Back to the past - this isn't your typical farmer's market

Well, we are back in Cusco now after completing our trek. We are all in one piece, mostly healthy, and have learned a lot about each other (note to self - some stuff isn't meant to be shared!). But more on that later - now to continue on the story which I left off after visiting the school ...

This isn't your typical farmers market

So, in the morning we had our belief in the generosity of people completely affirmed at the fantastic Chicuchas Wasi school.

To give us a further taste of what life in Peru is really like, we then went to the local market. Not the tourist market, but the real market where the locals come each day to buy their meat, fruit and veg. Fair enough I thought, a farmers market.

Uhhh, not really.

1. It was huge - filled with tourists as well as locals, despite the fact that we were there in the quiet part of the day (as with all markets, early morning is busiest). We had old grandmothers, hard-working adults, and cute babies in blankets.

2. The variety was massive - electrical goods, clothes, hardware. Massive items from stacks of freshly cut sugar cane, down to fine spice measured out in minute quantities. And of course, food.

3. The food was, let's say, 'confronting'. The bags of beans of all sorts, huge varieties of potatoes, fresh fruits of all types (I tried an overgrown variant of passion fruit that was delicious - sweet but not as tart as the normal one) were what the guidebooks would lead you to expect. But of course the fresh meat was the real difference to Australia.

Rather than our neat piles of sausages or chops behind glass at the butchers, or under plastic at the supermarket, the meat was right there. In your face. Just out of reach of the dogs, not quite out of reach of the flies (though there were mercifully few of those).

Let me paint some images:
- a pile of raw de-haired guinea pigs, still with ears, eyes and little buck teeth sticking out.
- buckets of live frogs, matched with buckets of eviscerated frogs after they've had their gall bladders removed (don't ask me why).
- masses of meat, with legs, ribs and heads all juxtaposed.

And one of our group, Julie, is a vegetarian by moral choice. I don't think this helped convert her back to being an omnivore!

Not your typical Australian farmers market. But then, our food for the trek all came from markets like this, and it was delicious. Everyday we got different meals depending on the region we were passing through, and every dish was lovely, tasty and fresh. None of us ad any tummy trouble.

So - not an Australian market, but it works really well for the people here, and from personal experience I can assure you that it results in fantastic meals.

Day 5 of the trek - the big climb!

Well, yesterday we may not have been ready to trek over 4,400 metres but today we are.

That's what Effy says (and he's been the guide for Princess Beatrice).

That's what Mark says (and he guides treks all over South America).

If they say we are ready for it, we must be. Right? We are joined by local porters with horses 'to provide backup'. Umm, why do we need backup??

Why do I have this sinking feeling in my stomach? And that puddle around my boots was there before, honest.

Today we are doing a 'medium' 12 km, taking us over a pass that is 4,400m and then down the other side. Personally, I would say it is the same as walking over the Sydney Harbour Bridge (the long way over the top of the arch, not the easy way on the footpath), whilst wearing an old-style deep-sea diving suit, and all the while only using one lung.

Can you tell I was a tad concerned?

The climb up was as glorious (or horrendous) as you'd expect, especially when it started to snow on us as we neared the top (remember: 'it never snows in this part of Peru'). Everyone was affected by altitude, with the exception of Julie, who clearly has alpaca genes from some historical cross-breeding, probably initiated by the great-great-great grandfather of my vicuña.

As we got closer and closer the the pass (ie, higher and higher above 4,000m) each of us developed their own system for the climb.

Paul said his was to walk 100 paces, stop for 25 deep breaths, then walk some more. Nicole just kept going - slower and slower - but going. Kim took it very simply - stop every 5 metres and dry retch until it hurts too much, straighten up and go again.

My system was walk for 6 paces (or if I was feeling particularly energetic, 10 paces), come to a shuddering halt, gasp for breath, cough my lungs out, look around desperately hoping the pass was miraculously closer, then repeat.

Julie just walked, and walked, and walked. Sometimes life is so unfair.

Mark and Effy were very popular.

The day started well.

We were joined by our 'backup crew'. The horse's name is James Brown.

There were lots of shelters for the shepherds and their flocks. But what about us?

At this stage I'm exhibiting a lot of false confidence, having successfully climbed out of the valley behind me.

Unfortunately this is the climb ahead of us - the pass is that little notch off in the distance.

Trying to pretend it's all easy.

But eventually we all do reach the pass. In the snow. Freezing. And with our native porters standing around casually in their plastic ponchos and sandals wondering what all the fuss is about.

But we were very very happy. And proud of ourselves.

We start down the other side. What a difference. Particularly for Kim. No longer having to stop and retch every few seconds, she takes off like a rabbit down a hole (or should be that like a guinea pig being chased by a hungry Peruvian?). This transformation worries Effy and he takes her aside to pat her down for illicit drugs. At least that what he said he did. Kim looks strangely happy.

The landscape becomes much greener and we descend among hanging lakes and Inca ruins, followed by our trusty backups. In this area they have lots of chinchillas, gorgeous creatures like long-tailed rabbits on speed.

We finally reach the bottom, exhausted but happy.

We are farewelled by a lone alpaca reflecting on the stupidity of mere Australians venturing where only Peruvians should go. And Julie.

Off into the wilds now!

This morning we head off into the mountains for the next stage of the trek. It's been incredibly hectic for the last couple of days so I haven't finished the last post, and now we will be off the air for the next 5 days! Hopefully no randy llamas or vicunas ...

But here are a couple of photos from recent parts of the trek:

OMG what a fantastic day!

We've had a huge day today. I'm shattered (again - I thought this was supposed to be a restful holiday!), so I'm breaking this blog post into 4 parts:

1. What we did at school today

2. This isn't your typical farmer's market

3. A well deserved break

4. Sampling Peruvian delicacies ...

So to begin with ...

What we did at school today

We have all fallen in love. Gladly not with each other (though now that I think about it, our tour guide Mark does seem to hang around Nicole a lot ...), but with an absolutely gorgeous charity called Chicuchas Wasi ("Children's Project" in the native Quechua language).

Chicuchas Wasi began in 1987 with a project to help abandoned children living hand-to-mouth on the streets of Cusco. The current Director, Ruth Uribe, joined in 1989 and the next year they changed their focus to helping girls only - due to the extra significant cultural disadvantages these girls faced. They began a school for these incredibly wonderful but desperately needy children, totally funded by charity. The girls come from the most destitute and impoverished families in what is already an incredibly poor area by Western standards, many suffering from one or more of physical, emotional or sexual abuse. Chicuchas Wasi is committed to breaking this devastating cycle for these girls through education, increased self esteem and financial independence. They are doing a wonderful job and please go to www.chicuchaswasi.org to learn more about their fantastic program.

We visited the school as part of the trip, and they received a table-full of school supplies bought with money donated as part of our trip cost.

We met all the children - they were lovely with the youngest greeting us with songs, and the older girls also in English, and then we joined them outside where we served lunch to them all. This was followed by some singing by us (if you could call it singing - a rather pitiful rendition of "Skippy the bush kangaroo" with a complete role-model action by Mark; followed by an even sadder attempt at "Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie" - seems difficult to stuff that up but we managed it).

One example of these lovely kids is 'Flo' who entranced us by being able to speak in Spanish, Quechua and also English - despite coming from a very troubled home and only being 10 year's old. Other young girls - as young as 5 - walk for over an hour through ravines and over mountains each morning to reach the school, and then the same back home each afternoon. And then when Paul asked them what was the best thing about the school, the most common answer was study and the future that the school provides for them.

After lunch their Director, Ruth, thanked us and passed on comments from one of the girls - this day was the best in her life, because she had been fed lunch by us, she had been made to feel very special, and she was so happy. Such simple things to make such a profound difference in a young girl's life.

This evening I made a donation to Chicuchas Wasi through the Glocal Development Foundation website. Please join me in helping these wonderful children - every donation, no matter it's size, will make an incredible difference to a child's life.

The Australian donation page is:
https://www.globaldevelopment.org.au/donations.php?for=J644N_Chicuchas_Wasi_Childrens_Project

Donations from other countries can be made using the directions on the Chicuchas Wasi website.

Here are some of the videos:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=NhJYe71VDQc
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjOJuur-D7s
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_TufypmGUSg
www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnj5smZllB4

Dodge Llama spit? I was wrong, so wrong!

So, today was planned as an early flight up to Cusco, the original capital of the Incas (or as we learned, more correctly of the Quechua, who were ruled by their leader who was 'the' Inca), followed by a quiet day to start our acclimitisation to the elevation.

We reached Cusco as planned and it is a fantastic town with historic architecture everywhere - massive Inca walls, gorgeous Spanish colonial cathedrals, quaint old streets, etc. It's at an elevation of 3,400m, versus the 2,200 of the 'mighty' Mt Kosciuszko, the highest mountain in Australia (to reach Machu Picchu we'll be trekking up to about 4,500m).

After checking in and meeting our lovely guide Efraim we had lovely stroll through the town, seeing the plaza, some Inca architecture, etc. Had lunch at Heidi's and the view over all of the tiled roofs was gorgeous. All going well so far. Then Effy suggested a lovely outdoor museum where they had uncovered an Inca complex of tombs, pottery kilns and metal smelting furnaces.

Wasn't it lovely when we entered the museum grounds to find a gorgeous Vicuña? They are a slender-bodied doe-eyed version of a Llama that produces the finest wool in the world (it can only be shorn once every 3 years), and the best part - Effy assured us they didn't spit.

One came over and was very friendly to me - let me get close, scratch it's chin, then it's neck; but then I started to get worried. Clearly this vicuña had been down to the erotic pottery display in Lima previously and was inspired to live up to its cultural heritage. It started to nose around nether regions where I didn't want any 4 legged animal to go, and then when I didn't want that, it gave up on the foreplay and decided to get straight down to business and mount me! Not quite what I was planning to do with my afternoon, especially with so many people watching.

Clearly Peruvian vicuñas need to have more lessons in 'no means no!' at school, as this one got very pissed off when I didn't want to do my part to improve international relations. I can understand, it was just trying to be friendly and it was clearly trying to maintain a long Peruvian tradition, but I just wasn't in the mood. Not quite the reaction it was hoping for and he reacted as any red-blooded Latin male would - if I wasn't interested in him it was clearly because I was beneath contempt. If he could have talked he would have said (in a Spanish/Peruvian accent) "I spit on you! I spit in your face!". And so he did. Yes Effy, vicuña can spit.

Sigh. All that effort to dodge llama spit. In vain.

But at least he had taste. He decided I was the only one in our party worthy of continuing the ceramic tradition (what can I say? It must be the chiseled jaw or six-pack abs), but clearly everyone in our group was worthy of a little spit. After terrorising all seven of us as we tried to get up the path, we beat a hasty retreat and left him to survey his domain, frustrated but proud. Very proud.

I just can't wait for tomorrow. No really.

Day 1 down, haven't gotten lost yet!

Yes a triumph! We've been all over Lima, visited pyramids (very weather-beaten mud-brick ones, but they still count), church's (including the catacombs of the Franciscan Monastery - strange to see piles of human bones more than 4 metres deep), and visited museums (incredible gold and pottery artifacts - some of them with quite unusual topics; more on this later!); and I never got lost - not even once!

Well of course I was accompanied by the other Trekkers and our 2 guides all day; but still, I count this as a triumph.

High points so far:

1. Learning an incredible amount about the very complex history of Peru with it's many cultures that developed and flourished before the coming of the Spanish; who then set out destroying and despoiling these cultures and their monuments as much as they could. I've decided I wouldn't have liked Francisco Pizarro.

2. There is a dog that is more ugly than a Mexican hairless - the Peruvian hairless. See photo below. Nothing more that I can say.

3. STDs have clearly been around for a long long time. The museum we went to was the 'Museo Larco' - absolutely stunning. However in addition to many incredibly interesting somewhat conventional pieces, they also had a special exhibition of 'erotic pottery' from Peru about 1,000 years ago (stop reading this if you are less than 18 ... yes Alena, that means you!). I had no idea any culture would have the thought of effectively trying to replicate the Kama Sutra in ceramics, with handles and spouts (don't ask me why). In addition to a range of 'normal pieces' (there was one including a rug, and I've tried to photograph it from an angle that is suggestive rather than showing the rather surgical detail it had), there was a section on necrophilia (rather disturbing to say the least, I couldn't bring myself to take any photos) and also would you believe it ... on sexually transmitted diseases. Any guys that are thinking of playing around - please pay attention to the multiple pustules all over this guy.

It has been a very very educational day!

I'm off, I'm going, hopefully I'll be coming back ...

I'm now at the airport waiting to board. Thanks to the wonderful generosity of the fantastic supporters of The Shepherd Centre there is more than $29,000 going to help support children who are deaf or hearing impaired. Thank you everyone (including my gorgeous wife who sourced fantastic prizes for the trivia nights) - so so much! I'm now reflecting on the next fortnight and what it will be like - I'm sure incredibly interesting and rewarding, but one conversation with the doctor keeps coming back to me ... I was getting all my travel vaccinations and he asked if I wanted a rabies jab. I said no, that's fine, I planned to avoid all rabid dogs. He said don't worry they come up to you ... Mmmm how will I feel about this choice in a fortnight? Keep you posted ... Jim