I trekked the Amazon, salsa-ed at 3,399 meters above sea level in Cusco, completed the Lares Trek, hiked up Machu Picchu and Waynapicchu, dived (in my underwear!) into Lake Titicaca, cycled down the world's most dangerous road (to 'fess - halfway only la) in the Bolivian Andes, gone through a hell of a bumpy ride, complete with dust mite bites, across the salt plains and desert at Salar de Uyuni (exposed a boob or two along the way!), stole a woollen blanket from the Salt Hotel, froze my feet off in a supposedly heated bus on my way to La Paz, tumbled down Colca Canyon and huffed and puffed my way back up, whizzed across the Nazca Lines, risked marine bird droppings at the Islas Ballestas, ate a worm alive, chewed on cuy (guinea pig) and drank a couple of Pisco Sours and Colca Sours before I found my way to Huaraz to meet the Chos.
See what I would do to meet my favourite Singaporeans in South America!
Case Summary:
Introductions M and I crashed at the hostel after an 8-hour bus ride running through the night from Lima. We were woken up by familiar sounds of "Hola!" and "Wake up!" and greeted by D's camera on video mode. I certainly didn't look appropriate (and definitely not M ha-ha (see video below)) for the camera, but what the heck! I was finally meeting D & Y in South America! I had no idea how much I missed the sight and sounds of Singaporeans until I met D & Y. I love Singapore! I love Singaporeans more! I love my buddies, D & Y even more! Ah-bu-den! Weeks of interacting only with Ang Mohs, Guai Los and Lao Wais restricted me to
(1) speaking only well-articulated English; (2) polite conversation about whether a certain game is known as football or soccer; and (3) boring soliloquy (not mine) about "me, myself and I".
Oh, how I missed rattling on and on in Singlish and having people responding with the same.
Causation Bless M for choosing to watch the EPL game that afternoon on his own so that I could catch up with D & Y. It was surreal that the 3 of us could be seated together in a little creperie in Huaraz chatting about our travels in South America. I have D & Y to thank for travelling South America: Back on 20 July, my boss kindly granted my birthday wish for a long break from work for my big 3-0 (yes, I was getting all philosophical about the meaning of life as my expiry date drew near). I had spent recent years of my life being busy from one deal to another, and it was pretty scary stuff having so much free time at hand. Thank heavens the stars must have aligned when D extended an invite for me to join them on their trip of a lifetime while I ponder about my existence.
The rest is history.
Fine! I will watch the game on my own! *manly pout*
Santa Cruz Trek 0.5 As planned, we started on the Santa Cruz Trek the next day. We equipped ourselves with walking sticks, thermals, lots of toilet paper, hand sanitizer, chocolate and most importantly, stupendous socks! One would have thought we were more than adequately prepared to complete the trek.
Unfortunately, Y suffered from altitude sickness on Day 1 of the the trek. Poor D had to carry all of Y's stuff all the way to the campsite even though he was suffering from altitude migraine as well. I offered the help of M, my personal "alpaca" but D bravely trudged on. (Two years of NS creates Singapore heroes like D!) So Day 1 was certainly no winter wonderland. It also didn't help that one of the trekkers with us most annoying - whenever Y or I spoke to the guide, she would repeat in her words what we said to the guide. It then occurred to us that she was trying to translate our English into her English.
In the morning of Day 2 of the trek, D & Y decided to turn back and return to Huaraz. They said it was not worth suffering any further to make it to the pass. I knew it was more like D didn't want to see Y fall more ill, and Y didn't want to see D prolong his pain as he would have to carry all of their stuff, his and hers, up the pass. (Awwww!)
When D & Y excused themselves from the breakfast table to pack, the thought of spending my last few precious days in South America with the snotty racist and her friends was cringe-worthy enough to send me running to my tent to split our stuff between M and me. And so I decided to follow my countrymen back to Huaraz. Although I felt a little terrible for ditching M, I took comfort in the fact that my friends could do with some Ching-action on the potentially boring trek home. I was a little disappointed that I had to give up the trek halfway, because I am usually too proud to give up on anything I embark on. But I am glad I chose to turn round with D & Y as the way back turned out to be quite a little adventure!
Ditched!
The way home
Follow me! Ching leads the way (up the wrong mountain though)
Are we there yet....
.... nooo
It was rainy, gloomy and very cold, the trail was full of mud and poop (animal only I hope), and Y was definitely still struggling with her altitude sickness. With a little team work - I paced the group, D carried Y's stuff and helped her along, and Y doing her best to keep going, we managed to find our way back to our first stop at Vaqueria in 4 hours. To put things in perspective, we took more than 4 hours on the same trail the day before. Us 3 little Singaporeans certainly knew our way around the mountains of Cordillera Blanca!
At Vacqueria, we joined a Dutch couple and their trekking guides who had been waiting for 3 hours, to catch a taxi to our second stop at Yungay. It continued to rain heavily, we were cold and exhausted from the earlier trek, and there was no taxi in sight.
I was wondering if we could actually make it back to Huaraz before nightfall, when lo and behold, a chicken truck pulled up in front of us! The truck was already ferrying a local family and their farm produce. After some negotiation, the driver agreed to take all of us back to Yungay for a small fee. I probably wouldn't have taken a ride in a truck like this in Singapore, but hey, we were in South America and couldn't wait to get to a hot shower and warm bed! Ailing Y took the only front passenger seat, and the rest of us hopped on the back of the truck to join the locals.
The truck's lack of suspension made it a helluva roller coaster ride down the mountains! There were no proper seats at the back of the truck, so I moved from one sack of farm produce to another each time I fell off a sack. First I sat on the melons, then the corn bags, before the local ladies kindly invited me to cosy up with them under a huge woolen blanket. Poor D had to contend with the chicken coops, consequence of which made for another good story. Meanwhile, I chatted animatedly with the local ladies, even though I didn't understand a single word they spoke. Best conversation ever! Lots of laughter and charades :)
The girls then fell in love with my gold coloured casio watch thinking it was made of real gold; they each asked me for the time every 5 to 10 minutes just so that they could take a peek. It was really heartwarming that they were so generous about sharing their blanket, time, space and culture (one of the old ladies gave me some basic geography lessons in Spanish - she pointed out to a lagoon and coo-ed "la-goo-naa!").
Outside, the drizzle turned into a heavy downpour which then became snow. We were a scene right out of Travel & Living.
Judgment:
I am thankful to have spent such an amazing time with D & Y. It was very heartening to witness husband and wife care for and support each other the way D & Y did. They made me realize what a life partnership is about - D leads and decides when Y is ill, and Y cares for D's well-being when he does the heavy-lifting, they take turns with daily tasks and absolutely enjoy each other's company. Each is incomplete without the other. I recall telling M that D & Y are not typical Singaporeans, they do stuff, they create a life and they are wonderful people to be around. I have utmost admiration for them in making this trip happen and am inspired to do something this big for myself too. I wish them only the best for the rest of the journey!
Together with Dan, Ching and Mark (Ching's friend from the UK), I attempted my first multi-day mountain trek in South America.
How did it turn out? We'll let our guest bloggers tell you all about it. No... their names are not Ching and Mark (not yet, anyway.) Introducing the storytellers for this blog entry... here's *drumroll*... MY BODY!
What the.... Yes, you heard right. My body parts are guest starring. Just read on lah.
Flashback to July this year:
Eyes: Hey hey hey Fingers, quit flipping the pages of the guidebook and stop riiigghhtt.... there! Yeah, yeah, that's it! Page 918... move down... and STOP! Brain, hey, Brain, wake up! What do you make of it, the 4-day Santa Cruz trek in Cordillera Blanca?
Brain: *yawn* Huh? What? Hmmm... best Andean views in Peru, icy waterfalls and lakes, verdant valleys, mossy meadows... Hmmm, sounds good... Well, what do the other body parts say? After all, you guys are going to be doing all the work. I'm just going to be carried all the way. Heh. Heh heh. Cool huh.
Heart: Just imagine the wondrous top-of-the-world feeling at the highest point of the climb! Legs: Fwah, we might have to climb really high. But we can do it lah. Yeah, rock on! Woot! Fingers: Feeling trigger happy already! Eyes: Look at those views in the photos! Amazing! Let's do it! Stomach: Sure *gurgle* As long as I get fed. Do I get to try alpaca steak? *gurgle* Lungs: Yeah, yeah, whatever. Fresh mountain air sounds good.
Brain: Okay, set! US$120 for 4 days sounds pretty doable. We can fit that into our budget. We start on 10 September so that Ching can join us for the trek.
Heart: Yaaaaay! I miss Ching. Will be really good to see her again!
Spirit: Yeah! That's the, er... spirit!
10 September 2009
(After 4 hours in a van from Huaraz, with a break for breakfast)
Legs: Hey guys, this trek has been pretty comfy so far huh! We're just snuggling up together and enjoying the ride.
Brain: *yawn* Huh? Whatever. I woke up so darn early today. I... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
Lungs: Yeah, it's a good start. What thin mountain air? I'm doing fiiiinnnne.... aaaahhhhhh...
Stomach: *grumble* What type of breakfast were we given back there?! Ugh. You call that food?! I don't think so!!! I'm still trying to digest the stone-cold breadroll *grumble*
Eyes: Omigod omigod omigod!!! Check out the views of the lakes!!!!
Heart & Spirit: Fwaaaaaaaaaaahhhh!!!!!!
Beautiful shade of blue
Ears: Hey guys, guys, listen up! The guide's saying that the name of this lake is Laguna 69...
Brain (waking up): What what? Did someone say 69.... hee hee *giggle*
Heart: Eeeeyeeerrr! Shut up, Brain. Some body parts are trying to enjoy themselves here. It's a wonderful feeling and great privilege to witness Mother Nature's beautiful handiwork in person.
Chingching Chingching goes climbing! With us!
Laguna 69 - a "girl" lake and a "boy" lake snuggle up to each other
We survived pupillage and our first few fledgling months together. We never imagined then that we would be trekking in Peru one day.
(30 minutes after starting the trek)
Legs: Hey guys, this is easy peasy! We just keep going downhill. I'm on the roll! Yeah!
Lungs: Yeah, rock on, Leggies! I can handle this speed. Hardly working up a sweat here.
Eyes: Guys, guys, why you moving so fast? We don't have time to look at the views! Hey! Slow down!
Brain: Keep going, Legs, keep going! Keep pumping while you can, it's going to get harder once we hit the uphill slopes. We gotta keep time here. Hup hup hup! Eyes.... shuddup. Nothing much to see here - just a few dusty houses and brown hills and..... watch out for that horse poop! Sheesh, keep an eye on the trail, for goodness sake!
Fingers: We're bored!!! And do we have to cling on to these trekking poles all the time? Can't somebody else do this?! Why does it always have to be us who have to carry everything?!
Stomach: Good gawd, the banana they gave me for lunch was so overripe... it was gross. And Brain, why did you order Fingers to remove the ham from the sandwich? It might have been okay to eat but Fingers fed it all to that stray puppy and I was given plain bread only. Hello? Are you stupid or what?! Eyes told me about the chocolate bar stashed away in the backpack... I want chocolate! You hear me? I want it! *pout*
View at some point of the trek
(1 hour later...)
Lungs: We've been climbing such steep slopes *gasp gasp* Lungs to Brain, Lungs to Brain! We need to stop! I... can't... breathe...
Ears: Are you guys deaf? Have you no sense of hearing? He said...
Lungs: *gasp* Legs: *faint* Fingers: *cramp* Stomach: BRAIN!!!!! EYES!!!! Did you guys know anything about having to scale up to 4,760m above sea level?!!?!
Eyes: Yeah, we saw those numbers printed in the book. But we couldn't really figure out what they meant, so we told Brain and...
Lungs, Legs, Fingers, Stomach (in unison): AND?!?!?
Brain: Erm, well, erm... I just thought cool, yeah, cool. And erm, didn't really evaluate how you guys would take to the altitude. I guess, er, I didn't realise how it would affect us, as a body... and now it's only going to get harder... and colder....
Fingers: We're all going to freeze! Oh woe, oh woe are we...
Yeah, that's where we were suppose to be...
Brain: Okay, okay, I can manage this, the situation is under control... Body, give everything you possibly can to Dan the alpaca to carry. That includes trekking poles, backpack, camera, extra fleece layer... Yeah, everything goes to the alpaca!
Dan the alpaca
(3 hours later...)
Legs (crawling into tent): Okay everyone, we finally made it to camp for the night. But we're feeling terrible! Very weak. How's everyone feeling?
Brain: I'm in pain!
Fingers: We're frozen till it hurts!
Lungs: We hurt too. And we can't breathe. We can't continue like this. The air is only going to get thinner and colder as we move higher tomorrow, and the day after.
Stomach: I'm running on empty. But I can't eat anything. I feel positively ill.
Heart: But I still want to complete this trek. I really want to do it.
Spirit: I'm crushed.
Brain: The alpaca's worn out too. If we suffer 100% trekking to the next campsite tomorrow, the alpaca will suffer 200% carrying our things and himself up the mountain. I've decided that we will do the sensible thing and turn back to Huaraz first thing tomorrow morning. Now everyone go to sleep. Stomach, try to drink some soup first. Goodnight!
(At 1.37am)
Stomach: HURL!!!!
Fingers: Grab the plastic bag, grab the plastic bag!! EWWWWW!!! It's orange! Crap, this is one heavy bag!
(Alpaca groggily rises from the commotion, gingerly picks up the bag by its handles and places it outside the tent. Lovingly sayangs the sick person and drifts back to sleep.)
(11 September, 7am)
All set to trek 4hrs back to the starting point, complete with silly hats and funny faces. Or funny hats and silly faces.
Brain: Hey guys, I don't know about you guys, but I'm pretty excited to be heading back - warm beds, real food, hot showers, clean and dry clothes...
Heart: I'm a bit bummed at not being able to complete this trek. But hey, as long as Dan is with me, I'm happy. And I'm grateful to Ching for coming with us and watching over us. She's a really good friend.
Spirit: I choose love and friendship over bragging rights to this mountain, anytime!
Eyes: And look! We get to ride in the back of a chicken truck, back into town!!!
Everyone: Woot! Wave for the camera! Uno, Dos, Tres..... HOLAAAA!!!!!!
Getting cosy with the locals... and their corn, melons and dirty chicken coops (with no chickens)
Eyes: And omigod! Looklooklooklooklook! It's SNOWING!!! Wanna go out and have a look?!
Rest of Body: Err, no. Cold!
Eyes: But everyone's outside in the snow. The driver, the Dutch couple, Dan, Ching. Ching's got something in her hands.... *squint*... it's, huh? Toilet paper? She's ohhh... OHHHHHH.
Don't bother searching for Ching and her toilet paper in this pic. The photographer had some decency not to snap in that direction!
(At 8pm, back at the guesthouse in Huaraz)
Brain: I'm calling for a meeting. Everybody tune in please. We need to come to a consensus about attempting future treks, such as the Lares Trek to Machu Picchu and the icy trails in Torres del Paine in Chile, cos we will need to work well together if we are ever going to complete any trek that we start. Brain (aside to Right Hand): Psst, RH, are you taking notes? Please draft the Notes of Meeting within 24 hours for me to vet and approve.
Brain: I vote for a sensible take on this, so all in favour of never attempting a mountain trek again, say "aye!" Lungs: Aye! Yeah, let's just take the train to Machu Picchu, can? Brain: Aye! Right Leg: Aye! Left Leg: Aye! Fingers: Aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye aye! Eyes (forlornly): Sigh... well, okay... aye, we guess. But it's such a pity to miss those beautiful views.... Nose: Aye! Stomach: Ayeayeayeayeayeayeayeayeayeaye!!! Butt: Hey guys, I know I haven't said much throughout this whole fiasco, but hey, sitting on a train sounds good. Spirit (clearing throat): *fake cough* aye-hem *fake cough*
Heart (stubbornly): Well, I wouldn't exactly say never again...
Spirit (fierce whisper to Heart): Shush!! Don't let those wimpy body parts (and the alpaca) hear you! But yeah, I know what you mean. Someday, my friend, someday... We'll make it.
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~~ GO ~~
Excerpt from Visa Ad:
"It's one tiny, two-letter word that makes amazing things happen. GO is action. it's the spark that starts the flame that sets everything in motion. GO gets us to try things we've always wanted to try. GO keeps us going no matter what life throws our way. GO reminds us it's a big beautiful world out there, and it's time to make the most of it.... to get out there and play. to get out there and do. to get out there and experience all the incredible things life has to offer."
Fine! I will watch the game on my own! *manly pout*
Ditched!
Follow me! Ching leads the way (up the wrong mountain though)
Are we there yet....
.... nooo
Never shalt they be apart
