Blogs from Cusco, Peru, South America - page 434

I returned yesterday from my 4 day hike along the Inca Trail, finishing at the highlight of the trip so far, Machu Picchu. I have 1 more night here in Cusco before heading to Puno and seeing what Lake Titicaca has to offer. But first, back to the big MP. I began the hike at Kilometre 82. The first day along the trail was a relatively easy 12km and we arrived into camp at around 4pm. The terrain was quite flat and we stopped at a couple of ruins along the way, just to get us in the mood for what we would be seeing on day 4. The hardest part of the first day wasn't coping with the altitude or the uphill parts of the trail. Instead it was avoiding the significant amounts of donkey ... read more

My Inca trail experience started on the afternoon of the 6th at the offices of Wayki Trek, where we had our pre-hike group meeting to go over the logisitcs of the trip (not a very necessary task, since we'd all been over them individually) and to meet the group. The other hikers at the meeting were Liz and Lee, a couple from Yorkshire who've been travelling about South America for a couple months, and Kim, a med student from San Diego whose about 3 months away from becoming a full-fledged doctor. The two members of our party not in attendance were Len, a computer consultant from Vancouver (who grew up on a dairy farm in Alberta) and our guide, Amerigo. Len hadn't known about the meeting, and Amerigo hadn't arrived back in Cusco from a meeting ... read more

My last adventure began with a near death experience. Amie and I went to the airport in Ayacucho to catch a flight to Lima, and then from Lima to Cuzco. The women were praying (Dios Mio!) and asking us if we have ridden in small airplanes before. I acted super confident and smiled, and simply said that small airplanes didn’t bother me….maybe I’m going to change my mind about that statement. First the plane was two hours late (by this point, I’m used to Peruvian time). Then the pilot asked us how much we weigh in kilos. I have no idea I’m trying to do some odd calculations in my head, but before I even finish the pilot throws Amie and I into the plane and piles pieces of luggage on us to balance out the ... read more

Until i spent time in the andes as an adult, i had very little of a concept of what an absolutely magnificent civilization was created by the Incas. I had studied the Incas and the predecessors in elementary and high school while i was living in Peru. Considering they were able to conquer and to assimilate peoples from Colombia to Chile - which themselves performed brain surgery, created magnificent temples, astronomical guides and calenders - the Inca EMpire must be considered one of the select great civilizations of all time Amongst the greatest, was the ability to manage an ampire larger than the USA or EU in landmass - with effective communications, government, policy, and care for the entire lifecycle - until you see it, it can not be comprehended From what I can determine, with ... read more

Mandag norgon lämnade vi ett sömnigt Cuzco för att bege oss ut pa fyra dagar med Inca Trail. Efter en kort frukost i Olliutantambo kom vi til Km 82. Km 82 reffererar til järnvägslinjen mellan Aguas Calientes og Cuzco, vi var altsa 82 km fran Cuzco och det var ocksa härifran vi skulle pabörja var färd mot Machu Picchu. Var grupp bestog av totalt 25 personer var av elva turister av blandand nationalitet, tva guider, en kokk och elva(!) bärare. Det var tack vare dessa bärararna att man kände sig lite som den imperialistiska vita mannen pa jungelsafari, med alla bekvämligheter och frukost, lunch, middag och teatime däremellan alt under tak och pa uppdukat bord. Vi fick faktiskt mer mat nu änn vad vi har käkat under under hela resan. Vädret visade sig ocksa bli mer ... read more