Cusco & Machu Picchu by Kev part 1

18.11.2025. Another day, another bus. We're leaving Puno and heading to Cusco. Not the capital of Peru, but was once the capital of the Incan Empire. I'm not gonna go into a lot of detail about the bus. It sucked, we got there. Taxi over to our apartment and shown in by the lady. She doesn't speak much English, but hey she speaks French. Her and Mel get everything sorted and the place is ours. It's smaller, cosy if you like, and soon find it's not our greatest stay, but it will do. We sourced supplies and had a quick look around. I trialled the new kitchen I have to work with. We planned some stuff for tomorrow, then hit the sack.
19.11.2025. Today we have a couple of things planned to have a look at, but mostly we're gonna walk around and have a look at the place. We visited the big cathedral near the main plaza, as you do. Inside, the main altar piece is absolutely bloody huge. 21m high by 12m wide of intricately carved wood. Not only that, it's completely covered in gold leaf. Oh yeah, it's also the largest altar piece in Peru. I was gobsmacked. The work that has gone into this piece is astounding. There were more carved wooden pieces along each wall. Not as large and impressive as the main item, but equally well created and also coated in gold leaf. Afterwards we wandered around, a bit aimlessly, taking in the city. We walked past a street, and I said “Hey I know where we are”. I had seen it on GMaps. The 12 angle stone. Sounds interesting I hear you say, and right you are. A big stone, in an Incan wall, surrounded by other stones. Yes, it has 12 sides. Yes it fits perfectly with all the stones around it. This is how the Incas did it. They never used any form of mortar like other races. All the rocks were cut to fit perfectly with each other. During earthquakes the stones could shift, then settle back together. To get huge stones to fit so snuggly together, would have taken tremendous skill and ability. My kinda thing to look at. We walked for a while longer, before finding lunch. We then headed back for a rest. Cusco is around 3,800m above sea level, and when the sun is out, it gets hot. Later, after dinner, we headed out again to have a walk around the city at night. We walked to a lookout and took in the city. Lights all up and down the mountains around us. We found lots of murals amongst the little streets of old Cusco. Once more we headed back to our apartment. More things to do tomorrow, so off to bed.
20.11.2025. Today we're going to visit a place called Saqsayhuaman. Old ruins within walking distance, just outside of Cusco. Mel had looked at tickets, and they sell a tourist ticket for 12 places or more. Its valid for 10days and we figure we're gonna use it. The “short” walk was mostly up hill, and would have been hard enough at sea level. We eventually got there without having to leave anyone behind. Bought the tickets and headed on in. This place is big, really big. We spent several hours here. There was a lookout trail we did. I really enjoyed looking at all the massive stones, carved to fit perfectly with each other, making up huge walls, steps, doorways and paths. On another hill near the main construction, there was, what looked to me, like stone, squeezed out of the ground like toothpaste. My best guess was that it was hot enough to be malleable, but not magma. It was something that had my full attention. I could have stayed there exploring it for a lot longer, but we had other stuff to do. Our next stop was back in the city, a small museum. In here we saw how they had bound and shaped kids' heads from a young age, distorting the skulls into longer shapes. All I saw was a headache. For me it was barbaric, for them it was devotion. We saw two royal mummies, bound and well preserved. Afterwards we found some lunch. Since we were stuffed from lunch and from all the walking we'd done, we headed back, had a brief stop to look at some more ruins inside the city, then had a lazy afternoon. More tomorrow.
21.11.2025. Today we're heading somewhere I picked. Machu Picchu! First up, a train ride. The station is about a 5min walk so no need to rush. We got there and boarded our train. The carriages not only have windows, they have windows in the ceiling too. The trip is supposedly very viewtackular. My word, you can't have it. The landscape in Peru was already a spectacle, the trip into Aguas Calientes was special. Tall mountains looming over us on all sides. Seeming to rise straight up into the air. We saw snow covered mountains, caves and even pods hanging off the sides of a mountain for crazy people to stay in. Aguas Calientes means “hot water” basically. There are hot springs here that we didn't get to enjoy. It is a small town very near Machu Picchu, down in the valleys. We arrived, checked in, got lunch and then lined up for the bus up to Machu Picchu. They have time slots for entry to limit overcrowding. Our visit was scheduled for 3pm. We found where the buses took off from and lined up. Lots of people lined up. Lots of guides helping out, hoping you want to use their services. We were a bit lost at the start but soon got sorted out. You need to find the sign that has your time slot, then line up there. As I said, we were 3pm. There was also a line for 2pm and 1pm. The 1pm line was already moving and the 2pm line started to move at about 1:15. It takes a lot of time and buses to get this many people up a mountain. Finally it was our turn. We got on the bus, $76usd return, ouch, and we were off. The road was narrow and wound its way up towards the clouds. We caught glimpses off our destination through the trees. We got there and hopped off, only to get into another line. It was almost 3pm and they weren't letting anyone in early. So we waited, again. Finally we were let through, and headed towards circuit 2, our predesignated route for the day. We walked up a few stairs and out onto some terraces. There it is, Machu Picchu. A summer home basically, built for the Emperor and his family to visit when Cusco got too cold. They couldn't have picked a better spot. Nestled amongst numerous mountain peaks, the view was incredible and like nothing I have ever seen. It truly was a spectacle for the eye. Clouds clinging to the tops of mountains, looking like they could blow away at any moment. Sheer faces where even nature found it hard to take hold. A clear blue sky above everything else. Amongst all this beauty, a human construction from the 15th century. Another beauty, this one made from stone and imagination. I will say that on our way here I was apprehensive. This was a place I had seen documentaries about and had wished to visit for a long time, and it was my idea to come here. I thank Mel again, without them I doubt I would have ever done it. The place is magical. I felt a sense of wonder and wished to stay up there, among the mountains and clouds. I walked among buildings, built in the same manner as we had seen, with perfectly cut stone to fit each other. I saw small fields in a middle area. Lots of terraces, all around the site. I saw appreciation in the eyes of my family for a truly magnificent place. The kids eventually lost some interest and started playing their games, but there seemed to always be something else to catch their attention during our visit. Our first visit quickly came to an end. We'd done circuit 2 and now it was time to make our way back down the mountain. But before that, Mel had a look in a gift shop at the top. We collect magnets from everywhere and one from Machu Picchu is on the cards. $12usd for a tiny little magnet, and all it had on it was Machu Picchu. Get stuffed, we’ll buy one down in the town. Daylight bloody robbery. We got back to Aguas Calientes and walked back to our room. It was starting to get dark and we headed out into the town in search of food. Aguas Calientes is a tourist town. Most of the income here is based off tourist activity, and while not as bad as India was, the people here were pushy. After a long day in the train and a long afternoon hiking an impressive landscape, we were all a bit frazzled. I remembered a place that said they had craft beer, happy hour and food, right next to the river. Right, that will do. We checked the menu and while it was a bit more than we wanted to pay, we went in, up to the rooftop bar and found a table. Unfortunately it was now dark and we couldn't see the river, oh well. Let's have a craft beer. Nope only brought in stuff, guess I won't be having anything made here. Off to a great start. We ordered and ate. Pretty average food, which made a disappointing finish to an otherwise great day. Back to our room for bed as we have another circuit to do tomorrow. This one starts at 9am. Goodnight.
22.11.2025. Up somewhat early and headed downstairs for breakfast. After that we were off to the bus pick up point and waited in line. Another trip up the mountain. We had thought about doing the hike up. It is said to take around 2hrs and has lots of steps. We opted out of that, but decided we would walk back down after. Up at the top we waited for 9am, our time slot this morning and made our way through the gates. We're taking a different circuit this morning, circuit 3, which takes us through more of the buildings. Yesterday's circuit took us around the outside and we're hoping to have a better look today. We wandered through many rooms, looking out windows and seeing little niches all over. We were walking from one room to another when we saw something, something moving. What looked like a possum, but with a less bushy tail, scampered through past us. Up over a wall and disappeared. We only got a quick look at it as it ran past us. That gave us something to talk about for a few minutes as our visit continued. Towards the end of today's circuit, we passed through the Condor Temple. A room where a natural rock formation kinda looks a bit like wings, and there is a rock in the middle in front of them that has been carved with the face of a Condor. I knew this was the Condor Temple, I just knew it. Also I overheard a guide saying it was. There's not a lot different to say about today from yesterday's visit. We got a look at the place from a different point of view so we got photos from different angles. Once we were sure we were done visiting Machu Picchu, we wandered out. Outside we had a look at maybe getting food up here. Not at these prices we won't be. We settled on an ice-cream each, and Andrew got a chocolate bar. Then it was time to head down the mountain. As I said we are walking down today. Steps and lots of them. It took a bit more than an hour to get all the way down and we were glad we didn't try going up. We stopped at a little place near the river for lunch. We went back to our hotel where everyone showered and then rested. Later that evening we went out for a walk around. We found a small area with a few big carved rocks. The kids ran around a bit and almost played with some of the local kids. Later we found a restaurant for dinner. I had a couple of Pisco sours, ate some food and went back for a sleep.
23.11.2025. Up early, pack then head down for breakfast. We have a train to catch this morning, back to Cusco. We rode the train until Olantaytambo, where everyone got off and we all got on a bus to finish our journey. I have no idea why we didn't ride the train all the way to Cusco, and I didn't ask questions either. We got back to Cusco in the early afternoon. On our walk back to the apartment, we stopped at the market and had lunch. Now full, we made it all the way back and unpacked. We then went out looking for a couple more tours to do for the rest of our stay here. We stopped at one place that was also a hostel. Straight up the guy didn't speak great English and the prices seemed really expensive. We said we'll think about it and wandered off to keep looking. Not far up the road, we found another tour operator. This lady spoke reasonable English and her prices for tours were way better. We booked a couple tours, one tomorrow and another the next day. We went back to the apartment and had some dinner and a movie. Bed a bit early as we're getting picked up for a tour tomorrow morning.
24.11.2025. Everyone was up early and ready for pickup. A taxi turned up and off we went. We're heading to a small town called Chincherro. Just outside here we're doing some ziplines. Only 4 ziplines today, but they are pretty long. I tried one upside down, didn't really do anything for me except make it a bit harder to see anything. Had to try it though. At the end, Sam the main guy asked if we wanted to try their big swing. Only 30soles more per person. Andrew didn't really ask, he just lined up. Not sure exactly how big it is, but you get clipped in and then sit down on a platform. Said platform is then dropped out from under you and you swing. It's the first time I have ever heard a squeal of surprise come out of Andrew. Sam said “who's next”. My hand shot straight up. It was fun and I could have stayed in there for ages and just kept swinging. Now it was Mel's turn. Emma wouldn't do it unless mum did, and mum had to go first. More squealing and screaming and it was all over. Now it was Emma's turn. Very reluctant she was. Finally agreed as Sam said he wouldn't drop the platform but rather lower her a bit before letting go. Em still let out the loudest scream and looked back at Sam, “you said you wouldn't drop me!”. While still swinging, Em said they wanted another go. So Andrew and Em both lined up again. Em even sat on the platform this time and dropped. When we'd finished we wandered back and took our gear off. Back into the taxi and the guy took us back. Once back at the apartment, we had a little rest and then we all blogged a bit as we are falling behind a bit.
Go to part 2 for the rest.Read more