Cusco & The Sacred Valley: No Wonder It's Famous

Sorry for the delay in writing this however the internet in Peru left much to be desired and I have made a couple of quick stops along the way leaving little opportunity to delve into my time in Cusco.


Plaza De Armas



We arrived in Cusco on Thursday night due to the fact that we needed to use Friday to buy a few things for our four day trek. As the weather wasn't meant to be too good I invested in some wet weather gear and apart from that, snacks for the journey and a sleeping bag as I didn't bring one with me on the trip. I will also take this opportunity to point out that my Dad decided to hire a walking stick which was rather embarrassing.

We headed off at 5am on Saturday morning to meet our guide, porters and trekking group (not quite the demographic of people I was expecting)

The Group

Being a typical tourist I decided to get my passport stamped at the start of the trek and head off from Km 82 on the 45km trek to Machu Picchu.

The First Inca Site

Overall the first day of trekking was relatively uneventful apart from the fact that a few of the group members were rather unprepared for the trekking that lay ahead (two were unable to carry their daypacks the whole way meaning I had to help them for the last two hours). As exciting as this sounds the fun with the group really started at dinner when the conversation moved onto hygiene and the general health of the 11 others who had been travelling together for a few weeks prior to the trek. It turned out that only one was yet to get sick and the rest were still heavily popping pills, refusing to eat without using hand sanitiser and discussing their daily bowel movements over dinner; not quite what I was expecting!

Night One

Breakfast on day two was merely a continuation of the conversation of dinner from the night before however apparently a couple of the group were feeling better and were well prepared for the toughest day of hiking that lay ahead!

Father and Son Leading the Way

Dead Woman's Pass

Walking Stick and Yellow Poncho...HOW EMBARRASSING!!

 Day two was much more uneventful than I was expecting, and whilst there was a lot of waiting around everyone managed to finish the day in the allocated time. Along the way we did manage to pass a few more rather impressive Inca sites however the weather meant that the photos were not as impressive as they could have been.

Day three started with a relatively relaxed wake up time of 6am as there was not as much ground to cover as the first two days. The first point of call was Cloudy Town which definitely lived up to its name; it was hard to see anything further than 10 metres. The weather gradually improved as the morning went on and we managed to see a number of impressive Inca sites along the way

On the way to Cloudy Town



Pretty Impressive

Not a bad view from our tent

Day four on the Inca Trail is a race from start to finish. The aim is to get up first, leave the campsite first, get to the checkpoint first and finally to be first at the sun gate and we failed at all of them! Fortunately we did manage to be the third group at the checkpoint which meant that I was able to get to the Sun Gate fourth. I did consider running the whole distance however due to the lack of sun I decided that it probably wouldn't be worth it

My First View of Machu Picchu

It didn't get much better...

Inca Ingenuity

The Postcard Shot

An Even Better Postcard

All in all the Inca Trail and particularly Machu Picchu was an amazing experience and I would recommend it to anyone. I booked the trip through Intrepid Travel and everything ran smoothly from start to finish; the guides were insightful and the food was absolutely incredible, almost every meal seemed to defy logic as to how it could be created with the facilities available. Following the Inca Trail we booked into a nice hotel (thanks Dad) which was a welcome change after weeks spent in hostels with shared bathrooms.

The Hotel

After a day of rest we headed back down to the Sacred Valley to gain a greater understanding of the Inca Empire. The day was interesting and further outlined the importance of the Sun along with the the three tiered system of the Snake, Puma and Condor.

We finished the day off with a Llama steak and Pisco Sour as it was our last meal together as my Dad was flying home the next morning. We had a great two weeks together but unfortunately some of us still pay the bills so I'll be seeing you at home in four months time! I hung around in Cusco for the weekend to meet up with Rolance, Callum and Alex.

After Cusco I flew up to Piura so as to avoid the 42 hour bus ride to Mancora. Sadly, I stayed at another Loki which had a nice setting but again the people failed to live up to expectations. I headed up to Montanita in Ecuador after Mancora for a night but again there was nothing to write home about so I won't bother boring you.

I am currently in Banos and have done a couple of activities over the past few days but I'll blog about those at a later date...hopefully it won't take me as long as it took to write this post!!

Copacana: Not Brazil But A Pretty Nice Hill!

We arrived in Copacabana on Monday afternoon after a $3, 3 hour bus ride from La Paz. We were the last on the minibus which meant that we were forced to sit up front next to the driver. I figured this wouldn't be a problem however the lack of space meant that every time the driver went to put the van in 5th gear he ended up stroking my left leg (this happened quite often due to his strong desire to remain in the highest gear possible and thus save petrol)

We checked into Las Olas, described in the Lonely Planet as a once in a lifetime experience and well worth the splurge; which was definitely the case as my Dad was paying!

Looking up to Las Olas



Of course I got the single bed

One of the better views I've had from my bedroom

The rest of Monday was spent lounging around planning our trip for the following day to the Isla Del Sol. We got down to the docks (shonky wooden jettys) at 8am on Tuesday morning for the trip to the Island which we were told would take 2 hours. Half way through my Dad pointed out that he could swim faster than the boat; a bit of an exaggeration on his behalf (arrogance), however not too far from the truth.

Upon arrival at the North end of the island we headed off to the Gold Museum; quite why it is called this I will never know due to the fact that there is not one piece of gold in it, I can only imagine it is called this due to the gold mine it is for the local community from misleadingly selling tourists tickets to enter!

Fortunately the tickets also enabled us to head further onto the island to look at some rocks (I would put a picture on here but it really isn't worth it, so I'll put a few others on instead

Two seriously good pieces of Ass

One of the more exciting rock formations

B-E-A-U-tiful

After checking out the wonders of the North side of the island we headed towards the South hoping to stumble across an Inca wonder...

Searching for greener pastures

Instead of Inca ruins we found an Inca rip-off; a ticket checkpoint in the middle of the Island where the only option is to buy the ticket and move on

At least we got a photo out of it

A rose amongst the thorns

When we did finally manage to reach the South side of the Island it seemed some people were so keen to leave that they decided to build a boat out of reeds

In all seriousness Isla Del Sol is well worth the visit; the views are incredible even if the Inca monuments are not that impressive. We did not stay overnight on the island however there was a large variety of hostels and I would consider doing this if I visit it again.

On Wednesday we decided to spend most of the day relaxing; although we did manage to head up to Cerro Calvario to check out the views.

Looking down on the town

Typical tourist

Copacabana itself was one of the most chilled out towns I have ever visited and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who was visiting Bolivia. Las Olas was simply incredible and well worth the investment, due to its popularity it is necessary to book in advance. I am currently in Cusco and heading off to walk the Inca Trail tomorrow morning so I will write about that when I get back next week. Unfortunately this means that I will miss Melbourne Cup; my hot pick is number 6 so make sure you put a bet on that little beauty (whoever it is). Anyway I'll just include a couple more of my photos from Lake Titicaca for the fun of it...

Sunset

Tough day at the office



 Unfortunately, that's it for this post, however I will aim to get another one done at some stage next week regarding the Inca Trail.

Enjoy your weekend and good luck on Tuesday!

Partying in La Paz: Charlie's Favourite Pastime

Fortunately I managed to make it to La Paz with far fewer problems than getting to Sucre. I planned on meeting an Aussie that I met in Buenos Aires in La Paz so booked myself into Wild Rover Hostel. Due to the fact that I arrived so early in the morning I headed to the bar to catch up with my blog posts, little did I know that this would end up with me attempting "the world's most dangerous vindaloo" with six Irishmen.



I felt worse than I look...but still not as bad as the other guy

 I managed to finish the curry after 90 minutes and a quick bathroom break thus ending "vomit free since Sydney!!"

Definitely worth the free T-Shirt

After an eventful afternoon I headed back to the hostel to prepare for the night ahead, however the curry had other ideas! I did manage to make it out although I must admit that I was not in top form so I decided to make up for it over the next few nights...




Full Moon Party



Octogafest



Pre-party prepping



Bolivian Fancy Dress

In between the partying and hangovers I did manage to force myself to abseil 50m face first out of a building

A Tentative First Few Steps

And I'm Freeeeefalling...



One of the main reasons I went to La Paz so early was to go to Rurrenabaque; a town located in the Amazon jungle. Unfortunately during my time in La Paz many flights were being cancelled due to bad weather, so with Rolance, Eddie, Callum and Alex, I decided to head down to Coroico for a couple of days for some canyoning and ziplining

REACT: Our self-titled boy band name (after our first initials)



Our First Album Cover



I wanted to add a photo mid-jump however poor photography means this will have to do...

Zipline #1

After a few days in Coroico we headed back to La Paz for one last night of partying before Eddie, Callum, Rols and Alex headed to Copacabana, whilst I met my Dad. After meeting him, I took him on a city tour which basically involved visiting a few plazas, Killi Killi Lookout and San Pedro Prison. Earlier in my stay in La Paz I had considered trying to bribe my way into the prison however decided against it when I spoke to a few other travellers who had managed to bribe their way in successfully only for it to take another 3 days to bribe their way out!!

A long shot of San Pedro Prison

Killi Killi Lookout

Album Cover #2 (minus Eddie)

Looking down on La Paz at sunset

On Sunday we headed off to tackle the world's most dangerous road with the company "Vertigo Biking". The day was good fun, however I did manage to destroy the chain system on my bike and was consequently forced to ride on a backup that only had one working gear...at least it was good for my fitness (my beach body is coming along quite nicely!!)

All ready to go

The journey begins...

Jumping off  "The Balcony"

Leading the way...

Father and Son safely at the finish line

Although I stayed in La Paz for quite a lot longer than I anticipated in the end it all worked out for the best. After La Paz I headed to Copacabana in Bolivia (I will blog about this shortly) and I am currently in Cusco after a 10 hour bus ride. I start the Inca Trail on Saturday morning so will try and get in another post before then, and if I don't I promise I will fill you in as soon as I get back...