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So after a brief stay in Lima (staying in an airport hostel, and seeing a couple of factories and a massive jail) we arrived in Cuzco on Wednesday morning. Cuzco is about 3,500m above sea level and whilst neither of us got particularly bad altitude sickness we woke up with pounding hangovers, but without the night out beforehand.
Did a guided tour round the Sacred Valley - 45mins per sacred Inca spot then back onto the bus. But was very interesting. I ended up not liking the Spanish very much - in their desire to colonise South America they almost wiped out half the Inca race. Not with war, but syphillis, dirty Don Juans. Its incredible to see how they built such huge structures with minimal tools. One site we went to had rocks weighing over 50 tonnes (each) that came from over 10kms away. No one knows exactly how the rocks were moved, but think it has something to do with gravel and ramps.
Jon also forced me to spend a day going round museums. Which taught me I need to plan better itinearies going forward to stop that from happening again. Two things caught my attention all day . The first was a map of the milky way where the Inca's see shapes not by joining up the stars, but by looking at the black spaces between them. There was of course a llama in the milky way. (There is a display of Christmas lights in the main square in the evenings now which includes the nativity llama...)
The second thing was in a convent where they have decided to show you how nuns live by putting mannequins dressed as nuns in random places around the building. Nuns sewing! Nuns confessing! Nuns having dinner! All in silence. You never knew where the next nun was going to be and they made me jump alot. I think i may have been mildly hysterical by that point. Then we saw a real life nun hurrying to the chapel, which prompted lots of 'Nuns on the Run' jokes.
Mum, you will be pleased to know that we have been going to bed about 9pm most nights - maybe its a South American thing. Though I did make it to 10.03pm on Friday!
We stayed 5 nights in Cuzco, partly to aclimatise and partly for Jon to wind down as he only finished work on Friday, but we both think it might have been a little too long. When Jon announced this morning he had an urge to go to church, we knew it was probably time to move on. So we leave for our Inca trek tomorrow - 3 days, 3 nights and 47km to Machu Picchu. We are the oldest in the group which includes eight 23 year old Australians, so we are expecting to bring up the rear, but get there eventually....
This week we...
STAYED...
- ...at Ninos II hotel in Cuzco. Best 2 star hotel I've been in and couldn't understand the rating until we realised there was no curtains, just a roof window that brings in the sunshine at 4.30am every day. The hotel was set up by a Dutch lady who moved to Peru 10 years ago, and is used to fund her charity work with street children in Cuzco - 2 foster families and 2 restaurants that feed 250 children every day.
ATE...
- Alpaca. Well Jon did anyway. We have yet to try the beef hearts and guinea pig - saving those for a post trek treat.
- At Jacks, an Australian place near the main square with amazing breakfasts. So good we went there twice to have more of the baked beans.
- Peruvian nandos at Los Toldos - probably the only place we went to with a proper mix of locals and tourists.
- Wood fired Pizza at Pizza Carlo. Awesome.
LEARNT...
- Quechua is not just a cheapbrand of clothing from Decathalon.
- Plastic nuns are really scary, in a Dr Who episode kind of way.
- Buffet lunches on an organised tour are never really a good idea, but sometimes it is better not to know what exactly is in the 'meat' dish.
- If I don't buy an Inca hat from you it is obviously because you havent stood in front of me muttering for long enough. Just keep going and eventually i will crack.
- I will never tire of panpipes.
NEAR-MISSES WITH CHICKENS...
- One. I went into a corner shop to buy water and when i walked past it later a chicken came out. Ergo it was probably in there earlier. Close one.
- comments
SHarris Remember on your trek walk like an old man and feel like a young man! Seriously you'll those Aussie boys way behind, no one can fight the altitude no matter how many coca leaves you have!
Teresa mmm---- must have been the communion wine that Jon was thinking about!! You should now be about half way through your trek so looking forward to seeing the photos later.
June The trek looked very hard work and the wet weather gear looked like the sort you get at Alton towers when you go on the log flume! Very fetching! Hope it is as good as it looks and everything you hoped for