We made it to Peru! After more flight follies at Santiago and Lima airports, we got into Cusco in the mid afternoon. At 3400 mtrs it´s the highest we´ve ever been and boy did we notice it! The walk from the plane to the baggage counter was like a 5 km run, not that i´m that fit right now... Cusco is in a beautiful but sparsely vegitated valley in the Andes. The town itself has been here for hundreds of years and most of it shows. It´s the middle of winter and very high up and so we were expecting snow and a bit of cold. However it was decidedly balmy - so much so that we spent most of our time in t-shirts during the day.
The first afternoon we went for a brief stroll around the main square. We were a little freaked out about safety (particularly after hearing stories from people on the plane and reading the LP guide). However it was nowhere near bad as expected, and we didn´t have any trouble (other than getting ripped off buying dodgy souvenirs - but that was always going to happen). The altitude got to us the first couple of days, and combined with jetlag meant no appetite (strange for us) and a strong desire for sleep. The water wasn´t that great either as Tan found out the next day, which she spent feeling very crook. I got out in the afternoon and went on a small tour of the city and surrounds. Saw plenty of old rocks the guide convinced us were built by incas, and looked at plenty of examples of Spanish architecture in the form of a few churches in the main square (built conveniently right on top of the Incan equivalent). After Tan´s woes i just couldn´t bring myself to try the roast guinea pig which was the local delicacy, opting instead for the worst spaghetti ever. What was i thinking?
The next day we went on a tour to Macchu Picchu, which even after some pretty high expectations, managed to excel and be a truly breathtaking experience. We caught the train up which took a good 3.5 hours starting at 6am in sub-zero temperatures (worth a note in the guide btw) and enjoyed brilliant scenery along the way. The train ends at Aguas Calientes which is nestled in a forested valley and has a few hot springs around to soak away the trékers´ troubles. We didn´t get much time here, but if you come we recommend a night at least to check it out.
We were basically fireman-carried to the top of Macchu Picchu courtesy of a stream of highly organised transfer buses. The view to the top was spectacular and the fleeting glimpses of the ruins only added to the excitement. We had a guide to take us around the ruins who had passable english but was obviously very passionate about his Incan heritage and didn´t taking the odd swipe at the Spanish. We scored a very clear, warm day and the hike around the ruins was fantastic. Macchu Picchu itself is everything you would expect; impressive, specatcular, awe-inspiring and extremely photo-genic. It´s all that mainly because it was completely untouched by the Spanish who never found it. The place looks in parts like it it ould still be in use today.
My favourite story about Macchu Picchu concerns a recent attempt by a beer company in Peru to film a commercial on the site. Unfortunately, the camera boom dropped unexpectedly right on top of one of the main artefacts, chipping off a sizeable piece! How´s that for preservation.
The trip back to Cusco was just as long, but we were entertained by a fashion show (put on by the train attendants, highlighting all there is to alpaca based fashion) and by a traditional Incan dance as performed by the obviously highly qualified bellboy. Had us laughing for hours.
So conclued our sojourn in Peru. We probably could have had another couple of days - ah well just leaves more to see next time.
