Lares Trek

One of the things that we have been looking forward to the most on this trip is our trek to Macchu Picchu. The classic trek is the Inca Trail, but in recent years, it has become so popular that there are 500 people on it at any one time. Additionally, you have to book it 3 months in advance this time of year. We decided on a less trekked route that seemed much more natural and peaceful. I have to say, this is by far one of the favorite things that I have done on this trip. It was so amazing. The people, the scenery, the guide, the food - everything was perfect! Hopefully the next few blogs can show you a little of what we experienced.

The first day was pretty easy, where we took a bus ride, a trek, another bus ride and another trek. We got to know the other 6 wonderful people in our group and saw some great scenery. We also stopped at a hot springs in the middle which felt great. We got our first taste of the amazing cook, Julio at a lunch outside. We saw even more over the next 3 days about how much he could do with what could be carried on a donkey and cooked on a little tent range. ¡Que Rico! - This means 'yummy' in Spanish.


There is one picture here that is a beautiful view of a snowey mountain range that we looked at while we ate lunch. If you look closely, you can see two little girls up on the hill. They became known to us as the Ninjas because they kept appearing in different spots. The ninja joke was an ongoing one for the rest of the trip. The guys especially cracked up.


We walked on actual trails that the Incas walked on in their time. We thought the scenery was beautiful in Ecuador, but nothing compares to Peru. The mountains and gorges and changes in color - everything is so amazing to look at! Another great thing about this trek was the fact that we got to see Andean families and their homes. These people live so simply, yet seem to be incredibly happy. We could really learn something from them. We also met many lovely kids along the way. They were so sweet. Many of them did not speak Spanish, but only Quechua. Luckily, Aldo (the best guide EVER) could translate for us. Poor things have such dirty feet and hands because the only water they have to wash in is incredibly cold. I think they are able to stay warm through their lovely hearts, though.

Along the trek, we could see old graves of the Incan people up on the mountainsides. Not only did the Incas want to live very high and close to the gods, but they wanted to be buried there too. They were all mummified before they were put into the graves. They were put into a fetal position because this was supposed to help them get to their next life with the gods. They were made as mummies and wrapped in the colorful blankets that they weaved.

We also saw many local animals along the way. Here are a couple of llamas, but we also saw al paka, sheep, goats, donkeys, etc.

Pisac

To practice some hiking in the area before our big trek to Macchu Picchu and to see some earlier ruins, we spent a day visiting Pisac. The town had a wonderful market, where we stocked up on warm alpaca wear since it is quite chilly at these altitudes. We then took the exhausting trek up the ruins to Pisac. It was well worth it though to see the plunging gorges on either side, the beautiful scenery and the very cool ruins. Our favorite of the ruins were the terraces built on the sides of the mountains. They were used for farming and some are even still used today. It's amazing how they use all of the land available for farming, even steep cliffs! We saw these terraces all over Peru from hundreds of years ago. You could see steps in these walls that were used back in the times of these terraces. They are diagonal flights of stairs made of flagstones and set into the terrace walls. We did not use these, but safer ones around the edges. The ruins themselves were amazing as well. There were different areas, some used as temples and others used as housing. There is a water system that even still works today to usher the water down through the ruins and safely off the side of the mountains.






Pisac is part of the Sacred Valley, which was inhabited by the Incas. There are still many sites of different ruins all over this valley. The Incas used this area becaue the land was very fertile and the climate was sheltered by the mountains around. Pisac was a good place because high up on the hill, they were protected in many respects. If anyone were to come here to fight them, after climbing up this steep hill, they would definitely be at a disadvantage. Also, the Incas believed that living at higher altitudes would bring them closer to the gods. This is another reason they built towns at such high points.

PERU!

We finally made it to our last country, Peru. We stayed in Lima for a night and then caught a flight to Cuzco. Cuzco is a beautiful ancient city that has become very popular since Macchu Picchu has been found. It was once the main city of the Inca Empire and is now the continent's oldest continuously inhabited city. We were a little taken aback at first because it is SO touristy, but we mostly liked it. One thing that was very annoying is the fact that everywhere you walk around the city, you are harrassed by people trying to get you to buy things or go into their restaurants or their movies, etc. In one bar, we saw a shirt that said 'No Gracias' and that would have been perfect.


As you can see in these pictures, it really is a beautiful city with its old churches and wonderful architecture.


The people watching is one of the things I have enjoyed most. Since I slacked in other countries afraid to take pictures, I started here by taking them behind backs or asking first and paying a small tip to get these wonderful photos. The women here are amazingly strong carrying everything you can imagine on their back. Children are almost always carried on the back in the way that you can see here - just wrapped up in blankets hanging. This young boy was already quite strong, too loading this huge cart around town.


We made a trip to the Inca Museum, where we learned a lot about the Incas, as well as the many Indian populations before them in Peru. We could not take pictures in the museum, but all of the artifacts and everything were awesome to see. In the courtyard of this museum were women weaving their beautiful tapestries. They brought their cute little ones along to play as wel.

See you lator Alligator

We didn't see any gators, but we did go Caiman watching one night and everyone else in the boat saw caimans. We weren't lucky enough to see them. We did see river dolphins, which was very cool. Unfortunately, we didn't get any pictures, but we will definitely remember them. I didn't even know they existed before we visited the Amazon. They were the pink variety and jumped up plenty for us to see, though not quite as high as the dolphins we know in the oceans.





In the town, we climbed up onto a big outlook tower and could pretty much see the whole town from here and a beautiful sunset over the river. There was one big open gymnasium looking place that had power hooked up to it, and that was apparently a big deal there. They said they had celebrations here at times. There was a volleyball net inside and some of our group played with kids in there. They next played soccer out in the field next to this building. I saw the cutest little girl at the edge of the building when I had climbed up and took a picture of her so that I could show it when I got back down. I think she was confused at first, but when I took a picture of she and her friend closer up, they just smiled and smiled. They played with my camera, looking at pictures until the battery ran out. They talked to me as well as we could talk with my little Spanish for quite a long time. They were super cute!

It was nice to be out in the rainforest again and see so much green and wildlife. It didn't compare to the things we saw in Costa Rica, but it was a nice experience to be in the Amazon anyway. We did see a couple of monkeys, but only from far away - nothing like in Costa Rica. I'd probably recommend that you use a different group because our tour, though nice, seemed a bit unorganized through the whole thing. We did have a guide who was new to this company, so that could have added to it. I don't remember the name of the tour company, but I will find out and update accordingly.

It was also nice to be so far out there, but the boat ride back was 6 hours since we were going upstream, and then the 2 hour bus ride and again a 30 minute plane ride. Needless to say, we were exhausted when we got back.

A Jungle Town

One day we went to a nearby town in the Amazon that had a population of only 250. On the way there, our guide pointed out this tree, in which this red flower is used by the local people as birth control. They only take medicines that they can get themselves. I don't think it's very effective because they all have lots of kids, but what do I know.

There was a big termite nest that apparently is used by the local people as a bug repellant. If you put your hand on it, the termites will crawl onto and all over your hand leaving a liquid behind. This liquid is supposed to work very well to repel mosquitos and other annoying bugs. I didn't do it, but maybe I should have because these weird blood sucking flies bit me all over that afternoon!


When we got into the town, our guide showed us this fruit that is used by the local people as a dye. He offered to decorate my face and fingernails for me and Scott added on to make me look like this. Aren't I beautiful!? ;-) Scott got his own painting too. :D

There is work here to preserve the turtles that live in the area. There is a pool in this town, where they keep the mother and hundreds of babies before letting them into the wild. One of the local kids got in and took a few out to let us hold. They were so cute! When we put them back, we let them race back into the water.


This is where the local kids go to school. The town is very small as you can imagine, but it is very nice that they have this school available to them.
We met most of the kids in the town also. Here are a few watching a movie on a TV in one big room.

More cool stuff in the Amazon

We saw a really thin, but long snake along one of our treks too. It was amazing how thin the snake was. It was not bothered by us at all, but just kept moving around the trees.

There are, of course tarantulas in the Amazon too, and here is one that we passed by. I was surprised that it didn't look very hairy.

This was another very large, very scarey looking spider that we saw during the night hike.

We went bird watching early one morning up into this high tower. We did see some cool birds from a distance, but nothing very close. Actually, one day we took a canoe ride and saw some really cool birds, but we didn't have our cameras then. Among the birds we saw were parakeets, a Yellow Rumped Cacique, a Hoatzin (which is a crazy looking turkey), and a Greater Ani (which has metalic blue beautiful wings).


One of the cooler things we did was to go Piranha fishing. Two of the boat drivers caught them and we passed them around the boat to get a closer look. Their teeth are crazy! Our guide stuck a leaf in the mouth and the teeth cut the leaf right off. We were fishing with raw chicken and they went crazy over it. Most of the time, they would take it off our hooks and not get caught. But finally, I caught one! I was the only tourist to catch one, so I got really excited! :D

Right after this, we went back to the tent camp and I swam in the very Amazon waters that have these Piranhas. Fun! ;-)

Creepy Crawlies of the Amazon

We of course saw many different spiders all over the jungle, including this one here. It's amazing how much less they scare me now! Of course, I wouldn't go up and touch it or anything.

They also have the biggest ants in the Amazon, called Conga Ants. You would not believe how huge these things are - the picture doesn't do it justice. Apparently, they give a pretty painful bite too!

Huge spiders and tiny frogs. How anyone spotted this frog is beyond me, but you can tell by the hand here how tiny it was.

There were of course beautiful butterflies too!

Our local guide took some palm leaves that we saw along the way and started making something. It wasn't until he finished that we saw it was a broom - how useful the forest is!

We have one crazy Israeli guy in our group who kept leaving the path and running around back in the forest alone. We thought he was nuts because of all the creepy crawlies out there. One day when we was running around, a huge bird flew out of the trees. Apparently, he scared off a Great Tinamou. It was nesting and we walked over and saw the beautiful blue eggs of this large bird. The local guide said that the eggs will likely die because once the mother leaves the nest, she does not usually come back. :(

We did a night hike and saw even more creatures as this is when they usually come out. Here is a huge scorpion and its prey.

Amazon Jungle

Next, we decided to make a trip out into the Amazon jungle. We went WAY out there, meaning that we first had a 30 minute flight from Quito, then a 2 hour bus ride, then a 4 hour boat ride to get to our tent camp. This is one of the houses we passed on the bus. They are all pretty much out in what seems to be the middle of nowhere. There were also oil pipelines all along our bus ride. You can see Scott and I here bundled up under our ponchos for the long, wet boat ride. We then arrived to our tent camp, which is in the next picture, along with our guide. It was basically just a raised platform with mosquito nets and a little mattress inside. It was a nice, though.

On our first hike, we passed plenty of crawly creatures, including this centipede. It had a very hard shell and would just roll up in a ball like a roley poley. It felt weird to have it crawling on my skin!

We had a second guide who was a local person from the jungle and he walked along with us to show us things. He carried a machete with him everywhere we went and used it for everything, including cutting fruit! This was a local fruit from the forest that tasted a lot like coconut - yummy!

We saw these ´walking´ trees that were very similar to ones we had seen in Costa Rica. These ´legs´ are constantly growing and planting themselves into the ground, causing the tree to move over time. The sap that comes out the ends here is used by the jungle people as a sort of Viagra. Our guide called it the Jungle Viagra!

The local guide found this frog, called the leaf frog. It is called that, because as you can see, it looks just like these leaves!