Homeward bound

So after a quick consult with Online Banking and a chat about how great Christmas was, we decided it was best that we start heading home. We got onto our flights guy Malcolm in London, and started finding out the cheapest way back to Rio to get home. The worst bit was getting from somewhere on the west of the continent (where we were) to Rio on the east coast. Flights were looking to be about €350 (for some reason, prices for flights in South America vary depending on where you're from. The alternative, a 100hour bus journey. Thankfully, at the last minute, using this handy search engine, Kayak, we found a flight from Guayaquil in Ecuador to Barcelona for €175. Jackpot. That gave us another 3 weeks to get there so we had to get moving.

On arriving back from Macchu Picchu, we decided to spend a few days around Cuzco. It's a lovely little town, and plenty to do. The nightlife is a bit strange however. There's a cluster of about 4 nightclubs in one corner, so competition for customers is very tough. The result is a load of guys running round the square trying to tempt you in with offers of free drinks. Works out well for the customer!

One particular day, we decided to try out the whole lot of Cuzco's nightlife in the famed 12 Pubs of Christmas. Ever the forward planner Mark meticulously mapped out the route before hand.

This involves going around to 12 different bars over the course of a day and having a drink in each one. Unfortunately the beer in Peru is both stronger and bigger, so we only made it to 9 pubs. A good building block for a full 12 pubs next month somewhere.

The team lined out as below.

For the record, the bars were:
1 - Paddy O'Flaherty's (mouth-wateringly good roast chicken and stuffing dinners)
2 - Norton's Bar (nice balcony looking over Cusco's main square)

3 - Rosie O'Grady's (two of the girls got food poisoning here, generally not a good sign)

4 - The Cross Keys (Decorated like an old english manor, bit surreal)

5 - The Crown

6 - The Real McCoy

7 - Los Perros (had a really, really tall bar man)

8 - Zazu (Complete with free Salsa lessons)

9 - La Chupiteria (had some sort of shot here that they set on fire)

10 - Indigo (free popcorn)

11 - Mama Africas (Nightclub)

A lot more exotic sounding than the traditional Ranelagh route!

After a tearful goodbye to our token girl for the past month, Scottish Siobhan, we were off to Arequipe, to the Colca Canyon, the deepest canyon in the world. Usually, backpackers do a 2 or 3 day hike around the canyon, but seeing as we were in a rush and still had aching legs from The Inca Trail, we decided to be lazy and just do a one day bus tour. Only after we paid were we informed that the one day actually start at 2.30 am! Pretty much the whole day

was spent on a bus, which, although not as strenuous as walking, was incredibly boring. We did get a break for about an hour to look for condors (thankfully a few appeared).

The Canyon was nice for a few views, but I wouldn't reccomend the day trip.

Michael did make a new friend though.

After our fun day on a bus, we arrived back in Arequipe and hopped stright on a nightbus to Huaccachina. This spot is basically an Oasis in a desert, surrounded by hostels. It's only about 5 miles from another town, but when you're there you really do feel like you're in the middle of nowhere. This town would almost certainly be deserted, but for the weird activities of Dune Buggying and Sandboarding. The desert eroded in such a way as to leave huge sand dunes everywhere, which are perfect for driving wreaklessly around.

The driver seemed to know what he was doing, although the roll cage around the vehicle and the rollercoaster seatbelts weren't too comforting.

Sandboarding is one of those things that we'd never heard of, but turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip. Essentially it's Snowboarding, on sand, but as experienced boarders Conor and Mick will testify, it's a lot harder as sand moves easier than snow.

So after a few lame attempts on the smaller hills at standing on the board, we quickly realised that lying on the board and throwing yourself headfirst down the cliff was the way forward. thank god we did. Some of the hills were monsters. About 150m drop at very fast speeds. Great fun though.

Finally back to sea level after 5 weeks at over 2,000m (that's high), we decided to get back and have a look at the sea. Just up the coast was the Islas Ballestos, which is basically The Galapagos Islands for people who can´t afford to do the proper ones. We set off on a lovely speedboat with our latest tag along girl, Australian Mel.

There were a few complaints on the way from certain members of the crew, but they quickly shut up when we got closer to the islands. We weren´t allowed to land, the only people who are allowed on the islands are the people who work there collecting bird droppings - lovely job. The view from the boat wasn´t bad though. Loads of penguins, sealions, pelicans and other birds.

We also saw some Nasca Lines on the way. These were lines that locals made hundereds of years ago, for what god only knows why.

Our next stop was the nations capital of Lima. We ended up staying in Miraflores, which is basically the Beverly Hills of South America. One of the fanciest shopping malls I´ve ever seen, and a very nice waterfront with all sorts of activity going on. We did some crazy shopping here - dropping a Peruvian weekly wage in about 15 minutes at one point. The stuff we bought seems great quality, apparently the back market here isn´t actually fake stuff, just stolen or imported without import taxes paid. The best market we´ve seen on our entire trip I´d say. Guess where all your presents are coming from!

Our last stop in Peru was the beach resort of Mancora, 17 hours north of Lima. The idea was for a week of sitting in the sun and doing nothing, and well, that´s pretty much what happened. Lovely little resort, more like a Canary Islands resort than a South American backpacker spot, but the break was well needed. The place is famous as a surf resort, however the week we were there was very windy, so the waves were dominated by Kite Surfers. We ventured out surfing one day but didn´t last long. The whole place was very quiet, not much nightlife, but it did top up our tans nicely. One more week and we should be back to Asian levels.

After a week on the beach, we had a weekend to get to Barcelona. First up was a day long trip to Guayaquil, Ecuador. The bus was one of those that you hear about in Michael Palin shows; crammed with all sorts of people, a driver that insisted on playing dance music the whole way, and 15 street vendors coming on to sell us all sorts of stuff every stop. Eventually we got there, and found it was quite an American city. Loads of high street stores, the usual fast food places, and they even use the US Dollar as currency. We didn't get up to much here, apart from a trip to the most hectic market we've ever seen.

The trip home began late on a Sunday night, with a 2 hour flight to Bogota, Colombia. We had to change planes here, which involved, 2 x-ray machines, 3 metal detectors, a frisking, our bags been checked by sniffer dogs, and a random complete bag search especially for Micheal. We got through without appearing on "Banged Up Abroad" thankfully and then got on our plane for "Barcelona". At this point we realised that every Spanish speaking country has a Barcelona, especially Mexico and Venezuela, which has quite large cities of that name. I began to wonder if my €175 flight was beginning to seem a little too good to be true and we took off with me wondering which continent we were going to land in. After a 10 hour flight spent thinking I really should have checked the airport code, we landed, thankfully next to an Easyjet plane.

Our final few days of the trip were spent in our fourth continent, and by far the coldest and most expensive, Europe! Barcelona is lovely in fairness, although we were far too under prepared for the cold. We ventured out one day to have a look around Las Ramblas, Gaudi's Cathedral, and of course, The Camp Nou...

3 days later we were going home....

Inca Trail - Following in the footsteps of Yvonne Canning

When we arrived in Cusco we had (thanks to Mark) the Inca trail already booked. We met with the guide the day before we left to discuss the itinerary and the necessary items to bring with us. We all rented sleeping bags and mats while Darragh, Conor and myself took it up another notch and rented hiking boots. We had to look the part on the mountan!

We were picked up at our hostel at 6am and travelled by bus to km82 (start of the Inca Trail). Everything was going to plan until we found out that there was a misunderstanding in the meeting the previous day. The guide had told us the porters (Porters carry the heavy camping equipment for the trek) can carry our backpacks once they do not exceed 20kg.....but he left out the fact that it costs extra. A few words were exchanged with the guide that can't be repeated in the blog but at the end of the day we either had to pay the porters extra or carry the bags ourselves. So we manned up and shouldered the loads ourselves. The average weight in each bag was around 17kg. I know it doesn't sound that much but when you are carrying all this extra weight at altitude for four days it makes a huge difference. We got our passports stamped and off we set on the trail.

The Incas developed the Inca trails to communicate between different towns and villages. The trail meanders through the Sacred Valley up over "Dead Woman's Pass" (4200 M) and down into a rain forest. The trail is made up of stone paths and steps. The guide told us that there was a race from Cusco to Machu Picchu held in 2004 between the Porters. The porter that won the race completed the 27 mile trail in 3 hours 37 mins!! This is really impressive but it is no surprise the way the porters can run up the hills with 20kg on their backs.

The first ruin was Llactapata "Village in the Highland". Pretty epic view from up high!






After 3 hours treking we arrived at our camp. The tents were already set up. We were very impressed with the quality of the food. One of the porters was a chief for the group. I think the crowd favourite was the trout we got for dinner on the first night! At night we slept in tents with two porters sleeping out side for safety. In the mornings we were woking up early to tea in bed which was great! The Coca tea gives you a good kick start to the day.


The first day was pretty easy compared to day two! The is the most difficult part of the trek. The guide told us that it is a steep upward climb for 5 hours until you reach "Dead Woman's Pass" and then two hours of steep downhill to the camp site. This is where we put our bodies to the test. We went for a rotation system at the front for intervals of 15mins (Something like you would see in the tour de France!) with short breaks in between. It took us 3 hours to reach the top. Lets just say there were another few words said as we came near the top of the mountain that cannot be repeated in the blog. We were pretty impressed to be at the front of the group leading the way even with our big backpacks and full of new found respect for Mark's mom Yvonne who had hiked this 3 years ago! That's a gauntlet thrown down for the rest of the parents out there.  There are no ruins to be seen on the second day but it was great sense of achievement to reach "Dead Woman's Pass".

 


Day three it is considered the longest part of the trail but is is not as difficult a climb as the previous day. There are a number of Inca ruins to see so it breaks up the day nicely. We climbed to the second pass where we visited the Inca site called Runkuracay. After we descended to Sayaqmarca where it began to rain. We finally got to use our ponchos! However as the rain got heavier the ponchos didn't hold us to the task. We got soaked! Next up was Conchamarka and the first Inca tunnel which is about 20 meters long. Then we came to Phuyupatamarca where at this stage I gave up wearing the poncho all together. There was no point as I was already soaked to the bone.




On the fourth and final day we saw Intipunku, The Sun Gate and of course Machu Picchu, what was once considered the lost City of the Incas. The fourth day is a short day of treking. It only takes 3 hours to get to Machu Picchu. However, it was raining again for the 3 hours which made it a bit harder to stay on your feet! Eddie tried to keep up with the porters at one stage and took a bit of a slip. Luckly enough he didn't fall over the cliff ....AGAIN! When we arrived at Machu Picchu at 7am in the morning the whole place was covered in mist.

The guide gave us a two hour tour of Machu Picchu. I think the site is up there with the ruins in Cambodia but I think Angkor Wat is number one for me. We learnt loads though from our tour.

Forgive me for stating the obvious but the Inca's were obsessed with mountains.  A lot of their sacred places including Machu Picchu were built at great altitudes and mentioned in earlier blogs they had left child sacrifices at mountain tops in times of change or strive to appease their gods.  Another example that we were shown at Machu Picchu is how they mirror the shapes of surrounding mountains in miniature.  Conor got a good photo of one of these below.

The one story I found funny was the fact they let a beer comerical be filmed up on Machu Picchu. During filming they managed to break part of the Sun dial. I don't think they were left back in!! As the day began to dry we got some better pictures before we headed back to the town Aguas Calientes. We went to the hot springs for the evening (which were well deserved after our four days of treking) and then got the train back to Cusco.

La Paz - Ed why is my face tingling?

After our frankly Crocodile Dundee like escapades in the rain forest it was good to get back to civilisation in La Paz (which means the Peace if you ever enter the pub quiz at the Wild Rover on Sundays).   The city seen from any height is amazing but especially on your way in from the airport, it is set at over 3500 metres in a bowl-like impression at the top of a mountain.  The city centre is at the bottom of the bowl with all the poorer, ramshackle houses clinging to the slopes all around some on almost impossible slopes.

We stayed at the Wild Rover Hostel, an Irish themed hostel with a nice bar and lovely food (the shepard's pie in particular was a group favourite).  The timing couldn't be better as we were probably in the best venue in South America to watch the now infamous Irish V
France playoffs.  Fortunately the Bolivian national team also wear green so Trick and Mark could show off their allegiance to all.

  

Kevin Eddie took it a step further and bought tricolour facepaints.  The woman in the stall assured him that they would be safe on skin and our still rather limited spanish prevented us from understanding all the warning labels FOR USE OF CLOTH ONLY.

The slight tingling felt just after application gradually gave way to a sharp stinging pain.  Random other guests at the hostel were still sporting burn marks on their faces a week later but noone ever twigged on to who had bought them so we got away with it.

The hostel has a great idea in running a tab at the bar for all your food and drink based on your bed number.  You then settle up when you check out.  They have a safety net in the "Wall of Fame" where your name goes up once you reach 1,000 Bolivianos and you must clear your tab.  Mark and I won the race to the wall with style.

We did a day trip out of Cusco to mountain bike down the "Death Road" a 70 km length of track falling over 3,500 metres towards sea level.  After hearing about the experiences of some of our friends from last year and the amount of people wandering around the hostel with casts of their legs we decided to spring for all the safety gear (full face helmet with elbow and knee pads).

Kevin Eddie decided to test these out early by taking one of the first corners too fast and ending up head down, legs up in a ditch.  Fortunately his ego was bruised more than anything else.

The first section is on a tarmac road before you veer onto a dirt track for the real exciting bit.  The scenary is really cool but usually we were concentrating on not falling off on the slippery gravel and tight corners so there wasn't much chance to enjoy it.

The road is really narrow flanked on one side by a rock face and a sheer drop on the other.  Wiith the pace we were going to was easy to see how some people have died on the road.  The most tragic story we heard was of a guide last year who was taking a photo of his group and took a step back into thin air and went over the side.  Fortunately everyone in our group made it back ok, even the two French lads who we had to some resist nudging over for the whole day.

Back in La Paz we walked up to check out San Pedro prison.  Anyone who has read the book Marching Powder by Rusty Young will have heard of this crazy place.  The book tells the story of an English drug trafficker (Thomas) who ends up in San Pedro.  The prison system itself is unique in that the prisoners must rent their own cells and wealthy inmates can live quite well inside.  All prisoners families usually live with them inside and leave every day to go to work or school.  Inside the prisoners run shops, restaurants and even have cocaine factories.  Thomas ended up running tours of the prison for passing backpackers.  He was later released but the tours contined until authorities shut them down last year due to the corruption and bribery involved.  There are rumours of tours still being conducted but we didn't search very hard to get in.  Conor almost got in trouble just for taking this photo.

The book is being made into a film at the moment with Brad Pitt producing and Don Cheadle the main star.  When that comes out I'm guessing the whole prison will finally be shut down.

Goodbye Carlos my itchy friend

Its the final countdown! Over the last month I have found true friendship in the last place I thought of looking, slightly above my upper lip. Carlos granted me the bravery to feed crocs and swim in piranha infested waters.

In return I carried Carlos for four days to witness the splendor of Machu Picchu, that extra 4 grams really tested me climbing up to Dead Woman's Pass

In a few days we have to part ways (cue "Goodbye my Lover" song with a black and white montage of our best moments together). He has been the wise, slightly ginger friend I've always wanted but all good things must come to pass. There are more embarrassing photos at http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=121397&id=505868088&l=175d5b3997

Thanks so much to everyone who has contributed so far towards Movember and the fight against Prostate cancer. If anyone else has a few quid to spare please visit http://ie.movember.com/mospace/142697/.

Piranhas, Alligators, Cayman and a Wild Rover

After literally having a blast in Potosi we decided to head North to La Paz, Bolivia's capital and for the trivia buffs out there, the highest capital city in the world. Nearly every Irish person that comes to La Paz stays in a hostel called the Wild Rover. This is an Irish owned hostel with seriously comfortable beds, 24 hour hot water (a luxury in South America) and most importantly a bar menu featuring Shepherd's Pie, Roast Chicken and Pork Chops! We only stayed for one night however before we headed off to the Amazon but we were to return soon enough. The flight to the Amazon was one of the more interesting journeys on our trip. It wasn't exactly an Airbus A380......

About five minutes before landing the two pilots started cracking up laughing (we could all see and hear this because there was no door to the cockpit) which confused the 19 passengers on board even more. We did eventually land safely in a field at Rurrenabaque Airport. The duty free in said airport left a little to be desired however
We had booked a 3 day Pampas tour which was to involve a few boat rides, a few walks and a lot of flora and fauna. We had an entertaining 3 hour jeep journey to the river from Rurrenabaque which wouldn't have been quite so interesting had it not been for the fact that I had to switch places with a guide who was in another bus. Nothing strange there you might say except for the fact that instead of squeezing into the jeep with the rest of the lads, he jumped onto the roof and hung on for an hour and a half with the driver averaging about 80 km/h on little more than a dirt track. Our long boat had a Dutch couple, the five of us and a lad called Paul from Bishopstown. We were expecting a lot of animals in fairness but nothing prepared us for the barrage that followed. Literally around the first corner we saw a load of these lads just lounging about.Then we saw some Capybaras (largest rodents in the world)
Throw in a few of these little guys

some eagles, turtles and pink river dolphins and you had a fairly interesting three hour boat ride! Our base for the night also happened to have the local bar and football pitch. The heat didn't help the gringo performance and the blisters after playing barefoot weren't exactly helpful with the piranhas in the river afterwards. That night after dinner we headed back out onto the river to go hunting caiman (a bigger, meaner version of an alligator). Unfortunately or maybe fortunately we didn't find any but we did come across some baby alligators who were out for a midnight dip. Mick obviously didn't have enough for dinner......

The following morning we were up early on an Anaconda hunt (not every day you get to say that). This involved wading through chest high grass and swamps searching for a creature that, if large enough, could swallow you whole. Makes perfect sense! About 20 minutes in we stopped about 100m from a small lake where an alligator was looking for some breakfast. Mick stepped up to take a photo and on his return he managed to annoy an Anaconda Cobra (there are two types........this was the bite you before it eats you one) who took a swipe at him before darting off into the bush. Our two guides dived in after it however and soon after managed to capture it. This time it was Darragh's turn to be hungry. Why is everyone trying to eat live animals??

We continued on the hunt for the fabled Constrictor Anaconda but to no avail. The nearest we came was a couple of shed skins and a dead 2m specimen most probably left by an eagle. After lunch we went for a swim in the same river as the said alligators, piranhas, caiman and anacondas. The guardian angels were definitely working overtime that day. We decided to round off the afternoon with a spot of piranha fishing. Basically you get a hook attached to a line and some raw meat as bait. You then drop the line into the water and try to yank the piranha out as it devours the meat. They very rarely bite the hook so you invariably end up with piranhas literally flying through the air into the boat. Anyone not wearing shoes got quite nervous with all the flesh eating fish flapping around the boat. We did prove quite adept at catching the little monsters though

That night we retired to bed after removing countless insects and even a few frogs from our beds in anticipation of a fantastic 5 am morning call for the impending sunrise. The somewhat anti-climactic sunrise prepared us for quite an eventful last day however. With our bags stowed away we set off back up the river to get our jeep back to Rurrenabaque. We made a stop along the way though to give a lad called Pedro some lunch.

In fairness he was quite a nice lad and didn't mind when we got in for a swim

We then sped back to base camp not before taking in the myriad of creatures along the way once again. Our 6 o' clock flight back to La Paz with Air Amaszonas was uneventful apart from the take off, looking out the window and seeing a mountain peak next to you and of course the landing. In all seriousness though, the trip couldn't possibly have gone better and it was definitely one of the highlights of our voyage so far.

A very strange country

Entering Bolivia, you'd be forgiven for thinking you were on a different planet. There really is a world of difference in the 100m that separate the lovely roads of Argentina with the gravel tracks of Bolivia. Having endured a 2 hour wait at the border thanks to Conor "The Fugitive" Hickey, we hopped on a bus to Tupiza. Not much of note here apart from being the spot where Butch Cassidy and the Sundance kid were killed. Found the handiest hostel of the trip so far, 100 yards from the bus station with a lovely 5 bed room just inside the door. We booked a trip to leave the following day out to the wild west of Bolivia and got tucked into some Pizza. For some unknown reason, about 90% of the restaurants here are Pizzarias. Not much to do, so we were up bright and early the following morning to get on a jeep out of the place.

The tour was good fun. 5 of us, along with our driver Fernando and chef Elle headed off for a very bumpy ride as part of a convoy of about 5 jeeps. Plenty of strange scenery and some very bizarre landscape. We headed up the Andes and got to what I imagine the moon to look like. Bit of a mixed bag of sights really. We were taken to plenty of lagoons to see a lot of flamingos. There's a lot of geotheremal activity here again, so we saw a lot of active volcanoes, geysers and hot springs (our only wash of the trip). We stayed in a hotel made of salt which was a first. We stopped at the famous "rock tree" for a few photos and then spent about an hour playing with our cameras on the Salt Flats (Salar de Uyuni). We met some guys who were cycling from Alaska to Argentina and also met Siobhan, a Glasgow lass who's been hanging around for the past 3 weeks now. Photos are probably the only way to really explain the trip so here ye go....

Arriving in Uyuni we quickly discovered there wasn't much to do (except for the "Extreme Fun Pub" which seemed to be a good place to kill a few hours) so we decided to get an overnight bus to Sucre (after another Pizza). Very bumpy ride, the windows were open the whole night which at 4,000m above sea level was quite cold. We landed in Sucre and fell into the first hostel we could find. We spent 2 nights here. Lovely little city. It's Bolivia's capital but most of the government is now based in La Paz. Typical spanish style spot with a square in the center and narrow streets. The government are pretty strict here about planning permission. All buildings have to be repainted once a year, and neon signs are not allowed. We had a look around La Casa de la Libertad (House of Freedom) which was about all there was to do here really.

Our next stop was Potizi, the worlds highest city. We did a quick visit here, landed at midday and left again at 9pm that day. At 4,200 meters above sea level, you really do feel the altitude. The walk from the bus station to the city was about 30 minutes uphill and was a big struggle. We ended up losing Eddie on the walk somehow, despite being about a foot taller than the locals. The whole town is based on tin and silver mining, and we were there to have a look down the mines. Having got suited up we bought some Coca Leaves which the miners seems addicted to, and some dynamite which the locals would use to blow up the mountain. We headed off to Cerro Rico (Rich Mountain) where we spent about 2 hours underground. It was a very weird experience. Fun to be down there, but the life and work is very tough. These guys spend about 10 hours a day underground, hammering a nail into the rocks, then putting dynamite into the hole and blowing it up. The repeat this process a few times a day. Each hole takes about 3-5 hours to hammer the nail.Very tough life. We headed outside then to play with the dynamite ourselves. After you light the dynamite it takes 80 seconds to blow, so we lit it, passed it around, then put it in a field and boom. We had a look around the process plant then and headed back to the bus station to find Ed and head off to La Paz.