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Cuzco and Sacred Valley
After two nights in Lima we flew to Cuzco in the Peruvian highlands. This was to be our base for the coming days as we checked out the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu.
Cuzco's elevation is 3600 m above sea level. Getting the bags after the flight and walking to the taxi was enough to leave us panting. By the time we had checked in to our hotel I wasn´t feeling great, at all. The altitude was in the proces of taking it's first victim. As we had a couple of days in Cuzco to get used to the altitude we spent it looking around in the shops, sites and museums. I was hopeless for nearly all of it due to altitude sickness. This combined with a cold/chest infection meant I was laid pretty low. Things reached a low on the evening of the second day when I wasn't well enough to attend dinner. Laura did a mission in the pouring rain determined to find me chicken soup, and she succeded - awesome of her. Couldn´t really get out of bed so it saved my arse. Also I think the non coherant ranting at 3am that night might have been a test for her - semingly i was enquiring how big my imaginary red sleeping bag was? I also had vsions of Niall Pelly walking around in his school uniform in Cuzco? hmmmm...Laura hasnt been sick at all the little trouper - apart from getting sick of me whinging all the time. Unlikely. So it's been plenty of coca tea and vry little exertion to get things sorted.
The following day we went from Cuzco through the Sacred Valley. Essentially the river has cut the valley and the very fertile valley floor. This has supported life for thousands of years therefore the Inka's were present and we were keen to check out their ruins and see what their desendants were getting up to. From what I could gather the corn grown here is the best in the world. massive kernals. 3-4 cms long some of them. It also seemed evidant that the farming techniques had changed little in 500 years. Manually ploughing a feild by hand of with oen was the norm. No quad bikes or lrge 4x4s at all.
We learned that the word Inca historically referered to the king (as in for example a pharaohs in egypt) as opposed to a whole civilisation - but it has stuck. The ruins we saw at Pisco were impressive. the Inca walls and terraces are very well designed to say the least. They used stone retaining walls for agriculture that faced the sun to retain heat. The purpose was for the stones to retain heat to warm the soil at night and make for good plant growth. All of these terraces and ruins are perched at a dizzying height over the valley.
We also checked out Olantaytambo where some more ceremonial ruins are located. Some of the ruins used for food storage were cut in to the valley walls looked like something out of the Lord of the Rings. Madness.
The town itself was nice enough but heavily set up for tourists. At this point we are getting a tad tired of the amount of touts etc hassling you in the streets. It comes with the territory in these parts but it does wear thin after a while especially when it is rammed down your throat.
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