Cusco is a lovely city and ex-inca capital so it has quite a lot to see, but it surprisingly small considering. We spent a couple of days walking around, made some more multinational friendships and had a very nice meal with the majority of our hostel (following which Stu also went drinking with said crowd and acquired a quite sizeable headache), but we found that we soaked up a lot very quickly and had itchy feet when we figured we had a day to spare before the Inca Trail. Enter scooter hire for 30 bucks a day (with no requirement to see a driving licence!). We whizzed through the sacred valley to Pisac and frequented some of the many Inca ruins on the way back. We also climbed up to the statue of Jesus that overlooks the city (think Rio - most cities here have an effigy of the lad in the hills). As we approached the holy one some clouds rolled in and we were warned we may get wet. We did. Very wet. Just as we reached his toes the heavens opened. I can tell you, Jesus did not offer us much shelter, we have clearly been very bad boys. So we arrived back in Cusco soaked, but it was a great ride and a really novel way to see the valley, the little Peruvian villages and people and the crazy amount of livestock that just roams wild by the road (and frequently on it), we’re talking Llama, chicken, cow, bull, pig, dog, duck… on and on ad infinitum!
We took the day before the inca trail easy, took more hilarious 60p taxis - the smallest cars you have ever seen and a significant language barrier, ate more 1 pound 60 three course meals, and haggled in some more markets. We had a briefing about our trip and proceeded to get very excited…
Mitchel, our uber cool Peruvian guide picked us up at stupid o’clock in the morning and the four of us (fantastic number, us two and two girls) minibused it through the Sacred Valley to Ollentaytambo, where we saw our first large scale ruins. After some interesting speil, we were taken to the highest point in the valley (unbelievable scenery included at no extra cost), placed on a mountain bike and pushed down a hill. We spent the next 84km downhill mountain biking, getting soaked when we zoomed through fords, getting muddy head to toe when we followed Mitchel on his ‘shortcuts’ and generally getting breathless through the exhilaration and outlook. Lunch split the cycle at some really well preserved ruins, and we ate probably the best pack lunch known to man. That night we stayed in Santa Maria at an old Peruvian ladies house. With some time to spare, Michel asked us if we played football. When we responded in the affirmative, we walked down the local pitch and joined in a match with some kids from the town. What a great way to spend your evening. The little Peruvian lady also cooked us a three course meal, and stockpiled our stomachs with an obscene breakfast in the morning. We would have had a hot shower if between the two of us we had managed to locate the switch for the water heater before it was time to leave in the morning!!
Day two: A morning hike uphill through jungle, bananas groves etc on inca paths to a little lady who kept animals (monkey, Picuro, Llama…) and who let us use her hammocks - my word hammocks are comfy after a hard incline - up stone steps with shear drops to remarkable vistas before hitting more isolated villages. Lunch was… guess what… a three course meal, and then we headed downhill to the river, through so much changing landscape along a path that would eventually lead us to our nights rest stop (three course meal for dinner, what else). In the evening here we went to the local hot springs and soaked our muscles. To get to the springs we had to cross the river, so or course we did so via a rope pulled cradle, hanging perilously while we were slowly pulled across by Mitchels muscle power. We some how managed to stay here till well after dark, and on the return we took perhaps Mitchels best ‘shortcut’ through a bog in flip flops. Hilarious after we made it, but quite some walk when you are being guided by torchlight and you don’t know what you are treading on!!
On day three we bused it to Santa Teresa to fill up tanks on another huge breakfast (complete with suger ‘Sin ant’) before hiking up another huge hill… HUGE hill, to one of Machu Picchu’s Sun Gates. (the one the traditional inca trail does not go to, and so was deserted the entire time we had lunch sitting in the sun with a panoramic view of the city itself). We then climbed back down to the river and along it to a hydroelectric power station from which we caught a train to Augus Calientes, right below Machu Picchu. An evening walk, a three course meal, some market haggling and an early night (up at four!!).
Due to silly rising times we got on one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu, which meant it was pretty empty for our fantastic two hour tour from Michel. What a place. I won’t try and describe it, it won’t do it justice. It’s better than you imagine. We climbed Waynu Picchu, the mountain next to the city to get redonkulus views and spent the rest of our time wandering and enjoying before making the trip back to Cusco. We were all shattered, but felt it was only right to share yet another three course meal (about two pound) and as we all made onward plans, the German/Italian/Fluent in Spanish girl from our tour decided she would be going our way, so we are now travelling together into Bolivia tonight to Lake Titicaca where we intend to do a DIY tour to the island of the sun. Oooo yeah. This trip is silly…
P.S. Disclaimer - Steve is not responsible for the no doubt copious miss-spellings of names in this post.
We took the day before the inca trail easy, took more hilarious 60p taxis - the smallest cars you have ever seen and a significant language barrier, ate more 1 pound 60 three course meals, and haggled in some more markets. We had a briefing about our trip and proceeded to get very excited…
Mitchel, our uber cool Peruvian guide picked us up at stupid o’clock in the morning and the four of us (fantastic number, us two and two girls) minibused it through the Sacred Valley to Ollentaytambo, where we saw our first large scale ruins. After some interesting speil, we were taken to the highest point in the valley (unbelievable scenery included at no extra cost), placed on a mountain bike and pushed down a hill. We spent the next 84km downhill mountain biking, getting soaked when we zoomed through fords, getting muddy head to toe when we followed Mitchel on his ‘shortcuts’ and generally getting breathless through the exhilaration and outlook. Lunch split the cycle at some really well preserved ruins, and we ate probably the best pack lunch known to man. That night we stayed in Santa Maria at an old Peruvian ladies house. With some time to spare, Michel asked us if we played football. When we responded in the affirmative, we walked down the local pitch and joined in a match with some kids from the town. What a great way to spend your evening. The little Peruvian lady also cooked us a three course meal, and stockpiled our stomachs with an obscene breakfast in the morning. We would have had a hot shower if between the two of us we had managed to locate the switch for the water heater before it was time to leave in the morning!!
Day two: A morning hike uphill through jungle, bananas groves etc on inca paths to a little lady who kept animals (monkey, Picuro, Llama…) and who let us use her hammocks - my word hammocks are comfy after a hard incline - up stone steps with shear drops to remarkable vistas before hitting more isolated villages. Lunch was… guess what… a three course meal, and then we headed downhill to the river, through so much changing landscape along a path that would eventually lead us to our nights rest stop (three course meal for dinner, what else). In the evening here we went to the local hot springs and soaked our muscles. To get to the springs we had to cross the river, so or course we did so via a rope pulled cradle, hanging perilously while we were slowly pulled across by Mitchels muscle power. We some how managed to stay here till well after dark, and on the return we took perhaps Mitchels best ‘shortcut’ through a bog in flip flops. Hilarious after we made it, but quite some walk when you are being guided by torchlight and you don’t know what you are treading on!!
On day three we bused it to Santa Teresa to fill up tanks on another huge breakfast (complete with suger ‘Sin ant’) before hiking up another huge hill… HUGE hill, to one of Machu Picchu’s Sun Gates. (the one the traditional inca trail does not go to, and so was deserted the entire time we had lunch sitting in the sun with a panoramic view of the city itself). We then climbed back down to the river and along it to a hydroelectric power station from which we caught a train to Augus Calientes, right below Machu Picchu. An evening walk, a three course meal, some market haggling and an early night (up at four!!).
Due to silly rising times we got on one of the first buses up to Machu Picchu, which meant it was pretty empty for our fantastic two hour tour from Michel. What a place. I won’t try and describe it, it won’t do it justice. It’s better than you imagine. We climbed Waynu Picchu, the mountain next to the city to get redonkulus views and spent the rest of our time wandering and enjoying before making the trip back to Cusco. We were all shattered, but felt it was only right to share yet another three course meal (about two pound) and as we all made onward plans, the German/Italian/Fluent in Spanish girl from our tour decided she would be going our way, so we are now travelling together into Bolivia tonight to Lake Titicaca where we intend to do a DIY tour to the island of the sun. Oooo yeah. This trip is silly…
P.S. Disclaimer - Steve is not responsible for the no doubt copious miss-spellings of names in this post.
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