Lares Trek (Leg 1)

 

South America Day 11

I woke up still a little dodgy, but much better which was fortunate because we were about to start a 3 day hiking expedition.
Our first stop was the small town of Calca and the local markets for supplies. Calca is the gateway to the road to Lares (the start of our hike). The markets would allow us to buy toys and stuff for the children along our hike. For me, it was more about finding an inner sole for my recently repaired hiking boot. I was sent off with the assistant guide, Jose', who managed to find one nice and quick.

The road to Lares was long and windy. The photo above was taken from the high point as we crossed the ridge. I saw a condor briefly which was all very interesting, but the trip was still a bit tedious. The scenery was interesting enough.

 

The start of the trek was the hot springs just outside Lares. You can see the buildings in the background of the shot above. We got done big time by the guides (it was to become a pattern). We had nowhere to stop for "relief" along to long drive from Calca and with a bus full of girls, there was some desperation involved. The issue was that the only place to relieve ourselves was at the hot springs complex which cost quite a bit to enter regardless of whether we wanted to use the baths or not. Turns out the springs were a disgusting milky brown colour and  the locals seemed to have come to wash themselves in them. It wasn't at all inviting.
Never the less the cooks/porters cooked us up a nice lunch and we set off from the back of the hot springs complex across the bridge in picture. Again an opportunity for a group shot. This one had the entire clan but the shot at the end of the trek looked a little different.

 

We set off up the Lares Valley toward our first camp. It wasn't that difficult to start with as it was a fairly gentle incline. The hike in Colca Canyon some days earlier was harder. It was quite pleasant wandering beside the small stream.

 

Despite the easy going, we still seemed to spend a lot of time stopping and waiting for stragglers (this was the first). Special K was the first casualty and started the "I didn't sign up for this" saga. Actually she did sign up for this because it was pretty clear in the GAP trip description and difficulty rating. There we a few others that were finding it difficult while some of us were wondering how this was going to play out over the next few days.

Above is the view of the opposite side of the valley at our first rest stop. Although the incline wasn't too extreme, we'd been steadily gaining elevation.

 

  

Along the way there was no shortage of birds including this little humming bird. The purple flowers are apparently used a lot by the locals as a clothing dye.

 

Base Camp 1

We continued up the valley into the fading light at the end of the day. The stragglers were left behind with the trailing guide. As the light faded, the temperature dropped sharply and our core temperatures went with it. I thought I was getting a bit of a pinched nerve in my right arm from carrying the back pack and camera, but it turned out to be circulation.
As we reached the camp at Wakawasi we realized the porters and the mules had beaten us there. The tents were all pitched and dinner was in progress. My cold arm was more of a problem than I first thought and it took half an hour curled up in the sleeping bag to bring it back to normal. I've got to say I was worried for quite some time. Mental note for the next day to make sure I have warm gloves.

 

Sacred Valley

South America Day 10

 

I successfully retrieved my boot only to realize the next morning they hadn't put the inner sole back. I'm a goose for not checking it when I picked it up, but I didn't want to hang around in that neighborhood too long.

We piled into a bus early on day 10, in my case reluctantly. I felt awful. My body was doing it's usual trick when I pick up a bug and went into high temperature and body shutdown mode.

Enough about my woes. We set off north of Cuzco past the Sacsayhuaman ruins and on to Sacred Valley (pictured). My recollections of that day are fuzzy to say the least so my comments will be scant. This photo covers only a small part of the valley that stretches some 25-30 kms.

 

Sponsored Village

The first stop in Sacred Valley was a small village that GAP sponsors to ensure that the local crafts aren't lost. Yet another tourist trap if you ask me. Kerri tells me the crafts were very expensive and the public toilets were disgusting. I have no comment on account of being out cold on the back seat of the bus loaded up with paracetamol during the stop.

 

Guinea Pig is a Peruvian delicacy. They look all cute and stuff, but you have to remember they're on the lunch menu. Dad calls them turners because they turn good food into shit.

 

I made it out of the bus for the Pisaq ruins and struggled along for the short walk. The local guide rambled on for some time about something I wasn't listening to (and I don't think anyone else was either). The tag line at the end had some sort of global warming message.....

 

I'd bypassed lunch that day so I could sleep & by the time we reached the Ollyentambo Ruins, I was trashed. The clan headed up to the ruins & the bus took me back down to the modern town of Ollyentambo where we were staying that night. I crashed out in bed and slept for a number of hours.

Kerri took a few photos while she was at the ruins including these ones. These are called the ten windows. Apparently there's some sort of acoustic phenomenon when you stick your head through one of the windows.

 

Above is the view back to the town where I was sound asleep, Ollyentambo. I surfaced later that evening and wandered around until I found Kerri and the others. I had dinner and crashed early. It was the worst day of the entire tour for me. It's a shame because I would have liked to have a better look around the Inca ruins in the area. I find ancient ruins so much more interesting than the replacement European buildings.

Cuzco

South America Day 9

Did I mention an early start? 4.20am! We had to be at the airport early for our flight to Cuzco. I think there are only 2 flights a day and our left at 6.50am meaning that we had to get organised early because of the group factor. The usual stragglers were slow getting off the mark again, obviously needing their beauty sleep (didn't work either ). We still managed to make the flight but breakfast was a tad rushed.

The flight wasn't direct. We touched down & swapped seats in Juliacca near Puno.

The flight from Juliacca to Cuzco gave us a look over the Altiplano with the volcanoes around Arequipa quite prominent. I've labelled a few of them. You can see how flat the Altiplano is which is hard to believe considering it's all well above 3000m above sea level. Most places around the world at that altitude tend to be a cluster of rugged snow capped mountain peaks. In contrast the Altiplano is a flat (relatively flat) dry desert.

This crazy twisted road was about the only other point of interest from the air. I have no idea how this is the easiest route to anywhere but the terrain around Cuzco is pretty rugged.
Eventually we made it to Cuzco in time for a late lunch.

Cuzco

Cuzco's a bit like Arequipa in that the buildings surrounding the main square (Plaza de Armas - for a change) had two levels with shops around the lower level & restaurants at the top. The buildings aren't anywhere as grand as Arequipa. Instead of the vast balconies, Cuzco has little balcony boxes. We took a punt with a pub of sorts that the three in shot (Mike, Nic & Polly) had come to. It turned out to be a fairly good call.

Cuzco's main square isn't as grand as the one in Arequipa, but it has it's charms. There's a Cathedral & a church. Pictured is the Cathedral. I like the bright coloured flower beds. Both the Cathedral & the Church have a real Spanish Gothic look to them.

Here's the Church in the Main square, La Compania. Not much to say about it. Just another church.

As mentioned before, Cuzco has these little timber balcony boxes instead of the vast verandas Arequipa has. It's very quaint.

The plan for the afternoon was to take a short uphill hike to the ruins of Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman, or close enough). We were to start the Lares trek the next day so a couple of hours wander would set us up for the 3 day trial ahead.
Cuzco was once the centre of the Incan empire before the Spaniards came along & trashed the place. The centre of Cuzco was Sacsayhuaman pictured here on the left hand hill above Plaza de Armas. It's a fairly steep climb to the ruins, but short enough not to be a drag. The right hand summit has a status of JC. Another legacy of the Catholic marauders.

On the way up the hill you have to clear the houses of the city via a seemingly endless set of stone steps.

Right at the upper boundary, there's a church, Santa Teresa, with a grand view of Cuzco. This photo is one of 3 I took to get a full panorama. The view from the ruins was even better.
Photographing the church we were standing in front of was pointless because it was shrouded by scaffold & plastic for renovations.

After a short but surprisingly tough climb, we reached the entrance to Sacsayhuaman. As for most tourist spots around the world, there was a ticket booth. We knew the scoop & bought the Tourist Pass that covered us for this & a number of other ruins around Cuzco & Sacred Valley, where we were headed the next day.Notice behind my sexy woman is one of many rock walls in the complex. The individual blocks are huge, but individually crafted to fit to the adjacent ones. Considering how massive the blocks are, the joints are almost air tight! They don't use mortar or fill the gaps with anything. It's shows the talents of the Incan people. The added interest is the fact that the Cuzco area gets regular earthquake visits & these walls are still as tight as they were centuries ago when they were constructed. Mean while, many of the European structures in the city below (including the Church & Cathedral mentioned before) have been destroyed & re-built more than once before.

The Incas were really quite civilized all things considering & their engineering feats are quite impressive. Think about how they managed to put that huge capping stone over the doorway. The Egyptians are renowned for moving big rocks around, but these people had a pretty good handle on it as well.The ruins look like the sands of time haven't been kind to them but the reality is that the Europeans dismantled it block by block & used the parts to build their churches & buildings down in the city below. It's kind of sad, but that's human nature for you.

90% of the South American population are Catholic & it shows. Standing at the high point of Sacsayhuaman, the ever present Christ the Redeemer was again a dominant feature of the landscape. It's lit at night so all the locals down in the city can see their saviour. It's kind of tacky really, but nothing you wouldn't see in Europe.

This view is more like what you'd expect to see at an Inca ruin. The terraces would have been for farming and even housing.

The terraces above are from where the previous shot was taken. It's a bit hard to get perspective, but believe me it's a pretty impressive structure considering the builders didn't have cranes or modern machinery.

Maybe this photo will cast some light on the situation. Check the huge rock to our left.
As you may have guessed, the Sacsayhuaman ruins impressed me. It's one of four within about 5 kms of this one.

The final comment from up on the hill at Sacsayhuaman is the view down to the city below. In the photo above you can see Plaza de Armas below with it's gardens & 2 churches.
We met up with Gemma & Emma from our tour group by chance & eventually headed back down to the hotel. I had started to feel the effects of the dodgy food at lunch the day before. It was the start of a couple of a horror 24 hrs for me & I wasn't alone. When I got back there were a couple of other casualties already hiding in their rooms.To make things worse, my faithful Merrel hiking shoes finally let me down. The toe on one of the boots came away from the sole 36 hrs before we were to hike for 3 days. Our tour guide Roberto took me down to the part of town that he'd told us earlier in the day, not to go to for emergency repairs. I was to go back & pick them up later that evening.

Cruzal Condor

South America Day 8

Colca Valley

The beds in the hotel at Coporaque were aweful! I don't think they even had a mattress. Enough said on that but the new day bought nice clear weather & a cool crisp morning. I was all excited because we were going to see condors

The hotel was too cheap to pay someone to mow the front lawn, so they have an alternate method. Llamowers are very popular in Peru.

To get to Cruzal Condor we headed out along the road that runs to the other side of Colca Canyon to where we stayed the night before. It's a mainly dirt road that has steep cliffs above on one side & steep cliffs below on the other. You can see the road to the right of picture following the canyon. Chivay that we'd just come from is far in the distance to the right.
There are also 3 little lakes to the left of shot that the guide made a big deal about. Can't really see what the big fuss was about myself. What is interesting, & not so apparent, is the aqueducts that criss cross through the valley. They were built by the local inhabitants centuries ago before Europeans came to South America. The Romans are always revered for their water transport systems, but it would seem that they weren't unique.

High in the cliffs above the road were more tombs. These ones were much harder to get to. I'm not completely sure how they did get to them....

Cruzal Condor

Cruzal Condor is the second deepest section of Colca Canyon. It's twice as deep as the Grand Canyon & is supposedly the second deepest canyon in the world behind near by, Cotahuasi Canyon. The walls aren't as steep as the Grand canyon, by the opposite side is much closer. The Grand Canyon is much more scenic, but it doesn't have condors!

Cruzal Condor was the next designated group shot. Everyone was in there this time.
Back Row L->R Melissa, Richard, Hina, Mike (messing up the photo again!) Kerri, me, Vincent, Vixy.
Front Row L->R Smita, Gemma, Emma, Special K, Polly, Nora, Nic.

These houses where across the canyon & far below where we were standing waiting for Condors. Considering the locals typically have fairly basic transport, living perched on a cliff is a pretty tough way to exist.
We spent a lot of time just sitting & waiting for a glimpse of a condor, so we checked out everything else of interest in the canyon.

There were plenty of birds to keep me interested & make sure the camera was good to go when a condor did arrive.
The Giant Humming Bird in the photo above was one of a number that were hanging around us. They are the largest humming birds on the planet & possibly the most brazen. They came up very close to us but just out of reach.

Right when we were about to give up on seeing a condor, Melissa & Richard spotted it first soaring high above us. The white collar gave it away as a condor, not a vulture (although they are closely related). It was so nice to see one free to soar rather then cooped up in a zoo like the only other condors I've seen.

Maca

Eventually we had to leave Cruzal Condor. It was a little disappointing that we only got to see the one condor & from so far away, but that's wildlife spotting for you. Wild animals never really perform on request.
On the way back to Chivay we made a stop at a village called Maca. It has this fancy white church (pictured). Apparently it's nothing that special inside. I was too scared to go in for fear of being hit by a lightning bolt. Not true. The huge number of tourists invading the locals' still active church put me off. I equivalate it to a hoard or people coming into your back yard to take pictures while you're having a 21st birthday party. It's just kind of rude.

This put me off Maca as well. This magnificent Andean Eagle was chained to a tee perch & used to extract money from tourists. I really cringe when I see raptors in captivity. Unfortunately one or two from our tour (you know who you are ) fed into it & had their photo taken with the bird. It's unfortunate the things people are allowed to do in less developed nations.

Altiplano

We stopped for lunch in Chivay on the way back to Arequipa, but at a different place this time. The food wasn't right & my bad food radar was spot on. Later that day I started to feel ill & was the start of 2 weeks of trouble & I wasn't alone. It's just one of those risks in South America. particularly in Peru & Bolivia.
We travelled back along the same route that we'd taken the day before. I made the driver stop a couple of times for Vicunas. This one was good because I managed to get my Animal + Scenery all in one, shot by catching the Vicuna in front of El Misti.

One more Vicuña for good luck.
The gang on the bus were getting shitty at me by this point with my asking the driver to pull over so I could take photos. But you know what? Too bad. It's probably the last time I'll ever go there & we weren't in any hurry. They'll get over it. I got my shot so I'm happy. They've probably forgotten about it by now. (Lucky I just reminded them.) As it was, some of my photos became quite popular later on in the trip, particularly the ones I took with the long lens.

Just before we started to descend the valley back into Arequipa, Ampato appeared out of the Altiplano. It was obscured by cloud on the out lap but the blue skies on the return trip gave us a great look at this white giant. Remember Ampato is the inactive volcano Juanita & the other child mummies were found. You can see why the ancient people of the area used to think this mountain holds special powers.
That's the last I have from the Arequipa area. For more photos from Arequipa & Colca Canyon, click on the following links. Arequipa, Colca Canyon. I've also added to the Andes Animals & Andes Birds albums.

We arrived back in Arequipa just before dark, dumped our gear in our rooms & set about finding a meal. We went to bed early because we had a very early start the next morning.
You can see the trip to this point on the map as a blue line. Notice the spur out to Colca Canyon. The next leg would be by air instead of lengthy stints on the bus. The only snag was the early start. A small price to pay.