Floods

Floods

Its all kicking off in Cuzco at the moment, they have no defense against floods and the river urubamba has swelled so much its broke its banks. Houses and farmland near to the river have been washed away and people are stranded at machu picchu, two of which are the american girls who came on the trek!
On the radio they were talking about people being evacuated to nearby towns but nobody can get out as all roads and transport links are flooded, they also said there is no food but I don’t understand how they’ve managed to consume all the food in the area in one day.
There have been peruvian police flying about in sea king style helicopters, which are apparently taking aid to machu picchu and evacuating some people out. Madness.
Anyways I deffinately won’t be rafting down it now and won’t be going anywhere near machu picchu for at least a week. Then seeing if things are any better. Although amazingly coach loads of americans have still been arriving in the hoards and being sent down the inca trail to MP. I presume the organisers don’t want to refund 1000′s of dollars to them so are sending them into a bottle neck anyway. Its definitely something they’d happily do around here.
And something the americans would happily oblige to anyway I imagine, as the two volunteer girls were warned by Awamaki staff and there home stay family not to go but they thought they knew better and just went, ha.
Zak, one of my chums who’s the only other guy from england in ollanta, and the rest of peru it seems, was telling me about an american he saw get off the coach and started shouting “HELLO!” to some peruvian workers in the back of a work truck, didn’t even bother trying to learn hello in spanish, ‘hola’. Haha they make me laugh
In other news I started my spanish lessons today, doing 4 hours a day for the next week, so I should be fluent by next weekend! But I won’t be
I also need to get onto photographing some stuff for awamaki but I can’t find anything to use as a background yet and haven’t ventured into the community centre, I’m getting on it tomorrow!
That is all, just thought I’d post about the floods, but the previous post about the trek was mamouth so that’s me for a couple of days J

I’ve added some videos from my phone, it might not look that bad but usually from the road the river is never anywhere near as close to the road as it is now, if u look carefully you can see its flooded a couple of houses and is nearly on the train track. Futher downstream its supposed to be 10x worse.

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Near death experience! (only joking mum) :]

Today was the day of the trek, we went from Ollantaytambo/Patacancha up and over a mountain upto around 5000m. On the other side was Larse, where natural hot springs and a hostel awaited us.
We met at 6.30am in Ollanta sq. With the aim to be walking by 7am. We jumped in a taxi with our guide jose ‘putuko’ and set off to the starting point (patacancha) 30 mins by taxi.
We immediately ran into trouble when 10 mins up the hillside there had been a landslide which was blocking the road! We got out and there were 3 local Quechua men stood by, and one posh looking local in a Mitsibushi warrior on the other side of the mud.
One of the local Quechuas said he had spades and a pick 2mins away so he jumped in our taxi and went off to collect.
They came back armed with 2 spades and a pick axe, we spent a good 30mins shifting sloppy mud out of the road! As we dug out mud more was sliding down from the embankment and I was covered in mud from shovelling, good times.
The bloke in the warrior decided he’d waited long enough and approached the gap we had dug so far, beeping his horn.
He probably could of made it but for some reason slowed down as he got to the wet mud and got stuck bang in the middle!
He tried floorin it for a few minutes and did a nice job of digging himself into the embankment
We managed to get him out after a while but he ignored all advice from everyone around. After he’d been through we made a decent path for the taxi to get through, a 20 year old nissan estate, he flew through no problems at all!
So we managed to get to the drop off point at the bottom of the mountain and began our accent. I was fucked already from digging, as no-one else from our group wanted to help shift the mud, I think they had the right idea!
So about an hour up and I’m feeling like I’m on drugs, light headed and bright vision, I suppose I hadn’t really acclimatised to the Andes yet as I’ve only been here a week. I was a little light headed but most of all I could feel the thinness of the air, it was crazy.
I chewed a few coca(ine) leaves and kept them under my cheek and I was feeling much better !
It took us longer than we thought to get to the summit and other people in the group were finding it a lot harder.
We were walking in cloud after about 2/3rds of the way, so the final push to the summit was killer, we were piss wet through and it was freezing!
We waited for the stragglers on the top, crouched behind a boulder trying to keep warm. By the time they got to the top we were freezing and just wanted to get down out of the cloud, so we started the decent. This is when things got interesting.
Putuko (the guide) started running down, there wasn’t too much of a path but we were keeping to the left, visibility was next to non, i couldn’t see anything past 10m at some points.
I stayed close to Putuko as he knew what he was doing, however, the others stopped for a break so we kept waiting for them to emerge from the cloud so we could carry on down. We were getting really cold and we were behind schedule already, we waited again and set off together.
After 20 mins no-one was in sight and I’d been pretty much sprinting down this mountain to keep up with Putuko.
We waited for about 20 mins but there was no sight or sound of anyone, visibility was still really bad.
I started shouting ‘HELLO!’ But no-one answered, I carried on and got a shout back, ‘where are you!?’, two of the american girls (hannah and jackie) who were at the very back were about 50 meters away over a ridge walking down the wrong path, we found them in the cloud by shouting. However Justin and Cate, the other two americans who were between me and hannah & jackie were nowhere to be seen. Putuko ran back up the “path” to see if he could find them, because last we heard Cate was getting really cold in the cloud.
Meanwhile we saw two figures in the distance and called them over. It was 2 quechuan girls no older than 10 yo. They were shivvering and wearing traditional dresses and a poncho. We asked them how far it was to Larse and they said 10 hours! Me and the two americans could not believe it, we went and crouched behind a wall for about 30 mins and our body temp dropped a lot.
We carried on shouting but there was no sign of Justin Cate or Putuko.
I thought it was game over! I could barely use my fingers to do my boot laces up and was shivering so much. The american girls are Med. students working at the clinic and were talking about hypothermia and how we should deal with it, if it were to set in.
I actually couldn’t believe what was happening, I was stuck on top of a mountain, in wind and rain, 10 hours from the bottom of this mountain and the guide had disappeared into the cloud !
The girls wanted to start walking to get off the mountain as they feared any longer sat in the rain and they wouldn’t be able to walk at all. But I explained that if Putuko were to come back for us and we were gone he’d have to go back looking for us thinking we’d followed.
We put a time of 30 mins before we would have to start walking.
Eventually putuko came back, but without cate or justin, he said he couldn’t find them anywhere, and the only other part of the mountain was a sheer drop! Wowee.
He spoke to the 2 Quechuan girls and convinced them to come with us and show us to the nearest community.
We reached it after an hours walk and managed to decipher from there broken spanish that ‘somebody’ had been past in the last 20 mins.
Putuko decided this would deffinately of been justin and cate so we carried on down the mountain, with new estimates of it being 3 hours to Larse! Either way I just wanted off that mountain! I was beginning to think Ray Meares tactics
After what seemed an eternity we finally got out of the cloud and could see the bottom of the mountain, but still worried about justin and cate.
We got onto the road and noticed an arrow marked into the road with “justin & cate 3.45″ written underneath! It was about 4.45 when we passed the marker so they were an hour ahead!
As if putuko had learnt no lesson at all he began marching off at 100mph yet again, leaving the girls behind, although it was a straight road the whole way so they couldn’t of got lost.
We arrived at Larse as night fell, I was the only person still with the guide at this point ! And we went and sorted a hostel for the group (presuming they were still alive to sleep in the hostel!) And booked a restaurant (again, presuming they were still capable of eating).
Then we headed for the natural hot springs! This is what had kept me going the whole way!
On our way up to the springs(in pitch black) we were greeted by Justin Cate Jackie and Hannah! Thank god. They’d all had a good soak and went back to the hostel, whilst me and putuko carried on to the springs.
When we got there we pretty much had the place to ourselves, apart from a few couples and a couple of creepy old men who would just stare at the couples. Nice.
Anyways, I went to put on my shorts, and I’d had pain from my pants rubbing on my thighs, and there was blood! I’d chaffed my thighs so much that I’d drawn blood, ouch!
I slowly got into the boiling springs and felt searing pain! But after a few minutes it wasn’t as bad, and it was so relaxing for the muscles so I didn’t care
We spent a good hour in there then went and met the others to go grab some well earned food!
We got two courses each, a nice soup to start and a kind of noodley ricey egg dish as main, we also all had tea and coca cola – the price for this feast was 20 soles! Not each, but for everyone! So so cheap.
20 soles is about $7 which is about £5! For 6 people all in! I love peru
The hostel and 5 hour bus journey home were both pennies as well. I spent just under a tenner for a 2 day expedition! And most importantly lived to tell the tale

Now my sores have healed and today I went to Cusco, an amazing city. I looked around the cathedral which is like “an elderly woman wearing too much make-up” once inside you are surrounded by the most amazing Gold and Silver statues and decorations depicting christ. And it doesn’t look too bad from the outside either! Although more fortress like than church like. I’d put it on par with some of the cathedrals I saw when backpacking Italy in Rome. Its deffo worth checking out if you find yourself in Cusco!
I’ve been reading ‘motorcycle diaries’ which is based on notes by the mighty Che Guevara when he travelled south america, I loved the film and the books just as enjoyable, although I refuse to be one of those people who rabbit on like; “oh but the book is MUCH better!”. Both are great, I deffo recommend.
My diet and sleeping pattern has changed dramatically now and my bodys not too sure what’s going on. On a typical day I’m awoken at around 5/6am by screaming locals and barking strays, breakfast at 7/7:30, which consists of bread and ‘matte’ (cup of tea) but fresh milk doesn’t seem to exist, despite the amount of cows everywhere.
Lunch and dinner is usually plentiful and contains a lot of carbohydrates, lots of rice noodles potatoes and bread. I’m yet to eat a guinea pig as its a delicacy and expensive, but ill let you no as soon as I do !
J

Landslide blocking road – putuko the guide far right

Cuzco

Cuzco Town square centre

one of the streets in the small residential area where im living

Good times…

 Made it to Machu Pichu and the train journey in itself is amazing! It follows the Urubamba river through the mountains all the way to MP (see pics). I didn’t get here till 3pm so decided not to go into the ruins site today, apparently It takes a whole day to look around, so I decided to just get lunch by the river and look around the town. Ill come back next week but get the 9am train instead of the 1pm!
I can’t believe I considered walking, it would of taken me at least 12 hours never mind 6/8! There were tents along the riverbank, I can only presume these are americans who attempted to walk, but have found themselves stuck in an Andean jungle.
The rapids along the river are mental and I’m on a mission to find a company who’ll send boats down, they’d be amazing for white water rafting! Ill try and get a video up as pictures don’t do it justice.
The three dogs at my homestay get more comical by the day, now I’ve noticed its not only strays they take on, but also members of the public! I watched from my window as they ran around barking at a man, who responded by picking up tiny twigs of the floor and throwing them towards them! This only encouraged them
Tomorrow ill be going on a trek with some of the volunteers from Awamaki, looking forward to it!
I also have my first bit of work coming up at the weekend, they’re planning on selling crafts made in the communities online, so I’m going through and getting images of the scarfs, ponchos and table mats etc that they’ve weaved to upload to the website.
I’m finally getting used to the idea of being so far from home, the furthest I’ve ever been! For the first few days it was kind of surreal and I couldn’t grasp the idea, now I understand what I’ve gotten myself into, and I’m very excited for the months that will follow
Anyways I’m getting a good nights sleep before the big trek! 8 hours walking from 7 am yay! J

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Ollantaytambo

After my depressing first blog I’m happy to say every things much better, the rural towns are much more my kinda thing at the moment and I’m so glad I decided to come to south america, its shit hot!
The family I’m staying with are a good laugh, although I think they find my attempt at spanish the most amusing in the kitchen they have about 6 guinea pigs (cuy´s) running around the floor, they don’t get fed apart from what falls onto the ground and leftovers, good cleaners! Then to top it off once they get nice and fat they get served up themselves! I have to admit they are very tasty, although its quite disturbing hearing them squeal and run around whilst you scran their buddy
They’ve also got 3 little dogs all brothers & 2yo, you do not wanna mess with them! Iv seen them take on strays that come into the garden that are 10x there size! Sammy would have no chance
I gave my homestay family some gifts I brought with me; a Man Utd mug, english tea bags and blacks chocolate. They took a whiff of the tea bags and didn’t no what had hit them, I’ve tried to convince them its nice but they still don’t understand the concept of ‘te con leche’ (tea with milk)
I’ve done very well, they’re the only family to have gas and thus hot running water and I have my own room with two double beds! I’m living like a king, especially compared to another volunteer called Zak, who ended up in a house that wasn’t even completely built yet! The side wall to his bedroom is yet to be constructed and is simply made from tarp. He’s currently chucking up constantly from drinking tap water, so has moved into a hostel to get away from the noise.
The peruvians don’t see anything wrong with screaming & shouting and throwing pans around as they don’t get annoyed by it, but us soft brits can’t handle it, especially at 6am!
I’m looking forward to getting sick myself and throwing up uncontrollably, good times.
Its the rainy season and between january and february they get most of there rain, these guys need to come to Manchester and see what real rain looks like! I’ve been wandering around in shorts and t-shirt because its so hot, they think I’m insane not wearing a rain-coat in the “rainy” season, but it just spits rain most the time which is nice and cooling. Although it doesn’t stop the sunburn which I’m suffering from a lot! I allways seem to burn up but never stay tanned.
On thursday I’m going on a two day trek up and over this massive mountain nearby, 8 hours of walking, 4 up 4 down, apparently down is the worst :S. Today I tried to reach the top of the mountains surrounding Ollanta which have Inca ruins dotted around, I immediately realised how un-fit I am! I convinced myself it was because I wasn’t used to the ‘high altitude’ but really I’m just a lazy bastard  I’ve decided I’m going to trek as much as possible, then when I go to climb the Andes in Chile and Patagonia I won’t just drop dead half way up.
I’ve started to rack up lots of photos so will be able to start uploading some decent galleries with my blogs. The only problem is the coal burner of a server they have that provides internet to the town, I waited over half an hour to send my dad 4 pictures via email but it was just loading… And loading, and loading, so I just gave up!
I’ve just got back from attempting to walk from Ollanta to Machu Pichu, on the map it looks like a good 2 hour walk, do-able.
After about an hour and a half it still wasn’t in sight so I asked a local, “Cuanto hora de Machu Pichu” (how long till MP?), he replied “seis de ocho hora!” (6 to 8 hours!). I couldn’t believe my ears haha, so an about turn and back I came, but along the river urubamba so still I decent walk. Tomorrow ill get the train, I think it works out to like £10 return so not too bad.
Tomorrow afternoon I start taking some photos for the charity, ill be at the community centre, taking pics of the volunteers teaching english, so will start doing something other than wandering around Ollanta town like a dozy tourist.

will update soon, see ya!
J

this is the old town of Ollantaytambo and the house im staying in

Ollantaytambo – the town im staying in

nearby to my homestay

London heathrow-Madrid-Lima how hard can it be?…

So I finally set off from Manchester Piccadilly to London Heathrow on Wednesday (13/01/10) to catch my connecting flight to Madrid, where I would wait a couple of hours before getting on board the big boy Airbus to Lima! Wrong. Instead, due to the “severe” weather conditions down south the train didn’t show up on time. No worries, I got the next train about an hour later, cutting it a bit close but I had set off early so managed to get myself to heathrow in good time, however, the plane to Madrid did not. Two hours after we were supposed to depart the gate opens and we get on board. I was assured by the ‘smiley’ flight attendant that we would make it to Madrid on time for the Madrid-Lima flight, we did not. The plane had left an hour before we landed, so at 1:30am I made my way to the Iberia help desk, with 80 year old Cathy in tow. We were welcomed by a que of around 50 people, bare in mind the whole of Madrid airport was empty at this time of the morning, except the help desk we needed to get too! We waited for 3 hours! due to one member of staff being at the desk, que jumping germans and 100 question italians. So at 4:30am we managed to get tickets for Madrid – Quito (Ecuador) – Lima flight which left in 5 hours! They put us up in a hotel and got a whopping 2 hours sleep, although it was a posh hotel and free beer! Whey! (Well i hope it was free because I emptied the minibar)

Madrid Airport god was i happy to leave this place!

I eventually get myself to Lima, but Iberia didn’t bother to send my luggage with me, so spent 2 nights in the s-hole that is Lima waiting to get my bag! Still in the same clothes I had left my house in on wednesday morning, niiice. I had a look around Lima whilst I was there, very busy and swarming with beggars and stuff, not a very nice place in my eyes. Although I met a lot of cool people in the hostel and bus station and got loads of tips so good times! Kinda. Finally got my bag friday night and more importantly my clothes! Got compensated $20! Haha ill be complaining and getting a lot more than that back By then everything didn’t seem as bad. I went back to the hostel, had a shower put on some clean clothes and went and had an amazing argentine steak! Mmm. Although the real thing in Buenos Aires is going to be much better! So after travelling from Lima – Cuzco via nazca on the rally coach I’m currently in Ollantaytambo, where ill be staying for the next month to take some photos for Awamaki. Staying with a really nice family that don’t speak a word of english, really putting my spanish to the test! Ill update soon but just looking forward to relaxing in the mountains!

J

My playground for the next 6 months! :]

madrid airport god was i happy to leave this place

Inca ruins in Ollanta