Day 49 – Cuzco - Puno

I left Cusco around 7.30 am to go toward the central terminal of the buses. Karina came with me to arrange some other tours, and after a brief goodbye I was already on my way. The journey this time was extremely pleasant. The bus was comfortable and displaying a couple of good movies. But the best part was the surroundings. The bus was basically crossing part of the Andes in an environment which somehow reminded me a lunar ambient and the Alps in Italy. It was great, also to get glimpses of the local people in such small houses in the middle of nowhere. Glimpses of their life which camera couldn’t capture. A mum breastfeeding her little Peruvian baby in the middle of this desolate land, sitting on the floor next to her little house while the man was planting few hundred metres away plants that I recognized to be maiz (corn). The bus was distant, but the only road crossing this desolate land and the mountains all around allowed me to capture glimpses of their everyday life. It was amazing. I will always remember these images. I reached Puno around 15.30 and Karina’s friend Caesar was waiting for me. He was a big man, definitely bigger for Peruvian standards and with a big illuminating smile. He, as many people here in South America, spoke a bit of Italian and was just waiting for the occasion to practice a little bit with me. As it always happen in these circumstances, we ended up talking what I refer as ITANISH, a mix of Italian and Spanish. I had the afternoon free and started mingling around the little town. I visited a small museum, but a little jewel in its kind: the museum of the Coca. Coca is considered almost a divine present from the Gods here in Peru, and the museum showed even more the strong link between the indigenous people and this amazing plant thanks to many panels full of pictures and explanations and interesting facts. I left the museum extremely hungry since I realized I didn’t really have lunch during the day. I stop at a good ‘polleria’ (chicken place) to get a super tasty grilled chicken with tomatoes and salad. Left the restaurant, I stopped to buy some stuff in the supermarket and finally back to the room of the hotel where I felt asleep around 11pm.

Day 48 – Cuzco

Nothing special today if not finally sending a big box back home to my parent’s address full of all the stuff I bought from Australia until today. Both Raul and I were exhausted from the day before so we just ended up having a good meal for lunch and getting our stuff ready for the next departure. It was also time for the two of us to say goodbye. He was catching the 5pm bus to go back to Lima, while I would have continued to Puno with an early bus the day after. We said goodbye and I was happy that I found a real new friends. We had really good time together, and it felt after 10 days that we had been knowing each other for many years. I was alone again and my tour was continuing the way it started but it was nice not to be alone for a while and sharing some travelling experiences with somebody else. The rest of the day was spent mostly in the hotel (also because it was raining heavily) where I finished packing, eating, and went to bed at a decent time.

Day 47 – Macchu Pichu

The day started at 2.30am. Probably one of the most difficult morning of this trip since I went to bed around midnight. So basically no sleep. It was raining outside and the bus came quite late to pick us up at the hotel. At approximately 3.15 am we were out and the driver was driving quite fast in the darkness of the Andean mountains to reach the town from where we would have caught the train to go to Aguas Calientes, the final gate to Macchu Pichu. The driver was late to pick us up and was trying to make up the time lost by driving faster and faster. It was very dangerous but at the same time it was the only way otherwise we would have not been able to go anywhere else. Fortunately and with a couple of kilos lost on the way for the speed we managed to jump few minutes before the train left. It was around 5am. The train was packed already, mostly Peruvian tourists on the way like us to Macchu Pichu. After 2 hours of train we arrived without managing to sleep even for 1 single minute unfortunately. We caught another bus from the station who brought us all the way up to the mountain. We finally reached around 8am the main entrance to the archaeological site. We started walking and after approximately 20 minutes, all of a sudden the scenery in front of us was simply as beautiful as you are used to see in postcards and pictures. The lost city of the Incas was standing there, right in front of me, with the green mountains and fat heavy clouds all around. I needed few minutes to really appreciate and understand that I was finally there. Little coloured Lamas where lazily walking all around while still few tourists where fast approaching the ruins. My guide was a smart Peruvian guide named Pedro; his knowledge of the site was great and he showed me and the rest of the little group I was part of, the amazing parts and chambers of the site. Around 11am the tour was over and William and I decided to take a rest. We fell asleep for a couple of hours between Lamas, on one of the many terraces facing the mountains. Needless to say what a magic atmosphere it was, especially when I opened my eyes again and having those kind of images as first thing to see. Obviously we were both conscious that it would have been a very long day since the train to go back was booked for 10pm. Except the wonders of Macchu Pichu, the area offers nothing if not in Aguas Calientes an incredible number of tacky hotels and restaurants. We decided to spend as much time as possible in Macchiu Pichu and so we did. We again crossed different paths, eating a small sandwich between rocks and old houses, trying to spot some condors and having small chats. Around 3pm we decide to leave this magical place. A place that after so many hours of wondering around, did become more easy to get around. A last glimpse and then back to pick up point to continue to the train station. The rest of the day was spent more on waiting the time to go back rather than everything else. The day has been already so fulfilling and rewarding, that the pain of the early morning and the trip to get there including the wait, was nothing compared to the beauty and the mystical atmosphere we enjoyed throughout all morning and early afternoon.

We returned back to the hotel at 2.30am, exactly 24 hours after we left. We were both exhausted but happy.

I have finally been in Macchu Pichu. One of those places that you often dream to visit but never know if you will ever manage to do it, at least for us Europeans. I made it and it was exactly as I expected it to be: awesome.

TWIMO!

Day 45 - 46 – Cuzco (Sacred Valley, Koricancha, Sacsayhuamán, Pucara & Tambomachay)

These two days were my real first impact with the Inca culture. The Sacred Valley, is a combination of breathtaking nature, snowy mountains and archaeological sites all scattered around. Lamas, alpacas and condors make this scenario even more legendary. All the archaeological sites shown how advanced the Inca were in constructing their own temples, houses and all the different infrastructures like water pipes and sewers in a rich but sometimes very inhospitable place. The massive curved rocks which perfectly interact with each others, the terraces for cultivation still used by the local campesinos and the technique of creating amazing textiles products are the legacy left by this legendary culture. During these two days tour, I was very happy to notice as well how the majority of the tourists were Peruvians. People here are somehow trying recollecting their present history and linking it to their past, looking at this past as an inseparable element in order to know who they are. Loads of young school boys and girls were together with us in discovering this ancient world.

I managed to buy, for a very convenient price, priceless manufactures and textiles all hand-made by the locals in little towns forgotten in the Andes. I will soon ship everything back home.

I have my head full of images and colours which match the stories I was told about the Inca during these two days. Tomorrow I guess it will be the Grand Finale: Macchu Pichu. Now being one of the seven wonders of the world, this is a place that comes in everybody’s mind when thinking of South America and Peru. Like the Coliseum for Rome or the Tour Eiffel in Paris, Macchu Pichu is definitely one of the main goals for many travellers.

Tomorrow I will finally be there too.

Day 44 – Cuzco

We arrived in Cuzco earlier than expected around midday. Once arrived at the bus station we were immediately approached by a gentle girl named Karina whom was trying to sell us some good deals with hotels and tours. We actually decided that it was worthy giving her a try and we were right. The hotel she recommended was very central and cost us only 6 dollars a night with internet and hot water. We were also very lucky because we reached together with Karina the train station to reserve a place to Macchu Pichu and we could only find two seats left for Saturday, leaving extremely early in the morning and returning around 2.am the day after. The time wasn’t ideal but otherwise we would have had to wait until Tuesday! It was perfect timing. As we use to say ‘a pelo’.

The rest of the day was spent around Cuzco discovering this amazing town. I actually love it. It is lost in the middle of the mountains with its architecture being an amazing blend of Inca style and Spanish baroque elements. Religious elements of Christianity mixed with pagan symbols in an astonishing marriage of religions. The locals, once conquered by the Spanish conquistadores, didn’t really give up their deity, camouflaging into the imported Roman Catholic images and festivity their own symbols coming from the Inca’s reign. The result is a breathtaking combination of sacred and profane, of God and ‘Gods’, of ancient believes of two similar and contrasting worlds.

Kids running around with corns and candies and their parents chewing coca while talking to some tourists on their way to Macchu Pichu. Different cultures and people meet in Cuzco for an unforgettable experience.

We walked around all afternoon visiting some local museums and enjoying an amazing exhibition of local dancers in the city theatre, everything followed by a very good dinner not too far from the theatre. We stayed up quite long before going back to the hotel. The next two days will be very full. Tomorrow we will visit the Sacred Valley of the Inca and it will be a full day around the Andes, going by bus and partially walking the famous Inca trail. The day after will be dedicated to discover the city and the important archaeological sites which surround it.

TWIMO!

Day 43 - Nazca

We reached the little local airport around 9.30am after a very good night sleep. The little airplanes didn’t really look safe but they were the only way to see the lines. Plenty of tourists were ready to jump on these little planes which contain a maximum of 5 people each. I jumped on the plane with Raul and the flight was terrible. Very bumpy and unstable but the fear was definitely balanced by the wonderful view of the desert and its mysterious lines. The lines reproduce mostly animals and geometric figures; the peculiarity of 

the lines is given by the fact that they can only be seen from at least 3-4 thousand feet of altitude. They are practically perfect and it is still a mystery how this ancient civilization managed to do something like that. The lines are made simply by removing the first tier of stones from the desert which are made of a different colour. The plane flew us above all the figures so that we could appreciate the precision of the Nazca technique. We landed around 11.45am with a great headache and my stomach upside-down but fortunately safe. There were no taxi and we had the not very brilliant idea to cross the desert on foot to get back to town. It wasn’t the best decision since the temperature was already almost 40 degrees. Finally we met a car which drove us back into town and directly in front of a good restaurant. Our bus was already booked for 8pm. We are in a local bar now, with a newspaper, a beer and the company of few locals talking about the recent election of their new major! So random and so cool. We will reach Cuzco around 11.30 am tomorrow morning and we will sleep in the bus so to save one day for the journey. I look very much forward to Cuzco.

Day 42 - Lima – Nazca

The bus left around 6am from the central station. The journey was very long but somehow very interesting because of the very inhospitable landscape and nature. We arrived in Nazca around 3pm. Unfortunately all the planes in order to see the lines on the desert were fully booked so Raul and I were forced to spend the night in Nazca.

Nazca is a little town which based its entire existence on tourism and fishery. Small shops and many tour operators end up selling pretty much the same stuff all over. Fortunately this is low-season which means that prices are lower and that there are not so many foreign tourists.

The night was nice: we went to eat into a nice local restaurant, drinking few beers and going to bed fairly early in order to get some energy back. I admit that I like for a little while to travel with another person (and even more a local person). It feels good to share some thoughts and some experiences with somebody else.