Jamisons Do Peru- part 1

For the past month and a half Chris and I had been thinking constantly about these nexts two weeks! Always searching for the very elusive wifi whenever we could to make hotel reservations, get tickets for Machu Picchu, compile itineraries, reminders, and send packing lists home. It had been seven months since we said goodbye, and the day had finally arrived to see the family again! The plane was late, and the longer we waited around the tiny Cusco airport, the more worried we got that they missed their tight connection in Lima... in our world there is no such thing as a quick text to keep us in the loop! Finally, a plane unloaded... but where were they?!? We couldn't identify any of them in the commotion, but eventually did spot the familiar black Heisenburg hat towering above the crowd. Either Breaking Bad was moving their meth lab to Peru, or that was my dad in the distance!! Following a bit behind was my mom, brother Jordan, and Jordan’s girlfriend Felicia. We were secretly hoping to see my other brother Kevin walk off the plane with Sonja and surprise us, but sadly they had to stay home for this one. The six of us headed straight for the Sacred Valley to a little town called Urubamba. The hour long drive was filled with gorgeous glacier topped mountain views and all the oddities of third world Latin America out the car windows - traditionally dressed women carrying babies or huge bundles of grass on their backs, fruits and veggies being sold from dirty tarps on the sidewalks, numerous livestock and dogs roaming in and out of the streets, the crazy laws of the road including blind passes and constant horn honking, beauty and ancient architecture interspersed with rebar exposed buildings and heaps of garbage scattering the roads… it was all thrown at them in that first hour saying "welcome to Peru, you are very very far from home now people!"

Wow!

We pull up to Kuychi Rumi not quite knowing what to expect… in theory the place seemed great, but weirdly there was an extreme lack of recent reviews online so it could be anything behind the gate in front of us. I almost backed out of the reservation last minute, but my gut told me no. Good thing, cause as soon as we got there the property manager, Johan, led us down a gravel path filled with thousands of blooming flowers and into our cute Andean home in the mountains! You know that feeling you get when something is just right, and works out better than what you could have imagined… well that was the feeling! There are fresh cut flowers around the house, a huge living room with a fireplace, full kitchen, comfy bedrooms, upper and lower patios, and Andean décor covering the walls. Oh yea, and there are three extremely cute and mischevious dogs that have immediately taken a liking to hanging out on our porch and sneaking in the house... just like home! Vacation was already off to a great start! We even had a parking place for Lola where Chris and I could sleep in our own bed each night! First things first, Chris and I sifted through bags of Amazon goodies that I succesfully pestered my family into bringing. Out came a bunch of other stuff that we didn't even know we missed, including a two pound bag of Twizzlers Jordan managed to pack, yea buddy! We wasted no time settling in and wetting our taste buds with delicious fresh Peruvian cheese, olives, bread, fruits, and veggies, while catching up. Julio, the super sweet nighttime security guard, came by and started a beautiful eucalyptus wood fire, that warmed us up and scented the entire house with one of the best smells ever! Vacation mode fully engaged.

Just a few of the flowers all over Kuychi Rumi!

Andean paradise

Chocolate coming for a visit

Getting settled in just fine...

There are endless possibilities of things to do around the Sacred Valley, so although we could have been content hanging out at the awesome house all day, we had to get out and see the sites around us! We headed first for the Salineras, ancient Incan salt terraces that are still in use today. Weirdly, there is an endless spring of salt water flowing to these terraces, which are so intricately designed that each and every plot can turn on and off their water flow as needed. Nowadays the plots are owned by different families and the salt from here is sold all over Peru. After our minds were blown from seeing this oddity from a distance, we journeyed on down to walk all around the terraces and meet some of the owners who were out harvesting their salt, me trying terribly to translate the complicated questions my very curious mother decided to ask! We didn't leave without a couple of pounds of salt for ourselves though, stocking up on scented bath salts and various cooking salts with added herbs like it was going out of style! Having the forethought that throwing a pinch of salt into your eggs each morning and being reminded of fun times in Peru will be a good thing!

Tending to her plot

Harvest time

Salt waterfall

Unexpectedly, there was an annual town fiesta happening in Moray the day we went for a visit. Moray is a huge sunken terraced circle, which has unexplainable temperature differences between each level, the top and the bottom can have a difference of up to 27°F. It is thought that the Incans used it for agricultural experimentation, growing different crops on each terrace. We weren't allowed to go all the way down and feel the heat of the bottom, but that is ok, because witnessing the fiesta was definitely a more unique experience. The whole town was out, watching the dancers down in the terraces, eating, playing Peruvian carnival games, and drinking lots and lots of Chicha (home brewed corn beer)! Yes we were aware that supposedly the maker of the Chicha spits in it for added flavor, and yes we knew that the cups were reused among each customer without being washed… but hey, "when in Peru"!!! The fiesta in Moray was super cool, but American stomachs can't handle their fiesta food and drink, and we did not want to incringe too much on a big ol town party where everyone knew everyone but us, we headed off. Our taxi driver was more tha happy to finish our left over Chicha that we all bought to share… in hindsight maybe feeding your taxi driver alcohol before getting home isn't the best idea!!

Just chillin

That's me on the left!

Someone is happy!

Next was on to the town of Chinchero, for a quick stop at a textile making factory for a demonstration by the local artists. The ladies here showed us how they use natural local products for every step of the process, starting with a raw ball of fresh shaven wool. She cleaned it with some sort of natural soap, skillfully spun it into thread, and dyed it using plants. The spinning into thread part looks easy, and you see old women doing this all the time, everywhere you go... but it is actually really hard to get the hang of! The dying process was also amazing because some of the plants were shocking, as we definitely did not anticipate a bright red to come from a bland looking tan plant! Then by adding some salt she changed the red to dark purple, so cool! Then we watched them very intricately weave using a wooden machine, making us realize just how long it takes to make a single table runner. The stuff was very high quality and it isn’t every day that you get to meet the people who made your clothing… not to mention they threatened us with a sharp bone used for something in the weaving process, saying "do you know what this is used for?, it is used for tourist who don’t buy anything!!" We obliged and shopped around a bit leaving with new alpaca fur clothes to keep warm in! Back in Urubamba we ate our first great Peruvian meal for half the cost it would have been in the US, at the cute little PacaPaca restaurant and grabbed a tuktuk ride back to the house! It was time for another evening around the eucalyptus fire while beginning the nightly tradition of picking out all our favorite pictures from the day!

Natural dyes

The serious art of spinning

Felicia giving the spinning a shot

This is just amazing to watch

Tuk tuk!

Everyone was feeling well adjusted to the altitude at this point, so it was definitely time to release some adrenaline… off to Via Ferrata!!! Via Ferrata means "Iron Way", where you rock climb with the help of secured iron rungs in some parts. We donned our harnesses, got a quick safety briefing, and headed to the bottom of the vertical mountain we were about to climb. Of course, being the only actual rock climbers of the group, Jordan and Felicia took off and sped up beyond a ledge and were gone! They would later be using their skill and knowledge to help others get up the climb. Meanwhile, at the back of the group was my mom standing at the bottom, head crooked all the way back staring at the peak second guessing what in the world she was doing here! She and my dad had just about convinced themselves to opt out!! I wasn’t having it though… vacation is not just for sitting around and relaxing, it is for stretching your world, doing new things, and even challenging yourself sometimes!! So, with just a bit of persuasion from her favorite daughter, she gave in and started her ascent with the rest of us!

Ok, we can do this...

The front runners heading up!

Ten or so minutes into the two hour climb I realized that this was waaay more intense than I imagined when I booked it for the whole family! Maybe I shouldn’t have forced my mom onto that first ladder!! Too late now, looks like we are going to have to suck it up and make it up this rock, all 1,400 feet of its steep face! We would each clip and unclip our carbineers around 300 times by the end, as we made it straight up the rocks via iron ladders, across wobbly bridges made from thin metal line, and along narrow ledges, hugging the boulder trying not to slip. There were numerous moments when I was heading up a particular ladder or over a ledge that bumped out higher on the top than the bottom, where I would think "if this is hard for me, then I know it is hard for them back there!!" Impressively, my mom and dad kept going like champs, when hanging on the side of a mountain there is little choice but to keep pushing past your normal limits I guess, but who in the world were these two beasts behind me chasing me up this cliff with smiles on their faces?!?

Still smiling!

Kicking the adrenaline up a notch!

Only a thousand foot drop beneath, no biggie!

Don't forget a clip!!

Ahhhhmazing views the higher and higher we get!

Spot the people scattered on the face of the cliff!

Just when our muscles were getting tired and shaky, and the fun was close to becoming torture, we climbed over a ledge and spotted the sky hotel, three plexiglass capsules hanging off the side of the mountain that you can pay a stupid amount of money to sleep in. We weren't intersted in that part, but we did know that just a bit beyond these capsules was the top of the mountain, and more importantly, the end of the climb! It was time to sit back, have a snack and enjoy the amazing views we've earned!

We did it!!!!

Arguably the best part about Via Ferrata is that after you complete the climbing, you know you don’t need to do any more work to make it back down… you will fly down on a series of six ziplines! The first two are intense, flying at high speeds hundreds of feet up, and long enough to give you a chance to figure out how and when to start "braking" with your hand in order to make a nice smooth landing. If you brake too soon you might not make it to the end, yet if you don't brake soon enough, you'll go flying into the landing zone with so much speed that the final stop is painful!! The third zipline was the longest, when you take off at this one you can barely see where you will end up, as it streches close to half a of a mile over a deep canyon! On this one especially, if you were lucky you would keep your speed up until the platform at the end, but the majority of people ended up getting stranded and having to do a little tarzan motion to pull youself to the end! See example below of Michelle of the Jungle in action! By the last three zip lines we were all experts, flying through the air, even dodging a rock sticking out here and there and tackeling the next to last one tandem style! So. Much. Fun!

Michelle of the Jungle

Ted making it look easy

You can't see where this one started and it's not even the longest!

Exhausted and exhilarated, we all piled into the 4Runner, 3 back in the bed, and 3 in the front seats, for the ride back to Urubamba. Yea for Lola!! We had to make a quick visit to the town market, and all the hilarious looks we got as six gringos climbed out of the car only encouraged us to keep riding around town hanging off the outside and waving hello to the curious townspeople. To them, we were a sight to be seen... just like the market was a sight to be seen to us. Normal by Peruvian standards, it is not a place even imginable by American standards. Inside the large open aired building is rows and rows of vegetables and fruits being sold, buckets full of olives and sauces, an area off the the side selling unrefrigerated fresh meats, a cheese and chocolate corner offering samples, and quinoa and spices interspersed throughout. I tasked Jordan and Felicia with roaming the market and finding a bunch of ingredients for dinner, as they were picking up Spanish very well already, and they managed to come back with huge smiles and arms full of veggies! It was local ingredients for the home made Americana-Peruvian dish, Haucaina (yellow pepper cream sauce) Veggie Quinuoa. Another great night as we once again shared the good company of Johan and Julio around the warm fire back at the house, reminiscing over the awesome day we just had! We had a lot of relaxing to do, because we had a train to catch tomorrow afternoon, heading toward Machu Picchu!

No problem for Lola, the beast!

Pretty comfy actually!

Urubamba market

"Half way I thought was the top! I just took it one step at a time, kept focusing on the cool looking air plants and the Spanish moss... it was my coping mechanism! Then once we saw that most amazing river view and mountains and train station I was awed!! 'the most beautiful thing I've ever seen' (in Forest Gumps voice)! Then came the zip lines - relief, excited, scared, HOLY $#*!. Look at what I Just did!!!! Scaled 10,000 ft at 54!!! Oh and I shimmy pulled myself in about 30 feet away from the ramp!!! Booyaa!!! Yea I still got it!!!" -Michelle, reflecting back on Via Ferrata. (Nobody tell her it wasn't quite ten thousand feet k!!!) ;)

"Felicia and I were so stoked when we looked back on the third zipline and saw mom and dad coming, the whole way up we didn't think they had done it, and were so surprised to see them flying down after the crazy climb up! Definitely impressed!" -Jordan, after him and Felicia blew everyone out of the water by completing the climb in record time!

"This place would never pass the safety standards at the Virginia Beach Adeventure Park... There were so many sketchy bits here and there" -Jordan and Felicia, telling us their scrutinizing opinion, after we all made it up and down safely!! Whew!

 

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Peru 2... More Mountains, More Dirt

We used and abused the fugly coast of Peru purely for it's flat highways to cover ground quickly, before heading back into the mountains through the deep and narrow Cañon del Pato (Duck Canyon). The road started off uneventful, but eventually and abruptly became a horribly dusty dirt track chalked full of washboard ruts. It's redeeming quality was the cool hand carved tunnels that this road is full of. Soon we were in the heart of the canyon, so close to the bottom and narrow that you could have spit and hit the opposing wall! We passed through a handful of dusty ghost towns, just a short row of dust covered old shops and houses, without an open door or soul to be seen. There would be a small graveyard set in the hill and maybe a long ago abandoned rusty shell of a car, but no signs of life. That is until Mallary got out and walked down the road for a picture, and as she is standing in the middle of the road with the camera, an old raspy voice comes from nowhere with a sweet but surprising "hola mamita". So there is life!! It is a mystery of what life might be like way out here away from civilization, where the steep rocky walls don't allow for cultivation or raising any animals. In hindsight we should have sparked up a conversation with the lone old woman, but sadly our thoughts at the time were soley on hauling butt! The road thankfully turned to pavement at some point and the tunnels became longer and more complex, the longest of them even having cool dug out windows that gave a glance into the canyon as we drove through the pitch black one lane darkness, hoping that we wouldn't all the sudden see headlights coming our way! Interspersed throughout the five hour drive in the canyon were a total of 38 tunnels dug out from the solid rock... One of the most unique drives we've had to date!!!

Honk the Horn

After many hours, the road gained enough altitude to escape out of the canyon and into the stunning Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains). Hello glacier capped peaks and pristine turquoise lakes! Getting it's name from the year round snow and glaciers, this area attracts hikers from all over the world with its many campsites and trails crisscrossing the region. The Cordillera Blanca is beckoning us to explore! Sadly, we had to settle with just a couple hikes, wisely choosing what we were going to do in this region in order to make it to Cusco in time for a family vacation! After resting from the long drive for a night at a comfortable 7,000 ft, we managed to get Lola up a gnarly road to the shores of Lago Parón. We needed a baby hike to acclimate, and this few short hours around the stunning turquiose glacier lake was perfect, as we huffed and puffed trying to convince our lungs we wouldn't completely run out of oxygen! The trail along the lake provided perfect views of Volcan Pirimade, somewhat famous since it is supposedly the inspiration to the mountain seen in the opening to Paramount Pictures movies. Whether or not it is true has been up for debate for some time, but the resemblance is there! Before dusk we found ourselves bundled up to fight off the cold. At around 14k feet the breathing was a bit difficult even on flat ground. That, along with a combo of poor acclimatization choices and repeated bathroom breaks outside in the bitter cold made for horrible sleep! Our bodies probably spent the night frantically gasping for air as we slept, a high altitude phenomenon called periodic breathing. (Normally your breathing slows in sleep anyway, but up high your body is also tricked into an even lower respiratory rate because of a relative low carbon dioxide level after a day full of heavy breathing. The drive to breath is essentially switched off. However, with already low amounts of oxygen present in the air and in your blood, this causes an even lower oxygen saturation, which eventually triggers your mind to take a huge gasp for air after a few long pauses. Not exactly a productive way to get some zzzz's.) Although free and stunningly beautiful, that campsite left us with altitude induced headaches and bloating as we left the next morning tired and grumpy. In hindsight, we should have headed back down a couple thousand feet for sleeping! Learning as we go here...

Beautiful but painful campsite

The color of the water is mind blowing

W

Just imagine the Paramount Picture stars surrounding this peak behind us

In the quest for better camping (ie warmer and more oxygen), we headed toward Llanganuca Lodge because of their disclaimer of having the best views in the Cordillera. On the way there we needed to resupply some rations at a random village. One big positive for Peru so far, is that they have some of the best street markets we've seen! Peru having literally every growing climate possible spread around the country, including the lush rainforests and jungles, there is an abundance of tropical as well as cold weather foods everywhere you go! Delicous fruits, vegetables, cheeses, nuts, olives, and spices all laid out on rows of tarps sold by weathered old women, most of whom are outfitted in fancy traditional dresses and hats. After chatting them up and buying their produce, we would politely ask if we could take a picture with them and sursprisingly they were all very adamantly against it. So, we left the market with tons of good veggies, having the lovely smiles of those vendors forever imprinted only in our memories.

Weighing potatoes

Dried peppers

Watch out for the cords and tarps everywhere!!

Can we have a pet chick in the car?!?

Near the flower market, street dog gets a bed of flowers for her and her puppies

Stocked up on fresh food, we headed up the long dirt road along fields of flower farms to the lodge. This place was uber cool, kind of like a trekkers paradise, complete with million dollar views and grazing pet llamas out front near the hammocks. If you had a decent amount of money and wanted to come to Peru to go trekking for a bit, this lodge has everything you need including fresh cooked meals and handwritten trail outlines which are all accessible from the property. On the other hand, if you are self sufficient, on a budget, have something worthy to trade for a place to sleep in your car between hiking a bit, this was also your place! Llanganuco is run by Charlie, a young quirky British fellow who is a trekking enthusiast and seemed to get a kick out of making vulgar comments out of everything. Upon arrival Charlie pulled out a pulse oximeter to see what our oxygen sats were, which we would later have to document next to our names in the registration book alongside the rest of the hypoxic guests before us. We had spent the day around 7,000 ft before making that last climb to Llanganuco at 11,000 ft, not to mention we literally just booked it up a few flights of stairs the minute before, and as a result we both impressivly had sats in the 80s!!! We would be slapping on some oxygen if we were Mallary's patients in the hospital right now, holy crap no wonder we were out of breath!! Next, Charlie pulled out his trekking books and found a famous trekker who shared our names to tell us about, and wouldn't you know, there is a Mallory and a Chris famous in his world for something or other! The arrival welcome continued as we sipped some coca tea and got acquainted with Charlie's wife, mother, baby boy Jacques (of course named after the famous explorer Jacques Cousteau), and his two huge dogs. We got stocked up with trail guides and tips, and headed back down to the car to make a game plan. Plus, we were eager to see who was in the sweet early 90's Toyota parked next to us down in the grassy lot!! Once we met Ashley and Richard, road name DeskToGlory, out of Vancouver, Canada, we immediately knew we would be able to kick it with them. They were the first people we had met in a while who were also rocking a high mileage older vehicle, and living a super basic lifestyle on the road like ourselves. No big fancy truck or amenities, just out for an overland adventure, throwback style like us!

Making friends over a cup of coca tea

Toyota party

We had originally planned on doing another small hike before conquering the world class hike up to Laguna 69, but after enjoying the company of our neighbors so much, we were easily convinced to just join our new friends and get straight to it early the next morning. It didn’t take long to see why this trail is so famous, as we started off in a scenic valley before ascending through talus slopes where we could see stunning peaks in all directions. We arrived at the destination roughly four hours later, after one final steep ascent where we slowly and steadily flew past hoards of breathless tourists with cyanotic lips and even one guide administering oxygen to a struggling woman. Apparently not everyone on the trail decided to acclimate like we had, hiking to 15,000ft ain't no joke! At the top we turned a corner and behind the deep purple alpine flowers saw one of the most beautiful lakes imaginable! The unbelievably bright turquoise Laguna 69 sat under a majestic backdrop of sharp peaks and corniced glacier ice. Occasionally avalanches would tumble down from the upper reaches in a torrent of noise and chaos and crash down into the lake. We enjoyed the sunshine, good company, and views over a picnic lunch at the waters edge... this may go down as our favorite day hike ever!

Hiking with friends is better than hiking alone any day!

Laguna 69

A regular colored lake on the way down

Ominous clouds started rolling in, maybe a good time to head back we agreed. We hoped we could make it out dry, but that last hour was spent in the rain and hail. It didn’t phase the spirits, we were amped on the whole hike and especially that we got sunshine for most of the day. That night we stayed up with our new buds chatting and sharing travel stories and many laughs. Before heading off the next day we got in some more time with the always entertaining Charlie, some last minute snuggles with Jacques and the dogs, and said goodbye (for now) to Richard and Ashley. Our brief time in the Cordillera Blanca only sparked the desire to come back for more someday, but for now it was time to race off toward Cusco.

Flower fields below

To make up time we chose to cruise south back on the speedy coastal highway... again... yes, it’s dispacable, but hey we needed to cover over a thousand miles! Two hours out from Lima little shacks started popping up here and there along the barren dunes, then an hour out from Lima sprawling post apocalyptic looking neighborhoods became more common, until it just became one big hazey mess of little buildings leading us into the modern capital city of Peru! Totally would never expect that a city of 10 million, would be its own urban oasis set in a lifeless desert that surrounds it.

Scattered desert shacks. Possibly Steven Spielbergs idea for sand people

Desert neighborhood

Getting closer to Lima!

Things were going smoothly until we reached Lima, then as we crept along the highway in an onslaught of angry and crazy drivers through stop and go traffic, we suddenly heard an odd squealing sound coming from the rear axle. Within a few more miles the unnerving sound became more metallic and more violent. Something was very wrong. We needed a mechanic asap! Miraculously, iOverlander showed a 4x4 mechanic less than three miles away. After a couple of weeks of driving mostly through the middle of freaking nowhere, we knew that the overland gods must have been on our side for this problem, and slogged our way to a shop called AutoLac for a diagnosis. The owner, Renzo, got us into the crowded shop quickly and made a prompt diagnosis the we needed new rear wheel bearings. After 15,000 hard miles down the PanAm it was about time that Lola had something to replace other than oil! We would be stuck in Lima for a couple days while waiting on the parts, but Renzo took us in like old friends, understanding our time crunch and prioritized our work, personally overseeing the job. He eventually pointed us to the only hotel within walking distance of the shop, which we naively checked into, only later to realize that other customers here were using the "pay by the hour" system offered!! Oopps!! Looks like we landed ourselves in a well disguised "love hotel" for two nights!!! :/ Needless to say, we will be spending most of our time holed up in the shop's waiting room or at the nearby mall!

Renzo hovering. :)

By the time the parts had arrived from Peru's Toyota warehouse, and installed, two days had wasted away. To hastily make up some time, we left Lima and drove until 1am, long past reccomended driving hours, and overnighted in a 24 hour gas station for the first time of our trip. The presence of two armed guards compensated for the disturbing thought that we are in one of the more dangerous parts of the country. Early the next morning, at the end of their shift, one of the gaurds woke us up knocking on the window asking for a small tip, which we gladly obliged... we slept like babies in that gas station thanks to him! With the wakeup call, we jumped up and kept the pedal floored until we came to the Nazca Lines. Most of the lines are well designed geoglyphs of animals, insects, plants, and even an extraterrestrial martian dude created roughly two thousand years ago by the Nazca people. Before arriving we had the impression that these lines would be mysterious and complex, leaving us to question how they could be created by man with primitive tools. The reality is that they are actually just 4-6 inch deep trenches, the color contrast in shallow sediments and soil creates the lines. To us, the more interesting question is how the hell did these shallow trenches survive for all these years?!? Wikipedia says that it is the unique environment lacking wind and rain that has kept them preserved. And while we are sure that is partially true... we did see a display at one tiny museum showing pictures of the community "touching up" the figures. Hmmmmm.... The lines are best observed from expensive hired bushplanes, but we chose to view what we could from a couple shaky viewing platforms along the road. Honestly, from ground level this UNESCO site is just plain underwhelming. Of course you can only see one or two figures from the road anyway. Oh well, worth a quick stop. If you're ever in the area, maybe try the plane thing and let us know what you think!

The GPS showed the figures! Here is the tree, via GPS and viewing platform.

The nearby Palpa Lines

One and a half days later, through Vicuña (a relative of the camel) inhabited desolate terrain and high plateaus, we reached Cusco! Holy crap, we actually made it there 2 days before Mallary's family arrives!

Coming next, Jamisons Do Peru!

 

 

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