where we came from

day 2 of the inca trail. about 8 hours of walking the path of the ancient incas en route to machu picchu. the crossing over 2 mountain passes (while nearing the second, this photo shows mands pointing back towards the first one, aptly named dead woman's pass), and down into 2 deep valleys. moving through about 7 vastly different temperate ecosystems from tropical tangled thick jungle to open near barren plains on the flat tops of mountains. blazing sun, misty rain, white snow (the last sighted in the distance on mountain tops only, thanks be). and as i have said before, i would do it all over again.

can a bird actually hum?

this is one of the half decent photos i managed to get of the nazca lines - of the hummingbird geoglyph - as our tiny 6 seater plane rolled and banked at extremely high speed and low altitude over the nazca desert. while i managed to spot all the main shapes bar the monkey - mands, sitting beside me, saw the first few then spend the rest of the short flight barely holding down her breakfast while the woman in the seat in front of me (hi nicole!) lost hers completely. the shapes are quite amazing - some up to 200 metres across and completely indistinguishable as anything other than piles of rubble at ground level.

very very vertigo

i don't usually suffer a fear of heights but i don't mind telling you that when i had had my fill of the views over machu picchu from the top of huayna picchu, which is the little mountain you see in every classic machu picchu shot behind the main city, and turned around to make my descent - i was for a moment absolutely and utterly paralysed with sheer terror at the sight of the return journey, which is featured in this photo. on the climb (in many parts literally climbing) up i didn't take much notice of the lack of safety features - most likely because having trekked over 50km in the prior 3 days up and down mountains, it took every last scrap of energy (more sheer determination!) to make the final 360m vertical ascent up huayna picchu. i didn't have the energy on the way up to notice the lack of rails or ropes or anything resembling an obstacle to a near sheer drop to the mountain valley floor below. however as i went to make my way down, it was ALL i could notice. needless to say i did make a safe return down, but i'll never forget that sickening fear and imaginings of tumbling all the way down should i lose my footing or grip!

llamas are not overly friendly creatures

they may look very pretty and soft but they are pretty tetchy and more than likely inclined to spit at you if they get annoyed. this one had a glint in his eye and a suspiciously wet corner to his mouth i remember noting as i quickly took the photo. although i guess having their owner pimp them out to tourists for the quinessential south america llama shot all day long - 'twere i a llama i'd be spitting too :)

colca canyon condor

we rose early on a bitterly cold windy morning and drove for a good hour or so through a hilly barren landscape to a rocky outcrop ledge on the edge high in the colca canyon, the world's second deepest canyon.there was nothing else we were there for except the hope of condors, not a promise as we were given no guarantee of even seeing one. we waited patiently in a steadily growing crowd for over an hour before we noticed someone down the far end of the ledge pointing excitedly - and desperately followed the rough line their finger indicated. and then we saw our first majestic andean condor with its wingspan of metres, soaring silently but at great speed on the canyon updrafts. it was a spectacular example of perfect nature. 

day 2 inca trail

with the mists clearing to reveal clear blue skies, it was a fresh and breath-taking start to day 2 of the inca trail, looking up at the mountain peaks towering over us, and of which we had slept in the shadows the night preceding, our campsite halfway up the main incline to dead woman's pass. we were informed by our guide, wearing a sly love-scaring-the-tourists smile, that several hikers die every year attempting to walk over the pass. i loved every minute and every metre of the 45 kilometres of the inca trail, and would do it all again in a heartbeat.