OK, so the trips almost over. Sat here now wasting time and just waiting for the time to leave for the airport so. Any hints and tips for those of you with 6 month old babies and thinking of travelling?
FLIGHTS
Bassinets - I knew nothing about them either, but basically they are a carry cot which can be fitted in front of the front seat of airplanes. Ask when you book your tickets, they´re free and you will get the roomier front seats ;o) Make sure you confirm prior to flyng that you have one! Makes it so much easier to be able to put the baby down when, or IF, they sleep.
Breast feed / Dummy - In order to ease the equalising ears in the baby when flying aim to feed the baby on take off and landing. The sucking action will ´pop´their ears and stop any pain. If feeding isn´t an option for whatever reason try a soother/dummy or even a lollipop in older kids?
SLEEPING
Buy a samsonite pop up travel cot! It folds up and fits inside my 80 litre POD rucsac. Probably takes up a third of the space in the bag?
´Grobags´, no not for the toms, these are a small baby sleeping bag. Really useful and saves carrying blankets etc.
FEEDING
Lindam microwave sterilising bags - Small and dead easy to use. Clean the bottles, put them in the bag and microwave for 3 minutes.
Milton tablets and a dry bag - For those times when you can´t find a hostal with a microwave fill a drybag with water, pop in the sterilising milton tablets and soak the bottles.
Thermos - the daily routine was to buy bottled water, boil it, fill the bottles and then fill a thermos with boiled water. This allowed us to either get the bottles warmed somewhere (standing in warm water or microwaved) or if not available to top up with the hot water from the thermos.
Milk Dispenser - bought from boots for a couple of quid. A small plastic tub with 3 compartments so you can pre-measure the milk for 3 bottles. You then just turn the lid to allow each section to be poured into the bottles as and when required!
Stove - we took our MSR dragonfly and pans and although we didn´t use it (we did use pans) it allowed us the ability to boil water whenever we needed it, wherever we were. A back up plan!
Breast feeding - now, not everyone can do this. I found it particularly difficult! But Claire managed to keep breast feeding up until the trip and it was soooo useful! eg. long trips, plane journeys, a quick feed. The flexibility it allowed was great but if you can´t then you´d just have to use the bottles.
MOBILITY
Pushcair - We bought a Maclaren quest from e-bay, 30 quid or so?, which is basically a foldable pushchair. It was easily attachable to the outside of the rucsac with a bungey cord to be carried around and also folded up fairly small. We also bought a small brolly for it for about a tenner, useful to keep the sun off Bodhi.
Manta - we bought the Peruvian blanket out here as sometimes the pushchair wasn´t practical (cobbled streets etc) and it was difficult for Bodhi to sleep comfortably in the baby carrier. Obviously not everyone can get, or use, a manta but the principle remains and one of the baby slings would do the job. Allows the baby to sleep whilst being carried.
Baby carrier - We bought a Macpac ´Possum´ baby carrier and it was great for more demanding treks etc. You could carry all the baby stuff in the bag at the bottom while baby sat on top. It had a sun canopy to keep the sun off him and a rain cover for when it got wet on Machu Picchu.
HOSTELS
We used Hostelbookers and Hostelworld to find our hostels and we´d suggest getting in touch way in advance to ask all the necesarry questions. The days of rocking up in a town and just having a look are gone when the baby comes! (well, not really but it does make things harder) I´d particularly recommend OneHostel in Lima, more like a family home than a hostel and the owners LOVED Bodhi, in fact they just loved having children in the hostel. Inkas Rest in Puno, again they loved Bodhi but there was also the nice lounge area which you could just put the baby to bed and then chill and watch a DVD, some YOU time! KB Tambo in Ollantaytambo was a good place to chill although they had no kitchen or kettle etc they were happy to boil water for us everyday!
Now, seeing as Bodhi has a milk allergy we had to carry ALL his formula milk with us but for those with ´normal´kids there was Milk available in most towns we visited. Particularly Lima and Cusco (So you could plan to replenish stocks here). Just be aware of upset tummies from changing milks etc.
We made the decision that we didn´t want to add to the burden of plastic and rubbish in Peru so didn´t want to use nappies bought here. We use Nature Babycare biodegradable disposable nappies at home so we brought them all with us! At least that way we were happy in the knowledge that they would biodegrade quickly rather than adding to the rubbish in Peru! Likewise with the nappy sacs. If your not that fussed, all sorts of nappies can be bought here no worries, again particularly in Lima and Cusco.
If I think of anything else I´ll pop it up here but I think that just about covers it? It´s been a great trip, hard work at times and definitely heavy in the pre-planning department but very do-able and well worth the effort.
Where next......
Sunday, 3 May 2009
Saturday, 2 May 2009
and back to Lima...
Following Machu Picchu wasn´t gonna be easy so we took it easy, I managed to finish my book ("friends like these" by Danny Wallace - good read) and by lunch time we were pretty much at a loose end. I was walking li´l Bo, trying to get him to sleep when I came across 3 horses. All tacked up, ready to go. I hung around like Michael Jackson at a child care centre, waiting and waiting. Ready to pounce! And I did. I managed to speak to the guy, who obviously didn´t speak english - nothings ever that easy, and found out who to see about hiring the horses. José a lad who worked on our Hostal!! Better late than never I suppose. So after the necesarry running around and sorting out I walked in to Claire saying, "Get ready, your riding in half an hour!"
In a bit of a shock I think, she fettled around and slowly got ready. She had a birthday present of an afternoon of riding ahead of her. I waved her off as she plodded down the lane towards the terraces. I hoped she enjoyed it as I knew it was not going to be a great standard of hard riding but I figured the setting would more than compensate. I think she enjoyed it.
The next day we were supposed to be getting picked up by José, our original driver, by 9am.
9am came and went.
In a last ditch effort I ran around the square looking for a taxi and eventually got one for 20 solés cheaper - result! We headed back to Cusco to catch our flight back to Lima and were amazed to find that we´d been upgraded to first class...ooh posh eh!? It was only a small plane so Claire was being a tit,"ooh it´s gonna crash"..."moan - what´s that noise" blah blah blah.... so obviously I just wound her up about it ;o)
Arriving safely in Lima we quickly headed back in a cab sent by Melissa, I think it was the right one although the sign he held up was saying ´Niz Wood´? Once back in the hostel we took a deep breath of relief as it really felt like we were home after a long journey. The next few days were spent relaxing, visiting familiar places and getting ready for that bloody journey home.
In a bit of a shock I think, she fettled around and slowly got ready. She had a birthday present of an afternoon of riding ahead of her. I waved her off as she plodded down the lane towards the terraces. I hoped she enjoyed it as I knew it was not going to be a great standard of hard riding but I figured the setting would more than compensate. I think she enjoyed it.
The next day we were supposed to be getting picked up by José, our original driver, by 9am.
9am came and went.
In a last ditch effort I ran around the square looking for a taxi and eventually got one for 20 solés cheaper - result! We headed back to Cusco to catch our flight back to Lima and were amazed to find that we´d been upgraded to first class...ooh posh eh!? It was only a small plane so Claire was being a tit,"ooh it´s gonna crash"..."moan - what´s that noise" blah blah blah.... so obviously I just wound her up about it ;o)
Arriving safely in Lima we quickly headed back in a cab sent by Melissa, I think it was the right one although the sign he held up was saying ´Niz Wood´? Once back in the hostel we took a deep breath of relief as it really felt like we were home after a long journey. The next few days were spent relaxing, visiting familiar places and getting ready for that bloody journey home.
Machu Picchu
The following day we did bugger all really? Partly due to the wine the night before but mostly, I think, we just needed a day of doing nowt. We pootled around, had breakfast and just chilled. By the time the afternoon was on us though we decided we´d take a walk up the river and take a look at the terraces further up the valley. It was a pleasant enough walk really but the temptation to stop at those houses with the red bags displayed was there! We were strong, we didn´t stop. We decided to have an early night as the following morning we had to be up at 4.45am!!
Luckily we´d packed everything the night before so it was just a case of getting up and grabbing Bodhi. All 3 of us bleary eyed and heading towards the station. We managed to jump in a motortaxi (called a tuk tuk in asia) and were soon there. I would have been OK if it not for the two, and I assumed they were israelies, folks sat infront of us. Kisses, rubbing nipples, rubbing cheeks together....WTF!? Just because your not allowed to do it in your country don´t go feckin´overboard when your not there! Get a room! Being british, I ignored it and turned the other cheek.
We sat and watched the scenery, we were roughly following the Urumbamba river and I actually found myself daydreaming about what it would be like to run it in a kayak. Something I´ve not dreamt about for years! We were soon there and found ourself standing in the crowd of people on the damp early morning dew soaked platform. First things first, lets go buy the entrance ticket. Luckily we were one of the first there so it wasn´t too bad and we were quickly sat eating breakfast, feeding Bodhi and changing his nappy.
We packed up the baby carrier, popped on the rain cover and started off through the town of Agua Caliente (a town basically there to suck the cash out of tourists en route to Machu Picchu). We wound ourselves through the confusing layout and eventually I asked a woman who explained, "No, you need to get a bus from here. You can buy tickets down there". A Bus? Tickets? eh!? As it turns out, Agua Caliente is the town in the Valley but to get to Machu Picchu you either walk for an hour and a half (but after being there I´m convinced it would be much more and a tough walk!) or you jump on the bus which happens to cost $14 each!
Shit...that was all our money.
The bus didn´t take too long as it wound itself across and up the mountain to the infamous Machu Picchu. In no time we weretrekking up a narrow path towards the classic viewpoint. The one from which all those photo´s are taken. We duly took our photo´s! It´s hard to describe what it´s like at Machu Picchu really. After all it´s just some old ruins, and not THAT ancient if we´re honest - about 600 years. We were expecting it to be heaving with tourists but, even though there were a lot, we´d timed it well and there wasn´t too many. We spent the whole morning there. Taking pictures marvelling at the spectacular sights, the scenery and the wildlife and even, if we´re honest, merely the fact we were there. With a 6 month old baby. Many people would let, and in fact do let, having a child stop them in their tracks. "Can´t do this", "mustn´t do that", when in reality most things are possible with just a bit of planning, compromise and dare I say it...daring? The day was filled with the unspoken pride in our journey so far. The morning was great, walking along admiring the place. Getting kicked off the terraces for having a kick ass picnic of pringles and bottled water! We´re just down right rebels! lol!
We´d managed to get a great photo of Bodhi at the ruins, one which hopefully will remind him anythings possible.
We headed back down and on the bus down ran into 4 old folks from Leamington, Claire was sure she recognised them from the Nuffield or something? We got chatting and it turns out one of their son´s runs a company taking treks in Mongolia. We´re thinking that could be our next trip - horseriding along Mongolia. So we took the details, watch this space.
After a money counting exercise at one of the cafés (we´d used most of our cash for the bus fare!) we were soon on the train back to Ollantaytambo. Not after realising we were waiting in the wrong place, being re-directed through another tourist market and eventually finding the right station!
The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling and resting after such and early start. It was a great day and in many ways the zenith, and purpose, of the trip.
Luckily we´d packed everything the night before so it was just a case of getting up and grabbing Bodhi. All 3 of us bleary eyed and heading towards the station. We managed to jump in a motortaxi (called a tuk tuk in asia) and were soon there. I would have been OK if it not for the two, and I assumed they were israelies, folks sat infront of us. Kisses, rubbing nipples, rubbing cheeks together....WTF!? Just because your not allowed to do it in your country don´t go feckin´overboard when your not there! Get a room! Being british, I ignored it and turned the other cheek.
We sat and watched the scenery, we were roughly following the Urumbamba river and I actually found myself daydreaming about what it would be like to run it in a kayak. Something I´ve not dreamt about for years! We were soon there and found ourself standing in the crowd of people on the damp early morning dew soaked platform. First things first, lets go buy the entrance ticket. Luckily we were one of the first there so it wasn´t too bad and we were quickly sat eating breakfast, feeding Bodhi and changing his nappy.
We packed up the baby carrier, popped on the rain cover and started off through the town of Agua Caliente (a town basically there to suck the cash out of tourists en route to Machu Picchu). We wound ourselves through the confusing layout and eventually I asked a woman who explained, "No, you need to get a bus from here. You can buy tickets down there". A Bus? Tickets? eh!? As it turns out, Agua Caliente is the town in the Valley but to get to Machu Picchu you either walk for an hour and a half (but after being there I´m convinced it would be much more and a tough walk!) or you jump on the bus which happens to cost $14 each!
Shit...that was all our money.
The bus didn´t take too long as it wound itself across and up the mountain to the infamous Machu Picchu. In no time we weretrekking up a narrow path towards the classic viewpoint. The one from which all those photo´s are taken. We duly took our photo´s! It´s hard to describe what it´s like at Machu Picchu really. After all it´s just some old ruins, and not THAT ancient if we´re honest - about 600 years. We were expecting it to be heaving with tourists but, even though there were a lot, we´d timed it well and there wasn´t too many. We spent the whole morning there. Taking pictures marvelling at the spectacular sights, the scenery and the wildlife and even, if we´re honest, merely the fact we were there. With a 6 month old baby. Many people would let, and in fact do let, having a child stop them in their tracks. "Can´t do this", "mustn´t do that", when in reality most things are possible with just a bit of planning, compromise and dare I say it...daring? The day was filled with the unspoken pride in our journey so far. The morning was great, walking along admiring the place. Getting kicked off the terraces for having a kick ass picnic of pringles and bottled water! We´re just down right rebels! lol!
We´d managed to get a great photo of Bodhi at the ruins, one which hopefully will remind him anythings possible.
We headed back down and on the bus down ran into 4 old folks from Leamington, Claire was sure she recognised them from the Nuffield or something? We got chatting and it turns out one of their son´s runs a company taking treks in Mongolia. We´re thinking that could be our next trip - horseriding along Mongolia. So we took the details, watch this space.
After a money counting exercise at one of the cafés (we´d used most of our cash for the bus fare!) we were soon on the train back to Ollantaytambo. Not after realising we were waiting in the wrong place, being re-directed through another tourist market and eventually finding the right station!
The rest of the afternoon was spent chilling and resting after such and early start. It was a great day and in many ways the zenith, and purpose, of the trip.
Claire´s Birthday!
We awoke early next morning after discovering that night that only a few doors down from the hostel was a disco. Well...maybe not a disco exactly but definitely a bar which chose to play loud bloody music all night! It was decided, Claire had made a stirling effort getting a hostel but it was shit. We needed a new one.
We headed back to heart Café and tucked into a great big birthday breakfast. Eggs, toast, toms, veggie sausage (Bacon for the birthday girl) fried potatoes, juice, coffee and birthday wishes and kisses...tasty.
Quick sharpish we´d found a new hostal KB Tambo and had left the awkwardness of the last place far behind! The new place was good, although in comparison I think most places would have been better. It was clean, had awesome views of the surrounding hills and ruins, hot showers (eventually) and a roof top terrace. They even had a café downstairs who agreed to boil the water for the baby everyday for us! I sneakily had a word with the girl in the café and arranged a birthday cake for claire for that evening but when I tried to arrange for her to go horseriding things didn´t go as well as I´d hoped. To make a long story short I basically went to EVERY café, shop and horse looking person in the village asking to rent a horse or arrange a ride. Things didn´t go well. The best I could manage was to get the name of someone who had horses but was no where to be seen...bugger.
We settled into our room and after lunch we decided to head up to the ruins. Not before buying our train tickets for Machu Picchu (what a palarva THAT was....note to self learn more spanish!).
Ollantaytambo ruins are perched on the side of the mountain above the village and provide a lovely backdrop to the place. They are the only site in Peru were the spanish lost a battle with the Incans during the time of the conquestidors. Today, we were heading up to see them. We packed the baby carrier and started off up through the village and through the market at the entrance to the ruins. The ruins begin with ascending the steps which run up the terraces. The terraces are stepped level ground that the Incan people used to grow crops etc. I assume so they were safe from invaders etc? We soon got to the top and started looking around. The ruins themselves were unfinished in some places and it was interesting to see the blocks still in situ where the Incans left them when defeated. Around the place there were building perched in the most unlikely of places and a long narrow path joined one site to another about a KM around the other side of the mountain.
Then it started.
Little Bodhi...
whimper whimper....
rock rock...
ah there now Bo
Cry Cry....
oh come on now Bo
Wail Wail....
Bo....shhh....people are looking
SSSSCCCCCCRREEEEEAAAMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
bugger...
So began the 40 min stomp around the ruins. Claire sat down while I wrapped bodhi in his manta and tried to rock him to sleep. No chance. I stomped around up and down, round and round, in and out of the ruins and covered EVERY bit of hillside that place had to offer. I was pulling my hair out. He was KNACKERED! but you know when they just won´t sleep, overtired, that was today!
Eventually...he fell sound asleep...the little...
We carried on and explored the rest of the ruins and started to walk along the narrow path toward the other section of ruins.
"Mick"
"Yes, Claire my dearest?"
"I need a wee...."
lmao! Stuck half way up the mountain on a little path, baby asleep in the blanket, no loos and claire needs a wee! Eventually we found ourself at the other side of the mountain where there were less people.
"Mick, keep an eye out!"
Off she pops, into an ancient and sacred place. Whips down her trousers and whoosh transforms archeological importance into a WC! well...it was her birthday I suppose!
All in all the afternoon was really nice and I´m glad Claire spent her birthday in a unique place, which hopefully she´ll never forget. We finished the afternoon looking through the market and then headed back for showers and to get ready for Claire´s Birthday meal.
Once we were ready we headed downstairs, Bodhi fast asleep in his pushchair, and had dinner. I ordered a nice bottle of wine and we chatted and laughed and generally had a lovely evening. Then, the lights went out. Out came 2 of the cooks with a massive birthday cake complete with 2 candles and the singing began...
"Buenos Compleaños para tu....buenos compleaños para tuuuuuu....buenos compleaños para clairrrre...buenos compleaños para tuuuuuu!!" I couldn´t tell in the candle light but I´m sure she blushed? The folks in the restaurant began clapping and soon the sounds of ´ahh´and ´bless´ and applause filled the room. As it turns out the ´cake´was a load of pancakes sndwiched with toffee sauce and the whole thing covered in cream. It was lovely! I think claire liked it. Claire then began to offer cake to complete strangers who´d just happened to choose this restaurant to eat at tonight. It wasn´t long before we were chatting to various people, including 2 girls who do the event planning for the Playboy mansion...yes, THE playboy mansion - how mad is that!? Another bottle of wine was ordered and we enjoyed the night. We managed to finish it off sat, me Claire and Bodhi, on the rooftop terrace. Watching shooting stars and chatting the night away.
Happy Birthday Claire XXX
We headed back to heart Café and tucked into a great big birthday breakfast. Eggs, toast, toms, veggie sausage (Bacon for the birthday girl) fried potatoes, juice, coffee and birthday wishes and kisses...tasty.
Quick sharpish we´d found a new hostal KB Tambo and had left the awkwardness of the last place far behind! The new place was good, although in comparison I think most places would have been better. It was clean, had awesome views of the surrounding hills and ruins, hot showers (eventually) and a roof top terrace. They even had a café downstairs who agreed to boil the water for the baby everyday for us! I sneakily had a word with the girl in the café and arranged a birthday cake for claire for that evening but when I tried to arrange for her to go horseriding things didn´t go as well as I´d hoped. To make a long story short I basically went to EVERY café, shop and horse looking person in the village asking to rent a horse or arrange a ride. Things didn´t go well. The best I could manage was to get the name of someone who had horses but was no where to be seen...bugger.
We settled into our room and after lunch we decided to head up to the ruins. Not before buying our train tickets for Machu Picchu (what a palarva THAT was....note to self learn more spanish!).
Ollantaytambo ruins are perched on the side of the mountain above the village and provide a lovely backdrop to the place. They are the only site in Peru were the spanish lost a battle with the Incans during the time of the conquestidors. Today, we were heading up to see them. We packed the baby carrier and started off up through the village and through the market at the entrance to the ruins. The ruins begin with ascending the steps which run up the terraces. The terraces are stepped level ground that the Incan people used to grow crops etc. I assume so they were safe from invaders etc? We soon got to the top and started looking around. The ruins themselves were unfinished in some places and it was interesting to see the blocks still in situ where the Incans left them when defeated. Around the place there were building perched in the most unlikely of places and a long narrow path joined one site to another about a KM around the other side of the mountain.
Then it started.
Little Bodhi...
whimper whimper....
rock rock...
ah there now Bo
Cry Cry....
oh come on now Bo
Wail Wail....
Bo....shhh....people are looking
SSSSCCCCCCRREEEEEAAAMMMMMMM!!!!!!!
bugger...
So began the 40 min stomp around the ruins. Claire sat down while I wrapped bodhi in his manta and tried to rock him to sleep. No chance. I stomped around up and down, round and round, in and out of the ruins and covered EVERY bit of hillside that place had to offer. I was pulling my hair out. He was KNACKERED! but you know when they just won´t sleep, overtired, that was today!
Eventually...he fell sound asleep...the little...
We carried on and explored the rest of the ruins and started to walk along the narrow path toward the other section of ruins.
"Mick"
"Yes, Claire my dearest?"
"I need a wee...."
lmao! Stuck half way up the mountain on a little path, baby asleep in the blanket, no loos and claire needs a wee! Eventually we found ourself at the other side of the mountain where there were less people.
"Mick, keep an eye out!"
Off she pops, into an ancient and sacred place. Whips down her trousers and whoosh transforms archeological importance into a WC! well...it was her birthday I suppose!
All in all the afternoon was really nice and I´m glad Claire spent her birthday in a unique place, which hopefully she´ll never forget. We finished the afternoon looking through the market and then headed back for showers and to get ready for Claire´s Birthday meal.
Once we were ready we headed downstairs, Bodhi fast asleep in his pushchair, and had dinner. I ordered a nice bottle of wine and we chatted and laughed and generally had a lovely evening. Then, the lights went out. Out came 2 of the cooks with a massive birthday cake complete with 2 candles and the singing began...
"Buenos Compleaños para tu....buenos compleaños para tuuuuuu....buenos compleaños para clairrrre...buenos compleaños para tuuuuuu!!" I couldn´t tell in the candle light but I´m sure she blushed? The folks in the restaurant began clapping and soon the sounds of ´ahh´and ´bless´ and applause filled the room. As it turns out the ´cake´was a load of pancakes sndwiched with toffee sauce and the whole thing covered in cream. It was lovely! I think claire liked it. Claire then began to offer cake to complete strangers who´d just happened to choose this restaurant to eat at tonight. It wasn´t long before we were chatting to various people, including 2 girls who do the event planning for the Playboy mansion...yes, THE playboy mansion - how mad is that!? Another bottle of wine was ordered and we enjoyed the night. We managed to finish it off sat, me Claire and Bodhi, on the rooftop terrace. Watching shooting stars and chatting the night away.
Happy Birthday Claire XXX
Friday, 1 May 2009
Ollantaytay...olltaytan...erm... Ollantaytambo!
Up until now all those idealised images of Incan Peru, cobbled streets, stone walls, mountains and alpacas, have all been pretty much been the foundation of all things touristy up until now. The gloss on an otherwise westernising country trying to move itself forward whilst trying desperately to retain an identity of it´s own. Well today that all changed. It came into reality in full force. Ollantaytambo, bit of a mouthful but a lovely town! It was to be our ´home´for an extended period. To give us time to chill and relax and actually settle somewhere.
We´d arranged a taxi for an expensive 100 solés but for the sake of ease, comfort and speed (we wanted out of Cusco) we agreed it and set off. Our driver was José a local Quechuen man who was proud of his language and culture and knew a LOT about it! He didn´t speak english so we spent a whole hour and a half chatting away...in spanish! Didn´t think I knew that much, once I get past ´my name is...´it goes downhill from there. We chatted about the Incans, the set up of cusco as a market town and meeting place for the various incan communities. Then we began to chat about the country we drove through. It´s agriculture. It´s people. What those red bags on sticks actually were? (when a family has made a batch of Chicha, a fermented maize drink of the Incans, they place a red bag on a stick and folks come to drink there...I think almost like a temporary bar?). The landscape was changing, the hills were rearing up, snowcapped mountains formed the backdrop to the agricultural land growing up around us until we met the Urumbamba river. A mighty river which runs right along the Sacred Valley. Instantly you could tell, and feel, why this place was called the ´Sacred Valley´ the place was fertile, was surrounded and therfore protected by the mountains and just seemed instantly to be the ´real´Peru we´d come to see. We followed the river from the town of Urumbamba (a ´false´town created recently, ie. not an original Incan town, to cater for tourists I think?) and could feel ourselves moving back through time. By the time we hit Ollantaytambo the cobbled streets had appeared, the stone walls had started to surround us and when we hit the Plaza del Armas the feel was complete. Although the Plaza was now small cafés and shops they were low key. The locals sat and relaxed around the centre whilst elderly women wrapped in their Mantas (Peruvian blankets) wearing their regional hats and plaited hair sold bread and men sat chewing the Coca leaves until their teeth disappeared. The backdrop for all this was the old Incan ruins sat on the hills surrounding us. Idyllic!
We said our goodbyes to José and arranged for him to pick us up on 30th, so we could catch our flight to Lima. Up until this point all the arranging and planning etc had happily been left to me so I decided, in my lordly manner, that today would be down to Claire! I sat in the hearts Café whilst Claire ran around finding us a hostel. While I sat I learned more about the Café. It was set up by an english lady to help the indigenous, Quechuen, women of the area to retain their culture and skills in an ever imposing western and commercial world.
http://www.livingheartperu.org/ or http://www.heartscafe.org/ for more info, you never know you may want to volunteer? Could be worth it!
I sat, and I watched, and I waited. I could see Claire was uncomfortable to begin with but after the first couple her nerves had gone (as they always do) and she was happy to visit several hostels. She came back with a plan! She´d actually found a hostel, for HALF the budget! And, as daft as it may make me sound I was really proud of her as she didn´t want to go around with little spanish, negotiating rooms and prices but she did and she did it well! We grabbed the bags and baby and headed off down the old cobbled back streets until we stood outside the place and waited...waited...and waited.
The hostel was a strange place and once the woman had gone and found keys and let us in she showed us a couple of rooms. One had a double ond a single and the other had just a double. We plumped for the double and the single. OK she said...oh...I haven´t got a key? bugger! Right, we´ll take the double then. OK, I have a key oh but...I´ll need to keep the one for the front door. There´s no one else here so the place is all yours!
Hmmm....not quite running smoothly really?
We were told to use the living room, kitchen and left to our own devices. So, as you do, we started to settle in. Unpacked a little, Used the bathroom. Went into the lounge...erm...dirty...kids clothes and what looks like homework and breakfast dishes on the table? OK, kitchen. Let´s sort the bottles. Ah...or should that be Argh!!? To say "It´s a F#~king disgrace" would have been polite. Tins of food left open for days, food in the sink and smells that would put the flies off. Milk all over the side. Microwave, oh yeah there WAS one, was the site of some wierd explosive food experiment? To begin cleaning we would need...well...a chisel to start. With the exception of the filthy kitchen, which we´d assumed was left over from whoever had stayed here last and was some time ago, the place was good. Clean room, shower - although to use the loo and close the door you had to sit on it sideways!? So we figured for half the budget we´d just buy some bleacha nd stuff and give the place a clean. Claire went off and bought the stuff came back and rolled up her sleeves. No mop! Right, I´ll just go find the girl and ask if I could borrow a mop. She MUST have one...surely? So I asked....
Ooh eck! She ran round and we explained. The place is really dirty, we pointed out the dirt and food in the kitchen, showed her the mouldy food in the fridge and asked if we could have a bag to bin it in. She said no. In turn, she ran away got someone else who spoke english who came around and in a mad whirlwind started to clean up. We explained that we were happy to clean it...we just wanted a mop. We decided it was time to leave and find something to eat! Leave them to it.
We visited the square again and found a little place, sold local Menú, and sat down to eat. We ordered and it soon became apparent that as soon as we ordered people were running around obviously buying the ingredients for what we´d just ordered!! lol!! The food was....well...below average but was edible at least so we ate up, paid and left. We headed back to the hostal.
We walked in and the lounge was full of peruvians? Are they still cleaning? nope...strange looks...yep. Erm....this is.....wierd. The Peruvians....2 kids....ah, the homework. It was theirs....CLUNK....that was the sound of a HUGE penny dropping...
Oh...
Oh dear...
Peruvian...woman...man....elderly woman....2 kids.....
SHIT! They LIVE here!!
The dirt....it was theirs!? It´s how they live!!!!
AND WE CLEANED IT ALL UP!! Basically called them filthy bastards! Phew, it was getting warm. I looked at Claire, she looked at me. Room. Now. RUN!
We smiled and walked straight into our room. Closed the Door and didn´t come out all night!
We´d arranged a taxi for an expensive 100 solés but for the sake of ease, comfort and speed (we wanted out of Cusco) we agreed it and set off. Our driver was José a local Quechuen man who was proud of his language and culture and knew a LOT about it! He didn´t speak english so we spent a whole hour and a half chatting away...in spanish! Didn´t think I knew that much, once I get past ´my name is...´it goes downhill from there. We chatted about the Incans, the set up of cusco as a market town and meeting place for the various incan communities. Then we began to chat about the country we drove through. It´s agriculture. It´s people. What those red bags on sticks actually were? (when a family has made a batch of Chicha, a fermented maize drink of the Incans, they place a red bag on a stick and folks come to drink there...I think almost like a temporary bar?). The landscape was changing, the hills were rearing up, snowcapped mountains formed the backdrop to the agricultural land growing up around us until we met the Urumbamba river. A mighty river which runs right along the Sacred Valley. Instantly you could tell, and feel, why this place was called the ´Sacred Valley´ the place was fertile, was surrounded and therfore protected by the mountains and just seemed instantly to be the ´real´Peru we´d come to see. We followed the river from the town of Urumbamba (a ´false´town created recently, ie. not an original Incan town, to cater for tourists I think?) and could feel ourselves moving back through time. By the time we hit Ollantaytambo the cobbled streets had appeared, the stone walls had started to surround us and when we hit the Plaza del Armas the feel was complete. Although the Plaza was now small cafés and shops they were low key. The locals sat and relaxed around the centre whilst elderly women wrapped in their Mantas (Peruvian blankets) wearing their regional hats and plaited hair sold bread and men sat chewing the Coca leaves until their teeth disappeared. The backdrop for all this was the old Incan ruins sat on the hills surrounding us. Idyllic!
We said our goodbyes to José and arranged for him to pick us up on 30th, so we could catch our flight to Lima. Up until this point all the arranging and planning etc had happily been left to me so I decided, in my lordly manner, that today would be down to Claire! I sat in the hearts Café whilst Claire ran around finding us a hostel. While I sat I learned more about the Café. It was set up by an english lady to help the indigenous, Quechuen, women of the area to retain their culture and skills in an ever imposing western and commercial world.
http://www.livingheartperu.org/ or http://www.heartscafe.org/ for more info, you never know you may want to volunteer? Could be worth it!
I sat, and I watched, and I waited. I could see Claire was uncomfortable to begin with but after the first couple her nerves had gone (as they always do) and she was happy to visit several hostels. She came back with a plan! She´d actually found a hostel, for HALF the budget! And, as daft as it may make me sound I was really proud of her as she didn´t want to go around with little spanish, negotiating rooms and prices but she did and she did it well! We grabbed the bags and baby and headed off down the old cobbled back streets until we stood outside the place and waited...waited...and waited.
The hostel was a strange place and once the woman had gone and found keys and let us in she showed us a couple of rooms. One had a double ond a single and the other had just a double. We plumped for the double and the single. OK she said...oh...I haven´t got a key? bugger! Right, we´ll take the double then. OK, I have a key oh but...I´ll need to keep the one for the front door. There´s no one else here so the place is all yours!
Hmmm....not quite running smoothly really?
We were told to use the living room, kitchen and left to our own devices. So, as you do, we started to settle in. Unpacked a little, Used the bathroom. Went into the lounge...erm...dirty...kids clothes and what looks like homework and breakfast dishes on the table? OK, kitchen. Let´s sort the bottles. Ah...or should that be Argh!!? To say "It´s a F#~king disgrace" would have been polite. Tins of food left open for days, food in the sink and smells that would put the flies off. Milk all over the side. Microwave, oh yeah there WAS one, was the site of some wierd explosive food experiment? To begin cleaning we would need...well...a chisel to start. With the exception of the filthy kitchen, which we´d assumed was left over from whoever had stayed here last and was some time ago, the place was good. Clean room, shower - although to use the loo and close the door you had to sit on it sideways!? So we figured for half the budget we´d just buy some bleacha nd stuff and give the place a clean. Claire went off and bought the stuff came back and rolled up her sleeves. No mop! Right, I´ll just go find the girl and ask if I could borrow a mop. She MUST have one...surely? So I asked....
Ooh eck! She ran round and we explained. The place is really dirty, we pointed out the dirt and food in the kitchen, showed her the mouldy food in the fridge and asked if we could have a bag to bin it in. She said no. In turn, she ran away got someone else who spoke english who came around and in a mad whirlwind started to clean up. We explained that we were happy to clean it...we just wanted a mop. We decided it was time to leave and find something to eat! Leave them to it.
We visited the square again and found a little place, sold local Menú, and sat down to eat. We ordered and it soon became apparent that as soon as we ordered people were running around obviously buying the ingredients for what we´d just ordered!! lol!! The food was....well...below average but was edible at least so we ate up, paid and left. We headed back to the hostal.
We walked in and the lounge was full of peruvians? Are they still cleaning? nope...strange looks...yep. Erm....this is.....wierd. The Peruvians....2 kids....ah, the homework. It was theirs....CLUNK....that was the sound of a HUGE penny dropping...
Oh...
Oh dear...
Peruvian...woman...man....elderly woman....2 kids.....
SHIT! They LIVE here!!
The dirt....it was theirs!? It´s how they live!!!!
AND WE CLEANED IT ALL UP!! Basically called them filthy bastards! Phew, it was getting warm. I looked at Claire, she looked at me. Room. Now. RUN!
We smiled and walked straight into our room. Closed the Door and didn´t come out all night!
Thursday, 30 April 2009
Monday, 27 April 2009
Cusco costs...
By the time we arrived at Cusco we were all a bit tired, the journey was with a different bus company and the profits were definitely not re-invested into suspension! That along with a bus full of American highschool students didn´t help. We did however stop at a viewpoint when we were close to Cusco. I say viewpoint what I actually mean was a mugging point. SELL SELL SELL!! Locals in costumes ´selling´the opportunity to take a pic of them, stalls of alpaca fur goods etc etc. We should have seen it as a warning. One lady did something unheard of really, she GAVE Bodhi a hat...gratis? for free? Didn´t even ask for money for it, probably just thought he was cute? I was wrong footed!
We made it into Cusco and I started the perpetual taxi price haggle game. The guy wanted 10 solés but I offered 5. We walked away. Then out of nowhere 2 drivers came at me offering 7 sol´s, 6 solés...haggle war began! lol! I couldn´t realy be too bothered really so just settled with 6 solés guy and off we went for the hostel.
Cusco seemed much more ´traditional´than the rest of the places we´d been to. The other places seemed ´colonially spanish´whereas Cusco had a definite Inkan feel to it, we were positive. The Hostel was in the artisan area of Cusco, San Blas. We headed through the back roads of cusco which were all cobbled stones and tight as hell, strange road rules here. The Hostel was called Hospidaje Familiar Kuntur Wasi and when we arrived we were fairly happy until the woman there stated the huge list of extras! 5 Solés for using the kitchen...1 solés for hot water.....2 solés for internet etc etc etc....
We dropped the bags and headed downhill towards the Plaza del armas to get a bite to eat (habitual?) but instead of the sleepy town we were expected we were hit with it...TOURISTA! "wanna buy a doll?"..."wanna buy a painting?"...wanna buy a....wanna buy a....wanna buy a....
It didn´t abate all night, we dipped into a pizza place to eat thinking we´d escape but no. The litte buggers camne to the table!! We ´hid´at the pizza place for a while and even that cost us. We paid 130 solés for the food and drink! Compare that to the 20 solés we´re used to paying up to now and you can tell that we weren´t happy! Turning to get back to our room we realised that all those steps we came down now needed to be climbed! Sh*t!! Sweaty and tired we got back and figured we could hit the sack and get some well earned rest. Bodhi had other ideas. He was that overtired he just went on one. He cried...cried....cried....and cried! The woman who owned the hostel even came and knocked on the door to ask if we needed any help. I managed to wrap him up well and took him out in the side streets pushing him in the stroller until he fell fast asleep - eventually.
The next day we decided to use the Macpac baby carrier, those stairs were just too much for us last night. We found a good German Café and filled up for the day on bread, avocado, eggs and coffee. Bodhi ate his banana and seemed a happy little bunny - stark contrast from last night! We decided to walk to the square via side streets and slowly began to relax into the place and see past the commercial cancer that was so evident last night. It really is a pretty town. We actually bought the girls some traditional peruvian dolls from one lady and then started quizzing her about the blanket she was carrying her child in. It´s a traditional ´Manta´which is a blanket tied in a special way to carry children so...off we went and duly bought one! 20 solés...bloody life saver! Now Bodhi can sleep while we walk around and we don´t need to take the pushchair everywere. After doing some jobs, buying the ´Boletta touristica´which allows us to visit various Inka sites, getting mney from the ATM, buying flights to Lima (we decided it was just too much for Bo to do a 22 hour trip on a bus!...at least that´s what claire´s telling herself! lol!) we headed back to a little place in the back streets we´d seen for lunch...15 solés - much better. There is an Inka ruin on the edge of Cusco called Saqsayhuaman so we trekked off up there for the afternoon and started to feel a lot less claustaphobic as we walked around...until Bodhi started again. He gets so overtired! Out came the manta, we wrapped him up and walked around before he fell fast asleep all snug in his little blanket haven.
We´d booked a cab for the following day to take us to Ollantaytambo as we just wanted to get there quick and easy and the option of local buses to Pisac then to Ollantaytambo with Bo and all the bags, or even the Collectivos, seemed too much hard work. This option left us with a free morning so off we headed for another start at the German Cafe, a look around the shops and back alleys. I very nearly even bought a Peruvian trilby!! Thought it would be very fetching on the allotment ;o) but as Claire pointed out they´re made of felt and would just die in the rain...but...watch this space...
We made it into Cusco and I started the perpetual taxi price haggle game. The guy wanted 10 solés but I offered 5. We walked away. Then out of nowhere 2 drivers came at me offering 7 sol´s, 6 solés...haggle war began! lol! I couldn´t realy be too bothered really so just settled with 6 solés guy and off we went for the hostel.
Cusco seemed much more ´traditional´than the rest of the places we´d been to. The other places seemed ´colonially spanish´whereas Cusco had a definite Inkan feel to it, we were positive. The Hostel was in the artisan area of Cusco, San Blas. We headed through the back roads of cusco which were all cobbled stones and tight as hell, strange road rules here. The Hostel was called Hospidaje Familiar Kuntur Wasi and when we arrived we were fairly happy until the woman there stated the huge list of extras! 5 Solés for using the kitchen...1 solés for hot water.....2 solés for internet etc etc etc....
We dropped the bags and headed downhill towards the Plaza del armas to get a bite to eat (habitual?) but instead of the sleepy town we were expected we were hit with it...TOURISTA! "wanna buy a doll?"..."wanna buy a painting?"...wanna buy a....wanna buy a....wanna buy a....
It didn´t abate all night, we dipped into a pizza place to eat thinking we´d escape but no. The litte buggers camne to the table!! We ´hid´at the pizza place for a while and even that cost us. We paid 130 solés for the food and drink! Compare that to the 20 solés we´re used to paying up to now and you can tell that we weren´t happy! Turning to get back to our room we realised that all those steps we came down now needed to be climbed! Sh*t!! Sweaty and tired we got back and figured we could hit the sack and get some well earned rest. Bodhi had other ideas. He was that overtired he just went on one. He cried...cried....cried....and cried! The woman who owned the hostel even came and knocked on the door to ask if we needed any help. I managed to wrap him up well and took him out in the side streets pushing him in the stroller until he fell fast asleep - eventually.
The next day we decided to use the Macpac baby carrier, those stairs were just too much for us last night. We found a good German Café and filled up for the day on bread, avocado, eggs and coffee. Bodhi ate his banana and seemed a happy little bunny - stark contrast from last night! We decided to walk to the square via side streets and slowly began to relax into the place and see past the commercial cancer that was so evident last night. It really is a pretty town. We actually bought the girls some traditional peruvian dolls from one lady and then started quizzing her about the blanket she was carrying her child in. It´s a traditional ´Manta´which is a blanket tied in a special way to carry children so...off we went and duly bought one! 20 solés...bloody life saver! Now Bodhi can sleep while we walk around and we don´t need to take the pushchair everywere. After doing some jobs, buying the ´Boletta touristica´which allows us to visit various Inka sites, getting mney from the ATM, buying flights to Lima (we decided it was just too much for Bo to do a 22 hour trip on a bus!...at least that´s what claire´s telling herself! lol!) we headed back to a little place in the back streets we´d seen for lunch...15 solés - much better. There is an Inka ruin on the edge of Cusco called Saqsayhuaman so we trekked off up there for the afternoon and started to feel a lot less claustaphobic as we walked around...until Bodhi started again. He gets so overtired! Out came the manta, we wrapped him up and walked around before he fell fast asleep all snug in his little blanket haven.
We´d booked a cab for the following day to take us to Ollantaytambo as we just wanted to get there quick and easy and the option of local buses to Pisac then to Ollantaytambo with Bo and all the bags, or even the Collectivos, seemed too much hard work. This option left us with a free morning so off we headed for another start at the German Cafe, a look around the shops and back alleys. I very nearly even bought a Peruvian trilby!! Thought it would be very fetching on the allotment ;o) but as Claire pointed out they´re made of felt and would just die in the rain...but...watch this space...
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