El Puma Cusco

We had a verrrrryyyy early wakeup to go to Cusco this morning (we had to leave the hotel by 5am). There was a breakfast that was set up for us by the hotel but by the time we got down there almost everything was gone, I guess you have to move fast in Peru if you want to eat. The driver who took us to the airport said that the best thing to do when we got to Cusco was "take it easssssyyyy", which was alot more humorous had you heard it aloud, but also said to take a nap and drink some coca tea...

Oh what a day! We woke up at 6am and caught the train to Moyabambo, a very small town in the Sacred Valley. The drive up there, from what I was awake for, was beautiful with great scenic views of the valley and the Andes at sunrise. Even coming into Moyabmbo was amazing as we decended from the top of a mountain into the city. We also saw some cool sacred Incan sites along the way, like a giant rock shaped like a frog. From here we caught the train to Machu Picchu. Before we got onto the train...

Today was another early one with an 8am wakeup. On the agenda is a trip through the Sacred Valley, which we saw a little bit of yesterday but now are going for a more in depth version. We got up with just enough time to catch a quick breakfast, some coca tea, and then we headed on our way to the Sacred Valley. We started the trip down into the valley and took several pitstops for some spectacular views. The ground is made up of sandstone, which gives the terrain a beautiful red color similar ...

Spent 7 1/2 hours on the bus today, getting from Puno to Cusco today. All in all, a very nice ride. If you're thinking "chicken bus", ie., where your neighbour is holding live chickens on their lap, you're very far from the truth. This was a Greyhound-like bus -- a bit tight for space, but reasonably comfortable. We were even served lemon cake and Coca Cola, and watched "Pursuit of Happyness" on the central TV screen. Not bad! The roads were, for the most part, pretty good. A bit bumpy in som...

I thought I'd add an entry that doesn't focus so much on a sequence of events, but more on various little things - observations, short anecdotes, random thoughts, and other unrelated things that I want to capture before I forget them all. I expect I'll have other such entries during this trip - stay tuned... No pictures as of yet with this entry - perhaps in coming days. So here goes, in no particular order of either chronology or importance... --------------------------------------- I had bo...

We checked into our hotel for the next couple of days which was lovely. Luckily, we come back to this hotel after the trail and there will be a nice hot bath with my name on it! Cusco is a nice city with tons of character. The narrow cobbled streets and beautiful architecture of the churches and buildings was built by the Incas. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire (1200s-1532). Many believe that the city was planned to be shaped like a puma. The Spanish tried to destroy a lot of it but t...

After the Inca trail it was time to go back to school, which I did not find quite so cool.. To help me along my travels, I decided to do a two week spanish course. It was tough, and I've never been much of a school fan, however towards the end of the course I could converse in basic spanish, and hopefully continued use and practise will improve my spanish. For the duration of the course I stayed in a sort of homestay, though a few other students also lived in the house. It was a quiet two wee...