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Round the world!!!
a travel blog by
Pete+Rochelle
4 1/2 months with no work, no keys, no responsibilities- doesn't get better than this!!!
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Back in London town
London
,
United Kingdom
Camden markets
Fri 22nd-Sat 27th Oct
Friday night was low key with salad and fruit and tv. After a big night out and a bit of a hang over from Paris, it was definatly needed. We had a big sleep then went into Camden on Saturday to have a look around. It's big and dirty and full of characters and some great shops that are a art in themselves. Sheree and I took Pete to see Cyber dog, a shop that sells all stuff for ravers. The shop is full of lights and loud music and ridiculious outfits and the staff members are a piece of art in themselves with multicoloured hair, piercings, big shoes and tight tops, and thats just the guys!! We went for a boat ride down the canal to look at the houses and trees, and the houses and... well, trees. I remember the ride being a little more interesting but oh well, thats life!! We did see a Banksy tho, a graffitti artist who is famous throughout the world for doing sometimes political but very well designed art on and in public space, walls and what not, and no one really knows who he is, Pete thinks he does tho. It was only a small stencil, but the most exciting bit of the ride I reckon.
A Banksey in Camden
Ricky, Anna, Gemma & Rob
That night we went out for Ana's pre-birthday drinks at Fluid Bar in Farringdon. We caught up with our mates again and saw Liam, a previous Hervey Bay High school teacher whos living here at the moment as well. We had sushi and beer and stayed out real late and got yelled at by Sheree's neighbour at 3 in the morning. Rock and Roll!!!!
Brick lane markets
Sunday we weren't going to do anything, but Bec rung to say she was going to Brick lane markets if we wanted to join in. So I don't know how, but we managed to get ourselves showered and ready and took ourselves out. I love the markets, there were heaps of new stuff and old collectables and bits of junk and hand made jewellery. We had a great burger at a pub that was full of real pickle and Pete drank beer to make himself better and I drank coke cause I couldn't look at beer. We had a look around the markets and the shops and ended up in another bar before going our seperate ways, which, we realised once we sat down was a gay bar and Bec and I were the only females! On the way home we stopped into the local pub by Sheree's place and ate too much dinner and passed out.
smoke in the sky
Monday we didn't want to face the day so we hung around home for some rest. Late that afternoon we were meeting up with Bec and Laim to do the Jack the Ripper tour. Now the reason I was up for doing the tour is because I knew it wasn't going to be scary (I don't like scary), and this definatly wasn't. It was informational and the tour giude was great and explained how and where and really knew his stuff. He really took you back in time to talk about detail and how the streets wouldv'e been back then and how he couldv'e gotten away with them all, and he even has is theories on the killer. Me, I kinda lost him in the end and came away knowing more about the murders, but hasn't changed my life at all, a little more suspence was needed I think.
A beef eater!!
Tower castle
Tuesday we went to do the Tower of London. I didn't visit when I lived here years ago, and was really looking forward to seeing it. So of course, it was the wettest day that we have had so far!! It was miserable, and most of the castle was open grounds and queues to see the things that were in the towers. The rain really affected our outing. Pete didn't bring his raincoat so he was in no mood to be outside (He has learnt his lesson now tho). Not being able to cope with any more, Pete parted form me to meet me at a neighbouring pub when I was done, as I was determined to see the castle!! It's all I wanted to see!!
I loved it, even with the rain. The Tower's history aroused my interest, every room has some story that has altered history in one way or another.
After a beer at the pub and a chance to dry of a little, Pete and I went our separate ways. Pete was off to meet up with Francesca, an old friend from Australia to go and see a play. The play was a ye oldie farce called Absent Friends- ironic for you people back home? It was played at the Union, a small and intimate theatre in Southwark. It was good catchin' up with Chesca, she has been over in England for several weeks and was lookin' as awestruck as I (Peter) was.
I (Rochelle) went out for dinner with Claire where we had Tapas and 2 bottles of wine and talked all evening. We were surprised by an early trick or treater who’s mask gave us a fright, so we got a photo in exchange for treats!
Wednesday morning was full of doing washing and odd jobs. In the afternoon we meet up with Brendan, the brother of a friend from Hervey Bay, who is also in a band (Twister Bait). He took us to a Belgium beer pub in Piccadilly, so Pete got to see a little of the city and where all the theatres are. After a couple of beers and a lot of music talk we went our separate ways.
Blue steel poses!!
Pete and I were off to cook Ricky and Ana dinner at his small flat. Its so little that I kept on banging my head on the ceiling slope in the kitchen as its right next to the stove!! A great night but not too adventurous apart from a little bit of head trauma- we had to be up early in the morning as we were going to Strafford-upon-Avon.
Pete tree loving
Sheree had organised a couple of days off work to hang out, so we were up early (7am early!! It was a killer) and on a train. Well, a train and a bus as Strafford’s train station is getting works done and closed for the week, go figure. We arrived with having no breakfast, so it was off to a café to fuel us up, Pete realised that he hadn’t had a full English breakfast since being in England so decided it was on the cards. Me, I was loving up baked potatoes with coleslaw and cheese! So good. We were then off to the thing Strafford-upon-Avon is famous for- Shakespeare’s birthplace and home.
Shakespears birthplace
Romep & Juliet
We got a little history on Shakespeare’s childhood and the his work, or rather the impact of his work on literature, and then were able to look around the gardens and in the house freely. Some of the rooms had a person talking about the aspects, from the bedroom where he was born to the workshop where his dad made gloves. The guy in that room was weird. He talked really slow and did fumy things with his hands and as soon as he was done we were out of there! In the courtyard there were two actors acting out bits from Shakespeare’s plays, they new a lot of different bits and you could give them a play and they would act parts from them. The guy wasn’t too impressed when someone wanted to see the classic Romeo and Juliet balcony scene, but it was great- she went into the house and upstairs to the window and it was impressive until a man was trying to come out of the house right where they were and at the most inappropriate moment. It was a bit of a chuckle tho. Pete bought a book called Filthy Shakespeare, an informative little number that highlights the overtly sexual puns that can be found within Shakespeare's famous plays. I guess it was his birth right to do so. Did you know that William Shakespeare's own name was a sexual pun? That is, in his day he would have been ribbed with "wanker", or "fucking wanker", as his name literally means just that. Will was a pun for fuck, and to 'shake' one's 'spear' was to masterbate. This begs the question- would a wanker by another name have wrote such smut?
Fishing on the Avon river
Shakespears grave
After a good look around we went for a walk along the river Avon to get to the church where not only Shakespeare was baptised, but also where his grave is- inside the church. It was a beautiful church and a gorgeous river with all the autumn trees (I know I keep on going on about them) and big willows. It’s a small place, but very pretty, and so quiet after London. On the way back to the bus we stopped off for afternoon tea. Pete keeping in Tradition of the day had tea with Scones, jam and clotted cream. Very English.
the sunset on the bus
Little restaurant
After our almost three hour journey to get back home, we finished off the day with a late dinner at a Lebanese restaurant around the corner from Sheree’s place. When I say restaurant I actually mean his house that he has converted into a restaurant. Apparently he lives upstairs and has the business downstairs. Its tiny, Sheree says its busy all the time and there is stuff everywhere!! Its hard to even sit down! He collects salt and pepper shakers and they were all over the place, there was all sorts of lights and fans hanging from the ceiling and ornaments everywhere- I guess a bit like being at Uncle Eric’s!! The menu was small, but the food superb, all fresh and basic but so much flavour, and we watched him cook it in the little kitchen that was right next to our table. We ate so well and passed out.
Ree's puppy shakers
Princess & the frog s&p shakers
Road kill cake
Friday we meet my old school mate Melissa for lunch in Soho and had some Italian, followed by meeting up with Bec at a pub to go to a cake shop. She had heard bout this shop that makes cakes that look like body parts and they had a big Halloween special going on, so we went to check it out. Unfortunately we got there quite late in the day and most of the cupcakes and things had been sold, which was a shame- I wanted a cupcake that looked like it had pusy zits all over it. We got a couple of little things tho and some photos, so it was something different to do.
Claire, Sheree & Roch
Pete stayed out with Bec and met his friend Patricia for drinks, I went with Sheree for drinks to celebrate Beth, her flatmates, birthday. Claire joined us for a bit and after a couple of beers we decided to opt for home as it was an early start for the airport in the morning.
And that was London.
A bit to read all at once, but I have some trouble with the internet and the photos at times. But those of you who know me also know my experience with computers, so I think I'm doing pretty well. Also, check out the extra photos- Sheree has taken a few good ones of Pete and I so I have included some poser shots.
In New York now, that entry will be full to the brim of pic's- there is so much to see!! But you'll have to wait for that one folks!! Love to you all!! Rochelle and Peter.
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on October 27, 2010
from
London
,
United Kingdom
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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New York New York!!!!!
New York
,
United States
Saturday 30th October- Wednesday 3rd November.
Sorry folks-I have alot of writing again. So I have broken it down into days which might make it easier for you to read when your at work!!! Hope that helps. xxx
First glimpse of the city
Let us start off by saying that JFK airport has been one of the easiest airports to get out of. The queue for customs was not long at all, the customs control officer was having a laugh with us suggesting which hotdogs to eat , and our bags didn’t even go through a x-ray. It was the shortest time and the least amount of board security to date. Hmmmm…though we did get electronically finger printed.
The signs everyone ignores!!
After our pleasant arrival we decided to get a shuttle bus to our hostel which was in Manhattan. It took us about two and half hours to get there as the traffic was atrocious and some of the roads we needed to take were closed. The drivers are insane here, people just pull out in front of each other, turn into on-coming traffic and beep their horns constantly as if to part the sea of twisted metal. There are signs that indicate that horn blowing is strictly prohibited and fines apply- not that anyone adheres to this rule!! By the time we got to our hostel we were pretty tired. We had to walk four flights of steep stairs with all our gear to get the shortest room ever made. Pete couldn’t even stand up straight! We went for a little walk around our neighbourhood, got some dinner then had an early night to try and sort out the jet lag.
Sunday.
ToysRus
Our little coffee shop
We were up early so decided to walk down into Time Square. We stopped in at a diner for some breakfast, were I had coffee, I’m talking the filter, top up, sugar and ‘cream’ on the tables type, while Pete had pancakes. We had a little giggle over how ‘American’ the whole thing was. After our fill, we continued our walk to downtown Manhattan-Lexington St, stopping at Grand Central train terminal as we went to have a nosey. We had been informed that it’s a nice place to see, and it was , but not too exciting. We then carried on our walk and made it to Time Square. This place was mad!! There is so much for your eyes to look at, people, lights, signs and shops and traffic and cops and buskers-it was full on. We went to the biggest Toys R Us store in America where they have a Ferris Wheel in the foyer and the BIGGEST \Barbie store I have ever seen. My inner-child wet her pants. It had candy land and Willy Wonka World and huge Lego displays and a Jurassic Park T- Rex and Superman and the list goes on. We had a look at the Hard Rock Café with music memorabilia and walked around the Broadway theatres. We also bought bus tickets for hop on, hop off guided tours that would last us for a couple of days. The bus took us past Central park, through Harlem, past the Apollo theatre, through the streets and past some pretty expensive homes. It was pretty cold on the top of the bus, which was surprising as the sky was blue, the sun out, it was the wind that killed you.
At Central park zoo
At Central park zoo
After over an hour in the wind, we decided to get off and go to the zoo at Central Park. It was only little, but very cute and had polar beers, seals, a snow leopard ( which didn’t really come out to say hi), a great bird enclosure with bats and little fury creatures and great birds. The maddest thing about the zoo, is when you look past the enclosures, it it surrounded by high buildings. You’re still in a big city, but you kinda forget that its there.
Halloween people
We walked home after seeing all the animals, had a rest and went back out to see the Halloween parade. Now the thing with this is that ALL of New York was talking about it, most people get dressed up for it and planned on being a part of the parade, but, no one could tell us where it was starting or what time things were kicking off. Even on the subway, on the way too the event , people still couldn’t give us any details! But we soon realised that it didn’t matter, as long as you had the general area, all you had to do was follow the hundreds of people that were all dressed up going in the same direction. (Peter’s note: “It was the best Halloween parade ever- they literally recreated HELL, and let me tell you folks, the queue into hell is looooonng”) We made a small, cheap effort to get dressed up with shitty animal masks that didn’t look anything like the animal they tried to represent and waited for over an hour in a thick crowd not being able to move at all. When the parade came it was great….for 10 mins. There were huge puppets of a ghoulish fashion and stuff we couldn’t see. After that… well, that was it. We waited for the rest of the demon spawn but they didn’t come to the party. The rest of the parade were people that were dressed up in quasi gay icon outfits walking sexually down the street. I couldn’t see anything this again is Peter’s account of events so don’t count on it being that true. So after at least three hours of wading through crowds, witnessing fist fights and people undoubtedly touching each others arses, we only saw 15 minutes of parade and decided to (try) to leave. Unfortunately so were heaps of other people thinking the same. The crowd was think as was its mentality- push as hard as you can and see how many people with move. I had to get Pete to make sure that he was holding me as there were a few times where I was being pushed forward but my feet had no room to go and I was scared of completely losing my footing. It was manic. It was shit.. An experience, but I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone who doesn’t like: waiting, their personal space being violated, violence: watching small children getting crushed, and above all disappointment.
Halloween parade
Halloween people
When we finally got out of the melee we took the subway home and went for a very late dinner, at David Copperfields Restaurant. Not the magician, as I was getting very excited about, but the Copperfield from the book of the same name. Not as exciting. I had some magical ribs that were huge in their half serve portion (I always think of my sister Tanya when eating ribs as when we used to get them when we were younger she would steal my leftovers). Pete had a LITRE of beer with his fish and chips. (Peter‘s note: a litre of beer is a daunting task now I speak from experience. At first you think you’re up to the challenge, it’s easy to do on paper, but trust me, your bladder needs to sublet a room or two for it all to fit and if you drink it an hour before you go to sleep you wont“) . Our feet hurt from all our walking and the beer was good and our bellies food and we went for
another big sleep.
Monday
Worlds biggest button
Macys huge department store
Monday saw us getting on the bus for the downtown Manhattan tour. This took us past: Madison Square Garden, Greenwich Village, the Soho districts, the business district, a glimpse of Wall Street, the Empire State Building, Macys (the biggest department store in the world- this thing is scary), the fashion and design district where the biggest button ever is, the registry office where Matt Damon was married (sigh!) (Peter’s note: he’s a fucking sheep’s dag), and a peek of Ground Zero. We didn’t get to see too much of Ground Zero, but as far as we could tell it is in the process of being rebuilt as we saw a lot of cranes and construction equipment. We hopped off at the bottom of the island to get the free ferry across to Staten Island in order to see the Statue of Liberty. I have to tell you that this day was the coldest that we had experienced so far- Europe include. When we got off the bus we went in search for a café for a cup of tea and some warmth due to our fingers being frozen stiff and our feet being so cold they had pins and needles. Downtown is predominantly a business district so all the places we went to were take away only with no seating area. We finally found somewhere that had great broccoli and cheese soup, but the worst sandwich ever. Coleslaw sandwiches…ummm. After defrosting and eating we went and waited at the ferry terminal. As I said it’s free and they go every half hour and I think that over half the people there were just like us and only on the ferry to go past the statue. The ferry showed us a lovely view of the city and statue, however the statue looked smaller than we expected it to be, we didn’t go to Elise Island, I guess its bigger when you’re right underneath it. We got to Staten Island, and hopped straight back on the boat to come back as we had a date with the theatre.
The statue!!
OUr little theatre
We had previously booked to go to see Driving Miss Daisy at the Golden Theatre. We got dressed up in our best jeans and thermals and headed out to dinner in a lovely little restaurant and then went to the show. The theatre was intimate but lovely, but the most important part was that the show starred the legendary James Earl Jones. The show was great and as I have never seen the play or movie before I had a teary at the end.
BB Kings Blues club
After the show we went to BB King’s blues club to have a drink and listen to some music. It was so much fun. There was a blues band there doing some great covers and they had people get up and join them for a jam. We had a bit of a boogie at the bar and even had a chat with the band. Made friends with the cutest old lady that was up having a sing during the night, her voice was great. Our couple of drinks turned into a couple more and it ended up being a bit of a late night. Lucky for us, being in the city that never sleeps, the subway doesn’t either, so getting home at any time is not a problem.
Tuesday.
Question: When do you know that your really on holiday? When you pack up all your stuff ready to leave, go and check that your flight is on time, and realise that you’re a day ahead of yourselves. That’s what happened to us!!! I don’t know what we were doing, but it worked out that we had an extra day in New York! Our accommodation was booked right, maybe we were overly excited about going to South America. So on Tuesday we had a lie in, got all our stuff packed and ready to go for Wednesday, by accident, went back to our favourite diner, ate, and decided to go back to the room!! A late night and too much booze and blues will do that to you. So at least we got to have another whole other day with a clear agenda. We had a big salad for dinner, went for a little walk to look at the lights on the Hudson river, but that was about it.
Wednesday.
From the High line
From the High line
Wednesday we checked out and headed down town to go to the High Line. This is a walk that is above street level, that used to be a railway. The tracks have been covered over and they have put shrubs and flowers all along the sides and made it a beautiful walk. I really enjoyed it. It had a whole industrial feel to it- there are big buildings and car parks along the bottom and the sides, but you can also see views to the river and the Empire State Building. So many people were there enjoying it and it was a lovely day- we had taken so many layers because of the days previous, that we ended up carrying a pile of clothes!
The High line
Central park
The Dakota Building
After going for a walk, we took the subway up to Central Park.
At central park we hired bikes so we could look around better. This park is massive!! It had 26000 trees and 7 lakes. We cycled around the whole thing, by accident, stopped a couple if times and went to the Dakota hotel. This is were Mark Chapman killed Mr John Lennon. I took a shot of Peter outside the Dakota’s gates where the event took place. The bike riding took us just under two hours to arrive back at our starting point. Our legs were so sore! The park is lovely though, with a big reservoir/lake in the middle of it, accompanied by lots of trees, grass areas and walkways. It was a little crisp out, but heaps of people were enjoying it, and the colours were beautiful.
After punishing our bodies we went back to David Copperfields for Pete to get his last litre of beer before we picked up our bags and headed to the airport. We had got there really early and had to wait for a long time, but we got on the plane for a very late night time flight with minimal sleep. We loved New York. Not one person was rude to us! Sure, they are a bit abrupt, but that’s just how they are, but not at all rude. A little disappointing as we were ready for rudeness, oh’ well maybe well find it in Lima.
Look us up soon, Love Peter and Rochelle x x x x x
P.S On a side note, it has to be mentioned that we have now conquered most of the major cities of the world and their public transport systems: The Tube, Metro and Subway and we’re pleased to report that they have all been very user friendly. Despite this, New York City was the easiest city to truly navigate around, the streets included. The fantastic thing about this city is that its made up of grids, the streets go from south to north 2nd street up to 222nd St, and the avenues go East to West in a similar fashion. Sure there were streets with names in the mix, but you could always rely on stumbling across a 5th street or 2nd ave that would give you a good idea as to where you was’ at. Make sense?! It did to us after a couple of days.
Roch & some NYPD Cops!!
Time square lights
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 7, 2010
from
New York
,
United States
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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?Que...Te Gusto Lima?
Lima
,
Peru
4th-9th November.
Have sorted out my little computer problem on here, but have a lot of writing to do and photos to sort from the Amazon trip. But thought i would update the last entry. Won't be long now I promise till you can hear about our adventure!
The past 5 days have been very chilled out. We have looked a little around Lima, but this time was really to recharge the batteries. I don’t know how well that worked tho- we are waiting for a plane to Iquitos at the moment and we both feel pretty wrecked!
The biggest problem we have had so far has been the language barrier. They talk so fast, and what I thought I knew I have no idea about when they talk. We can say things, but when they talk back to us, they totally lose us! Some people can speak a little English, numbers and the like, and we have come across a couple who’s English has been great and we took full advantage of that. Otherwise, it’s us verses them in a game of charades. Money had also been a little issue. Hardly anyone excepts credit card, and the cash machine gives out 100 soles notes, which is equivalent to about $260 Australian dollars. So when you only have that, and you want to buy water worth 2 soles, you can understand that they can’t or don’t want to change it. We also have to remember to carry tissues or toilet paper around with us, as a lot of the toilets don’t have it or charge for it.
Coming in from the airport you get to see the outer suburbs and the houses are very run down or falling down, the poverty very much in your face. The city tho is very grand with beautiful big buildings and churches and there are a lot of squares with fountains and statues which make it easy for navigation. When you come across one of these you know where you are. We did somehow get very lost on our 2nd day there tho- I thought we were going one way but we were in the other direction! That’s why I’m in charge of the maps, and Pete’s supposed to point us in the right direction.
We spent the first 2 nights in a pre booked hotel, which was very old and grand. We had the biggest room and our own bathroom, and when we weren’t having a look around the streets we were just hanging out in the room. On Saturday we moved to a cool hostel that had statues all around the place and vines growing up throughout and on the roof there was a cafeteria and that’s were the birds, turtles dog and cat hung out. It was wicked!!!
As we were checking in, a couple of Spanish girls asked us if we would like to be part of a focus group. We had no idea what this was, but there were some american guys doing it, one of which had done this kind of thing before, and they assured us that even tho they knew fuck all about this one, what they did know was it involved us drinking alcohol and telling them what we think. How can you say no to that.
So a couple of hours later we were in a cab with the Spanish girls and the american boys who could speak Spanish going to the university where there was a whole bunch of people waiting for us. They were all students of international business who were trying a new product out for pisco Sour. This is a national drink of Peru which is made of lemon, egg whites, sugar and pisco, a clear alcohol a bit like tequila and very strong. Normally is made to order like a cocktail, but they have a pre made mix for easy making. So we were the guinea pigs, and as we tried it we had to give our feed back, all through a translator. At the end, all these girls that were watching the group through a mirrored window came out and gave us all a bottle of pisco, a packet of the mix, a beanie, and a cool little hand made card. All for drinking some drinks and telling them what we thought!! Afterwards we had dinner with the boys and went to a small casino where we put money on these little mechanical horses on a small race track and got free beer! What a day.
Sunday evening we went to park that had 13 water fountains of different shapes and sizes. Some would move in time to music and people were running in and out of it. There was one that made a arc and you could walk underneath it. There was a big show with lights and music and pictures and lasers that were projected on to the water. It was very spectacular.
We spent most of Monday at a travel agent organising our Amazon and Machu Picchu treks. We took so long there that we ended up having lunch with Jacky, our agent, and she took us to a restaurant where we got to try some real Peruvian food, some of which was raw fish with lemon and chilli. Not our cup of tea, but we had a great soup and Pete had the best meal he has had here so far, some beef thing in gravy with rice.
So we made a new friend and she gave us discounts!
So that was Lima, Off to the next leg now!! Hope your all well!! Love P & R xxxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 9, 2010
from
Lima
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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In the jungle
Iquitos
,
Peru
Iquitos and the Amazon. Tue 9th- Sun 14th
What an adventure we have had!!! The Amazon has the been the most amazing part of the trip thus far, as all who read will soon see. Again, we've broken our sights and activities down into days to make it easier for the readers understanding and comfort.
Tuesday
We flew into Iquitos (pronounced Ekeetos), which is said to be the biggest city unreachable by land. In order to get to this prime exotic location, you would have to fly which will take one hour thirty minutes from Lima or catch a boat which will set you back four and a half days from Brazil. When coming in by plane the place looks...interesting- the roads are filled with moto-cars, ‘touk-touks', motorbikes that have a two wheeled carriage attached to them. We were picked up by Cumaceba Amazon Tours, the company that we had booked our Amazon trip with in the nations capital Lima. The company was great, helped us find a hostel and dropped us and our bags there. When we were settled, we decided to go for a walk around the 'city'. Its right next to the river and is all hustle and bustle around the main square, with the shanty town of Belen built on stilts right next to the hub. It can be seen as a poor village that is on the river, and depending on the season, rainy or dry, its either surrounded by water or on part of the townscape, but we're sure if we were a local beauty wouldn't be too hard to find, or buy. When on the boulevard looking at the 19th century architecture, a man came and had a chat to us and told us a bit about the city. His name was “Jeorge”, and he told us that he worked at the local museum. He offered to show us around Iquitos and to help us buy the bits and pieces we needed. We knew we would have to pay him, but it saved us trying to find stuff and having to ask for shit in Spanish. He showed us around a bit of the city and was a good guide, he talked about the history of Iquitos and also about the local plants and foods in the area.
First of all Jorge showed us the Belen markets, whic were a smelly, cramped place where the local denizens sell everything from kids toys, oils, roots, drinks made from these concoctions, raw chicken and fish that were just sitting out on bits of wood in the sun, to rare and endangered species, puma cubs, monkeys (not that we saw any of these, we were just told that they aren't hard to find there). We saw a big pile of rubbish that you needed to walk around that smelt of raw 'carne' , fishguts and fruits of which the slum dogs were eating there way through. It wasn’t our favourite place you could say. Then to top it all off as I was getting my camera out for a picture a guy came past me and ever so quickly and ripped my gold necklace from my neck and ran towards the river. Everyone gasped. Jeorge, the guide ran after him to no avail. I was okay, I hurt my knuckle and finger tho somehow in the haze of the violation- this experience certainly taught us a valuable lesson worth more that the stolen necklace- trust no-one. The silly thing was, we had been warned about this, and even Francis (our Spanish teacher back in Hervey Bay), had told us to take seemingly expensive items off because this sort of thing might happen (she is so going to tell us off now!!). We were intending to be cautious- we just didn’t think that we needed to be so mindful so early. So, Fancis if you are reading we have learnt, but hey it wasn’t passports or wallets or bags...yet, and we ARE on very high alert now. We can safey say we’re not going back to those markets.
After our excitement we decided to go back to our room and calm down, cool down. We ate dinner at the Yellow Rose of Texas, a restaurant that serves Peruvian and American food, great when you need a break from Pollo (chicken) and arroz (rice).
Wednesday.
We were picked up early by Cumaceba and given another little town tour by our guide, Dixon. Lucky, he didn’t take us to the markets, he just pointed them out, we think he knew what would happen. We then took a hour boat ride to get to the lodge that was next to the Amazon and let us tell you folks - this place was beautiful. As soon as we got there we instantly felt relaxed. As soon as you walk down the mounted, woven leaf covered, walk way, ala the tv show Survivor, you find a main room where everyone comes to eat and listen to Spanish guitar playing at night, then a bit further- paradise- separate little bungalows with insect screens, cold showers, a gas latern and not much else. We dropped our stuff off, and organised our gumboots for hire, which were mandatory because of the snakes and mud.
Our first excursion was a Amazon jungle trek. We walked out of the lodge grounds and into the Amazon! That was pretty cool. Dixon explained about all the flowers and trees and plants, giving Spanish, English and Latin names for them all. Thankfully there weren’t many creepy crawlies out at all. Pete held a Millipede which shat on him, suck shit, and we saw millions of ants carrying leafs to take back to their greedy lump of a queen (one of the select few that I could actually stand). We saw big old trees and plants used to help for liver failure, back pains and even curing cancer!
We went back to the lodge for lunch. All the meals were Peruvian flavours, each meal came with rice (Mums, please don’t cook us rice when we get home!!) and these simple salads of either red onion, capsicum and lemon, or tomato, cucumber, lettuce and ’jungle spaghetti’. We can’t tell you what it is exactly, but I thinks it’s a root, stripped to long thin pieces and either boiled or just broken down in lemon. We either had catfish or chicken and all meat served with banana, cooked some way or another. Fresh fruit was for dessert and the pineapple was insane.
After lunch we got a couple of hours to relax, either in our cabins, or in the hammock area, which is just another word for afternoon nap!! It was brilliant. We then went to the best place of all, an animal refugee place that holds a few different types of animals, but mainly monkeys! We got off the boat, walked a little, then were greeted by about four monkeys that just wanted to climb over us (there was eight of us) and either bite us or steal our glasses. They were hilarious and so much fun, one was licking Pete’s eyelid and putting his fingers up Pete’s nose. I had one trying to eat my hair. They completely used us as a jungle gym and hung from our arms and wrapped themselves around our necks, and fought with each other.
They also had Toucans, a Sloth (which we held but he was not impressed at all), two Achunis, which are from the Racoon family and very shy. We, well, I, got to hold an alligator and a Matamata, which is a prehistoric turtle. They also had an anaconda and a boa constrictor which were very big but only babies! We didn’t hold them. We were then taken to a little bar area and were given seven roots to try, a local drink made from roots of the Amazon. Apparently also used as an aphrodisiac. Not that we noticed that when we bought a bottled. We just thought it tasted interesting! So we were off again after that, not before we had more cuddles and we got very attached to one little monkey that seemed to get very attached to me and want to cuddle into me. Pete thinks its because I've got tits, and he saw one of the guides laughing and pointing at them.
We went back to the lodge, had dinner (chicken and rice), and were off again for a night time canoe ride in the lagoon right next to the lodge. It was a little canoe, powered by Dixon's paddling that seemed to be at risk of tipping over if there was too much movement. We went out to listen to the noises of the night and look for alligators. It was so mystical, we had or torches out and could look out at the black water and at the gloomy-looking trees and shrubs. On our way down the lagoon we were ordered to turned off all our touches and had to stop talking so we might be able to see the alligators. We were told to look for their eyes which glow in the moonlight and Dixon's touchlight. Fact- alligators are more shy then their Australian brothers the crocodile). Taking that in mind we didn't see shit. In the dark we could only be deafened by the onimous sounds of the giant turtles, notural birds and frogs, nothing overly scary, unless your name is Carol Blakelock...(just joking- Pete). There were also the biggest fireflies flying through the trees, all we could see was this big light moving around. Just before we got back to the lodge, we finally saw some red dots in the light of Dixon's torch that were Alligator eyes. Not much to look at, but....yeah not much at all really. The gang (Our tourist troop- two Sweds, a pair of Italians, a couple of Peruvians and yours truely) went back to our bungalows, the route being lit by candles as there was no electricity, and our gas lamp left at our door. We went to our bed and listened to all the noises of the jungle. We then had to put in our ear plugs because of all the noises of the jungle!!!
Thursday.
We had to wake up for a 6am outing, bird watching was on the cards, and on the same lagoon we were on the night before. We only get up that early now to catch planes, nobody told Dixon though! Despite out cold shower wakeup call, it was another beautiful morning, and so great to be able to see the lagoon in the daylight. We saw so many different birds, none of which we know the names of, oh wait their was an eagle which the locals call ‘old woman’ due to its white scalp, there you go! The lagoon had parts covered by sea lettuce, small flower like green plants that make it look like your not floating on water at all but some overgrown cricket pitch. It was a perfect morning out, and so peaceful, without the sounds of traffic in our ears we couldn’t get over the quietness of it all.
After the early start, we had our breakfast and a couple of hours off before our next adventure, going to visit the local Yagua tribe. We walked for a bit, through the jungle again and past banana plantations, sugar cane and a quaint, overly simple house. Really it was just a roof with a floor, hammock and a place where there was a fire with a pot on it for cooking, and this as to house a family of four. That was a bit of shock, and a big eye opener. Peter came to thinking where was the space to keep the real 'fire' alive? In the bush with the real snakes? No wonder the girls round her start early, monkey see....We ended up at the meeting place for this tribe, a big marquee area that was covered by big leaves. The villagers were in traditional dress, flax skirts and head dresses made of flax and feathers, the chief having the best one of course.
We were greeted and then covered in red ‘paint’ that came from the bulb of a plant and each marking was to show if you were married or single. We then had to do a dance with them, which, too be honest, wasn’t really much of a dance, it was pretty shitty. Some of the villagers played music and one- by- one we were grabbed by a different villager and they walked us in a circle around the marquee. That was it. No movements or even rhythm, just walking awkwardly around a pole with a perfect stranger. This notwithstanding, Dancing with the Stars is lame compared to this spectical though. Pete says he just needs and title for the show and its a winner. So for all of you in Blogland with nothing better to do...come up with a title for this new dancing show concept and be in the running to will win a authentic bracelet made by no other than the tribe itself!!
After the dancing they took us to a clearing next to the marquee where they showed us how to use a traditional blow gun. The tribe use this to catch animals, that cover each little arrow in the poison from a frog or snake and it is from this that they are able to kill jungle rats and pigs. So we got a demonstration and then all got a chance to try it. Pete went first and, well, sucked massively. Our aim was a wooden pole made to look like a person and he didn’t get any. I had my turn next and got all 3!! It was a pretty good joke in our little group for awhile afterward.
After having a laugh at trying the blow gun, the tribes people then got to try to sell us all there jewellery and ornaments that they made from seeds, shells, bones and teeth. This part was full on. They all come at you, shoving their work in your hands and not taking it back, just asking you for money. We couldn’t really move, they were in our face. Pete was yelling out to me to help him, I had necklaces and masks and bracelets all over my arms and fingers. We bought a bit of stuff off them (we were pretty much sucked in actually). As we were leaving we were trying to put sunscreen on and all the little ones were coming up to us with their hands open, wanting some cream to put on their skin. We gave them all some cream and they rubbed it in, even tho they didn’t need it! We got the boat back to the lodge, had really good showers (the weather was pretty hot) and some lunch- fish and rice, followed by another afternoon siesta in the hammocks.
That afternoon we went for another walk into the jungle to a little nearby village that had a school and a big field. The boys in our group played soccer on the green and all the locals ended up coming and playing with them. They were running around and falling over each other and having a great time. The local women were playing bingo on a nearby seat under a tree. The beautiful thing about this place was the real sense of community that we felt. We sat on a chair by the school and watched the scene. There was no one doing a show and dance for us, no one trying to get anything from us, just people, a community, doing what they do. We got to see them just being, and it was a really lovely thing. The next village over had neat little bugalows by the river for sale. When you get to know the beauty of the area and have an extended supply of aeroguard, we can safely say that one could get a little tempted at the offer.
We got a boat back to the lodge for dinner, you guessed it rice and chicken! and a relaxed, early evening. Some of the group went on a night hunt for spiders and snakes and scorpions, we decided to sit that one out- I knew it would freak me out too much, and that from opting out I would safe myself from having to be on the lookout from creepy crawlies for the rest of our trip.
Friday
We had a sleep in until breakfast to then go fishing for piranhas! We went on a little boat and used sticks with fishing line and hooks attached and bait made of breadcrumbs and meat. It was a peaceful, warm morning and so relaxing. Only one piranha was caught, but I caught a small sardine which was going to be used for bait but jumped out of the boat before we could use it! It was fun and entertaining seeing everyone’s exasperation as they tried to catch fish but failed. Pete sat most of the time, not fishing, in sheer frustration by it all, especially when he broke his rod on 'the one that got away'! (See picture for more insight). We spent a good couple of hours out there and came back to the lodge with a little time to spare before lunch. At lunch the man who caught the piranha was served it cooked for lunch! We all got to try a bit and it was actually very tasty.
Cooked Piranha
Half of our group was leaving after lunch as they were on a shorter trip then us. We said our goodbyes and joined up with another group for the afternoon to go back to the monkeys! We absolutely loved that place and Dixon made it possible for us to visit again. And so again we hung out with our new little friends, and the lodge’s dog, Drako, came with us this time. He was funny with the monkeys, one of them was teasing him pretty bad and grabbing his tail so they were having play fights. Another little spider monkey even tried to have sex with him! That was hilarious. The Achunis were quite taken with the dog and followed him around everywhere and cuddled up to him. We couldn’t touch them, but they loved Drako. We got to hold the Toucan this time and even got close to the spider monkeys- except one started biting Pete’s ear and head pretty hard. I had to push him off Pete and keep pushing him away with my shoe- he was a feisty little thing.
When our time was up there we went up the Amazon a bit more to look for pink dolphins. They are exclusive to the Amazon river only and have bumps on their head and are a dark pink colour. We only know this cause we’ve seen pictures of them, we didn’t learn that from seeing them in the river that day. We saw a couple of dorsal fins coming out of the water, and that was about it. They're shit too. We were hoping for more, but alas you can’t have everything!
We got back to the lodge for a another bit of quiet time before dinner-something different- chicken and rice! After dinner Dixon took the two of us on a night jungle walk. It was pretty freaky not being able to see anything apart from what the torch showed us, and I was yelping at the smallest thing- a bug in my face, a leaf I didn’t see touching my arm.
We saw a couple of tarantulas, a really big gecko, the longest trail of leaf carrying ants ever (it was pretty remarkable) and the scariest, ugliest looking something that Dixon liked to call a spider-scorpion. It looked extremely mean and apparently was quite mean too poisonous and deadly to humans. We didn’t get a photo because we didn’t want to stand to close and be there too long next to it. After that we both were paranoid about everything and was actually quite happy when we saw the candles of the lodge and the arse end of the jungle.
We finished our last night with a couple of drinks in the eating area by candlelight with Dixon telling us Amazonian myths. Apparently Pete is the dolphin demon of the river who snaches little girls!!! Dixon was great and up for a laugh and made the trip extremely memorable.
Saturday
We packed our bags in the morning and went out on another boat ride to a small village a little further away were there was a alligator and paiche farm. Paiche’s are really, really big fish the locals farm to sell for meat for a shit load of money...well $160 soles, which is quite a bit. They looked like the chinese luck fish we saw in Hong Kong. We dropped pieces of little chopped up fish in the water for them to eat, they were so fast and would suck them off the surface of the water with a big noise and splash. We then had a little walk through the village, a local gave us a coconut to try and Dixon cut it up for us, it didn’t taste like real coconut. The day was so hot, it was sticky and sweaty and we had the coldest, nicest beer from a little shop which looked just like a shed. It was a very simple town, but had a nice feel to it.
We went back to the lodge for our last lunch and keeping with tradition we ate fish and rice, and then we were rushed back to Iquitos, which saw the end of our amazing Amazon adventure. Sigh. We really weren’t ready to leave, we could’ve stayed there for another couple of days, even if it was just reading and falling asleep in the hammocks. We will most definatly miss the quietness and calmness that the Amazon offers, no car horns here, and the natural beauty that we were surrounded by. Every day the river looked different with the changes in the weather and we never felt bored of it. But, it was to be my birthday the next day, and, well, we’ll save that one for the next entry! Hope you’ve enjoyed our little Amazon journey. Until next time (which should be sooner rather than later, maybe), love Rochelle + Pete xx
Oh and remember to send in your entries in to Pete's Jungle Boogy competition to win rare prizes from mysterious and wonderous parts of the world. Get creative. Entries close on the 9th of December for no particular reason!!
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 17, 2010
from
Iquitos
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Happy birthday to Rochelle!!!!!
Iquitos
,
Peru
Iquitos Sat 13th-Tue16th Nov
Sat night back in Iquitos, after our Amazon adventure, we stayed in relatively cheap backpackers for the night and met up with a couple of American girls for dinner that we had met on the taxi ride back into town. They were studying anthropology in Lima and we talked about politics, education and the overly sexual Peruvian boys and ate burgers and pizza, not chicken or rice!!!
Sunday was my birthday!!!!! Yay for me!! Pete had to be nice to me all day, and he did a very good job. I decided that I wanted my present to be somewhere nice to stay, so we checked out of where we were and headed to a hotel that had a bar fridge in the room and a swimming pool, and decided to stay for two nights. Just having a fridge is a present in itself- it was the first time for us on our trip and we were able to keep things cold! Things like beer. May sound trivial, but cold beer or, to a lesser value, water, is a vital companion for survival in these parts. We had lunch at the restaurant at the hotel, which was the first and last time due to the the menu was small, the beer limited to only locally brewed and that came presented without any labeling. On a positive note, we cannot say another rotten word about the service in Hervey Bay as it took well over half an hour for our food landed on our table when there was only us two there! It was made well by the chocolately fact we had a huge, delicious piece of chocolate cake to snack on-my birthday cake. This thing was damn good, it had little layers of frosting through it and even a line of caramel that we weren’t expecting! We couldn't even eat it all in one sitting!
After our lunch we headed back to the Yellow Rose of Texas for some beers. We went upstairs where they had a sports bar, where we played some darts and pool. We sung bad American songs and drank local beer and had a laugh. Pete won 2 out of 3 at the darts, which was fair enough as I really suck at it. When it came to pool Pete won the first won, I sunk the white with the black on the second game but he let me win (it was my birthday) but when I decided to pot the white again on in the third game, Pete took the win. I would have to if I were him. All in all, it was a great afternoon.
We bought some beers and chips and went back to the hotel and played cards in the room. When it started to rain outside we went for a swim in the pool. When it was time for dinner we went to an Italian place we had spotted earlier and got pizza and listened to these two old guys who were singing and playing guitar and a drum that was a big wooden box one of them was sitting on. They were great!!! They spoke no english but Pete still tried to request songs, and it took them a while, but they did understand when he told them it was my birthday. So they sung me Happy birthday!! I think it was a fairly well composed birthday considering it was without family and friends, after all I ate cake got 'Happy Birthday' sang to me by two primo musicos, and had a nice queen size bed to relax into, I was spoilt by my man.
Monday we intented to go to to a butterfly farm we had heard about that was a little bit up river. We had befriended a touk-touk driver the day before who spoke english, so he came and picked us up to take us to the would be harbour (it was pretty small). Once we got there we found out that it wasn’t even open on Mondays! But he told us of a zoo on the other side of town that was open, so we took the hour ride there. We were a bit concerned we weren’t going to make it, his motorbike was spluttering and everything was overtaking us on hills. The zoo was pretty cool. We had seen a few of the animals already in the Amazon, but there were jaguars and pumas and leopards there magestic creatures that are a sight to behold, shame about the cages though. Come to think of it...probably for the best.
We got to hold an anaconda! Our favourite new animal was the Pigmy Marmoset, the smallest little monkey type thing eva. It looked like Gizmo from the gremlins movie. There were few of these hings, but all very shy. Only one was a bit inquisitive and would come out in front of us and let us see him. He had the tiniest hands and puffed up fur and this little face- oh how we want one!!!
The zoo as really big and even had a beach in the middle of that you could swim in and had a volleyball net on the sand. There were restaurants too. It was a pretty spot but we wouldn’t of gone in the water- it was a bit brown. On the far end of the zoo it went off into what looked like a bit of a nature walk through some bush. We didn’t venture off into it, thought it safer not to.
We ended our day in our hotel room with takeaway pizza from the restaurant the night before, and another piece of chocolate cake!
Tuesday we were up early to get on another flight back to Lima. Looking at all the photos now, we should’ve taken more of Iquitos itself, but to be honest, it didn’t really excite us too much, especially after the necklace incident. We will always think of the Amazon and animals when we think of this part of the journey and really fucking good cake. xxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 19, 2010
from
Iquitos
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Computer nightmares
Cusco
,
Peru
Once again our blogging has been upset by bad wifi. So the update we were going to give you has to wait as all the info is on the laptop and these stupid public computers dont allow for memory sticks. So you will have to wait. We are off on a 4 day hike on the Ince trail to Maccu Piccu starting tomorrow and we hope out altitude sickness pills work as
Rochelle
has had a terrible headache for two days.
Wish us luck! You will be told about this plus the stuff that has been waiting in about five days. Till then!!!! xxxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 22, 2010
from
Cusco
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
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Just chilling
Lima
,
Peru
16th-20th Nov
Miraflores is a town not far away from Lima. We had heard good things about it from other travellers so we decided to stay there instead of the city of Lima, somewhere new makes you feel like you‘re on holiday. Whilst in Miraflores we had time for recuperation. Pete ended up coming down with some kind of flu like bug and was down for the count for a couple of days with body aches, a fever and chills. I was having some mild bowel problems myself (we’ve been waiting for this!) so decided that home cooking and loads of vegies was probably the best thing. So apart from updating the blog (too much stuff from the Amazon) and getting washing done we have been pretty quiet, watching movies and having cuddles with the hostel’s cat. Every place we’ve been to has had some kind of pet. Its great! And, I did happen to find a pretty decent coffee finally!!! Halleluiah!! I think the secret it that they used real milk. The small joys.
Breakfast has also been a little different too. Every time we have had toast it comes out like its been toasted ages ago and then put in a microwave, or toasted in a jaffle iron, yet its always consistently cold? We had breakfast here and the toast was cooked on a hot plate, with real butter and it was warm and crispy and so it finally lived up to its name. Moi Bien.
Some excitement though- Thursday morning we did find ourselves at the Immigration Office as there was a small piece of paper that we were given at the airport arriving to Peru that I thought was only needed there and then. Turns out you need it to actually leave the county and big fines apply if you don’t have it on your person. It cost us sixteen soles to get both of ours replaced (about $6) and two hours in total waiting in the place. We did about twenty different things to get the renewal and spend half that time wondering if we were doing the right thing- we just didn’t know what was going on. It could’ve been worse though. We’re happy that it was the hostel’s clerk had asked us for our papers in Miraflores and not some gun toting border security guard. I’m not throwing out any papers again.
Miraflores is next to the ocean. People go there for the surfing apparently, although we didn’t see any waves exactly. It’s not really an ocean town though. The beach has a highway next to it followed by big cliffs. What was interesting was that they had a big shopping centre cut into the cliffs. This place had about four layers with clothes, food, a cinema, and even a games arcade with the best shooting game ever. It was set in the jungle, you were playing a couple of tourists who had to kill these radioactive spiders, butterflies leeches, that came out at you real fast. It was great!! We died pretty quickly, but the game also gave you a compatibility rating between the two of you that came up in a heart container showing the skills you have together. We got about 75%, so we don’t have to break up yet. The couple playing prior to us only got 35%…sucks to be them.
We really enjoyed the town. It’s defiantly the most metropolitan place we have been to in Peru. More people can speak basic English here which helped us out a lot, and everyone was really friendly. There were casinos and lots and lots of shops too, apparently it is the capital for handmade wares- we could see why. Markets and touristy shops sold clothes made from baby alpaca wool that were the softest things we have ever felt. Also handmade jewellery and clothing. We did well to not buy too much- the size of our backpacks dictate! Pete fell in love with these ornaments that were open boxes with different scenes cut into them. But sending things home is so expensive from here, so its restricted to the little and the light.
We had a good couple of days taking in the scenery, trying the ice cream which they were mad for there and looking at all the cats! It’s been stray dogs at every place that has been a bit sad to see, Mirafloras had cats. There was a big gated yard of a beautiful building next to our hostel where all the cats hung out and people would come and feed them. We’re In Cusco now, getting used to the altitude. Next time you look up think of us and pray we make the four day journey to Machupicchu ! Until then take care! xx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 28, 2010
from
Lima
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
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High flying
Cusco
,
Peru
20th-22nd Nov
Sat found us arriving in Cusco dizzy, short of breath and both with headaches. Cusco is 3300 meters above sea level, something that we weren’t prepared for. We had the understanding that Machupicchu was the high place, when actually its a lot lower than the city of Cusco.
We stayed in a hostel very close to the main plaza. It was smelly and had no natural light. We had a little look around the centre of Cusco and grabbed a small bite to eat, having been warned that too much food is not a good idea while getting used to the altitude. We had soup and Coca tea, made from the coca leaf which helps eleveate symptoms of altitude sickness. Yes, its also the same plant that is used to make cocaine. We sat in the restaurant and looked out over the Plaza de Armas, a beautiful square with a big cathedral, water fountain and surrounded by hills with houses and statues. Because Cusco is located in the mountains it’s a very hilly city, you're not able to walk anywhere without encountering some type of up or down, which leaves you more out of breath than normal gasping for oxygen.
Sunday morning we woke early for a bus trip to see the Sacred Valley. I was feeling very sick and couldn’t eat anything for fear of throwing up, and my headache still hadn’t gone away. We hoped on the bus and I hoped that I would be ok.
We started at Pisac, a small Inca sight on a mountain range that had large terraces flowing from it. There were remains of buildings that were once used as storeage sights, small rock huts where all the harvested crops would be stored until transported to Cusco, and also hundreds of tombs which were the Incan famer's used as grave sights. Most of the bodies were robbed, those that were spared are now preserved in museums.
The next stop was a market place where locals were selling alpaca and lama clothing, jewellery, leather goods and woven bags. All pretty much the same, all trying to bargin with you to buy from them, calling out, ‘please! Over here! Beautiful clothes!’ You could also buy a photo of locals in traditional dress with llamas (see evidence to the left).
After looking around, it was on the bus to stop at another town (the name has escaped us) were there was an even bigger market than the last. Pete got fed up with all the looking and waited by the bus, I too had a wee look and went back before the end. It becomes very much the same thing over and over.
We stopped for lunch at a buffet place in a small town, where we had rice, beans and chicken again, then it was off to Ollantaytambo, an Inca town that has survived over 700 years and has a remarkable steep terrace that guards the complex. It was a small feat to get to the top, but the view of the town and mountains were beautiful. There was a temple on the top also(Temple of the Sun), with huge blocks of stone that are still there. These things were huge and would’ve been a mission to transport with ropes and logs underneath.
Our final stop was the town of Chinchero, 3760 meters high up on a mountain. The headache and dizziness returned with its high altitude but it was a lovely spot. We were treated to a demonstration about how the locals pull, clean, dye and weave the lama wool. It was a local girl in traditional dress with a great sense of humour who gave the talk and it was really interesting to see the processes.
It was a big day with a lot of driving, but interesting landscapes and villages to look at. What I loved about the trip was getting to see the little villages and seeing how hard working but very happy the locals were. They work the land and barter a lot and all the wares for sale to the tourists were hand-made. The countryside was filled with great majestic mountains and crops, beautiful really.
Monday found us chilling out and getting ourselves ready for the four day Inca trail treck we were about to embark on. We found a new place to stay for when we got back that didn’t smell, organised to leave some stuff there and had pizza and played blackjack at a restaurant before heading to bed for the early start that was required the next day.
Next entry- Machupicchu!!! I'm almost up to date, I think I need to hire someone that we can dictate to and get them to do all the frustrating and tedious computer stuff! xxx
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 29, 2010
from
Cusco
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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The Inca Trail
Machupicchu
,
Peru
22nd-25th Nov
We have just experienced probably some of the most challenging days of our lives, but wow, we saw some of the most spectacular scenery though. Let us take you on the journey that had been the Inca trail and Machupicchu.
The trail is only 33km long, but takes three and a half days to walk , because the tracks are on the side of the mountain range. On Tuesday we were picked up at 6.30am for a long bus ride to where the Inca trail started. On the way we stopped for breakfast at a cute little place surrounded by hills with guinea pigs and cats and we got to know the people that we were spending the next four days with. From Australia there was Chris and Lauren, father and daughter team and friends Liz and Louise. There was Montse from Spain and Ben from Switzerland. After getting each others stories and filling up on scrambled eggs and bread, we were on our way again.
Roch, Chris, Montse, Pete, Ben, Lauren, Liz & Louise
There were several other buses and locals trying to sell us all sorts when we reached our destination. We got our backpacks, bought some walking sticks (which were the best investment ever), dosed ourselves in sunscreen and went to the first check point to get our passports checked and stamped. Then we were off!
It was an easy start, small uphills and flats next to a river with the very majestic and snow capped Mount Veronica looking down at us. We looked down on the ruins of Q’anabamba and also Q’entimarka, situated at the base of the foreboding mountain range. This was meant to be the easy day in terms of walking, but we struggled a bit as we each had our backpacks and had not conditioned our flabby bodies for the hike. What were we in for! We walked about five hours that day and arrived at our camp- we were the last ones there.
Our tent was already set-up thanks to the ninja like porters and dinner was getting prepped. We were up on a mountain next to a little settlement and there were mountains all around us, oh yeah and the worst toilet EVER. You smelt it way before you saw it, and when you saw it you wished it wasn’t a squatter. The worst toilet so far. We had pre-dinner popcorn and hot chocolate (soon to be known as Happy Hour snacks) in the dinner tent followed by a great spread then an early night. For being on a camping trip and having all our food, cooking utensils and even the gas bottle being carried by the porters, we ate some amazing food that was unexpected.
Pete's face says PAIN
Wednesday: Day Two. This was the killer. We had already organised a porter to carry one of our backpacks as we knew we wouldn’t cope. We took half hour turns with the pack, it was so much harder with it on trying to walk up the incredibly steep steps. The funny thing was, we would be having a little rest on a rock every so often and these porters would run past us, uphill, with fifteen to twenty kilos on their backs. They were so amazing and strong and made us look pretty pathetic. The peak was on Abra Warmiwanuska which reached 4201 Metres above sea level, so of course the big problem was the fact that the higher we got the thinner the air got. A double whammy. When we weren’t looking down at our feet concentrating on breathing and not collapsing, the scenery was beautiful and changed so much the higher up that we got. There was a stream running over rocks and trees would make a canopy over the stairs that just went on for ever. Towards the top of the mountain the canopy opened up and we could see specks of people that were the rest of our group, and in the last half hour, even though we were so close we still couldn’t go any faster up hill, in fact we probably went slower as our bodies were protesting and oxygen was sparse. As we got close the guys were cheering us on, and reaching the top was the best sense of relief! We took celebratory photos and rested the legs and then spent the next couple of hours walking down the other side!!!! Our legs were screwed!!
We arrived at the camp about 2pm, had a late lunch then chilled for the rest of the day. Everyone was so tired but no one wanted to risk a nana nap for fear of being awake all night. We had a little lie down in the tent though and when I got up and went outside, looking over the valley a hummingbird flew right in front of me and started to drink the nectar out of some fuchsias. It was so elegant and graceful and simply suspended itself in air whilst dipping its beak into the long flowers. Beautiful. We spent the afternoon telling jokes and Chris taught us some party tricks and we played charades and had a relaxing but very funny evening. We watched a fog come up fast through the gully which was neat, had dinner and pretty much passed out straight away. Oh, and we had real toilets this time too!! Yay!!
Thursday morning we awoke as normal to: ‘room service’, which is a touch on the tent (or as the guides would say, we will ‘torch’ the tent) a cup of coca tea and a couple of stiff legs. We had been warned that the walk that day would be the longest, but far easier then the day before. We went past the ruin of Runkuraqay before a great deal of steps uphill, which got the legs stretched and the lungs working. We had another Inca sight to visit, Sayaqmarka, a place that would’ve held a few families and also a place to stay for pilgrims and Incas. It was high on a mountain and quite mysterious with the low cloud and was defiantly safe from harm with the only way to get to it being these extremely steep steps.
We then had the easiest and for me the most beautiful part of the walk, through the Cloud Forest. It is at cloud level and because of the constant moisture has beautiful colours, textures and flora. There was also constant cloud so there was no view, only a bit in front and behind and a little down, where we could see the edge of the path and the cliff that did not look very forgiving. It was so peaceful and mysterious and not that strenuous so we could really take in our surroundings.
We had another great lunch and to top off our nine hours of walking we had to go down 3000 steps to make it to the camp site. The last half hour of that walk was the longest! The camp was a big one and all the groups doing the trek were there and you could buy beer, although we didn’t as we knew it would put us on our arse, but best of all we could have a shower!!! It was brilliant to be able to take off the layers of sunscreen and insect repellent and sweat. We had dinner and finished off the evening with a small ceremony where we presented all the porters and the cooks with tips and thank you speeches. No one in our group had any idea what was going so it ended up being quite funny. Pete tried to start things off but was told to stop, to allow one of the guides to take over, ‘The Super Cool Guy‘ , he referred to himself as.
Super cool guys and our porters
As we were going to bed there was thunder and it started to rain. It rained all night and it dripped on my head while I was sleeping and came into the tent. By 3.30am came around we were woken for the early start and we really hadn’t had much sleep, and it was still raining. This didn’t dampen our spirits though. It did finally stop raining not long after we got up and, well, we were going to see Machupicchu!! The end of our pain was nigh and excitement and anticipation took over. We were all very quiet in the morning, but as the rain dried up and the fog started to lift so did the moods and we were ready to go. It was a 2 and a half hour walk to our destination, and we were all so ready to be there. It was a beautiful walk as normal, Pete and I had our own backpacks to carry, but we had gotten ourselves well seasoned by then and it defiantly wasn’t as bad as the first day. Pete powered on ahead on this morning. He came into some power surge and was off. I was too busy taking photos of orchards and the fog around the mountains.
Our first view of Machupicchu was completely covered on fog. We could see the tip of Yunapicchu and that was it. As we got closer the cloud started to lift more, so by the time we reached the point of looking down at it we could see the city and it locked very airy but so peaceful. It was amazing to finally reach it and the view was breathtaking. The city is high on a mountain, and all that was surrounding it was these mountains with shear cliff faces and clouds dancing in between. Just standing there and taking in the whole view was absolutely magical. We completely get why we injured ourselves now!!! Photos and footage are never going to do this place justice. They are never going to show just how magnificent and big and high it really is. Or give you the feeling of just how small you really are.
Made it!!!
Machupicchu is the only place that the Spaniards didn’t get to and fuck up. It’s the only Inca sight that still has all the buildings and its sun dial in tact because this fact. It is in the shape of one of the Incan gods- the condor. It was where Incan royalty lived and always held a position of power. So much history has come from there, and sadly much history has been lost forever from the lack of documentation to unlock the mysterious relationship these ancient peps had with this majestic land. All we know is that the Incas were quite smart, a strong race that erected their monuments and temples in alignment with either the moon or the sun because they were lunatics. We were given a tour of the area by Bearnie and Sol and afterwards sat on the terraces with the alpaca and looked out over the magnificent mountains.
Our first beer
In the afternoon we caught the bus to the nearby town to have a last lunch with the group and the guides. We had our first beer for a couple of weeks which just about made me fall asleep, but was worth every drop. We got a train and coach home, ending up back in Cusco with just enough energy to shower (now that one was sooo good-clean hair!!!!), grab a pizza and pass out. Trust us when we say you must visit Cusco and Machu Picchu.
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on November 30, 2010
from
Machupicchu
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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Last Cusco days
Cusco
,
Peru
Sat27th-Mon 29th Nov
The last supper
Our tapas
We had a very quiet couple of days after Machupicchu. We enjoyed having a bed and not a mat on a hard floor. We enjoyed not having to walk!! We got washing done, chilled out, exciting stuff. Saturday night we did meet up with the ‘super cool guys’(our trecking posse) for dinner, which was great. Everyone looked so much more refreshed, we had wine, shard some great tapas, ate alpaca (which is really nice meat no fat, quite like ol' mate kangaroo) and for some said our goodbyes. Hopefully we’re meeting up with Liz and Lou in Bolivia. Pete and I stopped into a cool looking bar on the way back to the hostel, where the bartender was really sweet and spoke great English and Pete gave him mock English questions as he was sitting an English exam the next week. He also made me great cocktails and even convinced me to try a Pisco sours which he promised was going to taste better than the crap ones I had had before. He was right. They do just need to be made properly. So after a night on the town we didn’t do much Sunday. Which is a great option we've come to know- every now and then.
The Cristo Blanco
Monday we went for a walk around Cusco. We got a taxi to the Cristo Blanco, a big statue of Jesus on a hill side. It gave us a great view of the city and really showed us just how big it is. We decided to walk down as the city doesn’t start to far from it and the plaza really wasn’t that far from it, its just a lot of down. So we walked down heaps of steps, looking at how the landscape and architecture changes the more down you go, trying not to get bitten by dogs that would just bark at us as we were trying to walk past them. It was a nice walk though and we went past the famous 12 sided rock, which is apparently two metres deep and weighs a fuck load. We finished our day with dinner in the plaza and getting ourselves ready for leaving.
The famous 12 sided stone
Tuesday will find us on a bus trip/tour to Puno, a small town nearing the bottom of Peru which is a gateway to the Islands and the lake that is Titikaka, where we will be doing an overnight trip. Making our way down slowly!!
written by
Pete+Rochelle
on December 2, 2010
from
Cusco
,
Peru
from the travel blog:
Round the world!!!
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