Inca Trail

Finally back after four amazing days in the Andes - we got picked up at 6am sunday morning and started our Inca Trail not long after. The first 4-5 hours was both up and down, and I found myself struggling with my breathing when we arrived at our lunch spot - figured out later that Becky's astma-thing worked quite well though.

Arriving at our lunch spot we were served a delicious meal of soup, stuffed avocados and rice and tea - we did not expect such a nice service, as the company hires porters that walk ahead of us and prepare tents and food for us - which I did not realize till we had our first stop.

Apparently we had 14 porters in total - a cook, an assistent and a head of porters. Our group was only of 10 people and 2 guides, so when I found out what these guides get paid according to what we paid to go on the trek, I immediately felt bad.

The first day we walked up 700 meters in total, including lots of ups and downs. When we arrived to our first campsite, we were introduced to our porters - from 21 to 60 years old, all carrying up to 28kg - absolutely crazy!
We had been struggling to get up the damn mountain with our maximum 10kg bags, and they were litterally running up the mountains almost not breaking a single sweat. Hard to believe!

We slept in tents in an altitude of 3700 meters - and damn, it was cold! I woke up in the morning feeling like ice, but in a good mood because of the amazing view we had over the valley. The second day we reached our highest spot, 4200 meters about two hours after waking up to pancakes and porridge. Slept in about the same altitude as the first night, not as cold though. The third day was not as tough, as we were mainly walking down - although that is damn hard as well when the mountain is crazily steep!

The third day we arrived at our campsite quite early, and I found time to take a nap - after getting up 5.30 the last three days, I was completely shattered. We had a great meal once again, and said goodbye to our porters that were leaving on the morning of the fourth day.

The fourth day was special - we got up at 3.30 am in order to be the first in line when the gate to the last hour of the Inca Trail opened at 5.30. By the time the gate opened, we had about 200 people behind us, all waiting desperately to get to the Sungate, a place from where you can see Machu Picchu. We started out almost running because our guide wanted our group to be the first to reach the Sungate - and so we did.

We spent a couple of hours in Machu Picchu, getting a tour round the ruins, absolutely amazing to learn so much about the Incas and their culture. Great, great experience - and, of course, we have lots of pictures (when haven't I...)!

We walked down to Aguas Calientes from where we were to take the train back at 9pm - which meant we had to kill about 8 hours in a tiny town. I chose to go with a girl from our group to check out the hot springs - and that turned out to be a great idea! It was soooo nice to relax in hot mineral water after four days without a proper shower.

So, now I have developed a hatred for steps and staircases - we were literally all walking like old men at the end of the Inca Trail, especially after climbing 53 steps of "Gringo Killers"!
Good thing we're going on a cruise soon - my legs would collapse at the sight of more than ten steps in a row now... At least for a couple of days :D

We were absolutely shattered when we finally got back to our house - Mary waiting for us with cake at 12.30 am. So nice!

Got up this morning to a mixed experience - we are SO excited about finally being assured that we are definitely going to Galapagos, but at the same time, we had to say goodbye to the Rainbow Centre.
The goodbye was so tough - the kids telling us that we have been great teachers and that they love us and they'll miss us and getting cards from them, was absolutely not something I could stand without crying. Alex got a bracelet and a necklace from Lizandra, one of the girls from the Rainbow House, and I got the nicest card from Marco (also a kid from the Rainbow House) that he had written all by himself.

For me, one of the hardest things was also saying goodbye to Becky and Mary. We've had such an amazing time together in the Volunteer House, so it was tough to realize the fact that we might not see them again in a very long time.

We went back and did some packing, went to Cusco and bought a ticket to Lima - an 18 hour busride, so we should be in Lima tomorrow midday if the Peruvian system doesn't fail us once again.

Busy week

Finally have time to come down to a cafe after a super busy week at the rainbow center. Throughout the week we have been occupied with planning a fundraiser event that we have just finished with - a football tournament. Charging every team participating, we managed in the end to come up with 8 teams. We´ve been running around like madmen talking to locals, getting bakeries to make cakes etc. etc. It was a mild success in the end, and I suppose its more about raising awareness about special needs than the dough. Yesterday, friday, was spent with workshops at school because a travelling circus decided to pop by and give us a free showing. They were all firedancers at the Burning Man festival in San Francisco and so theyre fireshow was definetly memorable for us and kids alike. During the day they tought the kids acrobatics, juggling and other various typical circus feats. Friday also happened to be our last day at the rainbow center, so it was a fun way to end it all. Planning on coming back to say our goodbyes on thursday though, so AC has not had her intense crying session just yet.

Tomorrow morning we get picked up at 6 to start our 4 day inka trail. Essentially we hike about a marathon length on the inkas paths over the 3 days and end up in Machu Picchu on the last day. Getting back late wednesday night, having our goodbyes in school on thursday, and then its off to Galapagos. We will be going from Machu Picchu to Galapagos in a week, and AC still found the time to complain about not hitting town on wednesday night in Urubamba. To be fair, it would have been fun to say our goodbyes with this place, although I find myself unusually spoiled complaining about it. Essentially tonight will then be our very last night in Urubamba and we will therefore all be going out to a nice restaurant in a minute.

Thats all for now but will update on Machu Picchu and the trail once thats over.

Alex

Work work work woooork

The last couple of days we've been working quite a lot. Wednesday was a fun day though - it was Orange Day, so we were all dressed in orange and had orange food and played balloon dancing and a lot of other really fun games.

Thursday I worked with a really happy Fernando (18, autist). I did hand massage and ludotherapy with him, using instruments and toys, playing with teddy bears and making cow sounds. He was in a great mood, and it really makes you happy when this 18-year old autist runs around the centre laughing and clapping his hands - especially when you know that you're part of the reason why he's happy, since he absolutely loves ludotherapy.
In the second class I helped out with Funcional, the oldest group. They were supposed to pick things that they liked from Orange Day and draw them with orange colours. I helped Fernando do a puzzle (one of the things that my aunt and mom sent me by the way - thanks!), and kept and eye on the other kids while doing it. Javier, a boy with downs syndrome, came and gave me a big hug telling me that I am pretty, while I was sitting on a chair helping Fernando. Later, Kattya, 20, also downs syndrome, told me that she loved me and that she will miss me when I'm gone. I am never gonna be able to leave!
In the afternoon we made jewellery with the oldest kids - lovely! :D

Friday I worked in inicial with the smallest kids, as always focusing on my favourite, Benjamin. He was playing with some wax that he was really fascinated by, and that kept his concentration for more than 2 minutes - which is absolutely incredible!

In the second class I worked on the computer organizing photos from Orange Day, and Becky and I had to stay at the center till 3.30 before we could leave, starving. Good day though.

Today has been a very relaxing day - reading, going for a walk, having lunch at Misky Song'o... Tonight we're going out in Urubamba, a thing we haven't done for long - hopefully it'll be fun! :)

A lot of goodbyes...

Alex, my mom and I went to Fallen Angel wednesday night to show my mom the extraordinary restaurant - and it didn't let us down, as we had the best food ever combined with a glass of wine and a great dessert. Great goodbye-meal, as my mom was leaving on thursday morning.

We spent thursday in school doing workshop in the afternoon, Becky and I watching out for the Rainbow House kids in school because the substitute mother had something else to do. When we got back, we waited for Mary and her dad (that had been there since saturday) to get back from their trip to Machu Picchu, before we went to our favourite pizza plaze, Pizza Wasi, to have another goodbye-meal - for Andrea this time. She was leaving friday morning and seeing her say goodbye to all the kids was absolutely horrible - and it did not make me look forward to our last day!!!
After school we all went to Cusco to have our third goodbye-meal in a row - the last one leaving this week was Mary's dad, so we went out for dinner in Cusco and played some pool at Mushrooms, Mary's favourite going-out-place, and afterwards we went to have a lousy salsa lesson followed by a couple of hours discovering Cusco's nightlife yet another time.

The weekend was very relaxing - saturday we just chilled in the volunteer house, watching a couple of movies, and sunday we went for an amazing hike in the mountains - pictures are coming up!

I started monday measuring the weight and height of the oldest kids at the center in the first lesson - and got a chock to realize, when stepping on the weight myself, that I gained an annoying 4 kilos since I got here! Sooo, I just put myself on a two-day avocado diet starting today..

Yesterday Alex and I bought tickets from Lima to Guayaquil, May 1st - which means that we might be able to go to Galapagos! My dream is getting closer!
In the meantime, I am getting more and more sad, realizing that I had my second-last day in Chinchero today, we are going to the Rainbow House for the second-last time this afternoon, and that I will soon have to cry my eyes out because I'll be missing the center and all its people and animals like crazy once we're leaving....

After a great week in Ica, Nazca and Arequipa, it was back to work as usual. Its strange thinking we only have two weeks left at the center now and only 3 in peru. Trying to find a way to kill a weeks time in the end of april/beginning of may as AC is travelling to Galapagos. Planning on either staying in Cusco, Lima or La Paz. Anyone feel like coming out to visit either of these places???

Spent the day today doing what I do best, lying on the grass, occasionally telling some kid off, playing football and going to the park. I dont understand this school, I wish mine had been more like it. Morning started off with an hour and a half worth of baseball. Classes didnt seem more important apparently. Had a terrible day yesterday though, up in Chinchero. Started off with a girl tripping over my feet, faceplanting the pavement and breaking her nose. The next second, another girl ran into my legs, tripping over and hitting her head onto the ground, also bleeding alot. Not long after a third repeated the trick, and I looked in a bad situation when the teacher came running out with three loudly crying and bleeding kids lying next to me. What are the chances? Decided to stay clear of kids for the rest of the day, and today after this morning making another boy cry after accidentally tripping him over. I swear im usually good with kids.

Just a quick update this time, thanks for the comments. AND let me know if you wanna come visit during that week :-) Anyone is more than welcome, whether i know you or not.

Alex

Vacaciones

Once again, sorry for the lack of updates - we've had a very busy easter holiday.

My mom arrived sunday morning, and I sent her to Urubamba because all of the volunteers were going on a Sacred Valley tour. I'd just got out of the hospital, so I was a little tired - good thing we were sitting in a bus most of the tour. We went to Chinchero and saw the ruins there, and then Ollantayambo - more ruins (basically all there is....). Had lunch in Urubamba where my mom joined for the last part of the tour, and we went to Pisac to check out more ruins and pre-inca stuff - we also saw a full rainbow, it was so pretty.

Monday Alex, and I went to Cusco to show my mom around (=shopping and Jack's!), before we met up with the others to jump on a bus to Ica. When we arrived tuesday morning we decided to go sandboarding - and that was a very, very good decision! We went on sort of a tour with a sandbuggy driving around in the desert, and by driving I mean insane driving - it was completely like a roller coaster! The driver chose some places for us to do sandboarding, an absolutely incredible experience. Either you lie down on your stomach or you try standing on the board on the way down - so cool.
The area was called Huacachina, a place with an incredible oasis in the middle of the desert, and we went back there wednesday morning before we took another two hour bumpy ride on a bus to Nazca to go see the Nazca lines. On the way there, however, we saw the outlook tower we were supposed to go to, and decided not to go back as the tower was tiny and far away....

We spend the day in Nazca just chilling on Plaza the Armas, playing cards, shopping a bit and getting an amazing banana split - and in the evening we took a night bus to Arequipa, where we were going to have another three days.

Arequipa is a great city - you can go river rafting, horseback riding, climb a volcano, do the Colca Canyon trek and lots of other stuff - wish we'd had more time there! We ended up going mountain biking down the volcano el Misty on our first day, a tour of four hours on a bike mostly downhill, but also uphill a couple of times. It was absolutely great - and, I discovered a new talent of mine - spitting stones from oranges!
We decided to do the one day Colca Canyon tour on our second day - which involves getting up at two in the morning, yay! However, it was a great experience - we saw 7 condors and met about a hundred llamas, and Becky and I even got to have an eagle sitting on our arm. Went to some thermal baths in the canyon as well, before we headed towards Arequipa again. We were so lucky as to have a bus with no heating system, and being 5000m above sea level in a could, bumpy bus is not exactly the most comfortable experience. On our way back, we had not only one tire, but two tires deciding to give up on the tough mountain roads. Only having one extra, we all had to get out of the bus and wait for a looooong time before moving on in a bus with one flat tire, feeling a bit like a cartoon figure in a bus more bumpy than ever. But yeah, we're in Peru, so what could we expect?

Becky, Alex and I went to the Point hostel in Arequipa for the night. We wanted to go out, but ended up staying at the crowded hostel seeing as it was easter week and all bars and clubs apparently were closed. We did have a good night anyway, as the Point is always stuffed with other backpackers looking for a good time.

Saturday we spent walking around in Arequipa, seeing the monastery - an entire town inside Arequipa where the nuns are still living, almost completely isolated from the rest of the world. We also went to see the only real cinema of Peru, but had to leave disappointed because the movies were all in Spanish. We ended up going to the best restaurant ever for dinner - a place called Zig Zag that had a recommendation in the Lonely Planet. We had a lot of peruvian specialties, for instance we tried the alpaca meat and the trout, but really great.

Saturday was the last day of our tour as we're having school tomorrow. I was quite tired due to my lack of sleep the last couple of days, so the 10 hour bus ride from Arequipa to Cusco was a very short ride for me - I fell asleep even before we started driving from the busstaion, and besides waking up a couple of times because of the freezing temperature of the bus, I slept till we entered the bus station.

Today the Plaza in Cusco is filled with people due to Easter break, and there are parades all over, which is quite interesting. Tomorrow we'll go back to scool - and I can't wait to see the kids again!