Condor, Puma, Snake

Cusco from the ruins of Saqsaywayman

Monday, October 20, 2008

Yesterday we left Cusco and the Sacred Valley after an awesome week of trekking and Inca ruins. The net result, a new version of ro sham bo called Condor, Puma, Snake. I will show you the hand signals when I get home, but here is an interpretation of them by mis amigos borachos.

The Inca´s believed in three worlds, the upper world represented by the Condor, the physical world represented by the Puma and the underworld represented by the snake. Cusco´s shape, when viewed from above, resembles a Puma, with the sacred Inca site of Saqsaywaman just outside of town as the Puma´s head. Here we began our trek, ambling about the terraces, crawling through dark tunnels and then heading out of the Cusco area to the very small village of Quisharani to set up camp for Day 2 when the real climbing began.

The crew that kept us trekking Quisharani Market set up for the gringos

After the morning ruins, lunch in a market town and a several hour bus ride our group of 15 met the 13 locals (3 guides and a slew of mule captains and cooks) who would get us through the next 3 days of trekking.

Our tents were set up for us in the school yard where we would camp for the night. After a yummy dinner, we were treated to Quecha lessons before retiring to card games around the a table in a room that is normally a classroom for children of all ages from around the small agricultural community.

Our wake up call the next moring was a cup of coca tea coca tea and a steaming bowl of bathing water delivered to out tents. By 8 AM, we set off on Day 2, the first real day of trekking in the Urumbamba Range of the Lares Valley. The first three and a half hours were straight uphill, starting at about 3,600 meeters and ascending to the Huillquicasa Pass at 4,400 meters.

The trail wound through alpaca and and sheep country with stunning views of neighboring glacier covered peaks. After the summit, we had a lunch of warm soup and sandwhich fixings in a tent that our crew set up (the aclimatized mule train and sandal clad drivers move much faster than our group of gringos), we headed downhill for another couple of hours to arrive in yet another Andean village, Cuncani. Once again, our crew had beat us to the site and our little red tents were waiting for us.

Approach to Cuncani

We spent a few hours in the afternoon on a community project, building the foundation of a new wall to go around the school yard. Dragoman, in conjunction with the local trekking agency, have been working with this community for four years to build the school facilities and help provide for a teach and school supplies. Our work consisted of filling a trench that was about 30 feet long, 1.5 feet wide and 2 feet deep with boulders, little filler rocks and eventually dirt. This foundation will prevent the wall from being washed away by the adjacent river when the water swells. After the fence building, a few of us played a little soccer in the school yard with our head mule driver, guides and locals. 4 v. 4 in high altitude is, well, exhausting!

We woke up at 5 AM to begin our climb at 6:30 on Day 3. Yes, I got up at 5 AM....don´t fall out of your chair. When I heard the rain on my tent during the night, I should have offered some coca leaves to the Pachamama...but I didn´t. I woke up that morning with my first dodgy stomach but thought I would be ok for the climb. We set out, not straight uphill this time, but on a continuous climb through the mist toward the 4,800 M Pumahuanca Pass. We broke into 3 groups and I fell with my friend Sally and some others into the 3rd group due to my stomach troubles. We walked for the first 2 hours through a persistent mist. One of our fellow trekkers, an older woman, was tiring a bit, so she took a ride on the horse that was bringing up the rear for such purposes. Soon, however, the mist turned to spit, which turned to hail, which turned to snow. So, we spent three plus hours climbing rocky paths toward the summit in a cold, windy, driving snow. Now, we were prepared with waterproof jackets, boots and hats, though I could have used some waterproof gloves, so the climb was ok. However, some of my fellow trekkers forgot to eat and drink along the way and so we had a few bonks along the way. The husband of the older woman, actually bonked pretty hard, struggling with the climb, the altitude, the lack of rest and the inclimate weather. The guide was young and his solution was to press on to the summit as quickly as possible, so we kind of took matters into our own hands and made our friend drink some rehydration fluids and rest a little. Needless to say, we made the summit in a near white out, followed shortly by the pack of llamas who were carrying our tents and rollmats. So, upon just finishing a five hour climb to a 4,800 M pass in the snow, we had to step aside on the icy trail and let the llamas pass. They weren´t very happy either! I wish I had a photo, but we were all cold, tired and worried about ruining our cameras!

Within two hours of the summit, we had descended back down into a valley that was actually quite tropical with all sorts of cactus, vegetation and trees bordering the river. We were originally supposed to bush camp on the third night but had come further than expected, so once again we set up camp on the soccer pitch of a small agricutural community.

This community was even smaller and more rural, a collection of a few houses with sheep far outnumbering people. I even saw a heard of at least 10 guinea pigs, a local delicacy, scrambling through the stone enclosed yard of the nearest home.

A little morning football before the home stretch!

On Day 4, we had a short 3 hour hike following the river through the lush oasis like canyon where we met our bus to Ollantaytambo, which is a quaint Inca pueblo that has been continuously inhabited since the 13th centry and sits at the foot of the ruins of an impressive Inca fortress with the same name.

We spent the afternoon touring the fortress which was a great build up to our Machu Picchu visit planned for the next day, Friday. When we arrived in Ollantaytambo, we were all dying for a shower after four days of whore baths, but alas, apparently, they having rolling brown-outs in Peru too! No electricity meant no water pump, so I waited until after exploring the ruins before dinner for what was one of the most glorious hot showers of my life!

At Ollantaytambo pre-shower

For many in our group, Day 5 and the visit to Machu Picchu would be the highlight of the trip. The lost city sits atop a mountain in a cloud forest and from the air has the shape of a condor. The Rio Urumbamba river valley leads from Cusco to Macchu Picchu, representing a snake. In spite of sharing the grounds with close to 2000 other tourists, Machu Picchu was quite impressive. The citadel was inhabited for less than 50 years before being abandonded, most likely as part of the Inca attempt at evading the Spanish conquests. We returned to Cusco that evening and went out for a nice dinner and some dancing to celebrate the completion of our trek!

Afternoon light on Machu Picchu