Baby Moose in Lake Titicaca

12-13 Sep 2010

Baby Moose arrived in Puno on September 11 and despite the negative connotations of the date he was rather happy in Puno and decided he wants to see the reed islands built by the Uros Indians. Therefore baby Moose got up early on the 12th and hopped on a little bus with a lot of other travellers to go down to the jetty where the boats for Uros, Amantani and Taquile islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca.

Baby Moose's first stop was Amanecer island about half an hour boat ride from Puno. Amancer is one of the Uros floating islands built of reed. Baby Moose thinks it was fun the jump up and down on the reed - the island surface was bouncy - kind of like an ancient version of a bouncy castle.

Baby Moose listened to the presentation on how the islands are made of reed roots and layers of reed with great interest. He was particularly pleased that this presentation was aimed at travellers of his size with little reed houses and boats.

After the presentation Baby Moose enjoyed the hospitality of the Uros indians. There clearly was some kind of language and communication barrier as the inhabitants of these two beautiful houses did not speak nor move at all during Baby Moose's visit. But they seemed rather friendly so Baby Moose was pleased to ahve had the opportunity to look in an almost genuine Uros indian house on a floating island while Taitti explored the bigger houses. The people living in those houses seemed a lot livelier than these two whom Baby Moose visited. But it's ok because these two did not try to make Baby Moose buy a silly reed boat, a silly necklace or any other silly handicrafts. Baby Moose thinks all handicrafts that are not made to his size really suck.

Baby Moose also admired the view from the 4-meter high viewing tower...

...and enjoyed the lovely singing of the local ladies. Baby Moose is not quite sure though whether "Twinkle, twinkle Little Star" is a completely authentic song of the Uros indians... 

Baby Moose continued his journey to Amantani island and was given a room to share with Taitti.

Baby Moose quite liked the Harry Potter sheets so he decided to sleep in the same bed with Taitti because the other bed had Spiderman sheets and Baby Moose like Harry Potter better even though Harry Potter flies around with one of those uncool old-fashioned broomsticks. Maybe it's retro to fly around with a broomstick, who knows. Baby Moose is not very well up to date on the latest fashion trends regarding transportation methods. At least broomsticks are ecologically friendlier than cars so that's kind of awesome.

Baby Moose also went to admire the sunset - although he did not see one since the sun was hiding behind a cloud. The trip was not completely useless because Baby Moose found another friendly lady who was selling hats in his size. Baby Moose had already lost the hat he bought the day before. This time he bought a hat that could be secured under his chin with a nice knot, not to lose the hat again.

After the hike up and down the hill Baby Moose was a little tired and thirsty - no wonder since Lake Titicaca is at 3,800 meters from sea level and the hill where he climbed was at about 4,100 meters. Therefore Baby Moose found his way to the local pub on the main square and enjoyed a drink of pisco and a beer.

Later on that night the local villagers took the entire group out to a little party and dressed up everyone in local clothes. Baby Moose thinks his hat was enough for teh occasion and laughed at Taitti looking silly in her Peruvian clothes.

Baby Moose was even more amused when the dancing started and everyone was hopping around to the rhythm of traditional songs and looked rather clueless about the very simple steps of this dance. It was very entertaining, says Baby Moose, well worth attending.

On the morning of the last day Baby Moose enjoyed his last muña tea on Amantani island, said goodbye to the friendly host family and headed towards Taquile island.

On Taquile Baby Moose found a lady who was selling scarfs in Baby Moose's size. Most people wore those scarves tied around their wrist but that did not bother Baby Moose at all, he thinks it was a very nice scarf indeed and nicely knitted too. And it only cost one sol! What a bargain again.

 Baby Moose enjoyed the handicraft market on the main square of Taquile island and also the views from the building rooftop. Baby Moose did think these villagers were really handicraft crazy: Little girls seemed to want to learn spinning at the age of 4 and even men were sitting on the marketplace knitting their hats.

On the way back to the boat Baby Moose decided to get a picture together with Taitti at the famous arch. It was somewhat unclear to Baby Moose why was the arch famous but since his tour guide said it was famous it was best to tkae a picture here, just in case.

In the end it was time to head back to the boat and commence the 3-hour journey back to Puno. Baby Moose was very pleased with his trip, in particular the Harrry Potter sheets, the hat and the scarf made him smile. Next, Baby Moose will be heading to Austin to meet Antia, Carlos, Deco and Laksa.

The Most Famous of All Piles of Rock in Peru - Machu Picchu

09-10 Sep 2010

The stop most travelers to Peru really look forward to is the visit to the old Inca town of Machu Picchu at the height of 2,400 meters above sea level. The closer the day to hopping on a train to Aguas Calientes – or “Machu Picchu village” – came the more I felt that happy, bubbly, tingly feeling spreading all over my body. I’m going to Machu Picchu! I can’t believe how lucky I am.

I made friends on the way to the Ollantaytambo train station with two Argentinean men, Roberto and Enrique, who were travelling in the same car as I was, crammed in with 6 other passengers. We had a cup of coffee and a burger in the café closest to the train station and boarded the train to Aguas Calientes. There was a man waiting for me at the train station to show me to my hotel, which I found absolutely hilarious since Aguas Calientes is a small village with two main streets and no hotel can be further than 200-300 meters from the station. Yet they wanted to make sure I don’t get lost…

Exiting the train station in Aguas Calientes

Hotel Santuario in my opinion was pretty nice, particularly considering I had spent most of the time on this trip either living in a tent or sleeping in a hostel dorm. Hey, this place had a private bathroom and two beds in the room (and they were real beds, not camping mats or bunk beds). There also was tv in the room. It was so long since I’ve seen a tv in my room I did not know what do with it anymore - so I decided to have a nap instead. I could have enjoyed a bath at the famous hot springs that gave their name to the village of Aguas Calientes (i.e. “Hot Waters”). But no. Instead I happily slept for a couple of hours in the privacy of my Real Hotel Room and felt extremely refreshed upon waking up.

Later that day I went looking for my two newly found friends Patricia&Andrew. I met them at the Flying Dog Hostel in Cusco and after having exchanged travel stories and tips, we realised that we will be in machu Picchu on the same day. Fabulous! So we decided we shall meet for dinner after P&A’s train gets to Aguas Calientes. I went looking for their hostel Oro Verde in the small village. (btw, Oro Verde is the hostel you do NOT want to stay in if you ever visit Machu Picchu. It had moldy, smelly rooms with broken locks on the doors and no breakfast on time despite the fact that breakfast was supposed to be included in room price.) We had a stroll in the village, bought some snacks , wondered about the train tracks that run down on the main street of the village (the “city train”) and eventually settled in a small restaurant near Oro Verde. We had a not-so-impressive dinner at the place – although we did manage to recruit a new friend. His name was Alfonso and he was studying medicine in Chile. He was having dinner all by himself so we invited him to join us. The impressive part of the dinner was that the cook had some talent in turning carrots into sculptures. We found a flamingo, a dog, a llama and a turtle on our plates when the food arrived.

The Flamingo in the salad

We had planned to get up early so we all headed back to our hostels after dinner. I was planning on taking a 7am bus whilst Patricia, Andrew and Alfonso were thinking about being on the first bus at 5.30am. In the end I was so excited about going to Machu Picchu that I was at the bus station already at 6.45am. To my great surprise I found both my two Argentinean friends and Patricia&Andrew on the same bus. What a great start to a day!

Map of Machu Picchu

All the travellers flocking in to Machu Picchu at 8am...

 

P,A&me all got on the same guided tour. The tour was excellent and well worth the money. Apart from getting a comprehensive view of the old Inca town we also learned that Peru has over 400 species of orchids and that coca plants don’t grow well at altitude.

One of those 400 species of orchids

We viewed the town from the official “National Geographic” viewing point from where all those fabulous Nat Geo photos have been taken from, entered  the town through the main gate, visited the observatory (the Incas were quite good astronomers), saw the Temple of the Sun – Temples of Sun were only located in important Inca cities, got familiar with Inca’s ways of creating echoes in the main square and in the building structures and admired the carved stone walls that have survived almost intact for so many centuries and earthquakes. 

Not all walls have survived the years and the earthquakes completely intact The purpose of the canal on the left side of the terraces is to absorb earthquakes (and don't ask me how - I'm not an engineer nor an Inca architect)

Machu Picchu is truly marvelous, beautiful, impressive and brilliant. The mere size of the place is awe-inspiring. It's an entire Inca town that used to have 500 people living in it - and 90-95% of the buildings are almost intact. That's because the Spanish conquistadors never found the place. Only 5-10% of the place needed to be reconstructed after Mr Hiram Bingham wandered upon the place in 1911. He effectively paid the locals only one sol each (a day's pay at the time, to be fair) for finding him mummies of the Incas. He removed them, as well as all the precious artifacts that had any historical or monetary value, shipped them to his university in the US with a promise the objects will be returned as soon as they have been evaluated and listed. US Mail or Fed Ex must have run into some serious trouble with the shipping since the Peruvians are still waiting for the objects to arrive back to their home country and it has been nearly 100 years since Bingham promised to ship them back...

What also really impressed me was the Incas' relationship to nature. Mountains were considered gods and before one would attempt a long trip he would ask permission from the mountains to pass through. (Maybe I would have had better luck with the weather during my hike in Huayhuash if I had paid due respects to the mountains before wandering off and Happily Heidi-Hopping on the Hills during my 8 days in Huayhuash?) One of the impressive carvings that is still on display in Machu Picchu (it was probably too big&heavy for Bingham to steal and ship to the US) represents a condor carved in stone. What's very clever about the statue is that although the body and head of the condor are carved in a flat stone, two natural rock formations behind the slate depict its wings. 

The Condor. I did not get a decent picture of it with its wings so you will have to use your imagination to figure out what the wings look like

After a snack break in the only place with shade (which smelled of wee, btw) we made some plans of how to best use the remaining hours that we had left for tackling Machu Picchu. We had already decided in the morning not to climb the Wayna Picchu peak which is limited to 400 climbers a day due to the steep and narrow path that leads to the top as we were informed that the views from Puerta del Sol (Sungate) and Machu Picchu mountain top would be better. Therefore we set route towards Puerta del Sol where the Inca Trail ends. The 30-45 minute sloping uphill walk in scorching sun to Puerta del Sol was well worth it. The view that opened in front of us was spectacular, making the entire Inca town look like a toy model city surrounded by the majestic mountains. I can really imagine how impressed those arriving at Machu Picchu along the Inca trail must be when they are rewarded with the view of the entire Machu Picchu town after four days of hiking on the mountains.

View of Macchu Picchu and the road leading to Machu Picchu viewed from the Sungate

As that would not have been enough, Andrew and I spent another hour climbing up Machu Picchu mountain while Patricia explored the ruins further. The views from the peak were well worth the climb - although I do think the best views were still from the Sungate.

On top of the world - I mean, on top of machu Picchu peak

After a long day of walking and climbing we needed to reward ourselves with Pizza&Beer. Oh boy, was a cold Cusquena the best thing I've ever tasted after the steamy and dusty day! We were also very amused by the "city train" passing by a couple of times on the street. "A train on the main street of a village? No, I have not seen that before" I had to explain to our handsome waiter Leo who did not quite understand what was so amusing and worth taking photos of about the little train that was making its way towards the station.

The city choo-choo train

Eventually we too got back on the train and the trip towards Ollantaytambo and Cusco started. I was seated with two British guys and a German girl in their 20s. They had just been 9 days in the jungle and trekking. Ed who was sitting next to me suggested we'd play games to make the train journey pass quicker and as we did not have playing cards we ended up playing the alphabet game with names of countries and animals. We also ended up in silly discussions over whether Wales and England count as countries - according to our two British representatives they do count as sovereign states as they do have their own governments. Oh well, although me and the Germal girl did have a bit of a differing opinion about this we eventually counted them as countries... A few rounds of the game and some banter took us to Ollantaytambo more entertained than bored.

It took me while to find my bus in Ollantaytambo but eventually we did find the buses, got back to cusco and reached the flying Dog together with Patricia&Andrew and half past midnight. Oh no, and tomorrow I will get picked up from the hostel at 7am to go to Puno! Not much sleep - but it does not matter. I had so much fun and I was so impressed by The Old Pile of Rocks of Machu Picchu it makes up for any lack of sleep.

Famous Rock

07-08 Sep 2010

One thing that a traveler typically ends up doing is visiting historic sites in the countries she’s visiting. One walks around or drives around, either independently or following a tour guide, to see cathedrals, temples, monuments, statues, plazas, buildings, museums and ruins. Wandering around looking at tons of famous rock.

Peru is definitely a country where one can admire various sites of famous rock. The most well-known ones are the ruins of the former Inca cities and Inca sites of worship. Although the Spanish conquistadors did a good job at eliminating most important Inca sites and signs of Inca culture in particular in the area around the Inca capital of Cusco, they also used the sites to build their own buildings and religious sites. The cathedral in Cusco, for example, has been built on the site where Wiracocha’s (the last Inca) palace was at the time the Spanish won over the Incas and killed Wiracocha on the main square by attaching a horse to each of his arms and legs and pulling them off his body. The Spanish tore down most of the strong, earthquake proof stone walls designed and built by the Inca architects and used the finely carved stones as materials for new buildings. To reinforce the new culture, where old stone walls were left in place to serve part of a new building the walls were often plastered over to reinforce the new culture through common objects, artefacts, churches (new sites of worship) and buildings.

Cusco Cathedral

The Cusco cathedral was one of the most interesting places I visited. It has got a curious mix of local Peruvian and traditional Spanish catholic elements.  For example, in the fresco of the last supper the food on the table is – a cuy (guinea pig) ! There are also some local fruit trees in the painting that do not grow either in Middle East nor in Spain.   

Last Supper

In the centre of the cathedral, in the choir which was probably mostly used as the “meeting room” for the priests and bishops, there are beautifully carved cedar wood chairs. Some of the decorations on the seats are women with Peruvian facial features – and bare breasts and big bellies with clear belly buttons. This symbolism is probably referring to “Pachamama” (Mother earth), the most important god in Peru for the 4,000 years before the arrival of the conquistadors. 

Choir in Cusco Cathedral

 In another chapel in the cathedral there is a black statue of Jesus Christ known as “El Señor de los Temblores” (The Lord of Tremors/Earthquakes). He received the name in 1650 when Cusco was hit by a strong earthquake followed by numerous aftershakes. The story claims that when the aftershakes would not stop, the church organised a big procession on town carrying this particular statue of Jesus in the procession. This made the earth calm down and hence the statue has since then been called “The Lord of Earthquakes” and has a special place in the hearts of the citizens of Cusco.

As Incas also worshipped the sun, converting them to Catholics was not all straightforward. One of the elements that is seen in the altars of all catholic churches in Peru that I visited was mirrors placed around the altar. This was done to give the newly converted Catholics a representation of the sun.  Often the altars even had a sun and stars constellation made of gold high on top of the altar, in addition to the mirrors.

The Inca citadels and temples – or their ruins – Qorikancha (The temple of the Sun) in Cusco and the two citadels in Pisac and Ollantaytambo also served as a good introduction to Inca architecture, way of life and how Incas cultivated vegetables and fruits on terraced lands on the hills around the citadels. The terraces on both sites are well preserved and restored. We also got a good understanding of how Incas made their most important buildings stand against earthquakes by the way they carved the stones, made the walls incline inwards at a carefully set angle, inserted tall, narrow vertical pieces of rock in between the bigger rocks to absorb shocks from earthquakes, used temperature changes (contraction when weather cooled down at night) to make pieces fall in place perfectly and carved them to fit each other - just like legos! Rocks were also carved and organized in place to depict the important Inca symbolism: Miniatures of surrounding mountains since mountains were considered gods, snakes such as Urubamba river in the sacred valley (snake was the guardian of the underworld), pumas (the guardian of “here” world), condors (the guardian of the above world) and for example llamas were still found in the ruins.

Pisac terraces

Legos! Ok, no, theyr are not legos, they're display pieces of rock at Qorikancha to show how Incas carved the rocks they used to construct the important buildings and sites

I was very impressed by all this famous rock that I was introduced to over the two days tours in Cusco. I cannot wait to get to Machu Picchu now that I’ve received a basic education to Inca culture, architecture and important symbols of the Inca religion!

(PS - the pictures of Cusco cathedral inside and outside are not mine - I've stolen them form the web since no pictures are allowed inside the cathedral haha!)

Piece of rock that weighs over 3 tonnes in Saqsayhuaman near Cusco

 

Can you see the llama made of the rocks?

Sacred Valley and Urubamba river

 Face of an Inca prince carved on a mountain side in Ollantaytambo

Baby Moose Goes Peruvian

Baby Moose was on his way from Cusco to Puno today to see the Uros floating islands when he made a stop at this lovely little church in Andahuaylillas. Baby Moose thought the church itself was impressive, including its bautism chapel that had "I baptise you" written in five different languages and the most beautifully painted walls.

However, Baby Moose was most impressed by the shop outside the church that was selling clothing in his size. The sign outside the shop said "Dolls". Baby Moose went in and met many new friends. He was also so impressed by the skills of the Peruvian ladies making these perfectly sized clothing items that he decided to buy himself a little Peruvian beanie - for the affordable price of 5 soles. Baby Moose did not ask whether the beanie was made of 100% alpaca, baby alpaca or a synthetic mix. Baby Moose knows that when he finds a beanie made just perfectly to cover his head he should not ask too many questions. Now Baby Moose can easily mix in the Peruvian travellers crowd. Even more importantly, he will be warm in Puno which gets very cold nights since it's located at the altitude of 3,800 meters.

Pisco and Banter - More Backpacker Hostel Praise

08 Sep, Flying Dog Hostel, Cusco
Backpackers are also perfect places for making friends. I have really enjoyed the company of some people during this trip - and the best thing you never know when the really fun people are going to turn up. One of the occasions like this for me was meeting Patricia and Andrew at Flying Dog hostel in Cusco.

The most annoying thing about traveling alone is that you end up eating alone all the time. I don't mind a meal by myself planning my travels, reading my book or going through my photos now and then - but usually it happens when you've just arrived in a new town and are most in need of company. Backpackers almost always have company. If not company of food, you can still hang out in the lobby and bother the receptionist on duty with non-meaningful conversations.

Or, in the case of Flying Dog, you can get invited to have a pisco (Peruvian alcoholic drink, about 42% alcohol) with ginger ale and lemon at the hostel kitchen. The drink has a name but don't ask the airhead woman what it was called - I already forgot. Me, Miguel - who manages the different Flying Dog hostels, my two new friends Patricia and Andrew, the receptionist girl, and later also two Argentinian girls shared the most wonderful session of drinks at the hostel kitchen. Since I did not need to get up early, me and Miguel stayed up later and talked about what people talk about when they meet up for the first time over drinks: Travelling, the opposite sex, sex, parents, more sex - and again sex. The situations one can end up in when going out with someone from a country with a more conservative approach to sex, living in a conservative country, or chasing members of opposite sex who come from sexually very liberal countries are definitely worth sharing over a drink.

Looking forward to the next drinkie with friends. In the meantime:
Cheers, guys, and have one for me while I'm away!

The Sweetness of Backpacker Hostels

I've been pretty comfy in my Flying Dog Hostel in Cusco. Backpacker places are just so cosy. Here I am, sitting in the lobby lounge with my laptop, connected to the wireless, enjoying a free cup of tea or a (not quite as free) beer,  looking through what my friends have been up to on FB and updating my blog.

The breakfast here is good and you can even cook omelets yourself to top it up if you don't find coffee, tea, bread and cereals enough to start a day. Eggs in the shop next door cost 3 soles (1 dollar) for 3.The boy from reception even ran to buy them for me this morning - I did not even need to ask him to! I'm obviously in someone's good books.

They also give you really warm blankets - suits Princess Holmstrom. It's also been pretty quiet here. Yesterday I had two other people in my dorm but now I again am the Queen of the Dorm with 4 beds just for Taitti. Life is good. Chill, sleep, blog, drink beer. Eat. Sleep more. Talking about which - I'm going to bed now.

El Trek de Infierno - 8 days of Huayhuash Mountains 27 Aug-03 Sep 2010

I read somewhere this is one of the most spectacular treks you can do in the Andean region. Snowtop mountains, remote location, stunning views of mountain passes and glaciers, altitudes up to 5,000 meters - and hard work for your legs climbing up and down at that altitude. It was truly spectacular - but it was cold too! I was freezing my backside off almost every day. After the beaches in Venezuela Peru felt like being in the freezer although temperatures daytime can reach about 20C. Not on the mountains though, so forget about hiking in a sleeveless top. Most of the time I was wearing:
-Woollen leggings
-Hiking pants
-2 pairs of socks (one pair of hiking socks and one pair of woollen socks)
-Long sleeved cotton shirt
-A thick fleece
-A windfleece
-A beanie
-A pair of gloves
-A scarf
I might not have worn them ALL the time but I was grateful for having brought it, as in the evening temperatures went down to as little as 0C and one night we even had temperatures below freezing. (Who said you can hike in a sleeveless top???? Liar!)

Day 1: 27 Aug
We took off from Huaraz with our tour operator Andean Kingdom at 8am. The group consisted of me (35, Finnish), Ania (28, German) and Carlos (54, Argentinian). In addition we had our guide Julio and cook Jesus. Our donkey driver was going to join us later that day. The first night we just camped overnight at our first campsite at 4,300 meters. We got some hails in the evening at the campsite but no rain or snow.

Day 2: 28 Aug
I think we climbed two mountain passes the first day, the higher being about 4,700 meters.It was tough! I need more air! 6 more days of walking with no air and freezing cold. Oh god, how am I going to survive this? What made me think this was a good idea? Hahaha.

We arrived at our campsite in Carhuacocha in the afternoon. The campsites were always lower down, mostly around 4,300 meters. Carhuacocha was a stunning site indeed, with 4 snow topped mountains behind our tents and a beautiful blue lagoon right next to us. (See the picture below - I took it in Carhuacocha).

Now, the hygiene freak Miss Holmstrom decided that although the water in the lagoon is freezing cold and it has a nasty muddy bottom she needs to bathe. So off i go, packing my bikini, my towel, my shampoo and soap. I marched to the side of the lagoon and I actually managed to get changed in my bikini, and even wash my hair in the ice cold water. Water was probably around 6 degrees - it felt like it's coming straight down from a glacier. I nearly lost my flip-flops to the lagoon. I did not realise the bottom is so muddy you sink about one meter in if you stand on the bottom. I attempted and spent a good few minutes digging my sandal out from a mudhole. Oh well. Obviously this is a "no stepping in" lagoon. I felt a whole lot better after my bath although I was till missing a warm bed - but I was very grateful for my four season sleeping bag I got from the agency. (Where is the beach? Where is my mojito? Where is the party?)

Day 3: 29 Aug
Last night was cold. My sleeping bag also got a little wet somewhere - not sure whether it was just the condensation inside the tent or whether it had been on a wet spot on the ground (the ground is so dry here it's more likely to be condensation). So I was a little cold, sob... (The Finnish princess goes hiking on the mountains and finds it cold. What a sad case I am...) Luckily I had my own little bag (comfort to 12C) inside so i was not all that cold. I was also wearing all of my clothes at night because it was so cold. It went below 0C at night already - we woke up with frost on the ground. I kept adding more and more clothes throughout the night and ended up with almost everything that I had been wearing during the day as well!

However, I think I saw the most beautiful thing ever last night too. I had to wake up around 2am to go to the toilet. I reluctantly climbed out of my bag, searched for my headtorch, put my shoes on, pulled the tent zip open, made my way to the so called toilets (not exactly 5 star). On the way back to the tent I stopped. I suddenly realised I was looking at one million stars in a crystal clear night sky shedding light over the mountains. Behind our tents there were 4 snow top mountains bathing in moon light and on my left the lagoon. Wow. Do I care if it's cold - this is the most beautiful thing I have seen for the longest time.  Or maybe ever. One of those things only mother nature is capable of creating. Even if I had had my camera there was no way I could have captured the beauty of the moment. Maybe I should sleep outside? (And then the cold catches up on me and I creep back to my tent in my two sleeping bags and sleep happily for the rest of the night).

Today was supposed to be our longest day of hiking with 10 hours of walking, arriving at campsite around 5pm. I was not all that well acclimatised but we still managed to complete our journey to 4,800 meters and back down to 4,300 in 7 hours, arriving at campsite around 2.30pm. Most of the day was spent hiking on the plain. There was only one mountain pass to climb. It was a truly beautiful day with many greenish-blue lagoons, sunshine, snow top mountains and views of the entire Huayhuash mountain range.

Ania is a total gazelle and mountain goat (or "biscacha" like they call them here, according to a small rabbit like animal that lives in the mountains. The "biscachita" goes up the mountains as if she was born to do that with such grace and elegance as well that I mostly just see a red jacket disappearing in the distance. bye-bye, Ania, see you on the top! Don't get bored waiting for us... For living the gazelle works as a lawyer - not exactly an outdoor instructor whose fitness levels she has.

Carlos complained the hiking being tough for him but honestly, for someone of his age (hey, he is 20 years older than me) he is doing fantastic. He has only been at most 15 minutes behind us, which is nothing considering the altitude and the steep climbs we've been making.

Our guide Julio is very entertaining and a good guide too. He has made these first three days a whole lot easier for us with his stories and pacing himself to our speed - and just generally looking after us and telling us more about all the things we've seen during the hike (whenever we are not too tired to pay attention). Julio has a university degree but he much prefers the outdoor life and gets bored in the office. Apparently most of his university classmates work in banks. To our luck Julio was not attracted to a career in banking. I don't blame him - although I don't think I could do this for a living - it's way too cold for me, hahahaha!

Jesus has been a fantastic cook, particularly considering the equipment he cooks with. We've had some fantastic lunches, dinners and breakfasts out here already. I loved the yummy avocado, tomato and onion paste we had with bread for lunch on the first day of hiking - something similar to guacamole but not quite.

I again bathed in the river. Did not wash my hair. It was freezing but it made me feel better.

Day 4: 30 Aug
Ok, today ended up being the toughest day for me of the hiking trip. I'm writing this at 8.45pm in the tent, getting ready to sleep.
I kept waking up all of last night feeling nauseous and not being able to sleep. Breakfast ended up being a small piece of pancake with some strawberry marmalade and two cups of chamomile tea as I could not force anything else down my throat. I was feeling soooo unwell. We assumed it was altitude sickness although it was already day 3 and i had had a couple of days of acclimatisation before the trek. We started walking - but I only got like 30 steps and I was crying (how embarrassing is that???? I go hiking in Peru and I weep because I need to carry my own bag???) Julio carried my bag for the rest of the day. We got up the first climb and I started feeling worse and worse. Eventually I found myself tripled over the low side wall of the path with my head buried in the wall vomiting up my entire breakfast. Thank god it was mostly a liquid breakfast. Not the most glamourous moment of my life....

Oh well.We continued the hike. I felt a little better after having gotten rid of my breakfast but I still kept fighting feeling sick. Luckily today was the shortest and easiest day of the hike. We arrived at campsite early. For the last hour I was carrying a mandarin in my hand and in my state of sickness holding the mandarin in my hand gave me a nice feeling of security. Then all the endorphins kicked in due to the exhaustion of walking and being sick. I was staring at the mandarin thinking "It's orange. Isn't that such a pretty colour? Just like the robes of the buddhist monks". Later I felt my consciousness leave my body and I was observing myself walking, being about half a meter higher in the air than my feet, on a happy high. All this without drugs - being sick is such a blessing.

This campsite had hot spring baths. Woohoo! I did not care if i felt a little ill. Hot water and washing my hair was wayyy more important. (Yes, I'm such a hygiene freak - i don't care if I can't change my clothes but I need a bath or a shower, and it has to be hot). The water in the pools was really warm and helped warm up my constant state of being cold. I actually think the sun was out too, I was just not in the state to pay much attention to it. After the bath I retreated to the tent and slept. Later I took my temperature as I was feeling a little funny. Woops! 38C. That's not good when you have got 4 more days of hiking to do.

Julio arranged for a horse for me for the next day in case I would need it and also said that if the fever will not clear, there will be an option of terminating the hiking early using another exit from the mountain range. So tomorrow I might be riding instead of walking!

Day 5: 31 Aug
I was so tired last night. I literally had all of my clothes on while sleeping in my two sleeping bags. I added another pair of leggings and a thermal top. I also slept with my gloves and my beanie on. I was happy, warm and slept well. I had some of the strangest dreams though.

In one dream i had a pygmy baby elephant as a pet. It was only the size of a medium sized dog and in the dream i could carry it around in my arms. The little baby elephant had the cutest trunk and prettiest eyes and it was looking at me as if I was its mom. I went shopping with the baby elephant in some foreign country, perhaps it was Sweden. We went to a department store's pet section on the 5th floor to buy the baby elephant a cot and some other pet stuff that baby elephants need. Then the baby elephant got lost in the department store and I was very worried over it. It's not really legal to have pygmy baby elephants as pets and maybe the Swedish authorities find it and they might not understand even if I explained to them that I'm really the mother of this elephant and it's best for the elephant to stay with me. Don't put it in a zoo or a cage or something. I was really looking after that baby elephant.

In dream number two I was not exactly me. I was an American lady in her late 30s and I had long reddish hair. It was almost Christmas and i was a little sad because my boyfriend would not be back to celebrate Christmas with me. My boyfriend was batman so he was busy chasing after criminals. Yes, that Batman with the funny mask on his face and the big, black cape. So I was walking around a big, shiny shopping mall feeling a little sad and lonely because my superhero boyfriend could not spend Christmas with me. I was looking at all the people doing their Christmas shopping and missing him. I got on an escalator going down and then I looked up - on the other side, riding the escalator going up was my Batman boyfriend with a big smile on his face (seems Joker, Catwoman and Penguin and other baddies after all lost to spending Christmas with me). The very funny detail in this dream was that he was in his full Batman costume, with the black mask, the body armour with the Batman sign and his big, black cape. And nobody at the shopping mall paid any attention  although he was the REAL Batman. A few minutes later we were strolling towards my apartment - he had taken his Batman costume off and was wearing just normal, regular clothes. Batman was old too. He was definitely in his late 40s, if not already a bit more. I had the biggest smile ever on my face. My Batman boyfriend was back for Christmas!

In dream number 3 I was in one of the big cities, probably in Asia (not Singapore). I was with one of the guys who was in Venezuela for the wedding trip, and we went out to bars and restaurants, there were lots of people, good drinks, great food, fabulous party. I remember wearing a nice dress and high heels (why do women remember this kind of details in their dreams like "what was I wearing"?) I also do remember kissing him in my dream although I don't remember doing anything else (ok, ok, I'm just too embarrassed to admit that i dreamt about having sex with one of my friends and that it was really good, hahaha).

But that was some series of dreams. from baby elephant with a cute trunk to Batman boyfriend to snogging a friend of mine. I think sexologists would have a thing or two to say about my dreams.

Now, let's get back to Planet Earth and Day 5 of the hiking trip. I'm proud to say I felt good today and I did not need the horse at all! Woohoo, I walked, with my own two feet. No fever! Julio still carried my bag the first half of the day. We got to 5,000 meters today! That's the highest I have ever been. It was a cold day today and again we saw some hails and light snowfall. After taking all the mandatory "We made it!" photos at 5,000 meters (Ania did not want any, she was sulking because the weather was bad and we could not climb to the viewing point at 5,100 meters) I took my daypack off Julio and carried it for the rest of the day. Not much of a task since the rest of the day was just going down followed by walking across a plain. We got to campsite already at 1.10pm - so then there was nothing to do after that. Sigh.... We had lunch and i again went to bathe in the cold river (don't learn my lesson do I? Fever, fever but I still want cold water...) So, I'm going to have a nap now.

Day 6: 1 Sep
Freaking freezing, at 4,600 meters at campsite after the day's hike. Cannot write. Too cold. Will get in my sleeping bag and not get out although it's only 4.45pm. I've got pain in the stomach...

I skipped dinner and Julio brought me a hot water bottle later that night. That made me feel a whole lot better, I was nice and warm that night. Don't I just love hot water bottles!

Day 7: 2 Sep
We woke up in morning to discover it had snowed during the night at 4,600 meters. The ground was almost covered in snow. Wow! Baby Moose (my mascot) took some photos in the snow. The "burros" (donkeys) did not seem too happy in the snow, neither did the dog that had appeared from somewhere. Our tent had a layer of snow over it. I was amazed - mountain weather is so funny. No wonder it was so cold at night!

We took off after breakfast in a light snowfall. Ania left a little later because she did not like the idea of walking in the snowfall. We did one big climb today (to 4,800 meters) and then came back to our last campsite at 4,100 meters. It was another beautiful campsite by two lagoons and surrounded by high mountains. The sun was out and we had fun chatting to a British guy and a Swedish guy camping next to us.

I hate to be such a princess but I'm happy thinking that tomorrow night I'll sleep in a bed!

Day 8: 3 Sep
A nice walk on our last day with some variety to the scenery. The path was sloping down, the weather was perfect and we got some nice views of the valleys walking downwards. we ended the hike in a small village where we caught a long bus ride back to Huaraz. All in all, it was a very nice hike and I'm happy I did it. I think I might stick to shorter hikes in the future - but I'm still proud of myself that I did it.