May 25, 2008 by Naomi.

We had a lovely few days to discover Cuzco, and also had the pleasure of helping a few Peruvian students out with a couple of interviews to practise their English. Our departure for the Inca trail was somewhat traumatic. Having gone to bed early looking for a good, strength-building night’s sleep we quickly discovered that the nightwatchmen/security guard in the street had the most annoying habit of forcefully blowing his whistle approximately 3 minutes after we fell asleep. Everytime we fell asleep. And with frustrating regularity until 4.30 when we had to get up, pack the bags and head off in to the dark and our bus to the trail. Despite leaving at 5am we did not actually get walking until 10am. The whole process of collecting the 17 other people in our group took over an hour, and another 2-hour journey to the start of the trail where we had to stop for breakfast and last minute toilet paper stock up (perfumed - more about this later!!) at Ollantaytambo.

The weather was beautiful and hot, and Mount Veronica looked over us from behind as we set off on our journey (see photos). The trail starts of largely flat so the going was easy, although being the mountains means there were a couple of steep hills thrown in. Lunch, a full-on meal was set out in a proper dining tent with tables and chairs, and bowls with water and soap were even set out so we could wash our hands. Our first challenge faced us after lunch as we headed steadily uphill, eventually to our first campsite although this would be nothing compared to what we were to hike the following day. With no shower to look forward to, it was a lovely surprise to find flannels and bowls of hot water put outside our tents, an unexpected and welcome substitute.

The next morning was cool, damp and misty and, with the ominously named Dead Woman’s Pass to climb, spirits were mixed. A long, progressively slower viewless trudge through the mist, eventually led to the pass at a lung-testing 4200 metres. But it wasn’t over there, as we still had a steep knee-crunching descent to our lunch spot, and then another breath-taking ascent to a second pass. It was when we were making our way down from the second pass that the mist finally cleared to give us a fantastic view to reveal just how majestic our surroundings were. Huge peaks punctured the clouds as the sun’s rays forced their way through which made arriving at Sayaqmarca all the more surreal. We’ll let the camera do the talking for this one!

After inspecting the ruins, we were very relieved to hike our first flat path for over a day, and extremely thankful to the Incas, as it wouldn’t be if it wasn’t for their excellent building skills. Things got even better when we arrived at the campsite and found ourselves with an excellent view of the snow-topped Andes across the valley. A lie in wasn’t going to be possible the next day either as we were to watch the sun rising over them (see photos), with tea brought to our tent doors by the hard-working porters to warm us up in the very cool mountain air.

One of the major and, for some, traumatic experiences that one encounters on the Inca Trail are the loos. N was greatly relieved to see that most of them were squat toilets (holes in the ground), something that many others eyed with grim dread. Let’s face it, it’s a hell of a lot easier to go about one’s business squatting than it is trying to aim hover over a filthy toilet seat. Indeed, it’s exactly in places like this that toilet seats fail to serve their purpose because everyone is too frightened to sit on them and they become extremely dirty. However, even the squat toilets can become unusable, especially as one poor soul was so scared of the hole that their mess ended up all over the foot pedestals, rendering at that point, only two of the six loos utile.

Our third day saw us hiking for only half the day, and admiring some more ruins and fabulous orchids on the way. Two big treats were in store for us when we arrived at the campsite: hot showers and beer, both of which we had to pay over the odds for, but worth every penny. Despite being absolutely exhausted, after a few invigorating bottles of Cuzqueña we found the extra energy to go and check out Wiñawayna, a very impressive set of ruins 10 minutes from the campsite and equally as impressive but not nearly as trampled as Machupicchu, mainly for its water system which still functions after 500 years. The channels are not only designed to get to each and every household, but also the type of stream (sticking out or flat) which one requires can be adjusted merely by moving your hand across the stream of water! The beer continued flowing into the evening as Carl, one of our fellow hikers, had a birthday to celebrate , but not too late as we had to wake up at the ungodly hour of 3:30, to be one of the first groups in the queue to go through the check point at half past five (45 minute wait) and almost literally run to the Sun Temple an hour away to get our first glimpse of Machupicchu in the morning sun. As it was light before the sun rose we saw it before the sun graced it with its powerful rays, but it was glorious to get our first glimpse all the same, especially as it marked the end of our adventure, and happily the rest of the way was all down hill. As we strolled down towards it (nobody seemed to be in such a rush anymore), the sun eventually did cast its rays down to show off the Incan site in all its glory. Being so exhausted the experience was utterly surreal and, unfortunately, with sleep-deprived brains resting from the early morning exertion, little of what we were taught about the place sunk in (hence our inability to provide any detail in certain photos), but we would not have arrived any other way. And we’ve left plenty of Macchupichu to explore for the next time we come. For some reason that morning, we decided that the best thing to do was make our way up the near vertical climb to the top of Waynapicchu, the mountain that gives Machupicchu its spectacular backdrop; where the energy came from we have no idea, but again it was well worth it and nearly killed the camera with the quantity of photos we took.

In the evening, we caught our train back to Ollantaytambo, the conversation during which was dominated by American values and politics. We were most impressed with Jessica’s (who works in a law office) story about the woman who was driving her RV somewhere in Florida, put the thing on cruise control and went into the back to make a cup of tea, and successfully sued the RV company for the resulting damages. We eventually found our bus back to Cuzco, although our driver didn’t make it too easy. The journey was made irritatingly longer when he went zooming past the hotels he was supposed to drop us off at, and we had to go around the whole one way system again. On arrival at our flat, we bumped into the night watchman and begged him to go and blow his whistle in another part of town, which he promptly ignored. Luckily we were so exhausted we slept like logs.

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May 11, 2008 by Naomi.

As we have seen several times, there is no such thing as a silent bus journey in South America. The poorer the country, the noisier the journey. In Peru, we chose the poshest bus company for our journey from Tacna to Arequipa, but paying more does not guarantee a peaceful journey, it ensures a constant barrage of ‘entertainment’. With Cruz del Sur, this involved music (and always the same CD) of ‘Peruvian’ music, the usual spat of crap films and a lively game of bingo. So we arrived in Arequipa not feeling so tranquil. Nevertheless, all was forgotten on arrival at our Hostal Casablanca, where we received a very warm welcome from the lovely receptionist and were overjoyed on seeing our vaulted room with TV, sofa, private bathroom, all for the princely sum of US$30 (and not a patch on some of the more expensive, dirtier places we’d stayed at in Chile).

We could have spent more time in Arequipa as there was plenty to do, but we only had a night and a day to enjoy it, and we were also suffering from lack of oxygen due to our newly acquired 2,800 metre altitude, so had to take it easy. The Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a convent still housing nuns (and has done so for several hundred years, originally in total isolation) is a really great place to explore with its alleyways, named after Spanish towns, and its numerous nuns’ rooms (best take a look at photos). It also houses a vast collection of religious art. We also visited another pre-colombian museum (Museo Santuarios Andinos de la Universidad Católica de Santa María) which is most renowned for housing a very famous mummy, known as Juanita or the Ice Maiden.

Roughly 550 years ago, a very noble, beautiful, healthy girl of 13 or 14 years old, dressed in her very best Incan attire, set off from Cuzco on a three-month hike to the summit of Volcan Ampato (near Arequipa) with an entourage of priests and various other people. When she arrived, traumatised as she would have been by the cold, her sore feet and the very high altitude at over 6,000 metres. She would have been terrified as well. But it was nothing compared to what they had in store for her next. After having eased her pain and numbed her senses with a good dose of coca leaf-chewing and chicha (an corn-based alcoholic drink), they whacked her on the back of the head to kill her, mummified her body and buried her at the top of the Volcano with numerous Incan trinkets and coca leaves, a fate which many other noble Inca children shared. These sacrifices were commited in the belief that that by offering these poor dead children to the Incan god, Apus, they were protecting their communites from various natural disasters, such as earthquakes and, rather appriopriately (or not), erupting volcanos. It is also important to note that the Inca culture regarded nature as sacred, and that these sacrifices were not only a way of giving back to nature, but also giving something back to their ancestors (the children were thought to be rejoining them in their death). For this reason the children that were chosen were of very high birth and had no health or skin defects whatsoever.

In 1995, Juanita the Ice Maiden was found near the top of Ampato Volcano, having recently fallen down a few hundred metres from the top after the eruption of nearby Volcan Sabancaya. Her body was almost completely intact and her remains extremely well-preserved by the ice, to the point that her organs had not dehydrated (she is therefore not, technically, a mummy) which is what makes her more famous than her peers found on various other volcanos in the whole area (including northern Chile and northwest Argentina). Juanita was at the laboratory when we visited, so unfortunately we did not see her, but saw one of her fellow mummies instead, not quite so well-preserved and quite a fright to look at, found on Volcan Misti, also near Arequipa.

That evening saw us board the nightbus to Cuzco, with some trepidation as LP advised against it due to various hijackingings, not to mention dodgy driving and accidents, that tend to occur in Peru. We were somewhat comforted by the fact that Cruz del Sur not only videos everyone getting on the bus, but then again when all are seated. We were less impressed when we realised our seats at the front and top of the double-decker bus gave us full view of the driver’s rather unsavoury driving antics. After witnessing the first few overtaking manoeuvres on blind mountainous corners we decided that it would be best to shut the curtains on the premise that what we didn’t know could not hurt us. Luckily Cruz del Sur ended the usual barrage of entertainment around midnight and we would have slept very well in our comfortable seats if the two German girls opposite hadn’t thought it appropriate to wake everyone up with a couple of lively chats in the middle of the night.

Having arrived at 6:30am we had a fair bit of time to kill before we could get into our apartment, so we used it constructively by visiting the cathedral and joining mass. The cathedral is free to get into before 9am, and although technically off-limits to tourists, they are tolerated. The 50 soles we would have paid to get in, eventually went to all the beggars around the town, as we thought them somewhat more deserving than the church. Mass was less than inspiring; the Catholic Church in Peru seems to have little guidance to offer its congregation, apart from worshipping the usual holy trio, and repeating largely the same things over and over again. The indigenous population in Peru is devoutly Catholic. According to our Inca Trail guide, when the Inca king was kidnapped by the Spanish and then killed, despite the Incas having paid the ransom of two rooms of gold and silver (clearly this wasn’t enough for our greedy European forebears), the Inca population was told, with the head of the king for all to see, that they would worship the Spanish god, or else. So the church appears to have played a more mediaeval and repressive role around these parts. However, the locals were not completely subjugated. On looking closer at Cusqueño religious art, the indigenous population have conveyed their own version of events with their own streak of irony. Francisco Pizarro, the Spaniard who discovered and conquered Cuzco, is portrayed in place of Judas in the Last Supper painting hung in the cathedral.

A visit to Qorikancha (an Inca Temple), now called Iglesia de Santo Domingo, reveals much about Cuzco’s history. It was here that the Spanish first set their avaricious eyes on solid gold and silver statues and replicas of babies, animals and food, not to mention the walls and altars being lined with huge sheets of the stuff. Gold was very important as it was used to represent the sun, while silver was equally important in its representation of the moon. Modern eyes will never set eyes on any of these things as the Spanish ran off with the lot, melted it down, and we assume that most of it can now be found in churches around Spain in the form of gaudy candlesticks and trinkets and jewellery to decorate the thousands of virgins paraded around towns every Easter. All very Christian indeed!

This building was also very important as it still has many Incan foundations in the form of the their famous walls, made of huge bricks so perfectly fitted together and without any kind of concrete, we humble moderners still have to work out how they did it. The huge bricks were of a trapezoidal shape ensuring that buildings would not fall during earthquakes. Spanish constructions since then have proved somewhat less durable and have not survived the earthquakes that terrorise the area every so often. Incan walls can be found in many ruins around Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Another must-visit in the area is Saqsayhuaman (unfortunately sounds like ’sexy woman’), where one can also find some excellent workmanship in more Inca walls, although very little remains today as once again the Spanish ran off with most of the stones to build their own houses. Despite this the site is sizeable and represents one of the most militarily significant sites around Cuzco, as it was here that the last few battles between the Incas and the Spanish occurred before the former finally lost and retreated to Ollantaytambo (more about that later). The view over Cuzco and the surrounding valley from the site is excellent.

The Incas were very devout in worshipping the Pachamama (Mother Earth) and as we have seen, showed the utmost respect for their natural surroundings. Unfortunately, although still worshipped in theory (before drinking it is traditional to spill the liquid on the ground as a tribute to her), the quantity of rubbish that is generated by locals and tourists alike and lack of rubbish-collecting facilities means that this respect has not survived to the modern day.

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