Cusco, Santa Maria, Santa Teresa, Aguas Calientes
15-18th June (Fri-Mon)
Winter Solstice down here comes around the same time as Summer Solstice at home (d'uh), and to say it's a pretty big deal at Machu Picchu is an understatement. The week includes the Inti Raymi festival (23rd-24th), so we knew both Cusco and Machu Picchu would be pretty busy so we had to get in there fast. The only day with passes still available to climb Wayna Picchu was the 18th so we had to move quickly once in Cusco to book a spot on the Inca Jungle Trek to arrive into Machu Picchu on that date.
A 6am pick up from Pariwana Hostel brought us on a long sleepy drive to the snow capped Vilcanota Mountain Range where we started our tour with a 3 hour downhill cycle winding our way through the valleys by way of a hundred cork screw sections. Sean almost died, which made it more dangerous than the Death Road for us. The trend on the road is for all buses, trucks etc to beep when going around the corner, we now believe this should be obligatory. Although beeping wouldn't be of much help to Sean as he was already as far over on his side of the road as possible, it was a huge dirty lorry that cut the corner and drove almost entirely on Sean's side causing him to swerve, throw his bike into the ditch and jump over it. Watching from behind was scary, I'm glad that he was in front! That afternoon we had a steep 40 minute walk from the river up into the hills to a family farm which was to be our homestay for the night. It was in an amazing location and the family were brilliant, we had a lovely dinner and breakfast and got to see their coca leaf crops, banana, avocado, mango trees, their coffee bean plant and pineapple pant and a rake of chickens and ducks. Bloody brilliant!
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| Cutie little kitten waits outside the kitchen door. |
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| One duck, two ducks. |
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| Cheeky raccoon skin hangs beside the dinner table, and blocks the magnificent view of the valley. |
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| A boy, his dog and his parrot. |
On the second day we walked for over 8 hours, by now Sean and I were really in the swing of things and essentially silently declared ourselves to be the 'pro-athletes' of the group. Really used to the altitude at this stage, the two days of trekking on Isla del Sol really helped our steepness fitness and we were definitely amongst the most competent of the group. We followed one of the real Inca trails for a while, which the entire group were chuffed about. 7 Inca trails lead into Machu Pacchu and there are dozens of others in the surround lands from back in the day. Our guide Amoroso told us about some lad he had met back in 2007 who was attempting to walk all 70 odd Inca trails covering the lands of Northern Bolivia and Chile up to Ecuador. He's still at it.
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| I spy with my little eye... an inca trail! |
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| There it is! Makes Simo, Alice, Lizzy and Emily look tiny! This inca path was discovered after the banks of the river collapsed in 1998 and villagers had to find a way from one village to the other. Once found and the vegetation cut away a sturdy path well re-enforced became well used by the locals, imagine a donkey on that thing! So narrow! |
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| Cheeky nap in the sun at the lunch spot! |
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| Shuttle across the river, we crossed over and back over the river a number of times mostly by wooden foot bridges but in this particular spot the wind was quite strong and destroyed such bridges. Conversation about the frequency of the wind and bridges ensued. |
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| Handy pully system.. Sean and I won - laser technique! |
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| Mysterious waterfall with no apparent source of water. |
After the homestay on the first night we were quite disappointed to be in Santa Teresa the second night, a new enough town rebuilt after the flood damage in the region in 1998. A bit of a later start and a 3 hour walk following the river bed to Hydroeletrico found us there by lunch time. This seems to be the main point for most people who travel to Machu Picchu to bus and train to converge as the walk from here to Aguas Caliente is really worthwhile during the day, and free! It really was worthwhile, three hours of following the train track which meanders along with the river in the densest and lushest jungle along to the closest town to Machu Picchu was delightful - especially because a quick glance over your shoulder every few seconds and you could see Wayna and Machu Picchu and the faintest outline of Inca ruins at the very top!
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| First sight of Machu Picchu from Hydroelectrico, delighted! |
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| Turn your head to the side and you see a face - check out the pointy chin and nose! |
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| A man and his dog. |
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| Choo choo! |
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| Howiya Picchu! |
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| Mad to think that Incas would have run along these same rivers and seen these same soft rocks. |
One remark I made upon entering Aguas Calientes which I ended up making time and time again was that it was fair enough that Machu Picchu was an unfinished empire because they had to break into the mountain to cut the stone for their buildings and fit them together perfectly but in the 21st century you'd think we would have come along a bit at least. But no, Aguas Calientes is most definitely a building site, and everything built to date is shockingly shoddy. The Incas would turn in their grave if they could see the brickwork! Cheeky assumption by Amoroso meant we were granted a matrimonial room 'con jacuzzi' though, how bad..
SEANIE ON TREKKING:
loads of walking and there was this weird peruvian guy that kept spitting (aka the llama) but a laugh all the same.
