Lake Titicaca

Yesterday we left for a 2 day tour of 3 islands on Lake Titicaca (pronouned Ti-ti-ha-ha)! It is one of the highest navigeable lakes in the world at 3800m. Our first stop on the lake was at the Uros Islands, also known as the floating islands. These islands, which are floating on the surface of the lake, house hundreds of people. Originally people created and lived on these islands as a way to escape the Spaniards when they invaded Peru. Now, they are very touristy islands it is hard to tell what is genuine and what is done up for the tourists. Regardless it is pretty neat that people live on islands that are floating 20 meters above the bottom the lake. They use reeds and a type of moss to keep the islands afloat and have to keep adding reeds every 2 to 3 weeks.

After the Uros islands we boated very very slowly, about 10 km/hr, for about 2.5 hours to reach Amantani Island. We were greeting at the dock by our family, with which we were staying the night. Our host ¨mum¨ greeted us and walked us up to her house where we met her husband. They showed us our room for the night and then served us lunch. Nothing about staying with this family was touristy at all, which was really nice since we got to see how people on this island truly lived. The families only house tourists once a month, taking turns accross the island. Lunch (consisting of way too much food) was quinoa soup, potatoes, rice and an omelet. The island, which is very agricultural, produces most of its own food. The only part of lunch that wasn´t produced on the island were the eggs for the omelet. I don´t really understand why (it may have been lost in translation) but there is little to no livestock on the island and therefore most or all of their meals are vegetarian. After lunch we hiked up to one of the summits of the island which consists of 2 mountains. The summit at 4,150 m overlooked a beatiful view of the Lake. After the hike we headed home for dinner. Dinner which consisted of some other type of soup (they called it cereal soup, it looked like barley or bulgar to me), rice and potatoes. Once again there was way too much food but I couldn´t bring myself to leaving any food of my plate. Waste is something that doesn´t exist in the majority of households in this country since they work so hard for the food they put on the table. Fortunately my dad and I swapped plates when no one was looking and he helped me finish the food. After dinner, we both got dressed up by our family in traditional clothes and went to a traditional dance. It was pretty neat to see the locals perform some of their traditional dances, while the rest of us felt goofy in our outfits.

My host mum and I in our traditional outfits....

The next morning we woke up and had ¨pankeke¨ (as they call it) for breakfast. It was more like deep fried bannock or a donut than a pancake. We then headed off to the last island call Taquile Island. We walked around the island and then had lunch there. We had a beautiful view while we ate fresh trout from the lake. After lunch we got back on the boat for the 3.5 hour ride back to Puno. About an hour in the driver stopped the engine and anyone that wanted could jump in the lake. Of course my dad and I did!! The lake, at about 14 degrees, is very similar to the temperature we encounter in lakes near Yellowknife in the summer. I jumped in closely followed by my dad. We were caught off guard though, not by the cold water, but by the inability to catch our breath due to the altitude. Cold water usually forces you to take a few deep breaths while you get used to the temperature of the water, but in this case we couldn´t. It actually really scared me, I felt as though I had winded myself and I couldn´t catch my breath, I don´t think I could have swam very far if necessary. Only when I grabbed onto the boat did I manage to catch my breath. The rest of the boat ride back to Puno was spent trying to dry off on the roof of the boat.

My dad and host dad at the table eating breakfast!

The computer is really slow here, I will post more pictures when I find a faster computer. We head to La Paz, Bolivia tomorrow for a little less than a week.

Pictures (finally)!

The group on Day 1, nice a fresh!

Part of the group at Dead Woman´s pass! So tired but a great view!!

My dad and I at Machu Picchu!!

Me with corn tamales. So good, it´s a type of corn bread cooked in corn husks!

My dad at the market speaking to a lady who had lots to sell!

My dad and I at ruins during the Sacred Valley tour. Those are the Inka terraces that you can see behind us!

Inka Trail Days 3 and 4

Wake up on day 3 was at 6 am (we got to sleep in for an hour!!!) only because it was a shorter day than the first 2. After having packed up camp and put plastic bags in my shoes since they were still soaking wet from the day before. Then we set off for another day of hiking!

Day 3
Distance. 9km
Altitude: Start 3600, end 2650m
Time: 4.5 hours
Unforgettable

This day is called unforgettable by SAS travel for a couple of reasons. First of all is it probably the most beautiful part of the hike, unfortunately however we spent the whole day in the clouds and didn´t have much of a view. But the entire day was in the jungle so there was enough to look at nearby. The second reason that this day is unforgettable is because it is actually the real Inka trail. The first two days of hiking we did was just to join up with the Inka trail. The true Inka trail runs from Cusco to Machu Picchu and would take 7 days to do and is not permitted to do. At the end of the 2nd day we join up with the true Inka trail at the ruins that we visited. The stairs on the real Inka trail are generally much smaller, since they were much smaller people. The third day consisted of mostly descent, in one section we descended 3000 consecutive stairs and it took about 3 hours to do. We hiked for a total of 4.5 hour which is quite short and arrived at our campsite in the early afternoon. On the last day of the hike everyone who is hiking the Inka trail has to camp at the same spot, right before the control gates that lead to Machu Picchu. It was kind of a zoo and wasn´t too enjoyable of a place. It started raining when we arrived and therefore everyone was crammed inside a small building. It was really loud and not very nice, but that’s the only choice we had. I guess we were spoiled the other two nights, having campsites to ourselves.

We went to bed early again that night, however it was hard to sleep because so many people were talking and yelling outside.

We were woken up at 4am the next morning (and guess what it was raining again). The reason we had to get up so early is because the gates to the trail that leads to Machu Picchu open at 5:30 am and we had to line up before hand so we could be one of the first groups through the gates. It turns out we were the second group through the gates, not that it mattered because we got passed by quite a few groups thanks to a few very slow walkers in the group.

Day 4
Distance: 7km
Altitude: start 2650, 2400m
Time: 2 hours
Unique!

The walk was short and sweet to Machu Picchu. When we arrived to the Sun Gate which is about an hour from Machu Picchu, we were in the clouds. This is the first time you are able to see Machu Picchu, however that was not the case for us since everything was clouded over. We were a little disappointed but our Tour Guide assured us that it would clear up at some point. Arriving at Machu Picchu everything was still clouded over so it was hard to see the size of the city. We started off with a short tour by our tour guide and then were given free time to explore. By then everything had cleared up and we got our picture perfect moment to take lots of pictures and see the entire city! It was spectacular! The rest of the morning and early afternoon was sunny! At 2pm we took the bus down to Aguas Calientes (about 20 mins away) for our last group lunch. My dad and I and another family decided to stay an extra night in Aguas Calientes so after having said by to the group we explored the town. We didn´t go back up to Machu Picchu because it was pouring rain and we felt that we had seen what we wanted to see at Machu Picchu.

What a great trip and worth it even under the rain! I estimate that we did about 10,000 stairs over the course of 4 days, my dad and I are so sick of stairs that we are avoided them (if possible) for the time being.

Today we are in Cusco for the day and then we leave tomorrow for Lake Titicaca to see the floating islands.

Inka Trail Days 1 and 2

The first day we started out in Cusco, the SAS travel picked us up at 5:45am. It was a 3 hour drive to km 82 where we started our hike. I slept for most of the bus ride. Once we arrived at km 82 we had to have our passports checked at a control gait at the entrance of the hike. The group was comprised of 2 tour guides, 13 hikers and 20 porters (including a chef and sous-chef). All but 3 members of the group were under the age of 30 and the majority girls. The group was comprised of people from New Zealand (5), Norway (4), Holland (2) and Canada (my dad and I!) and our tour guides were Peruvians. It turned out to be a very good group with lots of good times and no conflict!

Day 1
Distance: 15km
Altitude: Start 2600m end 3200m
Time on the trail: 7 hours
Easy

Deemed the easy day it lived up to its name. We started out on a flat path following the Urubamba River. The first day our tour guides wanted us all to walk together so the pace was not very fast. It was VERY hot while we were hiking but there were no complaints since it is the rainy season. At lunch time we arrived to a place where the porters had already set up tents and where the chefs had already prepared lunch. We ate a delicious meal and then resumed hiking. Meanwhile the porters packed up camp behind us. No more than 15 minutes had gone by and the porters had already run past us with their 25kg ¨bags¨ heading to our campsite for the night.

Let me tell you, these porters (better known as Chasquis) are athletes. They basically run the entire Inka trail with a 25kg bag on their back. Most of them don’t even use bags, they usually tie a bunch of stuff together with rope and then use fabric straps as the back pack straps. Our group started calling the porters Chasquis because it doesn´t have a negative connotation like the word porter and is much more honourable. Chasqui is a word that comes from their native language, Quechua, it literally signifies ¨messenger¨ and was used by the Inkas time to call men who would run/trek through the Andes to deliver message. It was a very respected position and whenever we called them Chasqui they smiled. I seriously think these guys should try out for the Peruvian long distance running team they are in such good shape. Every year they have a race with all the Chasquis and some world class long distance runners. They race the length of the Inka trail, which is 49 km long. No world class runner has been able to beat a Chasqui and the record is 3 hours and 47 minutes which is amazing. Their bodies are so used to the altitude that it doesn´t affect them at all. I have so much respect for them.

By the time we arrived at our camp in the evening, the tents we already set up and they had tea and popcorn ready! Not only do the Chasquis carry the gear over the trail they also set up and run the camp. They help in the preparation of the food and any other camp duties that need to be done. I´m sure that there are many things they have done that I hadn´t even noticed. Another reason the Chasquis go as fast as they can on the trail is to reserve the lunch or camp spot. In the morning 2 Chasquis wake up around 4am and head out to reserve the best camp spot for the next night. We had great camp sites for the first 2 nights, with a great view of the mountains.

We ate like kings on the trail, the food was very good and definitely not what I´d call camp food, there were always at least 5 different dishes. All of this food came was cooked from scratch out of a large tent. Bedtime was 8pm and I was fast asleep right away. It rained all night but by the morning it had stopped.

Wake up the next day was at 5am. We had 1 hour to pack up all our stuff, except our tents which the Chasquis took care of, and eat breakfast. At 6 am we were on the trail ready to go.

Day 2
Distance: 15km
Altitude: Start 3200, highest point 4200, end 3600
Time on the trail: 11 hours
Difficult

Deemed the hardest day it definitely was. The first half of the day was uphill for 4 hours. On this day everyone could walk at their own pace and people quickly spread out. I hiked with my dad and a girl from New Zealand. It wasn´t sunny in the morning but we were happy because it would have been so hard if it was too hot. After 3 hours we arrived at Dead Woman´s pass at 4200m. Having arrived in abut the middle of the pack, we had to wait about an hour at the pass for the rest of the group. It was nice sitting at the top and lots of pictures were taken. By the time the last of the group had arrived the clouds had rolled in and we couldn´t really see much more. We began a 3 hour descent to 3600m. Going down was almost harder than going up. The entire trail is composed of mostly stairs made of big rocks. The size of the stairs varies so much that you have to focus where you place your feet at every step. We had lunch at 3600m and then started a 2 hour climb up to another pass at 4000m. It started raining just after lunch and didn´t stop all day. At the top of the second pass we descended for 2 hours to our campsite. We first stopped to see an Inka site right before our camp. By that time it finally started clearing up and we had a great view from the Inka site.

We arrived at camp soaked, apparently my rain pants aren´t water proof. Maybe I should have checked that before I left and I probably should have expected it since I´ve had them since I was 13. It started raining again after dinner and we once again retreated to our tents around 8pm to go to sleep. It rained most of the night again, which unfortunately meant that nothing had a chance to dry over night.

To be continued.... Days 3 and 4!