Day 19 - Arrive Back in Lima

The day was mostly spent traveling back to Lima. We had a flight from Cuzco in the morning which went over some interesting mountain ranges. The rest of the day has been spent catching up on some blog writing and preparing for our long trip tomorrow.




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Day 18 - Tour of Machu Pitchu

Today we got up extremely early yet again so that we could be on an early bus up to the Machu Picchu site. The bus is about a 20 minute journey up a very windy road that goes up the side of one of the mountains. The ride was a bit exciting as the bus drivers didn't quite seem to know when the other buses where coming in the opposite direction and it was a bit close to fit two at the same time.



We had to wait around at the entry gate for a while so that we could get our tickets when rest of our group that where walking came in. Whilst sat around we made a new friend in the form of one of the local stray dogs who took a liking to us and followed us around.



When the walkers from the group made it though they all looked very shattered and in need of rest. We found out that they had all been ill during the tip and that it was a very tough 4 days. (think we chose the better way of getting up there).




We then went up to the ruins as a group and had a guided tour of the site. The tour was very interesting especially meeting the local resident lama's! The views from this site are spectacular. The mountain top where the Inca town is situated is lower then the surrounding jungle covered mountain ridges, giving a panoramic view well worth the trip.





During the afternoon we traveled back to Cuzco via train and bus ready for another reasonably early start in the morning to get back to normal altitude in Lima.

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Day 17 - Train to Machu Picchu

We had an early start this morning as we had to catch the train for a 4 hour journey to the village of Machu Picchu at 7am. The train ride was very scenic and we passed through valleys of high peaks and snow capped mountains.

We stopped after 2 hours for five minutes at Ollantaytambo station and whilst waiting some of the local women came on board the train with trays of cooked sweetcorn fresh from the fields. We decided to try some as we were hungry as usual, it was very nice and sweet, and had melted cheese over the top.

We arrived at Machu Picchu village at 11am and went and had an explore. Machu Picchu was a small pretty village surrounded by mountains with lots of markets, bars and restaurants. It was packed with backpackers and groups of hikers who had come down to Machu Picchu village from the ruins or who had just completed the Inca Trail and wanted to have a soak in the hot springs before setting off home. The hot springs were a 5 minute walk away from the village and was a set of concrete baths all of varying temperatures.

There was lots of pretty looking flowers and plants in the village, here's one example:

We have another early start tomorrow as we are catching the 5:45am bus up to see the ruins of Machu Picchu, so until then...!

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Day 16 - Sacred Valley Tour

This morning we got picked up by coach early and set off to visit the sacred valley of the Inca's. This valley was used by the Incas mainly for agriculture and the reason it is sacred is because it follows the directions of the stars. The Incas were very good astronomers.



On the journey into the sacred valley we stopped off at some viewing points which had spectacular views.



We then travelled down into the valley into a small village for an hour stop at the local market (much to Adrian's joy !). The market was very busy with local people trying to sell you stuff for about three times the amount it was worth. We both got pretty good at bartering the price down.



Once back on the coach, we were attempting to take more sneaky pictures of the local people but obviously not very discreetly as we got seen and bombarded by three local kids and their scary parents for money again.



We then stopped off for some lunch at a restaurant in the sacred valley. We were both pleased to see that it was an all you can eat buffet so we got to it! The price for our three course lunch was 35 soles each, in English £7 each.



After lunch we went to view the fortress in Ollantayambo, this is a large Inca ruin set in the side of a large mountain, with a traditional Inca village at its base. The village is still in full use mainly serving the large quantities of tourists that pass through each day. We had a guided tour around the fortress which was very interesting. The views from the top were pretty good as you can see...




The way back was via an alternative route were we stopped once again at another market village. The terrain around this area was rolling hills with snow capped peaks in the background which were very impressive to see. We where treated by a clear sky in the evening, for the first time in Peru, which made for a perfect sun set over the mountains. It had got very cold by now and dark so we all got back on the coach and headed back to Cuzco.






WARNING: PICTURES OF COOKED GUINEA PIG BELOW !!!

Once we arrived back in Cuzco we headed out for some dinner. So we made it our mission to find a restaurant that served up Guinea pig whole and we thought that we had succeeded !! Adrian's guinea pig was bought out much to his disappointment with no head and crispy ears :( (unlike the picture displayed on the menu!) it also looked as if it had been boiled for a little to long and barely had any meat on it (it had obviously belonged to one of the more under-privileged kids in the area) Strangely enough it tasted like chicken with very chewy skin, unlike crackling. The rest of the meal was just as disappointing when my pizza was bought out with raw bacon on the top and barely cooked. Considering we were the only two people in the restaurant we thought this was pretty poor!


Fig 1: My Dinner


Fig 2: What my dinner should have been like :(

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Day 15 - Cuzco City Tour

I woke up still feeling tender this morning but on the whole better than the previous day, we have decided to give the Inca Trail a miss which is really disappointing as we were both looking forward to the challenge of the trek and had spent a lot of time planning it all out. We are still going to go and see Matchu Pitcchu as its something we have both wanted to see for a long time now, but instead of hiking there we will be getting the train instead.

This afternoon after a lazy morning we decided to take it easy and go on a tour of the city. We got on a coach late afternoon and headed off to see the cathedral in the main square in Cuzco, some churches and a set of Inca ruins around Cuzco.

The first stop was at the cathedral. We were both amazed at the vast amount of gold in the cathedral it was really beautiful. We managed to take a couple of sneaky shots inside before one of the many security guards enforced the 'no pictures' rule.

Next we headed to the sun temple which is the original Inca temple with the Spanish church built over the top. We had a guided tour around the sun temple and learnt many interesting facts. which were promptly forgotten! The temple contained many original Inca rooms built with black stone. We did remember one fact (mainly due to it being said repeatedly over many tours) that the Incas had a knack for stone work. All the stones used to create the temple where very well polished and fitted together perfectly with no mortar required. The Inca stone work is very high quality and still stands well many centuries later. Another fact, learnt in the same way as the last, is that when the Spanish conquered the area they removed and melted all the gold and silver that was in the temple. This included the sheets of it covering on most of the main temple walls as well as the idols sat within them. Due to this there is very little in the way of gold or silver Inca artifacts left in world, most that do remain are in western museums or private collections outside of Peru.

Next stop was the Sacywaman area just south of Cuzco. On arrival to this area the bus was instantly swarmed by locals trying to sell all manner of local handy craft. (We later learnt that this is standard procedure for all tourist related points.) This site contained a huge Pre-Inca and Inca site that contains the remains of a pyramid and a large multi layered temple site. The stone used to build the walls where very large. Some walls had animals and signs built into them using the large stones as can be seen in the photo below.


We had our first encounter with Lamas at this location. The Lamas here where owned by the locals and used not only for there fur but also for the photo opportunities with tourists. This was taken advantage of and later exploited by both of us as we took sneaky pictures from the bus when they weren't looking!

We continued to move between several Inca sites located around the Cuzco area including a temple dedicated to water and a site used for mummification. The water temple was a short walk up hill which was a lot more effort at altitude then expected. The second site was mainly built set around natural stone including the cave room used to prepare bodies for mummification. You'll also notice from the full set of pictures that we have started to develop a tendency towards pictures of Lama's and their rear ends!!


After the tour had finished we took the advice of the tour guide and ate at a local restaurant in the main square called the 'Inca Grill' which was a superb restaurant.

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Day 14 - Not a good day for Bev

Today was not a good day for me, i went to bed last night with a very bad headache and hoped that by the morning it would be gone. No such luck, it was much more severe in the morning and i had also been sick several times. The pain was so bad Adrian decided to call a doctor who informed me that i had a bad case of altitude sickness and was to rest and remain in bed for the day. I was given an anti sickness shot in my bum which hurt and don't remember much after that, its all a bit of a blur so I'll let Adrian fill you in on the rest...

Bev was not in a good shape in the morning and this was evident by the fact that she had not bothered to brush her hair yet and was inviting me into the toilet when she had been sick! Must be worse then I had thought and not just a tactic to get out of the walking! I called though to our tour guide (Boris) to send over a doctor who managed to turn up within 20 minutes (this is at 6:30am and she only charged about £30!! Take not NHS.) The doctor was good enough to give her an injection that she said was an anti-nausea drug but I still think that it was a tranquiliser as it knocked Bev out cold for the whole day (The drug for those who want to knock someone out cold is called Gravol and injection form works the best ;)

The doctor also prescribed a whole host of other items, most for just in case scenarios. This required a very quick trip to the chemist which proved a lot easier then expected. All it took to get perception drugs in Cuzco was a scrappy bit of paper with some drugs listed on them and about 25 sols (£5). At this point we only had about 5 minutes until the bus was turning up that was expecting both of us to be on for a 2 day excursion so I had the idea to run back to the hotel. (Note to anyone that has only been at altitude for 1 day, don't run!)

Once Bev had had her first dose of tablets and I had caught my breath I set to at getting the room arrangements sorted (well I spoke to Boris who sorted the lot). At this point the tranquiliser had kicked in and Bev was out cold for the next 7 hours. Our guide managed to get us sorted and extended our stay in the same room for an extra night.

As we where supposed to be starting the Inca Trail the next day there was also a backup plan put in place to pick us both up in the morning if Bev was feeling up to it. The Doctor gave given instructions that if she didn't then she wasn't allowed up the trail.

With my nursing duties in hand I decided to hang up the uniform and suspenders for a few hours and entertained myself (with a PSP and Star Wars LEGO, for all those thinking dirty!)

By the evening Bev had started to stir but still had a sore head and was not feeling great. The prospect of being picked up very early and being whisked off to a high mountain side and ordered to walk up hill for 3 days wasn't looking appealing. This was especially true as we didn't know if the altitude sickness would come back with the extra height. So with these views, and the fact that neither of us had eaten much for 24 hours we decided that the trail was not the best idea. After another chat with Boris we had all the immediate arrangements in place.

More Pictures... (Only kidding! although tempting to take pictures of Bev either with her head down the loo or asleep catching flies, I thought better of it!)

Day 13 - Arrive in Cuzco

Today we awoke at 3am, showered had breakfast and met with the rest of our GAP adventure group for a 4am start to Lima airport. After briefly introducing ourselves to the other 14 people within our group we set off to catch our flight to Cuzco were we would be embarking on the Inca Trail. (I cant say we are looking forward to this experience and are expecting the next few days to be extremely physically hard and gruelling) but we are defiantly up for the challenge. Kind of wished we had trained a bit more for it now though, oh well.....

Our group consisted of some interesting characters from America, Canada, Norway and England and were generally a nice bunch of people. We did have our reservations about a couple of people who seemed very unfit to be doing the Inca Trail, i know its rotten to say but at the same time it made us both feel quite relived as we are not exactly the fittest two people in the world !

We arrived in Cuzco at 7am after flying over some pretty spectacular snow capped mountain ranges. The effect of the high altitude was almost immediate. My legs felt all funny walking through the airport and we both felt very light headed and slightly out of breath, hope this settles down before the trek as 90% of it is uphill.

Outside the airport we were approached by some local people in Cuzco who were selling things, one of these things were coca leaves, which is especially good for helping you to accustom to the high altitude. I have to say they tasted terrible i had one leaf and decided id give up and try the sweets instead which were much nicer.



We arrived at our hotel and had a briefing along with the rest of the group about the torture we had let ourselves in for. Once we had discussed the plan of action for the following week we went into the main square of Cuzco for a look around and to grab some lunch.

Adrian was very pleased to see that on almost every menu in the square 'Guinea Pig' was served, either fried, baked, grilled or roasted !! He has informed me that he will be sampling this dish before we leave Cuzco, so to all you animal lovers out there beware over the next few days, there may well be a picture of Adrian's dinner
served up for all to see (oh and they serve it up whole (head with ears attached included!!)



Cuzco is a lovely little town with lots happening and going on, it is a very historical place with lots to see and do. We plan on trying to fit in a few tours before we start the Inca Trail.

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