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Published: January 19th 2008
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Cusco city
Plaza de Armas by night Fourteen hours on the overnight bus took us from a vast desert at sea level to rainy season at 3600 m above! Not too bad a journey...until we had to walk up several steps to find our accommodation panting from lack of oxygen. We decided to phone a hostel and approached the nearest pay phone. It wasn´t working and we noticed a piece of paper stuck in the coin slot. As we had heard that kids often do this to gain some cash so we decided to fix the problem. Henry took out his penknife and removed the blockage. We inserted 1 soles but the phone still didn´t work, however when pressing the return coin lever 5 soles fell out. We tried again and got another 5 soles...that´s worth nearly 2 quid and a meal over here
(later in the day we tried another phone and got good returns too!!). Eventually we resorted to asking a passer by if there were any hostels further up the hill, our luck was in as he knew of a private self catering room with a panoramic view of Cusco for a mere 3 quid each a night...we stayed for 6!
Cusco is a
Cusco
Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus vibrant little city, this time of year very cold at night but pleasant during the day barring a few raindrops. More troublesome is the ever increasing hassle from locals trying to sell tourist tat at every turn. The history of the place is staggering though, from early Inca times to the amazing colonial churches that surround the Plaza de Armas (by the way if you are ever lost in Peru don´t ask for the Plaza de Armas because there´s one in EVERY single town!).
We spent the first couple of days acclimatising to the altitude and getting our fix of the museums and churches, which were very impressive - no photos allowed though so we can´t share that with you. We also booked a horseriding tour of the surrounding Inca sites for the following day. Our steeds for the day turned out to be some small but sure-footed Criollo´s....and they had to be, as the first 500m were at a gradient of 2:1 on muddy mountain paths! The Inca sites were fascinating and we began to learn a little of this intriguing culture. We visited Pukapukara, Tambomachay and puma shaped Saqsaywaman (which means satisfied falcon in Quechua and not
Cusco take aways
Fancy a dodgy burger? sexy woman!), all important sites for working, living and worshipping in their day.
The following day we took an early train to Aguas Calientes , the closest town to Machu Picchu, a picturesque journey through the mountains and down along the river Urubamba. The train had a number of switchbacks to get over the mountains which involved moving slowly backwards and forwards whilst one of the crew jumped from the train to change the points. The evening was spent playing chess and drinking pisco sours in preparation for the hard day ahead.
We woke (?) at 4.30am to begin the trek up to Machu Picchu which involved a 1.5 km walk alongside the raging Urubamba river to the base of the mountain, followed by a 2km vertical (!) climb up wet stony steps. We couldn´t tell if it was rain or sweat dripping down our faces! It was so worthwhile - the ruins were almost deserted and mysteriously shrouded in morning mist. Ever the masochists we decided to climb straight up Wayna Picchu (the peak behind the ruins) for a better view. Machu Picchu teased us for half an hour remaining hidden behind clouds whilst the surrounding mountains
Cusco Riding tour
Tour for the day around local Inca ruins shone in the sunlight. It was quite comical watching 20 odd tourists sitting around on the rocks, cameras at the ready like the paparazzi waiting for an A lister. Eventually the clouds cleared and we were rewarded with stunning views of the ruins which were much larger than we expected. After our cameras started to overheat we headed down for a closer look. We managed to latch on to a tourist group guide who included us, for a small back hander. What a fascinating people the Incas were - set in time with their remarkable ways and practices. Every last detail is significant and in accordance with their beliefs, from the layout of the site to the direction of the windows. They believed in Wiracocha the supreme deity and his four children who are earth, air, fire and water; also in 3 worlds, the underworld (represented by the snake), the present world (the puma) and the spiritual world (the condor), and finally in the duality of life (man/woman, positive/negative, up/down, sun/moon). Llamas were also of incredible importance, not only for food and wool, but also for their sacrificial status as fertility symbols. All of these are represented in the rock
Pukapukara
Lady (weaving) and the llama (wool producer!) by roadside formations and positioning of the structures. There´s not enough time to repeat all of the information here but we will attempt to do so when we get back for those that are interested.
We met a friendly Columbian couple on the train back to Cusco and the journey flew by (the beer helped too!)
The following day we decided to visit the rest of the sacred valley and took a private taxi for the day (110 soles = 18 quid for a 200km round tour). The journey was pleasant on the way out as the roads in Peru are generally of a good standard. However, after a long day visiting more Inca marvels (Pisac, Ollantaytambo, Moray) we ended up returning after dark on steep and dodgy mountain roads. Our taxi was not of the most robust sort and the headlights were practically non existant...but we survived several large potholes until ...in the home straight.....we hit the grandaddy of them all. Two loud bangs and screeching did not bode well, we´d punctured the front and rear passenger tyres and came to an abrupt halt. We should also add that we had a deadline to collect our laundry and an early
morning bus to catch which added to the situation... So there we were, in darkness, in the rain on a busy road, with a taxi driver that didn´t speak English (but who started calling us amigos when we attempted to help him with the first wheel change!). We weren´t sure what his plan was as he only had one spare but it turned out we drove on 3 wheels (leaning heavily to the left) to the nearest town where the local mechanic (man in unfinished empty house with hammer and small compressor) attempted to fix the dented rims, but with little success. At this point our amigo flagged down a passing cab and with vigorous apologies sent us on our way. It was too late for the laundry so we phoned ahead to arrange for the shop to open an hour earlier the next day (congrats to Henry for managing the Spanish for that one!).
By 7.30 the next morning we were on the bus to Puno with laundry in hand. Next stop Lake Titikaka!
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Marette
non-member comment
Wow!
What a relief it must have been when the clouds cleared to reveal the amazing view of Machu Picchu. Looks amazing!