Inca Highlands Day 8 - Maccu Piccu in all it's glory!

An extremely early start this morning, after a rainy night. 3:45am was the wake-up tim to ensure that we were packed up and ready to go by 4:30am. A difficult start to the flagship day. The reason for the early start was due to the fact that the porters needed to catch their only train out of Maccu Piccu town. Ensuring that we were fully packed and ready to go by 4:30 would enable them to load up, run to town, and catch the train with a little bit of time to spare. Missing the train would mean that the porters would have to stay overnight in the town - not exactly the most desirable result for them.

Breakfast was brief, once that was done we waited in the hall of the Winay Wayna campsite - waiting for the opening of the final track of the Inca Trail to Maccu Piccu. The wait was uneventful - plenty of tired faces about. As the opening time drew closer we all started to gather at the checkpoint (as the path was shut at night) and continued to wait.

The moment the gates opened a small cheer went out and people began to stream through the checkpoint. The pace wasn't exactly cracking as there were several people along the way wanting to be first, yet were far from quick. For those that wanted to blitz their way to Maccu Piccu they simply reverted to calling out 'porter' and bolting through as people made room. Efficient.

The first hour of the walk was mostly uneventful, the scenery from the prior day was tough to beat. Eventually I made it to what has been labelled 'the gringo killers'. Though I didn't realise it at the time. For those that are unaware the gringo killers is a series of steep stairs that only last a few minutes... so long as you're able to keep going. I powered up the 50-odd steps, passing countless people along the way (who were clamouring up using their hands and knees). I was totally focussed on getting to Maccu Piccu that I didn't realise the obstacle was over. Continuously moving is the key!

Just past the gringo killer steps lay the Sun Gate - the first place that you can get a panoramic picture of Maccu Piccu. I didn't really know how large Maccu Piccu was going to be, so I was somewhat surprised at the awesome size of the complex. Unsurprisingly, plenty of people were milling about taking their photos of Maccu Piccu. It wasn't actually the easiest to take photos of the complex as clouds continually rolled in and out (just like the Cloud forest, the day before).

Another half hour or so later we were at the outer terraces of Maccu Piccu. We were allowed to take a few happy snaps overlooking the main complex before we were instructed to head down to the official Maccu Piccu ticket gates to check-in with the authorities - another immigration-like checkpoint.

Speaking of immigration we were all entitled to a Maccu Piccu passport stamp. Awesome, just what I wanted! Quite a few tourists had lined up to the little office behind pseudo-immigration to get the coveted stamp. One of the ladies in the tour managed to get a hold of the stamp and provide her own imprint... albeit with one major exclusion... the shillouette of Maccu Piccu (the top half of the stamp). That's bad luck. It was soon my turn - as opposed to doing it myself I had to give my passport up for it to be stamped. I pointed to where I wanted my passport stamped. Boom, boom. Maccu Piccu stamp, followed by a date stamp. I was pleased... until I had a look at my passport. Problem. The text below the Maccu Piccu shillouette was missing. Nooooo! All this way, all of the kilometers walked, all for a fail stamp. The minor consolation was that the two imperfect stamps could join to make one whole stamp. Frustrating!

There's much to learn about the Inca by examining the site of Maccu Piccu. Furthermore, there's much more that's left to learn about the Inca... as nothing has been recorded in writing. Throughout the morning we heard about how Maccu Piccu was left undiscovered by the conquering Spanish centuries ago. We learnt about how an American came to find the site of Maccu Piccu (Bingham) in the early 20th century. In addition to a history lesson we also got a spiel about the Inca themselves, their beliefs, and their architectural achievements.

One of the more interesting things that I took notice of was the statement that Maccu Piccu was only built a century before the Spanish arrived. Bizzare. I would have though that Maccu Piccu was around for ages. Just makes you think what made the Inca disappear considering that the Spanish never found the place.

Another interesting tale that was mentioned through the morning was that there was an Inca civil war immediately prior to the Spanish arriving in the region. More tidbits of information that i'm sure most of the general population wouldn't be aware of!

All of the above was mentioned on the tour provided by the trail leader Liborio. However, not everything was so smooth in the complex as a whole. As we were walking past the entrance to Huayna Piccu (a tough hour or so climb that affords an alternate view over Maccu Piccu), a man collapsed. As soon as the man collapsed a woman (perhaps his wife?) cried out. People suddenly rushed to the incident and started crowding around. As the tour group continued on - I was at the back - I left the scene to rejoin the group.

Upon the conclusion of the guided component of the tour, capped off by a group photo, we were left to our own devices. Before the guides headed off they left a few notes on how to get to lunch in the town below. Several of us were quite tired after all of the activity over the past few days so we chilled out on the terraces.

There was more to see in and around the Maccu Piccu complex, such as visiting an Inca bridge, but relaxing on the terraces was what we did. The more hardcore trekkers would have trekked up to Huanu Piccu for an additional challenge. Not this time. Nothing wrong with chilling and snacking.

As for my favourite bits of the complex itself - the view from Funerary Rock (although I didn't go to the rock, just took a photo from a rough approximation), Intiwatana (a rock pillar that pointed to the four cardinal directions... showing that they knew of astronomy and could predict solstaces), and the Sacred Rock (putting on display some of the finer features of Inca architecture... with the principal temple being nearby).

One of the stranger things about the local Peruvians was their interest in Asians. At some point during my time at Maccu Piccu I needed to use the bathroom. There was only the one. Upon leaving the bathroom and about a minute into my journey back to the group I was stopped by a pair of Peruvian girls. They beckoned me over and showed their digital camera to me, and one of them asked "photo?". I assumed that they wanted me to take a photo of them. Wrong. Once I reached for the camera the girl holding her camera shook her head pointed at her friend and said "No. You there". I obliged. (It's not like I haven't asked to be in a photo with others before!) The girls swapped - another photo. Totally bizzare. It also happened to some other asians in the group as well.


Back at the terrace, munching away at some Peruvian Chocolate. Inca Chocolate, I think it was called. Yuck. Wasn't quite for me. That's probably because it was too rich... or just too bad. Hard to tell. To pass a bit more time there was a quick photo session of "Whrere's Mark", where i'd run down to a crowded area in my yellow Gore-tex jacket mingle into the crowd and photos were taken. Nice.

Whilst we were on the terrace we got a glimpse of the fate of the man who had collapsed earlier in the day. It was not good. A stretcher was being carried by four gentlemen with the man that had collapsed (or at least that's who I thought it was) resting on the stretcher with a white blanket over him. Whilst the stretcher runners jogged through back towards the entrance an arm popped out and flopped about. The prognosis looked grim indeed.

Once our time was up it was time to start our long journey back to Cusco. First up it was a bus ride down to Aqua Galientes town, where we had our last lunch with the trekking guides. Followed up by a several hour train ride (which consequently took us back through Kilometer 82) to Ollantaytambo. The last leg back to our hotel in Cusco was by coach. The major drawcard for coming to Peru had now been conquered! Some well earned rest this night, that's for sure.

Inca Highlands Day 7 - Inca Ruins Galore

Waking up and extracting myself out of the sleeping bag on the morning of the third trail day was tough! Tough because of the ardurous day prior, and tough because it was early in the morning - 5:30/6am start. Some advice for people doing the tour... stretch. It really helps in the long run.

We were told that today was going to be another long day, 16 kilometers horizontally, wildly differing altitudes - "Peruvian flat" one of the tour guides joked. This was mostly true. Long, yet definitely not as tough. The great thing about the third day of the trek was that there was quite a bit to see!

The journey to the third and final peak began after another solid breakfast. The first sight of the day was only a short stroll away, the Inca guardhouse called Runkuraqay. As it was relatively early in the morning still, it was a quick fly by. That decision was primarly driven by the promise that there was plenty more to see.

The journey up to the peak of the second pass at 3,800m was steep due to the fairly large steps on the way up. Whilst the stairs were steep, the journey up to the summit seemed significantly easier. It's possible that the body was getting used to the tough inclines.

After a short stop with a bunch of the tour group it was time to move onward. The section to follow was the one between the second and third pass - this proved to be one of the most fun parts of the trail. The section consisted of a significantly steep descent, a block of Peruvian flat in the middle, followed by a moderately steep incline up to the third pass.

This section of the track was quite beautiful. The main reason for this being that it is the section that provides a view of the majestic Cloud Forest. Lush, fertile jungle speads ownwards as far as the eye can see at the bottom of a valley, accompanied by a fluid rolling mist that hovered just above. Photos that I took definitely couldn't capture the majesty of the place.

Along the way there was a significant Inca landmark for us to view, Sayacmarka. Sayacmarka was a large monestary-like building that was dominantly perched overlooking the cloud forest. As the mist was quite heavy I decided to skip the detour up to the ruin and continue onward.

Travelling down to Sayacmarka was highly entertaining as some of us were trying to get down at pace. Skipping through sections of steps seemed to be what the porters were doing, so this is what some of us attempted to do - with varying degrees of success. At several points along the trail I would let a porter pass through and I would attempt to follow them down as far as possible. One attempt of mine was even caught on video! As I had a yellow windproof jacket tied to my backpack I looked like a bit of a chicken waddling down the Inca trail.

After passing Sayakmartha we descended down lower into the Cloud Valley. Along the way, approximately 5 to 10 mintes onwards, there was another small outpost. Perhaps another guard post. Perching up on top of the walls of the little guard post proved to be an interesting rest point, as I could observe the other members of the group pass by the trail path just underneath.

Lunch was served just prior to the Phuyupatarnarka Inca site, at approximately 12:30pm. Originally we were meant to eat earler at the Chaquicocha campsite, yet this was moved further on as we were progressing quite well as a group. Lunch was another pleasant one... salad, soup, a particularly satisfying chicken drumstick, Inca version of fried rice, and a few salads. Yum, yum.

After lunch it was time for another Inca lesson, this time at the Inca site Phuyupatamarka. Here we learnt about the fundamentals of the Inca religion and the level of knowledge that the Inca had of astronomy. Impressive considering that the Inca had no formal standard of writing. Unless of course the whole talk was BS. Hah.

The cloud forest walk continued, not terribly difficult. The walk was quite leisurely with the guide Liborio accompanying us for a fair section of it - highlighting particular flora and fauna of the region along the way. Very interesting, although I struggle to recall much of it!

From Phuyupatarnarka there was approximately an hour or so descent followed by a choice marked by an electric power pylon. The quicker path lead to the Winay Wana campsite, the other would lead to the same campsite via the awe-inspiring views provided by Intipata. The Intipata route was chosen.
Plenty of mischevous snaps were taken at Intipata - including the Jestar starjump, a machete fight, and contemplative seated yoga poses. Intipata provided sweeping views of the river below and the towering land masses perched on each side.

Once we were over taking photos it was finally time to check into the campsite at Winay Wana. Campsite 2 to be precise. There was the option to do a further walk (not too far away) but just about everyone decided to stay at camp. The reason for this was that the rare commodities of hot showers and cold beer were available at the campsite!

I decided to make the 10 minute trek down to Winay Wana itself, rather than kick off my boots at the campsite. Unlike the some of the concave terraces seen along the Inca trail so far, the terraces of Winay Wana were convex. Not only were there terraces to be seen, but there were also well preserved buildings on display (missing their thatch rooves). Very green and very neat. The third trekking day was definitely jam packed full of visual treats.

I thought that the line to the showers was long, wrong! Once I got back from my trip to Winay Wana there was an extensive queue. As disgusting as it may sound, I avoided the shower for one more day. Instead, I opted for a cold water head bath - alternatively known as putting my head under a cold water tap.

Dinner was quite a feast - consisting of pasta, lasagne, jelly, and a birthday cake for one of the trekkers in the group. The chef came out with quite a nice orange zest cake. Impressive given the lack of proper utilities out in the middle of nowhere.

There was much entertainment to be had next, with regard to the cake. In a strange turn of events the birthday boy was tasked with cutting his own cake. Unfortunately for him the knife and the scoop were in the wrong hands. The result of this were diabolical pieces of cake. Admittedly the cake was on the crumbly side, so it was probably inevitable anyway.

To make matters worse (or funnier, depending on your perspective) a female member of the group offered to cut the remainder of the cake. Made sense. However, one of the other guys in the group decided that it would be a good idea to affix a headlamp to the girl cutting the cake. Fail. The headlamp fell onto the cake. Haha! A true comedy of errors.

The third evening would prove to be the last one on the trail. The next day would see us on the grounds of Maccu Piccu itself! As it was the last evening for all of us (i.e. with the porters and the chef) it was time for us to present a few gifts and say a few parting words. A sad evening.

Inca Highlands Day 6 - Steep Climbs on the Inca Trail

After a rainy evening with a reasonable amount of rest I was awoken at approximately 5am by roosters. Yes, roosters. This was the surprise that the tour leaders alluded to last night. Roosters were milling around the campsite signalling the dawn. It was actually quite entertaining hearing them cluck and crow as they waddled around just outside of the tent.

Hot cocoa tea was brought to our tents shortly after the roosters quietened down. The delivery of the tea set the clock ticking. We had thirty minutes to pack our bags and be ready to leave the tent. Quite the struggle for me as i'm generally quite a slow packer of bags - evidenced by my near-miss with the initial flight down to South America.

One of the frustrating things that I realised in the morning was that I left my pants resting against the side of the tent, as I had changed to shorts for the evening (sleeping bag). The side of the tent became moist overnight as a result of the evening rain. This meant that I had the pleasure of starting the day with wet pants! Not the best start to the day, that's for sure.

This morning was a bright and lovely one. As it was such a nice morning the mess tent was put away so that we could have breakfast with the blue sky in clear view. Breakfast out in the open was hearty and refreshing. Omelettes, banana pancakes, bread with jam - much needed fuel for the day ahead.

After everything was packed away it was time for a meet and greet - where all of the trekkers, porters, and guides would all say hello to eachother. A good idea since we would all be spending several days with eachother. This greeting was quite a large affair as there were 13 trekkers, 3 guides, 1 chef, and 18 porters!

This would have normally have been an event free affair, yet for this trip the introduction proved to be very entertaining. The porters went first, and it was clear that most of the porters had come from the nearby Sacred Valley - the Anta region, to be specific. The porters weren't all young, with ages ranging from the early 20s right up to the late 40s. Unexpected for some. The usual occupation of the porters, their day-job, was farming.

Thanks to the introduction I got a good sense of the organisation required to ensure that we would all have a resonably comfortable trek to Maccu Piccu. Each day porters would have to carry cookware, cutlery, tents, stools, our duffel bags, food, supplies, and their own daily items (clothing, toiletries, etc). Not a trivial logistics operation!

It was the trekkers to introduce themselves after the porters had done theirs. When it was my turn I tried my best to inject some Spanish into the introduction. I didn't manage much - most of what I could come up with was something like "Hola, Buenos Dias Muchachos, mon nombre es Marko". Don't even know if that's correct.The rest of my introduction was in English - which was subsequently traslated by one of the trekking guides.

The most entertaining segment was to come. It was time for one of the ladies in the group to perform her introduction. After a brief introduction she was asked if she was single or attached (a question that all of the younger ladies was asked). She stuttered and eventually answered that she was single. The porters all seemed entertained and one of the younger single porters was being ridiculed by the other porters. The trek guide grabbed the single porter and I grabbed the single girl and we brought them together. The porter passed on a peck on the cheek and that was it. After the incident I was politely told "Mark, i'm going to kill you". Hillarious!

Onto the trek itself. The second day of the trail walk was said to be the hardest by the guides, and there was no reason to dispute this. The journey from Wayllabamba to Paqaymayu was indeed ardurous, as it had involved a particularly steep and extensive climb of 1200m in its first phase before a shorter yet equally steep descent.

The uphill leg was tough, yet the previous day's walk helped me understand how much weight would be ideal for carrying. I carried much less on my back on the second day of the trail than the first - dropping at least a litre of water and a couple of items of clothing. It was not as cold as some claimed that it would be!

The experience of the climb changed as the altitude increased. The initial phase of the climb was mostly warm and humid, with trees and foliage providing a shade from the sun. The climb was made more difficult thanks to the heat and humidity, yet the streams that ran close to the stony path upwards provided a useful cooling function.

The latter parts of the climb to the peak of the second pass were quite different. Vegetation was sparse, the stream was nowhere to be seen, and the sun was able to bear down on me with no problems - having said this... it was cool. Not cold, just cool. The steepness of the climb was similar, the environment was quite different.

By the time I made it to the peak of the second pass I was a little tired. A break was in order. The peak provided a sweeping view of the climb just completed with snow capped mountains as a backdrop. I took the opportunity to rest up,take some photos, and chat with som members of the tour group. More importantly, I was starting to get hungry and lunch was nowhere in sight. Lunch was to be a couple of hours further on, at Pacqaymayu.

Half an hour passed and it was time to move onto the last segment of the day - the descent leg. I felt that the descent leg was tougher than the ascent leg. Why? Most likely because I was hungry, I wasn't fresh, and nature was calling. Having said this, the descent was much easier after making a slight detour off the well warn track. I wasn't the only one who made a temporary diversion though, everyone does it!


Through the second day I noticed something different with the Maccu Piccu trek when compared to the Everset Base Camp trek in Nepal - the method in which the group as a whole travelled. In Nepal we effectively had 2 groups, a fast group and a slow group, and stops every 30-45 minutes or so - regrouping at key places. In Peru, people are allowed to go at their own pace with guides towards the back and someway towards the front. An interesting contrast.

At 3pm I stumbled into Pacqamayu Camp #5, lead to the specific campsite by our chef Cesar. Boy, was I glad to see camp. After quickly selecting a free tent it was time to head to the mess tent for some well deserved lunch! I was starving! Lunch was fantastic, although that could have been because I was very hungry. Cevice (fish) salad was the starter, followed by a prawn soup, finished off by an alpaca, plaenta, and rice dish.

Pacqamayu camp was the site of the evening camp, so thankfully no more trekking was planned for the day. Due to the lateness of lunch, it was only an hour and a half or so left remaining before afternoon tea was scheduled. There was the option to stay and have some afternoon tea... but I passed. I took the opportunity to rest up and napped until dinner time. Popped out for dinner and a quick chat before it was back to bed again (with nothing leaning against the side of the tent).

Inca Highlands Day 5 - The Trek Begins!

Today marked the first day of the Inca Trail leading to Maccu Piccu! Exciting. We departed from our hotel early in the morning. The group was hearded onto a coach bound for a place called Kilometer 82. Now I don't know why someone would call a place Kilometer 82, but at least it's a unique name!

First up, a bit of administration was required. The morning was a bit of a rush as we had restrictions on what we were allowed to bring along to the trek. A 5kg duffel bag (which was weighed) and whatever I could carry on my back was all that was permitted. The rest of the luggage would have to be left at the hotel.

Initially I thought that it would be quite warm and therefore packed light - only using up just over 3 of the 5kg allocation. Others in the tour used up their entire allocation, citing the extra clothing that they intended to pack. Taking this on board, I threw in some warmer clothing... bringing my duffel bag up to 5kg.

We arrived at Kilometer 82 by the mid-morning and it was a bustling place. Coaches, minibuses, porters, guides, trekkers, and locals filled the little bus compound. After a quick introduction to our trekking guides Liborio and Tina we were handed a little snack pack. Some biscuits, a few little sugar lollies, and a banana. Then we were off! We had commenced our our 4-day journey to Maccu Piccu.

The first stop of the trek was literally two minutes away by foot - a group photo under the "Welcome to the Inka Trail" sign by the railway line. Everyone looked quite happy and excited. I remember thinking that it would be interesting to see both the before and after shots! Once we had taken a good set of photos (as everyone had a camera) we were off to passport control.

Why is there passport control? Now that would be a very good question. Technically speaking the whole Maccu Piccu National Park area is another country, or so we were told. Perhaps something was lost in translation there... maybe it's akin to the Vatican and Italy.

All of us needed to provide our passport and entrance pass before being allowed though the checkpoint and across the footbridge on the other side. The interesting thing about the whole process was that we had to line up in particular order - simpler administration. No matter, one more stamp on the passport and away I went - at a start altitude of 2450m.

The late morning consisted of a nice gradual walk towards our lunch stop - a 2 hour walk away. It was a pleasant walk. We passed along the Urubamba river and observed a track section of the recently rebuilt railway line that connects Cusco to Maccu Piccu.

On the way to lunch we came across a very well preserved Inca settlement called Llactapapa. The distinguishing feature of this particular Inca site was that it seemed to follow the undulating stream as it snaked through the valley below. Furthermore, many of the structures remained intact (minus the thatch rooves). Something that I wasn't expecting!

Unfortunately for us it began to drizzle as we were peering down at Llactapapa, getting an explanation of the importance of settlements like Llactapapa for the Incan economy. The rain wasn't too heavy at this point. The 3 soles poncho that I bought the day before was well worth it!

Lunch. I knew that we were going to get food made for us along the way but I didn't quite know what to expect. Pleasantly surprised is one term i'd use for the lunch provided, excellent is another. First up, the trekkers and guides were all seated in a large mess tent.

With the rain progressively getting heavier we were served both our first cup of hot munja tea (munja being a herb) and a fantastic guacamole entree. Next was a hearty chicken and vegetable soup. The series of dishes was rounded out with an apacca, corn puree, and rice dish. The series of three dishes were easily some of the better meals that i've had so far in Peru! If the chef were to publish a cook book, I would buy it in a heartbeat.

A few more hours of gentle walking under light drizzle brought us to our first evening campsite - Wayllabamba, situated at 3,000 meters. It was fairly obvious that we reached our campsite as there was a row of bright red domes set against a lush green backdrop.

As soon as we entered the campsite we were told of the location of the toilets and then were assigned our tents. One thing i'll say about the tents provided are that they're quite spacious. The tents can quite comfortably fit 2 people. The tents were also provided with air matteresses for extra comfort. Handy!

At approximately 5:30pm we were called out for a treat at the newly erected mess tent. The surprise was afternoon tea! Cocoa tea and popcorn. Yummy. Definitely something unexpected. We were warned not to spoil our dinners, yet the two platters of popcorn were finished.

Dinner was served shortly after afternoon tea, 6:30pm. With people given free time to either sit in the mess tent or head back to the privacy (or relative privacy) of the sleeping tents. Another fantastic meal was served up by the chef before we all went to bed. On the way out we were promised a special surprise in the morning, and with that idea in our minds we went back to the tents to snooze.

Inca Highlands Day 4 - The Sacred Valley

Not too early a start this morning, especially when compared to the previous one. A more reasonable 8am was the time in which we were to all assemble. Breakfast in the Cusco accomodation was adequate, with bread and condiments being made available. There was some Peruvian cereal on offer (with pinkish milk), but I didn't take any. Playing it super safe.

The Sacred Valley tour started off with an introduction by the guide for the day (Roger), who subsequently introduced the driver. Once the introductions were done, we were off to our first stop - a small market approximately 40 minutes out from Cusco.

As I irresponsibly failed to bring a hat along to South America, I went searching for a hat in the markets. I found an interesting hat reminiscent of the good, the bad, and the ugly (in black) but it didn't quite fit. No purchase. The trip to the market wasn't completely fruitless though, as the highlight was just in front of the market proper.

In front of the market proper was a small llama and alpaca pen, inclusive of an aged shepard. The people on our tour bus, as well as tourists from another van, flocked to take photos of the various four legged animals. Obviously, I joined in. There was this cute little llama wandering around just in front of the pen, which was open. Some of us got the opportunity to feed the baby llama before the shepard shut up shop. Clearly wasn't getting as many soles as he was expecting. For taking photos, I provided a small donation.

Once we had spent 30 minutes at the market it was time for us to move on to our next location, an Inca site close to a village called Pisac. We all quickly hopped onto the bus and we were off. En route to the Inca site we stopped along the side of the road for a few happy snaps - very picturesque, with the clouds floating above and the mountains encircling the valley below.

The Inca site near Pisac consisted of well preserved terraces as well as a few intact buildings. There were approximately two dozen terrace levels spanning the face of one of the mountains, and just about all of them were still standing. The guide assured us that only a small percentage of the free standing terraces had to be explicitly restored (due to terrace walls eroding and collapsing). It's clear that the agricultural knowledge of the Inca was quite advanced.

At Pisac the tour group learnt about the rise of the Incas - which included the subjugation of the local populations, the gradual spread of the Inca empire over time, and the importance of the Andean Cross. Whilst the historial and cultural aspect of the tour was not everyone's cup of tea I definitely found it interesting.

By the time we finished the Pisac ruins it was off to lunch - as it was late afternoon we stopped at a small village nearby. Unfortunately for the village and its occupants a mudslide had hit the area and caused a significant amount of damage... with approximately 100 families losing their livelihood due to the destruction of their homes and land.

Lunch was a buffet lunch at a place called Inca House. Given that we were in the middle of nowhere, it was quite nice. We were advised in Lima to avoid buffets, but down in the Sacred Valley with a different tour guide... it was a different story. The lunch was quite pricey, at 35 soles, but it did the job. The lunch also included a complementary glass of Pisco Sour (a popular local alcoholic drink).

On the way to our next location we learnt a little bit more about Inca textile skills. There was a particular segment on how the Inca used to colour their fabrics. All of the colours that the Inca created were natural, which would turn out to be dull in appearance (so if colours are bright - they're synthetic). Different colours required different ingredients and techniques. For example, to get red you had to harvest tiny little insects and squash them and use their blood. Simple enough. Other ingredients used to obtain different colour palettes included herbs and even human urine!

The next stop on the Sacred Valley tour was an Inca town called Ollantaytambo. Apparently this is the oldest Inca town that is still inhabited - with many of the buildings and infrastructure that were in place during the age of the Incas still intact. The locals still live here just like they did in ages past, with a few extra modern luxuries.

One of the highlights of Ollantaytambo is the nearby unfinished temple - a substantial monument that is still surviving to this day. The ingenuity of the Inca was obvious - huge slabs of rock that must have weighed tens of tonnes formed the structure of the temple. Not only was it amazing that they managed to lug the masses of granite hundreds of meters uphill... they were able to build walls made of these hulking stones without the aid of mortar or adhesive material. Quite impressive.


The visit to the temple at Ollantaytambo was not without incident. Humour always seems to creep into holidays. The tour group was on its way out of the temple complex via a narrow path, we paused at a junction that provided a great vantage point for photos. We all took our time taking pictures and were prompted to move on when another group of tourists appeard behind us. Some of the members of the tour group were resting up on the slope of the mountain, as others in the group were actively taking photos.

Now, one of the ladies in the group behind us wanted assistance taking a photo, with the lady in front and the temple as the backdrop. One of the guys in our group hopped down and almost fell off the side of the track - due to the momentum of hopping down. There was a moment where everyone gasped. He didn't fall off, although it was a long, long way down to the bottom. The photo was taken without any further dramas. Many jokes followed afterwards about how 'mamacitas' can inspire guys to do crazy things!

A sleepy bus ride back followed the Ollantaytambo city visit. I did buy a small hat with llama images on them in the Ollantaytambo market on my way out - which would come in handy for the Inca trek itself. Once we were back in town we all split up to do our own thing. For me and a couple of others, it was back to the cafe for some safe food. Carbo loading for the big trek ahead, which was to start the next day. Avoid Spaghetti Bolognaise.... it's just different. Carbs are carbs, I guess. Anyway, an early evening followed dinner and that ended the day.

Inca Highlands Day 3 - Arrival in Cusco

The morning began with a 5am wakeup call. This wasn't organised by me, it was organised by the tour guide - and it came as a bit of a shock. For a minute there I thought that work was calling me up, wanting to discuss an issue! Not only was the wakeup call totally unexpected, it was half in Spanish. Did the job though. The reason for the call was due to the fact that we had a 7:20am flight to Cusco to catch. After showering and packing the bags it was down for breakfast. Breakfast was the same breakfast as the morning I arrived in Lima - scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, juice.

A transfer bus to Lima airport (Aeropuerto Internacional Jorge Chavez) was arranged by the tour, we arrived at the airport with no incident. Everyone on the bus was in high spirits, considering that it was still early in the morning. At the airport we were handed our e-tickets and proceeded to check-in. Nothing too special so far - except for the fact that the Gate number that I had on my ticket differed from others in the tour. Turns out that they just print any old number when they haven't assigned a gate to a flight. I must say, it would have been much easier to print nothing and tell us to monitor the departure boards!

Whilst the scheduled departure time of the Lima to Cusco flight was 7:20am, we didn't depart on time. The plane (Peru Airlines) set out for our next destination at 8:00am instead. The journey only took an hour, I slept. I woke up fairly tired - that could have been due to the early morning start or the impact of altitude... as Cusco is roughly 3300m above sea level. We were met by our guide, Belge, after we picked up our bags and left the terminal building. There was only time for a quick hello before we were whisked away to our accomodation.

The hotel in Cusco was pretty good. The room was clean, the bathroom was nice, and the shower did it's job. What more could you ask for? As for the negatives - the room was a bit cold and the key to the room did not snugly fit the lock. Getting into the room always took a few tries. All good.

The first day in Cusco was quite light - as we were all supposed to acclimatise to the higher altitude. We were given free time until after lunch and were given a few recommendations on where to eat. Given that we didn't know much of the place, we took up one of the recommendations - a little cafe that was effectively down the road.

Once we were done with lunch we commenced our walking tour of Cusco, led by our tour guide, Belge. The tour was only brief, then again Cusco isn't exactly the largest of towns. The focus of the tour was the Plaza de Armas and surrounds. I was actually impressed by the plaza, as I wasn't expecting much - it was quite a pleasant place to just sit and relax. Once the walking tour finished, some of us headed back to the Plaza de Armas and chilled out in a cafe. The cafe, funnily enough, was called Cafe Bagdad. No idea where the name came from, and I didn't ask.

One thing that i'll mention about Cusco is that it is quite polluted. I don't mean that there is litter on the ground and that it's a gubby place to be, I was referring to the air quality. I originally thought that the air in and around Lima was bad, but Cusco was horrendous. Just about every car on the road would be spewing noxious clouds out the back of their mufflers.

The tour had its first organised dinner at a local restaurant. I can't recall the name of the restaurant, but it was more on the higher end of what was available. The food here was great!  I ordered a chilly chicken dish that was akin to curry. Yum, yum. I also tried small portions of what some of the others were eating as well, with one of the more exotic dishes that I tried being alpaca. Guinea pig was on offer as well, but that was ordered by another table. Many made a mental note to give it a try at a later stage.

After dinner had concluded it was time to head back to the hotel for some rest. A big day ahead was planned for us, a tour of the Sacred Valley. It was still early on in the tour, so everyone signed up. A wise decision as we'd be back for another free day post-Inca trail.

Inca Highlands Day 2 - Lima - To Rimac and Back!

The second day of the Inca Highlnds tour ensured that I saw much more of Lima and surrounds. The day saw me visit both the rough end of Lima as well as the more pituresque, the hustle and bustle in the heart of town as well as secluded views looking over the town. The day in isolation would have been a good one, if it wasn't for other groups telling us what we could have done in the day. More on that a little later on.

The morning was supposed to be an early one, with several people aiming to wake up really early (5:30am) to see the celebrations in the main square outside the Presidential Palace (Plaza de Armas). The event was the Procession of the Lord of Miracles - where purple could be seen everywhere, banners are hung off balconies and people dress up in as much purple garb that they can find. I set an alarm for 5:30am, found that I was just too tired, and went back to sleep. I reawoke at 8:30am.

Heading down for breakfast, I met up with those that left earlier in the morning to see the Procession of the Lord of Miracles. They had just come back for breakfast. Good timing. There were a few others in the room for breakfast and we discussed what we could do for the remainder of the morning (as the half-day tour of Lima would be beginning in the afternoon). I didn't really have much of an idea, as I hadn't done any research on what to do in Lima - as I had assumed the tour had it all covered. I was happy to go for a stroll, as were the others in the know. We set off shortly after breakfast had concluded.

I'm not exactly where the target destination was for the morning but we first made it to Plaza de Armas where, as expected, the area was bathed in purple. Even though the speeches and the main procession had passed there were hundreds of people milling about. Perhaps the locals were staying out and enjoying the sunshine, as it was a lovely day outside.

After cutting through the Plaza de Armas the aim was to cross the bridge behind the Presidential Palace. We headed up towards the river towards the Library with the aim of cutting back behind the presidential palace. The road was blocked off by the military. Standing at the blockade we watched as the side gate of the palace opened up. Several military men milled about before an artillery piece was rolled out of the gate. The men carted the artillery piece down the road, and that was that.

As the bridge behind the palace was closed off, we went to cross north of the river via the main arterial road, Abancay. As we crossed the road it seemed as though we had crossed into another world. The feeling of complete safety evaporated as the integrity of the buildings in view deteriorated. As we turned left and walked down Via de Evitamiento, abandoned and burnt out buildings also came into view! Digital cameras that were in plain view promptly made their way into the concealed security of backpacks. We had arrived in Rimac.

Rimac happens to be one of the most run-down areas of Lima, and this was confirmed with conversations later on in the day with local guides. Without this knowledge we forged onwards, passing through a small market. One thing that was of particular note was that there were several stalls selling Chinese food. Bizzare, especially in a place like Peru.

Our stay in Rimac was not an extensive one. A currency exchange person stopped to talk to me, whilst some of the others continued. He gestured to me that we should not continue - I imagine that he was saying the exact same thing. The shaking of the head followed by pointing ahead of us wasn't really the set of gestures that I really wanted to see. I nodded and thanked the exchange person and called out to some of the others. Some of the group ahead were much further on. I didn't have to do too much as some military men had stopped the lead elements of the group and started talking to them, apparently they were strongly told to head back. So turn back we did.

The way back was much more direct as the bridges behind the palace seemed to have opened up. As it was lunchtime, and not too far away from the start time of the tour we dispersed. Three of us decided to have something quick and ate at a chicken shop on the Plaza des Armas (Roccos?). Nothin too special about the meal except for the fact that I tried some Inca Cola. I just had to try Inca Cola as I saw the advertisment for it everywhere!

At 2pm we all gathered in the hall at the hotel to set off for our half-day Lima tour, organised by the local tour leader. Two minibuses were provided for us and we split up accordingly. After a short drive through downtown Lima, we were out onto one of the highways - where there was an accident on the side of the road. As we approached the accident zone, we slowed to a crawl. Looking to the left as we passed by it didn't look good at all. An overturned sedan sat on the side of the road, just shy of the median strip down the centre. It looked as though the car had hit the median strip, which was actually demarked by a raised slab of concrete along the centre of the highway, and rolled over. Glass shards and shrapnel were everywhere. Approximately a dozen people were milling about the car, some trying to assist the driver out of the car, and some just watching. Quite the chaotic scene.

The journey past the accident was incident free, and in a short space of time we were in the district of Miraflores - the playground of the more affluent in Lima. We were taken to a local park in the area and were permitted to walk around. The park was reasonably large and was distinctively green. Water isn't the most readily available resource in Lima and therefore its use to ensure the health of the park emphasised the affluence of the area. So we were told, anyway. In the park we were given some basic information about Lima - it's population, size, number of districts, and the city's demographics.

Huaca Pucllana was the next stop after the stroll through the park.Whilst we didn't enter the Huaca Pucllana site, we did get a good view of the structures within from outside of the enslosure walls. The intriguing thing about the series of structures is that it's made up entirely of little mud slabs, that surprisingly hasn't totally decayed away after all this time. Probably better that way, as i'm not too sure how many people were in the mood to spend extra dosh. There was a bloke out the front trying to sell books about Huaca Pucllana, yet nobody was interested. It was at this point we got a bit of a primer on ancient pre-Inca cultures - the Lima and Wari cultures.

We must have only been there for about 20 or so minutes before we were back in the mini-bus. The next stop was the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido, in Chorillos - an area to the south west of Lima. The moument was located at the top of a windy road overlooking Lima as well as the Pacific Ocean. The monument, located not too far away from a stack of communications towers, was to commemorate the persistance of the Peruvian armed forces during the Chilean occupation of Lima. All news to me.


One thing about the area in which the Monumento al Soladado Desconocido resides is that it's not exactly well to do. From the platform you could see the run down houses down below - blocks and blocks of brown sprawled out as far as the eye could see. Having said that, there was a reasonbly nice football (soccer) stadium nearby. I guess that goes to show how important football is in South America!

There was one last stop to the tour after the Monumeno al Soladado Desconocido - the Lovers Statue back in Miraflores. However, there were two minor disruptions on the way down. We were first stopped by a man who was holding a rope taught, where the rope was connected to the rockface on the opposite side of the road. We were warned about this as we set off from the top of the road, obviously this came true. The driver gave the man one sol and we were off again. The second disruption was a pair of sleeping dogs on the road, as we approached the dogs continued to lie there. We stopped in front of them, the dogs continued to lie there. The driver beeped the horn, the dogs poked their heads up and continued to lie there. We ended up driving around them.

The final stop of the tour was the lovers statue in Lima, which provided more ocean views as the sun began to set. As expected there were couples milling about enjoying the sunset. Unexpectedly it was also the place where you could go paragliding. Some people seemed interested in paragliding but it was far too late to do so, and we were already committed to the tour. Once the sun had set we hopped back into our transports and were taken back to our hotel.


Back at the hotel we had a chance to freshen up and prepare for a group dinner at a local restaurant. At this point we were notified of our plan for the next morning - an early breakfast to be served at 5am so that we could be at the airport in time for a 7:30am flight. One of what was to be many early starts.

Dinner was fairly simple chicken dish with chips, as recommended by the guide for the day. No alcohol and no strange food this evening. What I did try though was the local chilli, aji - loved it. I do know that there are lots of types of chilli, but whatever it was... it was fantastic. I loaded up, by adding the chilli to both the chicken and the chips!

Anyway, as there was an early morning ahead of us we all left the restaurant not too long after 9. Sleep promptly followed..

Lazy First Day in Lima - South America awaits...

The replacement 1am Iberia flight passed by issue free - even managed a couple of hours of sleep! A busy drama filled day ensured that I was tired enough to fall asleep. The plane landed at approximately 6am in the morning, and it was off to immigration.

The wait at immigration was brief, although it was longer than it should have been thanks to my luck in picking queues. The slowest queue of the lot was, once again, the one that I chose. Great. Whilst waiting in line a young German tourist started talking to me, wondering what I was doing in South America. We had a brief chat and swapped stories, I was to do Maccu Piccu and she was to stay in Peru for serveral months with no specific plans. There's a contrast.

Our conversation ended when I passed through immigration and waited for my luggage. Luggage was being unloaded painfully slowly so I proceeded to the money exchange booth nearby, then went back to waiting. One thing that I always find a tad annoying about baggage collection is how everyone hovers around the conveyer belt. It doesn't matter where in the world I end up, people seem to always act the same way.

As soon as all of the passengers make their way from the plane to the corresponding luggage conveyer belt people line up right against the conveyer belt - restricting both vision and other people's access to the belt even if their luggage were to appear. Terribly frustrating. It would make much more sense if everyone stayed back a couple of meters then more people would be able to see the bags on the belt as they rolled through, and people would be able to collect their bags if they saw them. Simple!

Being the honest broker that I am I was stopped at the customs gate. The customs declaration form for Peru states that people are able to bring along 2 memory sticks for cameras for personal use. I brought three. At the end of the day it would be much easier just to say that there was nothing to declare, but I wrote in that I had 3 memory sticks. After a quick confirmation by the customs officer, I was waved through.

The taxi ride in from the airport to Hotel Maury was brief and only cost 45 soles, which equates to almost 18 dollars or so. Not the cheapest, though I didn't have anyone with me to share the cost of the cab. I managed to get to the hotel not too long after 7, and proceeded to have breakfast. I may not have arrived in time to check-in the evening before - but I was able to eat the scrambled eggs, toast, and jam breakfast that I was entitled to. Woo!

After waiting around with Jo for the others to wake up 7 of us set off to explore Lima. We only made it as far as a block or so before we all stopped. A shady looking money exhange vendor provided a decent rate and the money changing began. A group of tourists huddled around a dodgy money changer. Quite the sight. After a few trades the exchanger ran out of local money to exchange - he was willing to get more, but we decided to call it quits and move on.

We made it another block before we were interrupted by a street procession. The procession was lead by a lifesize figure pair of a woman and a baby child on a platform adorned with flowers, which was being carried down the street that we were walking down. We stopped to watch the procession, as did many locals.

The parade was a colourful and lively one, heading away from the central plaza. Perhaps it is preparation for a large event! We stopped to observe for approximately half an hour before deciding to move along to the Palace square - which was only a few streets away.

The sqaure itself was nice, although not fantastic. There were plenty of people in and around the square, particularly in front of the palace - where a parade was taking place. Obviously we took a look. Nothing too special. The most interesting component of the parade, was one of the guards on our side of the palace gates. A soldier with dark glasses armed with what looked to be an AK-47. Intense!

We watched the parade for about 15 minutes, at which point the parade ended. The crowd began to disperse. We decided to head off towards the Convento de Santo Domingo and proceeded to exit the area of the palace. Standing by the wall at the edge of the plaza was a column of police. The police saw the swarm of asians with cameras and beckoned one of the girls over, photo time. Apparently the girls didn't ask for a photo with the cops, but the cops did. Two of the girls in the group joined the column for the photo and one of them was lucky enough to have a cop drape his entire arm over her. Hillarious. The race for which girl could pique more interest was on! The photo detour didn't take too long, line up, snap, and we were away.

Downtown Lima isn't all that large, most touristy things are in a several block area. In no time we were outside of Convento de Santo Domingo. The group split into two groups, one to investigate the Convento de Santo Domingo, and the other group... wander around Lima, with a lunchtime meeting place of Convento de San Francisco. I was with the wander around Lima group.

Lunchtime provided much entertainment. The meeting place for everyone was to be at Convento de Santo Domingo, arguably the most important religious complex in Lima. In the courtyard some locals were selling food - an interesting assortment of local dishes. Not quite knowing what to get, we had a look at what was on offer and what seemed to be popular. One of the ladies that worked on the food stall sprung to action, visibly excited that some Chinese people had stopped by.

I don't really understand the total fascination with Chinese people by local Peruvians, but it's definitely there. The lady at the food stall eagerly assisted us in selecting our meals. She didn't speak English and we didn't speak Spanish, so it was an entertaining exchange. After we sat down at a nearby table the lady at the food stall was keen to continue conversing, so she called up her son - who could speak Mandarin. She passed her mobile to one of the girls and a brief conversation followed. A match made in heaven, so the rest of us joked!

There wasn't just the one phone call to the son over the course of lunch, there were several. Which was helpful, yet odd at the same time. The lady at the food stall was helpful to the point of giving us free drinks, a wonderfully refreshing maize drink (that was purple) was offered! Once we had finished lunch she helped us get started with the Convento tour with a peek into the temple, she then lead us to the starting point of an English speaking tour. So very helpful, we were very lucky.

The tour through the Convento de San Francisco was informative and it actually surprised me. I wouldn't have expected there to be a vast library in Lima. Not wanting to be offensive, I just didn't expect it. The library of Convento de San Francisco contained massive prayer books and held thousands of dated texts, quite amazing. One of the more entertaining moments was when we were asked if we had any questions about the library - one member of the tour asked "Are these books original?", classic!

The highlight of the tour of the Convento de San Francisco was a visit down to the catacombs. The catacombs was one of the few places that locals were buried in a younger Lima. A severely limited view of the chapel was available though one of the roof grills on the top floor. Furthermore, the catacombs had several levels and the level in which you were buried depended on status. The members of the convent would be buried on the top level and the poorest of society at the bottom. Tens of thousands of people have been buried there! The odd thing about the whole setup is that the bones have been arranged in a decorative manner by the archaeologists that discovered the catacombs. Having said that, it probably looks much better than a mess of bones!


The visit to the Convento de San Francisco capped off a busy day, i've written too much already! Not many more things of note happened in the afternoon before returning to the hotel. Quickly zooming through the rest of the day - back at the hotel we all had our rooms re-assigned in preparation for the tour, all of the members of the tour had an opportunity meet eachother and we were briefed on the tour ahead. Two important events for the next day: early morning festivities in the palace square, and a guided tour of Lima in the afternoon.