I was going to start this post a few weeks ago and call it  ’3 months in Peru’, didn’t quite get round to it, and it never ceases to amaze me how quickly time seems to fly for me these days. In about 10 days time I’ll have now been here 4 months and that seems hard to believe! Is time flying as fast for everyone else?

Anyway, it’s been awhile since I regularly updated this blog and I’m sorry about that. I’m hoping to get back into a more regular routine but you just never know with me. Writing has always been something I’ve struggled with and if I can put it off I usually will! Although the truth is once I get started I usually enjoy it more than I expect!

So what have I been up to this last month that’s made the time fly even faster? Not a whole lot strangely enough but it’s been a whole lot of fun!

As stated in one of my lasts posts I went without my laptop for almost 2 weeks due to my power adapter getting fried. At first I thought I was cursed but in the end it proved to be a blessing and I really enjoyed having a chunk of time away from the computer. I must admit I went a little bit crazy during that period, having a brief affair with a Peruvian girl called Ysabel (on vacation in Cusco from Lima), I ended up going clubbing, getting fairly drunk,  and staying out very late about 7 nights out of 10, which is definitely not my usual way of being. I certainly had a lot of fun but I was grateful for the rest when Ysabel returned home to Lima (she’s actually just returned to Cusco a few days ago but that’s perhaps a story for another post!).

Right now I’m busier with work than I’ve been in a long time with about 5 projects on the go, so definitely no late nights and parties for me at the moment! Hopefully this will mean I’ll be able to afford to take a trip into the Amazon in the next month or so which is something I really have my heart set on.

About a month ago I also did my fourth Ayahuasca ceremony while here in Peru. I’ve been meaning to write about that for quite sometime because I haven’t really talked about my Ayahuasca experiences so far on this blog and I really felt I received some lessons I want to write about any explore further. I will get round to that soon, and please give me a nudge if nothing appears soon.

Another positive development over the last month or so is that I’ve made quite a few friends with people who are either living permanently in Peru, or who are like me, staying here indefinitely. During my first 2 months here most of the people I developed friendships with were mostly just passing through on their travels, so I had to keep saying goodbye to a lot of people I really liked which was difficult at times. It feels really great to finally have some solid friendships with people who won’t be leaving anytime soon!

I’ve now been learning Spanish for about 3 months and I have to say I’m still really struggling with it, although perhaps I was expecting too much too soon. One thing is for sure though, it’s a very frustrating language to learn and I’m probably going to dedicate a whole post soon to my struggles with Spanish.

Anyway, it’s getting late and I have an early morning Spanish class, so it’s adios from me for a little while.

There’s a poster on the wall in Paddies (a popular Irish pub in Cusco) with the following quote. It resonated with me so i thought I’d post it here:

“I have an idea that some men are born out of their due place. Accident has cast them amid certain surroundings, but they have always a nostalgia for a home they know not. They are strangers in their birthplace, and the leafy lanes they have known from childhood or the populous streets in which they have played, remain but a place of passage. They may spend their whole lives aliens among their kindred and remain aloof among the only scenes they have ever known. Perhaps it is this sense of strangeness that sends men far and wide in the search for something permanent, to which they may attach themselves. Perhaps some deeprooted atavism urges the wanderer back to lands which his ancestors left in the dim beginnings of history. Sometimes a man hits upon a place to which he mysteriously feels that he belongs. Here is the home he sought, and he will settle amid scenes that he has never seen before, among men he has never known, as though they were familiar to him from his birth. Here at last he finds rest.”

- – The Moon and Sixpence, W. Somerset Maugham

I’ve been without my laptop for the last 2 weeks. It seems that my power adapter got fried by the somewhat unpredictable nature of Peruvian electricity. At least I hope that’s the problem, if it turns out to be my laptop (which still runs fine on battery power, except the battery died long ago) then I have a serious problem.

I’m sort of still able to work from internet cafes and the computer in my Spanish school, but it’s not ideal and so I’ve essentially taken a holiday away from my computer which is why I’ve been quiet of late.

Anyway, I’m starting to feel like I have quite a few things to write about again, so hopefully posting will resume next week.

Hi guys, sorry I’ve been a bit quiet of late, I just haven’t felt like writing lately, but all is well and I’ve had a pretty good couple of weeks. Anyway, I just wanted to add a few more thoughts (from others) on normality, following from my post ‘There’s nothing good about normal!‘ a few weeks back.

First of all, Carissa just added a new comment and seeing as though most people don’t often go back and read comments from old threads I thought it deserved greater prominence. She wrote:

“Was re-reading this entry and I thought of some additional things that are now seen as “normal” in our society but which aren’t.

It’s now normal to root for people to fail and fall on their butts, and to see people as competition, versus cheering for people to succeed and being happy for them.  There are several reasons for this I think – so many people’s lives are unhappy and unfulfilling (which in itself is a point that I’ll get back to) that they can’t stand to see people achieving something good and being happy when they aren’t.  They want to tear them down to their own level.  So watching somebody fail or screw up or fall on their butt (figuratively speaking) becomes fun in an evil gleeful way.  (hence, the *tabloid culture,* which specializes in that.  Tear people down for the paparazzi pics capturing them with celulite on their thighs, no makeup, wrinkles, or an outfit that’s not deemed “haute couture” enough.  Look on in giddy glee when their relationships fall apart, look for the drugs, sex and cheating scandals after they’ve died so even in death they can be raked over the coals.)  This is now considered normal.  Which leads to how celeb-obsessed entertainment is now considered normal.  Following the minutae of celebs’ lives because people’s own lives are boring and pointless.

The jealousy/competition thing is an extreme manifestation of separation.  Instead of viewing ourselves as related pieces of a greater whole, they mistakenly think we’re all cut off from each other and completely separate…and thus, competition to be jealous of.   So it’s now considered normal to be separate, competitive, jealous, gossipy and mean spirited.  Not everybody is like that, but in certain regions (urban centers in particular) that attitude is prevailant.   We have movies and TV shows that celebrate this attitude, with backbiting and cat fights and scheming and plotting and jealousies galore, trying to tell people, “This is how you should be.  This is the new normal.  Strive for this.  Emulate this.”

And as just mentioned, it’s now considered normal to have an unfulfilling, mundane and possibly unhappy life.  You mentioned how it’s considered normal to hang with one’s friends being superficial and mundane (I definitely agree!) and this extends to one’s entire life in general.  I look around at people and I can’t believe the lives and jobs that most people have locked themselves into!  o_0   Like, who would WANT to do that……for years on end?!?!?!  Is that what they imagined for themselves as a kid??!  Who grows up saying “I want to be an accounting clerk who’s always irritated and frustrated obsessing over getting the numbers to balance!”  Nobody.  Or, “I want to be a stressed out executive assistant to a boss I don’t like, being run ragged every day!”  Nobody.  Or, “I want to become a corporate guy working for donor relations and attend endless mindless meetings where it’s all about ‘How can I get more money for the university?’ !”  Nobody.   Jobs with no life to them, no variety, no real point, *working for that which is illusory,* so that one can insure that they can keep paying the bills every month.  To me it’s a life not worth having.  Work should ideally be about producing something tangible……….not working for illusory concepts.  (I once wrote in one of my articles: “Banks, loans, credit cards, debt counseling and consolidation, taxes, personal investment, mortgages, car/home/boat/personal insurance, law firms, home owners associations — what I’ve found is that the number of useless, illusory industries is skyrocketing, while jobs that create an actual tangible product and serve a useful purpose are on the decline. [...] What good is it going to do anybody to be a financial investor, lawyer, paralegal, mortgage underwriter, IRS agent, insurance salesperson, credit card telemarketer or property manager enforcing rules for the Association about mowing your lawn and power washing your driveway when/if things finally really hit the fan? These people will kind of be up the creek, to put it lightly. Their jobs and industries are completely useless in every sense of the word. So since illusion is what now dominates your job market choices, it’s all the more reason to find a way out, ASAP.”

Illusory concepts is now considered the norm, instead of making or doing something tangible and meaningful.

I work with people who’ve been doing the same lifeless, pointless job for 20, 25, 30 years.  I can’t even IMAGINE.  The worse part is when I encounter coworkers who hate their jobs and complain and gripe and moan and groan….and then what happens when I nonchalantly suggest to them that they quit.  Their faces get a wide eyed, surprised look, like, “huh?!”   You can see them running into a wall with the idea.  It never occurrred to them to leave.  They think I’m weird for suggesting such a thing.  You don’t…..quit your job!  They think it’s normal that you hate your job and complain and be miserable for years and years on end!

I can think of many more so-called normal ways of being in the modern western world that are anything but normal, but I’ll stop here!  :D  ’Cause
I could go on all day, seriously…..”

Great stuff Carissa, I agree entirely!

Also, about a week after I made the original post, I discovered Paulo Coelho also looked at the subject of normality on his blog. Given that I’m connected with him through Facebook and that he might have seen my blog post in his newsfeed I wondered if he was influenced by my post, but then I noticed he posted it in January so he was first.

You can see Paulo’s blog post here: Inventory of normality

Machu Picchu, surely one of the most amazing sights to behold on this incredible planet we live on, is probably the main reason why many hundreds of thousands of people feel drawn to visit Peru each year. The first time I remember seeing pictures of Machu Picchu I was about 22 years old and immediately I thought – I have to go there! and less than 6 months later I was there  – and awestruck. I’ve waited a long time to go back!

I will write more about Machu Picchu in my next post, but this post is about how I got there. The first time I visited Peru we travelled to Machu Picchu by train. This time I wanted to walk there!

There are a few treks in this region that enable you to finish at Machu Picchu. The most well known is the Inca Trail, a stone pathway built by the Incas to connect Cusco (their capital) with Machu Picchu. However, at this time of year you need to book over 3 months in advance if you want to hike the Inca Trail due to laws enacted several years ago to help preserve the trail, which allow only 200 people a day to begin the trek – and only with a licensed tour company.

The second most popular trek to Machu Picchu is known as the Salkantay Trek. This is because it passes right by the regions second highest mountain – Mount Salkantay. You’re free to hike this trek alone if you want to, but as I’m not an experienced hiker (and always looking for ways to meet more people) I decided it would be better to do an organised trek with one of the trekking companies that operate in Cusco.

The Salkantay trek would be a 4 day trek arriving at Aguas Calientes (the village below Machu Picchu) at the end of the 4th day. The 5th day would be spent exploring Machu Picchu and then finally getting the train back to Cusco.

Each of the 4 trekking days would be split into 2 hiking sections of about 4 hours each (with lunch in the middle). The first 3 nights we would be camping in tents and the 4th and final night would be spent at a hotel in Aguas Calientes.

Day 1 – Mollepata to Soraypampa

The first day of the trek began at 4.30am when everyone was picked up at their hotels, or residencies, by a taxi driver. We were then driven to a waiting bus that took us on a 3 hour drive out of Cusco to the town of Mollepata where the trek would begin around 9.30am.

Mollepata is 2,900masl (metres above sealevel) and is a small village only accessible from an incredibly long and winding dirt track that seemed to go on forever. After arriving in Mollepata we were taken to a local cafe for breakfast which was the first real chance to meet the rest of the group and our guides. The impressive group consisted of 14 people (5 Brits, 2 Americans, 2 Australians, 2 Germans, 2 Polish and a Belgian). There were also 2 tour guides to lead the way, 1 cook to keep us well fed, and 3 horsemen to ensure the horses ended up in the same place as we did (the camping equipment and some of our bags would be carried by horses).

The trek began after breakfast around 9.30am after we’d all introduced ourselves and taken a few group photos. The first morning was mostly uphill but not usually on a steep incline so it wasn’t too difficult. But still, after 3 or 4 hours trekking you become rather tired and hungry and incredibly grateful for a hearty lunch. All our meals were excellent I’m thankful to say. Both lunch and dinner usually consisted of a soup for starter and then a main course and a hot drink. Rice and/or potatoes were a common feature of the main course along with beef or chicken in the form of traditional Peruvian cuisine such as Lomo Saltado.

According to my infosheet we hiked 19km on the first day in about 8 hours. Our destination was the campsite at Soraypampa, at 3900masl, so we went about 1km uphill in total. Soraypampa, which is just a campsite (there’s no village or anybody living there), would be our highest campsite of the trip and also by far the coldest. I think we arrived there about 6pm and it was already starting to get really cool. Once the sun sets in this region of Peru, it can get very cold.

Most people were in bed by around 9pm as it was just too cold to be anywhere else but your sleeping bag! And thankfully I had a warm sleeping bag, you needed one, because night time temperatures in this area would drop below freezing. Some guy whose watch could read the temperature said it was about -5 Celsius inside the tents! A few people experienced an uncomfortably cold night because not everyone had great sleeping bags. You were expected to bring your own unless the booking agency provided you with one (which was the case for me). Not all sleeping bags are designed to be used in sub-zero temperatures!

Views like this were all around us for much of day 1

The snow-capped mountain in the distance is Mount Umantay. Our first night camp was at the base of this mountain.

Getting closer to Mount Umantay

Our first view of Salkantay would come as we almost reached the campsite towards the end of Day 1

Day 2 – Soraypampa to Chaullay

Day 2 was by far the most difficult day of the entire trek with about 10 hours of hiking in total. We were woken about 5.30am for a 6am breakfast and I think a 6.30am start. The first 4 hours of day 2 would be spent hiking entirely uphill and it was pretty steep in places and quite gruelling. After about 4 hours of hiking uphill we would finally reach the highest point of the trek at 4650m, right in front of Mount Salkantay. Mount Salkantay is probably one of the most impressive peaks I’ve ever been close to and I’m sure it would be a challenge to any mountaineer planning on reaching its peak.

After 4 hours of hiking uphill we were all pretty hungry; however, we wouldn’t be having lunch here unfortunately, that was another 2 hours away. But thankfully after the highest point it was pretty much all downhill the rest of the way.

Not long after a much needed lunch we then entered into a long and very lush valley where we would hike for about another 3 hours in a downward direction. It was amazing how quickly the landscape changed. Some of these valleys appear to have their own micro-climates and get a lot more rain than other much drier regions at a similar altitude. In about a 10 minute period of walking we dropped down from a fairly dry and barren landscape to being surround by incredibly lush and beautiful vegetation.

The second campsite was a place called Chaullay which is 2900masl, so we dropped down about 1750m in the space of an afternoon. This campsite was on a small isolated farm so there were a few people living there but I think it’s about half a days walk from here to the nearest road so they’re pretty cut off from the outside world, although that’s definitely not unusual in Peru.

I think we hiked 21km on day 2 and even though the campsite was a lot warmer most people still had a very early night!

This photo was taken about 3 hours into the steep accent of Day 2. The first campsite is down in the valley about as far as you can see.

This was taken fairly close to the highest point of the trek where we get up close and personal with Mount Salkantay, the 2nd largest mountain in the Cusco area.

After reaching the highest point of the trek we begin our descent downwards and we spend over 5 hours walking downhill. The 2nd campsite was further than the eye can see in the above photo.

After a few hours of walking down through a fairly dry and baron landscape the scenery quickly changes as we enter a lush green valley.

We finally reach the 2nd campsite at the bottom of a beautiful valley.

Day 3 -Chaullay to Santa Teresa

Day 3 was certainly the easiest day of the trek, although it’s fair to say we cheated a bit because after about a 3 or 4 hours morning hike through another beautiful, green valley, we then met up with a bus that took us to our third and final campsite at a small town called Santa Teresa. The reason they took us part of the way by bus was so that we would have time to experience the amazing hot springs at Santa Teresa, and I think everyone was glad for this. The hot springs were incredibly beautiful and a very welcome relief for 14 tired and sore bodies!

The morning of Day 3 is spent walking through the lower regions of the valley you can see in this photo

This nice waterfall is one of the many pretty sights on day 3.

A shopping center in the middle of nowhere!? Or just a place for hikers to buy drinks and snacks!

This is the bus that took us to the final campsite at Santa Teresa so that we could have a few hours at the beautiful hot springs before dinner.

Day 4 – Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes

The morning of Day 4 would be spent walking to the Santa Teresa train station (about a 3 hour walk) where for those who who were feeling worse for wear could travel the final part of the trek to Aguas Caliente by train – except that wasn’t an option today. Over the last few months there’s been a series of transport strikes in Peru and today was such a day, so the trains weren’t running. I think everyone would have walked anyway, except their was a slight problem. Usually all our bags would be put on the train (we said goodbye to the horses when we got on the bus in the middle of day 3) and then everyone would walk up the tracks. But with no trains running everyone had to carry their own bags for this last part of the hike (I’m sure the horses would find that funny but we certainly didn’t).

After 3 long hours of walking with a much heavier loads than we were used to, we finally made it to our final destination of Aguas Calientes where we checked in to a rather nice hotel for our 4th and final night. Our 4th morning would be an early start of around 4.30am to get to the bus stop for 5am to get the first bus up the mountain to Machu Picchu (write up coming in my next post).

The final stretch of the hike, walking up the train tracks to the town of Aguas Calientes

For the full slideshow of this trek go here