Day 14 A lake on top of the world

Until a few weeks ago we could not even pronounce Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world. We had imagined that crossing this lake would be magnificent but we were blown away by what we saw. For over 9 hours we traversed the lake in a hydrofoil with 20 other people. Along the way we visited the original Copacabana in Bolivia, which redefined syncretism between Catholic and Animist religions with blessing of cars with beer and a shameful display of the prosperity gospel. We visited a small island with ruins of a temple nearly 2000 years old. We lunched on a larger island with a view across the lake to snow-capped mountains peaking at 6500metres with the only significant vegetation being Australian gum trees. We visited a community who lived on floating reed islands, a practice that developed thousands of years ago to escape the terrors of war.

After all that, the day ended with a 2-hour mini bus ride to La Paz the highest city in the world at 4000 metres. This journey through rural poverty and exploding urban indigenous slums was a reminder that a few road rules and police may help reduce the danger of road travel a lot more than blessing the cars with beer.

We arrived last night in La Paz delighted to have arrived in Bolivia and hopeful that few other days on this journey will be such an overload to the senses.

Day 12,13 Slow train coming

Leaving Cusco was not a simple operation. Our plan was always to catch a train known as the Andean Orient Express from Cusco to Puno. To cut a very long story short we had a real drama turning our pre purchased voucher into real tickets. After many calls, much worry while on the Inca Track, panic when we returned at 10pm the night before and extreme panic when 30 minutes before the train’s departure we still did not have the tickets. Finally we caught the smallest Daewoo taxi known to mankind and arrived at the station 21 minutes before departure to be greeting by a representative from the travel company with our tickets. What followed was a 10 hour luxury (Peruvian style) slow train trip over the Andean Alps; with a short break at 4300 metres above sea level to meet an indigenous group who sold us their wares. It was a magnificent trip through a unique part of the world.

The next day was a quiet one, in surprisingly interesting Puno except for the matter of getting our passports stamped. A travel company, working for another travel company we were dealing with arrived at our hotel to ask for our passports for 8 hours so they could get them stamped. When we refused we instead agreed at 6pm to go with them to get them stamped. Firstly this involved a visit to a local police station into a dark building with armed guards. Not for the first time on this journey we were a little unsure. After getting a stamp from the police we next had to go to the home of an off duty immigration officer as the office would be closed on the day of our travel, a Sunday. So in a van with two other travel company people, whom we did not know, we journeyed through the backstreets of Puno, one of the poorest cities in Peru. In a dark back alley we left the bus and arrived at the door of the immigration officer who to our surprise stamped our passports with good humour and, as far as we could tell, no payment.

To say it was hard to leave Peru was true on many levels!

The agony and the ecstasy

The challenge of this trip was always going to be walking the Inca Trail – a 45 km walk through the Andes Mountains past various archaeological sites to arrive at Machu Picchu. In a few words it is impossible to describe this experience but words like exhilarating, fool hardy, exhausting, imposing and extra- ordinary come to mind. Day One: we experienced "Inca flat " which was probably as demanding as any walk we have ever done. Day Two: was murder with a 1200 metre climb that took nearly 6 hours to Dead Woman’s Pass which was almost eclipsed by a 600metre two hour down hill steep decline. Day Three: included three more passes and ended with a magnificent mountain top campsite on top of the third pass at 3950 metres. Day Four: started at 4am in total darkness, aided only by headlamps to guide us down 1200 metres of Inca steps to arrive at 9.30am at Machu Picchu. Along the way the mountains were magnificent and the vegetation included wild orchids, bromeliads, bamboo, and an array of wild flowers. The extra- ordinary Inca Trail was only surpassed by the mysterious and sublime Inca city Machu Picchu, surely one of the greatest architectural and engineering achievements of mankind.

Was all that effort worth it? Well to be honest there are a lot of photos we won’t let you see. There was some very real pain and a few tears. Tourists can easily visit the ruins of Machu Picchu but the trekkers of the Inca Trail get a rare chance to put the ruins in the context of an extraordinary mountain terrain and the mysterious and challenging Inca culture.

PS thanks for the prayers.
Photo 1 The Beginning
Photo 2 Summit of Dead Women’s Pass (Wendy only just alive)
Photo 3 Our group of twenty somethings (and us) finally at Machu Picchu

Day 7 Watching the passing parade

The great travellers teach that you learn the most when you become part of a country’s passing parade. Today we experienced this twice. This morning in the town square, originally built by the Incas, we witnessed a huge show of civic and national pride as the locals celebrated with a colourful parade. Opened by dignitaries with flag raising ceremonies, soldiers and bands then led a parade which seemed to celebrate the ongoing transformation of Peru in general and Cuzco in particular. 11 years ago Peru, in the grip of a Marxist terrorist campaign, was shocked when the rebels seized 400 people during a diplomatic cocktail party at the Japanese embassy. The siege lasted for nearly 5 months and ended when the president of Peru, ordered the army to raid the building and end the siege. Fortunately the result was that only one hostage was killed but all the terrorists died and the terrorist problem that had plagued Peru seemed finally to have ended that day. The parade today celebrated this as builders, nurses, university students and children marched behind the soldiers while the crowd seem to be proud of a nation and city moving forward. It was an honour to witness an impressive and positive community. Late in the day we witnessed another dramatic parade which was led by a bull and a matador, followed by a bunch of masked drunken revellers with their wild women. The parade finished with a more sombre group of women carrying a statue of the Virgin Mary. We have no idea what this was about but again it was a joy to be part of
Cuzco’s passing parade

PS We begin the Inca Trail, a 4 day treck tomorrow, so we don't expect to be back with internet access until at least Friday the 25th

Day 6 Rising above the crowds

As much as we are enjoying this adventure we were struck today by the paradox of modern tourism. Cuzco, as the ancient Inca capital and the gateway to the site of Macchu Picchu is a hybrid of ancient cultures and modern western tourism. Sadly at times western tourists seem to have turned this place into an Inca Disneyland. Cute kids on the street carrying a baby goat turn nasty when the tourist tip for the photo is not high enough. Old women in traditional garb huddle outside a 600-year-old church begging for coins. A kid in the street, expecting a fee stops us to tell us not to miss a crucial 12-edged ancient stone in the wall standing for over 500 years without mortar. As much as we don’t like the tourist “thing” at the same time we are tourists. But an afternoon walk takes us up the hill to where locals live and tourist are rare. Here locals gather in a square next to a church. They buy and sell, they meet and interact, the kids play and community is real. Women spin and weave as they have done for generations. Higher still, we see kids and dogs and ducks in a back yard. We see a picnic in a dusty park under (would you believe) gum trees. Further up the hill we notice squatters building on a cliff with little regard for occupational health and safety. And the highlight of the day we witness a young boy proudly carrying his evening meal
– baked guinea pig.

Day 5 Into Thin Air

We had read about it, talked to people about it , pondered about it and been anxious about it and today we arrived in the Andes in Cuzco at 3000 metres and were welcomed by the dreaded thin air. At altitude the body has trouble as there is less oxygen and a series of reactions known as altitude sickness can affect people to varying degrees. As soon as we got out of the plane we noticed our breathing. We felt a little light headed, a little unbalanced and quite tired. When a hotel advertises that one of its features is bottled oxygen, it’s natural to be concerned. It became more real when we arrived and the staff insisted that we sit down to book in and we noticed in the opposite corner there was a Japanese girl enjoying the oxygen under a mask normally used in a hospital. We are reasonably fine, and have had a very quiet afternoon. We are told it will get easier in a day or two. It’s a stark reminder of the delicate balances in this incredible world that allows us the opportunity to live. We boast with bravado that we control our destiny and in an instant are reminded that without the delicate balance of gases, which make up the air we breathe, we would not breathe at all.

Day 4 Lima out of control

Today we experienced Lima out of control. We decided to be brave and tackle Lima on our own – without tour guides. Our plan was simple. Catch a taxi into the Mayor Plaza (featured yesterday) – explore around on foot and see where things led. It started badly when trying to communicate a place and price with one of Lima’s famous out of control taxis. We began to feel bad when it became obvious the taxi drove past the signs to the city. We felt a lot worse when the taxi veered into a district that a sensible tourist would stay well away from. Stories of abductions of tourists started feel real. Then there was a hope that maybe he had misunderstood us and we were heading for the airport. But then another detour through what could politely be called a shanty town delivered us to a large and quite reasonable shopping centre called Mega Plaza (almost Mayor Plaza). We recovered and found our way back to town where our adventure continued through downtown Lima, surviving a chicken lunch, which challenged notions of what a chicken looked like, to a craft market filled with colour and delight. After lunch another dose of the real Lima. A local overloaded mini bus to the Mount Cerro San Cristobel – from where we could see the magnitude of a city of 9 million – where squatters continue to colonise the flat and the hills. Dirty, dusty, amazing and out of control.

This was the real Lima – huge, out of control, poor and extraordinary. Finally dinner at sunset by the ocean seems a world away.

Toilets seats and balconies

Two people had warned us that Lima was a truly horrible place. One couple we met warned us that they feared leaving their hotel room, so they didn’t. Another person described the part of Lima we are staying , Miraflores, as like the front part of the toilet seat – ie at least not as bad as the rest. Today we were determined to get out of our rooms and find out if the reports were exaggerated. And they were!
Now this is a city of 9 million people with 50% unemployment and 200,000 unlicensed taxis located in a coastal desert. But there is much to like about Lima and there is a great deal that can only be described as beautiful. A city that is literally perched on a plateau that rises from the Pacific Ocean can’t be all bad. Beautiful pottery and gold artefacts over a thousand years old stored in a converted bank vault are rather impressive. Then there is a beautiful city square that looks to have come from the heart of Europe. In fact it began as the palace for the Inca generals on one side and a temple for Inca worship on the other. Those buildings were replaced by the Spanish, who rebuilt the palace in their own style to confirm that they were now in charge. Of course they also replaced the temple with a Catholic Church. Today the palace has become the office of the president, resplendent with both guards dressed in traditional costume and a few tanks and water canons thrown in for good measure. And then there are the famous balconies – Limas great contribution to architecture. Wonderful intricate carved wooden balconies adorning many of the traditional buildings. So don’t believe those who only see the negatives for there is always beauty to be seen as well.

Adventure on the cheap

There are many sensible ways to get to Peru. We are now in Peru but we did not get here in a sensible way. Our trip started at Eastwood at 4am - Sydney Airport at 5.30 (Richard is frisked by security) – Brisbane at 8am – morning tea with some dear friends who moved to Brisbane a few years ago (Richard is frisked for security again; he must look dodgy) 12 noon we leave for Los Angeles – 13 hours later we arrive in LA to experience a beautiful dawn- a walk outside where we see a really cool LAPD Policeman on his Harley Davidson, and experience some fun with US security, customs and bag handlers - 4 hours later we are in the air (we should mention that the first woman Richard met in the US said “ I love you” just because he bothered to look for and find her lost bag and the first man that Wendy met apologised for the US’s poor national morale caused by the war in Iraq).- another 4 hours and we arrive in Miami to experience a glorious sunset- then another 5 hours later we leave on the red eye special to Lima, - 7 hours later we arrive an hour before dawn ( we think on Tuesday morning). In spite of our fears our bags arrive and we are met at the airport by a kind Peruvian with our names on his sign- we are whisked through a pre dawn city, waking to early morning joggers and we arrive at our Spanish colonial hotel with much thanksgiving and a little fatigue. Of course the reason for the strange route is that the Quadrio’s have always been committed to doing things on the cheap and two free (round the world) frequent flyers tickets are worth the inconvenience, for after all according to GK Chesterton inconvenience is only adventure misunderstood.

Lima is really a bit of a pleasant surprise after all the warnings we heard and read. 9 million people living in a city with 1.5 inches of rain per annum is not going to be green but it is frenetic, colourful, noisy and surprisingly appealing and the locals are friendly.

Born to Run – on the cheap – has a long way to go but has begun with adventure and much joy.

Welcome

Well it's less than a week before Wendy and Richard begin their Born to Run 2008 tour.
We stole the tour name from Bruce Springsteen's classic - Born to Run - one of the only rock songs ever written about a girl called Wendy.
The real Wendy was saving to go on a big international trip when she met the boy, Richard a few weeks before Christmas in 1980. They fell in love, and got married 12 months later...and of course Wendy decided to postpone the trip. Now three children, many churches, several university degrees, a couple of dogs, countless houses and nearly three decades later we are finally making this 91 day - 14 country world tour.

Our inspirations have been many:
1. The Bible is full of wonderful adventure stories and the God we love made this world and all its people.
2. We were inspired by the following books - Jackie Hartnell, No Fixed Address - who gave us the idea that we could be middle aged backpackers and Tiana Templeman's book, Absolutely Faking It - who gave us the idea to use 'around the world' tickets and follow the path to South America, New York, Europe and finally Asia on the way home. Wendy has been reading the travel shelf for many years and her ideas and enthusiasm form the brains and heart of this trip.
3. We both loved Ewen McGregor's Long Way Round and Long Way Down so I (Richard) decided our trip had to have a name, thus... Born to Run was created.
4. We are indebted to our wonderful travel agent Lois Job who did the impossible and turned a pile of visa card points into two free around the world frequent flyer tickets - thanks also to QANTAS!

We leave on Monday 14th April 2008 and hope that you will follow our blog and track our progress all the way around this wonderful world.