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From Arequipa it was on a plane to Cuzco (the Incan Capital), and after dropping our stuff at the hotel we headed out for a walk around the city. It's quite a lovely city with the Incan culture evident throughout, although it is very touristy as Cuzco is the base for many people doing trails leading to Machu Picchu. During the afternoon Nick, Ted and I went and visited a church which had been built on top of the ruins of an Incan temple, the contrast in the buildings was quite evident. It was probably my favorite church/chapel I have seen so far. Day two in Cuzco took a small step back from culture and took on a more adventurous theme, Nick and I heading out to Action Valley to do the worlds highest bungee slingshot which took us from the ground to 130m up in the air in 3 seconds, such an exhilarating experience! After getting over the rush from the slingshot Nick and I spent some time getting supplies for our trek beginning the next day. After we had that sorted I dragged Nick for a hike for a couple of hours up to an Incan sight Saqsayhuaman (sexy
woman) I let Nick dictate the route back to the city, he decided to head back in a direction that took us through the "ghetto", we did make it through unscathed, and luckily I wasn't carrying much with me, we had a good laugh about when we were safely back in the centre square. After dinner it was a pretty early night to rest up for the beginning of our trek on Tuesday. Tuesday was an early start, getting picked up from the hotel at 6:30am, it was on to Lares (because I had to change my tour a couple of weeks out and a bit of miscommunication, I missed the inca trail, and so instead did the lares trail). We had time to test out the hot springs in Lares, which were set in amongst some beautiful mountain scenery, afterwards it was time for the hard work to begin. The trek took us through some beautiful Andean scenery, and eventually we arrived at our campsite for the night in the village of Huacahuasi. We met many local kids, for whom we had taken pencils and toy cars, although I wish I had of taken some marbles as they played
and played marbles for ages. After a late lunch,at a bit after 3pm,and then a bit of organizing, our Peruvian cook, guide, and American couple and their guide,cook and porter, along with Nick, Phil and I all had a game of football (soccer). I should probably add that we were at an altitude of 3800 meters above sea level and so after every goal, or free kick,there was a bit of a break to allow everyone to get some air. Unfortunately we lost by a goal, but it was great fun, all of us having a laugh in between being very competitive. After the football match one of the kids tried to teach me a game where you have to keep a wheel rolling with a stick, without letting it fall over. The young boy who was my teacher was probably all of 4 years old, and quite good at this game, making it look much easier than it was, but at least I gave him something to giggle at. After some recovery time, we played some cards before dinner time, the meals our chef prepared were amazing. Then it was to bed to rest up for day 2 of
our trek which would be the hardest, the one down side to camping at 3800 meters was probably the fact that it gets to between -10 and -15 degrees at night, but with 2 sleeping bags I was fairly able to cope. Day two we were up early and trekking in the fresh morning air, headed for the pass of 4450 meters above sea level. It was mostly uphill all morning, but once at the top it was completely worth the view an satisfaction of reaching the top. We took a break and got some photos before continuing down the hill to a lagoon where we stopped for a delicious lunch. After lunch, we were able to ride our ambulance (horse) which was good for a bit of a laugh. After lunch it was back to the trek for another couple of hours, eventually getting to Patacancha in the late afternoon. After a big day of trekking it was pretty early to bed, trying to sleep with an even colder night, waking the following morning with ice covering the tent, the cup of tea in bed certainly took the edge off. After breakfast, we again began doing what we know
best...using our two feet and heartbeat, after a pretty quick trek we arrived in Huilloc, where our bus was meant to be picking us up from,and to fill in time I joined in a bit of football with a few of the local kids ranging in age from about 4 to 10, the tricks that one of the kids were doing in particular were very impressive. After our pick up time passed it became apparent that we may not be getting picked up. So again, we began walking, and after a couple of extra hours we were finally met by a bus that took us to Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Aguas Calientes.The afternoon in Aguas Calientes was spent relaxing with a bit of a celebration at still being alive after the little trek. Friday morning we were up early to get in line for the bus up to Machu Picchu at 5am so as to get there with the clearest view, without too many people. We were successful, and it was definitely worth the early morning, not even photos can do Machu Picchu justice, it was such an amazing place visit. Our trek guide then gave us a
two hour tour through the site, giving us detailed explanations of the buildings and their purposes and the belief systems of the incas, based largely around the sun. Afterwards, Nick, Phil and I made the short hike up to the Sun Gate to get a different view of Machu Picchu. After heading back down the hill, we jumped on a bus back down to Aguas Calientes, where we had some lunch a looked at some markets and also saw and heard a teachers strike, before the train and bus ride back to Cuzco. That night we went for a late dinner with our guide Erico who had been great to have on the trek and at Machu Picchu, afterwards heading to bed very very tired.Saturday morning Ted, Jen, Nick, Phil and I all jumped on a bus to do a tour of the Sacred Valley, after a few communication issues we were right and on the way. We first headed to Pisac where we visited an Inca site, climbing up to the top to get a better view. We then stopped for a buffet lunch before heading to Ollantaytambo to see ruins there, which were quite impressive, throughout the day
learning more about the Incan culture, leaving quite the impression. On the way back to Cuzco we stopped in at Chinchero where we were shown the traditional way of cleaning, dying and spinning of alpaca wool, which was quite interesting. Afterwards we returned to Cuzco and after another big day I was happy to find my pillow. Cuzco and it surrounds have provided a great insight to the Incan history and culture, along with an insight into the modern (although probably backwards to most westernised societies) Andean culture and it's people, which I think will leave a very lasting impression on myself and anyone else lucky enough to visit these parts.
Next stop is Lake Titicaca...
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Marc Beard
non-member comment
Great stuff pal. All the crew at Church say gday and from reading your novels sounds like your trip is fully sick! Enjoy. Stay cool