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“Beautiful plazas surrounded by cathedrals and churches” |
The first impression of Cusco flying in was of a European alpine town. Once on the ground one could really differentiate this city. Beautiful plazas surrounded by cathedrals and churches and steep narrow streets branching out from the centre. As the town is in a narrow valley any areas out of the centre are on a hill. Our hostel was about 15 minutes from the center on a hill with stunning views of the city.
The walk up to the hostel was quite tough initially as I succumbed to a bout of altitude sickness. We flew in from the jungle to Cusco (elevation 3,300m) so we had no real intermediate stage to acclimatize. The first night in Cusco was spent nursing a headache, a parched mouth and a blocked nose. Apparently this is quite common so I drank plenty of coca tea and chewed some coca leaves to battle the synthoms. The coca worked amazingly well and the next day I was almost back to normal, apart from the blocked nose which has not really gone away.
As I was back to almost full health it would be amiss not to sample the local drinking yards. Most of them were in and around the Plaza De Aramas, the main square in Cusco. Each pub had a tout outside tempting people in with free drinks. This was the backpacker way in Cusco so we spent the night moving from pub to pub getting free Cubra Libres. It really is the way to go out in Cusco and if rum is your tipple you are on to a winner.
The day before the Inca Trail I decided it would be wise to do a small bit of walking and get acclimatized a bit better to the altitude. I visited the ruins of Sacsayhuaman, pronounced "Sexy Woman", which overlooked the city of Cusco. All very interesting but the views were the real draw, there would be plenty more Inca ruins to see on the trail so I felt it wise to save it for then.
The next day was an early start and the beginning of our 4 day 3 Night Inca Trail Trip. Our group was 16 and comprised mainly Aussies with a few South Africans and 2 Portuguese girls who pulled out after day 1. Our guide was named Saul and he was extremely knowledgeable as well as being a bit of a ladies man. He made sure that he helped all the pretty ladys in the other groups as well as our own.
The first day was a relatively straightforward 16km trek in the scorching heat. It was the ideal start with little climbing involved. The first night we camped at 3,300m and the second day was an early start to tackle the difficult second day where we had to trek 17km and climb a 4,200m high pass first thing in the morning. The weather turned that morning and it rained heavily so when we reached the top it was quite cold. We did not stick around and descended rapidly. It was plain sailing after the second day with the third day being a 8 km trek and visits to plenty of Inca ruins. The final morning was a 4am start to get to Machu Picchu for sunrise. We were not disappointed and it was an amazing sight to behold when we got there. Unfortunatley, one of the guys in our group puked his way to Machu Picchu on the final morning. There was also a Japanese camera crew there who filmed him spilling his guts over some Inca ruins at the site.
Back in Cusco now recovering from the trek although it was not that difficult. The toughest thing about the trek was not showering and smelling like a skunk on the final day. May go mountain biking tomorrow to make up for the lack of activity today and then its off to Arequipa on Saturday to do some more trekking.
previous travel blog entry
regi says:
what artistic pictures...looks like a beautiful place. Where's the rest of the pictures?