Cusco-Machu Picchu-Cusco

Day 16 Sunday 21st December 2008
Full-day Pisac Market & Cuzco to Yucay Ollantaytambo Fortress

Our first full day in Cusco and we set out on a full day tour of some of the important landmarks around the city of Cusco. Cusco is a very important city in Peru, being the historic capital of the Inca Empire from 1200 until the Spanish conquistadors arrived in around 1532 - but no space for more history lessons here ... First stop was another local market, this time in the town of Pisac - endless alleys stacked with stalls full of local handicrafts and artwork ... suffice to say the spending budget got a bit of a workout.

In the afternoon we visited the ruins of the Ollantaytambo Fortress (our first Inca ruins), a great example of advanced Inca architecture. We saw the Temple of Ten Niches and at the top of the structure is the Temple of the Sun, the highest point of the fortress with the most intricate stone work, no doubt required to be worthy of worship to the Sun God. Ollantaytambo is another Inca town that was abandoned and/or destroyed when the Spanish rampaged through Peru in the early 1500s and established their dominance as the ruling nation over the indigenous people.

Day 17 Monday 22nd December 2008 Cusco to Yucay to Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes

Day 18 Tuesday 23rd December 2008 Aguas Calientes Morning then train back to Cusco

Another early morning rise in Cusco to catch the 6 am train to Macchu Picchu ... the train climbs out of Cusco up a zig zag "switchback" track then trundles off down series of long winding valleys of the Urubamba river ... at times you are staring up at near vertical cliffs on both sides of the train ... a 4 hour trip brings you to the tiny town of Macchu Picchu (formerly Aguas Calientes) nestled in a valley. Another 30 minutes on a bus climbs the side of the valley to the top of the mountain ridge.

You pass through an entry gate, round the corner on a narrow path to emerge onto the breath taking scene of the ruins of Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) - the ancient Inca city perched on top of the ridge just below the mountain of Machu Picchu. You can all read about the history of Machu Picchu on Wikipedia ... but again, just a stunning example of the ability of people hundreds of years ago and what their civilisations were able to achieve. The architecture and engineering in the stone work ... the intricate aqueduct system moving water through the town (parts of which are still working today ... the absolute accuracy of alignment to the poles in the various places of workship ... all speak of a highly intelligent and advanced civilisation for so long ago.

And the views are just spectacular ... we will let the few pics we can squeeze into the photo album speak for themselves ... we stuck out the showers and dull light of the morning to return to the ruins after lunch and be rewarded with some magnificent sunny breaks in the afternoon that just lit up the mountain. Our final morning in Machu Picchu town was spent wandering the narrow streets, attempting to further hone our bargaining skills and just enjoying the ambience.

The return train journey included some interesting additions from the staff to keep the tourists entertained - a fashion parade no less plus some guy dressed as what we assume was some sort of traditional clown or "court jester" style antics ... there were many bemused looks on faces ! We are now back in Cusco, and it's time for our "Amazing Race" to take a compulsory rest period ... we have three nights here, including Christmas Day and another half day tour of the city itself tomorrow. The rest of the time we'll just "chill" or wander the local streets of San Blas which are very safe.

Day 19 Wednesday 24th December 2008 Cusco

Day 20 Thursday 25th December 2008

 CHRISTMAS DAY in Cusco

We are now resting up in Cusco for Christmas Day - a very noisy night last night, it seems Christmas Eve in Cusco is the time for fireworks - not the sort we know that explode high into the sky, much smaller but just as noisy leading up to midnight. We enjoyed wandering through the hustle and bustle of the Christmas Eve markets in the main square - did not see much of the square itself because it was so crowded, we will wander back in the morning for another look. Also visited the Cathedral and some other Inca ruins around town yesterday on our city tour - seems to be two recurring themes in Cusco - the Incas were driven out when the Spainards arrived ... and pretty much every sacred Inca site was destroyed by either the conquistadors or the Catholic Church when they built cathedrals on top of the Inca temples.

It was quite ... shall we say interesting ... to visit the Cusco cathedral - a massive church of at least three cathedrals in one, each with it's own altar, constructed of local cedar wood and covered in 22 carat gold leaf. In the main cathedral, apparently the wooden altar was not good enough, as a huge new one of pure silver has been built in front of the original altar. Our tour guide also pointed all the side chapels where the various figures of Jesus and Mary were adorned in garments and crowns make of pure gold and covered in rubies and diamonds. We were also shown the "silver car", a 6,000 kg ceremonial carriage also made of pure silver that is driven around the main plaza once a year. It seemed somewhat ironic after all this when our tour guide then explained that Catholocism is not about money and possessions but about what is in your heart ... hmmm, did not quite ring true after seeing the excesses of material wealth on display - and of course you pay to get in !

Then to come out into the streets and see so many local people around the streets trying to eke out a living by selling anything and everything just to earn a few soles (the local currency - A0.40 per S) ... somewhere in time one would think the Catholic Church will have some explaining to do ...(err, sorry, end of soapbox speech). One final note - unfortunately, we got a little carried away with our Galapogas pics and ran out of quota, so have only been able to post a few photos of Cusco and Machu Picchu ... when we have out new monthly quota available on 1 Jan we will go back and add a few more pics from around Cusco.

Tomorrow we head south to Puno for the start of our next journey to Lake Titicaca and on into Bolivia.

More soon !