Cusco and Machu Picchu--Round II

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So my goal is to finish these Peru entries in the next few weeks, not quite one year after having done this traveling, and hopefully before I leave for this summer’s trip. My Dad has suggested that it might be easier to accomplish this if I wrote less, which I’m willing to try, but it’s really just not my nature so I’ll make no promises.

After leaving Arequipa, I flew into Cusco and spent a day wandering around by myself waiting for Willow to get in. We hadn’t made any real plans or reservations in advance and I was starting to get anxious. We had decided not to do the Inca Trail, I had just done it a year before and it is more touristy than what Willow was looking to do. I still wanted to do a decent hike and after a lot of time on the internet I had become obsessed with doing a 4 day trek to the Choquequirao ruins. That was the only tourist site that I really felt like I had to see while I was with Willow. So I spent part of the day looking for a tour company that we could go with. I did find a small office in a building that with a company called Orange Travel that I liked. Mostly I liked the two people that worked there, they seemed sweet and like they were excited to have customers. Also, reasonably priced. I took their information and figured I’d bring Willow back to see if she liked them as much as I did.

Early the next morning I went to the airport to pick Willow up and bring her back to the hostel. After taking cold-ass showers we spent most of the day trying to get things in order. We went back to Orange Travel and after some debate about going with another company we decided that we did in fact like their vibe, and that it would be worth it to try them even though they seemed new and a bit inexperienced. We also dealt with tickets and on the train to Aguas Calientes (the town you stay in below MP) and the entrance to Machu Picchu. It turns out doing things at the last minute stresses me out—like, a lot. Willow, not so much. We travel very differently, but in the end we accomplished what needed to be done. The biggest problem was actually finding a hotel in Aguas Calientes on such short notice.

The next day we took a day to check out tourist sights around the city. We walked up to Sacsayhuaman and the giant Jesus above the city, Willow made friends with every animal and child we passed along the way and we ate lots of awesome veggie food, including the best lentil burgers in the history of the world! After checking out every jewelry stand and booth we could find we debated booking a different and more expensive hotel for a future night, mostly because the idea of an actual hot shower before heading out on a 4 day trek or after returning was just too tempting, but we decided against it. Which is just as well since we did eventually figure out how to (at least sometimes) get a hot shower at the hostel we were at.

We also spent a day on a tour of the Sacred Valley with possible the strangest guide in the city—and that’s saying something because pretty much all of the guides I’ve come into contact with are a little bit off. This man kept talking about all the discoveries “we” have made in the ruins, but not in the general “we” more like he actually thought he was a part of the discovery and historical process. I don’t remember much of the craziness he thought, but I think one of his theories had to do with the Vikings arriving at MP and that is why there were carvings of people with facial hair there (I don’t think there actually are). To illustrate this point he was selling a book he had written. I was waaaay too car sick to look at it, but Willow said it was of photographs that were obviously photo shopped, and not well, to show his theories about the shadows the rocks at MP cast on the ground, and the way stuff looks at night “proving” his ideas about Vikings visitors. His theories were extremely far fetched and his strange “proof” did not help sell the ideas.

The tour was also just sort of lame. We left later than I did the last time I went on what I thought was the same thing, which, it turns out is because we weren’t going to some of the ruins that I thought were the best, and that we got to hike a bit to. Without those, it was really mostly just a day on the bus with short stops to check things out.

Finally it was the day to head toward MP. After waiting a decent amount of time in a typically complicated and odd South American line a few days before we had both tickets for the train and into MP. We found our spots on the train and headed to Aguas Calientes.

The only hotel we’d been able to book in advance was quite nice, which, despite the extra money was a welcome luxury. We went to the hot springs that the town is named after. It was not like the other ones I’ve been to and not at all what I expected. The water was barely luke warm, and even though the pools were man made concrete the water was cloudy and dirty because the floors were covered in gravel. The location was really amazing. It was up at the top of the town across interesting bridges surrounded by lush plants and dramatic rocks. We found one warm spout and stood under that for quite awhile before heading back to the hotel. The next morning I woke up with a very red and irritated eye and I was pretty much convinced that it was some disease from the hot springs. It went away by mid-day so it may have been nothing, but all the same I won’t be going back!

At this hotel we had the best, hottest, most awesome showers I’d had in a long time. Soooo nice! We headed to dinner in general found the food in the town to be disappointing, there’s nowhere else to go so they can charge a lot for pretty poor food.

The next morning we woke up at 4:00am or so and quickly got ready to head out to hike from the town up to MP. Willow wanted to make the hike instead of taking the crowded tourist buses up the switch back road to the top and it seemed like a good idea to me. I was under the impression that a fair amount of people did it this way and the lady at the hotel made it seem pretty simple. She said to leave our bags with the night deskman and then gave us directions to find the trail. But in the morning when we got down to the reception area there was no one there. We waited with one other family for quite awhile trying our best to figure out where the guy could be and debating how we might find him. Eventually the other people made enough noise that it apparently woke him up because he emerged, sleepy-eyed, from a Harry Potter-esque storage closet behind the desk and under the stairs.

We headed out of town in the dark, not exactly sure where we were going. We knew we had to cross the river and head up. We did manage to find the trail, but it wasn’t quite as simple as I expected it to be, also not nearly as used—which was very nice. I would have turned on a flashlight to see where I was going, but Willow has the night vision of an owl and also, apparently, finds it soothing to walk across uneven terrain in the dark. I was grateful to pass through the bus station where there were some headlights, and was even more excited a bit after we started up when it got just light enough to actually see something. I do have to admit that it was perfect to be hiking when you could just barely see, it was a nice atmosphere.

So the road that the buses take from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu is a crazy zig-zag back and forth with pretty sharp turns. The trail that we climbed went straight up the middle of the zig-zags. We would hike up the side of the mountain on a dirt path, or sometimes stairs, then cross the road then head up the next part. It was decently steep and definitely had me huffing and puffing, but it really wasn’t too bad. My biggest concern was wearing myself out before the longer trek we were starting the next day. The woman at the hotel had told us that it would take about 1 hour and 45 minutes and that is pretty much exactly what it took us to get to the entrance of MP.

When we got to MP we split up, each wandering around it our own pace. I headed to the hut where you enter to climb Wayna Picchu. (the mountain you see in the pictures behind Machu Picchu). They only let in a certain number of people a day. I got a number and a time to return when I would actually be able to climb. I spent most of the morning just wandering around. I found some quiet spaces down below where nobody else was—basically a miracle, and just hung out enjoying the views and the incredible ruins. I think that I was just as amazed by them this time. It was nice to not feel like I was rushing to see it all, I didn’t even head to the top where everyone goes to get the classic shot of the ruins with the mountains behind them. I just stayed put and took it all in.

After checking in with Willow I headed back to climb Wayna Picchu. I’m not really sure how to describe the experience. Most of the way up it is just a regular uphill hike. Beautiful views, nice vegetation and some sweat, but nothing too out of the ordinary. Then you get to what seems like the top. There are rocks you can sit on looking over the ruins and guys with machetes (and great balance) down the edge cutting the vegetation. This point seemed pretty cool, and I was ready to take some pictures and call it day. But there was oh so much more!

There is a place off the edge where you can climb up to a different view point by using the old-school steps that Incan made to climb up the high stonewalls of their terraces. They are flat rocks that stick out of the wall in a diagonal line so you can walk up them like stairs. They seem logical and safe, except that the first set of these go out over the edge of a cliff. If you fell off you would fall an awfully long ways. It seems amazing to me that they let all these tourist climb this part and others and that more people don’t fall. The next two sets of steps like this aren’t unsafe because they have a terrace level below them, if you fell it would be to solid ground. But that first one was nerve racking for me and even more so on the way back down. I had someone hold my bag because I was afraid it would throw me off balance and I wouldn’t survive. It would be just like me to be the one to tumble off.

After that I just kept going up. There were some VERY steep steps where balance was an issue, and a weird tunnel tube thing through some rocks that was a bit tight for comfort. And then you come out on the top of even more rocks. There’s not much space and a ton of people all crowded in on these angled boulders in the wind trying to take pictures and get a good view. And boy is it a great view! It was really a good experience and despite the bit of craziness that seemed to envelop the whole process I am so glad I got to do it this time.

To get back down you have to slide on your butt down a very large, pretty steep, sheer rock face. If you lost your footing I think that you are likely to be stopped by the boulder or the small strip of flat land at the bottom before shooting off the edge, but nonetheless I didn’t love that slide down. Then it was back down the really, really, ridiculously steep steps. I wasn’t the only one that was doing a few sections of them on my butt or facing backwards so I could use my hands! There were a couple of times that I wasn’t sure which way I should go to get back and I felt lost on a the tip of a mountain which, I think, probably takes a super special talent. It was probably kind of stupid to do all this extra hiking the day before leaving for a pretty serious (at least by my standards!) trek, but I just didn’t want to miss out on anything. And in retrospect, since I survived, all I can say is that it was well worth it!

I met up with Willow at the exit and we headed back to Aguas Calientes (on the bus) where we had another mediocre meal. It was supposed to be Mexican food, but they used crepes instead of tortillas. At least it was interesting! We had a glass of wine, picked up our bags and got on the train back to Cusco. The train doesn’t go all of the way back to Cusco so when we got off we shared a cab with an older man and what I’m convinced was his young mistress. When we got back to the hostel we had to pretty much shower, repack our bags, and get to bed because in the morning we would be heading out early for the next adventure—the Choquequirao trek!

Well, look at that. It seems that I may have written even more than usual! Most of the MP photos are on the second page.

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Photos

Dried llama fetuses
At the mercado central in Cusco.

Frolicking through ruins
in the Sacred Valley

Comments

[Dad]

Great to see it!
It is great to see the blog being completed and the super photos of Machu Picchu. It is interesting how clouds and lighting can change the look of the photos.

[Shalea]

Dad--
I'm trying my best to at least get it up through the Choquequirao trek (that's next!) The weather changes the look of MP so much, especially in photos. Even throughout the day the changing clouds can make things look so different. I know everyone hopes for sun when they go, but when I look at other people's pictures I love the ones with fog hanging around the mountains close to the ruins.

[David]

Arequipe
My granddaughter is currently in an orphanage in Arequipe, she is spending a year there before she goes to Uni. I see you enjoyed it and she says she does also. She doesn't write any more than you do, but it is not obligatory :-)