Fortunately, the lady at our B&B in Puno had seen it all before and as soon as we arrived she fetched the oxygen. 5 minutes later, Sarah felt a lot better and we headed out to take a few photos of Lake Titicaca and the main square in Puno. Other than that, there wasn’t much to see or do!
Puno to Cusco
With our enthusiasm for lengthy coach journeys at high altitude beginning to wane, we set off on our tourist coach from Puno to Cusco on Tuesday 7th September. The journey would take around 8 ½ hours, albeit that there would be a number of stops to take in stops including:
- Pucara (where the origins of Andean culture were discovered)
- Raqchi (an ancient Inca settlement which includes the remains of an enormous Inca church 26 metres high and 14 metres wide).
Andahuaylillas (which has the most amazing church often referred to as the Sistine Chapel of America, but unfortunately you are not allowed to take photos inside)
CuscoSarah definitely found another gem of a place for us to stay in Cusco – a B&B called Pension Alemana. We stayed here for 4 nights and everything here, from the rooms, the views, surroundings and breakfast (including first rate filtered coffee for me) was top-notch.
We wandered around Cusco briefly yesterday (Wednesday 8th September) and paid for our 4 day Inca-trail trip, which will culminate in Machu Picchu. Cusco is, dare I say it, even more impressive than Arequipa. The main square, Plaza de Armas, is impressive both in its size and the two churches which dominate the square.
The narrow cobblestone streets, with the smallest pavements I have ever seen, are delightful. At night, the temperature really plummets quite dramatically and, once the wood-burning stoves kick-in, you almost get the impression that you could be in an alpine ski resort!
Cusco was once the foremost city of the Inca empire and is America’s oldest continually inhabited city. The Quechua-speaking descendents of the Incas are everywhere. Having now spent nearly two weeks in Peru, one comment I would make is that you are never too far from someone trying to sell you something. In Cusco it is even more noticeable than in Arequipa or Lima, particularly around the main square. If you show the slightest bit of interest, they reel you in very quickly and can be quite hard to shake off!
Last night we met up with Katie and Ryan for an excellent dinner at a place called Jack’s cafe, close to the main square. Hopefully we will catch up with them again in New Zealand – they are going to buy a campervan and spend 4 months there!
Today (Thursday 8th September), we opted to hire a taxi for the day to drive us around the beautiful Urubamba valley, also known as the Sacred Valley.
We left the B&B at 9.30 and returned at 5.30, taking in the following 4 sites, all of which were breathtaking:
Ollantaytambo
Moray
Our next stop was Moray. It turned out that our driver knew of a very interesting was of getting there, a new road finished around a year ago that was definitely not in the Lonely Planet!
“Un secreto”, he said.
The route began by crossing a really weak looking bridge that looked like it would barely support my weight, let alone that of a car with three people inside!
Once over the bridge, we drove alongside a train line on what was essentially a dirt-track. Eventually we picked up something that resembled a road, although back home it would probably be the equivalent of a bridleway, down which I would think twice about riding my mountain bike!
On the way up, our driver pointed out a fire in one of the fields. This had been started intentionally by the owner of the land in order to fertilise the soil – no need to panic then!
Moray was a very interesting place. Different levels of concentric terraces are carved into a huge earthen bowl, each layer of which apparently has its own microclimate, according to how deep into the bowl it is. For this reason, it has been theorised that the Incas used them as a kind of laboratory to determine the best conditions for growing crops of each species. You have got to take your hat off to the Incas – just a shame they were not able to defend their lands having gone to so much effort to transform them!
Pisac
Our taxi driver dropped us off at the hilltop Inca Citadel which lies high above the village of Pisac. The Citadel was spectacular, especially with the surrounding mountains and plunging gorges. We then walked down to the village of Pisac where our taxi driver was, thankfully, waiting for us.
Chinchero
Our last stop was Chinchero which, at an elevation of 3,762m is almost 400m higher than Cusco. Fortunately, we seem to have got over our initial struggles with the altitude and were able to explore the village, in particular the main square, which was the scene for some kind of fiesta. The locals gathered in small groups and played games including marbles. The last time I had seen marbles being played was in the playground at middle school!
All in all, it was a great day (if a little tiring). Tomorrow we will definitely be taking it easy as we start the Inca trail hike on Saturday!
Ciao!
We wandered around Cusco briefly yesterday (Wednesday 8th September) and paid for our 4 day Inca-trail trip, which will culminate in Machu Picchu. Cusco is, dare I say it, even more impressive than Arequipa. The main square, Plaza de Armas, is impressive both in its size and the two churches which dominate the square.
The narrow cobblestone streets, with the smallest pavements I have ever seen, are delightful. At night, the temperature really plummets quite dramatically and, once the wood-burning stoves kick-in, you almost get the impression that you could be in an alpine ski resort!
Cusco was once the foremost city of the Inca empire and is America’s oldest continually inhabited city. The Quechua-speaking descendents of the Incas are everywhere. Having now spent nearly two weeks in Peru, one comment I would make is that you are never too far from someone trying to sell you something. In Cusco it is even more noticeable than in Arequipa or Lima, particularly around the main square. If you show the slightest bit of interest, they reel you in very quickly and can be quite hard to shake off!
Last night we met up with Katie and Ryan for an excellent dinner at a place called Jack’s cafe, close to the main square. Hopefully we will catch up with them again in New Zealand – they are going to buy a campervan and spend 4 months there!
Today (Thursday 8th September), we opted to hire a taxi for the day to drive us around the beautiful Urubamba valley, also known as the Sacred Valley.
We left the B&B at 9.30 and returned at 5.30, taking in the following 4 sites, all of which were breathtaking:
Ollantaytambo
Here we explored more Inca ruins which are perched on huge, steep terraces. I’m still struggling to get my head round how the Incas managed to carry the huge boulders up the terraces. Ollantaytambo marks one of the few places where the Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle. The victory for the Incas was short-lived though as the Spanish forces returned with a quadrupled cavalry force. As you can see from the photos, the Incas were forced to flee and leave the fortress unfinished which must have been a particularly bitter pill to swallow, especially after all the effort carrying the boulders up the terraces!
Moray
Our next stop was Moray. It turned out that our driver knew of a very interesting was of getting there, a new road finished around a year ago that was definitely not in the Lonely Planet!
“Un secreto”, he said.
The route began by crossing a really weak looking bridge that looked like it would barely support my weight, let alone that of a car with three people inside!
Once over the bridge, we drove alongside a train line on what was essentially a dirt-track. Eventually we picked up something that resembled a road, although back home it would probably be the equivalent of a bridleway, down which I would think twice about riding my mountain bike!
On the way up, our driver pointed out a fire in one of the fields. This had been started intentionally by the owner of the land in order to fertilise the soil – no need to panic then!
Moray was a very interesting place. Different levels of concentric terraces are carved into a huge earthen bowl, each layer of which apparently has its own microclimate, according to how deep into the bowl it is. For this reason, it has been theorised that the Incas used them as a kind of laboratory to determine the best conditions for growing crops of each species. You have got to take your hat off to the Incas – just a shame they were not able to defend their lands having gone to so much effort to transform them!
Pisac
Our taxi driver dropped us off at the hilltop Inca Citadel which lies high above the village of Pisac. The Citadel was spectacular, especially with the surrounding mountains and plunging gorges. We then walked down to the village of Pisac where our taxi driver was, thankfully, waiting for us.
Chinchero
Our last stop was Chinchero which, at an elevation of 3,762m is almost 400m higher than Cusco. Fortunately, we seem to have got over our initial struggles with the altitude and were able to explore the village, in particular the main square, which was the scene for some kind of fiesta. The locals gathered in small groups and played games including marbles. The last time I had seen marbles being played was in the playground at middle school!
All in all, it was a great day (if a little tiring). Tomorrow we will definitely be taking it easy as we start the Inca trail hike on Saturday!
Ciao!
On Monday 6th September we set off on our pre-booked coach for Puno. Some 5 ½ hours later we got to Puno (where we would spend only one night before travelling on to Cusco) and Sarah took a turn for the worse. The climb in altitude (Puno is at 3,830m) combined with long and winding bumpy road, had made Sarah feel ill.
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