Tanks, Favelas, Clouds and the shits…

From an early age I’d been aware of the infamous Christ the redeemer statue and had always wanted to visit it. Then after I’d watched the episode of “Ross Kemp on Gangs” when he visited a Rio favela, Rio was a “must see” city.

After an overnight flight from Lima to Rio which as those of you will know is a cross between a good and bad thing. (Good because you don’t need to pay for a nights accommodation somewhere, bad because you don’t get a decent night’s sleep and if there’s a time difference when you land this is made worse).

We followed the advice given to us and saved ourselves a fortune by catching the bus to Copacabana where our hostel was located. This turned out to be a real eye opener with the bus taking us through the heart of the city, allowing us to get a glimpse of what’s actually going on out there. We got to our hostel fairly easily and as we were early, dumped our bags, got some breakfast and headed off for a walk around the local area. Our hostel was very close to Copacabana beach, as its iconic Leah and I couldn’t wait to get down the front and get on the sand. Unfortunately, time hasn’t been good to Copacabana and it now resembles Benidorm. Disappointed to say the least….

However, not ones to be downbeat we decided to explore the city and see what else is on offer, we managed to find another beach a 10min walk from Copacabana called Ipaneama. This was 100% better, clean water, much quieter and the road behind less busy.

We came back to the hostel later in the afternoon to be shown to our room, which was to be an eye opener if nothing else. The guy takes me and Leah upstairs into a room full of 6 bunk beds, with 3 levels, that’s 18 beds! Being the gentleman I offer Leah first pick and she nabs the middle bunk on one of the beds and I’m left with the top one. Now, those of you that have seen the infamous bungee video know that I haven’t really got a head for heights. So I clamber up the ladder and get to the top try it out, shitting it doesn’t describe it. How the hell am I going to sleep up here without falling out of bed or dying from a nosebleed? Anyway, getting up was the easy bit, having to turn around and get on to the ladder was the difficult bit. 5mins later and I’ve made it down much to the amusement to the others in the dorm. Anyway Leah and I find somewhere local to eat and get to bed at a decent time, ready to do some sightseeing the following day. (We’d both been concerned that we would be waken at 4 by the rest of our “roomies” as the rest of the hostel were pissed before we went to bed and they were going on to a club).

We both wake up at 9 surprisingly for the first time to be confronted with a room of sleeping beauties and a snoring Siberian. We’d booked a trip to one of the Favelas for the morning, so needed to be ready for our guide. Our Hostel sponsored a local project in this particular favela with it supplying left over clothes and money to an education centre in the Videgal favela. The hostel benefited by the teachers at the centre turning into guides for us. We’d opted to do this tour as it seemed a bit more respectful compared to the other tour where you were driven around each favela and were allowed to take photos at particular times. Can’t see people of Penrhys or the Gurnos being too happy with a similar set up either can you?

Anyway, we meet up with our guide for the morning. A girl called Pia who teaches Spanish in the centre and she explains that within this (particularly small) favela there were over 50,000 people living there, very few of the people there work and none of them are supported by a benefits system so in essence, they’re on their arse.

Now, there’s something amazing about the human race. All of these people have everything that they need, but don’t actually pay for it. They steal electricity from the local streetlights and manage to get to cable TV again by taking it straight from the cables in the streets. It just goes to show that when you don’t provide for people they will manage. Something for David Cameron to consider??

Since our arrival in Rio, there’s been a huge cloud over the city, which has kept it really humid. However we were told by the staff in the hostel that this would seriously affect our ability to get a good view of Christ the redeemer and get a good view over Rio. However, the day we visited the favela the air quality seemed to be a bit better and there were significantly fewer clouds in the sky. So we decided that we would risk it and see if we could get up to see Christ and see what the views are like looking down on the city.

An hour bus journey later followed by a short mini bus ride and we get to the first viewing point with spectacular views of Rio. However, as you can see by the photos there was still enough low cloud to spoil the party.. :-(

Now, one of my best mates said to me as I was leaving:

“Chud – I don’t want fuck all from your travels. I just want a photo of that fucking statue in Rio. Of Christ like…..”

So as Leah and I were travelling to the site of the statue, I kept on about the promise that I had made to Neil and that I had to get him a photo of Christ. We set off and started climbing the mountain, within minutes we were in deep cloud, I was gutted and Leah could see this. 

So as ever, she started trying to be the optimist saying things like –

“Don’t worry, we’ll get above the cloud now..” and “I’m sure it’ll blow away when we get there..”

But, I knew that we were in for a royally shit time. So I get out of the bus with as much excitement as Roland from Grange Hill when he sees the tuck shop. But, I knew it, the cloud was down and there was no sign of it shifting. Even the numerous tat shops at the top were even closing down realising that to stay open is fruitless, no-one is going to come up because it’s impossible to see anything.  Like true Brits, we try and outstay the cloud and get numerous photos of Christ for Neil to stick up on his walls.

So here it is butt, the best photo out of the bunch:

I’m sorry it’s shit but it’s the best I could get. Better than a straw donkey from Spain though?

We had decided that this was to be our last day in Rio (to be honest it wasn’t really a city for us), so it was time to move on. People in the hostel had been raving about a place called Paraty (Pronounced Para-ch-ee) so we booked ourselves into a hostel down there for a few nights. With us leaving Rio we decided that we should treat ourselves and have a few drinks and something decent for tea. Leah was just coming out of a period of a dodgy stomach, so was ravenous for any kind of food. We found a restaurant that had been recommended in the lonely planet and set ourselves down for a night of beer and food.

After 5mins the TV behind Leah was showing pictures of tanks, guys running around the street with guns, buses alight and masked men running up the mountain being shot at. I started to think that it was unnecessary to show photos from South Wales to people in Rio but it became quickly apparent that this wasn’t Aberdare on a Saturday night but Rio today! The whole restaurant (which was rammed!) were transfixed by the incidents being played out on the television, this was totally different to the Rio that we had all been wandering around, working, eating and drinking in today. It appears that the government had enough of a few drug lords who had set up residency in one of the largest Favelas and decided to get a bit heavy handed – hence the tanks! (The scenes that we saw, were like something from the video game, Call of Duty)

We decided that our mam’s better know that we’re okay, so when we got in we dropped 

them a quick email to say that we were okay and that we’d seen nothing more offensive than some bad language and a lot of cloud.

After waking up we packed up our bags and headed for the Rodivario (Bus station in Portuguese). One final check of our dorm to make sure that we’ve got everything and then something bad happened, I realised that I’d be leaving something in the hostel. Yes, my arse!

Now I knew that I’d have travellers stomach on this trip and having spent 4 days hiking, staying in tents and getting to know nature I thought I’d been doing very well for it not to hit me. However, I have a 4 hour bus journey to deal with. This isn’t good….

The Inca Trail, Machu Picchu and the guinea pig….

Our sole purpose on coming to Peru was to visit Machu Picchu. When we signed up to visiting the lost Inca city I understood that you had to walk 4 days to get to it and the prize was to look down on the city from what is known as the “sun gate” then you and the few people that have walked the 41km with you would be “granted” access to the city. (In fact I had been game in trying to organise a game of hide and seek amongst the city’s ruins with our fellow travellers.)

Well, what a pile of lies. In fact I feel cheated, I’ll explain why later…

Anyway, our 7 day trip started with a welcome meeting the day before to explain what we could expect and what we would need to take with us. It became quickly apparent that we wouldn’t need to be digging holes in the ground to poo in and that we wouldn’t need to be eating cold beans out of a can. Both of which complement the other… We were told that we would need to be up ready for a 6am bus to the airport to fly to Cusco where we would meet up with the rest of our hide-and-seek team.

After arriving at Cusco we made our way to the bus, ready to take us to our hostel for the night and were confronted with women offering us “coca” to which I replied “Nah love I’m not thirsty”. Straight away our tour guide (Roger – A popular Inca name I’m told…) corrected me and told me it was Coca leaf she was offering me. Now, I don’t know much but I do know that Cocaine comes from Coca and it’s not good for you, this woman didn’t look like your usual typical drug pusher. For one she didn’t have a BMW, she wasn’t wearing any stone island clothing and wasn’t on the phone all the time.  However, Roger informs us all that Coca is legal here and is used for altitude sickness (Cuzco is 3300meters above sea level and the highest point of the trail was 4250meters) and would help us to deal with altitude along the hike, so I decided to buy a bag off the woman and get on the bus, Roger explained that I should start chewing the Coca to feel its effects.  After arriving at our hostel, checking in and getting our bags up to the room on the 3^rd floor, a feat I managed in less than 5 seconds, I was up for meeting our fellow travellers.

The rest of the day was spent getting to know everyone and a brief tour of Cuzco city we were told that we could take 6kg of clothing with us on the hike and the rest of our clothes would need to stay in Cuzco. So Leah and I spent the rest of the evening trying to get most of the stuff we’d need over the next 5 days into a 6kg bag. Pretty simple for me pants, socks, welsh top, towel, torch, pair of shorts and my tooth brush. It wasn’t quite so easy for Leah however, 4 hours later and the early night we’d had planned had gone out of the window. 

Now another side effect of altitude sickness that I hadn’t been prepared for was indecision.  I’d packed my bag in about 10mins and spent the rest of the night sat watching some dodgy Spanish dubbed film while Leah packed and unpacked her “essentials” to get her under the 6kg weight limit. As I watched her pack her I doubted that I’d packed my welsh top now I had to have this to get to Machu Picchu, so I checked my bag and I had. Phew, get back to bed I thought. 30mins later and I was back out of bed, panicking that I’d not packed my towel again, fortunately I had. Then as Leah was getting into bed, I suddenly thought that I hadn’t packed my torch, by this time I was well into the film and decided that it was obviously the altitude playing funny buggers with me or the bag of Coca I had chewed throughout the day… (I’ll let you decide.. My money was on the altitude)

We left the following morning to start the tour and arrive at where we would be spending a night in a village called Ollantaytambo (Pronounced oyan-tay-tambo). An hour bus ride through some of the most dramatic countryside I’ve seen since my last drive to Aberystwyth and we get to a little community, where the wives of all the porters that would be accompanying us on the hike worked. Here they spent their time producing ponchos, hats, gloves and more scarfs than you can shake a stick at. We leave here with some hats and a poncho, why I don’t know as we’re going into the southern hemisphere’s summer but Leah tells me that we’ll need them on the hike as it can drop below zero at night!!!

The following day is the start of the hike and we get to the start armed with our day bags, sunhats and walking poles. Somehow we become ramblers overnight…  Anyway 5km later and we arrive at the lunch stop and I’m hoping for some sandwiches and maybe a pack of Wotsits but we get a lot more than this. In fact, we get a 3 course lunch in a tent by the side of a river, fantastic! I can get use to this! After lunch, we rest then continue walking and get to the nights camp site with our tents already set up and a bucket full of the local brew – amazing. We rest, have a beer and get ready for bed. (This is almost too good to be true..)

The next morning we wake up at 5:30 to the most amazing view I can honestly say I’ve seen (aside from a fully cooked English done by my mam…) see below and see if you think it compares…

After breakfast we set off on day 2 and 12km, which included the highest point of the entire 4 day hike, 4250 meters and a place called “Dead womans pass”. After a full 5 hours walking uphill, we get to the point together, this was most definitely a significant achievement for us both and we were really looking forward to a rest and a beer! However, what goes up must come down our campsite is at 3300 meters and we spend the next few hours going down, down and down. We get to camp and to our surprise the chefs that have been cooking for us have baked us 2 cakes to celebrate the achievement of passing the highest point. Now baking a cake is an involved process when you’ve got a fully equipped kitchen and a fully operating oven, but these guys have only a gas bottle and a few pots and pans which they carry the whole Inca trail and these guys create two different flavours (One Orange and the other Chocolate covered in jelly)  

The final day sees us getting up before sunrise (4am!) ready to get to the “Sun Gate” where we were told we could look down on Machu Picchu from afar and see the sunrise, something that Leah was definitely looking forward to and something that I thought would be “Tidy”. Anyway we get up and set off, after queuing for the trail to open up we eventually get to the Sun Gate, well I think it should be renamed to “There’s-nothing-to-see-gate-when-its-cloudy-and-because-it-was-so-far-the-sun-is-already-up” not as catchy but honest and true for when we got there.

The following picture proves this…

We start our descent to Machu Picchu, en route we meet up with an American couple coming the other way. We’re both dressed in our welsh tops, proud as punch of this and they congratulate us both, as this was Sunday morning and Wales had played Fiji on Friday night. I thought, fair play if this American pair are congratulating us we must have stuffed them. (I initially thought that at their age that they were a bit brave in walking back up the hill that they must have walked down a few minutes ago but must have really wanted more photos with the Llamas en route so I discounted their freshness) So we continued to Machu Picchu to meet the rest of our team, all aware of my desire to play hide-and-seek.

After arriving there, we get the necessary photos with the city in the background (by this time the cloud had lifted, thank god…). Sadly it became clear that hide and seek wasn’t on the cards as it’s a place of national and world heritage and a few sections (of most hide-and-seek ability) were out of bounds, gutted isn’t the word.

The final part of the trip is Roger explaining the key facts of Machu Picchu and how the Inca’s built this city.  After two hours he explained that we would be travelling back down the mountain using the bus that had ferried all the other tourists up to the city. Hang on, I thought. We walked 41km to get to this place over 4 days and these bastards get here on the back up of a 16 seater… Unfair is not the word!

(BTW: As soon as I got to my laptop I found out that Wales hadn’t beaten Fiji so I guess the Americans must have been congratulating us on walking 41km over 4 days.. Cheers. :-( )

Our final night was spent in Cusco and as a group we all go out for a meal and over a few days I’ve given Roger and his side kick Rhody (AKA Antonio Banderas)  plenty of banter and they’ve explained to me and one of the other lads that the local delicacy is guinea Pig. So being a typical welsh bloke I don’t show any fear and order their finest guinea pig for my plate that evening (Thankfully they suggest that me and Dave share it.)

A few beers later and its tea time. Dave and I sit next to each other and the guinea pig is delivered to us on a plate, whole! Head, legs and claws in one… Now I was hoping for plenty of meat to tuck into but unfortunately they delivered us the Peter Crouch of guinea pigs and this bugger is as skinny and long as I’ve ever seen. They cut it up in four, remove the head and deliver it back to us.

The pictures below can describe it better than I can…

Disgustingly Roger eats the head and the brain and is pretty much the happiest boy in the park at this time leaving on the side of our plate the bloody jaw of the thing… What did it taste like?  No, it didn’t taste like chicken, in fact it tasted very rubbery and smelt of plastic and I definitely won’t be rushing back for it in future.

In all seriousness though, Roger and Rhody looked after us a treat and taught us a lot about the history of the Incas and kept us ticking over when the altitude got to us both. The porters and the chefs that accompanied us en route are legends, they ran the route ahead of us, each complete with 25kg  on their back containing all that we’d need for the trek. In fact one of our porters, actually holds the world record for running the full 41km of the Inca trail in 3 ¾ hours! (This is mental, I don’t think I could cover day 2 in 3 & ¾ hours..)

To celebrate his achievement we had a photo with the dude, as you can see he looks the happier one to be meeting us.

Our final day in Peru was spent showering and chilling out, I’d seen guys paragliding on the front at Miraflorres and had always wanted a go, thankfully the wind was good and I managed to get my chance at it. It was fantastic, so smooth and something that Leah definitely has to do somewhere on this trip.

Right that’s enough from me, thank you Peru you were great. The flight to Rio has nearly ended and I’ve missed all the films that were on offer, time to get some sleep.

More to come from Rio with a bit of luck….

Lima, a tale of two sides of the city

We arrived wearily in Lima last night about 7, complete with a full count of baggage including some unwelcome ones under our eyes!

After coming through customs and getting lucky on whether we needed to have our bags searched or not, we were confronted with hundreds of taxi and bus drivers (all fairy short and very dark) touting for business, but the thing I will never forget is the look on their faces, when they saw a 6ft 5” pasty bloke walking through. As we walked across the airport trying to find a toilet I could sense people pointing out my height to friends, then one taxi driver came to our rescue and decided that he knew the best route to the toilet. Leah left me in his capable company when she had a pee.

After two minutes of his company Ivan and I were the best of friends, he was not only going to take us to our hotel, he was also going to take us for a tour of the part of Lima we’re staying in. (Read – the long way around, with a few of the sight and sounds…) We discussed money and it was agreed that $25 would be the fare.

After two mins in Ivans taxi, I did like my dad use to tell me and put my seatbelt on pretty quickly. Jesus Christ, I thought my mother had a penchant for late braking and lane wandering but this guy took the biscuit, but after 30mins in his cab I quickly realised you must have to drive like this to exist in Lima as everyone was at it! After 30mins of speed bumps, lane swapping to find the fastest lane and cheating a few red lights Ivan is telling us about his kids, his elderly mother and if we liked to see them live, him being tipped well would help! He did however, give us some useful tips, such as: watch for the money you’re given as there’s a lot of them are fake, don’t go into central Lima during the night and we’d be okay. After dropping us off at our hotel, Ivan thought that our $5 dollar tip wasn’t too generous, to which my reply of: “That’s all you’re having butt!” Was met with a smile and a handshake from Ivan and he sped off to feed his extended family on a $5. (Incidentally – I have found out today that tipping in taxi’s isn’t expected and that you can get shit loads in Norky’s chicken take away for a $5 – Prick….)

With a few hours before we should go to bed, Leah and I decided to trace out steps that Ivan had shown us and find the local back packers area. We found a local sandwich place and decided to order the one thing that looked familiar to us on the menu. It was decided that I would go and order food and with my broken Spanish I returned hoping that we’d get what I wanted. RESULT! Two chicken sandwiches, something to drink and unexpectedly more sauces than you can shake a stick at, not just your usual ketchup and mayo but chilli sauce, mustard, tartare sauce and some pink shit.

November the 15^th…

Decided to go into central Lima today following Ivans advice to not go there during the night and visit there in the day. It was cold this morning with plenty of cloud covering us, after another shit-your-pants taxi ride we got to central Lima to find it really warm and yes, I forgot to cover my bonce in sun cream and have burnt the bloody thing, people in the airport will have a good laugh at me now as I resemble a swan vesta match!

Central Lima is totally different to the side of the city were staying in, which seems to be the wealthy side of the city (known as the Miraflores.) With a contrasting type of people living there, for those of you who have stayed somewhere where “Spliff, Charlie my friend?” Are often asked of you then you’ll know what I mean. Central Lima also had an unhealthy amount of KFC’s, McDonalds, Norky’s and Pardo’s chicken outlets (Yes, I know. Couldn’t get over it! Somebody tell Matthew that his cough his famous over here!)

Leah and I have quickly worked out that Health & Safety is optional in Peru, people cut the grass and clean the sides of the motorway without closing a lane. In fact, seeing a woman running across a lane to pick up a bottle of pop without any care for her own life, shows true dedication. Can’t imagine that happening back home, can you?

However, the one thing I can’t get over is the cars, now as most of you know my old man is fastidious of his cars and it’s rubbed off on me but Jeff Owens scrap yard would have a field day here.  Most cars showing some signs of damage from a bump, few of them have a full set of brake or even side lights, indication doesn’t exist and cutting up someone is in fact an art. To be honest, the taxi driver we had coming home from central lima was aiming for a gold medal. His taxi resembled a yellow version of the “murf mobile” from Waynes World. Sporting proudly a First Aid box in the back window, to be honest once we were in it, I was slightly worried that it had been nicked after most of the wires from under the dash were on full display. Though I decided we were okay once I saw the keys and the picture of his daughter on the dashboard (No boys, I wouldn’t….)

Cuzco tomorrow with a 5am start is enough to get me to bed as soon as possible tonight! We do know that there are 13 of us on the trek, so that should be cool. Let’s just hope that altitude sickness doesn’t get to us and that my ankle holds itself together…

The best of friends and an awesome family…

It’s been a long week, trying to fit everything in (literally – my bag) and saying good bye to everyone. As someone commented in my party, all this fuss for a few weeks in Marbella…

Leah and I just wanted to say thanks to Jan and my mum and dad for organising the party last week for us. It was amazing and as you know we’re going to miss you and the rest of the tribe loads while we’re away but we’ll see you when we’re back…

Huge thanks goes to Van for sorting out the boys and for Ami in arranging the girls..

Anyway, it was decided that we’d get all the boys together for a few beers and an Indian in Aberdare’s finest new Indian food establishment to make sure I go. (Seeing a hot dog getting knocked over wasn’t on the cards though…)

I just wanted to thank all the boys for a great night and for making my ribs hurt from laughing at you all taking the piss out of each other for 5 hours. I know I’ll look at this photo and remember the awesome mates I have back home. See you in a few months!

What a few days...

As I said in the last update, Leah and I had a sneaky suspicion that our parents were up to no good and we weren't mistaken. Well, actually we were mistaken. It was in fact, our friends, old colleagues and family that were up to no good!

For those of you that don't know, Leah and I that we were going out for food last Saturday with our families but in fact were lucky to have a surprise party thrown for us! Around a 100 people got together to celebrate us leaving! The first hour was a total blur, while we both took a time to take everything on board and go around and say hello to everyone! I have to apologies for my terrible attempts at a witty speech; thankfully Leah was there to rescue us though!

A great night was had and we have to thank everyone for their efforts in organising the party and thanks to all that attended, 'twas a brilliant night!

Following Saturday, its been busy seeing people for the last time and making sure that everything that needs to be done is done. Today has been especially busy, Jenkin St is now just home to the two of us with Paddy the fish now taking up residence in Hirwaun with Leah's mam. I'm sure she's going for the largest number of pets in home!

I'm updating this blog from the comfort of our bed, whilst Leah is apparently singing Karaoke in the boot in Aberdare! So it sounds like she’s making sure that she leaves a good impression on our Aberdare as we leave.

I’m having a beer and an Indian with the boys tomorrow night, bit of luck I won’t get too much of an hangover as we have around 48hours of travelling from Saturday night.

The last day….

Well I started this blog, with much gusto. I genuinely had the best of intentions of providing my family, friends and colleagues with a running updates on my feeling and attitude to the forthcoming trip. However, a very busy work schedule and lots of training ended up taking over my life rather than this blog. Though, I promise to make every effort over the next few months to keep this updated!

Work is out…

When we first had the opportunity to take this trip, we both thought that 6 months would be the most we could go for, hoping that we would both have jobs to come back to. Though, things haven’t worked out like that and we’ve both resigned from our jobs.

Leah finished work last week, which was a pretty emotional time for her. 8 years in a job that you quite like is a long time, especially when you build up a large group of friends.

I thankfully finished work today. I have, at times enjoyed the last year in my job but finishing today didn’t actually bring the relief that I thought it would, more an emptiness that I didn’t expect. I guess I no longer have work to hide behind! Perhaps they’ll have me back when we return…

All that’s left for to me to do is wash some clothes, make sure my iPod is full and start getting my sh*t together.

I now have one week of saying good bye, sorting things out, having a few beers with some good mates and spending the rest of the time stopping myself crying (Yes – I know I’m a big girl…)

Our families are up to no good so I’m sure that they’ve got something organised for us both too.  

For the first time in weeks, I can actually say I’m excited. There’s been lots of Machu Pichu on the telly with Fern Cotton and Denise Van Outen to Karl Pilkington and An Idiot Abroad. I actually feel like I’ve been there so that’s quite reassuring and is making me less apprehensive.

Anyway, that’s enough from me… More interesting updates to follow in two weeks time!