Cusco - the cultural belly button of Perú

Day 15
2011-01-23
Cusco

The next morning after a wonderful breakfast at Jacks bar we started walking the neighborhood again. 

Cusco has the oldest Peruvian University and is a tourist magnet. But it’s not as bad as it sounds. The very modern city is a great place where many young people, tourists and locals come together to make it a unique mixture of pulsating nightlife, entertainment areas, shopping and cultural activities at the same time. Cusco is just beautiful and fun! Walking around the streets during the day gives you the chance to see locals in their traditional costumes. If you walk out of the city center you can find amazing traditional markets where people sell almost everything starting from food to kitchen equipment. Everything happens on the streets and sometimes it can appear a bit strange to us. 

Our discovery of the day was The Muse – a nice Lounge/Bar/Restaurant with great staff, amazing music and awesome drinks! We loved this place and after a snack at lunchtime we decided to come back for dinner. At night Cusco awakes to a lively pool of bars, restaurants and clubs that vary in style and price of course. People love to go out and the younger ones hang out on the streets having chats or goofing around. 

We went to The Muse as planned and had a nice and relaxed time with snacks and good drinks listening to amazing music and observing people. We really had a great time and laughed so hard – mostly about each other.

Macchu Picchu & the drive to Cusco

Day 14

2011-01-22
Machu Picchu & driving to Cusco

I had been waiting for this day since 8 years and I almost couldn’t believe that it was happening…I was so nervous I woke up several times that night only to notice that it was raining strings!

The first time I noticed was at 1 am. I thought “well maybe it will stop until we get up at 3.40 am” but it did not stop. We got up, got ready, checked out and left the hotel. It was pitch black outside and it was raining. I had brought my rain coat with me. But my pants were made from cotton and I already knew they were going to be soaking wet until we reached the top. Anyhow…I was happy to have my headlamp with me – Chris had forgotten his. Although it is a good one – very strong and bright, we almost couldn’t see a thing. I was devastated!

Machu Picchu

But I was determined to go up and see the holy city of Machu Picchu and so we started our walk up – almost 6 km of ancient uphill Inka trail were lying in front of us and the masses of water were coming down on us…wow! The Inka trail to Machu Picchu – which means the steps that bring you up to the city, were literally flooded. It took me almost 2,5 h to get to the top and I was exhausted, wet from the outside, wet on the inside (sweating like I had done a marathon), tired, hungry and just REALLY upset by the rain!

We entered the city of Machu Picchu and were facing a wall of - FOG! I couldn’t believe it…all that effort for nothing? You couldn’t see a thing…everything was clumsy, dripping wet, foggy – just gross! Chris suggested starting our tour through the ruins walking a bit more uphill and despite my objections I finally gave in and followed him. We saw the walls the Inka built, the aqueducts, the steps, the terraces, houses, temples and other buildings and it started to feel different. I almost forgot about the rain and the fog and started to picture the ancient people in this city… How they worked and lived. How they had to climb up and down all those massive steps every day…the ceremonies they held back then, the sacrifices they made.

We almost walked the whole city in this fog and rain when we noticed a slight change in weather. It had almost stopped raining and we could see that the fog was clearing. That made me euphoric and I said to Chris that I hoped to see the city covered by sunlight. I didn’t believe it though cause the sky was still grey and covered by clouds.

Our round tour took us up again to the house of the guards. During the way up the wonder happened: the sky opened up, the clouds cleared and the sun came out! You can’t believe how I felt! I turned and could finally see the whole city. I walked up faster and once we reached the house of the guard the spectacular view over the site took my breath away. There it was – the mysterious and beautiful Machu Picchu! I felt so happy and full of energy. You could feel that this was a special place and the piece of this spot was magnificent. I can’t describe what I felt in this moment but I think my expression on that photo tells everything!

The moment was definitely magical…no doubt. And I’m sure I will be back one day because I love this place!

After sitting there on top of the mountain and breathing in the energy of this place we went down again…all the way back to Aguas Calientes. Since it was sunny now, it was amazing to see the Inka Trail we came up on. I didn’t realize that we went up through a rainforest since you couldn’t see a thing in the morning.

Back in Aguas Calientes we had a wonderful breakfast at the plaza. After that we walked the town one more time and then found a bar at the river we could spend the time until our train left in the afternoon. We just sat there, had coffee and watched the people passing by. It was funny because it started to rain again after lunch and it continued until we boarded the train back to Ollantaytambo. From Ollantaytambo we took the bus that brought us back to Cusco where we arrived late in the evening.

A wonderful journey had found its apex!

The capital of the Inca

Day 13
2011-01-21
Cusco & Trip to Aguas Calientes 

Cusco @ night

Cusco is at an altitude of 3416 m or 10000 feet which makes it still tough walking uphills or doing exhausting things. And since it’s located in the mountains, the whole city center is a walking up and down…we were gasping for air at every other corner. *lol* But we were getting used to it and I must say that I really liked Cusco from the moment I got there.

Cusco @ night

We had breakfast at Jacks – an Australian bar which has the best coffee I had in Peru. Afterwards we walked the area around our hotel…tiny little streets walking up and down the hills and admiring the wonderful atmosphere and ll the small plazas in this amazing city. It is a very serene and traditional mood you can find there...nothing like Puno or Arequipa.

Plaza De Armas

After that we packed our stuff for our short trip to Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu and we walked to the spot where the collectives meet. There are a few options to get to Aguas Calientes (the little town right underneath Machu Picchu): You can take a collective to drive to Ollantaytambo or you can take the train/bus. Ollantaytambo is the stopover to get to Aguas Calientes since you can only take a train to get to Aguas Calientes. We quickly found a driver and another guy – I think he was Spanish who would join the collective and we started our drive to Ollantaytambo. Only 1,5h later we arrived at the train station.

Ollantaytambo

It was a beautiful day – warm, sunny…and we had two hours until the departure of our train. We decided to have lunch somewhere in town and ended up in a nice little restaurant with amazing Pizza. That’s also the place where we tried our first chicha morada – I loved it, Chris not so much.

After lunch we explored the area which – to be honest – is not so big. 

The Inca ruins

It took us one hour to see ALL of town but it was worth it. With its nice little streets, wonderful pottery manufactories, little souvenir markets and all that surrounded by anxient mountains with the first inca ruins we saw…just amazing! I think it could even be worth a night stop to explore everything this town has to offer and of course the surroundings.

At the time of the Spanish conquest of Peru it served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance. Nowadays it is an important tourist attraction on account of its Inca buildings and as one of the most common starting points for the three-day, four-night hike known as the Inca Trail.

Back at the train station it was time to leave to Aguas Calientes. The trains were awesome…nice cars with panoramic windows and comfortable seats. The ride to Aguas Calientes took another 1,5h but that was ok. They served a nice little meal and drinks, the music they were playing in the background was beautiful and the landscape that passed by the window was breathtaking evolving from stunning rough mountains covered in bushes to a rainforest. Just sitting there and watching the environment change infront of your eyes was incredible!

Aguas Calientes

After sunset we arrived in Aguas Calientes – a VERY touristic little town wrapping around the railway track. We left our stuff at our hotel and went back to the main plaza to get our Machu Picchu tickets for the next day. After that and a nice walk through the little town, we found a marvelous place for dinner. After an amazing meal and some shopping for drinks and snacks for our tour to Machu Picchu the next day, we went to bed because we wanted to get up early in the morning to walk up to Machu Picchu and see the sun rise over the ancient city.

Leaving Puno

Day 12
2011-01-20
Drive to Cusco

Power

The next day we had early breakfast and after a nice chat with mom and daughter who owned the place, we left for the Terminal Terrestre – the bus terminal. This time we had tickets for a company named “Power”…nothing like Cruz Del Sur…but who cares. It was cheap and although we couldn’t recline our seats fully, the ride was ok. It took us 11 hours to get to Cusco…we arrived at the terminal in Cusco at around 9pm if I remember well. Just one more taxi and a shirt walk uphill’s and we were at our new hotel – the Walk On Inn.

Our schedule for the next day was very tight – we wanted to go to Aguas Calientes by collective and by train which gave us half a day to see Cusco. But since we had planned to come back and add two nights, that was ok. After getting our train tickets to Aguas Calientes we had a nice dinner in an Israeli restaurant and then went to bed.

The highest-located lake on earth

Day 11
2011-01-19
Puno & Titcaca Lake

Puno

Day 11 started early again – at least for me. I was up at around 6 am and went down in the lobby to talk a bit to the owners of the place – a young woman and her mother. The daughter had studied Italian some time ago and so we agreed on teaching each other some basic stuff – well with her it was more or less practicing while I had to learn things in Spanish. I had my first coffee together with an Australian couple who gave me nice tips about the area and a good restaurant we could go to that night.

After a nice chat Chris – my friend – was up and ready to hit town. First thing we did after a marvelous breakfast was to get our bus tickets for our next leg to Cusco. The terminal was nothing like the one we saw in Lima but hey – you gotta work with what you got. ;-) So we got the tickets and headed towards the Titicaca Lake. It was still very exhausting to walk around in the burning sun. Remember – the Titicaca Lake is at an altitude of 3810 m or almost 11000 feet which makes it the highest-located lake of the world (!).

The Titicaca Lake

I have to be honest on one thing: Puno itself is not beautiful and wasn’t it for the lake, we would have never come here I guess. As you can see on the pictures, the whole city is a brownish mess with some colored sparks on it. It is dirty, it’s noisy and there’s not much to see there. Yes I know – there are many churches, another Plaza De Armas of course and then the islands on the lake such as the Uros Islands. Nevertheless it didn’t feel like a place I could spend a week in. Yes – it was nice to see the lake which is enormous. And yes, the surrounding mountains and hills are nice. But still – I don’t think I have to go there a second time. Maybe Cobacabana in Bolivia is worth a visit…but my future travel plans don’t include that for now.

Back to our tour…we had a nice lunch at the lake and then we went to the pedestrian zone to do some window shopping, coffee drinking and relaxing.

In the evening we went out for dinner and then to bed cause at that altitude exhaustion forces you to sleep more than usual. It still was a nice day but we were happy to be leaving the next day.