Tuesday, April 19, 2005
Inca Empire Tour 29th Jan - 13th Feb
I've collected here few photos from my tour in the beginning of February with Anna, Glen, Michelle, Lene and Gerry. The trip was great, we did an alternative inca trail (also known as Hiram Bingham Trail after the famous "scientific" discoverer of Machu Piqchu, who followed this route) as the more common one was closed due to cleaning.
Also the Carnaval fell on these dates, so we had great fun in street battles against the local youth, armed with cans of compressed foam. I was able to dodge several buckets of water aimed at me.
Puno was also having it's Virgen de la Candelaria -festival so we joined in to dance amongst the scores of intoxicated Andeans while they slowly processed through the streets of Puno. The parade is the most striking of all of Perú, with a multitude of colourfully dressed groups from all around, and the night was spent watching them from the balcony of Ekeko's bar. Especially the drunken white gorillas were hilarious.
The trip finished in La Paz where we did a visit to the highest ski resort in the world, the Chacaltaya, and built two snowmen on top. Mine and Anna's was definitely better-looking, though Gerry and Glen's snowpimp boasted a Cuban cigar and a stony pecker (which eventually fell off).
After the trip was officially over, we (except for Anna who had a flight to catch) continued to Coroico on mountain bikes on the "world's most dangerous road". It was second time for me to do the ride but equally exhilarating. Glen was the only one to have an accident when we practically had already finished the ride: a sudden breaking threw him over leaving a nasty open wound.
Overall, it was great fun! After the guys went on, I decided to hang around for a while in Bolivia..
Also the Carnaval fell on these dates, so we had great fun in street battles against the local youth, armed with cans of compressed foam. I was able to dodge several buckets of water aimed at me.
Puno was also having it's Virgen de la Candelaria -festival so we joined in to dance amongst the scores of intoxicated Andeans while they slowly processed through the streets of Puno. The parade is the most striking of all of Perú, with a multitude of colourfully dressed groups from all around, and the night was spent watching them from the balcony of Ekeko's bar. Especially the drunken white gorillas were hilarious.
The trip finished in La Paz where we did a visit to the highest ski resort in the world, the Chacaltaya, and built two snowmen on top. Mine and Anna's was definitely better-looking, though Gerry and Glen's snowpimp boasted a Cuban cigar and a stony pecker (which eventually fell off).
After the trip was officially over, we (except for Anna who had a flight to catch) continued to Coroico on mountain bikes on the "world's most dangerous road". It was second time for me to do the ride but equally exhilarating. Glen was the only one to have an accident when we practically had already finished the ride: a sudden breaking threw him over leaving a nasty open wound.
Overall, it was great fun! After the guys went on, I decided to hang around for a while in Bolivia..
# posted by Jussi Soini @ 12:02 AM 
