Getting off the gringo trail in Peru

Peru, land of the iconic Macchu Picchu, the mysterious Nazca lines, beautiful beaches, Lima and Lake Titicaca. I travelled to all of these places this month and had a great time. But, I have to say, my favorite place in Peru was the Chachapoyas region. Underappreciated, for sure. When I was in Southern Ecuador, I met a Peruano who had travelled extensively both in Peru and other countries. He had just spent 2 weeks in Chachapoyas and raved and raved. So - myself and 2 American friends decided we had to go. We spent almost a whole day figuring out how we could do the trip on our own - walk for part, catch a bus or collectivo for part, etc. In the end, we decided it was far easier to go with the tour and it saved us probably 2 days waiting for transport, etc. One of the main reasons Chachapoyas is so great is that there really are very few tourists there. It is quite the contrast to, Macchu Picchu, for example. The town itself is a lovely, quiet colonial town, with views of the surrounding mountains. We set off from Chachapoyas early in the morning and drove to see the Sarcophagi built high up into the mountainside. The Chachapoyas people date back to pre-Incan times and had their own very developed culture. They actually helped the conquistadors in their fight against the Incas. This area hasn't had the money for restoration poured into it like other parts of Peru, for example - so there are hundreds of ruins, houses, etc hidden under the overgrown forest. After the Sarcophagi we drove to see the Valley of Belen. Such a pristine valley with this perfect river running through it.
From here we started our trek. Gorgeous scenery throughout and never saw another sole. It was the three of us and a French couple. The French were having a tough time with the hike and we ended up waiting for them quite a bit. Thankfully our guide, Augusto, was quite the character. He spoke 6 or maybe 7 languages and entertained us teaching us words in Spanish. We continued to stop along the way to look at Chachapoyas ruins hidden in the forest. Arrived at the first town - Congon and stayed the night there. Most of these towns along our trek, by the way, can only be reached by foot or horse/mule! Not many roads in Chachapoyas. We stayed with a family, whose house seemed to function as the town center - people were constantly coming and going, stopping by for food, etc. The owners of the house had us sit in the kitchen while they prepared the dinner. So - imagine this, here we are sitting at the table to one side,
next to us is the senora cooking and then beyond her is the area where the cuy live. Cuy means guinea pig, which are really not pets in most parts of South America, they are food. I haven't been able to bring myself to try them yet... buy here they were in their little cozy home waiting to be killed and eaten at some point. They apparently like warm, dark places - like next to the fire!

Set off the next day and found out that we are going to be spending almost the entire day (10 hours?) on horseback. We had 3 horses for the 2 of us, so we got to alternate. Thank goodness. I didn't realize how difficult riding a horse was. I was on the "horse" most of the day, instead of the mule and apparently horses are more stubborn. This animal did not listen to me at all - despite hitting it with a switch all day long, which I hated to do!

:( Frustrating. The 3 of us did far better than the French couple, however, who continued to have problems. Knowing I was a doctor, they had lots of questions for me - first they thought it was the malaria tablets, then the food, then something else. I really didn't think there was anything wrong with them and it's not easy to tell someone they are just out of shape!
Anyway... the scenery continued to be beautiful throughout - had a lovely lunch at a house perched on top of the mountain with a 360 vista (here I am in their garden), continued through cloud forest and we finally arrived in the next town, Chactamal.
Left the next morning for Keulap - the biggest remaining ruin of the Chachapoyas people - a large city and fortress built up high on a hill. Spent the day wandering around there. Definitely not as well preserved as Macchu Picchu, but there is something very cool about finding ruins in their more natural state - like you just discovered them.

The Highs and Lows of Travelling

Ah, yes, the highs and lows of travelling. Perhaps that's why we enjoy travelling so much... Life is so easy most of the time. Days are filled with decisions like... should I read my book for a while or go for a beer and watch the sunset? Get up early for a hike or stay out on the town salsa dancing? The most stressful thing is usually being a little sleepy from the night bus and stumbling into the daylight in a new town to look for your new hostel. Yet you live for the moment so intensely because there is always the possibility looming that you will be chained to a toilet with the ´both ends disease´, or held at gun point when robbers board your night bus, or have an accident trying one of the various ´adventure sports´, like ´bike the world's most dangerous road´! (no waivers to sign here!) or, my personal favorite: die in a horrible bus crash as our oh so safe drivers overtake on blind curves. None of these things have happened to me so far, thank goodness. I am happy and healthy and thoroughly enjoying myself. I did, however, have my entire backpack stolen from underneath the bus I was on. Quite upsetting at the time. Anyone who knows all my trip planning details knows that I was kind of an anal packer. Determined to be the perfect ´light-packer´ I really did do quite well in my preparation. Too well, in fact. It was perfect. I had read lots of internet lists and blogs about how to be the perfect light packer - everything essential and nothing extra. The pants I had were the perfect pants - you could trek in them, yet wear them out on the town; the jacket the perfect jacket - warm, yet light and condensable. I almost had to laugh - Oh, Allison, you did so well! And all for naught! For the first couple of days all I did was think of all the items that couldn't be replaced... my Galapagos pictures and the back-ups, my lovely journal given by friends in Seattle with sweet messages written in it, the 2 bags of coffee I bought in Columbia from the coffee plantation I stayed on... Alas. It's just stuff. It was a good learning experience for me in a lot of ways. Definitely forces you to be more flexible. And not to be too attached to material things. The first two weeks I only bought things as I needed them. Bikini and flip flops when at the beach, trekking pants when I was in the mountains. I travelled with only a plastic bag at first and then upgraded to a small duffel bag. What was amazing was that the people at the bus station who usually hound you trying to get you on their bus ´Quito, Quito, Quito¨... didn't bother me at all!What is a backpacker without her backpack?

So, these are the before and after pictures. Here is me pre-theft, relaxing in Baños, exited to be on my own for the first time really since my trip started. This is the view off my back porch overlooking the garden and the waterfall. I had just had a massage and was looking forward to a nice dinner.

And here is me shortly after with the new reward sign I made, with help from my Aussie friend Andrew. (For you spanish speakers, yes, I know there is a typo which I painstaking went around fixing on all the signs :)

After Baños I headed to Vilcabamba for more R and R and stayed at the lovely Ichzcaluma hostel. A resort with dorm rooms for backpackers. Here is the view from the restaurant. Had another massage, and facial and Reiki! And went on a beautiful hike in the great rolling hills with some new American friends, followed by a lovely Thanksgiving dinner. Ahh... things are looking up again!

Iglesias Locas

I definitely needed to write a blog post about churches as I saw 3 crazy ones back to back. Wild. The first one was near Bogota, Colombia in Zapiquira and was completely underground, inside a salt mine. It was originally built by the salt miners in the 1950s, but this structure became too unstable and dangerous. They then had a competition for architects to design the new one - which was constructed in the 1990s. The pictures don´t even do it justice. The structure and scale is massive. There is the main section of the church - with pews and the massive cross at the front. Then, along the path to the main section are the stations of the cross, each with their own cross. Smaller, but still not so small as you can see by me standing in front of this one... and they are all carved out of the salt of the mine.
The second church was near Impiales, Colombia, close to the border of Ecuador. This church was built into the side of a ravine. Again, I don´t think the pictures do it justice - but it is a unique place for sure. And, finally, the cathedral in Baños, Ecuador. Baños is located within lava-spewing distance from the volcano Tungurahua, and I think this gives the people an interesting perspective on life. They seem to be quite religious and pray to El Virgen de Aguas Santas, Our Lady of the Holy Waters. (There are thermal hot springs there.) The church has these paintings covering the walls and they all depict, in graphic details, various disasters or injuries for which they prayed to El Virgen de Aguas Santas and miracles happened! For example here we see a guy who fell off a cliff, with his horse, into the river and survived!
Various volcano eruptions, people falling from heights, getting smashed by trees... you name it, the Virgen saved them!