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Blogs from Pisac, Cusco, Peru, South America
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A good weekend warm up for Machu Picchu
Published: January 21st 2013South America » Peru » Cusco » Pisac
January 21st 2013
The weekend started with a trip to one of the local restaurants close to the famous Koricancha temple to try Alpaca meat. Tasting somewhere in between beef and pork the meat was slightly tougher than pork but very nice – I would definitely recommend. Next on the list of eating things is Cuy / The guinea Pig / The Fat Hamster. These royal creatures apparently live in Castles these days rather than burrows / grasslands (at least in Pisac if you see the photo I took below). Prior to the Spanish arriving Koricancha was the most important Inca religious site that literally translated means 'Golden Temple'. Apparently the temple stunned the Spaniards given the amount of gold and precious stones that decorated the interior. However when the Spaniards held the Inca leader Atahualpa to ransom the ... read more
November 19th 2012
After a few days in Cusco and one almighty hangover – note to self; pints of G&Ts are never, ever a good idea! - it was time to head off on the trek that over the next 5 days would take me high into the Andes, through snow-capped mountains and into rural Peru that many travellers don’t get to see. The trek operator was Andina Travel and our guides came to our hotel in Cusco on Sunday night to talk us through what the next 5 days would contain – here’s some of the blurb that originally sold me on this trek; ‘The community trek will take you through pristine unspoilt Andean scenery, walking ancient Inca trails and staying as guests of the local communities as part of the pioneering Dragoman community based tourism project, Tarpuy ... read more
October 25th 2012
Today we started at 6am, heading to San Pedro Creek and the Parque Nacional Manu to stay in the Manu Eco Lodge called Tambo Paititi in the cloud forest. Being a tropical rainforest, we weren't surprised when it begun to rain as we began the 50km cycle ride to the lodge. Unfortunately, i didn't manage to get my waterproofs on in time so i was wet through in no time. Now for all those of you, me included in this, that own 'mountain' bikes, the terrain we were cycling on was what these were built for. There was not an inch of ground that was flat, rocks stones, boulders formed the obstacle course that was our road. Having said that we still travelled faster than the car behind us. Some of the track made me shake ... read more
February 12th 2012
Got up for a 6.00 am breakfast as we were leaving with the group at 6.30 am for a trip organised by a local agency, subcontracted by Dragoman. Most of the group were sorting out their luggage for the trek and had been given dry duffle bags by the local agency, Andina Travel, who were organising the trek. Many of the group had been shopping the day before as so many of them seemed ill-prepared for the trek. One person bought brand new leather walking boots, a few others waterproof overtrousers, thermals and someone even bought a waterproof coat as had come away with no coat at all! It really is cold here at night and Jo is cold even with two fleeces, a long sleeved shirt and her purple Mountain Warehouse coat. We seem to ... read more
November 21st 2011
I had my first training session in Calca which is about 30 minutes by bus from pisac. It was one of my favourite sessions so far despite the children having the attention spans of a gold fish. I suppose I’ll let them off though seeing as they were only 5 and 6. Anyway, me and Nico were in charge of 10 kids and we organised a few dribbling, shooting and passing drills with various levels of success although the kids seemed to enjoy themselves whatever which was good. That evening I went out with Jose (a brother) and his wife Suzy and daughter Ariana to a chicken restaurant owned by his cousin. Was really nice apart from the chicken foot in my soup which I did not particularly enjoy. Slimy outside crunchy inside. Weird! Don’t recommend ... read more
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November 8th 2011
The last few days have been good. Met some other volunteers. On Friday I went to Cusco to coach there. The kids there are not as talented but they are probably more fun. I worked with the kids aged 4-6 approximately. I helped with a number of drills/games that they seemed to enjoy. They also didn’t seem to care or notice that my Spanish was not great and just talked randomly. Really enjoyed it! On Saturday it was Rebecca’s (one of the other volunteers) last day so a about 8 of us met for pancakes at a café called the blue llama. It was all you can eat for 8 soles (approx £2). They were really good! This where I met most people and was invited to a BBQ in Urumbamba in that evening which is ... read more
November 3rd 2011
It is nice to be finally blogging from Peru! It was a very long journey but I did eventually make it. My flights all went to plan which was very nice although the zip of my rucksack did break in madrid meaning I had to carry it like a football for the rest of the trip. A bit of a faff but oh well. When I did get to Cusco we drove to Urumbamba to drop of a different volunteer which I thick is further from pisac than cusco but never mind. The drive was actually quite fun. Got to see some of the spectacular building and scenery in Peru. I have not taken many photos yet but I have plenty of time for that. Took a couple from the plane but you can't see much. ... read more
July 8th 2011
Hello everybody! I’m sorry that we haven’t written the blog in a while but we’ve been extremely busy and haven’t had the time to desperately search for an internet connection! Currently we are in Urubamba in Peru. Soon we will be visiting Machu Pichu, but right now we are taking 4 hour Spanish lessons in the mornings, and then going for excursions in the afternoon. Yesterday after our Spanish lessons and lunch, we went to Ollantaytambo, an Inca site. It was breathtaking and had really cool layers cut into the mountain called Andenes. We got an interesting idea of Inca architecture, and were really amazed at how advanced in design they were, for example the clever yet beautiful water system. If this was only a fraction of what Machu Pichu is said to be, then we ... read more
April 24th 2011
Carolina, Bri, Xavier and I went on a tour of the Valle Sagrado. The van picked us up sharply at 8 o clock. We had no expectations, other than lunch was supposed to be provided. Our tour guide, Puma, was a friendly guy who spoke English, French, Spanish and Quechua. As we drove by Sacsayhuaman (pronounced ‘sexy woman’) he talked about the history, geography and culture. For example , the word ‘Inca’ refers really only to the king, not to the culture. The culture (and language) is Quechua. Also, Cusco should really be pronounced ‘Cosco’, because it refers to the Quechua word for ‘navel’ as in ‘the navel of the world’, which is what this city is supposed to be. As opposed to ‘cusco’ which was the Spanish Conquistador’s word for ‘little dog’. Interesting stuff. Anyway, ... read more
April 8th 2011
The next leg of the journey takes us from Cusco to Pisac, stop off point for the Inca Trail. We don't just go straight there of course but make a few stops along the way to see some of the Incan sites in the sacred valley. The first is a water temple where the water is still running through the huge interlocked blocks of stone that the amazing Incan stone masons managed to fit so snuggly together using no mortar. Further on we climb up these huge ancient terraces at a fortified site. The terraces are huge, each at least 12 foot high. Unfortunately Max is in overdrive, spouting off at great length about the history of the site. Some of us find it more interesting than others. I have a great photo of one of ... read more
