So I'm officially back home but due to the lack of Internet cafe's in Huacachina I wasn't able to post on the last leg of our trip... until now that is...
The night before we left Puno, we checked out this bar called Kamizaraky... I'm only mentioning it because it was my favorite bar of the entire trip. A total dive, Kamizaraky is a place to just chill, have a beer, hang with good company, and listen to a pretty great selection of music. T'was sweet!
On Thursday morning we're supposed to be picked up at the hotel by a collective transport van for our 1 hour ride to Juliaca Airport. The van never shows up so our hotel staff arranges a relatively cheap private taxi ride (45 soles/ $15)... all goes well until we reach Juliaca and realize that our driver does not know where the airport is and has to stop and ask about 7 or 8 people for directions. Did I mention that Juliaca is pretty sketch? Two thoughts flash across my mind -- either we miss our flight or we get carjacked. Good times!
We finally make it to the airport only to learn that our reservation was canceled. Great, thanks for telling us! Glad I gave you my email address and hotel telephone number when I made the reservation. We're like, "okay, is there room on this flight? We'll just buy the tickets now".... "sure but it's $200+ and we'll only take cash, no credit cards." All would have been well but there's no ATM in the airport and we weren't traveling with that much $$ on us. I thought I was going to lose it... there was no way in hell I was staying in Juliaca.
Thankfully a different airline had a flight just a bit later and they were kind enough to take VISA... phew! It just meant that now we'd have to take the local bus from Lima to Ica (at 8pm to 12:30am) since we missed all the nicer tourist buses which only go earlier in the day since arriving in Ica late at night is not very safe. It actually wasn't too bad... it was late and our cab driver looked like a dealer with gold teeth, but we arrived safely at lodging in Huacachina by 1am.
Our last couple of vacay days were spent basking poolside, enjoying Pisco Sours, sandboarding, riding a doon buggy, and playing with Capuchino the pet monkey. Can't think of a better way to end the trip!
Back to work tomorrow...
Oh, and thanks for reading :)
Sorry, I had to make a crack because every time I say Titicaca it makes me giggle a little inside. I´m so mature ;-)
K, have to backtrack a bit... yesterday Ash and Io spent our last day in Cusco attempting to mountain bike. The owner of the tour company promised it was suitable for beginners (the last time I was on a mountain bike was in Colorado ´99 and Ash hasn´t done it since high school).
So the dude lied!!! I mean not only was the trail not suitable for beginners, but I think it was more geared towards seasoned mountain bikers. We´re talking steep narrow drops with huge rocks and boulders to maneuver around. Not to mention the steep inclines (a la Dolores St. in SF) at 12,500 feet altitude... my legs weren´t tired by I felt like someone was putting my lungs through a coffee grinder. Needless to say Ash and I spent much of the tour off our bikes... it´s good thing there was nobody else on our tour so it was only our poor guide that suffered our painfully slow pace. Oh well, at least we tried, right?
We rewarded our accomplishments with an overnight bus to Puno at Lake Titicaca. And despite our exhaustion this morning, we set out at 6:45am for our tour of the lake, the Floating Islands, and Isla Tequile. So there were definitely some cool things to note... Lake Titicaca is the highest navigable lake in the world at over 12,500 feet which makes the air super crisp and clean and the waters a perfect shade of blue. The Floating Islands were originally inhabited in 1000 BC by pre-Inca native Ayamara tribes. These islands are made up of reed which grows in they literally float and are anchored in place (unless the inhabitants decide to move the island which happens occasionally). They replace the reeds on top as the old ones rot away from the bottom. The islands last about 12 years so the families need to plan in advance and create a new island which takes about 5 months.
We also stopped at Isla Tequile (not a floater) for a bit of a hike in which we climbed to over 13,000 feet. My lungs really love the Andes ;-)
So up until this point of the trip we pretty much avoided tours... but for Machu Picchu we made an exception and I have to say it was well worth it. We used SAS travel who took care of everything for us... hotel pick up in cusco, train to Aguas Caliente, lunch, dinner, hostel, tour of Machu Picchu, and train back to Cusco. They were great!
The first day in Aguas we just took it easy and checked out the hot springs... which looked a bit gross but alas, we paid our 10 soles and didn't want to be premadonnas. It really wasn't that bad... after all the water is supposed to have some curitive properties, albeit a bit mucky :) At least we were able to relax before a 5am wake up call and our trip to Machu Picchu.
Ashley and I wanted to hike up that morning but it was pouring rain... and when I say pouring, I mean thick coulds and sheets of rain coming down in blinding force. So we took the bus up hoping that the rain would ease up. Our guide said it usually only rains for 3 or 4 hours but that did little to bolster our spirits... our tour was pretty miserable. It was me, Ashley, Ana and Trevor from Ireland (backpacking around the world for 1 year), and 4 Aussies. The Aussies had just finished the Inka trail, a grueling 4 day hike, and were understandably even more disappointed about the dreadful conditions in which we had to experience the wonders of Machu Picchu. We couldn't even see 15 feet in front of us, much less the panoramic vista of the Inca ruins. Ash and I decided to take a bus back down to Aguas and try again when it cleared.
The rain finally stopped and we were able to hike up a portion of the Inka trail from Aguas to Machu Picchu a bit later in the day. And by hike, I mean climb the hundreds of steep steps from the valley up to the top of the mountain... but it was absolutely worth it! The sun was out and the weather was absolutely amazing! Machu Picchu was truly a wonder... It's really hard to put into words. I haven't seen anything this impressive since Petra in Jordon. I can't wait to share the pictures (just wait till you see the before/after pics of the morning visit v. the afternoon). I also got to do a pretty cool hike up a little mountain while I was there and earned a pretty sick view.
We headed back to Cusco later that evening and joined the rest of the backpackers in our hostel for a pretty amuzing toga party. It felt like some wierd flashback to my frat party going days back in BU... but I have to admit it was fun! Plus who can complain about seeing hotties in togas. We're been recovering since then and of couse, shopped a bit more. Tomorrow we have to be up pretty early for a mountain bike ride to some of the ruins in the country side. then tomorrow night we head out to Puno and Lake Titicaca. I can't believe we have less than a week left!!
