Exploring Inca Style

It has been a week or so since our last update, but it has been an action packed week where we fought illness as we hiked through the Andes and finally made it to Machu Picchu, so get set for a looong entry.

The week began with Amy unwell, so Anna and I set out to explore Cusco. That day we had lunch in not the nicest place we have eaten and Anna ended up with food poisoning. It could have been worse but she was still feeling rather delicate the following morning.

I went out and ran some errands, stocking up on things like chocolate for our trek then in the afternoon Anna was feeling ok so we headed out on a tour of some of the sights around the city. Cusco is the oldest constantly inhabited city in the Americas, so while the Spanish built enormously, the entire foundation of the city is Inca.

Our first stop was the Temple de Sol which was in Inca times the main temple dedicated to the worship of the sun. Of course there isn’t much left because the Spanish tended to build their own churches on top of sacred sites in an effort to bring the Incas to the catholic religion. But it must have been amazing in the day. When they arrived the Spanish spent 4 months working 24 hours a day to melt down all the gold and silver that had covered the temples there!

What is left of the original is just a few rooms, but include one where sacrifices were made. Our guide informed us of the three main ways human sacrifices were made. Firstly, the victims were chosen as very small children from the lower classes and raised specifically to be human sacrifices. Then as young teenagers they were generally sacrificed in one of three ways:

1. Coca leaves were made into a powder which the priests blew into their lungs until they suffocated.
2. They were fed a hallucinogenic drink then had their head bashed in with a rock.
3. Their chest was cut open and their still beating heart was pulled from their bodies.

All in all, fairly grim. But probably the grimmest bit was the three small holes in the wall. These were drains to take away the blood from the human and llama sacrifices. Only the upper classes witnessed the actual sacrifice, so the lower classes would gather outside to get hold of some of the blood which drained away for their own ceremonies!

From there we went to the main cathedral in Cusco. It is over the top opulence at its best, or worst as you may consider it. Interestingly most of the paintings were done by Incas who the Spanish taught to paint in the European style. As a result they often secretly incorporated ancient symbols into the works of art, so the Cathedral still contains Inca objects of worship.

Leaving the actual city behind we went to Saccsayhuaman (pronounced sexy-woman) which is the remains of a massive fortification which sits above Cusco. Only 10% is left as first the Spanish raided it for stone to build their buildings, then the locals did the same until it was protected only a few decades ago. It must have been amazing, but like so many Inca remains, there is very little left. Those stones that are left however are massive. Some weigh literally hundreds of tones and are at least three times my height – and that is just what you can see above the ground. They were quarried 16 km away so it is just amazing that they were able to move them.

We saw a few other ruins, less exciting than the first few, although still really interesting then headed to our briefing for our trek the next day. There we learnt more about what we were in for and met the group we would be trekking with. We were very lucky to be part of a really lovely group of people. There were 12 hikers from the US, Belgium, Germany, Peru and Canada. Ages were early 20’s to mid-30’s and everyone had a great attitude. A couple of the boys had a really hard time with the altitude but everyone worked together to get everyone through the trip. They were so nice I think we will be staying in touch with lots of them.

Briefing over, we headed back for one last dinner with Amy and an early night to bed. Early didn’t quite happen as packing took awhile but at 5am we were up and out the door and off on our trek. Originally we wanted to do the Inca trail, but it is heavily regulated with limited permits per day and we were unable to get any. As a result we did the Lares trek, another traditional Inca trail but not ending at Machu Picchu.

It was, without a doubt, the hardest physical challenge I have ever given myself. The first day, we crossed two mountain passes, the first a climb from 3,600m to 4,2000m and the second a climb from 3,700 to 4,100m. The next day was even harder as the mountain pass was 4,600m! The third day saw us descend for over 1,000m. Going down might sound easier but believe me it was just as hard on the body. The paths were either rocky, loose shale, or soft dirt causing you to slide as you walked. Often they were next to drops of hundreds of feet and crossed waterways, meaning you had to balance on slippery rocks.

All of that would seem enough of a challenge, but we had a few more to help us on our way.

For Anna, the challenge on the first day was that she was still recovering from food poisoning and hadn’t been able to eat very much, so really had to call on every ounce of reserved energy. On day two, she woke feeling much better, only an hour later to be almost crippled with the worst period cramps she has ever experienced. We don’t know if the food poisoning or altitude exacerbated them, but whatever, they were truly horrible and I consider it an amazing act of courage that she managed to walk the whole trail without resorting to getting on the horse which a couple of the boys had to.

For me, I had the usual asthma issues and a pretty sore ankle after we ended the first day walking in the dark and I twisted it, but the main issue was that our lead guide took a shine to me and wasn’t keen on taking no for an answer. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say, he got nicknamed the octopus and I ended up being incredibly wary of being alone – even being in our tent on my own was not necessarily a safe place. But I looked after myself and he didn’t get away with much more than a few forced kisses before being put out in the cold. Anna and I have made an official complaint to the tour company so hopefully it won’t happen to anyone else.

Despite or perhaps because of our various challenges we are incredibly proud of our achievements over those three days.

The tour team (with the exception of the octopus) was also really lovely. It was amazing how they could get ahead of us and get camp set up before we arrived. They made amazing meals, usually 2-3 courses including baking bread and freshly making pizza! My favorite was the wonderful quinoa porridge they made for breakfast, it truly kept me going all day.

At the end of day three we met up with Amy again (who couldn’t hike because of her chest infection) and took the train to Agnes Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located. We had hot showers – bliss after the last few days (despite the altitude it gets really hot during the day so we were all sorely in need of showers) and dinner before heading to bed early. The idea was to get a good night’s sleep before we got up at 4am to get to Machu Picchu for the sunrise.

That may have been the idea, but there was a massive fiesta in town which went ALL night. Loudspeakers, music, fireworks, it didn’t make for the best night’s sleep, although I have to say I was so tired I slept through most of it. The biggest problem was despite our early start, by the time we got to the bus, there were already hundreds of people in line as none of them had slept either.

Still we made it up the mountain in time to be there at sunrise. It was a stunning experience, sitting high above the city and watching as the sun first hit the sacred plaza, then the sun dial before slowly lighting the whole city. Despite all we had seen and all the hype, Machu Picchu was as amazing as can be expected. It is just a stunning piece of engineering, perched high on the mountain top, although possibly more amazing is the building on top of Wanapicchu.

Wanapicchu is the mountain, shaped like a thumb that you will have seen in the back of all the famous photos of the city. Each day 400 people are allowed to climb it, and despite my major fear of heights Anna convinced me to go up. It is a difficult climb, rock steps often carved directly into the side of the mountain with a drop on the other side and no safety rail except the odd piece of rope – and yes people have died falling off it. On top there are all sort of Inca buildings but I will admit to by then being pretty much prone by a major panic attack. I did all I could to control it but there was no way I was getting to some of the places Anna climbed.

For Anna it was a major highlight of the trip, for me it was terrifying. I’m proud I did it but I can say with 100% certainty that it is never, ever happening again!

We came down (which was an adventure in itself), found Amy and explored the city more. It was never completed as the Spanish arrived in Cusco while it was still being constructed and it was abandoned by the Incas then, however the Spanish never found it so it is incredibly intact. The buildings are magnificent, the stone work stunning and the views, well breathtaking.

But it was also very hot up there, high 20’s at least so eventually the heat combined with the last few day’s activities wore us down and we headed back to Agnes Callientes where we had some lunch and a wander before getting the train and bus back to Cusco.

Yesterday Amy headed home early in the morning and Anna and I spent the day catching up on some much needed sleep, before heading out for a dinner of guinea pig – yes Jessica, I did eat one. They were surprisingly big, a huge meal and very delicious. They had been seasoned with rosemary, salt and olive oil then oven baked till crispy. There was quite a lot of fat in some places but the meat was tender. If I had to compare it to anything it would probably be quail, both in the taste and the hands on eating method. It seemed quite odd to be digging in with fingers and teeth in quite a posh restaurant!

We ended the day meeting up with the Canadian couple from our trek for a few pisco sours (the national drink of Peru) at the pub, it was lovely.

Today was our last day in Cusco. We met up with one of our guides from the trek (not the octopus) and he took us on a bit of a tour of the city as well as taking us to a local restaurant which was hidden down a lane behind a building. It was great and a really excellent way to wrap up our time in this beautiful city.

We have enjoyed our time here immensely. I still find it hard to comprehend that we really did hike all that way and that I have finally been to Machu Picchu. The last week has been simply fantastic!