The Search for Condors

We left the hostel in Arequipa, Peru at 00:30 taking a taxi to the bus station to take the 01:00 bus to the Colca canyon. It is a 5 hour bus ride and this bus is used mostly by locals. To my surprise, every seat was filled. We were headed to the town of Cabanaconde to start our trek into the Colca canyon and our search for Comdors.

The Cañon Del Colca is the world's second deepest canyon at 3,501 meters and twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the USA. It is home to the magnificent Condor, is flanked by the two highest volcanoes in Peru and has an abundance of flora as we passed through several zones from high altitude desert type terrain to the oasis at the bottom with palm and fruit trees.

The first day we trekked downhill to the Colca river spotting eagles; and to Jens' great delight, the Condor flying high above us. Three and a half hours of walking downhill and you can imagine that our knees were starting to complain a little. We reached the Colca river and took a short rest before crossing. The river at this time of year is rushing madly with the water from the daily rain fall. This is the rainy season and lucky for us, the mornings are usually bright and sunny. The clouds start forming midday and the rain starts late afternoons and into the night.

After crossing the river we walked through some ancient terraces along the river for a short way, passing by small fields of corn, potatoes, apple trees and avocado trees. Then it was another climb up to the villages which are strung along the side of the mountain. Our first stop was at the small village of Cosñirhua for a late lunch and a short nap. The villages in the valley didnt have electricity until three years ago and still live a very basic life. The hostel we stayed at actually had mud floors. Not much in the way of luxury here, marginally better than a tent. We had to move the bed to avoid getting dripped on when the rain started. Thank goodness it was only for one night.

Malata, the next village on the trail, was having a celebration and we headed over to have a look. We had heard the music as we were trekking down the canyon and were really curious to see what it was all about. Our guide, Johslem, told us it was a seven day festival. The story goes like this: Many, many years ago there was a villager that fell in love with a princess from another village. The only way he could get past her guards to see her was to dress up as a woman, and as he approached the gate, he would start dancing to distract them. He made it through, stole the princess and brought her back to his village. Well, they soon found him and killed him for his crime. So now, every year, the men in the village dress up as women and dance around the square. The music plays from morning to night and the whole village and neighboring villagers come out dressed in their finest. The beer is flowing, the food is being served and the music plays on, and on and on. They play the same song continuously. Seriously, the same song.

As the afternoon rain started we headed back to our village for dinner and a little sleep. The next morning early we had a guided tour of the owners garden. We sampled oranges, mandarins, sweet Peruvian lemons, cactus fruit and apples. It was just amazing to see what they can grow in this canyon. It is somewhat of a microclimate created by the steep mountains on both sides.

After breakfast we continued our journey to the oasis. This was a fairly easy walk of about four hours. The hostels at the oasis have beautiful swimming pools, palm trees and great mountain views. We had a lazy afternoon swimming, sunbathing and watching the condors soaring overhead. The rain came down hard that afternoon and continued through most of the night. It was accompanied by lots of lightening and incredible thunder rolling through the canyon. It rained so much that we heard several landslides throughout the night.

We were up and ready to start the 1km vertical climb at 4 am. With our headlamps on we climbed the trail, passing several places where the rocks had given way and blocked the path. We got to the top at 7:30 and walked to the village for breakfast. Oh it felt so good to sip that coffee and eat a little bread and jam. We had been told the Colca Canyon trek was more difficult than the Inca Trail. I don't know if it's because we are in better shape now, but we both found the Inca trail to be much harder, particularly Dead Woman's Pass.

Peru to Bolivia

After our four day trek to Machu Pichu we spent one short night in Cusco before taking a bus to Puno which is on the shores of Lake Titicaca. We took the 'tourist' bus so we could see some sites along the way. We made four stops including a lunch stop, arriving to Puno around 5pm. The hostel we booked had offered to pick us up at the bus station. Nice treat for a change!

Puno is not the prettiest town but the main square and walking street where you have all the restaurants, money exchange companies, tourist information, banks and pharmacies is quite nice and convenient for us travelers. The main sites to visit from Puno are the floating islands and Isla Taquile. Of course there are a few other Inca ruins to visit, but we felt we had seen enough for now. Our hostel helped us to book a tour for the next day, get our dirty, smelly clothes to the laundry and book our trip across the border to Bolivia.

THE REED ISLANDS
Our first stop on the days tour was to a floating island. There are several floating islands, the largest of them is said to be 160 years old. These islands are made from layering reeds over each other on top of large floating blocks of dense roots and soil. They continue to add layers and layers of reeds each week as the lower layers start to decompose. The reeds are also a source of food and firewood, and used to build their houses, and of course, their reed boats.

Jens was especially thrilled to see the reed boats. He had read the story of Thor Heyerdahl who had theorized that the people from South America used these reed boats to cross the Pacific Ocean and made contact with people in the islands in the South Pacific. Heyerdahl built a reed boat and successfully led an expedition sailing 5,000 miles across the Pacific in 1947, proving his theory.

The people on these floating islands lead a very basic life. They believe they are descendants of the oldest people on earth, living between water and heaven. Hmmmm.... Sounds very romantic. Anyhow, you wouldn't find me living on any of these islands any time soon. Living in a boat is enough of a stretch for me. ;)

ISLA TAQUILE
Just when I thought our mountain climbing days were behind us, we reach Isla Taquile and had to hike 150 meters up to the top of the island to get to the main square. I know it doesn't sound like a lot, but remember we start at 3,800 meters (high altitude, thin air, still slightly aching legs from our Machu Picchu trip, etc,). This island is a community of 350 Quechua speaking families. They live by the Inca creed of 'do not steal, do not lie, do not be idle'. I can relate to that. It means that the island is neatly organized with stone paths, stone walls bordering tiered gardens and stone arches. Overall, this island is peaceful and serene and has a feeling of a place that is loved and cared for.

The people here wear colorful clothing, knitting and weaving it themselves. The men knit the red hats they wear to symbolize the fact that they are married. Unmarried men wear red and white hats. Unmarried women wear multicolored pompoms at the end of their braids, head scarf or skirt, while married women wear black ones.

ISLA DEL SOL, ISLA DE LA LUNA
We crossed the border to Bolivia the next day taking a bus to the town of Copacabana. This is the best place to get to the two famous islands on Lake Titicaca, Isla del Sol and Isla de la Luna (Sun Island and Moon Island). Otherwise, Copacabana feels very much like a 1970's hippy town. I think it might have something to do with the very affordable accommodations and food prices. For example, Jens and I had a nice dinner (stuffed lake trout and texmex chile) with a bottle of wine for $27.00.

We spent two days exploring the islands and chilling out for a bit. Isla del Sol is said to be the birthplace of the Incas. The island is complete with a sacred rock, a fountain of youth and the place where the sun came down to earth to give birth to the first Incas. Isla de la Luna is much smaller and has a monastery where they would keep the chosen virgins. Not sure what happened to them...the book only says they participated in special ceremonies dedicated to the sun. Could this be the politically correct way to refer to human sacrifices?

We're now waiting for Anna and Christian to arrive from Cusco so we can have lunch and catch up on their adventures before we head off to La Paz.

Machu Picchu: part 4

We started our trek on January 10th and have spent the past three days walking through the Andes mountains having traversed three mountain passes. It is now Sunday, January 13th and this is the day we reach Machu Pacchu!

We rise at 3am to allow the porters to pack up our tents so they can start their trip down hill to catch the train. We head to the last check point on the trek which opens at 5:30 am. It is still dark and although it rained most of the night it has let up for now. Once we clear the check point we have about two hours walking before we reach the Sun Gate.

Tired muscles and exhausted from too little sleep, we all seem to have a spring in our step and plenty of energy for the ups and downs of the trail. We have learned that this is called 'Inca flat'. It should not be surprising to find that in these mountain ranges there is no such thing as a flat trail.

We pass yet another Inca site called Intipirca. It only warrants a quick look around because we are all anxious to get to our destination. We reach the Sun Gate just as the clouds are thinning out and the sun is starting to break through. What a moment! The site looks amazing. We look down to see the largest Inca settlement with terraces for crops, housing and temples all made from stones. In the background is Huana Picchu where you have the Temple of the Moon. It is all simply breathtaking and incredibly awesome.

It was about another hour down to the site. We had the whole day to explore the area. The sun came out and then soon after the crowds started arriving. Around mid-afternoon we took the bus down to Agua Caliente where we had a late lunch and caught the evening train back to Ollantaytambo and a bus back to Cusco.

We arrived to our hotel in Cusco quite late, with a backpack full of wet and smelly clothes. But what a thrilling four days it had been. I have waited so many years to visit this place and it was with a feeling of immense satisfaction that I dropped off to sleep.