The world adores matt hayward

In my travels in Arequipa Peru, we decided to venture out of tourist town into Normalville. In our travels, we came across a bottle shop, so I took a look.

Wouldn’t you know it, booze is pretty cheap in Peru. A bottle of local rum is about 15 Soles ($5 AUD), Johnny Walker Red 30 Soles ($10) and black label for well under $30 AUD. Even in department stores, they had better prices! So logically wouldn’t you think that the duty free shop would be even cheaper? Not by a long shot. Because these prices aren’t for Joe Gringo. Prices at the duty free airport for a bottle of Johnny Black were about the same as they’d be in Dan Murphys at home. Full retail price!

Naturally this is all a bit of a rort and sadly given that I’m not that well traveled, I’m really curious to see if you’ve com!e across anything similar in your travels. Please leave comments and let me know. Otherwise, if you’re off to Peru, enjoy the cheap booze and leave some space in your suitcase!

OK, so once you get over the altitude Cusco is one great little place. It’s a city of about a million people. The Plaza De Armas has two beautiful churches, heaps of great places to eat and sits bang in the centre of a great many Inca ruins. A place where you could easily spend a week or two looking around town and the neighboring sites such as Saqsayhuaman and Pisac.

As always, pleas leave any comments if you want to know more, have something to share or simply have a question. Will be glad to help!

Seeing the sights? Get a guide

When you visit the churches and Inca sites, hiring a guide is very highly recommended. It’s a good idea with Inca sites especially because some of the sites are nothing like they were back in the day and are a bit abstract to say the least. So getting the full story from a guide will transform a 5 minute in and out into a fascinating display. I’d almost go as far to say not using a guide would be a waste of time.

Guides are usually local women, often students, who will approach you asking you if you want any information about the site. Basically what they’re asking is ‘would you like a guided tour of this place!’ Usually they work on tips, and you’re helping kids learn English, which is very expensive in Cusco. So it’s a real job for locals! Typically we paid ten Soles (about $3.30 AUD) for a guide. But you can negotiate what you want.

Be warned at Saqsayhuaman (aka sexy woman) we got dicked by a guide who charged us forty Soles. Our driver reckoned twenty was the standard and dobbed him into the tourist police for us! It will take you at least 90 minutes to see all of Saqsayhuaman though. In case you’re wondering Saqsayhuaman is an aincent site that was both a fort and a university (sadly the two seem to go together) which has some of the finest stone masonry we’d seen on an Inca site. You can even see where the students practiced their craft. So it’s unmissable.

Getting out of town

We walked down to the bus depot out of town, but instead of getting a bus found a lovely old guy that drove us around the whole day for one hundred soles. This was fantastic because he drove all the way out Pisac, stopped at all the Inca sites and whenever we wanted to take a photo. He also took us for lunch out at the Pisac markets and never rushed us along. So it’s highly recommended to get a driver. That’s a good day in itself driving out to Pisac and back. Buses are way cheaper, but let’s face it one hundred soles is about $33 AUD for a whole day. And I don’t like tight arsed travelers!

No Gracias.

Be warned, Cusco has to be one of the most touristy cities you will ever come across in your life. Ever second on the street you will offered massages, necklaces, photos with little girls in traditional costumes, shoe shines, prints, souvenirs, food… aaargh! Learn to say ‘no gracias’ very quickly! I suggest starting your holiday there because with the exception of Lake Titicaca, it gets much less touristy as you head back towards Lima.

Eating and sleeping

Firstly, if you can stand the walk up about 80 odd steps, Piccolo Locanda is one of the most beautiful hostels I’ve ever stayed in. Cheap too. They run a nice Italian restaurant next door as well. There are some party hostels e.g. Loki Backpackers in town and some stupidly expensive hostels. We met some friends that were paying $80 USD a night for a 3 bed room with virtually nothing. But we we paying about $20 USD for Piccolo Locanda. So shop around.

Speaking of food, you can eat virtually anything in Cusco: Mexican, quality Western cafe food, typical Peruvian, the Aussie Two Nations  restaurant, gourmet modern Peruvian. There was even the odd Jewish tavern for Israeli backpackers (presumably not completely kosher!). Not as much as Arequipa, but a bit more unique at the same time.

Find yourself a healer 

One of the freakiest experiences of the whole trip was meeting a Shaman healer. This guy has his shop door locked all the time and only lets you in if he likes your vibe. The guy reckons he’s in his sixties, but he looks like a cool biker guy in his 30 - younger than me! He let us in (we saw him tell one local guy to piss off) and told me I had conflicting colours. Luckily one of his necklaces, with a healing stone would set me straight. While I’m not a convert to Shaman healing and didn’t take the necklace, it was a bloody weird experience. This guy will work out stuff about you that you can’t completely write off. So if you’re a bit open minded, give it a crack. I can’t guarantee you won’t piss yourself with cynicism though. If you do get in, he does sell some fantastic hand made American Indian (like in cowboy movies) jewelry. All very cool.

On the gringo trail in Peru, talking to other tourists, Lima gets the worst rap of all. It’s an over crowded capital city rife with petty crime and shitful drivers. I mean really shitful drivers, but I digress.

Strangely, it never rains in Lima - ever. It just kind of spits when it does. There’s only 3 months in the year when the sun does shine and the rest of the year it’s plain clouded and moggy. But is there anything to do? Well not hugely.

We stayed in a nice middle class suburb Mia Flores away from the hustle and bustle. It could be a suburb anywhere in the world, like Toorak in Melbourne, San Francisco who knows. There’s not a lot going on but it’s safe and there’s all the normal US style shopping malls etc.  It’s a nice big warm fluffy comfort zone. Walk down to the JW Marriot Hotel and there’s a massive beach side plaza full of TGI Fridays style restaurants and fashion stores.

When we did venture into Lima proper, it was not the lawlessness and debauchery I expected. Typically for Peru, they have a Plaza De Armas, some great churches. If you’re lucky enough, you can see the changing of the guard at the government buildings, a la Buckingham Palace in UK. Despite all that, Lima isn’t gringo central and there are nowhere near as many street hawkers and crap merchants hassling you as in say Cusco. Wandering around the town centre, there’s a few very cool bookshops and plazas. Even the odd tapas and vino bar.

Sadly I didn’t spend too long in Lima. But the anxiety about being rolled or worse seemed unwarranted. If you go, keep your big city smarts on you and stay in one of the ritzier suburbs and you’ll be fine. Keep obvious tourists traits to yourself and take it all in.

Is it worth staying in Lima? Well Mia Flores is definitely the best place to wind down your holiday. Because you can have all the big city creature comforts yet it’s still foreign and interesting enough to amuse you. Especially after a Maccu Picchu trek, it’s worthwhile place to chill. But it’s definitely not a Peru highlight.

Well I’m back from Peru and after an exhaustive customs check, I’ve got the all clear. But it did make me think of something that was topical while I was over there. See Peru has a great reputation for growing and cultivating coca. Their neighbors, specifically Columbia, an even greater reputation for taking the bi-product cocaine and selling it to the US. But it’s important to know that coca leaves and cocaine are almost mutually exclusive. So I am going bullshit detective on coca leaves get you high.

Cocaine is a drug that takes a ridiculous amount of coca leaves to make. The leaves apparently are chewed until you have loads of it and somehow refined into the blow we all know in the movies. As I’ve now discovered first hand, chewing a mouth full of coca leaves will not get you high. You’d could chew all day and night and not get anywhere!

What coca leaves do do is help with altitude sickness, digestion and general well being. In our travels in Peru, we actually found coca flour. It must of been made from ultra ground coca leaves. Basically it’s in a green powerdery form. A teaspoon of that in hot water a day and it will cure whatever ails you trust me! I swear by it. Very high in calcium and a bunch of vitamins too.

In daily life, Peruvians especially will drink mate de coca (coca tea, basically a handful of coca leaves in hot water). Farmers chew the leaves as they work. There’s even coca lollies. They ain’t chocolate flavour but it is an acquired taste. So in essence, half of Peru eats them everyday and they’re a digestive at best. Most restaurants and guest houses have coca leaves in a jar on the table like salt and pepper.

The problem is apparently that the President of Peru is fumigating massive coca plantations. It is the beginnings of the criminalisation of the coca plant, not just cocaine. This sucks. Furthermore, having experienced the health benefits of coca leaves first hand (call it travelers’ stomach eating too much rich food!), it’s a pretty stupid state of affairs.

So in Peru, you will see shirts and stickers that say ‘Coca, la hoja de coca no es druga‘ or ‘coca is not a drug’. I support them whole heartedly. Because look at what happened to marijuana after world war two. Hemp went from being mandatory in the US to grow for the war effort (to make parachutes and ropes, military kinda stuff) to being wiped out because it threated the whole paper industry in peace time. And it’s still criminalised. I hope Peru don’t end up down this path. Sure blow is a dirty business but coca’s not the problem.

Hola from Arequipa in Peru. I´ve been here for a few days now and it´s just epic. It has a few great streets such as San Francisco full of great restaurants - even kebaberies and middle eastern, some of which are OK - and the place just has a really busy, vibrant vibe to it. Just like every half decent Peruvian city, it has a Plaza De Armas and this one would have to be the best yet. It´s picturesque to say the least.

Apparently Cusco and Arequipa have an age old rivalry going. But the later being the second biggest city in Peru and far less touristy, I´d have to say Arequipa is way better. It feels more like a European, sophisticated vibe and you say ´No Gracias´a lot less to street hawkers.

If you´re wondering what there is to do aside from all the great restaurants and bars, you can even see a frozen mummy. That´s right, about 5 years ago this explorer bloke  found an Inca teenager who was sacrificed to the gods by the Incas. The mummy, named Juanita, is about 400 odd years ago.

Because the sacrifice site was at such high altitude (six kilometres above sea level, and two kays higher than Maccu Pichu), she has been preserved near perfectly, hair, skin, shoes clothing and all! Anyway, if you´re lucky enough, she will be on display in the museum, at minus 20 degrees celcius in a bespoke glass case. An awesome site. Goriness aside, it´s also a really big insight into the Inca culture and why the hell the slaughtered perfectly innocent girls. And why not.

But before you start thinking I travel just to see old mummies (there was the mummies of Vodnyan in Croatia as well), I´m checking out the Colca Canyon tomorrow, which is meant to be way bigger than the Grand Canyon in the US. Stay tuned.

Well cross one thing off the life list. I´ve completed the Machu Picchu trek down the Inca Trail with SAS Travel Peru.

To be precise, here´s a trip iterary for the trek that I did. 

Photos and stuff will come later, but first here´s a day by day account for anyone who´s thinking of giving it a go.

If you have any questions about Machu Picchu or SAS, please feel free to make a comment using the links below and i´ll try and answer it for you.

Day 0 - meet at SAS offices in downtown Cusco for a briefing. They go over the route, what to expect, what you need and arrange porters, sleeping bags etc. Also the first chance to meet your guides and your fellow tourist hikers and get acquianted.

Day 1 - Meet up at Cusco at 6am and start a really long drive to the first check point. Most of it down one lane dusty roads where trucks have to back up to let you through! The starting point is called Kilometro 82. Here the porters grab your stuff, you pack up and hit the trail.

The first day is about 14 kilometres of hiking. The first few hours is very tranquil and easy going. Sort of like something out of a kung fu show like Monkey Magic.

You see the river, the train, llamas, alpacas (literally being led by local farmers) mules and donkeys, everything! The second half is a bit more uphill and really starts to get to you. It´s a baptism of fire if you will. Because I was knackered at the end of it!

SAS Travel use a different campsite to other agencies and it´s absolutely breath taking. Believe me the view is totally worth the struggle. If you´re a quick hiker you will get there in time to see the sun set and have a nice hot cup of Milo.

Day 2 - Wake up to that perfect view, knowing it´s a fleeing thing. Because today you´re hiking 16 kilometres (10 miles) - most of it uphill.

The good news is day 2 is the worst of it. And if you can survive that, you can survive anything. By about lunch time, you will hit Dead Woman´s Pass, a pretty steep hike by anyones´standards. It´s pretty steep and chilly up there (the altitude is 4198 metres). So you have to stop and catch your breath. After that, a massive set of down hill steps, which is just unbelievable to see. It´s kind of like a Great Wall of China type deal, undulating everywhere and taking in some great scenery. Also some great Inca sites.

Day 3 - wake up knowing full well that the hardest part of the hike is over and you´re only hiking for half a day! So you wake up late (6.30 am!) and take a comparitively leisurely stroll. One highlight is an absolutely brilliant Inca site with a waterfall behind it you hit at lunch time.

But the real highlight is taking a dip in the freezing cold water fall (while the girls queue for hours for a hot shower) then going to the bar for a well earnt cold beer - the first of the trip. Then kick back and take it all in.

One minor criticism of the trip is that despite the bar and restaurant, this camp site is a bit crap. But it´s the only one where you can stay before hitting Machu Picchu the next day.

Day 4 - Wake up at 4.30 am to be the first in line for Machu Picchu (this part of the trail opens at 5). You start hiking in the dark for about 20-30 mins, before the sun comes up and you realise you´re walking along the edge of a cliff! It´s pretty easy hiking except for about 50 steps which are virtually horizontal. Having survived Dead Woman´s Pass on day 2, this is a mere speed hump! 

There´s two Inca sites on the way. One being the sun temple you will see in the 2 odd hours it takes to hike to the Maccu Piccu site. By about 8.30 ish, you´re there!

While it´s a real accomplishment to walk up and see Maccu Piccu before you, it´s a bit of an anti-climax when you start seeing the retirees rock up all clean in their luxury buses all fresh and rosey! But nothing can take the wind out of your sails after that. Then you check in and begin the formal tour of the Machu Picchu ruins.

General feedback on SAS

These guys have great guides and take great pride in their crew and the welfare of their porters (you will have about 2 guides and 20 porters on your trip). Groups are fairly small too. I think there was 18 in our group.

They don´t force you along at any great pace and have plenty of knowledge on all the sites, and yes they speak great English. But most importantly, the food is absolutely awesome! Everyone´s dietary requirements (except obviously religious ones e.g. Kosher, Halaal etc as their ain´t no Rabbi´s or Clerics in Peru!) are catered to no worries at all. Oh yeah and no one goes to sleep hungry!

Also the gear is excellent. They can provide sleeping bags and mats at cost and no one was ever cold or wet! As soon as you arrive at your camp site, tents and common areas are all set up and ready to go. So you don´t have to spend time after a hard day´s hiking putting up a tent.

In short, I can´t recommend them highly enough! Not the cheapest but definitely amongst the best.

General Advice

Don´t bother bringing your own mats and sleeping bag. Because the SAS ones are about $9 USD or something to rent and are awesome. Really thick and comfy.

If like me you´re not a full on hiker, don´t buy a whole bunch of expensive stuff at home. You can either buy it really cheaply in Cusco or even rent it. For example, thermal tights (essential at night) were 30 Soles in Cusco (about $10 AUD) and about $75 for wool ones at home. Same with torches and hiking sticks.

Speaking of hiking sticks, these are an absolute essential, especially for day 2 to save yourself a whole lot of knee pain on the down hill sections. You can buy a walking pole for 10 Soles at the first stop on day one.

Oh and most importantly climatise, climatise, climatise. Give yourself at least 3 days in the high altitude of Cusco before starting the trek, or the altitude will kill you!

Try and get a bit fit before you go too. I did one hour´s personal training a week for 10 weeks and it helped a fair bit.

Above all don´t be scared of it. My partner and I aren´t super fit, and there were plenty of people with no real interest in hiking at all that did it fairly well. It´s hard, but it´s not that hard. What it is though is one of the most rewarding things you can do. And regardless of what tour group you choose, it´s incredibly worth the pain and effort!

OK, I´m going to have to separate this into two posts because Cusco is awesome but there is some stuff you should know.

Firstly altitiude is a bitch. Many people fly into Cusco from other high altitude spots like La Paz in Bolivia and so they´re already well adjusted. But if you´re doing Peru only, then take care on your first few days. My advice is (if you´re coming from overseas), check into your hotel, get a really plain meal for dinner (no rich restaurant food), drink plenty of water and go straight to bed. Do not pass go, do not collect $200. You will feel like death warmed up. So don´t waste your money on a great meal you can´t eat like I did!

Secondly, Cusco is a bona fide tourist town. It´s a cliche used widely in the west, but until you´ve experienced it here, you have no idea. Some pubs even sell a T shirt with ´No Gracias´ on it to fend off the local vendors. It´s also a bit sleazy at night with people offering you free drinks and stuff. Leading me onto my next point.

Regarding alcohol, take it easy champ. There´s plenty of bars but with less oxygen in your lungs, you´re gonna get drunk a lot quicker and end up like a fourteen year old mess. And you will be dehydrated as hell and up all night pissing. No fun. So at least for the first couple of days, maybe lay off the piss! 

Oh yeah, and the coca. It´s everywhere. Drink plenty of coca tea, or even better buy the coca flour which will sort your right out. But you ain´t gonna get stoned off it champ. You can chew coca leaves to your hearts content and you won´t be like Tony Montana on Scarface. It fixes your digestion and altitude sickness though.

Finally, trouble. Especially in the main plaza in Cusco, there are cops everywhere. They are really making a concerted effort to stop violence against tourists. But a poor bloke got mugged the second night we were here, just outside our window. An Aussie guy that has a restaurant here told me it was absolutely remarkable - because the tourist police here crack down HARD on anyone that mugs a tourist. While I believe him, there are no street lights here and there´s plenty of steep dark alleys. So if you´re not absolutely knackered at night from sightseeing, either stay right in town or have early nights.

Anyway, that´s the load off my mind. Next comes the happy stuff, of which there´s plenty!

Well here goes the first post of the trip. Had a couple of days in Chile which was pretty OK except for the fact that they take weekends pretty seriously by doing absolutely nothing. Especially on Sundays. Oh yeah and no one speaks any English here!

Thankfully the restaurants were open and I had one of the best steaks ever. It was grilled and salt rubbed or something but dang it was good. Probably as good as anything Argentina has to offer. With all the trimmings, it would´ve cost close to $40 Aussie. I´m told Argentina is M U C H cheaper. She who must be obeyed says Chile is a bit expensive but I was only there for two days!

Sadly not much else to do but get pissed - which I did - whilst finding out the hard way that every drink is a double in Chile, and well most of South America. So remember, go easy tiger! Four drinks is enough to get shit faced here! Oh yeah and you get a litre of beer per cup (you can get smaller but that´s what most people drink) and a jug is something like 2.7 litres! But there´s some gret night life if you´re not legless by sun down!
I was staying at the La Chimba hostel, which is in a really bohemian, multi-cultural part of town, a fair whack out of Santiago proper. It was like a Chapel St kind of vibe and really went off on a Saturday night. In the morning the zoo is close by and you can catch a chair lift over it, right to the top of this mountain, which has a huge monument of Virgin Mary or someone, kind of like the Jesus one in Brazil. Just don´t get there too early, because nothing will be open before 9am (blame it on the jet lag)