Jungle Trek to Machu Picchu

I will keep this entry brief, as to be honest the pictures speak for themselves.Due to poor organisation skills I was not able to do the Real Inca Trail and opted for one of the alternative trail to Machu Picchu, a 4 day adventure which involved a bum bruising bike ride starting at 4000m and going down to 1800m and a jungle trek. The jungle trek was probably the most exhausting thing I have ever done. Walking up steep mountains, across narrow pathways with big drops just a few metres away. Raaah. I felt like I was dying but it was worth it. The last day we cheated and took the bus up to Machu Picchu. As a punishment for our lazyness, we were not rewarded with the awe inspiring sunrise views. Instead we saw a sea of white fog. But as the morning came to a close, the clouds dissipated and we were able to admire the splendour of this Inca monument. Truly splendid.

At first we saw this....

Then it finally appeared...

One more Wonder of the World Witnessed. Pretty cool if I shall say myself.

Cusco, Peru ..."No Gracias"

What can I say about Cusco, other that it is a pleasant, beautiful city but crawling with tourists in a slightly overwhelming way. I have stopped counting the times I have had to say "no gracias" to the numerous street vendors that try and sell anything from postcards to massages and finger warmers. No Gracias...pleaaase!

Other than that it is definitely GringoLandia all over again. Cusco stands tall at 3300 metres and boy don´t you feel it. It took me a good two days to stop feeling light headed, for the headaches to go away and to be able to walk a few steps without feeling exhausted and out of breath.



Having explored the city and the numerous artisanal markets I felt it was time to leave the city and discover the breathtaking beauty of the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Everything here is Inca-related. You can find Inca Cola, Inca Food, Inca Hotel, Inca Clothes, Inca tea...well you get my point.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is located close to Cusco in the Andes. We visited Pisac, a small village famous for its market (which we didn´t see as it) and its ruins. The visit involved a strenuous (well i thought it was) hike where we could see numerous agricultural terraces constructed by the Incas.



We then moved on to Ollantaytambo where we saw some more ruins (yes I was completely ruined-out by the end of the day!) where supposedly an Inca emperor was able to defeat the spanish in a key battle.

It has been interesting to learn about the Incas and how the Spanish came along and pillaged the entire country. It has also been frustrating to learn that there is very little written account of the Inca culture and most of what we know today is based on Spanish colonial accounts. Slightly subjective I may say.



It has also made me realise how much the (old) Egyptians rock. So here´s a big up to the Pharaohs for writting stuff down and for doing amazingly cool stuff a good 1000 years before the Incas. Ok, maybe I am just feeling a little proud of my ancestry right now.

Next stop: Machu Pichu!!!

Lima...Lima...Limone...

I arrived in Lima early, having enjoyed a full night sleep on the CAMA bus (my new favourite bus!). It felt odd to arrive in such a big city, and as it felt a tad bit dodgy I overpaid my cab ride to the hostel by 100% just so that my cab driver could show me his official TaxiDriver badge (no photo though!).



I met up with friends I have made in Central America (the Danes and the Irish!) and we proceeded to explore the sites Lima had to offer. On the first day we stayed in Miraflores (the posh part) and really didn´t get very far. We ventured into the many "artisanal" markets honing our negotiation skills. I have been slightly disappointed with the products that are on offer, they lack the colours and TchaTching of the products produced in Central America. Having said that I couldn´t resist buying a peruvian hat.

It was extremely fun to be with the Danes and the Irish again. No more "where are you from?", "where are you travelling and for how long?"...although I understand that these are the easiest ways to meet fellow travellers, sometimes it´s just nice to go straight to the point. We visited the Catacombes, a number of churches, saw the change of the guards and most importantly went to the local Hooters!



I did enjoy one night out in the town. A friend of a friend had invited me for diner and knowing my friend I knew this would be similar (in standing) to a corporate diner. Although the thought of enjoying a glass of wine and good food (ie. that costs more than 2 usd) was extremely appealing, this opportunity also created a problem, CLOTHING. As anyone who has travelled with a backpack knows, clothes are practical and not necessarily pretty. I endured a 30 second panic thinking about what I was going to wear. But in the end I realised that my choice was limited so I had to go with my best clothes (black skirt, nice top and low and behold...black flipflops!!!) I know....I know....but what could i do? I don´t think hiking boots would have been appropriate either! But I pulled it off...with a big smile.

Next stop; Cuzco

Trujillo and Chan-Chan

I took an extremely uncomfortable night bus (which included babies, too many big bags and odd smells) from my beach paradise to Trujillo, a city nested in the middle of the coastal region of Peru. The main point of interest of the region are the many pre-inca sites. I arrived exhausted, left my backpack in a hostel and decided to go look for a one day tour that would allow me to see the sights and take a night bus over to Lima. I know, I was aiming to be extremely efficient.

As I walked into the center of town I felt a little like the weather, tired cold and grey. The main square was pleasant (even at 8 am). In the space of 1 hour I was accosted 5 times by tour sellers, saw a funeral procession for a policeman that had been shot as well as the first communion of many little peruvian kids. Not bad for a morning´s walk around the block.


I joined my tour late morning and was happy to see that I wasn¨t the only solo traveller. While the other foreigners were rather unfriendly, I was be-friended a group of Peruvians who could also speak english. Two of them had jobs on cruise ships and had travelled around the world and the other lady was a psychologist. We first went to Huacas del Sol y de la Luna, two pyramids that date back to the Moche era (500 AD). It was interesting and fascinating to see how they managed to build these huge pyramids using mud bricks (aka adobe) and how the colours and sculpted figures had been maintained. We then moved on to Chan Chan, the ruins of the imperial city of the Chimu people. It is supposedly the largest adobe city in the world.


I was at the bus station on time for by night bus and luxury of luxuries I travelled on a CAMA bus (ie. think business class in a plane..but on a bus!) all the way to Lima.