Cuzco, Lares and Machupicchu
Trip Start
Jul 03, 2008
1
10
15
Trip End
Aug 13, 2008
Cuzco,
Peru
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
After my very short stay in Lima it was on to Cuzco to meet with our tour guide for the Lares Trek and additional tours in Pisac, Ollantaytambo ant the valley of the Incas. There is a lot to put in this entry but I will try and keep it breif, plus its hard to describe without photos...
Our first night in Cuzco was a chance to get aclimatised, and we needed it, is a sensational feeling going from sea level to 3400m (i think that is Cuzco) in an instant. A breif exploration late in the afternoon followed by dinner, i gave the Guinea Pig a miss on the first night but it gets a mention later. Cuzco is a vibrant tourist town being the hub for all Machupicchu travels, and there is an abundace of colour in markets, resturants, incan ruins and spanish churches
Cheap beer
. It really is a must see for anyone travelling through south amercia. We left on day one of the tour to Ollantaytambo via pisac, in the valley of the Incas. Visiting the first of the Incan ruins on the tour set yo .... will complete later being called for my flight..Ok Im back, back in the same pub from earlier in the journey in Lima Airport.
It is hard to describe a lot of the ruins without showing pictures so that can wait till i get home. But for the Lares trek, a new personal best height of 4504m above sea level. The first day was only a 3 hour walk but was the most climbing we covered in a day. Reaching a height of 4460m and you do notice the lack of Air, just walking takes it out of you but after a short rest recovery time is pretty good. The scenery was not what i was expecting, rather barron just grass with a lot of Llamas and Alpacas, but the ranges and valleys go on forever... The first night camp was plesant, i dont think it got below zero. The Gap team did a fantastic job on the trek, the food was better than i prepare for myself at home, and the porters run ahead have camp setup by the time you arrive and then pull it down the next day and pass you again before reaching lunch. Day two was a long day, my knee has started to play up a bit as a result but im sure it will pass. We spent the best part of 8 hours on the trail including a lunch break. But it was this day that we reached the summit of 4504m, just after it had started to hail/snow on us for an hour or so. The weather cleared but the cold remained for the descent to our campsite at 4200m for the night. To our suprise the locals were selling there normal hand crafted bags, scarfs and the like but the suprise was 5 soles beers available (thats about $2 australian) so we celebrated in approiate fashion
4600m
. Unlike the first nights camp it plumeted well below before we made it to bed, so we were welcomed into our tents by a think layer of frost which remained until mid morning, goes without saying i didn´t get much sleep that night. The third day was a easy descent of about 10k into town to be met by the bus to take us back to Ollantaytambo where we caught the train to Machupichu city for the night. Comfortable hotel accomadation and we were all clean and warm for the early rise the next day for Machupichu itself. 5am breakfast seems to be the norm for toursit in the city as we were all competing for one of the limited places to climb Wanapichu (which is the mountain in the background of all the postcard shots), they only allow two group of 200 each per day on that part of the trail, we came in group 1 somewhere in the 180´s. This was a hard climb, one has to think how the inca´s did it, my understanding is they were short people yet at 6´2" i struggled with the size of some of the stairs. However once at the top the views were unbleivable, i know the camera has not done the view justice but i hope i can atleast past on some of the enthuisam we had when we looked back for the first time. It was then back into the city for more of Humbertio´s teaching i just hope that i can retain most of what he has given us in the last week. We were rushed for time at the end of the tour due to our late start on the mountain so it was practically a run to the train to return to Cuzco for the night, which after a sleepy bus ride became a big night. The 298th of July happens to be Peru´s independence day, and who would we be if we didn´t help them celebrate. But alas the night took some recovery and thus nothing productive came out of my final few hours in Cuzco before flying into Lima and now waiting for departure for La Paz.I hope to change my flight from La Paz and use the remaining time i have in Bolivia and give Chile a miss this time round. Will keep you posted on those developements but at this stage it is not looking good, may be too expensive to change, fingers crossed i can come up with something, will look at the possiblity of a bus tomorrow in La Paz. But other than that it is the riding the Worlds Most Dangerous Road on Wednesday, wish me luck..
Adios
