Peru 2015 - Cusco (06 & 07 Dec 2015)

   Cusco was the first city that I visited in Peru and was the city which I spent the longest time in Peru. For those of you who don't know, Cusco is located on a valley in the Andes, and is the most visited city by tourists in Peru. It was the capital of the Incan Empire, which dominated the Andes for about 150 years before the civil war and the arrival of the conquistadors from Spain. What is special about it is it does not have a visible river that flows through the old historic town so water must be irrigated from elsewhere. The old city is listed as UNESCO heritage site (the other two are the Old Town of Lima and Arequipa) because of its cobble stone roads and beautiful architecture.

   I have learned previously that the taxi drivers will overcharge tourists with the taxi to the city so I decided to walk to the city itself. It was 5:30 on 06 Dec in the morning so I figured it would be a good time to walk around and get myself familiarise with the city.

   I took me a while to figure out the location of Namaste House (the place owned by a Hare Krishna practitioner and I would like to experience different types of accommodations  and it would fun to interact with travellers and locals). I was exhausted by the lack of sleep in my two legged flight from Seattle to Lima so I went to a two hour massage session (later I regretted about it and I should have asked Dhruva instead.

   I walked around the Old Town aimlessly and bought some fake hoodies & There are tourist operators all over in Cusco. I went to a pastry shop called Pantastico in Barrio San Blas and the storekeeper (Naysha) showed me different sites (Qorinkancha and Saqsaywaman) and I decided to buy a tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico) to see the various sites. Later two Asian tourists (Calvin and Sofia) came over and we had a good chat for about an hour. I was tired enough and I walked back to Nameste House. Ana, a Romanian Fulbright Scholar that works in Quito, invited me to come to a concert with Incan rock band. It was an awesome performance, but I was too tired to enjoy it. Ana was also tired because of excess rock climbing. We went back to Nameste House by 12:30 at night.

San Blas Plaza in Cusco

Peruvian and Incan flag in Plaza de Armas

Easy tourist money for the local Peruvians

   I got up at about 6:30 in the morning on 07 Dec. I walked to Avenida el Sol to get some Peruvian currency - sol. After that, I walked to the museum and the garden of Qorinkancha to check out some history and artifacts of the Incan time and bought boleto turistico (the ticket where many of the Incan sites would require). At about 11:00, I walked south to Monumneto Inca Pachacutec and learned about the famous Inca Pachacutec and saw the skyline of Cusco from the observation deck. The view was okay. After that, I walked to Pavitos to catch the Coletivo to Ollantaytambo.

   I had some conversations with Sebastien about various topics and experiences in travelling and I admire his willingness to trek despite on . The colectivo went up to the hill to the much less desirable areas of Cusco and it was interesting to see that part of daily lives of poorer Peruvians. The colectivo drove by Chinchero, Urubamba, and finally to Ollantaytambo. Sebastien and I parted way, and I walked up to the ruin using my boleto turistica. It was the first ruin I walked and the scenery was stunning. I stayed there long enough, and made it to the train station to catch the IncaRail to Aguas Calientes six minutes before the train would take off.

   

   

Peru 2015 - Aguas Calientes & Machu Picchu & Ollantaytambo (08 Dec 2015)

   The trains from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes are operated by IncaRail and PeruRail. Both are considered some of the most expensive railway per mile in the world. Nevertheless, I have to admit that the scenery along the train ride was amazing.

   The train went along Urumbamba River and was parallel to some parts of the Inca Trail. The nice thing about travelling to South America is that South Americans are generally more extroverted and for those who can afford to travel, they are usually very educated and are interested in the outside world. I was lucky to sit by a woman who worked as a travel agency in Puno. She was travelling to Machu Picchu with her daughter and we had some nice conversations on various topics, and I thought that was a good cultural exchange with local people.

The statue in Aguas Calientes

   Aguas Calientes is a small town that existed only because of Machu Picchu. The town was fairly pretty, because it was at the valley on Urubamba River, and one could constantly hear the water. It was easy to walk around and has a population of about 1800. I was told that everything was overpriced in Aguas Calientes because its location is very remote, and everything has to be shipped by rail. My guess is that there are different prices on merchandise that are being sold to the tourists and Peruvians.

   I stayed in a place called Pirwa Hostel, which was almost the farthest hostel away from Machu Picchu. The hostel was very empty and I ventured out on Avenida Pachucutec for some dinner. I ended up at a place called Dolce Gourmet and they offered a variety of vegetarian tourist/typical menus for S/.15 including soup, salad, and segundo. It was good and I walked around the residential part of Aguas Calientes before I headed back to the hostel.

   There were two boring tourists (Gringos!) in my room after 10PM, and they wanted to drink more before they were heading up to Machu Picchu and I thought it was the foolish idea ever but it's their trip, not mine. I headed to sleep and I expected myself to get up at 4:30'ish AM.

   I got up at 5:00 and I thought I should had gotten up earlier. I had the brief breakfast and I dashed out to Machu Picchu after I checked out. The sun was already out and I was too stingy to spend S/.50 on a short bus trip so I decided to hike 500 meters up to Machu Picchu.

   The hike was really nice and I was stopped by two friendly and young security guards to check my tickets when I arrived the station in front of the bridge. They asked for my ticket and I told them I had a reservation. They went through all the trouble to check the tickets with the tourist office for me and there was none. I had to go back to Plaza de Armas to buy the ticket and the ticket for Machu Picchu and the mountain. The security guards actually saved me a lot of trouble for climbing up 500m to the entrance of Machu Picchu only to get rejected right at the entrance.

   The hike from Aguas Calientes to the entrance of Machu Picchu was pretty exhausting, but I was hiking around the very green and lush forest so it was not too bad. It was about 8:20 by the time I hiked up to the top. Luckily I hung out with a couple from Chile so time went by easier. I personally liked to chat with the South American travellers. They don't tend to be as stuck up as some American tourists and they are friendly and nice.

   There are many tourist guides around Machu Picchu should anyone needed more explanation on different parts of sites. They will solicit for business and  It turned out that it was a mistake to climb to the mountain. The mountain was 500 meters above the ruin of Machu Picchu and the climb was quite steep. I met many European travellers on the hike to Machu Picchu mountain. The weather was very foggy in the morning and the only thing I can see from the top of the mountain was the sign itself.

The sign entitles you the bragging right

   I walked down with slightly disappointment. I met two Brazilian couple from São Paulo, Thiago and Meg. We walked around the ruin for about two hours and chatted in many different topics. They were very intelligent people and invited me to visit them in São Paulo if I have a chance. We parted away when they decided it to take a rest in Aguas Calientes, while I was busy taking pictures of Machu Picchu, after the majority of tourists were gone. It was very fun. I hung out until 5, then I took the hike down, went to the butterfly house, and took the train back to Ollantaytambo.
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I took the classical shot of Machu Picchu

 

More shots of Machu Picchu

  

The residential llamas are so used to people

   In the train I met a group of recently graduated college students from Piura. They were very talkative and we talked about different topics again. We exchanged contact information and I went to take a rest at the hostel.

 

Peru Trip 2015 - Foreword

   Peru (or any South American countries) is never at the top of my list of country to go, due to my lack of ability to speak Spanish, and my worries about the safety in South America in general (which turned out that I was rather ignorant and bigoted).
 
   My main motivation was very simple and rash (you could say it is immature). A dear friend of mine whom I felt I have a strong connection with made a half-joke to me on meeting her in Peru in December 2015. I have not seen her in more than a year and I really wanted to see her. Also, Peru has a rich history with Incas Empire and Andean culture that would be fascinating to see, and I bought a book (A Sacred Landscape: the Search of Ancient Peru, written by Hugh Thompson) in March 2015 during the Seattle Vegfest. I also picked up another used book (Journey to Machu Picchu: Spirtual Wisdom from the Andes by Carol Cumes and Romulo Lizarraga Valencia) and those two had became my read during my stay in Cusco. I left the first book to another traveller Nora (whom I really enjoyed spending two days roaming around Cusco with) and someone else took the second book. I hope both books would be utilized and gives some interesting info to those who are interested in the Andean culture.