Hiking Salcantay to Machu Pichu

A must-tick box for all who visit South America, Machu Pichu. And as I found out after 5 days of hiking, it has great reason to be.

Myself, Will, James and about 27 other gringos signed up for a 5 day trek across the Andes Mountains to a height of 4600m, down the other side into dense, warm Jungle and over to Aguas Calientes, a town at the foot of the site of Machu Pichu.

Day 1 & 2 were spent hiking up from a small mountain village to a pass on Salcantay Mountain. A stunning snow capped, formerly glacial (pre global warming) peak that reaches around 6200m. We scaled to a height of 4600m, as illustrated above, the highest i´ve ever been on land. It´s hard work hiking uphill on rocky terrain at this altitude, and after 11 hours straight on day 2 we were all feeling it.

Day 3 saw us descend into the Jungle on the other side of Salcantay, passing some extremely remote villages and following some pretty sketchy cliff edge footpaths alongside a picturesque river.

Day 4, more of the same, equally stunning Jungle, some dodgy roads and a hike along the train tracks to Aguas Calientes. The train is the only way to access the village other than on foot.

Day 5 was the big day, the highlight and it way exceeded expectations. Overlooking Machu Pichu is a mountain peak called Huainapichu. An additional part of the village site accessed by a tretcherous single width footpath that ascends to the top. Every day, only the first 400 people at the gates (or who want to) can scale this beast. So, we got up at 3.30am, to get to the base of the steps ready for the gate opening at 5am. Along with a few hundred others, as soon as the gates opened, the race began. The entrance is at the top of a few thousand stone steps, ascending roughly 600m. In the pitch black, headtorches on, it had to be one of the toughest early morning challenges I´ve ever tackled. But, all in our group who wanted to, made it.

Upon entering Machu Pichu at around 6am, the sky was lighting up and it was instantly clear to see why the city had been built here, in such a spectacular location. Fitting in snugly to the Inca beliefs of the heavens (Condor), earth (Puma) and hell (Snake), with the heavens being the ultimate spot to reach and the mountains of Machu Pichu bringing the people closer to this.

When we had got some energy back from the initial hike, it was time to scale Huainapichu. As scary as it was incredible, this was an epic hike. Reaching the top and sitting on the narrow peak with sheer drops all around, the feeling of space was incomparrable. Scattered with more ruins that highlighted how sacred a spot this was, looking down on to Machu Pichu you can roughly make out the design of the shape of the city, in the form of a Condour in flight.

Descending the thousands of stone steps was pretty tough, especially as by this time the midday sun was beating down. We spent the afternoion in Aguas Calientes, eating and drinking a few cold beers before hopping on a 2 hour train ride back to civilisation... followed by another 3 hours on a bus back to Cusco, the former capital of the Inca Empire, and now a tourist hub.

A Week With Levi

En route to entering Peru, me and my fellow travelling gringos stopped to change busses in Ecuador and went for a bite to eat. For a change, I had Rice and Chicken. It smelt of cheesy feet and battery acid, but the hunger won and I ate most of it. That was the last time I remember my bowels being normal.

First stop in Peru was the Surf town of Mancora, tucked up in the North. This is where my old pal Joe Levi came to join us. He´s half English, half Peruvian and lives in Lima. Taking some time off from work he joined us for a few days in the sun and water. Following Mancora, we hopped on what turned out to be a 20 hour bus ride into the Mountains. To Huaraz. An amzing spot over 3000 metres high. At this height we needed to aclimatise, as I believe above 2500 metres there are 40% less Oxygen particles in the air, so we had to take it steady. This was highlighted by Will fainted at Lunch. The next day we did a glacier hike at 4500 metres, which was tough work, but very impressive. The mountains here are epic. The next was mountain biking, another breathtaking day in terms of altitude and scenery. Well worth the effort.

Next stop was Lima, now the group was down to myslef & Joe and James & Will, my aussie travel buddies. On arrival, Joes Mum was in town and she very kindly cooked us an excellent Roast Lamb lunch, the first we´d all had in months. Throughout this time my guts had been getting progressivly worse, and after the night of boozing that followed the Roast Lunch, I think I pushed my insides too far.

The next 4 days were a bit of a blur and were spent either at Joe´s house or in Hospital. Thankfully him and his Mum were kind enough to take me in and get me back to health. All in all an interesting week in Peru, with lots of memories, both good and bad.

Now i`m on the move again, heading South, to hike Machu Pichu.

Crossing The Equator

Upon leaving the Orphanage in Otovalo, we headed South. Crossing the Equator into the Southern Hemisphere. Although the large structure that has been erected to signify the equatorial line about an hour north of Quito wasn't too impressive, nor was the 'Equatorial Line' (because due to the earths core shifting the actual line is now about 100 metres to the South), nor the tourist theme park of restaurants and shops that surrounded it. It was still quite a significant step in my travels and was worth a photo opporunity. So here's a photo.

Helping Out

Last week I cleansed my soul with a spot of volunteering at a great little project out in the sticks of Northern Ecuador. Set in an old convent, in stunning grounds, with a huge Volcano as a backdrop, Juvilus is an Orphanage for kids with HIV.

It`s an amazingly well set up place, run by a Catholic Priest who spends every hour dedicated to these kids and giving them a good, healthy life. It`s incredibly well funded, the kids are surrounded by games, toys, fresh food, computers with internet connections and much more. They are a really amazing bunch of kids with ages ranging from 6 months to 17 years old. They put Western kids to shame in terms of manners and how they look after each other, clean up, help out and generally by having consistently positive attitudes, it was pretty amazing to see at times.

My role for the week was just to help out as and where necessary, so there was lots of cleaning, washing, folding clothes, helping out with cooking and playing football/basketball. It was a tough week with early starts, long days and some difficult times where being a Gringo within such a tight group was challenging to say the least, but i`m glad I stopped and helped out. The hardest part was definitely saying goodbye at the end of the week.

Mountain Bikin´ Some Mountains

James and I took a morning off from our volunteering to enjoy a spot of Mountain Biking in the epic countryside of the Avenue of Volcanoes, in Ecuador. Starting at Lago Majanda in the shadow of the snow-capped Volcan Cotacachi, we descended from 3,500m to around 2,500 metres over a tough 40km ride.

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Volcan Imbabura, Ecuador. The past two weeks i´ve spent living in it´s shadow in the foothills. Surrounded by 3 other Volcanoes. Makes a good billboard.

Festival De Yamor

Whilst staying in Otavalo, we timed it to be here for the annual Festival De Yamour. A celebration of Maize and a pretty grim fermented drink, made from Maize, called Chicha. The Festivities last for two weeks, but the opening weekend is the big party, so on Friday night a crowd of us headed into town to join in. The streets were packed with parades, stalls, bands and people, focused around the central square, Plaza De Bolivar. It was a great night and it felt really Ecuadorian as we were some of the very few Gringo`s in town.

Saturday was also a big day, we spent it trying the local cuisine in the food market, betting on CockFights and relaxing over a few beers at the Bull Fighting. Another great Latin American Festival sampled and enjoyed.

Otovalo, Ecuador

2,800 metres high in the Andes Mountains is my current base for a couple of weeks more studying. Otovalo is an old town and a centre of indigenous culture in Ecuador. Most famed for being home to the largest market in South America, which ocurrs every Saturday, the town is surrounded by 4 volcanoes and some of the most amazing countryside i`ve ever seen.

This Friday sees the opening ceremony of the annual Festival De Yamour, then the celebrations and events carry on for a couple of weeks, so it´s a good time to be here. The Hostel i´m in is in an amazing location, just out of town. My days are currently spent wandering around with my teacher, trying the local food and drinks and trying to get my Spanish conversation flowing... tough times.

Santuario De Las Lajas

A few KM´s from the Colombia/Ecuador border lies the Santuario De Las Lajas. An outrageous construction wedged int a deep gorge a short distance outside the border town of Ipiales.

It is said that the Church was built on the site of where a mother and daughter who where sheltering from a storm saw the Virgin Mary... I believe. So, the community rallied around (amd the Catholic Church saw an opportunity to invest) and they began the constructin of this subtle temple of God...

Putting my anti-religous sentiments aside, the building and setting are fantastic and it was a great spectacle not to be missed.

Next stop, Ecuador.

Zona Cafetera, Salento.

South West of Bogota is the Coffee Region, where most of the fine Colombian Coffe is produced funnily enough. Set in epic rolling hills of green grass, waterfalls, rivers, forsests and palm trees, we decided to hole up in the quaint little town of Salento to explore the region.

Arriving in Salento was like stepping back 100 years. It´s a small working town focused around a beautiful central square. Well off the busy backpacker trail, this was a great place to relax, drink coffee and eat some amazing Trout from the local rivers.