The day did not start as planned, and, by the time it was over, I knew I could throw the itinerary away. If things could go wrong, they would.
Day 1 itinerary:
Leaving Cusco after breakfast around 7:00 a.m. we travel through traditional Quechua communities and through the spectacular eastern ranges of the Andes to the village of Paucartambo, passing snow-peaks and small Andean farmsteads. We will have time here to look around this picturesque village. We then ascend to the last pass overlooking the Amazon Basin and begin the breath-taking descent from 3500 meters to 1600 meters above sea-level to our comfortable lodge in the orchid laden Cloud Forest. This is a spectacular journey passing cascading waterfalls and multicolored birds along the way. In the late afternoon, we’ll walk into the lodge to the sounds of Quetzals, Trogons and Gray-breasted Wood-Wrens. Night at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge.
Day 1 as accomplished:
Instead of being the last person to board the Manu Expeditions’ van, I was the first. Scheduled for a 6:45 a.m. pick-up, I was, luckily, just finishing my breakfast when the van arrived at 6:15. Moreover, I had already handed off my large suitcase for storage until my return, and the small duffel I would take with me was at the door. Being first turned out to be a blessing. I got my choice of seats, and I, of course, picked the one behind the driver.
With five fellow tour-mates, our guide, cook, and driver plus all of our food and gear for a week, the van ended up being very full.
From Cusco we headed east over the mountains towards the Amazon basin. About an hour after leaving Pisaq where the pavement ended, as we were winding our way down a mountain, the right front tire blew. The driver pulled over, and we piled out. Klaus took us on a stroll to find birds while the driver and Fortunato, our cook, got the spare off the roof. Sometime later, the van pulled up; it still had the blown tire on it. The spare was also flat. We piled back in, and the driver proceeded very slowly. When a bicyclist passed, the driver asked where he might get the tire fixed. Supposedly it wasn’t far to a village, and there was someone there who could help us. So we continued on, passing through the village where the one store we saw was boarded up tight. Maybe a mile later the driver stopped; the tire was in shreds. More bicyclists indicated we had missed the place, so the driver and cook take the spare off the roof, and the driver began rolling it back to the village. A car came along and Fortunato hitched a ride to the village. Meanwhile, Klaus took his satellite phone and climbed to the top of the ridge to call Cusco. The company would send someone with new tires. The rest of us lounged or strolled; some searched for birds. Elaine concerned herself over a wounded dog, and Felicia tried to talk to a woman walking by, but she didn’t understand Spanish.
Our van
Its tire
The view
The traffic on the road
Sunday rubberneckers
Eventually we saw the driver rolling the tire down the hill toward the van. But Klaus reported that it wasn’t usable, so he climbed a shorter hill and called back to the office on his satellite phone. The next thing we knew, Klaus was telling us we had to walk. Seems like I’d heard this before, only this time I didn’t have to drag my suitcase along. (See my post on “Road Walking Peruvian Style.”)
We walked to the next village (Paucartambo?); it took about two hours and was quite pleasant. Along the way we saw painted sheep like I had seen on Taquile.
Painted Sheep
While some of us waited for the last of the group to arrive, Felicia befriended a young boy who was fascinated with her binoculars.
Felicia with boy who had never seen binoculars
It was Sunday and this market town was filled with people. Unlike some villages I’d been in, the women here wore a wide variety of hats.
Which hat do you like best?
The next thing we knew Klaus was telling us to return to the upper edge of town where we would have lunch. There was our van, still with its shredded tire. I gathered that the driver had continued on after we were out of sight, going very slowly. Perhaps he thought reducing the weight was necessary; maybe Klaus just wanted to keep us busy. Klaus never said why we were walking, but I think we were all happier to have been walking than standing around.
Fortunato doled out lunch, and we ate in the van. It probably was at least 2pm. As we were sitting there, a van covered with painted ants and filled with a larger group of tourists passed by. The drivers exchanged comments. Lots of people walked by, looked at the tire, and laughed. Just as the cook was packing up, our replacement van arrived. So the two drivers and the cook transferred all our stuff to the new van. The replacement van had a smaller luggage compartment but more seats. More stuff had to go on the roof and that took time to secure and cover with tarps.
We finally left the village just after 3 pm. The new driver seemed to be trying to make up for lost time. While I never felt endangered by his speed, it was a very curvy road and my stomach did not like the ride at all. As we neared the pass where we would start our descent down to the jungle, clouds loomed on the horizon.
I was feeling pretty green when we stopped at the entrance to Manu National Park on the top of Acjanaco Pass (3,550m).
The above pictures are deceptive. Just a few feet higher at the mirador, I could barely find the monument in the fog.
Monument to Sven Ericsson
Within a distance of less than a kilometer, we had moved from the dry grasslands of the western slopes of the Andes to the humid rainforests of the eastern slopes.
Then, we careened down the mountain into the cloud forest. It was foggy and getting dark. Much of the road was only wide enough for one car. There were no guard rails, and in places the drop-offs were precipitous.
View from Mirador down to the Madre de Dios River
In the following version, you can see the road switchbacking down the mountain.
The road down towards the jungle
Soon it started to rain. As it grew darker and darker, we would sometimes glimpse a waterfall in the dense forest.
About 15-20 riding minutes from our lodge we passed the ant van. It was now marooned with a flat tire, and its passengers were walking to their lodge in the dark and the pouring rain along a pothole-infested dirt road. Klaus said they had a 2 to 3 hour walk before them as their lodge was beyond ours.
We arrived at the Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge around 6:30. I was assigned to cabin #2. (This photo was obviously taken the next morning as it was pitch dark and pouring rain with we arrived.)
Cabin at Cock-of-the-Rock Lodge
We were told to assemble for dinner in 10 minutes. The cabins were nice, wooden with private bathrooms and propane-heated water. There was no electricity
We were given a welcoming Pisco sour, and several of us ordered beer. It had been a long, grueling day that was harder on my stomach than the Inca Trail had been on my knees. For dinner we had broccoli soup, some sort of hot beef stew with rice, and melon for dessert.
I took a shower and was in bed by 9.