The Road to Raqchi

---

Saying goodbye to the Condors, we leave Chivay early next morning to drive to Cusco via Raqchi. Although not far as the crow flies, the road to Raqchi manly consists of a dirt track through the Peruvian country side so it’s a 9 hour drive of bumps and dust.



One of the reasons for choosing to travel on the trip that I have, is the method of transport, whilst most people heading to Cusco and the Inca Trail chose to fly from Arequipa, travelling by truck means you get to experience the amazing scenery of Peru in all its glory.



The sand and desert has been replaced by rolling green hills and deep valleys, always with the constant back drop of the imposing mountains and white tipped volcanos. The plains are littered with flocks of Llamas, Alpaca and Sheep.



The colours are amazing, the landscape spectacular (a word I seem to be over using lately, unfortunately as we travel further south I can’t imagine I’ll be using it any less) I could try to describe it further but I doubt I’ll do it justice, hopefully the pictures speak for themselves……….



As with all good dirt tracks in the middle of nowhere, the road to Raqchi threw up a few issues along the way – a bridge destroyed in the rains delivered our first double back, fortunately an alternative route across the river was found without too much loss of time, the constant coating of dust on everything made breathing an interesting experience at times too.

Later in the day the road continued through the centre of a small village, unfortunately the village use the road as a space for the local market, another dead end and double back to find another route….



Raqchi gives an interesting overnight stop on the way to Cusco in the form of a homestay – a local family takes you in feeds you, gives you a bed to sleep in and generally treats you as a very welcome guest.



The home I stayed in was run by a lovely lady of the name Estella, bed for the night was up in the rafters of the lean-to attached to her kitchen, many many blankets piled on the beds kept the cold out, with no lights in the area it was pitch black at sun down. Estella served up simple but filling Peruvian food – corn soup, rice, potatoes and chicken – all sourced from her small farm, we conversed in very broken Spanish (mine, her’s was excellent of course!) she played us some local instruments and (to my total and immense embarrassment) dressed us up in the local gear – I may load one photo, the rest will be destroyed!



After breakfast the next morning Estella took us through the village to the local pottery where we were given a demonstration on pot making and decorating, more dressing up and dancing followed before we headed off for a tour of the local ruins – The ‘Parque Arqueologico De Raqchi’



After a huge lunch courtesy of Estella it was back on the road for the last leg of the drive to Cusco.



We arrived in Cusco a few hours ago, here for a couple of days for the last minute prep for the Inca Trail.



Having visited Peru before and having already trekked the classic Inca Trail route to Machu Picchu I’m choosing this time to complete a 4 day community trek, it follows old Inca routes, taking in ruins and travelling through passes higher than that of the classic route. We’ll be passing through local communities as we go, and in exchange for camping in their fields and using their facilities our money goes to funding for the communities – the classic inca trek charges quite a high fee to each tourist walking the route in the terms of a permit, this money goes to the government to help maintain the classic ‘Kings Route’. Whilst we won’t be travelling on the government routes we’re paying the same fee, the money instead goes to the communities we pass through, funding the wages of a teacher or the building of a new classroom, we’ll learn more as we visit each of the communities along the way.

It hopefully looks to be an interesting and rewarding experience and very different to the touristy route Nats and I took to Machu Picchu back in 2007, I’ll let you know.



But for now its time to enjoy being back in a city, time for some pisco sours and dancing!



Loves ya xx

---