Inca Trail Day 2 - Part 2

I looked at the guide (Leo) and asked if I could turn back. This really seemed beyond my ability. He simply said "Too late now - no going back" So I sat down on a rock, closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. What was there to do? I stood up and started walking and one foot in front of the other began the journey anew, understanding truelly for the first time, that this would become the biggest hurdle i had ever faced in my life.

We reached the half way point where our walk leader was waiting. He looked at me and said "you will not make lunch but you will make it" and promptly wiped medical alcohol under my nose and across the back of my neck. The effect was fast... it woke me up and before we knew it we were powering up the mountain. Dad developed a rather effective technique that had us making good ground. Pick an object in view and walk to it. "That pretty flower 3 meters ahead on the left" "That unusual rock 5 meters infront and around the bend" We reached the summit around 3pm. There was a small group of climbers there, Americans from california who cheered for us at the top and I realised not only I, but everyone around me was crying! We had climbed a mountain! We meagre humans were witnessing a sight reserved for only very few and boy was it magnificent!!

--Interestingly enough the notion of this being Mother Nature's 'lovely lady lumps' crept into my mind at some point and before i knew it that damn song was going around and around in my head. --

Unfortunately, the moment of elation was short lived as we were at extremily high altitude and exhausted and so the pressure of 4650m.a.s.l was bearing down on us strongly . Dad was experiencing a fierce headache and it was time for us to begin the descent.

Going down started off well we were buzzing excited and were racing down the mountain trying to make up for lost time. but alas, the ground was very uneven and each step required thought and planning. After 3 hours of climbing down our knees were aching, our heads were pounding and the sun was setting...

We were in the clouds so visibility was poor but we knew we had a ways ahead of us yet so we put on our headlamps and just kept on going. After all... we'd done the impossible we could and had climbed a mountain and survived.

The truth of climbing moutains however, is that most mountain climbers die on the way down the mountain. Why? because you put all your power and mental focus into getting there and once the initial glory of success wears off you are exhausted, climbing down which is harder on your body and the day is over...

And as fate would have it, Mother Nature had yet another challenge for us... Rain. So it was dark, raining and we had been walking for 11 hours without stopping for food. Oh goodie!

Slipping and sliding in the rocks we picked out each step with great care. Maintain 3 points of contact move one. Slow going work. Exhaustion and fear were taking hold and my teeth were chattering, my tears were flowing heavy with the raindops on my cheeks as my brain chanted 'do not fall - do not fall". We didnt even slow down to put on raincoats, we just kept going.... and me made it!

To the cheers and hugs of our fellow climbers we made it just after 7pm. We had done it! We had survived! We were at the camp. Safe to rest.

Pete hugged me and asked in his casual joking tones"so how was your day?" My response "Well... its had its ups and downs" and we all had a bloody good laugh at the absurdity of our accompolishment.

I hugged my dad, went to my tent, stripped off, wiped down. covered myself head to toe in anti-inflamatory gel and passed out.

The Inca Trail - Day 2 - Part 1

The day for me started with strong trepidation... Not the best nights sleep... as often occurs in a tent with a stranger... Woke up before the sun needing to pee and found myself an actual toilet. (well as good as one gets out there anyways) Hilariously, comming out of the toilet a donkey was waiting at the door as if to say "Are you done yet?!?! Geez! I'm busting" which simultaniously scared the bejeezus outa me and totaly cracked me up.

Breakfast was a no go for me -altitude sickness still- so Grizzly and I set off as soon as we could to try and get a head start on the others. We started at around 6.45am and the others caught up around 7.15am. We had all been told that day 2 was the biggest day. Not the longest distance but the highest peak - Dead Women's Pass (ominous much?) was at its high point 4650m above sea level and we starting out from around 3100m ASL but we had to go down some more first. We were given little baggies with some musli bars and and orange and told lunch would be served around 3pm on the other side of the mountain.

I was going well - resigned to the fact that this would likely kill me and that I may as well get it over with (such a princess I know!) and despite the occasional hyperventilation considered myself to be making rather good progress. At midday i asked my guide "How are we going? how far is it to the peak from here?" His response will stay with me until the end of time....

"We are about half way to the halfways point"

My response - "you mean we are half way?"

His answer "no - we are half way to half way to the top... the top is halfway to the camp"

At midday we realised that we were less than a quarter of the way into our journey... my heart sank to my stomache, made me retch then into my aching knees down my pulsing calves and out through my swollen toes and jumped off the nearest cliff.... I... was.... totally.... fucked.

Photos From Dad's Camera - Inca Trail

Just mqanaged to get my hands on dad's camera and thought I'd upload some of his shots before we go our seperate ways. So here we are:

Oyantutambo = the day before starting the Inca Trail. Just a few warm up steps:

The beggining point of the Inca Trail, two intrepid travellers setting off on the journey of a lifetime...

The view of the journey ahead.

The terrain.... steps steps and more steps....

Waking up at camp the morning of day 2. What a view to wake up to!

The 'boob' in the distance. The high point of the walk day 2. Dead Woman's Pass 4650m above sea level.

Power nappin!

This is the big hill on day 3 I will tell you more about soon. Look closely you will see tiny electricity towers. Those are like those super huge ones back home - to give you an idea of the scale of this 'big hill'. (I'll give you a clue - we walked down this - in the dark....!!!!!)

Me at the Sun Gate - the entrance to Machu Pichu - Day 4 (I AM THE MOST AWSOME PERSON ALIVE!!!!! heh it certainly felt that way when this pictire was taken anyways :oP )

OHMYGOD Its snowing!!! - Day 2 in Chile's snow fields. My first time seeing snow - this is before the blizard - more on that to come!

The Inca Trail Day 1

Ok guys,

So I havn´t been able to get to a computer that will upload pics so I´ve let this blog go a bit. But I think its important to put the Inca Trail down in words. If thats even possible. So begins day 1.

We had arrived in Cuzco city 2 days pior to acclimatize. We had joined a great group of aussies all at least 10 years older than me but a great group none the less and all eager to experience Peru. We also had with us our fabulous jungle buddies John and Pete. I hadnt been suffering too badly with the altitude just a little short of breath and a loss of appetite. No biggie.... Or so i thought..

Day 1 started out at around 6am i started to feel nautious. I knew it was anxiety and so ignored all the frantic races to the toilets and complete inability to eat. We took a couple of buses and stopped in a little town called Oylantytambo to get final supplies for the trip. You know.. the important stuff like chocolate, starbursts and anti-inflamatory gel....

We finally started walking around 1.30pm and all seemed to be going well. After all day 1 was the easy day right....¿ until we started going up hill anyways... So puffing and panting my way up the hill I watch as each member of the group passes me by and i huff and wheaze my way along stopping every few minutes to catch my breath. Grizlly stayed with me and thank god he did because about 4 hours in my ¨Í can´t do this´inner monologue got very vocal. ¨Fat chicks don´t climb mountains¨it said ÿou are not going to make it¨ÿou simply can´t do this¨said that nasty bastard and before i could realise anxiety had me in full choke and i was a wretching sobbing mess. But Grizzly was there urging me to just put one foot in front of the other and evetually we arrived at camp around 15 minutes after nightfall.

We were both a smidge (cough) annoyd to find that our camping arrangemnents had been changed and we were both to bunk up with strangers. Dad with Wayne and me with a lovely if not slightly mad, 55 year old psychologist called Dessa. Dessa and I agreed that there was no time or space for modesty in a 2 man tent in th middle of nowhere and commenced our routine of nightly wet-wipe showers and changing from sweat soaked hiking gear into long johns and thermals.

Dinner was served in a communal tent and though my tastebuds were delighted with the offerings my apetite was a victim of altitude and so I was only able to push my food around the plate and pass it on to a wondering dog. Everyone was very kind about pointing out that I was only a few minutes behiind them to arriuve at camp and spirits were generally high despite knowing that day 2 was the toughest day and only a few hours away. After the inital inconvienience of having to find a suitable peeing tree in the dark, it was off to bed for an early night.

Photos from the Jungle

Lush jungle

Pirhana fishing

Herons taking flight

The upper canopy

Tarzan vines! Aa-a-a-a-a-a-a-a--a!!!

Getting tribal with the local yagua people.

Senior Anaconda from the sharp end! (hes about 4 meters long and about 30 cm´s thick)

Super chilled three toed sloth

Grizzly with a tame toucan

Mother nature strutting her stuff

Well I finally found a computer that allows me to upload pictures from my camera huzzah! This is a very difficult task as I took over 400 photos whilst in the Amazon and all of them have some meaning or beauty or story. The other problem is that today is my adjustment to altitude day so im a bit tired and struggling to maintain any form of mental focus. I got very lost in Cuzco city today which was quite terrifying because there was a huge parade in town and thousandsa of people everwhere and no way of knowing where I was. I am now safe and sound and know where I am! Phew!

So The Amaxon... WoW! What an adventure it was! We flew to Iquitos a Peruvian port city and then carried on via speed boat for around an hour then swapped to a lesser motorised boat and traveled another 2 hours or so geting out to pass through villages and change boats until we arrived at our very secluded lodge in the heart of the jungle- Ot had basic amenities like a roof and floors, mozzie net walls and beer. basically all you need really no electricity or fresh water.. We ate a diet of rice, beans, fish and fruit (which was really wonderful and felt fantastic!)

Heres the lodge

I have been travelling these last few days with 2 great aussie guys called Peter and John from Bowral and Byron Bay and we have become pretty good mates along the way. I think we shared something very special together in that jungle. Something I hope I will never forget! Oh by the way, I swam in that water in front of th lodge

. The boys decided to go swimming and didnt think i would come being a girl and all - so i donned a tshirt and a pair of knickers and in I went only to experience the rather odd sensation of having a prihana swim up my shirt!! ARRGGHHH! No biteys though. Phew!
Here we are together, John in front of me and Pete behind exploring the Jungle via canoe using a machete to make our way through the vines! What a glorious adventure we had! Grizzly unfortunately couldnt do lots of the small boating outings in the jungle as his back wasnt permitting but he was off pirhana fishing with our guide.

Some stunning vistas

and some local wildlife!

Spider monkey


and Ignuana below (took me ages to see this guy in the trees!)

My new boyfriend Mr Monkey. He just jumped up on my and wouldnt let go! He was really lovelly and had a good play with the camera which he found really fascinating.

Ok im way to tired and sick of squinting at this litttle computer screen to tell you all the stories or put these pictures in order but check them out and I´ll fill in the blanks in a few weeks.

Buenos Noches!

Oh thats a snake that Pete decided to poke (yes with his finger - bloody boys!) and below a tree frog on the door to my room at the lodge.

The Amazon jungle

Hi Guys,

I am on really limited time here and can´t find a computer that will allow me to upload the pics from the jungle! ARRGGH!

All I can say for now is that I had an AMAZING time. At some points i was literraly moved to tears by the sheer beauty of the jungle.

I had close encounters with a purhanna, snakes (inclding an anaconda), monkeys, iguanas, all kinds of birds, got bitten b fire ants (ouch!) and we were even lucky enough to catch a few glimpses of the extremily rare amazonian pink dolphin!

Details and photos of all of these to follow. But just letting you know we survived and are in the capital of Peru, Lima tonight and then off to Cuzco in the morning to begin the adjustment to altitude before the Macchu Pichu trek starts in about 3 days time.

Nx

Note - No Contact for the next 3 -4 days

Just letting you know not to expect any contact for the next few days. I leave for Iquitos in the Amazon at 5.30am local time and return to Lima Peru on Monday night 9.00pm. We have a full day planned on Tuesday so I don´t expect to be online again to Tuesday evening at the earliest. I have no phone, and there will be no electricity so guarunteed no contact for a few days. Wish me well and boy oh boy am I gonna have some stories to tell when I get back. Tme to get tribal!

I can´t remember what day it is but we went to some museums

Thats right, Jet lag´s got me all confused and i cant count what day it is without asking someone. Best I can tell its Friday and we are meeting up with 2 others tonight for a meal and off the THE AMAZON JUNGLE in the morning! Woot!!



Today we hired a taxi and checked out a few musems in town. The first Museum was friggen awsome and we learned heaps about the Incans and the many races before them.





Here we see Incan pottery of a demon disembowling the unfaithful - or some such.

and below some neat pottery and artisty wihich was pretty advanced and incredibly detailed.




This scene includes some of the creepiest dolls ever known to man working a loom. Seriously... how friggen creepy do they look?!?!

Here´s some fascinating knowledge for you... The ancient incans had such a vast empire that they had to keep comprehensive records of th crops, families etc and did so using a ystem of knots on ropes as seen in the below picture. Each thread identifies a set of information and each knot describes the quantity recorded at a given time. Like the Hooba Whatsit familly had 22 Llamas and one cow on the date of 201AD. Or something like that anyways... granted I´m not very good at paying attention when people talk to me...


The below is a lovely pottery worek that I thought depicted like a family day out with fun and frivolity until I read the little sign that said that this pottery shows one of the forms of human sacrifice carried out by the ancients whereby they would take peopl eto the top of the cliffs and throw them off... Delightful!

The Incans worhsipped both the Sun and the Moon and their high up priests and important people worse Gold (sun) and Silver (gold) as homage. check out this funky bit of mega bling! No wonder the Spannish were so happy to conquer ad plunder these guys!


Well wasn´t that a lovely learning experience kiddies... now onto the next Museum... The EROTIC ART GALLERY.

Hehehehehe check out these dudes going for it!


Loveing the expressions!

Woah dude! These Incans really take this learning through art busines quite seriously....

And finally... but never to be forgotten... the boy on boy action... Go Incans!

Ok so, I really should be a lot more mature about this sort of things....

Day 5 Lima Peru - Pachamacac Ruins

We made it to Peru!

Oh my god jetlag is a bastard! We woke up the other day in Santiago got to a place - caught the plane 3 hours) to Peru checked into the hotel had a nice lunch and a pisco sour (the local drink yum yum!) We were planing a busy afternoon of exploration and walking around Miaflores (the part of town we are staying), sat down for 5 mins and then just passed out. Like passed out! like Grizzly tried to wake me up and I just grunted and passed out for another 2 hours. Needless to say my explorations yesterday were limited to the hotel room and the restaurant. Although the bar staff were great sports with teaching me spannish and trying to get me to drink pisco sours instead of water. (Pisco Sour is a bit like a margharita). But today we were more alive. - awake at 6am style alive.

We had breakfast in the hotel where I noticed that everyone was speaking French. Instead of greating people with Buenos Dios I started singing Bonjour! como Ceva? which caught me in a complex conversation in french which I managed to fake my way through for a fair while before they realised my french is limited to basic greetings and gesiticulating. hahah we enjoyed ourselves anyways.

anywho... We hired a private taxi from a guy who we thought was the hotel receptionist´s friend Mario but turned out to be the driver from the Mariot hotel. LOL.

We are staying in a place called Mirafloes which is something like a cross between Subiaco and Scarborough and we had a lovely drive past the coast. The thing that is so noticable here is the air pollution. The coast would be stunning here if you could just see it through the hideous grey cloud. I´m glad I trained my lungs to deal with pollution (ie smoking too much in pubs) or I think I would be couhging up my lungs in this place!

Hilariously the driver put on an early 90´s american music CD so we were chauffered through the streets of Lima to the soundtrack of Alanis Morrisettes ïronic, ¨Back Street Boys and Ëternal flame¨who the taxi driver explained to me in brocken english was his favourite song by the Bangles. When I expressed my pleasure at his musical taste ¨Mi Gusto Senor!¨he cranked it up loud and we wound down the windows for maximum cruising pleasure.

Pachamacas Ruins is out just passed the slum lands, and although it dosnt say so anywhere you can tell that they stumbled across these ruins whilst developing the area for housing or factories. Heres a happy snap of how the people live round these parts

So we got to Pachamacac pretty quickly and our Taxi driver was absolutely astounded that we did not want us to drive us around the site - infact we intended to pay him to wait for us in the car and we would explore for a couple of hours on foot. He nearly feinted when Grizzly gave him $5US and said to buy himself some lunch while he waited. hahaha being ridiculously affluent can be quite enjoyable.

So Pachamacac is a temple of both the Earth Mother and the Sun God and was a place of pilgramage for the Incans. The site is the home of 3 pyramids, roads, temples and a very complex water a sewerage system. The quality of the buildings is amazing, you can see the skill of the builders in the tight detail of the stonework.

Here you can see a ramp leading to what was once a pyramid.

And here is how archeological resrtoration is carried out in Peru...

Yep, what you are looking at is two dudes with wheel barrows digging out ancient ruins. NEAT!

Heres a security guard at the top of temple of the Sun God... I guess when he sees me being mugged down the bottom he can jump off, Bruce Willis style and rescue me? Not really sure about his function here...

Ok so, all things said and done, this -is- just a big pile of rocks in a huge dust pile, so Grizzly and I entertained ourselves by showing off to a small bus load of Japanese Tourists who thought we were amazing attractions as we spoke some basic japanese to them.

And teaching a group of very cute Peruvian primary schoolers to say ¨G´day Mate¨. They seemed to think we were heaps more wierd and interesting than a bunch of ancient rocks and would smile at us and then run away squealing or try their best to say ¨helloo¨

Also, there was a Llama! Hi Mr Llama!!

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