This is the blog/travel journal for Chris & Joanne Reilly from Glasgow, Scotland. After quitting our jobs and selling our house, we plan to travel around the globe for the next year.

Monday, June 27, 2005

Palenque Pinching

Arrived in Palenque early evening and after a tip from a couple we met in Oaxaca we headed to El Panchàn in the rainforest (about 4.4km outside Palenque town). El Panchàn is a bit like how I imagine CentreParcs to be like but without any of the facilities and a few too many eco-freindly tree hugging types. The place we wanted to stay in had no rooms and a thunderstorm had just started so we were lucky to get one of the last rooms left in the next place (Chato`s Cabañas), even though it was another 5 minute trek through the rainforest. We decided to get the mosquito net out for the bed as we weren't too convinced about the grills over the windows, we also covered ourselves up and applied loads of deet. We then went to the restaurant Don Muchos which we heard done the best Italian food in Mexico, Joanne's fajitas and my pizza certainly lived up to the expectation. A few beers later with a Marguerita thrown in for good measure and it was off to bed before the dodgy reggae band ruined the night.

Next morning was a bonus...neither of us had too many bites. Joanne got dressed and as she walked through the door she started to scream really loud and was dancing round the room tearing at her trousers trying to get them off. I figured something had bitten her but just then out fell a scorpion which I managed to free from Joanne`s advances. I quickly read the lonely planet guide-book for advice on scorpion bites which said something about ice and get medical attention immediately, so we headed down to reception and fortunately the owner explained that it wasn't that severe and gave Joanne an ammonia pen to apply to the affected area. This seemed to do the trick and eased the pain slightly, once Joanne calmed down we went and got the bus to the Palenque ruins.


We had hoped that following the storm the weather would have been better but unfortunately it was quite overcast when we got to the site. There are 500 Mayan builings spread over 15 sq Km but only relatively few have been excavated in a fairly compact central area, all set within a dense jungle covering the surrounding hills. We wandered about the impressive site for about 3 hours and climbed many temples (that`s all we seemed to have done since arriving in Mexico) and looked at some of the amazing bas-reliefs on the temple walls.



We then went into Palenque town which is small and uninspiring before heading back to El Panchàn & Don Muchos that night - I had another pizza which again was great and Joanne had an ok chicken. Several beers later and another Marguerita (which was mostly tequila, no ice and just a hint of lemon/lime) and we headed to bed for our early start the next day. Spent plenty of time shaking our clothes to check for anything undesirable before packing them away

Saturday, June 25, 2005

Rainy Day Women #12 & 35

After our time in Mexico City we decided to head 6 hours south to Oaxaca which is the art capital of Mexico with many Museums and Galleries throughout the City. On first impressions Oaxaxa looked more like what I thought Mexico would be with multi coloured buildings and smaller busy streets.

We managed to find an ok hostel and get a room in the courtyard. So it was off out to get something to eat and we found a nice bar called Decano (pretty dark just the way Chris likes them!). They even provided a sheet of paper and crayons for the big kids to draw with and being one of them it wasn´t long before Chris and I had filled our sheet with child like drawings. The burgers and tacos are also great in here.


Then we headed back to the hostel as the rain had started to fall, it turned out to be a thunderstorm that lasted all night so we sat in the hostel having a few beers hoping that the weather would improve the next day.

The rain had stopped the following morning, however, the sky was a bit overcast so we decided that today would be our day for seeing some museums. The first one we fancied was closed as they were changing their displays. The next one was closed that day and so on. We then had a look round the church of Santa Domingo with it's lavish gilded and coloured stucco artworks. Outside we bumped into Jeff who lives in San Antonio (Texas) who was also staying at the hostel and had a chat with him before wandering around the shops and stalls. We then had a lazy afternoon and caught up with some stuff on the internet.

That evening we headed back into Decanos for a few drinks and then the rain came on again and we decided to have a Dominos pizza on the way home (I know, I know but it's the first pizza that I've had in ages!!!). We sat chatting to a French Canadian for a while before heading to bed to listen to the rain getting heavier and heavier.

The following morning we got up and the rain had stopped and the sky had cleared a bit. We had breakfast as the hostel...forgot to mention this...consisted of torillas, black beans, eggs one day and spicy peppers and onions the next (For breakfast too!!). We had decided to walk up to the ruins at Monte Albán which took us about 2 hours zig zagging our way uphill. The site was first occupied around 500BC by the Zapotecs, but the hillside was flattened and temples were built around 200BC. In it's hey day over 25,000 people lived in the hillsides. The site has great 360 degree views. Most of the sites we visited had ball courts where the ancients used to sort out arguments by playing against each other - in this game where you had to get a bowl through a round hoop using your knees and head.


After walking back down and grabbing some lunch the rain started again!! So we headed to the Museum of Contemporary Art which had some great exhibitions on at present under the heading "Los Two Amigos" (Dr Laka and Abraham Cruzvillages). Dr Laka had sprayed many items (tv`s, plates, bikes etc ) half in pink and half in green and they where arranged over the floor in symetric patterns. Cruzvillages has taken many film and advertising posters featurning models from the 50`s and graffitied/adorned/added tattos, captions and other weird appendages. For more info on the museum click the link below.

http://www.museomaco.com/salas.html

Well we decided to go back to Decano (well they had a 2 for 1 offer on draught beer and cocktails) and the place was jumping....we had to wait a bit for a table but it wasn't too long before I spotted someone about to leave and I went over and asked if we could have their table..bonus as we wanted to eat....so after dinner we had a wee Marguerita can you believe that this was our first one!! Before we headed back to our final night in the hostel. Back at the hostel we sat in the courtyard with a few people and soon the conversation got round to American politics and Jeff who we had met the day before told us that he had to get out of the States because he couldn`t handle the place since Bush got elected for the second time (or the first time for real), it ended up with the group agreeing that the only way to solve America`s problems was revolution. We stayed up a bit longer than planned because James one of the guy`s we had been talking was about to become 21 once it went midnight.

Next day it was off to Puerto Escondido a beach resort on the bus. The bus took us through some fairly impressive hillside, but the only problem was that it was a long and winding road, so I couldn't really do much. We also seen quite a few condors gliding above us as we made our way slowly down to the coast. As we arrived in Escondido the place had perfect blue skys but within 10 minutes the heavens opened and we where lucky to get a cabin before being soaked. I`m not sure if lucky was the right term as there were more holes in the cabin than anything else and since we had decided to cook I was in the sweltering heat being attacked by mosquitos (unbeknown to me!). We sat on the balcony for dinner covered in deet with all our long clothes on....the rain was not for letting up!! And so to bed...the mosquito nets did stop us being attacked further but when I got up in the morning I had at least 30 bites from my ankles to my bottom....they seemed to love me, Chris only had a few bites and his don`t even swell up. It was still raining and as we were on the beach there was nothing much else to do - so we decided to head up to San Cristóbal. We never really liked the look of Puerto Escondido but it might be a nice place if we had seen it when it wasn`t raining or if we liked to surf. We spent most of the afternoon on the internet as the rain basically never stopped.

The bus journey was an overnight affair and the next day we woke up in San Cristóbal.
When we got out of the bus station we were offered a free taxi to a cheap family run hostal...it was only 4.50 for both of us for the night!! To be honest we didn't do much...but chill out, eat and avoid the night time rain. The only difference in this town was that after 10 mins of heavy rainfall the streets backed up and the roads became rivers with shin deep water to be ran through....we got soaked several times.



This is where we found our first real taste of what Mexican food can be like. One night we had torilla soup which was absolutely delicious and the next night in Las Margueritas we both had fajitas which were brilliant. To be honest up until then we had one or two really good (non Mexican) meals and quite a few were a mediocre fair.

Sunday, June 19, 2005

Mexico City

Well after a 5 hour flight we arrived in Mexico City, here`s another place where if you read the guidebooks and listen to my mate Vinny you would never leave your hotel room. First off the Lonely Planet tells you about muggings, street crime, scams and how you will be lucky to get out of a taxi alive never mind just being ripped off.

To make things worse Vinny kept going on about stories of kidnapping, rape and torture that he had read about, on enquiring where he got his information his story starts to have a few gaping holes. His reply was that he read it in a Keane article in Q magazine, well for the uninitiated Keane are a piss-poor beat combo from England who would most likely be told to stay in their hotel no matter where they stayed in the world. This is nothing to do about security issues in theses cities but more to do with them being lynched by honest decent people who realise that this evil excuse for a band dreamt up by a marketing team realising that the Coldplay album was going to be a year later should never have existed in the first place. Another thing there is nothing radical or good about not having a guitar player, it just means no self respecting human being who plays guitar wanted to be in a band with this sorry bunch of chancers.

Vinny should really know better after being brought up in the lawless barrio of Nitshill and with him teaching English as a foreign language to neds in Darkest Lanarkshire for the last half dozen years. Also if anybody comes back to me and says that they actually like Keane then it will be noted and your name will be added to the list and come the revolution we will see what your hopes and fears will be then.

Anyway back to Mexico City, after getting to our hotel safely in a taxi we dumped our rucksacks and headed into the heat at about 8 at night. We were quite lucky as our hotel was in the Central Historico district about 2 blocks from the Zocalo (main plaza in front of the Cathedral and the National Palace) and is also close to a metro station. After wandering for about half an hour we soon realised there wasn´t that much happening at night in this area as most of the few bars & restaurants seemed to close about 9pm. After dinner we managed to find a small cantina where we had a few Corona´s before heading back to our hotel. One of the many downsides to globalization is that I knew most of the Mexican beers before we got here, which is a shame as it`s always a good feeling trying a new beer on your first day in a new country.


Next morning we headed down to Zocalo to check out the sites, first stop is the Metropolitan Cathedral which took 2 and half centuries to complete after it was started in 1573 on top of an Aztec temple. The Spanish repeatedly built large Cathedrals over existing temples in the new world. The most impressive part of the Cathedral is the massive gilded Altar de los Reyes (Altar of the Kings) with it´s elaborate combination of sculpture and paintings, which is under some renovation at the moment but will be well worth a return visit once completed.

We then headed across the Zocalo to Palacio National to check out the huge murals by Diego Rivera (husband of Frida Kahlo) of Mexican Civilization from the early Aztecs up to the 1910 Revolution. The murals are mammoth with loads of detail but the day we went was quite dull and it would have been better to seen them on a brighter day. We then wandered about some markets before hiding from the sudden rain storm in the afternoon, up until this point we had only used our water proof jackets once or twice since leaving Rio de Janeiro in early March.

Next morning we walked to the Bosque de Chapultepec which is Mexico City´s largest park (4sq Km´s) which has museums, lakes, a large zoo and numerous statues and monuments. We went to the Museum of Modern Art within the park and as 2 of the 4 exhibition spaces were closed for renovation we were quite disappointed since we never got the chance to see many of the famous paintings by many Mexican artists. The Zoo also left us disappointed as they tend to do and every time I leave one I always say to myself that this will probably be the last zoo I go to. The animals never look happy in Zoos but in this one they didn´t look that well looked after.

After the zoo we wandered down to the Condesa district where there are loads of street cafes and bars. The weather was a lot better today with clear blue skies but by mid afternoon the heat forced us to have a few cold Coronas in a cafe bar and lazily sit and watch the old green & white VW Beetle taxis whizz past us. As we headed back to the hotel we were to have our first experience of the third busiest metro system in the world (after Moscow and Tokyo), and for only 20 pesos (10p) you can get to any of the 175 stops on the network. With trains arriving every 2 or 3 minutes it doesn`t take long to get from one end of the city to the other.

The Metro system also has it`s own form of entertainment, at every stop some young kid carrying a small amp and CD player comes on and plays about 10 seconds of each song from a bootleg CD he`s trying to punt whilst shouting out all the tracks and telling us how cheap the cd is before disappearing into the next carriage only to be replaced by another urchin selling a another CD. On some occasions you saw the kids who are on the next rung of the ladder with portable DVD players and showing excerpts from all the latest movies they have available in their holdall.

On Friday night we headed to a few local bars for some food and drink, the first bar we went were showing the Germany Vs Australia Confederations Cup game while a band tried to cover Radiohead, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones badly. The band weren`t that bad but their lead guitarist was shocking and totally out of time with the rest of the band, maybe he should hook up with Keane. The service was quite poor in the first bar so we headed to a smaller bar further up the street, where we stayed for the rest of the night. The bar was like the small unpretentious local bars you get in Barcelona or Seville serving tapas, local beers and some vine.... they also had some decent music on, which made a change.


Next morning we caught the early bus for an hours drive north to Teotihuacàn, to Mexico`s biggest ancient city and probably the capital of the pre-hispanic empire. The site contains two huge pyramids (Piràmide del Sol (Sun) and Luna (Moon)) and the Piràmide del Sol is the third largest in the world. When we arrived at the site there weren`t too many people in front of us and we managed to get to most of the main parts before the crowds. We climbed the 70m high Piràmide del Sol first and it was really very steep, it was hard to imagine that they built it without metal tools, pack animals or the wheel. Once at the top you realise how big the site is and in it`s hey day it covered more than 20 sq Km. We also climbed the other pyramid and wandered about all the other buildings trying to avoid all the hawkers selling their wares all with their own spiel "Almost Free today" , "Under a Dollar", "Closing Down Sale" and so on and on and on and on. Don`t let this put you off coming here because once you say no thanks they wander off looking for someone else to pester.


That night we jumped on the Metro down to Condeso, we found a great restaurant called La Gloria, which had a collection of rather strange paintings of people in all their glory. The restaurant specialised in Mexican and Italian dishes and both our meals where lovely, which had made a change after the previous two nights. We then went to another bar but Joanne wasn`t feeling that great so we headed back to the hotel with a promise to return to a few of the bars the following night.

Sunday morning (18th June) and the weather was still holding up with clear blue skys and temperatures definitely on the rise. After getting our bus tickets for the next day we headed to the Coyoacàn district to visit two more museums. The first we went to was the Leon Trotsky Museum where he lived in exile for the last few years of his life, the house remains as it was on the day in 1940 when a Stalin agent finally caught up with him and as the Strangles subtly put it "Whatever happened to Leon Trotsky? He got an ice pick that made his ears burn". The house has an impressive library of Trotsky`s books and a museum in the building next door contains many photographs and personal belongings from his time in Mexico and of his earlier years during the Russian Revolution.

Trostky also lived at the next house we visited on his arrival in Mexico in 1937 but this house is more famous for two other more local residents, the home of Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo. The house contains many works of art by the famous couple as well as other artists work from their collection. The house is a sprawling building will a large central colourful courtyard that gives the house it`s name "The Blue House". There is also a large collection of pre-hispanic artifacts collected by Rivera during his lifetime.

As promised we headed back to Condeso on Sunday night, again we had nice mexican meal in a place called La Buena Tierra before heading to a few bars. It has been a bit of a culture shock just having dinner for two again after our time on the Budget Expeditions tour because even when there wasn`t a group meal arranged we usually ended up out with some of the guys, so it`s been a bit strange not having to shout across a large table to be heard.

The first bar was called "Celtics" and guess what it was an Irish bar, they had advertised that they where showing the Mexico Vs Brazil game but they were not showing it until 10:30 so after a quick drink we headed to another bar who had the game on. The game was played at lunchtime - due to it being played in Germany, but was only being showed Pay-per-View live... so most bars where showing delayed transmissions.

So we saw most of the second half in a bar up the road and we cheered Mexico on to a lucky win over the World Champions. The next bar we went to had about 20 pool tables, so we hired a table and played for a few hours... the score didn`t really matter is was all just a bit of fun...well I actually won 11 games to 2 if you really want to know.

After all the worry about safety, we never had any problems and found Mexico City to be a fun and interesting place to be and it is somewhere we would recommend to anyone to visit.

Wednesday, June 15, 2005

Dubcentral's South American Highlights

Top 5 - Must See Places

1. Inca Trail / Machu Pichu - Peru
2. Moreno Glacier - Argentina
3. Igazu Falls - Argentina
4. Tupiza to Uyuni Jeep Tour (Salar de Uyuni) - Bolivia
5. Nazca Lines - Peru


Top 5 - Cities

1. Buenos Aires
2. La Paz
3. Rio De Janeiro
4. Cuzco
5. Salta


Top 5 - Bars

1. Gibraltar - Buenos Aires (San Telmo)
2. Emporio - Rio De Janiero (Ipanema)
3. Sol y Luna - La Paz
4. Mandela`s - Cuzco
5. Mongo´s - La Paz


Top 5 - Restaurants

1. Carreto Churrascario - Rio De Janeiro (Ipanema)
2. Las Tinijas - Mendoza
3. Bacacay - Montevideo
4. Fallen Angel - Cuzco
5. Via Via - Buenos Aires (San Telmo)


Things we will miss about South America

Inka Cola
Empanadas
Budget Tour Group
Bariloche Chocolate
Huge Steaks for under 5 pounds
Free Rum and Cokes
Pisco Sours
Caprihinias


Things we won´t miss about South America

Road Blocks
Long Bus Journeys
Chipped Glasses and Plates
Back Seat of the Jeep
Bad Service in Restaurants
Finger Puppet Sellers in Cuzco
Not being able to get change of notes
Itapu Dam (Igazu, Brazil)
Moon Valley (La Paz)



Other Highlights

Brazil -

Christo Redentor (Christ the Redeemer), Sugar Loaf Mountain, Ipanema Beach & The Maracana Stadium

Argentina -

San Telmo Markets & Bars, Boca Juniors Game, Museum of Modern Art, Wineries in Mendoza, Speed Boat at Igazu Falls, St Patricks Night Street Party

Chile -

Monkey Puzzle Hostal (Pucon), Mount Villaraca (Pucon), Small Bars in Barrio Brasil (Santiago)

Uruguay -

Ice Cream in Colonia, Cycling, Beaches and our Apartment in Punte Del Este

Bolivia -

Horseriding in Tupiza (Joanne loved it, I didn't), Train Graveyard in Uyuni, Minuteman Pizzas in Uyuni, Music Museum (La Paz), Witches Market (La Paz), Large Procession, International Press Photo Exhibition, Lake Titcaca, La Cupla Hostal in Copacabana, Isla del Sol.

Peru -

The Fallen Angel Nightclub, Burgers Stall in Cuzco, Mama Africa`s, Cusco Cathedral, People watching in Plaza de Arms, The Sacred Valley, Colca Canyon and the Condors, Convent in Arequipa, Juanita (the Ice Maidedn) Mummy, Arequipa Kebabs, Camping on the Beach in Puerto Inka, The Ballestas Islands & the sea life

Worst Restaurants

1. Buffet Grand Dragon - Montevideo - Uruguay
2. Mankha Uta - Copacabana - Bolivia
3. Mitro Annexo - Tupiza - Bolivia
4. Reasturant in Square - Ollantaytambo - Peru
5. Cafe Cafe - Lima (Milafores) - Peru

Final Days in the South

For most of our trip round South America we had been hearing horror stories about Lima from lots of other travellers and how much a dump it was, even the Lonely Planet guidebook was quite harsh on it. So it was with some trepidation and reluctance that we headed to the capital of Peru for the final leg of our three week tour of Peru. As you drive into Lima you have to pass miles and miles of slums before getting to the center, we were staying very close to the historical centre. Our hostal was the poorest one we had stayed at in Peru but we were the lucky ones as we had a en-suite shower not everbody in the group did. We actually found Lima to be OK and no where near as bad as its reputation with some great architecture in the central historical area.

This was the last night of the tour and some people where leaving Lima the next day so everybody was up for a big night out or so they planned. We headed to Miraflores and a large development on the sea front, the whole place was a bit souless a bit like Pacific Quay in Glasgow or The Riverfront in Norwich with a multiplex cinema and bland chain resturants. We headed to a place called Cafe Cafe for dinner, I wouldn`t recommend this place if there`s a big group of you as they couldn`t handle the order and quite a few of the group's main courses appeared before their starters that`s if the starters turned up at all!



At this stage Joanne read a poem about the three week trip and a verse for everybody on it, in response Tubbsy read out a reply to Joanne which Sharpy and himself had written. Here's a flavour from both the poems....

Short Excerpt from BUDGET, BUMS AND BOOZE by Joanne Reilly

Twenty one days filled with fun,
At least that is how our tour begun.
We made a mad dash in buses around four,
And were all glad when we reached Cuzco´s door.

Now to Dawn who would often say,
´It´s bloody freezing´ almost every day.
In her hat & scarf in Fallen Angels she stood,
Whlst everyone else danced til she got in the mood.

Now Matt can´t normally get a word in,
´Cos Sharpy and Tubbsy make such a din.
Playing footie he didn´t hear the calls,
I couldn´t believe Jon hit him in the balls.

Helena our Viking Warrior strode around,
Until the Machu Picchu she found.
But be careful when she´s drunk & it´s dark,
I´m not sure if her bite´s worse than her bark.

My man Chris does he ever think,
He almost peed into a sink.
At almost all the boyish jokes he did laugh,
And at poor Jon sleeping took a photograph.

As for me well I´m tour group mum,
At 35 I kept up with everyone.
Until the flight over the Nazca Lines,
Where I threw up several times.

As the mum of the tour group I´ve had a blast,
Take care my children, life will pass you fast.
So to each and every one of you,
Ciao, Cheerio and a fond Adieu.

_____________________________________

and here`s a bit of the reply from Tubbsy & Sharpy

JOANNE

There was a wee lass in Peru, Who cried without Irn Bru.
We all had to think, But we found her a drink,
And she said Inca Cola would do.

The old Scotty showed she could dance, Whenever she did have the chance.
Her husband is ginger, But she´s not a whinger,
She just goes on occasional rants.

On the tour when we were all blue, The ´short un´ knew just what to do.
Now heading separate ways, We´ll remember the days,
We spent with Joanne in Peru!

__________________________________________

We then ended up in the bar called the Havana Club for a few cocktails, we were the only people in this huge bar and there was some weird ritual to get a drink. You had to go to a small booth and order your drink before taking it over to the bar where they would give you different drinks from what you paid for at the booth. Kate was also in her element here after one too many cocktails (yeah she had one) telling us of her previous jobs as a fluffer for Marks and Sparks and as a fudge packer for a confectionary manufacturer in York. She then went on to describe everyone in the group as to what type of animal she thought they were, Joanne and myself were hamsters, Tubbsy was a shark and so on round the group. I also have to say that Kate has just completed three years studying law at university and that she is also one of the nicest people you could meet and we both feel quite guilty if people might get the wrong opionion about her.


Mark our tour leader then recommended another club of sorts, well I say club but I am not too sure what exactly you would have called it! There were more ladies of the night there than actual punters. There was a full length mirror facing the dancefloor (just like Rooftops an old Glasgow nightclub) and the ladies danced in a line facing this whilst waiting for their customers. Joanne took a couple of pictures of the group and was yelled at to put the camera away. Apparently it was something to do with the fact that some local politicians sometimes frequent there. I also got to dance to Gasolina, this song has been played everywhere we have been in the last few months, it`s not very good but I laugh every time I hear it. After a few drinks and dances we left and managed to get back to the hostal in one piece.

The following day we went back to Miraflores and went window shopping. To be honest we didn't really see anything that different and then headed back to meet up and say goodbye to Rhys, Jon & our wee Kate. After that it was out for dinner and we found a lovely little restaurant called Ellen's where the food was really good and we were all severed at the same time - YIPPEE!! The other best bit for Chris anyway was the fact that they did great draft beer!! This was our last night in Lima and we said farewell to Jenny, Matt, Stephanie, Tubbsy, Jane & Sharpy.

Up early for breakfast and said goodbye to the rest of the group, Helena, Chrissie, Jonathon, Dawn and Mark. The last three weeks with the budget expedition group has been brilliant and I´m sure the memories will last for years and hopefully we can keep in touch with group long after we all return home.


Then it was off to the airport to leave the land of Inca's behind and to travel to the land of the Aztec's and Mayan's (Mexico).

Sunday, June 12, 2005

Pacific Scary Heights

On the way to Puerto Inka we stopped off to see the devastation left behind in Tsunami that hit this coast in June 2001. This was the first time we had seen the Pacific Ocean and in true Scottish style I went in up to my ankles....it was freezing!!Brrrr!!.

On arriving in Puerto Inka we were to camp on the beach that night and as it was so grey no-one took the offer of going in for a swim. The Inca´s used to get all their fish from this area and would have relay teams seperated 15Km apart all the way to Cuzco so that the fish would get there in less than 24 hours. The sea looked really rough but apart from the grey sky it was a beautiful setting for the night. Some of the guys had a game of football while the others made dinner or like me just lazed about on the beach listening to the ocean swirling around.

After another delightful dinner of fish we sat around the campfire toasting marshmallows (reminded me of the Lake District) and Tubbsy entertained us on his guitar with his exhaustive repertoire until the sun came up the following morning. Most of us didn't bother drinking due to the excesses of the night before. The next day we didn't have such an early start and I waded into my knees again before having my shower. We also had a cooked breakfast courtesy of our tour leaders.


We had a short drive to see Chauchilla Cemetry where there were more mummies and were found due to the grave robbers digging them up. Quite a few of them had most of their hair due to the arid conditions of the desert....now it's time for another Kateism. Wandering around the site she quipped `It's not as if they are really dead' whilst looking at a bunch of the skeletons. We also forgot about her story of trying to increase her alcohol tolerance level before going on her trip by having a tablespoonful of Baileys every night. Kate frequently got drunk on one glass of wine and was also caught with another of the group buying non-alcoholic cocktails and trying to pass these off as real!!

Then we headed out to the Nazca Lines. Our flight was to be in a 6 seater cessna (including the pilot) and we were first up with Dawn, Mark & Kate. Kate was petrified of flying so being the brave me I opted to sit in the back seat with her (big mistake on Kate's part). Chris was in the front. We got up in the air between 500m and 1000m and everything was fine until we did the first figure of eight - I started to get that feeling of being on a roller coaster and started to feel rough - only 12 more to go I thought!! Two minutes later I had to extract my hand from Kate's and started to throw up (into a bag)....and on the left a monkey (puke) and on the right a condor (puke, puke). Poor Kate was more worried about me and had no option but to look out the window. After getting off the flight I couldn't even cross 2 mins to our campsite. I sat for ages and then it took me at least 3 hours to recover from the ground spinning which meant I couldn't take up the offer of the delightful swimming pool. Needless to say Chris loved every minute of it and would have done it again had he had the chance. Several others in the group also had a rough time but managed to keep their composure unlike me!.


That night we had bangers and mash thanks to Sharpy and his crew and it was delicious. A few of the guys decided to go into town for a drink....Chris went but I stayed and had an Inca Kola (it does taste a bit like Irn Bru honest!) with a few of the others. Chris said that I didn't miss much as the town wasn't that great.

Up early yet again to visit Toby`s ceramic workshop. This guy was a champion cyclist and he had some sense of humour. He showed us how they hand made the ceramics and used oil from their hair and face to polish them. He constantly chuckled throughout his explanations at his own jokes and this made it even more amusing.

There was a problem with Jock (our truck) so we then went to a gold refinery, with another hilarious guide. When explaining how the gold was crushed he kept doing a hip swing thing which had us all in stiches - he did this throughout the talk whether talking about the refining or not. The contraptions, which were a huge rock boulder, were swivelled backwards and forwards by the individual whilst water and mercury were poured over to remove the rock and leave the gold. They didn't look that safe but each person did 5 hours and had a radio to keep them moving in time with the music. Had we been there longer Chris and I would have done several days to help improve our waistlines.

We then headed to Huacachina famous for sand boarding. After the previous days antics both Chris and I declined the offer and sat having a few drinks (including a Pisco Sour) with Helena (who ate the biggest bit of chocolate cake I've ever seen) and Louise. We also wandered down to have a look at the oasis (yes it was a desert we were in). When the guys came back Jonathon was definitely the worse for wear - I don't think there was any part of him not covered in sand (including his eyebrows) ....the group all raved about it and had an excellent time.

That night we stayed in the town of Pisco (this is where the drink got it's name from - they used to ship it from here to Spain) and had a hotel which was sooo comfy. We all went out for a group meal together, the food was nice but in keeping with Peru's custom it took ages for all of us to get our main courses and we were all served at different times.



Another early start (our last for the trip) and we all took the boat out to the Ballestas Islands. We saw dolphins on our way out of the bay (thanks to Chrissie and her lucky dolphin t-shirt). We then headed to the islands where we saw sea birds, sea lions, seals and the last of the remaining penguins. Despite it being a grey day we had a great time and got up really close to see the wildlife. We even managed to get a picture of a star fish and a crab on a rock. There are apparently 42,000 sea lions in the islands. Back on the mainland we stopped at Johnny and Jennifer's restaurant - so we had a mug of coffee whilst thinking of the Lawsons.

Saturday, June 11, 2005

It´s that Condor Moment

Well Tuesday was an early start for our long drive to Chivay in the Colca Canyon, it wasn´t the most interesting of drives until the last few hours when we ran out of road and had to drive on the surface that NASA used for testing their moon buggys. Quite a few of us were glad that it was the last and not the first two hours as most of us were still suffering from the night before.

Once we arrived in Chivay we soon realised why it wasn´t in any of our guide books, the place had about 6 streets, 2 hotels, 1 bar and 45 stray dogs. After dinner a few of us ended up in the only bar and guess what it was an Irish bar called McIlroys... well they said it was Irish it had a Guiness painting on the wall and a poster of a famous Irish Barcelona player Ronnie O´Dinnhio. Dawn and Joanne were feeling quite cold (surprise! surprise!) so they odered a mulled wine whilst the rest of us had a beer and toasted Tubbsy´s birthday which seemed to drag on for the rest of the week.

Next morning was another early rise so we could catch a glimpse of the Condors as they glide up on the early morning thermals in the Colca Canyon which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. When we arrived at the viewing point nothing much was happening but within about 5 minutes we seen some Condors deep in the valley. After no time at all we had about six or seven condors gracefully gliding around us, putting on a real show as if they where part of a circus routine. This lasted for about 20 minutes before they slowly made their way back into the canyon, our local guide told us that we were very lucky as they don´t always stay as long as they did and sometimes don´t make any appearances at all. When booking the trip and looking at the itinerary and I thought this might be a bit rubbish but I was totally wrong and really enjoyed our time here. Now it was another long drive to our next destination Arequipa.


Arequipa is Peru´s second largest city and the is the industrial hub for the south of Peru, but it still has a really nice centre or so it seems from the little we saw of it over the next two days. This was to be the first night of camping using the budget expedition equipment and this also meant that we had to put up our own tents and cook our own food unlike the Inca Trail when the porters done everyting for us. We were split into groups for the breakfast, lunch, dinner, washing up and the cleaning of the truck and on the first night Joanne´, Kate, Louise and myself where tasked with making dinner for the 21 of us. We decided to make Joanne´s old party faithful Jumbalya (thanks Lynne for the original recipe) and as usual it seemed to go down ok, well nobody seemed that ill the next day.

Next morning we headed to the Santa Catlina Convent, which used to hold upto 500 nuns. This convent was where the rich of the area had to send their second daughter to become Nuns. The rooms where very spacious and the nuns had many cooks and cleaners to help them in their solitide (only for the really rich though!). The convent itself is like a small town with small streets between each of the the buildings. The buildings are all colourful and painted making the place very attractive to spend the rest of your life. We had a really good guide taking us round telling us what it would have been like for the nuns living here over the last 400 years. In the trainie nuns rooms all the statues of Jesus had mirrors placed inside their mouths so when the Nuns were praying they would think Jesus would be moving his lips and talking to them but it would only be a reflection of their own.


At lunch time we headed to a Turkish reastuant where the Kebabs are highly recommended, and we weren´t disappointed. Then it was on to see Juanita who was a 500 hundred year old mummy which was found in 1995 at the rim of the Volcano overlooking Arequipa. The mummy is one of the best preserved mummys to have been found since it was covered in ice and all its hair and skin was stll intact. It´s now kept in a refrigitated glass box which lets you see it from all sides.

That night it was another teams turn to cook and we had kebabs which were tasty. We all decided that a night out in the town was in order - well it was Tubbsy´s birthday week and we had just presented him with his cake. The first bar was ok with some decent cokctails and beers. The second bar had a live band that was playing the classic Roy Orbison song when we arrived "Plettee Wooomannn" before the Queen Medley had our crowd up head banging and punching the hand in the air. I should have mentioned earlier but most of the guys on this trip have an unhealthy obsession with some truly awful middle of the road music with Elton John being their musical God and Freddy Mercury not to far up behind. We then headed on to a club where all I can remember was the dodgy salsa music and a lot of really bad dancing from people who should know a whole lot better. At about 2:30 we headed back to the Kebab shop to complete our hat trick of Turkey´s greatest gift to mankind, before jumping in Taxi back to our tents

Next morning the bus once again had a few delicate souls as we headed to Puerto Inka on the Pacific Coast.

Wednesday, June 08, 2005

The Fallen Angels

Well after our hard work on the Inca Trail and our time at Machu Picchu it was a 4 hour trip back to Cuzco (2 hours on a train and 2 on a bus). On arriving back at our hostal we were met by our guide Mark who had acquired some free passes to a nightclub if anybody was interested, everybody was up for it to celebrate our trek even though we had been up since 4am that morning.

The nightclub turned out to be quite an eye opener with some of the strangest decor seen since willy wonka opened it´s doors to the 5 lucky golden ticket holders. Many of the tables where old baths with a glass tabletops, inside the baths goldfish swam amongst the rocks and plants. There was also some large brass beds being used for seating and the DJ box looked as if the DJ was inside an aquarium. One toilet had broken mirrors and the other was decorated with barbed wire and roses painted in grey - you had to be a bit careful turning around quickly in that one.

One of the funniest things to be seen in the Fallen Angel that Satuday night was Dawn with her Cagoul zipped right up with a wooly hat on and everybody else in t-shirts. Dawn and Mark are a real nice couple who come from Norfolk (well someone has to, and they don´t even seem that backwards!!!. One thing you will no doubt hear from Dawn within at least 10 minutes of meeting her is "BBBBbbbrrrr it´s freezing... Mark heat me up!!!!!!!".

Another 6 of the group come from in and around Derby, ( Sharpy, Matt , Ross (Tubbsy), Jenny, Jane and Stephanie), these guys have been travelling for a while together and have been to Japan, Oz and New Zealand already on this trip. The three guys did the Inca Trail and kept us amused whith their endless stream of toilet humour, but Sharpy and Matt do seem a lot quieter once their girlfriends Jane and Jenny are around. Mean while in the club a drag artist dressed as Carmen Miranda appeared to sing a few songs, word soon got around that Sharpy was missing and that he was last seen trying on a bowl of fruit and the two were never seen in the room at the same time.

The three drinks for two offer also meant that most of us where buying too many drinks and pretty soon casualties where falling away quick and fast.. (it´s ok Helena we won´t mention your drunken outburst). A good crowd of us managed to keep going until the early hours and to beat the 24 Hour Challenge before deciding to head to Mama Africas because we were the last one´s left in the Fallen Angel.

Once in Mama Africas it wasn´t long before I noticed Mark sleeping on the bar, so I went up and asked if he wanted a water... his reply was another beer por favor. As Dawn had taken Helena back in a taxi a few hours back Joanne and I carried him down the stairs and got him back to the hostal (via the hamburger stands for a few morning snacks as it was after 5am now).

The next morning arrived late but we still managed to go out for breakfast before our appointment with Funny Photos at lunchtime, the idea behind Funny Photos is that they get a group of gringos and dress them up in traditional Peruvian clothes and charge them for making a fool of themselves in public. Most of the group were up for this and for some reason we all ended wearing Peruvian woman´s clothing. After having a few photos taken in the studio it was then down to the Plaza de Arms where we attracted a sizeable crowd who didn`t know whether to laugh or cry at us. Rhys forever being the shy introverted type decided to give the typical Peruvian woman´s dress a miss and plumped for the bikini/ mini skirt combo. He did get a lot of strange looks with kids openly pointing at him with their mouths wide open in amazement.



Before the Inca Trail we thought we were going to be suffering so we had booked a massage for the Sunday afternoon, to be honest we where probably more in need for a massage for our dodgy dancing the night before than our 4 day trek. This was to be my first massage and to be honest I wasn´t really looking forward to it! The first thing I heard was Joanne´s back make an almighty crack and I suddenly realsised that I wish I had just spent the money in the bar across the street and relaxed that way. After an hour of being proddded, stretched, and battered it was all over and once again it was an experience I would be in no hurry to repeat just like the horse riding.

After the previous nights antics most of us just got take away pizzas and headed back to our rooms to watch movies, it wasn´t the quickest pizzas but they did give us a few pisco sours and garlic bread to tide us over.

Next day we wandered about Cuzco going to a few more Museums and at last getting into see the magnificent Cathedral, inside there were hundreds of amazing paintings and fantastic carved wooden altars and is well worth a visit if you are in the area. Another place to visit is Mandelas Bar which serves some of the finest sandwiches in South America and has some great views over the Cuzco rooftops.

For our last night in Cuzco it was to be a return to the Fallen Angel, not for the club but to the top class restaurant which it hosts during the week. Both Joanne and myself had a few cocktails and excellent steaks whilst sitting watching the goldfish swim about under our plates in the bathtub below. We then ended up back in Paddys for a few drinks with Mark our guide as this was his last night in Cuzco (this is his last tour as he´s heading back to England for a knee operation).



We then found out it was going to be Tubbsy´s birthday at 12 o´clock so it looked like it was going to be another long night as we headed to Mama Africa´s (Joanne & Helena had managed to get an extra 8 free drink vouchers between themselves as well as everyone getting one for themselves in the way in). Once inside the madness soon descended as we persuaded the band to let Tubbsy accompany them on bongos, before Mark arranged for him to be given the dentist chair treatment on the bar, this wasn´t a brilliant idea as soon as he had his treatment he was running across the dancefloor to the toilets to bring the whole mixture back up.

Next morning most people where feeling less than 100% on the bus and where quite glad to catch up with a few hours sleep.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

The Sacred Valley and Inca Trail

Tuesday 31 May we headed out of Cuzco up to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced ´Sexy Woman´). These ruins overlooked Cuzco and again huge rocks were gathered from natural landslides and carried up the hill to be interlocked with each other. The Spanish removed a substantial amount of the rocks and covered the whole site in soil to stop the locals from preaching to their gods. One of the stones was over 300 tons.

This is where I will first introduce Kate a really nice lass from Yorkshire, who was to keep the group in fits of laughter over the next few weeks with her skewed observations on the world. In La Paz after a glass of wine she was telling us all how she had seen the Clash twice, I found this quite strange as she was in her early 20´s and was probably about 2 years old when they split up. We later found out she had meant Ash and not the 70´s punk combo from North London, but this was only the first of the Kateisms over the next few weeks.

Kateisms..... Here a few to give you the general idea

After seeing the moon in the sky during the day she asked.... "Can we see the moon because we are at the top of the mountain ???"

After seeing some llamas she asked "Can you see those camels there ???"
But she was right about this as our guide Julio (who we had for the next 5 days) explained that llamas were actually known as Andean Camels so we bought Kate her own little camel called Camilla. This kept her amused for the rest of the day.

We then travelled by bus to the Sacred Valley and another Inca ruin high upon the hillside near Pisac (a small market town), this climb up turned out to be a good introduction to what we could expect on the next few days. Julio explained about the ruins and we were told of the sacrifices made (usually young girls) to the inca gods. After our lunch in Pisac we headed to a small chica (corn beer) factory to try some of the local brew and to play a local pub game where the object is to throw metal coins into a metal frog`s mouth, this game is better than it sounds and is quite similar to darts as most players play whilst drinking. It was then onto Ollantaytamboma our final destination before starting the Inca Trail in the morning, while we there we visited some more Inca ruins and bought our bamboo walking sticks and plastic ponchos for our trek.

That night we had the worst meal of our whole time in South America, most of the groups food was crap and some people´s food never even turned up. There was also a funny incident when the waiter kept bringing out a cheese pizza for Kate (who doesn´t eat cheese) and saying that there was no cheese on it (but we all could see it was dripping in cheese), this went on for about 10 minutes before Kate finally decided to leave and go to another reasturant. After tasting the rest of our meals we all wished we had followed Kate to the other place.

Up early on Wednesday for pancakes before setting off with our bags to drive to kilometer 82 (82 km from Cusco) which was the start of our four day trek on the Inca Trail. We were both a bit apprehensive as most of the guys were a lot younger and seemed a lot fitter than we were. We had also been told by the guys we had met in Pucon that the climb to the top of the Volcano in Pucon was not half as difficult the second day on the Inca Trail, and we had both struggled a bit to climb that.



Anyways we got our passport stamped at the start and after crossing a bridge all of us lifted a rock which was to be carried all the way up so that the Inca God Pachu Mama would make sure that nothing would happen to us. So off we went with our walking canes in our hands, the sun was out and it looked like a lovely day but we were told 5 hours of walking (we were thinking more like 7 for us). We walked by the river for a while and then slowly started to climb uphill. After about an hour we took a break, Louise one of the group had been really struggling at this point and required oxygen. After discussing it with the guide she decided to call it a day, So off the rest of us headed uphill again. Chris managed to keep up with Helena from Denamrk for the last stretch of todays hike, this was to be the last time anybody did as our own Viking warrior was by far the fittest and fastest of the whole group. We stopped at the Llactapata ruins on the way up towards the campsite and all of us managed to get there on the first day in 4 hours and 30 mins. Fairly impressive for a couple of old yins.

Now I must tell you about what our porters carried. Each of us was allowed a bag at 4.5kg. The porters each carried over 20kgs in weight and most of them were about my height or smaller! They wandered past us shouting ´Hola´ or ´Vamos´ (Let´s go) and off they hurried past putting us all to shame. They built us tents and everyday we ate like kings and queens. We had 2 courses for breakfast, 3 at lunch and 2 at night. Some days we even had a high tea as well!! These guys were really amazing. After lunch on the first day they even played football for 2-3 hours. Julio our tour guide brought out a football top to play in and guess what.....it was a Celtic top - I kid you not. Mr Reilly couldn´t keep the grin off his face, he wore his Scotland top and along with Mark and Jon they all played for a while....with Mark playing for at least a couple of hours.

At night after dinner we looked at the stars for a while before heading to bed for a well deserved sleep. We were both really worried about the second day as we had heard so many horror stories from people who we assumed were reasonably fit. Most of the next day was going to be a steep climb to Dead Woman´s Pass which was the highest pass on the Inca Trail at 4198 metres, to give you a comparison Ben Lomond is 974m and Ben Nevis is 1,344m.

We were woken up around seven with a cup of tea from the porters and after breakfast we made a move. It was all uphill right from the start and everyone was struggling apart from the Viking Warrior (Helena) who strutted her stuff. Julio kept the pace going at a reasonable level and we all stopped off for lunch after a couple of hours walking up hill with a few breaks on the way. The scenery was absolutely amazing and we could see all the way that we had come up (believe me it was some way up).

Immediately after eating lunch with our stomachs groaning we headed up the steepest part of the hill and this was tough, most of us where chewing cocoa leaves furiously to help conqueror the effects of altitude. Whislt nearing the top Mark had ran a couple of steps at the top to get water off of Dawn, but when everyone started to cheer he felt he had to run up the rest and nearly collapsed at the top, maybe he shouldn´t have played football for two hours the night before. The group were all within 10 mins of each other and a group photo was well deserved before we headed on the long slow climb down (for us anyway) to the campsite. Special mention for Rhys as he was feeling dreadful but still managed to make it up quite quicky and you really did notice him being ill because you could get a word in edgeways for a change. It felt like a great achievment to get to the top of Dead Woman´s Pass even though it wasn´t as tough as we had feared in fact this was Chris´favourite part of the Inca Trail (he hate´s going downhill with his dodgy knees and ankles).



The walk down was fine as you were following an actual paved road....but the only problem was that most of the rocks were not straight and you really had to watch where you put your feet so Chris and I took our time and managed to get to the campsite in one piece.

After high tea (lots of popcorn and biscuits) and another huge meal we all headed to bed early as we had an even earlier start in the morning. Just before heading to our tents a group of us wandered upto the toilets, once I got into the ladies all I could hear from the other side was all the guys rolling about in laughter, Chris was about to use the sink as a urinal before the guys warned him off, to be fair the sink looked like a large rectangular urinal. The guys found it funny and Chris got a bit of a ribbing for a few days.

The first night in the tents was a little bit cold but on the second the temperature dropped considerably and despite wearing our thermal tights (yup Chris looked sexy in his grey ones) we were both a lot colder. We were woken at 5.30 with our tea and then after breakfast started to slog back uphill to Runturacay an oval shaped inca building where we took some pictures before heading further up where Julio stopped to explain the ruins to us. We sat and watched the sun rise up above the mountains and it looked like it was going to be another beautiful day. We then went to the top of the second pass which had two small lakes and one in the shape of Australia had a deer quietly drinking water from it.



The walk until lunchtime was one of the most picturesque of the whole trail with snow capped mountains, deep valleys, rainforest and the climbs up and down were not as steep as the previous days or first thing that morning. After lunch it was a slow winding trail down to the last campsite. At this campsite there was hot showers available (first in 3 days.... Peeewwwwhhh!!!!!) and a bar selling beer and Inca Kola (Yeaaahhhhh!!!!!), so it wasn´t long before we were all singing and having a good laugh to celebrate what we thought was the end of the Inca Trail. We gave a small presentation to the porters for all their hard work carrying all our bags and the food for the last three days.

Next morning it was a 4am start so that we could be at the entrance to the Machu Picchu National Park for 4.30am, well our group made it first to the gate infront of everybody else doing the trail at this time (we think they allow a 1000 people on the Inca Trek at a time). The gate doesn´t actually open until 5:30am but Julio said the views from the Sun Gate would be much better if we got there first before all the pushing and shoving for the best photo location. This is where we found out that there was still a good half hour until we got to the Sun Gate and another half hour after that until we got to Machu Picchu itself.

Helena, Rhys and Oyvan set off at the front with lightning pace, the rest of us mere mortals didn´t do too bad after walking through some rainforest which had a swirling mist below - I half expected Nessie to pop her head up (we were worried that the sun wouldn´t come out) and then clambering up some really steep rocks. Chris was leading the way for the rest of us shouting "steps up" and steps down to warn us because it was still dark and you could easily slip or trip on the uneven rocks, Chris arrived 4th to the Sun Gate with the rest of us not too far behind. The whole group had got to the Sun Gate before anyother group, the only problem being was that the Sun Gate was entirely enclosed in cloud and we couldn´t see Machu Picchu from this vantage point. It was great fun getting here anyway and it was a great feeling for the whole group to be here first, it was a slow descent now to the Pachu Mama´s where we placed the stones we had carried all the way from the Kilometer 82 on the first day. It was here we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu as the mist started to clear and we all headed down to view point where most of the famous photos of Machu Picchu are taken from.



Our guide Julio was impressed that our group made it so quick both to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu. In general he gave us a lot of information (but boy did he like to talk) and was enthusiastic about the history of his people which was a refreshing change. He kept us going and was fairly acurate for us when judging how long we would take to get from a to b each day. Some of his most frequent phrases were ´Right Mates´, ´Alright My Friends´ and ´Piece of Piss´.

We met the rest of the people from our tour who didn´t go on the Inca Trail at the view point, after stopping for some huge Bacon rolls (but they still don´t taste like the ones from home) and Inca Kola (it is still not really like Irn Bru) we were then taken on a tour round Mach Picchu by Julio and he explained the meanings of all the temples and buildings. Chris and I then wandered around by ourselves for another hour (and even managed to climb back up to get some pictures) before getting the bus down to Aguas Claiente (a small town nearby - this is where we got the train back to Cuzco).