Leaving Arequipa was done so with huge excitement, for now we were heading to Cuzco-the ancient capital of the Inca Empire, and the gateway from which we would be visiting one of the most enigmatic sites of world archaeology, Machu Picchu. Through the process of accurate planning, it would also be where I would be celebrating my birthday-bonus!
One of the things that we have had to be mindful of as we have travelled is getting ahead of ourselves-yes Machu Picchu is just around the corner, but prior to that we have the quite majestic city of Cuzco to explore first. As mentioned earlier, the city was the capital of the Inca Empire between the 13th and 16th centuries-until the Spanish conquests of South America, although the actual date of construction of Cuzco is thought to be in the 11th century. As such, in the Old Town there are pre-Columbian buildings, plazas and churches round every corner, and the atmosphere feels thick with history. With the city being the gateway to Machu Picchu, its UNESCO World Heritage Site status and the numerous Inca ruins and wonders throughout the Sacred Valley, it’s no surprise that Cuzco is absolutely swarming with tourists like us…Yet somehow it manages to maintain its dignity and charm! Yes you will be pitched for food, massage, trinkets and alpaca clothing numerous times each day, but it’s ok-no problem!
At 3,400 m above sea level, altitude sickness is an issue for some and so you are quickly introduced to the wonders of chewing coca leaves or drinking coca tea. And yes we are talking about the raw ingredient for cocaine, although it’s important to distinguish between the drug and the plant. Coca leaves are something of a national treasure in Peru, and for thousands of years South American indigenous cultural groups have used the coca leaf in many of their significant ceremonies, as well as using it as a day to day supplement. Everything from improving oral hygiene and alleviating altitude sickness, to increasing stamina and improving your all round work ethic(!). Indeed if you believe everything that Wikipedia has to say (as I am guilty of sometimes), then you will also find that the Spanish actually encouraged the use of coca leaves to increase the productivity and reduce the appetite of their newly acquired slave workforce!
From personal experience I can vouch for the fact that neither Jo or I had altitude sickness-and nor did we tire over the next week or so hiking up and down various Inca trails…Whether that can be attributed to the benefits of coca or not I cannot say, but it was the the only adjustment that we made to our diets-I’ll leave it with you to come to your own conclusions!
So, what about Cuzco then? Well it is everything that you will read about it! Enchanting, historic, beautiful, magical-there are many superlatives that you can describe this city, and it deserves each one of them. You simply have to look around you to see the mountains that surround the city, and then the historic buildings at closer quarters-there’s enough here to keep you captivated for as long as you may wish, with no fear of it losing it’s sense of mysticism.
And we only really scratched the surface of the city….
One thing that you are never going to struggle with in Cuzco is finding a tour operator to take you to Machu Picchu-there are LOADS of them! In fact, choosing who you are going to spend your money with is one of the most difficult things about the place….More specifically-finding a tour operator who will accept anything other than cash! Fortunately we were introduced to ‘a guy’ by our AirBnB host, and (spoiler alert!) it was awesome!
Ideally we would have like to have done the full Inca trail, but you really need to book that in advance and have a set schedule-as were prepared with neither, we had to go for an option that was feasible as and when we got there! On good advice from a friend from our first placement way back in September, we opted to go for the Inca Jungle Trek-which goes a little something like this:
DAY 1: CUSCO – ABRA MALAGA – SANTA MARÍA 65km Mountain Biking.
Starting at 6 am, we were driven by minibus through the amazing sacred valley of the Incas. Passing the indigenous town of Chinchero with amazing views of Vilcabamba and Vilcanota mountain range, enjoying the panoramic views of the small towns in the sacred valley. Eventually you reach Abra Malaga pass at 4350m, and at this point we started the mountain biking down to Santa Maria town at 1435m. Biking starts high in the Andes with the majestic view of the snow-capped Veronica mountain.
Senor Jones reporting for duty!
Senorita Hicks ready and waiting!DAY 2: SANTA MARIA – QUELLOMAYO – SANTA TERESA – COCALMAYO HOT SPRING 22km Hiking.
Another 6AM start, although this time it is people power as you set off on the most challenging of the hikes. After just 45 minutes from our hostel we get onto the original Inca trail that used to connect Machu Picchu with Vilcabamba considered the last Inca capital, hiking through plantations of bananas, Coca, yucca, coffee, and many other ‘unknown’ fruits! 3 hours hiking on the original Inca trail with magnificent views of the Vilcanota valley and panoramic views of the hills before a lunch pit stop at Quellomayo. From there we continued the hike along the Vilcanota River for another 3.5 hours until we arrive at the ‘cable car’ to get to Colcamayo hot springs. The ‘cable car’ is actually a platform on steel cables across the river-and let’s just put it this way, it would never pass H&S sanctions in Blighty! Anyway, once you had braved the river crossing you find yourself at the stunning natural and outdoor hot springs.
Team Picchu!
The Inca Trail!DAY 3: SANTA TERESA – HIDROELÉCTRICA – AGUAS CALIENTES 19km Hiking.
After breakfast in Santa Teresa we set off on our hike to the hydroelectric power plant for 2.5 hour hiking on the road along the Vilcanota River. During the hike we see the power plant of Santa Teresa and Hidroelectrica. Before long you have the first view of Machu Picchu then we hiked along the train truck for 3 hours to Aguas Calientes town-the gateway to the mighty Machu Picchu.
Despite the hangovers-spirits were high
We made it this far at least!DAY 4: AGUAS CALIENTES – MACHUPICCHU – OLLANTAYTAMBO – CUSCO
The most important day, and the earliest start! Up before the crack of dawn (4.30AM) to start the 1.5 hour hike up to the hidden city itself. On arrival there is a two hour tour with the guide and then we had the rest of the day to explore. Then you have free time to explore Machu Picchu by yourselves. We booked to climb Machu Picchu Mountain as well, which is a further 2 hour climb to majestic views of the ancient city from above! Machu Picchu is located in the middle of nowhere and up on the granite mountain edge, there is no any records about Machu Picchu of the Incas time. It is not mentioned in any of the chronicles of the Spanish conquistadors and archaeologists. Machu Picchu was under the dense vegetation until July 24th 1911. When the American historian Hiram Bingham ‘discovered’ it and called it “the lost city of the Incas”. We spent 8 hours exploring the city, before reluctantly going back to Aguas Calientes town.
The entire 4 days turned out to be as amazing as you would hope, and we had a really great group of people to share our experiences with. It didn’t start out so rosy though, to begin at Abra Malaga we were met with heavy rain, freezing cold and limited visibility-not the perfect conditions for a downhill bike ride! Still, after about an hour and a half the weather started to clear and soon enough we were hurtling down the mountain roads with little/no fear! It was exhilarating, however the biggest adrenaline rush actually came that evening in Santa Maria when Jo and I were attacked by wasps! We had taken some time to walk around the village and explore the surroundings when we found a path that lead down to a bridge over the river. As we walked down the path suddenly I felt a sharp pain on my head, and then another on my hand-so I start thrashing around not knowing what was going on-and Jo was soon in the same predicament. As it turns out, Avispa’s (South American wasps) are absolutely relentless, and will dive-bomb and attack you fearlessly! Fortunately the stings die down pretty quickly, but we didn’t know that and were soon running for our lives! Obviously this kind of incident couldn’t go unseen, and as we hightailed it away from the wasps we turned the corner to find a group of elderly locals watching on with some bemusement…funny now, scary at the time!
Day 2 saw me begin a two day celebration for my birthday, for as it turned out I shared my birthday with one of the other guys in the group, and how lucky we were to be able to visit the hot springs! The days hiking was superb, our guide was super knowledgeable and shared a lot about the fauna and flora, local customs and lives of the Inca’s. The Inca trail itself was stunning, and after a full day of hiking arriving at the hot springs were absolutely magical-as you will see from the pictures. Having had a couple of hours to really enjoy, relax and soak, we eventually dragged ourselves away and ended up having something of a night out in Santa Theresa-the entire group insisting that we all party past midnight to see in our birthdays! And party we did…hard! It was great, a really good giggle, but it made day 3 a little more challenging given the huge hangover and long walk ahead! Still, we survived the hangovers and made it to the wonderful town of Aguas Calientes-with excitement levels at maximum for the culmination of our journey the following day. Jo and I made an effort to hit the hot springs in Aguas Calientes as well-although they turned out to be something of a disappointment in comparison to the gorgeous tranquillity of the previous day’s experience! With an early rise in order, bed time couldn’t come soon enough-for now we were here, and Machu Picchu was waiting… The hike up to Machu Picchu itself was a lot more challenging than I was expecting-and hour and a half of relentless ‘Inca steps’ at 4.30AM really does get the heart racing and the core body temperature up-it really feels like your ‘earning’ the right to see this wonder. Of course there are other options-you can take a bus, or even a train-but for us that wasn’t a consideration. Much can be said about how you feel when you finally arrive and look over the city for the first time, but no words would do it justice-it was quite overwhelming. Something that we had seen pictures of throughout our lives was finally in front of us-and it was majestic, emotional, magical…Something that we are lucky enough to now have etched into our memories…..Which is quite lucky really, cos my camera had started playing up and I had managed to get water on the lens! Still, frantic times trying to dry and fix my camera to get some shots to help with the aging memory!
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