Hiking in Peru

Hello again,

This post is coming from a place of pretty profound contentment! I am writing from Cusco, Peru, which is a charming city despite the hourdes of foreigners here. It is impossible to walk anywhere without being offered a ¨Lady massage¨ but that is just about the only annoyance of this city.

Peru in general has been quite a joy. It is rainy season so we have had a few bus delays, but the people are always quite encouraging and friendly. On our way to Cabanaconde our bus got stuck trying to cross a stream. As shown in the photo below, we all had to pile out and then attempt to throw rocks haphazardly under the bus so that it could drive out of the water. There were many laughs and it was amazing to see everyone gather together to get the bus out. There was no shortage of smiles at this impromtu bathroom break (which was neccesary for getting the bus moving but also to allow us to pee at the side of the road, there are no toilets on these buses)!


Shortly after the bus was successfully rolling down the highway again, we were dropped off in Cabanaconde and found our way to Pachamama Hostel. This hostel was so great, with extremely welcoming staff and a hopping pub-restaurant. The town itself was very quiet and small, with only about 3000 inhabitants. We really enjoyed relaxing in the hammocks and doing some small day hikes out of town. Here is where I endured a second round of food poisoning in the comfort of the hostel, and recovered with a day of playing scrabble and reading. Nathan and I had shared a pizza for dinner and shared a traditional Peruvian meal for lunch... so we cannot quite figure out why it was just me who was up shaking and sick in the middle of the night again! Luckily this time I was not spouting out my insides for 30 hours, by about 15 hours I was holding down some crackers. I guess that Nathan really does have a much stronger stomach than I do!

Once I had a day to gain energy we decided to make our way down into Colca Canyon for two days and a night. Our original plan was to hike for about 6 hours into the canyon and then up the other side to a town called Tapay. When we arrived in Tapay we were greated by a disgruntled little boy who could not find his donkey... but just about no one else! We wandered for a while before spotting an older woman walking up the street ahead of us. We followed her and little did we know she was leading up to a restaurant and hostel. We bought some water here (which was very expensive because the only way to this town is by donkey or by foot) but decided to continue on to a town called Sangalle for night which was about three hours further.

Sangalle means Oasis, and boy was it ever! It is located right on the rushing Colca River and the protection from the canyon creates a unique microclimate down there. It is much warmer than Cabanaconde, and there are lots of fruit trees and crops grown there that cannot be grown in other towns of the same altitude. Our lodging was little hut by the river (it is amoungst the trees on the left of the photograph below). We really enjoyed our night here and slept so soundly from the long hike of the day. We woke up early the next morning to begin our ascent out of the canyon. This was surely one of the most difficult hikes that we have ever done. It was a climb of 1300 meters that took only almost four hours, but when we were done we were completely spent! The climb was steep and the sun was strong. At the top of the canyon we rewarded ourselves with a delicious fresh mango, Lays potatoe chips, and a luke warm (no one seems to have fridges for their drinks) Inca Cola, which is a very sweet soft drink that tastes somewhere between Cream Soda and white freezies. This stretch of adventure was a definite highlight as the views from in the Colca Canyon and on its edge were spectacular. We were also blessed with the sighting of six condors, which are huge birds in the vulture family that have wing spans reaching over three meters! We really enjoying seeing them soaring on the hot air rising from the canyon. Their flying style is so unique as they are so heavy that the only way they can take flight is by jumping off the edge of a cliff and catching warm currents. They do not even really flap their wings. Quite spectacular really!

We spent one more night in Cabanaconde after the hike before heading to Cusco to meet Linda. This last evening there ended up being a time of real connection between Nathan and I and a couple we met from Kamloops. We met them in the town square and ended up enjoying dinner together and some great fellowship. We said goodbye to them and left the next morning for Cusco. After about 20 hours we made it there, very tired but captivated by the city. The roads are cobblestone and many of the buildings are also made of stone. It is really amazing architecture and has a quite magical vibe. Sometimes though it does feel that you are in Disney Land or something, as men dressed in neon Inca warrior costumes ask you to take photos with them or women in exaggerated traditional dress walk the streets with llamas and ask for money in exchange for a photo. Another interesting thing about this city is that many of the police officers ¨roam¨ the streets on segways!

We met Linda in Cusco, which ended up being a bit of a funny story. We told her that we would not meet her at the airport but last minute decided to go meet her anyway. We were standing outside the airport for a while when the taxi driver who brought us there drove up and called our names. He proceeded to try and explain something to us and then let us talk on his cell phone... to our hostel receptionist... who said Linda was already there! It turns out that she caught an earlier flight and so we missed her! We returned to the hostel and spent the day giddily chatting and interrupting eachother. It was so wonderful to talk about familiar people and familiar things. We have been totally enjoying Linda´s company. We decided to have a picnic in the plaza together and catch up over wine, fruit, and crackers. We had our blanket spread out under us and our food spread out around us when a police man rolled up and informed us that the grass was not for sitting! The result was a picnic on the stone sidewalk, which was enjoyable too but definitely caused us to get some strange glances!

After a few days of Linda acclimatizing to the altitude we headed out on the four day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu. This was such an amazing adventure. Our group ended up being the three of us, one man from the United States (four others had cancelled), our guide Miguel, and six porters. That is right, SIX porters for the five of us non porters! They were remarkable men, who would swiftly run the trail as we trudged along. We would arrive at camp to find our tents set up, food on the way, and warm Chicha Morada (a sweet purple corn drink) ready to enjoy. These men would carry 25 kilos each in packs the same size as them (Peruvians are quite short people) and always have a smile for us on arrival.

The hike was by no means an easy one, but also not nearly as difficult as the Colca Canyon trek. That was a good one to do first as preparation (but having said that, Linda did not do the Colca Canyon and she still managed the Inca Trail with flying colours). The trickiest part of the Inca Trail was the stair cases. Sometimes it felt like you were climbing a stone ladder! The rain also made the stones slippery which yielded cautious climbers. We walked through sections where all the vegetation constisted of were cacti, and other sections were rainforest, and some mountain top lakes. It was phenomenal! We also had pretty great weather, with rain only on one afternoon and the final day.

On our fourth day of hiking we arose bright and early at 4 am. We ate breakfast and made our way towards Intipuncu, or the Sun Gate, which is supposed to be a spectacular view of Machi Picchu from above. It rained the whole two hours until we got there and so all we could see was grey clouds from Intipuncu. We hiked about an hour more to reach Machu Picchu itself. The picture below shows what we saw for most of the day as we explored the ancient Inca city. Even shrowded in clouds it captivated Linda, Nathan, and I. We did a guided tour of the city with a very knowledgable guide who had great energy. He spoke with such vigor that spit collected on his lips and his umbrella or hands were often raised in the air for emphasis. We learnt a lot about the mystery of the Inca peoples and their ability to build such amazing structures with such primitive tools. They built walls out of stones with no mortar or cement. The stones were huge (many bigger than one cubic meter) and were cut to perfectly fit together.


The clouds cleared for about forty minutes in the afternoon and we were able to capture some of the more classic postcard Machu Picchu pictures (one is below...). It was really a site to see, despite the weather, and we would reccomend it to anyone.

Now Nathan and I are spending two days relaxing in Cusco as Linda visits Lake Titicaca. She is meeting up with us again on the 29th and we will head towards the coast of Peru. We plan on visting Nazca together to see the Nazca lines, then on to Huacachina where we will try our luck at sand boarding.

Big love to you all at home, we hope you are enjoying the onset of spring!

Chloe (and Nathan)

ps. We are heading home in less than two months now, and are very excited to get some hugs from some familiar people!