MPC Chapter 2 - The Group

As I have said so many times throughout this blog, there is always a risk taken when you sign up for a tour group activitiy...and the risk comes in the form of the the actual people in the group. We have been unbelievably lucky throughout our travels with each of tour groups, but the Machu Picchu 4 day hike group surpassed them all without a doubt and it is this group that made such a lasting impression on us against the back drop of Machu Picchu.
The group, led by Abraham, consisted of me and Al, an Irish guy named Mick, an American guy named Tom, Fraser and Gubby (our friends that we met in Laos) and a guy from Sheffield named Gavin. I am not sure what it was about our group that made it so magical, perhaps the compatibility of each member to the other, or just the fact that we all had similar senses of humour; but whatever the mystery ingrediant, we all just seemed to fit together like pieces of a puzzle and it made for one smashing time on Machu Picchu.
Our guide, Abraham, is a Cusco born Peruvian who has only left Peru on one occassion to visit Bolivia. He only spent a few days there and hated it so much that when he crossed the border back into Peru, he put his arms above his head and jumped into the air in shear excitement, joy and pleasure upon stepping back onto his homeland soil. He is one of three sons born to his mother, whom he lives with. Abraham's father died when he was quite young and it was at this time that his brothers went to live with their aunt, so Abraham is not that close to them. He had a girlfriend for a few years, but due to his commitments to his job, which keep him away from home at least 6 days per week during high season, that relationship fizzled about two years ago and he has remained single ever since. He has been to Machu Picchu hundreds of times and has not tired of it yet. He carries around a red notebook that he has filled with maps, pictures of ancient Incans, images of what Machu Picchu is thought to have looked like in the past and he used this to illustrate various points he made during the tour. He is a very kind man with an excellent grasp of English, which he studied for 7 months at a primary school recently...he even understands sarcasm and jokes as well. We could not have faired better with any other guide and we were truly blessed with good old Abe.
Mick was the last member to join our group after the initail bike ride down Abra de Malaga Pass. He hitched a ride with a 3-day group (the pussies, as we call them), but since he paid for the 4-day tour he was sent over to become part of us. I think he was quite happy to be placed in our group, as his intial group lacked substance and he wasn't even given a lunch box, as he was to be placed with our group later that day. So we met Mick when he was starving and exhausted and quickly realized that Mick is one of those people who never complains and can sleep anywhere at any time. Mick is from Dublin, Ireland, but lived in London for a while working as a paralegal. He has a great sense of humour and was not even offended by my slightly racist Irish accent in which I say, "pot of gold at the end of a rainbow; I'm a leperachan." Incidently, when we actually saw a rainbow on the last day of our tour he jumped around and pretened to be a leperachan, which was quite hysterical as he is infact Irish and was wearing a green pancho at the time...classic. Mick will be returning to Dublin after his tour of South America to begin a work/training scheme to become a lawyer..a fitting job I think for someone who is controlled and dsiciplined like Mick. He was always leading the pack in each hike, despite the fact that he smokes. One day, I was walking up front with him having a breathless chat and learned that Mick loves to travel and has many dream itineraries of places he wants to see. We talked endlessly about Israel and the Middle East and hot spots in Southeast Asia. Mick only used his mobile phone to take photos the entire time we were hiking and on Machu Picchu, as he says he loses everything else but his phone so he has probably the most amazing collection of mobile phone pictures of anyone I know.
Tom, Tom, Tom. What can I say about Tom? You know those people that you just look at and they make you laugh? Well, that is Tom. He is a world class sleep walker and sleep talker and finds that hugging a water bottle helps to soothe and calm him, though it sometimes leaks and he wakes up in a bedwetting panic only to realize that it is water. I am not sure what other backpackers think, but he ensures us all that it is merely water and nothing more...hmmm. He is probably one of the best story tellers I have ever met and Alex and I made him entertain us during most of our gruelling hiking sessions with stories of homeless best friends and being hit by a car. He is an artsy type...loves music and mixed media and is a freelance cameraman/film maker living in Brooklyn, New York...just like my sister! Though, I think he was born to be a cabaret dancer...the way he moves his shoulders and that high kick are unmatched. He plays in a band called Toys and Tiny Instruments in which they only play toys and tiny instruments, including the harmonica which he brought along to entertain us all during some of the more endless moments of walking. Tom is probably the only person I have ever met who has a legitimate reason for fearing and hating clowns and is a connoisseur of travel gadgets. Now, one would think that a collector of gadgets would have some high fangle dee camera, but Tom used disposabe cameras during this trek totalling 56 shots. He will eat any meal placed in front of him and just tucks his head down and gets it, even guinea pig or rice, fries and meat (6 out of our 9 meals provided). Tom is travelling around South America for a few months, but returns to New York in a few days. He has a list of places he wants to travel and would love to move outside of the States...maybe to London or Buenos Aires. While trekking Tom met his dream jungle Peruvian woman and it was love at first site when whe rescued us all from a raging river and then killed a live guinea pig with her bare hands. Tom might be relocating to the jungle near Machu Picchu if his visa application is successful to reunite with his true love.
Fraser and Gubby are our dear friends we met when we were travelling in Laos almost 5 months ago. We randomly ended up in Peru at the same time in our journies around the world and decided it would be apropos to trek to Machu Picchu together. The rest of our group was just one big bonus, as we knew we would have a blast with these two. Gubby and Fraser were recently married both in an Indian ceremony and a Scottish ceremony to represent both of their cultures and backgrounds. Then, they quit their banking jobs for a chance to explore the world and have some adventures before heading back to London to start a family. Fraser is a very creative guy who has an affinity for photography and cooking...in fact he was the poster boy for Master Chef 2010 and his face was splashed all over the UK on buses, billboards and posters. Gubby bought Fraser VIP tickets to the Master Chef showcase that came to Earl's Court in London and this meant that he was one of 20 people to compete in the invention test in which he was given a bag of random ingrediants and had to prepare a meal. He came in the top 3 and the stars of MAster Chef then tasted his food and the rest is history. We can say we knew him when...Fraser is a good sport with a cheerful disposition and at one point was hiking for several hours with a thorn stuck in his heal and no one was the wiser. It didn't help that his "hiking boots" were generic converse shoes purchased on Khaosan Road in Bangkok. He is a connoisseur of all things hats and has an infectious smile. You cannot really hear a Scottish accent though after a few drinks it's like talking to Billy Connelly. Gubby is an English Indian hardcore princess. Hardcore in that she hiked for the first time ever for four consecutive days to Machu Picchu...in Keds...and princess in that she did it all in earrings and matching outfits. I swear she never looked dirty of disheveled...not once. Gubby and I bonded over a childhood of being different from all the other kids at school, she being Sikh and me being Jewish and how we had to do annual presentations to our fellow peers about how freakish we were with our foods and customs and of course...our hair. Gubby has gorgeous long thick black hair, but all of her white English school mates had blond or light brown hair, while I suffered from a curly Jew-fro and wished to have the same straight hair as my counterparts. Oh how our experiences mirrored one another. Luckily we have both grown to accept and love our current hairdos, but those scars will remain forever...but they are funny scars to laugh at now. Gubby has really pushed herself during her travels and imparticularly on this Machu Picchu trek, as she has never done a 4 day trek through the jungle and uphill for hours. She has an uncanny knowledge of pop-culture knowledge and that mixed with her new hardcore status makes her one tough well rounded cookie.
Gavin...Gav. Gav from Sheffield who works with adults with special needs helping them to find and secure jobs has the dryest, wittiest sense of humour. He plays guitar and sings in his band called The Theories, as well as being an avid footballer. He is a man on a mission and on the 4th day when we arose at 4:00am to run up 2700 oddly shaped and sized stairs after hiking and biking over 70km over the three previous days, he was the 15th person to reach the top and the 3rd person to get inside Machu Picchu due to a cue change. You see, it was his goal all along to get into Machu Picchu before any other people were inside to capture that empty, untouched, unspoiled picture of the ruins...all alone with nothing around, but mist and the odd alpaca...and he did it, groin cramp and all. Gavin recently pruchased a new Signa brand watch, which he does not actually wear on his wrist as he hates the feeling. It is kind of reminiscent of those old casio watches that were big in the 1980s and each morning and night Gav would confirm for us all the date, time and day, which was quite helpful indeed. Gavin hates three foods, prioritized accordingly: 1) peanut butter, 2) mashed potatos (all other potatos are fine and edible), and 3) mushrooms. Other than that, he eats most anything...including meat, rice and fries, which was our lunch and dinner every single day for 4 days.
So that is our group...what a bunch of characters. Each spearately are spectacular and interesting in their own right, but put them in a blender and mix it all around and you have a real treat on your hands. Without these people, I don't think the Machu Picchu experince would have been as good as it was, but cerntianly not nearly as fun.