Great River Amazon Raft Race 2012

No time to write about this right now, as off on another adventure.  Here is  a short video thanking people who so kindly sponsored me.

All donations will go towards helping ACRES establish the first Wildlife Rescue and Education Centre in Lao PDR. The centre will mainly house bears rescued from bear farms. 

The race was tough! I knew it would be tough, but it was way tougher than I imagined! Would I do it again? YES!!

Click on the picture to play the video

When I get a bit more time I will write about the experience and provide some tips.  Suffice to say it was an experience of a lifetime!!

Vallanaraju: mi primera montaña en la cordillera blanca

Fue difícil entender que en realidad había llegado hasta la cima. Definitivamente es una de las pruebas físicas más difíciles que he enfrentado. Tomando en cuenta que la temporada para escalar estaba por terminar, y después de haber estado a 4000 m. el fin de semana anterior en Huayhuash. decidí que si iba a escalar una montaña, tenía que ser en ese momento. Inclusive después de haber participado en la caminata (o senderismo) en Huayhuash y haber obtenido un poco de práctica, mis músculos y mi corazón hicieron un ejercicio maratónico.

Vallanaraju………my first “white” mountain

The realization that I actually made it to the summit has still not quite sunk in. It was certainly one of the hardest physical challenges I have faced. With the climbing season nearing its end and with my having been at 4000m the previous weekend trekking in Huayhuash, if I was going to climb a mountain it had to be now.   Even with the preparation of trekking in Huayhuash, my heart and intercostal muscles endured a marathon workout —  my heart racing and my lungs heaving for hours and hours on end at every stage of the trek, ice training and glacier walking.

Huayhuash: amazing trekking!

And now for a new adventure: The Silver Award trek: 12 students, 2 teachers & 1 guide.  Heading east again on the same journey as to Huaraz except this time in the moonlight. The full moon gave an eery effect to the striking scenery, making the mountains gleem silvery like tall ghosts on either side of the valley, towering above us. After an 8 hour bus ride we arrived in Chinqua at 1am at 3350m altitude. Despite the hour the town was alive with marching band, fireworks, crackers and general joviality in some kind or anniversary celebration that lasted through the night and continued to accompany our early breakfast in the Huayhash hotel.

MACHU PICCHU

What can I say about Machu Picchu?

It is one of the New 7 Wonders of the World and certainly lives up to this title. Machu Picchu is a pre-Columbian 15th Century Inca site. “Pre-Columbian” meaning before the Spanish invaded! (actually the term commonly refers to time before any European influence).  It was an Incan estate for an emperor, built on a mountain ridge on the Urubamba Valley at 2430m altitude. It was abandoned during the Spanish conquest: decades of fighting that caused the collapse of the great Inca Empire. In the 12th Century, the Inca were originally a pastoral tribe in the Cuzco region of the Andes, who began expanding after victoriously defending themselves against an attempted overthrow by the Chankas, another Andean tribe. (This they did by mythically turning stones into soldiers – they dressed stones as soldiers to deceive the aggressive Chankas – but that is a whole other story)

The interesting thing about Machu Picchu is how long it remained hidden from the outside world, including the Spaniards! It was only in 1911 that the American Yale History professor: Hirram Bingham, discovered the site and bought it to the attention of the rest of the world.  He was actually seeking the last Incan refuge from the Spanish conquest, and after years of exploration in the region, an 11 year old Quechua* boy led him to Machu Picchu. He began excavation work as well as notoriously taking back many artifacts to Yale University, where they are still stored and being fought over to this day (Yale’s argument being they only they have the facilities to safely store said artifacts). Bingham called the site “The Lost City of the Incas” and the National Geographic devoted their entire April 1913 issue to the site, paving the way for its fame.

Train ride to Machu Picchu

The train ride from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu is magnificent.  It descends along the Urubamba River and with its large windows one can enjoy amazing views of the valley, small villages and farms as well as glimpses of several mountains in the majestic Andes.  The waiters serve drinks and snacks and offer to sell a range of Machu Picchu related souvenirs. The journey passes in a heartbeat as you scramble from one side of the train in order not to miss the ever changing scenes of horses drinking in the river, farmers tending crops, children waving, hydro dams, Inca terraces and snow capped wonders.

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Ollyantaytambo

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TOWN!   I could live here……  Ollyantaytambo is a picturesque town lying at 2800m above sea level, on the Patakancha River, near where it joins the Urumbamba River.  It is known for its:

• magnificent archaeological Inca sites
• extensive agricultural terraces on the mountains either side of the valley, all the way down to the river
• the Inca storehouses for grain, with their unique ventilation systems
• quarries of rose rhyolite used for the buildings
• several chullpas: small stone towers used as burial sites in Pre-Hispanic times
• some of the oldest continuously occupied dwellings in South America
• the starting point for the Inca trail
• the train to Machu Picchu

We only spent a couple of hours here but one could spend weeks exploring the various sites.

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Feliz Compleaños

My birthday was incredible!

Firstly I went on the trek up into the mountains with the second group of students, who were fitter and did not moan every few steps.  The day was beautifully clear so we had magnificent views of the mountain range, all the way.  We arrived much earlier and being far more acclimatized, once the students were settled in the camp, I ventured further with Baldir, one of the guides.  Baldir was keen to investigate an interesting rock face he had spotted so we headed off at a cracking speed.  Sadly we had to make the responsible decision to turn back before we reached the glacier, as we did not want to risk it being too dark on our return. However the walk we did was spectacular, even if we did not reach the glacier.

In the morning the guides sang happy birthday to me and we headed back down the valley. Unfortunately a small group of girls were exceptionally slow and I got lumbered with being at the rear of the group.  When we finally stumbled into Copa Grande, a surprise awaited me!!

Yungay: site of the biggest avalanche in history

Yungay is located in the  Callejón de Huaylas on Río Santa at an elevation of 2,500 m. East of the small town are the mountain ridges of snow-covered Cordillera Blanca, with Huascarán, Peru’s highest mountain, no more than 15 km east of Yungay.

On May 31, 1970 a debris avalanche caused by the 1970 Ancash earthquake buried the whole town of Yungay, killing 25,000 people. The earthquake triggered an unstable mass of glacial ice about 800 meters across at the top of Nevado Huascarán to fall. More than 50 million cubic meters of debris slid approximately 15 kilometers downhill at an angle of about 14 degrees. Speeds between 200 km/h to 400 km/h were achieved. Only 92 people survived!  The few adults who survived where at the cemetery and the children who survived were at a circus in the stadium just outside of the town, up on a hill.

Hauraz: Outdoor education adventure

On Saturday morning August 11^th I met a large group of grade 8 Markham students at 4:45 am!  Not my favourite time of the day! We travelled together to the beautiful mountainous region of Huaraz for an outdoor education adventure (or should I say adventureS).  We arrived at a hotel nestled in a valley between the glaciers covered mountains of the Cordillera Blanca and the mountains of Cordillera Negre (the White and Black mountain ranges). The trip there took 8 hours through some striking and diverse scenery.  Ranging from lush green sugar cane fields to dry, barren hills, multi-coloured squares of drying chillis, vast open plains with white capped mountains towering in the distance.

The outdoor education trip was a 5 day event and I stayed for two of these (with an overlap of one day). That meant I had the great fortune of doing each activity twice, with two different groups of students.  The activities included the following:

• Service work (trip 1: river clean up, trip 2 painting a school & tree planting)
• Abseiling in a canyon, including a descent through a waterfall
• A long trek to about 3800m and an overnight camp
• Rock climbing
• White water rafting down the beautiful River Santa
• Mountain biking

Everywhere the scenery was stunning.  Many of the “white” mountains are over 6000m and most days we had a clear view of Huascaran, Peru’s highest peak at 6750m.

Below are pictures of the drive ….. plus our stop to buy fruit, followed by the activities with group 1.

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RSIS: return to Quishuarani

On our second trip up to Quishuarani to complete the greenhouse, snow had fallen.  The landscape looked quite different …. (and the roads were slippery —- eeeeeek!!)

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RSIS: Final stage of greenhouse

After a wonderful 3 day break which included a visit to Machu Picchu, we returned to Quishuarani for the second stage of the project.  We completed the greenhouse and had the blessing ceremony.  Then we split into teams to guild smaller greenhouses for individual families. This was also hard work and we were spread throughout the valley.

The blessing of the greenhouse:

Working on the “cold frames” – mini greenhouses for families:

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RSIS: Greenhouse building stage 1

The whole aim of the Round Square International Service Project in Peru 2012 was to construct a greenhouse for the Quishuarani community in order to improve their monotonous, carbohydrate rich diet, by providing a way of growing vegetables in the harsh high altitude climate.  The local people of Quishuarani are known as the “Huayruros” in reference to their bright orange & red ponchos. The project aim included working together with the local people in the construction of the large greenhouse in the school grounds and then later assisting in building smaller “cold frames” for individual families.  All the materials were purchased by Round Square.

It was hard work, especially the first day when all the rocks needed to be carted down the hill to the site. Walking  back up the hill was a battle due to the altitude. However it was pretty cold so the work kept us warm and whenever we stopped for a break, we soon were reminded of the air temperature!

RSIS: Arriving in Quishuarani

July 22-27th:  First part of the Quishuarani Project…..

How do you cure a phobia of riding in a bus on windy mountain roads?

Well – you just simply do it over and over and get higher and higher on ever narrowing and steeper gravelly roads. Those of you who know me well will appreciate that this was a pretty tough aspect of the trip.  I had not actually anticipated it and was it took me unawares.  However the scenery was so incredibly breathtaking that after some intial annoying mini panic attacks, I soon settled into the experience and did my best to ignore the adrenaline cursing through my veins…..

Quishuarani is in the Lares area and is nestled in a valley at about 4200 metres above sea level. It is a place where time has stood still. The people speak Quechua and only the men speak some Spanish. Houses are made out of adobe (mud bricks), rocks and wood. People have sheep, llamas and alpacas and grow potatoes and corn. The weather was sunny and clear, but cold. At night the temperature dropped down between -5 to -10 degrees.

Please enjoy this slide show of our drive up the mountain to Quishuarani and our arrival and walk to the greenhouse built by Markham College in 2008.  Mr Rafael Solomon, the project leader, was delighted to see the greenhouse still in good use. We were greeted by the ladies of the village selling their handicrafts.  Children always came out to see us, some to stare, some to smile and some in hope of a game of football. Their beautiful faces belied their varying degrees of malnutrition and bellies full of parasites, as pointed out to us by Dr David, our accompanying physician from Cusco.

Please watch in full screen.  Music: Tu Fotografía by Gian Marco……..

RSIS: The Apulaya Centre for Music & Art

We were very fortunate to visit The Apulaya Art & Music Center in Calca, where we enjoyed workshops with Emerita and Valerio who were inspirational in their passion for Andean art and music.

Emerita is a talented artist and sculptor originally from Switzerland who specialises in pre-Incan and pre-Colombian art.  Our session with her involved first drawing a bean that we selected from a dish.  After completing our own drawing, Emerita introduced us to art pieces that centred on beans and lead us to the conclusion that we were only drawing the bean as it is in its current state and not seeing its potential.  We were then encouraged to expand our drawings to include the “potential” of the bean.  “Not only did the pre-Colombian artists “thematize” the physical appearance of a human, vegetable or divine being, but they also manifested it in its totality, with its full potential in which creation, fertility and development are fundamental” (Emerita). This was a unique insight into the meaning and interpretation of cosmo-vision in the Andean art and work Emerita shared with us.

RSIS: The Sacred Valley of the Incas

We departed Cusco city on a coach and headed to The Sacred Valley of the Incas, also known as the Urubamba Valley.  After a short stop in Pisco where we enjoyed browsing the markets, we settled into our hotel for the next 3 days while we acclimatised. Qawana Lodge is in a beautiful setting, directly on the Urubamba River, near Calca.

The food was also amazing!

On one of the acclimatising activity days when the students went rock climbing,  I took a day off and went walking along the river. I crossed over the footbridge in the nearest little village then walked along the opposite bank for about an hour before crossing back over at San Jose: another tiny village, nearer to Calca. Along the way a lamb appeared out of nowhere and followed me! In the small village, a couple of children were herding a family of pigs (mum, dad and piglets).  I also passed a very ferocious dog who charged me, snarling and snapping and barking.  I was completely convinced he was going to rip my ankles to shreds, but luckily he was more woof than bite.  I admit to huge sighs of relief as he finally backed off, only to soon realise that I had taken a wrong turn and needed to go back past the damn dog again!  As I retraced my steps I prayed the slavering beast was not habouring rabies!

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RSIS: Day 2+: CUSCO & Lamas & ¡Potatoes!

Thursday July 19th we all flew to Cusco where we had a lunch and heard our first of many versions of the song “Pacha Mama”  (Earth Mother).

After lunch we headed off in the bus and stopped off to learn about llamas…….  (pronounced yamas!)

RSIS: Round Square International Service: Day 1

Day 1: Chorrillos

21 students and 5 teachers from 11 different countries and 18 different schools arrived in Lima on Tuesday July 17th.  On the following morning we all headed off to the Chorrillos day care centre in Lima to paint the playground wall.  It was a good activity to help us get to know each other, as well as provide a service to the centre.

Chincha house building

Chincha is a large town about 200 km south of Lima in the Ica region. It was greatly affected by the 2007 earthquake and the devastation is still very much visible today.  Many families are still living in the temporary US Aid shelters and the town is still littered with destroyed, half-standing buildings. I visited the Sunampe region, where students from Markham College of Lima have been building houses since soon after the earthquake.  After the earthquake Markham College initially  organised donations and collections of food and making survival packs, which were sent down to Chincha by the truckload.

Pachacamac

Pachacamac is an archaeological site near Lima, built between c.200-1450 CE, before the arrival and conquest by the Inca Empire. 17 pyramids have been identified, mostly temples.  The site has layers of buildings with the earliest being c. 200-600 CE, then later the Huari built their administrative centre on this site (600-800 CE). After the collapse of the Huari empire, Pachacamac grew as a religious centre with many temples being built (c. 800-1450 CE).

The Incas invaded the area and used Pachacamac as an administrative centre but also allowed the Pachacamac priests to continue their priesthood.  The Incas added 5 more buildings plus a temple to the sun.

After exploring Pachacamac we went to an interesting restaurant in Lurin. It was if we had been transported to Bali! It was built with bamboo. The kitchen was outside with clay ovens. The food was  amazing!

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