Day-15, July 17, 2009

Ola!

Remember the movie Indiana Jones? Well the movie figure was modelled after "Indiana" or Hiram Bingham - an American explorer. Bingham discovered the lost city of Machu Picchu (well re-discovered as the locals certainly knew where it was) in 1911 and the Inca Trail in 1915. Bingham was led to the ruins by an 8-year-old boy named Pablo - now proclaimed as the first Peruvian guide. Remarkably 70% of what remains is original. Bingham was a historian and pottery lover - which was unfortunate on both counts. He carted away pottery from its original sites and to this day we are unsure as to the purpose of every room in the Machu Picchu community because these artifacts were removed from their context. Bingham also took some pottery for display at Yale University. However Bingham must be credited for bringing Machu Picchu to the world. We were able to wander fairly freely. In five or six years this awe-inspiring site may no longer be accessible to the public. Japanese seismologists have discovered that the ruins lie on two fault lines and fear that earthquakes and tourist traffic make its foundation fragile.

The Inca Trail is a 50 kilometre trail from Cusco to Machu Picchu. There are limits on the number of trail users - 200 hikers and 300 porters maximum are allowed to travel the trail each day. Some do the trail over 4 days. An additional trail was discovered only last week!

Our group had a daunting uphill climb for four hours followed by lunch, followed by a level path of stones followed by a steep 30 metre incline.

I was fascinated to find out why one of our group tackled the trail. 78-year old Norah Heater was one of the first to sign up for the hike. She said "I thought it would be a 6 hour walk. And I did the preparation. I walked three times a week and continued with my aquafit. I didn't know it would be as challenging as it was. My best moment was reaching the top of the Sun Gate (which is a mountain top view of Machu Picchu). My worst moment came when I arrived at the steps they call the Entrance to God. It was 52 steps straight up. I'm glad I did it. I don't feel like it was any big deal. No matter how rough I had to finish it! There was no choice."

We were inspired by Norah's achievement and raised a glass in her honour that night at a pizzeria. Not a single hiker from our group gave up! Congratulations all!!

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock

Day-14, July 16, 2009

Ola!

The pace has picked up since last I blogged in so forgive my tardiness.

On Wednesday our Bolivia teams boarded the Andean Express to Cusco. It proved to be a first-class - albeit 10 hour - train ride. There was breakfast, entertainment, a free pisco sour (the national drink of brandy, sugar cane, egg white and bitters) at 1100, a lunch, bar-tending demonstration and tea time - all served with the greatest of professionalism.

Meantime in Cusco, the Peruvian teams were enjoying their introduction to this wonderful little community. As Kent Sikstrom recounted, "it's an intimate city. People are affectionate, warm and kind and it's reminiscent of Italian towns I have visited. There are narrow streets and cobblestones. And in the centre is the town square which is where everybody congregates. There are festivities every night and it feels good to be here." Speaking of festivities, that night the entire team enjoyed good food and folk music and dancing.

On Thursday our group split - just under half of the group decided to take the train to Machu Picchu to hike the Inca Trail for ~ 6 hours. The rest ventured by bus into the Sacred Valley beyond Cusco.

In this entry, I will tell the tale of the latter. For more on the Inca Trail hikers please see my next entry.

The day began in a panic. The primary camera of David Hillock - the trip photographer - had a breakdown -- all the pictures were coming out blue! Without missing a heart beat, the backup camera went into action. I have to confess that as David's sherpa for some of the equipment on this trip I have not always thought charitably about lugging his extra gear. However in this moment, my sherpa days paid off. Later that night, David would rip apart his non-functioning camera and with surgeon-like precision dissect it for malfunction. The surgery would prove successful and the offending problem benign. The camera was restored to full health and once again, click, click, click, was the order of the day.

So our bus departed through beautiful Cusco. A full 70% of its citizens are employed by tourism although farming is big. Guinea pig is the favourite dish. A Peruvian hastened to add "that's because we don't name them." You can always down your pig with a glass of room-temperature chicha. It's distilled alcohol made from corn and the villagers fly a red flag on their doorstep when their personal batch is ready for consumption. There is often frost in the morning because we're at such a high altitude but then the temperature can climb to 22 degrees celsius. In the highlands -sadly - the cold weather can lead to infant mortality. The children do not have sufficiently warm clothing. There is no snow because Cusco stands at 15,800 feet and snow happens only at 16,000. Severe earthquakes (7 on the Richter scale) happen every 3 to 4 years. It was interesting to see "tuna" cactus along the roadside. These cactus have a parasite which is removed, dried and ground up for red dye in textiles.

From Cusco we travelled by bus to an Alpaca and llama farm. These animals hail from the camel family - with the llama certainly looking most like the camel because it's bigger. Our first misadventure was losing Kent - quoted above. However, fortunately -particularly for me as I happen to be his mother - we found him.

From there we journeyed to the old village of Pisac. It was hosting a colourful parade. Other than that - Pisac is known for its market. I would call it a mayhem of bargaining. Our group does like to shop.

From there we went to the Inca ruins in the mountainside of Ollantaytambo. Seven of us ventured up to the very, very top. The Incans were marvellous engineers. They were also marvellous at conscripting the citizenry. Yesteryear - every year - a Peruvian had to devote 3 months of labour to the government in lieu of taxes.

Our second misadventure was losing Janet Duff. However, fortunately, we found her.

From there we boarded a train to Machu Picchu to rendez-vous with our team-mates.

Our third misadventure was nearly losing the entire Pettapiece-Phillipps family. They unfortunately had some alleged over-sized luggage and became embroiled in a heated debate about what it would cost to load it. They apparently won the debate and came screaming down the platform as the train was pulling away from the station.

Anyway. We have all made our way to the wonderful site of Machu Picchu. We have all supped and headed for bed. And the starttime tomorrow is 0400.

Goodnight!

Here is a link that you can click to a see the mission photo gallery. http://gallery.me.com/davidhillock