Machu Picchu

From Cuzco set up tour to Machu Picchu. 4 day 3 night trip was alternative option to "the Inca Trail" for about 1/3 the price and the ability to make a reservation 1 day instead of months in advance.

Day 1:

Biking. A decent of about 9,000 ft over 55 kms on half asphalt, half dirt roads snaking along the mountain side. Not as steep or extreme as the Death Road, but some good steeps and curves.

The road



The Urban Zone

Day 2:

Hiking along an old Inca trail (apparently 8 Inca trails go to Macchu Picchu).

About half the trek we walked along narrow mountain edge treking trails

And the rest of the time cruised along dirt roads, I believe which were part of the Inca trail system

By far one of the better groups I´ve been part of, with 9 nationalities represented. We stayed in small "hotels" instead of camping and were able to frequent several of the small town/tourist bars.

Day 3:

More Hiking.

A morning winding along a valley floor


And the afternoon of walking along railroad tracks to make it to Aguas Caliente

The highlight of the trip for me was on the third night a guy in our group heard of a side hike up a mountain across the valley from Macchu Picchu. 5 of us from the group climbed up for the sunset (would have been more, but about half the group came down with a food poisoning aliment of sorts).

The first half of the hike was basically straight up on ladders fashioned out of trees and old logs acting as rungs held on by one nail each.

A good shot looking down at the ascent that I stole from Alex. Easily one of the more exteme/dangerous hikes around

The 5 of us and 6 beers at the top. In total there were 8 people at the top of the mountain to see the sunset, slightly more managable than the 4,000 at Machu Picchu.

A slightly less common shot of MP and the road up

And the hike down in the dark

Day 4:

Machu Picchu. Woke at 4 AM to climb the steps up to Machu Picchu.

The ruins

Inca stone

The surrounding mountains

Next:

20 hour bus to Lima tonight. The plan is to find a surfboard and explore the surf up the northern Peruvian coast.

La Paz, Jungle, Lake Titicaca

La Paz

When approaching La Paz at night it looks like sky scrapers encircle the valley center of the city, towering over the few tall buildings that exist in the middle. However, as you ramble closer you see it´s not buildings, but houses and shacks that climb the montains around the city and their lights blanket the valley. These mountainous peaks would be a challenge to climb, yet somehow homes exist.

La Paz is a unique city in many regards... I think. I actually saw very little of the city by day, except if you count 3 out of 5 sunrises I was still awake for. I do know I managed to rack up a hostal bar tab over twice the price of the room (and that bar closed at 1 am), found excuses to celebrate stuff with white people from all over the world, and toured the city via taxi under the late late cover of dark. I don´t even have any acceptable pictures to post from the city, but it is visually attractive.

Besides the late night debauchery, the highlight of the city was the big decent.

Bike tour of "the most dangerous road" ... plunges 11,647 ft over 39 miles. Nicknamed the "Death Road" because so many cars went off the side of this one laner that´s positioned atop a curvy cliff and hugging a mountain side. With the recent opening of a new road few cars still use this road, but bike tourists have continued to justify the name with 3 dying already this year (according to the guide).

No one died from our group but a girl fell off (speed wobbles) and broke her two front teeth in half. The next day another girl from the hostal fell and got a concusion.

A good trip and a big rush

Likely the second most deadly road

20 hour bus trip north to the junlge town of Rurrenabaque. The trip covered only 450 kms so we averaged about 15 mi per hour along one lane cliff roads (for two way traffic) with the only protection being a blaring horn warning oncoming traffic of our approach.

Pampas Tour

From Rurrenbaque went on a 3 day tour in a carved out tree canoe around the Pampas Del Yacuma, a fluvial pain of the Amazon Basin.

We saw some wildlife:

Went Anaconda hunting

How not to hunt for Anacondas, demonstrated by the Swedish girls being terrified of mosquitos

How to hunt for Anacondas (I think) ... unfortunately no Anacondas this day

Went fishing for Piranhas

and swam in the murky waters with river dolphins, not far from where aligators lounged in the sun or lurked just below the water (apparently alligators are afraid of the dolphins). Best quote was from the guide, "En Bolivia, todo es possible, pero nada es seguro." (In Bolivia everything is possible, but nothing is safe)

Sorota

Visited tranquil hillside village of Sorota, hoping to do some mountain biking, but the guide was out of town and I moved on after relaxing for a day.

Lake Titicaca

A few hour stop in the lake-side town of Copacabana before taking a 1.5 hour boat ride to the Isla Del Sol.


Met up with a guy from the Pampas tour and a few others and stayed in a hostal with a great view of the lake.

The room looked a bit like a jail cell, but it was the cheapest room of the trip so far... $2.04

Hiked around island in the morning, about 20 kms

got lost in mountain side farm plots

wondered through small villages


Local gals chatting up the group trying to sell a random mixture of quality homemade goods

Now

Arrived in Cuzco, Peru this morning. Likely venturing up to Macchu Piccu in a few days.