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Published: September 19th 2008
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Machu Picchu
that picture postcard view first day in Cusco.......... Wandered around the Plaza de Armas, very pretty and all very well maintained - a pleasant change from Bolivia, though a little touristy. Decided to take it easy and save the sightseeing 'til Rob arrived the next day. Settled into an afternoon of scrabble and papaya smoothies in a little bar called 'Los Perros', complete with its own little puppy.
second day in Cusco............. Fetched Rob from the airport, took him for a hearty brekkie, took in a few remains of Inca stonework around the centre of Cusco then decided to take it easy and save the sightseeing 'til Rob was over his jet-lag. Back to the scrabble bar (jels is not a word, and that's all we'll say on that matter) where Rob treated the poor budget travellers to a bottle of wine, and we discovered that they also had jenga, though Russ found this a lot more stressful than scrabble.
third day in Cusco............. Time to actually do some sightseeing and find out a bit about the Incas. Cusco was the centre of the Inca empire and the Santo Domingo convent and church is built upon the sight of Qorikancha, the sacred centre
of Inca worship. On our way in we were accosted by a little man - did we want a guide? I thought it might be a good idea, learn a bit and all that........ He assured us he 'would-a-speak-a-slowly-for-a-to-understand' then proceeded to jabber on very loudly in an unknown language. We caught a few English words: 'temple sun'......'goooold'.........'temple moon'........'siiiiiilver'............'spanish'.......'catholics'...........'earthquake', at which point he started to vibrate, as if in an earthquake. It was hilarious. Desperately trying to conceal our hysterics I think he mistook our gleeful expressions as excessive interest and became even more enthusiastic, if that was possible. Fellow tourists were following us around, giggling away behind him. But bless him, he was very sweet. Eventually he left and we had about 10 minutes to run around and read the English signs before closing. His point about the earthquake was that it had destroyed the Spanish-built church but the Inca stonework had remained intact. We then happened upon a bar serving Cusco's finest: sex on Machu Picchu!
last day in Cusco............. Better see some proper Inca ruins. We walked to Saqsaywaman, which was very big and impressive, though reluctant to get a guide after yesterday, we weren't entirely
sure what was what. 'Twas rather a steep walk there so decided to hire horses to see the other sites and save a bit of time. Except the horses didn't really move much faster than we did. It kept Rob amused though, as my horse seemed to have a severe rear-end wind problem.
The Incas
a bit of history............. The Inca empire lasted from around the early 12th to the early 16th century, though their main expansion was during the 15th century. Their empire stretched as far North as Ecuador and as far South as the top of Chile and Argentina. They were renown for their stonework, of which Machu Picchu is one of many examples. They built 20,000 miles of roads; all these (including the Inca trail) originate in Cusco. Inca temples were said to have been magnificently decorated in gold and silver, but this was all pinched by the Spanish and melted down.
The Inca was the ruler of the empire and the true heir was the son of him and his sister, though he would have many wives. By the time the conquistadores arrived, the Incas were already in the midst of civil war, making
Cusco cathedral
and the Plaza de Armas it easy for the Spanish to infiltrate a ready-made empire; the Inca and true heir had been killed by a plague (probably smallpox brought to the Americas by the recently arrived Europeans) and two other sons had fought and divided the empire.
The Inca trail
A few years ago, control of the 'official' Inca trail to Machu Picchu was tightened, limiting the number of people per day and prohibiting independent trekkers. Our company was called Peru Treks, and compared to the distant traumas of the Torres del Paine (not forgetting the lessons learned - chocolate, stick and music) this was absolute 5-star trekking. Sixteen tourists, two guides and 23 porters! They were carrying our tents and mats, a dining and a kitchen tent, tables and chairs, stove, gas, three days worth of food for 41 people, plus an extra 6kg of your own stuff if you paid a bit extra (who wouldn't?).
A bit of last minute shopping (always a fun activity) - ponchos, walking sticks and coca leaves - then we were off. Muchas rain as we set off in fleeces, waterproofs, new ponchos and hats. It lasted about three seconds before the sun popped out and
Patallacta
one of the Inca archaeological sites along the Inca trail we all stripped off. Amazingly, that was the only rain for the whole trek. The first day was only four hours or so, a 400m ascent punctuated by a two-hour three-course lunch, and followed by a three-course dinner. Marvellous. Everyone was in bed by 8pm (don't think I've been to bed that early since I was six!) having been warned that the second day is by far the hardest. I was a little scared - there's a bit more peer pressure being in a group to try and keep up the pace! We were woken at 5.30am with tent-service - a lovely cuppa bought direct to the tent door - brilliant! So after a 25-course breakfast we were off.
It was an 1100m ascent over dead woman's pass, about five hours, of course with a prolonged stop for snacks and coca tea (everyone's new favourite tipple), then another hour or two down. Each time I began to feel a bit sorry for myself, I was reminded of the porters each carrying 20kg, and the seven-year old girl in our group who was also doing the trek, with surprising ease. I felt very deserving of my four-course lunch though. We
then had the afternoon to sit and chill - literally - the campsite was periodically submerged by very cold clouds (a bit like giant dementors). It was a very cold night, and I should really have put more clothes on, but that would have involved actually getting out of my sleeping bag - one of life's dilemmas.
The third day's hike was really quite spectacular. A shorter ascent (500m), lots of Inca archaeological sites along the way and some stunning scenery - becoming more tropical, loads of orchids and green hills as far as the eye could see. Everyone's pace seemed to slow, taking it all in. There was a rather gruelling descent - one and a half hours of continuous steps - then the last Inca site of the day - Wiñay Wayna. This had been an agricultural site, rows and rows of terraces built into the hillside. Would've made a nice spot for a bit of camping, a barbecue, maybe even a hot-tub........ (I was a bit achey by now and beginning to dream of hot bubble baths). After another humongous dinner, we all elected bed over the disco, in view of our 4am start.
It
was about two hours to Machu Picchu, setting off in the dark by torchlight. I have to confess my first view of Machu Picchu was a bit disappointing - I had expected to walk through the sungate and immediately be hit with the picture postcard view, but the first glimpse is quite distant. That doesn't lessen its glory once you get nearer. We had our tour around, then after four days' hiking, decided that the best thing to do was some more uphill hiking - up Wayna Picchu to some more Inca sites and views over Machu Picchu. This was probably the hardest thing we'd done, though only 45 minutes, but requiring about 300 chocolate bars. Once up there, we all took about two million photos, because of course every few steps you take affords a completely different view of Machu Picchu. We finished with a big group meal and a celebratory glass of wine/beer. There was a real sense of comradery amongst the group and I have to say this was a definite highlight of the trip so far.
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