Peru.. Cuzco and Machu Picchu

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Flew from Quito to CUZCO, via Lima.. with 10 hours in Lima airport between flights.. I found a great website though with advice on the best place to lay your head in in airports around the world!!!? (http://www.sleepinginairports.net/casa/lima.htm) .... I just ended up drinking lots of coffee in a restaurant and falling asleep on the table for an hour... instead of paying for a taxi and hotel room for a few hours. An interesting landing at Cuzco, where we seemed to be circling and banking through the mountain peaks for ages.. the pilot told us later he'd had a "mis approach", missed the runway and had to circle again... slightly worrying, though I suppose it meant we got to admire the stunning mountain views for longer!


Cuzco is a pretty city with red brick colonial buildings and lots of little plazas, built on Inca foundations and overlooked by the mountains. Though it's clearly set up for the hoards of travellers bought there by the Inca trail.. every other shop is either selling handicrafts, tours, alpaca jumpers, massages etc etc... and you do get a bit of hassle.. from women or children dressed in traditional clothes and leading llamas asking for their photo to be taken, to shoe shine boys, tour and restaurant touts, and people on the street offering other recreational goodies.


I stayed at The Point Hostal.. a great group of people there, a bar, pool table, HOT HOT showers (the first in a while!) and even duvets on the beds, but a tendency to loud bad dance music in the bar area.. and the water goes off after 10pm so you can just imagine the state the toilets are in after a night of no flushing! A few good nights out.. Cuzco's party town reputation precedes it, and I was definitely wrong if I thought I was going to give my poor body a break after 10 days at Mitad Del Mundo in Quito! Cheesy tunes till late, and free drinks (usually Cuba Libra.. so have been testing a lot of rum!) offered by all of the bars. .. there's loads of places to go out (though we did keep being magnetically drawn back to O'Flaherty's - claims to be hightest Irish pub in the world, and is clearly one of the hubs of the backpacker scene in Cuzco (maybe due to it's famous shepherds pie which I was hearing about from the minute I landed!) and to Up Town (the draw of free drinks just proved too much)


Took a bus up the SACRED VALLEY to TAMBO MACHAY (Inca baths) with Phil (a Norfolk boy!) and Ronald, and walked the 8km back to Cusco via 3 other Inca sites.. PUCA PUCARA, QENKO and SACSAYHUAMAN (pronounced "sexy woman"!).. Saw two of the guys from the hostal on bikes on the way up and were admiring their fitness (steep uphill at such an altitude would have been a feat) but we later found out they'd grabbed on to the back of a passing gravel truck and had been pulled much of the way up! Stopped at the "jesus overlooking city" (every city seems to have one!) for great views of Cuzco on the way down.


And of course visited MACHU PICCHU.. I did cheat and take the train to Aguas Calientes instead of hiking the Inca Trail for 4 days (which at this altitude and temperatures didn't seem like any fun!).. Machu Picchu was impressive of course, and the scenery surrounding it was amazing, but there are so many tourists there!


At 3500m altitude I was definitely feeling the lack of breath, and had a few rough days.. though as headaches and nausea are symptoms of both altitude sicness and hangovers, I wasn't sure whether this was the altitude, the snotty cold I had or the late night drinking sessions!

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Comments

[jillsare]

cuzco partying!
Hi Katharina Guess you didn´t use your Spanish too much in Cuzco! I´m checking your blog from Jean Brown´s office (free broadband). This morning I took the last of the Volunteer Engineers to the airport....a truly amazing experience with them!! Now, three more wks in Quito to sort out my own stuff. Un abrazo. time to read your next blog....Jill