Inka

Peru - Cusco – somewhat dangerous and cold

Cusco, a large city up high in the mountains at an altitude of about 3600m, fascinating and dangerous at the same time with nights that are as cold as most winters back home. I got there by plane, and fortunately had arranged a pick up to my hotel as right outside the airport there are loads of taxi drivers trying to pick you up, most likely at triple the cost of what an actual ride should cost. Fortunately my pick up was waiting for me and took me to the hotel I had booked for the first few nights. I found in my travels that whenever I arrive in a new place it is reasonable to stay the first few nights at a somewhat upscale place until I have made my bearings in the town. Arriving at the hotel I was immediately offered a Coca tea in order to start adapting to the altitude, although I have been in the Alps a few times, I don’t think I had ever been in a city this large at such a height. The first night was very quiet, I only went for a very short walk which left me breathless but with a good first impression of Cusco as during the half hour walk I was not hassled once. I then returned to the hotel for a light dinner consisting of only a chicken broth, which is recommended for the first night until one adapts to the height. I pretty much slept like a baby until 4am when I woke up feeling a bit short of breath, which was a really strange sensation.

The next day I ventured out into town to walk some more and adapt to the height, and pretty much spent the entire day walking the historic centre of town, which is filled with Inka culture contrasted by the many churches and Christian monuments that the Spaniards erected often on top of the previous Inka structures. I walked around quite a bit, and saw some very fascinating buildings, and of course Plaza de Armas, which is the main square and quite busy, but a wonderful place to sit down and just observe locals and tourists interact in various forms. Spent a bit of time at the central market which is quite large, and where you can find just about anything from food to clothing and jewellery. A nice place to visit. In the evening I had dinner once more at the hotel but this time with a bit more consistency as I had been chewing Coca leaves pretty much all day long, and that turns out to be more efficient than drinking them as a tea.

After dinner I mapped out my hike for the next day, which turned out to be quite a long one. First I headed up on foot to Saqsaywaman, a relatively large archaeological site that actually has 4 or 5 distinct areas. Walking up was quite the experience as from the 3600m level of the city you climb to about 4000m which left me breathless more then once, so I think it took me about 1.5 hours to actually make it up to the site. Once I arrived I took the long route around the site and took my time taking in all the sights, and ruins in detail. The Inka culture is fascinating, just looking at the precision with which they built their structures it is amazing! Giant stones perfectly carved to fit on top of each other without any cement or the like to hold them in place. I ended up walking from one place to the next totally fascinated and drawn to stay quite a while, unfortunately and understandably most of the monuments are actually roped off and access is forbidden, but you still get a good view of most. From the main site I headed over to the water temple, a coliseum like structure to the side of which there is a rock formation with small tunnels underneath it which are open to access, but do not run very deep, and are indeed quite small, the Incans must have been quite small people.

Once I had been to every monument in the principle Saqsaywaman area I headed further up the hill to go to the Temple of the Moon, a sort of stone hill that has halls carved into it, unfortunately again here the main hall is closed off, but on the lucky side, when you are standing in front of it, on the right hand side there is a small cave that is open to visitors. The entrance is guarded by 3 snakes, and 2 pumas (1 of which I was able to make out) carved into the stone. At the back of the hall there is a small meditation table with a hole above it where once a year on just the right date the moonlight falls in and right on the table. Although generally speaking the moon is considered a female energy I could not resist lying down on the table to meditate a bit after I had made a small offering of Coca leaves and Mapacho tobacco. I only laid there for about 10 minutes but it was quite energizing nonetheless, a little later a small group of tourist arrived with maybe a shaman as there guide who made the girl of the group lie down, and chanted a little. After the chant she said she felt quite strange lying there, as though she had been spinning all around. Very interesting to observe.

I walked outside and over the temple and had a little lunch right on top of it sitting on a beautifully carved stone that felt like the perfect place to sit. After that as it was already about 3 in the afternoon I started to make my way back down on what turned out to be a traditional Inka route right back down to the Plaza de Armas. The next day I pretty much did nothing as my legs were aching quite a lot from about 8 hours of walking in total.

I spent a couple more days in Cusco just hanging around discovering small places here and there, and spending some time each day sitting at the Plaza de Armas doing some writing and observing people as they went about their business. Ultimately I think there are as many if not more street vendors and people hassling tourist as in Iquitos, they are just a little less obnoxious.

Sometime after that I left for Machu Picchu, a review of which can be found here.

Upon returning from Machu Picchu I had a few more days in Cusco as I was not really sure where to head next, and got to know a woman by the name of Sophia a bit more, one of the street vendors who had sat with me the week before and had taken the time to just talk for a bit, which as it turns out was just a build up to suck me into her story a few days later. Before I headed to Machu Picchu I already had bought a small necklace from here so I was not intended on buying anything else, she did however lull me in with her story about how she was going to lose her home and would have to live on the streets with her 4 kids which of course she was raising by herself. So at the point where she actually added tears to the mix I got really weak and ended up giving her a bit of money in hopes she would use it towards her rent or food for her kids. Looking back I doubt she even has 4 kids, but oh well, the whole story made me think quite a lot, and thought me a thing or two about life in Peru as well as myself so I do not consider it a total loss. The next day she came back again and as I had told her I would be going to Pisac for some time, a small town north of Cusco she actually asked for a loan that she would of course give me back in a month, even though it was very unlikely for me to be around a month later. I kindly refused and actually explained to her that even though I was able to travel for quite a while I had to work my ass off to get to this point which she just ignored, and re-asked for a loan, which again I refused, and then she left, and I did not see her again, or rather I did not see again up close, but kept on observing her a bit now and then at the Plaza de Armas.

On my last night in Cusco I went for an early dinner and met some people from Argentina with whom I had a few drinks in a place called Cross Keys where there were 2 live bands, a 2 man cover band to begin with and Salsa band after that, both of which turned out to be quite good, but I ended up going home only around 1 am, and on the way back to the hostel I was staying at that point was almost mugged. Essentially I just slipped into the hostel door before some drunk guy caught up with me and ended up banging on the door to be let in, which was not my responsibility as the hostel had security cameras in order to insure that they only had actual guests entering the premises. The next day the hostel owner asked me if I had been mugged, to which I repeated that no I just had gotten in before anything happened.

In the morning I left to Pisac, a review of which will come up sometime soon, and there I heard quite a few more little horror stories about Cusco from stolen cell phones to muggings to actually one girl being zapped with an electro shocker up close to the temple of the moon, fortunately nothing bad happened to her as she did not pass out from the electro shock, but still quite a frightening story. So all in all, if you are to visit Cusco, either do so in a small group, or watch your own back very diligently. Personally I had little to no problems, as I carry the few valuables I have very close and mostly hidden under my cape, and most of the days went back to the hostel at a very reasonable time, but it seems to be a bit of a dangerous place nonetheless. And as mentioned in the title, the nights are indeed very cold, so be sure to pack a couple pyjamas so that you can get good and comfortable nights of sleep, as by far not every hostel has heaters, and if they do often it’s small electrical ones that don’t have enough power to warm the entire room. Overall still a charming city, but as most big cities go, not my favourite place thus far.

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman view of Cusco

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

DSCN1711res DSCN1709res

saqsaywaman

saqsaywaman

templo de la luna way back down

close to templo de la luna

templo de la luna

templo de la luna

templo de la luna

templo de la luna snake

templo de la luna puma

templo de la luna snake

templo de la luna meditation table

templo de la luna meditation table

templo de la luna view

templo de la luna

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman slides

Saqsaywaman slides

Saqsaywaman slides

Saqsaywaman Statue stone or seat?

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman slides

Me on Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman stairs

Saqsaywaman

Inka Parc

Church

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman

Saqsaywaman

Inka Ruins with Spanish structure on top

Yes loads of churches

Av. Del Sol

Church

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colors

Christian Gate

Detail Gate

Church

Central Market

Cusco street

Detail fountain Plaza de Armas

Church

Chruch

Plaza de Armas

Mural

Medallion

sunset in Cusco

Sunset in Cusco

Cusco street

church on Inka structure

Church on top of Inka structure

Medallion

artisan market

mural

street mosaic

giant door, high door knocker

some plaza

hotel court

Inka Medallion

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Peru - Aguas Calientes - Machu Picchu

First off to get that off the table, Machu Picchu itself is great! Aguas Calientes on the other hand is nothing other than a tourist trap, as there is nothing around, and no possibility to go anywhere else once you are there, be aware that prices for just about anything are 1.5 – 3 times higher than for example in Cusco which in itself is not the cheapest town either. So I got to Aguas Calientes on Thursday afternoon by train, as does everybody as there are no roads leading there. Train ride is quite nice and I would recommend at least going one way on the Vistadome train as it provides stunning views! (Albeit not being the cheapest option). Aguas Calientes is a small town, and has no more space to grow horizontally, so it looks like it is growing vertically. I had booked a place called Cusibackpacker B&B based on a relatively large number of reasonable reviews I had found, and the fact that it was not the most expensive place in town. When I got to their front door, there was a little sign indicating that they were closed for business and now in a different location under a different name, the Machupicchu Royal, which sounded promising, but I was still annoyed a bit that I had not been informed ahead of my arrival, for which there had been plenty of time as I had booked 3 or 4 days before going. After walking back across town I finally found the new place, and at check in is where the shadiness started, I had booked a private room, but they wanted to set me up in a dorm. After insisting that I had indeed booked a private room, I was shown to one, with no furnishings other than the beds. The windows were open, and it looked like a reasonably clean and nice place. However when I laid down on the bed to rest a bit, the bed itself, the blankets and pillow turned out to be smelling quite moldy, just as when you forget to take your clothes out of the washer and they adopt quite a moldy smell.. Not very nice to sleep in. At first I did not say anything as it was not overpowering. But when I got back form a little walk it was even more intense, so after letting the front desk know, they changed me to a different room, which again had all windows open, and thus smelled ok. I got a fresh pillow as well, and went for dinner. Upon my return this room had just the same smell, as I had closed the windows as otherwise anyone could have come into the room from the corridors to which the windows led.  Not only was the moldy smell quite strong, it got cold as hell, as there no isolation whatsoever. I slept in my clothes and under the provided blanket and still woke around 4 am shaking cold. So I checked out the next morning instead of staying 4 nights and went ahead and booked a relatively expensive hotel, which provided a small electrical heater in the room, hot water in the shower and reasonably isolated windows.

After checking into the new place early in the morning I went to the thermal baths to heat my bones again, and the thermal baths turned out to be quite reasonable and relatively cheap for 10 soles you can pretty much stay the entire day. Be sure to bring your own bottle of water or whatever you like to drink as although there is a bar it is as most food and drink in town totally overpriced.

Following a good night’s sleep I headed up to Machu Picchu by bus at 5:30 am on Saturday, and as it was very busy  got up to the first terraces just in time to watch the sun rise over the mountain, which is quite a sight to behold! Amazing scenery! I stayed on that same spot for a little while, as the suns heat dissipated the small clouds, and rose new banks of fog from the valley which made for a gorgeous play over the Machu Picchu town ruins. One moment covered in thick fog, barely visible, the next clearing up again, just to be recovered a little while later. Following about 30 or 45 minutes of this play I looked around and noticed that the fewest people were heading up to Intipunku, one of the old entrances to the town, where the Inka trail actually comes into town, so that is where I headed first. It took me a good hour to get up there, as it all is quite high and the air is quite thin, and I have to admit, I am not in the best of shapes! But the walk was more than worth it, providing stunning views of the whole town, of the face behind the town, and of Waynapicchu as well!

After enjoying the view for a while I headed back down with the intention of then heading up to Machu Picchu Mountain which it turned out required a separate reservation as they only let 400 people a day climb it. I was aware that Waynapicchu was limited to a few hundred a people (actually 2 groups of 200) per day but did not know about the mountain, so that was a bit of a bummer, but I did not let it bring me down, instead I headed in the direction of the Inka Bridge, and on the way found a nice boulder sitting on one of the terraces so I decided to sit there for a while and meditate a bit with a stunning view of the surrounding mountains and valley! As I was sitting there in my black cape one lady ended up calling me Santo de Muerto (saint of death) and a few other tourist took pictures… I should have asked for a few soles as the locals do when you want to take a picture, but I just smiled and let it go.

A little later I went to the Inka Bridge which is one tiny bridge and from the looks of it leads to nowhere or maybe to a long abandoned tiny walkway, but was very interesting to see nonetheless! After that it was around 11, and I decided to have one of my concealed snacks, and headed back to discover the town of Machu Picchu itself! The ruins are amazing and the precision with which the Inka’s built this town is absolutely phenomenal! The stones and how precisely they are carved and placed on each other is something rarely seen in modern day buildings! The town is crawling with tourist, but if you have a bit of patience you can take a lot of nice pictures without anyone in them! Around 1 it started to rain a bit and I found shelter under a rock where a couple from Chile was hanging out as well, I talked with them for a while and they turned out to be very nice people. I ended up walking around a bit with them after the rain had stopped.

A little later I ended up walking alone again, as the couple had left for their train, and I ended up in a nice little quiet spot where I saw a few Machu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rats, (Cuscomys oblativa), funny little creatures. Besides a few Lamas and birds these were the only animals is saw up on the mountain.

Around 4pm I headed back down to Aguas Calientes which is about an hour walk if you are not going to slow and goes down mostly steps, for about a 1000 meter drop, so quite intense.

Back in town I went for an Alpaca steak which turns out to be some of the most delicious meat I have had in quite a while so if you ever get the chance to have one, do so! Sunday I spent all day in bed as my legs were quite sore, and on Monday morning before getting back on the train I went looking for the local waterfall, which in the end I did miss, but ended up seeing Machu Picchu again from below on the back side, which was a very gnarly view as well!

Overall I would definitely recommend visiting Machu Picchu if you are in Peru! Be sure to go for at least 2 days on the mountain and have a reservation for Waynapicchu as from what I gather there are some amazing places up there as well that I have unfortunately missed! Be sure to have a decent budget for your stay in Aguas Calientes, as you’ll want to stay in one of the better hotels as with all the walking there is to be done, you’ll need some good rest at night.  Be sure to take the Vistadome train at least one way, as there are some amazing sights to behold on the way to Aguas Calientes as well. My final recommendation would be to go in the off-season as then the visitor numbers are limited to 3500 per day, as I overheard a guide say that in high season although the official limit is still 3500 they often let in up to 5000 people.  Below you can find a small selection of photos which I’ll hope you’ll enjoy! In any case you’d be better off to go visit yourself as the images hardly capture the magic of the mountain! Machu Picchu is indeed one of the nicest spots I have seen in Peru to date, as it was never discovered by the Spaniards, and thus there are no churches or crosses or statues of Jesus around. So if you want to witness old Inka ruins with a lot of flair, this is indeed the place to go to. Be sure to take your time so you get to see all of it, and not just the main ruins.

 

Vistadome Train

View on a snow covered mountain

Fountain in Aguas Calientes

Thermal Baths in Aguas Calientes

Sun Rise

Machu Picchu arboreal chinchilla rat, (Cuscomys oblativa)

what?

town

Tree

house

sky reflector used to watch the stars

entrance to the temple of the sun

Inka House

shower?

me at the edge

Stone Wall and stairs

bug

falling apart

terraces

Temple of the 3 windows

stairs

town

temple of the sun

Houses

Terraces

Terraces

House

a room with a view

between 2 houses

Some more of the Town

terraces

Staircase to Intipunku

Agricultural Terraces

Foundation Terraces

Inka Bridge

Inka Bridge

on the way to Inka Bridge

Town and Waynapicchu

Waynapicchu

on the way to Inka Bridge

VIew of the town, the face and Waynapicchu

some more view of the town

Smoking?

View from Intipunku

Ruins

More view from Intipunku

More view from Intipunku

View from Intipunku

Clouded from Intipunku

Fog lifting

Terraces

on the way to Intipunki

rising fog

covered in fog

town

town

face on Machu Picchu

fog on Machu Picchu

the town

Fog rolling in on Machu Picchu

View of Machu Picchu

River around Machu Picchu

Could not resist one tourist shot