!

The further up the valley we travelled the greater the views were. The snow capped peaks of watched over us, where as across the valley we could see tracks once used be the inca’s to run messages to the outer villages of the empire, perfectly horizontal and cut into the hill, very much unlike what we were travelling upon. Another couple hours up the hill and we arrived at out lunch stop, a well received rest for the feet. A straw roof gave us good shade from the sun and the lack of walls gave us great views across the valley. It was at this time that we realised that our rucksacs had been brought thus far via a minibus, and the horses were just getting loaded up with our bags, not that they didn’t try to run away before getting loaded up. I think after the morning’s walk everyone was very glad of the decision to get horses to carry our house, as I think everyone would have been struggling with the combination of heat, altitude and weight (especially the extra 4 Litres of water in each pack!)

Compared to the Inca trail the amount of availible literature for the Sant Teresa trek is very much limited. Prior to beginning the trek we had thought that we would walking across the scrub anddoing a lot of nav, however the realisation on the ground was that we were following well walked traks, used by around 100 people a day and a good couple of mule trains. Maps were pretty much left in the daysack for the majority of the walking, except for points of interest, i.e names of sowpeaked moutains, distance to campsite and the like.

As we closed in upon the campsite for the night the size of the moutains either side of us on the valley floor became apparent, huge lumps of rock with small amounts of vegetation and snow covered peaks. With another 700metres to our finish for the day we passed what looked to be a 5 star thatched roof cabin with outdoor hot tub, nothing like 5 star accomidation to make you wish you weren’t camping!! Unfortunately they were fully booked and only served those that had booked prior to starting the trek in Cusco, there loss didnt want to jump into the hot tub anyways.

When we arrived at our campsite we found it all quite amicable. Pitching our terra novas and getting our site sorted before a quick exploration of the surrounding area. I was shocked to find a high class lodging at this height however was again surprised to find a concise shop at the campsite, selling everything and anything; wine, beer, rice, crisps, chocolate. A couple of beers with a dinner of pasta sauce and sausage was just the ticket. It was becoming apparent that you could complete the trek without carrying any food or water, jush purchasing on the way, even if at a rather inflated price. Definately bring a down/insulated jacket for the evenings as they are bitterly cold!!

The second day was started with a hearty breakfast, 2 cereal bar’s and some chocolate nut’s, not the fried sausages I’d usually start the day off with on a multiday trek! This morning we were walking to the highest altitude of the trek(4600m a.s.l), and also the highest I’d been since in the

Aberdares mountain ranges in Kenya. The previous day was pretty hard going with the altitude, however getting up to the pass is probably the most physical experience of my life.

The altitude really kicks the shit out of you, everybody handle’s it differently, but everyone in our group found it tough going, and all of us are far from unfit. Every couple hundred metres we had to stop and take a breather. It was here that the trekking pole’s came into their own removeing some effort from your legs and slowing the speed at which your legs would tire. Stopping nearly 150metres below the pass, we took our morning elevenses and enjoyed the great 360 degree views.

yes that’s right, hawain shorts at 4300m (a.s.l)

It was easily another half hour walking before we reached the pass and were very much relieved to get there. Here we stopped for another half hour or so and enjoyed the views of Nevado Salkantay and Nevado Tacarhuay and got plenty of photo’s including a Semi-naked one with “our wee country” flags, god was that cold, that photo wasn’t taken fast enough for my liking!!

From the highest altitude we were going to reach on the trip, we descended 1500m to our lunch stop.Climbing the last 800 metres had taken us nearly the complete morning, and descenting twice that took only 45 minutes. We really flew down the mountain, with the help and stability  given to us by the trekking pole’s, I would have been on my ass countless time’s without there help. After dropping over a K in altitude we stopped for lunch and it was far easier to move without feeling ike you had sat on the couch for the last year!!! A nice spot of rain led us to enjoy a longer a longer lunch break than planned, and then it was on with the downward journey to the nights camp.

Peru defo aint all sun!!

While descending it was hard not to notice the change in the landscape,  it was visible to everyone that this side of the mountain was getting all the rain, compared to the spartan vegetation on the other side of the hill, this side was lush and tropical. Again some of us pretty much ran down the hill to our campsite for the night, using the trekking poles as a rescue system when the fooring was less sound than expected, or when an unexpected turn came up. With nearly an hour of sunlight remaining we bedded down in our camp for the night vith glorious views of the sunset, and the last of the sunlight entering the valley. With high mountains on all sides of our camp and a stream trickling a few metres from our tents it was an idylic camp.

fading light at the end of day 2

Peru Summer ‘08 part 2

On entering Cusco’s outskirts the first thing I saw was 2 dogs “mating” in a skip full of rubbish, now I had heard that Peru had quite bad dog problems, however this was one thing that I hadn’ expected encountering upon arrival in the city!! Being relieved to get off the bus and walking is an understatement!! However we immediately thought that Cusco was a dodgy city or that we were in a bad part of town, the bus station was permanently gated with 10foot walls round and gaurds on duty, Ah well 10 peeps should be sweet I thought, plus an insurance payout wouldnt be soo bad, maybe not on the 3rd day in Peru though!! After geting our bags back we sorted taxi’s again with the use of pidgin Spanish and some printed material, it was always an interesting drive when our three taxi’s were apparently all going to the same destination, but never seemed to take the same route!!

Eventually we turned up at a dead end with the drivers motioning for us to go up some steps and up an alley, the 3 of us wern’t for going anywhere though until another car turned up. Within 5 minutes everyone gathered and then we set off on the adventure of trying to find where we were staying, 16 steps later and about twenty metres up an inclined alley and everyone was sucking air from Dungannon!! Altitude was really kicking the crap out of us and all we had done was walk for a minute, looked like a 4 day hike was gonna be fun!! We soon came across our hostel, Piuray Lodge, and dropped like a heap of shit into the sofas in the reception.

Cusco’s Plaza de arm’s, while the sun was fading

Thankfully thomas, one of the guys working in the Hostel spoke a good bit of English. He recommended that we went to bed for a couple of hours to help acclimatise, and an aspirin a day to help thin the blood, pretty sound advice. Well a couple of hours later and we all rose and ventured out to get some money changed and some dinner. On our way from the hostel to the plaza we had to go down two alley’s, the second of which had numerous kit shops and restaurants, and was always the site for free lance drug dealers. Over the next week and a half we would walk up and down this alley atleast 6 times a day, usually half of the time being offered weed or cocaine no matter what time of day it was or if there were peelers about. It soon found itself being referred to as drug alley, with the primary alley being referred to as piss alley for obvious sentiments.

As we found out with time, anywhere on the plaza selling food was generally very good, all be it with a larger price tag. Food from the alleyways wasnt just as good, and many of the restaurants only had one kitchen between 3, take consideration of this if travelling in a big group as waiting over an hour every night for a pizza gets very tiresome!! After a good meal and a quick walk round the square it was back to the Hostel for an early night, stopping in at the local “spar” (it wasnt a spar BTW) for a bottle of water and some cheesey puffs. Be careful when buying bottled water, Sparkling water seems to be very popular in Peru, with there being as much of one in a shop as the other, both with nearly the same colour label, light blue and lighter blue!! make sure you buy “sin gas” unless you like burping for the rest of the evening!!

Colourful hats availible at all market stalls for funny photo opportunities, no purchase nescesary

One of the reason Cuso is such a great destination to go to in Peru is that it is steeped in Inca history, as it was the Inca’s capital it is surrounded by numerous archaeological sites, many of which are still in pretty good condition. Unfortunately as Peru is still developing, and is not the richest of counrties, excavation of these magnificent historical sights happens slowly, and will probably still be taking place in decades to come.

Like most of the Inca’s achievements, nothing prepares you for the scale of it.

Over the next couple of days we ventured out on 1 day trek’s to various sites around Cusco, building up our resilience to the altitude and heat during the days, and probably destroying it with drinking too much during the evening and nights!! Saqsaywaman (sexywomen as pronounced by us, no doubt insulting all the Inca’s in two seconds) is only 10 minutes from the town centre and was one of the largest Inca fortresses built, it is absolutely huge!! how they moved the jamassive boulders and seamed them together without using cranes and power tools I do not know, really staggering to think of how it was done, it must have been awe inspiring when it was in its entirety. Stonehenge aint got shit on saqsaywaman!! If you have the time there are numerous other site’s of interest within walking distance from saqsaywaman that are well worth the effort of walking to or, if your’e like the majority of other tourists, get a bus/taxi to.

Hiking up the terraces at Pisaq, thirsty work!

After the luxury bus from LIma to Cusco, the bus journey from Cusco to Pisaq could have been a bit of a shock, well except for the fact that I hadnt really held high hopes of comfort for any bus journey while in Peru. With our tickets bought, we were the first ones onto the bus (back seat bad boys all the way!!) Our bus journey, however, as not going to be a quiet one, while leaving Cusco it appeared that every 100metres the bus would stop and let more people on, each one apparently tryin to sell something or other to you, popsickles, warm corn with cheese and nearly any other random combination you can think of, also imbetween this we had to try and spot signs for Pisaq as with no guide (except for a lonely planet book) we could easily miss the town.

The journey took us to the heart of the Sacred Vally that linked Cusco to Machu Picchu. The Inca ruins of Pisac stand high above the town and Sacred valley floor. All around the Ruins hundreds of terraces were handbuilt, some still being used till this day, by bringing more fertile soil from the valley and forming huge stepped banks. It is thought that Písac defended the southern entrance to the Sacred Valley as well as housing astronomical and religous functions. The view of the valley from the height’s of Pisac was magnificent, and worth the hard work up to the top.

Following a couple of photo’s and a lenghty look through the ruin’s wee walked down to the car park where most visitors arrived to the site, saving themselves a good couple hundred metre ascent. Like most places where tourists gathered, there were plenty of places to buy souveneirs. In fact, Pisac’s main other attraction is it’s large markets that it hold’s in the town centre. Unfortunately we didnt have time to stay and look round as we had a prior meeting with South America Explorers, and our future guide for the main trek.

Cusco has quite a good nightlife to it, and with a couple of hours sleep taken by all when we got back in, we all decided, for beter or worse to take ourselves out for a big night. Coming back in at 6 in the morning seemed like a clever thing at the time, however with the promise of a long trek in the heat, it soon became a silly idea. Thankfully, for myself and everyone else that was suffering, the bus took the next day took us onto Moray, with just the walk into the stepped circular terrace.

Moray is a collection of stepped circular terraces dug into the soil, and apparently an agricultural experiment, into how altitude affected crop growth, More fertile soil was brought from the base to the higher terraces and the difference from the top terrace to the bottom is up to 100metres. The day we arrived they were having a traditional procession through the terraces, and giving thanks to the God’s.It was a fasciating site with hundreds of locals dancing and singing lasting a couple of hours. Moray just like many of the sites of the Inca’s offered beautiful views across countryside.

With the Spectacle finished it was time to get back to Cusco, a harder task than we had imagined, with the ease that we had arrived. However thousands of people wantig to leave the same place in the back arrse of nowhere was always gonna take time. Eventually we persuaded a couple of taxi’s to take us back. 12 people in 2 small cars for a couple hours always makes for an interestiing journey. Half way through the price doubled from 10 sol to 20 each, however £3 for a ride lasting a couple of hours is good value to me.

Another stop in one of the villages and the driver dissapeared into a random building for a couple minutes, returning with an old lady a funnel and a small jug of petrol. All Peruvian drivers save on petrol consumtion through coasting whenever possible, I don’t think anyone in the car thought he was coasting due to such a lack of petrol. I also wondered how he was gauging how much petrol he had in his tank as before and after the petrol was poured in the dial still said he was empty. Not surprising really, seeing as ay the most a litre was poured in.

That night was our last in Cusco for the next week, and with a 4 hour bus journey the next morning all that was left for the evening was a final meal, purchasing of suppplies and an early night in bed. We had arranged with the Hostel to leave some of our kit with them while out for the trek, so the next morning leaving with only what we needed, we left Puiry lodge and proceded down piss and drug alley again.

Peru Summer ‘08

In summer ‘08 myself and 9 of my friends left for Peru to spend 16 days doing various bits of walking and sight seeing accumulating in a visit to Machu Picchu, the real reason for us to be going to Peru from the beginning. Unfortunately as we hadn’t started planning for the trip a year before we weren’t in time to book ourselves a guide for the “Inca trail”, now a pre-requisite to go on the trail to slow soil erosion. Instead we chose one of the alternative routes to Machu Picchu, the Santa Teresa Trek. Being one of the less known routes, it’s rather less subscribed to, however tickets were still needed to gain entrance to the beginning. Lonely Planet describes it as being far less doused with Inca sites, but by far the most scenic (or something to that manor.) The following is a write up of the trip that will hopefully help anyone else on their way to Peru or on the Santa Teresa Trek.

After flying for the guts of a day we finally landed in Lima (Peru’s capital) after clearing customs immigration and finally getting our bags we headed out to get a cab, after much negotiating we ended up, all 10 of us, in a mini minibus thing, with rucksacks and bodies everywhere. After about an hours driving we arrived at our hostel, paying the driver $20 for the ride we thought we were doing rather well, however we learned later like most tourists that it was a fortune, number one tip is to get money change to Sol straight away for the best prices!! After checking in we decided to go and get something to eat and then headed back to the hostel on a scenic route to see if we could find a bar. Without much effort we found an “English pub,” doused in so much shit and random paraphernalia that it was hard to tell if it was trying to be an English pub or one owned by a kleptomaniac!! As none of us had any Sol we all ended up paying in US$, again getting ripped off at 5$ a beer, pocketing more than $2 a beer. That’ll learn ye!

$5 a beer, that’l learn ye!!

Up in the morning for breakfast and as we’d missed the hostel’s brekkie, we ventured into the town, Miccy D’s was the call, not my idea of a highly nutritional breakfast, however twas the group decision. After trying to order in English, no one on our side of the counter spoke Spanish, none on theirs spoke English, we sat down and awaited to see what arrived. Pretty much as we ordered which was good but never been a McDonalds fan, everyone else thought it would be a “safe bet”, I thought the opposite! We made contact with South American Explorers (S.A.E) and they gave us a run down of how to get things sorted in Cusco, our next base, and how to get there.We then ventured down to the marina where there was apparently a large new entertainment complex. It was new alright, and looked better than any other large complex I’ve seen in the UK, built into the side of a cliff no less with great views of the coast, as overcast as it was.

This was to be where we spent the rest of our day, quite a few shops selling high end products, definitely aimed at the tourist or upper classes of Peru, and plenty of outdoors shops if you realize you left something critical behind. After a quick wonder around the shops we ended up spending the rest of the day in hooters drinking cocktails and looking at the women, only people in there but again it was only 2 in the afternoon. A couple of hours later and we headed across the complex for a dinner in Tony Romas and then back to Hooters for a couple more cocktails and then back to the Hostel.  Half of us decided to have a quiet one as we were getting a 12 hour bus the next day however the rest of us didn’t see that to be any reason not to go, so off we went to find a bar/club to spend the rest of the night in. After being lured into a bar with the offer of a free drink of our choice it turned out we would only get a Pisco Sours and have to pay for a drink, no biggy, we were getting a free “lovely” cocktail, don’t believe the hype pisco sours is worse than rats piss, well we thought so anyways, apparently pisco is the national drink, I’d rather have potin. After staying in a club till its closing time, we were persuaded by some of the locals to head to another club near the centre of Lima, a taxi ride later and we were in “la marina” a far bigger club, and just like the last we were the only non Latin’s there. Plenty of Peruvian women, they’re brilliant by the way, and good music and cheap beer made for a good night, with us getting taught how to salsa dance, very very random night, but brilliant memories!!

Learning to salsa…… sort of.

The morning wasnt such a great time of day for those that explored the latina social scene, however the randomness of the night before definately outweighed the still drunk feeling of the morning. It was time to pack up all our stuff, get some supplies for the bus journey(12 hours) and get a taxi to the bus station. Everything was very much off the hoof, so when we picked up our tickets we realised we could check our bags in, just like on a fllight. Bags checked in we ventured off to get a decent meal before the bus journey, Pizza hut was spotted up the road so thats where we headed, getting a large and taking the remnants with us back to the bus.

The bus was surprisingly very comfortable with reclining chairs and calf and foot rests, slightly in between todays first class with reclining chairs and economy, far more space than I expected, but for 12 hours you need it. “Entertainment” is throughout, films in a language you can’t understand a word of aint too great, and an evening and breakfast were also provided, even those little warm towels. I was impressed with the service, but was glad of my pizza!! We had left Lima at half 6 and arriced in Cusco at 6 in the morning

First glimpses of Cusco

more to come later……