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THE ROUTE
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The Odyssey to Cusco
Dan takes photographs of the mysterious Nazca lines
As usual now, it has been a long time since my last post. I can’t say it’s getting easier to get an internet access, and the last few days have been very busy, as you will read.
When we arrived in Lima, we checked in a backpacker hotel in the Miraflores district. It was the simplest solution, since opening our tent in the center of Lima would have been challenging.
Miraflores District, Lima
We stayed two nights there (US$5 in any backpacker hotel, nowhere specific to recommend, god luck to get hot water), and I tried to get on top of things I had to do, like photo editing, or writing down notes for the blog. Dan and Nadia enjoyed the very cosmopolite area of the city a lot, and we took advantage of it by getting pizza in the neighborhood Italian street.
City center
The second day, we went for a visit of the city center. Because of the heavy traffic there, it is not considered a very relaxing experience to drive through, as we experienced.
Huacachina dunes
Out of the city, we followed the route south, and sped to Huacachina, a small oasis surrounded by huge sand dunes. We spent a night there, and in the morning, went for a buggy tour in the dunes, as well as some sand surfing. We then went to get food for the upcoming days, and we were back on the road.
Symbols in Nazca
Nazca, our next stop, is famous for its giant lines and geometric symbols drawn on the ground. Spread across 500 square kilometers (200 sq. mi.) in the pampa, the cryptic symbols are still a mystery, as it is not know who created them, and why. As mystified as others, we spent the night in the nearby city.
Peruvian pigs may be used as horses
At this point, we knew the easy time was finished. Ahead of us, we had three days of road going up the mountain to reach the city of Cusco. Cusco is known for being the place people leave to go visit the Machu Picchu, unfortunately closed this year because of rain and landslides.
Going up
We heard from travelers that the road was cut close to the city, because of the same weather related issues, and that we may not be able to reach it. Regardless, we decided to give it a try, and one sunny morning, early, we went east toward the mountains.
People in the mountains live out of time
The road was in good shape, the scenery amazing, and the first day, we were able to drive 200 kilometers (125 mi.) of the 640 we would have to do.
Unreal scenery, could be in Scotland
Scotland with Llamas
Around 6 p.m., as we had reached an altitude of 4,400 meters (14,500 feet), we discovered a large lake and decided to leave the main road to get closer to it and set camp for the night. At this altitude, the highland soil is like a sponge full of water, and I failed to notice the danger of getting trapped. As we got closer to the lake, the soil got more unstable, and finally, as we were passing a small water arm, the truck got caught deep in the mud.
At this point, we went out of the vehicle, got rocks to put under the tires, dug out wagons of mud, but could not get the truck out of the pond.
Our next bright idea was to try to get help from the road. I thought it would be hard to find someone who would risk to come down to help us out, but we tried. Few minutes after, we had our suicidal candidates. Two Peruvian truck drivers decided to let their trailer up on the road, and come down to try to haul us out.
Nadia goes out of the tent in the morning in a great mood and a lake of mud
Soon enough, they were in the exact same situation than we were, unable to move an inch in any direction. For few hours and as night was falling, we dug again, tried to build ramps of rocks, piled wood sticks under the wheels of the heavy truck with no success.
By then, we knew what would be our next problem. Altitude. Several times during our trip, we had to go pretty high, and had no problems with that, so we assumed we got acclimated to higher ground, and that altitude sickness could not get us. But this time was different. We were now higher than 4,000 meters, which seemed to trigger a stronger reaction. We were exhausted after spending hours moving rocks and digging, and felt terrible headaches and chest pain. It was pitch black and the temperature was falling quickly as we opened the tent in the hole of mud to try to get some sleep. The Peruvians were also going to sleep in the cabin of their truck.
We were still really sick in the morning, and continued the work to push the Peruvian truck out of the mud. Eventually, they were able to get out, but of course, after twelve hours in hell, they would not try to help us out another time.
All morning we tried to dig out my truck with no success. Every half hour, I would just collapse on the ground, and wait for my body to let me know I was still alive. Nadia was on the road, trying to stop a truck that could help us out. Around noon, an Argentinean family stopped in a Toyota truck, and gave it a try, but my truck would not move at all.
Finally out!
A bit after the Argentinians left, they were able to alert road workers down the road, and at 1 p.m., they came over with one of their machines, and finally got us out of our hole. You can only imagine how happy we were to be back on the asphalt, and how happy the workers were to see the green colors of American banknotes. Soon after, we went down in altitude and were feeling better.
Able to enjoy again the mountain scenery
At night, we camped in a village along the river and spent time with kids down there. The morning was rainy, which was a concern since rocks were constantly falling off the mountain.
The road is cut
Finally, we arrived to a location where the road was covered by rocks, and stones kept coming from high up. At the end we had no choice but go straight through the stone rain and hope for the best, as other were doing. Maybe because we had been unlucky earlier, this time, we went through without problem, as did Felix, who arrived with his RV few minutes after us. This was definitely the scariest moment of our way up to Cusco.
On the second of our four-day drive to Cusco
But we were lucky only for a short time. Few hours later, 30 kilometers after Abancay and going up, I felt that the brakes were getting weaker and weaker. We decided to backtrack to the city in low range to have the brake looked at. Down there, at the Toyota garage, they decided some air probably got in the system, and they purged the circuit. It was now too late for us to get to Cusco, as the road was only open few hours every day, so we decided to check in an hotel, and got diner with Hector, a English-speaking Peruvian we met at the garage. Dan and I also went for drinks with him in one of the city discotheque. At the end, after few tea-pisco, we were happy to be stranded there.
With Hector in a local restaurant
The morning after, at 6 a.m., we were leaving the city determined to make it to Cusco by the end of the day. Three hours after departure, we got to the difficult part where the road had been washed out, and drove in the mud for 20 kilometers.
Getting closer to Cusco
Everything went well, and after four days of travel, we arrived in the city, exhausted but happy to be alive. Dan will leave us on Thursday to get back to the U.S., and learn again to live like a normal person.
Cusco
16 Responses to “The Odyssey to Cusco”
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Marti-Nashville, TN February 26th, 2010 at 9:46 am
Nick & Nadia,
Now you know why you named your journey dangerous! So happy to see things are working out again. Beautiful trip, but as we can tell, very exhausting. You are very lucky you made it through the altitude sickness to say the least. That had to have been even scarier, Take care you still have a few more weeks before your going to run into a rough couple of days again. Seems for the amount of time you are gone, the odds are that you guys are going to have some problems. Nadia going to Africa with you? Any plans of additional friends coming to join you along the way? Nadia, you are a real trooper, at least they have you along to make sure they don’t forget what it is like to have a women giving them direction. LOLHow in the world did you manage to assemble the tent with all that mud?
Marti-Nashville, TN
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Oh, my. What a harrowing (scary) few days. More adventure than you bargained for. I bet you’ll be more careful about going off-road into muddy terrain now. May the rest of your time in Peru be trouble-free.
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Karey Gene February 26th, 2010 at 10:42 am
The machine was a powerful tool to get out of the mud. So sorry this happened to you both. So Dan will be back to the Usa well glad you all had a great time. The rock slide looked like no fun all thanks for the picture. Nadia ( I call adventure girl) must have been tried from all this not to be in With Hector in a local restaurant. God Bless all- will be praying for you all
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Shirley February 26th, 2010 at 1:35 pm
Wow- what an adventure! I’m amazed you got your car out of that ditch. Lucky you were close to a major highway….and that pig is amazing!
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Jameson February 26th, 2010 at 2:31 pm
Nick,
I’ve been following your journey from the beginning and love checking in on you every few days. It is amazing that you’ve made it so far already. This partciular post was very exciting to see how you resolved issues and kept pushing forward.
The pictures are amazing. It is so interesting to see all the different cultures and people that you’re meeting along the road. Please be safe and keep up courage and faith in what you’re doing. It is seriously a remarkable journey that you’ve embarked upon and you’re affecting more people in positive ways than you realize.
Grateful Reader,
Jameson
Minnesota -
Harvey (Naples) February 26th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Keep on Keepin’ on…
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Concepción, Chile suffered an 8.8 Richter magnitude earthquake this morning.
Nick’s Trans World Expedition was scheduled to pass through or close enough to this area to be directly affected. Now some of the delays the trip has suffered are looking like a blessing in disguise, if they kept Nick from being in Chile at this time.
However, the earthquake has likely disrupted roads through Chile for awhile to come and therefore may yet affect the TWE.
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Bill Brown February 27th, 2010 at 11:10 am
An 8.8 earthquake just hit off of Chile, with an 8 foot tsunami hitting Talcahuano and other areas on the coast. Over 125 dead so far. Hope you are all ok and glad to see you not camping on a beach. You guys have really been dodging the bullet on this trip, so far. Stay safe.
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Glad you got out of the mud. I LOVE the photo of the pig. That is a beast! Keep safe and keep up the good fight!
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I hope you are safe and nowhere near the earthquake in Chile! I was wondering how it would impede your journey. I believe you were scheduled to go through Chile, so I am curious. I can’t believe all the crazy things that have happened on your trip, so far!
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Nick and Nadia were still most likely 1000 or more miles away from the Concepción-Santiago area of Chile where the earthquake’s damage was most severe. It is possible they felt a tremble or two at the time of the earthquake, even that far away, as there were reports that it was felt in some places up to 1800 miles away, but it wouldn’t likely have caused any damage where Nick and Nadia were.
However, if you read the following email from a friend of a friend of mine in Santiago Chile during the earthquake, you will understand this quake is going to affect Nick and Nadia’s plans for TWE because of severe infrastructure damage in the area of central Chile where they were planning to go. “Stgo” in this email means “Santiago”.
Again, the following was NOT written by Nick and Nadia, but from Barbara living in Santiago:
“It was impossible to connect to internet to make or receive calls til now that it has been restored. I’m forwarding you this message that I got as a Warden to give you an idea of how the US Embassy is reporting the situation a couple of hrs. ago and the instructions we get as US citizens residing in Chile. We should stay put wherever we are because the major roads are blocked by damaged pavement, bridges over rivers totally collapsed 200 kms south of Stgo, etc.. So many families are still on summer vacation and planned to return to Stgo today or tomorrow…but they won’t be able to get here as usual…“Thank God all of us are fine–no one hurt, just very nervous everytime the ground seems to be shaking. The underground is not working in Stgo nor in Valparaiso. All flights into the Stgo airport have been cancelled, all official activities as well. I was planning to go to an international Spanish conference in Valpo next Tuesday, but now I don’t know if it will be able to take place!
“The house held up despite the worst earthquake I have been in. It felt like grade 12 and it lasted 5-6 minutes, but they say 3 min. and grade 8.3 from the US reports. Everything on the piano fell and broke, book cases landed on the floor, 2 paintings and numerous pictures on shelves also fell and the house was in the dark, except for the moonlight streaming in a window–indifferent to it all! I just prayed for God to have mercy! And he finally did stop it like he stopped the sea for his frightened apostles!
“It was not easy to fall asleep again and there were no communications possible to find out how anyone else fared. If you look at the reports now in daylight on internet or CNN, you will see all the damage throughout the central and central south of the country. The TV says now there are 122 dead and the number will probably grow.
“Thanks for your concern and prayers for all those you know and worry about here. Please also pray for the millions who now have to face the difficult reconstruction of their homes and work places and the infrastructure of this long, thin strip of land between the Andes and not very Pacific Ocean. Every president of Chile has an earthquake in his or her term, and I feel Michelle Bachelet must be appalled, but also relieved to be able to leave this mess in the
hands of the recently elected new government taking office Mr. 11!
Lots of love and prayers for you, too!
Barbara”Yes, lots of love and prayers go out to all affected by this catastrophe.
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NYC Hombre March 1st, 2010 at 9:30 am
Wow Nick, I see your truck stuck in the mud and I get the chills, that must’ve been some scary and frustrating experience. Hope the Chile earthquake did not affect you. What a road trip man..and I brag about driving down to Miami. Stay safe Nick.
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Marti-Nashville, TN March 1st, 2010 at 9:46 am
Nick,
My first thought was about your trip and your safety when I heard of the earth quake on Saturday. I knew you hadn’t made it that far yet, but still worried about you guys. I’m not able to check your trip status at home so I had to wait till this a.m. to see if everything was ok. David is right on the blessings in disguise. Looking forward to you next update.Marti-Nashville, TN
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Marti-Nashville, TN March 1st, 2010 at 10:24 am
Nick,
Like the new addition to the site. Looks like you are doing real good on the money. Maybe I should take you out for dinner when you come through Tennessee. You seem like a cheap date! LOL You sure keep accurate records! Really like the fact you have included the miles too. 8,000 miles is very impressive, keep on goin to the end. We all rooting for you. Enjoy the adventures ahead. -
Stephen March 1st, 2010 at 11:10 am
I hope you guys are ok. The damage from the earthquake on TV is devistating. Stay safe and we will be praying for you both!
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Ann-Marie March 1st, 2010 at 12:23 pm
Love the blog and I check in from time to time. Please be safe as you guys navigate through Chile.
