Cusco, Machu Picchu and el Camino del Inca

Cusco, Machu Picchu, y el Camino del Inca

We arrived early morning in the Inca Capital, Cusco, after an overnight bus from Copacabana. We organized a taxi to drop us off at our hostel, Samay Wasi, which was located in the San Blas area of town, just up the hill from the city center. We could sense early on that Cusco was a special kind of town.

Plaza de Armas - Cusco

Nestled in a crater-like valley, the town with its quaint cobblestone streets, has a strong colonial influence, with massive stonemason cathedrals overlooking the traditional Spanish plazas. That being said, you can definitely still sense the city's rich and resilient native roots. After the conquistadors arrived in the 1530's, the Spaniards literally just built on top of the Incan buildings, but in a clear testament to the ingenuity and skill of the Inca builders, when a severe earthquake hit Cusco in the 1950's the only structures that survived were those of the original Incas...

Our group closely examining the
impressive Incan handiwork

We arrived at our hostel well before our check in time, but were allowed to drop our bags in storage and go out to get some breakfast...We walked down to the main square, Plaza de Armas, and were met with a flurry of commotion and festivities! Turns out, June is the most important month in the Cuscan calendar, and it all culminates on June 24th, Dia Inti Raymi (quechua for "sun festival"), which celebrates the special heritage of the city and the Inca empire. So every day leading up to the 24th you have parades, singing and ethnic dancing all around the square, all in preparation for the big day.

As we were having breakfast and watching the parade we received word from Robert and Roelene, who were supposed to join us later that day, that their flight got delayed in São Paulo and would only be arriving in Cusco the next day...It was a quick introduction to traveling in South America, where these kind of things happen all the time, but you just have to take it in your stride, which they did!

They arrived early the next morning, safe and sound, and we greeted them with a hearty breakfast on the balcony of our hostel, overlooking a waking Cusco city...

Our balcony at Samay Wasi

It was really great to see the two of them again and with the group finally together, the excitement for our awaiting adventure escalated exponentially! Also they brought with them some of the things we miss the most from back home (excluding family and friends of course!): beskuit (die mense hier ken ongelukkig nie so iets nie), rooibostee en lekker Suid Afrikaanse wyn (hier is ook lekker wyn maar nie naby die goeie waarde vir geld wat ons by die huis kry nie). Dit was so 'n bederf!

Coming from Walvisbaai, which I think is as close to sea level as you can get, we needed to get the two Namibiërs acclimatized to the high altitude conditions! We thus decided to do a walking tour around Cusco, which is always a great way to get a feel for a city and its history, and also organised a trip to a nearby town, Pisac, which falls within the "sacred valley of the Incas" and where there's a big local market.

Pisac 

Pisac is a beautiful little town, situated in a narrow valley with steep, terraced mountain slopes bearing over the village. The central market place sells everything from traditional alpaca blankets, jerseys, artwork, leather goods, and Inca memorabilia...the girls were in their element! 

I had to restrain Kristi every now and then, want die doek sal so mooi lyk in ons eetkamer en die kombers is perfek vir die winter! Ons het toe 'n paar mooi goedjies gekry vir ons huis - baie exciting!

Christo Blanco, Cusco

Later on the way back to Cusco we got dropped off at the Christo Blanco statue that towers over Cusco (like the one in Rio just much smaller), and enjoyed the  awesome view as the sun was readying to set over Cusco valley...

On our last day before we were to start our Inca trek we just had to sort out a couple of admin things but unexpectedly managed to purchase a set of (very) cheap airline tickets to wait for it...the Galapagos Islands!! We've been scanning the online cheap flight websites almost daily to try and find a good deal but were advised to also try the airline offices for ongoing specials that they might be running, which we then did and with a stroke of luck, Simon managed to find a great deal! We booked it straight away...So that's something to look forward to come July!

But back to the current adventure...with our bags packed and our excitement levels almost tangible, we were picked up very early on Friday morning by our tour company, Peru treks, and along with 8 other hikers set off to Ollantaytambo, where we had a quick breakfast (banana pancakes!) before heading to the starting point of our 4 day, 45 km, Camino del Inca!

The trek follows an old Incan pathway that snakes its way through and over the towering Andes mountains, passing numerous Incan ruins and outposts on the way to the mysterious and mesmerizing Machu Picchu...This ancient path was build as a religious road for pilgrimages to the spiritual sanctuary of Machu Picchu.

And so it begins...

Our first day's walk took us along the fast flowing Urubamba river, with great views of the snow-capped mount Veronica behind us and some impressive Incan settlements along the way. 

Myself, Kristi & Veronica

At each ruin our guides, Naomi and Ronald would sit us down and talk us through the history and function of that specific settlement or building. While we've become accustomed to the brilliance and skill of the Incan architects, it was very interesting to see how organised these small communities were and how effectively they adapted to the surrounding terrain...

Ancient Inkan village of Llactapata

Our group consisted of 14 hikers, 4 South Africans, 2 Namibians (Roelene & Robert), 2 Aussies, 2 Americans, 2 Brazilians, 'n Turk and a Korean; two guides, a chef and 18 porters - these guys carried all our food, tents and equipment, with backpacks weighing up to 25kg's! They'd motor on ahead and set up our lunch spot or camp prior to our arrival, which was quite a luxury - all the tour companies doing the trek operate this way which is also why you pay a pretty penny to do it...

Our first night we camped out at Wayllabamba, which is next to the last little community that you'll encounter on the trail, and right at the bottom of a small valley, which meant the surrounding mountain views were amazing! The food on the trek was also really good, three course meals, all local delicacies, with coffee and tea served afterwards...we even got a cake on father's day!

Proe soos nog!

The second day was the toughest of the four day trek, a steep mountain pass, climbing 1200 meters in altitude before summiting at a dizzying height of 4200m, where you were rewarded with some of the most spectacular mountain views!

After a couple of photos and high-fives we descended down one of the infamous Incan stairways, to our second night's camp, Llulluchampampa, that was situated next to a stream so we could take a quick dip after a grueling day of hiking...

The Africans still standing strong after our first mountain pass!

While our second day was the toughest, the third day was probably the most scenic...We started off with a short, steep climb over our second mountain pass, again with really amazing views of the valleys ahead and behind us.

We then descended to a nearby Incan village, Sayaqmarka, built on the edge of the adjacent mountain slope with a single set of (very) steep stairs taking you up to entrance...

The ancient Inkan village of Sayaqmarka

Again the intricacies of the buildings and waterways were well ahead of their time, and the majestic views of the surrounding mountains instilled an understanding that these people had a strong spiritual reverence for nature, or 'pachamama' (mother earth), as they refer to it in the quechua tongue...

Above and beyond - view from Sayaqmarka

We then continued along the ancient pathway crossing yet another mountain pass but this time walking through long stretches of cloud forest with its dense vegetation and moss covered trees bearing over the trail...it was really beautiful and completely different to the scenery of the first two days!

Alice in Wonderland...

Our lunch spot on the third day was right on top of the pass, with our 'mess tent' set up on these massive boulders with a breathtaking view of the surrounding cloud forest covered mountains, one of those being the backside of the imposing Machu Picchu  mountain - our eyes eagerly searching for any signs of the famous Incan  ruins...

We'll also always remember this spot because we were (very) pleasantly surprised when we were served a slice of pizza as a starter - anyone who's done a multi-day hike will probably recall that you start daydreaming about comfort foods such as pizza by day 2! We all agreed that it was the most delicious slice of pizza we've ever tasted! 

After lunch we again had to descend down some 3000 Incan steps, which were not built for our long south African legs! We passed another interesting set of ruins on the way down, Phuyupayamarka, that was supposedly used as a astronomical base to study the night sky...

Inkan stairs!

We arrived at our last camping spot, Winaywayna, with tired legs and sore knees, but eagerly awaiting our final early morning descent to the city of Machu Picchu...

Machu Picchu - a beautifully mysterious and mesmerizing place

This sacred city was purposely abandoned and kept a secret after the Spanish invaded Peru, and managed to become a local myth, a secret passed on by the natives to their children, the one piece of heritage that remained hidden from colonial influence...the pride of all Peru...

Only after Peru was liberated in the 1900's did word of the secret city reach western ears...An American explorer, Hiram Bingham, while searching for another mythical, but still undiscovered city, El Dorado, was told about a nearby sacred mountain city that has remained a secret for nearly 400 years...After further investigation and actually obtaining a map, Bingham set off to what he probably thought or hoped was El Dorado, instead he found the city of Machu Picchu, nearly completely overgrown by lush vegetation but still well preserved due to the lack of human contact over the centuries. He spent most of the rest of his life excavating the ruins and shared his find with the rest of the world, thus bringing life (and loads of tourists) back to the legendary site...

We made it!

And what a site it is...Situated on a steep mountain slope the city was built on a series of carved-out terraces, with the platforms varying in size according to what it was used for, temples, housing or farming...

And as impressive as that is, it is really only when you look around at the series of towering, freestanding mountains that surround the city, like majestic sentinels watching over the ancient sanctuary, that you understand why this place is so special...so magical...and rightfully the pride of not only Peru but also humanity...

We spent the morning exploring the city, unfortunately along with thousands of other people who visited the city by bus, but even that failed to detract from the marvel that is Mucho Pichu...

It was truly a magical four days, walking the ancient road, learning about a mysterious and truly impressive civilization and enjoying the surrounding natural beauty along the way...oh and did I mention the food was really good!

Afterwards we caught a train from the nearby town, Aguas Caliente, back to Ollantaytambo, where we managed to catch a taxi back to Cusco...

After all the hiking we felt that we could do with some rest so we decided to head to the Southern city of Arequipa, via Puno and the floating islands of Uros, to spend a couple of days there before Robert and Roelene have to fly back to Africa!