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Published: July 15th 2008
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Okay so we had an early start out of Santiago for our 3.5 hour flight to Lima. The flight was easy and we arrived with plenty of time for our bus. Lima does not get a great right up for safety in lonely planet so we enjoyed a sandwich and coffee in the airport and then jumped a taxi directly to the bus station. We were impressed when we arrived as the station is completely fenced off and we both felt really comfortable that the touts and safety problems we had read about were not prevalent at all. We had a few hours to kill before our bus left for Cusco so we confirmed our internet tickets and were gestured towards a desk to check in our baggage. This was also very impressive and well organised it also meant that we did not have to lug it around with us which is also really good. So we sat in the bus station playing tantrix passing the hours and before we knew it at 2pm we boarded our bus. Our seats were semi cama (half reclining) so we figured we would be pretty comfortable. The journey was to take 22 hours our
longest yet but after Argentina we were not concerned about it.
The views out of Lima are of very dusty brown hills covered in shanty towns. It was here that the poverty first hits you. So many tin shacks in close proximity mounted on arrid land with no signs of sanitation. The views change little in the first couple of hours so we watched a film the bus put on to pass the time. After that we were served dinner which was okay but with only one glass of coke offered for the rest of the evening we were pretty disappointed. There were no drinks through the night and the journey was not very comfortable. You forget when you consider the time scale that you are travelling up the Andes to Cusco and that the roads are pretty rough and winding in places. We spent the night jostelled around our seat and in the half sleep half awake moments at times it really did not feel safe. Our driver for some distance when he could get some speed up kept braking sharp and you were thrown around your seat, not ideal sleeping conditions. On saying that when we woke
we were so high and the roads we so bad that it was probably better that we had not seen the roads over night. The buses are not small and the tight turns and scary drop offs are not good for the heart!!!
We arrived in Cusco 10.30am it took an age to get to our baggage but eventually we were in a taxi and at our hostel. The hostel was really nice and our room was great so that made up for the bad night. Unfortunately Tim was not feeling very well at all with a bad headache and chesty cough. We had been warned about altitude sickness so we had 3 days in Cusco before we set off on our inca trail. The lady at the hostel made us some coca tea which is supposed to help you acclimatise and Tim took to bed in the hope it would pass. We had no paracetamol left so I headed into town to the pharmacy. Having purchased pain killers and imodium (in case things got worse) I felt completely ripped off at 16 quid. This was the first sign that Cusco is not cheap!!!! He would not let me
buy strips like you can in other countries so I ended up with 500 paracetamol and 100 imodium. Having sat back and thought about it later I was definately ripped off. After a couple of hours Tim felt slightly better so we headed out for some food. We were also concious of getting back to Lima on time as we had a connecting flight so we had that to sort out too.
Cusco is a beautiful town filled with great architecture and lovely plazas. Far better than we were expecting and immediately I fell in love with the place. I like old towns full of history and tight cobbled streets Cuscu really did exceed our expectations. We passed a sign for flights and after our horrendous bus journey we decided to check out the prices. Twice the price but an hour instead of 22, 70 quid against 35 no contest really and we arranged our return flights. After a short stroll we found a nice restaurant next to a small plaza in the sunshine. We ordered food, I tried the alpaca kebab which was okay but we realised that we had been spoilt with meat in Argentina as it
was tough and the whole meal very expensive for what we got. Second notification that Cusco is a tourist town. Tim did not finish his food a clear sign that things were not improving so we went back to the hostel and he felt straight to sleep. I pottered for a bit making use of the free internet. We both had lots of sleep that first evening/night in the hope of getting on track the following day.
It took the full 3 days we had spare to get to a stage where we both felt okay. Our second day we wondered around the town not really feeling like we were on the same planet as everyone else. I had started with a bad headache and ended up in bed that afternoon while Tim this time sat on the internet. It is a very strange feeling and although we did not get the full on altitude sickness we had heard from other travellers we both felt drained and had no energy which was getting concerning for the trail.
By the time our third day came round we had perked up quite a bit and the headache was more of
an annoyance than consuming. We sat in the Plaza De Armas in the sunshine watching the world go by. There we demonstrations from the locals which we worked out was about the price of fuel. At least that was what everyone seemed to be talking about. The demonstrations cut off the whole of the town and there were hundreds of people with banners and whistles. The older generation seemed more vocal than the younger but it went on for most of the day. There were people in our hostel that were due to start their inca trail the next morning but there was warning of road blockades and it all started to sound quite serious. As it turned out it was, stones had been placed in the roads and buses into Cusco had taken over 30 hours instead of the general 20 or so. Some passengers had to get off the bus and help move the stones so that the journey could continue. The inca trails were trying to get out the night before their scheduled departure and it all got a bit hectic for some tourists. We were lucky as our trail started after the demo´s but it was
concerning all the same. Not in a safety aspect although there were riot police placed stratigically around the town. The protests ended peacefully but caused alot of disruption in Cusco and the surrounding areas.
Having purchased our last few bits for the trail we felt set and ready and our meeting with the trak people answered our final questions. We were both quite concerned about our fitness particularly as we had been on top of the world the past few days. We were living on coco tea and had avoided alcohol, all the things we had been advised to do. We were told our first day would be pretty easy going and the toughest day was the second day with 4 hours consistant climbing. We started to mentally prepare at this point. We had to buy a bag to put all our belongings in that we were taking with us and as we had on 12kgs collectively we ended up opting for a really cheap, light multi coloured shopping bag. I personally would not have been seen dead with it at home but we both found it quite funny!! This bag would be carried by the horses and we both had our small back packs for our day things. So we packed said untrendy cheap bag and prepared for our 4.30 pick up the next morning.............
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