Ok if you read this please bear in mind im writing this retrospectively as this part of the journey happened back at the start of October! Hey ho its a rainy day today in Brazil so might as well update this.
We left the beautiful beach of Atiquipa and drove with the intention of getting to Arequipa. I was pretty sickly after the tatoo party so was more useless than normal in trying to fix the tyre which busted smack bang in the middle of the desert. Thankfully a Peruvian truck driver stopped without being asked and more or less took over the fixing, such friendly people. As a result of the tyre we didnt make it to Arequipa instead we camped in the desert amisdt beautiful cactus one of which I stood on whilst trying to relieve myself in the middle of the night, most painful but more painful to remove the barbs which have reversed hooks on, ouch!
When we arrived at the hostel we were most surprsied to find ourselves in such plush accomodation, apparantly the most expensive of the trip, we all felt extremely grubby turning up having been in the desert for so long and promptly went for showers and an exploration of the town. Still not too fussed about cities but Seb Calum an I sat on a terrace overlooking the main square and enjoyed a cold beer (banana split in my case) and watched the world go by. Arequipa was surrounded by beautiful mountains and I was getting itchy feet having not got up anything big yet, Volcan Misti was an impressive cone 5500 m high I would have loved to of climbed, just not enough time.
Next stop after driving round various garages getting spare tyres and fixing brakes for the morning was the infamous colca canyon where we would see condors. Did see plenty of condors which were mightily impressive but I was disappointed with the canyon. My vision of a canyon is vertical sides down into a big drop, this was more like a steep sided valley, very deep its true but not quite what i expected.
At this point having not climbed for weeks everyone was a bit ratty. We scouted out a small crag called Huayaye using the wonders of the web. On arrival mid afternoon I got my mountain head on and ran up a 4500m mountain in prep for the larger stuff. On reaching the summit it was dark and got thoroughly lost on the descent. Soon saw lights in the valley so thought id just head for the nearest town and ask for directions. When asking where Huayaye was it just sounded very Geordie and the poor Peruvian had no idea where or what I was talking about.Luckily I found my on way back to the truck. The next day was super excited about climbing but on arrival were told we were not allowed to climb there as its on farmers land. Not wanting to risk an encounter with the Peruvian police we leave and settle for a training session on the truck. This was much to the disappointment of the local climber who had bolted the whole crag and was probably delighted to see some people visit his rock, he went off to remonstrate with the farmer.
Feeling dispondent Jon and I attempt Cinnamon challenge which involves eating a spoonful of cinnamon without throwing up. I decide to snort mine which earns me a cool 40 soles. We both fail as Jon spits and mine slowly trickles back out of my nose.
Drive to Cusco the ancient Ican capital and the stopping off point for a trip to Machu Picchu. Stayed in a beautiful eco campsite and explored the ruins of sacsayhuaman from the outside trying to avoid paying the fee. Was fun getting chased away by Peruvian guards with whistles. The Incan stonework is as impressive as they say, merely the size of the blocks used and the precision with which they are put together with no cement. Spend an age getting various tickets for Machu Picchu and the train which might be the most expensive train in the world.
The next day we went to the town of Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley. We entered the ruins (actually paid the fee this time) and quickly realised we had no idea of the significance of anything so hired a guide which was most interesting as we learnt about how solstices were important in the building design and many settlements were built in the shape of animals such as the alpacca and the puma. Train ride along sacred valley is awesome as we have views of 6000m andean peaks and the beautiful Urubamba river. We arrive in Aguas Calientes which in the nicest possible way is a hole purely built for those visiting Machu Picchu.
The next morning we rise at 5am and snub the tourist buses to take a walk up through the cloud forest to Machu Picchu. From my mountain training im feeling pretty fit so run to the top and meet the others in a pool of sweat! The view of the place was stunning and we were all very excited. It was a very intense day exploring the whole site before we had to get the train back to Cusco. Didnt really learn much apart from when I latched onto a tour group of middle aged Americans, but just enjoyed exploring all the nooks and crannies. Spectacular site. As your not allowed to take food into the site was stupidly hungry by the end, but it was totally worth it. Got the train back to Cusco in time to prepare for our next mountain adventure in the Cordillera Real.
Photos of this leg below
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