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Published: June 23rd 2009
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The last couple of days have seen some interesting ups and downs which, I suppose will make the trip more interesting when I look back on my time in Cusco.
Fortunately, my cold has just about subsided and the pain in my calf has also become bearable - something I’m a little surprised about considering how much walking I’ve done up and down Cusco’s really steep hills.
I’ve dealt with over fears about strikes keeping me stuck in Cusco or Aguas Calientes past the time I need to return to Lima to catch my flight home. After watching the protests and hearing rumors of a shutdown of the airport this week, I think the huge number of national police have calmed to protesters just enough to keep everything open.
Yesterday I wasn’t feeling well at all, but still managed to spend some time in Chinchero. Unfortunately, waiting for two hours to find a taxi driver who would take me there caused me to arrive a bit late in the afternoon. Since it was Father’s Day, many drivers simply were not working. I did enjoy my walk around the city, but the market was a bit disappointing.
In
the late afternoon, I watched a protest march of campesinos (farmers) around the Plaza de Armas. They marched for a couple of hours before either running out of energy or being herded away by the police. I didn’t stay for the end because the march didn’t seem to have a lot of energy to bloom into something else. They were ready since many came with stick - some of them sharpened - ready for conflict.
Today I watched some dancing on the Plaza that seemed to go on for hours. It was mostly made up of an unending line of high school groups who obviously had practiced hard to perform traditional dances in a variety of traditional costumes that were quite entertaining. I shot a few pictures, but spent more time shooting video.
Finally, I decided it was time to head out and see Cusco. For almost five hours I hiked all over the city. The monumental climbs that I had to deal with were easily harder than anything I’d ever dealt with before. I even got a little ribbing from a police officer who laughed as I struggled to reach the top of one particularly long flight
of steps. He seemed to enjoy pointing out the little girl who ran past me as I labored to reach the top.
So tomorrow I head to Machu Picchu. It appears my plans have changed again. Unfortunately, the woman who has been helping me the last few days didn’t buy my tickets until tonight. It turns out that there are NO trains running back and forth to Aguas Calientes on the 24th, so it looks like I’ll be spending two nights there.
I really don’t mind so much as long as the hostal there is nice. (Internet reviews of Hostal Tumi that I was able to find are good.) I am more worried about getting back to Cusco on the 25th because I don’t want to miss my flight the next morning. I have decided to take my laptop so hopefully I can find wifi and can post some photos while there. If not, I’ll still be able to make reports as there are many internet cafes there.
It’s getting late now and I don’t have time to post photos, but I’ll be sure and add more when I return to Cusco. It looks like I’ll be taking a train to Ollantaytambo on Thursday morning then finding a bus or collective (van) or maybe a taxi for the final 2 hours drive to Cusco. Then I hope to spend the day exploring the fortress of Sacsayhuaman before getting ready to return to Lima.
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