6th February 2013

After a deep and restful sleep I awoke to see Ollantaytambo nestled within the sacred valley bathed in bright sunlight. The town is on the floor of a valley flanked by steep and imposing mountains with craggy tops piercing the verdant green slopes. The town consists of solid low lying stone buildings with narrow cobbled streets with drainage channels fashioned in the same large stone blocks that comprise the buildings and paving where the frequent deluges in rainy season are guided towards the river. The town is ringed with extensive Incan ruins in their typical terraced style, although a few larger buildings remain almost entirely intact rising up from the otherwise low lying foundations; all watched over by a huge face that appears in one of the natural rock formations on the side of a mountain. Its one of the most enchanting places I've ever been and I could quite happily have stayed for many days and hiked around the valley. Although thanks to an earlier accident involving my toe and a concrete step I wasn't really in shape for too much hiking so continuing our road trip wasn't too much of a bind. After a delicious lunch of soup followed by pork and beans we made our way out of Ollantaytambo and sacred valley onwards towards the Amazon basin.

To get into the Amazon we needed to climb over a high mountain pass that peaked out at 4,218m. The ascent from the Sacred valley quickly took us beyond the tree line and up among high mountain peaks and glaciers. As we neared the top the weather closed in and we were soon among the clouds with little visibility accompanied by a rapid drop in temperature. These conditions remained as we began our decent until suddenly we broke free of the clouds and for the first time in my life I was in a cloud forrest! As we wound our way lower through a series of hairpins the humidity, temperature and plant life increased exponentially. After an hour or thereabouts the tarmac road surface gave way to dirt roads and we were properly in the jungle. The road picked up a route that tracked a raging torrent called Rio Urubamba a tributary of the Amazon washing water and sediment on its long journey towards the Atlantic ocean. The drive through the valleys towards our destination Quillabamba was just as spectacular as our crossing of the pass and I can quite safely say it was the most breathtaking car journey I've ever taken.

We arrived in Quillabamba around five in heat and humidity I've only felt in Buenos Aires since I arrived in South America. After finding a hotel and getting unpacked we went out for dinner (a pretty unsatisfying barbecue of chicken, frankfurters and potato) and a few drinks. The town has a reputation for its rather amorous inhabitants this was quickly was confirmed when the only two women in the bar took it upon themselves to seduce (successfully I might add) two members of our party. In the morning Barry, Hugh and I (Reggie was feeling a little worse for wear) set off to find some waterfalls (our trip here was inspired by a friend of Barry's in Ollantaytambo who said there were many spectacular waterfalls around here). After driving for about fifteen minutes back the way we'd come the day before we turned off the main road and started to our ascent towards the waterfall a local cafe owner had tipped us on. Soon we were driving through a small coffee plantation shaded by avocado trees and after twenty minutes of switch backs and an ever narrowing road we were forced to abandon the car. We walked on another ten minutes and then right in front of us was one of the most beautiful waterfalls I've ever seen. The waterfall landed in a shallow basin not deep enough to swim in but it provided the most powerful and refreshing shower I've ever enjoyed. Once we'd showered, photographed and looked in awe we decided to head back to town collect Reggie and find more waterfalls.

A slightly fragile Reggie responded well to lunch and after a quick confab with the local tourist information guy we made our way deeper into the Amazon to “the seven falls” he thought we'd like. This waterfall or should I say series of wateraflls was very different in character to the one we'd visited that morning. Where the the morning's waterfall was a single majestic plume falling over a sheer cliff face for about one hundred meters the seven falls was a series of waterfalls climbing from the foot of the valley just meters from the road all the way up to the top of the mountain a thousand meters above. The first of the waterfalls offered a pool to bath in as well as a sink right under the waterfall that happened to be a perfect fit for Reggie who took great pleasure reclining in its perfectly fitted bowl clear, cleansing waters. After splashing around for a bit we decided to quest higher up the mountainside to find a few more of the seven falls. Numbers two and three were close at hand. Requiring little more effort than climbing up the slightly precarious wooden ladder attached to the cliff face next to the first fall and a quick five minute scramble. I was the only one to make it to the next waterfall which took another hour to ascend to. With first Reggie then Shuggie and finally Barry dropping out thanks to the exertion required in the heat. In all honesty I think the solitude of the climb and the eventual discovery of the waterfall alone was in hindsight perfect. I sat in its cool waters exhausted below a small cascade close to the edge (not too close) of the biggest one we could see from our initial vantage point far below. By the time I got back down it was time to leave and head back for the Sacred Valley. I'd made it to the Amazon and it was just as magical as I imagined, its a shame I couldn't say the same for the journey back...

Before we'd even made it ten meters from the falls we were stuck in a traffic jam as the road we'd driven only four hours earlier was blocked for repairs. After an hour of waiting and contemplating a bribe to the guy supervising the barrier (he seemed quite content to let his friends pass) we were on the move. Our progress was relatively uneventful for the next couple of hours as we sped along the dirt tracks either side of Quillabamba. But as we started our ascent on beyond a sleepy jungle village called Santa Maria (popular name for towns in these parts) the rain began to fall and within 10 kilometres we were confronted with a huge landslide that covered the entire road. We'd arrived on the scene relatively early missing the landslide by only twenty minutes according to one local. Dejected and after spending a couple of minutes outside the car watching locals futile efforts to shift the rocks and mud by hand socked to the bone we decided to retreat to the little village we'd recently passed and find food and lodgings for the night.

The town of Santa Maria was the very definition of a one horse jungle town save for a single building offering accommodation (I'm not going to dignify it with a description of hotel or hostel) and a rudimentary restaurant there wasn't much happening. We braved the restaurant all feeling a little bummed out and in Reggie's case barefoot following his ill-advised trip into the muddy landslide debris. I'm pleased to say that they served nothing more adventurous than soup and breaded chicken, although the quality of the chicken was a few rungs below Marshall's battery hens of Broxburn, West Lothian. As we finished dinner we noticed a stream of cars began to pass through town from the direction of the landslide and to our joy we were saved from a night in the boondocks. As we resumed what now felt more like a mission than conventional road trip we ascended into the clouds and rain. I'll be eternally grateful to Barry and his driving skills as the road which had been the most fantastic I'd ever travelled had deteriorated into a white knuckle ride from hell. Visibility was often little more than ten meters and we were all aware of the precipitous drops to our flanks. Eventually we reached the summit of the pass and were closing on Ollantaytambo back on tarmac roads with cloud and rain no more. Still it wasn't quite over as we faced one more landslide, fortunately this one was passable. At least for our Land Cruiser. There was a tail back of trucks who couldn't pass save one intrepid soul who passed in front of us, his back right wheels dangling over the edge as he squirmed around the mass of mud and rock. Eventually tired and relieved we were back in the warm embrace of Ollantaytambo where we stayed in a hotel Barry recommended.