Mountains, hiking, sunstroke, altitude sickness and very sore toes!

Saturday:

Leaving the girls in charge of moving hotels and trying to find a laundry as we haven’t done any washing in a while, I set off for Kuelap.
I was in a minibus with all Peruvians and no one who spoke English, including the tour guide so that wasn;t great but the scenery was spectacular. It was a three hour drive along dirt tracks clinging to the edges of mountains, I did wonder if I would live to tell the tale at times! Along the way there were little hamlets with such basic dwellings, tiny children playing in the middle of the roads, sheep, donkeys, horses, pigs wandering around miles from anywhere. Lots of those Peruvian old ladies that you see in pictures sitting outside their homes doing their washing, I felt like I was watching a documentary!

When we arrived we had about a kilometre steep walk to 3000 meters, which was hard going! Kuelap was built about 600 years AD and used as much stone as used for the Egyptian pyramids. Each piece of stone had to be carried all the way up the mountain and was carried by hand. The community was ruled by the Shamans and everyone was buried up there (we saw lots of bones!)
Machu Picchu gets 4,000 visitors a day Kuelap gets 4,000 a year and is very unspoilt. It isn’t spectacular like Machu Picchu but the views are amazing. Luckily there was another group there and there was an English guy who had a guide who spoke English, I asked my guide if it would be possible to swop and that was fine, so not only did I actually find out about the history but also was able to chat to someone who was English.

When I got back the girls had spent the day chilling in the new hotel and found someone to do the laundry!

Sunday:

After a rubbish nights sleep, I think we were actually sleeping in the local disco! and for some reason Mili decided to be so full of static electricity everything she touched was lighting up, there were sparks coming off of all the bedding and when she went near the light which was off it started flickering… we weren’t actually that sure what to do about it, I wondered if she was about to spontaneously combust! Jo reckoned that she needed to be touching rubber so in the end we made her lie very still in bed with her rubber soled walking boots on either side of her and eventually in the early hours of the morning she went to sleep still flickering… apart from a numb tongue in the morning?? She survived the night!!!

We got up early to set off for Gocta waterfall, supposedly the third highest waterfall in the world. We had another hair raising ride there through a spectacular canyon and arrived at the starting point of the trek. I knew it was a trek of at least a couple of hours but I hadn’t figured on how tough it would be. We had a young Pervian guide who spoke no English. We trekked up mountains sides, along precarious tracks and it was very difficult, it was also extremely hot! We eventually made it but all felt exhausted with the altitude we were over 3000 meters and the heat. The waterfall was amazing and the jungle on the way was beautiful. Coming back it was even more exhausting and Jo really struggled, there were horses available to hire but she didn’t want to go on one. Mili went on ahead and managed to make it, although had some scary encounters with locals on the way. Things were getting worse for Jo and I was getting pretty concerned, she was displaying more severe symptoms of altitude sickness and just couldn’t continue. Eventually we managed to get her a horse for the last bit. Even for experienced trekkers it would have been tough so I was proud of the girls for doing so well.

Tomorrow if everyone is feeling OK we are heading further east and if we can manage to get transport moving from the Andes and into the Amazon basin.

The Andes!!

I have always dreamt of coming to the Andes… and here I am! It may be the top end and not as high as other parts but it is the Andes all the same!
Chiclayo was not as chaotic as Lima and Trujillo and felt like a much friendlier city. Unfortunately it wasn’t a great day as I had really bad stomach cramps; my stomach has been playing up since we arrived in Peru. We went to the market but I had to make a swift exit! The girls stayed a bit longer and had more of a wander around. Our bus to Chachapoyas was at 7.30pm and I was thinking that I would not be able to manage an 11 hour bus journey but luckily I felt a bit better.

The bus journey was OK, semi reclining seats, so we were able to doze a lot of the journey, we were all aware of the bus meandering up and down mountains, if we had have travelled during the day I imagine it would have been both spectacular and terrifying! We arrived at 6.30am and came to a hotel I’d read about in the rough guide. It is an old colonial style building with massive rooms, like dormitories, it is a lovely building which the girls hate because it is old and does not have cable TV!Chachapoyas is a lovely little town, completely unspoiled and nestled in the mountains. A complete contrast to the coastal towns we had visited. No hooting of horns continually and people are laid back and calm.

As I knew would happen the girls do not want to do what I want to do, which is visit Kuelap and the waterfall. I think we have now managed to reach a compromise; we are moving hotel tomorrow to one that is a bit cheaper but has smaller more cheery rooms and has TV and wifi. They are going to stay in tomorrow and watch TV and play on the internet (would I have been like this when I was their age?? Maybe, I can’t remember!) and I am going to have a day trip out to Kuelap. I have persuaded them to stay an extra night and we will all go and see the waterfall on Sunday. Then on Monday continue on towards the Amazon We have also found out via facebook that their dad is getting married to someone on Saturday, hence why he had gone walk about, the girls obviously have mixed feelings about this!

This afternoon a lovely taxi driver took us to some amazing view points, the driving as usual was terrifying and he nearly managed to kill several young children, a sheep and a small horse. We saw lots of sights including the woman walking her pig and a lot of elderly women carrying huge loads of their backs. The views from the top of the mountains were breath taking, even more breath taking when the taxi driver jumped over the edge of a precipice to demonstrate what a good place to take a picture…. Luckily there was a small ledge the other side! We are at about 2,500 meters here and have been feeling a bit breathless today, as we have had a quiet day we hopefully will have acclimatised!

Trip to Chiclayo...

The first time we had travelled by bus during the day. This time we didn't got for one of the ultra comfy buses and did rather regret it, although it was an eye openner! The bus kept stopping for no apparent reason and people would jump on board to try and sell food and drinks, we had to keep a close eye on our luggage to make sure noone was unloading it and 'borrowing' it! Poor Mili did not have a good journey, the man sitting in front of her became obsessed with looking at her. He was in his 60's and the whole time was turning round and blatantly staring. Jo and I were trying to stare him out but to no avail and again it was a pain not speaking the language to be able to tell him to stop. In the end she had to lie on Jo's lap covered in a blanket for the whole of the jouney! (as can be seen from the picture)

Most of the eight hour journey was desert and waste land but suddenly there was an amazing oasis, where it was so green and lush. It is a shame to see all the rubbish everywhere, in the middle of nowhere plastic bags and junk.

We found a hostel OK and it is basic but seems to be fine. We have also bought our bus tickets for tomorrow night, so we are going to check out the market here tomorrow which is supposed to be pretty amazing, with the biggest shamanic market in Peru!

The plan for the next week or so is as follows..

Tomorrow (Thursday) evening to take an overnight bus to Chachapoyas which is in the Andes. We plan to stay there for two or three days and take a couple of trips out to see the third highest waterfall in the world and Kuelap, which apparently is as amazing as Machu Picchu but has very few tourists visit. We will then find a bus to take us to Yurimagus which is where a tributary to the Amazon begins, it may take us a couple of days to get there. We then will have to find a boat to take us to Iquitios which seems to take anything between 2 and 5 days. We have arranged to meet Ross in a bar in Iquitios on November 7th at 4pm and I have said if we are not there to try the same place the following evening. I have written all these details because this bit of our journey is pretty remote and off the tourist trail. We will probably find some internet access along the way but in case we fall off the radar for a couple of weeks hopefully someone will send out a search party!

Certainly for me this is where the real exploring of Peru begins, girls not feeling quite the same, so hope we are still speaking at the end of it!

Final day next to the Pacific..

It is strange to think a few months ago I was travelling up the west coast of America next to the Pacific and here I am again! There are similarities with the rough rugged coast line and the ever present strong winds.
We have had another couple of days of hanging around the beach and up in our hammock. The winds become rather strong in the afternoons so it can get a bit cold and it is very easy to burn, however much I warn the girls, all they want to do is tan themselves more and more!
It does feel as though it is time to move on now but it has been a great relaxing few days. We have a bus booked for tomorrow morning, going back down the coast to Chiclayo. We thought we’d take a day bus this time as it takes about 7 hours and the night buses leave about 10pm and we didn’t want to be arriving in a new town the early hours of the morning. It seems where ever we go that people warn us of the dangers of where ever we are headed next but touch wood, apart from the manic driving it all has been OK so far.
It has been a shame that as the three of us are together we don’t seem to have a lot of interaction with other people, I wonder how it will be when I am here alone? It is far harder not speaking the language, I had presumed that more people would speak English but so far virtually noone has, and my very basic grasp of Spanish seems to have disappeared totally, I can only think of words in Italian or French for some reason!
We haven’t booked anywhere in Chiclayo to stay and will find something when we arrive. We intend just staying a night there and then finding a bus that will take us the following night into the Andes and that is where our real adventure will begin!!

This is the life!!!

Mmmm... waking up to the sound of the waves crashing on the shore is a pretty good way to wake from our slumber! The downside of that is that Mancora is a party town and the music is blasting until about 3am every night but that seems a small price to pay. I deliberately found a place that was away from the main hustle and bustle, and the beach itself as I had read that it is a pretty noisy town, so chose the spot on the top of the hill,what I didn't think was that noise does travel up, but as I say it isn't a great worry.

We have just been relaxing, spending quite a bit of time in our hammock and deck chairs watching the surfers and kite surfers, whilst doing that we managed to see hump backed whales in the distance migrating north... how amazing is that! We are still seeing if we can organise a boat to take us out to see them up close, although it is very hit and miss if we see them again. Yesterday we took a motor taxi to some hot springs. It was a bumpy old ride through desert terrain to a pit in the ground. There were a couple of locals in the water and a couple of police just sitting there watching. We tried not to feel too self conscious as we stripped off and jumped in.. It was very hot with thick mud in the bottom. Our tuktuk driver got in with us and showed us to cover ourselves with the mud at the bottom, this was probably to give them a laugh, but we did it! It was pretty impossible to get the mud off so afterwards we had to come back smelling pretty bad and jump in the ocean! When we went out last night the girls said that my skin looked amazing and every line and wrinkle had disappeared so I am obviously going back today to get a bucket load of mud!

Had the best meal ever last night! Jo and I had the most delicious tuna steaks... It was wonderful! We have had a girly night out having a few drinks which was fun, although the girls immediately become over protective and feel sure that because I am such a light weight that I will fall off the hillside on the hike back up to our lovely little sanctuary!

All of us would like to just stay here for another week or so but we also know that we need to get on with our adventure. We have tracked Ross down and he has agreed to meet us in the jungle at Iquitos and it will take us a while to trek overland to get there. Still we have another two days before the next part of our adventure so we will make the most of it!

Sea, sun, sand and surf....

Our nine hour bus journey was good, despite the taxi ride to the bus station which we didn’t think we would survive!
This time we travelled in the VIP section of the bus, where the seats virtually fully recline, it cost us £11 each. It is funny that you get all cosy, tucked in with your blanket, snacks and drinks handed out, lights off, everyone settles down for the night, then the video comes on, full volume! However eye mask, ear plugs and a valium seem to diminish this minor inconvenience! We all had a fair amount of sleep and at 6am the bus stops and we were told we were in Mancora, it is then a case of quickly throwing on shoes, grabbing bags and jumping off the bus straight into the mayhem of 20 or more people trying to get you into a taxi or sell you a room. Luckily I had booked a taxi along with the hostel and I heard someone shout my name and in our sleepy stunned state we jumped into a safe taxi.
The place we are staying Kon Tiki hostel is on the hill side overlooking the ocean, beautiful views, hammocks and deck chairs. We have a nice room all made of bamboo. Today we have seen pelicans, humming birds, lizards and lots of vulchers circling overhead. It is a bit of a steep trek down the hill into the town but manageable. It is a surfing beach, huge waves and lots of surfers, although it is not the summer season yet so not very busy. It was about 30 degrees today and we had lots of fun playing in the waves. We were also very happy to find a proper vegetarian restaurant, a two course really healthy delicious meal and a drink for £3 each.
When we left the orphanage yesterday all the Peruvian staff gathered together to thank us and sang us a song, it was very sweet. The American volunteers appeared to be having a pizza evening to celebrate! We are off to hang out with some surfers this evening, have a few beers and chill (or we could be just having a few more games of crib instead!) Well I think it is time to go back out and sit in the hammock and watch the sun set.

Escape..

Final day at the orphanage! Although it wasn't what we had expected and we certainly have had to work a lot harder than we imagined it hasn't all been bad. I think the girls have got quite a lot from it and realised things about themselves and others. As a family it has been tough living in a very small space together but as everyone does, we developed a routine and it all worked out. Jo and I are now experts at cribbage, which we play a lot of every evening!

It has shown me how ridiculously safety conscious we have become with children at home. These kids somehow survive fine rolling around in dirt, paint and whatever else happens to be on the ground. In the playground I found lots of glass and long rusty nails but the kids never seem to hurt themselves. They are very rough with one another but they don't cry. They all always eat everything on their plates, even the three year olds. I realise the kids need to be tough and street wise to survive here but at home surely we are just too soft?!

Finished the playground and it does look brighter and more inviting. We gradually got the hang of the gloss paint and managed to not be completely covered every day. Another thing here is that not a thing is wasted, so paint which we would have thrown away at home, full of lumps and horrible bits is thinned down and used again and again. Old clothes and rags are never thrown away, but used again and again, old paint pots are never thrown away.

We have tickets booked this evening on a bus that leaves here at 9pm and should take about 10 hours to reach Mancora, where the weather should be sunny and warm. We are hoping to be able to sit in hammocks and look at the ocean, the sea should be pretty warm as well so hopefully we will be able to go swimming. The girls will be sad to leave some of the children and Mili is saying she definitely wants to come back next year.