Peru

If people ask me WHY third world countries and unknown wilderness, majestic cliffs and mountains; and unfamiliar territories, I know they wont understand the answer anyway. There is something in the unknown, in the mysterious unfamiliar places, that give you a scary sense of consciousness. You become aware of what is real.. Have you ever felt that you grew up in the wrong era?! I think third world countries are the closest I get to the feeling of living in Medieval times with ancient ruins, bartering on markets, traveling by foot, chaos, uncertainty, peasants and adventure.

In a world where what is real is hard to compare to the created, be it good picture to Photoshop or natural beauty to plastic surgery, you can still find places where you can escape the lies and the "plastics" of life. If we look at a picture of a magnificent sunset, the previous generation thinks: Timing, this generation thinks: Photoshop..  I believe that people's REAL colours come out when under two opposite extremes: When its going too well; or when they are under pressure and especially in circumstances where everything is out of control, like nature. People are different, and what they want in people are different too.  So if you want to make your sifting process of finding real friends, easier: go somewhere unfamiliar to all of you! To me camping is the sieve that most easily finds people that feel the same as I do. I hope the youth of today can apprehend the value of the little discomfort of camping, as it develops teamwork, communication, friendships, interpersonal relationships and shows us that we complain too much.

George and I left Valparaiso in Chile on a 48hour bus ride through the Chilean desert. We arrived at a small town called Puno, next to Lake Titicaca. Puno had a huge market for fruit and flowers and this was the first place where all the people had a resemblance of the magnificent Inca Indians. We quickly found a bus to Cuzco, the main city of the ancient Mayan Empire. Even a flat wheel couldn't spoil a moment of our excitement!

We decided to do the touristy thing and join a tour group on the Inca Trail. The group was mainly Spanish people, but there were people from the USA, UK, Netherlands, Australia and of coarse us from South Africa. Day 1:downhill bicycle race in jungle, day 2 &3 hiking up the mountain passes and day 4 Machu Picchu. We were picked up in a red mini bus and we met our new friends and friendly tour guides.

Winding road to the top of mountain

On the way to the starting point we stopped in a small town to get supplies. Here everyone sells Cocoa leaves with a black "tar", which you chew and put in your cheek. This is believed to prevent altitude sickness. While George bought us some "Leaves", I bought us Cocoa leave tea! We were making sure the altitude is not interfering with our trip! We drove up a long winding road to get to the highest point on the mountain and as we crossed the highest point the tar road turned into a mud dirt-road.  We put on our raincoats and each got a bicycle. We are doing a down-hill bicycle race in the rain and mud on the outskirts of the Amazon jungle!

George, my finger and bags of cocoa leaves

It was pouring! We soon realised that our cheap raincoats were as effective as trying to carry water in your hands for long distances!  We were absolutely soaked, but the adrenalin from slipping and sliding kept us warm!  There were places where the water came down with such a force that we could not cross with our bicycles! We had to get on the roofs of trucks and mini-buses with our bicycles to cross the powerful rivers that formed! The first day of our Inca trail was absolutely action packed!

End of the tar.. Start of the race

Crossing "rivers" with our bicycles

The first night we slept in a town in the mountains called Santa Maria. You could hear the mighty rivers flowing past the town. We started our hiking trail, walking through large Cocoa plantations and crossing long suspended bridges which you could easily bounce up and down, shaking everyone crossing them! The other fun way of crossing the river was in a basket that runs on a pulley, and you have to pull yourself across with the ropes.

Cocoa plantation

Crossing suspended bridges

"Amazon Cable car"

We went up into the mountains, following a narrow footpath to places seen only in the movies. Green mountains with majestic lookout points of valleys stretching as far as the eye can see, or to the next bend. Its places like these that make you feel really small. Especially when you get to a point where landslides took away parts of your footpath!

Our view from the mountian

On the cliffs of the Inca Mountains

Landslide left us without a footpath

The pit-stops were small camouflaged buildings with only a roof. Here we each received cold drinks and snacks and if you wanted any more Cocoa leaves.. I still don't know what the black tar is that you chew with the leaves, but if you take a too big piece, it burns your mouth like biting though a mouth full of chillies! At one of these pit-stops there was a beaver waiting anxiously for the last bit of everyone's cold drinks, as if it knew for certain it was its fair share for waiting out here. After refreshments we had sports as the group had to dress in the colours of the Inca people.

Pablo amused with the thirsty beaver

Dressed in Inca Colours with friends from Netherlands

Lunch with Inca tour group

 The two day Inca trail ended with a swim at the hot springs! It was one of the most memorable swims with steaming hot water coming out of the ground, cooled by a waterfall from the mountains. We then made our way to Machu Picchu town and spent the day relaxing in small restaurants overlooking the floodwater's coming down from the mountain. Four days after we left Machu Picchu Town, it was inundated by flood waters of the Urubamba River and the people were evacuated with helicopters.

Machu Picchu Town

 The next morning my friend Ruben and I started to climb at 3h, for the gates open at 6h and we wanted to be the first at the famous Machu Picchu temple ruins on the mountain. The prize? Sunrise on Machu Picchu and we could take pictures without any people in them! Only 400 people a day are allowed to enter this marvelous ancient site. Buses leave by 6h, but then there is already a cue of the early climbing enthusiasts, and you have to hope you get in!

Winding path for buses to Machu Picchu Temple

Climbing at 3h with Australian friend Ruben Ares to Mach Picchu 

Waiting at the gate of Machu Picchu at 6h

Machu Picchu, which means "Old Peak", was built around AD1400 and this Inca site is located 2431m above sea level. Machu Picchu was built with polished dry-stone walls for the Inca emperor Pachacuti (1438–1472) and is often referred to as the "Lost City of the Incas, perhaps the most famous icon of the Inca World. The Spanish Conquest killed the emperor, even after he negotiated for peace with riches above our minds! Rooms full of Gold and Silver could not stop them from wiping out the "savages". Machu Picchu was only brought under International attention in 1911 and restoration continues to this day.

Wayna Picchu is the stone that rises 360m higher than Machu Picchu. The Incas made a trail leading up the side of Wayna Picchu and built temples and terraces on strategic look-out points. According to archeologists, this is where the high priest stayed and he came down to Machu Picchu every day to signal the new day!

The famous Machu Picchu temple

Lamas at Machu Picchu Temple

Wayna Picchu, towering above
the ruins of Machu Picchu

Temple of the Moon is one of three large temples in Machu Picchu area and is situated on a level lower than Mucho Picchu, while the other major temples called Temple of the Condor and Temple of the Sun are inside Mucho Picchu itself. You climb down the back of Wayna Picchu with slippery steps, steel cables and wooden ladders and it's one of the most beautiful climbs in lush forest with beautiful coloured birds and butterflies! Here you also find another sacred temple with fine masonry, called the Great Cavern. When you reach the bottom and you see the green ruins, it feels like you just discovered a lost city! Definitely worth the sweat! 

The climb to Moon Temple

Ruins of Moon Temple

Moon Temple Ruins

The next day we spent some time with our Inca Trail friends and in the afternoon I started to look for a lift into the Amazon..

Argentinian "amigos" the day after the Inca trail

Ruben and 2 American friends after Inca Trail

I found a bus to Port Maldonado. It reminded me of the famous Chicken buses in Africa. The bus is overloaded inside and on top! It's an uncomfortable 16 hour drive, but it has character! I could not help myself laughing when I saw people sitting with heaps of everything from bags of shoes to chickens on their laps. They have quite a good "drive-through". It is quite customary in Peru for "entertainers" and salespeople to get on the bus. They stop at a small town and pick up "entertainers" that sing and dance for a fee and sellers with  funny looking pieces of fruit to large home made breads and then drop them at the next stop. This gives them enough time to walk to the back of the bus and back and then get on the next bus back to the previous town.

While I was looking out the window, I saw a river coming from the right and I know there is a cliff on the left. I could not believe it when the bus driver hit the river and go so deep that the wheels go under the water, the bus made a cranking sound and shifted left! My nerves were shot, I was sure we are going to be pushed off the cliff! Now I know why they overload the bus -to prevent us from falling down the waterfall!

Bus to Port Maldonado

Bus stops regularly to pick up people that sell food

Live Gloriously in the NOW. The looking back on a life not fully lived is worse than standing at the beginning feeling you have no way to beat the giants of tomorrow. We all have giants.. We all have fears.. But don't waste your days on a giant that may never come. The past is a much bigger giant, one you will unavoidably face, every day. The only way to prepare for tomorrow is to finish today well.. Being paralyzed by indecision is worse that making the wrong decision. At least you learn from mistakes, where you lose time and confidence by standing still!!