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Hallo everybody.
Now its time for an update of our time in Cuzco and the trek we did.
Everything was postponed a few days because Maria was sick (later we found out that it was salmonella). We lived in a neighbourhood called San Blas in a hostel with a belgian owner named Raf. We spend a few days seeing the major sites in and around the city.
We wanted to do a 9 day trek to Choquekiraw and Machu Picchu and Raf wanted to come with us, so we looked around for a company but it was hard to find one. Normally it was only 5 days trips or else it was very expensive. We wanted it cheap and all the way. We finally found a company and I guess we got what we paid for. Normally you get an english speaking guide, a horseman, a cook, mules and a horse (in case of an emergency). They skipped the guide because Raf spoke spanish and the horseman was as good as a guide- all right we thought, but when we came to the starting city they had only hired 2 guys and 3 mules....but the first night the cook abandoned us, he went back (the horseman said that he went to get more food- appaerently there was not enough food for 9 days...Next day a new guy came and we found out that the other guy was sick??? Well on the third day Raf broke down, had to turned back because of blisters and other ugly things on his foot: that solved the food problem (otherwise Anders would have eaten him). But the two guys were very nice and quite good cooks even though they had half the equipment that other groups had. (We saw 17 australian women get foot baths at one of the campsites...!).
The trek: 1. day was downhill in cloud forest and everything was just fine. We arrived at a little camp site with mango, guava and bananatrees around. Nice.
2. day: Crosssed a river and then up, up up for 6 hours...hot as hell and we were sweating (especially Maria, see picture...). We finally reached the camp close to Choquekiraw where we met 17 australian middleaged women. They were really serious- all the equipment and a very nice company giving them foot baths, snacks, toilet tent, dinner tent etc. They heard about our story and thought we looked miserable and gave us some of their snacks:-)
3. day: Woke up early, saw the clouds beneath us...beautiful. Rafs foot got worse and worse, but we went with us to the inca ruin: choquekiraw. They say its only 20% discovered yet and much bigger than Machu Picchu, we really enjoyed seeing it. Big ruins, huge terraces with lamas depicted on them and we also saw a condor. This was about the time when Raf broke down and realized he would not be able to make it the whole way. So- bye bye Raf and the two vikings went on.
4. day: then down. We were sweating and sweating and at the bottom at the canyon we hit a river where we took a little dip...sooo nice. The night before we had laso met 2 danish girls who also did the trek and met them at the river where we had lunch (and the mosquitos had lunch too.....). Then we went up, up up and we reached the camp for the night. It was at a plateau with a amazing view, Now it was only the danish people on the camp, most walk back after Choquekiraw.
5. day: we walked to a pass at 4100 m on the way we passed several mines. This was the most beautiful day, glaciers in the background and strange vegetation.
6 day: Maria turned 27...! We woke up because the mules kept stamping around our tent. We passed a pass at 4600 m the treks highest point. There was snow on the top and it was cloudy. Afterwards the trail went down for 4 hours and we ended up on a "camping ground" filled with chickens and dogs.
7.day. We passed some small hot springs called Aguas Termales. that looked like gravy, so we kept on walking...Then the scenery changed and we followed the river and walked amidst palmtrees, water falls and other exotic things. We ended that day in Santa Theresa where our guide for the next 2 days came. His name is Freddy but he really looked like a young Diego Maradona (and he thought that Anders looked like Chuck Norris..........). In this nice village they have really nice hot springs...ahhh, a nice little waterfall to cool us down. Stupid we forgot to bring the camera, but it´s all in the mind though.
8.day. Relaxing day, we took a train to Aguas caliente, which is the gateway to Machu Picchu. Anders got his phone stolen, apparantly by a little girl- at least thats who answered it! Hmmm. Aguas Caliente was packed with mosquitos and tourists, it was all right though. Marias legs had almost died from mosquitoes and fatigue so it was good to just be a normal tourist + we got to hang out with Diego Maradona one more day.
9. day. rise and shine very early to start the tourist race to get in line for the bus, then the entrance and finally to be one of the first 400 visitors that were allowed to climb Wayna Picchu (the big mountain). We made it! Even though there are so many people it doesnt feel too crowded because Machu Picchu is so big. Its very well preseved because the spanyards never came to this place and it was first really discovered in 1911 (although there were people living there...!).
The end of the 9 day trek.
Cuzco og omegn:
et par km udenfor Inkaernes gamle hovedstad ligger en stor ruin, Saqsaywaman (nogle siger sexy woman). Vi tog en guide derude og han fortalte at hele byen, dengang, er formet som en puma. Pumaen var en af Inkaernes helligste dyr og saqsaywaman var saa pumaens hoved....ja. Spanierne havde proevet at rive det ned men det stod saa solidt at det ikke lykkes dem. Inde i selve byen er der ogsaa mange templer hvoraf de fleste blev ommoebleret til kirker, men de nederste dele af vaeggene er Inka. Naar cuzco blev ramt af jordskaelv faldt det spanske ned men Inkaernes vaegge blev staaende, sejt. Byen er ogsaa fyldt med turister, specielt amerikanere, og underligt nok var det svaert at finde god mad fordi mange af restauranterne proever at lege italienske restauranter (hvilket de bare skulle tage og holde sig fra...!).
Vi besoegte ogsaa Den hellige dal, Valle de Sagrada, hvor der i de store byer er 2 store ruiner. Den ene, Ollantaytambo, havde smukke bjerge omkring sig og Inkaerne havde hugget et stort Inka ansigt ind i klippen, nice.
Efter turen tog vi sydpaa for at komme til Bolivia. Maria var bange for busturen pga tidligere erfaringer med opkast og bus, saa vi tog en bus med 5 stop hvor vi saa en fin kirke, et flot ruinkompleks, en lille by hvor der var fest og ogsaa et museum. Det gik egentlig ok men taet ved titikakasoen fik Maria det daarligt igen. Vi ville have vaeret videre over paa den bolivianske side naeste dag, men Maria fik det vaerre og naeste dag blev istedet til en hospitalsdag. Det var et lille hospital men laegerne var soede og meget interesserede i os, hold op vi snakkede om alt muligt andet i alng tid. Men, Maria fik et drop med vaeske og antibiotika og efter 13 timer...blev vi udskrevet.
Derefter tog vi en bus til Bolivia...
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