Cuzco is a tourist mecca and one which we have really enjoyed stopping and spending some time in. Cuzco was once the heart of the Inca Empire and has amazing cobblestone streets, a beautiful plaza and lots of tourists!!!!
We spent 3 days in Cuzco acclimatizing to the altitude (3300 metres above sea level) which we felt the effects of at first but luckily enough acclimatized quickly enough to enjoy our first bout of stomach issues. We cannot blame the food totally though as everything is delicious here. The lack of oxygen certainly affected our budget as we went slightly crazy at the towns markets where we bought a lovely 3m by 2.5m alpaca living room rug. All we need now is a living room!!!!!! Hopefully Serpost in Peru is good and this should be reaching Auckland in 4 weeks (everyone please cross fingers!). Coca leaves are used by the Quechuan people to help relieve the affects of altitude sickness so before long we were chewing these, drinking these and even sucking these in lollies. Coca leaves are what is used to make cocaine but we were told that we would need to chew alot before any similiar affects were felt.
The main reason we stopped in Cuzco was to do a trek and visit Machu Picchu. Unfortunately this year the number of tourists that can trek the Inca Trail was reduced by half and was therefore totally booked out until September when we tried to book in February. An alternative trek which we ended up booking was the Salkantay Trek and one which we would now thoroughly recommend. We spent 5 days walking at various altitudes (the highest being 4600metres above sea level). The highlights of the trek were many including being in a group of four with another Dutch couple who we got along with really well - the cards that we had bought were a great success and we ended up playing a common NZ drinking game most nights (just without the alcohol!). The first night of the trek was extremely cold (even by Phil standards) so we were quite happy to see the sunrise on the 2nd day, the view from the top of the Salkantay Pass was beautiful although Adrienne didn´t appreciate quite as much as she was very puffed (mainly due to the altitude of 4600m!!!!!), this second day was a long hike (total 9 hours) however we were rewarded by a soak in our own outdoor hotsprings.
Many of the other companies doing this trek then went on to a small town where there were other hot springs instead we crossed another large mountain to get our first glimsp of Machu Picchu. The night before Willem and Phil joined our tour guide Jose to play the locals in a game of football. As with everything, the game was played for money but Willem and Phil did Corlyn and I proud by winning the first two games against the 14 year olds but unfortunately loosing against the elder 18 year old local kids. Good effort considering they had walked for 5 hours before playing! Well worth the two sols that it cost them!
Machu Picchu itself is hard to describe as the allure comes mostly from the sense of grandness of the Inca lost city and the likely lives of the Quechuan pèople. We arrived at dawn on a beautiful clear day and toured the city before making the hour climb to the top of Wayna Picchu - not great for our already sore legs but well worth the view.
Here is a quick video that Phil took at the top of Wayna Picchu - don´t try if on dial up!Total kms walked on the Salkantay Trek = 75 - not a lot some people would say but at altitude this is slightly more difficult!!!
About to board another overnight bus to Arequipa and then foolishly we are doing yet another trek in the Colca Canyon.
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