29 May Cusco 3400m
That morning we were heading south from Lima by Boeing 722 in the colours of Aero Continental to the inland tourist zone of Cusco.
My notebook has just six lines of writing and a clear hint that we did not enjoy this town, not helped by the record that Joan for the first time on the trip suffered from breathlessness. Not surprising since apart from the day spent motoring across the Andes it would be the first time we had been exposed to over 3000m since our Annapurna trek in Nepal fourteen years earlier.
Built around a large courtyard our mid range Hostal las Ninos was an excellent haven from the constant hazzle of the streets. From the beggars, small-time street salesmen peddling nicknacks, postcards, textiles, musical instruments, money exchange, restaurants, entertainment and tours - all refusing to take 'no' for an answer. The Plaza de Armas would have been fine but that it was simply impossible to sit and relax and escape the continual onslaught. That din made it impossible even to walk round comparing menus, one of my favorite pastimes, so we mostly eat in a small cramped Peruvian restaurant near our hostal for around 4s.
30 May
We escaped the main plaza by visiting the Cathedral which formed one of the sides of the square. We did approach a couple of girls selling tickets for evening show of local dance in a nearby arts theatre. A show of 12 dancers and eight musicians was a pleasant way to spend the evening, though the audience was only 40 tourists in a room which would house ten times that number.
One sign of poverty was the number of people trading on the streets for instance selling sweets in 10's, by dividing the much larger packets they had bought.
Hearing that there could be problems in getting to train tickets to Puno (Titicaca) at the last minute we unusually decided on a timetable for a week ahead covering the Golden Valley and Macchu Picchu. The train was for 7 June at 8am for 11.2s each.
Noted a novel way of producing orange juice which started by rotating a lathe by hand so as to peel the orange and then by a more conventional juicing process.
Sunday 1 June Pisac
Pisac is as far into the Sacred Valley as most tour parties reach usually in search of the fine Sunday market which attracts locals from far and wide.
As we arrived at 11am the church service was beginning, an hour or so later the congregation came in a procession from a mass given in Quecha tongue, all dressed in their traditional attire, led by boys and girls blowing on shells, their elders blowing on musical pipes, then the priest.
On the market Joan distinguished herself by buying a water colour of a country lane near Puno from one of many sheets of paper on display open to the elements, it now hangs proudly on our wall in a frame from Mumbles costing far far more. The lad managing the stall was surprised at her choice of such a mundane subject but went on to say this was the only one painted by his father, or grandfather?, who taught painting in the university at Puno.
I bargained for a beautiful hand made brown leather belt so hard that the lady who had made it protested justifiably saying that she has a living to make, and I was shamed into raising my accepted offer. There are few times when I have known myself to be guilty of over hard bargaining - but in each case it is a soul searching experience. Mostly it is expected and the unaware can easily pay 10 times the real price.
Their were clay ovens at the where they were baking bread and coy. It was the first time we had eaten guinea pigs, and we were not overly impressed - perhaps it is an acquired taste, perhaps one simply of getting used to the idea of eating rat like creatures.
There were two or three places to stay overnight and we chose a guest house.
2 June Ollantaytambo
We must have taken a bus right through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo a point of embarkation for the train Cusco to Agua Callientes for Machhu Picchu, but having seen much of interest decided to retrace our steps tomorrow. Ollantaytambo itself was itself a massive ruined Inca fortress on the hillside, one of the few places to initially repel the Spanish invadors - though they later succeeded with reinforcements.
Below the site is a village built on Inca foundations, which meant that the houses were entered via a courtyard at the front.
Below the ruins they were preparing for a festival. We stayed the first night at the excellent Albergue Kapuly, but since they were full stayed the second at the less prestigious door where we had an electrically heated shower. I was horrified to see the electricity supply wired directly into the shower head. We were to see this frequently but I always entered with more than a little fear of being electrocuted.
We spent a lot of time talking to another couple Carlos and Alexandra (early 30's) from Argentina which was currently in huge financial trouble following forced break of the fixed 1:1 link of the Peso with the USD at the beginning of 2002, continual devaluation rapidly reached 4:1 devaluation later in 2002. Carlos said Argentina must currently be the cheapest country in the world for backpackers like us. Bank accounts much in USD had been frozen and all deposits reduced by a factor of 4. So not only were people a quarter as wealthy but they had no way of accessing their funds. He described Argentina as being basically a rich country and that its crisis had been largely man made started by a deliberate unseating of the government leading to a rapid downward political spiral with 5 new premiers in a couple of months.
Carlos was temporarily working in Lima. Much as we would have liked we did not see him again except very briefly when we were at Machu Picchu queuing for the last bus back the several miles to Aguas Calientes. He was walking back up to the site searching for his wife.
3 June Salinas and train to Aguas Calientes
One of the more spectacular scenes from the bus yesterday had been a mountain valley appearing to be topped with snow gleaming in the sun. The guide book indicated this was hundreds of salt pans of Salinas going back to Inca times and could be approached by a narrow footpath.
In the morning we caught the same bus back and got off when the valley came into view, found the track a point where a man was manufacturing mud bricks on a small scale. Then more or less on instinct followed the track upwards for over an hour. Midway we were passed by a woman with baby descending by horse, we had to move off the path to let her through As we neared the top salt pans appearing as the river trickled downhill a man, possibly a worker taking time, out explained that there was an office and sales location on the mountain road above.
After lunching at a small restaurant we caught the bus back to Ollantaytambo and bought return train tickets to Aguas Calientes at 19:45, which cost 11.20s per person per direction for a seat in the backpacker coaches. A surprisingly large crowd of back packers collected awaiting the train intent on staying overnight in Aguas Calientes before visiting Machu Picchu.
4 June 2003 MACHU PICCHU
The site was open from 7am to 5pm and a stream of buses left Aguas Calientes from 6am. It was a spectacular winding bus ride climbing through sharp steep mountain peaks, reminding us of the pinnacles around Mulu in Sarawak. Entrance cost 40USD per person, the bus being 166 soles.
We were amongst the first to arrive in the gloomy cloud and sat on the hillside overlooking the site but in shadow from the surrounding high mountains until the arrival of the sun at 9am. It was several hours before the tour parties started to arrive by coaches from Cusco so we independent travellors had this idyllic site to ourselves and felt miffed when the other tourists arrived - though in fact the site easily absorbed us all.
Amazingly the site was not re-discovered until 1911 and then accidentally by an American archeologist Hiram Bingham when looking for a quite different venue. It was not overshadowed in our memories by Kuelap, but given restoration and access development this could easily gain a similar tourist fame - though we shall always remember with pleasure having seen it untouched on a day it attracted just our threesome.
At one stage we backtracked downhill to get a feel for the upper reaches of the Inca trail. This trail starts off with a train from Cusco
to 88km or 104 km points, the full trek taking 3 or 4 days sleeping in tents. It reaches an altitude of 4200m which is higher than Machu Picchu itself. It is also possible to join the trail from Aguas Calientes though that would be steep climb.
5 July PISAC
Up early to catch the 05:45 train from Aguas Calientes back to Ollantaytambo, nearly missed it from waiting at the wrong platform, bus to Pisac where we sought out the ASAC bakery and breakfasted on fresh lightly cooked empanadas of bread with cheese, onion and tomato filling.
This second visit there was no market so we got a guide to take us around the fine Inca ruins on the mountainside above the town, a fair walk of several hours often on small cliff hanging footpaths. The excellent local guide became a friend and we still have the decorative bell chime we bought as a memento.
The guest house we had stayed previously was full so we took a room above a nearby store with no company other than the owners who were watching The Mask of Zorro on the TV. They were amazed when we told her the stars newly emerging Catherine Zeta Jones and Anthony Hopkins came from came from our home town of Swansea and Margam in South Wales where I worked. So did Richard Burton - and today I could add Michael Sheen. We are sure they thought we were lying! Perhaps it simply says everything about my Spanish.
Village of Ollantaytambo from Fortress
6 June Cusco
Left Pisac at 7:30 and were at Los Ninos in Cusco by 9am where we handed in our washing. Walked to the plaza then sharply uphill to the superb Inca site of Sacsayhuaman (known to backpackers as Sexy Woman). Superb because of the precision cutting and fitting of huge stones in the form of 22 Teeth of a Puma, the building is still massive though only a fraction of its original size since the stone ruins were reused to build houses in Cusco.
From this strong site overlooking Cusco Manco Inca was able to put the conquistadors under siege in Cusco in one of the major fight-backs of the invasion. When finally defeated by Pizarro the Incas retreated to Ollantaytambo where they were finally slaughtered.
We too enjoyed looking down at Cusco where the maestros (school teachers) were marching and shouting in a victory celebration. They had just been offered a 600 to 700 soles per month rise this year with agreement on 39 other points demanded. All to be ratified tomorrow at their Union (SETUP) meeting tomorrow. However the State of Emergency imposed on the country still stands.
One of the delights but not one immediately obvious to tourists given the extent of the site were the polished slides down the rock mountainside. A continual stream of children climbing and then demonstrating how they had been so wonderfully worn. It looked great fun!
That morning we were heading south from Lima by Boeing 722 in the colours of Aero Continental to the inland tourist zone of Cusco.
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| OUR REFUGE in CUSCO, HOSTAL las NINOS |
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| CUSCO Plaza de Armas |
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| CUSCO Gate to Old City |
We escaped the main plaza by visiting the Cathedral which formed one of the sides of the square. We did approach a couple of girls selling tickets for evening show of local dance in a nearby arts theatre. A show of 12 dancers and eight musicians was a pleasant way to spend the evening, though the audience was only 40 tourists in a room which would house ten times that number.
One sign of poverty was the number of people trading on the streets for instance selling sweets in 10's, by dividing the much larger packets they had bought.
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| CUSCO CATHEDRAL, Plaza de Armas |
Noted a novel way of producing orange juice which started by rotating a lathe by hand so as to peel the orange and then by a more conventional juicing process.
Sunday 1 June Pisac
Pisac is as far into the Sacred Valley as most tour parties reach usually in search of the fine Sunday market which attracts locals from far and wide.
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| Models looking for reward |
As we arrived at 11am the church service was beginning, an hour or so later the congregation came in a procession from a mass given in Quecha tongue, all dressed in their traditional attire, led by boys and girls blowing on shells, their elders blowing on musical pipes, then the priest.
On the market Joan distinguished herself by buying a water colour of a country lane near Puno from one of many sheets of paper on display open to the elements, it now hangs proudly on our wall in a frame from Mumbles costing far far more. The lad managing the stall was surprised at her choice of such a mundane subject but went on to say this was the only one painted by his father, or grandfather?, who taught painting in the university at Puno.
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| PISAC SUNDAY MARKET |
Their were clay ovens at the where they were baking bread and coy. It was the first time we had eaten guinea pigs, and we were not overly impressed - perhaps it is an acquired taste, perhaps one simply of getting used to the idea of eating rat like creatures.
 |
| CLAY OVENS and COOKED CUY (guinea pig) |
2 June Ollantaytambo
We must have taken a bus right through the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo a point of embarkation for the train Cusco to Agua Callientes for Machhu Picchu, but having seen much of interest decided to retrace our steps tomorrow. Ollantaytambo itself was itself a massive ruined Inca fortress on the hillside, one of the few places to initially repel the Spanish invadors - though they later succeeded with reinforcements.
 | |
| OLLANTAYTAMBO |
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| Entrance to Ollantaytambo Fortress from above town |
We spent a lot of time talking to another couple Carlos and Alexandra (early 30's) from Argentina which was currently in huge financial trouble following forced break of the fixed 1:1 link of the Peso with the USD at the beginning of 2002, continual devaluation rapidly reached 4:1 devaluation later in 2002. Carlos said Argentina must currently be the cheapest country in the world for backpackers like us. Bank accounts much in USD had been frozen and all deposits reduced by a factor of 4. So not only were people a quarter as wealthy but they had no way of accessing their funds. He described Argentina as being basically a rich country and that its crisis had been largely man made started by a deliberate unseating of the government leading to a rapid downward political spiral with 5 new premiers in a couple of months.
Carlos was temporarily working in Lima. Much as we would have liked we did not see him again except very briefly when we were at Machu Picchu queuing for the last bus back the several miles to Aguas Calientes. He was walking back up to the site searching for his wife.
3 June Salinas and train to Aguas Calientes
One of the more spectacular scenes from the bus yesterday had been a mountain valley appearing to be topped with snow gleaming in the sun. The guide book indicated this was hundreds of salt pans of Salinas going back to Inca times and could be approached by a narrow footpath.
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| Getting Closer to SALINAS salt pools |
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| SALINAS, Close up of salt pools and harvesting |
4 June 2003 MACHU PICCHU
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| Newly built Gatehouse in afternoon sun |
We were amongst the first to arrive in the gloomy cloud and sat on the hillside overlooking the site but in shadow from the surrounding high mountains until the arrival of the sun at 9am. It was several hours before the tour parties started to arrive by coaches from Cusco so we independent travellors had this idyllic site to ourselves and felt miffed when the other tourists arrived - though in fact the site easily absorbed us all.
 |
| MACHU PICCHU from the hillside above |
Amazingly the site was not re-discovered until 1911 and then accidentally by an American archeologist Hiram Bingham when looking for a quite different venue. It was not overshadowed in our memories by Kuelap, but given restoration and access development this could easily gain a similar tourist fame - though we shall always remember with pleasure having seen it untouched on a day it attracted just our threesome.
At one stage we backtracked downhill to get a feel for the upper reaches of the Inca trail. This trail starts off with a train from Cusco
to 88km or 104 km points, the full trek taking 3 or 4 days sleeping in tents. It reaches an altitude of 4200m which is higher than Machu Picchu itself. It is also possible to join the trail from Aguas Calientes though that would be steep climb.
5 July PISAC
Up early to catch the 05:45 train from Aguas Calientes back to Ollantaytambo, nearly missed it from waiting at the wrong platform, bus to Pisac where we sought out the ASAC bakery and breakfasted on fresh lightly cooked empanadas of bread with cheese, onion and tomato filling.
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| Looking down at PISAC |
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| JOAN GUIDE and Decorated Bell |
Village of Ollantaytambo from Fortress
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| OLLANTAYTAMBO RUINS |
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| Ollantaytambo, Building for Festival |
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| Looking from above end of village to fortress entrances |
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| OLLANTAYTAMBO |
6 June Cusco
Left Pisac at 7:30 and were at Los Ninos in Cusco by 9am where we handed in our washing. Walked to the plaza then sharply uphill to the superb Inca site of Sacsayhuaman (known to backpackers as Sexy Woman). Superb because of the precision cutting and fitting of huge stones in the form of 22 Teeth of a Puma, the building is still massive though only a fraction of its original size since the stone ruins were reused to build houses in Cusco.
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| Joan at SACSAYHUAMAN |
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| CUSCO from SACSAYHUAMAN |
One of the delights but not one immediately obvious to tourists given the extent of the site were the polished slides down the rock mountainside. A continual stream of children climbing and then demonstrating how they had been so wonderfully worn. It looked great fun!
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| SACSAYHUAMAN ROCK SLIDES |
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