Blog entry, March 5th 2004
Trip Start
Oct 17, 2003
1
8
34
Trip End
May 22, 2004
Cusco,
Peru
Saturday, February 28, 2004
After getting back from Honduras I met Nora in San José and we spent about ten days together in Dominical. We had agreat time hanging out at the pool and the beach, getting tanned (and peeling after a couple of days). She left and I hung around in San José for a week, planning my trip to the US and figuring out how to get to South America. Eventually I decided to fly to Lima and then to go through Bolivia and Chile, in the end back up the coast of Perú. I arrived in Lima on the 26th and my flight back to Costa Rica will be on March 31st, so I got five weeks to travel around here.
Well, I spent two nights in Lima, which is just a huge city. They have about eight million inhabitants, so it really is quite big. At least it resembles a capital, unlike San José. I didn't do too much there, just walking around town trying to find a guidebook about South America. I ended up finding a pretty cheap one, but later I noticed that it's an edition from 1996 (and used), so I won't trust any of the schedules/timetables mentioned in it. At least it covers all the sights and interesting things to see/do, that's enough.
On Saturday the 28th I flew to Cuzco, which is north-east of Lima. Cuzco's at 3500m above sealevel, therefore I had to take it easy for a couple of days, because some sort of altitude sickness kicked in and I had a headache for almost two days. It's also very cold up here! We're wearing two jumpers at a time and we use three woolen blankets for cover while in bed. Te air is really fresh and dry, a big difference to the cities and beaches. Well, I've been in the Alpes and mountains, but this place is just amazing! The town itself is surrounded by high mountains and if you make it over those, then you´ll just see more and more of 'em! What's weird is that there's still much vegetation, with cloudforest even at an altitude of 2700m. Cuzco is very touristy too and now during the low season everybody's hustling like crazy to get tourists to eat at their restaurant, to come to their bar, to let 'em clean your shoes, etc. For example most bars/discos show two or three movies a day (and not old ones), on big screens, and all for free. You're supposed to eat and drink something, but with a coke for three soles (less than one USD), it isn't too bad. For the night they're trying to lure you to a specific place by giving away free-drink-flyers and similar stuff. Kellie and I went out a couple of times and it was nice, not too different from home though, and the music sucks!
Cuzco's also the gateway to the infamous Machu Picchu. We went for a two-day trip to visit it. The first day we took a train to km104, from where we climbed up about 700m (height, not distance) to a lodge, where we spent the night. The trainride was spectacular, highland plains surrounded by huge mountains, as well as riding through tiny canyons or valleys. The lodge was at 2700m and on the way there we passed two smaller sites with temples and the distinct terraces the Incas used to grow corn and other vegetables. It's sad that not even the scientist know a lot about the Incas, coz the Conquistadores destroyed a lot and didn't keep records of the Incas customs. In the morning of the second day we continued towards a place called "Sungate", from where we caught our first glimpse of Machu Picchu village. The building's weren't as impressive as the Maya ruins, but the setting makes up for that. The place is very well hidden and it makes you think if there aren't any other sites out there which we haven't found yet.
To finish off our trip Kellie, Jak (a guy from NYC with whom I talked about hiphop and baseball for the first time in a looong time!) and me climbed that mountain you usually see on pictures of Machu Picchu. It was about a 300m ascent on tiny paths, very steep and quite scary (when you're afraid of heights, like me). Eventually we reached the top at 2700m and, clinging to the rocks like a baby to its mother's breast, I enjoyed a terrific view around... maravillosa!!
