Cusco & Machu Picchu by Kev part 2

Read part 1 first!
25.11.2025. Up early today and picked up. We're off on a tour. Five stops today, not including lunch. What we didn't know was that we would be making stops in places for information and being pressured to buy stuff. Our first stop was in Chincherro for a short demonstration on how they clean wool and what they use to dye it. It was interesting, then we had 10-15min to look around. Look around is code for souvenir shopping. I was looking at some hats and things made from the wool, when an old lady came over and started talking to me. “You buy, you buy”. No thanks. “Why you no buy?” Me no want! I said walking away. I then walked into another shop and had a look. Shortly after that I was standing in the middle of the area, near no one's goods, waiting to leave. Our first real stop was Incan ruins, with terraces, a plaza and niches where they would display the mummies of their kings. When the Spanish arrived, they knocked down a lot of the buildings, but not all of it. They left the foundations and built upon them. Our guide explained this, and it's easy to see. The building gets to a certain height, then changes. From Incan to Colonial. We got to have a short look around before being ushered back onto the bus. Next stop, Moray. A series of concentric terraces, mixed with regular terraces that channeled water from the nearby mountains to irrigate all the terraces. A great sight, the Incas revolutionised agriculture. We only had 10-15min here as well before getting back on the bus and taking off again. We went to a small place called Maras, where we stopped at a shop again. Another quick demo where we got to try a few samples. This place sells salt and chocolate. There's no need to pressure Mel to buy when chocolate is involved and we walked out with a bit. Another short drive and we came to a salt mine. The water that runs out of these mountains into the valley is very salty. They channel it into drying pools, then harvest the salt when it's ready. Once again another fascinating place that we were given nowhere near enough time to visit. Back on the bus and off to a place called Urubamba for lunch. Not a bad feed, as usual I overdid it. Our next stop is Olantaytambo. We learnt it was a resting point for the journey to Machu Picchu. There are lots of terraces and a temple of the sun at the top. A water temple that is still flowing today and military buildings on the surrounding mountains. The military was able to stop anyone wanting to continue to Machu Picchu through the valley. Another amazing place with nowhere near enough time to visit. Back on the bus again and heading for our final spot. A place called Pisaq. We got there a little after 4pm. The gates close at 4:30 and we had to leave a little after 5. This place is bloody huge! There is so much to see here. Thousands of burial holes dug straight into the side of a mountain. Buildings and terraces all over. Hiking trails that take hours. This place was amazing to see, and we basically only got to see it from near the entrance. Why did we come here if only to get a sniff. Our guide says you need at least 5-6 hours to explore. I felt cheated, we'd used our tickets to get in for hardly more than 30mins. This place needs a full day tour of its own. It was still fascinating, but we barely scratched the surface. Time seemed to fly by, and we had to meet the guide back at the bus. What next? Our last demonstration. In the small town of Pisaq, where lots of jewellery is made. So another pushy souvenir stop. The jewellery shop owner delivered the talk in Spanish so we had no idea what was going on. We got to touch some rocks they mined near here, then we had what felt like forever to look around the shop. I admit it was beautiful jewellery, but that's not what I'm here for. The last stop of the day was a complete waste of our time, time that could have been spent up at the ruins. What we saw today, albeit briefly, was amazing and unique. I understand that people here need to make a living, but it left a sour taste in my mouth. Too much time looking at things made today, not enough time spent looking at things made centuries ago. We got dropped near our apartment and walked back. I made dinner and we went to bed a bit earlier. It was a long day.
26.11.2025. Today we let everyone sleep in. We went and got some more money and we are trying to organise another trip to Pisaq as we really want to explore it more. In the evening we went out to watch a cultural show. Peruvian music and dancing. We’d left the tickets at the apartment so I did the walk again, this time a bit quicker. The show was good. Nice costumes, good music. It only went for an hour, and felt like 20mins. We wandered back slower taking in the city at night. We gradually got quicker as the evening was a bit cooler. More things to do tomorrow.
27.11.2025. Today we're going back to Pisaq. We were picked up at the apartment at 7 and dropped at the entrance just before 8. We were the first “tourists” inside, it was pretty nice to have the whole place to ourselves, even for just a little while. This place is huge! Terraces up the mountains all over the place. Today we had a walk over to the cemetery. Holes dug in the side of the mountain, thousands of them. Our guide the other day said that you could see 2-3000 of them, but that the vegetation had covered lots more. He mentioned 20-25,000, spanning 3klms along the mountain. After the graves we walked to some buildings up a peak. The view was something else. Mountains with huge valleys in between. We walked across the top of a peak on a small path. Thankfully at some point they had installed a handrail. We continued until we found the religious area. Finer cut stones usually means you have found a temple. There was a spit of rock sticking up with stairs and rocks surrounding it. To me this was a place of worship. It was unfortunately roped off so we couldn't get too close to it. We found some water channels, carved hundreds of years ago, still working. The water came to a square in the middle of a small open area. This had ceremonial purposes, which I can only guess at. The water still ran to it and kept it filled. Here we looked around more. You could see the terraces we had already come past from a different point of view. This place must have been bustling in its day. We made our way down to the agricultural area, this was obviously a bit less visited as it looked a little less looked after. It looked out over most of the terraces and had storage rooms built. Our plan was to start at the top entrance and make our way through the whole site to the lower entrance, near the town. Most of our visit was over but we still had to cover quite a lot of ground to get down to the town. We walked past other buildings with sheer drop offs, and walked down LOTS of stairs as we made our way through the terraces. My knees don't like stairs, I'm gonna pay for this tomorrow. On the other side of the mountains near the town, we saw more terraces. They're everywhere! We got passed by some locals who were running down all the stairs, showoffs. I could do that too, if I wanted. I just don't fancy a visit to the hospital if I stuff up. Andrew ran down after them. It made me worried, but I shouldn't have been, he was fine and I can't keep him from doing things just because I worry what might happen. We made it to the town and found some lunch in the town square. After that we wandered over to the main road looking for transport back to Cusco. We were asked if we needed a taxi back to the top of Pisaq. Nope, we wanna go to Cusco. The guy pointed us in the right direction and for 5soles each we were on our way to Cusco. Now back in the apartment we rested. Tomorrow is another big day with another early start.
28.11.2025. Early start again, yay! Picked up and off we go. Today's adventure involves ATVs and the tallest mountain we will have been on yet. 7 colours mountain, a bit of a drive from Cusco. Our first stop was for breakfast, a buffet that was somewhat enjoyable. Back in the bus for another drive, this time up into the mountains where we got dropped off to get our ATVs. There was the option to do a 2hr hike up the mountain. We opted to go with ATVs, which still had a 30min hike. At 5000m above sea level it gets very hard to breathe. 30min sounded much better than 2hrs. It cost more but at least we had a chance of making it. The ATV ride wasn't long, but it sure was easy. We then started our hike. The guide had a bag with some emergency oxygen, so yeah we need to take this seriously. Emma seemed to have the most trouble with the altitude, so I stuck with her and helped her along the way. She had a few stops to catch her breath but she made it. I think she was proud of herself, I know I was proud of her. Mel had a bit of trouble but did it anyway. They're stubborn as a mule, but smell better. There was nothing that would have stopped them. Andrew is made for this sort of thing, he was the first up there and didn't show any signs of slowing down. He and I did the extra bit to the tippitty top to have a look around. The view was fantastic and we even had a little bit of snow fall on us. All around us were mountains and valleys, and I have now seen my first glacier. Far off a mountain is covered in snow, oh how we wished we could go there. We'd freeze of course but that doesn't stop you from wishing. We had to line up for a pic with the sign at the top with the mountain's name and height. Eh while we're here. We walked back down to where Mel and Em were, took a few more pics, then started to make our way back towards the ATVs. A quick ride back to the bus, then another longish bus trip back for some lunch. Lunch was at the same place, another buffet. Afterwards, back on the bus and headed back to Cusco. The day was done, we made our way back from being dropped at the main plaza. There's a little “shop” directly across from our apartment and they sell beer. Two bottles made their way through the door and Mel and I had a drink while we rested and I made dinner. What's on tonight's agenda? Packing and then sleep, as we have another bus tomorrow. We really enjoyed Cusco, we are leaving with still so much left to see. Goodnight.
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