Ruined in Cusco - in two senses of the word

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Arrived yesterday in Cusco - a wonderful town built around an old Inca town largely but not completely destoryed by the Spanish. Its tiled roofs, cobbled streets, quaint passages, large squares, traditional Peruvian colourful clothes make this a magical place. It´s full of life - markets, bars, cafes, restaurants. Everywhere there are the sounds of guitars and Peruvian pipes. There is a slight problem that the music may initially sound South American, but pretty quickly you hear that the main tunes dressed up for the tourists are Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel numbers (a difference from the equivalent in Ecuador where they were Frank Sinatra - who for these purposes we rechristened Fransisco Siesta). At dinner tonight, we had a lengthy medley of Mozart. I leave the musicians among you to imagine the 40th Symphony, Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and Rondo all Turca played in this style. (Sorry to any hopefuls - I declined to buy the CD so no extracts available on return.)

We are here not only to see Cusco, the outlying markets, the Sacred Valley but also to acclimatise. We are at 3,350m - and unfortunately, for the moment, Marianne is the first of the ruins of Cusco mentioned in the title of this blog. The altitude has gone to her head and stomach, and she has spent the first 36 hours here in bed. However, a mixture of sleep, masses of water (apparently pumps you full of oxygen that you can´t breathe - so the guides say, but I´m sure the medical readers have a better explanation), coca tea (thanks to Irene for the tip - she may yet end up chewing coca leaves) and some drug prescribed for her (which she is taking - a fact to be overlooked please by any homeopaths reading the blog) seem to be working - she got up to eat something this evening. Hopefully, an Inca trail trekker will rise from the ruins in time for the walk that starts on Sunday.

The other ruins are of a more traditional variety - from the Inca period. Perhaps the most striking thing is the way that the Incas managed to build terraces along the sharp Andean incline - so that vast blocks of the hills look like giant steps. (If the trail has steps anything like these - and apparently there are 2-3 hours of step climbing on day 2, a few new ruins may join the older tourist attractions.) But the preserved cities and temples that we saw are also fabulous. Many of the buildings are so strong that they are still standing up to roof level, 700 years and many wars on. And the cities and terraces were built entirely in 60 years with fortresses, watch towers, temples and the like. (Reading Kirsten´s comment of yesterday, reporting that she and Matthew have finished their ground floor refurbishment in 6 months, perhaps we shouldn´t be so impressed with the 60 years effort!)

When we got to the ruins on a specially arranged taxi tour, we were all under the impression that you could see them fairly easily while ambling around. When we got there, we were told by the guide that it would take more than 2 hours to do the track, with a lot of steep up and down climbing. Also, it turned out, with quite precipitous edges. The news of a tough 2 hour hike brought cries of protest from some of the party - any guesses which? But the walk and ruins were so spectacular that the protests dried up fairly quickly (and evaporated when we arrived at one of the market town for nourishment at a cafe that, of all things, specialised in German and American cheesecakes).

Tomorrow is what has become known on the trip as a "fester day". That means either lounging around the hotel (Polly is planning this) or the town (which I am planning - Polly says walking around the town doesn´t count as festering: what´s wrong with me?).

From Sunday, we should be on the Inca Trail and incommunicado. Marianne says she is sure there must be internet (Inca-net??) cafes en route - but she is still feeling a bit odd!

Love to all. Send some comments and let us know about the summer. Thanks to Carrie for the IOM reports, Kirsten and Sue and Phil for the news et al.

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Comments

[Sue and Phil]

Sorry
Sorry about the 25 copies of our message! Computers eh! Mari, hope that you are recovering rapidly ready for the Inca Trail - I think we can excuse you taking drugs if this is in fact true! Enjoy your time away from the internet cafes - it must become a pain at times. Continues to sound amazing, and we have got nothing to report that can begin to interest you after what you are seeing. Catherine has been to stay with us for a few days and left this morning, and Tom has returned to Swansea after Argentina full of interesting stories about his trip. Take care all of you and enjoy the Inca Trail. love to all xxxxxx