At Last, Choquequirao

The morning after the horseback tour I actually set out on the trek. Naturally, the Australian couple who were allegedly sick, turned out to be an American couple who wasn´t even in Cuzco yet at the time we were originally supposed to go. This was well expected, and therefore not a big deal for me. The trek is considered hard by local standard, but this is mainly due to the fact that most trek around the area are quite easy. It featured a very long downhill descent followed by a very long uphill climb, in order to get to the site, and then backtracking the same path.

I was a bit unsure of how impressive the site will be, after having visited Machu Picchu, but I wasn´t disappointed in the least. Though the site is not completely excavated (yet?), it is very easy to fill in the blanks, and to see that it is HUGE.

This is just a small portion of it:

Some of the site is quite unusual when compared to other Inca ruins, like the big two storey houses, and the images combined in some terraces (other Inca architecture is very "clean"):

And up close:

Another surprise that the agency thought I might enjoy, was the fact that the American couple had planned to do the trek in 5 days, while I was planning on only 4. This meant that the campsite for the 3rd day was kind of far from the finish point, and consequently, I had to start the walking the next day at 4am, and made it to my destination after 6 straight hours of walking half of the downhill and all of the uphill. At least I arrived back in Cuzco quite early.

((I just realised this stupid computer won´t let me space the paragraphs, which explains why the previous post seems quite compressed as well. Maybe I´ll be able to fix it on a different occasion.))

Fun With Horses

Agencies in Peru are notorious for being less than accurate when giving the details of the activity, and I am used to that by now. That is why I found it a little hard to believe when the agency called me the evening before I was supposed to go on the trek, and told me that It´s being postponed by one day, because the Australian couple, whom the agency claimed I was to go on the trek with, are sick. "Well, how do you know they will get better in time for the day after tomorrow?" I naively asked. "Oh, don´t worry they CONFIRMED for the next day.", was the reply.

The next night I went to bed with the sound knowledge that I am to wake up in about 6 hours to go trekking. I was wrong. The night man from reception woke me up at around midnight, and told me I have a phone call from my supposed guide for tomorrow. I answered the phone, and through my veil of sleepiness, and a little bit of drunkenness (every night in Cuzco included beer), I understood that the guide is now sick, and that the trek is postponed by one more day. This time I was offered some compensation in the form of a Sacred Valley tour for the next morning. Having no better option, since it was very hard to find an agency for the trek, I accepted and went back to sleep.

In the morning I was picked up by Some locals in a cab. They explained to me that I have to wait at a certain place while they go get the other 2 girls who are doing the tour. When the two girls arrived, we had to go up a short trail and wait. I asked them what were we waiting for. For some reason the question surprised them, and they said "why, for the horses.". "Horses? What horses?", as it turned out, I was about to embark on one of the most touristic ventures I have ever taken upon myself. The girls spotted my surprise, and asked if I have never ridden a horse before. I reassured them that I had lots of riding experience on the family camel back in Israel. In actuality it turned out to be lots of fun, even though it`s one of those things I would never think of booking for myself.

2 Down, 5 to Go

I finally did it. With Machu Picchu down, I´m 2 out of 7 now.

To get to the site, I set off on a 5 day trek, called "the Salkantay". Salkantay is a sacred mountain, which is visited quite up close on the trek, and is definitely a highlight in my view, even after many other mountain views around Huaraz.

Another highlight of trek, and actually a bigger one at that, was the great group of people I got to meet (Gil, there was a Swedish couple, so we played "Plump" :)):

Their company, and the fact that I had more beer on the that trek than in my entire stay here (damn, I sucked at that drinking game), really made it a great experience.

Finally, Machu Picchu itself, was amazingly cool:

After coming back from the trek (the rest of the pics can be downloaded here), I visited Inca ruins around Cuzco, in a place called Pisac:

I also booked another trek for the next day to Choquequirao, another Inca city, like Machu Picchu, that its excavation and clearing is still a working progress. While there is no real idea as to the function of Machu Picchu, it is thought that Choquequirao was part of the last place of resistance for the Quechua people, led by Manco Inca, against the Spanish conquistadors. Unfortunately things did not go smoothly.

Sticky Powder

That would be the best way to describe sandboarding in snowboarding terms. I don’t have any pics of myself in action, mainly due to the fact that I didn’t want Doron’s camera stuffed full of sand, But in all honesty, it’s not that impressive - like slow snowboarding, without any real ability to turn (it causes to much speed lost).

To get to the dunes you ride a sand buggy - now that’s an adrenaline rush. The driver was a bit overzealous, and if it wasn’t for sand constantly flying into my eyes, I probably would have shut them voluntarily.

Another phenomena that was unique for Ica, in my trip that is, is the fact that I found the fabled Israeli hordes. Half of them were under the influence of the latest developments in DIY chemistry, the other half were just slightly annoying:

(An Israeli couple looking at some sand dunes in complete awe)
Guy: "I’ve never seen anything like this!"
Girl: "Welcome to South America MAMY, Where things you’ve never seen before exist!"

Just goes to show that the whole development of the sandy parts of Rishon was a fatal blow to the potential sandboarding tourism boom in Israel.

To top things off, I was even offered, for the first time ever abroad, drugs in Hebrew ("Yarok O Lavan?").

I left after one day. Destination: Cuzco.