The Salkantay Trek and The Machu Picchu

There are few ways to see the famous Machu Picchu. The nicest way to do it is by trekking. There are at least 3 different treks that end at the MachuPicchu. The most famous is the Inca Trail, that follows the ancient (few hundred years) path of the Incas. Since it is that famous, you have to book it few months in advance. We took the alternative route, the 5 days Salkantay trek.
The first day of the trek started so early that you can say that it started the night before. We gathered together with about 30 other tourists in Plaza San Fransisco. Fortunately enough, we soon found out that only 8 of them will be in our group. After few (maybe 3, maybe 6) hours of very bumpy road our bus got stuck. Luckily enough it got stuck at the entrance of the village we were aiming to get to. After breakfast we were introduced to our "family group", or at least that is what our guide Reinaldo called us. After that we started the slow climb (19km) towards our first camp at an altitude of 3900m (the village was at 2900m). The view of the first day wasn't too breathtaking, so we used the time to get to know our "family group". The group was very diverse once again. There was one Australian couple (Kate and Ben), one Scottish couple (Lisa and Eddie) one Brazilian couple (Thiago and Ana Lucia), a guy from Quebec (Christian) and one Peruvian guy (Fernando). All of them were really nice and very interesting.
The great thing about the Salkantay trek is that they feed you and take care of all you need all the time, all you need to do is walk... and a lot. Everyday there is a big breakfast, including eggs and pancakes, a big lunch, with soup and meat, and even bigger dinner.
The first night was quite cold, but only outside. Our tents were placed inside a big tent that protected us from the cold wind. In the morning, when we woke up (by the cook which brought us a hot cup of tea to the tent) we saw a lot of ice everywhere, even parts of the river was frozen.

The second day was the longest (21km). We started the day by climbing to the high pass (4600m). The climb turned out to be less hard than the climb to the Santa Cruz pass. Maybe it were the new walking sticks we purchased for the trek that made it easier, or maybe it was the fact that we got used to those kind of altitudes, or maybe both. Unfortunately, this pass was also less impressive. The rest of the day we spent down-climbing to 2900m. The interesting part was to see the landscape change from glacieral to a vast jungle in less than 5 minutes walking. The new climate was completely different too, so the second night was very worm. We spent the night in a very small farm surrounded by many farm animals. We even got to pet a small and very spoiled pig.

The third day was supposed to be a "botanical day", but it turned out to be a bit boring walking day. At least it wasn't long, about 14km. After that we had lunch and said goodbye to the nice mules that carried our main equipment for the last two days and a half. From this point we had to be our own mules. A minivan took us to Santa Thereza, a small town somewhere on the way. In the afternoon we even went to a natural hot spring, where we were cooked and served to the suicidal bugs, that covered us even at the cost of drowning. In the evening we had another great dinner, but this time a new member joined the group. As part of the attractions of our camping site there was a small and a very cute monkey, named Pancho, running free between the dinning guests. After running around and amusing everyone, Pancho got tired, he jumped into Lilya's lap and fell asleep until the end of dinner. You can imagine that Lilya didn't eat much that night (but she didn't mind).

On the fourth day we didn't walk much. We skipped the first boring walking part and got a ride with a minivan straight to lunch. From there (a town with the romantic name Hidroelectrica) there was about 11km until Aguas Calientes, which is a very touristic town next to the Machu Picchu. The trail followed the train rails, but it wasn't boring at all. It was deep in the jungle, which made it very unique. At the end we got to a hostel, and took a most welcomed hot shower. Not all the members of our group were that lucky, it's a bit ironic not to have hot water in a town called Aguas Calientes (Hot waters). We visited the reason this town is called that way (thermal springs) later together with Thiago and Ana Lucia. The place was full with tourists just like the rest of this town, but we had a great time just enjoying a good conversation in the worm, murky water. Later that evening we went drinking with all the group. Even though there are tourists everywhere, there are a lot of empty restaurants. Those places will do absolutely everything to get costumers. They extended the Happy Hour for all day long and they compete with each other for the amount of cocktails you will get for the price of one. At the end we went to a place that offered us 8 drinks if only we will pay for one. The problem is that all the 8 drinks shared the amount of alcohol suitable just for one, so we weren't very drunk at the end of the process.

The next morning (or should I say night) we woke up at 3:30 and started the climb to the Macchu Picchu. The climb was very intense and included more than a thousand stairs, some say 1600, but we didn't count them all. Since it was dark we were not aware to the amount of people climbing together with us. When we got to the top we realized that there were few dozens of people there before of us. After more than half an hour of waiting they opened the site and let us in. The few hundreds of people that entered were a drop in the sea when the people from the Inca trail and the tourists with the buses started to come. They say that about 3000 visitors enter the site every day. But we managed to stay away of the crowd most of the time.

One of the special things about this site is that it wasn't destroyed by the Spanish like rest of the Incas' places. It's not like the Spanish appreciated its beauty and wanted to preserve it, they simply didn't find it. The Incas destroyed the paths leading towards this town, so it was lost until 1911. That's why it is very well perserved. We also learned few things about the Incas. First of all, they were in great shape, just to go uphill to your neighbor you burn your dayly amount of calories. More important, the Incas understood that in realastate its all about location, location, location. The location is the really the amazing part of this place. Everywhere you look there are very high pointed mountains covered with evergreen rain forest.

Since we got there early enough, we got the opportunity to climb enother cliff, the Huainapicchu. That is the steep (very steep) cliff at the background of the Machu Picchu in every photo. The climb takes another hour and is quite exhausting, but the view is worth it. The way down is not for the weakhearted. At some parts the stairs are really nerrow, high and steep.

We spent at the Machu Picchu half a day and then returned to Aguas Calientes. From there it was a long way back to Cusco.

Most of the next day we spent with our new friends from the trek, and the morning after that we took the bus to Puno on the shores of Lake Titikaka.

Tip 1: The Machu Picchu site is probably the most touristic place in South America. It is better to get to this area after trekking, then the over-tourism won't bother you as much. Even if you can't do the whole trek you can at least do the 4th day of our trek, from Hidroelectrica to Aguas Calientes.

Tip 2: If you are interested in climbing to the Huainapicchu (the mountain at the background of all the famous Machu Picchu pictures), you have to get to leave Aguas Calientes at least at 4 am. Only the first 400 "lucky" tourists get permits.

Tip 3: If you are planning to climb to the Machu Picchu bring an extra T-shirt. You get to the top all wet at 5am, and then you have to wait in line in the chilly morning at least half an hour until they let you in.

Tip 4: You can get a cool Machu Picchu stamp in your passport next to the entrance, so don't forget to bring it.

Pictures

Pictures from the Salkantay trek to the Machu Picchu:

Cusco and the Sacred Valley

When you first arrive to Cusco, you are sure this is the most colorful and liberal (gay friendly) city in the world. The first one might be true, but I wouldn't try to test their liberalism. The Cusquenians adopted the rainbow flag, usually identified with the gays, as their city symbol. You can see these flags all over the beautiful, colonial, main square, on churches and all around the city.
The center of the city is really beautiful. Apparently, we are not the only ones to think that. Cusco is full with tourists, mostly on their way to Machu Picchu. Most of them are organized groups of Americans, but you can find tourists from everywhere. Cusco is also considered to be the most Israeli city of South America. We usually don't tend to hang around Israeli places, but this time it was inevitable. There is a whole alley full with small restaurants and other businesses with signs only in Hebrew. Nevertheless, these tourists don't seem to be enough in order to fill all the touristic restaurants, that make their waiters try to hunt you with their menu whenever you pass by.
We also heard from few people that they were sick in Cusco. It's not like the food is especially bad there, people usually bring their diseases from other places. So Lilya decided to try that too. If you are planning on getting sick in South America, Cusco is a great place to do that. There are a lot of places to eat chicken soup, a lot of tourist doctors (that will be glad to take your money) and a cable TV at the hostel. After 4 days of enjoying frequent toilet visits, not eating and having a fever, Lilya finally decided to visit a doctor. After few lab tests the doctor discovered that Lilya has Salmonella and few parasites (she did not mean Oren). After that she gave her a recipe for 5 different medications that together with the visit cost more than 100 dollars. Good thing we have insurance to cover that.
Even though Lilya was sick we didn't stay indoors all the time. Cusco was the capital of the Inca's Empire, and it is surrounded by many other Inca's settlements, an area called The Sacred Valley. On Sunday we went to Pisac, a small town 40 minutes away from Cusco, which had a big Sunday market and some ruins that you need to climb almost 2 hours in order to get there. Lilya was too weak, so Oren and Yolene, which we met again in Cusco, continued climbing until the top, while Lilya was enjoying the afternoon sun on one of the terraces. Only later we discovered that you can get there with a taxi from the other part of the town, as all the organized groups did. The ruins themselves are huge. The historical city surrounds the agricultural part with large terraces hanging above the cliffs. The Inca people were probably very fit because you will need to climb trough steep stairs in order to get from anywhere to anywhere in the city.
On another afternoon we visited Sacsayhuaman (or Sexy Woman, so even the Gringos will remember the Quechua name). This is a very impressive 12 century walled complex built next to the old city of Cusco. There we met a very graceful local guide to whose service we couldn't refuse. The old city of Cusco was shaped as a Puma (the Inca's had a really vast imagination), this part was supposed to the puma's head. Most of the site was ruined in the search for gold or covered with soil by the Spanish, but a lot was recovered.
We visited the sacred valley again when Lilya started feeling better. This time we took the bus to Maras - a beautiful site that contains round terraces that might have been used for agricultural experiment, but must have also had a religious significance. The researchers don't really know, so all you can do is think: "what I would have done with such large circles?". After Maras our cab driver took us to the Salinas - where the natural salt coming from deep in the ground in gathered into pools. If you are in the area, combine these two, because the Salinas are truly unique.
After too many days of eating nothing but dry chicken, dry rice and white bread, Lilya had enough and we booked the Salkantay trek. A 5 days trek that ends at the Machu Picchu.
Tip 1: Don't be afraid of people jumping on you when you get off a bus, offering you hostels. The best hostels we found were offered to us by those guys. This is also your chance to negotiate about the price, and get a hotel room for the price of a hostel room.
Tip 2: You don't have to visit touristic sites in a touristic way. Instead of taking the expansive City Tour, you can take a public bus or a "Colectivo" and do it your way. It might take a bit more time but the experience is completely different. You can get all the information in the official tourist information office.
Tip 3: "La Chomba" (Av. Tullumayo 339 Parte Alta). This cheap local restaurant is the best place to eat in Cusco and maybe in all Peru. The food is great, the dishes are enormous and it costs practically nothing. Too bad we discovered it on our last day there.

Pictures

We're back!
Here are the pictures from Cusco and the Sacred Valley

The Peruvian coast and Arequipa

There is a strange thing about Peru - its whole coast is a desert. But not a nice sunny desert (like we have in Israel for example), but a grey, frustrating desert with very poor settlements along the way (a bit like some parts of Afganistan, as we imagine it). This desert also includes the highest sand dune in the world - the Cerro Blanco, which was our next destination after Huaraz. We took an early bus from Lima as soon as we got there to Ica and from there another taxi to Huacachina. Huacachina is a real Oasis! Like the one you would see in the movies. It is a small village built around a lake in the middle of the sand dune. The are no more than 150 residents, but it is full by five times more tourists. And it is not the cheep restaurants around the lake that attracts them to Huacachina. Huacachina is the sandboard capital of Peru. The main attraction there is to take a buggy and head for the sands. At our hostel we met Yolene, the nice French girl we met at the Santa Cruz trek, who travelled with us from this point until Cusco. After spending the noon watching the Argentina-Mexico match, we took a buggy a guide and 3 sandboards and went sandboarding. The ride on the buggy on the dunes was an experience by itself! Just like riding a crazy roller-coaster while being surrounded by enormous sea of sand. After a short drive we stopped and our guide tried to show us how to sandboard on two relatively small dunes. Lilya proved that her surfing lessons were not useless and stood all the way down. Oren fell down almost immediately. The next dune was much higher and steeper. Lilya was considering sliding down on the stomach like it was offered by the guide. But then Oren said that he didn't take any pictures of her sliding, and that was enough to convince her to slide while standing. She was doing fine at the beginning, until she realized she was going to fast and then she tried to slow down. The result was that she rolled few times on her way down. At the end she had enough sand in her hair, ears, eyes and mouth to sell as a construction material. The last dune was the largest and we all slide down on our bellies. We were still removing some sand out of our ears 3 days later...
On the next day we ere supposed to take a boat to Islas Ballestas, which are often called Galapagos for the poor. We got up early in the morning and took the ride to the Parakas port where we should have taken the boat. Although the sea looked completely flat, we waited for more than two hours until we was told that the Cruz was cancelled due to the stormy sea. But don't worry! We came to see sea birds and we got sea birds. The whole port was full with pelicans and seagulls that came to claim their share in the daily catch of the fishermen. They fly very low and dive to catch the fish in the water, and once in a while go to the shore and make faces to the tourists in return for some food. Oren had a great time photographing the birds until Lilya drag him back to the car that took us back to Ica. The day didn't ended with a disappointment, though. Ica is one of the centers of the production of Pisco which is the traditional Peruvian alcoholic drink, (a sort of Grapa). We got addresses of few vineyards/distilleries from a local convenient store and took a cab to visit them. In each place you get an explanation about the process of production (boring!) and then taste some of the products (fun!). The second distillery had an historical production line including a special place where the juice is squeezed out of the grapes by people that step on them. This method is not being used nowdays, of course, except during the yearly spring festival. We learned there about the historical methods for producing the Pisco and then got a lot of tastings from the Pisco products and the liqueurs. We had no trouble sleeping in the night bus to Arequipa that night!
Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. Its center built mainly from a white volcanic stone, which gave it the nickname "The white city". We spent the first day wondering around the city and especially in the beautiful main square. At the end we booked a two days tour to Canyon del Colca. We found ourselves in a tourist bus with another 20 tourists. The way was nice, but the tour was very touristic, including the too expansive places for the launch and the inevitable folklore show at the too expansive restaurant at night. At every stopping point there were lots of local women wearing the "traditional" clothes selling their crafts or asking money for a photograph with an alpaca, a baby lamb or a tied hawk.
The highlight was on the second day when we arrived early in the morning to Cruz del Condor. This amazing view point is located above a cliff which is the nesting place of the condors. At 8 a.m, when the air becomes warm enough, they spread their wings and rise up, completely ignoring the hundreds of tourists that stand with their cameras and wait for them. They fly low, letting every amateur photographer get his own condor shot. Only after two hours the condors and the tourists say goodbye and flying (or going) each to his own business.
Our buisness with the Peruvian coast ended that night when we took the night bus to Cusco.


Tip 1: If you are in the area of Ica, spend one day in Huacachina. Staying there is nicer than in the busy Ica.
Tip 2: If you're planning to do sandboarding (and you should), it is better to rent a smaller buggy, with only few people in it. It is much more exciting and you don't have to wait until all the rest of the group finishes to slide down.
Tip 3: It is OK to skip the so called "wine tour", it is not exactly Provance... But if you have some spare time it can be nice. The visit in El Catador distillery was very fun.
Tip 4: In Ica, try the local chocolate, it's really good.
Tip 5: You don't have to go to Canyon del Colca with a tour. You can go there by public transportation and have a small trek into the canyon, which supposed to be very nice. Anyway, don't miss the Cruz del Condor. Even though it is very touristic, the condors are really breathtaking. Don't get there too early, the condors will not fly in the cold sunrise air.

Pictures

Two new picture albums:

Arequipa and Canyon del Colca

The condors of Cruz del Condor

Pictures

Pictures from Ica and Pisco

Huaraz and the Santa Cruz trek

The classical opening line of a post about Huaraz will be "Huaraz was literally breathtaking". The sophisticated reader who knows that Huaraz is located way above 3000m will enjoy the double meaning of this sentence: Huaraz is located at a breathtaking location and breathing is hard at this altitude. However, we didn't feel like playing word games when we got to Huaraz. After travelling from Ilha Grande (Brazil) in almost every possible kind of transportation (by foot, a boat, 3 taxis, 4 buses and an airplane) and spending the night on the floor of the Sao Paulo airport, we had only 3 items on our wish-list: sleep, eat and breath. On our first night we were able to cross out only the first two items on the list.

We spent the first two days mostly in our room watching TV. The 5 blocks walk to the main square seemed like a difficult task at that time. Things got better on the third day when we walked around the town and arrived to the market. Contrary to the main street, that resembles the main street in every small city, the market of Huaraz has its own magic. It's the market of the poor, with a lot of old Peruvian women sitting on the floor with their traditional clothes selling everything from sewing notions to pealed Sabreses (the fruit of the cactus) in psychedelic colors. The market also has an indoor part which attacks the visitor with all the smells of an eastern market, when meat, cheese and fruits mix together in your nose.

We decided to fight the laziness before it will take a hold of us, so on the next day Lilya went climbing on a cliff above a small river in Monterey near Huaraz. Oren, who never really saw the point in climbing a rock when you can use the opportunity to photograph someone else doing it, pictured her from every possible angle. See the pictures in the album and feel free to criticize Lilya's technique or the faces she makes, and Oren's photography skills.

In order to get used to the altitude we did a one day hike to laguna Awak in the mountains near Wilcahuain. It was described as a less popular and easy walk but turned out to be quite challenging since it was located at a height of 4600. First we visited a tomb from 1400 years ago and then started climbing to the laguna. We had a private guide which turned out to be quite informative, even though he spoke only Spanish. The climbing started easy but became very steep at the end. With our last breath we got to the laguna and pictured it from every angle. These pictures were the best pictures Oren have ever took. A National Geographic pictures indeed. However, we cannot prove this, because all the pictures were lost because of the lousy Brazilian card reader. You'll have to believe us (or not).

We spent another three days in Huaraz before leaving to the Santa Cruz trek. The weather web sites promised rain. Instead of rain we got an amazing rainbow and the strangest sunset. We also got to see the festive parade of the traditional Father's day. Never before have we seen such unhappy marchers in a parade! They all looked as if they were kicked out of their worm beds to early and forced to march outside. Lilya did get some good pictures, though.
After a week in Huaraz we finally left to the trek. While on the way to the beginning of the trek we passed through an amazing view. An out of this world turquoise laguna greeted us as we entered the park. After entering, the minivan started climbing up through the valley to a high mountain pass. As the van got higher and higher the view of the whole valley surrounded by some sharp snowy peaks revealed. After passing the mountain pass we got a look at the landscape on the other side which was equally amazing. We got to the beginning of the trek at midday and met our donkeys. The fun thing about trekking in Peru is the fact that you don't need to carry your gear. Except for the water and the camera, the donkeys carried everything, while going much faster than us. The trek also included a cook, all the meals and the tents, which were ready for us at the end of each day even before we got to the camp.
On the first day, which was relatively short, we walked in a valley so we didn't climb much. Until the evening we got to know our group, which turned out to be a very nice, interesting and colorful. It consisted of another Israeli couple (Shay and Mor), one British (Robinson), one French girl (Yolene), one Italian guy (Simone), one Spanish guy (Javier) and two Czechs (Peter and Marek). At the first night the dinner turned into a political (one side) debate, when Oren tried to explain for more than an hour the situation in middle east from the Israeli point of view. The rest of the meals during the trek were much less serious most of the time.
The next day was the hardest day. We climbed slowly to a mountain pass at 4750 meters. The air is very thin at this altitude and the breathing is hard. Oren took some Coca leafs from our guide and chew them all the way up. The Coca leafs, very popular all around Peru, increase the blood flow in the body and helps the body adjust to the high altitude. As their name suggests, Coca leafs are one of the main ingredients in the production of Cocaine, which might shed a new light on the statement of the guide from the favela tour in Brazil that said that Oren is the most likely to buy drugs there. But to calm you down, we have to say that you need 5 kg of coca leafs to produce 1 gram of the drug, so we were far enough from danger. The leafs, by the way, worked like magic and helped removing the headache and the altitude sickness. The donkeys, however, didn't seem to mind the altitude and carried all of our gear up without any problem.
The view from the pass was, and now it is finally the time to use the cliche, breathtaking! The 360 degrees panoramic view included high snowy peaks, turquoise lagunas and glacieral valleys. As soon as we got up there, Oren forgot all his difficulties and started running from place to place taking pictures, as if the air on the peak is denser, or maybe he just had a spare set of lungs (inside his camera).
The next day of the trek began with rainy skies and cold weather. The Alpamayo peak, which was supposed to be one of the highlights of that day, was covered with thick clouds. The weather improved during the day and we got a great view of the river, the laguna and lots of cows that seemed to enjoy this sunny part of the day.
The last day was short and got back to the hostel at noon, just in time for the promising (and not really delivering) game of Spain and Chile.
At the evening we dressed as good as we could and went (together with Shay and Mor) to a KABALAT SHABAT in the "Jewish house". The "Jewish house" is an organization which is meant to give a feeling of home to Israeli backpackers around the world. The house is occupied by a family which, among other things, organizes a Shabat dinner every week. The small living room was crowded by 50-60 Israelis, and the dinner was the closest thing to Israeli cooking we could get including a real Humus and Tehina. Even though we are travelling for only 4 months, this was a very fun reminder of home. We went to eat there again on Saturday, and got a real home made Chamin! If you are Israelis in Huaraz, don't miss the visit there.
After eating at the "Jewish house" we went with our new friends from the trek to a local Ceviche restaurant. On our way back, at 11:30 p.m. we saw a group of Peruvian kids playing football and some of the guys decided to play against them. It took the Peruvian boys about 3 minutes to beat the Gringos team which had representative from all over Europe. Like in the group stage of the football world cup, the old continent got kicked off by the South Americans (or maybe it was because of all the beers....).
We left Huaraz the next day and took a night bus to Lima and from there an early morning bus to Ica.

Tip 1: It is very easy to stay only near the main square in Huaraz, but if you are there, we recommend to go to the market and the parallel streets. You'll be surprised how many interesting things you'll find there.

Tip 2: We did all of our activities in Huaraz (Climbing, Laguna Awak and Santa Cruz) with the "Dancing Peak" agency and we were quite pleased with them. They have a pretty good equipment, good guides, and they even agreed to postpone the trek by two days because of the weather, a night before we were supposed to start it. Not all the agencies do that.

Tip 3: Before going to the trek, especially if this is your first time in high altitude, have a one day hike to one of the lagunas in order to get used to the altitude.

Tip 4: Buy some coca leafs before the trek, you'll need them on the way to the pass.

Tip 5: If you are Jewish, go to the "Jewish house" for Shabat dinner (or any other dinner). It doesn't cost anything but don't forget to leave them few soles as a donation for the next travellers.

Tip 6: There are a lot of bus companies going to and from Lima. The prices and the quality can be very different. Do your homework before deciding

Pictures

Pictures from Huaraz and the Santa Cruz trek:

Pictures

Lilya finally had the chance to climb in Huaraz, Peru. The pictures are on line: