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Following our 4 day walk along the Inca Trail, we arrived back in Cuzco totally shattered. We needed a rest to re-charge our batteries. After a day or two we had the strength to walk up to the local inca ruins of Sacsaywamán (or 'Sexy Woman' as we liked to call it) - in it's day is was a massive military fort perched on a hill overlooking Cuzco city. Today only about 20% of the original structure remains with some of the stones weighing hundreds of tonnes. We spent the afternoon wondering around the site, mystified as to how the Inca people got such massive building blocks up there!
Food in Cuzco is great, but wildly varies in price. The tourist restaurants charge close to western prices, but if you stick to the 'menu economical' in the local hang outs it's easy to find a 3 or 4 course dinner for less than £2. That night we enjoyed a mushroom soup starter, fried fish main and a fruit juice for £1.12 each, bargain! Later, we meet up with some friends from the Inca trail for a few beers in the local Irish pub. It felt like being back to home, except the beer is cheaper. A large large bottle (two glasses) is about £1.50, but it is a bit disheartening to have to pay more for a beer than your 3 course dinner!
Our last destination in the 'sacred valley' was Pisac and it's Inca fortress, dramatically perched high on a mountain peak above. We spent half an hour wondering around Pisac's craft market - there's lots of fantastic hand made gems like alpaca jumpers and bizarre round flutes with amazing hand painted designs. But one problem with backpacking is the fact that you can't carry all these great souvenirs around with you and posting them home is expensive. Later we headed up to the Inca citadel on top of the mountain. We explored the site and found a great lunch spot over looking the valley below. There was a bus load of Peruvian school kids also exploring the ruins and they pestered Steph for photos - each taking it in turn to pose with her for a snap. Perhaps they mistook her for Julia Roberts!
That night we left Cuzco and caught the night bus to Arequipa (10hrs), the gateway to Colca Canyon. Amazingly it's twice the depth of the Grand Canyon and we plan to climb down and back up!
Check out ‘Peru - Cuzco & the Sacred Valley’ at http://gallery.me.com/peterjprice/101784
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