Cusco to Puno - Peru - Machu Picchu Trek
Trip Start
Aug 07, 2008
1
4
22
Trip End
??? ??, 2009
Puno,
Peru
Sunday, September 21, 2008
It was a brilliant night and we danced into the wee hours. A special mention to Nic who was the most drunk of all and had to have a little support on the way home. (Nic will be thanking us for not going into any more detail than that.)
The next day we skipped the Sacred Valley tour (various ruins) to have a day to ourselves, to prepare for the Lares Trek and explore Cusco
A - Nic in the dentist chair
. Its winter here currently which is the best time to come as their summers are wet making roads impassable, but winter means its cold particularly the higher up you get. So our purchases included thermals! After some shopping we visited some museums and churches, including one that was built by the Spanish over an Inca Temple. When an earthquake came, the Church suffered damaged but the Temple did not, to give you an understanding of how well built the Inca structures are.Cusco is a larger town, with a nice Plaza being the hub of activity. It has good restaurants with a taste of home, art shops, museums and various ruins other than Machu Picchu near by.
The Lares Trek
Day 1 - There was no space on the Inca Trail, which the majority of our tour group were doing, as it has restrictions on the number of trekkers. We were therefore, booked on the Lares Trek as an alternative to the Inca Trail.
We drove for several hours and stopped at a local market, where our guide Javier, explained some of the foods on sale and what items we could buy for the local indigenous people we would meet along the way. Peru has about 3000 varieties of potatoes did you know! We brought salt, cocoa leaves, bread and sugar. Cocoa leaves are the raw product used to make cocaine and is chewed in South America or stewed in water like a herbal tea, which we drank to help with the altitude sickness, which we suffered from mildly. Also, from the market we brought bamboo walking sticks which as we later found out were priceless
B - Dancing on the bar with Jay, Ads and Nic
!From the market another drive to the spot where we started our trek at 3700 metres, with one pass that took us to 4200 metres. It was really tough and we took frequent breaks, but not just because it was steep, the altitude really slows you down. For emergencies one of the guides carries oxygen and they gave us a sort of smelling salt to clear our airways usually before a tough bit!
The paths were often skinny, so we kept reminding each other to stop then look at the view, as you needed to concentrate on where you placed your feet. By the time we reached the top of the pass, the clouds had set in and we had to descend through mist. We stopped part way down and had lunch in a shallow cave. This was where we picked up a dog that always seemed to find us along the trail when food was about. Just as we finished lunch, it started to hale, but it was all downhill from here which was a relief.
Along the trail, we'd meet locals, who Javier would chat too as they only spoke Quechua and find out about there lives. Often we'd meet tiny children in the middle of nowhere alone and we'd give them food to take back to their families.
C - Spanish Church built over Inca Temple
Just before the sun set we reached camp at 3650 metres, after 12km of walking. Camp had already been set up for us (thankfully) as the porters literally run ahead of us with our bags, food and tents. The porters were super fit and looked amused at us tourists panting like a dog on a hot summer's day! That night we were served dinner and the food was great quality considering we were in the middle of nowhere and then, unsurprisingly, we had an early night!
Day 2 and we were briefed by Javier that this was going to be the toughest day with two passes to get over, the second at 4500 metres! After the first pass, we stopped in a local village and were invited into a local ladies home where she explained her life. Her house was a small stone built hut with a dirt floor which became the bedroom at night with Llama skins and wools as bedding. A quarter of the house was the guinea pigs home even though the house was only 10ft by 15ft! It had everything she needed but is unimaginable living for people from the western world.
After a stop for lunch, we got to have a snooze before the second pass. We arrived at camp in the light and enjoyed another nice meal, with a tasty rum punch, probably to keep us warm
D - Cusco Plaza
. Javier told stories of previous trekkers, including a fat lady who they had to stretcher down the mountain in the middle of the night and then who had the nerve to complain about Javier at the end of the trip. He would not reveal her nationality but we figured she was American as did the rest of the group, which included Americans! After dinner, Javier invited us to watch his offering ceremony, as August is the main month to give offerings to the god of Pacamama (mother earth). Javier had been to see a Shaman (witch doctor) and had various offerings (including alcohol) that he burnt in a fire as he asked to be watched over. Day 3 - We woke to frost on the ground as we had camped at 4100 metres and ate breakfast outside, chilly! Before we left camp we got to go into another of the locals' home which was similar to the previous and dark, so dark that one of the guys thought I was his girlfriend and put his hand on my knee, much to his embarrassment! This last day seemed pretty easy after the first 2 days and was mostly downhill.
Once we reached cilivisation again, in the afternoon we boarded a train to the town of Machu Picchu, which was a really nice ride with great jungle scenery and the train had a part glass roof for a great view. The town of Machu Picchu had a really nice feel, with lots of bars and restaurants and the shower we had at the hostel was well deserved and needed, after several days without a shower and having a toilet was a luxury after having to pee outside (certainly a first for me)!
Day 4 - The next morning was a 5am start to join the queue for the buses to the Machu Picchu ruins, for what we hoped would be in time for the sun rise
E - First day of the trek..no turning back now
. The drive up was a bit treacherous and the buses going back down seemed to forget that there were buses coming up, but the driving in general out here is hairy to say the least and often its best not to look!. On entry to the ruins we got a Mach Picchu stamp in our passport, but did not see sunrise as it was too misty. (Tip for any travellers - to see sunrise on a clear day you need to go earlier in the year!)We had a tour around the ruins given by Javier and heard how parts of the ruins have been damaged through a commercial that was made there and how the town square was altered to allow tourists to be brought in my helicopter! If we are honest, first impressions of the ruins were that it was over crowded; people were pushing and shoving and it spoilt the magic of the place. After the tour though, we had time to wander around and be alone in some areas and get a feel for what it must have been like to live there, looking out the windows into jungle and mountains and how well it was built. The only inhabitants now are the Llamas who are the free gardeners.
Overall impression of Machu Picchu is that its an amazing town up in the skies, but that they have over commercialised it and its unlikely to be the highlight of our trip, but well worth seeing
F - Toby resting in a nice spot
. I was also a bit disappointed that we had not trekked to Machu Picchu in the morning as we had expected too, as I think it would have given us a better sense of achievement. The trek was sold as the alternative to the Inca Trail but it was a trek and then you get the train and bus to Machu Picchu. I don't feel we missed out too much on not doing the Inca Trail though as we got to meet local Quechan people who are a drying community as the younger generations are attracted to the cities and don't return and it certainly makes you appreciate the way we live at home seeing people living in such poor/testing conditions.So, the next day the tour group meets up and we get the train back to Cusco and it had to be the weirdest train ever! There are various classes of trains and our tour company could only get us on a nice class of train with table cloths and tea cups, instead of the backpacker train. After tea, the train stopped and some music came on and I joked that Red Indian's were going to come out of the bushes with bows and arrows. Not quite, but not that far off, a man with a scary face mask danced up and down the aisle. I thought that was a bit weird, but we think it was how the Shamens dressed in the past, however, it wasn't over, after this our waiter and waitress modelled some local fashions for us, no joke!
So we made it back to Cusco after surviving the trek without the need for a stretcher or oxygen; Everest here we come! We had one more day to see Cusco before we left and yet again, we saw another festival in the Plaza. I'm starting to think the festivals are in our honour or perhaps they are festivals to celebrate us leaving!
So we leave Cusco after a fab time and head to Puno, on our big beige truck, which seems to attract so much attention everywhere we go. Often the locals wave, but others just stare open mouthed! Puno is our hop off point for our visit to the Reed Islands and the home stay on Lake Titicaca before we cross into Bolivia.
Next instalment, coming soon.
