Peru - Postscript

The anticipation of this trip had been almost overwhelming.
This was my first serious overseas trip with Machu Picchu being my #1 dream destination. 
It was a bittersweet experience.
The joy and exhilaration of visiting Machu Picchu  - not only lived up to expectations but surpassed them!
The Sacred Valley, Lares Valley, Cuzco and The Colca Canyon were also spectacular destinations
Being able to cruise Lake Titicaca by boat, motorcycle around Cuzco, dance on the Orient Express train and white water raft on the Rio Chili - definite highlights.
The spectacular landscape - volcanoes, canyons, river valleys, cloud forest, but it was the Peruvian mountains that were breathtaking in more ways than one!
Exploring historical Inca and Andean cultural sites
Travelling with a group and sharing the journey with friends
The downside - on reflection, health issues certainly took their toll. I was frustrated that I was in Struggletown for some of the trip and I was conscious that I was not always a happy camper or travelling companion. I regret I was not able to enjoy some of the holiday because of this!

On the upside - I am looking forward to returning to Peru - I have some unfinished business.....

If I have to choose 4 of my favourite photos of the trip, here are my "Frank Hurley's"

Homeward Bound

Rain this morning in Valparaiso.
Picked up at 0930 for 2 hour drive back to Santiago airport. Jack purchased some cheap whiskey specials, advertised by a lone piper playing the bagpipes in duty free

13 hour Qantas flight flight back to Sydney - watched 3 movies and only dozed a little. - so nice to hear a familar Aussie accent after 5 weeks of listening to and trying to translate Latin American Spanish 

Back on home soil - short detour in customs to show off my hiking boots to the officials, no further detainment required. 2 hours stopover and then back to Adelaide!

Looking forward to......finally being able to use jetlag as an excuse!

Valpo (as the locals call it)

After breakfast, we headed down to the port to do a walking tour.

Run by a mob called Tours 4 Tips, they give you a 3 hour tour with the guide identified by a Where's Wally shirt and you pay whatever you think it was worth.

Our guide was a 22yo girl from San Francisco who had studied in Valpo for 12 months and then stayed on.

Today was Sunday and also Heritage Day in Valpo, so a few museums that were not usually open to the public were open and freeof charge, so the guide took advantage of this.

We looked through the Naval headquarters down near the port and also had a trolley bus ride. The electric trolley buses have been in Valpo since the 1930's imported from the US and Switzerland. Very retro!

At one point on the tour we stopped, literally someone's house, and bought an empanada (pasty) and a sweet treat, similar to a Wagon Wheel - very tasty. The tour was great, mainly because we walked around the more arty parts of town, and also that the sun had finally made an appearance.

Met up with the Camerons afterwards and walked around the streets of Concepcion looking at galleries and shops. Played cards in the afternoon and then dinner at a restaurant with fabulous views in Bellavista Hill, finishing with a final drink and toast to a fabulous trip together

Valparaiso

Jack not feeling well this morning, so mooched around until after lunch time.

Ventured out for an afternoon walk. Valparaiso is famous for its brightly painted buildings and its street art. A few sights along the way including the Pantheon, an old cemetery, and some street art around Bellavista Hill. Not overly impressed by the sights and as the day was overcast and dreary, that probably didn't help. It is amazing how the weather can make you look at things differently.
I would describe Valparaiso as like on old Hollywood movie starlet - great in her primetime, but now has lost her lustre!

 

Cards with the Camerons and then dinner. I had trout served on a bed of risotto - delicious! Can't complain about the food here in Chile or Peru.... have hardly had a bad one, and all very reasonably priced!

Adios Peru!

Fitful sleep with a 4.45am alarm. Speedy check in. Enquired at security office about lost property, but no phone matching mine had been handed in .

Smooth flight, managed to nap a little. Magnificent views of snowcapped mountains coming into Santiago, including Aconcagua -an amazing sight

Able to share transport with Camerons down to Valparaiso. Nice drive down, through countryside reminiscent of the Adelaide Plains market gardens bowl in the Virginia area and vineyards not unlike the McLaren Vale district.

Checked into hotel, on top floor with great views of the famous Valpo hills and coastline.

Went for a short walk and had my first funicular railway ride. I wasn't too sure about it to start with, but enjoyed it. Valparaiso has 9 of the funicular railways still in working order.

Had dinner at Cafe Turri which had great views of the coast from it's hillside location in the suburban enclave of Concepcion. I ordered a lamb shank meal ,followed by a dessert platter of icecream and sorbet! My appetite had well and truly returned! Time to put some weight back on...

Cuzco - Lima

Feeling a little seedy this morning, like a few others. Think we may have had a bad batch of alcohol last night!

Decided to cancel plans to stay in Santiago and try and travel with Camerons to Valparaiso instead.
Managed to book into a guesthouse and were hoping to share the airport transfer transport. 

Checked out and transferred to airport. Managed to get on an earlier flight and arrived in Lima 1 hour than expected. Had my nose pressed up against the window for most of the flight enjoying the views.

Back at the same hotel in Miraflores. Strange to be back in a big city again. Already yearning for the Peruvian mountians...

Nice hat, my friend!

Jack about to devour a dessert the locals call Mt Vesuvius!

Checked out some markets close to the hotel, then dinner. Early night - 5 am pickup in the morning for flight to Santiago.

Peru - By Any Means

Lazy morning. Met the Camerons at lunchtime who arrived back in Cuzco having spent the last 4 days in the Sacred Valley.
Afternoon was spent riding motorbikes through the southern valleys of Cuzco with Andrew and Barb.
Great fun but thankful we had a guide to help negotiate our way through the mad traffic.

Enjoying the sights of the Southern Valley circuit

Didn't arrive back in town until 6pm in the dark.

Dinner and cards at the English pub to celebrate our last night in Cuzco

cuzco downtime

Jack off for the morning on a 4 hour motor cycle ride. 

I spent the morning catching up on emails, about 7 days behind!

Jack returned at 2.30. Had a great ride, although it was the tour he had booked for tomorrow. He was still happy to do the same one tomorrow with me coming along as a pillion passenger

Inca site at Pisac - Sacred Valley

Pisac ruins

Jack feeling right at home on the KLR

Spent the rest of the afternoon walking around San Blas and buying a few more presents. I really surprised myself by haggling and bartering well for a couple of hats. 
Dinner at an English style pub, sharing a lasagna and having rum and colas for happy hour!

recovery mode

Quiet day - starting to feel a little better today. 

Had a drink at a pub just across the road from the hotel called the "Norton Rats" named after the motorcycle brand. Walls adorned with memorabilia. Jack spied a couple of stickers advertising motorcycle tour companies based in Peru. He copied their details down and then surfed the net looking at their tours. He contacted one of them via hotel staff and a company representative visited us at the hotel to explain the local tours on offer around Cuzco. Jack booked one for tomorrow and the next day. We had originally planned to visit the Pisac ruins, but decided to do the motorbike rides instead.

Jack enjoying a bourbon at The Norton Rats Pub - our hotel in background

Artesenias market in Cuzco

We spent a couple of hours during the afternoon visiting a museum just around the corner from the hotel which had a collection of pieces from Bingham's Machu Picchu expedition of 1912. Very interesting. 

Dinner at restaurant near hotel. Shared an alpaca pizza.

Back to Cuzco - taking stock

Light breakfast and then picked up for transfer back to Cuzco.
Issued another warning to driver to take it slowly, this time it was not lost in translation

He took heed of the warning and it was a slow but uneventful drive back. 

Back at the same hotel as previously, not the 5 star Private Collection, but a different room which was double the size. Bathtub and kingsize bed! 

Need to have some serious chill time and realise that we have done a lot! Now it's time to relax.

Feeling as green as the lamp post - at least I still have my sense of humour

Front doors of the cathedral - more green!

Quiet afternoon. Decided to start a course of antibiotics for the gastro and had to go out in search for more Lomotil supplies!

Had dinner at an organic restaurant next door to hotel. Could only manage to eat half an entree serve.
No appetite! So washed out from more gastro.
Now Jack is coming down with a cold!

Lares Valley - Day 3

I woke this morning not feeling 100% again. Nausea mainly. After yesterday's efforts I probably had done my dash.
After packing up camp and a small breakfast, we were collected by our support vehicle for a short drive down the valley to commence our morning´s hike.
There had been more rain overnight and most of the mountains were shrouded in low cloud again
It was a 40 min drive from Patacancha to Pallata. There we left the entourage who were continuing down the valley to meet us at our lunch spot.
Carlos and his assistant accompanied us on this hike up to Pumamarca ruins.
The path followed some Inca water channels which were full of water coming straight down off the mountain they call Veronica. The hike up only took 1 hour.
Punamarca, or Puma town as it is translated was not a town as such, but a large food storage facility for the Inca people. They consrtucted huge buildings to store their crops. We wandered around the site for about 30 mins.

Where we've come from - valley looking towards Patacancha

Where we're going - looking north from Punamarca

On the ascent to Punamarca - Pallata in background

Puma Town

Carlos - our wonderful trek guide

More Inca terracing

Down the valley track

We then headed off down the valley towards Ollanta for our last meal on the trek. The hike down was a gradual descent and took about 2 hours. As we travelled down the valley we could see the Ollanta ruins come into sight as well as other familiar landmarks.

Lunch was once again another culinary delight from the chef.
We then said our goodbyes to the team after they dropped us back to the hotel, grateful that they had taken very good care of us over the past 3 days.

The Entourage - minus Carlos (behind the lens)

We were both feeling exhausted. Jack had his shower and then while I took a bath, he went into town to get some laundry done and get some more anti emetic medication for the car trip back to Cuzco the next day.  I started to feel nauseated, and then the diarrhoea started, again. No dinner that night, and I went through my 24 hour allocation of Lomotil in less than 16 hours. I was feeling totally washed out and wondering whether I should just come home. Very frustrated at how sick I have been this trip.

It really was a case of the good, the bad and the very ugly!