Fresh tracks at 5500m

So we finally decided we were ready for a bit of treking. But with a difference, 3 days of treking, three different activities...

So the first day we were driven to 4400m. And then we went rock climbing. I haven't been rock climbing outdoors for years, and Vicky has never been.

We were climbing on granite slabs at about 80degrees. The best part of that is that it's all about footwork, the granite slab is a...well a slab, so no cracks or big hand holds. Consequently our unfit for climbing arms didn't get too tired. The worst part is, it's all about footwork. You just have to use your rock boots to smear your way up standing on slightly rougher bits of rock rather than footholds. I frightens the life out of me. I still find rock climbing fun, but I'm unsure why, I spend the whole time shaking with fear.

PHIL AT THE 'WHY AM I HERE?' POINT.

VICKY GETTING OFF THE GROUND

SMEARING HER WAY UP.

Anyway, we both got to the top of the first climb. I got about three quaters of the way up the second. Vicky made it all the way to the top, though I'm claiming the moral victory because I had to give her a boost to get past the first move and she stood on one of the protection bolts to get past a tricky section higher up. As Vicky points out though, we're not climbers, so screw the whole purist not using the bolts to help you point of view. She got to the top and I didn't.

DOES MY BUM LOOK BIG IF I DO THIS?

VICKY AT THE TOP!

That night we slept in the climbing hut. Or at least I did, Vicky just stayed awake listening to the guides snore, talk in their sleep and one unknown person fart loudly in their sleep. The next morning we were supposed to get up for breakfast at 8 and be walking by 9. We got up at 9, had breakfast at 10 and started walking at 11,30. Perfect morning really.

So 3 hours of walking later we were at 4950m. Went to sleep, woke up at 5pm, had soup, went to sleep, woke up at 6pm had spagetti, went back to sleep, woke up at 2,30am ready to climb a mountain. Vicky on the otherhand, stayed awake, had soup, stayed awake, had spagetti, failed to sleep and spent the night listening to fresh snow falling.

We set off at about 3am in 6 inches of fresh powder snow. It made the going much slower and harder, and the weather hadn't changed, there was still zero visibility. But we put on cramons and roped up and set off onto the glacier anyway.

THE ROUTE UP, COOL EH?

By 9, 30 we'd made it to 5500m. The top was still two and a half hours away over steep, cravassed, deep snow. We had a chat and decided that although we could almost see the top, there would be no view. We decided we were far to lazy to drag ourselves any further up and would rather go down.

This was the point where carrying our snowboards uphill for six and a half hours became worthwhile. 6 inches of fresh powder all the way back down to camp, and probably the most hardcore snowboarding photo's we'll ever take. Check out the cravasse behind Vicky and the snowboard tracks rolling out over a snowbridge. Fantastic fun.

VICKY BRIEFLY SCARES US ON THE FIRST RUN BY TURNING TOWARDS THE CREVASSE.

SECOND SECTION WITH THE TOP IN THE BACKGROUND.

VICKT PASSING BY A CREVASSE.

SMOOTH POWDER RUN DOWN...

AND DOWN...

AND DOWN...

AND ON DOWN...

Sandboarding is a very messy sport!

After Cuzco we set off to Huachina which is a little oasis resort in the middle of massive sand dunes. We'd booked into a nice hotel with a pool and spent a relaxing few days soaking up the sun, swimming and sandboarding.

It was the first time either of us had been amongst sand dunes and we were both struck by just how huge they were. Even after we'd been there a day, the sight of these sand mountains looming above us struck us as such an unusual view.

The day we spent sandboarding was excellent! First of all we were strapped into a sand buggy which sped up, down, across, over and around the sand dunes. After the first few seconds of the journey we all quickly got a better understanding of just how fast and bumpy the ride was going to be so we all took off our hats and reached for our seatbelts to tighten them up that little bit more!

Our driver clearly took a great delight from throwing his passengers around in the back. I suspected he was slightly crazy as he always seemed to be the only driver who attempted the really steep dunes either with or without us. It was like been on a massive roller coaster and as anyone who has ever been on a rolller coaster with me could confirm, I scream like a baby. Pretty much the whole way round but particuarly when we went over a blind summit. Even when I knew we were approaching a scary bit and I told myself I wouldn't scream I still did much to Phil's amusement and my shame!

The buggy took us to the top of a steep sand dune where we then waxed our boards and boarded our way down the hill. As we've done quite a bit of snow boarding we were curious to see how it compared. Well, it was certainly a lot messier! Sand got absolutely everywhere (particuarly as i'd only just applied sun cream) although landings were a lot softer. It was very good fun but as the board tended to dig itself into the sand we weren't really going anywhere fast and it was pretty difficult to turn. So, we sat on the board and used it as a sledge instead.

I had been given the wax at one point to look after for the group in case it needed reapplying after the first slope. On approaching the second slope and left to myself I absolutely plastered my board with wax. I then intended to board over to one of the other chaps who wanted some wax. However, the wax made me go a bit faster than planned and I flew past the rest of the group trying to slow myself down with my feet but actually only ensuring I created a massive sand cloud that blew back in my face. Looked most amusing according to Phil.

The last run was the steepest and Phil and I decided to have a race. The guides convinced us that rather than sitting on the board it was better to lie on it on your belly head first. So we gave it a go. They were right, it was a lot faster and so hysterical! Phil won the race but only because my board was going so fast I kept skidding sideways (got some nice friction burns on my arms as a result!).

The dune we went down on our bellies.

Needless to say, by the end of the day we were completely coated with sand but grinning as much as our crazy buggy driver (I screamed from the buggy ride on the way home too.....).

Macchu Pichu

Eating guinea pigs wasn't the only purpose of us being in Cuzco. The city was the centre of the Inca empire in the 15th/16th century and so had lots of Inca ruins. The main one being Macchu Pichu or more dramatically known as 'The Lost City of the Sun'.

We had planned several ways of getting to Macchu Pichu but each attempt was folied by bad bellies and a need to be near the loo (the guinea pig was chuckling somewhere). After three days of delays we decided to take the easy option and join the herds of tourists on the train to Aguas Calientas which is the town next to Macchu Pichu (or mucho poopoo as we now called it).

Rather than rush up the hill to see the ruins we stayed the night in the town so that we could get up and be at MP for sunrise. Spent the day chilling and swimming in the natural hot springs which gave the town its name.

Next morning, very early, we got the bus up to the site and were rewarded with a perfectly clear sky and barely any other people. It gets notoriously packed with people up there and most of the time the site is covered in cloud so we considered ourselves to be very lucky. We had an explore around then made our way up the steep path to the summit of Waynu Picchu which is the moutain overlooking the site. Brill views.

The site is very impressive due to it's location and how well the buildings are preserved. Gives you a real feel for how the Incas worked, played and worshipped. Even Phil agreed it was more than a pile of stones. By 10 am the place was rammed which was actually quite helpful as you could stand behind tour groups and listen to their guide giving information for free. The temple was the most interesting part as it was designed to let the sunlight in at certain times of the day and year. In truth though, not much is known about the site. Some theorists believe that it was built following the Spanish invasion to hide up high and preserve the Inca ways. Others think the city had been abandoned long before then. Either way a remarkable site to explore.

cusco

THE PHOTO's AND YOUR KIDS MAY NOT GET ALONG, READ FIRST.

We've made it as far as Cusco.

Far nicer town than expected; cobbled streets, nice cafe's and demonstrations in the street to entertain you.

The demonstration was somthing to do with coco leaves, couldn't work out what. But it was fun to watch the riot police get confused. They all stood at the foot of the stairs, and all the demonstrators walked up in front of them and stopped. Then lots more demonstrators walked up behind them, so they ran off and put their backs to the wall. We also saw a street carnival, but we didn't have the camera with us, so no photo's for the blog.

But the main story of Cusco revolves around eating and drinking. It was our third anniversary on the 9th, So we went out drinking. Judging by our inability to walk home, strong cocktails and altitude are a dangerous mix,

Tradition has it that on a third wedding anniversary you should give something made of leather, or crystal depending on which website you believe. But we didn't really need anything, so we went out guinea pig eating instead..

It's a local delicacy here, and I can tell you, we both agree the tail is the best bit. Actually the photo is the best bit. The worst bit is the 3 days of running to the loo that Vicky endured.

She's better now so we have tickets for Machu Pichu tomorrow.

Slow boat on Lake Titicaca

Lake Titicaca is 3800m up. It´s impossible to breathe normally there. If you walk up the street you´re out of breath, and even sitting around in the hotel you occasionally end up taking a big breath to recover from all that sitting. But it is a very pretty place. For all but 2 months of the year you get blue skies and little wind. So we decided to get a nice hotel room there and chill out for a few days.

We also went to visit the Isla del Sol where the Inca´s believe(d) that the sun was born. We weren´t convinced of that, but as we both got sunburnt for the first time since kilimanjaro, perhaps the gods are real and er... mildly vengeful on those that don´t believe. Probably not though, if the inca gods are real surely they would have stopped them calling the town "booby poo poo"? (Best name we´ve seen, except for the breakfast cerial here called Fanny, which promises 100% fruity flavour)

Anyway the isla was nice, we got dropped off by the boat at one end and walked down the island to get picked up at the other. The whole day would have been fantastic, except for the boat. It achieved walking pace, sometimes.... The rest of the time is could only manage "so infuriatingly slow you want to swin home" 2 hours eachway for a trip that would take 25mins if you had a slow, underpowered, overloaded, jetski. Actually I wish they had jetski´s, that would have been much more fun.

'traditional boat', exists now only to entertain tourists.

To to sort out our miseries, we went out for dinner, nacho´s, curry and 4 beers each left us happy and drunk. Really can´t drink anymore, especially at altitude, had a hangover and everything from roughly 3.5 pints.

Still having learned our lesson, we´re off to Cusco to celebrate our wedding anniversary and do ourselves some damage.....

Mountain Biking in La Paz

So, we eventually left Bariloche and worked our way up to La Paz in Bolivia. It took three days and two nights worth of travel with a stop over in Santiago, capital of Chile, (for sushi, a posh hotel and drinks) and Arica, beach resort at the border with Peru, (for a walk on the beach). A lot of miles but softies that we´ve now become we´d taken the premium option on the coaches which meant the standard of travel was similar to going first class on an aeroplane so wasn´t all that bad.

Bolivia is very different to Argentina and Chile. In Argentina it didn´t always feel like we had left Europe. Bolivia is a different world. The people nolonger look European, they are a lot darker and many wear traditional clothes. The women in particular wear brilliant outfits consisting of an ill fitting bowler hat and wide, calf length skirts padded out with multicoloured petticoats. Back to people watching territory!

La Paz (the administrative capital) was our first destination in Bolivia. It sits in the mountains at 3500m so the surrounding scenery is spectacular. We´d travelled from sea level to La Paz so we really felt the altitude on arrival.

We soon forgot this though once we´d spoken to a few tour operators and realised that La Paz is a downhill mountain biking heaven! So, we hired two good full suspension bikes and a guide and set off into the mountains surrounding La Paz.

The tour company´s driver took us and our bikes to a mountain top and all we needed to do was ride down 800m of single track downhill. We´d previously been warned that it would be a technical route. It was sooo brilliant! It took us a little while to get used to the bikes and biking on such dry, sandy terrain but once nerves had settled (mine more than Phil´s in fairness) we were loving it. It took about an hour to get down and we swooped over (not always in great style - I took five falls!) boulders, drops ( some very steep and fast), and jumps.

It was perfect terrain for me, highly challenging and a real adrenalin rush but steep sections were followed by flatish sections so I was able to catch my breath to prepare for the next section. Phil had a blast too.

US AT THE BEGINNING

THE VIEW BACK DOWN TO LA PAZ

RIDING THE TRAILS

THE HEADLESS IRON HORSEMAN

That section completed we got back in the car to head off for the next track. Unfortunately on the climb up the mountain the car got very ill and was unable to take us to our destination. So, as we were pretty high up the mountain we unloaded the bikes, left the car to free wheel back down to the nearest village and we set off discovering a new off road bike route down the side of the mountain.

The first part of that descent involved biking over very steep and technical moutain ridges with drops either side. Despite our guide giving us his full face helmet (it quickly became apparent this was necessay for me) I soon decide that section was way out of my league and pushed the bike down the tough bits. Phil loved the challenge and had great fun riding them.

Once the tricky bits were over we biked down some nice terrain to meet the car. Car still very poorly so we biked down through the villages to meet another pick up. Excitable dogs made that part highly technical!

DEATH ROAD

The next day´s biking was a 3500m descent along the infamous ´Death Road´ aptly named due to the amount of buses, trucks and occasional cyclists that have plummeted off the sides. We decided to give it the respect it deserved and take the day seriously.

THAT WOULD BE VICKY HITTING PHIL OVER THE HEAD WITH BANANA PEEL!

This route is highly popular to tourists and masses of us mountain bike it every day. It´s actually a pretty easy ride as the first 32km is on tar mac on nice wide roads and traffic no longer travels on the second 30km section which is the rougher road with sheer drops.

The first half of the route was downhill over tarmac road. You could get some speed up on this as you could see for miles down the road and consequently any oncoming traffic. Whizzing down this part was fun and the scenery was very dramatic.

EVERYONE AT THE START

PICS OF US

The second part of the ride was more fun though. The tarmac and wide roads ended to be replaced by a narrow stony track which curled its way around the mountain. The mountains are in a rainforest so the scenery was stunning. It had rained the night before so there were waterfalls all over the place including over the road in some places. Most of the time there was a sheer drop on the left side of the road and the guides always pointed out where trucks, buses or bikes had toppled over the side! Unless you did something incredibly stupid there wasn’t much risk of going over the edge. Really, it was a very fun ride swooping around corners amongst such dramatic scenery.

The day ended having a swim and lunch at a nice hotel in the rainforest – perfect.

Steep steeper then steeper still!

The next day we went out to do the singletrack route we were supposed to do before the car broke. We started at around 4000m and needed to descend about 1000m to our destination.

START OF THE DAY WITH A 6700m MOUNTAIN BEHINDIt started out pretty steep but after I learnt to use the brakes properly (!) it became easier. The second section was the rough and rocky kind of route we were used to from the UK. Feeling more confident with the terrain we had a fun hour blasting down this section. The route then opened up into smooth but very narrow single track over a not too steep gradient. This was a very dramatic section as there was a sheer drop to the side of us. I’ve never concentrated on not looking down so much in my life!

SCENERY WAS JUST TERRIBLE, BRING BACK THE MUD COVERED PINE FORRESTS OF THE UK The last section was far too steep really with tight bends. No room for the feck up fairy taking over given the drops if you got it wrong. As it kept getting steeper I got off and pushed – way

out of my league.

SPOT THE TRAIL THAT WE RODE DOWN THE FINAL RIDGE

Another excellent day of biking!