Peru 3
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The further we went, the dodgier our means of river crossings seemed to become. This is just a log with one side flattened a bit.
Speaking of friendly fauna, Kyle tries to kiss a butterfly.
Our lunch site for the third day was a relatively large settlement (they had running water AND electricity!). We hung around and played frisbee and a bit of soccer with the local kids. Here Nick demonstrates the skills which got him into the firsts in soccer at school.
We got a bus ride to Santa Theresa towards the end of the third day... there wasn't quite enough room inside this little van so a few of the group opted to ride on top.
Unfortunately this little bus trip was cut short by, you guessed it, a landslide. This one displaced the road somewhat... "now c'mon, if we back up the van a bit and get some speed up..."
"No Daniel... the van doesn't go quite that fast" . Aahhh... I see, more than just a little crack in the road.
We were able to carry all the supplies over to the other side via a non-vehicular path which managed to escape the landslide. Then we caught a bus from the other side... a public bus... with lots of other people and their... cargo.
At our campsite just outside Santa Theresa, Scott demonstrates his skills while we wait for the bus which would take us to the nearby hot springs, a welcome diversion after three days without a shower.
Feeling refreshed after bathing in hot springs, some of us played high-energy games on the bus while I took some long-exsposure shots.
Dinner that night was fish (but no chups). Here we are waiting between courses. A soup bowl can be seen in the foreground.
The next morning was very misty and ever so slightly rainy. Somehow, sometime during day 3, our guides managed to loose one of our tents. The result - me and Nick got to sleep in a room with beds (and flushing toilets!)... oh darn.
Just when we thought river crossings couldn't get any more exciting... the flying fox came to the rescue.
"Hold on tight Daniel" me and one of the guides were the first to go. "Hold on tight? did you REALLY think that I wasn't going to!!??".
Nicolas and Nicholas share the flying fox as it crosses a rather dangerous-looking river.
Oh dear Nick. Well, I guess the flying fox was rather exciting wasn't it? Just rub it in, nobody will notice.
On our walk to Aguas Calientes, we spotted this millipede. Somewhat smaller than the one on the museum of natural history in New York, but also somewhat more alive.
Phwoar... notice how the truck carrying all our bags has stopped. We seem to have run into a landslide... those rocks looks pretty small from here don't they?
Well, they're not. Those rocks are huge. Negotiating a recently-made landslide with a full pack on my back AND swinging sleeping bags attached was not my idea of fun. Someone remarked "statistically, I think that is the most dangerous thing I've ever done". If it wasn't for my car crash, it would probably have been mine too.
The final section of the hike-proper was along the railroad to Aguas Calientes (the closest town to Machu Picchu).
Lucky for these signs telling us where to escape to, otherwise we wouldn't have known what to do when the train came along.
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