Advertisement
Published: October 29th 2008
Edit Blog Post
I think as we have been here for 3 weeks now and because besides Machu Picchu there is also so much to do and see here and I also think that the Inka Trail desereves it's own separate blog. From our experience so far, many gringos come to Cusco, do the Inca Trail, look round the city and leave. Cusco and the surrounding area is peppered with Inca sites and pre-Inca sites with some dating from just after Christ. Admittedly I don't think that any compare in mysticism or grandeur to Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, but they are all absolutely magnificent in their own special ways and I think it's such a shame that so many people donĀ“t really know about them or simply dismiss them. Fortunately many people do visit them. The main question I have is "how the hell did the Spanish conquer these guys?" after seeing these sites and being gobsmacked at their scale, beauty and technical advancement. Apparently Pizzarro returned to Spain after he first saw them and told the then King that he had never seen such beautiful and impressive architecture and that even his great kingdom of Spain had nothing in comparison. He
Moray
Can you see the people just next to my watch? this site was huge. mind blowing consequently returned and destroyed the Inca temples and built Churches on their foundations! Savage indeed! The Spanish had advanced weapons, civil war within the Inca empire and some serious luck on his side, that's how he defeated them. Cusco itself is a very mysterious, quite dark, but undoubtebly stunning city. It's nestled in the Andes about 3,400 meters above sea level. Due to it's height, the oxygen here is pretty scarce and I got the usual headaches and shortness of breath that come with mild altitude sickness, but after 3 days I was kind of back to normal. There was a group of us that had become good friends in Lima, a no nonsense, but very funny geordie lass called Amy, Jess and Barny, 2 friends from the Midlands and Jo and Rosh from somewhere in the South. We all got on really well and had a proper good laugh together. Our hostel was poor, very cold, no communal area, they advertised that they did breakfast which they didn't, the kitchen was crap and you could never get on the internet because the owner was constantly on there and chucked you off if he wanted it! Charming! That said, it
had great views over the city and it was clean enough, but the main thing is we were all together and we all clicked really well. Like I was saying, there are several brilliant Inca sites around Cusco and on the Cusco tourist ticket you could visit them all and we were definately going to visit them all. 3 of us were Northerners, so come on, we were going to get our moneys worth! I won't go into detail about each site, but 4 really stood out above the rest. Sachsaywaman, which was a short walk from central Cusco, stood above the city and was a defensive site and building started in the 1400. The stone masonry was unbelievable. Huge rocks, carved perfectly and fit together like a jigsaw. Pisaq was a site about 20 miles from Cusco that was mind blowing and to be honest, after seeing Machu Picchu, I don't think is far behind in scale and magnificence. It was a tough walk up, but well worth it with terraces, towns and temples clinging to the mountain side and stunning views down the surrounding valleys. Tipon was an amazing complex of terraces and water channels cascading down the
hillside. The Incas worshipped water and if this site shows how important it was to them then it certainly reflects its importance to them. It was simply beautiful and even the hundreds of screaming school kids that were there didn't tarnish its magnificence! Finally, Moray was a series of concentric, circled terraces in the base of a valley. Apparently it was an experimental site to investigate which crops grew at certain micro climates (again, how the hell did these guys lose to the Spanish when they knew about micro climates!). It was 150 meters deep and again, it was a very special place to see. I would love to describe all the other sites we visited, but I don't have the time and I doubt you have the patience! I will briefly mention the transport to the sites that are a few miles out of town. Many people get taxis or organised trips to them, but being rather tight and also enjoying something a bit out of the norm we decided to get the local collectivos which are basically shabby, old people carriers that are used almost entirely by locals and they ram as many pople in them as possible.
They were a real source of entertainment! We got on one which was rammed with Peruvian army cadets, fully kitted up which the girls enjoyed! Cusco is a special city and a proper party city which we have done loads of too! It's a pretty left of centre city with strikes going on all the time, so I feel right at home! We did a Spanish course while we were here which was worth it and my teacher was absolutely stunning, I fancied her proper and it made my lessons far more fun! Never got the guts to actually tell her though! Muzz and Stonell (my 2 uni friends who just happened to be here at the same time) have now arrived and the party has continued! They have done the Inca Trail with us and I will tell you all about our stupid, childish antics, like pretending to be archealogists the whole trip and claiming every Inca site for ourselves!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.045s; Tpl: 0.016s; cc: 10; qc: 25; dbt: 0.0212s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb