Thursday, July 22, 2004
Inca Kola
We spent about a week in the land of the Incas in the South East of Peru close to Cusco. Although the Incas at the height of their power ruled all of Peru and some of Ecuador, Bolivia and Argentina, the most important city for them was Cusco. And that was where we spent most of our week in the Inca land.
Cusco is a delightfully pretty town with wonderful colonial buildings, carved wooden balconies and pleasant squares to relax in. Unfortuntely it will become the Benidorm of Peru if they are not careful. There are so many tourist touts everywhere that it all gets a bit wearing after a while. That said, we did have a good time there. There is quite a lot to see in Cusco itself with some interesting museums and churches - most of the churches were built on the sites of Inca temples so it is possible to see both the temples and the churches combined.
We had a day trip to the Sacred Valley which was a good opportunity to get further into the heart of the Inca territory and see some of the fascinating sites around Cusco. A lot of sun temples and terracing built by the Incas which was being used by the locals until very recently. The most impressive site was the one nearest Cusco which huge Inca walls built from stones of 130 tonnes in some cases. The stones exactly tesselated in the traditional Inca style and no one knows how they managed to manoevre these vast blocks of stone into place or even how they moved them from where they cust them form the mountains several kilometres away.
Machu Picchu was a must, although being the peak tourist season we were a bit concerned that it would be heaving. The site is fortunately big enough to hold all the tourists and still look pretty empty. We arrived at Machu Picchu pueblo by train (the Inca trail was all sold out and we were really not too fussed about more trekkign at this stage in the trip!). The train trip is pretty good anyway and you can see quite a few of the Inca sites from the comfort of the train seat. On the first day we walked up the mountain opposit Machu Picchu for a first glimpse of the site. Wow! You could not dream of a more perfect "lost city" location for a site. It is perched between 3 peaks and stands surrounded by cloudforest covered mountains in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Beautifully coloured humming birds flutter past and we were lucky enough to see a snake en route to the mountain peak. The following morning we got up early for the visit to the site itself and saw the first sun beams striking the site which was truly memorable. The whole morning was spent exploring the ruins which have been fairly extensively reconstructed, but it does give you more of an idea of how things would have looked even if it is slightly odd to visit such a well manicured site. The grass would make the Wimbledon lawnkeeper feel envious...so all a bit artificial and manufactured, but nonetheless impressive.
The weather has been great. Blue skies and sun every day for the last 2 weeks but very cold at night given the altitude. Looking forward to getting out of several fleece layers, big socks, hat and gloves. Although given most of Bolivia is at altitude too I am not sure when this will happen. I look like a Michelin women most of the time.
It has been interesting to talk to the locals in Ecuador and Peru and to get a strong sense from them that the indiginous ways are starting to prevail in their culture, particularly in the Andean region. They have gone through the period of being conquered and their original religion crushed and their traditions lost in part, but they now seen very keen to re-establish the traditions and a lot of the old religious days are celebrated. They are trying to keep the Inca language alive too, but it is difficult when it is not taught at school, only in the family. Some of the younger generation cannot speak Quechua that well. It will be interesting to see how this feeling develops. Already it is feeding through into the higher levels of society with some prominent politicians and even the president of Peru coming from indiginous roots which is still a bit of a novelty for South America.
PS. Inca Kola is the Peruvian brand of Cola...it tastes of bubblegum, smells of play dough and is radioactive yellow. It's delicious! and hugely popular. Peru is the only country whose own brand Cola outsells Coca Cola so despite there being Coca Cola banners in the most remote parts of Peru, Inca Kola still wins.
Cusco is a delightfully pretty town with wonderful colonial buildings, carved wooden balconies and pleasant squares to relax in. Unfortuntely it will become the Benidorm of Peru if they are not careful. There are so many tourist touts everywhere that it all gets a bit wearing after a while. That said, we did have a good time there. There is quite a lot to see in Cusco itself with some interesting museums and churches - most of the churches were built on the sites of Inca temples so it is possible to see both the temples and the churches combined.
We had a day trip to the Sacred Valley which was a good opportunity to get further into the heart of the Inca territory and see some of the fascinating sites around Cusco. A lot of sun temples and terracing built by the Incas which was being used by the locals until very recently. The most impressive site was the one nearest Cusco which huge Inca walls built from stones of 130 tonnes in some cases. The stones exactly tesselated in the traditional Inca style and no one knows how they managed to manoevre these vast blocks of stone into place or even how they moved them from where they cust them form the mountains several kilometres away.
Machu Picchu was a must, although being the peak tourist season we were a bit concerned that it would be heaving. The site is fortunately big enough to hold all the tourists and still look pretty empty. We arrived at Machu Picchu pueblo by train (the Inca trail was all sold out and we were really not too fussed about more trekkign at this stage in the trip!). The train trip is pretty good anyway and you can see quite a few of the Inca sites from the comfort of the train seat. On the first day we walked up the mountain opposit Machu Picchu for a first glimpse of the site. Wow! You could not dream of a more perfect "lost city" location for a site. It is perched between 3 peaks and stands surrounded by cloudforest covered mountains in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Beautifully coloured humming birds flutter past and we were lucky enough to see a snake en route to the mountain peak. The following morning we got up early for the visit to the site itself and saw the first sun beams striking the site which was truly memorable. The whole morning was spent exploring the ruins which have been fairly extensively reconstructed, but it does give you more of an idea of how things would have looked even if it is slightly odd to visit such a well manicured site. The grass would make the Wimbledon lawnkeeper feel envious...so all a bit artificial and manufactured, but nonetheless impressive.
The weather has been great. Blue skies and sun every day for the last 2 weeks but very cold at night given the altitude. Looking forward to getting out of several fleece layers, big socks, hat and gloves. Although given most of Bolivia is at altitude too I am not sure when this will happen. I look like a Michelin women most of the time.
It has been interesting to talk to the locals in Ecuador and Peru and to get a strong sense from them that the indiginous ways are starting to prevail in their culture, particularly in the Andean region. They have gone through the period of being conquered and their original religion crushed and their traditions lost in part, but they now seen very keen to re-establish the traditions and a lot of the old religious days are celebrated. They are trying to keep the Inca language alive too, but it is difficult when it is not taught at school, only in the family. Some of the younger generation cannot speak Quechua that well. It will be interesting to see how this feeling develops. Already it is feeding through into the higher levels of society with some prominent politicians and even the president of Peru coming from indiginous roots which is still a bit of a novelty for South America.
PS. Inca Kola is the Peruvian brand of Cola...it tastes of bubblegum, smells of play dough and is radioactive yellow. It's delicious! and hugely popular. Peru is the only country whose own brand Cola outsells Coca Cola so despite there being Coca Cola banners in the most remote parts of Peru, Inca Kola still wins.
Wednesday, July 14, 2004
The North, the South and Lima.
Some of this happened before the exciting incident in the Andes, some after.
Northern Peru lived up to its billing of the Egypt of South America with some superb ruins from pre-Colombian to Inca times. We started in Chiclayo on 21 June (about 5 hours south of the Ecuadorian border). There are several big sites around Chiclayo.
Sipan - a Moche culture site built between 200 BC and 700 AD - is one of the few places that hasn´t been touched by grave robbers and there are some amazing recreations of the graves at the site. The real artefacts that were found at the site are exhibited in a local museum and are incredibly impressive in terms of size of the exhibition and quality of the artefacts - the earrings they have found put Pat Butcher´s to shame!
Tucume (another site) was inhabited and built by the Lambayeque people who were top dogs in the area form 750 AD to around 1200 AD and consists of a vast area devoted to temples, pyramids and various platforms for worshipping the gods. This is thought to be on of the most important sites in Northern Peru.
One of the fascinating things about visiting these sites is that they are all very much work-in-progress and the true significance of the sights may not be known yet. In fact, in the most impressive site we have visited so far - just near Trujillo (Peru's third city - a wonderful colonial city with a beautiful, graceful plaza) - called Hauca de Sol y Luna - we were able to watch archeologists go about their painstaking work. Moistening the earth around the walls and then slowly and delicately brushing off the grains of mud grain by grain. But what they have revealed is the most impressive ancient facade I have ever seen, mostly because it is possible to see each level of the pyramid and the painting of the murals on each level giving you a very clear picture of what the pyramid would have looked like when in use. This is in contrast to those in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, where although some paintwork survives, there is not much and so it is very hard to picture what the sites truly looked like in the Mayan times.
Chan Chan is also very close to Trujillo and is one of the biggest sites ever discovered in South America. It is the largest mud adobe construction found anywhere in the world. 9 temples to dead rulers have been found so far, but it is predicted that there are many more. We could see only one temple - consisting of plazas for ceremonies, burial areas, accommodation - the one temple taking around 2 hours to see at a fairly brisk pace, giving a vague idea of the scale of Chan Chan. It stretches as far as the eye can see.
Nick caused great interest wherever we went in Northern Peru. We knew that it was not that touristy here, but in Chiclayo, we only saw 4 other tourists in the entire city. And in Trujillo a coach of school children got very excited about seeing this tall white man - 2 girls rushing out of the bus to get their photo taken with the giant. When visiting on of the sites, another boy asked his mum to take a picture of him besides Nick, and in the markets we have wondered about in Peru - we hear whispering of "el es un gigante" or the sniggers of the girls working in the stalls. Sometimes it is like walking around with a film star - all very amusing - just hope it doesn´t go to his head!
From Trujillo we bused it to Huaraz which is the hopping off point for a lot of trekking in the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Huayhuash. This is supposedly some of the best trekking in the world behind the Himylayas. So we booked our 8 day trek in the Huayhuash area and then set off on a 1 day tour of the local pre Inca sites and scenery. The site we saw was Chavin - the predominent culture in the Huaraz area from about 1000 BC to 200 BC. More pyramids and temples and underground grottos and laberynthes which were fun to explore. The number 7 figures here as it does in Egypt and some of the Mayan pyramids. The pyramid dimensions, the main plaze, the size of the doorways are all based on the number 7. FOr example, the plaza was 49 metres square. The angle of the pyramid was 14 degrees. The doors were 7 metres form each other. And very odd that the metre divides into the measurements too.
You have the details on the Huayhuash trek ..there is more detail on Nick's site. It really was spectacular, and the many good things about the trek have firmly found their way back into my mind now. I just hope I never forget the scenery or the collosal sounds from the glaciers.
From Huayhush we got to Lima for a very unfun-packed tour of police staions, Amex offices, camera shops, clothes shops, British Embassy etc. So we rather sacrificed the sites of Lima in order to sort ourselves out. Lima is a vast city and on the way in on the bus it is pretty depressing. Enormous areas of slums build in the dirty, dusty desert that runs form North to South of Peru all along the coast. Rubbish everywhere and most of the house were mud bricked with no windows. Not as bad as the Jo'burg slums, but still grim. This area seems to take about 45 minutes to drive through, then the bus terminal area of Lima is obviously not too great. The centre is manic, grey but with some wonderful architecture form colonial times which you have to really try and appreciate otherwise it gets lost in the greyness that is Lima. Lima is basically foggy and grey for 6 months of the year and fairly depressing. Pollution is bad, traffic is chaotic and it is not safe. Whilst in the police station we met another Brit who had had her earrings ripped form her ears.
Rod - who we we caught and held with in Huayhuash - is a doctor in Lima and recommended staying in Barranco. This is now an area of Lima, but was previously the seaside resort that Limans used to visit until Lima expanded out. Barranco is by far the nicest part of Lima. Difficult to believe you are in Lima. Wonderful colonial one-storey buildings, iron grilled windows, and all the houses painted in yellows, blues and red cheering up even the greyest of Lima's days. Good jazz bars, good restaurants and a fun, chilled out atmosphere meant that our stay in Lima was actually pretty OK.
We headed south to Nazca for a couple of days of fun relaxation. Obvously the key draw to Nazca are the world famous lines. These cover a vast area - about 300 square miles and were thought to have been constructed on the desert floor between 300 BC and 800 AD. They are an enigma. No one knows why they were built or even who built them. It is assumed they were built by the Nazcan culture who were around at that time, but a lot of the creatures depicted were never found in that area. The Nazca lines have inspired fantastic explanations from ancient gods, to landing strips for aliens, a celestial calender, atronomy, rituals.
There are about 300 figures from geometric shapes (many many trapeziums), flowers, animals, sea creatures, men, women. The lines are made by removing the top layer of dark stoney desert to reveal a lighter sand underneath so the lines are all light coloured on a dark background.
We flew over the lines in a little plane which was definitely one of the best things we have done here. A most remarkable site and completely baffling.
Whilst in Nazca we also visited an enormous cemetery for the Nazcans from about the same era as the lines. There are a lot of mummies there that have survived because the Nazca area has not had any significan rain since the Ice Age. Some of the mummies are still with their rasta-like hair. There are babies and adults that have been mummified, all in the foetal position some with their knees tucked up inside their body cavities.
Today, 14th July, is a national workers strike day - my god, it is even on the BBC website. We watched a bit of the protest in Cusco. Fortunately we got here yesterday as most buses seem to be out of action. The whole country is supposed to strike, but obviously some people work as they need money too much. They are protesting about a range of things - mostly about pay, which is diabolical here. Doctors and lawyers have to work at weekends and in the evenings as taxi drivers because they get so little money. People are also just fed up with President Toledo who seems to be as corrupt as hell. Not that this is a bad thing in itself here. Fujimori (the previous president) was corrupt too, but he also built schools, roads and hospitals. So it's all relative. In fact we met someone who said they wanted Fujimori back, but he is in Japan now, and if he ever came back to Peru he would be arrested. Toledo's approval rating makes our Tone look incredibly poplar at a mere 7% approval.
This is all bad timing for Peru which is currently hosting the Copa America (big international footy competition), but I guess that is part of the point.
The problem with any protest in Peru is that the authorities are paranoid that it will be infiltrated by the Shining Path Maoist party which was very active in the 80's and 90's, but is now said to be growing in prominence again. In fact, where we were caught in the Andes was the exact area that the Shining Path were very active in the 80's and 90's - so much so that the trekking circuit we did was closed in 1992 after they kidnapped a number of tourists. Our kidnappers/bandits were talking about some of the same issues - mainly the destruction of coca fields by US sponsored programmes which is devastating the south of Peru. Coca is used to make cocaine, but the locals use it for tea and to chew to combat the effects of altitude. Nick and I have tried it. DOn't know if it works, but it is certainly very popular here. They also jumped on the old multinational corporate bandwagon which any terrorist these days seems to get on. We are still unsure whether they were pure bandits or some kind of terrorist group. One of them had a terrorist membership card! - a picture of some guy in a balaclava with a big gun...and a membership number...very exclusive! I don't suppose we will ever know, unless they go onto bigger and better things.
That´s all for now...off to potter round the very pretty back streets of Cusco.
Northern Peru lived up to its billing of the Egypt of South America with some superb ruins from pre-Colombian to Inca times. We started in Chiclayo on 21 June (about 5 hours south of the Ecuadorian border). There are several big sites around Chiclayo.
Sipan - a Moche culture site built between 200 BC and 700 AD - is one of the few places that hasn´t been touched by grave robbers and there are some amazing recreations of the graves at the site. The real artefacts that were found at the site are exhibited in a local museum and are incredibly impressive in terms of size of the exhibition and quality of the artefacts - the earrings they have found put Pat Butcher´s to shame!
Tucume (another site) was inhabited and built by the Lambayeque people who were top dogs in the area form 750 AD to around 1200 AD and consists of a vast area devoted to temples, pyramids and various platforms for worshipping the gods. This is thought to be on of the most important sites in Northern Peru.
One of the fascinating things about visiting these sites is that they are all very much work-in-progress and the true significance of the sights may not be known yet. In fact, in the most impressive site we have visited so far - just near Trujillo (Peru's third city - a wonderful colonial city with a beautiful, graceful plaza) - called Hauca de Sol y Luna - we were able to watch archeologists go about their painstaking work. Moistening the earth around the walls and then slowly and delicately brushing off the grains of mud grain by grain. But what they have revealed is the most impressive ancient facade I have ever seen, mostly because it is possible to see each level of the pyramid and the painting of the murals on each level giving you a very clear picture of what the pyramid would have looked like when in use. This is in contrast to those in Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras, where although some paintwork survives, there is not much and so it is very hard to picture what the sites truly looked like in the Mayan times.
Chan Chan is also very close to Trujillo and is one of the biggest sites ever discovered in South America. It is the largest mud adobe construction found anywhere in the world. 9 temples to dead rulers have been found so far, but it is predicted that there are many more. We could see only one temple - consisting of plazas for ceremonies, burial areas, accommodation - the one temple taking around 2 hours to see at a fairly brisk pace, giving a vague idea of the scale of Chan Chan. It stretches as far as the eye can see.
Nick caused great interest wherever we went in Northern Peru. We knew that it was not that touristy here, but in Chiclayo, we only saw 4 other tourists in the entire city. And in Trujillo a coach of school children got very excited about seeing this tall white man - 2 girls rushing out of the bus to get their photo taken with the giant. When visiting on of the sites, another boy asked his mum to take a picture of him besides Nick, and in the markets we have wondered about in Peru - we hear whispering of "el es un gigante" or the sniggers of the girls working in the stalls. Sometimes it is like walking around with a film star - all very amusing - just hope it doesn´t go to his head!
From Trujillo we bused it to Huaraz which is the hopping off point for a lot of trekking in the Cordillera Blanca and the Cordillera Huayhuash. This is supposedly some of the best trekking in the world behind the Himylayas. So we booked our 8 day trek in the Huayhuash area and then set off on a 1 day tour of the local pre Inca sites and scenery. The site we saw was Chavin - the predominent culture in the Huaraz area from about 1000 BC to 200 BC. More pyramids and temples and underground grottos and laberynthes which were fun to explore. The number 7 figures here as it does in Egypt and some of the Mayan pyramids. The pyramid dimensions, the main plaze, the size of the doorways are all based on the number 7. FOr example, the plaza was 49 metres square. The angle of the pyramid was 14 degrees. The doors were 7 metres form each other. And very odd that the metre divides into the measurements too.
You have the details on the Huayhuash trek ..there is more detail on Nick's site. It really was spectacular, and the many good things about the trek have firmly found their way back into my mind now. I just hope I never forget the scenery or the collosal sounds from the glaciers.
From Huayhush we got to Lima for a very unfun-packed tour of police staions, Amex offices, camera shops, clothes shops, British Embassy etc. So we rather sacrificed the sites of Lima in order to sort ourselves out. Lima is a vast city and on the way in on the bus it is pretty depressing. Enormous areas of slums build in the dirty, dusty desert that runs form North to South of Peru all along the coast. Rubbish everywhere and most of the house were mud bricked with no windows. Not as bad as the Jo'burg slums, but still grim. This area seems to take about 45 minutes to drive through, then the bus terminal area of Lima is obviously not too great. The centre is manic, grey but with some wonderful architecture form colonial times which you have to really try and appreciate otherwise it gets lost in the greyness that is Lima. Lima is basically foggy and grey for 6 months of the year and fairly depressing. Pollution is bad, traffic is chaotic and it is not safe. Whilst in the police station we met another Brit who had had her earrings ripped form her ears.
Rod - who we we caught and held with in Huayhuash - is a doctor in Lima and recommended staying in Barranco. This is now an area of Lima, but was previously the seaside resort that Limans used to visit until Lima expanded out. Barranco is by far the nicest part of Lima. Difficult to believe you are in Lima. Wonderful colonial one-storey buildings, iron grilled windows, and all the houses painted in yellows, blues and red cheering up even the greyest of Lima's days. Good jazz bars, good restaurants and a fun, chilled out atmosphere meant that our stay in Lima was actually pretty OK.
We headed south to Nazca for a couple of days of fun relaxation. Obvously the key draw to Nazca are the world famous lines. These cover a vast area - about 300 square miles and were thought to have been constructed on the desert floor between 300 BC and 800 AD. They are an enigma. No one knows why they were built or even who built them. It is assumed they were built by the Nazcan culture who were around at that time, but a lot of the creatures depicted were never found in that area. The Nazca lines have inspired fantastic explanations from ancient gods, to landing strips for aliens, a celestial calender, atronomy, rituals.
There are about 300 figures from geometric shapes (many many trapeziums), flowers, animals, sea creatures, men, women. The lines are made by removing the top layer of dark stoney desert to reveal a lighter sand underneath so the lines are all light coloured on a dark background.
We flew over the lines in a little plane which was definitely one of the best things we have done here. A most remarkable site and completely baffling.
Whilst in Nazca we also visited an enormous cemetery for the Nazcans from about the same era as the lines. There are a lot of mummies there that have survived because the Nazca area has not had any significan rain since the Ice Age. Some of the mummies are still with their rasta-like hair. There are babies and adults that have been mummified, all in the foetal position some with their knees tucked up inside their body cavities.
Today, 14th July, is a national workers strike day - my god, it is even on the BBC website. We watched a bit of the protest in Cusco. Fortunately we got here yesterday as most buses seem to be out of action. The whole country is supposed to strike, but obviously some people work as they need money too much. They are protesting about a range of things - mostly about pay, which is diabolical here. Doctors and lawyers have to work at weekends and in the evenings as taxi drivers because they get so little money. People are also just fed up with President Toledo who seems to be as corrupt as hell. Not that this is a bad thing in itself here. Fujimori (the previous president) was corrupt too, but he also built schools, roads and hospitals. So it's all relative. In fact we met someone who said they wanted Fujimori back, but he is in Japan now, and if he ever came back to Peru he would be arrested. Toledo's approval rating makes our Tone look incredibly poplar at a mere 7% approval.
This is all bad timing for Peru which is currently hosting the Copa America (big international footy competition), but I guess that is part of the point.
The problem with any protest in Peru is that the authorities are paranoid that it will be infiltrated by the Shining Path Maoist party which was very active in the 80's and 90's, but is now said to be growing in prominence again. In fact, where we were caught in the Andes was the exact area that the Shining Path were very active in the 80's and 90's - so much so that the trekking circuit we did was closed in 1992 after they kidnapped a number of tourists. Our kidnappers/bandits were talking about some of the same issues - mainly the destruction of coca fields by US sponsored programmes which is devastating the south of Peru. Coca is used to make cocaine, but the locals use it for tea and to chew to combat the effects of altitude. Nick and I have tried it. DOn't know if it works, but it is certainly very popular here. They also jumped on the old multinational corporate bandwagon which any terrorist these days seems to get on. We are still unsure whether they were pure bandits or some kind of terrorist group. One of them had a terrorist membership card! - a picture of some guy in a balaclava with a big gun...and a membership number...very exclusive! I don't suppose we will ever know, unless they go onto bigger and better things.
That´s all for now...off to potter round the very pretty back streets of Cusco.
Monday, July 12, 2004
Kidnapped
I think most of you know what happened, but for completeness of my blog...we started an 8 day trek on 28 June through the Cordillera Huayhuash (where Siula Grande of Touching the Void fame is situated). The Cordillera Huayhuash trek was rated the world's second most stunning trek behind one throught he Himalayas in Nepal.
We had a guide and a donkey man (ariero) and we had met up with Rod and Paul (two very chilled, very friendly Brits) and their ariero and walked most of the way with them for 6 very pleasant days. The scenery throughout the walk was wonderful. Huge, sharp, grey slabs of rock rising into the sky, snow capped mountains, beautiful waterfalls, lagunas and streams. Tough walking every day with passes to climb up every day up to 4800m and the downhill not being much easier over rocks, skree and slippery ground, but the views and company were so good that they more than made up for any feeling of exhaustion. There were glaciers at several points on the trek, some of which were enormous and made the most unforgettable groans, creaks and shrieks throughout the days and nights. Very impressive to sit watching vast volumes of ice pour from the glaciers and become cascades of snow with a huge sound of the creaking, moving ice accompanying it.
Day 6, and we left the bustling metropolis of Huayhuash itself (3 very small mud houses, some sheep, cows and a couple of people), for our trek over the highest pass of the walk at 4800m. On our way there, the snow started falling and we stopped for a snowball fight with our guides. Within the hour, right at the top of the pass, we had all been held at gunpoint by 4 to 5 bandits. Nick and I were the last ones up to the pass. We were greeted by a man wearing a balaclaver and carrying a rifle. I know it sounds odd, but it was hard to believe what was going on at first. When 2 or 3 others jumped out and started firing their guns around us it became a little clearer as we ran for cover behind the rocks. They made us walk up to their camp away from the pass. They had got 2 other Brits about an hour before ..Michelle and Thomas. The bandits had very badly beaten up our guides and arieros. Our guide later told us he thought he would be killed by the rock they smashed on his head. A bullet ricocheted from a rock and something went into my arm. I have the scar to prove it. We were held for a total of 5.5 hours, which very oddly seemed to pass incredibly quickly. The bandits were intimidating at times and polite at other times. One in particular was a bit of a live wire, and I thought that our future hinged on him alone. He seemed to be a bit of a maverick and would come into the tent where they were holding us by himself, lie his gun precariously on the ground and start tryin gon people's clothes for size. We were made soup, asked if we wanted tea and checked whether we were comfortable. The most macabre moment was the photo they took of us. I even think I was smiling. For a moment I thought that the photo was an excuse to line us up and shoot us, but that was the only time I thought they may do something. I never really thought I would die, even though the regular comments from the mad bandit that he was not going to kill us and that we would not die did absolutely nothing to comfort me.
Initially they had wanted to keep us overnight. They had demanded USD 50,000 form us, and clearly we only had around USD 300 between us. They were very insulted by this, and said we would stay there the night and see what happens in the morning. They said they could keep us for a week or so until we could get the money (not very easy to get access to cash when you are 2 days walk from the nearest houses). They finally searched all our bags, clothes, and took what they wanted to make up some more value - they even took my very smelly walking socks! No doubt our cameras will end up in one of the infamous thieves markets in South America. When they realised there was nothing more to take, they said we could go, meaning that thankfully we did not have to stay with them for even one night. 5.5 hours was long enough! The relief of being released was incredible although we did not consider we were really free for about a day after this as we were still very nervous that they may try and come after us.
We walked for 2 hours to a lake. By this time it was dark and we contemplated walking through the night to get to a town, but am glad we did not as having seen the path the next day, I am convinced one of us would have twisted and ankle making the mission a lot harder.
We got to Cajatamba (the nearest town) the following afternoon, all absolutely knackered and in a feeling very strange. A few beers certainly helped, but the whole situation seemed very surreal.
Once in Lima we had an interesting time explaning to a variety of police stations...3 in all, what had happened. Pretty difficult to get them to take anything seriously and they seemed to think it all slightly amusing that we were wanting a report just for insurance purposes. Sure - that was important, but I was staggered at how they just seemed so unbothered by anything that had happened.
Nothing like this has occured in the Cordillera Huayhuash for over 2 years, so most people we talked to (apart from the police) have been quite shocked and keep saying it is very serious.
After we were caught by the bandits, we have later found out that they went on that evening to catch 8 Americans, 4 Israelis, a Brit plus one other. They were made to get out of their tents, lie on the ground with hands on head and give over all their cash and possessions etc.
We went to see the British Embassy in Lima and as a result of our report and another from the second group of tourists cought, they have updated their travel advise on Peru (see the FCO website - the text reads "There have been reports of two armed hold-ups in the Huaraz area in early July. There occurred on the Huayhuash trekking circuit approximately six days travel from Huaraz. Six British nationals were involved in one incident. You should exercise caution when travelling along this route and check with your guide/organisers before setting out".)
This was all avery odd and very scary time and I have never contemplated my own mortality this intensely which is rather a strange thing. It took about a week to get over a lot of the after effects of the experience and I went through a wide range of emotions ranging from anger to skight depression. At the end of the day we were lucky to be totally unharmed and to lose only replaceable items. We are both totally OK now and we are off to enjoy more of our travels..hopefully in a more conventional way!
We had a guide and a donkey man (ariero) and we had met up with Rod and Paul (two very chilled, very friendly Brits) and their ariero and walked most of the way with them for 6 very pleasant days. The scenery throughout the walk was wonderful. Huge, sharp, grey slabs of rock rising into the sky, snow capped mountains, beautiful waterfalls, lagunas and streams. Tough walking every day with passes to climb up every day up to 4800m and the downhill not being much easier over rocks, skree and slippery ground, but the views and company were so good that they more than made up for any feeling of exhaustion. There were glaciers at several points on the trek, some of which were enormous and made the most unforgettable groans, creaks and shrieks throughout the days and nights. Very impressive to sit watching vast volumes of ice pour from the glaciers and become cascades of snow with a huge sound of the creaking, moving ice accompanying it.
Day 6, and we left the bustling metropolis of Huayhuash itself (3 very small mud houses, some sheep, cows and a couple of people), for our trek over the highest pass of the walk at 4800m. On our way there, the snow started falling and we stopped for a snowball fight with our guides. Within the hour, right at the top of the pass, we had all been held at gunpoint by 4 to 5 bandits. Nick and I were the last ones up to the pass. We were greeted by a man wearing a balaclaver and carrying a rifle. I know it sounds odd, but it was hard to believe what was going on at first. When 2 or 3 others jumped out and started firing their guns around us it became a little clearer as we ran for cover behind the rocks. They made us walk up to their camp away from the pass. They had got 2 other Brits about an hour before ..Michelle and Thomas. The bandits had very badly beaten up our guides and arieros. Our guide later told us he thought he would be killed by the rock they smashed on his head. A bullet ricocheted from a rock and something went into my arm. I have the scar to prove it. We were held for a total of 5.5 hours, which very oddly seemed to pass incredibly quickly. The bandits were intimidating at times and polite at other times. One in particular was a bit of a live wire, and I thought that our future hinged on him alone. He seemed to be a bit of a maverick and would come into the tent where they were holding us by himself, lie his gun precariously on the ground and start tryin gon people's clothes for size. We were made soup, asked if we wanted tea and checked whether we were comfortable. The most macabre moment was the photo they took of us. I even think I was smiling. For a moment I thought that the photo was an excuse to line us up and shoot us, but that was the only time I thought they may do something. I never really thought I would die, even though the regular comments from the mad bandit that he was not going to kill us and that we would not die did absolutely nothing to comfort me.
Initially they had wanted to keep us overnight. They had demanded USD 50,000 form us, and clearly we only had around USD 300 between us. They were very insulted by this, and said we would stay there the night and see what happens in the morning. They said they could keep us for a week or so until we could get the money (not very easy to get access to cash when you are 2 days walk from the nearest houses). They finally searched all our bags, clothes, and took what they wanted to make up some more value - they even took my very smelly walking socks! No doubt our cameras will end up in one of the infamous thieves markets in South America. When they realised there was nothing more to take, they said we could go, meaning that thankfully we did not have to stay with them for even one night. 5.5 hours was long enough! The relief of being released was incredible although we did not consider we were really free for about a day after this as we were still very nervous that they may try and come after us.
We walked for 2 hours to a lake. By this time it was dark and we contemplated walking through the night to get to a town, but am glad we did not as having seen the path the next day, I am convinced one of us would have twisted and ankle making the mission a lot harder.
We got to Cajatamba (the nearest town) the following afternoon, all absolutely knackered and in a feeling very strange. A few beers certainly helped, but the whole situation seemed very surreal.
Once in Lima we had an interesting time explaning to a variety of police stations...3 in all, what had happened. Pretty difficult to get them to take anything seriously and they seemed to think it all slightly amusing that we were wanting a report just for insurance purposes. Sure - that was important, but I was staggered at how they just seemed so unbothered by anything that had happened.
Nothing like this has occured in the Cordillera Huayhuash for over 2 years, so most people we talked to (apart from the police) have been quite shocked and keep saying it is very serious.
After we were caught by the bandits, we have later found out that they went on that evening to catch 8 Americans, 4 Israelis, a Brit plus one other. They were made to get out of their tents, lie on the ground with hands on head and give over all their cash and possessions etc.
We went to see the British Embassy in Lima and as a result of our report and another from the second group of tourists cought, they have updated their travel advise on Peru (see the FCO website - the text reads "There have been reports of two armed hold-ups in the Huaraz area in early July. There occurred on the Huayhuash trekking circuit approximately six days travel from Huaraz. Six British nationals were involved in one incident. You should exercise caution when travelling along this route and check with your guide/organisers before setting out".)
This was all avery odd and very scary time and I have never contemplated my own mortality this intensely which is rather a strange thing. It took about a week to get over a lot of the after effects of the experience and I went through a wide range of emotions ranging from anger to skight depression. At the end of the day we were lucky to be totally unharmed and to lose only replaceable items. We are both totally OK now and we are off to enjoy more of our travels..hopefully in a more conventional way!
