We fly back to Lima and spend the day in the Monestary catacombes which are full off an impossibly huge amount of human remains, arranged in chambers and concentric circles. The guide is awful and keeps sneaking out of the room ahead of us to hide. None of the group hear much of what he says and he just seems to prove our thoughts that Lima really has all the right ingredients and the wrong cooks. The tours elsewhere in South America have all been much better.
We eat tasty arabic food in Miraflores' posh restaurant district and have to say goodbye as Sophie goes out to get her flight. I spend the final evening in the hostel chatting to a welsh couple and drinking.
Final day - i get up early with a slight hangover and decide to walk the length of central Lima from Miraflores to the Plaza de Armas. The weather is foggy 9 months of the year here and it never rains. The bullfight museum is shut but I make a beeline for the art gallery and along the way I stop at Huaca Pucallana and see the pyryamids built of mud bricks. I get to the park but the gallery is shut so go to the Plaza San Martin where the sculptor misunderstood the order to place 'llama' (flame) on the staue's head and dutifully put a small llama. The walk takes all day and I finally get to the plaza and celebrate with a final Pisco Sour before getting my taxi to the airport and the long flight home.
Wednesday 10 June 2009
Iquitos pt.2
We went and met our guide and went up river to visit the Yagua tribe. The tribe welcome us with red face paint and give us a welcome dance. It's all for tourists, but nice to see what you'd think of as a typical amazonian tribe. We fire blow darts at a target and buy a couple of trinkets, before leaving for the zoo.
At the zoo were groped by monkeys, handed caimen, clawed by parrots and draped with snakes. The guys are friendly and we drink a glass of Clavihuasi with them - apparently it's an aphrodisiac. When we pay, they don't have change and so we go out to a floating petrol station to get some!
Next day we go out to Lago Quistacocha where we see a selection of jungle animals including Puma and the 2m long Paiche fish, then walk around the lake and botanical gardens. For lunch we eat paiche - really tasty and more like white meat than fish.
The next morning we went back to the market for another look about and bumped into Lito again. We ask him to take us out to see the Vitoria Reina - the giant water lillies, and we do. On the boat today is Marlo and Jorge, 2 friends who also live in Belen. They invite us to go for a drink in a floating bar and we drink Chuchuhuasi & coke, while listening to the local talents of 'Ilusion' - a local band. When the bar is full on a weekend everyone is knee deep in water! After a few jugs of Chuchuhuasi we head back to Iquitos to find that the city is closed down in protest of the oil firms damaging the environment and pushing out the indigenous people.
At the zoo were groped by monkeys, handed caimen, clawed by parrots and draped with snakes. The guys are friendly and we drink a glass of Clavihuasi with them - apparently it's an aphrodisiac. When we pay, they don't have change and so we go out to a floating petrol station to get some!
Next day we go out to Lago Quistacocha where we see a selection of jungle animals including Puma and the 2m long Paiche fish, then walk around the lake and botanical gardens. For lunch we eat paiche - really tasty and more like white meat than fish.
The next morning we went back to the market for another look about and bumped into Lito again. We ask him to take us out to see the Vitoria Reina - the giant water lillies, and we do. On the boat today is Marlo and Jorge, 2 friends who also live in Belen. They invite us to go for a drink in a floating bar and we drink Chuchuhuasi & coke, while listening to the local talents of 'Ilusion' - a local band. When the bar is full on a weekend everyone is knee deep in water! After a few jugs of Chuchuhuasi we head back to Iquitos to find that the city is closed down in protest of the oil firms damaging the environment and pushing out the indigenous people.
Iquitos pt.1
Iquitos was a bit of a last minute decision between Equador and the North West, but I really wanted to see the stereo typical amazon tribes before leaving.
We woke up to find our room crawling with lines of ants and nearly ate a bowl of them with our cereal as they'd got into the bag over night. To continue to theme we ate alligator and turtle at a local restaurant for lunch after wandering around the tour agencies who were offering trips out to the amazon to stop in lodges, but many of the activites we had done in Bolivia, and so decided to stick around Iquitos instead. I'd recommened turtle but they are protected I found out later :S Ooops...
Later we met a guy who introduced himself to us in spanish and asked where we came from. We said 'Birmingham' and it turned out that Mad Mick had been to Black Heath market the week before to buy fishhooks! Proof that no matter how far you stray from home there's always someone else there who lives around the corner. That night we watched a Brazilian troup doing Capoeira as we supped a few lagers.
The market at Belen was incredible. We saw monkeys, turtles, snails and much more. While walking through we were approached by a boatman called Lito who offered us the chance to go out to see the floating town. Lito lived there and Belen was spectacular - a town of raft-houses with stilts sitting on the river alongside Iquitos. Boats passed with people selling goods and kids played in the water, there was even a gay bar! Back on land we met another local lad who asked if we wanted to go out tomorrow and we agreed to meet and go to visit the local tribes.
We woke up to find our room crawling with lines of ants and nearly ate a bowl of them with our cereal as they'd got into the bag over night. To continue to theme we ate alligator and turtle at a local restaurant for lunch after wandering around the tour agencies who were offering trips out to the amazon to stop in lodges, but many of the activites we had done in Bolivia, and so decided to stick around Iquitos instead. I'd recommened turtle but they are protected I found out later :S Ooops...
Later we met a guy who introduced himself to us in spanish and asked where we came from. We said 'Birmingham' and it turned out that Mad Mick had been to Black Heath market the week before to buy fishhooks! Proof that no matter how far you stray from home there's always someone else there who lives around the corner. That night we watched a Brazilian troup doing Capoeira as we supped a few lagers.
The market at Belen was incredible. We saw monkeys, turtles, snails and much more. While walking through we were approached by a boatman called Lito who offered us the chance to go out to see the floating town. Lito lived there and Belen was spectacular - a town of raft-houses with stilts sitting on the river alongside Iquitos. Boats passed with people selling goods and kids played in the water, there was even a gay bar! Back on land we met another local lad who asked if we wanted to go out tomorrow and we agreed to meet and go to visit the local tribes.
Tuesday 9 June 2009
The trek to Kuelap pt.3
We eat and set off by taxi for the massive hillside fort of Kuelap. The site is as big as Machu Picchu but only partially excavated and the many circular building are covered in moss and surrounded by trees. Apart from us, there are 3 others at the sight - a bit of a difference from Machu Picchu! One reconstructed building shows how they would have looked (with pointy thatched roof) and we're shown carved animals in the entranceways in the stonework.
We drive back to Chachapoyas and eat Guinea pig (which is definately recommended) with Tom & Brad after realising at 11pm that in order to catch our flight tomorrow we are going to have to leave at 4.30am!
We get up early and get a combi to Pedro Ruiz - a transport hub we're told. We get there an hour later and are told that the only way to get to Tarapoto we have to go back the way weve come to cajamarca and then get another combi from there... Much much later we arrive in Tarapoto on the edge of the amazon and settle into a restaurant in a downpour. Unwillingly I order curried cows stomach - but I suppose thats what happens when you just order unknown things from a menu! We get our plane to Iquitos - the biggest city in the world inaccessible by road - and crash out.
We drive back to Chachapoyas and eat Guinea pig (which is definately recommended) with Tom & Brad after realising at 11pm that in order to catch our flight tomorrow we are going to have to leave at 4.30am!
We get up early and get a combi to Pedro Ruiz - a transport hub we're told. We get there an hour later and are told that the only way to get to Tarapoto we have to go back the way weve come to cajamarca and then get another combi from there... Much much later we arrive in Tarapoto on the edge of the amazon and settle into a restaurant in a downpour. Unwillingly I order curried cows stomach - but I suppose thats what happens when you just order unknown things from a menu! We get our plane to Iquitos - the biggest city in the world inaccessible by road - and crash out.
The trek to Kuelap pt.2
Day 2 - we get up and set off across the hills around the river. My knee had been gradually getting worse throughout the first day and now starts to worsen. We trek across land and into the cloudforest walking along pre-columbian paths made from rough, pointy and slippery ancient stones. I end up walking with a knee support and a stick like an old man... We climb and are able to scramble into covered areas of the jungle to see unexcavated stone constructions hidden away on the hillsides! The ancient stones are covered in moss and climbing around them is about as close as being Indiana Jones as you'll ever get. We descend down a torturous path towards a tiny village where we can eat & sleep.
The next day we continue on horses, which turns out to be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences in a while! The path we take is up and across the mountains across roads that have been used for so long that the hoofs of the horses have, over the years, gouged the track into giant ruts. These ruts are full of rain water and mud. Our horses are knee deep and struggle over the hurdles, sliding and scrambling up and down steep banks, while we are battered with thorny bushes. the occassional shout of "cap!" indicates that someones lost a hat to the trees.
We pause on the hillside and eat lunch before continuing, occassionally disembarking so the horses can tackle the trickier parts without extra weight and we follow, jumping from mudd lump to slippy rocky after them, pulling ourselves up steep banks with our hands. We visit more hidden jungle ruins and eventually arrive at our next lodge where we are promised a beer and a hot shower... we get neither...
The next day we continue on horses, which turns out to be one of the most nerve-wracking experiences in a while! The path we take is up and across the mountains across roads that have been used for so long that the hoofs of the horses have, over the years, gouged the track into giant ruts. These ruts are full of rain water and mud. Our horses are knee deep and struggle over the hurdles, sliding and scrambling up and down steep banks, while we are battered with thorny bushes. the occassional shout of "cap!" indicates that someones lost a hat to the trees.
We pause on the hillside and eat lunch before continuing, occassionally disembarking so the horses can tackle the trickier parts without extra weight and we follow, jumping from mudd lump to slippy rocky after them, pulling ourselves up steep banks with our hands. We visit more hidden jungle ruins and eventually arrive at our next lodge where we are promised a beer and a hot shower... we get neither...
The trek to Kuelap pt.1
From Chiclayo we travelled east to Chachapoyas and booked onto a 4 day trek to the huge pre-Inca fortress of Kuelap, reached by foot and horse through cloudforest. We borrowed a camera from the nice folk at the hostel and donned rainponchos and wellies along with Brad from Colorado and Tom from Canada and set off..
We drove out towards Karajia but after meeting our guide soon hit a problem - locals in a village were digging up the only road through. After a few minutes the 30+ villagers came to the agreement that our driver could push 2 rocks over the divide and try to pass over the top of them in the car - it worked! At Karajia we could see a set of 8 sarcofogi on the cliffside - oddly primitaive clay figures painted in red paints with flat faces and some with skulls attached to the top - sons or trophyheads we were told... Bones lay around the path and our guide warned us legend has it they have a strange wasting disease that affects anyone touching them...
Back at the car we set off and shortly after this we hit the mud! After sliding around in the sludgey road we ground to a halt. Being good little travellers we all jumped out to help push to vehicle. I was soon sprayed head to foot in thick orange mud. Then it started to rain. We finally managed to back out the sliding car out and the driver refused to go on - it was on foot from here for another 2 and a half hours before we got to our lodge through the beautiful Gran Vilaya and the Valle de Belen with its huge snaking river. We passed the evening laughing with the 2 lads and gazing up at the incredible view of the stars above.
We drove out towards Karajia but after meeting our guide soon hit a problem - locals in a village were digging up the only road through. After a few minutes the 30+ villagers came to the agreement that our driver could push 2 rocks over the divide and try to pass over the top of them in the car - it worked! At Karajia we could see a set of 8 sarcofogi on the cliffside - oddly primitaive clay figures painted in red paints with flat faces and some with skulls attached to the top - sons or trophyheads we were told... Bones lay around the path and our guide warned us legend has it they have a strange wasting disease that affects anyone touching them...
Back at the car we set off and shortly after this we hit the mud! After sliding around in the sludgey road we ground to a halt. Being good little travellers we all jumped out to help push to vehicle. I was soon sprayed head to foot in thick orange mud. Then it started to rain. We finally managed to back out the sliding car out and the driver refused to go on - it was on foot from here for another 2 and a half hours before we got to our lodge through the beautiful Gran Vilaya and the Valle de Belen with its huge snaking river. We passed the evening laughing with the 2 lads and gazing up at the incredible view of the stars above.
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