Salkantay Trek and Machu Picchu

Hello again from Cusco!  Today I took a day of rest after 5 days of great hiking, including walking to, from, and all around the amazing, not-so-ancient (1450 AD) city of Machu Picchu.

My wonderful trekking buddies looking fresh on the first day!

The Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu consisted of 5 days of walking, 3 nights camping, and 1 night in a hostel the night before going up to Machu Picchu.  Horses carried tents, sleeping pads, food, and 5kg of gear per person (I opted to carry all my gear on my own back), and two guides kept everyone together while providing some interpretive information along the way.

On day 1 (Tuesday 4/22) our group of 19 trekkers from USA, England, Canada, Spain, Holland, Australia, Belgium, Germany, Singapore, Brasil, and Peru arrived at the main square in Cusco at 5am to drive to our starting point in the small town of Mollepata.  I think we all tried to get some extra sleep to get ready for 8hrs of walking uphill.  We ascended 1000m (3300ft) the first day, and it was challenging, but everyone in the group seemed to adjust to the altitude (3900m or 12870ft above sea level) without any problems.  I enjoyed partaking in the local tradition of chewing on Coca leaves throughout the hike, which eases hunger and thirst, and helps with any symptoms related to altitude sickness.  Our first campsite was in the shadow of Salkantay (Wild Mountain in Kichwa), and its ´little´ brother, Umantay (Head Mountain), while the rivers coming from their respective glaciers lulled us to sleep.

Salkantay Pass, where the clouds parted just for us.

After a mediocre night's sleep due to cold temps and thin sleeping pads, we all rose early to hike 3hrs to Salkantay Pass.  As we approached Salkantay, the clouds continued to dissipate, with glaciers and craggy peaks stairing down at us throughout our ascent.  We rose to 4650m (15345ft), and after working hard to get to the top, the mountain air and our sweat quickly cooled us down, requiring us to whip out all our cold weather clothing.  Plenty of glorious photos were taken, and lucky for us, one of our guides led a traditional ceremony of offering and appreciation to the mountain, giving coca leaves, a traditional drink, and a song played on the Kenachu, a large Incan flute.  The rest of the day was a pleasant hike downhill, through rocky terrain (where I saw a Chinchilla!), and eventually dipping back down below the treeline for our second night of camping.

Walking along the Lluksamayu River for much of day 3.

Nothing like hot springs to rejuvenate tired legs!

Day 3 had us walking through rainforest along a beautiful river for most of the morning, with plenty of up and down to keep the hike interesting.  We hiked for 5hrs in the morning, and then took a short van ride to our camping site in the town of Santa Teresa.  Most of us then took another short ride to the nearby hotsprings, a lifesaver for those of us with achy muscles.

Day 4 came with a couple of morning options, either to walk for the first three hours, or to do a zipline tour and get driven to the town of Hidroelectrica to meet the walkers for lunch.  I opted for the zipline option!  Six cables, one over 1200ft long offered great views of the river below, and one line barely skimmed above the trees!  The zippers met up with the walkers for lunch, and we all continued the rest of the way on foot to Aguas Calientes, the hotel/restaurant town that serves as the launching point for Machu Picchu.  All our long walks on this trip made for great conversation with all of the trekkers.  I managed to land in a group of highly intelligent and globally aware world travellers that have inspired me to continue to search for that which makes me happy, and to never stop learning, questioning, and seeking out new experiences.

Saturday morning we woke up before the sun to arrive at the start of the trail to MP before 5am.  A slight drizzle brought out lots of ponchos, and every other person had a headlamp to help with the 1 mile walk that brought us up about 1200ft to the entry gates to the archeological site.  When we arrived inside around 630, the clouds covered everything in sight, giving us a slightly anticlimatic arrival to the cornerstone of our 5 day trip.  Our tour guide led us along the important sites that we could see right in front of us, and we waited patiently for the clouds to part.

After our tour I climbed nearby Huayna Picchu, the big mountain in all the classic MP photos, only to find everything still enveloped in fog and mist.  I waited about 3hrs for the sky to clear, and without any success I continued on the circuit trail that lead around to some caves on the back side of the mountain.  When I got back around to the path that led up to the top, the skies were clearing!  I climbed the mountain again, and even though the pictures only show half the city, I had a great view from the top.  There was another small mountain, Huchuy Picchu, between Huayna Picchu and MP, so naturally I climbed it as well to get a closer view of the city as the skies continued to clear.  By 1:00pm the whole place was visible, and I could walk the ruins with a view of the whole city.  What a great place for a city!  I was glad I chose a long route into the ruins, and walking most of the way made me feel like I 'deserved' the access a bit more than if I had taken a train or bus to get to the top.  Next up is Arequipa and Colca Canyon, and then I will drop down into Chile as far as Santiago.  Peace to all, and talk to you soon!

The best view of Machu Picchu that I managed on Wayna Picchu.

The Incan city in all its glory, with Wayna Picchu looming in the background.

Two weeks on the farm and a weekend in Cusco

Feliz dia de Pascua desde Cusco, Peru!  There is so much to do and see here that I had to pry myself away to make a blog update - time to catch up on the last two weeks!

Papaya on the table.

Papayas on the tree.

Sachahuares is a family farm run by a Belgian wife and a Peruvian husband (with three boys 11, 6, and 4 running around as well) located about 6hrs from Cusco at about 800meters above sea level and in a forest with wet/dry seasons, the latter beginning around May and June.  They regularly receive volunteers to help out, and I was joined by two Californians for my two weeks of service.  We helped out with chores and oddjobs whenever necessary, in addition to 3hrs of work in the morning, 2 in the afternoon, and helping cook meals on a woodfire adobe stove. Sachahuares has a multitude of edible crops on their property, including papaya, coconut, banana, masasamba, avocado, lemon, orange, corn, pan de arbol, and others.  While most crops are only for personal consumption, they do have enough coffee, cacao, and mango to sell to local wholesale operations.  Lucky for me, I arrived in peak coffee and cacao harvest season!

Cafe (of the Arabica variety) grows as a small tree, and requires plenty of shade.  The fruits start out green, and depending on the variety, are harvestable when they are either red or yellow.  Once done harvesting for a day, we brought all the fruits together and ran them through the standard cafe peeling machine, separating the skins from the all important beans inside.  We then set the beans aside in a sack until the end of a week, when we had harvested enough to dry a large batch of cafe all at once.  When ready to dry, the cafe beans are laid out in the sun for about a week until they are nice and hard when you bite into them.  At that point they are ready to sell, or to be toasted, ground, and brought to the table for a deliciously strong morning drink.

Harvesting cafe.

Cafe fruit freshly harvested.

Toasting cafe the traditional way!  This was the stove we used to cook all our meals and boil water as well.

Peeling cafe with a special machine, the skins make great compost!

Though prices fluctuate, cafe and cacao generally go for about the same price at the wholesalers.  However, cacao beans are larger and come in pods with at least 15 seeds per pod, and so require less effort to harvest.  Therefore, new areas of crop plantings at Sachahuares generally include cacao trees - not just for harvest and profit, but also as a way to reforest slopes that have been stripped of trees from fire and ax.  Cacao pods grow on the trunk of the tree and on outlying branches, and are usually out of reach.  To bring down the pods, we used long poles from local timber with a hook attachment on the end.  We did our best to push the pods off their perch, but if they were located on smaller branches we often ended up taking part of the tree with the pod (oops!).  As the trees with plush with fruit, we had a large pile of pods after only a few days.  The next step was to cut open each pod with a machete, and pass it on to the next person to pull out the fleshy seeds.  The coating of ripe cacao seeds is sweet and delicious, and we sucked on plenty along the way.  The seeds then go into a sack for 4 to 6 days to ferment, and after that they are removed and set into the sun.  Cacao seeds are a bit more sensitive than cafe, and need to be dried fast and then delivered soon before they begin to mold and spoil.  Since cafe beans can keep for much longer, Sachahuares often holds onto dried cafe until a reasonable price comes on the market.

Cacao hooks used to pry pods off their perch.

Sam using the special pole to fetch some cacao pods.

Harvest from two volunteers working 5 hrs a day from just 3 days!  

Cutting and deseeded cacao pods.

Cacao (front left) and cafe left in the sun to dry.

The big pile of pods turned into to two smelly sacks of fermenting cacao seeds!

The main patio of Sachahuares on the day of the birthday party.

I really enjoyed staying with a family for two weeks, the energy is so distinct to that of a hostel, or tour group, or even the reserve in Ecuador.  The three boys oscillated between playing well together and completely terrorizing each other, but they always wanted to play cards or talk with us, making us feel constantly welcome.  At the end of last week there was a birthday party held for all three boys, and we got to help prepare the food (including killing and cooking a goose!), decorate, fetch the guests from the nearby town, and of course clean up.  We learned to cook some local dishes, such as "toreja de plátano", or a banana pancake with more banana than cake.  That came at the end of our stay, when the abundance of ripe bananas prompted us to not only eat our fill during the day, but also required us to take at least 10 bananas with us when we left - needless to say, I am now taking a break from bananas for awhile!  Sachahuares was a beautiful area to spend two weeks, and I learned a lot about cafe and cacao and farm life along the way.  I must say I am relieved that the rest of my trip is largely out of range of mosquitos and other little biters, and I am feeling at home again in the mountains here in Cusco.  

From left, Dimitri (28), Ilian (4), Sam (18), Sabine, Mirko (6), Kyram (11), Roberto, and yours truly.

Viernes Santo procession of La Virgen Dolorosa.

Viernes Santo in the streets of Cusco.

On Friday night, Sam and I arrived in Cusco looking for anything special that might be happening for Viernes Santo (Holy Friday).  Our taxi driver dropped us off where he thought there might be a procession, and everyone we asked seemed to think everything had finished for the night.  As we walked up the cobblestone stairs on the street to our hostel, I heard trumpets and drums from the direction in which we had come.  A procession!  Mother Mary made her way up the street for awhile, when she was eventually met by her dying Son laying in a glass box.  Then the two processions combined and took a turn up the street we had taken as a vantage point, filling the road with people and firmly trapping us with backpacks and all against the buildings.  We had no choice but to wait for the procession to begin moving again, and by that time we had hauled our backpacks around for long enough, and made our way to the hostel for the night.

Saturday was spent walking around the city, checking out the expansive and diverse San Pedro market, and wishing I had Mary Poppins' bag to stash lots of gifts without adding any more weight to my pack. We bought some food for the week, ate a cheap and delicious lunch, and checked out a chocolate museum to see if we could learn some history to go along with our practical knowledge of cacao. That night we met up with some local peruvians from our hostel, and we got a look at the city from a local's perspective, complete with "Chicha" (alcoholic drink made from fermented corn), street food, and a salsa bar.

The Cathedral in the main square on Easter morning.

Yesterday, Easter Sunday, Sam and I got up around 7 to catch one of the services at the Cathedral on the main square.  It was impressive not only in architecture but in attendance, with the multitude having memorized all the responses, creeds, and hymns throughout the service.  The priest told us that Easter is a day of festival, so we should go out and eat well!  Our plan for the rest of the day was to see four archeological sites nearby Cusco, and after making a breakfast sandwich of avocado, tomato, onion, cheese and spinach, Sam and I set out with two friends from the hostel to see what we could see for a day.

The ruins were distinct in their own ways.  Tambomachay was a place of communal living, agriculture, and rest; Pukapukara was a small fortress; Qenko was a center for spiritual rituals; and the last and most impressive Saqsaywaman was the main fortress protecting Cusco from invasion.  We went without a guide to all the site, and sometimes the interpretive signs are few and far between, so we have some independent research to do to appreciate the full significance of the sites, but Saqsaywaman had so much to see and admire that the actual use took a back seat to the architecture and layout of the ruin.  Some areas held tunnels that used to connect to a temple in the center of Cusco; a central circular arena could have been a market; the large field in the photo below held the annual ceremony of the Sun, and the walls you can see above the field are the zig-ziag walls of the fortress.  Each stone used in the wall fits so close to the other that no mortar is needed - the technique used to shape each stone still escapes me, and hopefully I will learn more about it once in Machu Picchu.

Ruins of Saqsaywaman just up the hill from Cusco.

Look at the size of the rocks the Incas used for building walls!
And the angles of the rocks when they come together!

To get back to our hostel yesterday evening we took a detour past the large statue of Christ that looms over the city.  The statue is white, shiny, and is lit up at night, and walking past was a nice way to close our Easter Sunday of walking around the city.  Today I get ready for my 5day trek into Machu Picchu that starts tomorrow, packing in food, water, and extra camera memory cards, and I may make it to some more ruins before the day is out as well.  I am excited to be out in the backcountry for a few days, and to hike up the mountain of Huayna Picchu that overlooks the famous ruins below.  I will be sure to give a full report upon my return, and before I head out for Arequipa and the Colca Canyon next week.  Thanks for tuning in!

Christ looks down on Cusco with arms spread wide.

From Jatun Sacha to Sachahuares: Tena, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru

Hi everyone!  This is a wordy post, not only because I have been moving around the last week, but also because I am having difficulties getting my pictures to upload to computers.  As soon as I can manage to find a computer that reads my SD card, I will add some photos to this post.

A little background information:  Fresh from graduating with degrees in Biology and Hispanic Studies, I decided to travel to South America to meet new people, utilize and improve my Spanish speaking skills, and to see and learn about ecosystems different than those I am used to seeing in Washington and California.  I also wanted to volunteer, to use my youthful energy to help conservation and small scale agricultural projects in their quest to preserve a changing environment and minimize the expansion of harmful 'civilized' practices.  Finally, I wanted to experience the chaos, passion, and controversy that will be rampant at the World Cup in Brazil.  

Before planning my journey from Ecuador to Brazil, I sent out requests to farms in Peru and Argentina that accept volunteers to provide farm labor in exchange for room and board.  In Ecuador, my mission was to help with a conservation project in the Amazon, and though I had to pay a fee to participate, I know that my labor and financial contribution went towards conserving and maintaining an important area of rainforest.  After leaving Jatun Sacha Biological Reserve in the Ecuadorian Amazon last week, I set out with Cusco as my next volunteer destination.  It is a long way from Tena, Ecuador to Cusco, Peru, and I began by returning to Cuenca to enjoy the hospitality of friends before relying on hotels and hostels for lodging.  I stayed two nights, mostly relaxing and roaming around the city one last time.

From Cuenca, I took a morning bus south to Loja, where I only stayed a couple hours to do some errands before jumping on another bus that took me further south to Vilcabamba.  I stayed at the biological reserve RumiWilco (www.rumiwilco.com) , a hillside conservation site/ecolodge with a nice network of trails complete with interpretive information throughout.  I learned that for all the beauty of the patchwork agriculture I had seen on the hillsides thus far, there is a severe threat to the biodiversity of Loja province, and Ecuador in general.  For example, only 8-10% of Loja province still harbors native ecosystem, with development and civilization threatening to erase more biodiversity by the day.  The ecolodge concept has been around for awhile, but proves to be a useful tool for combining conservation, education, and tourism income.

View of Vilcabamba from the trails of RumiWilco.

I stayed two nights in Vilcabamba, and woke up before the sun on Wednesday 3/26 to begin a day and a half of travel that would take me across the border and into Chachapoyas, Peru.  Thankfully, Jen Ryman was waiting at the bus stop in Vilcabamba, and we remained travel buddies throughout the border crossing and three nights in 'Chachas'.

First, we had a 6hr bus ride from Vilcabamba to Zumba, Ecuador, during which we saw evidence of the recent rains manifested in landslides along the dirt and gravel path to Peru.  The way to Zumba was clear, but  we did stop along the way to let the bus staff fix an axle issue after hitting a big rock, and we definitely felt our stomachs drop looking over the edge of the road a few times along the way.

Steep roads and beautiful views highlighted the border crossing into Peru.

Once in Zumba, the next step was to take a large, open sided truck (ranchera) the next three hours to the small border town of La Balsa.  We met two Germans in the bus station, Adrian and Fine, who had tried to make the ranchera trip in the morning, but the way was blocked by landslides and washouts.  There was a point where the ranchera company told us that we could get through, but the taxi truck drivers said we couldn't, so we should spend a bit more and cross with them.  We decided to go with the ranchera, and if we came to an impass we might walk across and find a taxi on the other side.

Me sitting in the open-sided ranchera that brought us to the border!

Success!

The problem area was still a work in progress when we arrived, but the backhoe soon had the area flattened and ready for passage, and we continued towards the border.  There was one point where our ranchera went over some uneven ground and looked in danger of tipping over, but all was well in the end.  Everyone else on the ranchera had departed by the time we reached La Balsa, and four foreigners could be seen wandering across the river into Peru, starry-eyed and wondering where to change currency.

Entry to Peru was smooth, we all got our tourist visa stamped by the police who hung out in their building in tanktops and flip flops - little international exchange at this border crossing must warrant lax uniform requirements.

The journey from the Peruvian border to Chachapoyas stretched into the next day.  We took a half-hour moto-taxi ride (Peru's version of half motorcycle/half rickshaw) to the next town, then crammed 7 people and luggage into a car for a one hour trip to San Ignacio, then filled a shared taxi-van (colectivo) to go 3 more hours from San Ignacio to Jaen, where we crashed in a hotel for the night.  The first day's journey lasted from 6am to about 9pm.  The next day we grabbed a colectivo for a 1hr trip to Bagua Grande, and then a 3hr car ride to Chachapoyas.  We booked a hostel, dropped our bags, and began a plan of action for sites in the area.

The 3rd tallest waterfall in the world!

There are lots of tourist agencies to take people around Chachas, with plenty of archaeological and natural sites to explore.  We opted for a guided trip to Kuelap, the second largest archaeologial site in Peru after MP, and an off the beaten path hike to the third tallest waterfall in the world the day after.  The fortress of Kuelap is a pre-Incan structure, mostly consisting of houses with a couple towers and a temple.  The site took over 300 years to complete - what social and political stability to maintain a project for so long!  Our journey to the waterfall was a memorable one, with a refreshing walk through the high forest culminating in breathtaking views of a cascade too large to capture by photo.  As we returned to Chachapoyas, the sun broke through the clouds with rays like spotlights highlighting the secluded communities scattered through the hills.


My original plan from Chachapoyas was to take the less traveled path on the east side of the Andes to arrive in Cusco, but with landslides likely and busses less reliable, I decided to take the express bus route through Lima.  After 21hrs I arrived in the capital Monday morning, and booked a hostel in the touristy part of town.  Hostel Pariwana is great for meeting people, feeling comfortable, and checking out the city, and I had two wonderful nights there.  On top of that, I met up with a friend of a friend who lives in Lima, and she showed me great places to eat, and some of the beautiful places of the city.

My journey continues with a 21hr bus ride to Cusco.  Once there I will book my trek to Machu Picchu for later this month, and quickly set out again for Sachahuares - the farm where I will spend the next two weeks using the skills I learned from my two Bachelor's degrees.  I am happy, confident, and ready to be back in the woods.  Until next time!