CUZCO
We
spent the third part of our trip to Peru in Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire, and
today is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world. Cuzco is one of Peru’s larger cities, and is
also the center of tourism in South America.
This is primarily because it is the jumping off point to visit Machu
Picchu, the lost city of the Incas.
We
planned to spend 3 days in Cuzco before starting our trek on the Inca Trail to
Machu Picchu. We needed those 3 days to
acclimate to the altitude. Cuzco’s
elevation is over 10,000 feet, and we were coming directly from sea level. Fortunately Cuzco offers plenty of things to
see and do. In fact, the more I
researched the area, the more I realized that we’d never be able to see it all
in the short time we’d be there.
PRESS PASS
Our
hotel was supposed to pick us up at the Cuzco airport, but we missed them due
to our late arrival. We picked up our
luggage, and walked with Jeff and the family out to the street running past the
airport. Jeff helped us get a taxi
there, which was cheaper than taking one from the airport itself. We each headed to our hotels, but made plans
to meet for lunch after checking in.
The
ride to our hotel was exciting. Our
hotel, the Hostal Pension Alemana,
is located in artsy San Blas district of Cuzco.
San Blas is in the hills on the north side of city. Getting up there involved winding our way up
steep, narrow alleyways. Some of the
streets were barely wide enough for the taxi to pass. On several occasions I thought we’d lose a
mirror, or worse. The roads reminded me
a little of the back alleys of San Francisco.
I thought we might have to walk the last stretch, but somehow our driver
managed to deliver us to the front door of the hotel.
We
checked in and dropped our luggage off in our room. The room was quite nice, and the entire
hostel was pleasant. There was a lovely
garden outside our room, full of a variety of blooming flowers. The view was nice, too, looking out over Cuzco.
We
picked up a map of Cuzco from the front desk and headed out. Our goal was to meet Jeff and the family at
Jack’s Café for lunch. Our taxi was long
gone, and hailing another one up there wasn’t an option. The hotel could’ve called one for us, but we
decided to hoof it. Using the map, we
headed back down through San Blas towards the Plaza de Armas
in the center of town. We wound our way
through narrow cobblestone alleys and down precariously steep staircases,
passing an assortment of restaurants and shops.
We eventually stumbled upon the cafe and found Jeff and the family
waiting for us there. We had a pretty
good lunch and discussed our plans for the afternoon.
Our
visit coincided with Inti Raymi,
the ancient Inca festival of the sun. Inti Raymi is the biggest holiday
in Incan culture, and people from all over Peru and the world travel to Cuzco
for it each year. We had missed some of
the festivities that morning, but the culmination of the festival was taking
place that afternoon at the nearby ruins of Saqsaywaman. Christy and I wanted to go, as it promised to
be a unique experience. Jeff was also
interested, but Luz was definitely not feeling up to it. Nikki decided to take her back to the hotel,
while Jeff, Bonnie, Christy and I headed up to the festival.
I
was still feeling squeamish myself, and I wondered if I was making a wise
choice. There would be thousands of
people up there. What would the bathroom
situation be like? I swiped some toilet
paper from Jack’s bathroom, which proved to be the best decision I made all
day. In Peru, toilet paper is like
American Express – don’t leave home without it!
Our
first challenge was getting up there. Saqsaywaman is a couple of miles from town, but it’s all
uphill. Cuzco’s elevation is over 10,000
feet, and we had just arrived from sea level.
Trying to walk up there would’ve been asking for altitude sickness. In fact, just walking around the hills of San
Blas was exhausting. We decided to get a
taxi.
This
turned out to be more difficult than expected.
The first two cabs we hailed couldn’t take us. The drivers explained (to Jeff, in Spanish)
that the police had closed off the road and weren’t letting cars through. We had better luck with the third driver to
stop. He had a press pass, and instructed us to tell the police that we were
with El Television if questioned! The
fare was 30 soles (about $10), which would normally be outrageous, but today it
was understandable considering the risk the driver was taking.
He
whisked us up the mountain, and we were only stopped once. We waved our cameras and smiled at the police
and they let us through. Our driver
dropped us off on the road adjacent to the ruins. I was stunned by what I saw. There were massive crowds everywhere! There were people scattered up and down the
hillsides. Cooking fires were burning
everywhere. The scene reminded me of a
giant concert, or tailgate party.
We
walked through the zoo, and passed the longest line of port-a-potties I’ve ever
seen. I was definitely relieved to see
them! From there we climbed over a hill
overlooking the ruins. On the far side
we found a view of the pageantry below.
There was a horde of people surrounding us, but at least it was
free. A ticket for a seat in the
bleachers below would’ve cost us $90 each.
We could watch the festival and not know what was going on just fine
from where we were!
The
festival included music and dancing and processions and priests in armor and
warriors in loincloths. It also featured
the ceremonial removal of an Alpaca’s beating heart (these days, alpacas are
not harmed during the festival, although that wasn’t always the case in the
past). The festival was hard to follow,
as everything was in the native language (Quechua). Watching the crowd may have been more
interesting than the festival itself. It
was really an authentic experience.
There were only a few gringos on the hillside surrounding us. I knew we were in a different culture when I
witnessed a toddler pull down her pants and pee in front of the whole
world. I guess she didn’t want to use
the port-a-potties. I found out why a
little later.
We
stayed for a couple of hours before getting restless standing on the side of
the hill. By that point, we all needed
to brave the port-a-potties. We headed
back out and found our way to the toilets.
We all got in one line, and Bonnie went first. When she came out, she looked like she’d seen
a ghost. This was not encouraging.
What
followed was the second worst port-a-potty experience of my life. It wasn’t the worst – that occurred at a
2-day Phish festival concert in the south Florida heat. This was only slightly less disgusting. In fact, I don’t want to think about it, so
that’s all I’m going to say on the subject.
Don’t worry though, there will be lots more
about toilets to come!
Getting
a ride down to Cuzco didn’t appear to be an option, so we hoofed it. Walking back down wasn’t so bad, and we
joined a throng of revelers down the main trail towards town. Somehow we managed to figure out where we
were and find our way to our hotel. As
we walked, Christy and I discussed our options for the next two days. We were scheduled to begin our trek on the
Inca Trail on Sunday, so we had two full days free. Our primary goal was to acclimate to the high
altitude before our hike. We also wanted
to see some of the sights in and around Cuzco.
Unfortunately, visiting some of them requires purchasing a tourist
ticket. The tourist ticket, which is
rather expensive at $43 per person, provides access to many of the most popular
attractions. However, we knew we’d never
have time to visit many of those places.
NO GRACIAS
I
left Christy at the hotel, while Jeff and I went into town to visit SAS
Travel. I discussed our options for the
next two days with a representative there.
I ended up booking us on a tour of the Sacred Valley for the next
day. We wanted to see the Inca ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo, and
doing so on an organized tour seemed like the easiest option. The tour was reasonably cheap, and we could
purchase a pass covering the three sites on the tour for considerably less
($23) than the full tourist ticket. On
Saturday I figured we’d explore Cuzco and visit some of the places that didn’t
require the pass.
Jeff
and I concluded our business and walked back towards San Blas. Along the way we were propositioned every few
seconds by someone selling something.
Every few seconds one of us said “No Gracias” and waved some hopeful
vendor away. Most persistent were the
young girls offering massages. We
must’ve passed ten of them during our 15 minute walk. After walking through the massage parlor
gauntlet, I turned to Jeff and said, “How do you say ‘Happy Ending?’ in Spanish?”
Later
that evening Christy and I met Nikki and Bonnie for pizza. Jeff stayed back at the hotel with Luz, who
still wasn’t feeling well. It was nice
to see Nikki and Bonnie again, as they were heading to Puno and Lake Titicaca
the next day. We made tentative plans to
meet up in Agua Calientes the next week, as their
visit there would coincide with ours, after we finished the Inca Trail.
Christy
and I went to bed early that evening, but I had a rough night. The altitude made breathing difficult (I
actually woke up gasping several times), and noise from the partying going on
out in the streets kept us awake. I also
spent a fair amount of the night in the bathroom, which worried me. How was I going to survive a day-long bus
tour of the Sacred Valley?
THE SACRED VALLEY
We
were up at 6:45 on Friday. We enjoyed
eggs and toast for breakfast at the hotel before walking to the SAS Travel
Office in the center of town. We arrived
early for our tour, but a last minute toilet stop left us last getting on the
bus. Our group was fairly small – about
10 to 15 people, including our guide, Martin.
Martin spoke good but heavily accented English. Martin was from Chinchero,
which would be our final stop on the tour.
As we drove, he told us that as a child he attended school in
Urubamba. He had to walk (or run) there,
and back, every day. That’s 30 KM (about
18.6 miles) each way! He said he made it
down in 2 ˝ hours and back up in 3.
We
drove up past Saqsaywaman and three other major ruins
on our way to Pisac.
Our first stop that morning was at a small market, where we each purchased
alpaca wool hats. From there we
continued on to a viewpoint overlooking the Sacred Valley and the Urubamba
River. After a brief stop there, we
passed through the town of Pisac and continued on up
the mountain to the ruins.
The
fortress of Pisac wasn’t crowded when we
arrived. The best thing about doing the
tour with SAS Travel is that we always seemed to be a step ahead of the other
tours. It was nice visiting each site without
having to battle hordes of people.
Pisac was my favorite part of the day. Pisac was a
fortress and village situated high up on the cliffs overlooking the
valley. Pisac
is famous for its terraces, which were cut into the flanks of the mountain for
farming. The terraces form lovely
curves, and the view out across the terraces to the gorge below and the
mountains in the distance was breathtaking.
The ruins also include a ceremonial center featuring several temples and
baths. The site also features Inca tombs
built into a cliff wall. Unfortunately,
these are off-limits to tourists.
Martin
gave us an informative guided tour.
Afterwards, we had about 20 minutes to explore on our own. This was nice, but more time would’ve been
better. It would probably take an hour
or more to really see everything there.
I spent every bit of those 20 minutes running around trying to see as
much as possible. If we return to this
part of Peru, I would like to visit the ruins of Pisac
on our own.
It
was beginning to get crowded when we left.
We headed back down the mountain, and continued down the valley towards Calca. Along the way
I spotted an impressive high waterfall cascading down the northeast side of the
gorge. Oddly, the waterfall had no
apparent source. It may have originated
from a spring or cave in the side of the mountain. Another possibility is that it came from an
old, broken aqueduct.
We
stopped at a restaurant in Urubamba for a buffet lunch that was pretty
good. It was a decent meal, and priced
reasonably at $8 each. From there we
continued on to Ollantaytambo. We passed through the town and arrived at the
ruins of the fortress. Ollantaytambo is famous for being one of the few sites that
the Conquistadors weren’t able to immediately conquer. Of course the Spaniards were eventually
victorious.
Martin
led us up the stone steps to the top of the fortress. There we found a temple and ceremonial
center. The buildings are impressive
stone structures, built without mortar.
The stones are fit together like a jigsaw puzzle. Despite this, the structures have stood for
hundreds of years.
From
the top we spotted the Inca quarry, where the stones used to build the fortress
were mined. Amazingly, the quarry is on
a mountainside on the opposite side of the river! Hauling those massive stones must’ve been a
major undertaking. We also observed
granaries built for storage high up on another mountainside. That same mountain features huge carvings of
two human faces in the stone. According
to Martin, one of them catches the morning sun at dawn on the winter
solstice.
We
descended by a different route, passing Inca baths that are still being
excavated. Once down, I took the
opportunity to visit another toilet.
Unfortunately, this one had been absolutely destroyed. Cleaning it would’ve required a
pressure-washer. I guess somebody
must’ve been in worse shape that I was!
I decided I could hang on until we arrived at our next stop.
We returned to the bus and attempted to get
out of town. Unfortunately, most of the
other tour buses were on their way in, and there is only one road in and out of
Ollantaytambo.
That road is one-lane wide, and getting out of town was quite the fustercluck. We
couldn’t figure out why the police were letting traffic in, when there was a
huge line of vehicles waiting to get out.
Before long, the entire town was gridlocked.
We
finally made it out to the open road and backtracked to the town of
Urubamba. There we headed up the
mountain to our final stop at Chinchero. On the way we were treated to views of
snow-covered peaks (Nevados) to the north. Our visit to Chinchero
was limited to a brief tour of the lovely colonial church and a craft
demonstration by local women. We did
purchase a couple of alpaca wool sweaters, which are incredibly warm yet
absurdly inexpensive by American standards.
We
left at dusk and endured a long, tedious drive back to Cuzco. The last part of the drive featured lots of
fast driving on winding mountain roads.
At one point, we found ourselves trying to pass a truck while heading
uphill. We could only wonder if we’d end
up colliding with oncoming traffic or flying off the cliff. Between the winding roads, the ever-present
diesel fumes, and the terror of wondering what was coming around the next bend,
we were both pretty nauseous when we arrived in Cuzco. Christy looked absolutely green, which didn’t
surprise me, as she’s prone to getting car sick under less challenging
circumstances.
EL DIABLO (THE DEVIL INSIDE)
We
walked back up to San Blas from the center of town. The clean air was refreshing, and we were
feeling a little better by the time we neared our hotel. We stopped at The Muse for dinner, which
featured some amazing artwork and festive music. We each ordered pasta, though I accidentally
requested my lasagna sin carne instead of con carne. I ended up with veggie lasagna, but it was my
own fault. Getting con (with) and sin
(without) straight is definitely important!
My favorite thing about The Muse was their policy on water bottles. Instead of selling disposable plastic water
bottles (which are a growing environmental disaster in Peru), they had a large cooler
of purified water. For a small fee, you
can get a water bottle filled. We ended
up getting most of our water there for the duration of our stay. This was both cheaper and less wasteful.
The
food was good, but neither of us had much of an appetite. We were both exhausted and nauseous. We ate a little before heading back to the
hotel. We went to bed early and slept
for a couple of hours. We were both
tossing and turning though, and alternating turns in the bathroom.
It
was around midnight when things went from bad to worse. Christy ran for the bathroom and didn’t
emerge for 10 or 15 minutes. When she
did, it was only briefly. Soon she was
back. She was extremely ill, and I
really didn’t know what to do. Her
symptoms were awful – vomiting, diarrhea, fever, abdominal pain, and
cramps. I convinced her to take an
antibiotic we had brought with us, but she immediately threw it up. After her third trip to the toilet, she told
me that she needed to go to the hospital.
I cringed. What would we be in
for? I envisioned sitting in a crowded
waiting room full of screaming babies and moaning elderly people missing limbs
and random folks running around with hatchets buried in their heads.
I
went to the lobby and eventually tracked someone down. I explained the situation in poor Spanish,
but she eventually understood. She
called for an ambulance, and I brought Christy to the lobby. The ambulance (which was more of a glorified
minivan) arrived about 15 minutes later.
The ambulance ride was quite the event.
The doctor onboard checked Christy over while the driver attempted to
back down the narrow alley in the dark.
Eventually he gave up on that and tried to turn around at a wide spot in
the road. By “wide spot” I mean it was
the only part of the street where both side mirrors weren’t scraping the
walls. What ensued must’ve looked
something like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLKR9tCiwvA
Meanwhile,
Christy was moaning and groaning with every bump. Somehow we eventually got turned around. We arrived at the Hampi
Land clinic a few minutes later. Hampi Land isn’t exactly a hospital. Actually it’s a clinic that is geared towards
travelers. We were shown immediately to
a room with two beds. I settled into one
while they went to work on Christy. The
first thing they did was take blood and set up an IV full of antibiotics. They also tested her blood oxygen level. It was extremely low, so they hooked her up
to an oxygen tank. The tank gurgled
frequently in an amusing way. Sometime
later, after Christy’s condition had stabilized, I decided to test how she was
feeling. After a particularly impressive
gurgle I said, “Hey dude, easy on the bong.
Save some for the rest of us!”
She laughed, which was quite a relief.
The
doctor ran some tests and we discovered that Christy had salmonella and
Intestinal Parasites. They upgraded her
antibiotics, and we managed to sleep most of the rest of the night. Later, we puzzled over how a vegetarian had
managed to acquire salmonella. The prime
suspects seemed to be the café we had lunch at near the canopy walk on our last
day in the jungle, as well as the eggs that we’d had virtually every morning
we’d been in Peru. These are
possibilities, but we’ll never know for sure.
In
the morning, they informed us that Christy would need to spend most of the day
there. The fed us breakfast (toast and
juice) and lunch (soup and jello for Christy,
chicken, rice, and potatoes for me). I
spent most of the morning watching World Cup soccer on the tv in our room while Christy slept. That afternoon we talked with the doctor and
mentioned that we were supposed to start the Inca Trail the following
morning. He advised that attempting the
trek would be a very bad idea.
This
was heartbreaking. Hiking the Inca Trail
to Machu Picchu had been the whole basis for the trip. Everything else was added from there. Plus, the trek was expensive. We had been required to prepay, and it was
completely non-refundable. That evening,
I walked over to the Inca Trail Reservations office, which is the agency we had
booked the trek through. I explained the
situation, and asked if we could skip the first two days of the trek and join
the group farther down the trail on Tuesday.
This would’ve meant missing more than half of the hike, but it would’ve
been better than nothing. Unfortunately,
this wasn’t possible. Due to government
regulations, only a limited number of people are allowed to start the trail
from any point each day. As a result, we
couldn’t change our start date.
We
were able to salvage part of the trip. The trip we had booked included transportation
to the trailhead and back from Agua Calientes, as
well as one night in a hotel there. It
had also included our entry fee into Machu Picchu as well as a guided tour. After a lengthy discussion with the agent, I
came up with a new plan. We would go the
tourist route. On Tuesday morning we
would take a bus and train to Agua Calientes, the
town in the valley below Machu Picchu.
We’d spend Tuesday and Wednesday night in Agua Calientes,
and dedicate all day Wednesday to visiting Machu Picchu. We’d then return by train and bus to Cuzco on
Thursday.
I paid for the additional hotel and
transportation and walked back to the clinic.
This was an exciting walk, as the clinic is NOT in a touristy part of
town. Still, people were friendly and I
never feared for my safety. Back at the
clinic, I found out there had been an incident while I was out. Christy tried to go to the bathroom unassisted,
and she rolled the I.V. cart in with her.
When she went to get back into bed, the I.V. stand fell over and the
I.V. ripped out of her arm. The nurse
came eventually, but she’d had considerable difficulty reinserting the I.V.
We
got everything squared away with the clinic and our travel insurance. Christy was released at 8pm, and they gave us
an ambulance (minivan) ride back to our hotel.
There we extended our reservations for two more nights. Christy went straight to bed, while I checked
my email using the public computer in the hostel. I went to bed shortly thereafter,
and actually slept fairly well for a change.
At this point I was on the antibiotics we’d brought with us, and my
intestinal issues seemed to be gradually improving.
FINALLY, A HIKE
We
slept in the next morning and had breakfast around 8:30. We then watched Germany whoop England in the
World Cup. By that point I was getting
stir crazy. I had to get out. So, while Christy napped I hiked around
Cuzco. I started out by heading down to
the Plaza San Blas, where I watched a group of natives in colorful dress doing
a dance performance. There were several
musicians around the plaza, including one guy blowing into a long, hollow
log. I also got suckered into paying a
young girl for the opportunity to photograph her holding a baby alpaca. I totally got punked,
as several other girls jumped into the photograph, and each one wanted a coin.
From
there it was down to the Plaza de Armas and past some
original Inca walls. Then I headed over
to Qorikancha (The Temple of The
Sun). From there I headed back up
through San Blas. I climbed all the way
up to the Iglesia San Cristobal, which is high on the
hill overlooking Cuzco. At that point I
had a great view of all of Cuzco as well as the snowy Andes in the distance. Before I left, I spotted an Alpaca grazing
outside the church.
I
tried to head back down from there, but ended up in a maze of homes and
alleyways. I stumbled across a structure
that appeared to be an old aqueduct, and passed a man-made waterfall. I crossed the creek on an old, rickety bridge,
passing an old man doing his laundry in the creek. On the other side, I picked up a trail into
the woods. I climbed to a hillside
overlooking one of Cuzco’s ghettos – where I had just been. Ghetto or not, the people there had been
extremely friendly, if a bit surprised to see a gringo wandering around.
I
thought the trail would take me to the road leading to Saqsaywaman,
but that didn’t work out. I was almost
to the statue of Jesus overlooking Cuzco when I decided to turn around. I’m guessing that I was actually on a back
way into Saqsaywaman, but I wasn’t interested in
trying to sneak into the ruins. Instead
I found a way back down to San Blas. On
the way back to the hotel I picked up some Powerade
and crackers for Christy along with some toilet paper and batteries.
That
evening I roamed town again, taking photos.
I eventually wandered down to the Plaza de Armas,
where I hoped to catch the full moon rising over the spires of the Iglesia de la Compania de
Jesus. I’d seen that breathtaking sight
two nights earlier, but didn’t have my camera with me. It was the one that got away, as the moon was
rising later on this evening.
Instead
of a full moon, I was accosted by a pushy young boy trying to sell
something. I said “No gracias”, and he
responded with “Yes right now”! I
couldn’t believe it. While almost
everyone we met was extremely nice, there were a few exceptions like this. I eventually ran him off and returned to the
hotel. I met Christy, and we walked a
few blocks to a restaurant for a pasta dinner.
We headed back afterwards, and went to bed early. Christy managed to sleep straight through the
night, which was a relief.
FUNGI HAS AMOEBAS
We
slept in the next morning. Christy was
feeling better, though she was still weak.
We got off to a sluggish start, as it was actually raining. Rain is pretty rare during the “dry” season,
but apparently it can happen. The
mountains surrounding Cuzco were lost in the clouds, and that made me
happy. If we were going to miss out on
hiking the Inca Trail, at least we were missing out on hiking it uphill in the
fog and rain!
Initially
we planned to visit The Cathedral, the Inca Museum, and The Temple of the Sun
on Monday. However, my intestinal
problems had worsened the previous night.
I was extremely frustrated with this, so I decided to try the same
clinic Christy had been to. They did a
blood test, which revealed that I had Amoebas.
Lovely.
I
left the clinic and met Christy at the Inca Museum. We took a one-hour tour with a guide who
spoke English well. The tour was
interesting, but I probably would’ve enjoyed exploring the museum more on my
own. The best part of the tour was the
Inca mummies. There were
several on display, including one with a mummified dog. It was creepy, but fascinating.
After
the tour I returned to the clinic to pay my bill and pick up my medicine. The total cost was about $90, but it was
worth it. The medicine they provided
ended up being far more productive than what we’d brought from home.
By
the time that was taken care of it was late in the afternoon and we’d missed
our chance to visit The Cathedral and The Temple of the Sun. This was a bit disappointing. I was really looking forward to seeing the
Cathedral’s most infamous painting. It
is a depiction of Jesus at The Last Supper, but with a twist. In the painting, Jesus and the disciples are
dining on roasted guinea pig (a local delicacy).
We
returned to the hotel and met our travel agent.
She brought us our train tickets and our vouchers for our hotels
there. She told us that a driver would
pick us up the next morning to take us to the train station. The driver would also have our tickets to
Machu Picchu. That was something we
definitely needed, as the price of admission into the ruins is quite high.
We
returned to The Muse for a late dinner.
Soup and grilled cheese sandwiches were all we could stomach, but we
weren’t even able to finish those. We
really liked the restaurant, it’s just a shame that we were sick both times we
ate there.
After
dinner we returned to the hostel to pack.
We loaded our backpacks with everything we’d need for 3 days in Agua Calientes.
Everything else went into our suitcases, which the hotel stored for us
while we were gone. Once we finished
packing, we were ready for bed, as we had to be up early on Tuesday for the
train ride to Agua Calientes.
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