Travels in Peru: Off the Inca Trail

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Cuzco

Emma had been to Cuzco eight years previously, but the city seemed to have undergone a bit of a transformation since then. It was a far cry from the small rural towns and villages that we had travelled through in order to get there, with everything seeming a lot more manicured than had been the case in years gone by. Simple artesan shops had been replaced by expensive boutiques, accommodation was expensive with very few options for getting cheap digs, and there were also the unfortunate additions of a KFC, MacDonalds and Starbucks, all occupying prime positions in the main colonial plaza. The government, cashing in on the hoardes of tourists there to see Macchu Piccu, had dramatically increased entrance fees and transport costs to see the ruins. You could probably fly across the continent for the cost of a daytrip to Macchu Piccu, which is a shame, because not willing to part with a small fortune to share the ruins with 1000 other visitors, it meant that we left it off our itinery this time round, but we´ve pledged to come back in a few years and do the full Inca trail which usually arrives at Macchu Piccu at dawn to avoid the crowds, and by then, we´ll probably be able to afford the train back to Cuzco.

Fortunately, there were a number of lesser visited archealogical sites around Cuzco that we ventured off to see instead, including the spectacular Saqsaywaman and Q´enqo Inca ruins a few kilometres climb out of town. Despite the best efforts of the Spanish conquistadors, who tried to pillage as much rock as possible in order to construct churches and plazas in the city below, the ruins remained spectacular and we´ve still no idea how the Incas managed to quarry such huge lumps of rock to construct the buildings and city fortifications of Saqsaywaman. We stumbled upon the site of Q´enqo by accident, but were glad we did, and had fun exploring the giant labyrinthe, carved rock seats and amphitheatre before walking back into town.

In Cuzco´s historic centre, we visited the huge monastry of Santa Domingo which was built on top of the Incan temple of Qorikancha, meaning that some parts of the complex had traditional huge Incan stone blocks, whilst others were traditionally colonial in construction. An interesting mix.

The added expense of staying in Cuzco meant that we didn´t stick around for very long, and so after a couple of days of ruins, churches, markets and impromptu Quechua music and dance shows in the main plaza, we were ready to move on, catching a night bus to the city of Arequipa.

Arequipa and the Colca Canyon

On arrival in Arequipa, we started making plans for a trip to the nearby Colca Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world (the deepest is the Cotahuasi Canyon, the next along, but it was a bit tricky to get to, so we thought we´d give it a miss). With a hundred and one tour agencies charging an arm and a leg to go on an organised trek into the canyon and back out again, we decided we´d probably have more fun going it alone and the next day, we caught the 3am bus heading out to Colca valley.

First stop in Colca was the spectacular Cruz del Condor, a viewing point where we stopped for an hour to watch condors flying around the canyon in the early morning. A little further down the road, we arrived in Cabanaconde, a small village in the heart of the Colca region where we stayed for the next few nights. Unfortunately we´d gone up in altitude again, and on a ridge overlooking a giant canyon at 3300 metres, it was rather cold at night. On the bright side, we were staying at a backpackers hostel that had had the foresight to build an indoor pizza oven, which was just as well because they had run out of gas (the town hadn´t had a delivery for a week or two and there seemed to be a significant local shortage). As you can imagine, Emma was less than pleased to discover that the showers were powered by gas and were therefore, to say the least, a bit nippy.

On short jaunts from our accommodation, we walked out to a fantastic viewing point looking out over the Canyon and also visited the local cemetery. It might seem like a morbid interest, but it´s always interesting to see how different cultures decorate their cemeteries, particularly in latin america, where the wealthy have giant ornate mausoleums. It was possible to go into the canyon and stay overnight in one of the various villages, but we thought we´d venture into the depths as a day trip, visiting the small oasis of Sangalle, right at the bottom of the canyon. We set off early and having descended over 1100 metres, we arrived in the tiny town, where some clever entrepreneurial types had built a little swimming pool and were serving set meals and ice cold drinks in a pretty little garden overlooking the river. It was lovely, and we enjoyed a very well deserved rest with drinks and food, before contemplating the huge climb back up to the town above. Fortunately the ascent was, if anything, a bit easier than things had been going down, and we arrived back in town just in time for sunset and another evening with hot pisco tea next to the pizza oven.

Leaving Colca, we arrived back in Arequipa, where we enjoyed a slightly warmer climate, and had a couple of days relaxing in some great vegetarian cafes, visiting bakeries and watching the world go by in the sunny plaza. Feeling obliged to do something cultural other than sample the local cuisine, we also visited the huge 17th Century Santa Catalina convent, which, with colourful streets, parks, beautiful plazas and an assortment of buildings, was almost like a small village itself.

Lima and the North of Peru

From Arequipa we took a rather long night bus through to Lima, where we visited a the cathedral, some spooky catacombs, packed indoor markets, giant malls, and big open plazas. We also had a very nice dinner (with wine), and went to the cinema, all in twenty-four hours. Unfortunately, we were staying in what was, quite possibly, the noisiest hostel we´d stayed in for a very long time, with a bar open until four and cleaning staff arriving at five, so as it happened, we were actually quite looking forward to another long bus trip so that we could catch up on some sleep. Fortunately, that´s just what we got, with twenty-four hours on a bus from Lima to the small town of Chachapoyas in the Amazonas Region of Peru. Being in the ´Amazonas´, we had expected it to be a bit warmer, but it turned out that we were once again up in the mountains, and so tropical it wasn´t. There was however plenty to see, and it was a lot quieter than the big city.

Most of the sites around Chachapoyas are quite remote and are barely served by roads, let alone public transport. As a result, we signed up for a couple of tours in order to see some of the various attractions in the local area. Our first stop was the ruins of Kuélap, a fortress-citadel situated high up on a mountain-top overlooking surrounding valleys, built by local tribespeople long before the Incas arrived in the area. The huge outer walls and foundations of many of the small inner round houses were remarkably preserved, as was the evidence of the stone guinea-pig runs that most houses had close to their indoor fireplaces. It seems that the roasted rodents were a delicacy even back then.

Next on our tour of the local area were the eerie caves of Quiocta. Still held as a sacred place where offerings are placed by local Quechua people, we donned wellies to wade through mud, deep pools of water and pitch blackness, to explore the caves with their occasional paintings and abundance of bat poo. Following this, we returned to broad daylight and headed off down some bumpy dirt roads to a valley near the small village of Carajia where we discovered that it wasn´t just the Egyptians who interred their dead in ornamental casks, as we were introduced to a collection of large sarcophagi and skulls mounted high within a recess in a steep gorge. Thought to date back to the 15th Century, the sarcophagi are believed to have been made by the local Chachapoyan people for important warriors (held within), and were mounted in the gorge facing the rising sun, which apparently would also have been important.

Amazingly, despite there being very few tourists around, Chachapoyas actually had a vegetarian restaurant that proved to be popular with locals looking for health food options, and so Emma did quite well when it came to dinners out in town.

From Chachapoyas, we stayed off the tourist trail, heading to the coastal city of Chiclayo. There wasn´t too much to see and do in Chiclayo, but the nearby dusty market town of Lambayeque proved to be an unlikely location for a brilliant museum (albeit not one that usually attracts international visitors) where the remnants of various tombs, unearthed from a pyramid in the local area, were displayed. Artefacts included a huge array of jewellery in gold and copper, clothing, and various skeletons, including that of the ´Lord of Sipan´, who was buried surrounded by various women, watchmen, children and llamas, alongside lots of precious relics, all now restored and displayed, estimated to date back to the Moche civilization, inhabiting the area nearly 2000 years ago. Incredible stuff. And, having only been ´discovered´ in the last 30 years, the contents of the pyramid escaped being plundered by the Spanish, with excavations ongoing.

All in all, we had a good time in Peru, and, with a bit of effort, we reckon we´ve proved that there´s far more to do in the country than just visiting one overcrowded and oversubscribed Incan archaelogical site near Cuzco.

Tallies

Bears in duffel coats carrying pots of marmalade = 0

Llamas in unlikely places = 5 (think inaccessible rocky precipices and sites of archealogical digs)

Civilizations other than the Incas and the Spanish that were established in Peru = Many, with a wide range of lesser-visited archeological sites available for exploration.

Guinea pigs consumed = 0 (but Chris reckons there´s still time)

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