Joey Lesh and Katie Coleman: The Next Step

Wow. We´ve come a long way since our last post. We´re now in Bolivia, enjoying our last week and a half of vacation and looking forward to returning home to our friends and family.

Since the last note, we´ve been to:

1. Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu was very cool. We´d seen Incan ruins before, but this was the only one that the Spanish never found, so the whole city is completely intact. Our tour guide took us through this
agrarian temple city pointing out the famous mortarless stonework that was used for the most important buildings like temples and the house of the Inca (the king´s house when he came to visit) and the rustic stonework for the houses of the workers. Everywhere there are rocks shaped like distant mountains, puma heads, and condors. Then as the afternoon wore on and the tour groups left, we sat down on the central lawn to soak in the absolutely incredible setting for Machu Picchu.

In fact, it´s mostly this setting that makes Machu Picchu so great. It´s not the most important ruins around (Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire) or the largest. But it has a killer view and is perfectly preserved.

All in all Machu Picchu Pueblo (formerly Aguas Calientes) wasn´t much to scream about. Mostly t least the beer is cheap.

2. The Sacred Valley

So moving on from Machu Picchu we passed through the Sacred Valley. The Sacred Valley lies only 20km or so from Cusco and is consequently full of ruins. On our quick moving schedule we only stopped at Pisac. Pisac begins with only a small group of buildings and some agricultural terracing on the top of a large hill overlooking the valley and river below. Puzzled and slightly disappointed at first, we decided to follow the trail back to town. Following this trail along shear cliffs, we were more than a little concerned about our judgment and the quality of a five hundred year-old trail. Eventually, however, came the payoff. Pisac had the finest stonework and one of the neatest Temples of the Sun that we´ve seen. And as the afternoon light glowed across the valley and over the town of Pisac, you could understand why someone would build a temple here.

3. Train!

Tired of busses and moving around, we passed a day in Cusco left on a train for the border.

Arriving at night in Puno we rested and bought tickets for the bus across the border for the next day.

All was uneventful as we headed to the ever so slightly unsettled border area (towns on both sides have lynched their mayors and the border has been shut down several times in the last month) and we passed through the Peruvian exit booth without a problem. But as we walked down the street to cross the border we ran across a gigantic parade, complete with armed Military Police, children in uniform, and a terrible brass band. Turns out today was the day that they celebrate Peruvian-Bolivian cooperation. Phew. Apparently things can get heated at the end of July when both countries have their independence days and they do this every year as a pre-emptive friendship strike.

And that´s how we got to Bolivia. More on our last week in the days to come …

In the last 4 days we have spent more than 40 hours on buses, including three of the last 5 nights. Though Joey, Lindsay and I are now officially ready to stop moving, (Matt spent his time in Lima working on a freelance story for Freedom Magazine) we did manage to see some AMAZING sites including:

1. The Nazca Lines: An amazing set of lines, shapes and animal figures carved into the barren stone earth, the Nazca Lines were created more than 1000 years ago by the Nazca people. Lots of theories exist as to what these lines are for, but the most plausable suggest that these animals and shapes were meant to be walked around in a sort of prayerful meditation to the Gods in request for rainfall. The shapes are huge and best seen by air, so Joey, Lindsay and I took a four seater airplane ride over the pampa to see them. VERY COOL.

2. Arequipa: This ranks in the top 2 of Joey and my favorite South American cities that we have seen so far(the other being Cuenca). It is absolutely beautiful with great weather, huge volcanos towering above it on all sides, and lots of neat stuff to see and do. One of the things we visited was the Santa Catalina Monastery. This place was built for cloistered Dominican nuns on September 10 1579 (exactly 400 years, to the day, before my birthday). At one point more than 200 nuns and between 200 and 800 servants lived here. The place is stunning, and walking around you can almost feel the spirits of the nuns around you.

3. Cuzco: We are now in Cuzco, the “naval” of the Incan empire in the 1500s. We are glad to be aclimitized as this city sits at 3320 meters above sea level. It is from this place that we will visit Maccu Pichu and many of the other Incan ruins. We will be here for about four days before heading down to Bolivia. By bus.

My knees are still popping every time I sit down, and I can´t even look at my hiking boots. We returned last night to Huaraz from one of the most incredible backpacking trips of my life (and I think my compañeros agree with that superlative).

We set out at six Saturday morning, after splurging seven dollars each on a room with a roaring hot shower and comfy mattress. Five cramped hours in a combi (a sort of mini-bus that picks up everyone, anyone and their pet deer along the way) deposited us at the one-house town of Vaquería, where we set off into a valley to begin the four-day trek to Cochapampa, about 60 km down the Santa Cruz river.

Along the way, we passed between towering glacier-capped mountains, drank freezing (and iodined) water fresh from streams, and got giggly with altitude silliness as we passed the hike´s high point, Punta Union, at 15,550 feet above sea level. Our second campsite was the highest spot I´d ever slept, at nearly 15,000, and we were playing cards while huddled in down sleeping bags and wool hats by sundown at 6:30, asleep at 8.

We ate well, slept ok (one night Lindsay and I were sure a bear was attacking, we were up for hours not knowing what to do, only to find out in the morning that free-roaming cows had been jangling our pots and pans), and walked through stop-and-stare scenery five or six hours a day. The fresh mountain air, hot midday sun and good conversation made for four blissfull days in the splendor of the natural world. If it weren´t for our aching bodies, we might have stretched the trip a few more days.

There are 20 more photos posted on shutterfly, just click here.

The pictures start in northern Peru, at the ruins around Trujillo, the office complex of Chan Chan (they had bureaucracy 1500 years ago! At least they didn´t have to put up with fax machines), and the incredible painted walls of Huaca de la Luna. They continue with shots from the hike. Enjoy!

Tonight we´re off to Lima, wish us comfortable seats.

It´s Saturday night here in the absolutely STUNNING town of Huaraz. Seated in a valley, Huaraz is surrounded on one side by the magnificent Cordillera Blanca – a mountain range boasting snow covered peaks topping 16,000 feet – and on the other by the Cordillera Negra so named because the mountains aren´t quite tall enough to have white snow year-round. It feels like we´re in the Himalayas!

Here in Huaraz we have enjoyed the best life has to offer including U.S. style video arcades, machine laundry, tasty Thai food, and a movie theater!! Today Joey and I hiked up to a mirador (scenic overlook) above the city and enjoyed the views of the majestic mountains and then checked out the city´s large and very colorful cemetery.

Tomorrow Matt, Lindsay, Joey, and I are heading out on a four day trek to check out the mountains, lakes, and glaciers all around us. Can´t wait to tell you all about it when we return!

We´re in the beach town of Huanchaco surfing and visiting pre-Incan ruins (and recovering from stomach issues). Pretty low-key.

Still, I wanted to let everyone know that our wedding pictures are online.
Enjoy!

Hi, this is Matt. Along with my girlfriend Lindsay I joined Katie and Joey in southern Ecuador about a week ago, and now we´re having a grand time wandering the streets of Peru.

We´re in a city called Chiclayo, where it seems about half of the 300,000 residents drives taxis and the other half walks up and down the street outside our hostal. It´s a lively market town with great energy and we´re getting all sorts of attention because they don´t seem to have ever seen gringos before. Joey may be the first 6-foot-3 person they´ve ever seen. He has already won a few soles (Peruvian money) beating them by the dozen at basketball and volleyball.

Yesterday we explored Tucumes, an ancient city of the world´s largest adobe pyramids. They´re eroded and look more like hills than buildings but it was nice to climb to a lookout and imagine the bustle of a city 1300 years ago. This afternoon we head southward to Trujillo, where we hope to learn to surf from the locals.

Katie and Joey´s digital camera is sick, but I´m posting some of my shots on shutterfly.com.