Peru - Cusco & Machu Picchu

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We arrived in Peru sometime in the first week of June. Me & Julie took a bus from Copacabana in Bolivia to Cusco. We stoppped for a couple of hours in Puno just for something to eat before carrying on to Cusco.

I think we must arrived at the hostel in Cusco around midnight or a bit later. Luckily the bar was still open, so popped in for a quick beer .. then we ended up going out with a few people who worked at the hostel. Cusco is a bit of a party town .. and apparently we had arrived on a good night. We went to a few different bars & clubs .. and I think got to bed at 8 in the morning! We were staying at a hostel called Loki Hostel which is in a beautiful old courtyarded building that has been restored. It's a pretty big hostel .. with everything you need there .. so it was a good place to stay. Also they had a big screen for the football .. essential as the World Cup was about to begin .. very exciting!!!

Cusco is a beautiful city. It had a lot of old colonial buildings .. all over the place .. but pre colonial times it was the capital Inca city .. Cusco meaning the navel of the world. The city is set with wide squares, many churches and quaint streets. The colonial city was built in the walls of the Inca City .. some of which you can still see. The stone work of the Incas was incredible .. the later colonial stonework looks really shabby in comparison.

After a couple of nights in Cusco it was time to do our 2 day Inca Trail trip. We took the train at 6am for around 4 hours to near Machu Picchu. We got off the train at km104 where we were met by our guide. Unfortunately about an hour into the walk I got sick .. it was my turn for a bit of altitude sickness .. which was weird as we were at the lowest altitude we had been at for about 10 days! The rest of the day was really hardwork .. I was sick, then had to was constantly uphill for the next couple of hours. At our lunchstop I saw a doctor who gave me an injection to stop me being sick. The afternoon wasn't as bad as the walk was flatter .. but I really couldn't wait to get to my bed and lie down. We got to the sungate at around 4pm .. and saw our first view of Machu Picchu .."The Lost City of the Incas". It is an incredible sight ... a city perched on the top of a mountain .. surrounded by mountains .. how they managed to build it up there is unbelieveable. After a quick look around we took the bus to Aquas Caliente .. the nearest town where we were staying for the night. The hotel was much better than we expected and had plenty of hot water .. what a relief after a long long day. I think I was in bed by about 7pm that evening. The following morning we got up at 5.30am so we could get one of the first buses back upto Machu Picchu. Our guide, Feliz, was really good .. vey informative .. and we had all morning looking round the ruins of Machu Picchu. That afternoon after lunch in Aguas Caliente .. we got the train back to Cusco.

I wasn't very well for a few days when we got back to Cusco .. so a lot of time in bed .. or sitting watching the football ... and didn't really get to see all the sights in Cusco. But overall I enjoyed my time in Cusco and would have liked to have stayed a bit longer. It's one of those places that a lot of travellers end up staying in for a few months not the few days that they planned.

My last day with Julie was a quick stop in Lima. Julie flew there early morning, and I joined her there at lunchtime. We only really had the afternoon in Lima. Had time for lunch, a quick look around the centre .. a bit more football in a pub .. and then back to the airport. It was time to say goodbye to Jules. She headed back to London and I flew back to Chile for a couple of nights before heading back to Argentina. I had one night in Santiago, then one night down at a vineyard. I visited Luis Felipe Edwards vineayrd as in my new job I will represent them. Then it was on to Argentina................

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Comments

[Bryan]

Great explanation
Thank you for the interesting blog. I am planning a trip to Peru for to weeks next spring and this was a good insite to the Cusco.