The Struggles of Disposable Friendship - Part 3

Cuzco is the Capital City of the Department of Cuzco and was the capital of the Inca Empire. The city breaths with ancient ruins but exhales tourism. The city is blend of colonialism from Spanish invasion and Ancient ruins of the Inka Empire. There is a building that is just a walk away from the square that has the "famous rock." It is a rock that is inserted in an old Inka building that has 12 corners. But right near the rock stands a man that is dressed in the Inka "dress code." The city design seems to be all over the place and not many straight roads. There are so many different walk ways that have shops selling alpaca clothes, bags, hats, clay works and wood working. Though I did most of my shopping in Huancayo where there is less tourism and the prices are a lot lower then are offered here in Cuzco.

Some of the stores are simple with shelves and products hanging in many places. Then there are shops that open into tourism stores to restaurants to other different stores all in the same building. You can get lost very easily in the city of Cuzco. There are some annoyances in the city where you are consistently asked for money, massages, paints and drugs. Durning the the day there and many young men that come up and ask if you want to purchase a same painting on a gift card. Then at night they ask for the same thing but then offer cocaine and cannabis. Luckily this is only in the centre of Cuzco and once you exit from that are the less it happens.

So this time around I made sure that I did my homework before getting another guided tour. I used the club of South American Explorers for advice and got some good leads on doing the Inka Jungle Trail. I found a place that had a good price and they would even pick me up from the hostel I was staying at. I felt better this time around about this tour then the last. Also through the club I was able to attend a amazing talk about Machu Picchu and the controversy surrounding the city in the sky.

Machu Pichu has many routes that can be taken to reach the city and the prices very greatly. The Inka Trail is $400 min (S/.800 - 1000) but you are accompanied by a guide, chief, and about 2 - 3 porters. The other trek is Salcantay trail which takes you through the mountains and then to Machu Pichu. Then there is the Inka Jungle Trail which includes mountain biking, optional hot springs, zip lining, and rafting. I decide to travel with the Inka Jungle trail because it was cheaper and you are not being catered by porters and horsemen.

So day one began later in the morning then the Colca Canyon Trek and head to Ollantaytambo to the highest point of 4200 meters. From there you get on your mountain bikes and head down to the bottom. The road structure is very different compared the highway systems in B.C. There is usually very little sections of the road system where there is a slope greater then 10%. The average speed that I probably got to was 50 km/h but there is a lot of blind corners that you turn around. You have to make sure that you are screaming around the corner you slow down and watch for cars and trucks and to listen for the horns of vehicles. There were some parts where I had to stop because big 18 wheelers had to use the whole corner to make the turn. Luckily in those areas there is no blind corners and you can see the trucks coming.

The views on the way down are amazing and you are riding in the high jungle of the Andes. After the mountain biking you are picked up by the bus and then transported to the next city where you have dinner and sleep. There is no walking on the first day but the mountain biking is a workout if you want to go as fast as you can. After dinner I decided; with a group of others, that I was going to go rafting. At first I was very nervous because in Perú they have different safety standards then in Canada. In Ottawa when you go rafting you have a person in a kayak behind the group and will help people that fall over. In Perú they do not have this but they have ways of making sure that you are okay. Once we were on the river the story was different. The river is not as wild as the Ottawa river and it is a pretty calm ride down the river. When it was over our group was wet but they had beer waiting for us at the end.

After a good night rest we headed out to the roughest part of the trip. We were going to walk more then 8 hours and there were sections where we had to climb up 500 meters. This time around I made sure to purchase some waling sticks and they helped a lot with going up and down the hills we had to travel. Though the trail was not too hard and I had this very exciting feeling come over me because you are walking on a trail that has been walked on for years. There are some areas where you are welcomed with amazing views of the valley but got to be careful that you do not go close to the edge of the cliff. A lot of the areas are straight drops down with very little vegetation to stop your fall. Though I felt safe the whole time and did not have many worries about the trek. At the end of the trek you arrive at a hot spring that is very cheap and very hot. There is also an area where you can bath in cold water and then go back into the hot springs which is really good for your heart and your muscles. Also at the hot springs wait buses to bring you to the town that you are going to stay in. It is a great marketing move because you have the choice to either walk 40 mins to the town in the dark or take a 15 min bus ride there. I do not think anyone walked after being in the hot springs.

Now on this part of the trip you start to make a lot of friendships with people on the trek and a good part of our group became very close. I meet two guys from Australia name Joel and Kieren that have been traveling for about a month and were going to head to Bolivia after Cuzco. I meet two Americans name Ellen and Miguel who meet up in Ecuador and have been bumping into one another on their travels. Then there was two Dutch people named Debby and Bart who have been traveling for 9 months and have 3 more to go. There was also another Canadian in the group that was from Toronto named Hashim and was only here to do the Inka Jungle Trail. All of us become close through the trip and especially that night after the hike.

That night was the disco night and a lot of the other groups were at the club ready to party. When you party with Australians be prepared to party and drink a lot. They go non-stop and there is some weird stuff that goes on. At the hot springs we also meet some Canadians from Vancouver and Toronto and some British and Americans. They were at the Disco and they decided to have a pole dancing competition which include a lot of males trying to hang upside down on the pole. What got most outrageous was one of the Australians decide that he didn't need his pants nor his underwear on that night. It is an Australian custom to either have the pants down or even go naked. The joke behind the pants being dropped is that the bartender does not know that the your pants are down. Even the people standing and dancing around really did not notice right way that our pants were down. Some of them would come up excited and stop in their tracks and realize the situation at hand. But the other Australian and I couldn´t just let the other one go on his own so we joined him and even got the Canadians and British men to join in as well. We even got our guide to drop his pants at one point of the night. Yes there will probably be pictures online at one point but not from my camera so I have no control. It was a fun night and lasted long into the night but you never worried about the hike in the morning that started at 7 am. 

The next morning we headed in for breakfast and everyone was feeling the effects from the night before. We were all tired and knew we were going to have a long day ahead of us. Though we had the option to go Zip lining in the morning and skip three hours of the trek. There was the other option of taking a bus from the town to the check point which you would also skip the three hours of hiking. I did neither and traveled the route with the Dutch and the other American. It was not bad because most of the trip is flat and the only factor that makes it hard is the sun was very hot. When you get to the check point you enter more of the jungle and are shaded by the vegetation. I did not take many pictures of this part of the trip even though you get to have a small glimpse of the city on the mountain. I just wanted to get to the next town to get rest which when you finally got there you get to stay in a hostel that has hot water which is rare.

We all took it easy that night because we had to get up at four in the morning the next day to hike to Machu Picchu. The hike up to Machu Picchu is very much like the Grouse Grind. There is a lot of stairs and are climbing the same amount of elevation. It took my around an hour to get up to the entrance and some were even running up the steps. You then enter the "Archaeological Site" and your guide then travels with you around the site telling you all the different secrets of the Inka City. Now the name of the city is lost because the name Machu Picchu is not for the city but for the mountain that is behind it. It means Old Mountain and Huayna Picchu means young mountain which is the smalled mountain that is in all the pictures of Machu Picchu. Now the guides tell you a lot of the information but I attended a talk by a man who says that a lot of the information that is said about the city is not correct. When you go to Machu Picchu you have to take it with a grain of salt and if you really wanted to know the truth about the city, go and really study the history behind it. Though the views and the sites were amazing but is a tourist trap. Yes the place is impressive but what they have done to the site is turn it into Disney Picchu. It is not a Archaeological Site anymore it has turned into a major profit revenue for the region. It is unfortunate but it is sometimes how it goes and you have to just sit back enjoy and try not to think about it.

In the site I got to meet up with the British couple that I meet on the Colca Trek. It was cool to see them and we decide that we would meet up for drinks the next day. I then headed down to the city we stayed in with the British guy I met at the hot springs. We had a good talk about where he has traveled and the people he has traveled with. When we got to the town we had lunch at small restaurant aways from the tourist centre. After I met up with the Australians and we gathered the other people from our group and head to another pub. We convinced the waiters at the restaurant to give us happy hour at the price S/.25 for 7 drinks and we were at the restaurant till we had to go catch the train. On the train I did not feel good and when we got back to Cuzco I headed back to the Hostel but the others headed out to the clubs of Cuzco.

The next day I relaxed and did some research and shopped around for a bit. Our group decided that we would go out that night with the guide for dinner and also had to meet up with the British couple. It was good dinner where we got to be with each other for one last night. I have really learned that you can make some very good friendships when you are on the road. It is hard to make friends with the people that live in the region (the locals) because you do not have much in common. Though with travelers what bonds you with others is that you are going through the same stresses and emotional turmoil as everyone else. When you travel from place to place it can become very lonely and it is good that these tours are there to help you mingle with others. I have made very good relationships with people on this trip and I am glad that I have met everyone of them. Though they are off to their own adventures and probably will not see them again you still have the memories of those great times you had on the road. They will stick with you because you were experiencing the same things and you struggle through those hard times together. You motivate, inspire and show your true colours. I find that when you travel you start to drop your barriers and start becoming the real you. You start to become comfortable with yourself and you respect others that do the same. You got to remember that we are in this world together and that we all have to live with each other. You may not get along with others but you have to put those differences aside and realize that your views are not always the right ones. I am glad that I have had the experience to meet all the people that I have meet on this journey on the Gringo trail and I have learned so much from everyone of them.

Now I am off back to Lima this Saturday and then will head into the rain forest for some volunteer work and to be greeted by different cultures and people.