Two Beers and a Pretzel

I am totally out of money.  Oh, there’s plenty in the bank - they just won’t let me get it.  In Cusco I took out a bit more than my daily maximum, and the bank system must have flagged my account.  I had to borrow 300 Peruvian Soles from Ronan (a guy we met in Cusco on St. Paddy’s Day).  I tried Skyping the bank today, but they couldn’t hear me - even though I had no trouble talking to Ingrid back in Holland earlier that day.  I’ll call them tomorrow morning from Miami.

Yesterday Darryl, myself and Ronan all went to a Futbol game in the Peru Premier League.  Alianza Lima versus Universitario.  Picked up some front row tickets from a scalper for about $25 each.  It gave me flashbacks of the Boca - San Lorenzo game 3 months ago.  This wasn’t as good of a game, and Alianza lost 1-0.

A little later tonight I’ll be catching a flight to Miami, then tomorrow morning a connection to LA.  I can’t believe I’m finally leaving America del Sur.

My top 5 in Latin America:

1) The absolue highlight so far was Machu Picchu…  no question - but don’t just go there by bus, you need to hike the trail to make you feel like you really deserve it.

2) Iguasu Falls with Rafa.

3) Costa Rica with Ingrid and Erin - especially the Arenal Volcano and the Tabacon Spa. (I know, all the guys want to see another pic of Ingrid…  well scroll back about 80 posts…)

4) Spending time with my uncle and his family in Brazil…  Hi Julia!!!

5) The near mugging in Buenos Aires - my best story to share.

This is far from a comprehensive list, as there are simply too many experiences to rank, so if anyone is reading this and feels leftout, go ahead and leave a comment…

I’ll try to tally up my spending to give people an idea of what it takes to spend 4 months turing Central and South America.  My first guess is that it was close to $8500 including flights.

I´m in a crappy internet cafe in Nazca, Peru.  Aside from the famous geo-glyphs and lines, there´s really no reason for there to be a city here.  I can not upload pics here, so I´ll try to update this post tomorrow with images.

I booked a pretty standard small plane sightseeing trip over the lines with a very cute Dutch girl, a Brazilian guy, and another guy.  It was $70 per person including airport tax fees and taxi transfer to and from the airport.

There are a number of tour companies here, and they all sell you trhe same trips.  You fly over the most popular geo-glyphs and the pilot points the wing down at it and spirals around so you can get good pics.  Then he does it for the people on the other side of the 4 passenger plane.  Multiply by ten.  If you get motion sick, skip Nazca.

I loved it and got some great pics and video.

Flying over the lines….

The Astronaut….

The Monkey…

The Tree and Hands near the road…

The Spider…

The Condor…

The Hummingbird…

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Erich Von Däniken -vs- Sean Danekind

If you´ve ever watched any of those alien conspiracy shows, they always quote Erich Von Däniken … a crazy old Swede who is always linking everything to alien domination in relatively recent human history.  His surname sounds close enough to mine (unrelated) that I figured I should clear up a few things…  He believes that the Nazca lines were runways for alien spacecraft.

After seeing the geo-glyphs and lines, I´m pretty convinced that they are ancient gang signs related to the Pre-Inca cocaine trade and meant to relay the dominant clan to whomever the current favorite diety of the day happened to be.  Either that, or there really are aliens and the Earth is the only place in the universe for good drugs - so it´s intergalactic alien drug gangs marking their territory in the geological equivalent of spray paint and street art.

Oddly, my guide back in the Copan Ruins in Honduras had mentioned that old Erich Von D had been touring the Mayan ruins only days before I was there.  He must be researching the fact that the Mayan calendar ends in 2012, and many loony conspiracy whack-jobs are predicting the end of the Earth around then.

My personal theory is that 2012 is the Mayan equivalent of the Y2K bug (Y2K12).  Imagine the peak of the Mayan Empire over 1000 years ago… The guy making the calendar was sitting around telling Emperor 18Rabbit that it will cost 10,000 goats to plan the calendar past 2012, but it´s OK because some future calendar maker will figure it all out and make a new calendar when they need it for a much cheaper price and it´s not really our problem.  …But the empire collapsed and they never made a new calendar.  Now every alien conspiracy nut decides to believe that since the Mayan calendar was not planned past 2012 that the world is obviously goin to end…  Idiots…

On the brighter side, I found a cheap flight from Lima - Miami - LA, and will be there for a few days starting on the 24th before heading to Fiji and New Zealand.

After a comfortable nights sleep, everyone from the trek decided to meet fof lunch at noon, go to the Irish Pub for a while, then negotiate a group rate for deep tissue massages.  I also stopped and got a shave at a barber shop.  Then we all met back at the Pub around 7 PM to continue the St. Patty’s Day festivities where I met a surprising number of Irish girls - considering it’s Peru.

I can’t believe I found 2 cute brunette Irish girls - Caitriona and Anna Marie

Some half Irish girls - J’nae and Alexis (who I first met in Puerto Madryn like 6 weeks ago)

Anna Marie was ditched by her friends as they’d been drinking since 11:30 AM.  Their original plan was to complete 12 hours of partying, but around 10:30 PM, she’d had enough and could barely stand up.  I walked her back to her hostel - which was an event in itself since she couldn’t remember where it was.  Considering the fact that she was a bit too drunk, I was a gentleman and left after getting a nice goodbye kiss

I got back to the Pub just in time to find Gavin, J-nae and Alexis and make our way to the most popular club in Cusco, Mama Africa.  This place is a dingy, smoke filled, hook-up joint with bad dance music - but it kind of has a captive audience, as everyone from Loki gets in free.  I opted out at 2:30 AM as the smoke was too thick and the music was really bad.

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Then on the 18th, I visited the Cathedral here in Cusco.  Unfortunately, they did not allow photography, but the complex contains the most religious treasures in South America.

This was J’nae’s last day in Cusco, so we ‘had’ to go out again to Mama Africa.  It was a bit better as the crowd was not as heavy, and Alexis was fennageling free drink tickets since she’s currently working at Loki.

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On the 19th, Gavin and I visited the Saqsaywaman (literally pronounced ‘Sexy Woman”) archeological site.  We must have drank a bit too much last night. because we had successfully negotiated the Inca Trail, but this place was killing us.  This was an Inca temple that was pillaged for stones to build the Spanish cathedrals.  Some of the remaining stones are as big as a truck.

The former fortress is atop a hill overlooking Cusco - next to the white Christo statute that is illuminated at night, giving the the affectionale nickname - “Neon Jesus”.

The view of the town is pretty good from his perspective.

I’m probably taking a bus to Nazca to see the lines, then another to Lima, so it may be a while before I can post again…

I’ve been researching flights to New Zealand, and they’re running $2500 to $3000.  However, Lima to LA is $1100, flights from LA to Fiji are about $700, and Fiji to Auckland runs $200.  Most of the expensive flights go thru LAX anyway, but without the relaxing pace that I’ll attempt.  I’ll save some cash, pick up and international driver’s license (so I can rent a car in NZ) and a few new Lonely Planet books, see my cousin in LA, then hit a beach in Fiji for a few days before flying to NZ.  We’ll see what happens…

Get ready for a long post…

On the 12th I went to the Llama Path office for a pre-trek briefing and met most of my trek-mates.  We were lucky to have a small group of only 6 trekkers, 1 guide, 9 porters, and 1 chef.  Among the trekkers - Rick and Kim from Edmonton, Gavin from Ireland, Kristine (KK) from Chicago.  The last person, Darryl from Australia, was not there but on the way in from Puno after having his wallet stolen in Bolivia.  Our guide, Marco, seemed pretty cool and joked around with us while explaining the itinerary.

Day 1 – Friday, March 13th - Start the Inca Trail.

Gavin and I were both in the Loki hostel, and Marco lives nearby, so he met us outside the main entrance at 5 AM and we walked 10 minutes to the Regocijo Square where the bus was waiting with Kim, Rick, and KK outside and all the porters inside.  Still no sign of the Aussie.  Then a gangly, tall and tan figure came running toward the bus in red, white and blue Nike high-top basketball shoes, shorts and a t-shirt with a full hiking backpack to the bus with just a few minutes to spare.  The staff served us mint tea as we waited to depart.

After an hour and a half ride we stopped in Ollataytambo for a vegy omelet and fresh juice breakfast, then another bus ride to the beginning of the trail at kilometer 82 at around 8:30 AM.

To start the trail, we stopped for the ‘must have’ photo at the entrance sign before crossing the Vilcanota River and starting on the trail.

Gavin, KK, Kim, Rick, Me, and Darryl at the entrance to the trail

Aside from hiking at altitude (2720m/8923ft), this day is relatively easy.  We stopped at an Inca Fortress (‘Huillca Raccay’) and the ‘Llactapata’ (or ‘Patallacta’) site, as we skirted along the Urubamba mountain range that divides the Amazon jungle and the Andes.

We also spotted and the snow-capped peak of ‘W’akay Willca’ (5860m/19225ft), which was renamed the Veronica Glacier after a British woman perished there (going places she wasn’t supposed to go).

Our  first campsite (Ayapata) was at 3300m (9842ft) in the of Wayllabamba valley.  Marco started introducing us to the porters and chef when we found out why they call it Llama Path…

Yes, a herd of angry Llama ran thru our camp.

A short while later, our first dinner really impressed us.  Llama Path has great chef’s and the food was amazing - or first dinner was fried trout, white rice, steamed veggies, fried potatoes, herbal tea.   We confirmed that our chef was the best after meeting people trekking with other companies who ate generic spaghetti all the time.  We had something gourmet for every meal…

After dinner, Marco and Darryl taught us a game called ‘Shithead’ and Kim and Rick taught us a Canuk version of rummy called ‘602′ that became our staple card game for the trip.

We went to bed around 7:30ish after Marco told us that we would all ‘Sleep like a baby Llama.’  Gavin was my tent-mate, but that was going to prove short lived, as he complained the next morning about my ability to ward off herds of angry Llama in my sleep.  He called it something…  oorin - esssno - ring…  oh, snoring!!

Day 2 – Saturday, March 14th - The hard day - We go over 2 passes….

After waking up around 6am and having breakfast, we started the steep ascent towards the highest pass (Abra de Huarmihuañusca/’Dead Woman’s Pass’ – 4200m/13779ft).  Marco told us that we were a fast group, so this climb would be ‘easier than conquering a Chilean woman.’

We started our crack habits here - chewing Coca leaves to help give us energy, numb the pain, and increase oxygen absorbtion.  It really works.  You add some ash/fruit mix to the coca as a catalyst, then put a wad in your cheek and let the saliva soak in before you start chewing it like gum.  It tastes like bitter green tea.  Your cheek starts to tingle, then go numb.  Then the burn in your legs fades away and your breathing gets a little easier as your energy level picks up above what it should be.

Dead Woman’s Pass has nothing to do with anyone meeting their maker… it’s because the pass looks like the neck of a woman lying down - on the left side is a group of rocks that somewhat resemble a face looking up, while the other side has a stunning similarity to a female breast.  This poor dead woman is a bit lop-sided, as her other visible breast is a bit smaller.

At the top of the pass the weather turned from cool and misty to all out cold rain.  We had a quick rest and a snack before descending back to the lunch stop at Pacamayu (3550m/11646ft).  Many tour groups were setting up camp here.  Wussies!!!  We went on after lunch to to the second steep climb up to Runkuraqay pass (almost 4000 meters) to arrive in our campsite by 5.  After the near kilometer climb to the first 4200m pass, this one seemed easy.  This was a very hard day, but we were all glad to have made the 2nd pass and gotten far ahead of all but 2 other tour groups that camped with us!

We had officially passed from the high Andes into the upper Amazon jungle, and our campsite had a pretty sweet view back to the mountains…

More gourmet food, more card games, and I ‘had’ to sleep in a tent by myself tonight.  It was pretty cold up there.

Day 3 – Sunday, March 15th - The easy day with more Inca Sites to see.

This makes you realize why day 2 was worth the effort!  Another great breakfast at 6am, and start the day with a gentle climb to visit the archaeological site of ‘Phuyupatamarca’(meaning ‘Town in the Clouds’) and to reach the third highest point on the trail (3680m).  It was foggy and cloudy, but the occasional clear views of the mountains were made all the more surreal and etheral by the foggy mist…

I shot an educational video that shows how adept the porters are at running the trail.  Most porters carry 25 kilos (55lbs) on their backs and go about twice as fast as the average tourist.  I was carrying about 5 kilos in my day pack, and 1/2 of that was water.  After seeing these guys work, we were all very glad that Llama Path actually gives them nice hiking boots and waterproof outfits.  It was also neat seeing that the Llama Path porters all travel together in a group.  We called them the “Red Army” or the “Red Caterpillar”.  Some porters from other companies looked neglected by comparison and rarely traveled together.

The Inca site, ‘Phuyupatamarca’ , is located a few minutes walk from the third pass and after visiting this, we continue walking onwards through the cloud forest, through the impressive agricultural Inca site of ‘Intipata’ until we arrive at our third campsite Wiñay Wayna (2680m/8792ft). We only walked about 4 hours, but I had enough and decided I could jump off a 100m cliff…

After a surprisingly safe landing, we made our way to the campsite - located near the Inca site of the same name ‘Wiñay Wayna’ (‘Forever Young’).  We chilled out playing cards until about 5 PM, then went to Wiñay Wayna.

Another phenomenal dinner, a quick card game, and straight to bed for an early morning…

Day 4 – Monday, March 16th - The race to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu!

We woke up at 3:45, had breakfast at 4:15, and queued up at the entrance gate to the trail for the 5:30 opening.  We were about 40 people back from the gate.  They open at 5:30 because it’s too dark and dangerous before then.

Once the gate opens, the race begins…  Everyone is hauling as fast as they can to get to ‘Inti Punku’ (the ‘Sun gate’) (2730m/8792ft) - for one of the postcard views of Machu Picchu before the sunlight crawls down the mountains to illuminate the site.  Darryl and Gavin were the gazelle’s of our group, so they took off passing people to get to the gate first.  Kim and Rick were a bit behind them, and KK and I held our own, passing a few people, but not in a crazy run (I came damn near to twisting my ankle in the first 5 minutes).

About 1/2 way to the gate, I was surprised to see Darryl on the side of the trail - naked from the waist down, covering himself with one hand and wiping his leg down with a towel in the other hand.  My first thought was that he had a bad fall and was washing a cut, so I asked if he was OK….

“Oh, yeah - ha ha - I shat my pants!!  I’m fine.”  He was laughing about it, and I nearly fell over laughing before resuming my pace toward the gate.  Sorry, no pics of that…  Later in the day, everyone was talking about either the ‘naked guy’, or ‘the guy who shat his pants’ on the Inca Trail.  Oddly, Darryl actually used that story to try picking up girls at the bar on St. Patty’s Day…

Anyway… the last 100m of vertical before the gate are called the ‘Gringo Killer’ steps.  I paused before them and started a 4-legged monkey climb, passing about 6 people as I went up.  Exhausted, you crawl over the top to see your first dramatic view of Machu Picchu (2400m/7873ft) with the sun rising over it!

I also got a time-lapse video of the sun rising and shadows on the mountains over Machu Picchu…

After some time there, we walked down the last part of the trail to the spot where you can take the classic  postcard shot of the ancient city.

Huayna Picchu (2720m/8923ft) is the mountain above the archeological site.  Due to erosion, they only let 400 people a day up there - 200 each at 8 and 10 AM.  The 10 AM slot usually books full of bus tourists, so Gavin, Darryl and I showed up at 8:30 and got slots 119, 120, and 121 for the morning group - as that rarely books full.

It takes about 45 minutes to reach the top, and the last 300m make the Gringo Killers look like a warm up…  there are small steps that are 2 ft wide and 6 inches deep with pretty much nothing on your left and a slippery mud and rock wall a few feet to your right.  I decided that if I didn’t have a heart attack here, between exhaustion and fear of falling, my heart should be OK for the rest of my life.  Since Darryl’s shoes were spoiled, he amazingly did this hike in flip-flops.   The view was worth it…

After hiking 3 days and the race on day 4, it’s gratifying to pass people on the steep climb to the top.  You feel like you earned it all and you own Machu Picchu.  Walking around the site, all the “bus tourists” need to yield to you.

Marco had given the others a guided tour of Machu Picchu while Gavin, Darryl and I climbed, so he gave us the tour when we got back down around 10:15.

The group met back at noon for lunch.  After lunch, we were all tired, so we found a shady spot and started playing cards and relaxing.  It was funny watching all the Japanese bus tourists walk by as we played 602 and they thought we were playing poker.  We told them the buy in was $600.  None of them took the bait…

A bit later, I climbed up to the guardhouse, which was surrounded by Llama’s, and got what may prove to be the ‘money shot’ of my whole trip…

At the end of the day, we got on the bus to Aguas Calientes (the town at the bottom of the mountain) for dinner, and caught the train back to Ollataytambo for the final bus back to Cusco.  You think this would be boring, but the train staff had a freaky cultural show and a fashion show / party on the train.  I have pics and video, but it can’t compare to Machu Picchu…

We got back to Cusco around 11PM - I went to Loki and immediately crashed in bed.

So after the long bus to Lima, my first real night in Peru (the 9th) was aggravating… some small insect bit my lower eyelid, and the hostel was very loud.

Looking forward to what turned out to be a 20 hour bus ride back to southern Peru and up again to Cusco for $30, I opted for the 1 hour flight for $160.

Cusco is supposedly the oldest continually inhabited city in the Americas - about 3000 years.  It looks a helluva lot like Florence, Italy.  There’s Inca walls everywhere with Spanish Colonial buildings built right on top of them.  Among the cobblestone streets are a number of public squares and a surprising number of very old churches.

I arrived in Cusco just after lunch on Tuesday the 10th, and found the LOKI hostel.  This place was a decaying 500 year old building that was restored and turned into the most hopping hostel I’m been in yet.  It feels like you’re staying in an old castle.  To give you an idea how cool this place is, checkout is around 1 PM.  They also serve breakfast until 1 PM, they have a great bar, lots of activities, and totally expect you to go out after the bar closes at 1:30 AM.  Nice comfy beds and clean bathrooms.

The posted rules include “when you come home blind drunk at 7 AM, please try to be what reasonable people would consider ‘not too loud’, and try not to fall when climbing the ladder into the wrong bed.”

I’m in a 12 bed dorm with a bunch of really cool Swedes and Norwegians.

After making my way around town to Lama Path (my tour company) and paying my balance for the Inca Tral trek, I hiked around town a bit to try getting used to the 11,000 ft altitude, and made my way back to the hostel just after dark.

As an aside, on the bus trip from Mendoza, we somehow passed thru 2 time zones as we crossed the Andes.  Mendoza is 2 hours from Ohio time, Santiago is on Atlantic time, and Peru is on Eastern time, so it get’s dark around 7 PM here.

I found my way back to the Hostel bar and ran into all the Swedes drinking and playing UNO.  The hostel has a great Irish stew dinner for $3 at 8 PM, then pub quiz at 9.  Since my team (nmaed “The Ohio Farmers” by a drunk Swede) was horribly inebriated, we finished 2nd out of 10 teams by a mere 1 point behind a surprizingly sober team of Aussies and Brits.  Kind of reminds me of Pub Quiz at Fado back in Columbus where Will, Shenika and I were always in the running (if not the lead) regardless of how large and sober the other teams were…

After the quiz, the revelry lasted until about 1:30 AM.  A bunch of people went out, but I opted for bed, as heavy drinking is not recommended for your first day at altitude.

I woke up today around 11AM, took a shower, and had a WONDERFUL bacon, eggs and OJ breakfast for $3.  I went out to shop for a waterproof jacket and discovered that this whole town is full of knock-off fashion from North Face.  I think I’ll keep my current gear and just buy a spare poncho.
There was a debate in the hostel as to whether all the massage places around town were legit.  On the way back from shopping, I found out that at least the one I went to was a legit massage parlor (AKA, not a borthel).  I got a killer deep tissue massage that left me feeling like a lump of jello.  1 hour for about $8.
I’m taking it easy today (the 12th) to acclimate some more and to generally relax before trekking.  The Inca trail is supposed to be a killer on your knees and lungs…