Peru!

My bus journey from La Paz (Bolivia) to Cusco (Peru) was quite possibly the coldest bus journey I have ever been on in my life. 12 hours of shivering in my seat, I made a note to self that I would definitely wear more than shorts and flip-flops for my next bus journey. It’s ok though because Cusco turned out to be one of my favourite cities so far. I spent the first day wandering around the town, it feels like a really safe place. There are plenty of reminders all around the city that it used to be the Inca Empire’s capital, loads of ruins can be found in and around the city. Though I do always seem to find myself in some weird situations… The day I arrived there was a teacher’s strike, so riot police were all over the city. There was no violence at all though and the teachers marched through the city very peacefully. That would definitely not have been the case in Chile!

I found the localo market too, where I had lunch. A really tasty bowl of Peruvian ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice, rice and sweet potato, for hardly any money at all. It’s quite nice to find a place to eat where there aren’t many other tourists, it makes you feel as though you actually are abroad rather than in a holiday camp.

Hunting out some good food

You'll have to take my word for the next point, since I have zero photo evidence. I went whitewater kayaking again!!! Almost exactly 5 months after my accident in Ecuador, I convinced a Peruvian rafting company to lend me some kit and let me follow them down the river. We did a little exchange in the sense that I helped them out with their safety procedures and English safety briefs, so they lent me the kit and gave me transport and lunch for free. It was great to be back out on a river (albeit a pretty easy grade 3), I felt strong and smooth. I'm really looking forwards to getting paddling back at the level I was at before Ecuador!

The following two days I spent on a trip to Machu Picchu, a must do for any traveller in Cusco. The first day was a long 6hr drive up a winding road, followed by a two hour walk up the railway to the town of Aguas Calientes, a kind of Machu Picchu base camp. I'd opted for the bus transfer to be able to do it in two days since I was fairly short of time, though there are 4-5 day trekking options too.

2hrs of flat along this railway to Aguas Calientes

The day I climbed up to the peak was an early start. You have to walk about 20mins to a bridge which opens at 5am, so you start queueing at around 4:30am. I then walked for about 30mins up loads of stairs as the sun came up, it's through a kind of jungle so the sweat clings on to you, which was kind of annoying. Then I waited for my guide up the top and he took us in the explore the ruins. The first thing that hit me was the sheer scale of the place. You have to remember that Machu Picchu was built something like 600 years ago, so the technology they needed to move those massive rocks must have been incredible. In fact, the Peruvian authorities are no longer planning to renovate any part of the ruins because they simply don't have the technology to be able to do it. The Incas carved the most perfect shapes out of rock and slotted these rocks, weighing several tons, together with zero gaps or imperfections. No mortar, no concrete. Mind-blowing.

The Condor Temple, some intricate brickwork

It was quite foggy at the top which I really enjoyed. It meant that you couldn't see a lot of the other tourists and gave the whole mountain an eerie feel. We did have a clearing in the fog to get some spectacular views of the ruins from above though:

The amount of work that went into this must have been insane

I also trekked to the Inca Bridge, which is a pretty narrow path carved into the side of the cliff that the Incas used to use to transport things.On the way down the fog closed in again, which made for some pretty dramatic llama shots. They posed pretty well I think.

Sketchy path to the Inca Bridge

Work it llamas. Work it.

Yesterday, I went up to Rainbow Mountain. This is a place I'd seen in a photo whilst in Chile and was determined to see it in real life. A 3am start was not on the top of my priority lists, but it was worth the effort. We hiked 5km, and 700m up to 5039m altitude to get the classic views. Hiking at this altitude is definitely a bit harder work than usual, everybody was puffing and panting on the way up. The curse of the fog hit again though, the summit was pretty cloudy. Though the fog did clear again for 5 minutes, so a couple of us that were at the top by that point got some amazing views. 

Yes it really does look like this. #nofilter

So that was Cusco. Stay tuned for the rest of my Peruvian adventure!