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Published: December 11th 2007
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Cusco We had an early start with a flight from Arequipa to Cusco, with a touchdown in Juliaca on route. For some strange reason, we all had seats apart, but it was only a short flight, so no great hardship. Two descents were tough on Rachel´s ears as she couldn´t equalize due to congestion. We arrived at Cusco at 3800m and our taxi raced down periously narrow cobbled streets to The Hotel Grial, our little two star place in San Blas. We were all weary and treated ourselves to breakfast at Jack´s Cafe. Everyone helped Rach finish her massive stack of pancakes with fruit and cream, giggling at the piddled Irish lads trying to engage in drunken conversation with us. Frank, our Inka Trail guide, met us at the hotel for our briefing. He showed us the trail route and explained where it would be challenging (the notorious second day) and when it would be easy. We felt reassured about our ability to do the trail, even though Rach was a bit concerned about her flu, by Frank´s huge sad seal eyes: he seemed a patient guy and wouldn´t rush us. We shopped in the afternoon for waterproofs and sexy long
johns, because Ricardo was convinced it would rain and we would freeze. Then we relaxed and went for afternoon tea at Cappucino Cafe, overlooking the Plaza de Armas. We found Cusco a pretty and friendly city and enjoyed the traditional dancing in the square, even though the guys were wearing very scary masks! That evening we were harrassed by an endless stream of touts offering massage and restaurants to us. We became so accustomed to saying "no gracias!" all the time, we were very tempted to buy the t shirt bearing that slogan from the Irish Bar. But Ricardo was determined to get us to The Dogs restaurant in one piece and it was worth it, because the food and drink was scrummy (although Rach could only have pineapple juice, Jase loved the Milky Brown Cow cocktails). After dinner we all went to Mythology, a nearby nightclub, and Ricardo and Margarita joined in the salsa dancing lessons, lubricated by generous rum and cokes. Feeling ill, we only stayed for one drink and then headed back to the hotel, leaving the other two to enjoy themselves.
Sacred Valley Rach felt awful the next morning but we plodded on and joined
Us with the dancers
No we didn't dance! our Sacred Valley Tour. Frank, our guide, picked us up and drove us to Pisac, with a hungover Margarita concentrating around the corners. The car got a flat so we pulled over at a scenic spot and enjoyed the views as our driver swapped to the spare. We arrived at the ruins of Pisac, which Frank said would be a nice bit of practice for tomorrow´s trail. There were some precarious steps and steep drops but Frank took it at a nice slow pace so we enjoyed the walks and the spectacular views. We stood at the top in the Sun Temple, overlooking all the Inka terracing below, learning about Pacha Mama (Mother Earth). We headed back down the steps and pathways and refreshed ourselves with freshly squeezed juice from an enterprising little lady at the top of the hill. Then we journeyed to Urubamba for lunch, before heading to Ollaytanytambo for lots more stair climbing. Not good with a cold and constant runny nose! Rach survived and we enjoyed the ruins, amused by the stray dogs running riot at the the top of the ruins. It was amazing to survey all the agricultural areas and how the Inka´s used
terracing to create different microclimates for crops and irrigation systems to supply the water. It was also incredible how they had moved such huge stones to the tops of mountains to create beautiful temples. Filled with awe, we left and continued to the Chinchero church, which was built on the site of an ancient waya (sacred place). It had the usual ostentious decor of other Catholic churches in South America and a statue of a dubious saint, cannonised for defeating the Inkas. It depicted him riding his horse, literally crushing an Inka below the horses hooves. Very Christian!! We bought a couple of postcards from one of the sweet but shrewd little boy businessman congregating outside the church and then headed back to Cusco.
It goes horribly wrong That evening we enjoyed home style food at the world´s highest Irish Bar, polishing off yummy Shepherd´s Pies washed down with a pint of Greene King IPA. They even had Abbot Ale but we were too ill to enjoy a sample. We had an early night in anticipation of the trek the next day. Unfortunately we got hardly any sleep because Jase had a terrible fever and high temperature all night.
Our fears were confirmed, he had caught Rachel´s lurgy! We both felt absolutely awful and realised much to our disappointment the Inka Trail would be practically impossible for us now. After much debate we decided to be sensible and cancel our trek, despite our determination to do it for so long, as walking up huge mountains in high altitude is hard enough when you are in the best of health. In the early hours we waved Margarita off and wished her luck on the trek.
Ricardo was great and took us to the docs to get us checked out. We felt a bit guilty paying up and jumping the queue to see the doctor, but he was very thorough and listened patiently and checked our blood pressue, oxygen levels, ears, throat and chest. He confirmed that Jase had the worst yet to come and even had high blood pressure (hopefully due to his illness and the environmental conditions!) and that Rach´s low oxygen levels were probably due to altitude and that she should be getting over her flu in the next few days. He said we had been wise not to attempt the trail and should rest to recover.
He prescibed antibiotics and decongestants and we headed off to the pharmacy. Armed with our drugs stash we sat in Jack´s Cafe drinking ginger, lime and honey tea to soothe our throats and yummy pumpkin soup. We rested all afternoon and met Ricardo later that evening for dinner. Ricardo and Oasis had been great and sorted a train ticket for us to visit Machu Picchu on the Friday as planned. We were to spend the Thursday night in a hotel in Aguas Caliente and meet the group early the next morning from their trek. We spent the next day resting and mooching around town, drinking lots of soothing ginger tea and blowing our noses till we looked like Rudolph the Reindeer.
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Debra
non-member comment
Just a quickie
Is that last photo Rachel foaming at the mouth? Rabies! Run Shaun!