Machu Fleece-you

We went to look around Machu Picchu today. Its probably the most famous tourist attraction in the Andes.

Machu Picchu is an Inca city that was abandoned after the Spanish conquest and lay hidden under the jungle until it was rediscovered by an American at the begining of the 20th Century. As the Spanish didn´t know about it they didn´t have the opportunity to deliberately knock it down, so it is in a lot better condition than most of the other Inca remains!

Incredibly Steve and I woke up at 5am this morning to try to see it at dawn before the tourist hordes. Only to discover about 200 people queuing at the bus stop already to go there. It was definately worth the early start though. The setting is really beautiful with cloud forest all around and you get a really good feeling for what the city would have been like.

However if anything could detract from Machu Picchu then the industry that has sprung up around it would. It seems calculated to get the most money out of you while annoying you as much as possible. Half way through the day we went to try to get a coffee at the cafe near the site only to discover that you had to buy a ticket for a minimum cost of $24 per person before being allowed through the door. Not great if trying to travel on a budget.

The town near the ruins Machu Picchu Peublo is also a pretty dispicable place. It is a kind of shanty town for tourists where you can be over charged for inedible pizza in many different locations and thats about it.

Next move is to Bolivia!

Stone Me

Weve been in Cuzco for a few days now and have been overwhelmed by how clever the Incas were (apart from the fact they never discovered the wheel!). If you ever want a patio laid, call an Inca, they dont need cement and the gaps between the stones are 100ths of a mm wide.
Were off to Manchu Pichu in a few days time, mud slides permitting, but will be taking in more ruins and some incredible looking salt terraces in the mean time.
Adios

On to Cusco

Went on two really good walks in Huaraz though we weren´t brave enough to camp out as it rained most evenings.

The first walk was up to some ruins at Wilkawain. It´s a pre Inca temple near Huaraz. Nobody knows that much about it but its built out of stone on three floors and is still in surprising good condition. The strange thing about it is that the doors are tiny and the ceilings very low almost as if it was designed by very small people. Nowadays local children act as guides. I assume because they have a lower risk of bumping their heads.

The other walk we went on was from a village called Liupa then on to the boundary of the national park at Pitec. We were then supposed to go up to a lake called Churrup at 4500m. We started by getting a communal bus to Liupa at 7am and walking from Liupa to Pitec through some really beautiful countryside. At Pitec we were at 3900m and completely out of breath so it seemed infeasible that we would be able to climb any higher. The mountain that the Lago Churrup was on was also covered in cloud so we decided to wimp out and walk up the valley instead.

Even that high up there were still some indigenous indian villages where people seemed quite suspicious of strangers. Steve got into trouble with an Indian women for taking a picture of her sheep. Past the villages we went into the national park and the scenery looked like it hadn´t changed since the time of the dinosaurs. There were snow capped mountains on either side and a valley floor covered in big boulders. We saw two condors flying across the valley.

Yesterday we flew to Cusco. The flight there was pretty spectacular with great views of the Andes. Cusco is in a valley surrounded by mountains so the plane has to make a really rapid descent in order to land.

Cusco used to be the capital of the Inca empire and is very pretty. It looks almost like an Italian city and has lots of little streets and cafes. It is a massive contrast to the other two Peruvian cities that we have seen. Huaraz isn´t unpleasant but was rebuilt in the 1970´s after being knocked down in an earthquake. Lima is pretty unattractive, not sure specifically what went wrong.

Steve is in bed with a stomach upset so hasn´t seen much of Cusco yet. However he is starting to feel better so we should be taking a good look round this afternoon

Huaraz

We´ve arrived in the mountains in a place called Huaraz. We´ve been walking around in our new gortex raincoats pretending to be hikers and drinking cups of tea in cafes while we acclimatise and work out how to use our GPS. Tomorrow we are going on our first walk. Unfortunately it has just started to rain.

Bienvenidos a Lima

Just arrived in Peru safely after a long and tiring journey.

After getting a pretty good nights sleep we were eventually woken by the sound of a demostration outside the front of our hotel. On inspection there were dozens of riot police with shields and battons lining each end of our road keeping everything in order.

There is also a large tortoise in our hotel walking down the corridors.

Just heading off to the the museum of the Spanish inquistion (Lima was the South American inquistion headquarters for nearly 500 years). Plan to go to the mountains soon.