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The views from the plane were fabulous on the flight from Bogota (via Lima) to Cusco. The mountains seemed to go on forever and scattered clouds sat just above them. As soon as the cabin depressurised we could feel the altitude (3300m), our hearts were racing. Signs at the entrance to the terminal warned against overexertion but to get from tarmac to baggage claim we had to climb two flights of stairs. A battered taxi took us to our little hostel. Cusco is a small town nestled in a valley surrounded by rolling green hills. Its street are cobbled and open into plazas, the houses are huge colonial structures with open courtyards and wooden carved balconies. Huge ornate churches seem to crowd every street with more on plazas.
Friends of ours, Emily and Andrew, were in town volunteering so we met often for dinner. On our first night they took us to The Fallen Angel, a really cool place with artwork everywhere you look and of course and enormous angel in the courtyard. Here we tried our first Pisco Sour, a Peruvian (although also claimed by Chile) cocktail made with egg whites. On the way home we bought
woolly hats in bright colours from a lady on the street for only $3 each. As we approached the main square, Plaza de Armas, we saw local girls in traditional coloured big skirts dancing but by the time we reached them they’d finished for the night. The town was heaving.
We didn’t waste any time booking onto our 5 day, 80km Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu. After shopping around we picked the travel agent at The Wild Rover (the famous Irish hostel in town) as it had been recommended and was the cheapest at only $200 each for the trek, all meals, accommodation, entrance to the site, train and bus back plus guide and horse porters for the trek. Anticipating the cold we stocked up on alpaca woollies for bargain prices. We were picked up at 4am on the first morning and met our guide, Nico, plus the rest of our group which totalled 12. A minibus took us to the starting point where we loaded our bags into the vans that would bring them to the horses waiting for us at the first campsite. Somehow most people’s bags had gained 3kg since being weighed at their
hostels, which the horsemen tried to charge for. We refused as a group to pay extra (clearly their scales were tampered with) and luckily that was the end of it. Chancers!
The first day we followed a road for the most part with steep, muddy shortcuts every few kilometres. Ash lost a shoe on one of these and tried not to cry as she watched the liquid mud pouring into it. At the next snack shop we bought two bamboo sticks with little woolly caps to help prevent anymore mishaps. The scenery back across the valley and over the fields was beautiful. We ate lunch on an outdoor, covered picnic table. We were treated to great views of Mount Salkantay on approach and from the campsite with the clouds clearing as we looked on.
Day two started at 4.30am with a wake-up call and a cup of hot coca tea in our tents. The tea helps with the altitude and the cold, we were sleeping at around 3,700mts. This day was by far the most difficult – 6km uphill (including 1km vertical) over 3 hours, followed by 9km downhill (including 2km vertical) over 7
hours including lunch. Some people took horses on the way up as they were struggling with the altitude. On both sides we were flanked by snow covered mountains with the glacial Mt. Salkantay slipping in and out of view behind the clouds. We could hear avalanches and see the trickle of snow down the sides. Nico told us that the glacier was melting and that the locals are worried about their water supply when this happens. They think it might be gone in as soon as 20 years. Reaching the top, at 4,600mts, was such a relief although the cloud had grown thicker by then meaning we could only see the mountains behind us. 5km of steep downhill over rocks and snow led us to our lunch break where we all gobbled up the warm soup, meat and rice. As we were finishing up the rain started to pour so we opted to continue on rather than wait too long resting as we couldn’t enjoy the views anyway and the paths would only be getting worse.
The remaining 4km in the rain through the muddy path were extremely trying on our patience. The sticks saved us from
many an unwanted mud bath! Some areas were totally blocked by workers clearing bamboo trees and we had to wait for them to uncover the path. We had one incident where a huge bull was being relocated and we were asked to hide up in the bushes. Unfortunately, the bull caught sight of Ash’s red poncho and tried to make a break for us. The four guys pulling on his ropes managed to discourage him and they all continued running down the track. At various points the path led right through rivers and streams, not across but down the middle of them. Our spirits weren’t lifted when we saw our campsite for the night, it was a swamp with one squat toilet for 30 people. At least our tents were sheltered in a shed. The other group had to camp in the mud and rain with nowhere to hang their clothes.
Day three started with the unpleasant task of putting on wet shoes and pants. Gross! It was an easy day though and the sun was out for all of it. We walked a gentle 6km downhill, again along a road for most of it. Most of
the group took a cable car across a high valley, including Ade, but Ash opted for the less daring option of continuing on the road. This turned out to be for the best as the guys had a few landslides to cross on the other side! The worst Ash had to deal with were some makeshift bridges across waterfalls on the road which was closed to anything bigger than a motorbike due to landslides and rock falls (although most of this was cleared one waterfall/landslide took out a large portion of a bend and no cars could cross the wooden bridge temporarily in place). Sitting in the sun and changing into flip flops was a glorious feeling at the end of the hike. That afternoon we got to soak in some hot springs and have our first shower since leaving Cusco.
Day four was our last of trekking and the sun made an appearance until lunch but then in rained again. We took another cable car, this time across a chocolate milkshake coloured river, but this time it wasn’t high so everyone went across. We saw lots of waterfalls, helped by the rerouting of water for the
hydro electric dam that the nearby town is named after. Our guide went AWOL for a few hours but turned up again at the checkpoint. From here we had the first glimpses of Machu Picchu. Lunch was in a hole of a restaurant overlooking the disused train track and lined by stalls all selling the same stuff. The bathroom was among the worst we have seen anywhere. From here we scrambled up a steep hill to the currently used train track which we then followed the whole way to Agua Calientes (or Machu Picchu town). This was the most uninteresting day of all even though the mountains around us were quite nice.
A raging river runs the length of Aguas Calientes and the train tracks cross it in the middle. We checked into a hostel where we appreciated a bed after 3 nights on the ground in a tent. It even had en suite, sounds fancy but it wasn’t. We had a snack and a bottle of wine to celebrate as we waited for our bags to arrive on the train. The restaurants on one street have outdoor tables and the footpath beside them runs right up
to the edge of the platform where trains thunder past so you’re only a few metres from trains while eating. It was pretty cool. That night we had our last meal together as part of the tour in a cute restaurant with average food.
Machu Picchu day!! We started at 4.30am and were in line for the bus by 5am. The first bus left at 5.30am in time to get to the gates at the summit of Machu Picchu for the 6am opening. We met the rest of our group there; they’d walked the 500mts up steps. Ash’s knee was shot so we gave it a miss (but we probably wouldn’t have bothered even if it hadn’t been, it was completely pitch with no lighting so there was nothing to see). For the first two hours the cloud was so heavy we couldn’t see anything at all. So much for a sunrise! Nico gave us a brief tour and some background to the site before taking off to catch his cheap local train back to Cusco. It wasn’t as old as we’d thought, only 15th century. As the cloud lifted we saw temples, houses, lots of fancy
Mt. Salkantay
plus 1st night campstone masonry and tiny peeks of terracing. The rain was falling pretty heavily at this point so we all retreated to the cafe outside to wait it out. At about 12pm we took advantage of a break in rain and were heavily rewarded.
We climbed up to the Sun Gate behind the Guard Tower and took in stupendous views over the whole site. A whole city perched on top of a mountain with a higher peak looking over it, steep terracing around the sides and sheer drops down 500mts to the river and valley below. It really is one of the most amazing things in the world and worth the 6 hour wait. A group of llamas wander around whipping the tourists into photo frenzy any time they get close. They are so cute and furry! During our tour in the morning we stumbled upon a cheeky llama doing his morning pellet-fuelled ablutions all over a stone floor. A worker quickly was on the scene with a brush to hide the evidence but didn’t shoo him away. It must happen all the time!
After the trek we rested in Cusco for a few days.
We met our group for a final lunch to say goodbye. While sitting in Plaza de Armas people watching with ice-cream deserts a little kid persistently offered to shine Ade’s flip flops. He declined. While in town we caught the El Senor de los Temblores festival (Lord of the Earthquakes) when a massive statue of Christ decked out in red flowers and decorations was carried throughout the town surrounded by marching bands, priests and men in uniform. People crowded the balconies to throw red confetti down on the statue and street sweepers followed at a distance behind to clean up the mess. We spent a few nights hanging out in The Wild Rover where Emily and Andrew were working. On their night off we joined in the quiz night and came 2nd winning a round of free shots (for our name really but we guessed a consolation prize as only a point in it and were drawing at half time). With excellent restaurants all over the place and some more friends of ours arriving in town, it was an easy place to chill for awhile.
The overnight bus to Puno, on the south border of Peru and
sitting on the shores of Lake Titicaca, arrived at the ridiculous hour of 4.30am. Luckily we were booked on a tour so someone was waiting for us at the station and the sister hostel to the one we’d booked through allowed us to sleep for a few hours before the trip started. Our tour included a visit an overnight stay on Amantani Island, visiting the floating Uros Islands on the first stay and Taquile Island on the second before returning to Puno. We spent quite some time on the boat looking out across the lake as we puttered around. Lake Titicaca rests at 3,800mts and is 160km long bordering both Peru and Bolivia. Our brief peek into island life was interesting if a little contrived (what do you expect on these sorts of tours you say). The traditional clothing the locals still wear is a throwback to Spanish colonialism and is mainly black and white with bright stitching.
The floating villages are made from layer upon layer of freshly cut reeds, which grow nearby, and are laid every month. These people originally lived on boats, constantly on the move, to avoid the yoke of slave mine labour
imposed by the Spanish and adapted into the islands once the threat had passed. During the presentation on an island it started to rain. Not wanting to miss an opportunity, we were split into small groups and took shelter in local straw houses where local handicrafts were pushed on us for exorbitant costs (which we found out later) but we felt obliged to buy.
Amantani Island is a larger terraced agricultural island covered in tiny fields all growing different crops including quinoa – a superfood at home and very common here. We hiked up to a temple at the top to survey views across the island and lake and over to the snow capped mountains of Bolivia. The trail along the way was peppered with local women selling handicrafts. Our host Mom, Juanita, was very nice and fed us plenty of the local knobbly potatoes, soup and rice. It was good to try but would be awful to live on. All carbs with no meat and a microscopic amount of veg. Juanita breeds guinea pigs to sell on the mainland to support her sons through school (along with the tourist gig). Cuy (guinea pig in Spanish) is
Downhill Part
cue rain and fancy ponchos a speciality dish in Peru. We never tried it but heard a few negative reports. It’s served hairless but not headless fully splayed on a plate. It just didn’t appeal for some reason. That evening we donned traditional clothes and picked our way in the dark across the edges of fields to the town hall to listen to some questionable local band and twirl the night away. Back at the house Juanita informed us that if we got too cold in the night to use the downstairs toilet there were bedpans under our beds!
Taquile Island was our last stop the following day. Here the clothes were still traditional but not exactly the same as on Amantani. The people all wore hats with different styled and coloured baubles. They looked like old fashioned nightcaps. We walked for an hour across the island to the main square which was a lovely easy stroll in the sunshine. We ate lunch outdoors at a farmhouse on a large picnic table with lovely views down to the lake. The food was decent, trout caught in the lake, and before and after we were treated to demonstrations of local traditions, music and
dancing. It was a nice tour but we think we’ll be going back to independent travel after. Not big fans of walking around in groups of 30!
After one night in the non-descript town of Puno we headed across the border to see Lake Titicaca – Bolivia stlye!
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