South American Adventures
Jump to Part 2 | Part 3
Part 1
2/28/03: I should have realized right from the start that this would not be just an ordinary adventure. Hunter and I started early this morning from LAX and Lex from San Jose. We meet up in DFW airport for a short lay over. Hunter and I dash through the airport to our next gate and start looking for our brother Lex. Wouldn't you know, there is a bar directly across from our gate and low and behold, our brother from another mother is kickin' back having a beer. Hunter and I, being the social guys that we are, jump right in and join him. Now here is the first clue that this will not be an adventure for lightweights. We see that we have about 20 minutes before we have to board our flight to Lima. So not to be party poopers, we all downed two 24 oz. beers each and embarked on our 7 hour flight to Lima. Now aboard the plane, we are faced with the dilemma of what to do for 7 hours. After drinking the beer sleep was now out of the question. Lex comes up with a great game. It's a dice game called "Zilch". So as we start to play this game and clean the plane out of every Heineken they have, we probably succeeded in keeping everyone awake and annoying everyone around us. We were loud and slightly obnoxious while rolling and banging the dice cup on the tray tables in front of us. Yelling and being quite loud after every roll. If by chance the poor people that were sitting in front of us are reading this, we do apologize. But damn it was a lot of fun. We land at about 12:45am in Lima. Stand in this narrow hot hallway for about 30 minuets and finally get through customs. By now, the buzz of the beers is finally wearing off so we exchange some money and get a cab to the hotel to get some sleep. That alone was an adventure.
3/1/03 Lima: The hotel where we stayed was pretty centrally located. We headed out early in the morning to see what Lima had to offer. Now Lima is no small town. There are approximately 8 million people living in Lima and it is a town with a pulse. Money exchange is a trip. There are guys standing almost on every corner with green vest on. These vests have a dollar sign on the back, ($), these are the moneymen. You walk up to them, let them know how much you want to exchange and they will give you the best rates going. Pretty crazy if you ask me. I'm a NY guy and seeing these guys just standing around with hundreds of US dollars and hundreds of Peruvian Solas on them is mind-boggling. Why or how they weren't getting ripped off on a regular basis just didn't add up. But, this is what goes on and this is how they operate. We continue to bop around town and just take in the sites. We stop at a little out door café to grab a bite and try the local beer, (hair of the dog). Now I was in a tank top, but the whole town is just bugging out on my boy Lex. Tattoos are not very commonplace in Peru. While at the café and while strolling through the shopping markets, people are asking Hunter if Lex and I are from a rock and roll band and if he's our manager. After a while I told Hunter to tell everyone that we are a rock band and if we get in trouble I was just going to tell the cops that Hunter was a Kennedy. We continued our day by going down to the shore where it was just a beautiful day and a magnificent shoreline. Nice shops, people and dogs were paragliding and the shoreline can rival the most beautiful ones that you have seen on the Mexican Riviera. Cabo San Lucas has nothing on this.
Later that day we met the rest of the people that we would be traveling with. The make up was the three of us, two other American girls from the bay area in Ca., two people from Great Britain, and three Canadians. We had a small meeting to go over what would happen the next day and then went out to dinner where we met the last GAP Adventure group on there final night. We all had dinner together in this really cool restaurant called Tejas. Food, drink, music and dancing ensued. It was a great night and the trip didn't even start yet. We all could tell that this was going to be a really good trip. Everyone was cool and fun loving and that seems to be the kind of people that go on these GAP Adventures. We probably had too much fun though. I do remember trying to sell Hunter to some woman in the restaurant for a real low price, but she wasn't going for it. I think she wanted him for free. We have an early start the next day as we head up to altitude and fly to Cusco. A really cool place and the start of our adventure.
Part 2
3/2/03: It was an early start as we met in the hotel lobby at 3:30am for breakfast. We had to leave for the airport, for we had a 6am flight to Cuzco. The flight is only slightly over an hour, but for an hour the plane is constantly climbing. When the plane finally descends and pierces the white sheet of cloud cover, it unveiled to hills and us the most lush, rich and fertile looking mountains that I have ever seen. Rings of clouds hovering like halos around them.
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 Cuzco Square,
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It's a festive atmosphere right from the time you step off the plane. Local musicians are in the airport to greet everyone with the indigenous sounds of pan flutes and guitars. Cuzco is like someone took a cool old little European town and transplanted it up in the Andes at 10,000 feet. Spectacular old churches, museums and cobblestone streets all focus around a square in the middle of town. You are over come by the injection of life and culture that surround you. Local markets and these small narrow streets bustle with tourists from around the globe. You will meet people from everywhere in Cuzco. The restaurants are great and the nightlife rocks, just like any big city, from dance clubs right down to a great little Irish pub. Made me feel right at home, when I went into the Irish pub and saw a F.D.N.Y. "T" shirt hanging on the wall, signed by N.Y. fire fighters. That's pretty cool.
This day was spent sight seeing, shopping and getting any of those last minuet items that you will need for the Inca Trail. This is also a start at getting used to being at altitude. For some, this is not easy. Poor Lex experienced first hand what altitude sickness is all about. The medicine that you have to take for this needs 24 hours to take effect, so now is the time to take advantage of that.
3/3/03: The Sacred Valley: The Sacred valley is justly named. On this day we started getting our feet wet as to what we would be in for on the Inca Trail. We passed through villages on the way and it was like you were sent back to a place that time forgot. All the dwelling and structures are built out of the same adobe brick that the Incans used over 500 years ago. Hey, when something works you stay with it. We were led through the valley by our guide, Panchoman. He will be with us from this day until the end of the Inca Trail.
As we hiked through the valley, we hiked through farming terraces that were built by the Incans over 500 years ago and are still being used to this day. Ruins, ancient temples and dwellings that have stayed the test of time. Drainage and water systems that are still functioning till this day. All along being schooled in what we see by Panchoman. Lush land, beautiful waterfalls and ruins are just some of the unforgettable sights we saw that day. You will be sure to go through lots of film here. So much to see and learn on this day, you need to take plenty of pictures to remember it all.
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 Cuzco Ruins,
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The hike ends at this little village called Pisac. We went to an outdoor bakery and ate some rolls that were filled with tomatoes, cheese and herbs that were baked in huge clay ovens. Then we stopped at a tavern that is run by a woman from California. She went there some years back, fell in love with the place and stayed. We found this to be a very common story in Peru, one that we ran into in Lima, Cuzco and Pisac. We found some beautifully crafted Alpaca blankets and other souvenirs here.
Our day ended in a quaint little village called Ollantaytambo. This is just over night. Another great dinner and one night in a cool little hostel, then it's off early in the morning for day 1 of the Inca Trail.
....To Be Continued. |
 Pisac Waterfall,
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Hunter, The General and Lex at Sacred Valley
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Part 3
S.A. Adventures III: Days 4-6 3/4 -3/06/03
The Inca Trail
Well of course it's another early start, but we all are psyched to be starting the trail. We get on the bus, in Ollantaytambo and are accompanied by our guide, Panchoman and the porters that will be on the trail with us. I will get back to these guys later. Now the bus drops us off at kilometer 82, which is approximately 2600 meters high. Now for us arrogant Americans, who do not want to embrace the metric system, that's around 8,000 feet. All the other groups will take four days to complete the trail; we will do it in three. The first day will be one of the toughest. We will ascend from 2600 meters to 3800 meters by days end. (That's over 11,000 feet).
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The Gang
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Along the way we stop occasionally and learn about ruins, plants and what the Inca's used them for and life that lives on the trail. Panchoman has been guiding tours on the trail for over fifteen years. That is doing the trail forty to fifty times a year. Pretty impressive! As impressive as that is, it seems like nothing compared to the job that the porters do. These have to be the hardest working guys I have ever seen. We all are on the trail, carrying a daypack and using a walking stick, while all along struggling with the altitude.
The porters are all no taller then 5' 5", all carrying two to three times what we are. They cook our meals, set up and break down the campsite twice a day and carry all our extra gear. They start hiking around an hour after us and blow right past us on the trail. They all wear these sandals made from old car tires, called "Inca's" and their legs are like steel pistons. The only time they ever stop is to refill their mouths with cocca leaves.
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Let's pause a second and talk about the cocca leaves. The porters chew them like they are going out of style. It is suggested for everyone before you start the trail and is definitely part of the experience. You buy a couple of bags of leaves and the catalyst. The catalyst looks exactly like a chunk of hash. You take some leaves, a pinch of the catalyst roll it up and stick it between your cheek and gum, just like taking a dip. Then you just chew and swallow, you don't spit. Your mouth will get all-numb and you will get a boost of energy that helps you deal with the altitude. I wonder why it's illegal here in the states? Just because this is what they use to make cocaine. These guys just live on the stuff.
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Black Lake
on the Inca Trail
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OK, back to the trail. When you finish that first day you have a huge sense of accomplishment. It is a tough day and you will sleep like a baby. When we finally made it to 3800 meters, a warm tent and some cocca tea was waiting for us. A nice hot dinner and it was early to bed. We were all pretty tired.
Day two is no walk in the park either. After a nice breakfast, we ascended to 4300 meters, which is close to 15,000 feet. The rest of the day is also pretty tough. It's all up and down. You start at 3800 meters, ascend to 4300 meters then down to 3400 meters for lunch and back up to 3600 meters to round out the day. The mountains and ruins that you see, the stories and facts that you learn from Panchoman, are engraved in your memory for life. As hard as it is, it never seemed that tough, for you are with some really incredible people too. I also made some friendships that will last a long time. We definitely shared some moments.
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During this day a dog joined us. No one knew where he came from. Now I always say that everything in life sooner or later comes around to the Simpson's. This dog looked exactly like the dog that guided Homer through his hallucinogenic dream after he ate the insanity peppers. I expected that dog to start talking at any minuet. He remained with us for the rest of the trail right until we arrived at Machu Picchu.
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The Dog
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Day three is a really nice day. It's primarily downhill all day. We descended 1000 meters that day and saw a lot of ruins. The day ended at a really cool hostel in Intipata, which I must say served the coldest beers I have ever had. The hostel is set three minuets from the most spectacular ruins on the trail. The ruins are called "Winaywayna" which means forever young. These ruins are extremely well preserved and are only eclipsed by Machu Picchu. The whole group ended the day by drinking beers and playing dice in the hostel. Of course we were the loudest ones there.
If you wished you could be there with them… you now can! G.A.P. Adventures have two pilot tours this spring, both with Lex and Rob. The adventures are limited to a small group of travellers, so space is limited! These departures are precursors to G.A.P’s new Evotreks product, due to roll out in late spring. More on Evotreks here.
These are our standard fantastic tours, both with Lex and Rob along. There will be no bug eating, no starving, and you won’t get voted off your vacation! Call or email to book: 1-800-465-5600 or adventure@gap.ca.
SirLinksalot: Survivor 6 The Amazon
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