Cusco
Trip Start
Sep 03, 2007
1
72
220
Trip End
Jun 17, 2009
Cusco,
Peru
Thursday, January 31, 2008
Our quite modern coach loaded and departed at 8am, with us passengers in the closed compartment behind the driver and co-driver. Climbing out through Puno, we saw signs of much new building and soon we were rolling along the eastern shores of Lake Titicaca, where the result of years of low rainfall and evaporation were clearly visible by the dry, grassy areas of the lake.
We made slow progress on a (very) pot holed road for a couple of hours before the surface improved as we turned towards Cusco
Leaving Puno
. The scenery was slowly changing from barren hillsides to some green shrub growth.We passed through a large town (unknown) which we were told was once the centre of smuggling from Bolivia and it still had the appearance of a wild west frontier town. The main roads were dual carriageways, in which one half of each was filled by parked vehicles or stalls, with people milling around everywhere and even the road junctions were filled with stalls selling fast food, groceries, fresh meat and anything else you could think of. If they didn't have it I'm sure they knew someone who could get it! It somehow reminded me of that frontier town in the first Star Wars film, where the bar scene was featured. The area in between the dual carriageways, once we had cleared the parked vehicles in the city, seemed to be used as an ongoing landfill, with all sorts of rubbish being dumped. Once outside the city we saw people skinning a (very bloated) cow at the roadside.
We made a comfort stop after three and a half hours to visit the 'Banos', where there is always a charge and a line of tourist stalls. Then onwards through small villages and we were running along a river valley, next to a railway line. The valley became wider and greener, with more rolling hills than mountains and we saw few llama herds and more cows and sheep. The hills once more developed into small mountains and after over seven hours we were rolling into 'Cusco', the third biggest town in Peru at a height of 3600 metres
Bandit town
. We stopped in the bus station, behind guarded gates and then a taxi ride through a busy city, with many impressive old buildings to our hotel, five minutes walk from the main square.Cusco, the native word means navel, because it was the centre of the Incan empire, both for administration and religion. When the Spaniards arrived they were surprised at the scale and grandeur of the architecture but it still didn't stop them demolishing it all in a bid to crush the Incan traditions and heritage. They did leave the foundations and built on top of them. This automatically made their buildings earthquake proof - smart eh?
We settled in, as we were staying for three nights and after supper slept well, although we had the impression that there were not many guests in the hotel and it was quite cold.
Friday 1st February
A (not) early start for once and we wandered up to the dining room where there was a good continental selection of fruits, meat, cheese and then it happened..........I met an Angel. The Senorita from the kitchen came out and whispered those four little words that no man can resist - "Huevos fritos y tocina?"
Lonely road
. I crumpled - "Fried eggs and bacon?" I hadn't had bacon since leaving home, my apologies to our American (and Canadian) cousins but their bacon is very hard and crispy. The new love of my life disappeared and returned with this delicious plateful. In the meantime I had investigated the bread selection and found the Peruvian version of an oven bottom muffin. Ecstacy - a fried egg and bacon butty!After I dragged myself away from the table (and my Senorita de la Cocina), we had a walk round the area and returned to the hotel for an afternoon city tour. The coach took us to the 'Catedral', which was a main feature of the main square, the 'Plaza de Armas'. Sound familiar - most Spanish cities have a 'P de A' as the main centre and drill area. The square was originally pre-Incan and then Incan and successive Incan kings all built their own palaces round the square, only the foundations and a few low, integrated walls remain. The Catedral was an enormous, impressive construction with very ornate carvings and decorations. The main altar was a neo-classical design of beaten silver, which (for me) somehow didn't have the same effect as the old altar which it replaced, of gold embossed carvings. A recent addition was a version of 'The Last Supper', painted by a local artist, who had put food on the table, local fruits and the main dish was 'Cuy' - yes, Guinea Pig! There was also a statue of a black Christ, the blackening having occurred by centuries of exposure to burning candles
Cusco Cathedral
. We appreciate the occasional church, on a local interest basis but don't want to spend hours visiting every building of note. Maybe our 'rolling' time factor helps prevent this.We then went to the tallest hill above the town which was a pre Incan area reserved for the priests and other high members of society - class distinction even then. The 'even then' bit is misleading, as the Incans developed their very expansive empire from only 1200 AD until they were overcome by the Spaniards in 1532. They are renowned as the main instigators of Peruvian culture but were effectively the final pinnacle of it, with the majority of the ruins, terraces and land infrastructure being developed over thousands of years by the pre Incan tribes.
This area of 'Sacssayhuaman was a megalithic fortress. Part of its walls were laid out in the shape of three bolts of lightning, one bolt longtitudinally on top of another, representing power, which the priests were endowed with.
What was impressive is that these enormous blocks of stone, some four metres tall, two metres wide and goodness knows how thick, were quarried, carried by thousands of labourers from across the valley and sculptured into place
Old convent tower
. Many of them have five or more corners and in some of the joints I couldn't slip a piece of paper! All from a civilization that hadn't reached the iron age and had only copper and bronze tools. It was an amazing construction. Sadly the Spaniards had pulled down some of this and all of a nearby, later Incan village in order to use the stone for the churches and large houses that they built.There was an Incan temple area that was used for the mummification of their important dead, complete with their dogs and personal belongings. Then the obligatory visit to a large tourist shop, where we were shown the difference between llama, alpaca and vicunah wools and why alpaca is expensive and vicunah costs an arm and a leg. Although sorely tempted my dearly beloved resisted.
Friday night's supper was at the 'Fallen Angel', an art deco restaurant where we sat on a bed, at a table that was a piece of glass over a bath with fish in it! This was a complete contrast to the Incan ruins and showed the cosmopolitan way that Cusco has adapted to tourists. We all enjoyed superb steaks, no - beef, before another restful but cold night. We had wished our three companions good luck, as they were setting off (very) early on a two day 'Lares Trek', along an Incan trail towards the mountains, hiking all day and sleeping in tents at night - no thank you
Sacsayhauman 1
! The famous four day 'Inca Trail' is closed at this time of year to protect it from wear in the rainy season.Saturday 2nd
Up to now the weather had been cloudy in a morning but developed into very warm sunshine by midday and then cloudy again late afternoon. We had a walk round the town (and shops) and I found a chemist that had a sports type knee support - I was still having some difficulty, even though it was slowly improving. For a town of many younger, fit visitors I was surprised at how many surgical supports were available for sale. Was this a sign of the results of all the trekking and other sports (rafting, mountain biking) that were available?
We made it back to the hotel in the early afternoon, just as great rumbles of thunder echoed round the nearby mountains and then it absolutely lashed it down for about three hours. No half measures here. It had stopped by the time we went for supper at a restaurant in the square. Part way through the meal there was the sound of a band passing by and as we dashed to look out of the verandah window, we saw about fifty young people, all in matching T shirts, dancing in formation and progressing round the square, much to the annoyance of the following pack of taxis who couldn't get past. It seems that this was a practice run (dance) for the religious festivals to come - and all on a Saturday night.
