"Jon, can we take one home please..."

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Such has been the cry a number of times over the last few days. It seems Cusco is full of the cutest things imaginable, so over the last few days I've been subjected to numerous requests for us to bring home, variously, several stray (or possibly owned) dogs, a couple of young alpacas, and most worryingly a cafe-owner's baby (admittedly absolutely gorgeous, but I'd rather not indulge in kidnapping to satisfy my girlfriend's maternal fantasies).

So yes, the time since our last blog entry has been eventful - we've ridden horses round Inca ruins, gone up Machu Picchu to look round the lost city, gone round an artisanal jewellery workshop, and spent plenty of time just wandering and soaking up the sights and sounds of the city.

Our search for the perfect lemon meringue pie continued after a french girl at our hostel informed us that she'd seen a place selling some right at the top of the hill. We decided to combine the pie mission with a trip to see the Cristo Blanco, the huge white statue of Jesus overlooking the town that so many places in Latin America seem to have. Unfortunately the altitude got the better of Fern so she decided to retire to a nearby Plaza to read and catch her breath while I jogged the rest of the way up (and promptly collapsed in a heap - this shortness of breath malarkey's no joke!). The statue isn't as impressive up close, but it did give a great viewpoint out over the city, as well as a place for the locals to try and sell you any number of trinkets, alpaca hats, jewellery and the like. Having got back down again we ordered a piece of pie with high hopes, only to have them cruelly dashed when the first mouthful revealed a faint but distinct taste of fish - ew! Still, the coca leaf tea perked us up a little.

The hostel we spent most of our time staying in here in Cusco was pretty decent and extremely sociable. We had some really nice room-mates and met a great deal of other fun people in the shared kitchen, in the bar over games of poker, or at the big barbeque organised by the hostel. It also helped that every football match is shown on a massive projector screen in the bar... The city has also been a lot of fun to explore, wandering up and down its innumerable nannygoat alleyways and looking into all the unique little shops selling anything and everything you could imagine. The market was particularly fun (although judging by the look on her face Fern wouldn't agree with me here), as under one roof you can get everything from patterned skirts and scarves, to fruit and veg, to all sorts of meat - inluding chickens' feet and pigs' trotters - to flowers, to even dried llama foetuses, used in local witchcraft practices. There's also a section at the bottom of the building with lots of small cafe stalls, at which I had my first taste of the local delicacy Ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice) - delicious!

A few days ago we went with a group including one of our roommates to a local jewellery workshop. We were shown round by the owner, who explained the process of extracting and refining silver, and casting it so it can be worked. We were also shown all the different stones and minerals that go into the jewellery, including opals, jade, lapis lazuli, rhinestones, and many more I can't remember. It was fascinating watching the craftsmen at work and seeing how intricate the things they were making were, but the real point of the trip came when we went into the shop. With display cases of beautiful jewellery round every wall I heard oohs and aahs on every side, and one particular voice above all the rest pleading, "Please Jon, I want it all!"

The high point of our trip so far came a couple of days ago, when we set out towards Machu Picchu, the lost Inca city. We caught a cab at 7am for the two-hour drive to Ollantaytambo, and though the scenery we drove through was beautiful, we both spent most of the time hanging on for dear life. A combination of attempting to overtake on blind bends and brows and driving down a mountain pass at upwards of 60mph had both of us regretting rushing our early breakfast. The fun was only just beginning however; at Ollantaytambo our cab was directed down a dirt track where the train used to run. After this ordeal our driver decided he'd had enough and chucked us out, charging us extra in the process. We then started to walk the rest of the way, until the local Policia told us it was another 5km to the station - and 20min until our train's departure time. Thankfully some friendly Peruvian tourists picked us up and we got there in time, accompanied by loud shouts of "Vamos, Vamos!"

The journey itself was spectacular enough, and I spent most of it hanging out the window taking photos. Still, nothing quite prepares you for the breathtaking vista that emerges as the bus takes you the final stretch up the mountain to the ruins. The mountains here are incredible, rising almost vertically from the valley floors, as though some giant hand had squeezed and crumpled the very fabric of the continent. We spent all the rest of the day wandering about the ruins, taking photos, and meeting the friendly llamas. There's very little I can say to you about the city itself that would do it justice, other than to exhort you to go and see it for yourself - it really is one of the wonders of the world.

That night, after a tasty dinner of grilled alpaca, we had one of the worst experiences of the holiday so far (perhaps fitting, after the day's earlier wonders). The town of Aguas Calientes - at the base of Machu Picchu - has hot springs you can soak in to relax at the end of a hard day's trekking (or even just after a sweaty climb down from the ruins), but as we visited on a Sunday these were closed so we decided to settle for a massage. After bargaining the price down to something approaching reasonable we went up through what looked like a half-finished building and lay down, hoping to be relieved of some of the knots that had built up. What we actually got was giggles from the masseuses at our less-than-wonderful condition, breaks to answer phone calls, and an attempt to con us out of double what we'd agreed to pay. To add injury to insult, the following morning Fern was barely able to walk, her calf muscles had locked up so much.

The following day we soldiered our way back to Cusco and got some R & R. We decided to spend our final day in the city horse-riding round some of the local Inca ruins, which hopefully wouldn't be too much of an exertion. The trip itself was great fun and the horses were very docile (useful for someone who's not been on a horse since he was a child), and our 13-year old guide tried, in a combination of basic spanish and broken english, to tell us about what we were seeing. We were reminded again of the complete lack of animal rights here though; the horses were kept in awfully cramped conditions, the floor thick with dung, and I even saw one of the ranch employees kick and punch an animal for no apparent reason. While I, like Fern, am hardly about to rush our and join PETA, I was thankful for our animal-rights laws at home - sometimes a little of that 'health and safety nonsense' isn't such a bad thing...

So with that our stay in Cusco was over, and we boarded our night-bus to Puno, sunburned and tired but having really enjoyed our time there. I hope you're all as well as we are and enjoying the British summertime (and the football results)!

Jon

xxxxxx

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Photos

View over Machu Picchu
This is the 'typical' shot of the ruins, taken from the High Priest's house, where the Inca Trail ends.

Fern, on the edge of a mountain
What you can't quite see in this shot is the several-hundred-metre drop to her right...

Some llamas, at Machu Picchu
They're incredibly tame, as I guess they ought to be given how many thousands of tourists they meet. Still, it makes for fun photos.

Comments

[Daniel]

awesomeness
Hey great job Jon, this trip is sounding awesome. I have always wanted to see Machu Picchu. And you're absolutely right, there's lots of things we take for granted here that you don't necessarily realise until you go to some of the "less civilised" places of the world. Soak it up, brother. -American Dan