Returning to Peru to find Machu Pichu!!
Trip Start
Aug 28, 2004
1
56
65
Trip End
Aug 2005
Cusco,
Peru
Friday, May 27, 2005
After two bus searches by police we arrived at the border at 2am. The passenger numbers had dwindled to Six. As we got off the bus to walk across the border we noticed that the four peruvians seemed to getting refunds, on enquiring we discovered the bus couldn,t be arsed to travel the futher 3 hours into peru and were leaving us there.
What amazed me was the peruvians seemed just to accept this and no amount of "but we have a contract" held any sway.
We got our passports stamped out of Equador and into Peru and despite my gut instinct to stay put and wait for the next vehicle we took the advice of our by now local guides and followed them back into Equador.
Two hours passed as we fought to stay awake by a crossroads and read by the light of a roadside shrine (very weird).
Finally a jeep taxi arrived and we all clambered in. Of course we are going back to the last town to the main bus station.
Two hours later i woke and we were up in some mountains.
"Have we crossed the border" I enquired
"soon" came the reply
"Ollyantaytambo"
. We crossed a river or drove through it and were dropped at a shack where we all had breakfast. This was now Peru. All we had to do was wait for a lift. Deja Vous. It was now 6am. This was a smugglers border and for the next six hours we watched as trucks came through the river, about 20 guys would run out of a shack unload and load other trucks and the empty one would disappear across the boarder.At midday a car/taxi? last seen in the "Dukes of Hazard" arrived to drop of passengers, we and our new friend Nelson waved dollars and got a lift to (the name escapes me); but we had a very good fish meal (so heike tells me) and caught the night bus for Lima.
Next Morning woke along the coast road to see the largest sand dunes we had ever seen in fact the main highway is carved into it. So as you look down it sweeps steeply to the sea and as you look up you wonder what is stopping it suddenly burying you.
At Lima airport we bought a ticket to Cuzco $85 dollars i did not fancy the 36 hour bus trip.
Against my normal rules I entertained a travel agent who assured me he did have an office not just his clipboard. He offered us a hotel in the center of Cusco and to be met from the airport for $20. So we risked it, I mean it,s only ten quid.
And so we boarded the merrygo round of agents.
To his word we were met and diliverd to a nice hotel. Then the agent who met us sold us a tour to Machu Picchu and arranged tickets to Lake Titicaca where another agent met us and so on until we arrived at Arequipa, but that,s later.
The tour worked out no more expensive than doing it ourselves and a lot less hassle.
The Inca Trail, the famous four day trek
"Plaza de Armas" at night...
. We didn,t do it, we had already treked in places where you can only get by foot. There,s a train and bus for god sake why would you walk!!? and with 500 gap year students no thanks. We spoke with some people who had walked and they confirmed that there could be a bit of a que at times. I like my mountains empty otherwise I,ll go where i can get a Capuccino.The train journey unless you are a) Peruvian so you travel next to nothing or b)you can travel 1st class, go by bus same scene, fraction of the price.
First though we went on a tour of some Incca sights the most impressive being Ollantambo (see pics) the guide made the place alive. We also visted as our guide put it a "handicapped market, oh sorry my english not good i mean handicraft market" of Pisaq.
Where Heike purchased the skulls of a croc and a monkey (don,t ask).
The next day we caught the first bus from Agues Calientes (the nearest place to Machu Picchu) at 6am.
As we wouund up the valley just before 1st light we witnessed some very misrable souls walking and then upon reaching the ticket office we found there were two buses there already waiting to buy tickets when the office opened. Our agent god bless him had already purchase them for us so we strolled straight in. It was going to be a great day.
Wow Machu Picchu the daddy of them all, see pics but i think you have to be there.
We had arranged a guide for 11am so we had 5 hours to kill.
We decided to climb the highest peak so we could get some good shots as the sun came up.
It was about an hours climb but we took two and sat a various points taking in the view.
On the way we met Wade an expert in Anthropology and the area who filled in many gaps the guides had left. It turned out he was there making a documentry for "The National Geographic Channel" and sure enough the camera team turned up panting and swearing.
So back to Cusco, city tour a freebe for booking our tour to Puno next stop.
More Inca sights and the splendid Cathedral with great oils of famous religious scenes done in european style with the odd larma thrown in.
Then the cultral show. Why oh why do we always fall for this one? Does anybody pay to see morris dancing? In fact this was part of a muli ticket for all the sights of Cusco.
Cultral dancing is best done in conjunction with alochol and never in a theatre.
