Ephemerica

Our time in and around Cusco is nearly at an end. Cusco is probably the most magnificent colonial city we’ve seen so far on our journey. Of course, the history of the city goes back well before the colonial era, as evidenced by the remnants of astonishingly constructed stone walls throughout the center of the city. The stonework of the Inca is the basis of all the archeological highlights throughout Cusco and the Sacred Valley, and we certainly weren’t disappointed. The first and most important thing we had to plan when we arrived in Cusco was how we were going to get to Machu Picchu. There are two common approaches to take: hop on a train from Cusco to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu), or take a 4-day trek down the classic Inca Trail, which delivers you to Machu Picchu at dawn of the last day. The Inca Trail hike is quite spendy, and can be pretty crowded even now during the non-peak season. And the train is actually somewhat spendy too—considering what it is—and the fact that they charge foreigners almost 2x what they charge locals for the train sticks in the craw a bit. We chose an “alternative” route into Machu Picchu, the so-called Inca Jungle Trail.

Just about every travel agency in town (and believe me, there are a LOT) offers some version of this tour; we chose a company called Reserv Cusco that was recommended by one of our guidebooks. The trip is 4 days: Day 1 is a long bus ride and then long descent by bike to the village of Santa Maria. Day 2 is a hike along part of an old Inca trail (not THE Inca trail though) to the village of Santa Teresa, with a visit to hot springs at the end of the day. Day 3 takes you from Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes along dirt road and railroad tracks. On Day 4 you visit Machu Picchu and then return to Cusco. All of the hiking basically follows the Urubamba river valley into Aguas Calientes. One problem that we encountered was that while our guide was supposed to speak English, no one in the office spoke English—which led to some confusion on our part about what we should bring along. I was under the impression that part of our bags would be carried ahead of us by van; instead, we had to carry them the whole time—which would have been fine had we understood that in the first place. The bike ride was also pitched to us as a huge descent, from 3800 m to 1300 m. We actually didn’t start our descent until 2500 m, which I knew thanks to having my bike computer along. Again, not a huge deal, but this was definitely not like the famous “death road” ride in Bolivia (which we hope to do soon!). In any case, the route was good fun. Our group was supposed to be 5 in all plus a guide, but when we got picked up the morning we left, it was just the two of us, everybody else had canceled! So our trip was a private tour. I think we would have liked the extra company and the opportunity to speak English and make new friends, but our guides were friendly enough. We had a bit of rain over the first 3 days of the trip, and were pretty tired and soaked by the time we reached Aguas Calientes.

The following day we got up at 4:30 AM so we could make the 1.5 hr climb to Machu Picchu and arrive at the gate when it opens to see the sunrise. Well, after two days of hiking (even though it was mostly flat), we were pretty beat. To add to that, it had rained the entire night before, and it seemed to be threatening again in the morning. So…we went back to bed for an hour and then took the bus up the hill Thankfully, we were wrong about the rain, and it ended up being a beautiful day on the mountain! We ran around and snapped pictures to our heart’s content. But be forewarned—the paths through Machu Picchu are one-way only…you will get stopped by very serious looking guards if you try to go the wrong way! I climbed up Wayna Picchu (the mountain behind the site) and got the above picture of Machu Picchu, which is supposed to resemble the body of a flying condor. There’s not much more to say about the experience other than it is as superlative as everyone says it is. The surroundings are beautiful, and the structures amazing.

We decided to add a little DIY bit at the end of our tour. Instead of returning to Cusco right away, we hopped off the train early in the town of Ollantaytambo. We spent the night there, and then in the morning visited the ruins that are just on the edge of town there. That afternoon we bussed to the town of Pisac, which also has large expansive ruins. Neither are quite the match of the grandeur of Machu Picchu, but they were both beautiful, interesting, and definitely worth seeing. We then returned to Cusco just in time to meet up with our Australian friends Brooke and Shane, whom we met when we were saving the turtles in Costa Rica. We’ve been trying to hook up with them again since then (including missing them in the Galapagos by only a few days), but hadn’t seen them until now. We hung out with them for a few days in Cusco, and went to see the four ruins closest to Cusco with Shane (Brooke had a bout of food poisoning ). They are off now hopefully having a great time on the Inca Trail. We’re hoping to run into each other again in Bolivia!

Cindy and I are wrapping up seeing all the stuff there is to see in Cusco—some archelogical sites, churches (the cathedral here is AMAZING), and museums. It’s a bummer though that they don’t let you take pictures inside any of the churches or museums…It’s almost like we didn’t go. Anyway, assuming we get our stuff all packed up tonight, we’ll get back on the bikes tomorrow morning to head toward Lake Titicaca and Bolivia.

P.S. Oops—forgot to explain the title…there are lots of street vendors here trying to sell various things to the hordes of gringos in town. But this is the first town we’ve been in where every other person to approach you wants to give you a massage! We must say “No, gracias” 50 times a day or more. In fact, there is an Irish bar in town that sells T-shirts that will say “No, gracias” for you

Posted by Matthew on November 4th, 2007 | Filed under: Peru