TRAIN, TRAIN AND MORE TRAINS.

Friday, and just keeping out of the way. Made our way into town and were met with an even bigger protest. Eyes and ears everywhere we keep low to the ground.

Little story. Riot police all lined up looking tough, protesters marching by. A feral dog walks up to the police, cocks his leg up on one of the shields! Massive cheers, the dog is now a hero and is feted with hot dogs, buns etc.

Police, they all run for their shields and the slowest off the mark ends up with dog pee all over his shield, the police and crowd love it. Enemies one minute, friends the next. Strange world.

Make it through the day and keep out of trouble. All the sites are closed though which was a sad loss. But did some shopping in a back street store which was situated in a private court yard. Lovely family, Dad shy, daughter 12, razor sharp, youngest boy not at school yet and so he is the model dressed up in traditional dress to such a point that he disappears into the background of stock.

He is there from 8am opening to whenever they close. Its a hard life on one so little, 3 years, but he is smiley and as his big sister said when he goes to school thats it, all us others had to do it!!

Then the catherdral that night was holding a classical guitar concert by the famous RICARDO. So we go, making a party up from the hotel. Arrive at the hall, free entry, and in we go. Lovely wooden floors, golden walls, brilliant white ceilings supported by grey stone pillars, the stage is set, we take our seats and Christines chair promptly collapses. Up she gets like a startled rabbit with that , it wasnt me look, on her face.

Sorry about punctuation and all that, but this keyboard is something else.

I make the necessary noises, sorry, drunk again, etc.

The hall fills and fills and fills, tourist few. Locals and backpackers mainly. We run out of seats, the locals nip into the cathedral next door and start bringing in the pews, imagine that, and then we all settle down to an hour of bliss. Is nt it strange that children all over the world sit down cross legged, slightly open mouthed and wide eyed, enthralled.

That night and most of the night sirens are sounding but we are safe behind our walls.

Saturday morning. Up at 4.30 for the 6am train. Picked up by a really grumpy guide and down to station. Given tickets for the train and hotel at Aguas Calliente, the base camp for Machu Picchu, and the guide is off. Strange. There are crowds waiting to get on the train as there is a backlog, two days of no coaches, no flights all behind us.

Train tickets are for carriage E seats 22 and 23. Go to train, carriages A B C, thats it!!!!!!!!!

Talk about go to platform nine and three quarters.

No E.

Speak to carriage steward, present our tickets, no these tickets are not valid!!!!! Oh boy.

Now, I rarely loose my temper, normally mean, moody, magnificent, read sulky, but I had to walk away, steaming.

We have had a rough week and made the most of it but now one of the tour highlights is being taken away from us again. Christine sends me away to look at the trains and starts wheeling and dealing. There are a few emergency seats on the train and she gets us in but many are left behind.

She told me she had sold her body to the steward, hence we end up on the roof!

Peru Rail. Just a note, these trains are all really first class, not just the tourist trains but the backpacker trains and the locals, spotlesly clean, bright blue livery, staff really crisp, uniform again. We later went on other trains on other routes and found the same, but they are not always punctual!

Anyways Christine has done it and we are off.

Right!! Grumpy time. This is not all super duper out here you know. We have had a hard week, pretty much stressed at times but stiff upper lip and all that. But it has been a pain, not just the troubles but the inefficiency of the local travel agents has really not helped. At times they could have done better and at other times they were reckless.

Still as they say, The food that burns the mouth is soon forgotten in the stomach.

And another thing, if once more, just once more, one of those poncho wearing, bongo banging, banjo strumming, pipe playing pests comes into a restuarant and ruins my digestion again banging out their version of The Flight of the Condor I will go bananas!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Still as Christine has said they are the real thing!

On the train, vista dome, we settle down, I check through our paper work, oh no, the hotel ticket we have been given is for the previous day!

This rail journey is really something, switch backing up the mountain side above Cusco then into the sacred valley. This valley is very high, we switch backwards and forwards until we are high above Cusco then start a very slow descent down to MP.

Now, if you can imagine climbing up to Stanley Ghyll on the Ratty railway then multiply it a hundred times you have the idea. Fertile land for miles hence the sacred, it was so important as a food source to the Incas. We run initially alongside a stream that becomes a river that becomes a boiling flood.

Inca ruins that you could just put a roof on and move into. No electric or loos mind you. This is a lovely run into Aguas Calliente the base of MP.

I really did allow the stress of it to get to me. Which really did spoil my ride up and of course Christines.

Stressed, angry, unsure.

Put that aside.

The run in to Calliente is a problem and perhaps underlines the governments point of view about taking over here. This is very much a shanty town, perhaps you could say it has a charm but its still a dump. This is a UNESCO World Heritage site and as you get off the train you are met by your guide, paperwork sorted out then you have to run a gauntlet of street traders. Originally a small covered market was set up here for tourist to browse in but it has run out of control. A feature of the whole town. Unregulated development has turned this once small town with a pleasant square into a bit of a mess. There is work going on here, riverside walks, paved streets, gardens with seating, but it does need to come under some kind of control. Buildings with no roofs, painted plywood facias, plastic sheeting everywhere. Still I have to remember that everything here comes in by train and everything, including rubbish has to go out the same way. To be honest I have no idea how they ever managed to build a railway here anyway.

Still, onto the bus, modern, comfortable, and switchback up and up on a dirt track to the gates of MP.

In we go. After a bad tempered morning I need to settle down and this place does it. As always breathless, but this time both with altitude and the sight before our eyes!

I thought before coming here that weather would be the main problem, it would really need a clear day to make the most of the place. But everyone who has been here told us that there must be cloud. The cloud is so, so, important.It drifts up from below, then down from the mountains around, sometimes the site is partially hidden, then completly. This is what this place is all about.

I have to say that this ruin is not in any way any greater than that of the Nile Valley or Pompei and so on. But what makes this place is the location. Deep deep valleys into the mist and river thousands of feet below. The peaks that rise up above the ruin, sometimes in cloud then out, the sheer mystery of it.I do not really have the words to explain what I have seen. I am sorry but you just have to come here and sit on the rocks and see for yourself!

As we go round the guide does his job but we have sunshine, rain storms, mist, cloud, and that is how it is up here. Wonderous.

We have lunch at the sanctury the only hotel and resturant at the site no picnics are allowed and I must ay it was very good, and return to the site now having it almost to ourselves.

We are offered to climb the opposite peak which gives a panoramic view down onto the site, but.....

The path to this temple at the top is like climbing a ladder, a badly broken and weathered rock staircase some four feet wide, no handrails. Its often down to hands and knees both up and down. No more than four hundred people a day are allowed up to this peak and in the last four years they have had five deaths up here, one heart attack, one struck by lightening, two falls over the sheer drops, and one went up and was never seen again. No doubt he did a Reginald Perrin and is in Australia now!

The place is almost empty. What has happened is that because of the strike that so many companies have re scheduled and as a result after the initial rush there is no one to follow. We have the place to ourselves. We just wander and absorbe the place, finally going down on the last bus to our hotel. Or perhaps not! Finding our hotel the Mattu Picchu Inn we hope the receptionist has rooms she looks at our papers says not valid but finds on a clip board a message that we are due, asitis there is only onw other couple staying. a massive sigh of relief.

Next morning. Do we go back up. We decide not, we feel we have seen all we need and in the best conditions,

and of course it would cost us another seventy pounds to get in!!

What to do.There is a spa here and we went up but it was not encouraging, and we would have hire swim gear. A bit like wearing someone elses underpants.

Christine has read of a very posh hotel just out of town that has its own botanical gardens and bird sanctuary. Off we go, walking along the railway track which runs alongside the river which is now really boiling by, deep, muddy waters.

Into the hotel, too early for lunch so a pleasant coffee on the veranda. We ask to tour the gardens and are made welcome. This area of some five acres is a wonderland, endless humming birds, butterflies, much like dense jungle. Streams running off the rock faces and an endless variety of plant that I could never name. Then back for a civilised lunch which cost no more than being in one of the endless shanty bars in town.

Back on the train, an easy journey back four hours long. The train stewards put on a fashion show, all very pretty, and again, thats just the boys!. People my shape do not get these jobs. But it was distracting.

Just before Cusco some get off at a small station and ride into town, this cost about a pound and saves almost an hour, but what they miss is the switchback ride down. After the first switchback a mini bus drives in front of the train.

Emergency stop, whoa! I have never seen anyone reverse so quick.

Then carriages are put into darkness and there is this fairyland of lights all round the Cusco bowl down to our station.

This has been a long trying day.

Up next day for more trains. But this is the one. We are to travel on the Peruvian Orient Express to the highest railway crossing in the world. Well thats what they say. This is about 14.000 feet.

From the word go its upwards, on and on. There are just three carriages on this train, one a service car, one a restuarant, and one a lounge car. And only twenty guests with twelve staff. I have never in my life had such a treat.

This train just goes on for some ten hours and oh boy is this the way to do it!!

Coffee and full breakfast. Watching the world pass by. This journey is much like, yet again, climbing up to Hardknot, farms then it gets steeper and steeper and after some three hours the summit, stop for a shop!! Oh yes those traders do not miss a trick. Then a steep descent.

THEN!! If you can imagine Hardknot a thousand times wider, higher, and longer.

An hour passes, Adobe farm, llama, cattle sheep, grass. The rails clack,clack at 30mph.

An hour passes, ditto, clack clack.

Clack clack.

Clack clack.

Read a book.

Have a walk round.

Pass a hot springs in the middle of knowhere. Girls in Bikinis, I think I had too many altitude tablets!

But no, local kids avoid paying to get in by bathing just upstream from from the spa. Skinny dips of course!

Clack clack.

Have a chat.

Clack clack.

Look out the window. Its the same.

Six hours of clack clack!!

Then into Puno and another day and another story.

MACHU PICCHU

Machu Picchu well we made it we didn´t think we were going to and the stress levels were quite high as nobody would tell you anything, basically Cusco was under seige and anything that tried to leave the city was prevented from doing so with large rocks or tree trunks put across the roads. Any vehicle that did try to leave was also stoned including the bus that our tour company had offered us a afternoon trip in !!!!!

It didnt help that on the Wednesday evening, having been told earlier in the day we would have all our trips cancelled because of the possible strikes, we were got out of bed at 10.30 by the hotel boy to be given tickets which showed we were off doing everything as arranged tomorrow morning at 7am, we were so excited, assumed the stike had been resolved, got up at 5.30 am packed the whole room up as we would be leaving it for 2 days, got ready and waited for our private guide and taxi half hour late, then an hour at last I got through on the phone no they did not know what we were talking about there was a strike today as they had explained yesterday. So why were we sent the tickets at 10.30pm last night, no one was able to answer that question.

Bob and I were careful and wandered the streets keeping an eye to the protesters in truth they were not intrested in us. However we twice got caught out, once when we were told we must collect our new air tickets today or lose the seats, which meant we ended up in the thick of the dispute. Arriving at the airline office which was locked and appeared closed we had to bang on the door and they quickly unlocked it and got us in two minutes later we had a burning tyres outside the shop and the LAN office next door had all its windows smashed. The next day whilst having freshley made fruit juices inside a cafe, all very pleasant, stones were thrown into the cafe so on occasions it was not nice. But we must emphasis these people were not venting their anger on us but on the businesses still open and working.

However we also found some fantastic things in the middle of all the chaos we found a convent open to visitors, stepping inside was a different world and we wandered around for a couple of hours had our own individual guide and watched a Patagonian humming bird feed on the flower heads of a red hot poker about a metre from us and just the other side of this buildings wall 1000s were marching past drums,horns, whistles and fireworks all being used, it was quite extraordinary.

It also really surprised us that a lot of this beautiful art work was hung on the outside walls of the cloisters .

Another great moment was when the park closed, the park keeper rattled the chain to indicate he would lock the gates and about 5 dogs all ran out as if to say well thats it for the day, time to go home for dinner, the dogs here all seem to roam but have their marked territories a group of five or six in charge of the square or park or a particular street all appear well fed and no ones seems to harm them.

So on Saturday morning we were at the station at 05.30, please note this is Bob we are talking about, and loaded onto the train for a trip to Macchu Picchu the ride was great a nice breakfast served as we speed along through a lovely valley watching the local people go about their daily lives.

Arriving at 10ish we were met by our guide for Machu Picchu poor Bob who as always was ready for a coffee found he was off on a 3 hour guided tour.

The journey up to Machu Picchu is fantastic you climb and climb on these switch back roads and if you have a bus full of Spannish they cheer and shout at every turn. Really great for those who get travel sick luckily the tablets worked. At the top you leave all bags or anything that may destroy the site, walking sticks only allowed for the infirm and our guide then got us to climb for about 15 minutes this ment that our first view was to look down on the site which sprawls below its quite something and no preconceived idea can prepare you for its vastness or the mind blowing setting that it is in. Although cloudy we found it to be magical and were advised later by someone who had visited it previously that it was probably more majestic and eeire for being cloudy although the soaking we got in the middle of the tour is not to be recommended

After lunch Bob and I returned by ourselves the rain had cleared away there were very few people and we had a magical couple of hours wandering among the ruins with only the llamas, that are used to keep the grass down, for company.

Returning to the base village which has grown up to be a shanty town and is utterly dreadful we found our hotelwhich was fine, bags already delivered from the railway station and relaxed for the evening Bob trying out Alpacha steak, I declined the guinea pig which comes whole with its feet sticking up (sorry about that Nina and Jill). The next morning was clear but we decided to visit the botanical gardens in the Casa Hotel just outside the village this was great there are over 18 species of Hummingf Birds here and we saw about 10 of them together with wild orchids and a quick sighting of a huge kingsfisher it also happened to have a first class resturant with a wonderful balcony where you could get great coffee and a very good lunch.

We had both felt that to have returned to Macchu Picchu might have spoilt what was very special the previous afternoon. The train ride back was relaxing easy and a bit expensive, for Bob, as there was a fashion show of Alphaca clothing and well sometime ones got to shop.

Was it worth it YES it was a pity it was so stressful there were many times when I really did not think we were going to get there but we did and we are really pleased we made it....

Gettin' Stoned.

Having been into town this morning I have to come back in here with missed news.. All confusion here, we were told that we were off at 8:30am, all packed ready to go. At 9am. Cancelled. Oh dear!

Had an easy morning except for the noise. Had a party of twenty five girls in the hotel (14 to 16) and five teachers. Half of them have altitude sickness, the other half were in the garden and all I could hear was:

NO............

NO..............

NO..............

What the hell!

The girls are outside having their daily Karati lessons, movement, NO, movement NO.

Photos to come.

They are off to an ECO village today part of a package to learn Spanish and learn about setting up a 'Free Trade" type of union here. They get out on a private bus. US Dollars!

We went into town as shown on the previous blog.

Went out again things have quietened down. Wander around the back streets and local market. Still no transport anywhere but lots of people. All locals. These people are without doubt very kind and gentle they are friendly to us, ( see later ) we kick about a football with kids in the street and we hear their side of this dispute.

All sorts of problems, pay, hours, etc, but one main one:

The government want to take control of tourism in Cusco, Matu Pichu and so on. Restrict entry, no over flying, limited numbers in the city and on and on. Bring in international hotel chains. VERY unpopular here.

Wander down to our travel company to see what is happening. Apparently they tried to bus tourist out at 5am but found all the roads blocked with massive rocks and when the buses tried to go round they were stoned. Its in the news, in the press. We are told that it would be best not to wander too far and keep out of town tonight as there are a lot of strangers in town, much what we were told earlier.

The city is under seige.

Move over to have coffee and cake. Now all the shops are open but when a demonstration passes the shops etc have to pull down their shutters to show solidarity with the workers (sounds like England in the 70s). The waiters in our bar were not fast enough and a group of some 50 women started to stone the bar. Whizz, in they came. Everybody at the front of the bar ran for it, we were at the back, Shutters came down like lightning, WHOOSH. Everyone was laughing, still that good humour. But really this is no joke.

All goes quiet and we move on to tour some of the highlights.

Went into a cathedral which is built on Inca ruins, as is all the city, stunning, really. The Inca stone work is superb and makes the later Spanish work on top look rough. But the Inca buildings are literally still inside these churches, houses, everywhere, very strange and I have not seen the likes of it in Europe.

A side note here. Uniform is important, there is a statue of a general on every corner, no matter who is in uniform they are imaculate. Right down to the street cleaners. Brilliant blue, creases in their trousers working twenty four hours a day. There is nowhere, back streets alleyways, that has a piece of paper on it. And why, I now know.

In the demo today an individual threw a paper bag down, over went the street cleaner and she really wanged him with her broom!!! Wop wop!!! Ha ha.

The paper was picked up, no argument and no one batted an eyelid.

Beggers, there are a few but nothing like home. Street vendors are only in the main tourist square, there are hundreds, but there are rules, a smile and the word no are always accepted, but for one lad who offered Christine chewing gum, when she said she did not like gum he said 'what you no like gum, crazy woman'. Mind you they are making a killing with the strikers, buns, drinks, whistles, rattels, fresh fruit, home made cake. Everything you need for a good riot!

So had to get that all in otherwise it blurs with time.

It does sound dramatic here but to be honest we as tourist are not the target and they are getting on with it amongst themselves. We do not feel endangered and in many ways it is an adventure on its own, and certainly news worthy.

Speak soon.

ON AND ON TO MORE STRIKES

Christine has resolved the photo problem.

A night in Orsono, provincial farming town, neat and tidy but uneventful.

Drop the BM off re-sort our luggage, we are sending all our motorcycle gear home to save weight then onto Osono airport to go onto Santiago.

Please note that here we booked our flights through all the way to Cusco via Santiago and Lima.

Santiago is very very pleasant, good hotel, wide tree lined streets, packed, really packed, like an Arsenal, Man Utd game, with what appeared to be pleasant easy going people. Not really enough time here just an overnight. There is a lot to see. But the main reason to stop here was that Christine's grandfather stopped here when he was in the navy in the twenties and thirties. We have seen the pictures at home and were able to visit the locations we had seen, some had changed little, others, well, ring roads, shopping malls etc.

Still we did it.

Next morning really up early to the airport.

Problem. I have lost our blue paper file with tickets, travel insurance, and itinerary.

(please note who lost folder)

Only paper really but of no real value. But..............

room searched, lobby, staff running around. not found and so we are off.

Into the airport and to the LAN airways desk. The situation is explained and can we have replacement papers. NO

Now with our guide we start an hour long struggle with Miss Atitude. I understand that there is a similar problem in Spain and we have met it here several times. Women have an atitude along the lines of 'Serve you, I am far too pretty to serve you'

If it were my business they would be out the door, these women must lose custom, but it seems accepted here.

Its seems that if we have no tickets that we cannot fly. Now if you remember with booked in with Lan at Orsono using the now lost tickets for a through journey, we should not need tickets. She will not budge.

All the details are on her computor screen but she will not budge. We even know our seat numbers as allocated all ready.

What do we have to do.

What we have to do is to buy OUR seats back at a cost of 1500 US dollars (750 pounds,)

NO. NO. NO.

Oh yes we do.

Our guide has never heard of this.

Another Lan rep he checks the computor and tells us we are booked through, the tickets are not needed.

Down comes Miss Pain in the ....... They argue, he comes back sorry but she's the boss and she will not see sense here. No discretion.


Blackmailed into buying new tickets on our guides advice otherwise we will fall out of our schedule we pay up and go to book in. Good old Mr Visa.

We present out tickets to book in, 'Why, you do not need tickets you are booked through from Orsono'. We explain, take off is in forty minutes. She tells us this is not right but we have to go. Sort it out later.

What a pain!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

In and out of Lima and up and up to Cusco.

Leaving Chile and Argentina. Reflections. Both are rather European but very very pleasant. We have enjoyed our time here. But for the fact that I never really was able to recognise a one way street and often found myself going the wrong way. The only way I really recognised one was when the traffic came the other way on both side of the road. But, did anyone care. No...

Into Lima, transfer and on to Cusco. Immediately a change of style, not for the worse but this is Indian country. I have seen pictures, film, etc and these people are exactly how you would imagine Incas to be, dark, sombre, but then a wonderful slapstick humour. On the plane coming up they had some silly Canadian candid camera film on and the whole of the aircraft were laughing out loud. Not a thing you would hear in Europe. Lovely.

Into Cusco. Riot police everywhere. We ask our guide are there any problems, 'Oh no, no worries' Hold on a minute, 'Well yes, a national transport strike, but it will not efffect you' Liar!!!

Up to the hotel. Well, great. It consist of a square of buildings set round gardens then balconies on three sides over looking the gardens and right into the city centre and the terraced hills beyond. I hate International hotels and this is just great, simple rooms all timber balconies and all based on the Inca ruins. Our room has Inca walls up to about six foot then Spanish build on top of that. The gardens are full of artefacts just laying around, and the whole city is just the same. Its like living in 'dig'.

The strike is going to be trouble. Thurday and Friday are our days in the sacred valley and up to Matu Pichu. These two days are the days of the strike.

There will be NO transport.

Lots of confusion, no answers, then both of us are hit by altitude sickness.

Lets go off into this. The travel companys would have you believe that this affects only a few visitors. No. The hotel staff here reckon about 50%. It starts with a mild headache that developes into a severe head pain, it feels as if your brain is expanding inside your skull, this is followed by being really sick and last for about twenty four hours. They give you Coca (cocaine) but it tastes like evergreen privit and has no real effect. ( I did later have Coca cake which is dipped in honey and chocolate, not so bad.) Then its into the real drugs which do get grip of it. It should last for some 24 hours but if it goes on too long they fly you out.

Recovering slowly, but breathless, slightly muzzy, aches in the muscles. And this is at 10,000ft, soon we move on to 14,000ft!!!!! Oh dear.

As I was saying. Lots of confusion but eventually we get moved onto Saturday and Sunday so now we have two free days here.

Thursday. First day of the strike., We wander into town. There is no traffic, nothing, not a bicycle. This place swarms with taxis which are tiny Daewoo four door cars that take you anywhere for forty pence. Not a one today.

Crowds everywhere, like a carnival atmosphere, thousands of people. Flags, banners, and protesters. I can now do;

'The Workers...................

United........................

Can never be defeated..........................
In Spanish.

But, subtle changes taking place. The strikers, perhaps as many as ten thousand all carry substantial wooden staves some four or five foot long, many wear yellow site helmets.

The riot police, there are a lot! Stand on every street corner in groups of ten. Shields, body armour, batons, then to each squad an automatic rifle and each individual a side arm.

And this is strange, several shepherds crooks. Odd. We later are told that these are used for hooking trouble makers out of the crowd either round the neck or via a limb. WOW.

All the shops are open but barricaded up, to get in you give a gentel knock on the door, use the password 'It is I, LeClerc' and in you go.

We have coffee up on a balcony over looking the square but when the demonstrators start to burn tyres in the street we think its time to get back to the hotel. The bar owner says not to come into town tonight. Good advice.

Amaizingly we are later offered a bus tour around the city centre. LIKE HELL.

Time to have some R&R.

PHOTOS OF SOME DAYS ON A MOTORCYCLE

Sorry about this the plan has been for me to add photos as we did the articles but some of the computers in the hotels will not let you down load items . So heres a selection of what we have been up to.

Bob having a moment getting his leg over the BMW, trouble is these bikes are now built for the youngerman 25 year old long legged German not a short legged knock kneed nearly 60 year old 11.02.08

The grumpy waitresses cafe as you can see it was fully made up for by the view and the shepherds pie made with a sweetcorn topping.
























At the border cossing from Chile into Argentina high in theAndes 11.02.08













The hotel we found to be a religous school still they did make us very welcome and served
the biggest slices of home made chocolate cake 12.0.208













typical roads in Argentina

The typical Argentinian Roads, still on this occassion we only have 50 klms to do until we got back on to a tarmac surface.

The ski resort above San Martin Andes its 7000ft I think you could say they are guarenteed snow 13.02.08




















Ready for the 1 klm toboggan run it was awlful better than that bike any day












Just about to catch the ferry that will take us back to Chile