Clare and Ross go south in the Americas

Before tackling Machu Picchu we visited a floating village on Lake Titikaka. Five families live on this man made reed and "peat" island that they built about two years ago. Historically, they were eager, now, they pay no taxes.

Wow - we did it! This is an Inca town, largely intact, perched on the top of and inside a mountain. The Spaniards did not find (and destroy)  this town. Everything was built from granite quarried on site. The mountain was terraced with stone walls, from the bottom up, to prevent erosion at the top. The Incas abondoned the town before it was finished and fled further inland, escaping the Spaniards.

Day three was a long difficult day, mostly because we were fatigued from Day 2. We started with a 300m climb to the coll. We then had an "Inca flat" walk for most of the day before decending 1000m to our camp. We were woken at 3.30am rosethe next morning and the camp was dismantled. Our porter's had to walk 500m down to make a 5.40am train with all the camp supplies and equipment. For us, on the other hand, there was a two hour wait in darkness at the Park entrance gate. We then had a two hour walk to the Sun Gate overlooking Machu Picchu.

This trail is not for everyone. In fact it is deliberately hard. There is a train that runs up the Urambamba Valley to the town of Aguas Calientes. From there you catch a 30 minute shuttle bus that does 23 zig zags to climb the almost sheer cliff to Machu Picchu 310 metres above. So why? It was a pilgrimage trail that went to many sacred sites (on mountain tops) along the way. It was travelled by nobility and religious people. The Inca (Children of the Sun)  went there by litter, along the river valley, just as most tourists do today. We were warm in our tent, until 5.30 am when we were woken with bed tea. Breakfast was great with omelette and loads of very warm creamy slightly sweet porridge. I had two cups and plan for three tomorrow. We left at 6.30 as we needed to climb 4000ft and then decend 1000ft. It was about 10 deg when we said goodbye to the cute scruffy camp dog and started climbing up to the Park Checkpoint. Here our porter's packs are weighed again as a WH&S m...

We left our hotel at 5.30am with three others from our tour group and 3 guides, for a three hour bus trip to "Mile 84", the end of the road. After about two hours we stopped at a staging town where we picked up our 17 porter's and 9 more trekkers. We are 22 to 64 yrs, 60% women and all from England, Canada and Australia. We climbed about 400metres and covered about 12 kms that day. The scenery was beautiful with steep valleys and a river at the bottom with scattered hamlets. Just before lunch we came across an Inca outpost overlooking the ruins of an Inca settlement. Our view from the tent that night was amazing

Our first homestay was  in Sibaya small village at 3800m, in  the Colca Canyon. I was cold and rocky.  Even colder for the man of the house who was further up with his 12 Alpacas. Clare with homestay mum Julia From Sibaya we jumped in our minibus for a six hour drive to Puno on Lake Titikaka. This is like a sea in size, 120km long and 80km wide, so, from the "coastal" town of Puno we left on a launch for our 3 hour cruise to our second homestay on the lake.

We left Arequipa and headed by minibus towards Puno and Lake Titikaka. Along the way we saw large herds of Llamas and Alpacas. There are also two other cameloids and one has ever better fleece but it has not been successfully domesticated. Llamas are used for transport and Alpaca for wool. Both are commonly eaten. Alpacas live above 4000m. We also saw the world's largest flying bird, Giant Condors.

We stayed two nights in this elegant town nestled under an active volcano. We are now in Inca heartland. They worshipped earth and water and volcanoes. The Catholic University has a museum dedicated to Inca culture. It's prise exhibit is the body of Juanita. She was discovered in a ceremonial placement at the top of a volcano at over 5000 metres. She was perfectly preserved in the ice surrounded by precious gifts for the gods and the afterlife. Juanita was 14. She had been prepared from birth to be a sacrificial offering in times of hardship, droughts and volcanic eruptions. She was most likely taken there in a majestic procession taking days or even weeks, with high priests and nobles. Forensic examinations reveal that she was killed by a blow to the side of the skull. Her stomach contained a last meal and hallucinagenic compounds.

We visited the burial grounds of the pre Inca people at Chauchilla. Here the dead were arranged in personal tombs often in a " family" line. The tombs were about two metres wide and a line was divided using stone walls. They were about two metres deep in the sand and covered with a wooden roof and sand. The bodies were arranged in a fetal sitting position and wrapped in layers of cotton. Before being mummified and entombed the bodies were sun dried. They were buried with treasured possessions or tools of trade to help in the next life. Most have been dessecrated by graverobbers but if left undisturbed the super dry and dark location preserved them. A mystery To solve a mystery Clare and I took to the air.  These photos are from about 1000m and show pictures made in the desert sands. These are animals, shapes and even a " spaceman" The "Nazcar Lines are 30 to 100 m in size and only visible from the air. They are date from 500BC to 500AD. We...

Partway down the coast from Lima is a town, Pisco,  famous for both a drink and a marine reserve. We started with the" three hour cruise". We visited a cluster of islands off Pisco with millions of birds, sea lion and penguins. Hope you can see this video After lunch we visited a distillery making Pisco Liqour since the 1600's. Sampling a Pisco Sour

I did not think of desert when I thought Peru and a coastal desert felt even stranger. We have travelled by public coaches for two days now and have seen much desert, populated and desolate. They hug the coast, fish and irrigate from snowfall rivers. West of the Andes is an extreme rainshadow. The desert isn't stopping the development as we saw luxury appartments blocks and squallid villages, all literally rising from the sandy gravel. They get 1mm of rain here per year.

Guess which is which. Hint - the Olive Grove in the background has 400 year old trees nestled amongst the appartments, so don't be rude. Architecture doesn't have to blend. Today we visited Huaca Huallamarca, a even older settlement,  dating from about 200AD. The mud bricks were rounder and river stones were also incorporated. A tinker sharpens some scissors

We got a glimpse of the lives of the locals today as we walked through the suburbs to a historical site. It is hard to know what lies behind the high walls, barbed wire, electric fences, cameras and spotlights but it isn't mud bricks 😉. We walked through an affluent area of Lima to an ancient site amongst new appartments. Huaca Pucliana Here the locals were rather less concerned with theft than with gathering food. This mud brick administrative and community complex dates from around 500AD. They built with hand made, sun dried mud bricks. These were layed vertically to make the structure more flexible as a response to earthquakes. New regimes would flatten and start again leading to the great height of solid building. How did mud bricks survive? We assume they were covered in by more soil and also it doesn't rain here! We are told rain only falls as a sort of mist, which actually strengthens the bricks. It was built by the "Lima" people and then reused by tw...

We have spent a very pleasant day getting to know Lima, capitol of Peru. Actually, we haven't ventured out of Miraflores, the very pleasant tourist and shopping suburb adjoing the Pacific Ocean with views towards Australia😁. The path along the cliff is very popular. The beach is popular for surfers. It seems to be imported black gravel. Very noisy as the waves go back out.

Well, we made it to Peru. The trip started when Luke dropped us to the station and the train left. Clare and I were a metre apart on opposite sides of the train door. A very helpful attendant advised that the next train would overtake the first. We arrived at Central Station together. The flight, Sydney to Auckland, to Santiago, to Lima was uneventful but long. I did get the chance to cheer on my favorites team, the Newcastle Knight's Rugby League team as they were travelling to Auckland to take on the Warriors. The south american cabin crew on Latam Airlines was a bit efficient, a bit courteous, somewhat helpful and mostly pleasant. Their hearts were elsewhere however as they flirted with each other and sang to themselves. The drive from the airport was a now familiar white knuckle trip of last millisecond swerves and brakes, back alleys and driver textings. Strangely, no car horns! Straight to sleep after 30hrs. Our room for 5 days is large cool and fairly comfortabl...