This all starts on Thursday the 17th. With barely any warning, KB asks me if I would like to go to Bolivia for a week to visit the Gravity Bolivia office (our sister/founding company). This trip will be for training and to see how their operations are run as Gravity Peru is just getting started and it is what we eventually would like to turn into. Obviously I say hell yeah. Friday morning I break down my bike, pack it up along with my gear and personal belongings. Very excited for my next adventure, I Combi it to Urubamba and then Cuzco. From Pavitos corner I cab it to the bus station to meet up with a random dude named Neil – a guy I will be working with at Gravity Peru. From our communication via e-mail we give descriptions and I am on the eye out for another tall white guy with a brown alpaca beenie. 2 hours later I spot him and we introduce ourselves and grab some bus tickets to Bolivia (ahead of time to avoid my Arequipa experience). We have 3 hours till the bus so we hit some spots around town. Neil is from South Africa and has studied in Argentina for the past year. He has been living in Cuzco working at a school for a couple months. He is a real chill dude, has traveled a lot and is really into riding – more so XC than DH. We head to his favorite Indian restaurant which is all you can eat for 15 soles ($5), some of the best Indian food I have had – so many choices. We head to another spot which he likes, a small bar called the shooter bar; its only shots and some special mixed drinks. Here we settle and continue shooting the shit over some whiskey and tequila. We round out the 8 o clock hour with a double shot by some fancy name consisting of Pisco (Peru’s national liquer), tequila, whiskey, rum and vodka. For all of you that think it sounds bad - it is. Light it on fire, rip it down; then you are ready for a 14 hour bus ride to Bolivia!
We get to the bus station pushing time a little, however our 9pm bus is late so not a big deal. Late turns into very late and 10:30 rolls around. We are informed our bus has electrical problems but we can get on because it is getting cold out. We sit on the bus for hours, at this point it is simply not fun. The whole time we are told that it could get going at any time so basically we are scared to leave. Turns out the bus doesn’t get started till 8am the following morning, we could have gone out and got a hostel for the night. Water under the bridge, screw it, that 11 hours of sitting on a bus was a nice warm up for the following 14 hours.
9am, on our way to La Paz, Bolivia – Fuck yeah! Slept some, read some, whoa - is that lake Titicaca? Yup it’s very blue. Slept some more, woke up, whoa is that still Lake Titicaca? Yup, that is the biggest lake ever. Thanks USA for making the visa for Bolivians into the US $135 because in return they made the Visa for US citizens entering Bolivia $136, plus I had to fill out a shit load of papers. Wish I was traveling on my UK passport it would have been easy and free. My visa is, however, good for 5 years.
We arrive in La Paz and cab it to our residence. We spend the next 7 days in a huge old building, half empty but comfortable enough. This is where the gringo employees working for the Adventure Brew Hostel stay (the hostel connected to Gravity Bolivia). Adventure Brew Hostel which is about 2 blocks up the street is sweet. Its 4 floors of hostel and on 5th floor has a sick bar with lots of seating, wifi, music, tv’s with sports and views of La Paz. Not only was it a hostel but it was also a micro brewery with 4 different micro brews. Coming from Peru where it is only Cusquena and Pilsen this beer was AWESOME. Plus we got employee pricing which meant a stein (about 2.5 pints) only cost me a few cents over $2. And that’s for a quality 6% amber brew. Awesome dinner and different activities going on each night, I started most evenings here.
We arrived late Saturday evening and once settled in the bar I met some pretty cool guys and gals. We grouped together to form a fun ass crew that I went out/partied with for the rest of the week. Between our members we represented the US, South Africa, Holland, England, Norway, Sweden and eventually Scotland/New Zealand. Time to check out what La Paz has to offer – hellll yea. The first night was fun as we got a little taste of everything - start of in a medium sized local place which is unidentifiable from the outside. Inside it is part tunnel, part speakeasy with a back room hosting live music. Whiskey on the rocks, lets blend. After some time and many Peruvian love songs we journey to our next random destination; a bar/club called a drop of water. Once you enter the whole place opens up to an almost open air club. They are playing traditional south American/Peruvian music. After helping Hendrick crush a pitcher of who knows what orange stuff with some hammered Peruvian musicians we do make our way to be the only gringos attempting salsa on the dance floor. This also turns into these ridiculous ovals of people who grab your hands and jump around in circles while yelling and dancing. At one point this hammered Puruvian wanted me to join in so bad that when I pointed to my 1/3 full pint of beer in my hard he grabbed it and shattered it on the ground. OK – I guess I am joining in. Right, enough of that, onto the after hours club; the blue room. This place is awesome; its blue, not that big, has a cool little outside area in front, doesn’t fill up until after 2 and people leave way after when I leave.
Sunday I built my bike, we explored the city a little, sussed out some places to eat etc. Sunday night was pub trivia, played with a random Kiwi dude and Canadian girl, got 3rd place not too shabby. Do not really recall what/if we did anything after that. Monday was checking out the Gravity Bolivia operations. We started with the back office where all the logistics are done. It is about 4 offices, awesome and big. Around the corner is the warehouse. This was incredible; it was roughly 5,000 sq ft. Had an outdoor area to wash and dry equipment and bikes, 2 repair shops inside, a huge parts room stacked full of wheels, brakes, bushings, forks – a bunch of high quality parts and a huge bike room housing over 180 bikes. Mostly Konas but high grade full suspension stabs. Sweet DH bikes lying around belonging to people that work there – couple 951’s, revolt, Kona DH bikes etc. – seemed a cool atmosphere. Learnt how the operations work as they take out dozens of people a day, primarily on the world’s most dangerous road. After this we headed to the main office down town where they sell the tours, learnt how to use the computer system and so on. Ok, Monday night, pretty productive day lets go out again. Tomorrow Neil and I ride the world’s most dangerous road. We are to meet at the warehouse at 6 am to load the bikes and prep gear. Enough about responsibilities, I am pretty sure everyone wants to go out. Valentines day – we start at adventure brew. Shortly after we head to the Wild Rover. This is an awesome hostel that is found in a couple cities around South America. Always owned by crazy Irish guys, always revolves around partying and traveling, always a good time. Hold down their party till about 1:30 when everyone disperses and takes cabs to the blue room. Awsome DJ’s playing sick sets here – we stick it out till late. I am pretty much the only one left with things to do the next day (guide the death road and ride 72 km.) so I head out. Unfortunately my judgment is slightly impaired so it is 5 am. Get to my hostal at 5:30, gather my riding stuff for the day and cab it to the warehouse. 6 am on the dot; no sleep no problem. Load up the bikes, meet the 15 clients at the coffee shop at 7:30, next thing I know I am chatting away on the bus ride up to 15,000 ft. 9 am we are at the top, slowly starting to realize what I am in for. It is 35 degrees and snowing. I shiver my way down the long and fast asphalt road to the start of the world’s most dangerous road about an hour later. From here it is pretty serious, serious shit that I can’t really believe I am doing right now – I mean I am on a very famous road, which seems to be surrounded by death and Top Gear was here! The road is misty and rainy at the beginning so you cannot see the extent of its ridiculousness. It is hard to describe this road; it is 2.8 meters wide at its thinnest point – meaning it is about the width of a pick up truck. Safe to ride? Yes. Although it is a loose dirt and gravel road and it still has the width of a single lane. I feel that you have to have some serious respect for the road, its dangers and what it is capable of; taking away your life in a few seconds. Your right side is usually cliff rock face, most likely curling up and over your head, and too your left side is 1,000+ meter cliffs. Looking over the edge of a 3,500 ft cliff – I have never experienced anything like it, a very scary feeling. There are absolutely no barriers or fences anywhere. The road has an eerie feel as it is quite literally plagued by death. Before the alternative route was opened in @2006 it was the only connection for La Paz to Brazil, running through the Yungas vallies where 13,000+ acres of legal coca are grown; a staple to the local economy. It gained its name by being the road recording the most deaths per kilometer of any road in the world, weighing in at a staggering 280-300 deaths per year. Since open for tour biking the road has had 18 deaths since around 2001 from cyclists alone. It was quiet gripping to ride past numerous memorials and crosses with flowers put in place for cyclists deaths and large scale accidents which had happened in the past. It was a sobering reminder that things can go seriously wrong very quickly and things can be over in the snap of a finger. Aside from this I saw the most beautiful scenery and waterfalls I have ever seen in my life; including that of the St. Valentines waterfalls which are huge waterfalls that start hundreds of feet above the road and actually fall over it to the outside. For any of you that saw the episode of Top Gear where they drive the road and have the very close passing encounter, this is where it was filmed. 2:00pm we arrive at the bottom where we have literally ridden from 15,000 feet of snowy shitty sleet 2,000 feet where we are in the straight up Bolivian jungle – it is pretty humid and hot and the air is soup like in the low elevation. We hike across a landslide which has taken out our road and it is on to the animal refuge. This is a great way to end a long day of riding. The whole group heads to this animal refuge hidden in the jungle, it is privately owned and adopts animals that have been abused and were on the black market. Inside there are parrots, toucans, all kinds of tropical birds, lizards, a bear, a wild cat, and a large open area with dozens of kinds of monkeys. We take a tour which was awesome; monkeys just chillin, jumping and climbing around. Buffet lunch then time to head back to La Paz. The land slide prevents our bus from driving the main road so we have to head back on the world’s most dangerous road. The ride up is insane. I sit window seat looking down, unable to see the wheels of the bus and just cliffs down a long way – a couple times I lost my breath. It is far scarier than riding it on a bike. Another huge land slide has taken out the road ahead although there is a decent path tracked around it by traffic. Our bus cannot make it up so we spend about an hour playing around trying to get it up the hill. Gravity has a sweet up old Toyota land cruiser with a winch that we stabilize on flat ground with rocks and attempted to pull the bus up. In addition to 15 guys pushing the buss we get it ¾ of the way up the hill. The Toyota turns around to tow the bus which with some serious pushing it actually works. Another hour on the world’s most dangerous road which I force myself to stay awake for, then 2 hours back to La Paz – I am our like a rock. Once we return I eat some street meat (sooo goooood) don’t even bother to shower, in bed and asleep by 9:30pm – it has been a long, extreme, ridiculous and almost comical 38 hours.
Wednesday I had make plans with a couple other guides to try and ride Pora Pora – a city park in the upper region of La Paz which has some good trails. We sleep in a little which is needed and hit the main office for some more learning. I hit up a pay phone and touch base with one of the guides who says they are leaving in a half hour. Neil and I rush back to our hostel, gather our shit and cab it back to the warehouse. From here we cruise down about 15 city blocks of steep downhill. I mean we are hauling ass, 4 dudes on bikes weaving traffic, jumping curbs and steps. Once we reach the rotary at the bottom of the city a mini van driver desperate enough to have us throws our 4 bikes on his roof rack. 20 minutes waiting and off we go. 30 minutes later we are up above La Paz at Pora Pora, all for the equivalent of 50 cents, thank you very much.
Riding Pora Pora was pretty cool, however it was about 1,000 feet above the city clocking in at around 13,500 which made hiking extremely tiring. In addition to this most of it was STEEP. Remnants of a taped course were left over from a DH race a few weeks earlier. This got me pretty excited, hiked the course twice and had a decent amount of difficulty riding it, I guess riding it was not hard but riding it well was. Very steep and very loose, gravely. All the corners were pretty tight and washy, always off camber; riding it was almost a humbling experience. Hiked a jump trail a couple times, had some shit built that reminded me of Drummer.
Then we headed back to La Paz, this was almost as fun as the trail riding. We went from the top side of the city to the bottom of the opposite end. No uphill, just about a half hour of hauling down. 5pm traffic, awesome. We zigged and zagged, tagged a few wing mirrors, you couldn’t wipe the smile off my face with rubbing alcohol. To fill you in on what La Paz is like during the day, it is very busy. Think of a huge South American city with absolutely no public transportation. No trains, subways or city busses. Instead I am pretty sure everyone with enough money owns some kind of a minibus/minivan type thing. These have signs for their destinations and a co-pilot that hangs out the door yelling the price, where they are going and recruiting people. Because of this they are EVERYWHERE. At least 2 lanes of every road during rush hour are just full of these vans pulled over and filling up, honking and trying to get by each other.
Took it easy once we got back, hit the Hostel Loki (another big party hostel) for a burger and beer. Only stayed for food, headed to bed early – tomorrow we take 3 drops on another DH course on the other side of the city and then 2 drops down the secret single track for a full day of kick ass riding.
Thursday morning rolls around, I am out of bed pumped for the day – this is one of Gravity Bolivia’s best rides. I head out with John a fellow Kiwi guide and good rider and Darren the guide manager, also a good rider. We have one client with us, Michael, who is a bike mechanic and decent XC rider from Bavaria, Germany. Cool dude, actually threw down pretty well on a freeride bike. Pretty cool DH course, got a little of everything. Steep washed out tech, flowy track, wide open, some ghetto but fun jump/drops and a sick spine. Shuttling this was awesome as we had the sick Land Cruiser outfitted with a dope system. Pretty informal trip... we drove around bumping some great New Zealand dub step. Sessioned some of the jumps and spines for a while and got some great photos.
The secret single track was epic. Hard pack grippy dirt, real flowy. Sessioned some cool hits and drops and did some flowy free ride. The bottom half just got gnarly. Serious rock gardens reminding me of Diablo, but also with a ton of loose rocks. This literally entailed getting fast and loose and praying you didn’t get a rock in the shin. I got two, I swear I am done with these knee pads. This is one of the first days of riding where I think I was noticing a difference in my riding technique, skill and also what I am really enjoying. Still a racer at heart trying to crush trails as fast as I can, I am also really starting to enjoy playing around and finding different and interesting lines which are fun – this reminds me far more of snowboarding. I have also noticed a difference in how I am riding certain sections – not sure if this is all mental, may not even be translating to any additional speed but I am definitely approaching sections a little different – especially loose areas. The bottom of the mountain was just steep chutes dropping into about 10 of the hardest switchbacks I have ever ridden. Had to dab twice and had to stop and maneuver my bike around one. Big ass cliffs if you were to miss the turn and slide out. One of the best days I have had riding so far. Great group of guys, good riders, sick shuttling and great trails. Got along very well with the other guides and Darren, the guide manager, let me know if I ever wanted a job with them to shoot him an e-mail.
If this trip was good for anything it was certainly seeing what else is out there and making some connections. I am really liking La Paz, thinking of possibly returning next winter. Well, I am feeling very satisfied after such a good day so I meet up with Hendrick, William and Jane at the adventure brew. After some beers there Darren asks if I want to ride the worlds most dangerous road again – obviously not going to say no, trying to pack as much into this trip as possible. This time I am definitely bringing my camera for the animal refuge. We’re all down for some more night life so we head to the Wild Rover, end up meeting up with some Australians/Kiwis we had been hanging out with recently. From there we head to the Hard Rock (no affiliation to the American Franchise). This place was bumping and packed – interesting music choice, everything from techno to coolio to system of a down.
Jumped around a bit, successfully lost my camera – heart broken. Not much I can do - I did spend half an hour searching the floor getting in eveyones way, oh well forget it; it was old, beat up, took crappy pictures and didn’t always work. It did have a ton of pictures from the entire trip though. It had also survived 2 Aruba spring breaks, a Bahamas graduation trip, countless snowboard and mountain bike road trips, road trips in general and Bentley in general, Peru to its final resting place in Bolivia. I hope your new owner treats you well.
Alright, we head to blue room – again. Rock out here for a while, awesome DJ set, pulled myself out about 4am, a little better this time around. My cab driver cannot find my hostel even though its on the main street and I am wearing a wrist band with the damn address on it. Honestly, some people. Close my eyes for 45 mins or so, grab my stuff, head to the workshop. This ride was pretty brutal – again snowy and raining at the top, frickin cold. Instead of this stopping about 1/3 the way down it persisted allll day. At least once you get lower it warmed up so this rain wasn’t too bad. Once to the bottom we had to bushwack a trail through the jungle for a bit and enter the animal refuge through the back as 2 new land slides had blocked off the entrance. They were both recent and still had a lot of rocks falling, definitely not too safe to cross, especially with tourists. The hot shower at the refuge was great, this time I knew to bring a back pack of dry cloths – clutttttch. Wish I had my camera so I could have gotten some pics of me with the monkeys and parrots. You could go volunteer at the refuge for a couple weeks, help build stuff and feed the animals, general maintenance etc. Live in cool little huts and it is a very cool and beautiful place. I think it would be a good experience for me which I am going to keep in the back of my mind. Wish my Spanish was a little better although I am pretty impressed on the basics I have grasped which are really helping me out when traveling.
Friday night is Hendrick and Williams final night (cool dudes from Norway/Sweden) so they convince me to go out. Apart from the fact that I have not really slept I am pretty damn impressed with how well I did today/good I am feeling. What the hell you only live once. We head to the Wild Rover to start, pretty fun. Oh yea I introduced everyone to slap shots hahaha. This was awesomely fun as no one knew what it was and its just fun in general. I must say, they were learning and not that great at first – as in the slap was very delayed, or too soft, or on the ear. We all improved over time though. From Wild Rover we go to Traffic a cool club with a good DJ set up, pretty sure it was an old type stone building inside reminded me of Aliby in Boston. The music was kinda not that great though, we were not really feeling it a whole lot so moved it back to the blue room. Ended the night here, Hendrick and I found a sweet 24 hour restaurant which was actually really fancy and went out for breakfast and ate a ton of food. From here I said peace out, I will hopefully see them in Cuzco again soon as this is on their route after Brazil.
Slept in Saturday, again much needed. Neil had to take a bus early Saturday morning because he had to be back in Cuzco. I stayed on an extra day, tied up some loose ends, went to both offices to grab some stuff, dropped off some parts at the warehouse, tore down and packed up my bike. After this I am off to the far other side of the city to the markets to try and buy a new camera. I decided that I am not going to go the rest of my trip without one and it will be far cheaper to get one in La Paz than anywhere else so today was my day. The markets were incredible; you could get lost for hours and find absolutely anything from used toilets to cloths to electronics. In fact there were different areas and streets within these literal towns of stalls where every merchant would specify in the same thing; like the self reinforcing effects of car dealerships but on a much more primitive level (alleyways of stalls and carts on very steep hills all covered by tarp roofs). Tons of places to buy cameras and tons of cameras. I have done no research so decide to say screw it and just picked one that looked in the middle of the range and barter for the price. Ran to the atm for cash and bartered every last Boliviano I had. Basically for like $113 I got what I think is a sweet deal; Samsung camera, 10.2 megapixel, 27mm lens, charger and 2gb memory card. Ok, time to go to the atm for more cash as I have not eaten since my very early breakfast and need to get a cab back, its pushing 8:30pm and dark. Awesome, thanks bank of America for shutting off my atm card, even though I had told them I was traveling. I have not a penny to my name, I also lost my sweet knife at some point during the week and have to trek across the entire city plus its late and dark and I’m a gringo with a back pack. I had been warned by people that La Paz is rough and to be careful but to be honest I never felt threatened. I guess I am in a hoody with a backwards cap and pretty fit so I am not necessarily the type that people go after by first choice. It was frustrating to get back as the streets, especially in that part of town were soooo confusing. Nothing is in blocks, its all hilly as hell, all the street signs have either been ripped down or turned to face a different directions. I basically just try to ask people in Spanish the directions to certain land marks I know are on the way. At 11pm I make it back to my room. Man I am tired. Street meat for dinner and time for bed, my bus leaves at 8 am. All goes well with the ride home although I did have to bribe the luggage loaders to let me bring my bike/hockey bag because it was so big and heavy. They were about my age and cocky and it went straight into their pockets. Whatever I argued them down to 30 Bolivianos the equivalent of $4 – enjoy it dicks. Woke up at the boarder of Bolivia and Peru where we all get out and go through customs. Once through the Bolivian customs you walk across a bridge into Peru. I walk up to a vendor to buy a bottle of water before going into the Peruvian customs and randomly three dogs run directly at me and attack me for no reason. Fight or flight I gave one of them a kick to the gut and one of them a kick to the head and some locals started chucking rocks at them (what they do here) to scare them off. Got bit on the leg and arm but not too hard and no broken skin so I dunno, maybe they were just play attacking and could tell I was half asleep. Thanks Peru for the awesome welcome my first 30 seconds back into the country, really enjoyed that, I missed you too. Rest of the bus ride was straight, much more comfortable than my bus on the way down there. Just had time to hit the Indian buffet place once I got to Cuzco then it was Combis back to Ollantaytambo. Got back about 11:30 and passed out.
8am rolls around Monday morning. KB knocks on my door and wakes me up, asks if I want to go to Machu Pichu for 4 days and that I have 20 minutes to get it together. I grabbed my back pack and a few items of clothing and was out the door. In the van and headed to the top of Abre Maliga. Met our clients on the way up, three ladies, one from California and two from the Boston area which was cool. Apart from them the trip consisted of me, KB, Coco and Bertron (two Peruvians that work for KB.) I learnt a decent amount on this trip. I definitely did some more suffering, I definitely pushed my limits physically and was quite surprised at what I could endure. I also learnt a lot more about Peru, how fluid your plans have to be and how nothing goes according to those plans – especially in the rainy season. I guess I did already know all of this but the trip certainly reinforced it. Monday was spent entirely on bicycles (I was borrowing an old Kona Coilair). We road down the back side of Abre Maliga which I had never done before. Basically the same thing as the front side, a winding paved road for the first half of the day. Cold (bitterly), raining and windy for the first couple hours down from 14,500 feet. Got drenched and was certainly not very well prepared clothing wise. One thing about this side of the mountain is that there are no underground drainage or pipes for the waterfalls/streams to cross the road. They had basically paved big concrete dips in the road to make a kind of culvert crossing (if that is the right term, I don’t have the internet so I can’t google it.) A couple dozen of these definitely added to the wetness of the day. Checked out some ruins on the way down which were cool, a little further on we stopped for a mid afternoon lunch. After this it was onto dirt roads for a while, these were very muddy with the rain, however, it was getting much warmer with lower altitude. We were now getting into the jungle, riding past banana trees, orange trees, avocado tree, passion fruit trees – pretty cool. I would continue to see these for a lot of the trip. KB was far ahead with the Peruvians heading to town to set up rooms and I was left with the clients. Happily cruising down the road about 25mph through a small town I suddenly got nailed in the head, everything went black for a split second and I almost came off the back of my bicycle. I thought I had been hit on the top of the head with a falling rock from a land slide but no cliffs were near. Turns out there was an old Peruvian man standing out front of his house about 75 feet above and up a hill that decided it was a sweet idea to huck a full size hub cap at me like a frisbee. Well good shot asshole, he nailed me right in the head – fuckin hard too. When I put together what had happened I swear my body temperature shot too 125 degrees and I slammed on my brakes. Anyone that knows me well knows that I am very relaxed until a certain and very rare point when I cannot control my temper. Surrounded by my 3 well educated women clients it took literally every ounce of energy and self restraint I had to not sprint up to this mans house in a fit of rage and literally club the shit out of him with my seat post and anything I could find. Instead I grit my teeth, took some deep breaths, turned my back and road off with a splitting head ache (plus the women were pretty scared we were in hostile territory and seriously wanted to leave.) Riding away I thought to myself that I am extremely fuckin lucky, I mean seriously lucky. That hub cap hit me directly in the side of the head in the small area that a cross country helmet happens to cover. 4 inches higher it would have missed me but 4 inches lover it probably would have broken my eye socket or nose and 4 inches lower than that it probably would have shattered my jaw. Congragulations asshole, I hope Karma bites you in the ass. We arrived in the town of Santa Maria after dark. Kicked it for a bit and drank some beers with the clients, ate and headed to our hostal. Met some cool kids at the hostal, drank a beer or two and went to bed.
Up pretty early we had a big breakfast and time to prep for the day. This is where plans started to change, a lot. Along with the constant rain on Monday there were torrential down pours all night, basically causing land slides everywhere. These had totally taken out the trails that we were supposed to trek on to the town of Santa Teresa. To add to this land slides had taken out all of the roads to Santa Teresa. We sat and waited for hours until about lunch, basically waiting on word from the mayor who apparently had brothers driving bulldozers working on the land slides. Everyone was getting pretty antsy so we took a van to see what the problem was. After about 20 minutes and making it over a few very small fractures/slides we were confronted with a big one. We sat and waited for options for a while. Eventually turned around to try another route; 30 minutes later another land slide blocked us off. Back to the original way we decided we were going to hike another trail someone told us about. That turned out to be taken out as well. We waited some more and eventually swapped a bunch of our stuff over to another cab further down the road. He drove us for about an hour without any problems. This road was scarrry, it reminded me of the worlds most dangerous road. Cliffside, hundreds and hundreds of feet straight down to the Urubamba river which right now was beyond class 5 rapids – I would categorize them as class death, bone crushing death. I have never seen anything to do with water so powerful in my life. We would follow this river a lot of the way too Machu Pichu where it runs directly through the town of Auguas Calientes (where Machu Pichu is). Two years ago this river took out a bridge and a train fell in. A ton of people died and one entire train car was never even found to this day. That is how god damn big and scary this river is. Too add to this, KB who has done this route a ton said he has never seen the river so high in his life. A little further down the road a jungely tree had fallen with a small slide and was blocking the road. We came up to about 6 cars with people all standing around scratching their head and talking about going to get a saw. KB, Coco and I ran up and just started wrenching on the branches and snapping everything off. The tree was pretty easy to break and in literally one minute of demolishing - gringos cleared the road. (also I have pictures to prove all of this, I just currently have no charger/cord so I cannot connect to my lap top.) The driver got us down to a pretty sketchy area in the road where a land slide had been bulldozed out already. However, there were still rocks falling and crossing the road. He decided this was the end of the line and he would go no further. He got out of the van and began to eat his lunch. After waiting for a little we found a cab driver desperate enough to cross. We pilled the clients into the car with all of our crap. Bags and bags, I do not think you could have fit another bottle of water in that car – even bags on the roof. He drove the ladies down to the town of Santa Teresa which was about 3 miles. KB, Coco, Bertron and I were to run to the town as not to keep them waiting. So first we had to run across a 200 yard section with our eyes up the cliffs for falling debris, then run about 3 miles. The road was soppy mud so I had ditched my shoes and ran barefoot. For some reason I ended up with a few cereal bowls and a couple plates which had been left in the van. All the road workers got a pretty good kick of seeing me and KB, gringos, running 3 miles down to town, barefoot, covered in mud in the pouring rain, with random pieces of dinnerware in our hands. Once we got to town it was time to prepare for the hike to the ruins we were going to camp at for the night. We found a van to drive all of us about 1 hour up into the mountains to the trail head. Beautiful drive - right through the jungle. It was almost like a driving through a tunnel - the jungle canopy forming a roof. Once we got to the trail head it of course began to pour. Now we had to seriously slim down our equipment to exactly what we needed, nothing more. Here everything I brought got left; shoes, cloths backpack. I was down to my shorts and shirt, nothing more. KB told me that I could make the hike in flip flops so I believed him. Coco, Bertron and I were doing all the carrying, including the clients stuff (which they had a lot), so I ended up with a huge pack that loomed well over a foot above my head. It weighted about 60+ pounds and took one or two others to help me put it on. We had sent the clients ahead with another girl that knew the trail while we re-packed and got situated. This was very rushed and hard to do, plus we were trying to keep stuff dry under the trunk door so some important stuff got left behind. I really didn’t know what I was in for, the climb was about 4,000 feet and took over 3 hours. What started out as grass, mud and steps for the first 40 minutes (which was fine for me in bare feet), turned to gravel, rocks and steep switchbacks. I eventually gave in and resorted to my flip flops which in the pissing rain and with a huge unstable back pack was a pretty awful mix. As it fell dark we were only about half way. KB ran ahead to get to the clients and make sure they were ok as there was no way we were catching them. Coco, Bertron and I suffered and suffered pretty hard. I had a head lamp which I shared with them as we climbed, stumbeled, crossed rivers, crossed land slides, climbed and broke our way through fallen trees (which with packs is damn hard). This was the second hardest thing I have ever done after climbing the volcano in Arequipa, simply because it was at least warm, not as high and I was not sick. We stumbled into camp at some ancient ruins on top of the mountain hours later. Put up the tents, cooked dinner and passed out. It poured all night, hard.
We woke up wet with puddles in our tent. It continued to rain hard for the next few hours in the morning, although it was very cool waking up in the ruins with a view toward the mountain range of Machu Pichu. Everyones spirits were pretty low. We packed up and began our hike down the mountain to the Urubamba river which we would follow into Auguas Calientes. KB went ahead with the clients. This was a god damn tough experience, far worse than going up. It was muddy and slippery and steep and I was going down with flip flops. This just doesn’t work. I began by just going in bare feet, however this just got excruciatingly painful climbing down sharp rocks with the weight on my back. I would switch to flip flops which felt good but then I could hardly stand up because they were so slippery on my feet due to the mud. I literally found myself screaming out loud with frustration. I was falling pretty far behind so decided to get creative. I began by picking these big jungle leaves from trees and layering them under my feet on top of the flip flops. This was actually an improvement but didn’t last too long. I then donated my pair of boxers which I cut up into lengths with my leatherman. With these lengths I tied the flip flops tight around my feet – under the middle of my flip flop and over the top of my foot. This was also a big improvement. When I caught back up with Bertron and Coco they donated a pair of socks which I slit by the toe so I could wear them, this provided even more grip. Between the socks, the jungle leaves and my boxers I was actually pretty well set up. I spent the rest of the day like this all the way into Auguas Calientes, my feet looked ridiculous, straight up hobo feet. You guys will laugh when you see the photos. As this took some time we jogged the trail to catch up with KB and the others. Worked up a huge sweat, the rain had stopped, it was sunny and had started to get very humidly warm. Going up and down the mountain was tough, it was certainly an experience and I consider it character building. I couldn’t help but think a lot as I was swearing in frustration that enduring it was actually relatively simple. In comparison to say someone with cancer, or HIV who simply has trouble holding down food and getting out of bed during the day, scaling a mountain in sandals with a 60 pound backpack hits me as being pretty insignificant. In fact I should appreciate the opportunity and ability I have to do it, 30 years down the road, healthy or unhealthy I shall look back on this with fond memories and laugh. This helped me enjoy the moment at times chuckling at the ridiculousness and I must say, I am getting pretty damn fit and pretty damn tough, I am kinda proud of these experiences. I hope I can keep it going when I return to the U.S. Once down the mountain we had to walk a few miles along a trail to a good lunch spot by the river. Sun was out and hot, we unpacked all the gear and laid all the sleeping bags out to dry. Cooked up some pasta, munched down and it was back to hitting the trail. From here we had about a mile to the Hydro Electric station where we would link up with the train tracks. The train tracks along the river are the only way into Machu Pichu so you are either on the train or walking. As land slides had taken out the tracks no trains were running, in fact everyone in Auguas Calientes has been stuck there for two days. This was great for us as no new people had been coming into town so Machu Pichu should be very quiet. We walked another 6 miles into town and got there just after dark. Again, I will not go into it too much detail but the river was just incredible. Violent waves and rapids over 15 foot high, so loud you could not hear someone talking to you face to face. Once in town we got the clients set up with their room. I bought a dry t-shirt and we headed to a big celebratory dinner. Auguas Calientes is pretty damn cool. All pretty new and very nice and clean (at least the main part.) After this KB and I scored our hostal and I made a plan to meet the women at 7:30 am to go to Machu Pichu. It was so awesome to sleep in a warm bed. So awesome.
When I got up in the morning I took my first shower in 5 days. Man did it feel good to be clean. Especially my beat up feet. I had worked up some pretty bad cuts and sores from my straps of my flip flops and random shit and actually had trouble getting to the hostal to meet up with the clients. Thankfully as they are women, and one is a nurse, they have some seriously awesome hospital grade thick sticky bandages which I use to cover the top of my feet. Feeling much better we jump the bus and head to Machu Pichu. It continues to pour. Once we get up to the gate it is only about an hour until the rain stops which is awesome. Machu Pichu is pretty empty. It is also absolutely stunning. High atop a mountain surrounded by other mountains and misty clouds blowing through. I am pretty pissed off that my new camera died on the walk into Augas Calientes and the charger is in my camel back somewhere in a random cab. Oh well, I am sure I will be back. The town, intricately constructed of perfectly carved rocks is just incredible. Between the ingenuity, architecture, the tools they had available, technique, the mining of the rock, all the way to the soil that they carted in from where I am currently living in order to grow food is just mind blowing. The first of my seven or eight wonders of the world is checked off. I figure if I get one in every 2-3 years I will be doing pretty well. They weather actually turned out great and I am in no rush so I decide to take the Inca trail back down as opposed to the bus. This is pretty cool, very steep, a ton of steps and lots of little resting areas with great views. Probably took me a little over two hours to get back to town, the last 30 minutes once again was absolute torrential down pours. No sign of KB or anyone else once I make it back to town so I hop the train back to Ollantaytambo. Luckily they got the tracks cleared about mid day and luckily there was room on the 5pm train which I had about 10 minutes to make. The train ride was actually pretty fun, took a little over two hours and I sat by some pretty cool older guys from South Portland, Maine – totally clad out in red sox gear. We shot the shit, had some good laughs and they bought me some beers. Got back to town, snagged an alpaca burrito in one of my favorite spots and looked forward to another night of sleep.
Friday was my birthday – I am now a quarter century. Spent the day cleaning up the gear and cleaning the bikes, got some laundry done and by 8pm was on the road to Cuzco. Got to Cuzco about 9:30, rushed around everywhere to find a store open so I could buy some shoes (as who knows where mine are, in a cab in Santa Teresa somewhere.) It was very hard to find anywhere with shoes my size, most stopped around size 10. Finally snuck into a store around 10pm where I bought a knock off pair of black and white addidas soccer shoes for $10. Whatever good enough, I am pretty much sold on sandals for the rest of my trip anyway. Met up with Neil at the shooter bar, crushed a bunch of $2 rum and cokes, some tequila, mind erasers and finished off with 3 wise men. From here we went to the Wild Rover, then out to some clubs etc – the rest is history. Woke up in the Wild Rover, had not lost any belongings as I didn’t bring anything and felt like I had a pretty good night. Saturday was awesome weather, I spent about 4 hours just exploring Cuzco. Picked up an alarm clock as I no longer have a phone or camera with an alarm, was pretty hung over and not paying attention as I had my hair cut and in literally 30 seconds of this guy going crazy with some old school scissors I have the least amount of hair I ever have had. Hit the markets bought an alpacka knit hoody for $10, and bartered with a local art student for some really cool hand painted pictures of Cuzco. All in all a pretty good day. Topped the day off with a very nauseous Combi ride back to Ollantay with probably the worst and most un-smooth driver in the world.
So my bike is not working in about 3 different ways – waiting for parts and the weather sucks lately. Town is dead quiet right now and a lot of places have closed for a week or two. Looks like I am going to change up the scenery a bit and go visit Mackey who is working on a vineyard in the southern Patagonia region of Argentina. I can crash with him and even get some work in on the vinyard which I think will be a fun experience. I’m going on the cheap and bussing it down. Likely to La Paz, spend the night then to Buenos Aires which should take a couple days, then to the city near his town which takes another 18 hours. Probably meet up with Andreas in Buenos Aires on the way back if possible (kid who I climbed the Volcano with in Arequipa) Keeping my plans pretty fluid so I will update you guys as it comes.
Lattaaaaaaa
