Bariloche (pt1) – Days 29 – 30

25th – 26th January

A 12 hour coach journey over the Chile / Argentina border (much more impressive looking set up complete with guards but chaos ensued as seemed anyone who did anything had gone to lunch) high up in the Andes took us through some stunning rugged scenery before arriving in San Carlos de Bariloche late in the afternoon.

Bariloche is situated by Lago Nahuel Huapi and boasts both the summer trekking season and a ski destination in the winter (apparently our friend Nick did a ski season here but given the amount of bars we are dubious he saw the snow).

Rather than search trip advisor for somewhere to stay in Bariloche we put our trust in Matt and Mon’s blog and booked into the same place they stayed during their round the world trip in 2011. And Matt / Mon if you are reading this we are pleased to say we are glad we did as La Barraca Suites (more of a boutique b&b rather than a hostel) and it’s owners were an excellent choice with a 10 minute walk into centro and great views over the lake from both the bedroom and when sat on the toilet!

San Carlos de Bariloch

Enjoying the view whist taking a…. rest

Heading into town and on the recommendation of Cyril and his wife (the hostel owners) we headed straight for El Boliche de Alberto for our first taste of steak and Malbec on home soil and we weren’t disappointed by having to queue before 8pm as we enjoyed good wine and large portions of steak at very cheap prices (less than £30 for 2 people).

We were hardly able to move afterwards but had just enough energy to move to a bar for the first of many locally brewed beers (appears there is more to Argentina than just steak and wine!)

Up early on the Sunday, we went to catch a bus out of town – a simple task after we had been to the tourist information to find out where we could buy a bus ticket (not on the bus apparently) only to swap this for another ticket when we got on (a bit of a faff really). Finally on the bus, we headed 18km out of town to hire some pretty shoddy bikes to cycle the 35km around Circuito Chico. We set out on our leisurely ride around several deep blue lakes against stunning mountain backdrops and breathed in it.

But we were soon out of breath as the flip side to this scenic cycle were the various long inclines we had to get up (living in Surbiton doesn’t prepare you for this) but at least we got to freewheel down the other side. 3 hours later and exhausted we arrived at a cafe that was the drop point if you wanted to finish the remainder of the Circuito Chico on the bus. With full intention of ‘bailing’ we stopped for empanadas and a coke and decided not to be so soft and got back in the saddle for the last 7km to the hire shop before getting the bus into town a little saddle sore. Next time we are renting a car…

To recoup in the evening we found a pub that was almost a micro-brewery and sat at the bar drinking different IPAs and eating tapas. Beats sat in the saddle.

Puerto Varas – Days 27- 29

23rd – 25th January

Following recommendations from Tommi at the Larisstera apartments in Santiago we changed our plan and found ourselves 12 coach hours later (this time travelling full ‘cama’ meaning we had a bed rather than a seat) in Puerto Varas. The town is situated in the Los Lagos Region of Chile on the shore of the Llanquihue Lake, one of the largest natural lakes in South America with Osorno Volcano and the snowcapped peaks of Mt. Calbuco and Mt. Tronador visible from the lakefront. Found by German speaking farmers it has a German architectural feel to it and with 5 hours before we could check-in to our accommodation at Puerto Chico at the far end of the town we had plenty of time to see the town – in fact, probably 4 hours too many…

Puerto Varas town centre

Taking in the lakefront we walked the 3 kilometres into town, declining the offer of the hotel bicycles (no brakes). Being on the waterfront there was a breeze which allowed us to keep keep cool as we sat and took in the views. Still only 10am we decided to have coffee and found ourselves in a tea shop with all its Xmas decorations still up and playing 80s radio. Drinking cappacino with a cream topping(?) with Christmas bells sparking listening to The Smiths ‘This Charming Man’ on a sunny day was a bit surreal but we went with it.

We then continued our walk out the other side of town and, finding ourselves in a small outdoor gym, decided to test out the machines despite probably looking a bit odd still in our travelling garb. After another stop to admire the view we were slowly entering into the pace of life in this little town and, realising that we didn’t need to be anywhere fast, settled in the sun and read our books for a while thinking about lunch – a favourite topic of ours.

Lunch at Caffe El Barista consisted of massive portions of Hamburgers and pastrami plus beers. And, after realising it was raining at the end of our meal, more beer and a glass a wine. We strolled happily back to our hotel for a siesta, some planning (and a bit of a kurfuffle over room keys after some strangers walked in our room) before braving another torrential downpour to get pizzas at the nearest restaurant, Da Allesandros. All in all a very chilled but surprisingly exhausting day!

So much so that we woke and went out quite late for us the next day. Having both decided against piling ourselves on another bus trip to the volcanoes we embarked on another seaside stroll into town with just our kindles for company. First stop, naturally, sandwiches and beers, then a loop around town and a walk through forest to the top of Cerro Phillipe where we had a brief snooze in the sunshine. Treating ourselves to ice creams for the long walk back we watched holidaymakers brave the cold breeze to lap up the sea and the sunshine the length of the pebbly beach.

Osorno Volcano

Charlie with ???

Next Stop: Argentina.

Santiago graffiti (taster)

Santiago / Valparaiso – Days 23 – 26

19th – 22nd January

Santiago

22 hours later we arrived by bus in Santiago. It felt kind of familiar and alien at the same time as it hasn’t been since London we had been in a ‘modern’ capital (La Paz whilst great had a distinct chaos about it) so we were ready to fill our boots with good food, wine and beer. We were very lucky to have checked into lovely self contained apartments a very chilled part of town called Barrio Lastarria (the closest we can think of in London is maybe the South Bank or perhaps Eccelsall Road in Sheffield) with lots of bars, coffee shops and restaurants near by and always filled with good looking / holidaying Chileans to the early hours – we obviously fitted in on both counts 😉

The remainder of our first day was spent walking up the single hill in the Cerrio Santa Lucia (park) for views over the neighbourhood and a little siesta in the sun (clearly we weren’t as rested from the bus journey as we thought or were we now just proper backpackers?) before finishing the day with tapas and drinks in a local bar – Mamboleta- amazed at how busy it was for a Sunday night.

On the Monday we set out to explore the city and soon learnt 2 things: 1 – most tourist attractions are closed for the day including the museum and funicular (both of which we’d got up early to do!) 2 – all the major plazas in Santiago are closed for refurbishment until April. Unperturbed we headed round all the parks for more sun and ice cream and before heading back to our apartment. It was on our walk that we really started to appreciate this modern and confident South American city.

Idiot abroad

We also discovered that at traffic lights Santiago doesn’t have beggars or screen washers asking for money, but some very talented street performers and musicians (including a brass band) who step out into the street when the lights turn red to entertain the drivers for cash – ingenious and entertaining.

After a chilled day out it was time to spend the next 2 hours with the receptionist back at the apartments trying to find a way from Santiago to Bariloche (in Argentina) that included a trip to Lake District in Chile now we are ‘freestyling’. After securing our passage to Argentina we headed out to a local restaurant ‘Sur Patagonia’ for steak and a Chilean wine – a delicious end to the day!

Vina del Mar / Valparaiso / Vino

Road trip!!! We were picked up at 9.30 sharp for our ‘group’ tour of two local towns and a vineyard…only to find it was to be a cosy foursome with just the two of us, our driver ‘Nelson’ and guide ‘Antonio’ (we think…they spoke very fast!) After a crash course in some Chilean phrases (huevon meaning big egg is a term of endearment don’t you know!), we wondered what lay ahead as we stopped of at some rip off roadside restaurant while our guides had coffee and we realised we had to pay to breathe. Luckily, the day fast remedied itself as we travelled through tunnels, past vineyards and mountains to reach the seaside town of Vina del Mar. Antonio had verbal diarrhoea and told us so many facts in such a short amount of time Jase had to have a siesta behind his sunglasses! We stopped to have our photo taken in front of the pretty floral clock at the centre of town (electric and plays different music according to the occasion apparently…) before a whistle stop tour of the streets and past the first casino. At the seafront we stopped and ran to dip our feet in the Pacific as numerous holidaymakers sunbathed (and worked out?!). Bliss. Would have been so so easy to have kicked back, lain down and stayed for a week…

But onwards. Back in the car we sailed past a building our guide couldn’t wait to point out looked like something from Harry Potter (in a very funny English accent!) and past hundreds of the Dakar rally cars lined up to be shipped out. In 15 mins we had reached the older, more historical town of Valparaiso. It was much bigger than we’d thought, buildings piled on buildings, especially in the financial centre where glorious architecture was almost strangled by apartment blocks. We passed parks, graffiti, battleships (Valparaiso is still the second most important port in Chile) and markets before heading up the hill for some great views and a stroll with Antonio. He took us to the Lutherian Church with an amazing organ and we met with the pastor who was fascinating (part Swedish, been in the navy, spoke with an almost American accent and told us of all the great works they do in the community). We walked past ‘Brighton’, a restaurant/ hotel with a veranda overlooking the heart of the city where people go to have drinks and listen to the music of the square and went to an art gallery. And of course we walked past the brightly coloured houses the town is known for and which their inhabitants must always keep the same or risk losing their UNESCO funding…

Meeting up with Nelson, we then headed back to the Casablanca valley to the Indomina vineyard (owned by the same people who own part of a Chilean bank, newspaper and pretty much anything else you can think of). The drive up was beautiful, past the rows and rows of vines, to the house on the hill.

We first went for a delicious and surprisingly reasonable lunch (plus a cheeky glass of wine of course!) before we met with Sebastian who came to show us round. He took us to the vines and explained how the vineyard is only really 14 years old and it takes 3-4 years to start yielding wine. They they usually harvest from late February for the younger ‘varietal’ wines (though due to a frost last year it’ll likely be mid march) which work well in the ‘colder’ climate esp whites like sav blanc, Chardonnay or light reds like Pinot noir. He then took us to see the big vats and explained the difference in process between the varitetals and premiums which need more of the skins etc, plus showed us the science bit where they change the taste, alcohol vol etc according to the customer (e.g. Marks and Spencers!). A visit to the barrel room was the followed by a session in the tasting room. Just the three of us, in a oak doored room overlooking the vineyard with a Sauvignon blanc, a Pinot noir and a premium ‘douette’ cab sav. Delicious.

After reluctant goodbyes we headed back into town and were dropped off at our apartment. A brief admin pitstop preceded yet another dinner (where Jase ate vacuna) in a courtyard of restaurants just around the corner, topped off by a Pisco Sour Chilean style (apparently the lemons are bigger and sweeter than Peru….)

Santiago

Our bus on the final day wasn’t due to leave until 21.20 which left us all day to do the things we couldn’t do on Monday. Starting the day with our first ‘proper’ coffee and pan de chocolate at ‘The Wonderful Coffee Shop’ we headed out to Bella Vista (think of Hoxton) where we caught the funicular up to the top of Cerro San Cristóbal and took in the views over the sprawling city of 6m people before heading back down into for lunch…

View over the city from Cerro San Cristobal

In Chile, hot dogs are an art. Forget an over priced Jamie Oliver hotdog at £5+, for the equivalent of 70p from a street vendor we got a full ‘Italiano’ hotdog so called as the toppings of avocado, mayo and tomato resemble the Italian flag.

Hmmm Italian flag…

Full and happy we headed through the busy streets to do our cultural bit in the Museo de Pre Columbia where we spent a couple hours in what is regarded as Chile’s best museum before heading back to barrio Lasterria with 3 hours to kill drinking beer and having a fine Italian meal (who said you always needed to slum it when backpacking).

Oh and we did learn another thing today – the Spanish for mucus (very useful and don’t ask why…).

Bolivia to Chile / San Pedro de Atacama – Days 20 – 22

16th – 18th January

After a very cold 8am visit to the desert said to have inspired Salvador Dali (though dubious as he never visited it) and the White and (toxic) Green lagoons, we said goodbye to our group most of whom were going back to Uyuni, including our travelling buddies Andy & Ash! We then headed to the Bolivia – Chile border which is literally in the middle of nowhere. Having exited Bolivia, we were quickly back on Tarmac roads (very welcome after 3 days off roading) and dropped 3000m into the town of San Pedro de Atacama. Finally we could breathe again.

Waiting to check into our hotel (swanky compared to where we’d been staying with our own little thatched cabin) we headed into town in the sweltering sun for a Chicken Enchilada lunch washed down with the local Cristal beer. After the towns and cities of Peru and Bolivia, San Pedro de Atacama is a very ‘chocolate box’ Spanish village – almost like a film set in the main square with its cafés and church, street food and pan pipe music played live in the street and the numerous holiday makers from all over Chile.

The two days we’ve spent here we’ve mainly been eating food in nice cafés / restaurants and relaxing after a busy 3 weeks trekking and touring. We had just one excursion planned to the Valle de la Luna which got cancelled due to thunderstorms in the late afternoon. To add to the holiday feel we found a Chilean bar which was full of locals (and dogs…) that played rock music and the bar staff kept the drinks flowing with table service. We spent both evenings here with Ben from the salt flats tour and were joined on the second by a couple who were on our bus into Chile who also had their trips cancelled. So with time on our hands and with refunds in our pockets we all spent longer than expected in the bar and finished the night in a pizza place with live entertainment – Charlie even taking a turn in the centre of the restaurant dancing with the Chilean dancers. A good end to 2 relaxing if uneventful days in Atacama ready for our 22 hour bus ride to the capital Santiago.

Salt flats off roading tour – Days 17 – 20

13th – 16th January

Last day in La Paz – Day 17

We set out to see more of the city starting with a walk round the indoor market where all the office workers were crammed into the numerous tiny food stalls (seating around 12), the portions of meat and rice were huge and all for under £1. From there we headed over the bridge of the main busy road and up the hill to a more affluent area called the Plaza Mririlla to look at the presidential office. We were also now getting to that stage in our travels where we were bumping into people whom we had met along the way – always good to see friendly faces.

Ready to say goodbye to la Paz we headed to the bus station only to enter into a mild panic when we discovered that our bus ‘Todo Tourismo’ left from a different address. Luckily for us it was just across the road with a much nicer office than the shabby bus station (made Pond street Sheffield seem organised) while another delay in departure gave us the chance to meet a couple of new travelling companions, Flo and Manu (from France but who live in Shepherds Bush). Finally we set off on the 12 hour overnight bus ride mainly on unpaved roads (so very bumpy and not much sleep) to our next destination.

Salar de Uyuni (Salt Flats) – Day 18

Arriving at the Red Planet offices in Uyuni a city in the southwest of Bolivia, we met our group (Flo, Manu, Dave from South Africa, Ben from London + 2 random Canadians ….oh yes and Ash & Andy from the Inca Trail!) and our guide Carlos and set off in two 4×4 Toyatos to a train ‘grave yard’ (abandoned in the 1940s after the collapse of the mining industry in the area).

Next it was on our way to the Salar de Uyuni which at 10,500 sq m is the worlds largest salt flat and working land owned by the local villages where the workers dynamite holes to manually extract the salt for sale all over Bolivia. In order to add to this vital process, we mucked about having our pictures taken (fighting life sized dinosaurs and drinking from giant wine bottles) before driving to an area further out on the flats where the recent rain acted as a mirror reflecting the clouds and blurring where the horizon meets the sky.

With a two hour drive ahead of us and fed up with Bolivian radio we switched on Dave’s iPod and played 3 song dj (basically you get to pick 3 songs and pass it to the next person) with the boys secretly trying to play the best 3 songs. Finally arriving at Cluper K we checked into our hostel (which looked like a prison) for food and an early night.

Chiguana Desert / Desert of Siloli / Red Lagoon – Day 19

After the usual tour breakfast of ham and cheese rolls, we had a full day seeing more of the beautiful Bolivian landscapes. From huge rock formations to vast desert expanses and lagoons, there were plenty more picture opportunities. Our song dj had also now firmly evolved into who could find the cheesiest tracks…what’s not to love about listening to Bananarama’s ‘Venus’ in the desert?

After an al fresco lunch out of the back of the 4×4, we went to see Flamingos in the Red Lagoon. Ascending to over 5,000m (our highest yet) to see the steaming craters of the Sol de Mañana Geyser, we then headed back to our final hostel of the 3 day journey (and a 5 man dorm) in the middle of nowhere with electricity just for 2 hours in the evening. It also gave our driver time to fix his truck after we’d temporarily broken down on the way there – still there was always the Bangles to play if we’d have been stranded.

Next stop – Chile

Goodbye Peru / Hello Bolivia – Days 14 -16

10th – 12th January

Friday – Welcome to Bolivia

Leaving early (again) we were on our way to the Peru / Bolivia border on a bus that wasn’t that great but much better than what was to come later in the day. At the border we had our Peruvian exit visas stamped, changed our remaining Peruvian SOL to Bolivian Bolivianos (BOBs!) and walked across the border to get our new visas.

A short ride in the same coach it was to Copacabana (not of big nosed Barry Manilow fame) where the journey really began to get bad. Firstly we stopped for an hours lunch only to be told we had to be ready for next coach within 25 minutes so we had no time for food as we needed to grab our bags to put them on the new coach ourselves (what cheek!). When retrieving our bags the receipt we had was worthless as it became a free for all as the driver gave any bag to anyone. Then we joined a scrum to get our next bus ticket (everyone grumpy as no one had eaten) and were given seats 41 & 42 only to get on the packed bus to find out the seats in the bus only went up to 41! So it was with knowing smile the bus driver had a reluctant Jason ride shotgun on the ‘flip’ seat in the drivers cabin with no head rest, seat belt or any type of comfort – not that Charlie’s was much better, the only thing missing here was the chickens, maybe this will come later in the trip? Tired and hungry Jason just managed to get to sleep before the driver decided to put on the best South American pop music he could find to wake Jason up. At the next port, we all had to pile off the bus again so we could be loaded onto small barges – diesel fumes everywhere – and transported across the lake for 15 minutes before being reunited with our bus for the next 2 uncomfortable hours into La Paz.

Arriving into La Paz, you realise what a massive place it is you descend into the city from the hills that surround it. You also a feel that is it’s quite a poor country from the state of the old cars, half finished buildings and number of stray dogs roaming the streets so it was after this journey that we (J&C + Andy & Ash) agreed to have a big Friday night out…only for everyone to crash and burn before 10 as everyone was so tired esp with the altitude now at over 4,000m – poor marks all round.

Saturday – ‘All Dayer’

After a lie in bed to 9.30 we got up explored a little of the city and booked ourselves a nice little ‘gravity assisted’ bike ride the next day (sorry Nay….). Having learnt the lesson that we all seem unable to stay out late, the 4 of us agreed we would meet at 4pm for an afternoon ‘session’. This worked a treat as we found ourselves a bar (we’re ashamed to admit an English pub originally named ‘The English Pub’) just in time for a couple of drinks before happy hour kicked in and we got free shots.

Having finally found our ‘beer legs’ we had a few more drinks before ending up in a nice Mexican cafe, once again treated to some great food in South America.

Sunday – ‘Death Road’

Meeting at 7am we met our group at a coffee shop and piled on the mini-bus with bikes on top to drive out of town to The ‘World’s Most Dangerous Road’. Built in the 1930s by POW, the dirt road starts at 15,400 ft (4,700m) and drops 11,800 ft in 4 hours with 40 miles of downhill riding including blind bends, sheer cliff drops on the left hand side of the road and few guard / crash rails. At the instruction session we were told by our Kiwi instructor from gravity that we needed to ride – guess where – yes on the left next to the cliff edge to give us our best chance of seeing cars, taxis and trucks who still use the road coming round the blind bends – oh great, this was going to be fun…

After some final tears (why were these people even doing it?) the group of 14 of us set off quietly – one instructor leading the faster riders at the front and another at back for the slower riders – and we all made it safely to our first stop. 15 minutes into our second ride we had our first casualty as one of our group applied the front break too hard and went straight over the handlebars – luckily for her on a wider part of the road. So she had to get onto the support mini-bus that followed behind to pick up the injured and their bikes. Now 13 riders in less than one hour we continued down the road riding through the clouds and getting hotter and hotter as the temperature changed from freezing cold at altitude to tropical the further we descended.

We soon came to appreciate that we came with one of the best companies as we saw other groups careering down the road on shoddy mountain bikes in packs almost knocking each other off never mind anyone else. Passing through single track sections, under waterfalls and through small rivers which flowed off the edge to turn into more waterfalls we continued down the mountain stopping to admire the views / catch our breath / slow down / try not to get too cocky before reaching our destination.

Arriving at the bottom we were rewarded with a beer and an offer to go zip lining across the valley floor…just in case we hadn’t had enough excitement for one day. Of course we accepted so spent the next 30 minutes tied to the zip wire whizzing through the air several 100 metres above the forest floor. We finished up at an animal sanctuary where we had a chance to eat and shower before jumping in the mini bus and heading up the death road again. Spirits were high until as we ascended it started to get dark and the guys to the right of the mini-bus started nervously laughing as they couldn’t see any road only sheer drops (think the Italian Job) and one of the more nervous girls started to cry again! The Bolivian driver got us to the top safely though much to everyone’s relief and it was back to La Paz after an exhilarating day. Note to people back home – everything else from now on will be with both feet safely on the ground!

Puno – Days 12 – 14

12th – 14th January

After a lazy day in Cusco the previous day where we said reluctant goodbyes to the Speedy Llamas, did laundry and generally chilled out, we got the 6.30am Inka Express bus to Puno. Along the way we stopped at various Inca sites including Andahuaylillas, Huaro and Canincuna both feeling a little guilty that we are now ‘ruined out’ having been spoilt the previous week. Arrived at Puno at 5, booked into our hotel off the main Plaza de Armas and met up with Andy and Ash (a couple we met on the Inca Trail) for dinner. Pisco sours all round followed by Peruvian food (steak Saltado again for Jason to keep up his daily diet of this dish).

The next day (our only full day in Puno) started with a visit to Lake Titicaca which at 3,830m above sea level is the highest navigable lake in the world.

The people of Lake Titicaca live on the water from Islands made from reeds. We visited the islands of Uros where we got a demonstration of how the islands are made by from the lakes resources and a visit into a locals house which was very basic but soon doubled up as a shop as the lady tried to sell us some hand made crafts – we made our excuses and left!

We left the island in a hand made reed boat to the next island where Charlie, Ash and Andy (who is stalking who here?!) started early on the beers before heading back to Puno for lunch on the main Lima steer (Punos equivalent to Oxford street but about 50 metres in length) followed by a walk round the square.

Tomorrow we are off to Bolivia and are sad to be leaving Peru behind having had a great time in this beautiful country.

The Inca Trail & Machu Picchu – Days 6 – 10

2nd – 7th January

Day 1 – ‘Training Day’ – Sacred Valley & Ollantaytambo

Leaving early with one of g-adventures guides for the trek, Enrique, we all headed out of Cusco to our first stop at the Planeterra Weaving Project which was about 1 hours travel up in the hills and off the beaten track. Here we were greeted by a community of women who showed us round the village and introduced us to the alpacas and llamas whose wool they use for weaving which we saw before heading to the market to buy ourselves some hand made clothing (Charlie a trendy pair of alpaca leg warmers) and yet another coca tea before saying goodbye and heading to the Pisac ruins for our first taste of what was to come.

At the Pisac Ruins, Enrique set our first ‘training’ task to see how fit we were as a group. We had 15 minutes to reach the top of the ruins by stairs all the way to the top to be rewarded of a view of the Sacred Valley below.

Hot and hungry we then headed in the bus to ‘Incalicious’ to get lunch and then to what would be the last roof over our heads for 3 nights at Ollantaytambo. After checking in we headed straight out to see another ruin – The Temple of the Sun – where Enrique set us another challenge to get to the top of the ruins – and we thought we were supposed to be on holiday! At the end of the day we all went for dinner together only for Charlie to get a free dinner and Pisco sour having been given pineapple twice (which Charlie hates!) on her pizza. So we decided it might not be a bad idea to carry some pineapple chunks around with us and try the same again should we run out of money at the end of our trip!

Day 2 – ‘The Easyish Day’ – Start to Wayllambama. 11km / 5 hrs

Leaving Ollantaytambo Lodge we picked up our second guide for the hike, Piero, and made our way to the start of the trail to meet our porters, all 22 of them who would basically carry all our gear, cook our food and set-up camp for the 16 of us. These guys ranged from about 20 to 60 years old and were obviously very strong given all the equipment they had to carry for the full hike when all we had were our day packs. So through passport control off we set as a group on our Inca Trail adventure.

We set off at a good pace in ‘Monkey pee’ rain and were soon overtaken by our porters who were running up the mountain with massive back packs. After 4 hours of walking mainly up hill through stunning scenery and the first of many ruins we finally caught up with the porters who had prepared a welcome lunch of soup, fish with rice and pudding. As soon as we had finished they were washing the dishes, packing their packs and running again to set up camp where we would meet them later with all our tents already set-up – these guys were amazing!

At camp ‘happy hour’ started at 5pm when we all met in the food tent for tea, pop corn and to play cards with Enrique and Piero. The game of the trek was to be ‘Llama shit!’ (think of a game of a similar name in the UK). This was followed by a 2 course meal and the daily briefing before bed by 8pm as we had an early start tomorrow.

Day 3 – ‘The Hard Day’ – Wayllambama to Paqaymayo. 12km / 6 hrs

Woken at 5am with a cup of tea by Piero and out by 5.30 so the porters could pack the sleeping bags and tents. Following porridge and pancakes we were back on the Inca trail by 6.15 am for a 2.5hr uphill hike in the warm sun to our first stop where Jason joined Stefan for an 8.45 am beer(!)

We polished off our snacks and the group were allowed to split to climb up the very long and steep path to Dead Womans pass (Warmiwanusca) to the highest point in our trek at 4,215m above sea level. 2 hours later and pretty much short of breath we finally arrived at the top in time for a quick pic before the heavens opened. It rained so hard that we had to break out our ponchos for the first time for the next 1.5hr descent on slippy steps and rocks to camp.

After a slower ascent to the summit it was during the descent that Charlie came into her own as a mountain goat quickly jumping from step to step, willed on no doubt by the thought of lunch waiting for us at camp.

After changing into dry clothes we were fed a meat stroganoff followed by a delicious cake from the chefs which set us up nicely for an afternoon nap. Today’s happy hour and game of cards had a twist to it as a bottle of rum was put on the table with the losers made to drink shots. After a fiercely competitive first round all the group each managed to beat Enrique and Piero and with much noise they reluctantly had their shots.

In the next round we unfortunately found ourselves in the final two against again Enrique and Piero but with their professional reputation at risk it was with the last turn of the cards that we lost and had to drink the rum. Luckily dinner followed and rum was served again with a special Peruvian tea made with cinnamon.

Day 4 – ‘The Long Day’ – Paqaymayo to Winaywayna. 16km / 8 hrs

Woken again at 5am after a night of heavy rain we found our tents had let in water so we now all had wet and smelly sleeping bags – urgh. After a breakfast of toast and scrambled eggs we started our longest trek of the trail as lunch wasn’t for another 8 hours. The guides now had an idea of the fitness level of the group so marched us for the first two hours before a break at the top of another mountain. Following this we descended about an hour and found the cleanest ‘toilets’ we had seen on our journey as everyone had been holding out and we had never been so happy! Following our rest stop once again it was another two hour ascent into the Cloud Forest so called as you are walking through thick clouds at this altitude particularly in the wet season.

After we regrouped at yet another summit it was time for our final challenge for the descent to camp, the so called ‘Gringo Killer’ which was nearly 1 hour of steep wet steps in the clouds (not a problem for Charlie the mountain goat) before a steady path the remainder of the way to camp via more Inca ruins. Finally after 8 hours of walking we arrived at base camp for a massive lunch which we ate in almost silence as everyone was so tired. No happy hour today though, instead Piero took us to ‘mini Machu Picchu’ where we were treated to a rainbow following the day’s heavy rain.

Following dinner we had a whip round before a presentation by Ebba and Hugo to the porters as this would be the last chance we would have to thank them for looking after us. Then it was bed at 8pm as tomorrow we had to be up at 3.30am for our final trek to reach our goal at Machu Picchu.

Day 5 – Winaywayna to Machu Picchu. 6km / 2 hrs

Woken with a shake of the tent we were quickly on our way (after a breakfast of hot chocolate and toast of course) for our final trek to Machu Picchu via The Sun Gate where the theory is you see the sun rise, however due to thick clouds we were unable to see anything so decided to carry on to Machu Picchu itself only to arrive to more clouds! with everyone disappointed our moods soon lifted with an early morning beer before the clouds rolled off the mountain to reveal the 15th century Inca City.

So after Enrique’s final lesson about the Incas we had our final group shot and were left to explore the city on our own so lots of time for selfies! (See our Flickr pages to the left for a selection for our pics).

Having spent a couple of hours exploring the city – including a fast march to the Inca Bridge – it was finally time to complete our trek and exit the Inca Trail catching a bus down to the town where seeing so many people seemed a little weird after it just been the group of us for the last 4 days. Before we caught the (amazing) Peru Rail train back to Ollantaytambo we had time for our first meal not cooked by the porters where Jason gave a speech on behalf of the group to thank Enrique and Piero for looking after us and making our time as a group so unforgettable.

So it was with sadness but a great sense of achievement that we made our way back to Cusco where we all went out for a final meal at a Peruvian restaurant called Marcelo Batata.

We at last tried Guinea Pig (surprisingly tasty if a bit bony) and then a night cap at Paddys Pub before heading back to our hotel after being awake for nearly 21 hours. A very surreal end to an awesome trip with a great group of people.

Out of the office until 6th of Jan

We are off to trek the inca trail to Machu Picchu – back soon!

Jason and Charlie – Living the Dream!

A little blog to share with friends whilst we are away