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We arrived in Lima around 10 pm and taxi´d it to Loki Hostel in Miraflores. The taxi driver was a bit crazy and seemed to be a bit jittery as if he was on something! He also drove like a madman but we have to say that we´re yet to come across a sane taxi driver in South America! They all think they´re ex racecar drivers!
Miraflores was nice with some nice shopping/bar/restaurant areas. We went to the cinema a couple of times.... Always seemed to pick the wrong films though cos we couldnt work out what the title was with our limited Spanish! One ended up being in Spanish and the other was one we´d seen before so both times we had to ask to change our tickets which they weren´t too happy about! Difficult to get them to understand our Spanglish but we do try.....!
We had one trip to Lima old town where we visited the San Fransisco Convent where there were catacombs housing the bones of around 20,000 people. It was quite eerie as before they opened the catacombs for public visits they arranged all of the dug up bones so that all of the bones which hadn´t decomposed (we decided they were probably femurs) were laid out neatly in huge wooden containers. Some of the bones and skulls that had been found in an old well were arranged in a pattern with the skulls in the middle with the bones surrounding them and some of the skulls had been placed in cracks in the walls. Hard not to think of all the unrested spirits of these 20,000 or so people with their bones being moved about in such a strange way!
Lima centre was dodgy as hell so we quickly returned to Miraflores.
We only had 2 days in Lima before catching the bus to Cusco. It was another 20 hour trip and the bus was no way as comfortable as the Argentine or Brazilian buses. The Ozzy couple who were sat in front of us were obviously new to the whole overnight bus experience and were amazed at how posh it was. It wasn´t the worst one we´ve been on, but when the seats were fully reclined the people in the seats behind can hardly move as the top of the seat in front practically rested on the other persons knees! We were very considerate of the people sat behind us, but this couple in front had no consideration at all and we therefore had a very uncomfortable journey not being able to move in the seats as their chairs were as far back as they could go. We kicked the chairs a few times while trying to free our legs in the night but it made no difference! We were happy to eventually arrive in Cusco after the non-stop-no-sleep 20 hour journey.
When we arrived at our hostel the owner welcomed us with a cup of coca tea to combat the affects of altitude sickness. We had tried the teabag verson before, but never made with actual coca leaves. Its nice though, we´ve gotten a bit of a taste for it! He then took us up to the terrace on the top floor to point out a few places in the town so we could find our way around. He made us dress up in traditional clothes like the indigenous people and took photos with our camera saying he was a photographer! He was a funny old man, a bit overpowering at times, but canny enough! He told us it was important to rest for a couple of hours to get used to the high altitude which we were happy to do after no sleep on the bus from Lima. We ended up pretty much sleeping the rest of the day away.
While in Cusco we did a tour of the Sacred Valley which are ruins left from the times of the Inca people. We climbed up the steps of the ruins which really exhausted us being so high up but it was a fantastic view from the top. This tour also included a trip to Pisac which is another little town not far from Cusco. We wandered around a market with loads of stalls selling mostly the same stuff; colourful tapestries, warm cosy jumpers, scarves, hats and gloves made from lama and alpaca wool, little trinkets, jewellery, etc etc. It was the biggest market we´ve been to yet, it went on for miles!
We also booked a trip to Machupicchu which was the main thing we wanted to do in Cusco. We´ve seen this written in so many different ways but after getting there ourselves have realised that this is the correct spelling!
We decided to book the tour which included one night´s stay at a small town called Aguas Calientes so that we could get to Machupicchu early morning, plus it worked out cheaper to do it that way. The train ride from Cusco to Aguas Calientes was supposted to take around 1 hour 40 minutes. About 1 hour 20 mins into the journey the train suddenly stopped and we were informed by the attendants a short while later that there had been a landslide and we would be delayed for approximately 1 hour while they cleared it. Apparently this is common during the rainy season. We were told that the engine from our train had to detatch and go back to the station where we boarded in Ollyantaytambo to pick up the machine that was needed to clear the landslide. As we were already over an hour into the journey we worked out that it would take at least 2 hours for the front end of our train to collect the machine and bring it back, at least an hour to clear the landslide, and another two hours to take the machine back to Ollyantaytambo and return to where we were! So we ended up being delayed for over 5 hours! We got talking to some other travellers on the train so it wasn´t too bad.
We were told by some of the other people we met that the carriage we were in was only for foreigners and they had a separate carriage for the locals. A couple of them had been separated from their partners and friends as they weren´t allowed to sit with them in the locals part of the train. The locals pay a whole lot less than the tourists and all the food and drink in their carriage is priced at 2 soles each, whereas the tourists pay around 9 or 10 soles for each drink or snack! Due to the delay we didn´t get to Aguas Calientes until about 7 pm when we were supposed to get there at around 2 pm.
You have to watch where you are walking in South America otherwise there is always a chance you will fall down a crack in the pavement! Ive tripped up myself quite a few times and as we were walking to the hostel we were chatting to another couple who were being shown to the same one. I noticed on the ground that they had channels for the rain water to run down the street to prevent flooding and I only took my eyes off the pavement for a second and ended up falling into one of the channels! Lol. So clumsy!
Anyway, we checked into the hostel which wasn´t all that great but we were only staying one night so we put up with it, and we went out for some food in the main square where there were loads of people shouting and waving at us trying to get us into their restaurant. We ended up having a three course meal for around 4 quid.
We got back to the hostel around 8pm as we were expecting our guide to arrive at that time to give us details of our tour for the next day. He didnt arrive until after 10pm. We were told that the first bus to Machupicchu was at 5.30 am and if we wanted to be two of the 400 people each day allowed to climb up the mountain we had to get there early to get tickets. So we set our alarm for 4 am the following morning so we could get up and have breakfast at the hostel which started at 4.30 am. It was a crap breakfast of bread and jam (seemingly the staple Peruvian diet!) but it would have to do to give us some energy for the day ahead. We set off for the bus stop at around 5 am. It was drizzling a little which was a bummer as we didnt think we´d get any good views if it didnt clear up. We were amazed at how many people were at the bus stop already. We didnt think there was any way we would get on the first bus and the next was 2 hours later at 7.30, but the buses started to arrive at 5.30 and there ended up being around 20 or so mini buses so everyone waiting managed to get on. The ride was half an hour uphill to Machupicchu. We saw a few people hiking up with their torches and waterproofs but we were glad we´d opted for the lazy route!
We got to the front gates around 6 o´clock and the queue was already miles long. Once we got through the gates we followed the trail to Waynapicchu Mountain to get our tickets to climb after 10 am. We ended up waiting in another queue for around 30 mins as everyone who had got there early obviously did so for the same reason. Then we went back to the entrace to meet our guide for the tour which started around 8.30 am. We had 2 hours of the tour which took us around most of the ruins. To begin with it looked like it was going to rain all day and it was really misty so we didnt get a very good view after hiking it up the first lot of steep stairs. I ended up buying a plastic poncho as my waterproof jacket is not really waterproof in the heavy rain! Luckily after half an hour or so it cleared up completely and it was hot and sunny for the rest of the day and we had perfect views of everything. I had to carry the stupid plastic sheet around with me all day as there were no bins inside the ruins but at least it was protection for my clothes when climbing up dirty muddy mountains!
We were really impressed and amazed at the size of the city. It was totally not what we had expected at all. We knew we had around 6 hours or more in Machupicchu and to be honest we thought we´d get bored! But we definitely didnt. It was definitely one of the most amazing sights we have seen so far on our travels; we were totally in awe of it all!
Our tour finished at around 11 o´clock and we set off to Waynapicchu for the climb. It is said to take around an hour to get to the top of the mountain and the same to get back down as it is pretty high and very steep. At that time Rob was well up for the climb but I was feeling a bit light-headed and short of breath as we hadn´t had much to eat apart from a couple of bits of bread at 4.30 and with all the clambering over the ruins at that altitude its very exhausting. I didnt feel like I had the energy to climb up a mountain. But as we had the tickets we thought we would give it a go. When you look at a photo of Machupicchu from a certain view, you can flip the picture round anti-clockwise and the mountains look like a face (we have an excellent photo of that view so will try and get it on Facebook soon...). When we got through the gate at the beginning of the path to the mountain we saw that there was a shorter route we could go so instead of climing Waynapicchu which forms the huge nose of the face, we could climb the other mountain, Huchyapicchu, which forms the chin. So we opted for that instead as the clouds and mist from the morning had totally cleared and it was really getting hot so we thought this would be the easier option. We managed to make it to the top in about half an hour. It was really good fun and once we got started the adrenaline rush hit and we wished we´d attempted the higher mountain instead! It was a difficult climb as it was steep and unsteady ground, but a great achievement to get to the top!
We ended up spending around 8 hours at the ruins as there was so much to see; we definitely didnt get bored! We were going to walk the hour and a half trail back down to Aguas Calientes to catch our train, but after 8 hours of hiking up and down steep steps and mountains etc. we decided to take the lazy bus route instead....we were very glad as it started to chuck it down just after we got off the bus! We went for some food before our train at a French-Peruvian restaurant called Indio Feliz which was recommended in the Lonely Planet, and by the family we had met earlier that day. Ohmigod, it was the most amazing food we have eaten so far this year! We had 3 courses for around 10 quid and it was fantastic. Properly set out like a work of art! And loads and loads of food. My salad starter could have fed three people! I couldnt resist taking a photo of it....! Fantastic.
The train back to Cusco was around 4 hours so we had a little snooze after our long day. We had booked an extra couple of nights at the hostel we were staying at so we didnt have to keep packing up and moving (it´s quickly become a pain in the arse!). It was more like a family home with guest bedrooms and the use of a guest kitchen and it was comfortable and clean so we were quite happy to stay there for the 5 nights we had in Cusco. Plus they let us leave our rucksacks there free of charge while we did our Machupicchu trip so that was a bonus. When we paid our final bill we needed 4 soles change but the owner, Señor Ochoa, gave us 5 soles and told Rob that the extra sole was "to pay for a party" with me! Eeewwww! I politely refused! Still, nice to know Im only worth around 20p! haha
We booked our next trip with the same agent who organised Machupicchu as we were really happy with the service we got - personal service from the manager included! We decided we were going to miss our flight from Lima to Santiago on 2 April as we wanted to go to Bolivia which wasnt on our original itinery. The agent organised for us to do a trip from Cusco to Puno, then a visit to Lake Titicaca and straight on to La Paz, Bolivia and it worked out really cheap. The trip from Cusco to Puno was 9 hours and included 5 stops at little villages along the way. The scenery on this trip was amazing so it didnt seem like 9 hours at all.
We stayed one night in Puno which is a nice little town near to Lake Titicaca and then on the Saturday we had a half day visit to the Uros islands on the Lake. Lake Titicaca translates as "Gray Puma" as the lake is in the shape of a puma and the puma was a very significant animal during the Inca times. The snake, puma and condor represent the three levels of Inca life; the lower world, this world and the higher world.
The Uros islands are loads of little islands made solely of reeds. The houses, beds, chairs, boats - everything is made out of the same reeds. The families that live on the islands are so welcoming to visitors. They dress in bright colourful clothes and they sang for us and took us into their homes. They let us try their typical food which was raw reeds (tasted quite sweet and had a texture a bit like celery only not as crunchy) and cookies made from the same reeds (these were savory cookies and were a little bit like deep fried crunchy bread rolls). They made all the women visitors dress up in their clothes and take photos. It was amazing to see what a different life they lead. We bought a couple of little souvenirs (I bought a necklace and a hand-sewn tapestry and Rob bought a minature handmade boat) and took a ride on their reed boat, which had puma heads on each side, to another island on the other side of the lake. It was definitely well worth the visit and we have some great photos to remember it by.
Our bus that afternoon took us over the boarder into Bolivia and here begins our next blog......
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