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.

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.

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.

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).

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.

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.

Snorkeling Heaven

I went Snorkeling again yesterday on a beautiful Sailboat with a bunch of fellow backpackers. We spent the day at three different sites and it was without question the best Snorkeling i've ever done. I forgot my camera, which was a really good move, so i'll use the power of the interweb to describe what we saw.

We swam with Manatee's (pictured above), which was the most amazing underwater experience i've had, we were lucky to come across them apparently. It was amazing to swim alongside these huge, placid animals, they just hung out with us in the deep blue water, really amazing. Next up we swam with huge Turtles, Sharks, Sting Rays, Manta Rays, Moray Eels and tons of tropical fish. A really amazing trip, i'm excited about diving the Bay Islands in Honduras now, that's meant to be even better somehow...

Lago De Atitlan

So I have just spent the week in the stunning Lago De Atitlan as I start to move towards Mexico. Surrounded by hills, mountains, jungles and 3 Volcanoes, this warm volcanic lake is the perfect spot to relax and explore. I stayed in a great little Hostel called La Iguana Perdida in a tiny village called Santa Cruz, which was a perfect base for the week and had a steady stream of interesting people passing through.

My week was filled with a little study, some hiking, kayaking, zip lining, yoga, rock jumping, swimming and exploring the villages surrounding the lake. Mayan culture is in full effect in this area which is very interesting to see and begin to understand. Western culture is also well established around the lake in the form of some epic houses on it´s shores, where Westerners who have settled here live and wealthy Guatemalans come to relax.

All in all it´s been a great week, a perfect rest after the tiring 6 weeks in Antigua and it has set me up for another couple of weeks studying in Quetzaltenango (Xela).

Shreddin`Trail. Moto X.

After the previous days adventures on a mountain bike, we decided to hire some Motocross bikes and take them a little further than we went on the push bikes. With our guide leading the way, we headed to Volcan De Agua and (almost) scaled this beast in around an hour via a pretty technical track that took us up to 2700 metres, which was as far as we could get on the bikes. The landscape, views and terrain were amazing, making this a very good Saturday in Guatemala.

Shreddin` Trail. Pedal Power.

Last Friday afternoon I ended another savage week of studying with a Hike and Mountain Bike trip through some local jungle territory with a few people i`ve met out here. We hopped on our bikes and rode around 1km out of town to the base of a valley at the side of Volcan De Agua. Then we dropped our bikes in the back of a local guys pick up and he drove them halfway up for us whilst we hiked through the cloud filled jungle. When we got to him, we hopped in the back and he took us to the top of the hills. Next was the fun part, a 15 min high speed descent through the clouds and jungle which ended at a swimming pool at the bottom, where we sat back and enjoyed a couple of cold beers. A great way to end the week and start the weekend.

Monterrico

After a month of being locked away in a Spanish-language-study-bubble I thought i'd take a weekend break on the Beach. Billed as the best beach in Guatemala and only 2 hours from my current town I hopped on a bus to Monterrico on the Pacific Coast. Having been told it was a cool place to hang out by many guide books and locals I thought it was a no brainer. I guess it depends what you think is cool, but for those of you that know Magaluf in Mallorca, i'd say that Monterrico is the Guatemalan equivalent. The outskirts of the village however were very nice and peaceful and this is where I spent most of my time.

Highlights were; the booming nightclub the other side of my (paper thin) bedroom wall, the immense amount of rubbish scattered along the beach and the masses of passed out drunken people on the beach. In short, it wasn't the chilled spot i'd been hoping for or led to believe - and if you ever make it to Guatemala, without question, avoid Monterrico (on the weekends atleast).

The one thing that made the trip worthwhile was getting up for another beautiful sunrise and hopping on a boat ride throughout the mangroves of the Monterrico nature reserve for a couple of hours, of which there are a couple of snaps above.

Roll on the Carribean coast.

Sunrise on Pacaya Volcano

It's taken me a while to get around to it, but i've finally uploaded a video I took at sunrise when I camped on Pacaya a few weeks ago. It was a beautiful spot looking down into the valley with Guatemala City, Antigua Gutemala and a selection of other Volcanoes and smaller towns covered by low early morning clouds. Check it out here.

Lava, Tents & Tarantulas.

Last weekend I embarked on a camping trip like never before. On a live Volcano. Pacaya isn't the largest Volcano in Guatemala, but it's definitely pretty active and history indicates that it's about 4 years overdue for a major eruption, so it was spitting and blasting all night long. We hiked up with all our kit on Friday afternoon, set up camp before sunset on a stunning ridge just below the main crater, then we carried on up the mountain over hardened lava for another hour or so. This is where we came to a couple of amazing lava rivers, pumping out 2000 degree molten lava at quite a speed. A really amazing sight at dusk through to darkness, where the sky had an amazing eerie orange glow when the clouds came in. To spare you the long version, highlights included, roasting marshmallows on the lava, hiking the amazing landscape, the Tarantula that crawled out from under our groundsheet and joined us for breakfast and sunrise at 5.30am. More pics here .

Earthquake Update.

We had a little beauty of an Earthquake at around 11am this morning. It happened whilst at school studying. I thought someone was behind me shaking my chair, such a weird feeling, but amazing at the same time as it was only a little tremor/wobble so it was kinda exciting. You could hear the whole town go 'wooooaaaahhhhh!'.

Volcanos

Antigua Guatemala is surrounded by three Volcanos in close vicinity and more within a slightly longer drive. The three around Antigua are, Agua, Fuego and Pacaya. The pictures above are shots I took from the town centre of these Volcanos. Next weekend I`ll be hitting Pacaya on a camping trip where we`ll be based roughly 250 metres below the 2552 metre high peak for the night and surrounded by molten lava. Should be alright... sorry Mum.

1 Week, 2 Earthquakes.

Had another early morning earthquake this moring. Chill out.