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.

Bogota

Following Villa De Leyva I made my way to the capital of Colombia, Bogota. Myself, Will & James conveniently arrived on a Saturday night, got ourselves a Hostel in the La Candelaria district and headed to the closest busy bar.

As with the rest of Colombia, Bogota felt surprisingly safe and we had a great time here. We met some fellow long time travel buddies on Monday. The Swiss duo, Kris & Sabrina, and fellow Brit, Ernie. All of whom were in town to catch flights home. We spent the day seeing the sights and exploring, taking a cable car up to the top of a surrounding mountain and looking out across Bogota was a highlight. And surprisingly enough for the highly religous Latin American countries, there was a Church at the top too...

Kite Festival, Villa De Leyva

Every year in Villa De Layva, the town celebrates the windy month of August with a Kite Festival. This famous event attracts visitors from across Colombia and the globe who descend on this sleepy town for the weekend and transform it into a buzzing festival for all ages.

I was lucky enough to be in town for the event, where I was joined by 6 friends from the Panama - Colombia boat trip (and before) who are also in Colombia, travelling around. The celebrations kicked off on Friday night with some music and drinks in the town square, and the town didn`t stop until the following Monday. Saturday was a big day of course, and a fairly boozy night spent in the square with the many other revellers.

We spent Sunday in the nearby Village of Santa Sofia for their annual Festival. Our host, Luis and his family are from Santa Sofia, although Luis spent his teens and twenties in London. So, as the only gringos at the festival, we got amongst it and checked out the Car Stereo Competion... the tons of food stalls and epic BBQ`s, and variety of other things to do, including watching a car drive into the back of a bus.

All in all a great Colombian style weekend.

Study Time... Again

Time to calm down on the rapid travels and excess of activities of recent months and take a breath, study some more Spanish, and hopefully enter September with a greater ability in the language.

Courtesy of my old pal Leon, who linked me up with his Colombian friends & family, i`m currently in the midst of 2 weeks of classes in the beautiful town of Villa De Leyva in the Boyaca province of Colombia. A beautiful, picturesque old Colonial town set at around 2,200 metres high in the Andes Mountains.

Home to apparently the biggest Central Square in South America, this place is comfortably off the Gringo trail and a great place to work on my Spanish.

Bed 50

So, whilst sat in a hammock on a secluded paradise beach, I went through my trip so far and counted how many beds I had slept in this year since leaving the UK.

It turns out that the circular hut full of Hammocks on this tiny tropical peninsula pictured above was Bed number 50. Not a bad spot to reach this landmark. 50 doesn`t seem too many, but when you consider i`ve only been on the road for around 150 days, then I guess i`ve been moving around quite regularly.

Bed 50 was in a stunning location on the northern Carribean coast of Colombia in the Tayrona National Park. This hidden away spot is only accesible by boat or a 2 hour hike through the jungle. I opted for the hike, because taking the boat is lazy (Will).

South America

After four and a half months in Central America which was a great introduction to this part of the world, it was time to move onwards and Southwards, to South America.

First stop Colombia.

It feels like a great stage in my journey through Latin America and it came at just the right time as i was a little centralamerica`d-out. From hearing so many good things about South from other travellers i`m excited to be here and am looking forward to the countries to come. Which I think will include, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, ending in Buenos Aires - for now.

The best thing I have heard and discovered so far, is that English isn`t as widely spoken down here, which is great as i`m ready to get back on the path of taking my Spanish to the next level.

Sailing Panama to Colombia

Between Panama and Colombia, the countries that link Central & South America, is the Darien Gap. A piece of land that is largly unpassable, mainly due to the difficulty in road building in this region, there is no easy route through without a 4x4 and a knowleagable guide. Further to this, the presence of FARC in this area makes it slightly risky to make the effort of passing through. Due to this, there are only really two options to go from Panama to Colombia, plane or boat.

So, along with 12 other backpackers I decided to get onboard with the most popular option of taking a sail boat from Panama to Cartegaña, Colombia.

Our boat was a fantastic 60 foot sailing/motor yacht called Wild Card and was skippered by an Aussie fella called John, who was supported by his first mate and fellow Aussie, Nigel. The passengers were a mix of Brits, my travel buddies James & Will - the Aussies, a Swiss couple and a lone Norwegian.

After boarding at Portobello in Panama, we sailed for 10 hours overnight to arrive in the amazing San Blas Islands, home to the native Kuna Tribes. First stop was passport control - which was a corugated iron hut with a desk and a broken chair on a tropical island no bigger than a few football pitches. Passports stamped, we headed a short blast away to a cluster of idylic deserted islands a moored up here for a couple of days of jumping off the bow, snorkelling, fires on the beach and eating fresh lobster.

Following this little piece of paradise we set sail for a 35 hour straight trip through open water across to Cartegeña. En route we saw a family of Sperm Whales and a large pod (perhaps 30 - 40) of Pilot Whales who were very interested in our vessel and got up very close and personal.

All of this, combined with sleeping on deck under a full moon and stars, and witnessing an incredible sunset at sea without being able to see land in any direction made for this to be an epic journey that i am sure none of us who were on the boat will ever forget.

Cayman Hunting in Bocas Del Toro

Whilst in Isla Bastimento in Bocas, we embarked on a midnight Cayman Hunting adventure with the Hostel manager and a few of his idiot drunken american friends. After searching the freshwater pools on the jungle edge just off Red Frog Beach this little adventure ended in the capture (and swift release) of this little fella.

Panama

I wasn`t expecting much of Panama before I arrived. Nobody on the gringo trail mentioned much about it, and I didn`t know much about it. However, in my brief 10 days or so there, it has to be one of my favourite Countries so far.

First stop was the stunning Bocas Del Toro, an Archipealigo of Islands in the north east, packed with dense jungle and stunning remote beaches. Surrounded by mangroves, crystal clear sea waterways and colourful coral reefs. A crew of 7 of us who were on the move together at the time stumbled across Isla Bastimento and the only Hostel on this almost uninhabited Island. With amazing beaches, jungle and a table tennis table at our disposal, we ended up staying a week and loving it.

Next up was Panama City. After a 10 hour overnight bus journey and a couple of valium we arrived before sunrise at our Hostel. Set in a huge old colonial town house in Casco Viejo, the old town, we could see across the Harbour to the modern part of town, which would be best described as similar to the Miami skyline. The City was a great mix of old colonial architecture, barrio slums and modern excess all mixed in together. It felt surprisingly safe and was a great base to go about selecting a Sail Boat to take us on the next leg of the journey, to Cartegeña, Colombia, via the San Blas Islands.

Costa Rica (aka America Rica)

2 chicken busses, a crazy queue, a 1km walk between borders, a refusal to enter the country, another local bus ride, then a 4x4 taxi journey into a cloud forest saw our departure from Nicaragua and entry into Costa Rica and our first stop, Monteverde.

Monteverde, the home to a bunch of adventure sports. High on the list for us was the Canopy Adventure tour, which is a morning of flying through trees and across valleys on Zip Lines. The highlight of this being the amazing 'Superman' zipline, a 1km long, 180 metre high cable that runs from ridge to ridge above the jungle filled valley. The morning we went up was cloudy, and we were in the clouds, so when we were strapped into the Superman line, we were pushed into a total white out, then around half way along the clouds cleared and revealed how high and fast we were flying, which was one hell of a buzz. Easily the best $40 i've spent in a while.

Next stop, La Fortuna, after a 2 hour jeep ride across country, then a 45 min boat trip, then another Jeep ride, this place was awful, boring and full of American college kids. We left first thing the next morning to San Jose, the Capital of Costa Rica.

We rolled in to San Jose the day before the World Cup final, found a good Hostel and got a feel for the place. As with pretty much the rest of Costa Rica, there wasn't really much of an identity as much of the place is trying to be, or is, very Americanised. We hung out here, watched the Spanish beat the Dutch, then headed South for the Carribean Coast and a little beach town called Puerto Viejo, near the Panama border.

So, next stop Panama, although we're currntly holed up in Puerto Viejo awaiting word on if we can cross the border tomorrow as there has been a few days of trouble surrounding the Bocas Bananna Co in Panama and their industrial action against pay and conditions - which in true Central American style has got a little out of control.

Nicaragua

Post Vegas I caught a plane straight to Nicaragua to continue my Southward journey through Central America, via Mexico City and San Jose, Costa Rica. As per my previous post I had roughly a week here to keep me on schedule, so I crammed in a few locations that I had been recommended.

These included Granada, a buzzing old colonial town on the northern edge of the 8,264 square kilometer Lake Nicaragua. Not much to report on Granada other than enjoying the excellent local rum, Flor De Cana, a little too much...

Next stop was the stunning Isla De Omotepe, a small volcanic island on Lake Nicaragua. It was formed by two huge volcanoes bursting out of the lake, side by side, which have since joined by a land mass created by years of lava flow. Now covered in Jungle, this island is an incredible place, straight out of a Jurrasic Park movie. The landscape was stunning, it was packed with wildlife, waterfalls, volcanic beaches and friendly locals. The picture above is of Volcan Concepcion, taken on the evening we arrived from the top of an amazing wooden sculpted viewing tower at the heart of the Hostel we stayed in.

Next stop was the pacific coastal town of San Juan Del Sur, near the Costa Rican border. A notorious spot for surfers to hang out since a film in the 80's (I think) put this place on the map. It wasn't as touristy as I was expecting, but it also wasn't the most real Nicaraguan experience. I spent a few days here dodging rain showers and hanging out with the crew I had met in Granada and Omotepe. All in all, it was a short and sweet stay in Nicaragua, but it feels like a good blast through some key locations.

Next stop, Costa Rica.