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Published: February 6th 2013
Having fortunately escaped Ecuador in one piece, we had a beautiful flight over the Andes into Cuzco, Peru.
Cuzco After basically spending six months at sea level the altitude and temperature of Cuzco was a bit of a shock, but also a pleasant change. The city is packed nicely into a beautiful valley at 11,200 ft. The little hostel we found was just outside the city center and up about 100 steps, which kicked our asses and left us breathless during our first few ascents. There is a tremendous number of amazing Inca historical sites to see in the city itself and the nearby Sacred Valley and we hit just about everything prior to embarking on our Inca Trail hike. I read a great book titled, "The Last Days of the Incas" over the previous few weeks so I knew a bunch of historical info that made things a little more interesting.
Some of the highlights of our six days of "acclimatization" were a number of museums and cathedrals in Cuzco. The Museum of Sacred, Magical, and Medicinal plants was mind boggling. The Peruvians appear to have a root/leaf/stem/bark/fruit/nut that can cure any ailment known to man. Most
of these are found in the Amazon basin, but used throughout the country. Becky was so fascinated she is considering bagging dentistry and becoming a Shaman. Two cathedral awes were first, the woodcarved pulpit in the Iglesia De San Blas, which is renowned as the finest example of colonial woodcarving in the Americas-no dispute there. Unfortunately, this was one of the few places I couldn't discreetly take photos so we can not share this amazing piece of craftsmanship with you (we did buy a postcard, but the photos of it don't do it justice). The second amazing thing was the first cross brought to S. America by the Spanish in the 1530's. This was located in a small little church adjoining the Cuzco Cathedral. The cross itself was not overly impressive, merely silver and about three feet tall. What we found so amazing was the fact it had been preserved over the centuries and also its embodiment of what the introduction of Christianity did to eliminate an amazing culture and redirect the future of the entire continent. Other sites in Cuzco were the amazing Inca walls and the famous 12-sided stone. Just up above the city is the archeological site
of Saqsaywaman (prounounced "sexy woman") which has some of the most impressive Incan stonework and really does beg the question if Martians were really responsible for these amazing structures. Becky is strongly convinced of this, but I haven't bought into her extraterrestrial theory yet.
Outside of Cuzco in the surrounding Sacred Valley we took bus trips to Pisac and Ollantaytambo. Pisac had an amazing handicrafts market that we spent hours wandering around. Becky purchased a couple beautiful, soft Alpaca wool scarfs and we encountered our first Guinea Pigs, later to be consumed. High above the market lies an Inca citidel that we spent 4 hrs. wandering through, thankfully all downhill. The Inca terraces built into the steep mountainside and the vistas looking down the Sacred Valley were simply awesome. In Ollantaytambo, there was impressive remains of a remarkable fortress and also the best remaining example of Inca city planning greatly preserved over the past 700 years. The only other excitement in Cuzco was a little food poisoning for Becky the night before our trek and our first real "scam" of the trip. I got swindled by receiving counterfeit money as change by a street vendor. I had no idea
until I went to pay our hostel bill the following day when they informed me the money was bogus. This led to involvement with the tourist police etc., with nothing resulting in our favor. It was rather entertaining speaking with the "tourist" police that didn't speak a lick of english. I was dropping my best spanish on them and using a bunch of hand gestures but in the end I just ended up having to walk a long way back to the hostel since the police that had insisted I go to the station had vanished and I had no ride back. Not sure why, but after it all the police let me keep the bogus bills??? -they make good bookmarks.
The Inca Trail After six days of pretty hardcore touristing we were acclimatized and ready to tackle one of our much anticipated events of this whole adventure. We had a brief informational meeting the night before our departure and discovered our group of 16 was now reduced to 6 -all Americans. Our guide was a smooth talker named Freddy who seemed to lack a little attention to detail but exuded confidence that shit was gonna work out
just fine.
Day 1 Once everyone was gathered from their hostels we took off on a few hour bus ride through the Sacred Valley along the Urubamba River to the start of the trail, Km. 82. It was a bit of a circus getting all the gear and porters organized amongst all the other trekkers. The Peruvian government limits the number of people to 500/day on the Inca Trail and this includes all the guides, porters, cooks, etc. Roughly 200 tourists a day start the trek. After paying our entrance fee ($100) we began our 26 mile trek at about 8500 ft. It was an easy, slow, beautiful walk along the Urubamba River with a few scattered Inca sites along the way. Freddy would stop at these sites and give us some history as well as tell us about the flora along the way. The first day was only about 8.5 miles and took us roughly 6 hours. Our first camp was at 10,200 ft. and it got pretty damn cold in the tent at night.
Day 2 Becky was still dealing with the effects of food poisoning and unfortunately was passing on the amazing food
that was being prepared for us on the trail. As a result she was running a little low on energy and was in for a tough day. I, on the other hand was following Freddy's lead and chewing coca leaves, which I think helped significantly. Not the tastiest of things but the energy derived from them and the counter effects to the altitude were a definite plus. Becky thought they tasted awful and wanted nothing to do with them, choosing instead to suck on limes to battle her nausea. The day started out gorgeous with clouds rising out of the valleys below and awesome views of the surrounding glacial-capped peaks. This is the "challenging" day of the trip. From our first step it was up and up and up a valley with our destination being Dead Woman's Pass at 13,800 ft. Most of the 3,600 ft. ascent were steps, the construction of which by the Incas was rather mind boggling. Upon reaching the summit, the clouds rolled in, the wind picked up, and the rain started. We descended 2000 ft. in the rain/sleet down steep slippery steps and were delighted to reach camp and get out of our wet clothes.
The days trek was only 7.5 miles, but took nearly 7 hrs. due to the long steep ascent. Camp that evening was at 12,500 ft. and a few in our party struggled with the altitude. At one point in the middle of the night we were awoken to vomiting in "stereo" by our neighboring trekkers. Fortunately we were managing ok and were just happy to be dry in our sleeping bags.
Day 3 We had a bit of break from the rain overnight, but it resumed as soon as we headed out in the am. This day was supposed to be absolutely beautiful with amazing vistas of the surrounding mountains and some great archeological sites en route as well. It turned out to be a long soggy day during which we could hardly see a thing due to the rain and clouds and fog. It was rather eerie walking, but we drudged along the 10 miles heading gradually down with only a few short climbs during the day. It took 6 hrs. to cover the days distance and the rain finally ceased just as we got into camp. At this point we were just a few hours walk
from the entrance to Machu Picchu and were praying the weather would be fine in the morning. Camp that evening was only at 8,900 ft. and we welcomed the warmer weather.
Day 4 We awoke a few hours before dawn to stand in line with all the other trekkers waiting to pass the last checkpoint that did not open until 6 am. Really not sure why we had to stand in the dark for over an hour because it probably wouldn't have made much of a difference to the time we passed through the checkpoint. Supposedly those at the front of the line had been there for a few more hours? We walked the last 4.5 miles in under 2 hours in the bright sunshine enjoying the views and delighting in the fact the weather had cooperated. Our final test was a set of steps called "The Gringo Killer" which we easily ascended and entered Machu Picchu through the Sun Gate just shortly after the sun had crested the surrounding mountains. The view was magnificent and we chilled there for 30 minutes taking it in and letting the excitement build for what lay below.
Machu Picchu We descended for half an hour down into the archeolgical site stopping to learn from Freddy on the way and to take photos. After ditching our packs we went on a tour with Freddy that lasted a few hours during which he walked us around to all the significant structures and gave us some more history. During this time we both literally hit the wall and became extremely tired. We took the bus down to Aquas Calientes (also known as Machu Picchu town), checked into our hostel and proceeded to pass out and miss lunch. A few hours later we woke and Becky fortunately got a nice warm shower whereas mine was frigid. This was a real bummer after four days of sweating and being wet. We both then went back to bed, missed dinner, and ended up basically sleeping for 16 straight hours.
Waynapicchu We awoke the next morning refreshed and starving. It was raining again but we decided to head back up to Machu Picchu because we had tickets to climb Waynapicchu mountain which stands high above the archeological site and is supposed to have spectacular vistas of the entire complex. We got on the bus
a little after 6 am and rode the half hour up to the entrance and made it across Machu Picchu to start our climb at 7 am. This is also regulated and they only allow 400 people/day to head up, 200 at 7 am and another 200 at 10 am. We slogged our way up and up through the drizzle and upon reaching the summit the rain once again subsided. We hung out for a bit, now hoping the sea of clouds below would clear and we could see Machu Picchu from high above. After 45 minutes or so the clouds slowly rose out of the valleys below and we were rewarded with truly magical views of the Inca masterpiece. After our descent we wandered around the site for a few hours before heading back down to Aquas Calientes. We spent the afternoon wandering around the most touristy place we have been before hoping on a train to head back to Cuzco. We were in a Vistadome train that had huge windows and skylights which made for a great return. The train rambled along the raging Ururamba river and afforded us some great views of the surrounding peaks. It was
nice to see a lot of what we missed during our rainy third day of trekking.
Cuzco Again We ended up returning late on Christmas eve and settling back into the same hostel for another couple nights. In Peru the main Christmas celebration occurs at midnight of Christmas Eve. The Plaza De Armas (main square) was packed with people and there was a great fireworks display. Christmas day was very relaxing. We slept late, had a great breakfast, spoke with our families, sat and people watched in the plaza, then capped it off with my much anticipated Christmas dinner... Cuy (guinea pig). It would be a stretch to say it was delicious, but I had to try it. Becky was absolutely disgusted by the little critter, and the manhandling of the greasy carcass required to eat it, but I convinced her to have a bite anyway. We were basically stuck in Cuzco until the following day since most things were shut down and we really didn't want to spend Christmas day on a bus.
Arequipa We finally departed Cuzco after having spent more days in that city than any other place with the exception of Belize.
We had a pimpin' bus ride set up for the evening. It was the first time we were video taped before entering a bus, our bags searched, metal detectors, and the whole bus crew had to take breathalizers. We found this rather bizarre, more like airport security than what you would expect at a bus terminal. On the bus the seats fully reclined, we had pillows and blankets, a hot meal etc. We were both completely sacked out until about 3:30 am when we were suddenly awoken by a loud thud and the bus quickly pulling over and stopping. Roughly an hour later a super shitty bus pulled up and we had to change buses for the remainder of the ten hour ride. We figure we must have hit a Llama or Alpaca. The front right windshield was smashed as well as the front right fender. It was still morning when we finally arrived so after settling into our hostel we wandered around the "white city". The main plaza is surrounded by gorgeous colonial buildings along with a great cathedral. In addition to the nice architecture, the city is encircled by three 18,000 ft. volcanoes that add to the setting.
The following day we visited a massive monastery that was in operation since 1580 and only opened to the public 30 years ago. It was like a city within the city with mazelike streets and brightly colored buildings. After wandering around for an hour or so we both decided we were burnt out on colonial architecture. We also visited a museum that had a 550 year old extremely well preserved Incan child sacrificial mummy -Awesome!
Canon del Colca Our next adventure started at 3:30 am when we were picked up at our hostel and crammed into the back seat of a minivan packed with 12 others. We rode along shitty roads for three hours listening to cranked Andean flute music. Similar to colonial architecture, we were done with Andean flute tunes that all sound identical. We reached our first stop on this excursion, Cruz del Condor. This was a very touristy stop along the road where we were supposed to see the mighty Andean Condor soaring over the canyon below. We didn't see a single condor, but the view of the canyon was pretty spectacular. Another two hours on a dirt road and we were unloaded and began
our Colca Canon trek. We are still questioning why we went on this trip, and which one of us was responsible for suggesting this to the other. I guess the allure was the fact that Colca Canon is known as "the world's deepest canyon" at 13,650 ft. deep. It is about twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. I guess we thought it would be cool to hike to the bottom? We did have beautiful vistas, but after 4 hrs. of hiking down steep loose gravel on switchbacks we both had multiple blisters and aching knees. For some reason we then walked half way up the other side through little villages only to descend to the bottom once more? We were rewarded by a beautiful setting at the base of the canyon. It was a lush oasis with great gardens and a swimming pool. We rested our tired feet and crashed early.
Five am the next morning we began our ascent out of the canyon. This entailed 2 hrs. pretty much straight up. Becky's right knee was killing her, but she toughed it out. I was trying to get her to ride a mule out, simply because it would
have afforded some sweet photo ops and also because that is pretty much the only mode of transportation we have yet to utilize. She wouldn't go for it even though we saw others doing so. After reaching the rim we jumped back in the minivan, made a few more touristy stops then were dropped in a small town, Chivay. We chilled there for a few hours then caught a bus east to Puno.
Puno Puno is a small city located on the shores of Lake Titicaca. It sits at about 12,500 ft. but as we found out doesn't have a lot to offer tourists. We took a boat trip out to the floating islands inhabited by the Uros people. In theory, the floating islands were really cool and the native people have lived on these islands since pre-colonial times. However, today the natives have sold out to tourism and it is unfortunate that this unique culture has been so exploited. The islands are made entirely of reeds that are harvested out of the lake on a daily basis. As the reeds get saturated with water and rot they simply add more to the surface of the island, which
keeps them afloat. The reeds appeared to be about 4 feet in depth. Upon reaching the islands we disembarked and were given a demo on how the islands were made and the lifestyle of the family that lived on the island. We were then exposed to all the different schwag made out of reeds and felt pressured to buy something that would be crushed in a single day in our packs. After politely saying "no gracias", which did little good since the Uros people have their own language, we boarded our boat to head back to the mainland for a Rockin' New Year's Eve. After a nap and a bad movie, we headed out for a nice late dinner of Alpaca steaks and drinks. NYE was rather dull, but we did see nice fireworks at midnight. We started the New Year hiking to a great lookout over the city of Puno then later that day we boarded a bus to head to the frontier of Bolivia and the next stop, Copacabana.
Overall we had a great few weeks in Peru. It is a beautiful country and the most biodiverse place on Earth with around 270 different microclimates. Machu Picchu
should be on everyones bucket list and we definitely recommend spending more than less time in Cuzco to see all the other amazing surrounding Incan sites. It has been over a month since we left Peru and are currently in Argentina. We were internet handicapped all through Bolivia but are now back in more modern and unfortunately way more expensive environs. We hope to get our next entry about our sweet adventures in Bolivia out sooner rather than later.
We hope 2013 is off to a great start for everyone! Many more photos below.
-Schuyler and Becky
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