Santa Cruz part 2

After we made the top of the Punta union pass we still had another 4 hours down the other side to camp that night. We were all feeling fairly exhausted by the time we got there. Our camp that night was at Quenapompa (3750m) much lower and next to a river.

Day 4. I was expecting a short downhill walk out of the valley, but this was not to be! It turned out to be a short down hill followed by very uphill slog out of the valley. Most of the group were finishing the trek when we arrived at the village of Vacuerria at lunch time. Me, Antti and Julie were having an extra day and night added on the trek to make a side trip to Laguna 69. Dieter had astounded us the night before by announcing that he was considering staying with us for this extra day. Luckily by breakfast, due to it being a little cloudy and the fact that I had engineered a a conversation with a couple of the others detailing what a tough route it was going to be (its not), he had changed his mind.


Male Lupins

We finished the trek at about lunch time and from there picked up a bus to Cebollapampa 3900m, where we parted company with the others and set up camp for the night.



Waiting for the bus at the end of the trek


The next morning we had an early start up the valley floor to begin the climb up to Laguna 69  (4620m). It was good to set off early because alot of people do this walk as an acclimatization trip from Huaraz, and our early start meant that we would be up and most of the way back beofre the hoards arrived. The Laguna, when we arrived just under 3 hours later, was the most exquisite blue colour, surrounded by snowy peaks. Sadly it was a bit cloudy so we didnt get to see the true colour in all its sparkeling glory .

We raced back down to pack up the camp and head back to Huaraz and a steak and wine dinner! Once I got back to town, I had a couple of responses to my notices that I'd put up in the cafes to organize a group for the next trek, The Huayhuash.


Santa cruz trek "map"



Santa cruz Trek - Part 1

I was collected very early in the morning from my hostal by a mini bus and the group of people and guide with whom I would be spending the next 4-5 days.  I introduced my self, but due to the early hour no one spoke much during the 3 hour journey to the village of Cashapampa (2990m). I was sat next to a German guy called Dieter who looked to be in his 50´s and his much younger Bolivian girlfriend. Both of them were wearing jeans, which didn´t really bode well for the up coming trek.
As soon as we started the walk, which was a good 3 hours up hill before lunch, it became clear that Dieter and friend (she was so sulky and sullen I cant remember her name) were not particularily fit or prepared for what was in store. Dieter was also carrying a rather large and heavy back pack full of 2 litre bottles of coke, Inca Kola and yoghurt drinks!
The rest of the group consisted of a young French couple, Marine and Vincent, a couple from the UK, Nicole and John and then there was Annti from Finland and his girlfriend Julie who is a lovely mix of Mauritian and South African and looks somewhat like an eskimo princess. Our guide was called Freddy and the cook was Miguel and the donkey man was called Mellow, but I expect it is spelt differently.
I knew we were all going to get on well and it was nice to have some fellow people with similar sense of humour to mine.  When we stopped for lunch, Dieter and friend made it quite clear that they didnt want to sit with the group and positioned them selves 10 m or so down stream, where he proceeded to strip off down to his underpants! This basically set the tone for the rest of the trip. Dieter and friend walked slowly and kept them selves to them selves the entire time. The only conversation was the occasional "could you pass the salt/sugar/coffee" at breakfast or dinner when they invariably turned up late.



This is the only picture I have of Dieter and friend  from the whole trip

Day one, of the trek consisted mainly of uphill walking. About 6 hours to our first camp at 3760m called Llamacorral. I had my own little tent and there was a mess tent where we all sat and played cards before and after dinner. In general there was a really good atmosphere. Any further reference to we or the group does not include Dieter.
The weather and night time temperature was significantly warmer then the Ausangate trek (further south) but I was really pleased to have my new jacket!
Day 2 was an easier walk along the Santa cruz valley floor. The walk took us past 2 beautiful lakes.

We had opted to do an extra 3 hour side trip up to Arttueycocha where there was a lagoon. Although were were at fairly high altitude I noticed that there were many more trees and flowers that I had seen at similar altitudes elsewhere.

Female lupins

Presumably because we are in the tropics and nearer to the equator. I cant remember all the names but there were amazing trees with bark like red peeling onion skin tissue paper. The boughs hung with silver scarves of moss. There were lots of Mauve and yellow lupins (male and female versions), and Andean daisies, that grew close to the ground and had very dark, glossy foliage in perfect star shapes. 

Although there is a river running through the valley and glacial lagoons dotted about, the earth is very dry, dusty and not very fertile looking. We didnt get to camp much before 5.30pm, just before it got dark. We had probably walked about 20km with the extra bit to the lagoon. Our camp at Taullipampa (4250m) was much higher and colder. It was full moon that night and the stars and the mountains looked incredible in the semi dark.

Dawn breaking on the camp site

Day 3 was the Punta Union pass day. This was going to be the highest point of the trek at 4750m. The path was a 3 hour zig zag up to the top, from where we had spectacular views of the mountains all round.



Punta Union pass



Huaraz!!!!!

Hooray for Huaraz!!!
 After leaving Arequipa via a 18 hour bus journey I arrived in cold and rainy Lima for 2 nights. I ticked off the 2 highlights of cultural tourism listed in the lonely planet, a monastary and a cathederal. Got ripped off, probably, by a couple of taxi drivers, and sat in the South American explorers reading up on trip reports from other travellers, recommending, or not, in some cases, trekking agencies in Huaraz. I ended up with a list of 3. I also found a proper outdoor clothing shop having a 50% off sale. As I had been pretty frozen during the Ausangate trek due to the fact that I hadn't packed my big super warm down jacket, I treated myself to a new one! I now have far too many jackets but atleast I wont be cold!!!
 Lessons I've learned.....so far.
1. To wait till I get to places before booking trips as they are often alot cheaper.
2. I'm looking forward to getting off this main part of the Gringo trail....far too many idiots.
3. I really need to learn more Spanish!
I arrived in Huaraz in the dark and got dropped off at Jo's Place the hostal I had booked. The hostal is a bit like a cross between a squat and a festival. Its like someone built a load of brick and concrete cube rooms and just threw them down in a random pile, connected them with various types of stair cases (wood, concrete, spiral steel...) and then rolled out a bit of grass in the middle for tents. I felt right at home immediately. There is a roof terrace with a 2 ring gas stove and a sink for the kitchen. I will admit that I gave the whole thing a good clean and sanitize before I used it! There is also a tv room with loads of dvds and comfy sofas. My room is basic but comfortable and the sheets smell clean and it only costs me 20 soles a night. About 5 pounds.

Huaraz its self is not going to win any prizes for the most beautiful town anywhere, ever. But It is surrounded by fantastic views of the white peaks of the Cordillera Blanca. The general vibe of the town however is so different from anywhere else I have been in Peru so far. Firstly you dont get hasseled by touts walking up the street and  the "tourists" are pretty much all here with a common goal, and that is to head out into the hills /mountains /glaciers /lagunas etc. People in general just seemed nicer and friendlier.
I spent the next day going round my top 3 trekking agencies getting a feel for prices and services and also trying to find a group of people who were wanting to do the treks I planned to go on.  I also put up notices in the 2 most popular cafes in town, stating my plans and inviting people to contact me if they wanted to do similar. After chatting to lots of other travellers both in the hostal and around town I eventually booked myself on the 4 day Santa Cruz trek with a 5th day excursion to Laguna 69. I choose a trekking company called Huascaran, who had good recent trip reports in the South American Explorers, also had a good write up in Lonely planet, but mostly, I liked the attitude of the owner.

Back at the hostal I had an email from an American guy who wanted to do some trekking, so I went to meet him to see if he might be good for a group trip. His name is Lom and is from Sanfrancisco. We decided to go on an acclimatization hike the next day up to a hight altitude lake called Chuurup. His Spanish is much, much better than mine so we planned to get a collectivo (little mini bus that is the main form of public transport) the next day up to a village about 1 1/2 hours walk from the start of the hike. Back at the hostal, I started chatting to a German girl called Simone who also said she wanted to come.
The next day the three of us got the little bus out of town to a village called Llupa and from there walked up a dusty track to the next village called Pitec, which was also the start of the walk. I finally felt like I was leaving the Gringo trail. There was a local lady walking up the track with us who chatted in Spanish, asking us where were were going and from etc.  She was in traditional dress, which is a many layered and colourful skirt, leg warmers, sandals and the local style of hat, which in this area reminds me of a traditional Welsh hat. Like a top had but slightly pointed and worn at a jaunty angle which makes the women look incredibly stylish! She had her shawl wrapped around her shoulders and filled with bread rolls. She explained that she brought the bread from Huaraz to sell in the village, but that she lived in the village and had 20 cows for milk. She asked us if we had any empty water bottles she could have for her milk.
The walk was a bit of a shock to the system after 3 weeks of not doing any real excercize and also de acclimatizing more than I thought in the 2 days I had in Lima. It was a steep hike, with an altitude gain of 1400m over 3 hours and also some scrambling at the top. I found it surprisingly hard and swelteringly hot! Still it was worth the effort. The Laguna at the top was the most amazing blue and crystal clear. Also freezing cold! We stayed at the lagoon for an hour or so to have our lunch and then raced back down to mountain to catch a collectivo back into town. I had to pack as I had an early pick up at 6am for the start of my first proper trek in this region.

Colca Canyon

Having Had a few days sightseeing in Arequipa I was well and truely ready to get out of town and to do some walking. I had booked a rather pricey 3 day trek into the Colca Canyon. I had high expectations based on what I´d read in the guide book. I was picked up at the hostel early in the morning. There were 10 of us in the group. A family from France with 3 youngish children, a couple of ladies from Japan, an Austrian girl and a guy from Scotland. Who, I found out later on had been to university with my Step brother. Small world.
The trip was ok. I´m not going to spend too much time writting it up. We had quite a long drive out to the canyon, stopping on the way to enjoy some of the scenery. We did get to see some condors flying in the canyon at sunset, which was quite a spectacle.

We arrived at a pretty non descript "nice" but completly souless hotel for dinner and the night. Our guide, Ludwig, was infact part owner of the much more interesting looking Pancha mama hostel up the road, where I would have prefered to stay.

The next day we trekked down into the Canyon. It was a steep and dusty path into a spectacular canyon.



View from the top of the Canyon

  Towards the bottom, various signs pointed the way to Paradise 1,2 or 3. Take your pick of gringo heaven. Not what I was expecting. Basically, at the bottom there was an oasis of palm trees and tropical plants, a river and then very brightly painted blue swimming pools surrounded by bamboo huts for people to stay the night.



Rock forms en route to the canyon




"Paradise"

 The swimming pool was a refreshing and welcome dip after the dusty path.
We were in tents. in the garden which was nice, because over the course of the afternoon, more and more groups of tourists were turning up, for drunken and noisy games of football and thrust the banana on a piece of string tied to your waist in order to score a goal. You had to see it to believe it. Not really what I came to south America for.

 I had asked the guide if we could do a walk in the afternoon so he took us further into the canyon up the river which was nice. There were lots of "fields" of the Conchineal cacti growning up the sides of the canyon, covered with beetles, which are harvested (the beetles) to make red dye which is used in all sorts of products from glace cherries to lipstick and fetches a pretty high price when dried and powdered.

The next morning we got up at 4.30am and set off in the dark for the steep hike up out of the Canyon. Along with 60 other people. I decided to try to get to the top in the quickest possible time I could. Mainly because the dust being kicked up by people in front was suffocating and I wanted to reach the top before the sun got too hot.
Once we got to the top we had a bit of time to look around the town and Mira, the Austrian girl and I decided to buy a hat each. It seems that women in different areas have different styles of hat, and I was rather taken with these.

So, I finished up my time in Arequipa having a marvellous cerviche in a local restaurant with the Scottish guy, Phil. Possibly one of the best things I´ve eaten so far. Its raw fish that is marinated in loads of lime juice so that the texture changes so it is actually like its been cooked. It´s then mixed with lots of raw red onion, garlic, coriander, chilli, ginger and served with sweet potato and deep fried salted corn kernals. Lovely!

Arequipa

I wasn't sure what to expect from an over bus night journey in Peru. I was feeling a little apprehensive when I arrived at the bus station in Cusco. The lonely planet guide gives various warnings about bandits attacking buses at night and luggage going missing. BUT! there was no other option than taking the night bus and everyone I had met who had done it had said it was perfectly safe. I had booked my ticket with Cruz del sur which is one of the best and most comfortable buses, never the less I'd packed my sleeping bag, valuables, pen knife and head torch into my hand luggage...just in case! As it turned out the bus was more comfortable than buisness class on a plane! We were security checked getting on, then videoed once we were in our seats and finally shown a saftey film telling us how the bus was tracked via GPS for any unscheduled stops (bandits???) and that the bus had 2 drivers who would be swapping over every 4 hours. I couldnt believe it when the time came for boarding! I had a massive seat which practically fully reclined with a blanket and pillow. There was even a bus hostess who served us tea and then handed out bingo cards! The game was in Spanish but good practise for my numbers and there was the chance for one lucky person to win a bus ticket to some other great location! I didn't win. Bingo was followed by a film. Oliver twist, dubbed in Spanish! By this stage I was wondering if there was going to be any peace and quiet to have any sleep. Luckily once the film had finished, the lights were dimmed and we all managed to get our heads down. I would like to say I slept really well and I would have done if it wasn't for the fact that the road was extreemly bumpy, bendy and taking us across a high pass of 4800m.
We arrrived in Arequipa at 7am. Rush hour on a Sunday with no traffic police on duty. It was grid locked chaos just getting out of the bus terminal car park in the taxi.
 Arequipa is Perus 2nd largest city and from the inside of the taxi a huge sprawling dusty mess of a city. Then I started getting glimpses of the snow capped volcanoes that almost surround the town. It was quite a strange spectacle.

My hostel for the next few days is in a huge building just off the main square. Its a real mix of original building on to which they have built a rear extension somewhat resembleing an air craft hanger, concrete floor and high corrogated iron ceiling. My room is nice and big and light and unexpectedly has its own bathroom!
Arequipa is still quite high at 2350m. The old center is quite spectacular with many of the buildings constructed from an off white volcanic stone called sillar. It has many beautiful old colonial buildings, churches, plazas and the main square and catherderal are quite impressive.

The outside of Santa Catelina monastary and an example of the sillar stone

I spent 3 days in Arequipa, visiting the main cultural sights, the central market, museums and walking around alot.  The most interesting was the Monastario de Santa Catelina. Its almost a mini city housed behind high sillar walls in the center of Arequipa. Its probably one of the most interesting and beautiful religious buildings in Peru. 



A square inside the monastary walls



It was founded in 1580 by a rich widow who was very selective in choosing her nuns. They came from the best families who naturally had to pay a large dowry. Normally, the 2nd son or daughter of upper class Spanish families at that time would enter religious service and for women this meant entering a life of chaste poverty. However, in this priviliged convent the nuns had between one and 4 servants and they would invite in musicians, have parties and generally live it up in the style tp which they had always been accustomed!

After three centuries of these hedonistic goings on, the Pope sent a particularly strict Dominican nun over to straighten things out. She arrived like a hurricane in 1871 and set about sending the rich dowries back to Europe and freeing the servants and slaves.



A street within the convent

 

Life in the convent was shrouded in mystery after this until it opened its doors to the public in 1970. Now about 3 dozen nuns still live in a corner of the complex while the rest remains open to the public.

The other main place of interest I visited was a museum where they keep the frozen remains of Juanita, a little girl who was sacrificed to the gods by the Incas. Her body had been wrapped at the time of death and buried and her remains were almost perfectly preserved due to the frozen temperature at the top of the Nevado Ampato, 6310m. Two dozen other child sacrifices have since been found on the surrounding mountain tops, but Juanita is the best preserved. 

I always love a food market and the central Mercado didn't disappoint, full of even more weird and wonderful things than the market at Cusco!

I mainly cooked at the hostel, after giving the kitchen a good clean and sanitize. I'd decided not to keep anything in the communal fridge as one look inside had convinced me that the contents really sould be condemned!

Tipon and beyond

Ricardo, one of the teachers at the Spanish school, had offered to take a group of us on an alternative sight seeing tour to some places of interest to the south of Cusco. One was the remains of an Incan country home/farm, then a pre Incan town, then a Incan and pre Incan remain and finally a colonial church.
Eleven of us set off early from the main plaza in Cusco in a mini bus hired specially. We had a 2 hour, slightly hair raising drive out of Cusco to the first place, Tipon.
It was, again, a site with extensive terracing but also an impressive and still working irrigation system. Ricardo spoke in Spanish as he explained all the history and science behind the terracing and I was suprised and pleased to find I could understand alot of it!



Irrigation at Tipon

 Next we went to Piquillacta (place of the flea????) It is the only pre Incan ruin in the area and built around 1100AD by the wari culture. It was interesting to see the difference in building methods between the Wari and the Incas. The waris were fond of chalk rendering, so many of the internal walls of what was left of the houses were white.

Piquillacta (avenue in the town)

Then we went to Rumicola. This is a huge Incan gate way built on Wari foundations. There we saw how the Incas were prepared to merge their culture with those of their ancestors. The pyramid and the 2 structures on either side formed a gateway between the southern lowlands and the Cuscan valley. Travellers wishing to pass through the gate had to remove their shoes and make an offering to the gods first.

 

Rumicola pyramid, Im standing on the top.

  Then we went to the most beautiful little colonial town square, where there is a church called San Perdro de Andahuayillas. It was really stunning inside, very ornate wood carvings and brightly coloured frescoes painted onto the chalk walls. No photos were permitted and the outside of the church was covered in scaffolding as it is being restored.  Inside the statues of the saints were like everywhere here, clothed in  garments that gave their bodies a rectangular shape, representing the mountains. The garments were in turn decorated with images of the sun and the moon and animals that had important significance such as the condor and the puma. Again we see how the local people have fused old beliefs into the Christian church. Ricardo reminded us that in the Catherderal in Cusco there is a copy of the famous painting "the last supper", depicting Jesus and his deciples sitting round a table eating. In the center of the table, very obviously is a roasted guinea pig.

Speaking of which, our next stop was the local cuyeria. Cuy, or guinea pig is often eaten in Peru for speacial occasions. Tipon village is apparently famous for it. The Eatery Ricardo took us to was a wooden structure with plastic tables and rather atmospheric latin music blareing. Thankfully I didnt see any live guinea pigs running about. I{d decided to share one. There are relatively expensive. There are 4.4sl to the pound, my accomodation had ranged from 28-50sl per night. The guinea pig lunch was 35sl.

One mouthfull was enough for me to know I wasnt going to like it. Infact I knew just by smelling it I wasnt going to like it. It had a very strong smell and flavour, and I dont really like beging served things that still have their heads....and lungs, heart etc.

My final week in Cusco was spent having more Spanish, trying cerviche, which is a lime marinated fish speciality. Made fresh and well is fabulous! I went to a film night at the school, made some friends and generally had a nice relaxing time. I felt a little sad to leave, but also was getting itchy feet to get moving and back into the mountains. Firstly, however I{m off to the land of the canyons and volcanoes.

My impression of Sounth America so far. Its noisy, passionate and full of expression, whether its locals watching football or dancing in the street! Music, car horns, shouting, laughing...they are just a noisy bunch. Its also dusty but people are clean and take pride in their surroundings. Mostly.

Random view from my balcony

Spanish School

As we had finished the trek a day early the whole group had a chance to unwind in Cusco, before the team gradually got their respective flights on differing days back to the UK.  E had made an almost full recovery. I was sad to see members of the team go. We had all got on really well and suddenly the fact that I wasn't going home for a long time and was soon going to be on my own was fast becoming a reality. Still, this is what I'd signed up for so I'm going to enjoy it!



My lovely little room at Niños

 It was a relief to move back to the Niños hotel, away for the hustle and relentless touts lining the main tourist streets in San Blas. A few of the team were staying on for a day or two so we'd organized a day excursion to see some natural salt flats and also to another Incan archaelogical site.


the Salinas

The Salinas are thousands of salt pans which have been "harvested" since Incan times. A hot spring from the top of the valley lets out a stream of very salty water which is diverted into the pans or salt fields and evaporated in the sun. The salt is graded in quality and used for cooking down to industrial purposes. It was quite a spectacle.

The Moray, amphitheatre like terracing that are carved into a huge earthern bowl of different levels, each layer having its own micro climate according to its depth. Thoery has it the Incans used this place as a laboratory to determine the optimal growing conditions for different crops.

My Spanish school started in earnest on Monday morning. I'd signed up for 4 hours of group class a day. My morning commute (walking) with my packed lunch  took me across town with all the real school children. It felt slightly surreal. When I got to the school I was told I needed to do an exam!!!! "Really?", I said! "Whats the point, all I'll be able to do is write my name on the top of the page!".  It was all a bit stressful. I was put in a room with a number of other students all scribbling away, huge pieces of text after the 20 mulitple choice questions. I managed to answer 3 questions, then I just sat there feeling really stupid. Eventually a teacher came and got me and I was then subjected to a one on one interview. It was pretty one sided as you can imagine. Finally I was told to wait upstairs. There were probably about 50 students milling around on the terrace all waiting to be assigned their study group. Many were European and spoke several languages.  My group was mainly Dutch, Swiss and German. We had 2 lecturers who took us for 2 hours of conversation and 2 hours of grammar a day.


Statue depicting the Incan King in Plaza de Armas, Cusco

 I had joined the South American Explorers club which is an organization set up for people travelling long term or living in South America. They have club houses in various cities in South America. As a member I can use the facilities in the club house like the internet or WiFi but they also have a massive resource of reference material and maps both online and in the club houses. The club in Cusco had a nice sunny garden which is a great place to come after Spanish classes to sit and do my homework. The club also organizes events like film nights, talks or demonstrations by local craftswomen.
So my week evolved into School in the morning followed by a visit to the explorers club to use the internet, chat to people and also to sit in the garden and do my homework!
One afternoon the club manager had organised for some local indigenous ladies to come to the club to give a demonstration on spinning, dying and weaving alpaca wool.  I had already seen similar demonstrations twice as they form a big part of the tourist circuit here, but I went along anyway. So far I had refused to buy any tourist tat mainly because it was everywhere and even though some of it was nice I would have to carry it. Also the other demonstrations I'd seen had seemed so contrived.  This however was different. First there was a talk by a Scottish lass who was doing her MA in design and her thesis on Incan textile design. She gave use a brief and very interesting insight into the meaning of  pattern and design in traditional Incan cloth and architecture and then how these ancient meanings had either changed or were still evident in todays artisanal crafts. She also spoke of how the Incan beliefs were along the lines of duality. There are many parallels to be drawn but the main themes were of highland and low land, mountain and jungle, sky, moon, sun and earth and water. She also referenced how when the Spanish conqured Latin America and brought their Christian beliefs, the Incas managed to absorb the Christian word and symbology into their own religion. Thus giving the impression they were following the bible. Most of Latin America is Christian today but there are still strong links to Incan symbology everywhere. Shamans (witch doctors) and natural medicine is also widely practised. Afterwards the local women did their demonstration on spinning and weaving, they spoke in simple Spanish, but what was really interesting and enlightening was they spoke about the positive effect that being able to earn a small income through the sale of the things they wove, had had on their lives but also in the reduction of domestic violence, something that is sadly common place in Latin America.  The lady, Iris, went on to explain how she had started a cooperative of weavers in her village and they had bought equipment and divided up the money earned between themselves but also gave a percentage back to their community, until last year, when their work shop and all their weaving equipment was wiped out in a land slide due to unusually heavy rains.  It put into perspective how easy it is for us in the west to earn a living and how lucky we are to have such a good social benefit system.  It is a habit for tourists to also try to haggle the prices down for the weaving these women do, but really a few pounds to us means so much more to them. Having said that there is a big trade in machine made weavings which a worth a fraction of the hand made variety and there is also synthetic wools used in place of llama or alpaca. Baby alpaca is very rare and expensive, and I chuckle to my self every time I hear a tourist say they have brought a baby alpaca jumper for 4 pounds.  As Iris said "Baby alpaca, maybe alpaca!" Anyway, on the positive side, she and her community are slowly building back up their weaving cooperative. Another imnportant aspect of this is not only the income but the knowledge passed down the generations of these ancient skills and also the designs. Oh and by the way, I did buy a rather lovely weaving.....