Cusco and the Sacred Valley

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At first we didn't really take to Cusco. We were still ill from the coach jouney there, which was combined with a hefty dose of altitude sickness on arrival. Attempting to combat this by breathing in more oxygen failed due to the thick pollution from the cars. Attempts to distract ourselves by 'getting some culture' and meeting the locals failed as it is Gringo-central, and as a result the locals aren't very friendly. They approach you with a smile (in traditional dress, complete with baby in back sling, baby lamb in front sling, and leading a llama) only to insist you take a photo and pay them for it. Traditional food is very expensive, so thank God we can't afford to eat guinea pig - although we have now tried alpaca which I think tastes like the smell of corregated cardboard, but Mark disagrees.

However we've grown to love Cusco and these people who party every day, and now despite being excited about the next part, I'm almost sad to be leaving it tonight on the overnight bus to Arequipa. For one thing, nothing makes you more glad to come back 'home' than 4 days camping and trekking on the Inca trail. But also we got over ourselves, joined the rest of the gringos, as well escaping them occasionally, and got to know the place.

We bought the compulsory tourist ticket, a bit of a waste unless you get to see almost everything, which a lot of people don't have time to do. We came close. We visited the museums, some with fascinating history and ruins, like Qorikancha, (site of the most important temple where all the gold was sent) and others a little... odd - like Cusco's natural history musuem (a strange combination of creepy and funny, depending on how you feel about siamese guinea pig foetuses!), we went to a lovely market, and got out of the town to the (slightly) cleaner country, cramming in with the locals on the buses and visiting Incan (and some pre-Incan) sites where we were the only Gringos, and strolling through villages, greeted with an enthusiastic raise of the coca cola glass and "Hey Gringos!", or a cautious smile. Here they wore the traditional dress (complete with llamas and babies etc.) because that's what they do, not for the tourists. We walked a LOT, up steep hills, beginning with factor 30 sun protection and ending with rain coats and hail stones. Unbelievably, it was always worth it, despite the incredulity of the locals when we refused taxis, and self-cursing en-route when we realised why. The Incas were so clever! They achieved some incredible things and always took great care with presentation (Dad, they agree with you!).

On the last day before the 4 day trek to Machu Pichu on the Inca trail, we took a day of rest, missing the last two sites off our ticket, as we were no longer able to do the steps up to our hostel without a break. The trek itself was beautiful and impressive as expected. The porters ran up and down steep slopes in half the time it took us, carrying bags 3 times their width and 2 times their height, even when it poured with rain. The food was unrealistically good, considering it was prepared in a tent. We were lucky with the weather on the whole, although the entire contents of our backpacks did eventually get rained on. Our guides told us a joke every day, which I've been practicing to add to my repertoire. It was of course very touristy, but as they're quite rightly restricting access to Machu Pichu now you have to do it as part of a group, and so we embraced it, although we were the only ones in our group who weren't wishing to swap the coca tea for Starbucks.

We're leaving in a few hours now for Arequipa, starting the new phase of our trip.

Looking forward to hearing how everyone else is, with love
Mark and Christina

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Photos

Cusco Cathederal
View of Cusco Cathederal in the Plaza de Armas

Pisac Market
Materials, ponchos etc at the market

Sachsaywaman
Mark and Inca stonework at Sachsaywaman near Cusco

Inca Gate
Inca gate in the middle of nowhere that we trekked to

Christina on the Inca Trail
Christina couldn´t compete with the porters anymore on the trek. But they do have a litre more blood than us which is an unfair advantage!

Machu Picchu
The impressive Macchu Picchu in all its glory

Comments

[Juan Carlos Jobet]

Congratulations!
Hello Mark, Great blog. Excellent reading and fantastic pictures. Look forward to seeing you when you come to Santiago. Juan Carlos (Friend of your Dad's)