Gringos no longer on the run.... :(

 After Machu Picchu we were very tired and rested for one last night at the Wild Rover hostel in Cusco. Our bus to Arequipa was departing later in the day, so we were graced with a much needed lazy morning. In the Arequipa bus station we had to decide whether we had the time to make the trek to the Colca Canyon to see the condor birds, or save a day and stick around Arequipa and go white water rafting again. We decided as a group to stick with the latter because Jesse was not around when we rafted in Banos and we wanted to ensure that we would arrive in Santiago with ample time for snowboarding and skiing. 


Wild Rover has a chain of hostels in Peru and one of them was located in Arequipa, thus it only seemed fitting to be part of the Irish hospitality once again. Luckily, like the last Wild Rover, there were tour companies offering deals on adventure activities directly inside the hostel, so we quickly booked a rafting trip for later that day. The white water rafting in Arequipa had a few differences compared to Banos. Firstly, the river contained more level 4 rapids compared to the combination of 3/4 in Banos. Secondly, the raft was smaller, which allowed for a more intense ride. Thirdly, the guide let us go cliff jumping half-way through the tour, which was an unexpected adventure and lastly the whole experience was shorter in length compared to Banos, but overall much more exciting. 


We left Arequipa the next morning heading towards Tacna where we were prepared to take a short taxi ride over the boarder to Arica in Chile. This is where things got a little sketchy again...Upon arriving in Tacna by bus at around 5:30pm we were told in the Lonely Planet that any taxi at the bus station can take you to Arica and it is one of the safest and efficient methods of transport. This was obviously not the case when we were given the clear signal of death by an elderly woman. We were about to get into a taxi located in front of the station when the woman pointed to the cab driver, made the money symbol with her hands, and then slid her finger across her throat in attempt to warn us of the potential danger! Hastily, we headed back into the station to look for alternative transportation and catch our barrings. It was at this point, that we decided to avoid local hustlers after getting off long bus rides and go get food or sit down and figure out our plans before making rash decisions. Jason and Jesse went off to talk to a security guard and we learned that we needed to purchase a ticket to enter this back entrance where the REAL taxi rides are available for border transport. Getting over the border to Chile in this taxi was pleasant and safe. We had very little hassle with the driver, although we paid a lot more than we initially planned (gringo tax), and the border was no different than crossing Ecuador into Peru. Unfortunately the taxi driver would not drop us off at our hostel in Arica, so we had to take an additional taxi to finally land in another beautiful beach town.

Iquique

Jason has crabs

 Arica was nice, but there really wasn't as much to do as Huanchaco or Peurto Lopez. The manager of the hostel was named Tom from Australia and he definitely was an interesting fellow. When we first rang the door bell he bellowed out his name in a drunken stupor and welcomed us with open arms. That night he brought us to a sushi restaurant where we enjoyed the succulent taste of fresh sushi coupled with two for one  mojitos. The next morning, being slightly hung over, we decided to check out the beach, which ended up being too windy and colder than other beaches. We also met a cool UK born girl named Charlotte who had a few drinks with us that night and provided many laughs between games of pool and ping pong. Deciding that we wanted to find a better beach town and knowing that Iquique was the best place in South America for paragliding, we left in the late afternoon on a six hour bus ride to Iquique. 

Graham with his paragliding pilot

Circled by massive cliffs and sand dunes, Iquique was a stretch of warm, sunny beaches where young, skateboarding Chileans and brave surfers lived. We quickly decided that this place was a three-nighter for sure! Our hostel had ping pong and pool per usual, which was sweet, a bar, and helpful employees who hooked Jesse and Graham up with paragliding plans. Paragliding was an amazing and hardcore experience! After getting instructions of our take-off and landing procedure we were geared up and attached to our pilot. The flight began with a running start and the rest was up to the experience of the pilots to guide us through thermals. The flight lasted over 25min, flying over sand dunes, crossing over the city itself and ending with a soft landing on the beach. Graham's pilot was a bit adventurous and pulled a few aerial acrobatics and also let Graham take control for a few minutes. Other than paragliding, most of our time was spent playing intense ping pong and laying on the beach with a good book. All the relaxation on the beach of Iquique prepared us for our final long 24 hour long bus ride to Santiago. The overnight buses that we experienced in Peru came with dinner and breakfast, but this bus came with nothing. When the bus stopped at other stations along the way we had a few minutes to hop out and eat a hot dog or empinada before jumping back on the bus. 

Charlotte and Graham at the hostel in Iquique

Jesse and Lee resting at the top of their hike

Finally arriving in Santiago we found a hostel titled Hostel Moai where one of the employees named Nat became our savior. We were struggling to find a combo package for skiing/snowboarding as many of the companies were way to expensive or already booked up. We found Ski Total in the Lonely Planet and Nat went to town to organize everything for us. He was extremely helpful by making phone calls and emailing the company to make sure we could go the next morning. Having not learned enough Spanish to do all the booking ourselves, people like Nat really made our trip much easier. We woke up at 6am and were fully geared up by 8am. We took a two hour bus ride to the mountain located at the resort called Valle Nevado. We were told tobe back at the bus for 4:50pm, so we energetically hit the slopes with exciting expectations. Lee and Jesse decided to hike up to the top of a mountain nearby one of the chair lifts. They had an amazing time carving through a steep section down and Jesse survived with only a minor scrape on his chiny chin chin. Lee captured part of his descent on the Go Pro and once Graham became more comfortable on his skiis managed to get some vids as well. The view from the top of the Andes Express lift was breathtaking. Most of us have only hit up small hills in Ontario, other than Lee, but skiing/snowboarding down a mountain is quite a different experience. The hill is still groomed in sections, but the possibility for exploration and just knowing that your on a mountain really makes you feel a lot smaller. At the end of the day we just barely made it back to the bus due to Graham's missing equipment, which had been picked up by an employee after being unattended for less than 30 seconds. The bus ride back to our hostel was quiet as we were all reminiscing about our adventures and exhaustion quickly took a hold of our bodies. 

Our trip has come to an end. The gringos are tired of running and now its time to fly back to Canada. 

Valle Nevado!!

The "Gringo Killer"

Salcantay

After a much needed rest and recovery day following Lee's 23 birthday celebrations, we were ready to begin our trek to the highly anticipated mysterious wonder of the world, Machu Picchu.  After talking to different people who had already participated in guided treks to Machu Picchu, we were left deciding between the "Jungle Trek" and the "Salkantay Trek." A number of people we have come across seemed disappointed with their Jungle Trek experience, where as many travellers have highly recommended taking the Salkantay Trek. Seeing as we  had already spent some time in the jungle and gone biking and rafting, and both Treks were similarly priced despite the Salkatay trek being one night longer, we decided to book the Salkantay Trek leaving the following morning at 4:30am.
We arrived at a small Peruvian village around 7:00 am to eat breakfast before beginning our first days hike. Our group consisted of around 12 people from all different parts of the world including Israel, France, Columbia, Holland and the United States. Our Guide was a Local 24 year old man whose real name was so long and difficult to pronounce that he  insisted everyone just call him Nilton , but since that was also hard for some people to say, he just said to call him Neil. Neil was a really wonderful guide as well as person who never ceased to motivate the group to keep on going. He was full of cultural knowledge and taught and showed us many things including a cactus used for dying Inca clothing which stained Jason's hand red for a week, stories and legends about the Inca's, and of course numerous Peruvian dirty words. He also told us that Machu Picchu means old city, but when the word Picchu is commonly misspelled as Pichu only containing one letter c, it actually translates to old penis. Neil was quite the joker, especially with us goofy Canadian boys, so whether or not this is really true we are still unsure. Either way, it was funny. Neil will be remembered for his great sense of humour and incredible in depth knowledge of Peru's history and Quechua/Inca culture.
Our first days hike consisted of about 5 hours uphill through rugged terrain, and another 3 hours on either flat land or steep down hill. In between the 8 hour hike we had a 1 hour lunch which was prepared by Peruvian cooks who followed us each day on impressive horses who also carried our large heavier bags. The meals were actually quite nutritious and tasty, usually consisting of soup, some kind of meat, rice, vegetables and of course magical coca tea. When we finally arrived at our first camp site we were 3800 metres high and feeling the altitudes effects on our lungs, and overall felt extremely exhausted and quite weak. However our spirits were lifted by the magnificent view of Machu Picchu's protector just above us, Salkantay mountain. Yet at the same time knowing we were waking up again the next morning at 4:30 am to climb that very peak was  exhausting just to think about.
Day two was by far the most difficult day of the entire 5 day Salkantay trek. After an absolutely freezing night full of shivering and frustrating attempts to fall asleep, we waited with our eyes open in our shitty sleeping bags for the cooks to deliver hot coca tea before breakfast. The following 4 hours was an 1000 metre steep climb up to the peak of Salkantay, only to continue for another 7 hours down hill to make our next campsite where the scenery would be completely different than before. Getting to the top of Salkantay felt quite fulfilling and accomplishing, and the surreal view of the surrounding mountains was well worth the  trek. As we continued our hike down hill, the atmosphere became more and more jungle like, and at some points the view was like nothing we have ever seen before. It was almost like seeing three entirely different backgrounds amalgamated together into one contrasting picture, with the highest point  being snowy mountain caps, towering over a middle section of dirt hills, leading to a thick forest of giant green trees.

MACHU PICCHU!!!!

The second camp site was about 1000 metres lower than the first night, so it was not so cold and we were able to get a few hours of sleep before being woken up at 5:00am to begin our third day, which would end with a muscle relaxing swim in natural hot springs, followed by a bonfire and cerveza party with all the different groups on the Salkantay trek. Although it was difficult for some of us to keep our eyes open and party, we can always count on Jesse to be the last one awake to drunkenly chase away the irritating barking dogs keeping everyone awake.
Our fourth day was much easier than any of the others, which was quite relieving as by this time our legs could take little more abuse and Grahams feet were riddled with pulsing blisters. We had a choice to pay some extra money to go zip lining through a 2500 metre zip line course 200 metres high. Since Jason and Lee have ziplined in the past and found weights and a giant friendly dog to play with, they decided to stay behind and get even more jacked than they already are (If that is possible), while Jesse and Graham flew through the air on a barely visible cable. The zip lining was fascinating! Graham was able to capture the intensity on the Gro Pro. The platforms that we zipped onto were so small and just attached to the side of the  cliff, which was terrifying as we approached the last few meters of the cable. At the end of that day we arrived in Aguas Calientes, the small city beside Machu Picchu. Everyone went to bed early that night, as we were waking up at 3:30 am to be the first ones to get to Machu Picchu.

Our awesome guide Nilton explaining the wonders of Peruvian flora

As we began our 30 minute walk in the middle of the night to the never ending staircase, also known as the "gringo killer," leading up to the gate of Machu Picchu, we were accompanied by a group of 5 dogs which we nicknamed "our protectors" who stuck by our side ready to alert us of any potential attacking zombies. It was still pitch dark when we began our climb up the dreaded "gringo killer." After about 30  minutes of climbing this relentless staircase, we successfully conquered the "gringo killer," and  Graham and Jason were the second and third people to arrive at Machu Picchu gate, only trailing 1 Israeli, who to be fair had a false start.


The first thing you see when you finally reach the top of the "gringo killer" is not a beautiful scenery, but instead a lit up candy machine.This picture epitomizes the mixed emotions one feels when visiting Machu Picchu. Despite the magnificent architecture, breathtaking landscape and mysterious aura which is inevitably felt by walking through Machu Picchu, the immense amount of swarming tourists together with the modern buildings just outside Machu Picchu gate make the experience seem less authentic. I suppose this is the reality of visiting one of the worlds most popular wonders. Either way, we feel very privileged to experience the Inca's Mystic Machu Picchu in person, especially after Neil told us that in the not so near future the Peruvian government may be limiting the amount of tourists allowed to visit Machu Picchu due to the erosion caused by all the constant visitors.
Over all we all agreed that the Salkantay trek was one of the hardest physical challenges we have ever endured, and although at some points we felt like our legs could take us no further and we were very cranky to each other, we pushed through together, and had an incredible and humbling experience which we will never forget.

Gringos on the run, dirty dirty son of a gun!

Jesse touring the mountain side in Huaraz

Beautiful Oasis Huacachina

Jason shredding sand

Getting crazy at Wild Rover

Knowing that we needed to speed up our travel time,  we left Dibby and Ciara at Huanchaco and made haste to Huaraz. Huaraz consists of 23 of the highest peaks in South America. The town is organized around tourism, and we were immediately swamped with local Peruvians asking us to sleep in their hotel or book a trek with them, but we maintained our cool and refused until we were able to sit down and eat breakfast. The Lonely Planet advised us to book our mountain bike adventure with this local guy named Julio. He has a lot of experience guiding in the area and we felt safer having an exceptional guide. We were told stories of travelers getting lost in the area because their guides sucked. The hostel we stayed at was a bit more expensive then we hoped for, but we were told Huaraz and other touristy locations are bad for cheaper living. The hostel also had a fair selection of movies that we were able to watch in English, which was a nice change from the horrible films that have been playing on our buses. We met Julio in the morning and took a van ride up to 3,800m where we began our mountain bike decent. At first it was mostly downhill, 2-lane gravel road biking, but we soon took the off-beaten single lane track that consisted of rocky terrain and beautiful mountain back drops. Our solid, full-suspension Specialized bikes took most of the brutal terrain, but a few of the other bikers had issues with popped tires and torn chains. The biking lasted for about 5 hours with short breaks. Luckily, no one had serious injuries other than Jason taking a huge bail and scrapping his arms and chest...too bad I didn't get that on the Go Pro! Mountain biking is one of my favourite sports and the biking in Guelph, which normally occupies my summers, pales in comparison to my Huaraz experience. Feeling a bit sore, we lazed around for the rest of the day playing cards until our bus at 10pm. Saying goodbye to Huaraz, we took a six hour bus to Lima and then a four or five hour bus to Ica. Ica is a boring city, so we quickly hopped onto a short taxi ride to Huacachina. WOW! What a picture perfect place! Huacachina is a beautiful oasis town, which was basically designed for resort living. Our hostel was cornering three massive sand dunes and the pool was directly below one of the largest  mounds. The hostel was also host to a few animals including a cute fluffy puppy, a few tortoises and a few rabbits. Later that afternoon around 4pm we went on a dune buggy adventure through the desert hills to a location where we were able to sand board. Unfortunately, we got sucked into spending a little extra souls (actually called solas, the Peruvian currency) on actual snow boards instead of these wooden boards that were more common. The hills were not as extreme as imagined, but we were amazed at the wonderful back drops of the massive desert and the twists and curves of the sand dunes. After sandboarding for an hour, Jason and Graham climbed to the top of a tall dune to take pictures of the pretty sunset. The dune buggying was fun as well, it felt like a fast roller coaster as the driver took us on drops that made us bounce around in our seats. The next day we relaxed and swam in the hostel's pool and prepared ourselves for the dreaded 18 hour bus ride to Cuzco at 6pm. To our surprise, we lucked out and had class, lower level leather seats that could extend almost to a bed-like state and a few movies that actually didnt't suck for once. We were excited to get off the bus and start partying for Lee's birthday in Cuzco. We found an awesome Irish hostel called Wild Rover where, I wont get into detail, we rocked out  hard...that shit was cray. Tomorrow we embark on our 5 day Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu!!! Waking up at 4:30am tomorrow is gonna suck...wish us luck!

Running Late to Lima

Huanchaco at sunset

Despite how difficult it was to depart from the beautiful city of Peurto Lopez, we had already delayed far too long and had to move on into Peru at a much faster pace. We decided the best way to get a head start on our journey through Peru was to get a 27 hour bus directly from Guayaquil Ecuador to Lima Peru. We awoke early the morning of May 29th to Dibby (our Irish friend and world famous dj) enlightening us of  a rather unnerving e-mail he had received. One  of the artists under Dibby's record label had sent him a new song entitled "running late to Lima." Could this be an omen for our upcoming bus ride? dun dun dunnnnnn.....

Roadblock protest in Peru

Jason, Lee and Graham heading out to surf

Things were running smoothly for the first 12 hours of our ride, but around 2:30 am we all realized that our bus had stopped running. At first we assumed the driver's were just having a break before continuing on for the next 15 hours. But as the hours continued to pass and the sun began to rise we knew something was not right. Apparently there was a road block 1km ahead due to a protest, and no large vehicles were able to pass through. Rumours began to ruminate saying we might not be able to move again until midnight, or at the earliest 6pm!!! Our alleged 27 hour bus ride had all of a sudden become much longer. A fellow

 American passenger named Dan was catching a flight from Lima the following day, and did some research about any other possible way to safely cross the road block  and continue to the city of Puira not far away. Discovering that it was possible to take a taxi through the road block, and considering we might be stuck in the blazing hot sun without any air conditioning for another 10 hours, we decided to hop on a taxi to pass the protest. Along with a few other passengers, Graham, Jason, Dibby and Ciara took the first taxi ride through the road block, while Jesse and Lee waited patiently for the taxi to return. Turns out taking the taxi was not the best decision we could have made, as there were several more smaller road blocks ahead. In order to successfully and safely pass by these machete wielding locals, we were forced to give them some money and food before being dropped of in the next large city. While this was occurring, Jesse and Lee realized that the never ending line of backed up buses began to honk their horns and start moving. The protest was finished for the day, hoorah!!! Deciding it was best not to stay behind by themselves, Jesse and Lee hopped back onto the bus, and with the help of our new gnarly Peruvian friend Patrick who saved our asses, managed to convince the driver to stop at the next city to pick up Jason, Graham, Ciara and Dibby. We were finally altogether and safe and sound on the bus again. Only 18 hours to go........or so we had thought. Surely nothing else would go wrong with the bus again. We were already running late to Lima as it was.
After finally catching a few hours of shut eye, we once again realized that the bus had stopped. After doing some investigation we discovered that the bus transmission had broken. Once again, we were forced to wait from 12:30am until sunrise for another bus to pick us up and continue onto Lima. At this point we had all decided that we wanted to get the hell off of the bus as soon as possible, and after hearing about an awesome surf town just outside of Trujillo we agreed to get off at Trujillo and take a couple days to relax on the beach before continuing onto Lima.
The surf town is called Huanchaco and is wonderful. We had just been relaxing on the beach and catching up on some sleep until today, when we attempted to go surfing. Although we failed miserably, it was a fun day out in the ocean and we now feel we have done enough to move on tomorrow morning. Unfortunately we must say goodbye to our new Irish friends Dibby and Ciara tomorrow, as they still have 5 months left in South America to travel, and would rather not rush through Peru. We love you Dibby and Ciara and will miss your lovely company. Our next stop is at Huarez Peru, where there are 23 glorious mountain peaks, and that means hardcore mountain biking!!! We will have to move even faster for the rest of our trip,only affording to spend 2 or 3 days in each spot. So much to do but so little time!!!