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The South American Odyssey
  • The Craze for Travelling
  • The Craze for Travelling

The South American Odyssey

A 147-day adventure by The Craze for Travelling Read more
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  • The Craze for TravellingThe South American OdysseyThe Craze for Travelling
    Step symbol of PanchamamaRemains of the puma carvings visible

    Sun Temple Ollantaytambo

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The sun temple is made of 6 blocks of huge stones. In between the big blocks are the smaller ones slotted in the gaps between the bigger blocks. These smaller ones were put in between to absorb the shock waves during earthquakes. When the Incas were using it, one of the blocks had carvings of 3 pumas on it, another one had one puma and the middle had the step symbol of Panchamama (Earth). All the symbols were destroyed by the Spanish but still some traces of the original carvings are visible.
    The symbol of Panchamama had lead some historians to believe that this could have been a temple of the Earth and not the sun. Most historians still believe it to be the Sun Temple since on the solstice of 21 Jun, the 1st rays of the sun light up the profile of the Inca king on the opposite hill and the shadow falls on the sun temple stones.    Read more

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    Around the ruins of the Sun Temple

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

    The huge stones of the Sun Temple and other constructions were extracted from the quarry on the hill on the opposite shore of the Urubamba river. It is still a mystery how these huge stones some weighing as much as 70 tons were moved from the quarry to the temple. A theory is that logs of wood were placed below the stone blocks and the stones were rolled over them.
    The bigger challenge was getting them across the river. A theory is that the Incas used to wait for the dry season and then used to divert the river behind the stones. It was easier to move the river than the heavy stones.    Read more

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    Off to Urubamba

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    After the Pisac ruins, we drove for about 1.5 hrs to Urubamba for the lunch. Most people on the bus had booked places in different restaurants that cost them from 25 to 40 soles. We didn't have any booking so we walked around and found a small local food place. Here we had a 2 course meal with soup and main dish for 5 soles 😁 I even managed to get a vegetarian meal of egg, salad and rice.
    After the lunch we drove off to Ollantaytambo.    Read more

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    Ollantaytambo

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

    We reached Ollantaytambo by 6:15 pm. It is a small town living totally on tourism. The train to Macchu Picchu starts from here. Its a collection of few narrow streets and street vendors selling local products. This was the scene of the last battle between the Incas and the Spanish.Read more

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    Chinchero

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We arrived at Chinchero after the sunset at around 6:30 pm. It was again a stop at the textile shops in the village. Since we had already seen the process one day before, we didn't gain much in this stop. It was an exact repeat of the day before, even the jokes they were cracking were the same as in the other shop a day before.Read more

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    Maikhana
    MaikhanaThe buffetHappy facesPeruvian football tshirts everywhereFace painting national colors

    Indian dinner at Cusco

    November 10, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 11 °C

    We reached back town by about 8 pm. We decided to have Indian food. There are a few Indian restaurants in Cusco surprisingly. We picked Maikhana as it was near the center and had very good reviews. The dinner was a buffet of S/ 15 per person. The food was really awesome. We even ordered prathas, lassi and masala chai to finish the meal.
    That evening at 22:00, Peru was having a football match with New Zealand. The whole city was going crazy. Everybody was carrying Peruvian flags, the vendors were selling Peruvian football tshirts everywhere. People were wearing these tshirts and had their faces painted in the national colors. There were people driving around in cars painted in the nation's colors and honking horns. All this festivity for a not even important game or opponent. Wonder what would be the situation for world cups etc.
    After all that, we went back to our hostel early since our next day tour begins at 3:30 am. 😛😛    Read more

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    Start of Rainbow Mountain tour

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    We woke up at 3 am since the pickup for the tour aws directly at the hostel at 3:30 am.
    In this region of Peru, there are only 2 seasons, the dry season and the rainy season. We had arrived here towards the end of the dry season and finally the rains had caught up with us.
    It had been raining all night and it was still raining when the pickup arrived at 3:30 am. We picked some other people from other hostels. Finally we were 11 of us in the van. We left Cusco around 4:00 am.
    After a drive of almost 3 hours, we stopped on the way where the tour operator had arranged for a breakfast. It was nice and sunny in this valley with no clouds visible. Despite the sun, it was quite cold in the shadow. We had our breakfast of pancakes, bread, butter, jam and coca tea.
    There were a lot of trucks full of locals going down the valley. It seems they were all going for the weekend markets in the villages nearby.
    We stopped for about an hour there before continuing further.    Read more

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    Start of the trek

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 8 °C

    The starting of the trek is at 4480 mts and over the next 5 kms, it reaches 5030 mts above sea level. It was a beautiful sunny start with few high clouds in the sky. We took some coca leaves and started the hike. The coca leaves are supposed to thin the blood, increase the circulation by increasing the heart rate and overall increases the energy levels, so it is highly recommended for high altitude treks.
    We had tried and found them to be quite effective on the Chakaltaya trek so this time we started chewing them as soon as we started walking.    Read more

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    Rainbow Mountain trek - 1st pass

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 6 °C

    After a trek of about an hour we reached the 1st pass in the trek. The path had been increasing in altitude steadily till now and we had not stopped anywhere on the way. The air had been very thin and the path quite steep so we had been trying to keep a steady pace without taking a break. The day was still sunny but it was cold enough to wear a fleece without breaking into a sweat.Read more

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    Rainbow Mountain trek - 2nd pass

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    After another 50 min after the 1st pass, we reached the 2nd pass which is right next to the Rainbow mountain. This place is 5009 mts in altitude. So, in effect, we had trekked 5 kms and climbed from 4480 mts to 5009 mts in 1 hour 50 min. Not bad at all for such a high altitude trek and considering that the estimated time for the trek had been 3 hours.
    One of the mountain on the pass is the Rainbow mountain and the other is where one can climb up for a panoramic view of the Rainbow mountain. The other side of the pass is a very long and beautiful valley where one can see the tongues of the Wasaqucha glacier and the far off mountain layers of the Cordillera.    Read more

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    Views at the Rainbow mountain base

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    The views at the base of the Rainbow mountain were just out worldly. The amazing colors of the rainbow mountain, the beautiful valley on the other side of the pass, part of the Red valley.. It was just a breathtaking place.
    After stopping for a few minutes for taking pictures and enjoying the views, we started the climb up the opposite mountain towards the viewpoint.    Read more

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    2Rainbow Mountain and red valley to the right
    2Rainbow Mountain and red valley to the right2Rainbow Mountain

    The Rainbow Mountain

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    The view of the Rainbow Mountain from the Mirador Colorado was absolutely breathtaking. So many layers of colors, perfectly stacked one over the other, a truly rainbow display of colors.

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    Red Valley (Valle Roja)

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    A km away from the Rainbow mountain is the Red Valley. There's a separate entrance of S/ 5 per person for the valley. Ours was included in the package (S/ 70 for Rainbow Mountain entrance + breakfast + lunch + red valley entrance + all transportation) but our guide didn't come with us and he had our voucher. The locals at the entrance insisted we buy the tickets if we were to enter. We decided to buy the tickets and ten get it reimbursed later from the guide. From the entrance to the red valley was about 20 mts. The views on the other side of the pass, looked down into the beautiful red valley. This place too was breathtaking. The deep red in combination with the green moss were a stunning combination.Read more

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    Back towards the start

    November 11, 2017 in Peru ⋅ 🌙 8 °C

    As we started back, the clouds started rolling in from all around. We could see thick clouds coming into the valley from behind the hills in all directions. Soon, it started to rain/hail. The rain drops were frozen to almost a hail. It looked like small thermocol balls all around us. We maintained a fast and steady pace trying to beat the rains.Read more