Sorry it has been a while since my last post, but Peru has kept us busy and on our toes!
Last week Peter, Nick and I ventured to the Inca heartland of Cusco, Peru. The first hurdle was actually getting on the bus itself, since the office man at our youth hostel sold us a phoney bus ticket and pocketed the money!
After a lot of fast talking, we managed to board the bus to Cuzco, sans bus ticket. Even after several tedious explanations to the bus driver, he still stopped in the middle of the Peruvian desert and threatened to kick us off. Luckily, a sweet guy from Argentina helped us out and after a few cellphone calls th driver was able to track down the dodgy man who had fleeced us of our money.
The border crossing was seamless compared to the Argentine-Bolivian border. When we handed over our passports the officials smiled ´Kiwi, Kiwi!´ The bus laboured on throough the Peruvian highlands and locals who were riding in the bus tried desperately to sell us everything from cold lime to big hunks of cheese. I´ll never forget the shrill whines of the locan ladies as the screamed ´QUESO! QUESOQUESOQUESO!!´ (Cheese! Cheese! You know you want my cheeese!´
We met some lovely Australians from Sydney, who have spent 6 months travelling the world from Africa to New York. We ended up bunking down at the same youth hostel, a funny wee nook in the heart of Cuzco city where the manager Manuel tries to sell us ever sort of Inca tour under the sun, and where the floor of the balcony slopes precipitously.
Cuzco is like the Queenstown of Peru. It screams tourist-ville. It is a stunning city laced with old Inca ruins and incredible museums, but everywhere we go, we are harassed by locals trying to sell us everything from ´hot massages´ to fake Ray Ban sunglasses. It gets tiring after a while. Simply ignoring them does not work, we literally need to scream ´NO! NO!´ several times for them to lay off us. A few days ago we were all having lunch in the town square, when suddenly a hoard of boys descended on us, they were standing inches away from our faces hounding us and shoving sunglasses in our faces. Nothing we said could make them go away, so we had to walk away.
Despite this annoyance, Cuzco is blessed with several awe-inspiring museums. At the Inca Museum we saw mummies, ancient Inca pottery, tools, tapestries and the original Spanish Chronicles. We wandered down to an Inca monument, an impressive bronze statue of an Inca Chief which towers above the city. We were able to walk inside it and gaze over the crazy hub of Cuzco.
Cuzco was designed by the Incas hundreds of years ago to look like the shape of a puma. The heart of the puma is the city centre (town square). Inca Kings used to live here, and the roads are still made with the original Inca granite slabs.
A couple of days ago we embarked on our adventure to Machu Picchu, the famous ´lost city´ of the Incas. We were picked up at 3am from our hostel, and driven 2 hours tot he train station. The train was incredibly stylish and we were served an assortment of drinks, chocolates and biscuits. As the train chugged along we were amazed by the sheer emerald mountains rising up from every direction. We were in the Peruvian Yungas, the lush forestland which leads down to the Peruvian Amazon. The mist was just starting to clear, and we felt like we were journeying to the valley of the Gods.
The final stop for the train was Aguas Calientes (meaning ´warm waters.´) We treated ourselves to a scrumptious dip in the hot pools, where we had an incredible view of lush green cliffs and mountains which were so steep they were like a knife edge. Aguas Calientes is a bit of a tourist-trap town, but it has a beautiful river rushing through the middle of it which pounds away throught he night. The river is so strong it is ike hearing rain constantly pattering on the roof. On one side of the river, the people live in leaky shacks and wooden hovels, but on the other side the town blossoms with wealth and fancy hotels. It is a huge dichotomy.
With eager anticipation we got up at 4am to catcht he first bus to Machu Picchu. We planned on climbing Huayna Picchu (´young mountain´) but only 400 people are allowed to climb it each day. The race was on. As our bus chugged up steep cliffs and through lush rainforest, I felt like I was entering the kingdom of Gods. The mist clings to the steepest mountains you have ever seen, the forest looks so green and untouched and beautiful it is like you are entering a whole other world.
For the first couple of hours we hired a guide to show us aroundt he ruins of Machu Picchu. It was worth every penny, as he explained things with such interesting detail - We never would have been able to figure out all the historical intricacies on our own. Our guide (a native Quechua man descended fromt he Incas) led us up to a lookout point where we caught the first glimpse of Machu Picchu. It took our breath away, it was even more incredible than words or photographs can describe. I compare the feeling to the first time I stepped inside Disneyland! A labyrinth of stone ruins sprawls over sheer cliffs. When you look over the edge, the drop is several hundred metres. It feels like its own kingdom in the sky.
We wandered through the Temple of the Sun, which is an example of incredible stone masonry. The labyrinth of stone ruins continued and we found stone sculptures which were carved into the shape of mountains, to mirror the shape of the mountains in the distance.
A 45 minute walk took us to an ancient Inca Bridge, which clung to the edge of a steep cliff - the drop was atleast 500 metres.
We explored old temples and the palace of the Inca King with its bedroom, living room and ancient Inca bathroom. The waterways, sewerage systems and roof bolts were so sophisticated it rivalled ancient Roman technology.
More to come on the arduous climb up Huayna Picchu,
Brittany
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