Lima, Peru

I´m a little behind with the blog so you have to bear with me.  Not going to  go into too much detail so here goes, on our last night in the Jungle  we had torrential rain and when I say torrential I mean a big mama of a storm, it was like sleeping beside Niagra Falls, the noise of it and with no windows in the lodge you just couldn´t sleep,  it only started at around 11.00pm and woke everybody up, so you know yourself if you wake up during the night you almost always need to visit the bathroom, well and good if it´s a hop out of the bed, turn on the light and away you go but oh no, not in the Jungle, I had to get out from under the mossie net (which was firmly pulled down over the bed), find the lighter, light the candles, make my way to the bathroom where I discovered a frog in the shower ! such drama.

Anyway we left the Jungle and flew back to Cusco where we stayed for one night, went to an Irish bar called ´Paddys Bar´ which is supposed to be the highest 100% Irish owned pub in the world nice enough place and is popular with locals.

Following day I was up at 6.00am, my body clock is all over the place, wouldn´t mind but we didn´t have to leave until 10.00am.

Got a bus and went to an animal shelter where we saw Condors and Macaws ect, it´s run by a family and they rescue any animals that are mistreated or abandoned.  Then it was off to a local community (way up in the mountains), when we arrived this really old woman (she was at least 90 if not more) was at the entrance to meet us and threw flower petals on each of us (to bring us good fortune) all the woman came out (think the men were out working cause we didn´t see any) and showed us how they make the scarfs and blankets from the lama wool ect , there were 3 kids there and I took some photos of them and then showed them it on the camera, well the laughs of them, the little fella kept coming up to me and saying photo photo so I have loads of photos, and when I took a video of them well that just took the biscuit altogether, they were so cute.  The women prepared a small lunch for us which included Guinea Pig so I had my first taste, it´s a bit like chicken only darker and tougher, can´t say I´ll be having it again though.  When it was time to go they all came down to the bus and as we pulled away the little fella started to run after the bus waving like mad, it was so funny.

Next stop was a bar, well not sure if you could call it a bar really, it was a house which had a pole sticking out from the roof and a plastic bag at the end of it which means you can stop by for a quick one, if a basket is hanging at the end of the pole it means they sell bread, strange place !  The drink was made from corn and it was in a huge pot in the corner and as long as you smiled at the woman standing guard beside it you got a drink.  It was actully quite nice.

Arrived at our Hotel in Otalyatambo (spelt wrong) late afternoon, so had quick walk around, dinner and then bed.

Big day today, the start of the Inca Trail, not going to bore you with all the details but it was 2 days of long hard hikes up and  down mountains, I have never done anything so hard in my entire life, day one was tough but day  two was horrific, day three was ok but when I got my first glimpse of Machu Pichu, it was worth all the pain and hard work.  Definitely an experience I will never forget and thank god I had no trouble with altitude sickness or headaches.  The camping was good fun and the food was out of this world, there were 4 of us along with our guide and we had 10 porters (these are the guys that carry all the camping gear, cooking utensils, food ect) you should have seen the food these guys produced each day, you wouldn´t get the likes of it in a good restaurant and they were so nice.  They woke us up at 5.00 each morning with a mug of coco tea and then a bowl of water to wash with, they cheered you when you made it to camp each time, they were unbelievable, great lads to foot the turf if you had them at home !!

Lima, Peru

Headed down toward Milaflores again this morning and walked in the opposite direction along the beach front and cliff top.

Then it was back to the hostel to collect my bags, met up with a girl there who was also heading to downtown Lima so we shared a taxi, what an experience that turned out to be.  Picture a yellow lada type car, a bit smaller actually, only one of the back doors opened and the boot was jammed shut, this is a typical taxi and also you agree a price before you get in as they don´t have any meters !!  Anyway hopped in the back and had to throw my large and heavy backpack over the back seat into the boot and off we set, the driver spoke no english whatsoever and we had very little spanish between us so it was fun trying to explain that I was going to a hotel and she was going to the main plaza, at one stage we were sitting in traffic (3 lanes bumper to bumper) and an ambulance came up behind him with lights flashing, sirens blaring and Senior Driver just sat there and would not budge, none of the cars would but in fairness our fella was in front of him, nobody moved for about 3-4 mins, we were looking back at the Ambulance and the driver was shaking his fist, it was awfull, anyway our lad opened his window (which took some effort) and waved him arm out at the ambulance telling the driver to drive up the wrong side of the road, some more yelling went on and eventually the ambulance took off up the  wrong side but not before shouting a  load of abuse at our fella, god help whoever was in the back of the ambulance.

Got to my Hotel where I´m meeting the rest of the crew and I have a room to myself, yepee, usually you have to share but I won´t complain. 

Met up with our Guide, Hilda and the other couple who are on the tour, John and Lynn from the UK, a really nice couple who are on route to Figi for 4 months to do some voluntary work.  Had a bit of a tour of downtown Lima, visited the two main plazas and the Church of St Francis which was really interesting, normally I´m not one for getting a guided tour around a church but this was different.  Finished off in a hotel bar (as you do) with a Pisco Sour and then got a bus out to Balanco which is the arty district of Lima, a really cool place, would have liked to see it in daylight but time didn´t permit.   Had dinner just off Kennedy Park which was really good, the beef here is nice, not as nice as Argentina but a close second. 

Didn´t sleep very well as my room is overlooking a main thoroughfare so between music, shouting, trucks collecting stuff ! it was well after 4 before it eventually quitened down and then I was up at 6.00am, it´s pretty hectic.

Met up with the TV Crew, 4 in total, Jane the producer, Bevan the main shooter, Ollie the second shooter and editor and Annie, the celeb.  After introductions were made we headed to the Airport for our flight to Puerto Maldonado.  We flew first to Cusco where some people got on and off and then continued on to Puerto Maldonado.  The guys started filming almost straight away and after watching them over the past few days I can tell you I will look at documentaries in a very different way, they need to shoot 2000 mins for a show that will last 45 mins and it takes 5 weeks to edit.  They certainly earn their money.

A bus brought us to the office of the Adventure Company where we packed a bag for 2 nights and we left our main luggage at the office, then it was off again to the port to get our boat, the road to the port was literally a dirt track and because it´s the rainy season here they was plenty of puddles, rather large ones !  Got to the port which is literally where they have cut a few bushes from the side of the road and make some steps down to the river, not exactly what you´d call a port but this is the Jungle and you need to blend in.  The boat journey took about an hour up river, and the river we were on is a tributary of the Amazon.  Got to our destination and then had to walk through forest for about 10 mins before we reached our lodge, it was fab, not what I expected at all.  It´s called the Posado Amazones, it´s constructed totally from wood and there is no electricity !  They have a generator which is used to cook ect and this goes off at 9.00pm on the dot, Kerosene Lamps are dotted around the place also but these too are blown out at 9.00 so all you have then is your torch and 2 candles in the bedroom and it gets pretty dark here.  Again I have a room to myself, double and singel bed, hammock and shower and toilet, there are no windows in any of the rooms, so when you are lying there under your mossie net you are literally looking out into the Jungel.  I was swinging away on the hammock one afternoon watching 3 monkeys playing away in the trees, now you couldn´t ask for anything better than that, total bliss.

They have these other Monkeys called Howler Monkeys and crikey do they howl, the first time I heard them I thought it was a small aeroplane overhead, they are sooo loud.  Myself, John and Lynn have our own guide, Auriel, and the others have a different one as they need to do extra stuff and there are certain things they need to film so rather then holding us up it was decided there would be two guides.

Auriel brought us on a hike to a viewing tower which is 120m high and the view was amazing, we were over the  tree line so you could see all around, you could just about make out the Andes in the distance and we got to see the sunset, various species of birds flying around, there wasn´t a sound except for the animals and birds. 

The food in the lodge is really good and of course there is the bar, myself, John, Lynn and the two camera guys were enjoying a few drinks on the first night when right on cue at 9.00pm all lights went out, so it was an early night for all, mind you I did have to get up at 4.00am the following morning so the torch and candles came in handy, after brekkie we walked through the darkness of the jungle to our boat and  went about 20 mins up river where we disembarked and trekked for another 30 mins to another river.  Saw a tarantula on route, lovely fella !  Got onto a catamaran and went out onto the river where we fished for parana, yes you read right, PARANA and guess what, I caught one, ok he wasn´t exactly huge but you should have seen the razor sharp teeth he had.  The river is full of them and we all caught one, actually John caught two, you should have heard the shouts from us when we did catch them because you can see them coming for the bait and biting but they are so quick that you have to pull the rod from the water really fast, must have gone through a 1lb of meat before i caught the little bugger.  The heat out on the River was unreal and this was only around 7.00am.

Lima, Peru

Well I got here, God the flight was long, ended up sitting beside an old Danish woman who was travelling with her son and daughter in law, but couldn´t get a seat beside them, anyway she spoke no english whatsoever and my Danish is zero but we had a grand chat, amazing what you can understand when you have to.  They were heading onto Cuzco after Lima to visit a young 7 year old boy whom the son has sponsered, he´s in a school there, and the woman is so excited as this is her first time to meet him, she brought loads of clothes for him, anyway after that theu are flying onto Buenos Aries and then over towards Patagonia, fair duce to her cause she was at least 80 if not more, but a lovely woman.

Nearly had heart failure while waiting for my bags to arrive, I must have been one of the last people left at the carosel and no sign of it, I wouldn´t mind but normally I bring a change of clothes and a few bits and pieces in case disaster occurs but of course I only had the clothes I was wearing, thank god it finally appeared, I was never so happy to see a bag in all my life.

Hostel had arranged a taxi for me at the Airport and sure enough there he was with my name on a big board, felt very important !!  Arrived at hostel which is really nice, slept like a baby and now just about to have my breakfast and then hit the streets of Lima.

Had brekkie and tidied up my plate ect, hostel owner Christian told me I was cool, basically he was well impressed that I washed what I used and put them away, seemingly a lot of people just leave them in the sink, so now I´m numero uno here, I´m well in !!  Cool was the only word in english he could come up with !!  Anyway he told me to talk to him before I set out which I duly did and he told me exactly where to go ect, he was so helpful and really nice.  So off I went with Map in hand and walked as far as the beach, I walked along the cliff top for a couple of miles, it was fab, in one part all the surfer dudes were doing their stuff and then further on paragliders were jumping off the side of the cliff, they have a lovely walk along the top with various little parks along the way.  It is so clean here, you wouldn´t see a cigarette butt or piece of paper lying around, they have these fellas all along the route sweeping up leaves that fall from the trees, spotless it is !!

My only vice are the taxi drivers, they constantly blow the horn and literally stop in the middle of the street to ask you if want a lift, driving here is a bit manic, glad I´m on foot.  Had my first Pisco Sour this afternoon, it was nice, I´ll definitely be having a few more.

Back in the Hostel now as the feet were getting tired and sore with all the walking so I´m going to have a little rest and then venture out again later on.