After all the excitement of the archaelogical sites in Chiclayo, I decided it was high time for some serious beach action.. so I spent two weeks in Huanchaco, a sleepy little town on the coast near Trujillo with a long golden beach, hot sunny days and big waves to attract the surfers. I became very good at doing nothing - long sleep-ins, late breakfast, a slow walk along the beach, maybe a couple of hours sunbathing, and if I was exerting myself, then a surfing lesson or two. But eventually, believe it or not, doing nothing becomes kinda boring and it was soon feeling like time to go. So I hopped on a plane to Lima, and then another plane to Cusco, which is a bit extravagant by backpackers standards but I didn´t fancy the 28 hour bus journey to Cusco.
Actually the 28 hour bus journey would´ve got me there quicker, as the hour long flight to Cusco turned a bit hairy as the pilot tried to land, found himself in thick cloud avoiding much-too-close-mountains, and eventually announcing it was too dangerous - so we ended up having to go back to Lima. Luckily the airline put everybody up in a half decent hotel with dinner and breakfast included, and another flight booked in the morning. And so on 9th February I arrived in Cusco.. and immediately found out how the altitude (3300m) makes it so difficult to get around until you have acclimatised. I spent a few days doing what I now do best... absolutely nothing. Eventually I felt I was capable of walking more than a few steps without gasping, and took a trip up the hill behind Cusco to an old Incan site called Saqsaywaman. This site is huge, with typical Incan stones cut and placed with amazing accuracy to form massive walls in a zig-zag form. There were a couple of other Incan sites nearby which I saw too, including Incan baths, all with the same characteristic huge stones and air of mystery around what the places were used for.
The next day I decided to take part in a san pedro ceremony through the hostal that I am staying in. Its a cool hostal, very "new-age" and occupied by some very interesting characters. Somehow its one of those places that you feel comfortable in straight away, and I´ve spent many hours curled up on one of the big sofas reading ´The Chronicles of Narnia´ in the tv room. Anyway the san pedro was great; we went up to the hostal owners´house for the ceremony, a woman called Lesley who is quite crazy and lots of fun. She has a lovely house up on the mountainside, looking down over Cusco and surrounded by the most beautiful scenery you could imagine. A group of 4 of us spent all day in her garden, looking dreamily at the exotic flowers and the magical hummingbirds that flew all around us. At the end of the day we left and walked slowly down the mountain back into the city, which was quite an emotional experience for reasons that I can´t really explain.
After another free day of doing nothing, I set off on a 4 day trek to ultimately end up at Machu Picchu. This is pretty much compulsory for anybody coming to South America, and because of that part of me wanted to rebel and not do it. Luckily I didn´t listen to that rebellious part of me, as it was really the most fantastic and amazing place I have ever seen.
The trek itself started early on Friday morning with a 3 hour bus journey, which turned into a 6 hour bus journey as the bus kept breaking down. My travelling companions were Sam, a 28 year old Californian, Craig, a 28 year old Australian and Evan, a 33 year old Kiwi. We all hit it off and it was clearly going to be a fun trip. When we got off the bus in the middle of nowhere, we each had mountain bikes waiting for us and after scoffing a quick packed lunch, we set off on a 40km downhill ride to a tiny town called Santa Teresa. 40km downhill sounds quite easy, but the roads were so horrendously pot-holed and bumpy that soon my backside was numb and I couldn´t move my wrists, hands or fingers. Which isn´t good when you need to keep grabbing the brake lever to avoid trucks, dogs and other bicycles. Still it was lots of fun (I can say that now) and we were well ready for a couple of beers with dinner that night.
Next morning we set off at 6am for a long day of trekking... and boy it was LONG. We left so early to get as far as possible before the sun got hot, but pretty soon I was knackered, my rucksack was weighing a ton on my shoulders, I was drenched with sweat and couldn´t move my legs another step. Unfortunately there was no way to go but up, and it was without doubt the hardest day of my life! We had a couple of welcome stops at tiny huts along the way, where the locals provided cold drinks and snacks and a bench to rest on. The afternoon was broken up by a couple of exciting river crossings - the first, over a very wobbly wooden bridge with loose boards, big gaps and a strong tendency to wobble and bounce. I noticed as I was walking across it that I wasn´t in the slightest bit scared.. which is weird as I think back home I would´ve frozen with fear halfway across and demanded to be rescued! The second crossing was even more thrilling - a metal cable which spanned the river, which can only be described as "raging", via a small metal tray suspended from the cable by rope. Here´s a picture: http://snapshots.travelvice.com/view/peru/santa-teresa-to-aguas-calientes/IMG_6364.JPG.html. My first reaction when I saw it was NOT "ohmygod there´s no way I´m going on THAT" as I would´ve expected; it was more "wicked, can I go first?!". So I hopped on first, wearing my waterproof poncho as it was raining, and it was wicked, just as I thought! Not at all scary for some reason, even when I peered down to the roaring river beneath me.
Anyway a few more hours trekking eventually ended at some very welcome hot springs, in a really peaceful setting in a valley surrounded by mountaings. We chilled there for a couple of hours before hunger drove us to the next town, Santa Maria. Here we had dinner and then hit the local disco for too many beers and bad dancing, having already negotiated a later start the following morning with the tour guide.
Next day THANK GOD was easier - a short bus journey followed by a mind-numbing but easy 10k walk along a train track, which led us right into the heart of a small town called Aguas Calientes. This is a weird place right at the foot of Machu Picchu mountain, which was obviously thrown together in about a week purely to take advantage of the hordes of tourists descending on Machu Picchu. It is horrendously expensive (by Peruvian standards) and there is little to do but drink or eat. After dinner, we crashed... ready for the BIG day that was coming.
The boys all got up at 4am as they had decided to walk up to the top of Machu Picchu. I had no intention of doing anything of the sort, so I "laid in" until 5:15am and caught the tourist bus up. I arrived to find the three of them waiting in the cold morning drizzle, they looked pretty cold but were very proud of their hiking time, which got them to the top before anybody else. And so after a bit of waiting around for the guide and getting through the gate.. we entered the Machu Picchu site. Because the weather was quite grey and cloudy, we didn´t immediately get an impression of the whole site. But actually that added to the mystery of the place, as it was slowly revealed as the cloud cleared and the sun came up. The first thing you think is "what the f**k?!" - because this place is HUGE! The complicated layout, the huge stones so accurately cut and placed, the strange hidden caves and temples and altars, the perfectly angled and cut channels that run through the walls and buildings to drain away water.. its a hugely impressive place. We climbed lots of steps to work our way around the site, and the higher we got, the more impressive it looks. We all decided to climb the Huayna Picchu mountain which towers above Machu Picchu, although I was very hesitant at first, remembering the last couple of days of pain. Here´s a picture of the Machu Picchu site, with Huayna Picchu standing over it - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Huayna_Picchu. The climb was pretty steep and mostly involved hands as well as feet, which I really enjoyed; it reminded me of how much I enjoyed climbing. The boys of course ran off ahead, and when I arrived an hour or so later, they were all resting and enjoying the view. And ohmygod, what a view! Its like being at the top of the world... really breathaking and so worth the climb. We stayed up there for a while before tackling the difficult climb down the way we came. By 11am we were done and ready to go back to town, as we´d all decided on a big night out that night to celebrate the end of our trek, and we knew the journey back was going to be a mission. Unfortunately there were some train issues and we had to spend another few hours hanging around in the strange town of Aguas Calientes. Despite brave talk and denial of yawns, we all slept a little on the way back.. but once we arrived in Cusco at 8:30pm, it was game on! The first drink was difficult, the second a bit easier (red bull kicking in by this stage) and then we got into the swing of it. The competition between clubs in Cusco is so fierce in low season that we managed to blag free entry and free drinks just about everywhere we went - I think we did at least 6 different clubs, some of them twice. A very big end to a very big day!
Today is Wednesday and I decided this morning that its time to leave. I haven´t seen all of the "must-do" sites here, but I´ve done enough to feel I know a bit about Cusco, I´ve had fun, and am now ready for the next challenge... which is a bus through to Bolivia to a place called Copacobana (not the same as the Brazilian beach) from where I can visit some islands in the middle of Lake Titicaca which are supposed to be quite magical.
I am VERY sad to be leaving Peru. Its been an emotional, exciting and sometimes completely random 3 months and I feel such a strong connection to this land that I have no doubt I´ll be back. But for now, the adventure continues!
