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Published: November 9th 2008
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Here is the fifth article about our south americain trip... Sorry for the map, it does not work so you will get one in the next article.
Cusco, Peru:
The travel from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco was an unexpected & unforgettable experience. As we said in the previous article, the trip takes 15 hours for 400 km. The road is only praticable outside the rainy season. We took a night bus. After few hours, everyone was trying to sleep when suddenly weird noises woke us up. It sounded like someone was drumming on the bus´roof. Actually it was not a drummer but huge stones falling. The bus eventually stopped and one passenger walked to the front holding with both hands a massive stone. It went through the roof making a large hole. Fortunately no one was hurt. The driver did not seem to be as impressed as the other passengers, he fixed the holes with some tape (scotch en francais). We finally reached Cusco safe.
Cusco is well known as the capital of the Incas located at 3400 meters. In two days we successfully managed to breathe normally (after few headaches), and get stolen Tim´s Ipod & cell
phone in our locked hotel room. Too bad but Tim takes the lead in the contest of objects stolen.
Cusco is a charming city with a rich historical past: the famous "plaza de armas", museums, churches & Incas´ ruins. (cf pictures) It s very interesting to see how 500 years ago they built temples, houses & wall and sometimes carried stones weighing more than 1000 kgs. One example showing their skills is the last earthquake which occured in the 50´s. The Incas´walls did not collapse whereas the ones built by the spanish conquistadores did.
Cusco is surrounded by various Incas sites known as The Sacred Valley. We visited several ruins and stayed in Ollaytantambo which is the best preserved Incas´city excluding Machu Picchu. We attended an unexpected typical danse exhibition. (cf pictures) We wanted to join the contest in order to show them our worldwide well known dancing abilities but we could not as we were above the age limit.
5-day trek around Salkantay mountain:
We learnt from our jungle trek that is sometimes better to have a private guide rather than being part of a heteregeneous group whose members´physical fitness we do not know. We also
decided to make an alternative trail to avoid the tourist highway:Inca trail. (anyway we had no choice as even in the low season you need to book few months in advance=> impossible for us as we are always well organised)
We had a dream team to support us (and carry our bags) : Raúl the guide, Grimaldo the cook, Pauliño the "mules´drivers" and the mules. All of them were very nice. We had great time with Raul talking of Peru´s culture & current situation. Not very optimisitc about the future of his country.
Our schedule for each day started at 5am with a cup of Coca leaf tea in the tent brought by Grimaldo. It was very helpful to handle the altitude and be fully awake for the trek. Then a huge breakfast with one more coca leaf tea ... We want to point out the fact that all the meals were not only huge but also the best we have eaten since our arrival in Peru. Quite amazing in such tough camping conditions. We walked roughly 7 hours a day reaching once a 4600-meter high pass. (cf pictures : we did not forget our Marseille´s roots)
We went through
various landscapes (high mountains and tropical forest). The temperatures kept on changing from 0 to 25 degrees. The mosquitoes were even more agressive than in the Amazon forest. A real pain.
Raul had a good knowledge of the plants and could explain to us their medicinal power. (against headaches, stomachaches...) It seems that everything can be heeled with a couple of leaves infused in a tea.
On the fourth day we had the choice to travel by car as everybody does but we preferred to walk until the end because a trek is a trek for us. Local people thought we were crazy : walking when it´s possible to get a lift is a nonsense for them.
The trek ended with the visit of the Machu Picchu (old mountain). Unfortunately we got a new guide who did not seem to know a lot of Machu Picchu and moreover his english was poor.
Machu Picchu is very impressive when you get there. This lost city was built at the top of a mountain surrounded by higher unaccessible moutains. However 1200 people lived there in the 16th century. The last day was tough as we wanted to do the full visit of
the site. We first went to Intipunku the end of the Inca trail where all the famous pictures are taken. We then walked up the Wayna Picchu (Young mountain, right behind the lost city) in order to get an overall view of the city. One comment for the girls if you want to sharpen your body (affiner vos formes en francais): with the amount of stairs there, no need to go daily to the gym just come once a year to Wayna Picchu. Yes, it was painful but rewarding.
We came back to Cusco where we had rest for two days and one party with Pisco sour (National drink). We would like to higlight the fact that it was the first party in Peru after 3 weeks without being drunk. An unbelievable achievement for Los Mineros. As successful Barack says " Yes we can"... be sports´men.
Huacachina, Ica:
We decided to rest and save in this 200 people village on the west coast surrounded by dunes. Back to the heat and the flip flops (tongues en francais). The city is a bit fake (made for Peruvian elite tourists). But we found a gourmet restaurant where we
highly appreciated the service : un casque d´or.
We spent this day tasting local wines & Pisco and learning the traditional peruvian wine making. Wines are very sweet & fruity and the pisco is strong.
Ballestas Islands & Paracas Reserve, Pisco:
We went for one day to spot birds, pinguins & sea lions which are very lazy... but their shit is of very good value as it is a powerful fertilizer.
We reached the Pacific Ocean almost 2 months after having seen the Atlantic Ocean in Salvador.
We are heading south to Arequipa, our last stop before Bolivia and meeting Max the last minero on this trip.
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Nicolas Ragiot
non-member comment
oh bello
poto tu te regales toujours autant bises les jungle men , profite :-)