Cusco & Machu Picchu by Mel (part 1)

Ola from Cusco!
We are near Machu Picchu, which is the one thing Kev said he wanted to do when I was planning the gap year!
We arrived here on Tuesday the 18th of November by bus from Puno. It was a 6–7-hour trip. The bus wasn’t great, but we arrived, so that is the main thing!
We did our regular settle in our new place, which is pretty but a bit small. It will do perfectly well for our few days here.
The next day, we visited Cusco, which can also be spelt Cuzco, there is no official way of spelling it. The city was built in the 12th century by the Inka (this is the traditional spelling. Inca with a C is more English). Cusco was the Inka capital until the Spanish occupied it in 1532. The Spanish built over the monuments and buildings built by the Inka. You can still see some Inkan constructions. One of the striking things is the way the Inka carved stones so intricately, to make sure they all fit with each other and were safe during earthquake.
There is a 12-sided stone that you can see: it has 12 side as the name suggests! There are plenty of other stones to look at, but apparently, this one is the one with the most side that is easy to see.
We walked around the city, looking at this incredible architecture, as well as the murals in a lot of different locations all over the city. It is a tourist city, as it is the place where 2 million tourists come every year to go visit Machu Picchu. There is a lot of tour operators, souvenir shops, hotel and restaurants. There are a lot of people trying to sell you things. I can be a bit overwhelming, but after visiting India, it is not that much!!!
The city has several beautiful places: the main one, Plaza de Armas, is huge and magnificent. There are several churches on it as well as colonial buildings all around it. The centre has fountains, green area and benches where tourists and locals like to rest during the day and night.
We visited one of the churches, the temple of the society of Jesus, with incredible carvings and paintings inside and the tallest altar in South America. No pictures allowed, so you will just have to come here to see it!
We found a massive market, full of souvenirs for the tourists, but also food and everything in between, It is full of noise, colours and smells. We bought some cheese and bread for nibling later. Kev and Andrew got some chicken soup for lunch and Emma just wanted fruits. I found some cheese empanadas (traditional snack: pastry with cheese inside)
The streets have very small sideways and it can be tricky to walk as there are a lot of people here and cars! There are also a lot of dogs roaming all around the city, but none of them seems aggressive, they just live their life and are very skilled at navigating the city it seems!
After a break back at our place, we went out to see the city at night. We walked to a viewpoint, with a lot of stairs (and it is still high, so still a little hard to breath sometime). The view was worth it. We stayed there for a bit then slowly walked back down, finding more wonderful murals on the way. This city is really something to see.
The next day, we went to visit the site of Saksaywaman. It is a site where a pre-Inka civilisation, the Killke culture, started building during the 10th to the13th century, but the Inka developed the site in grandeur and size. Here is a brilliant example of the intricacy of their carved stones. How the Inka managed to move such big, several tone, heavy stones, is still a mystery. How they manage to exactly carve those immense stones to fit exactly together, is also a mystery.
It was built to be a fortified fortress on the north side of Cusco. When the Spaniard arrived, they use the stones from that fortress to build the Spanish Cusco. Only the rocks too heavy to move were left there. Today it is still an impressive site to visit and marvel at the creativity and knowledge of the Inka civilisation.
After that we went to have a look at a small museum, with only 5 rooms. The most interesting part was 2 royal mummies. It always freaks me out a bit. I always wonder, what the people would have thought, if they knew that their body will be put for people to visit, centuries after their death. I hope they don’t mind.
We also learnt about a custom of the Inkas: artificial cranial deformation. It was started on infant shortly after birth. The skull was shaped with binding, cone or wood to obtain a special shape: elongated, heart shaped or conical. We could see skulls with different forms, and it looked painful! I wonder what were the effects on the brain of those children.
It was plenty of knowledge for that day (and walking), so we found a lovely lunch in a vegetarian restaurant, then head back to our place for a relaxing afternoon.
On Friday the 21st of November, we took a train to Agua Calientes (which means hot water), which is the small town right near Machu Picchu. The train was nice and had big windows (even one on the roof) to allow voyagers to admire the landscapes on the way. Obviously being in the Andes, there are mountains, valleys, peaks with snow on it and sheer side of mountains. It is a joy to simply look at the scenery unfolding before our eyes. The kids had enough after a while, so they ended up with their head in their books! Apparently, landscapes can not captivate 9- and 10-years old kids for 4 and half hours! We arrived in Aguas Calientes, which is extremely touristic! Even more than Cusco. All you can see is souvenir shops, hotels and restaurants. We actually wonder where the locals live here. We noticed at the top of the restaurants and shops, smaller rooms/apartments where we assume some of them live.
We found our hotel and went back out to find lunch.
We had tickets for Machu Picchu for 3pm (It is better to buy them well ahead of time, especially in high peak season, as there is only a limited number of tickets available everyday). From Agua Calientes, you can either trek to Machu Picchu: it takes around 2 hours with a lots of stairs, or you can take a bus. We bought tickets for the bus: I am not that brave! But to take the bus, you have to wait in line, and it can be a very long line! We waited for around an hour and a half in the line behind the little sign that said ‘3pm’. We finally got in the bus, which took around 40 minutes to drive us to the entrance of the site.
Andrew got very excited when he saw the peak and where we could start to see the buildings of Machu Picchu. It was a little bit before 3pm, so a bit more waiting before they let us in: right on 3pm.
I forgot to give some explanation about Machu Picchu: the name means ‘Old peak’ and is situated at an elevation of 2430 meters above sea level. It is thought to have been built during the 15th century as a holiday retreat for the Inka emperor and his family, high priests and rich families (along with the people working for them). Terraces for culture, a very efficient water system, temples and houses are to be found there. A lot of unknowns are still around the use and history of this magnificent site. Due to not having been found by the Spaniards, the site is still very intact. It was only ‘discovered’ in 1911 by a lecturer from the university of Yale and brought to the world’s knowledge then. It is thought that when the Spanish arrived, the Inka left Machu Picchu with all their valuable and destroy the roads leading to it, which is why it was never found before. The nature protected the site and it is still very intact, which is why it is not considered a ruin, but a sanctuary.
There are several circuits to visit Machu Picchu. You can not visit the whole site in one go. We choose circuit 2a for that day, which goes on the superior platforms and where you can have that wonderful view from above, then it goes around Machu Picchu. You can see the main sights of the Inka city.
It is truly magical to visit this place. The views from the superior platforms are amazing and a good opportunity for pictures. Obviously, there are a lot of people posing there (we did of course snap a selfie) but some take a long time and do what feel like a 100 poses, which has the tendency to annoy us. But well, this is tourism.
I really enjoyed this visit. The Inka culture is truly amazing and seeing how they organised this site so efficiently, it was an amazing experience. It took us around a couple of hours to do the circuit, taking our time and enjoying our chance to be there.
We took the bus back down: as it was the end of the day, there were less people, so we did wait long for it. By the way, I wanted to buy a magnet at the one little souvenir shop there: 12us$ (around 16 Australian dollars)!!! For an average magnet! I found my limit with magnet: I am not willing to spend that much on one. I’ll buy one (or a few) later from one of the shops in Agua Calientes, a lot cheaper!
After a bit of rest at our hotel, we found a restaurant which looked nice, but the food was pretty average. Well, we can’t find gems every time! Back to the hotel for a good sleep as we are waking up early again the next morning for another circuit of Machu Picchu.
6am wake up, breakfast at the hotel then lining up for the bus again around 7am! Our ticket is for a 9am entry. There is 2 ways to do the bus thing. You can do like us and arrive a couple of hours before the time you can enter the site. This is a lot of waiting. You can also come around 20-30 minutes before your entry time and join the end of the queue for your entry time. You will arrive after the time you can get in, but as they are not strict on how long you can stay in, it doesn’t really matter. This work for off peak time, I don’t know how it goes during peak time (June-July) as I’ve read it can get extremely busy.
We choose to do the circuit 3b. This circuit doesn’t go on the superior platforms, so you don’t get to see the view from above, but it goes more into the citadel, and you can see some of the buildings a lot closer.
We didn’t get a guide and now I think we should have. There is no sign with explanation, so you have to guess things or be tricky and listen to some of the guides around you. I think one day just us and one day with a guide would have been good to get some of the information. Well, we’ll have to do some research ourselves! This second visit was as magical as the first one. Seeing the water running down small channels, the temples and houses, where you can imagine the Inka people with their gold ornaments walking up and down the small spaces between buildings, or the farmer working on the terraces. It was truly something.
Funnily enough, Machu Picchu wasn’t really on my list of things to see, but I am so glad, Kev ask to get there. It is an experience not to miss if you can.
It took us a bit over 2 hours to do this circuit. After that, we decide to come back down walking.
There was a looooooot of steps! It was challenging. I am very happy to not have done the way up as we thought of doing. The way down was hard enough! It took us around 1 hour and 15 minutes, with probably 45 minutes of that, going down uneven stairs! My knees were not the happiest after that.
When we arrived down, it was lunch time so we found a smaller restaurant, where we usually found the better food and it was the case there too. A quick stop to buy a few (too many) souvenirs, then back to our hotel for a rest.
In the evening we walked again around the small town, finding murals and statues along the way, then restaurant with a game of Jenga and chess (I lost to Andrew, but I had 2 drinks, so that might be why! Or he just getting good at it). Then back to our hotel for bed as we have another early-ish start in the morning and one of us (Emma) is not a morning person!
On the 23rd, we took a train and a bus back to Cusco. We walked our way back from the bus station, stopping at the market for lunch, which is always good and cheap.
We then book some tours for the next few days. There are so many things to do from Cusco, we should have book here for a couple of weeks!!!
The following day was another adrenaline day: some of the kids’ favourite thing to do! We found some ziplines to do above the amazing valleys of the Cuco area. We got picked up by a taxi and drove there. There were only 4 ziplines but they were pretty high! Which for me was a challenge! The other 3 are always fine! They also had a big swing (not as big as the one Andrew and Kev did in Zimbabwe). They strap you to a swing, sit you one a platform and then the platform drop and you swing! Fun! NOT!!! I didn’t want to do it, but Emma was worried, so we made a pact: if I do it, she’ll have to do it too. So I did… What you wouldn’t do for your kids! It was terrifying, well for me. Emma did it after me and loved it! And asked to do it one more time, of course!!!
That was enough excitement for the day, so we got back to our place and did some blogging.
On Tuesday the 25th, we did a day tour with a lot of stops! I said it before, I don’t like tours. It is easier to organise but they are some down to it. You can’t stop where you want, you stop at places you don’t want to, and in Peru, they take you to a lot of places where they expect you to buy things (similar to South East Asia for that) between visits. This tour was one of those.
We visited 5 Inka sites and 3 shops. It felts you spent more time in shops and in the bus than actually visiting places.
We started with Chinceros, which is a town with a lot of artisanal things made and sold. We got taken to one of the shop, where they explain succinctly how they spin the alpaca wool and how they colour it with natural dye. Then we had some time to look at the shop of course, if you want to buy thing and they are a bit pushy!!! I understand it is their livelihood, but my wallet is not that full!! I can’t buy things everywhere. We ended up buying a tiniest little bull decoration I could find!!
After that we visited the Inka place and some Inka ruins: the Spanish as everywhere else in this area, destroyed the Inka palace and building and built on top of them: you can see the bottom part of the walls are made of rocks the way Inka did it, and the top part is white and with material used by the Spanish.
Back to our bus for the next destination: Moray which is an area with circular terraces for agriculture. They were made by the Inka with volcanic rocks to keep the heat of the sun. They are still impeccable to this day: they resisted earthquake which show again how well the Inka, knew what they were doing!
Then it was a stop to another shop: a salt shop as we were near salt mines (our next stop). They explain how they ‘extract’ the salt and what do they do with it. The 2 top layers are good for consumption while the 3rd layer is good for salt bath and such. They also for some reason, sell chocolate (some with salt in it, which is really good). Maybe just selling salt wasn’t enough! We bought some chocolate of course!
We then visit the salt mines (Salineras in Spanish) of Maras and it is impressive. They are all in terraces. The salt comes from inside the mountain, where there are salt rocks and a spring bring all that salt down into the slat mines. Only local families can exploit the salt wells. Around 400 families work there. It was really impressive to see. I have seen salt lakes in the past, but the configuration of those salt mines is so different and amazing to see.
We had lunch. It was a buffet which is becoming Andrew’s favourite. He loves going back and get as much fun as he can: I still don’t know where he put that food though!
Then we visited Ollantaytambo. This was an Inka city which had a military, cultural, religious and agricultural role. It was the last stop before Machu Picchu and still is. The name means “city that offers food and accommodation’. Well, they think: as everything concerning the Inka, it is always guess work as there is no written information, as the Inka did have a written language. Everything was passed on by oral tradition.
This Inka site is beautiful and there are a lot to see. We only had 40 minutes to visit it and it was very short. We raced up to the top to see the temple of the sun made with humongous rocks and other buildings: some made for military, some for keeping the food, some for living. It is a site that needs at least one day to visit it properly.
We really start to think, we should have stayed here several weeks, as there are so much to see and if you want to truly visit the place, it takes a long time.
Our next stop was the most frustrating for us. We saw Pisac. Well when I say we saw it, we saw a tiny bit of it. Pisac is a massive Inka city, bigger than Machu Picchu made of 4 different areas: a military one, an agriculture one, a religious one and a residential area. It takes apparently 4-5 hours to visit the whole thing and we had 20 minutes to see the part right near the entrance as it was closing soon! Why do you put that on a day trip when you know we won’t have time to visit it, your guess is as good as mine. As the place is looking amazing, we are trying to see how we can organise a day trip by ourselves to visit it.
Then one last shop: a jewellery one this time. I was over it by then! We had a quick presentation about how they make the jewellery, mainly in Spanish, so we didn’t got most of it anyway. Then they follow you around the shop to push you to buy something. I just waited outside until the other people in the tour spent more money.
After that full and somewhat frustrating tour, but we did see amazing places, we got back to Cusco, for a quick dinner and bedtime.
Wednesday the 26th, was a slow start day and some blogging had to be done. The kids are getting good a researching information. Emma tries to find information about the places we go that I don’t know, but as I research places as well, she hasn’t found fact I don’t know yet! Good challenge for her!
In the evening, we went to see a traditional dance and music show. It was nice: not the best we saw but good enough!
On Thursday, we decided to go back to Pisac, as we were really frustrated to only see a tiny part of it during the day tour we did a few days ago. We had a taxi organised to get there. While in the taxi, I realised I forgot my camera!!! Sad! I’ll have to take pictures with my phone, which is not that great. But well, it is not the end of the world.
Pisac was built in the 15th century by the Inka, but it is very probable that earlier civilisations were living there prior to the Inka. As I said before, there are 4 main areas: the soldier quarter, the agricultural area, the religious and maybe observatory area and the more ‘residential’ quarter. There is also thousand of tombs on the face of the mountain. Inka ‘buried’ their dead in holes in the mountain and apparently, there is thousand of them in the mountain. We walked for around 4 hours, visiting the different areas and walking in the houses and temples (what is left of them), imagining the lives of the people who built and lived there. As it is less known than Machu Picchu, there is a lot less people and you can visit a lot more. There are very few restricted sections, which make it a very interesting experience. We walked all the way to the other side of the site to get to the little town of modern Pisac. The thing is, being high up in the mountain, you have to get down to reach the town. We walked back down through the terraces, with narrow and steep steps! I got a very serious attack of the height! I freaked out and really struggled going down, but I did it! Yeah! If you are in the area, don’t miss this site as it is a real treasure.
We took a local bus to come back to Cusco. Quick and cheap!
See part 2 for the rest!Read more