unURBAN Adventures - Alaska to Argentina to AFRICA!

[joy]

Hi Espen,

Great stories and Pics, keep on sending... hope to see you at this side of the planet as well : )

Joy

[unURBAN]

Hi Espen,

Great stories and Pics, keep on sending... hope to see you at this side of the planet as well : )

Joy

Tnx! We'll see, we'll see..... :-)

E&M

[unURBAN]

It was not in any of our maps, but the idea of a road cutting right through the jungle and to the roads north of Cusco was so appealing (would save us hundreds of kilometers) that we kept asking in every town as we drove further south. In Ayacucho we got the answer we wanted from a guy at iPeru, and he even printed us a map (we later discovered that the road now is in Google Maps). The first and the last part of this route were in the GPS maps, it was only about a hundred kms missing between them. With the new information we set out early one morning towards San Francisco in the Peruvian jungle. To get there we drove from Ayacucho at 2761 meters up to a pass at 3814and from there decended more than 3400 meters to San Francisco at about 400 meters. Phew...



San Francisco. We spent the night at a guesthouse here. The road in our maps stopped just across this river...



And there was a new road. In the beginning it was just a narrow, rough, dirt road, and we were for a while worried that we were on the wrong way. After a few kilometers the brush along the road opened up, and so did the road. It was no doubt that this was the new road.



But even if this road supposedly was only a year or two old, the jungle had already started to try to take it back. Massive landslides had taken out the road in several places. Some scarier than others...





We met maybe 5-6 cars during the whole day of driving. Not a very crowded road,, but at least it looked like all the vehicles we saw that day made it through...



Eventually we came through a few villages, and we realized that we were back on more established roads. More traffic, people and houses. We were getting closer to Santa Teresa and Machu Picchu. Malin noticed that several of the houses along the road had decorations on the roofs. Never got around to aks what they actually means, though.



We didn't make it all the way to Santa Teresa this day, so we spent the night in a town called Quillabamba. We couldn't find a good place to camp so Malin persuaded the local Chief of Police to let us park in their parking lot, and we went and booked a room at a hostel.



Enjoying a well deserved refreshing Inca Kola! And the next morning: To Machu Picchu!!

E&M

[rockandroll]

Greetings from all the way across the Quinta LaLa Campground!

Great pics.

[unURBAN]

Greetings from all the way across the Quinta LaLa Campground!

Great pics.

Thanks!

And greatings back from the south corner! Up for a beer a little later today?

E&M

[geovalue]

Great to see you back the road hope to meet up with you again somewhere once we get moving again, still in Lima. Great photos
Safe travels

[unURBAN]

Of course you can drive to Machu Picchu, or at least close enough to walk the last part. We had heard that it should be possible to drive in to a village called Santa Teresa and leave the car there. From Santa Teresa it should be about two hours to walk up to a hydro energy power plant, or take a taxi. Take a taxi? Right, if a taxi can drive up to Hidroelectrica, so can we! From Hidroelectrica it is a 25 minutes train ride, or a two hours walk along the tracks to Aguas Calientes which is the nearest town to Machu Picchu.
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It was a great drive up to Hidroelectrica through a narrow valley.
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After about 25 minutes we saw what must be the end of the road. There was a gate and an officially looking booth, and we were told that the road went about 100 meters further to the train station, but was only for official vehicles and taxies. We were not allowed to park anywhere near the entrance, as this was a Natural and Historical zone. Sure, we took this picture of the area from Machu Picchu. Very natural and historical…
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Just before the entrance boot is a bridge across the river, and on the other side was a house. We asked and were allowed to park the car there for 10 soles per day (about 3 usd). At four thirty we were on our way to Aguas Calientes along the railway tracks. It is a nice and easy walk, and there are even two restaurants along the way (first is about two thirds in). Exactly 2 hours and one minute later we were in Aguas Calientes. Seemed to be plenty of guest houses, and we were asked several times if we needed accommodation as we walked through the town center. We paid 35 soles for a double with bathroom at Hostal One. Not too nice, but ok for a night. Early next morning we bought a one way ticket for the bus going up to the entrance of Machu Picchu (8 usd per person!). You can walk up in an hour and a half, but as we had planned to walk back out to the car the same day, we went for the bus.
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MACHU PICCHU
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Yes, we know it is a cheesy picture, but it is kind of the standard tourist picture of the site. We had to… And we even had to get in line to get the picture. The picture is taken from the Warden Hut overlooking the city.
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There are about 2500 tourists visiting Machu Picchu EVERY day in the high season (which was now...).
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Fortunately, the site is quite big, and it absorbed the masses very good. And even if it is a little crowded, it still is a magical place. I would say it is one of the few places in the world that you see, and still have problems believing…
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To get away from the masses for a while we found a small trail leading away from the site. It ended in The Inca Bridge, which once took people of Machu Picchu along this steep mountain side.
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Some of the architecture in Machu Picchu is quite interesting, and the Incas were experts of “using” the terrain in their buildings, terraces, and plazas.
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We had almost a full day in Machu Picchu. To make it all the way back to the Patrol before dark, we left around two in the afternoon. From the ruins, it took us about three and a half hours to walk back out, including a late lunch at the restaurant on the way.
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The train didn’t stop. It would of course have been an option, as there are three departures a day to Hidroelectrica. Price is 18 usd per person each way.
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We drove out from the parking, and continued down the road to Santa Teresa for about a kilometer. There we got off the road, popped the tent, and cooked dinner. Nice and quiet place with no people around. Coordinates for parking and camp site to be posted on www.unurban.no soon.

E&M

[bobDog]

so I didnt have to delete so many pics I thought I would just reply. I thank you for all the "not run of the mill photos"....so fresh....so nice.
Its funny I have followed you both so long that I feel I would recognize you on the street.
Thank you so much for this glimpse of one of the worlds most amazing places! You both are so amazing yourselves.......Thank you for sharing!

[Lykos]

WOW!!!

I came upon this site and this thread while doing a little net research for (what I now know is called) an Overland trip my father (whom I just met last year) and I are planning for next year.

I've sat here in the bunk room of my Volunteer Rescue Squad for the last two hours reading this thread! I am absolutely enthralled and amazed with,and not to mention insanely jealous of, your trip!!


I have but one question to ask. I may have missed this in one of the previous 41 pages so if it's a repeat I apologize.


What are your thoughts on the GPS you're using? Would you buy it again for this type of adventure?

[unURBAN]

bobDog and Lykos,

Thanks for commenting, and thanks for the kind words! Nothing as motivating for writing travel journals as knowing that people read them... And along the way we have met other travellers that we have followed on their blogs, and when you finally meet "live" it really feels like we have known each other for a long time. Strange but very nice!

And for you thinking about or planning a long trip, we have a keyword to put as no. 1 on your checklist for the preparations: GO! GO! GO! (oups, that was three... )

As for the GPS question, most travellers are using Garmin, so if you want the possibility to exchange maps and routes, this is the most logical choice. It is also very easy to download free maps for the Garmin from different "openstreets"-projects. The maps we have been using for most of Central and South America has been free, and also surprisingly good! We are using an older Nuvi model (255W) and have been happy with this. There are of course more functionality in more expencive models, but the cheaper Garmin Nuvis have a VERY good value for the money spent. It is however best used with a laptop (with a SD card reader) to download and transfer/copy maps, waypoints and routes to and from the unit.

E&M