Eating Guinea Pig

Guinea Pig (Cuy)!
On the night before I leave Peru, I finally get to try one of the national "delicacies" - guinea pig, or in Spanish, "cuy".


Yum

In fact I cheated - the chap I had met on the bus, Akira, ordered it. I stuck to trout, and just sampled his, an altogether safer option.


The grimace was well-disguised

The little critter was sprawled across the plate, his head still in tact, two front teeth poking out over the edge of the dish, and body with a thin layer of cheese on top. The skin was very tough.. I was worrying it would take all night to eat, until the waitress suggested using hands rather than knives and forks. The taste? Kinda like chicken, as with most unknown meats! The flavour was more of the marinade used I suspect. Anyway, my trout was good!

Bolivia
Early morning (just the way I like it) bus to Copacabana in Bolivia with TourPeru.


We follow the lake round to the border

It takes about 2 1/2 hours to reach the border, where we all have to alight, visit a currency exchange, as apparently Copacabana (town) charges 1 Boliviano (the currency in Bolivia) as an "entry fee"! Whoever heard of an entry fee for a normal town, and how irritating that it is just by the border, so one hasn't had the chance to visit the bank yet! What a racket! Anyway, I have 1 Peruvian Sol coin left in my pocket, and I get away with changing this into 2 Bolivianos! Result!

So into Peruvian emigration, stamped, walk the 100 yards across to Bolivia, and without issue another stamp. [GPS: 16.22586S, 69.09584W] All suspiciously easy. Back on the bus and another 10 minutes to Copacapana. On arriving the lovely location is apparently immediately - just below several small hills, it sits on a sandy bay, with the deep blue waters of Lake Titicaca sparkling in the sun. The chap next to me, who is going straight on to La Paz, laments not breaking his journey here. It's hot, and there's barely a cloud in the sky.


Locals enjoy dipping their feet in the water. No one swimming (bit nippy)

Copacabana

Beats rainy mountains!

After checking into a hotel, Utamu, my second choice (will try to get into La Cupula tomorrow), I wander around town, discover that there is no bank.. at all.. so have to use a dodgy cash advance place, with 5% commission, grrr! I go for lunch by the water. There is an array of restaurants lining the beach, full of mostly locals enjoying trout from the lake. [GPS: 16.22489S, 69.09581W]


One for each day... if I stay here two weeks!

I wander back and forth and settle for the first, and busiest one.


A menu even I can understand

Trucha (trout) al Limon, comes a few minutes later on a bed of rice, with a few chips on the side, washed down with a La Paz beer. Delicious!


Simple and tasty

Incidentally, in terms of currency - Bolivia is supposed to be one of the cheapest countries in South America. There doesn't appear to be any form of industry, and someone said to me that they are always looking for bail-outs from their more prosperous neighbours. The exchange rate is just over 8 Bolivianos to the dollar, so I'm assuming about 15 to the pound. A return day trip to Isle del Sol, which is an hour (?) boat trip away, is 20 Bolivianos.

A post-lunch walk is required
After lunch I decide to climb up the hill behind my hotel. Steep climb which I attempt slowly in the heat.


Popular mode of transport as long as the wind is in your favour

The view from the top [GPS: 16.16151S, 69.09063W] is beautiful, over the town, with its large cathedral, and in the other direction, along the spit of land which leads to the Isle del Sol, and the island itself in the distance.


Beware of the dog!

Next I wander along the spit to the next hill, [GPS: 16.12897S, 69.09158W] with a spooky large cross made from reeds and twigs, for some reason not standing upright either, returning as the sun sets. I had been accompanied on this walk by a girl I met earlier. She has been staying here for a week, and apparently firstly the weather's not normally this good, and secondly there are such frequent power outages that she estimates only 2 or 3 of the days last week was there full power all day. This is a serious consideration given that my hotel shower is electric (one of the death-by-electrocution guaranteed showers as pictured previously). I resolve to switch hotels!


The sky starts to light up




Suspect he´s wandering what the mad gringo is doing running along the shore


The temperature drops rapidly once the sun has disappeared beneath the horizon


Perhaps the town is on fire!

Trekking?
So, my original plan was to come here, head off to the island, and camp for three days or so. This was watered down to come here, head off to island, and stay in hostels as much as possible, perhaps camping for one night. I'm slightly embarrassed to say this has now become come here, stay in Copacabana, and do day trips out to the Island. It's soo nice here, I can't bare to stay out on the island where accommodation is very basic, no hot water, and basic restaurants, when I can be back here by 7pm having spent the day there wandering about. Sorry! Am also hoping to stay here until the day before my flight from La Paz, as I have not heard entirely encouraging things about the place.

Back to Copacabana
The town is very friendly, laid back - no hassle about going on tours! Thank goodness. I´ve arranged my hotel switch now. Unfortunately La Cupula, where I´m going, only has a suite available for tonight. Sigh, the things I have to endure! Single room from tomorrow though. Bit of a nuisance moving between rooms. Hostel has a very good restaurant too supposedly, and most importantly, solar-gas combi showers, i.e. no issues if the power goes. The town has lots of nice restaurants and cafes, which is good, very disproprortionate to the size of the place, as is the beautiful cathedral.

The cathedral from above

One point of note - all the tat sellers here seem to be gringos - hippy types. I´ll monitor their numbers carefully, if it reaches my hippy tolerance threshold I may have to book a private jet to the nearest 5* hotel to escape!

Macchu Picchu, Km0 and Puno

A warning: in line with your lazy preferences, this blog entry is heavily biased towards pictures not words! Do not attempt on sub-broadband connections!

The night before..
It's done. Macchu Picchu ticked off. What is Macchu Picchu? It is a complete and very well-preserved Inca City, nested in amongst mountains and deep green valleys. The Inca Trail is a 3-4 day trek up to Macchu Picchu, which I did not do. I took the train and bus, like a good tourist!

Day started.. well.. the night before, when I decided that whatever time I had to get up (about 6am), I couldn't go to bed this early (8pm), being in Cusco, the party city of the region.


Cusco's main square at night

I'd passed a bar on the way up to my hostel called Km0, and had noticed some musicians sound-checking through the window, so decided to go back there.

I should mention, in case I haven't already, that my hostel [GPS:13.51430S, 71.97279W] is at the top of a very nasty hill, up from the Plaza de Armas, which is effectively the centre of town [GPS: 13.51678S, 71.97875W]. Good fun when the road, or staircase as perhaps a more accurate description, is very wet.



Down to civilisation from my mountain hut hostel

Anyway, Km0, so named because the owner is from a village near Madrid, and apparently in the Spanish empire all distances were measured from Madrid, so Km0 is the centre of Madrid. However, as the Metric system long post-dates the Spanish empire, the story doesn't entirely stack up, but my Spanish is not up to enquiring further (not yet Jenny, but I'm still working on it!)!


Who is this dodgy character at the bar?

The bartender in there, Miguel, was very friendly, despite sitting me next to a drunk, who fortunately cleared off soon after. I got chatting to a Spanish singer called Mita (?) who was planning to perform the following night, Miguel, and later a Peruvian chap called Juan, and an Aussie called Johnny. Nice crowd, and as we came out of happy hour I switched from beer to shots of Pisco (puro, i.e. neat), then started trying out cocktails, before heading back to beer.


My only excuse for drinking this monstrosity is that it was called the "Macchu Picchu", seemed highly appropriate!

Meanwhile the musicians were playing various Peruvian songs with vigour, and one of the guys in the audience joined in on the harmonica. Really informal and intimate affair. I was sat at the bar thinking how this is what travelling is about, not going to see a load of over-rated rocks tomorrow!

Made it back to the hotel, and of course failed to set alarm clock. Should have stayed in the bar - apparently they went out afterwards and called it a night at 5 or 6am! Cut to this morning, and a loud banging on the door. Walter, the young chap who does most of the work around the hostel, was banging on my door. 20 minutes till train the other side of town! Panic!! Grabbed some stuff together and legged it down the very wet hill without breaking my neck. Made the train with two minutes to spare. Phew!

The train


Better nick than most UK rolling stock!

I was taking the backpacker train, and was not expecting much. So was impressed that the train was really quite comfy. I had a Peruvian chap next to me who was very enthusiastic and would wake me at every opportunity to point something out, of which normally I would have been appreciative, however in my extremely hung-over state, I would have preferred to continue sleeping. The valley up was not anything out of the ordinary.


To the right, to the left, to the right, to the left, to the...

Now, something remarkable happened on the way out of Cusco. The train basically climbs up a hill out of the city... by doing train "switchbacks"! Yes, the train kept reversing back and forth and presumably each time switching points on to a slightly higher piece of track. It took absolutely ages! The smart way of doing this journey (as I now know) is to take a bus or taxi to the first or second stop on the train, which takes 15 or 40 minutes, but saves you about one to two and a half hours on the train respectively!

So four hours later, and about 80km from Cusco (!), we arrive. There are buses waiting, which take us up, for $12 return. It's raining, and I prepare for wet weather - books into plastic bags etc. The entry fee has gone up! Book (2006) says 77 soles, it's now 118.5!! What a rise! There is no advance warning of this, and no means of taking money out in the area, plus they don't accept dollars or cards, only soles! I am firmly of the opinion that anywhere that charges that sort of money for entry should take cards. And this must be the most expensive entry fee in the whole country. Milk those tourists!


Mr Bingham stumbled across the site by accident, jammy sod

Into the compound, and up a short path to the left, which gives a stunning vista of the whole site. It is impressive, and my cynicism melts away. The place is enormous, and perched high above the river, which winds around us, deep in the steep valley below. Lots of photos, then wander through the site, trying to pace myself to avoid the larger groups. It's also quite a challenge to work out what's what from my little guide in my LP trekking book.


The money shot..


Hut

Macchu Picchu is [GPS: 13.16531S, 72.54456W]


They're like a cross between a sheep and a baby giraffe


How to predict what the sun will be up to. Use a rock with many strange angles


Okay, I am impressed. Note weather consistent with Crawley expectations

At the far end of the site is a mountain called Waynapicchu which it is possible to climb. However, all the books say that it is extremely steep, and there was a warning sign at the entrance to the climb saying it was steep, and there was talk of ropes to pull one's self up. I was busy convincing myself that I shouldn't do it, due to my fear of heights and the fact that it had been drizzling steadily, meaning presumably it would be slippery.



Go up there?! Seriously?

I had almost turned away, when I chatted to a chap who had just come out. He'd spent a few hours at the top, the view was so good. Okay... And then my fate was sealed when a Japanese grandma went in with her children!! You can always rely on Japanese grandmas to shame you into doing things!!

So went in and up. Was steep, but more like a staircase, rather than what I had imagined, i.e. having to find finger-holds in the rock to pull myself up etc. Not rock climbing basically. I went up at a good pace as I had a couple of girls behind me and was loathe to let them overtake me. Not sure whether they were mountaineers but they set a horribly fast pace which I of course had to match. Up to the top, perspiring profusely, then found a perch which was slightly sheltered from the rain. Sat there and ate my ham and cheese pasty from Panaderia El Buen Pastor and a mini-panetone, soaking up the view, as clouds rolled back and forth, from [GPS: 13.15653S, 72.54578W].


Others admire the view too. Note the road leading up to the site on the left.


The whole site. The modern building on the left is a 5* hotel


The upper bits, including the religious temples and sun-calculating rocks


The lower bits, unexciting according to the guide, but pretty nevertheless, and very well preserved

Round the corner, and realised I still wasn't quite at the top!


The actual top

Down the other side which was where it started to get nasty. There was a staircase, but it was extremely narrow, extremely steep, and some of the steps weren't even deep enough to take my foot side-on! Plus nothing to hold!


Nasty nasty staircase

They should put up metal holds like they have on the walk up here, it's not fun currently. Anyway, long way down, and knees are jelly by the bottom! But I've earnt my dinner!


That's what I went up

Out, back in to town, talk to a very nice girl called Flor (Spanish for flower), and we have lunch together back in town, well she has lunch and I have a drink, as I have a train to catch soon..

Almost miss the train again. Much less comfy this time as I'm facing other people, irritatingly nice American Peace Corp types. And again, the length of time!! Unbelievable.


I didn't know they made 2W bulbs!

By the way, I haven't moaned about headphones yet. Here we go: So my headphones packed up on the way to Cusco, so I've had to (out of desperation) buy normal "old-style" headphones! Absolute dark ages! How do people use these horrible non-Sony-EX headphones? I'm so desperate to get another pair, but can't see it happening until Brazil.. La Paz doesn't sound promising, though I will try my best! I may have to book a couple of extra flights or rejig my round the world to do La Paz -> Tokyo -> Rio to sort this!

Anyway, dinner at Jack's Cafe, as recommended by Swiss girl back in Huaraz. Had a spicy chicken curry dish. Yum.


Not quite as spicy as they implied, but still tasty

The great thing about Peru is that there's a fairly standard "trail" that everyone does, either one way or the other, so you always bump into people who give you tips for the next place. Same applies to Vietnam I suppose. All good. Back for a long-overdue shower then to Km0 as the Spanish girl from yesterday is singing today. Again, really nice atmosphere there, though today I stick to a small quantity of beer. Don't want to miss my bus to Puno tomorrow!


The place of temptations

Buses buses



Royal Class? Not the British Royals that's for sure!

Bus was okay - boring (aburrido)... 6 hours. Had a Japanese chap sitting next to me who I had talked to at Macchu Picchu. He was the one who persuaded me to go up Waynapicchu! Small world. There is a train that does the same route as the bus, but I've had enough of Peruvian trains for one lifetime, and this after only one return journey! Can't wait till I get to India!


It may be quicker to hike than take the train

Anyway, bus trundled along a fairly pretty valley, here's a random GPS reference about a third of the way along: [GPS: 14.73767S, 70.74801W] with scrub covering the altiplano, and pretty mountains behind.


Nice dirty window blotchy Sony shot!

Then the mountains went, the valley widened, and the bus carried on for hours more! Wasn't helping that again the "luxury" bus was boiling hot, which always makes for an uncomfortable journey. Of course, all the cheapo buses have windows you can open! Was talking to chap next to me about Bolivia - there is an enormous salt lake at Uyuni, which is tempting, but it's 11-13 hours on a the bus from La Paz. Looking at the timing, with my flight to Brazil on the 17th, and now it being 9th, I can't see it happening. As in, I can't stomach 26 hours on a bus for a couple of hours of pretty lake. I'll have to make do with looking at it on wiki.

Puno [GPS: 15.83707S, 70.02770W] seems like a chaotic port town.


Milton Keynes town planners may have been involved..

There isn't much water though. Am staying in a relatively expensive place, costing 35 soles per night! Wandered down to the waterfront with my new chum Akira, but it's rather smelly as lots of algae has been blown in and has collected in front of Puno harbour!


Lots of tourist boats, and one that appears to be sunk not far off the jetty. Hmmm

Tomorrow morning I bus it to Copacabana in Bolivia, whence my next trek, Copacabana to Isle del Sol, starts. What worries me is that the only source of drinking water on that trek is this self-same lake! Yucks! By the way, last time my pack was weighed, it was up to 24kg. Where is all this extra bulk coming from???


Why oh why does it weigh so much? At this rate First checked baggage allowances won't be sufficient by February!

I don't have anything extra compared with the day I set off from London when it was 18kg. Madness! Do I have two 2.5l bottles of water stashed somewhere cunning in one of the side pockets? It's a mystery.

Tonight might try Guinea Pig. Spending my last pennies on dinner, then I'm out of Peruvian soles as we cross to Bolivia tomorrow. Hope no unexpected charges are sprung, otherwise it's dollars or washing up!


Ominous clouds. It's very windy but not as cold as all Peruvians elsewhere had implied.

Food and Cusco

Dogs on guard


Nasca gets 4 hours of rain a year. Makes for one dry river..

Food
Not sure if I have explained how food works here?

Peruvians have two main meals, breakfast and lunch. To them, dinner is a light snack, similar to lunch in England - a sandwich of some sort. In Nasca people all seem to bake cakes and sit in front of their house selling slices or just eating it themselves, a delightful throwback to the afternoon tea concept.

Anyway, I think breakfast is similar to what we'd recognise - toast, cereal, muesli. Lunch is a multi-course affair, usually involving some nibbles, perhaps corn or a sweet potato, then a substantial soup, with noodles, and fish or a large chunk of meat in it, then rice with meat or fish.

If you order this at a local restaurant, it's called a menu completo, and general costs between 3 and 5 soles. That's 30-80p. That includes a drink too, and sometimes a small jelly of purple corn for pudding. It's pretty spectacularly cheap. The English chap who runs Chill Heaven in Huaraz says they don't bother opening at lunch as it's not worth their while trying to compete.

So that's the menu completo. Then there are an entirely separate set of restaurants which cater to gringos. These tend to have nicer decor, menus in English, but most significantly the more usual starter/main choice combinations, with mains tending to cost 15-20 soles (£2.50). I must confess, for the most part I stick to these restaurants. Firstly you have more confidence in the hygiene standards, as they know what foreigners are looking for. Furthermore, they tend to have the best coffee!

Cusco
So I'm now in Cusco. It's much bigger than Huaraz (about 3x as big, to my surprise). I've got a train ticket to Macchu Picchu for tomorrow morning at 6am, and a bus at 9am the day after to Puno, the last Peruvian town before Bolivia, just across Lake Titicaca. I'm staying in a place called Hospitaje Inka, which is reasonably priced, but a very good walk up one of the hills, meaning it has a great view, but my knees did nearly give way walking up with full pack!


Room with a view..

Walking about, it's a quite nice city, has a mediterranean feel to it, with the whitewashed walls and faded orange roof tiles. The downside is that their are touts everywhere. How annoying that you can't walk anywhere in the city without someone yelling "hey, amigo, you want a tour?". , I am not your friend! You wonder whether they haven't twigged that the hard-sell has the reverse effect, or does it? Do people fall for it? If so, they're not helping the situation!


Back to a decent-sized city..


Spot the well-disguised rugby posts!

Incidentally, regarding milking tourists, the train journey up to Macchu Picchu has three prices, depending on which class of train one takes. Foreigners aren't allowed to take the reasonably-priced train that locals take. So we have three choices - "Backpackers", at $68, "Vistadome", with a few extra frills, at $105, and the Henry Bingham (the chap who discovered MP in the 20s) special, at, wait for it... $480!!!! For a 2-3 hour train journey! Puts the English and Swiss to shame!! Once you're there, you need to take a bus up, which is another $6 each way, then pay the entry fee, 77 soles, approx. £13. Oh, and you're not allowed to take food and drink in, you have to buy it in there, though I'm sure that they will not take advantage! I of course have every intention of trying to smuggle food and drink in!!

Anyway, lots of bars and restaurants here. I'm currently sitting in a pub called the Cross Keys, owned by a Mancunian, watching Manchester United play Benfica with a pint of Ruddles (the Abbott and IPA taps are off at the moment). They have a good range of bar snacks too!


Sight for sore eyes..


Reaches parts Inca cola doesn't even try for.. :)

I retired here to escape the touts, but also there seems to be a siesta for most shops most afternoons, from about 1pm till 4pm. I trawled round a huge market earlier looking for in-the-ear headphones - my Sonys have died on me, presumably because of all the insults levelled at their camera here! Anyway, Sony EX1 headphones in the market? Err, no chance! They appear to have just got on to those colourful caps that hook around your ears. My last hope is a shop that opens at 4pm, otherwise I'll have to buy some nasty old-stylee ones. Yucks!

I haven't mentioned the bus journey here. Was okay. Not amazingly comfortable seats, but managed to get a good amount of sleep with my BA First Eye Pads!! Only blow was mp3 player headphones packing up! Sound in right ear only for 11 hours!

Another benefit of being in a bigger city - culture. Have visited the Museum of Comtemporary Art, and Museum of Popular Art. Didn't need to pay for either, though they both asked whether I'd bought the culture "pass" which gives you access to them. No I hadn't. Oh, free entry then! Well, it's really worth buying that pass, isn't it! Both places were small but interesting.





The Contemporary place had a load of rubbish around their courtyard, but a temporary exhibition of Anibal Ortizpozo's work, which was good. They also seem to be big into sculpting small figures, but that's not really my cup of tea.

Dinner at Kintano, Japanese place. Trout sashimi and miso soup. They're out of natto. I'll live. Tomorrow have a train at something horrible, like 6am. Suffering just to see a load of now strewen-about rocks that were allegedly related to some dictatorial blokes years ago called the Incas. Am I getting cynical?!

Nasca Lines

Bus from Lima here took about 7 hours. Only half the time that tonight's bus will take! 14 hours. 14 hours on the bus to Cusco. Lord help me. I'm bored just thinking about it! (Bored = aburrido).


Loadsa room

On the bus here, once it had mostly emptied out after Ica, the hostess asked me to correct her translation of all their spiel they give you over the intercom, including help with pronounciation. Meanwhile my main backpack was almost literally being cooked under the bus - it was uncomfortably hot to touch when I picked it up! We also passed lots of fish processing factories. Seriously stinky!


Something fishy...

Staying in Hostel Via Morburg, recently renamed to The Way On Inn (haha). Seems to be a Flemish chap running it, but not sure who owns it. They have a pool which is apparently freezing, so I haven't risked it. Spent yesterday evening watching an American crime soap called The Shielf, starring a chap who is clearly the American answer to err, not Phil, the other Mitchell from Eastenders. Hostel is a nice friendly place, but like Raju's Pokhara Palace Hotel, there is lots of noice in the neighbourhood, including a thumping club which didn't close till the early hours (who would have thought in this sleepy town!), someone detonating firecrackers at midnight, and a huge number of cockerels and other miscellaneous birds which all love to celebrate dawn!


We're going up, will we come down?


Where's the rest of it?

Left hotel at 6:50am for flight over the Nasca Lines. $45 for about 20-30 minute flight. Smallest plane I'd ever been in - took 5 passengers maximum.


Examining the pilot's bald patch in great detail


Yes it's that easy to leave the plane..

Flight was great, and the lines are very impressive, but I spent at least half the flight feeling very queasy as the plane banked sharply to the left and right so we would get good views.


The astronaut

The hummingbird

Very glad to return to land! It's quite amazing that the Panamerican motorway goes straight through the middle of the lines, as they weren't known about when the road was built.


The road must go on..

Right, time to prepare myself for the 14 hour bus marathon. Groan! If only I had every episode of King of the Hill to watch! Will! Get burning those DVDs!!