Cuzco & the Sacred Valley

Overlooking the square in Cuzco
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We took another overnight bus to Cuzco - not too bad, no vomit in bags - getting into town at 5am. We´d booked a hostel and were surprised to find a guy waiting for us to take us there. Turns out he didn´t work for them at all, it was just an optimistic tactic to get us to buy a tour (we didn´t) and pay too much for a taxi (we did). All that effort for 50p.

Cuzco is a interesting and nice city, but there are lots of tourists. They even have a Gringo Alley. It was the centre of the Inca empire until the Spanish came over and stole or broke nearly everything. Now there´s alot of colonial architecture and some sections of Inca stonework and ruins. We visited the site of the Inca temple Coricancha which had been covered in gold plate until the conquest, then the Spaniards built a church over most of it. The stonework is unbelievable. They cut these huge stones and put them together without mortar, cutting them to fit perfectly. The stones are all odd shapes (some have 12 or more angles) and the walls end up looking like huge jigsaws - they´re earthquake proof and so well made that you can´t fit a pin between them. Job´s a goodun.

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Because there´s so many tourists there´s alot of locals trying to sell you stuff - meals, rugs, tat. Charlie got mobbed by a group of young girls with lambs under their arms looking to get paid for a photo. These girls are all sweetness and light until they think they´re owed some of your cash. We think we got cursed.

There is afew British-type pubs at Cuzco, and one that´s quite Brightony, so we went on the lash on the first night. Which was nice. Found a great cafe the next morning - the Real McCoys - that sells a proper English fry up with HP sauce and beans. And poached eggs. And PG Tips. Magic. Beats the old Continental or Americana desayuno muck.

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Cuzco is the nearest big town to Machu Picchu, so alot of people are there to sort out tours and treks. We couldn´t get on the actual Inca trail trek because it had been booked up for three months but there are a number of other treks you can do which are much, much cheaper. But after Colca Canyon we woosed out and organised a train ticket ($44 return from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes - there´s no other way if you´re not walking). So on our last morning we got up early and visited some of the nearer ruins in the Sacred Valley. It´s an easy bus ride to Tambo Machay (cool water temple) then a downhill stroll to Puca Pucara (red fort), Qenko (big rock with caves and blood channels) and Sacsayhuman (massive Inca fort pronounced sexy woman). There were a fair few tourists up and about by the time we got to Sacsayhuman but it´s such a big site it didn´t matter. Lots of huge perfectly fitted stones (one weighs over 300 tons), tunnels and wierd big slide things. So after afew days of ruins we caught a bus to Ollantaytambo to look at some ruins before getting the train to Machu Picchu. Just can´t get enough of them ruins.

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By the way, thanks to everyone who contacted us whilst we were at Cuzco. It was really good to catch up with all the home stuff - keep it up. Ta.