Cusco & Machu Picchu

Festival of Corpus Christi, June 7, 2007, Cusco
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Cusco is a  nice town.  I view it as the Sante Fe of Peru because of  its cultural history and also for its artistic atmosphere.

I arrived on the day of the Festival of Corpus Christi which is a  procession around the Plaza de Armas of the saints which were later displayed in the Cathedral.

Kodak moment every few steps

I later took an afternoon  city tour  which covered Korikancha (not spelled correctly).  This temple was covered in  gold until the Spaniards  saw all the gold and destroyed the temple of the sun.  Korikancha also had a  garden but it was no ordinary garden.   The Incas didn´t want a garden  where the flowers died so they created  a fake garden  where the flowers were made of gems & minerals.

Machu Picchu finally
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I also went to Sachsaywayman (pronounced like sexy woman).   This was a temple for the non-elite Incas.

The big event for me in Cusco was the 4-day Inca Trail.

Day 1- There are only 3 of us in our group: Ben, Veronica, and me.  Ben  & Veronica are from Australia although Veronica was born in Chile.  In addition, our guide was George and we had  3 porters.  The porters spoke Quechan and a little Spanish.  I didn´t see them much.  Each morning after breakfast, they  would tear down  our campsite and run to our lunch site where they had lunch ready for us.  I´m not talking about camp food either.  Each meal was great with  soup, followed by meat dish, followed by  tea.  Often we had desserts, too.

Festival of Corpus Christi, June , 2007, Cusco
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Day one was difficult for me because the altitude is high and I still wasn´t acclimized to it  yet.  There was one person in another group who quit within the first hour.  I don´t know why.  The first hour wasn´t all that bad for me.  Later in the day I seriously   wondered if I should give up as well.   In retrospect, I´m glad I didn´t.

Our camp  was in a little village - Wayllabamba.   It didn´t appear that there was any electricity in  the village, but Ben noticed that  building next to where we were eating had a big screen TV.   I saw the only cat in Peru at this campsite.   The skinny black cat was sitting between the turkeys and the pig.   It was at camp that I had my first fall - I stumbled getting out of my tent.  Just a bruised knee.  We walked a total of 9 kms or 5.6 miles today.

View from pizzeria of Plaza de Armas, Cusco, June 8, 2007
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Day 2 - We walk 12 kms or 7.5 miles today.  This was supposed to be the difficult day because of the altitude.    I swear we must have walked  7 hours straight up hill.   It was tough!!  The highest  point was Warmiwanuska  pass which is 4200 meters or 14,000 ft. Then, we had to walk downhill which sounds easy but it´s worse than up hill.  I looked forward to evening camp.  We camped at Pacaymayo which is   at 3600 meters or 11,900 ft  - still high up.   Again at camp, I fell again.  This time I fell going to the dinner camp.   Sounds silly but it was dark and I thought there were 2 steps up  to the dinner tent.  No.  Instead, there were 3 steps.  Now I have a scraped wrist.  In the middle of the night I heard a woman scream "ayudame.   policia".  Apparently someone must have had to go to the bathroom in  the middle of the night and got lost.  At night it´s pitch black and I mean pitch black.  Flashlights help but only to a degree.

Tambomachay Ruins where Incas bathed, near Cusco, June 8, 2007
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Day 3 -  We walk  16 kms or 10 miles today.  This is supposed to the relaxing day because there´s no constant uphills or downhills and we´ll be able to stop at some ruins along the way.  Well, part of that is true.  Yes, it was more rolling that straight up or down  - at least for the most part.  Yes, there were ruins, too.  Everything was going fine until after lunch.   We were trekking in the rain forest which was  refreshing from the hot sun.  There was a high point but not as bad as the day before.  It was at this point some of the tour groups camped for the night.  No, not us.  We continued on.  It was supposed to be a 2 hour trek downhill to our campsite at Winay Wayna which is only at 2700 meters or 8900 ft high.  Most of it was okay, but along the way my legs turned to jelly.  I could take the big steps because I used my walking stick as a support.  My problem  was the little steps or the flat ground; I just couldn´t stand up.  With the help of our guide, George, I finally made it to camp around dusk.  Veronica said she had the same problem as I did.  We all missed the hot shower that evening, but what the heck.  We hadn ´t bathed or brushed our teeth in three days so what´s one more day.

Inca trail, Day 3, lunch will be at the Concha Marca camp in the background.
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Day 4  - This morning we got up at 4 am so we can be at passport control when it opens at 5:30  am.  Then we  trekked to Machu Picchu.  Now I´m glad we  trekked for the extra few hours yesterday; those other groups must have had to get up extra early to get to Machu Picchu at a decent hour.   When we arrived at MP (Machu Picchu), we first went to get something to eat.  I  had a hamburger and coca-cola thinking it was around noon.  No, it was only 8:30am.

Machu Picchu
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Machu Picchu is only at 2400 meters or 7900 ft high.  We walked a total of 5  kms or 3.2 miles today.  From the Sun's Gate (Inti Punku) to Machu Picchu, every view was a Kodak moment.    Our guide George gave us a tour of the ruins.  Who was the last inca?  Inca Kola.  Peruvian humor.  Okay, it was really Atahualpa.  By the way, Inca refers to the kings not the people.

"Then up the ladder of the earth I climbed through the barbed jungle's thickets until I reached you Macchu Picchu.

Machu Picchu from Sun Gate
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Tall city of stepped stone, home at long last of whatever earth had never hidden in her sleeping clothes.  In you two lineages that had run parallel met where the cradle both of man and light rocked in a wind of thorns."

--- "The Heights of Macchu Picchu" by Pablo Neruda

You know, if the Incas were really smart, they would have built a bridge system throughtout the Andes instead of trails.

Upon leaving MP, we had a choice: we could walk down the 2 hours to the town of Agua Calientes or take a bus.  What do you think I chose?   I didn´t have to think twice: I chose the bus.   Agua Calientes or Machu Picchu Pueblo  is not much.  There are two streets which are mostly  restaurants and a rail station for the tourists.  My walking stick helped me during the trek but I didn ´t want to keep it and the handle was falling off anyway.  I was planning to leave it somewhere and that somewhere was Agua Calientes.

Machu Picchu and town of Agua Calientes down the bottom of the mountain.
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To answer a question I was asked before coming on  this trip, yes there were bathroom  stops along the way.  I would say about every three hours there was some sort of bathroom.  It may have been a hole in the floor or a real toilet whether or not it flushed.  On the first couple of days, there were even vendors along the way selling toilet paper or drinks or snacks.

Surpringly, I didn´t see many animals on the trek.  I saw a sign that there were bears but I definitely didn´t see any bears.  I saw green hummingbirds, butterflies, llamas, donkeys, and a couple of horses.   i saw a plant that looks just like the Texas Bluebonnets but it had a different name.  George told me what it was but I couldn´t remember it.  Other plants I saw were orchids and bromeliads.  Yes, this is a rain forest.

Inca Trail, Day 3, Phuyupatamara Ruins
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Overall, the trek was worth it, but I won´t be doing it again. We saw the day tourists at MP with the MP hats  and thought that they really didn´t deserve to wear it because they didn ´t earn it like we did.

There is a worldwide movement to name 7 new wonders of the world. The selection will be made on July 7, 2007.  Machu Picchu is one of the 21 finalists.  If you want to vote, go to   www.new7wonders.com.

I will soon be arriving at Machu Picchu. It's within sight now.
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Now that I've left the area, I saw in the Peruvian newspapers that Olivia Newton John went to Cusco the day after I left.  Then, when I was in Arequipa I saw the newspapers showing pictures of Cameron Diaz in Cusco, too.