What is the difference between a Donkey and a Mule?

Wilson had stomach issues and a lung infection on this trip (and still does) so he decided that perhaps my perspective on events may be a little more positive than his, hence I have once again been enlisted to write a blog..........sigh

Once again we decided to do another tour, despite our previous experiences. The Santa Cruz Trek is a famous and highly touristed 4 day trek near Hauraz, Peru. It includes a mountain pass of an altitude of 4800m (The highest Wilson and I have been whoop whoop!!) and tons of spectacular scenery. I think I will leave the pics to speak for themselves in this regard. We joined Morgan (Pom), Yo Yo (Germany), Adi (Israel) and our guide Cesar (Peru) for the trip.

We were glad to see at the start of the trek that this time it wasnt us being screwed over by the tour agency. A poor Canadian girl was stuck at the start of the track with her unlicenced guide unable to enter. She was luckily able to join us for the first day of the trek until her agency sorted their shit out (well, sort of). The guide snuck into the park after dark....


The trek took us up into the Andes and through a mountain pass. We camped out at high altitude below the snow line and as soon as the sun went down at night it became freezing. We ended up wearing all our clothes in our sleeping bags to stay warm at night! We took a detour on the second day to a beautiful glacial lake complete with icebergs fit to sink the titanic and avalanches crashing down to the water. The mountain pass itself led us up between jagged, spiking peaks that loomed graciously above us.


During the trip we were enlightened on many facts of life by our guide Cesar. One of the most interesting being the difference between a Donkey and a Mule. We were informed that a Mule is produced when a Donkey is mated with a Horse. A mule is much stronger than either a horse or a donkey, as it can carry 100kg as opposed to the maximum of 60kg that can be carried by a horse or donkey. The downside, however is that mules are both crazy and unable to bear offspring.

The best Mule is produced when the mother is a horse and the father is a donkey. When I asked Cesar how this functions, given that the horse is much taller than the donkey, he said that the donkey simply jumps on up.....I was envisaging that some kind of stool or platform would be required.

Shortly after this conversation Cesar explained to us that a similar phenomenon happens with people. When you mate a Peruvian with a Gringo you get tall, fat offspring. Interesting....there is so much to learn...

We all arrived, on the fourth day, at the end of the trek at midday to find that there was no transportation for the next 4 hours. The agency had organised nothing and we almost ended up paying a ridiculous amount of money to get out of there until I put my foot down. Damned incompetent Peruvian tour agencies!

To make up for this inconvenience the guide snuck us out of the park without paying our park entrance fee. He reinbursed us about a third of our money and in the process tripled the amount of money that he made guiding the trek, provided he doesn´t get caught by the park the next time he goes....