6th to 13th May Cusco and Machu Picchu

Getting out of Arequipa proved trickier than planned. After following the GPS and several maps. we discovered the 60 km bypass took you about 5km from where we started. Could have had a 2 and a half hour lie in. So, Kirsten packed Mikkel and Francois off into a taxi, which we followed to make our escape. Genius.

3800m altitude bushcamp in a quarry. Altitude makes a person a bit windy anyway, but Rogan feeding us all beans made for a tuneful evening. I discovered that the cold of being high up plus the shortness of breath means I do not sleep at all. Not good when we have similar conditions till Argentina. People are starting to drop with a stomach bug. Uh oh.

Main square



ATM queue


Arrived in Cusco - a very cool town. Lots of side streets, full of markets and a cracking main square. About a dozen of the group went off to do a trek from Larez to meet us nearer to Machu Picchu. The rest of us did some serious mooching and souvenir shopping. We also took a tour of the Sacred Valley, seeing some 14th century Inca ruins. Very impressive. The Inca's worshipped the sun, so had all their temples built high on the hills, getting the Quechua race to push huge (100 tonne) stones up to the tops. Paddy's bar became the 'local' for everyone, with good atmosphere, music and food. A huge festival took place in the main square one night, with amazing costumes, fireworks and dancing.

Typical market - Typical Kirsten pose



Sacred Valley - climbing to the top was slow



This lady decided I was missing some necessary adornments


Heather, Kirsten and Vanessa in Paddy's Bar - the highest Irish owned bar in the world it claims



Crashing the festival - me and Kirsten


Me and Rogan


Then it was time to go on our trip to see Machu Picchu. We met the trekkers on the train which was a nice surprise. The train took us to Aguas Calientes (it has hot springs so I am guessing the spelling is right) where we checked into a very nice hotel. Sadly, we'd be up at 4.15am the next morning in order to queue to get the first bus into Machu Picchu (5.30am). Entering the site at 6am was fabulous as it was virtually empty and as most people run up to the sun gate to try to see a sunrise that the cloud will prevent them seeing, we had the rest of the site to ourselves. 3500 people visit each day but most don't turn up till 10am. Our guide talked us round the site a bit and then we all wondered off ourselves. A truly magical place and real highlight of the trip. Apparently, there are Inca ruins all over all the high mountains but Machu Picchu was not discovered by the Spanish when they invaded so was not destroyed. Oh, Machu Picchu means old mountain and should be pronounced Match-oo Pik-choo. Pronouncing it Pitch-oo means something else altogether. Ha.

To get this picture.....


.....you have to climb these steps to get to the building top centre of pic











Perhaps even alpaca's get altitude sickness


The Incas shaped some of the rocks to match mountains behind them


If you get up at 4.15am, you have lunch a bit early