Rio Chili Rafting...

White Water Rafting is the best cure for a hangover... we were woken up by the van at 8am after 2 hours sleep, well it wasnt really sleep. We had gone to a club called De Ja Vu friday night with the girls from the flat over the road, it was alright but I couldn´t help feeling I´d been there before...

We drove for about 30mins outside Arequipa to the Rio Chili. We had 2 rafts of about 5 people each and we suited up, its hard to look cool in a wetsuit, most people looked like condoms. I still had the shakes from De Ja Vu so when I was put in the front of the raft I was preparing for a noon death. We spent about 20 mins on the water practicing all the commands that the guide was shouting at us, our co ordination was quite good for 4 hangovers. Once it got going it was fantastic, the rapids were mostly level 3 but get up to level 4 which is so much fun, the sharp rocks and whirlpools make it so much more exciting ( i always struggle to spell exciting, can someone confirm this is right?). There was serious splash warfare with the other raft, we most definitely won. At quiet parts in the river we would head for waterfalls and drench ourselves, but being at the front i took most of the punishment as it was liquid ice. After 2 hours on the water the raft didnt actually capsize which was a little disappointing, however those rocks didnt look very cuddly.

Great day, rafting rules.

P.

Ville Chachani ...

Ville Chachani is an invasion settlement. In Peru if you buy some land you need to build on it or it is anyones land. Once you have built on the land you have to wait 5 years before you can petition the government for electricity and water. This means that entire populations of people will often "invade" a piece of land, sometimes hundreds of miles away and live without basic commodities for 5 years. This is the case in the suburbs of all Peruvian towns. Ville Chachani is where we are teaching English to kids from a tiny shack in the suburbs of Arequipa, it measures 8x10 ft and can sometimes hold 40 kids!

The kids range in age from about 2 to 15 and almost all come from extremely deprived families. They are great fun though and luckily they like football. One kid, Juan Martin is really good, its a shame he will never get to play for a team if he remains out there in the suburbs, this is why teaching them English will be so valuable to them. The reality of life out there is that some of these kids are working in the quarry nearby and coming to us afterwards. One kid, Oscar, is 15. He has epilepsy and learning difficulties, he cannot read or write Spanish let alone English. He left school because of bullying and is now working at the quarry where a truck full of sand will get you s./ 2 (about 40p). Its hard to see a positive future for this kid...

We even found Jesus out there, and his sister Hilda. He is 2 years old and wheres a parka like Kenny from South Park, I´ll show you a picture of him when i return. We ride a combi to work everyday, combis are great they are like tiny minibus van things that are always bursting with people, its far too much fun to worry about safety. It costs s./0.7 for a one hour journey which is about 15p. Minor criticism - the music is the same every day, crap peruvian samba, after this long it hurts. The combis stop wherever you want them to and we get off at the foot of Misti volcano where the road has become a dirt track and the "streets" have no names. It is then a 10 minute walk to the shoebox of a classroom.

The kids are actually quite good at english and unlike kids back home, they actually want to learn. Teaching isn´t really one of my qualities so teaching 3 year olds in a language i barely know is quite difficult but we have found that putting a smile on their faces is more important than languages. (cue - "fix you" by coldplay, the most overplayed annoyingly sentimental charity-live 8-comic releif-lenny henry-kids with flies on their face-music, thats actually quite a good song)

It´s quite sad seeing the kids come in everyday some of them haven´t been washed once while we´ve been here, the village gets water 2 hours a day, thats still enough to wash a child with vomit on her jumper isn´t it?? Despite these conditions the kids are always happy when we are there, especially if they are drawing on your face. I enjoy playing football with them, especially as I am by far the best on the pitch, helping poor kids and an ego trip at the same time, who loses?

We met the girls from ours and the other project (an orphanage), they all live in a flat over the road from our hostel. We went Go-Karting last night which was super, you can buy beer there too, Cusqueña (the only good beer in Peru). I´m loving living in Arequipa temporarily, there are a few of us staying a while at the hostel so its cool and its a great city. Because we are tied up during the week at the school I have planned myself some good weekends. This weekend its rafting and downhill mountain biking, next weekend its climbing Misti 5800m above the seaside. I finished my third book yesterday and I´m nearly done with Conquest of the Incas (after 6 weeks!) so I´ll be at a loss for what to do, I guess I´ll have to talk to James..but I don´t know much about hair straighteners..

P.

Yo tengo no soles....

Ran out of money yesterday, $23 to my name......so Chile is no longer an option. Well theres strikes there anyway so its probably best avoided. Stupid Chile, Stupid Peru, Stupid money. It has made us more creative with our cooking, we made soup last night for 20p, you could taste the savings. Luckily parents have saved the day with a loan (thank you!) ...Our plan is to get voluntary work at the new schools they are building on the outskirts of Arequipa, 2 weeks work there should save us a lot of money. And I think we estimated that our work will save around 1,000 lives. Plus our hostel has offered us a discount if we stay for 2 weeks, something like $5 per night which is great because Arequipa is beautiful. There is a very nice German girl here staying till August working so we can practice our German and wear lederhosen. I´m still hoping to climb el Misti before we return to Lima, its just screaming to be climbed! Anyway its all worked out okay now and I´m looking forward to starting!


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Cusco and the Inca Trail....

I am clean shaven as I write this, i look about 7 so I´m looking forward to my face growing back. Cusco is a great place to be right now, it is nearly Inti Raimi (the festival of the sun) so the Plaza de Armas is full of people dancing and parading its amazing, although trying to walk anywhere is hard.

We got back from the Inca Trail 2 days ago and 2 showers later I still reek. The trek starts just outside Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley at km 82. We were trekking with some Norwegians who had the greatest names possible without being joke names (eg. "Od").

Day 1 was fairly easy its fairly flat for about 5 hours through the valley following the Urubamba river. I picked up my stick (John Malkovich) in Ollantaytambo for 10 Soles, we were to get on very well over the 4 days. The trail itself is fairly unspectacular at this stage, mostly dirt tracks, it was later on that we realised how much of a step fetish the Incas had. After eating it was about another 3 hours to our first campsite in Wayllabamba where we watched sunset over the mountains. We had heard a lot about the dreaded "2nd day" (apparently the hardest) so we went to bed early and scared.

We began the second day about 7am and were told to wait at the second pass to meet up with the others. It began steep and it got steeper. The first part was nice jungley type stuff with waterfalls and bridges, the second part of the ascent was just steps and steps and steps and steps. This said it is incredible how well preserved the trail is, and also how inhospitable some sections are. Dead Woman´s Pass is the highest point on the trek at 4100m so it was a great feeling standing on top looking down both sides of the valley. Its cold up there so after walking up 80,000 steps it felt suspiciously nice. After 20mins of feeding my ego at the top it was time to descend 4 hours or so to our second camp at Phuyupatamarka. This was up in the clouds which was an awesome experience, after dark I took a walk with stef up the hillside to watch the clouds in the moonlight, it was cool it was like being dead.

The 3rd day brought light rain, but this just complimented the jungle scenery very well. It was a long day - 7am to 5pm but when your trekking mountain ranges like these you could go on and on. The best part about this part of the trek is the isolation, these ruins are in the clouds a million miles from anywhere, it is the best feeling in the world. We took in lots of Inca ruins on the 3rd day, my favourite being Inti Pata which is a huge agricultural settlement, we had the place to ourselves, it was perfection. The 3rd Campsite in Wiñay Wayna is odd because they have actually built a small bar, kind of ruins the mood but a beer went down very well. Obviously we went to sleep excited because in the morning it was Machu Picchu.

We were woken up at 4am with a cup of coca tea to begin the 2 hour hike to the sun gate. After being let through the check point by the Nature Police it was literally a race to get to Machu Picchu. Everyone was power hiking through the jungle which was great fun, if not a little dangerous. The first view of Machu Picchu is from the Sun Gate at around 6.15am. Its strange it comes out of nowhere after a short ascent. It was another race to the entrance of Machu Picchu to get a good spot for sunrise. I have seen lots of sunrises (is that the plural of sunrise? sunrii? i dont know ) but they keep getting better. If I see another sunrise that good too soon I will probably fall ill. The picture only tells half the story. After wandering round the ruins me and stef headed for Huayna Picchu (the big mountain behind Machu Picchu in all the pics). They only let a certain amount of people climb it per day for erosion reasons so we were glad to be allowed on. After 4 days trekking the 1 hour trek up to the top was easy, we actually made it in 27 mins and I found out that 22mins is the record so we did well! The path is ridiculous, the only thing steeper than the ascent of Huayna Picchu is a ladder, its so dangerous, but very fun. Perched on the rocks at the top you get a view of Machu Picchu most people never see. I saved some peanut M&Ms from the first day of the trek for this moment. Peanut M&Ms were MADE for that moment, they taste a lot better at 2700m. We had to hop down from Huayna Picchu and hike down to Aguas Calientes to catch our train back to Cusco, its the kind of place you never want to leave but we were so tired/hungry/thirsty/smelly to do much else. Aguas Calientes is a strange town - all restaurants, railway and rats. The train back was beautiful, 2 hours through the mountains next to the raging river. It was great to be back in Cusco though, civilization, and most importantly, a shower.

We met some nice people in our hostel and decided to hit the town with them. We were exhausted after the trek and at 3000m the altitude plays a devastating role in alcohol tolerance! Several Jack Daniels later we ended up dancing on the bar in a club in central Cusco for free drinks. Now I am dignity-less I feel kind of free. I am still recovering from that night though, and kind of hoping that no one recognises us.

I´ll tell you more about Cusco another time if you buy me a beer.

Stef is going tomorrow, good riddance. Nah not really, itl be sad to see him go. I think we are headed for Chile, to the beach. 3 weeks by the beach will go down well I think, I can go into hiding till my beard grows back.

P.

The Isla del Sol & the road to Cusco......

So, Isla del Sol...you´d have to be pretty stupid to forget suncream on the "Island of the Sun". But I did. I got so sunburned on my neck and left arm that breathing hurt. It was worth it though. The Island was beautiful and the trek was good fun although the locals tried to tax us just for using the trail. As we had no money we caught the boat back to Copacabana and found a room for the night for $2. The boat was fun because they pile about 100 people on a boat fit for about 20, the sun was going down over the lake as we returned which was nice. At Puno bus terminal I saw the porters loading bags of chickens onto buses. Its the funniest thing ive ever seen, the bags were trying to run away. We are in Cusco now after an 8 hour journey on a local bus, the bus was called "power". It must have been an ironic name as it broke down at least twice. The "Sacred Valley" looked a lot more sacred from our crap bus but it was probably the most stunning scenery ive seen so far. Hoping to bungee tomorrow, 30 quid is worth it right?

P.

Arequipa, Puno & Copacabana....

I wont say much about Arequipa as I am going back there in July. It is very colourful, like Balamory squared. The Plaza de Armas is huge and a great place to get a beer and watch the sun go down. Puno was our next destination on the shores of Lake Titicaca (the highest lake in the world).

Puno is cold. Puno is cold. Puno is cold. The bus winds down into the town from the hills and first impressions of the place are the same as a lot of peruvian towns, permenant building sites. I hate being a gingo in places like these because you get attacked in bus stations by everyone in town...trying to sell you something, buy something from you or just stare at you. We saw another parade in Puno, Peruvians seem very proud although they never make it clear what they are proud of. We spent the evening shivering in our hostel watching pirate dvds and eating bread from the market. We only really intended Puno to be a stop off for the lake on the Bolivian side.

The next morning we caught a local bus to Copacabana, Bolivia. This was where we could catch our boat out to the Isla del Sol, birthplace of the first Inca. Crossing the border into Bolivia is dead easy, they waste so much ink stamping your passport 7 times, especially seeing as you can easily just walk across the border without anyone noticing. As tempting as it was to become an illegal immigrant kicking it in Bolivia, I needed those stamps in my passport allowing me to stay in Peru until my flight home.

Guess what we ran into 5m into the Bolivian border....another parade, except this one was in the road, the only road, the only road into Bolivia, THE ONLY ROAD INTO BOLIVIA. Luckily after 20 minutes of driving at 0.8mph the parade buggered off down a side alley. After paying the 1 Boliviano (about 8p) entrance tax we were finally allowed into Copacabana. Copacabana is lovely if you like dreadlocks, being ripped off and crack. However the harbour is a good place to get a boat to the Isla del Sol. Myself and Stefan rented a kayak on Lake Titicaca, we owned the lake for all of half an hour.

After a day bumming around in Copacabana we headed for the Isla del Sol a 1.5 hour boat journey away. We intended to stay the night on the Island but we had very little money as there were no atms after Puno. We got dumped on the north side of the island and the idea is you trek the 3 hours to the south of the island and either stay over or get the boat back. We bought all of our stuff with us which resulted in a 3hour trek with 12kg on our backs in the scorcing heat 3800m above sea level. apparently Í´ve run out of space, stupid blog...




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Colca Canyon Trek....

We had seen pictures of the colca canyon before we came here so when we found a 3 day trek for $60 we jumped at the chance. We began at 5am a few days ago (its all a blur now) and got ourselves on a local bus through the mountains from Arequipa to a small native town called Cabanaconde. This bus was rough enough in the city on probably the smoothest roads in peru so when we reached the "roads" in the mountains the bus became unbearable, especially if you a.) are ill and b.) do not have a helmet.

That said it was another beautiful bus ride along the cliff edges that you can probably experience on no other continent.

When we sat down to lunch at Cabanaconde (the base for the trek) i was feeling weary, like i had been beaten up, but some soup and some sort of chicken like substance sorted me out. Our guide Dennis was great, partly because he has a very english sense of humour (our jokes had previously been met with blank stares from apparently humourless northern and southern americans)

We had made a mistake from the second we embarked on this trek. We were carrying 9kg in our packs (sleeping bags, food and in james´case hair straighteners and heat magazine). My heart sank when i saw Dennis step onto the bus with his tiny rucksack and cheeky smile. Nevermind, hopefully it would add a bit of muscle onto me. The first part of the trek is a 1000m decent to the floor of the canyon at the rio de colca. 1000m sounds easy but its agony unless you have prosthetic joints. Beleive it or not, i was looking forward to the ascent. We met a dog at the top of the canyon called donita simone. We joked about her following us down, 2 days and a pile of sick under stefs bed later, she was still with us. It was fun for a time but she seemed determined to trip us up. She also had a problem with the muels carrying supplies for the canyon´s villages. The muels often neared Buckarroo which was a little unsettling. If a muel goes apeshit on a canyon pass as wide as a fat man, then everyone goes down with it.

After about 4 hours we reached the rio de colca and i threw my pack down and sat on the rocks with my legs in the mucho frigo rio. It was bliss, and my feet certainly forgave me. After ths high we had a further 200m to ascend to the local family we were staying with. I dont know whether we were hallucinating by this point but the scenery became very lord of the rings, we had donita simone as our own little gollum, equally hideous and annoying. The indigenous people of the canyon had created canals by this point transporting water through the canyon into their tiered irrigation systems. Very smart.

We arrived at our overnight accomodation, a small family barn, at sunset which was suspiciously well timed. Our host was lovely and kitted out in all the colourful dress of the Chivay region. She is a magnificant cook, all her food was grown in her allotment so you could not get more authentic without marrying her daughter (which wasnt on because she was about 12). We tried some crazy local teas too, cannot remember what they were but i assumed they were safe. I went to sleep to peace, not even a car can be heard out there, i tried to count the stars too but gave up after i got to a billion.

The next day was to be the toughest day as we had a 200m descent to the river again and then the 1000m (definitely vertical) ascent to the edge of the canyon again. Passing through the local canyon villages is such a jolly walk. Everyone says hi to you, and i mean everyone. Dennis took us to a, no THE, hospital of the canyon. It had 2 rooms. It was very clean and seemed in good order which is reassuring however the government input to this vital hospital (which serves an entire canyon) is disappointing to say the least. The fridge, essential right?!, was donated by tourists, not the government. The government did stock it up with plenty of heart attack medication though, however nobody has heart attacks in the canyon because they walk 5 hours to get water and food. Nice one Alan Garcia. The fact that the locals are so happy despite this is amazing, i really admire these people.

After a dip in the "oasis" swimming pool we began the ascent of the canyon in heat close to 300 degrees. I can imagine that walking to the gallows had a similar feeling to this. Unfortunately after 15 mins of the ascent Dennis had to go back with James to get him a muel. Myself and Stefan struggled on with our foolishly heavy packs and enough snacks to feed a family of ladybird for about 3 minutes. We had to take it slowly, 15 minutes, rest, 15 minutes, rest,drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink, drink....We were told there were 3 peaks before the summit and that it takes around 4 hours to ascend. So after 2 and a half hours of pain we saw what we assumed was the 2nd summit. I muttered something to stef about seeing Uri (our Israeli, and considerably more experienced, co-trekker) at the peak. Again i must have been tripping as it was a 4 hour ascent, wasnt it?! Turns out no. We had made it, and in time for sunset, and we beat James´mule! This was the best experience of my life for about 7 reasons...1.) I had the shits and managed to survive. 2.) We met the most friendly and content indigenous people around. 3.) I saw the realities of a misfiring government. 4.) 50% of people fail....cant think of anymore. But standing on top of the canyon was adrenaline i have not felt before. Ive been writing for ages and i cant be bothered to write anymore, so make up the rest yourself...







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