Rio Apurimac

The last two days of our trek to Machu Pichu were spent following rivers to the town of Aguas Calientes. John and I would scout rapids from the river banks, wishing that we had our kayaks to ride down the whitewater. When we returned to Cusco, the first thing we did was locate an outfitter that had kayaks. We found a company called Mayuc which said they had two Liquid Logic Gus' and full gear available for rental. We would also be able to follow one of their guided rafting trips down the Rio Apurimac for 3 days and 2 nights. After doing a little research on the river we were sold!

Well things never turn out as you plan, and this trip started on a bit of a sour note when we discovered that our kayaks, outfitting, and gear were designed for recreational paddling, not the class 5 drops that were to come on the Apurimac. Luckily the first day was spent on easy to moderate water, which allowed us to adjust our paddling to the loose seats of our kayaks, the siphon-like leaking of our nylon sprayskirt cockpits, the bulky rafting lifejackets, and our baggy and leaky nylon splash tops.

The next day the rapids picked up intensity and moved into the class 4/5 range with some portages for the rafters that we ran. I was feeling squirly all day, never feeling like I had the balance figured out with my boat. John styled everything. That evening we had an awesome camp on a sand beach deep in the gorge. Our guides cooked up a mean dinner, while I was continually bewildered by the strange behavior of some of the Isralies in our group. ¡Ese noche era que rediculo!

The next day I decided to ditch my bulky wet suit in favor of my long johns, hoping that I would have a little more wiggle room in my boat and better balance. This decision worked and my paddling inproved enough to run all the big rapids of the day. The crux of the river was a huge rapid involving a quick move onto a tongue, followed by riding up onto a giant pillow, then cutting left and up onto another giant pillow, followed by some big arse hydrualics. I went way high on the second pillow, fell off the shoulder, and managed a barrell roll while still falling off the shoulder. Not exactly as I planned but still a sweet line! The second part of this rapid was a 10ft boof in front of a deadly undercut rock, a bit dicey but good to go and John and I had great lines. After this rapid were more big water rapids that gave way to progressively easier rapids until finaly we exited the gorge and arrived at the take out. What a river! The trip officially ended that night with a party at a local discotec in Cusco. The raft guides played the movie from the trip, and I was even more confused by the strange behavior by some of the Isralies. ¿Quien sabe?

Live From Peru

Hello family and friends!

Welcome to Strongarms!

I've created this blog to document my travels through South America and elsewhere. After multiple requests, I succumed to peer-pressure and named this blog "Strongarms", one of my kayaking nicknames. I'm going to try and update this blog frequently, so please check it out and let me know what you think!

It's been about a month since the plane I was flying on touched down on the tarmac of the Jorge Chavez International Airport in Lima Peru. Those 2.5 weeks have went by in a whirlwind of new sights and experiences, new friends, and a healthy dose of altitude sickness.

I spent 4 days in Lima, a small town of about 7 million people. The district I stayed in is known as Miraflores, a very modern and upscale area that is filled with good resteraunts and bars, wealthy Limaneans wearing Armani and Gucci, and a long beach that is lined with cliffs. John and I spent much time in Miraflores, but we also toured around the old town of Lima, and into some of the non-tourest laden neighborhoods boardering old town and Miraflorees. We also tried our hand at surfing the breaks off the shore of Miraflores, a series of waves that are consistantly crowded with local surfers anytime there is light out. John and I are both begginer surfers, and were both very apprehensive about the long paddle out to the break, much further off shore than either of us have surfed. The surfing was great with head-high waves, but we may have underestimated just how polluted the ocean surrounding Lima is. With each wave we dove under I would keep my eyes open to avoid getting slamed by passing trash that was everywhere. The runoff that is straight-piped from the poorer neighborhoods of Lima into the ocean also may have been the cause of John contracting the salmanela that would send him into the hospital for two days in Cusco.

From Lima, we cought a bus to Cusco, a ride that lasted 21 hours, and took us from sea level to over 1400ft. The bus was double decked, and we were on the top deck. At about 2 am we crested the top of the highest mountain pass, and the thin air, combined with the exagerated swaying of the bus as it wound through the curvy mountain road, gave me a sudden bout of altitude sickness. I was overcome with naseau, begin sweating profusly, and could feel my heart racing in my chest. I made my way to the back of the bus to the bathroom, and when I entered it I started seeing stars and almost blacked out. After I had made my way back to my seat, I sipped water and hoped that the road would straighten out soon. Talking to others who were on the bus, alot of us shared a similar miserable experience that night. I will definately take a plane if I have to do that route again.

Cusco is an amazing city tucked away in a shelted valley at about 1150ft, and is the former capital of the Inca empire. The city is full of history and charecter, with a startaling dichotomy between the orginal Inca construction, and the Spanish structures that were built on top of the city after they had driven the Incas out and destroyed the original city. What is left are narrow cobblestoned avenues between imposing stone walls (the original Inca infrastructure that the Spanish were wise enough to not destroy), and big gothic style cathedrals and buildings that the Spanish put up.

The city has a very international feel, as it is a huge tourist hub and groups of travelers from all over the world use it as a staging area for Peruvian travel. We have stayed in a great neighborhood known as San Blas, which has a very bohemian feel and is full of artisans, resturaunts, and some quite intersting bars. The main center of Cusco is known as the Plaza De Armas, and is where our Spanish school is located. Our class was one week long, and did a good deal to refresh my spanish skills.

The day after our class ended John and I rented 4 wheelers and took a guided tour of the mountains surrounding Cusco. Very fun!

John wheelin´

Me feeling safe in my full-face

The day after our four-wheeling excursion, we loaded our backpacks and set off on a 4 day trek in and around the Sacred Valley of Peru, ending at Machu Pichu. The trek began in a small village in a arid valley. We walked uphill all day, passing through numerous micro climates until we made it to our camp at the base of the mountain called Salkantay. Our first camp was located in a amazing high alpine field, sheltered below Salkantay and other surrounding glaciers. That night we had a crystal clear view of the sky, with the milky way directly above us. It really was an amazing sight to see our surrounding stars, constalations, and galxies with such clarity, and it is not supprising that the Incas had such advanced knowledge of astrology. They had front-row seats to the universe every night.


John and I on the way to Salkantay
We had a great group of people for our trek, here we are at the Salkantay pass
Some more pics from around Salkantay (I love alpine areas!)
We spent the next two days walking downhill from our high-point at the base of Salkantay, to the Urubamba river valley. After a visit to the local aguas calientes (hot springs), we finished treking to the base of the Machu Pichu. We spent the night below the mountain, and woke up at 4 am to begin climbing up to the ruins. We timed our walk perfectly and arrived at the Machu Pichu ruins just before dawn broke over the eastern mountains. Because we made it there so early we had a few early morning hours to spend at the ruins before buses brought the largest groups of tourists up the mountain. Machu Pichu is a beatiful area, the Incas designed the city to integrate perfectly into the mountain, it is very natural and organtic and almost looks like it rose out of the earth on its own. We finished our tour of Machu Pichu by climbing up the surrounding mountain of Hauyna Pichu, which involves scrambling up a stone trail cut directly into the cliffside. The ruins on Hauyna Pichu are built directly on the side of this steeply walled mountain, and are connected to each other by tiny stone stairs choped dirrectly out of the cliffside. It was amazing to visit and slightly nerve-racking to scramble around on these exposed ruins.

On the way to the Urubamba

Machu Pichu!