Machu Picchu

I thought I was to be picked up at 4am but they changed that to 3am! not quite what I had in mind but so be it.
It is a long bumpy minibus ride to the railway station at Ollantaytambo where you get your train. There wasn't a lot of chat along the way. One guy managed to snore the whole way there. It wasn't the snoring that annoyed me as much as his ability to sleep through the rough ride.whilst the rest of us bounced and lurched around.

The station was unsurprisingly quiet at that time in the morning. There was a train waiting, its big diesel engine ticking over with a deep throaty gurgle. I tried to get on this virtually empty train but was told I had to wait for mine which was an hour wait. Why? I don't know as there are no stops to pick up passengers along the way. It was cold at that time in the morning and the cafe didn't open for another 30 minutes.

I tried to take some pictures as we headed down the valley towards  Agua Calientes (the town at the bottom of Machu Picchu (MP from here on). But they were rubbish, partly because the track is so bumpy, it feels like the train has square wheels.

You do stop twice, to drop off the Hikers - there is a 4 day & a 1 day hike. both must be pretty tough and as I am not a hiker I had no intention of doing those!

At Agua C you are met by tour guides and taken straight to more buses. These whisk you straight up the mountain to the entrance to MP. At the entrance to MP is an hotel called the Sanctuary, I believe it is $1,000 a night according to my tour guide. I didn't stay there!

2 Americans, 2 from Hong Kong and I were ushered towards a larger group with an English speaking guide. A few steep flights of stone steps and you are there!

The scale of the place is the most surprising thing, the number of buildings and the extent of the terracing are incredible given the amount of time, labour and effort it must have taken to work the mountain in to these features.
To climb the high peak you have to book and unfortunately it was fully booked for weeks ni advance. It takes about an hour to climb to the top (where the priests used to do their astrology) and apparently they have about 6 deaths per year on the trek up, so I wasn't too disappointed to miss it!

You could take 1000 pictures (Wilks probably did) but I will leave you with just a few. I am sure you can find far better ones on the Interweb.

The Inca only lasted about 400 years as the dominant tribe and MP lays at the centre of their known world and controlled the other tribes with is vantage point. An American Hiram Bingham is credited with opening MP to the wider world in 1911. He is also discredited with exporting 40,000 artefact's (which the Peruvians would like back).

There is a lot of symbolism the "green mounds" you see represent the head and partly folded wings of a Condor (MP is also known as  Condor City). They then laid out the town to represent the rest of the body. You can see it from an aerial view picture. Some of the buildings are set out to form a crocodile which you can see to the right in this picture (tail nearest the camera)

 In the rock face is the image of a Puma (you can just make it out but perhaps not from this picture)

As you climb higher you get even better views of the extent of the site. The terraces were carved out of the mountainside and then sand and earth was carried up from the valley! An incredible feat with just man and llamas (a llama will not carry more than 30 kilos). i was wrong about them having the same tools as the Easter Island Chaps - these guys did have bronze tools.

After about 2 hours the tour is over and you are left to wander around as you want to. Once done you catch a bus back down to the village below.

Agua Calientes has about as many restaurants & gift shops as it is possible to cram in to such a small space. It still manages to have some charm about it.

I stayed on night there rather than get back to Cuzco late and tired and I am glad I did.although there was no hot water at the hotel, this seemed rather ironic for a town called Agua Calientes.

The train really does thread its way right into town, the only town i know where the main road is a railroad. On the journey back we got an "inflight" meal and a fashion show by the train staff, modelling alpaca jumpers, shawls and the like. They seemed to do a roaring trade too. How long before Branson introduces that on his flights! May be worth watching!

It was a tremendous place to visit and despite the overt tourism it is somewhere well worth visiting if you are ever in the area. Oh and by the way, it is not wheelchair friendly!

Cusco, Cuzco, Qusqu - there is no offical spelling

The road from Puno to Cuzco is not one of the most exciting of rides, certainly for the first half. It is flat plains with the small farming enterprises. You do eventually come to a valley and this goes on for several hundred kilometres. It almost has an Alpine feel to it and the smell from the Eucalyptus trees is very refreshing.

The road follows this train line all the way to Cuzco. The train then continues on to Machu Picchu. I believe there are 4 luxury trains per week that use it to get punters along the tourist sights.

It is easy to forget that you are still at nearly 4,000 meters.

The outskirts of Cusco , as with other towns is not what dreams are made of but once you get to the old part of town all the hype begins to make sense. I had booked an hotel on line, in the old part of town and had drawn a rough map to be able to find it (no Sat Nav you see). I was somewhat surprised when i saw the road I had to go up!

It starts steep and get steeper! remember that photographs "flatten" slopes. I was sceptical that this was the right road but as I was already on it there wasn't much option other than to continue (I walked back and took this picture later). I gunned it up the hill scattering hikers as I went.I got to a small plateau (about the length of a car) and stopped. The way forwards didn't look promising. There was a European Student selling bracelets (yes there is a lot of them in south America). He told me that the Hotel was indeed further up the hill but as it turns in to steps you can't get there on your bike! I wasn't best pleased and thought my only option is to find an alternative.

I did a U turn very gingerly and looked back down the black run. I didn't fancy it much. There was a narrow road to the right which didn't look so bad so I went down that.

It was going quite well until someone stopped me and said it was not for traffic and there were police at the bottom! Again, the slope was so narrow and steep I couldn't do a U turn, I was pretty hacked off so thought "Sod it".

I came out on the main Plaza De Armas through the arch behind the police car! This is another picture that I took after the event AND as luck would have it the police weren't parked there when I came down!

I then had to ride across the square to get back on the road. I deserved the few funny looks I got!
Having done a lap of honour round the square trying to work out where to go, I was flagged down by a tour tout who had worked out my predicament with incredible speed and accuracy. He pointed to to an Hotel (which turned out to be a Hostel) round the corner & yes they had on site parking for my bike.
I was hot and bothered by now so was prepared to look at anything.

I was ushered through the main front glass doors on my bike (which is becoming a habit) and parked in the courtyard.one block from the centre of town. This will do nicely! Well, apart from no heating and no hot water.

There must have been an incredible amount of wealth here in the days of the Spanish as the size and quality of the buildings, not to say the number of Churches are impressive. Our old friend Pizzaro was here and decided to destroy most of the Inca buildings, although they did often use the foundations on which to build their catholic churches. God must be an Inca as when they have had earthquakes the Churches fell down but the Inca walls remained unharmed, brings a smile to my face to think of it.

Given the size of the blocks it shouldn't come as a surprise (these are 2m thick). The blond lady gives a perspective & makes a photograph of stonewalls slightly more interesting. There are several patterns worked in to the walls; Puma's (always popular with the Inca's and Serpents.This one below shows the front half of the Puma.. It is there but not easy to work out from the photo

One last picture of walls. This is a special 12 cornered stone. It is thought to symbolise the 12 regions, perhaps it was just the mason having a laugh.

These were being built at not a dissimilar time to those in Easter Island and the skill of cutting straight lines seems about the same.

The town centre itself is very well groomed and with 2 million good reasons - tourists. All the trappings are here, a McDonalds, just for smelly an Oirish bar (there are two that I have seen) and the "famous" Norton Rat Bar - full of pictures of Norton & Vincent Motorcycles. I believe it is a principle of theirs to never serve Pisco Sours!

I have booked myself a trip to Machu Picchu which requires getting up at 4 am, a train journey and another bus up to the site - I am not doing the 4 day hike thank you very much!

One last thing, as I am 400 meters lower than I have been used to recently, I celebrated with a beer at Norton Rats. Cheers

Floating Reed Islands of the Uros

The main reason for staying at Puno is to be able to visit the floating Islands of the Uros Indians. The Uros Indians made this their home prior to the Inca's so have been here for quite while!

I did the dishonourable thing and joined a tour, being picked up from the hotel and delivered to the port in Puno. There are lots of rather sad looking boats ready to take you, with your English speaking guide and an assortment of nationalities, quite a few Peruvians.It is not long after leaving the jetty that you start to sail through the reeds.

 You sail through a channel, which I assume is kept clear for the tourist boats.

Quite quickly you see the islands and the buildings. I wasn't expecting anything like the scale of the place but there are about 40 islands with about 10 families on each. The Islands only have 2 days of tourists per week, which is shared between the north & the south islands in rotation.

Basically the islands are made of reeds that are cut and piled layer upon layer on top of the matted roots to a thickness of about 2 meters. The water they float on , is about 12 meters deep and they are anchored to the lake floor with large wooden stakes (to stop them moving to Bolivia as they don't have passports).

This was all explained after we moored up against one of the islands by our host. It is all very touristy but they are keen to point out that 70% of them live on the islands and only the kids of College age prefer to live on dry land.

The reeds at the bottom of the islands rot quickly, so new reeds have to be added constantly, daily in the rainy season. If you scrape away a few inches of reeds with your foot you end up standing on soggy reeds. The islands last about thirty years before they start a new one. It is spongy to walk on and sometimes you can find a bit that needs some more reeds.

Whilst the main man was giving us the lecture, the wives would sit and sew. Once the lecture was over, we were each adopted by a family and shown their homes, then of course the offer to purchase some of their handiwork. Lovely as it is, I would need a truck, not a bike, if I bought something every time. I am very happy to put money in their hands so left them with a tip. Food is plentiful (as you can see by their waistlines) - fish, ducks, duck eggs, the white bit of the reeds and pigs! All cooked with fires placed on stones. To relieve themselves, 'outhouse' islands are near the main islands. The ground root absorbs the waste although you do get a waft of something organic.

As you leave the women line up to sing "goodbye" in two Indian languages; Aymara, Quechua and Spanish. It was great to visit this extraordinary village and I hope it isn't lost in the fullness of time.

Oh, it is pronounced Tee Tee Cah Cah  and means "Grey Mountain Cat" or something along those lines.

Titicaca - sounds like a Carry On film.

To get out of La Paz I used the same trick of following a Taxi driver. The traffic is pretty manic and for the first time I understood the comment that "traffic lights are only  a suggestion".

We had to drive back out through El Alto, not the most attractive urban sprawl and I was glad to be back in open countryside. There are two ways to get to Peru, one by road the other via Copacabana (no not that one) on the ferry. Wilks had suggested this is the way to go.

The initial views you get of the lake are of the southern end which has many islands and from the road in the hills it gives a nice perspective. It is not a long ride to Tiquina and the ferry.

The ferry as you can see is basic plank of wood or two nailed together. They line up at the "jetty" waiting for paying customers. I was behind one car lined up for the next ferry but he indicated he wanted to wait for another car. I wasn't in a hurry so it was a nice spot to spend a while and drink in the view as well as some water. Then for some reason we were off. The planks and ramps were not ideal for a bike and the gaping holes in the floor didn't do much for confidence either.
It is a short trip across (a bit like the Falmouth Ferry) but very pleasant for all that.

As the bike doesn't have a reverse gear I was grateful that the Captain of the vessel gave me a hand to get the bike off! I would still be there otherwise.

Once you leave the ferry you climb up and out of the small town and are greeted with a fast flowing road. It is the best bit of bike riding road yet. The Ducati would have been a better bet for this little bit of South America. No traffic meant you could take the racing line through the bends, it wasn't quite knee down stuff but it was bloody good fun!

All too soon you arrive at the border. This is the quietest crossing I have used. The only delay was that I got there at 1:30 and customs didn't get back from lunch until 2:00. He didn't waste any time in opening the gate for me and i was out of Bolivia.

The Peruvian side wasn't any more difficult. Immigration had three officials but they must have been discussing their night on the town as the stamps went down in in seconds. I then wandered over to customs. because I am on my bike i have to have an entry docket each time you enter a country & then hand it in when you leave. He was very helpful but was not a whizz on the computer. A new bit of fun - in Peru you not only have to sign the vehicle document, they get you to put your finger in the ink and put your paw print on it too. Before I left I changed my Bolivars for Sols at a lady sitting on an Orange box. I believe Wilks had a similar pleasure some weeks earlier.

 This is typical of the villages you see as you ride along the lakeside.Basic adobe housing, some animals and wheat. It is indistinguishable from Bolivia as is the dress of the ladies.

Puno is quite a big town on the coast and not a particularly attractive one which is a shame given its location. However by luck I had booked an hotel slightly out of town, not a bad view.

But even better, slightly to the left is this: "Yavari"

In 1861, the Peruvian Government ordered two "gunboats" for Lake Titicaca from England. Without a rail link to the lake, all cargo had to be carried by mule. So the ships were built in kit form, with no piece weighing more than 3 ½ cwts, the maximum carrying capacity of a mule. Incredibly it was all hauled by mule up and over the Andes to Puno 3,800 meters above sea level, taking 6 years to complete. They then faced the task of putting the 2,766 pieces together again. It was launched on Christmas day 1870 and was originally powered by dried Llama dung (no I am not making this up). It worked the lake for over 100 years (partly due to the fresh water not being as corrosive as salt) before being put out to grass. It was then rescued by an English lady who managed the renovation to its current state. It runs twice a year apparently. Best of all, for a Yeovil lad, whilst looking at the engine room I saw this;

Travel half way round the world and find an "oil engine" made in my home town. There are quite a few things on this trip that Dad would have loved.

Well, I thought it was interesting, having heard the story in my youth (probably from Dad).

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Top Travel Tip from La Paz

Never pack your favourite shoes next to your washing powder. Yes washing powder not Columbian marching powder (I haven't got there yet).

The good news is that La Paz is full of guys in balaclavas ready to shine your shoes for 5p. I gave them a good wash first (the shoes not the shoe shine boy - although he could have done with it) and they look like new again. I gave the guy 30p and he was pleased as punch.

The road to La Paz is not an interesting one compared to what has gone before so I won't bore you with that. However virtually the whole way from Oruro there is construction work for a major highway.

When you get to the suburbs it gets a bit more exciting. There are precious few sign posts, lots of traffic and you have to clear El Alto before you get to La Paz. It is probably the equivalent of going through Croydon to get in to central London.

I could see this was going to be a headache so I tapped on the window of an empty taxi at some lights, threw him my piece of paper with the hotel address and followed him.

As you leave El Alto you go through a Toll (the tolls for Bikes are free in Bolivia and Argentina but you pay in Chile), the Taxi pulled over and got out.. He waved at me to follow him on to the bank at the side of the road.

El Alto is at 4,500 meters and has 1 million of its own population. La Paz is at 3,600 meters again with 1 million. This is my Taxi driver who enjoyed being a tour rep for the moment.

It really is a "wow" as you look over the edge. Apart from the parks and Astro turf pitches, buildings are crammed in the valley and as far up the sides as possible.

He did a great job of getting me to the hotel and all for the princely sum of £4. It probably took 45 minutes.
Much better than a Sat Nav (which I don't have) and cheaper!

My hotel was a recommendation from Wilks, who stayed here a short while ago. All I can say he must be a bloody big tipper!
I parked the bike in their basement area and was checked in to room 1301. I got in the lift and it only has 12 floors. Si Senor as the porter brought my bags in to the lift.

Out we get at 12 floor and he proceeds up a short winding staircase. Only 2 rooms up here. They have  given me the Penthouse suite!

I haven't quite got the hang of hotels in Bolivia - it has been all or nothing (mostly nothing). This was a very pleasant surprise!

La Paz is much more what I had imagined a South American City to be like. BsAs and Santiago were rather European in comparison. There is a buzz about the place people and traffic (belching out the most God awful smoke from their cheap diesel). Street hawkers everywhere trying to sell you anything from drinks to batteries to stethoscope's weird eh? (I assume it is in reaction to the big medical college here in the middle of town.

There was a sit in demonstration by the country folk as they obviously don't think the government is doing enough for them. Judging by the work on the roads I think they will be able to get their goods to market a lot quicker and easier.

You will notice it is only the women complaining (nothing new there then chaps). To be fair, when you drive through the countryside, it is only the women you see working. It is them with the herds, them collecting firewood and them at the side of the road with the stalls. More often than not done with a kid in the blanket on their backs or suckling at the front!

I am sure the men folk are back at home doing the washing, ironing and getting dinner ready for her when she comes home from a hard day with the Llamas.

I wanted to get my front tyre changed over. This one still looked OK but had done 10,000 miles. Knowing that there was an highly regarded Motorbike place, i decided it was a good time to put the new one on. The ratio of rear to front tyres is running at about 3:1.

Whilst they sorted that out I went for a walk in the area. Unfortunately I forgot to take my camera to this area of town where street after cobbled street is crammed with fruit, vegetables, meat and cheese.  All women and most of them in traditional dress. I am sure they thought "Who is that prat, walking around in motorcycle gear & he hasn't even got a bike?".

Not for the first or last time this trip no doubt.

I did get a bit of culture whilst I was here and not just a yoghurt at breakfast. I went to one of their contemporary art galleries, which was pretty good mostly local artists. Old Che still gets a lot of action here. I especially liked this one. Look closely and you will see it is made from Dominoes.

I thought of donating my Omo encrusted shoes but they had been cleaned by then.

The centrepiece of La Paz and their pride and joy is San Francis's.

It was originally built when Columbus came back for a second time. After 800 years of war against the Muslims (which they had finally got out of Spain), the Catholics wanted a piece of the action so sent some of their chaps over to convert the locals (circa 1540's). The trouble was that another chap called Pizzaro got there first and killed thousands of them off (with only 170 men). He killed their leader (sorry can't remember his name) despite being given 6,000 kgs of solid gold and 11,000 kgs of silver to be left alone.

The original is long gone but in the museum there are still some old remnants from the good old days. Not that you can see them from this picture!

You can go up on the roof and I did think, after my mutterings about the bloody "left footers" that if God was indeed a Catholic then he would have had me fall down the treacherous stone staircase!

I had heard so many tales of Bolivia being a den of cut throats and thieves that I was in two minds whether to even come here.
From my experience the people are very friendly and I have had no sense of dread at any point. The countryside is stunning and I think it would be a shame for people not to visit because of what you may have heard. A shame I can't get one of those bowler hats in my panniers.


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Car wash anyone?

I whizzed down the hill and out of Potosi for another easy run North to Oruro. The Bolivians don't spend a lot of money on sign posts so you do wonder whether you are going the right way half the time. I actually do take notice of where the sun is, just to make sure i am heading in roughly the correct direction.

There is nothing in particular about either Potosi or Oruro other than they are convenient stop overs on the way to La Paz.

The scenery was quite different to that over the last few weeks. At first it was the usual colourful mountains. It seems a bit harsh to dismiss them as "usual" - they are anything but and they never cease to amaze with their vibrant colours.

 Then you run in to a plain with more agriculture than I have seen since southern Chile. It is all smallholdings, lots of Llamas, some sheep, a few cattle and some crops. High in the hills you can see old stone walls. These walls appear to be miles from any settlement, go on forever, must be ancient and, from what I can see, serve little purpose. Shows what I know about farming.

The Llamas would hop over them without any difficulty, perhaps it is just to shelter from the wind. I don't know but the back breaking, lung stretching effort to build them must have been immense.

This is typical of the little hamlets you pass. There is often a car parked nearby so whilst they are not making millions they all seem to be living a decent life. I was expecting much more poverty than I have witnessed.   Funny thing is, even if there is only 10 buildings, they have a football pitch or a Basketball court! Figure that one out - especially as the average height here is about 5 foot nothing.

Further along the plain you ride to the side of the Lake Poopo (gets a laugh every time I am sure). I read that  this was all joined together with Lake Titicaca but over the years the waters have receded to form a string of lakes with the surrounding salt flats. Also started to get full grown trees again, not seen many of those over the last few weeks.

How about this! He drives in to the lake, gets his sponge and bucket out and washes the car! You would never get the "British Latvians" doing it like this.

The road in to Oruro is not a great advert for the town but once you find your way in to the centre it is really quite nice. I had the, now familiar, driving the bike in to the hotel foyer! Some bloody steep steps this time which didn't do the clutch any more favours.

There were still some celebrations going on, not sure what or why these soldiers were dressed in historical gear.

Hot water, heating and I must be getting used to the altitude as I have not had a headache in days. Just a one night stop again as La Paz beckons, where I will take a few days to explore the Capital