all around Machu Picchu

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HeyHo!! He we are sitting again in Andreas' & Marianne's house in El Valle Sagrado del Inca. Ten days have gone past since we arrived, and besides resting and cooking lots, we have made an adventurous 4 day trip to Machu Picchu and a 2 day visit to Cuzco.

Our house has a nice garden, and steps to sit in the sun and watch the bit of snow left on the rocky tip of a mountain, the afternoon sun shines on the agricultural terraces built by the Inca centuries ago. El Valle Sagrado was the main agricultural zone of the Incas to support Cuzco with its 200,000 inhabitants, the capital of the Inca empire stretching from southern Colombia to northern Chile and Argentina. Calca is a nice little town, with 2 plazas next to each other, a lively daily market, and last week its town party for one of the many saints. We saw one of the many processions for the saint, his giant statue being carried by about ten men through town, with a marching band following, and further on groups of dancers with wooden masks and great costumes dancing to drumplay. The whole week there was a big fair around the plazas, with a small ferris wheel and a pottery market selling lots of huge pots and vases burnt in the fire – a pity we can't take some on the bikes, they were great. We feel all around comfortable and are sooo happy Andreas and his family welcome us so nicely into their house with pisco sours – especially as we hadn't ever met before! (Andreas is a good friend of Swen's brother, they met 5 years ago traveling in Peru.)

After 3 ½ days of rest here we started off to visit Machu Picchu. In order to avoid paying the incredible fees to get into the area we took a less traveled route to the site. Most travelers either hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu, a 4 day hike and then to the ruins, then a train back to Cuzco, or take a train there and back; the whole thing could cost anywhere from $300 to $500 per person! It is prohibited to hike the Inca Trail without an expensive guide, meaning we couldn't do it on our own, so we decided we would take a bus several hours to a small village where we would hike down the valley for 8 km then along the railroad tracks for another 11 km to get to the town of Aguas Calientes. We would stay there the night and in the very early morning (3am!) make the 5km steep hike up to the ruins, stay until around noon when we would hike back down and along the tracks and up the valley to the town again. Then the plan was to stay there that night and the next morning would take the bus back to Calca.

Well, it almost worked out that way! We had a couple of strange adventures and pleasant surprises along the way to extend the trip by a day and a half. It all started on the bus to Santa Maria. We flew along a windy, steep mountain road over a high pass (4300m) then back down to the jungle-like valley (1500m) where we began our hike. The bus trip took longer than we thought because only half was on paved road so we only had time to hike 2 kms down to the river to some hot springs we were told we could camp at.

Tired, head still spinning from the nauseating but beautiful bus ride, and dusty we arrived to the most beautiful, peaceful, relaxing thermal baths and were greeted by Peru's most friendly workers. What a treat! We soaked in the pools – several very large stone pools with hot water coming out of the rock to fill them, with a little cold water waterfall spilling into another pool to cool off under it. A large green field was just across the pools waiting for us to sleep on the soft grass. Felix, the guard we made friends with, told us about a lesser known back entrance to Machu Picchu that we could take in order to save a little money on the outrageously high entry fees.

Happily and excitedly we set off in the morning towards Aguas Calientes. It was a nice, peaceful walk along the train tracks, huge flocks of parrots squawking as they flew overhead. We didn't carry much, the two small backpacks we borrowed from Andreas were all that we had, mostly filled with snacks, water and food.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes in early afternoon, quickly found an affordable hostel to shower and organize. We would only take a small bag full of sandwiches and water with us to the ruins. It was a quaint, picturesque town, filled to the brim with foreigners and restaurants and bars competing for business with 4 for 1 drink specials, free appetizers, etc. We strolled around town for a while, taking in the sights and drinks, but had to go to bed early because of the planned 3 am departure to arrive just before sunrise at the ruins and avoid the majority of crowds.

The alarm woke us to the sound of a big downpour – it was raining like crazy. We decided to wait it out a bit, but by 4:30 it was barely sprinkling so we set out with a faster pace to still arrive by or close to daybreak. Sweat had completely soaked our clothes by the time we were about 2/3 of the way up the steep 3 mile (5km) climb, but then we didn't have to worry about smelling bad because it had started to rain again. Slipping and sliding, clutching on to plants and trees, scrambling through dense bush to get through the back entrance, light was coming and we hurried to get in. After what seemed like an eternity we made it through, albeit a little muddy, sticks and leaves in our hair, with torn pants (Kat's) and completely soaked through. The sun couldn't break through the rain and clouds, so we shivered as we walked in the fog around the amazing stone buildings, apparently the only ones who didn't have rain ponchos.

Finally around 9am the sun conquered the clouds and rain – being able to dry off and warm up, we could finally fully appreciate the outstanding beauty of the ruins and its location on a high ridge, and take some amazing pictures. It was such an impressive sight to see as the clouds faded away and we found ourselves surrounded by mountain peaks and the neighborhood-like network of Incan houses and temples.

Happy to have experienced this world wonder, we started the hike down to pick up our bags in the hostal and set off on the ~19 km (~12 miles) hike back to the hot springs. There is a train we could have taken part-way but unfortunately they stop selling tickets 30 minutes before departure – we arrived just a few minutes late. Not even offers of bribes or tearful explanations of 'how tired our legs were to walk anymore' succeed in getting on. So we had to walk. It wasn't that bad, we made it half way more or less quickly, with a quick dip in a small river to cool off, and then took a taxi the last 8kms to town. After early dinner we walked the 2kms back down the hot springs and practically dove into the hot pools the second we arrived.

It was amazing how sore our legs were – apparently biking uses completely different leg muscles than hiking, and we had walked over 25km (~15miles) today! The hot water helped to relax the calves a bit, and massaging each others legs even more. Still, the next morning we could barely walk, the legs were still so sore. So we treated ourselves to a taxi ride to the town, then waited for a few hours for the bus, but ended up hitching in a big truck when we learned it would still be a few hours more to wait for the bus. Again we were on the narrow, winding mountain roads with crazy bus drivers. We got into Calca after dark, stumbled home and crashed out quickly. What an adventurous 4 days these were!

It took another day relaxing for our legs to recover sufficiently to make a 2-day trip to the city of Cuzco. And what a wonderful time we had! It definitely renewed our faith in our youthfulness! We have been feeling like we are getting a little old: waking up early, eating healthy, in bed by 9pm.... we haven't lead such an exciting night life lately! We got off the bus about 10km out of town in order to walk past 3 other major archaeological sites. The ruins were interesting and impressive – one called Saqsaywaman, or, to the local 12 year old boys “sexy woman”. We didn't go in them as the tourist ticket required to get in is pretty expensive, but got good peaks from along the walkway.

Cuzco is a very easy city to wander around, there are many things to see: museums, artesania markets, food markets, plazas, european style restaurants – and most of all just the narrow cobblestone streets wit its old Inca foundation walls and colonial building on top. We stayed in a wonderful hostel with a great terrace view of the city, and even the Plaza de Armas could be marveled at from our room window.

Cuzco used to be the capital of the Inca Empire, so when the Spanish conquered it they had a lot of work to do to try to destroy as much of the old temples of the Incas as possible, and built their own churches right on top of them. Luckily some of the structures of the Incas are built with such massive stone blocks, that the Spaniards had some problems destroying it all, and thus just had to built on top or around certain parts – they are now the main tourist attraction and their precise stone-masonry work is really impressive.

The town has lots of good cafes and restaurants, a nice nightlife, lots of art and music, and lots of travelers and “alternative” folk. So we had a good night out in a little bar with live jazz-funk music by great musicians, and went to bed after midnight for the first time in months. Are we getting old or not???

Before taking the bus back to Calca the next afternoon, we wandered more through town, saw some Inca mummies in a museum, and had a HUGE and delicious falafel pita in one of the steep stairway alleys. By late afternoon we reached “our” house in Calca, and had a nice night with our friends. We will enjoy another day or two of rest here, before we will get back on our bikes to head towards Lake Titicaca on the Bolivian border. It's been a great break from the bikes and we feel refreshed and very happy to be out of the mountains – at least for now!