We got up early so we could leave for Paracas at 7.30. On our way we saw Pelcans, Flamengos and birds that looked
like white Ibisses. When we took the boat, we first passed 'Candelabra', a Nasca line like shape in the hills, the origin
of which is supposedly unknown. In my opinion it's a nice guesture to the tourists.
A whole day of excursions. First we went to the Cantallo aquaducts. Built 400-600 A.C. by the Nasca people. Next we went
to a small town where we were shown how ceramics 'Nasca style' are made (the same way as the originals). Then we went to
a small 'shop' where they showed us how they used to extract gold from the rocks. After that we visited the Chauchilla
cemetery. Here many well preserved mummies have been discovered, buried in the sand. Then we went to the airport where we
were shown a video on the Nasca lines. Then we were split up in small groups so we could take the Cessnas to fly above
the Nasca lines. A truly amazing sight! Difficult not to become nauseous though. The flight took approximately 35 minutes
and leads you by most of the figures. At 63 USD it's not cheap, but worth every penny. Our pilot was Manuel, said to be
one of the most experienced pilots (he did an excelent job in my opinion). Afterwards we went to the Plaza de Armas of Nasca,
did some groceries and waited until it was time to take the night coach to Arequipa.
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Frommer's Peru by Neil E. Schlecht |
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Footprint Peru Handbook by Ben Box, Alan Murphy |
We were brought to Coporaque from where we walked to the Colcas: natural refrigirators in the canyon of the river. The valley
is very furtile. There are many terrasses (some a couple of thousand years old) where they grow corn, wheat and potatoes. Near
Maca we had to cross the river. For most of us that wasn't a problem, the water wasn't even as cold as we had expected. Only
Rob fell in the water on his bottom and got his pants wet... Around 4 we arrived at the bus which drove us back to the hotel.
Early in the evening there was a power outage in Chivay. We hardly noticed since we had a wonderful view of the setting sun
from our room and didn't turn on the light (afraid it would attract bugs).
A very early start: we got up at five so we could arrive at Cruz del Condor by bus around 8.15. When the sun starts to shine
in the canyon, the condors will leave their nests to use the thermal currents to get high into the air. We were very lucky.
It took the condors a while before the wanted to show themselves, but around nine there were sometimes 5 at the same time
right in front of us. A beautiful sight! Around 9.30 we started walking. During the day we had great views of the canyon.
Some parts of the path lead through burned hillsides (fire that was started on purpose to burn away old grass to give younger
and to the animals more interesting fresh grass a chance to grow, but later had gotten out of hand). When we arrived in
Cabanaconda, our Peruvian guide challenged us to play volleyball against one of the towns teams. We accepted and lost. Badly. Some
of the Peruvian women didn't even want to play against us after a few rallies because we were too bad. We told our guide we
wanted a revenge match the next day.
A 50 minute drive from Cabanaconda to Pampa Lejepampa where we will walk at 14,000ft. Most of the ground it covered with
Itcha grass, but there are many blooming cactusses too. Lovely views of the 'Red Volcano' and many snow covered mountains.
Back in Cabanaconda it turned out that the volleyball court was closed (normal for a Saturday). So we created something of
a court ourselves in the street in front of the hotel using a cord. first we played in 2 teams by ourselves, but after that
6 of us played a team of Peruvians. The first set we lost by a lot, but the second came very close: 24-26 we lost in the end
(although I must admit we had some help of a Peruvian woman who was the referee). But that didn't matter: we had lots of fun.
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Lonely Planet Peru (Lonely Planet Peru, 4th Ed) by Rob Rachowiecki |
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Insight Guides Peru (Insight Guides) by Pam Barett, Pam Barrett |
At 7.30 we took the private coach back to Arequipa. As was promised, this time we did stop at the pass to take some pictures.
We did not stay long (freezing cold), but did enjoy the view of many snow covered mountains and volcanoes.
An early flight to Cusco. We received a Cusco visitor access card which gives access to many of Cuscos' sites, museums and
churches at a small price compared to separate tickets for each site. First we went to Tambo Machay, which was probably used
for bathing. Then we went to Puca Pucara. Next to Q'engo and then to the most beautiful of the four sites above the city:
Sacsayhuaman or as the locals told us to pronounce it in English: 'sexy woman'... Huge stone walls which together formed a
fortress. Pizarro was killed when the Spaniards tried to concor it (eventually they succeeded). On the way back to the hotel
we came by the famous 12 cornered stone.
By bus we went to Pisac where there is a Quechua site in very good shape. Next we headed for lunch in Urubamba. After that we
had planned to visit the salt mines of Maras, but due to a rock slide the week before, they could not be reached by bus.
Instead we visited Moray where terrasses can be seen that were used to transform high altitude crops into crops that could be
grown at lower altitudes too, and vice versa (at least, that is the most likely theory). Then we wwent back to the hotel.
We had a dinner of bread in our own room while some of the others went out for a second hot meal.
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The Inca Trail: Cuzco & Machu Picchu by Richard Danbury |
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The Machu Picchu Guidebook by Ruth M. Wright, Alfredo Valencia Zegarra |
The hardest day of the Inca trail. In total we had to climd and descend 3,000ft. The day staarted with a very steep climb to
Huarmiwañusca, the 'dead woman's pass', at 14,000ft. the highest point of the Inca Trail. Then the trail went down and
up again to the second pass: Runcuracay. We had lunch (again the food was delicious) near the site of Sayacmarca (we did not
have time to visit it). This side of the pass we saw a real cloud forest. We arrived at Phuyupatamarca late in the afternoon.
Because there's no river or brook close to the campsite, there's a lot of used toilet paper around. The toilets are no longer
in use and when you are looking for a place taht you can use as a toilet, you have to be careful where you put your feet on the
ground... The reason this place is used as a campsite is the great view of the mountains at sunrise (when the weather is good).
An early rise to see the sunrise. The whole night it had been raining, but when we got up, at least it was dry. There were some
bright spot so there was a bit of a sunrise on the mountains, but not as nice as we had hoped. This day we had to descent some
4,300ft. We saw many butterflies and orchids on the way down to Machu Picchu. Around 1pm we arrived at Intipunku, the 'gates of
the sun' from where we had our first looks at Machu Picchu - breathtaking. We went down to the site, but did not visit it this
day, that we saved for tomorrow. We took the bus to Aguas Calientes. We dropped our stuff at the hotel and headed for the hot
spring (Aguas Calientes means hot waters). After that we wanted to take a hot shower in the hotel, but the water was cold...
Dinner was quite expensive (a lot of tourists visit the town so they've increased prices since people will have to eat anyway),
but it tasted good. In the evening there were some celebrations to lead in festivities because the next day the town existed
60 years. A lot of music and dance and a lot of noise. Fortunately this day it ended early. The next day when we were gone, it
was planned to last a lot longer.
We started the day early again to have Machu Picchu to ourselves before the trainloads of tourists would arrive from Cusco.
Our guide lead us around the highlights of the site in just under 3 hours. The site has been well restored and is really
impressive. After the guided tour we could wander around the site by ourselves. Some of us decided to walk up Huayna Picchu.
Patricia and Leo (a friend of our tourleader) made it to the top. Because today it was very cloudy, the view from there on
Machu Picchu was not very clear.