I have just arrived back in Cusco after one of the most unique and unforgettable experiences of my trip. On wednesday I left on a 3 day trek which starts on the Salkantay route and finishes in the ancient ruins of Macchu Picchu. The trek was fun, very interesting, difficult in parts and the best window into Peruvian culture and living.
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First of all - I must make note of the fact that Haley ¨powerwoman¨ McEwen did the hard-core 5 day trek while I did the lazy gringo 3 day trek. Haley left on Monday and I left on Wednesday so that we would both be at Macchu Picchu on friday.
So I was alone in Cusco for those first couple of days Haley went on her trek. On the first day I bought a tourist ticket which allowed me entrance into all the surrounding ruins and museums. To get my moneys worth out of this ticket I set about doing as much as possible in as little time as possible. So in about 3 hours I visited 4 museums. Luckily the museums were quite small. My favourite museums were the ones that held all the remnants from Inca times. Museo de Sitio del Qoricancha was really interesting as was the Museon Historico Regional. The Incas pioneered ceramics and had an incredible sense of proportionality in their handiworks. I also watched traditional dancing at the Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo Danzas Folkloricas. The costumes are so colourful and the themes of the dances always revolved around love and romance. Very nice!
The next day I joined some other travellers in my hostel (a girl from Denmark and a guy from Canada) on a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. This involved going to 3 sets of ruins situated in the sacred valley - Pisaq, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. Our tour guide´s English wasnt the best and it was actually easier to understand him when he spoke spanish. But the day was great! There was a lot of walking to and from the different ruins. The ruins themselves were amazing. I cant believe how the Incas were able to build these structures so high above sea level! The most amazing thing I saw was the carving of an Incan chief on the side of a cliff.
It was also really bizarre to see SO MANY tourists here. There were possible 50 busloads of tourists at every site. No wonder this area is the number 1 tourist destination in south america.
The markets were great as well. I am going through a phase where I really appreciate local art. So seeing all these local artists was a real treat. The markets are so noisy and colourful. I am constantly amazed at the women of peru. They look after their many many children, sit in the markets all day selling their craft or food until very late and then do it all again the next day. They have a very hard life.
My trek started the next day (wednesday). I have to say that i was a little nervous about this whole ¨trekking¨thing since my last experience in Pucon with that volcanoe. But after I met my travel buddies (Leslie (South Africa), Natasha (South Africa) and Passe (Finland) I felt more at ease. We were all of the same frame of mind and wanted to go at an easy and chilled out pace. There were no heroes among us. No one who wanted to climb mountains in leaps and bounds. We were all reluctant hikers who wanted to hit the hot springs as soon as possible.
Day 1
We started off at 7am and were taken by a seedy taxi driver to the local bus stop (where not a tourist was in sight - a very difficult feat in Cusco). There we met our guide Dante and were shoved into a very very local bus and were told over and over again never to let our bags out of sight. We were the only gringos on board and this seemed to worry our guide to no end. The other passengers included old men with no teeth, young women with no teeth, loads of children sleeping on the floor, sacks of vegetables etc. The road was very bumpy and very dusty. Not comfortable in the slightest but we loved the fact that we were just with the locals. The bus had to stop many times because of road construction. It was funny the first time, not the fourth time. We stopped for lunch literally in the middle of nowhere and were then put into a smaller, more local mini-bus to start off on the most dangerous ride of my life.
The roads in this area of Peru are very narrow, one-laned, and curve up and down mountain sides with no protective barriers at all. It was so scary looking down the side of the mountain when I was so close to the edge. At one point, the bus had to do a 3 point turn to turn around and I thought it was all going to be over. But obviously, these drivers have a lot more experience than I gave credit for. We were fine but very relieved to get out for the start of our hike.
We were dropped off again in the middle of nowhere. The 4 of us gathered our gear and then stopped in shock as we saw where we had to walk. We literally had to walk down the mountain side which was SO steep and had no track. It was not pleasant as the dirt was very slippery and our gear weighed a lot. Every rustle in the bush made me think that there was an anaconda or puma nearby. But we persevered and got down to the most beautiful and serene area imaginable. We set up camp by the river and all jumped into the hot springs. Our guide made the nice groundskeeper walk 1 hour away to fetch us some red wine! It was so perfect! The sun went down, the stars in their billions came out, the sounds of the river intensified and we were sitting in the warmest hot springs ever. Definitely, one of those pinch-yourself moments.
Dinner was amazing as well. Our porters doubled as cooks and made the most amazing beef and rice dish from nothing! It was so good sitting in a tiny shed, at a small wooden table eating the most delicious food! We slept in tents that night and I felt really really good.
Day 2
We awoke very early and were confronted with the most disgusting toilet in history. Anyway, after dealing with that we jumped in the hot springs again and were treated againb to another beautiful meal. From nowhere, the cooks got us warm porridge, toast etc
We then set off on our trek - over rocks, through jungle and over rivers. We named our guide ¨Detour Dante¨ as he always took us on some wild alternative route and thought it was hilarious. The best part of the morning trek was crossing the river. This river eventually feeds into the Amazon and then to the Atlantic ocean. The river had lots of rapids and was quite furious. So Detour Dante took us to this cable that had a dodgy wooden cart attached to it. We sat in the cart and got pushed across the river. It was scary and so much fun!
We walked about 12 km that day in the seering heat. We gave each other nicknames. There was Luscious Lesley, Tantalizing Tash, Passionate Passe and I was named Turbo-Boost Tanya. They called me this because they accused me of coming out of the shadows to take the lead in all our walks. The best thing about our walk was that we didnt see another gringo at all. It was just locals and the scenery was amazing! Seeing snow capped Salkantay mountain was unbelievable.
Finally, we got to our destination which was a little shack near the train station to Macchu Picchu. We set up our stuff there and were soon joined by Haley´s group. It was so nice sitting down in the shade waiting for the train.
Our train to Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Macchu Picchu) arrived and we travelled to our hostel there. That night we went out to dinner at Detour Dante´s father´s restaurant, drank cuba libres and had a dance at a reggae bar (of all places) and discoteque in downtown Aguas Calientes. Very fun! Not the best decision though seeing we had to wake up at 4-30am the next morning for Macchu Picchu.
Day 3
The morning was a bit of a confusion. No one could remember where Detour Dante wanted us to meet in the morning and we were afraid that he might not even wake up since he had a pretty big night the night before. But we found him just in time and we headed for Macchu Picchu by bus so we could catch the sunrise. It was really magical seeing these ruins. Its amazing that an entire city was built so high on this mountain. The sunrise was beautiful and we were taken though all the ruins - we saw a typical Incan house, the priest´s house, a school, a temple etc. We walked around for ages and the 4 of us took about 500 pictures between us. Then Turbo-Boost Tanya decided that I would split from the lazy gringos and go with Haley´s hard.core trekkers up to Waynapicchu to see the Macchu Picchu site from a higher angle. The mountain was so steep and very difficult to climb -partiuclarly with the altitude problem. But it was completely worth it. Excellent view and excellent feeling of accomplishment. Haley, Kate and I then decided that we would walk back to town instead of taking the bus. So this ended up as another 2 hour walk through jungle and dusty roads back to the hostel. A great day!
After another difficult journey, we arrived back in Cusco and we are recouperating after all that exercise. On tuesday we are going to Lake Titicaca and then to the canyons in Arequipa.
Posted by Tanya at May 14, 2005 07:30 PM