Cusco, capital of the Incas
Trip Start
Nov 15, 2008
1
23
68
Trip End
Jun 15, 2009
Cusco,
Peru
Sunday, January 11, 2009
To get to Colca canyon we had to get up at about 5am and drive over a very bumpy road for about 6 hrs. Let's just say it was a little uncomfortable. The drive did take us over the highest pass I have ever been, and at 4,900m it is pretty high. The canyon was very beautiful, the mountains rose all around us for thousands of meters. One of the main reasons to come here is to see the Condors fly past. Unfortunately for us it was the season they flew to the beach, but we did see three. They are amazing birds, absolutely huge. Dave and I were away from the rest of the group and were lucky enough to see one glide right over our head. We stayed the night in Chivay and went to the hot springs. It was great, the water was so clean and hot and the air temp must have only been about 15 degrees. It was raining too, so it was really relaxing and enjoyable.
We had to get up early again the next day for another day of driving, this time we were on our way to Cusco. The drive was amazing through some really pretty mountain planes. We arrived in Cusco that afternoon, and Dave and I were pretty excited because we were going to catch up with our old group for the night. It was really good to see them again, we had a very good time dancing and catching up. We must have drunk a bit too much though because we both woke up with a really bad hangover.
Cusco is a very pretty city, again the main plaza is great surrounded by colonial buildings and cathedrals. Cusco is the old capital of the Incas, actually in Inca times there were more people living here then there is now! Dave's dad was supposed to be here at the same time as us, but we had no idea where he was meant to be. Lucky for us the tourist area of Cusco isn't very big and we ended up running into him on the street! We met that night for tea and had a catch up. This time we swapped details about our hotels in La Paz, so it should be easier to find him next time.
We were now getting ready for the Inca trail, something I have wanted to do for a very long time. We started with a tour of the ruins around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. The ruins are amazing, the way the rocks are joined together and cut so perfectly is mind blowing. The Incas were a very mystical people, and you can see it in all of their buildings. We visited Saqsayhuaman, Chinchero and Ollytaytambo. Ollantaytambo was the biggest and most impressive structure, with huge terraces and amazing stone constructions.
We stayed in Ollantaytambo that night, played a bit of poker and had an early night, the Inca trail started the next day.
