** PERU - IN THE FOOTSTEPS OF VON DANIKEN **
This is the 7 November 2001 Edition of
this page.
CHAPTER ONE
Off to the Start
For this trip, I needed to get the 'go-ahead from my doctor who'd said "10000 feet is OK, but don't go
above 14000feet". So the INCA TRAIL was ON! I prepared for departure on 17 June 2001 by
preceeding it by a week of packing. June is the coolest part if the year in Equatorial PERU (Just in
the Southern Hemisphere) - as it is their midwinter!
"WHERE IS THE START?" I hear you ask!! Well, it is NOT here in England today! It will not even
be in AMSTERDAM tomorrow! It will be in LIMA, Peru - after a very long flight to the Southern
Hemisphere. Only there, do I hope to find contacts that will fill the gaps in my thin programme.
So on Sunday, 17 June, I was well-ready to leave! After my 'quicky' breakfast, I then walked to the
NATIONAL EXPRESS stop at Malvern Link. All in good time, and the coach was slightly ahead of schedule
as well! It proceeded with further pick-ups at Powick and Worcester - and then dived, via the M5
Motorway to Cheltenham.
At Cheltenham, many students bought their tickets (to where-ever!) for CASH from the driver. We
made a further stop at Cirencester and later headed along the M4 Motorway for Heathrow (first) and then
LONDON'S Victoria Coach station. I had walked many times between Victoria's Coach Station and
the 'Underground' which is becoming more complex and boring each time - with NO propoer signposting!!
Thinking that they ought, by now, to have a shuttle-bus between the two, I enquired at the Coach
Station about the possibility. The guy replied "Not now, - there used to be - it is proposed to bring it back
- but NOT YET".
He also said "It is only 5 minutes away" which I know to be totally untrue!! However, I arrived at the
'Circle/District Line' and was told by an announcer on the platform the a 'Circle Line' train will be
along in 5 minutes!! (.. a likely story!). These two '5 minutes' meant that I was on my train 30 minutes
after my coach got into Victoria.
I was off to my usual (regular) London Hotel (in Paddington)!!
.. there I was received by Mathew George who had EMailed the response to my EMail
for accommodation at the ASHLEY. You, too, can EMail the 'Ashley' for your
accommodation!!
I explained to Mathew that I'd have to be leaving in the .middle of the night' tomorrow. Before I could estimate the
departure time, I'd have to check with the Rail Station (Paddington) about KLM's Heathrow Terminal. Rumour has it
that KLM is at Terminal No4 - and that the first "Heathrow Express" train departs at 5.10 a.m!! I could buy a ticket
at 5.00a.m (£22 return!) and be at Heathrow at a scheduled 5.25a.m (which was a little later than the check-in time
I should really aim for!!
Buying the ticket at the Paddington office was £2 cheaper than a train-based purchase! I then moved into "Mickey's
Fish Bar", near the hotel, and generally mooched around Paddington's station. I also paid Mathew for my overnight
stay this evening - because of my early departure tomorrow. I used some of their local shops for purchasing some
refreshments that I would need in Amsterdam between flights. That saves the problem about worrying about Guilders!!
Returning to my room, I watched some of the Henman/Hewitt Tennis Match on TV, both before and after trip-notes
writings. I later went to the BURGER BAR, as my usual "Micky's Fish Bar" was closed. A Cheeseburger, even
with Chips and a 'Sprite' drink, was a fairly unsatisfactory dish (but cheaper than their apparent normal!). A general mooch
around Paddington and its station saw me marvelling at the departure-acceleration of the HEATHROW EXPRESS.
I refreshed myself with a beautiful ice-cream purchased on my way back to my room. Because of the LONG day tomorrow,
I retired to my bed earlier than normal. Naturally, as usual, the night was passed with much 'cat-napping' - causing
me to have 'lights-on' episodes for time-checks at roughly half-hour intervals (I normally did one-hour intervals!)
until 3.15 a.m.. Then I got up and finally prepared for my journey to the start, leaving the hotel at 4.20 a.m, and
reaching Paddington's Ticket-Office (for the Heathrow Express) at its opening time of 5.00a.m.. The 5.10 a.m train
left exactly on time and arrived at Heathrow at its scheduled 5.25am (for Terminals 1,2,3) - then a further 5mins
later, I was at Terminal 4! (That's its station, - there was still, seemingly, miles to walk before arriving at
Terminal4 itself!!)
I found the series of 'desks' that were for KLM (and noticed after I had been standing in the 'business' queues for
quite a while, it was then obvious that I should be standing in the far LONGER, snaked, 'tourist' queue!) On arrival
at the 'booking' position quite a time later, I established that the 'girl' would 'book' straight through to LIMA and that
the AMSTERDAM luggage-change would be 'automatic' from my viewpoint! That's nice!! All that I would have to
do at Amsterdam was to go into 'transfer mode'. Neither of the tickets from this girl, however, was for a 'window seat'
(can't get my preference!). The Amsterdam-Lima leg was to be an aisle seat. The Amsterdam leg passed quickly and
uneventfully over its approximately 280 miles, but at Amsterdam, there was a LONG walking-distance for my
'transfer' (thankfully, without the heavier luggage!). It seemed like I was doing the WHOLE length of SCHIPOL
to find Gate E and the sub-gate 17. It all worked well and in good time, like everything so far, despite my thoughts
on incomplete checkout-preparations!!
The LIMA flight, on an MD 11 AIRCRAFT (McDonnell Douglas), is composed of TWO sub-legs, the first
being a long-haul (very boring) trip down to ARUBA - which was also accompanied by hunger pains - for a
distance of 4898 miles. (At least, my earlier long-haul trip across the equator, en route to Australia, which
was two ten-hour legs, had an English speaking DIDI as companion!! A very exciting and communicative
pair of trips!). Almost no-one on the Peru trip spoke English as their first-language, although the Dutch stewardesses
were 'great', not everyone could have 100% access to them!
As I would be going straight to LIMA after this 4898 mile leg to ARUBA, I joined a younger (than me!) guy who
I'd been chatting to on the flight, on my walkabout in the Aruba Terminal building. Fortunately he could speak
Spanish and a little English and hence do my translations!! At Aruba, we picked up our TRANSFER tickets (labelled
Temporary Boarding Passes) for the
continuation of our journeys. We would use the same MD11 after its refuelling! His 'little English' meant that
I had still to use body language, smiles, intonations etc rather than the spoken word. He was very amused at
the success of our communications (as was I!) - and we both laughed a lot. That is the truly International
language! I could not understand a word (I think it might have been Spanish!) that he said. His intonations
helped. In Aruba airport, he spoke with the 'locals' - and that satisfied our 'need-to-know' requirements. He
communicated their answers back to me by 'body-language'.
My interpretations of the non-English directions, signs on walls, etc, were communicated to him by MY
body-language to ensure that we, successfully, circulated our way back to the CHECKIN!! We handed
in the Temporary Boarding Passes, which we'd held since their 14.37 local-time, when we reboarded at
15.20hrs (their time) for our 15.45 hrs takeoff. The onboard digital 'passenger-info', on the MD11 again,
told us that the LIMA leg was another 1764 miles from ARUBA. It was clear from the three and a half
hour flight's info that I'd have to put my watch BACK again (one hour, this time!). So now I'm nearly at
the START of this journey. LIMA next stop!!!
EMail to:
Roy's Location.
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