Cusco (I)
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2004
1
19
82
Trip End
May 06, 2005
Cusco,
Peru
Tuesday, October 26, 2004
As Cusco is at 3,400m I had dressed for the cold but emerged to bright sunshine and sweatily dragged my backpack around whilst trying to contact the agency who were giving me a lift to the centre to let them know I was early. I had many kind and very genuine offers from various taxi drivers to take me to the centre as the agency wouldn't be working today. Yeah right. Too many tourists = too many con artists.
A little bit of trouble finding a vacant room, but I do not give in to offers of dorm rooms and end up in a broom cupboard instead (no, really - photo to follow) with the promise of a single room the next night. Still, the views from the terrace over the central plaza are great, and give me time to recover from the climb to the hostal.
Monday: horse ride to visit the ruins near to Cusco - Saqsaywaman, Q'enqo, Pukapukara and Tambomachay.
It would definitely have been quicker to walk, but the advantage was in taking the cross country route with my guide rather than going along the roads. I took a guided tour in Q'enqo, which was well worth it since without explanation the site wasn't much more than a pile of stones.
01 Micros in Miraflores, Lima
The Incas had built it as an astrological site, taking advantage of natural rock formations. As in so many other sites, the sun (the god Inti) casts shadows in a certain way at the equinoxes. If you squint you can just about make out where carvings of a puma and condor are, partially destroyed by the Spanish, and the snake remains intact since it also has significance in Christianity. The three animals were very important to the Incas, signifying either present, future and past respectively, or earth, sky and underground, depending which guide you listen to. They all agree that the number three was key to many aspects of Inca life.Tuesday: buying a train ticket shouldn't be such a chore. I had to give up in the morning after running out of time before my rafting trip, but made it back before closing time in the afternoon. First I told a woman where I wanted to go, when, and which class (the cheap one, of course). She took my passport details and pointed me to another queue where I paid and was issued with a receipt before going to another window where I was issued with a ticket in exchange for said receipt. Probabaly three different unions.
Rafting was good fun. We went down to the Rio Urubamba, which was low as it's the end of the dry season, so my agency-promised III-IV rapids were more II-III if you're lucky. But it was a beautiful clear day with great views and we enjoyed ourselves, and I didn't break my leg the day before the Inca trail, which was a good thing. I picked up a couple of photos from the rafting agency in the evening and ended up going out on the town for the night with a couple of the guys, who tried to teach me salsa but in vain.
