October 13, 2003
Photos --Peru by the Pound
Current Location: Cordoba, Argentina (and you thought I was still stuck in Cusco!)
Miles from Home: 18,623
Days on the Road: 303 (10 months tomorrow)
First, I'll share the quite funny and quite surprising news. Forbes.com magazine wrote me for an interview a few weeks back and said they had selected edsgonesouth.com as one of the top travel blogs out there. Click here to see their article. Then click on "Travel Blogs" and let the thing run. Mine is number 3!! I've gotten random messages from as far away as Perth, Austrailia commenting on the site! Go figure...
Second, I sadly report that El Cab has a bit of a limp again. The *brand new* shock that I waited in La Paz three weeks for has already called in sick after only 3,000 miles, so I'm camping out in Cordoba to see what miracles the local techs can do for me. Guess going nearly airborne over a pothole on the dirt/sand/gravel track into Argentina from San Pedro de Atacama, Chile was not a good idea.
Once I've got the damn thing fixed I'm taking the express down south. My aim is to loop down and back within a month, but it's looking tight already. And as this just might be the most beautiful part of the entire journey, IŽll probably want to take more time. We'll see...
Hope you enjoy a few pics from my three weeks in Peru. It was certainly not enough for such a rich and wonderful place, but after four months between Bolivia and Peru, I was ready to get out of the Altiplano and start heading SOUTH again! This is EdsGoneSOUTH, afterall...
Cusco and Machu Picchu
My guidebook says that Cusco is the HUB of gringo travel in South America. Judging by the immaculate plaza, the hundreds of tourism agencies, the gaggles of resuaranteers literally dragging people into their overpriced establishments, and the THOUSANDS of gringos festooned in zip-off-leg pants, quick dry shirts with pit vents and brand new hiking boots, I think that moniker just might fit.
One instantly comes to appreciate the spotless condition of the main plaza. If only Santa Fe could get it's act together like the municipality of Cusco. All the cops smile and ask if you need help, and even the clock on the side of Cathedral works.
When the Spanish arrived in the 1500's to rob the new world of all it's gold and silver, Cusco was the capital of the Incan Empire. Over 100,000 people lived in the bustling city, and they reigned over an area reaching as far north and south as modern-day Colombia and Chile. The environs of the city are to this day laden with incredible ruins that demonstrate the sophistication of the Incans understanding of engineering, astronomy, and agriculture.
Throughout the city and in the ruins surrounding town are examples of the Incans' intricate building techniques. The Incans used irregularly shaped stones, some as large as small houses weighing over 20 tons, to construct the foundations and walls of many of their structures. The incredible feat is that while all the stones are of different shapes and sizes, they all fit together perfectly like an enormous jigsaw puzzle. It's literally impossible to fit even a knife blade between the stones. They used no mortar at all, and there were no beasts of burden in the Americas at that time to assist with moving the huge slabs.
When they arrived, the Spanish dismantled most of the buildings and walls and constructed their cathedrals on their foundations. They broke down the perfectly hewn stones into smaller, more manageable pieces to build other structures. Most of the Incan walls that were left intact by the Spanish still stand, whereas entire sections of the city constructed after the Spanish conquest have been razed by earthquakes time and again and rebuilt. Can you say "Message from the Gods?"
THE Photo. Everyone who visits Machu Picchu needs at least one copy of "THE" photo -- the one donning the cover of every Peru tourism brochure the world over. I got mine just a few minutes after sunrise...along with three hundred other people.
Within the ruins at Machu Pîcchu are what archaeologists believe to be ancient temples and rooms for special ceremonies.
Along with holy spaces, Machu Picchu also has examples of typical Incan dwellings left almost entirely intact, save the thatch roof.
The Incans even figured out indoor plumbing in some cases, using aquaducts and smaller stone channels to distribute water throughout the city.
If you use your imagination and squint your eyes to blur your vision, you can almost imagine the gaggles of tourists sauntering about as bands of Incans going about their day.
The entire complex at Machu Picchu was been reconstructed to a large extent. This photo shows an "unrestored" piece in the lower right.
Along with "THE" photo of Machu Picchu as a whole, there's also "THE" place to have your portrait taken in front of the ruins.
On the way back to Cusco from MP, I stopped in Las Salinas, a small village where since the Incan times local people have collected salt by evaporating the salty spring water in small pools along the hillside.
Not being one to shy away from hardwork (!) I offered to help collect some salt for a little while. I must say that my feet had never felt so silky smooth before as after I got out of the salty quagmire.
Whitewater on the Rio Apurimac
The Rio Apurimac is one of the most beautiful and potentially dangerous rivers in South America. With an average elevation loss of 10 m/km it's more like you're falling down the river than floating down it. In a three day trip we saw countless Class IV rapids, over ten Class V, and a few Class VI. Of that, there were FIVE portages -- that's when you carry, push and pull the boat around the rapids because they are so dangerous or literally impassable.
Even on such an intimidating river, the late afternoon light has a pleasantly calming effect.
After the Irish girls we went with kept us up singing folks songs from the olŽSod in four part harmony around the fire til 1 AM making fools of us with their stash of rum and cheap wine, my Swiss friend Martin and I had a bit of a rough morning.
Although the rest of the group had to walk most the biggest of the rapids, the onwer/guide took a liking to me and asked me to help him boat a few of them. This Class V chute nearly ripped my arm out of the socket as we blasted through.
At one portage that our guide, Willy, asked me to run with him, I was surprised to learn half way through the rapid that I was alone in the boat. Willy fell out at the top of the rapid and I had to navigate solo for the rest. I eddied out (yes, that's a real word!) at the bottom and looked for Willy. He swam over to the boat and we crossed in hurry...the gear boat had flipped and all of our food was quickly washing down stream.
As I said, Willy took a liking to me. So much so that he invited me to come along for another three day trip as a "guide" of sorts. That basically meant "kitchen bitch," but I wasn't complaining -- free river trips are free river trips. With the next crew, a troop of five Belgian guys, we stopped to go surfing at one of the better holes on the river.
Going Deep in Colca Canyon
Purportedly the deepest canyon in the world, Colca Canyon in southern Peru is much like the Grand Canyon, but twice the depth and with half the views. The most interesting aspect of Colca is the chance to see condors, of which there are VERY FEW left in the wild in North America. Although other travelers reported seeing six or seven, and some just a few meters overhead, I saw two, and at half a mile. Luck oŽthe Irish, I guess...
Although I went solo for the hike, I used the info at a few travel agencies to plan it out. I had planned to do the three day package trip along the bottom and back up, but it turned out that the three day version was just a slow version of the two day...just an excuse to keep you longer and charge you more, I guess. The whole thing was less than eight hours of hiking total.
There are about five or six small communities down in the part of canyon I was trekking in, and ALL of them are supplied via mule. Entire schools and churches have been built in the narrow canyon with supplies brought in on mule trains, that is if they can't be made/found on site.
The only church at the bottom of Colca.
On the Road...
Here's a sampling of some of other random shots from the road.
El Cabroncito Gets High. Although I've been quite a bit higher on foot, this is highest the bike and I have been together -- 4,910 m, or 16,200 ft. That's over a 1/4 mile higher than Long's Peak in Colorado. It's the pass between Arequipa and Colca Canyon.
Easy mapping. Seems the Peruvians couldn't figure out the contours of the land from photos and surveys to make their maps, so they carved out the contours ahead of time with bulldozers. And we thought WE had a lot of incursions on the land to deal with in New Mexico!!
Although the one I ate was a bit cuter than these mummified versions, Cuy, or Guinea Pig, is a deliacy in many parts of the high Andes. A little sweeter than squirrel but less greasy than possum, Cuy is a culinary experience not to be missed while in Peru.
You know you are in the Andes with you see "Llama Crossing" signs.
The day we took out from the second trip on the Apurimac, we were surprised when the shuttle never showed up. Turns out the entire country was shut down in a general strike. When the shuttle finally did show, it was covered in oil and pocks from stones than had been hurled at it by protesters annoyed that every sector BUT the tourism industry was taking part in the strike. This tree across the road was part of the residuals I found en route to Arequipa from Cusco the following day.
It's kind of scary...the more I travel, the more I start looking like Jeff Widen! Sorry, Jefe, no offense... ;)
And for a final chuckle, I thought this Swedish lumberjack, Sven, I met in Juliaca, Peru bore a striking resemblance to me, don't you think?
More from northern Chile and Argentina in the next installment...