Advertisement
Published: February 9th 2013
Please note: we have been unlucky enough to lose 95%!o(MISSING)f our MP photos due to some horrific SD card error or something. We were only able to recover some but not the greatest ones. Let’s just say this place was less than lucky for us. We left Bolivia with heavy hearts as we really got to love this country. The journey through the border was less than easy and we reached Arequipa with no problems around 8 pm. There are a lot of stories about this particular part of the country, saying that Puno-Arequipa road is the most dangerous in Peru. We thought that our driver was really careful when taking on these sharp turns and besides the mountain drops were not even that high. Once you have taken a bus in Bolivia you know what it means dangerous haha
Arequipa, UNESCO heritage town, is said to be one of the colonial gems of Peru and all the continent for that matter and we were really excited. Because people really advise to be careful with taxis in Peru we found ourselves in front of a terminal not knowing what to do. It was too late for a town
the astonishing Machu Picchu
sadly this is the best photo we are left with:-( It got much better later onbus apparently. We asked our fellow passenger and because he was from Arequipa he was able to find us a trustworthy taxi company. We already had a recommendation of a place to stay in so we went there straight away. It was ok and for 35sol/13$ we were pretty happy with it. We went for a night stroll around the old town and grabbed some food. We really liked it…but…it was so touristic and modern in a way that it shocked us. Peru must be way more developed than Bolivia.
Arequipa looks fabulous at night but only during the day you can see its stunning surroundings. Huge mountains and active volcanoes are seen from any part of the city. It makes it incredibly attractive. We walked around, visited famous monuments and the most important
Andean Sanctuaries Museum, which hosts Juanita Mummy. This is where we really began our Inca experience. Yes we have been to Isla del Sol in Bolivia but really, Peru is the centre of Inca Empire. The thing about Inca stuff is that you think you are following Inca footsteps but really you are following herds of tourists haha And you cannot escape this feeling if
you want to see the stuff. The ticket costs 10$, pretty pricey but believe me, worth the money. You get to see a well done documentary film, museum expositions and the mummy with English speaking guide for the price. We loved it and we learnt a lot about Inca culture and their empire, which came very useful later on.
Juanita is famous because she is not really a mummy, her body has been preserved by ice for 500 years. You can still see her skin tissue and nails. It is such a sad story though. Incas believed that sacrificing the most beautiful and noble girls and boys will bring them rain, prosperity or war victory, depending of what they were asking for at any particular time. There are tens of children mummies found on every sacred mountain in the Andes. Juanita was about 12 when she participated in the ritual; she was extremely healthy (they know because of the fact that she had her embryonic cord with her, which Inca had fed the children with when they had fell ill) and judging by her clothing she was close to royalty. It was an honor to be sacrificed and she
at the end of Tomek's hike up
amazing views of Ollantaytambo knew all the way up to the volcano top what was about to happen to her. Then she was drugged and hit in the head when put into the chamber. How scared she must have been..
We also wanted to see the Convent in Arequipa but with the ticket price of 40Sol/15$ we just gave up. It was the same with Colca Canyon which entry ticket price went from 15Sol to 70Sol/27$ in just a few years. What do budget travelers have to do there? We already knew that Machu Picchu is going to be a HUGE expense so we just gave up. No condors for us this time!!! We also had to evaluate our situation because Christmas was coming and supposedly world was about to end on the 21
st of December haha. We had to rush to see the Sacred Valley, immediately. We needed to reserve our MP day, pay in the bank and print our ticket. We did not like that process at all, because with the rainy season upon us we wanted to visit when the weather was nice. You cannot really know what the weather would be like one week before your visit, right? Even
though it was low season we only just made the list of the day we wanted to, so waiting till the last minute is pretty much not possible.
With no more thinking about that we left beautiful Arequipa and took a night bus to Cusco. Oh and lets not even talk about bus prices. We took one of the cheapest and still have to pay 15$ each for the ride … not so shocking now but after Bolivia it just seemed extreme. The most reliable and expensive Cruz del Sur (
www.cruzdelsur.com.pe) or Oltursa (
www.oltursa.com.pe) were nearly double of this price. We arrived in Cusco in the morning and took a bus to
Ollantaytambo, little Inka town in the
Sacred Valley. We did not want to stay in Cusco just yet as we had to deal with Machu Picchu before. We instantly loved this place. It is full of tourists yet pretty authentic with Inka terraces, temples and original irrigation system. Yes, the irrigation system almost cost me a broken leg. I somehow did not see it in front of me and fall in with one leg and bruised it really hard. So, trekking around Ollantaytambo was out of the
question for me. I had to get better to climb MP. Tomek went on and he loved the views of the valley. It is so easy to understand why Inka thought it was sacred. It is green, flowery with a huge river floating along and massive mountain peaks surrounding it - just naturally stunning.
Ollantaytambo is also a starting point of the
‘cheaper’ train to MP (it is half way between MP and Cusco). It is ridiculous as it is but you, as a foreigner, are not allowed to take a local train to get to
Aguascalientes village. There is actually another and cheaper way through Santa Martia but during this rainy season it was flooded (see more details at the end). We were stuck and we had no other choice but take the 55$ (the cheapest, 1.5h) carriage to get to the Sacred City. Exactly, that is what we hated about all of this. We were given no choice. It was the first place we have visited that did not allow tourists to take a train with locals (their price is 3$). As far as we understand the price difference, we don’t understand why we could not ride
with them but had to sit in this polished carriage with leather seats and waiters serving coffee. Even in very conservative Myanmar we could ride a train with locals who contribute to the overall experience the most. It is an act of discrimination agains foreigners, if you will. We don't mind luxury, don't get us wrong, but we don't mind being put in a position with no choice.
We hated the fact that we were forced to do so and we hated the fact that the whole thing was so controlled by the government. No public transport but the train or Inca Trail to get there which is also controlled by the licenses. Apparently one cannot even walk alongside the river (50km) without a guide. We did not want to trek in the rainy season and besides we could not afford 550$pp for it (I guess it was Christmas price as it was extremely high). We were left with this tourist trap, that was all. We found a nice room with hot shower in Aguascalientes for 15$ which in high season sells for 80$....ridiculous as it was of a standard of a ok guesthouse not a hotel. There was
no hot shower and no wifi and no light in the end because there was no electricity in the town for 24h when we were there. It is ok to bring toursits and charge money for rooms and not having a stupid generator right? The blackouts are not rare if it rains, which is hello, like every season. They are just so spoiled by the whole thing. Imagine being all wet and cold and smelly from a tough trek and not being able to take a shower, brrr. We were at the point of giving up if not the 152Sol/60$ each we already paid for MachuPicchu and climbing WaynaPicchu.
We had real troubles finding anything cheap to eat as you cannot even buy empanadas in this place and we only managed to get some bread and jam for breakfast. We intended to have it at MP with the best views in the world. We wished for good weather and we were lucky, again. The 2km hike up to MP was hard but doable and we really enjoyed the exercise. We could not see anything until we reached MP just before 7am. That is when the clouds started to descend,
revealing this architecture masterpiece and one of the 7 Wonders of the World. It was incredible to see it and it made us forget all the bitterness we felt about the whole experience so far. At least for a bit. We just stood there and watched it emerge in front of us. As it was rather early and tour groups did not arrive yet (around 9 it is full already) we felt this incredible peace around us. I only felt so emotional about seeing a place once before – when I had seen Taj Mahal for the first time. This made it the second. It is not the Inca town itself but the mountains and the valley and the views all together. Simply incredible!!!
We spent some time walking around, in perfect sun with perfect views until it was our turn to climb Waynapicchu at 10am. I am not going to lie that the climb isn't hard but so worth the views. You get a completely different view of MP from way above and it is amazing. At the top it is quite scary as you can only get on some slippery rocks but it was great anyway. You
get to meet some rude people who would rather push you down the cliff that make a space for you there but hey, we don’t have to like everybody. We chose to descend by taking the longer 2h circuit down as we did not expect it would take us to the bottom of the valley and then we would have to climb all the way up. OMG, I thought I would die when doing so … it was so hard. Steps, steps and again steps up. I so admire people doing the Inca Trail!!! To say that you need to be fit to do it would a real understatement. You have to enjoy the pain of hiking up to be happy with this trail. When we finished WP the rain came and because we refused to pay the ridiculous price for a tourist bus down, we had to walk. It was not as bad as our legs went numb at this point already but you can imagine we prayed for electricity to be back. I don’t remember ever being so soaked with rain, really. It was a good move not to do the Inca Trail in this weather.
The
next day we took this horrific train back to Ollantaytambo and a
collectivo back to Cusco. We loved MP itself but the rest was still annoying the hell out of us. With these horrible feelings we were unable to enjoy anything in Cusco, really. We met some old friends there who told us about the Tourist Ticket (130Sol/50$) to see anything in Cusco and the fact that they were refused to enter a church to pray because they were gringos. What the hell is wrong with this place? We wanted to be out of there immediately. We went to TACA flight office and booked a flight from Lima to Terapoto (100$ each when compared to a bus 75$ each - not bad) where we would begin our Amazon journey. We would normally take buses to get there but again, because of the rainy season roads were too bad to go through the mountains. Better to be safe than sorry in this case. Just out of interest we asked for a ticket from Cusco to Lima and we were told that regrettably the ticket would have been really expensive because the government did not allow them to sell standard but only
tourist fare on this route. That was the last confirmation for us that we don’t want to stay there even a minute longer.
We checked out, took a taxi to the terminal and booked a first bus out of Cusco that would arrive before our scheduled flight. We had to take the luxurious Oltursa (24h, 65$ each), but wow that was a great journey. They offer fully reclining chairs, blankets, movies in English, meals and drinks. It was better than any flight we have ever taken and it was very secure. We learnt why the best companies are so pricey. Their buses are GPS tracked in case of a hijacking, robbery or an accident and they know where they are at all times. You have to appreciate that is a country where all those stuff happen, especially during the night journeys. Sadly, it was one of the best experiences we had in Peru at this point – the bus ride, can you believe it? At least we were really excited about the Amazon and our border crossing to Colombia by this mighty river. Off the gringo trail, at last!!!
Additional Remarks: •
In Arrequipa we trendy area in Arequipa
and so pricey that few travelers could afford dining here recommend TaxiGreen company - licenced and safe
•
Surprisingly we met a lot of people on the way who were considering not visiting MP because of the overall experience. We felt relieved as we thought that our feelings were extreme. I suppose Peruvian Government is rushing to make as much money as possible as MP is sliding down and it is unsure how long they will be able to do so. So sad, really!!! •
There is international ATM in Ollantaytambo, you can get money out there, no problem •
To register to MachuPicchu visit: www.machupicchu.gob.pe and choose your date. Only 400 people a day are allowed. Good tip: for best views choose 10 am hike up the Waynapicchu as before that the whole valley is covered by clouds •
The cheapest way to get to MP is by Santa Maria (bus) and Santa Teresa (bus) where you can catch a train for only 12$ to Aguascalientes. We checked that options but were told (by unbiased people) that in December roads are flooded. •
Peru has incredible Tourist Information points that can help you with pretty much anything. They printed our MP tickets for us, gave us loads of pamphlets and even called a boat company for the Amazon to find out dates of departure. Use them, really recommended. They called all the clinics to find my anti-rabies treatments in Arequipa and Cusco so that I did not have to waste time and money going from one to another.
•
Be warned that if you start the anti-rabies treatment in Bolivia you have to pay 30-40$ for Verorab in other countries. It is the most effective drug apparently but only Bolivia provides it for free •
There is no Bus Terminal in Lima and each company has its own stop. If you head to the airport it is very easy to get there by bus so skip the supposedly dangerous and very costly taxis in Lima and take a bus for 1$. It was very easy and safe.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.487s; Tpl: 0.021s; cc: 44; qc: 170; dbt: 0.2753s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.7mb
taracloud
Tara Cloud
Great photos and tips!
So sorry you lost your best photos (what a nightmare), but really those here are great! Thanks so much for the warning about the prices in Peru--shocking--I guess I can´t hang in lovely, well-priced Bolivia as long as I´d hoped--I could never afford high season prices. So glad that you made it to MP and enjoyed the experience--your photo were great from there. Incidentally, an Argentine doctor told me no need to worry about a dog bite unless the dog is frothing at the mouth (I´ve been bitten twice down here)--just in case (hopefully not) you get another bite. Best wishes for a great Amazon adventure.