John & Marie Donohoe

Machu Pichu

The hall was packed as with Glenmorons eager to hear about the summer 2002 Donohoe expedition to South America.

John started the tale in Lima, which he compared to Edinburgh on a dreich day! He moved quickly on to Bolivia where the plan was to walk over a high Inca pass, with mules carrying all the gear. Marie set off to investigate the route, leaving John to load the mules when they arrived. Predictably they didn’t, so John had to struggle to the top of the pass with two rucksacks (that was John’s story anyway). We were treated to some fine photographs on the snow-covered col on the way to the bunkhouse, which had been pre-booked for the first night. Since there were no telephones, this transaction had apparently been carried out by runners. On arrival, the bunkhouse was found to be closed, but the party were accommodated in the warden’s house (compared by John to Inbhirfhaolain in Glen Etive).

Part of the reason for the trip was to find suitable recipients for the £1500 that John & Marie had raised at their pre-trip Ceilidh. Marie took over the commentary to describe how, descending from the col the next day, an opportunity arose to spend some of the money. By their path was an orphanage for 8 to 18 year olds. They were trying to raise money to build a new science lab. For £1000 the whole project could be completed, so the Donohoes said that they would try to make a contribution (Try because the process of actually transferring the money is, apparently, not straightforward. The transaction is still not completed.). Other recipients for some of the money were the Amazon Ferry and the Lima homeless.

John continued the tale, describing a journey along "the most dangerous road in the world" to La Paz. The main road was a dirt track with an average of one crash every two weeks. Apparently dogs line the side of the road, each with their own patch, waiting to be fed. Not sure how the dogs relate to the accidents.

Lake Titicaca was next on the agenda, on the Peru/Bolivia border. Here we were treated to interesting photographs of the floating reed matting islands of Los Uros, followed by idyllic sunset photographs over Coca Cabana.

A bus journey to Cusco (3500m) followed, with tales of interesting local "picnics" of alpaca meat. On the way to Cusco, strange long necked sheep type creatures were seen from the bus window – presumably the alpaca?

A Young Alpaca

The final part of the talk, was an interesting account of the trip to Maccu Piccu. John & Marie sought professional help in the form of Eric Adventures, who took care of the organisation and provided a suitably annotated bus for the journey to the start of the walking. They followed the normal "one-way" route: walking there along the Inca Trail beside lots of terracing, and taking the train back.

Garrey Whyte finished the evening off with a vote of thanks for what was an entertaining and amusing evening with some excellent photography.

Arthur Whittaker