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Published: August 7th 2007
Ben on the pass
(and still smiling!)We found mid June to be a good time to visit Cusco. The city put on its party hat and for our entire visit, there were celebrations and parades in the street, dancing, fireworks and the odd protest just to get in on the action.
We saw the Corpus Christi parade, where the locals dust off all the saints and parade them around the town square. They are then carted off somewhere to have a bit of an all saints gathering, before being returned to their respective churches.
We spent days roaming Cusco´s narrow streets, some of which are a curious mix of old inca stonework with Spanish colonial buildings plonked on top.
It would be a shame to visit Cusco without going to see Machu Picchu, and we signed up to do a 4 day trek beforehand to add to the anticipation. We did an alternative to the inca trail (which seemed quite overcrowded and, in any case, totally booked until September). Our route took us over a 4,650m pass past the massive Salkantay peak and down through cloud forest to the Rio Urubamba, downstream of the Machu Picchu site.
Ben caused some consternation among the
Salkantay itself
There is a rumour of riches on the top for those who manage to climb it. group by insisting on carrying his pack instead of putting it on a mule. Everyone thought he would turn his lungs inside out at the altitude, but he was always the first to the top (mountain goat that he is). Talking to the guide later on, I actually think Ben´s approach had some merit - the animals have an alarming tendency to spook and launch themselves off the track into the river below, taking your gear with them.
The trek was spectacular in parts, and it was nice to stay in some tiny villages along the way. We tried to bring most of our water with us, but we were surprised to see little stalls in the most random of places.
On the way, we were entertained by Dimah, a Russian/Israeli who moonlights as a magician. He had some pretty cool card tricks and confused us greatly by twisting and bending a fork right in front of our eyes. We couldn´t figure any of it out. He said he had done some tricks on one of the slow boats going down the Amazon. The locals thought he was practising black magic and were afraid to be in the
same room as him. They were still curious though and watching the tricks through the window.
Machu Picchu itself was amazing. We got up ridiculously early and raced up the 1000 or so inca steps to be at the gates as they opened. Ben managed to beat the first of the lazies who took the bus, while the rest of us huffed up in the mist. It was great to be there before the masses arrived to soak up the atmosphere. We watched the sun rise over Wayna Picchu (the mountain in all the photos) and later climbed it. This didn´t do great things for Ben´s fear of heights. I can only think that the incas somehow bred out any sense of vertigo amongst themselves - some of the terraces were constructed above overhangs, with nothing but air beneath. Either the scared ones soon succumbed to natural selection, or they ran away to live in the safety of the valley below.
The site is not totally untouched. Many of the ruins have been restored to some extent - i.e. the stones used to lie all over the ground and now they are back in walls. During the filming
of a beer commercial, a camera was dropped on the Intihuatana stone, chipping off one of its perfect corners. This stone is pretty important (it is, after all, the hitching post for the sun) and now it has a bit of a gash. We also heard a rumour that some other sacred stones were picked up and moved so that the president of Peru could land his chopper.
Despite having around 7 hours to look around, the time to leave was upon us all too soon. Although, watching the buses cart more and more people up the hill, even as we were leaving, made me think we had seen the best of what Machu Picchu had to offer.
I believe I have now seen almost every single stone of inca origin. Time to move on.
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