Tour leading in Peru and Bolivia

Before I begin the latest update, I would like to share a few random thoughts and observations from the past few months.

On my second trip this year, I had a number of passengers who had visited Vietnam recently. In my previous experience, whenever anyone said something along the lines of "Back when I was in Vietnam..." it meant that they were a veteran and fought over there. It was strange to hear people beginning stories with those words and continuing on to mention tourism activities. But, it is good to hear pleasurable tales of this Southeast Asian country.

My favorite word in Spanish is 'Hablaba'. It means something along the lines of 'I used to talk'. How can you not like a language with a word like 'Hablaba'?

So far, after a few solo lessons in Japanese, my favorite Japanese word is 'Tokidoki'. It means 'sometimes'.

I have always known that Japanese would be hard to learn, but now I have a slightly better appreciation of just how difficult it will be. In an English language newspaper, there are about 50 symbols you need to know to read it. In Japanese, the official number for a newspaper is 1946, spread out over three different alphabets and one picture writing system. The picture writing system is similar to the Chinese writing and contains over 10,000 distinct pictures. A high school graduate is expected to be able to read and write over 3,000 of them.

As I continue to visit Inca sites, I am more and more impressed with their water control systems. They were masters of water. They built terraces with intricate subterranean aqueducts on mountain sides to control erosion and grow crops. In the religious areas, they built long series of ritual baths and were able to control the speed that the water flowed at. In one place, Ollantaytambo, they annually diverted a river. They brought big stones down the mountain side. Then they closed off one branch of the huge Urubamba river and put the stones on an island. Then they closed the other side of the river and brought the stones up the opposite side of the valley. Pretty impressive.

After I was mugged in Lima in February I became a little nervous. I became reluctant to walk alone in the poor areas on the edges of towns. I also stopped carrying more than US$100 on me when I walked around town. I did not like the feeling of having to take precautions, like a taxi, when I took out several hundred dollars from the bank and had to go back to the hotel to pay them. Luckily, after a few months, this fear is fading back to its normal level and I can comfortably walk around town with US$500 in my pocket again without being nervous. Life is so much more fun when you are not worried.

On the 23nd of March, I left Lima with seven new passengers. We visited Pisco and went to the Ballestas Islands to see the sea lions and penguins and birds. Then we went to the oasis of Huacachina for some sand boarding on the way to Nazca. From there it was on to Arequipa, the Colca Canyon, and Cuzco. Up until this point the trip was fraught with delays.

On the first day of travel, we arrived to Pisco early and had to wait on the side of the road for 15 minutes until our ride to town got there. The next day, I hired a private bus to take us to Nasca. When the mini-van arrived, the front left tire had a bit of an odd looking bulge in it. We spent twenty minutes looking for some air to put in the tire, never found any, gave up and started the drive south through the desert. After lunch in the oasis, we continued south. In the hills near the town of Rio Grande, a passing bus pointed out to us the fact that the front right tire was flat.
We pulled over and tried to get the spare. The spare tire was in a cage underneath the back of the van. The cage was stuck solid and we could not open it at first. Eventually, with one of my passengers leatherman tool we got the cage open and took out the spare. Twenty minutes later the new tire was on, and it was a bit flat. We discovered another spare tire under the van in the cage, but it was stuck. After twenty minutes of fiddling with it, we got it out. It looked like a tire from a golf cart. We put it on the van and headed off. The tire was too small and rubbed the rim. It did not turn, it just made an awful sound. At this point our driver took the flat spare and hitched into the nearby town to fill it with air.

When he got back, we put on the spare with air and headed off. The tire rubbed something and made and awful sound. We slowly drove to the next town. After an hour, which I spent talking with the local kids, the driver had the original tire fixed and we were on our way. We arrived in Nazca about three hours late and nobody was impressed.

From Nazca we waited for a very late night bus to Arequipa. When we finally left it was nearly one in the morning. About sunrise, the engine broke and we sat on the side of the road for a while. Then we drove for a few hours before parking on the side of the road for another hour. Eventually, we continued on, at a snail's pace. We arrived in Arequipa about five hours late.

The next day we were promised that we would not have any vehicle problems. We left Arequipa on the way to the Colca Canyon. At the edge of town a taxi cut us off and two policemen hopped out. They told us to drive back to their checkpoint before hopping in a bus going the other direction. When we got back to the place where they stand on the side of the road and flag down cars we found out that they had waved at us to stop, but our driver had not seen them. After thirty minutes and a small bribe we were on our way again.

A few days later we flew to Cuzco and went rafting. The difficult class V section was finally open and we opted for that. We made it through all of the rapids. At the last one we tried to park the raft in the wave and surf. Something did not work as planned, the raft flipped and we all had a nice short swim.

The next day we toured the Sacred Valley and spent the night in Ollantaytambo. From there we started the Inca Trail. At the end of the first day of hiking, I had time for a very enjoyable extra hike up a side valley with some of my passengers. We saw a great children's game between villages. Three little boys were walking in a line. The one in the back would try to sneak up and touch the one in front of him. The one in front would turn around very quickly and try to spit on the one behind. They looked like they were enjoying their sport greatly, but none of us chose to join in.

On the second day of the hike there was a lot of rain. While everyone else ate lunch and napped, I followed a waterfall up to a river and further on to a big lake. I had an excellent four hour side hike that afternoon. Two days later we made it to Machu Picchu. While they did the tour, I strolled up the nearby Machu Picchu mountain.

Back in Cuzco we had a free day before busing over to Puno. The bus to Puno left almost an hour late, because they had to put on new tires. After a few more delays we arrived in Juliaca for our normal 15 minute stop. After one minute, they told us all to get back on the bus and we left.

We drove around the bus station and entered it from the back side. There was a band, a large crowd, men in suits, police and TV reporters waiting for us there. I first visited the Juliaca bus station in 1999 and it looks exactly the same now as it did then. It still looks unfinished. But, they had decided that this day was the official grand-opening and we were the first bus to arrive on this celebratory day. We got off the bus, got our pictures taken and answered a few questions put to us by the reporters. Then we got back onto the bus. The bus started pulling out. The police whistled at us to stop and indicated that we were going out the in gate. The bus driver had to exit the proper gate, drive around the bus station again and out to the highway. We were on our way again.

From Puno we visited the floating reed islands of Uros and then spent the night on Amantani. I had a nice exploratory hike of the island. The next day, after a visit to Taquile Island, we went back to Puno and then on to Bolivia. At the border I got to argue with the guard about my Singaporian passengers visa and passport. Eventually, for only about fifty dollars, she was allowed in and we were on our way to La Paz.

In La Paz, Bolivia, we said goodbye and I had a great couple of hikes in the nearby mountains.
On the 12th of April, I met my new group and we started the same trip I had just finished, but going in the opposite direction. I also met Benjamin, my trainee. He joined us on the trip and besides leading the tour, I trained him on how to be a GAP tour leader.

We crossed into Peru and went to Puno. We visited the islands and then went back to Puno. We were supposed to take a day bus to Cuzco, but a strike had closed the road. We explored Puno for the day and took a night bus instead. An hour into the ride, in Juliaca, we saw burning tires and rocks in the road. A man ran down the aisle of the bus yelling at us to turn off the TV and lights and to shut the curtains on the windows. Out the front window, I could see a bunch of men standing around in the intersection while some police watched them. After an hour or so, they all left and we continued on to Cuzco.

We had a free day in Cuzco, did the Sacred Valley tour and started the Inca Trail. That afternoon I had time to go further up the valley I first explored in March. The second day I explored another pass and nearby valley. The third day I had time to check out an extra little peak in the area. On the fourth day, while they toured the Machu Picchu ruins, I hiked an hour down to the river and an hour up the Putu Kussey mountain on the other side. This was a very scary climb. Some sections of the trail were tall and vertical cliffs. There were wet and slippery wooden ladders bolted to the wall. The climb up was a bit challenging, but rewarding.

The day after the Inca Trail, four of us went rafting. We flipped at the beginning of the biggest set of rapids. I fell out and knocked one of my passengers into the water with me. He lost both of his shoes and bruised his shoulder pretty bad before being quickly rescued. Then I floated near Ben for a while. He lost his shoe and was eventually rescued by another raft. Before the raft could save me, I went under the water and we lost sight of each other. It was very dark and peaceful under the water while I was waiting to pop back up and struggle for a quick breath before being sucked back under.

Then I was being washed downstream next to another one of my passengers. He grabbed onto the back of the rescue kayak, washed around a big rock and was deposited on the shore by the kayaker, minus one shoe and with a bruised thigh and scraped toes. Before the big rock, which I really wanted to avoid, I managed to swim to an eddy and pulled myself ashore with both shoes and only a scraped shin.

Eventually, the kayak came to rescue us. This involved us holding on while he pulled us into the rapids. A raft quickly caught up to us, and without too much more punishment, we were pulled in. Him first, naturally. I was still enjoying the swim.

Ben and I did manage to fall in one more time near the end, but we were quickly rescued and it was uneventful.

We flew from Cuzco to Arequipa and enjoyed a free day there. Then we went on to the Colca Canyon. It is a great place, but we are always rushed there with only two days. I rearranged the trip and we spent three days up there. On our full day in the Canyon, we hiked down to the river. We had lunch and did a bit of swimming before hiking back to the top.

After returning to Arequipa, we took the regularly scheduled night bus to Nasca, flew over the lines and toured the area and went on up to the oasis for some sandboarding. Two days later we were in Lima and had our farewell dinner.

I spent a few free days with my friends Luis and Karem. Then I took a bus to the mountains for a quick get away before my final trip with GAP. Four hours from Lima, at sea level, I was crossing over a pass in the Andes at 4818 meters (somewhere around 15,000 feet). I continued on the bus past Junin and got off in Carhaumayo. The next day I did a nice 12 or so mile walk up the valley and over the small pass at the end. I took a bus to Morococha, the nearest small town to the 4818 meter pass called Ticlio. Morococha has no hotels, but I met a woman, whose son took me to see his uncle who directed us to another uncle's house. I rented a most disgusting and dirty room for the night in this high altitude mining town. The bathroom was the alley behind the house. I ate in a small cafeteria and helped three young students with their English.

The next day, I took a bus up to the pass and had a pleasant five hour hike up in the mountains. I saw a bit of snow and also saw five vicunas. My previous day's hike was fun, but not challenging. This day, at over 5,000 meters, I was having fun. At one point in my explorations, I had to make my way down a cliff. Looking back at it, I could not figure out how I had done it.

That afternoon I went back to Lima and spent a day or two there before my current trip started.
On the 10th of May, I left Lima with my eight new passengers and my new trainee, Stephane. We visited Pisco and the oasis before getting to Nazca. After a long delay due to fog, they did their flights over the lines and we left for Arequipa. Normally we take a night bus, but we had to leave earlier than normal to avoid the nationwide strike on the 14th of May.

We arrived in Arequipa late last night. Today is a free day for everyone. The strike is pretty interesting. People are protesting the government in general and privatization in particular. There are broken bottles and rocks in the streets and lots of people marching with signs and chants. The riot police are well positioned, but all has been quiet so far.