Cuzco

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We arrived in Cuzco four days before the Inca trail in order to acclimatise to the altitude, do a little sight seeing and buy as many things as possible to make the Inca Trail itself less painful!

Cuzco is a lovely city, with some fantastic bars and restaurants, a cute central plaza and fascinating Inca history. Our time here went way too quickly, and not just because we were all dreading the Inca Trail!! We did manage to visit a number of drinking and dining establishments - drinking hot wine in Cuzco is a survival technique, because despite the warm days it gets extremely cold at night. We also managed to get a good day of shopping in, buying all the various assorted items that would make our lives slightly more comfortable on the Inca Trail (shame we couldn´t have bought a portaloo!).

As well as wandering around the city and drinking too much we also managed to do some sightseeing like proper tourists! Obviously we couldn´t come to Cuzco without visiting the Sacred Valley, and being organised travel individuals we left this until the day before the Inca Trail. The day trip we organised was a whirlwind tour taking in most of the main highlights. It began at the hilltop city of Pisac which was really spectacular, although we were a little limited on time. After a quick lunch, and our first taste of the fluorescent green Inca Cola, in Urubamba, we moved on to Ollataytambo. Here we saw spectacular inca terraces and had a really good look around the site. The walk to the top of the terraces left us all breathless and even more doubtful of our ability to do the Inca trail! Our final stop on the way back to Cuzco was at the village of Chinchero. By this point the sun was setting and as the most impressive inca sights had been removed to make way for a catholic church, it was definitely the least impressive stop of the day. Still, it did provide Paul with another toilet stop (the altitude sickness tablets are a diuretic and this was definitely a bad day to try them out!)

We eventually returned to Cuzco at about 7:30pm, to grab a quick bite to eat before doing a final re-pack. Katherine had miraculously found a weigher in the Pisac market and we spent an entertaining evening realising just how little we could take with us on the Inca trail! Once the sleeping bag and camping mat are packed into the (unnecessarily heavy!) dufflebag, there is just enough weight allowance left to add a single sock!

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Photos

Anything Goes in Peru
Paul still hasn´t tried the Guinea Pig!

Vino Calientes in Los Perros
Most definitely needed to keep you warm!

Comments

[ted +san[mums friends]]

you do get around
just spotted you two on google hope you dont mind