land of the incas (try2)

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I promise to try and keep this one short and sweet ....

Well the bus journey to Cusco was interesting to say the least! Peru have recently been in the midst of some major strike action which they relish in this country and everyone participates. However it does mean trouble for the poor old backpacker. Basically they had blocked the roads in Juliaca so we had to take an old back route to Cusco of which only a few companys were actually doing. This was fine but when the bus broke down at 3am in the middle of nowhere I started to have doubts. Couldnt tell you what was wrong with it but we ended up with the conductor in the bus with a barrel of diesel siphoning it directly into the engine! Health and safety first always! We made it to Cusco alive and only and hour behind schedule which was amazing seeing as the bus broke down 3 times! (Albeit with a diesel fume headache)
Cusco is gorgeous and we found a lovely little family run hostal that was dirt cheap which we need as would be here for 9 days even before our Inca Trail. Its a maze of winding little streets with loads of plazas, churches and fountains galore and its really high which meant 5 minutes walking deserved an hour beer break to recover!
Luckily enough for us there was a few peeps in town that we knew which meant there were a few messy nights and groggy mornings pitched in with the obligatory souvenir shopping and sight seeing.
After a few days of being very lazy we attempted to do a city tour with the company we booked our inca Trail through. Unfortunately they forgot to inform us that there was a strike that day (yes, more) and that the tour wouldnt be running. Not happy bunnies and after some shouting arranged it for the following day but obviously by this time worrying about the organisation of our Inca trail!
The city tour was quite rushed and would reccomend to anyone coming this way with a few days to spare to do it all yourselves or with a private guide over the course of a few days as there is so much to see at each site. We started at Coricancha, Some of the best inca stonework left and once the richest inca temple. The Cathedral was next which stands over the Plaza de Armas was pretty impressive, the highlight for Lee being the Peruvian interpretation of the Last Supper with a Guinea Pig being the dish of the day in the centre of the table! There was also a black Jesus in one of the altars which no-one could decipher the true meaning of his importance. Every different tour guide around us had a different version from it representing the colour of the indians to too many candles being lit underneath him and changing the colour of the material used - they actually think you will believe anything!
Next was the ruins of Sachsayhuman (pronounced sexy woman much to everyones delight) that looks over the city of Cusco. The stones used to build this temple/fortress were huge and it seems impossible that they shifted these things from a good 5km away! We were probably rushed around this the most as it covers the entire hilltop and we only walked around a small corner of it. The wonderful tourists who were on the tour with us were far more interested in the the domesticated Condor that was being used as a showpiece in the middle of the ruins - a sad state of affairs. As the sun set we headed further up the mountain to the ruins of Qenko, Puca Pucara(Jamie Oliver would love that one), and finally Tambo Machay where the fountains still work today with pure spring water coming up from the middle of the earth. It was bloody freezing by this time and I was trying to convince a poncho seller to rent it to me for 10 minutes but he wasnt having any of it!
Our second outing in the area was to the Sacred Valley (booked through a tour operator that had at least a little customer service skill unlike EXOTIC ADVENTURES). The tour was again a little rushed as we tried to fit in way too many sites for one day, and in the end we ditched the guide shortly after arriving at each site and was able to cover much more ground.
I hasten to add at this point that we use the word guide loosley for every tour around inca ruins as most information about specific sites and there functions is pure speculation, and you frequently stand within earshot of 3 guides all telling different stories about the same building/object and following the statment with "we guess/think".
The tour started with an hour in Pisac town and its markets (I'm now the proud owner of one alpacca poncho..... Toasty). Swiftly followed by a brief visit to the hilltop fortress and largest known inca cemetary with over 4000 tombs.
"On your left inca terracing" the first of many times we would get to hear that phrase over the coming days.
Ollantaytambo was the next stop on the tour a site which was host to one of the incas last stands against the spanish. More terracing and speculating and back into the bus for a very scenic drive to our last stop of the day.
Chincheros is nesttled ontop of the altiplateau at 3762m and at 6pm is freezing cold and dark so the viewing of the ruins was condenced into 10min and followed by a run back to the warmth of the bus and home. Dont get me wrong we had an amazing day and the sites were all spectacular it was just alot to fit into one day and fully appreciate. Our appetites for the inca trail had been well and truly wetted!
We awoke early the next day fully packed and ready to hit the trail, still worried that we would´nt be picked up by our tour opperator for the inca trail Exotic adventures (E.A.)(now known as crappy waste of time, give up your jobs because you could'nt organise a pi******* in a brewery........ Sorry had to get that out). We were an hour later than expected by a different tour opperator. It turns out as we were E.A.'s only customers (no surprise) they sold us to a different company. Puma's tours at least made the effort to pick us up and it has to be said the food was pretty darn good too. Unfortunatly our guide Rubin was far more interested in pretty much everything else other than our group and at the risk of this entire trip sounding negative who could blame him. Everyone else on the tour seemed hell bent on whining about pretty much everthing and especially the walking (who could have guessed that thats what most of the time would be spent doing on a TREK.............). That all said and done myself and Vicky had a magical time, what with arriving an hour before everyone else to every ruin and viewpoint. The best thing about the inca trail is no matter how bad everthing is organised and how many people try to bring you down they can't,it's a magical place.
By far i think day 3 was our favourite. Starting with a brisk uphill for the first hour we took some time at the pass for a few comical poses. Then an hours descent followed by some time to wander Phuyupatamarca, literally "town above the clouds". One of the best reasons to do the inca trail is places like this that have the same quality of architecture as more popular sites but allow you to wander alone and unchecked.
From this point on the trail starts to resemble opening scenes from Indiana Jones and The Raiders Of The Lost Ark. Original inca tunnels and near vertical staircases reveal themselves at every turn. The only Sections of Path visible other than the 10meters in front of you are way off in the distance clinging to the side of the cliff. At some points the passage becomes the forest with trees, vines and strange vegitation on all sides and above. Then from nowhere you find yourself ontop of a mountain ridge with views down everyside and our first tantalising view of the tip of Machu Picchu off in the distance.
By the end of the day Vicky's knee had become rather painful and the campsite at Winay Wayna was most welcome. Again time to wander the inca terracing and town at sunset was some of my favourite. Back to the tents for some well earned rest...... Or not. As it would happen our campsite was next to the only bar/nightclub on the trail and when the music stopped at 23.30 the rain and lightning started (By rain we mean our tent might as well have been under niagra falls). As you can probably guess the tent was as usefull as a piece of muslin and within the hour streams of water were flowing out the door complaining that it was too wet inside. By 3 am we were firmly seated in the bar/nightclub eating breakfast as we got kicked out of our tents an hour early by the porters who started to take them down with us still inside. At least we would be one of the first groups on the trail to watch the sun rise (positive mental attitude, as it was still torrential rain at this point). In fact the last 6km to the Sungate at Machu Picchu was brilliant! It was pitch black and pouring with rain which made it really exciting and we stormed to the top to be in the first 10 people there that morning. Ok so there wasnt any sun but it did stop raining and the clouds passing up through the valley gave a really mystical feel to the view infront of us. You have to keep yourself in check that your not looking at a postcard as the image your seeing you have seen a thousand times before on postcards and history books as the classic Machu Picchu shot. It was awesome to be standing there taking it all in with not a single person on it - yet!
You can see the coachs from Aguas Calientes making there way up the hill with coach loads of tourists so we made our way down to get photos of the place without a thousand people in them. We also wanted to sign up to climb the big peak set behind the ruins called Huaynu Picchu as only 400 people are allowed on it a day. En route down the narrow path Lee got chased by a couple of Llamas who jumped down into the path between us, much to the delight of the rest of us (of course I didnt shoosh them in his direction - hee hee hee)!
We dropped our bags off and joined the queue for Huaynu Picchu (2690m). There is a sign warning that only healthy and fit individuals should undertake this climb, which, you know we are, relatively. However there is no warning of the sheer scariness of the pathway and the climb over the top. Because of the rain the stone steps were quite slippy and at only 2ft wide and 10cm deep in places with people moving both up and down the path and a sheer drop of 2000m behind you, I had what I guess is known as a little panic attack. You have to climb right over the top of the mountain and slide down the rock face on your bum the other side. Lee pointed out that my legs were shaking and that was it - I just couldnt stop the jitters or the tears and caused a wave of panic on the route behind me as they could not see what was infront and a few got a little nervous!
Once back on relatively level ground in comparison we explored the rest of the sight picking out the exciting bits that we both wanted to see as the place is huge and we had a limited amount of time. We had already ditched and skipped our guided tour because they all say different things and really dont have more of a clue than you or I about what Machu Picchu was to the Incas. The weather cleared up and we got some amazing photos and great views of the neighbouring valleys. We even stumbled across a group chanting and praying to the mountain - all white new age hippies of course who had probably chewed a few too many coca leaves!
We headed down the mountain to the town of Aguas Calientes and actually got on a train for the first part of the journey back to Cusco. The scenery was great as it runs along the bottom of the Urubamba valley and right next to the river. However it is painfully slow (in SA buses are quicker than trains) so we got off in the town of Ollantaytambo and got a bus from there back into Cusco where a piping hot shower was greatly welcomed before passing out at 8pm!

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Photos

Sachsayhuman
Can you spot the "Sexywoman"

Ollantaytambo
Sunset at the Temple of the Sun.

Start of the Inca Trail
Vicky clearly happy about the weight of her pack!!!!!!!

Dead Womans pass
Enjoying the view, Day 2 The Inca Trail.

Top of Pass No 2 on the Inca Trail
Thoughtfully somebody erected an ornate fountain.....

Did we mention it was steep!
The final desent on Day 3.

Machu Picchu
WoW

Comments

[Andre]

I was there, too
Its funny, Iam always reading your blog entries, when i passed the same... So I went last week to Machu Pichu and had similar adventures.... Greets to cold England from Peru