I would like to share my journey in
Peru with you. Now as you know I started fundraising over a year ago
and to start with, I’ve got to say, I was a little worried. £3500
was the minimum I had to raise and that is no small amount of money.
I started of with a second hand clothes sale which raised a couple
of hundred quid, and then I put on two shows, one here and one in
Hertfordshire, which together raised over £2000. The rest came from
the fantastic support I’ve received from all my friends here at EMC
and my other friends and family. I am so grateful for all the
support I’ve received from you all and I just want to say a big
thankyou to all of you here tonight and all the people who couldn’t
be here with us. I’ve seen some of the projects that our money will
go to help and some of the people our money will go to help, and it
really will make a big difference to so many lives, so thank you.
The Peru Trek Challenge was simple.
We’d walk from Ollantaytambo, 120km to Machu Picchu. We flew into
Cusco on Friday the 2nd of May 2008 and spent the day
getting used to being so high up. We camped on terraces outside the
town of Ollantaytambo and the next morning woke up to the most
spectacular views of the mountains and valleys surrounding us. After
a quick breakfast, we visited the town and the massive Inca ruins
there. The stone blocks used to create the houses, terraces and
temples were hand carved from stones quarried from the top of a
mountain a couple of miles away and dragged across the valley. No
easy feat considering they had no written language to record
measurements, no wheels, no animals that could pull and some of
these blocks weighed as much as 300 tonnes. After a quick guided
tour of the ruins, we had lunch and then began our trek in earnest.
We climbed a gravel track through cornfields and eucalyptus groves
for a couple of hours until we came to a village.
Here we stayed the night on the school
football pitch which was really nothing more than a rocky, patchy
field. Next morning before we left, we gave some gifts to the
children from the school. Some educational stuff like globes, pens
and pencils and some fun stuff like balloons, whistles and yoyos.
Then we began climbing again. By lunchtime we’d reached another Inca
ruin where we were given a brief history of Peru from the earliest
days of habitation to the Spanish conquest. The ruins overlooked the
valley we had just climbed up and from here it looked like we had
come a long way.
After lunch we climbed for a few more
hours in the sweltering heat until we reached our next campsite, on
another set of wide terraces. At 3700 metres above sea level, this
was a very cold and cheerless place and with most of us suffering
from the altitude in one way or another, we were happy to move on.
The next day was the hardest of the
trek and I’d have to say my life. We climbed steep, uneven paths for
about 4 hours with the sun beating down on us until we finally
reached the Charca Huanca pass; the highest point of the trek at
about 4500 metres. And what a view we were treated to. In every
direction we looked down miles below us at distant rivers and
valleys that seemed impossibly small, and across to snow capped
peaks.
After a brief stop for water and group
photos, we walked on for another 2 hours, gradually descending to
about 4000 metres where we stopped by a stream for lunch. We were
told that this was the most dangerous part of the trek, where people
before us had fallen asleep and gone into a coma from lack of
oxygen. One woman experienced cerebral oedema and would have died if
she had not been rushed down to lower altitude strapped to the back
of a horse.
Another 4 hour march followed lunch and
by sundown, we were all extremely glad to be at our next campsite.
Another cold night followed and we woke to frost frozen tents and
what can only be described as “crisp” clothes.
We began our walk about 9, a very late
start for us, and followed a river down into tropical jungle. Here
we saw hummingbirds, condors, orchids and all manner of beautiful
flowers and cacti. After a quick stop for lunch, we walked on until
we came to a small village. Here we camped again and were treated to
roast guinea pig and lamb traditionally cooked by stacking rocks
over a hot fire f or a couple of hours, then putting the meat in and
collapsing the rocks over it. The whole thing was covered with earth
and 45 minutes later it was cooked to perfection. We veggies were
treated to baked potatoes cooked in the same way and some delicious
tofu steaks. That night we had a fireside knees up and sang and told
stories until the early hours.
Next morning we walked for about 5
hours to our final campsite at kilometre 82 of the Inca Trail. We
stopped briefly at a small church where some of us stopped to say a
prayer and take some photos, and then followed the river Urumbaba to
our campsite in the Sacred Valley.
After a good night’s sleep under
canvas, we took the train to kilometre 104 of the Inca Trail and
here began a 7 hour walk through the jungle covered mountains to
Machu Picchu. It was very hard going and much hotter now we were at
lower altitudes. We passed beautiful scenery and must have walked up
hundreds of steps until we came to a spectacular waterfall. Rainbows
danced in the fume and it really did make the perfect backdrop for
lunch. After a quick bite, we continued on for another hour until we
reached an exceptional set of ruins. Here we stopped for more photos
and to reflect on all we’d seen and done. I chose a secluded spot in
the sun temple where, legend has it that anyone who prays in there
remains eternally youthful.
After a short period of reflection, we
continued on for another 3 hours and finally emerged from the jungle
at the Sun Gate, looking down on Machu Picchu. After some photos we
walked the last mile to Machu Picchu and here we were given a talk
on the history of the most famous Inca site, and the only one not
discovered and destroyed by the Spanish.]
The next day we were given a guided
tour of the ruins which was amazing. The place is so big and some of
the stone work is unbelievable. After the tour we headed back by
train and bus to Cusco and a proper bed. We spent our last two days
in Cusco and were lucky enough to visit two of the projects that
UNICEF support. The first was a remote mountain village where UNICEF
funded a school and nutrition information programme.
Most children in Peru live below the
poverty line. They are generally not starving because the country is
so fertile but because they have no knowledge of nutrition, most are
well below average height and weight, and often develop diseases.
Unicef have taught the village elders about the importance of good
nutrition for both children and pregnant mothers, and the village
council have now set up a programme where every child is measured,
weighed and given regular health checks. Every pregnant mother is
looked after and taught how best to care for her child both during
pregnancy and through their childhood.
The next project we visited was a
maternity hospital high up in the mountains. One of the biggest
problems in Peru is infant mortality. Because a large percentage of
the population live many miles from the nearest hospital, they often
are forced to give birth at home and do not have the necessary care
to keep them and their children healthy. Also most hospitals are
Spanish, western style places which tend to be bare, white, sterile
places, very different from the rustic homes where they live. As
well as that many women have animals that they rely on for food,
which can’t be left unfed for the days it would take to walk to the
hospital, give birth, recover and walk back.
Another problem is that most hospitals
only offer horizontal births, which many native Peruvians believe
takes away part of your soul.
UNICEF is changing all that. The
maternity centres they support, now offer vertical births and though
they have the latest equipment such as ultrasound machines, again
supplied by UNICEF, they are not the sterile bare places they used
to be. Instead they are much more rustic and colourful. But one of
the best things they offer are purpose built houses, where pregnant
women can come and stay up to a week before they give birth and a
week afterwards with room for all their children and animals.
Since the introduction of these centres
across the country, infant mortality has been greatly reduced.
These are just some of the projects
that our money will go to help and there are thousands more
throughout Peru and the world.
UNICEF isn't funded by governments.
Instead they rely entirely on donations and fundraising, so what we
are doing here tonight and what we have done throughout the last
year is of vital importance.
My time in Peru was life changing,
inspiring and incredibly moving and I’d like to say a big thankyou
to all my fellow trekkers who helped me through the hard times and
made the whole experience incredibly enjoyable.
Thanks for listening. Paul Briggs
Map of
Ollantaytambo...................here
Map of Machu
Picchu......................here
use these maps to zoom in and out to suit
