¡Hola! so i have had 10 hours of spanish lessons by now.. tomorrow i will have 6 more hours of spanish... and i´m trying to communicate in spanish as much as possible from now on :D it is neat... i´m thinking of taking spanish lessons once i return home. it is a useful language to know .. although i still think that french is prettier ;)
besides my spanish lessons i haven´t had time to do much else... last night we went out to eat with the spanish school people.. it was quite nice.. had the typical chicken and chips :) tomorrow i guess there is either a movie night (trainspotting) or salsa lessons.. will find out i guess.
today i did buy the train ticket to Puno, it cost me 19$... train leaves at 8am on the 6th of July, so this Friday (not Saturday as i originally planned) ... i figured that i´ll take the 2 day Titicaca trip once in Puno and then i still wanna look around in Areqipa and Ica so one day will matter quite a bit. i also booked the Sacred Valley tour around Cusco for this thursday.. it will take a whole day and i will visit 3 towns.. can´t remember which ones exactly... will talk about the whole trip once i´m in Puno already.. so saturday perhaps (since i get back from the sacred valley trip late in the evening i guess and then i still need to pack and friday morning i´ll catch the train early).
so what else... oh.. did i mention already of how incredibly cold it is here? brrr... i got a sore throat and once the sun sets i start freezing immediately :( it is sooo cold.. total winter.. and it is suppose to be the same in Puno and lake titicaca :( .. i guess i will buy more alpaca clothes :D which i don´t have any room for in my bag.. alpaca by the way is very close to llama.. alpaca is a bit smaller and has a bit different face (not so long nose). and here they sell massive amounts of sweathers and other items made of alpaca wool.
Wednesday, July 4, 2007
Monday, July 2, 2007
Birthday greetings
I almost forgot to post it here.. i remembered that 2 of my dear friends had birthdays!!!
Happy happy birthday Marko and happy happy happy birthday Liina!!!
Happy happy birthday Marko and happy happy happy birthday Liina!!!
Cusco, Peru - part IV
pack backing is so much fun :D last night we went out to eat with couple of people who i met at the inca trail trip. they also brought their friends with so there were 9 of us. one of the girls ordered the famous fried guinea pig... wow.. it was the whole animal on the plate.. everything was there... little legs and the head with eyes, ears and of course teeth. it was lying on its stomach with his legs all spread out and it had a little tomato hat on its head :D oh it was great. the girl who ordered it was willing to share it with the rest of us so i tasted guinea pig last night :D tasted like chicken. they also took pictures and i´m hoping to get hold of those pictures as well.
then after dinner we went out to the bars :) over here they try to get you to go to their bar by offering a free drink.. so we went to one, had free drinks, danced and then moved on to the next one to have more free drinks :D but one guy had been collecting the free drink coupons for that particular place so we stayed there for a quite long time :D it was lots of fun :)
so yes, i´m having tons of fun here :D it is becoming so that i run into people on the streets who i actually know :)
today my spanish school starts... i will also try to book the tour to floating islands on lake titicaca today... and buy the train ticket tomorrow perhaps. i still have some serious sight seeing to do here.. i´m hoping to find some time in the afternoons after my spanish lessons.
last tuesday afternoon, day before the inca trail, i visited the cathedral here. this is the largest art collection in Cusco... and yes there were lots and lots of paintings. and they also had their own version of the famous "The Last Supper" ... and on the plate there was a guinea pig :D then in one of the altars i found Christ on the cross.. nothing too surprising right :D .. but he was black :D, i mean his skin color was all black :) i have no idea what the deal is with that and i´ve never seen anything like this before.
then after dinner we went out to the bars :) over here they try to get you to go to their bar by offering a free drink.. so we went to one, had free drinks, danced and then moved on to the next one to have more free drinks :D but one guy had been collecting the free drink coupons for that particular place so we stayed there for a quite long time :D it was lots of fun :)
so yes, i´m having tons of fun here :D it is becoming so that i run into people on the streets who i actually know :)
today my spanish school starts... i will also try to book the tour to floating islands on lake titicaca today... and buy the train ticket tomorrow perhaps. i still have some serious sight seeing to do here.. i´m hoping to find some time in the afternoons after my spanish lessons.
last tuesday afternoon, day before the inca trail, i visited the cathedral here. this is the largest art collection in Cusco... and yes there were lots and lots of paintings. and they also had their own version of the famous "The Last Supper" ... and on the plate there was a guinea pig :D then in one of the altars i found Christ on the cross.. nothing too surprising right :D .. but he was black :D, i mean his skin color was all black :) i have no idea what the deal is with that and i´ve never seen anything like this before.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
Inca Trail - day IV - 30.06
last day we had to get up at 3:45am to make it to the checkpoint line before others... to be able to make it to the gates of sun by sunrise. breakfast at 4:15 and leaving latest at 4:45.. while waiting at the checkpoint i got to study the night sky here... it is amazing! i´ve never seen the stars of the southern hemisphere before.. there was the southern cross.. and i also saw 2 falling stars :D soo beautiful. then the gates were opened and we stormed towards the sun gates.
i got there before the sunrise...i was about 6th up there :D... and took a seat to enjoy the view to the ruins of Mach Picchu! amazing.. i can´t believe this is all real.. it is like a postcard. every minute more and more people arrived. we saw the sunrise and after some 30 minutes we continued towards the ruins. we took group pictures there and we listened to the stories that our guide told us. after a while we entered the ruins and got a 2 hour tour there. it was all very nice and interesting and dead gorgeous! Macchu Picchu is at 2400m.
AND THEN! i also went up to Wayna Picchu :D it is 350m climb :D .. and it took me about 30 minutes. more stairs again. but it was worth it.. it was very extreme though as on the top there were huuge rocks but nothing to hold on to.. i must say i was very scared and refused to stand up :D there is one picture where i sit on the huge rock up there as well :D.. will upload that a bit later. coming down was another very extreme experience :D the stairs were very steep and you literally had to climb.. without looking down of course :D
after looking around at the ruins some more.. and witnessing one lama taking down some people and other lamas with his run (yeah.. it was a bit scary) we took the bus to Aguas Calientes :D had lunch there and waited for the train departure at 5pm. oh I was tired.. soo tired... the train ride was 4h (for some 140km!!!) and then back to the hotel... to take a shower.. had not taken a shower in 4 days :D
now i just gotta complain about my knees :( .. they are both very swollen.. the left one i can´t straighten as on the back of the knee i have this huuge swollen knot... and right one i can´t bend as on the right hand side of my kneecap there is a huge swollen area :( WAAAAA :( and oh they hurt!!
i got there before the sunrise...i was about 6th up there :D... and took a seat to enjoy the view to the ruins of Mach Picchu! amazing.. i can´t believe this is all real.. it is like a postcard. every minute more and more people arrived. we saw the sunrise and after some 30 minutes we continued towards the ruins. we took group pictures there and we listened to the stories that our guide told us. after a while we entered the ruins and got a 2 hour tour there. it was all very nice and interesting and dead gorgeous! Macchu Picchu is at 2400m.
AND THEN! i also went up to Wayna Picchu :D it is 350m climb :D .. and it took me about 30 minutes. more stairs again. but it was worth it.. it was very extreme though as on the top there were huuge rocks but nothing to hold on to.. i must say i was very scared and refused to stand up :D there is one picture where i sit on the huge rock up there as well :D.. will upload that a bit later. coming down was another very extreme experience :D the stairs were very steep and you literally had to climb.. without looking down of course :D
after looking around at the ruins some more.. and witnessing one lama taking down some people and other lamas with his run (yeah.. it was a bit scary) we took the bus to Aguas Calientes :D had lunch there and waited for the train departure at 5pm. oh I was tired.. soo tired... the train ride was 4h (for some 140km!!!) and then back to the hotel... to take a shower.. had not taken a shower in 4 days :D
now i just gotta complain about my knees :( .. they are both very swollen.. the left one i can´t straighten as on the back of the knee i have this huuge swollen knot... and right one i can´t bend as on the right hand side of my kneecap there is a huge swollen area :( WAAAAA :( and oh they hurt!!
Inca Trail - day III - 29.06
wake-up call again at 5:20am :( .. this time there were no roosters :) but at 5:20 our assistant guide fixed it and made this long and loud rooster noise :D .. one thing i forgot to mention was that at 5:20 when they woke everybody up they also served hot tea/coffee at your tent door :D that was so incredibly nice!
so breakfast at 6 and leaving at 6:30 again. third day was suppose to be the most beautiful.. and it was.. although the whole trail was gorgeous. this time we passed through rain forest-like nature. there was some uphill and some downhill and the whole time was sooo incredibly beautiful. again we had stops on the way and were told more stories about the incas and introduced to the purpose of the ruins and the lifestyles of ancient peoples. our trail took us from the camp at 3500m to second pass at 3950m to the third pass at 3670m to the last camp at 2700m.
at the second pass we held a ritual so that we would be welcomed at the mountains .. it was beautiful. we really had an incredible guide! we had one of those incredible lunches again on the way and the trail continued. we were also handed out snacks to munch on along the way.
there have also been competitions on the inca trail. the record from KM82 to Machu Pichu is 3h40´!!!! i have no idea how that is possible by any means. one of the porters did it some 5 years ago if i remember correctly.
our last camp was at Wiñay Wayna. we arrived there at 4:30or so.. left our bags at the tent and went to visit another ruin that was just 5 minutes walk from the camp. tea time at 5 like usual and dinner at 7:15. during the tea time we collected all the tips for the guides, cooks and porters. that was a complicated process but we were all happy about the way the trip was organized so they got pretty good tips from us. at dinner time there was a ceremony as well with the porters and cooks, carried out by the guide. it was nice, we got to thank them and there were speeches and it was heart warming.
then to bed. it was considerably warmer at this campsite and i got another good sleep :D although short as we needed to get up early in the morning.
so breakfast at 6 and leaving at 6:30 again. third day was suppose to be the most beautiful.. and it was.. although the whole trail was gorgeous. this time we passed through rain forest-like nature. there was some uphill and some downhill and the whole time was sooo incredibly beautiful. again we had stops on the way and were told more stories about the incas and introduced to the purpose of the ruins and the lifestyles of ancient peoples. our trail took us from the camp at 3500m to second pass at 3950m to the third pass at 3670m to the last camp at 2700m.
at the second pass we held a ritual so that we would be welcomed at the mountains .. it was beautiful. we really had an incredible guide! we had one of those incredible lunches again on the way and the trail continued. we were also handed out snacks to munch on along the way.
there have also been competitions on the inca trail. the record from KM82 to Machu Pichu is 3h40´!!!! i have no idea how that is possible by any means. one of the porters did it some 5 years ago if i remember correctly.
our last camp was at Wiñay Wayna. we arrived there at 4:30or so.. left our bags at the tent and went to visit another ruin that was just 5 minutes walk from the camp. tea time at 5 like usual and dinner at 7:15. during the tea time we collected all the tips for the guides, cooks and porters. that was a complicated process but we were all happy about the way the trip was organized so they got pretty good tips from us. at dinner time there was a ceremony as well with the porters and cooks, carried out by the guide. it was nice, we got to thank them and there were speeches and it was heart warming.
then to bed. it was considerably warmer at this campsite and i got another good sleep :D although short as we needed to get up early in the morning.
Inca Trail - day II - 28.06
wake-up call was at 5:20am, breakfast at 6, porters introduction at 6:15 and heading out to the trail at 6:45.
camping area had basic toilet facilities and cold running water. toilet facilities tended to be quite disgusting at some places.. just filthy and smelly. but in some places they were quite ok... no seat though, just a hole in the ground :) toilet paper you had to carry yourself.
water could be brought on the trail by local people who had set up small tables with water and snacks. after the second day there were no places to buy anything anymore and all the water was provided at the camp during meal times to fill up our water bottles.
second day is the most difficult at the trail. we had all agreed that we will wait to have lunch later as we have to cover 9km uphill to the first pass and then 2km downhill to get to the second camp. we took 2 bigger breaks on the way to have some snacks and to gather the group. everybody was going at their own speed at all times which was great.
ok.. so 9km uphill... well i knew it was gonna be difficult, i heard that it was gonna be very difficult... but i would have never thought it to be THAT difficult. the last 1km was just 2 steps and 20 seconds break - 2 more steps and another 20 seconds break :) uphill was stairs, steep stairs. people cried.. people were carried... people were exhausted. many were chewing on coca leaves which gives you energy. we went from 3100m to 4200m :D i´ve never been that high up before :D once i made it up there it took quite a bit to catch my breath. i have to say that big lung capacity comes handy :D - at this point i´d like to mention all my former coaches and thank them for putting up with me all those years! it was very difficult, but i was doing quite good compared to most of the people on the trail.
so at 4200m .. on the first pass called ´Abra de warmi wañusca´ or dead woman´s pass.. it was difficult to breathe.. it was cold and windy up there.. and cloudy. some people carried on to the camp after waiting there for about an hour.. i was there for about 2,5 hours waiting for everybody else to make it up there. i tried to keep away from the wind and warmed myself in the sun. my breathing did not get much better and i felt light-headed... but it was ok.. i was at 4200 and i made it up there and i was very proud of myself.
i should also mention that there were many many groups on the trail at the same time.. each day it is allowed for 200 people (or was it 500?) to go on the trail. and at times you had to pass like 20 people at a time.. and at times the trail seemed overly crowded.. but luckily not most of the time :D there were quite many times that i was walking alone and did not see anybody behind or in front of me. occasionally somebody appeared behind me... a porter.. carrying a huuuge bag on his pack and basically passed me like i was standing still :D
then we started the descent to the second campsite called Paqaymayu, at 3500m. oh my.. going down the same kind of steep stairs was soooooo difficult. my knees were on fire :( and it was just stairs and stairs and more windy stairs.. barely no flat ground at all. of course the scenery was beautiful with all the mountains and waterfalls and all the rest.. but oh it was bad going down.
then again the tents were already set up by the porters who passed us on the trail. we got to the camp around 4pm it think. we had tea at 5 and dinner was 7:15. after tea i took 1,5 hour nap :D and oh it was cold down in the valley :(... during night time some people measured 4C in their tent. in the morning when i got out of the tent the water drops that had formed on the tent had turned into ice. it was oh so cold. i got my long underwear on.. gloves + hat + thick socks while sleeping and only my nose was out of the sleeping bag and luckily i was not cold while sleeping. but getting dressed in the morning and putting on the damp clothes.. well that was a challenge.
camping area had basic toilet facilities and cold running water. toilet facilities tended to be quite disgusting at some places.. just filthy and smelly. but in some places they were quite ok... no seat though, just a hole in the ground :) toilet paper you had to carry yourself.
water could be brought on the trail by local people who had set up small tables with water and snacks. after the second day there were no places to buy anything anymore and all the water was provided at the camp during meal times to fill up our water bottles.
second day is the most difficult at the trail. we had all agreed that we will wait to have lunch later as we have to cover 9km uphill to the first pass and then 2km downhill to get to the second camp. we took 2 bigger breaks on the way to have some snacks and to gather the group. everybody was going at their own speed at all times which was great.
ok.. so 9km uphill... well i knew it was gonna be difficult, i heard that it was gonna be very difficult... but i would have never thought it to be THAT difficult. the last 1km was just 2 steps and 20 seconds break - 2 more steps and another 20 seconds break :) uphill was stairs, steep stairs. people cried.. people were carried... people were exhausted. many were chewing on coca leaves which gives you energy. we went from 3100m to 4200m :D i´ve never been that high up before :D once i made it up there it took quite a bit to catch my breath. i have to say that big lung capacity comes handy :D - at this point i´d like to mention all my former coaches and thank them for putting up with me all those years! it was very difficult, but i was doing quite good compared to most of the people on the trail.
so at 4200m .. on the first pass called ´Abra de warmi wañusca´ or dead woman´s pass.. it was difficult to breathe.. it was cold and windy up there.. and cloudy. some people carried on to the camp after waiting there for about an hour.. i was there for about 2,5 hours waiting for everybody else to make it up there. i tried to keep away from the wind and warmed myself in the sun. my breathing did not get much better and i felt light-headed... but it was ok.. i was at 4200 and i made it up there and i was very proud of myself.
i should also mention that there were many many groups on the trail at the same time.. each day it is allowed for 200 people (or was it 500?) to go on the trail. and at times you had to pass like 20 people at a time.. and at times the trail seemed overly crowded.. but luckily not most of the time :D there were quite many times that i was walking alone and did not see anybody behind or in front of me. occasionally somebody appeared behind me... a porter.. carrying a huuuge bag on his pack and basically passed me like i was standing still :D
then we started the descent to the second campsite called Paqaymayu, at 3500m. oh my.. going down the same kind of steep stairs was soooooo difficult. my knees were on fire :( and it was just stairs and stairs and more windy stairs.. barely no flat ground at all. of course the scenery was beautiful with all the mountains and waterfalls and all the rest.. but oh it was bad going down.
then again the tents were already set up by the porters who passed us on the trail. we got to the camp around 4pm it think. we had tea at 5 and dinner was 7:15. after tea i took 1,5 hour nap :D and oh it was cold down in the valley :(... during night time some people measured 4C in their tent. in the morning when i got out of the tent the water drops that had formed on the tent had turned into ice. it was oh so cold. i got my long underwear on.. gloves + hat + thick socks while sleeping and only my nose was out of the sleeping bag and luckily i was not cold while sleeping. but getting dressed in the morning and putting on the damp clothes.. well that was a challenge.
Inca Trail - day I - 27.06
first day started early (as i thought at the time) .. they were gonna pick me up between 5:20 and 5:40.. i got downstairs at 5:18 and managed to even eat breakfast before they arrived to pick me up. i managed to pack all the needed clothes and things into my little pack-pack. last night i also picked up the sleeping bag from the office of the tour provider so that was attached to my bag as well... so my bag must have weighed about 12kg or so (clothing for 4 days + minimal medical things + documents + 2l of water + sleeping bag + sleeping mattress). the bus picked up all the other travelers from all over cusco as well.. it took about 1h to do that and our group had 15 people in it:
- a young couple from scotland
- a young couple from UK
- 2 girls from autralia
- 4 people from seattle.. older couple with their daughter + her husband
- 2 girls from seattle
- couple from Netherlands (i think that is the proper name for Holland :-P )
- and me :)
our tour guide was Victor and an assistant tour guide was William - both very nice and friendly.
bus left about 7 i think to head out to KM82 where the trail starts... we also stopped in one little town.. perhaps its name was Ollantaytambo :) can´t remember for sure... there we had breakfast and then moved on. on the way the local porters were picked up as well so the bus was full by now.
we started the trail from KM82 at 10am, the altitude was 2600m. when i first got my back bag on i thought i won´t be able to carry it for more than 20 minutes :) ... but after some time i could not even feel the weight anymore. most people had hired personal porters to carry their bags. at the start of the trail we all passed a check-point where they checked our tickets and passports.
this was a short and easy day :) we had to hike only some 12km or so and the altitude did not differ too much. there was one difficult uphill staircase which took more than 10 minutes to climb, but it was not too bad. our guide then announced that tomorrow we have about 5 hours of this kind of uphill :) and then there was very loud cry of NOOO from 15 people :D on the way we made some stops and our guide talked about the history and give some insight to Inca culture... he had lots of knowledge on the matter and was sharing it with us along the way. we got very lucky with our guide. first day the scenery was beautiful and there were some ruins we stopped at. trail was mostly flat with some up and downhill.
after some hours of walking we had lunch. first of all the lunch took place in a tent.. with a long table and chairs! you were able to pretty much walk around in the tent. before entering the tent there were small bowls with water and soap for each one of us to wash our hands. then the table in the tent was all nicely set with metal spoons/forks/knives and napkins. unbelievable. it was soo nice... and were were in the mountains - in the middle of nowhere.. away from civilization.
now eating - first arrived a tiny plate with delicious salad.. i thought well.. maybe we will get a cup of tea as well.. that would be nice. the salad was very good.. then the plates were collected... and they handed out big bowls of soup... "oh that is great" we thought.. so we ate the delicious soup gladly... and then.. then the main meal arrived :) and the food.. it was good! i haven´t had that good food even in the restaurants here! we were all sooo full after the meal and we still had some 2-3 hours to go :)
we arrived at the camp in Wayllabamba around 5pm i think. the altitude was 3100m. all the tents were set up and I got my very own tent :) that was nice :D changed to dry clothes and we had a nice evening chat with other people in the group. dinner was served at 6:30.. dinner was amazing again.. with excellent food (again many things - soup/main meal + desert)... everybody was very pleased with the food :D
then to bed :D .. it gets very cold at night but the rental sleeping bag is nice and warm so I had a good sleep.. until.. until the rooster started to "sing" or rather scream at 3:30 am.. and i was up :(
- a young couple from scotland
- a young couple from UK
- 2 girls from autralia
- 4 people from seattle.. older couple with their daughter + her husband
- 2 girls from seattle
- couple from Netherlands (i think that is the proper name for Holland :-P )
- and me :)
our tour guide was Victor and an assistant tour guide was William - both very nice and friendly.
bus left about 7 i think to head out to KM82 where the trail starts... we also stopped in one little town.. perhaps its name was Ollantaytambo :) can´t remember for sure... there we had breakfast and then moved on. on the way the local porters were picked up as well so the bus was full by now.
we started the trail from KM82 at 10am, the altitude was 2600m. when i first got my back bag on i thought i won´t be able to carry it for more than 20 minutes :) ... but after some time i could not even feel the weight anymore. most people had hired personal porters to carry their bags. at the start of the trail we all passed a check-point where they checked our tickets and passports.
this was a short and easy day :) we had to hike only some 12km or so and the altitude did not differ too much. there was one difficult uphill staircase which took more than 10 minutes to climb, but it was not too bad. our guide then announced that tomorrow we have about 5 hours of this kind of uphill :) and then there was very loud cry of NOOO from 15 people :D on the way we made some stops and our guide talked about the history and give some insight to Inca culture... he had lots of knowledge on the matter and was sharing it with us along the way. we got very lucky with our guide. first day the scenery was beautiful and there were some ruins we stopped at. trail was mostly flat with some up and downhill.
after some hours of walking we had lunch. first of all the lunch took place in a tent.. with a long table and chairs! you were able to pretty much walk around in the tent. before entering the tent there were small bowls with water and soap for each one of us to wash our hands. then the table in the tent was all nicely set with metal spoons/forks/knives and napkins. unbelievable. it was soo nice... and were were in the mountains - in the middle of nowhere.. away from civilization.
now eating - first arrived a tiny plate with delicious salad.. i thought well.. maybe we will get a cup of tea as well.. that would be nice. the salad was very good.. then the plates were collected... and they handed out big bowls of soup... "oh that is great" we thought.. so we ate the delicious soup gladly... and then.. then the main meal arrived :) and the food.. it was good! i haven´t had that good food even in the restaurants here! we were all sooo full after the meal and we still had some 2-3 hours to go :)
we arrived at the camp in Wayllabamba around 5pm i think. the altitude was 3100m. all the tents were set up and I got my very own tent :) that was nice :D changed to dry clothes and we had a nice evening chat with other people in the group. dinner was served at 6:30.. dinner was amazing again.. with excellent food (again many things - soup/main meal + desert)... everybody was very pleased with the food :D
then to bed :D .. it gets very cold at night but the rental sleeping bag is nice and warm so I had a good sleep.. until.. until the rooster started to "sing" or rather scream at 3:30 am.. and i was up :(
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