'Jambo' in the land of the giants

BRUNEI'S very own global trekker Norhayati Abu Bakar and her husband, Harun Kurt Eichbauer, are on their leg of the South American continent.

In this edition, The Brunei Times presents Norhayati's travel note for her journey entitled: "From Brunei to around the World 2009 - 2010, 25 Years Brunei Independence Expedition". The following are excerpts from their 2010 travelogue (www.overthehorizon.net).

Saturday, June 26

We arrived at the border by 8:30 in the morning. While the check out from Bolivia was fast the immigration side of Peru kept us waiting. The officer stamped the first two busloads of tourists which took about an hour. And then when it was our turn, this officer had problems with my passport — as he did not know that Bruneians do not need a visa.

So we waited another half hour while he was calling his superiors to get clarification.

Meanwhile the senior officer showed up late for work. Fortunately for us, we discovered that there was a list of countries at the office and together with my help we managed to find "Brunei Darussalam - no visa". My passport was later duly stamped with duration of 90 days to stay.

Our journey took us along the shores of the Titicaca lake, and we noticed that the surrounding nearby hills were dry and barren.

However as farther we came north the rain seemed to set in more frequently as forests were appearing in our line of horizon. It was night when we arrived in Cuzco, greeted with a bus registration number in front of us 1117, the lucky number which followed me through life and on our journey.

Searching for the train station "San Pedro", we came into the old town where we checked into a hotel for a good price of US$30 per night. "So this is Cuzco," said Harun looking around at the plaza, surrounded by old Spanish-style buildings.

Sunday, June 27

For the next several days. we were on route to the first of several archeological sites. Pisac was the first to visit. It overlooks the Urubamba, or the sacred valley as it is known.

High up on the slopes the buildings are nestled overlooking a view over terrace fields and the valley deep below.

In the old days, the town seemed to have multipurpose functions in terms of military, agriculture and religious aspects. The year of Pisac's foundation is not clear, maybe somewhere around 1410 AD. As with many others ancient towns around this area, Pisac was ransacked by Pizarro in 1530.

Our next stop was high up at 4,000 metres, a village called Chinchero, where a group of highlanders demonstrated the colouring and weaving process of Llama wool as practiced since ancient times, using only natural ingredients.

From there, we were invited for lunch somewhere. The group that we followed went into an original Inca restaurant. From afar one could hear a band of Incans playing, which turned out pleasantly to be actually a one-man band but what remarkable music he could produce. And so, while enjoying the performance of the one-man band, our group swarmed over the buffet table — Harun had twelve "kicky mikki, one piece meat" chicken kebab. Sleepy and full, the group proceeded to the next Inca destination.

Ollantaytambo

This is the only place where the Incas defeated the conquistadores in battle, as the Inca leader Manco Inca, flooded the valley below the fortress, causing much trouble to the Spaniards. They were driven back to Cuzco. The Spanish described Ollantaytambo as a fortress. We later returned to our hotel in the evening. Tomorrow I will travel to Machu Picchu; alone. Harun remain back, as the prices are exorbitant.

Monday, June 28

Although Machu Picchu was known already in 1568 to the monks of a gigantic hacienda operated north of Ollantaytambo, yet is was only from 1912 to 1915 that the whole complex was rediscovered by an American, Hiram Birmingham. He insisted that the ruins were raided before him and that no gold was found. However he still looted, according to another archeologist, 220 objects in silver, bronze and copper, and secretly shipped them to USA. The treasure in the Yale university is now being claimed back now by the Peruvian government.

Machu Picchu was build around 1400 AD, but was later abandoned by the Incans. Machu Picchu is often referred as the "Lost city of the Inkas". In fact the villagers around here say that giants of ancient times build this city. Today Machu Picchu is an important tourist attraction.

On the way back to Cuzco I thought of the miserable sanitation, no flowing water in the toilets, and the impact this vast tourism spectacle will have over time on the environment. The entrance fee is about US$ 40. I figured about 2,500 tourists went up to Machu Picchu with me that day. The authorities must have cashed at least US$100,000 — now that is a lot for one day.

For the next few days, we drove to our next destination — Nazca — we wanted to go there as we were intrigued with the famous lines and figures that go for kilometres in the desert.

Friday, July 2

Together with two Peruvians, we climbed into a small plane after paying US$60 for a 15-minute flight over the wide plains of Nazca. Airport security was quite rigorous. Every tourist was searched and video filmed! They must have learned from the Americans. The plane flew over the area at a height of 1,000 metres in my opinion, the flight was much too fast and that made it a bit of a problem to even photo anything. Yet the experience of watching the lines of Nazca was breathtaking.

There are supposed to be over 300 drawings. Many of the lines have been researched, catalogued and measured for well over 50 years but yet modern science has not determined what purposes these lines serve.

Some scientists say these figures are connected with astronomy, others say that these lines are direction indicators of underground water flow. The Nazca plain is still a mystery. Another offbeat theory from Erich van Daeniken say that these lines have been made by ancient visitors from outer space, and for us, that is the most likely theory.

We later headed north towards Lima. The Brunei Times