Salkantay Trek Day 3

Up at 5:30 to coca tea, breakfast around 6:20 and we started hiking at 7:20. Down the valley into nice cloud forest, very green.We hiked to a bus that was waiting for us to take us the lunch spot, we got there about 1:15, then drove on to Santa Theresa for the next campsite. Crap campsite, essentially in someone's yard in the town of Santa Theresa, ugly and dirty.As we pulled up to the campsite, they were butchering a cow. Lots of good pics! They even found a baby cow (perhaps 2 inches long) inside. They didn't know she was pregnant, or they probably wouldn't have butchered her. Some local came along and bought the four hooves and feet for 5 soles.There's also this crazy monkey at the campsite. Loves to jump around and just get in the way, but doesn't like kids too much, as all the local children like to harass him. He'll often jump up on an adult to get away from the kids.We got setup in our tents, and about 4:40, drove to the hot pools just outside of Santa Theresa.WOW!!! Very surprised by the hot pools. I expected some small, muddy pools, but instead was treated to this huge pool resort with this massive warm pool (almost olympic size), and a smaller, much hotter pool, with a small cold water pool, fed by a natural waterfall off the mountain. It's a huge complex, very touristy, tons of people around, both gringos and Peruvian tourists. Although not very trek-like, it was a nice surprise.We got back from the hot pools about 7:30pm, had a snack, then supper. Then Kieran and me walked to town and hit a small bar/restaurant for a couple of beers. We got back to the campsite about 12:30. Once again, not very trek-like, but whatever.Very nice day again today, coolish, cloudy and no rain.

Salkantay Trek Day 2

Up at 5:00am with coca tea (the same plant they make cocaine from) delivered to our tent. We packe and had breakfast (pancake) and then a family get together where we learn everybody's names, including the cooks and the horsemen. It was a cool 8 degrees last night in the tent, according to Lisa's thermometer.About a 3.5 hour hike up the Salkantay Pass, at an altitude of 4750 metres, then the down the other side for 2 hours to lunch.After lunch, we hiked down into the valley of cloud forest, much warmer and lots more vegetation, very green.We got to camp about 4:30, I bought a beer and put it in the stream to cool off. Very nice campsite tonight, in a farmers yard, a little toilet and even a (cold water) shower.This morning, everybodys shoes were still soaked from the rain yesterday. Some people just sucked it up, others put plastic bags over their socks to prevent their socks from getting soaked. Me, I hiked in my Crocs! Crocs are amazing. All day, everybody kept asking me how my feet were...."Fine, gracias!" It was a super nice day today, nicely cool, mostly cloudy, and no rain.

Salkantay Trek Day 1

Up at 4:00am, put our big packs in storage at the hostal and waited for our pickup, which came at 5:00.Took a bus to Mollepatta, where we got the horses packed with our stuff and headed off maybe around 9:00ish. A total of 14 of us in the group.Lots of shops to buy water, snacks, soda, chocolate, beer, etc. on the way.After 3.5 hours hiking, we stopped for lunch, which was awesome. The chef did a great job of a hot lunch.After lunch, it started raining and hailing and we hiked through the storm, our shoes getting soaked. Even people with waterproof shoes were soaked.While we were hiking, we were talking to our guide about Salkantay versus the Inca Trail. He mentioned that horses are not allowed on the Inca Trail, so you have to either carry everything yourself or hire a porter to carry your stuff (including extra clothes, sleeping bag, sleeping mattress). Of course, porters have be hired to carry all the food, tents and stuff like that. Lisa's friends, Jodi and Cam, chose to carry everything themselves when they go on the Inca Trail tomorrow.We got to the campsite about 4:30ish. The tents got setup in a huge shelter, which was cool. We got to eat in the shelter as well, out of the wind and the rain.Based on first day, this tour is pretty good, including really good food. The prices for Salkantay ranged as high as $475, and we paid $190, so we weren't sure how well it would be run.We had tea around 6:00pm, then supper around 7:45 and to bed after 9:00 sometime. Supper was amazing, a chicken drumstick with fries, rice and some veggies. Very tasty.A family lived at the campsite and had a little store there. There was also a cat, very friendly, who loved to hang around the tourists and sit on their laps and stuff. At supper, the cat was really aggressive at trying to get some chicken. He jumped up on Thomas's lap and started trying to get his chicken leg with is claw, meanwhile Thomas is freaking out, holding his chicken leg way up in the air, trying to keep it away from the cat. It was hilarious. Finally Thomas managed to swipe the cat from his lap, and he's like "Man, I almost lost my chicken."When we started the trek, another smaller group from another tour agency was also starting their trek. They had a really old lady from Brazil in their group of 7. We hadn't even walked out of the town of Mollepata yet, not even a kilometre into it yet, and she was already huffing and puffing and WAY behind the rest of her group. She would literally walk no more than 5 steps (going up a slight incline in the road) and stop for 10 seconds and catch her breath. Her group had to wait for a long time for her to catch up, even at the very start of the trek. We hiked past the other group as they were waiting for the old lady and continued on. The other group (minus the old lady) passed us again on the way to lunch. A few hours later, as we were getting close to the lunch place, a motorcycle drives by with the old lady on it. Hahaha. She was the laughing stock the whole trip. The guide of the other group had to call a friend of his and ask him to come with his motorcycle and drive the lady up the mountain. The other group had to wait for over 30 minutes at the lunch spot before they could eat, waiting for the old lady to show up.After lunch, after the road had ended, the old lady was on a horse. Unfortunately, the horse can't do certain, rocky parts of the path with weight on him, so she had to walk a lot of it. When we stopped at the campsite, one of the guys in the other group who had walked ahead was LIVID that this old lady was even allowed to come on the trek. The other group had to wait 1.5 hours before they could eat supper, waiting for this old lady.

Sacred Valley

Up early, Lisa didn't sleep hardly at all last night. I slept awesome. Up about 7:00am, we went to Scotiabank to take out money to pay for our Salkantay trek, then back to the hostal for breakfast, then waited for our pickup for the Sacred Valley tour.First stop was a market for everyone to buy stuff. I'm looking for ideas for gifts.Next was Pisac, site of a very impressive Inca ruin. When the Spanish arrived in the 1500's, it's estimated that there were about 16 million Inca people. In 1803, the first official census, only 2 million Inca's remained. The Spanish were deadly.Next was a delicious buffet lunch. To walk-in customers, the buffet costs 38 soles, but it was included in our tour, that we paid 45 soles for.Next was Ollantaytambo for another very impressive Inca ruin. They were amazing stoneworkers, so precise. And the manpower needed to move the stones from across the valley would have been humoungous.Last was a stop in Chinchero where we got a demonstration of traditional Inca weaving with alpaca wool and how they get the different colours.Back to Cusco about 6:30, went to the Salkantay tour company and paid up. Then we went to a camping store and rented sleeping bags and bought a few snacks for the trek.Lisa and me went to Jack's Cafe for supper at 8:30, then to bed at 10:00. Our Salkantay pickup is between 4:30 and 5:00 tomorrow morning.

Dealing with the Police

Slept awesome, up about 7:25, Lisa slept until about 7:45. Usually she's up early.We met the others in our group for breakfast shortly after 8:00, then left for the airport at 10:00 for our 12:30 flight.When we checked in, the lady at the counter asked us if we changed our flight (we did), then she asked us if we had paid the change fee in Cusco. The change fee was $80US each. Lisa lied and said yes. She asked us if we had a receipt for the payment, Lisa said no. She accepted it, and took her a bit of time to get things figured, then we got our boarding passes and they took our luggage. Cam and Jodi had accidentally bought a return ticket to Lima instead of Cusco, so when they checked in, they said they were going to Cusco. We went to a restaurant in the airport to kill some time, then we headed through security. There was a guy from the airline there checking our boarding passes, and Lisa and me thought we were busted. They were looking for Jodi and Cam, though, because their flight was back to Lima, but when they checked in, they said Cusco. They had to go back to the ticket counter and pay the change of $80 US for each of them.It was a very quick flight to Cusco.Back in Cusco, we checked in to the same hostal (Procurador del Cusco), then Lisa and I took a taxi to the plaza where the police station is, and where my citation said to go. I need to get the official typed copy of the police report. When we got there, I showed the citation to various people, and they pointed us in the second floor. We found an office with three people in it, I gave the citation to a woman in the office. She looked at it, said something in Spanish, handed it to another guy, who looked at it and gave it to the third guy. After skimming it, he tried to give it back to the woman, but she wouldn't take it. They talked for a bit, then one of them asked us to have a seat outside the office. Lisa said that none of them wanted to deal with it, that's why they kept passing it around. After a bit, one of them went upstairs then came back down and told us (in Spanish) that it wasn't ready yet. Lisa asked if we came back tomorrow night if it would be ready. He shrugged his shoulders and said maybe or maybe not. Lisa remarked that the police at the airport said nothing has ever been stolen from the airport before. He rolled his eyes and said it does happen a number of times per year. He then asked if the police at the airport charged us anything when we were there. (Nope.) He said that was good. I guess there's probably some corruption in the police force yet.We headed back to the main square, did some shopping for day tours of the Sacred Valley tomorrow and bought a tour for 45 soles.At 7:30, we met up with Kieran and Jodi and Cam. Kieran has a Salkantay trek lined up for $190 US. He hadn't bought it yet, but he had a recommendation for this tour from a guy in Huaraz that he did the Santa Cruz trek with. We headed over to the tour company and checked it out, and we were happy with it, so we signed up for it. It's a 5-day, 4-night trek and goes out on Nov. 5.Headed to Jacks Cafe for a gringo supper, then the fice of us went to a bar for a 2-for-1 happy hour drink. Got back to the hostal after 10:00 sometime.Lisa got an email from Jason today. Lisa had emailed him about the Colca Canyon, and how we did it ourselves without a guide, and where we stayed, and how easy it to find the paths. Well, I guess Jason and his dad got lost in the canyon and wandered around for 12 hours. They would have been for sure wandering around in the dark, I guess Jason had to carry both his and his dads backpack, his dad was having a rough time of it.

Amazon Tour Day 3

Up at 6:30, packed, had breakfast and headed back to Puerto Maldonado on the boat at 7:45. Got back to town about 9:45, checked in to our room and lounged in the pool.Had lunch at noon, awesome steak. There's a three-toed sloth that hangs around the lodge, he moves so slow.At 1:00, we went to Sandoval Lake, a very cool jungle lake with lots of wildlife. We saw Watsons (clumsy chicken-like birds), a black caimen, howler monkeys, other smaller monkeys and tons of other birds. We went around the lake in a small wooden paddle boat.Got back to the lodge about 6:00, watched TV until supper at 7:30, and then to bed around 9:00, watched TV until 10:00 then fell asleep.

Amazon Tour Day 2

Up at 3:30, at 4:00 left on the boat for the clay lick, about a 1.5 hour boat ride up the river.The parrots and macaw's here can't eat the green fruit, it's toxic to them. So, they have to come to the clay lick (an eroded cliff along the river that exposes some sort of clay), to eat the clay, which gives them the minerals they need to eat the fruits safely. Lots and lots of brightly coloured macaws, red/blue ones and light blue/yellow ones, the parrots very green. Very timid, they just hang out in the trees until they feel it's safe to come down. We waited for over 30 minutes, and they weren't coming down, so Sonia, our guide, took us on a jungle walk for 45 minutes or an hour. Periodically she would take her binoculars and peer back at the clay lick. She finally said that the birds are getting ready to eat, so we headed back. Sure enough, just as got back, the first of the macaw's started eating, but the parrots (which are more scared than the macaws) were nowhere to be seen.We left the clay lick about 8:00, went back to the lodge for breakfast, then some rest time. The lodge has a resident macaw that they are rehabilitating. He's not tied down or in a cage or anything, he just hangs out in a tree at the lodge, and is very friendly. I went over to his tree, and as I walked over, he was eyeing me up. He was probably 25 feet up, on a branch. I stood under the tree with my arm raised, he sized me up for about a minute, then decided to make his was down. He can't fly yet, so he climbed down in the rope with his two claws and beak. Took him about 2 minutes to get down. He climbed on my arm, and he loves to be rubbed on the back of his head. After a few minutes, I tried to get him to go back, but he wouldn't. So hung out with him for a few more minutes, then tried to get rid of him again. This time he was more willing to part with me, and he climbed back up into the tree.At 11:30am, headed to a cascade for some swimming. The cascade was super muddy, Lisa wouldn't even go in. The shore was all muddy as well. Because it was so muddy, we moved to a different swimming area on the Tambopata River, with a beach. The Tambopata River is quite murky too, but nice and cool, and Lisa swam too, despite the stories of the orifice fish and the threat of piranhas.We went back to the lodge at 1:30 and had lunch, some rest time, then did a jungle hike at 3:30. Our guide, Sonia, explained a lot of the plants in the jungle and what they're used for.At 7:00, we had a boat trip to look for caimens, similar to crocodiles. At night, they hang out on the banks of the river, and you can see their red eyes reflecting in the spot light from the boat. We'd go up to shore, but they'd usually retreat into the water when we got close. One little guy didn't retreat, we came right up to him, and Sonia tried to go on shore and catch him, but he skirted into the water pretty quickly.Big storm approaching, lots of lightning, this evening.Had supper at 8:15, chicken cooked in a bamboo shaft. With my diahorea, my appatite comes and goes, so didn't eat much tonight.