Cuzco, Lima, the White andes and the Peruvian Jungle

Seeing as I have not done any writing about my trip since Machu Picchu, I thought that i would fill you all in on what i have been up to. Upon returning to Cusco after having experienced machu Picchu, I decided that i wanted to stay and get a better feel for Cusco. I proceeded to make my way up a very steep and damning hill to Loki cusco, a famous party hostel. I was opening my mouth to speak to the manager and he said you want a job? to which i replied yes I would, adnt hat i could do two weeks. He said great you start tomorrow, oh and tomorrow is Aussie day! I had no idea what i was in for! A fucking party aussie style that kicked off at 9 in the morning with a thirty long blood bomb train (Blood bomb = red bull with a shot of vodka and grenadine instead of jagermeister) The 17 days that I worked there, felt much much longer as the first few days were spent in a haze of alchohol and partying, but i soon calmed down as my bar tab grew in shots and shots. After a few days I decided that getting drunk and being hungover was no way to enjoy cusco, I started to get up earlier and wonder around the city a little bit.    The only negative i have to say about cusco is the cocaine consumption and the fact that you  cannot walk three steps before someone is offering you some sort of drug. A few days before I finished working at the hostel i rented a bike with a fellow traveller and we set off to do the sacred valley by bike. What a wonderful experience ( seriously regretting that i did not have my gopro by then). As I was heading off to Lima the whole team had a bloodbomb to say goodbye, it was almost like leaving a little family, almost... The bus trip To Lima was a long 24 hours, at least I had booked full cams, which means that the said reclined to bed position, so i was content to just have my top half comfy and y legs bent as if i was crippled by a car accident....no legroom whatsoever. But as they say god giveth with ine hand and taketh with the other... In Lima I was a terrible tourist. I slept ad read books and just relaxed, something i had not done for since the beggining of my trip. After a few days in Lima, like 10, I decided it was time to get back to backpacking and roughing it. I headed off to Huaraz and the 'Cordillera Blanca' (the white mountain range). A beautiful adventure capital located around 8 hours by bus from lima. On my second day I pulled a Hike up to 4000m.a.s to Laguna 69, a beautiful emerald lake surrounded by glaciers! I havent felt so good aout life in quite a while. I was supposed to do this with a groupo but it looks like they were all affected by the altitude. I therefore proceeded to make use of the very african like combi service to the next town to catch and oldschool toyota hiace ( imagine chickens on the roof). I was allocated space on the little protrusion behind the drivers seat. They dropped me off after an hour and a half of being squished and said that they would pass through there again at three oclock, not giving me much time to complete a four hour hike up and a three hike down ( it was 09:30 in the morning) but i was determined to see and relax at the lake. I set off through the onion valley at a ery brisk pace and soon worked up a sweat. It was a wonderfule experience walking through a summer like valley with black mountains at my back, waterfalls to the side and the snow capped peaks at the end of the valley. After about an hour and a half i reached a little lake, which i had been hoping would be the final destination, but oh no no. It was another 45 minutes straight up! I managed to make my way to the lake in 2:20 which was awesome as it gave me some time to sit and relax at the top. I had the biggest littel boys grin on my face upon arriving at the glacial lake! WOW! The hike down was just as good as the hike up but i managed to do it at a run as there were two other lakes that I wanted to see before getting picked up. I reached the pick up point an hour early and decided to make for the lakes.  As i reached the lakes a taxi stopped and offered to take me to the coneccting town for cheaper than the combi so i piled into the boot, not such a good idea - bruised coxs and hip...yay o yay! When i got back to huaras I was absolutely buggered so headed off to the store to buy the supplies for the next days trip to a glacier proper. Early start and off to the bus stop to get the bus headed for Pastoruri Glacier!Located at 5200m.a.s it promised to be a little bit of a challenge! On the way to the glacier we were shown rock paintings, which even included an anthropomorphous human being with some weird symbology, a volcanic chute which was called the little lake of seven colours (when the sun shone on the lake it really did give off about seven different greens and blues) and a plant that takes 80 years to flower and then dies in three months!    Upon arriving at the base of the trail up to the glacier I suddenly thought that my merrell trail running barefoot shoes were no the worlds most suited footwear for the job. Luckily the locals, being a very savvy bunch of people, rented gum boots for stupid people like me. I therefore proceed to do the little hike up and down, around an hour, with gum boots a size to small for me!a little uncomfortable but warm and waterproof! Both days were incredible experiences for me and I really think they made me realize how much I enjoy the outdoors and how much i have missed them over the last few years! I was hoping to have a lie in after having done two exhuasting days of exercise and early wake ups, but it was not to be as in order for me to be able to reach my next destination, Pucallpa, I had to catch a six o'clock bus!damnit! I woke up before the goddamn roosters and ther godawful chicken noise(yes i cannot remember what noise a chicken makes: crows or roosts?) Anyway the ticket was bought under the ccondition of a change of bus where the river and rain had washed a bridge and some of the road away. No problem, but seeing as I am in South America = huge problem! The bus wanted to drop us off at a toll gate an hour and a halfs walk away from the hole in the road - everysingle passenger was swearign and shouting until we convinced the bus to take us to the gap in the road. Here we were told that there would not be a bus waiting for us on the other side and if we wanted the bus would take us back to Huaras. I decided to risk it and give hitchhiking a go on the other side, it ended up being unneccesary as we found a bus form the same company and insisted they take us to our destination. whcih they sort of did. They dropped us off in Huallanca, a town earlier than the supposed dstination of La Union. But I was told not to worry as there were cars/taxis going to la unoin all the time, this is true when there aren't road blocks checking papers etc. After about half an hour a car agrees to take four of us to La union, he thinks he is a bloody shumacher and is taking corners at over 100km/h and bottoming the car out at each one. When we are about 80 percent of the way there we see the roadblock and he decides to turn around. We tell him to drop us off, he refuses, we shout and scream and he stops. We get out and start walking. a car stops but only has pace for three people! I tell the toehr three to get in and htat i will walk, spirit of adventure and all... After about 30 min a few trucks are coming so i start hitching. One of them eventually pities me and gives me a 20 minute lift to La union. He drops me off at the corner where the cars leave for Huanuco, which is where I needed to get to in order to get he bus to Pucallpa. A ten dollar, 4 hour, windy path( i say path and not road as I do not htink that it is actually wide enough to be called a road). After 4 hours, a landlside and many a close calls later we arrived at huanuco. I asked for directions to the bus company and after about 20minutes walk i arrived and was told that they were very sorry but hey had no more seats left and that I should try in another place. Another 20minutes of walking and I eventually found a ticket to Pucallps that left at 7pm and arrived at 4 in the morning.\ Now I think that this is the first time since I left SA for argentina in 2007 that I have been really nervous about a trip. I had read in three different and independant books and websites that this part of the trip was extremely prone to bus robberies and hijacking! I was nervous enough that everytime we stopped i would tense up and worry if we were being stopped by robbers or just routine stops. At tingo maria an off duty policeman with a full on 12 gauge shotgun gets on board and asks for a 'collaboration' for the protection and anti theft service being provided! This just made me even more uncomfortable! I had decided that upon arrival i would get myself a mototaxi and head out to the indigenous shipibo community for a different experience. I arrived at the 'port' just as all teh fisherman were bringin in their morning catches and after a bit of haggling convinced one to take me out to San franscico community, around 60 min by boat. I was greeted by Marcos, a local resident who offered to take me around and show me the different communities. He mentioned that he had a spare hut/room at his families home. I took him up on the offer and offerd him U$S 4 for the night, surprisingly he looked pleased by the offer. We spent a good hour walking around and seeing the different parts fo the communities and jungle surroundings. Upon returning to the families property, which is very close to the river, i was greeted with a breakfast of fried egg and bananas - delish! After having travelled for over a day i decided it was time to get some relax in and tucked into my book, which lasted about ten minutes until i passed out for a good two hours! I enquired about a shower - si si si, i was answered - and then i was shown down to the river - the local bathing facilities. Had a great refreshing shower in the river and then had a wonder around the town. Four unforgettable days of great experiences. In the afternoon i decided to have a wonder around for myself and as I was finishing my little walk I was stopped by two fellow gringos and was asked if I knew of any good "medicos", who did good ayahuasca ceremonies. I replied that I did not know but that I could enquire with the family where I was staying...This is where medico mariano comes in. I sat down and chatted for a while with him about what i was hoping to achieve from the ayahuasca ceremony and what to expect from it. We agreed that we would all meet up at 6 in the evening and then go to his maloka - ceremonial hut. It was not without fear that I made my way out to Santa Clara ( a small village about 20 minutes away from san francisco). Upon arriving at the maloka i set up my camp roll and my sleeping bag as my pillow and decided to have a small nap before the ceremony ( we were waiting form complete dark). Mariano explained that both he and his 80 yr old father(who had been drinking ayahuasca since he was 15) would give the ayahuasca the icaros and then once it was dark we would proceed to drink the medicine. The journey that the ayahuasca gave me was very interesting, at first I felt as if I had not experienced anything and then i started to go through what I had seen and realised that I had definitely seen many interesting things. Exactly what I saw I will keep to myself as I feel that it is a highly personal experience. After the lightheadedness wore off I definitely felt more positive and full of good energies! At around midnight one of the medicos nieces was rushed in, and he proceeded to explain that she had been attacked by very very strong negative energies. At this point both he and his father started to really belt out the icaros and this lasted for a few hours. It was a truly amazing experience to see a maestro ayahuasquero spirtually healing one of his family members and it is something that i will not soon forget. After they had managed to purge the negative energy from the niece I managed to chat to the medico about what Id seen and to try and make some sense of some of the visions which i did not clearly understand! its quite mindblowing what goes on in my subconscious. I feel that many more questions were raised by the visions than those that were answered or solved. I hope to be able to relive the experience...