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Published: March 19th 2008
Cusco is a great city
What is nice about going to MP is how great the gateway city, Cusco, is. This city is wonderful with great little hotels and so much to see.Before we tell you about our trip to The Sacred Valley of the Incas and Machu Picchu we both have agreed that Lan Arilines has been superb! Not only did this South American airline put us up in a 5-star hotel and feed us three great meals in Lima, they have provided amazing service, have some of the best meals in the skies, and all of the staff are very helpful to the spanish language impaired.
After arriving in Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu, it took Jessica no time at all to realize that I had no real plans or reservations. We just walked up to one the guys offering guide services standing among the chaos and free-for-all they call "baggage claim" in Cusco. Yet we were not intimidated.
As usual, everything worked out great. Our new best friend and local travel agent, swept us into an unmarked taxi and we negotiated a hotel as they drove us to parts unknown. Truthfully it is much more safe and secure than it sounds...the local tour operators in Cusco are very professional and they are a great resource when you arrive. My plan was to meet one of these guys
Nighttime in Cusco.
The Plaza is THE PLACE to be at night. when we got there...and "Reuban" worked out our stay in Cusco so everything went perfect!
We got a great little colonel hotel two blocks off the main square for only $35 per night. We could have saved a $10-15 bucks by getting into a cheaper hostel...but the noise can be pretty loud. By spluging on the $35 room we got hot water, BBC News on the tele, and a breakfast in the morning. Very beautiful little hotel!
Reuban then arranged for us to take a two day trip that would take us through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, see the sites, then over night at the base of Machu Picchu, with a complete day in the breathtaking ruins of MP.
The next morning we we picked up at the door by a small tour bus and we headed over the mountain towards the town of Pisaq. The drive up and out of Cusco is truly amaizing as you climb and climb...stunning views, Inca ruins, and drop-off cliffs keep your eyes out the window at all times. (not on this VERY safe trip, but for those of you planning a visit to Peru: on many trips around
The Cusco Market
We ate with the locals and had a great time in the Cusco market. the Andes region of Peru I suggest you take nighttime buses and sleep. The nightime buses are much more dangerous, but you see nothing. I prefer to take the higher odds of going off a cliff when I am asleep, then seeing how dangeous some of the roads really are during daylight hours -- many times ignorance is bliss and reality is darn scary.).
Pisaq has a great little artisan market which we stopped for, and then some very impressive Inca ruins. We hiked all over these mountains and took some great photos. After those two stops, we followed the Urubamba river to the little town of Urubamba for a great buffet lunch.
We stopped at a few more ruins in the after noon and Jessica began to understand why I state my rule of thumb when traveling anywhere in the world: "After the second site, they all look like the same pile of rocks." Nonethless, the Sacred Valley is an impressive must see if you come to Peru.
In the late afternoon we left the rest of our tour group so that we could catch a train to the wonderful village of Aguas Calienntes. The ride
The most famous street
Cusco was built on Inca ruins...the foundations are everywhere. towards Machu Picchu was beautiful the first time I went, but this time Jessica and I got the very front seats in the train (continued great luck) -- with a huge picture window to see all of the sites. Our seats were literally the very front of the whole train...the engineer was behind us. This was truly a once in a lifetime experience...other people would come up to our seats to take photos...and we enjoyed this great trip while in anticipation of seeing Machu Picchu at 6:00 am the next morning.
A wonderful dinner inside a little restaruant, with live local Peruvian music, while the sky opened up with a down-pour of jungle rain outside...ended a great day with just a perfect night.
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