Cusco - The Inka Capital Tue 15/04/03   The Urbanito pickup service and shuttle to the airport worked fine and I caught 6:30 Aero Continente flight to Cusco, where to my surprise I wasn't cheated on the taxi ride into town and only paid 5 Sol. The nice taxi driver Alfonso also worked for the tourism board and offered advice on travel outfits for the Inka trail one of which had also been recommended by another friend of mine who had visited Cusco some days earlier. Hence right after checking into the Hostal Resbalosa I headed down to the Plaza de Armas where the office of Flameco Travels (Plaza de Armas, Portal Confituria No. 265, Ph: 224176) is located and since they made a professional and honest impression booked the Inka trail to Machu Picchu for US$170, starting Saturday morning for myself, Ingo and Jochen. Spent the afternoon wandering around the beautiful town centre and had a very good and cheap meal at Ukuku's Restaurant (see Food and Lodging section), ending the evening in the Los Perros pub, which also had been recommended to me by Eline. Day or Research Wed 16/04/03   This Wednesday I spent doing two things, either walking around town or sitting in various internet cafes, which all seem to charge 2 Sol per hour, doing research and putting the first part of my Peru diary online. All in all a rather boring day, however I am very much looking forward to the arrival of Ingo and Jochen tomorrow. Tried a different restaurant for dinner which was quite nice but slightly more expensive as Ukuku's and again ended the evening with a quiet beer at the Los Perros couch bar. Three is Company Thu 17/04/03   Started the day with a great breakfast on the rooftop terrace of the hostal and after running some errands around town headed out to the airport where I met Ingo and Jochen who arrived from Lima at around 11am. Our first trip together lead us straight to the Flamenco office where we finalized our trek details, changing plans twice, and ended up settling on our original trip. In the afternoon I finally got to see "Red Dragon", the prequel to the Silence of the Lambs which I had missed in South Africa, whilst Ingo and Jochen were relaxing at the hostal. We met up for dinner at the plaza and went back to the Ukuku's restaurant, where we again had a very good dinner for 7 Sol. Traditionally our last stop was the Los Perros pub where we tried our hand at the Mojitos and at the Solitaire boardgame, the latter none of us solved. (naturally the Mojitos posed no problem) Ingo performed very poorly due to an exhausting previous night in Lima, so we arrived back at the hostel before midnight. Discovering Cusco Fri 18/04/03   As the previous day had been a public holiday, I took advantage of the post office being open during the morning to send my suit to my Grandparents, costing me an astonishing 118 Sol!! = 34 EUR. Then quickly bought a ticket for a bus to Copacobana with Pony Express' cama bus for 35 Sol at the bus terminal before meeting the other two in town. Together we walked around the centre of Cusco for the rest of the late morning and early afternoon, discovering the San Blas area towards the end of our tour. The latter turned out to be an incredibly interesting part of town which I had previously not visited. Had a snack at the Plaza San Blas and then headed back to the hostal for an afternoon rest, identifying several very promising pubs on the way back to our hostal. Again had dinner at Ukuku's and after briefly visiting the Ukuku's pub with not so exciting live music we headed over to Mama Africa for a free drink, among the young gringo crowd.	Hostal Resbalosa - Resbalosa 494 Cusco - Ph:(84) 224839 - 20Sol Simple Ukuku's Restaurant Calle Procuradores #398, Cusco Good variety chicken (best), meat, fish 7 Sol for menu Los Perros Tecsecocha #436, Ph:(84) 241447 Excellent ambiente, best cocktails, serve food as well (relatively pricey). Planeta Sur Plaza San Blas #630, Ph:(84) 228590 Relaxed and tasteful, outside tables, very good sandwiches. Blueberry Lounge Tandapata #675, Email: blueberrylounge@yahoo.com Nice interior, good music, good cocktails and salads (expensive). Ninos Hotel Calle Meloc #442, Ph:(84) 231424 Very nice ambiente, more upmarket, US$30 Double /c Bano. Hostal Resbalosa Resbalosa #494, Ph:(84) 224839 Friendly staff, fair prices, safe good breakfast, great rooftop terrace, 30 Sol Double /s Bano
Pano Ciudad Atardecer Plaza de Armas de Arriba Catedral - Noche Iglesia de la Compania - Noche Pano Plaza de Armas Pano Plaza de Armas Catedreal Interior Atardecer Hostal Resbalosa Plaza de Armas Nina en Plaza de Armas Vista Terraza Hostal Resbalosa Procession Semana Santa Los Perros - Jochen & Inge Plazoleta de las Nazarenas Restaurante Ukukus
Camino de Inka - Day I Sat 19/04/03   Saturday morning we got picked up from the hostal at 7:30am by our guide Marie Sol, but by the time we had collected all the other people on the trek as well as our porters, it was almost 10:30. This late departure made many people wonder if it had not been smarter to just meet the bus at the Plaza de Armas at 9:30 rather than the early departure from our various hostals. It must have been almost 3pm by the time we actually started walking the Inka trail, after our 3hour bus journey and open air lunch at Km 82 we started off by registering for the trail and crossing the Urubamba river (Wilca Mayu). After a short introduction to the local mountain Veronica (Huaca Huilaca) and it's counterpart Yanto Sagrada (Salcantay) we followed the course of the river in the bright sunshine for about an hour during which we encountered a huge spider in the middle of the path. Leaving the river to the right we climbed a small hill and marveled at the Llactapata (or Patallacta) Ruins below, which translates into place or city on the plane. Continued our trek up a valley in the onset of dusk and reached our camp site just before darkness at the foot of the Paso Warmi Wañusqua. Camino de Inka - Day II Sun 20/04/03   Following an early breakfast at 6am we started our 1000m ascend of the Paso Warmi Wañusqua at 7am. Made good progress in the morning and after a break with about 450m to go, I decided to find out how the Portadores actually manage hauling 30kg and more up the steep trails. I proceeded to carry Jochen and Ingo's pack in addition to mine (together 25 - 30kg) up the last 1.5 hours of the trail, which was difficult but not as hard as I had expected. (cycling seemed much harder) After a pause at the top of the pass with some sunshine we descended about 15 min to our lunch spot in the slight drizzle which seemed to have set on out of nowhere. Had lunch in a communal tent with rain pouring down outside and used a short break in the rain to hurry down the other side of the pass to our campsite for the second night. Arrived there quite early and after a cold shower Jochen, Ingo and I decided to undertake a small afternoon excursion to the Runtu Rakay Ruins, which probably served as a Guard Station along the Inka Trail. Camino de Inka - Day III Mon 21/04/03   Felt a little stiff in the morning after the quite taxing previous day when we set out on the same path we had taken the afternoon before towards Runtu Rakay. From there we continued on for another 30 minutes before reaching the second pass Ochapata (3900m) and descending to the Ruinas Sayqamarca, which used to be a women only sanctuary. From there continued downhill to the Ruinas Phuyupatamarka (city in the mist / clouds) and then walked for about 1.5 hours in the rain before reaching Terrazas del Sol (Inti Pata), a small d-tour on the way to the third and last camp site at Wiñay Wyna (Forever Young). The agricultural terraced structure extended over an impressively large area and was used mainly to cultivate maize and coca. Had dinner in huge food hall together with all other hikers and said our thanks and good byes to the group of porters which would be heading back to Cusco in the morning (money giving was obviously involved). Machu Picchu - Day IV Tue 22/04/03   Set out at 5am with the bulk of hikers to witness the sunrise at the Inti Puku (Puerta del Sol). A sobering experience as the 1.5 hour hike to Machu Picchu resembled a huge single file line of people pillaging and stumbling towards their destination in the dark. Arrived at Puerta del Sol at around 6:15, however after a starry night the dusk greeted us with some scattered cloud which grew progressively denser obscuring the first rays of the sun. We hence decided to continue towards the entrance of Machu Picchu in the hope of taking some photos there once the sun would appear. During the whole course of the guided morning visit to Machu Picchu we had about an hour of sun and cloud before the rain set in again at around 11am and Jochen and I decided to not return for a second visit to the ruins. Waited at the cafe for Ingo who had enjoyed the extensive visit in English with our guide Marie Sol, whereas Jochen and I had opted for the shorter Spanish tour with Martin the second guide. The two were feeling quite exhausted and chose to take the bus (US$ 4.5) down to Aquas Calientes, whereas I opted to walk/run down the hill, arriving practically at the same time. Sweat drenched I decided to pay the hotsprings a visit (5Sol) which turned out to be quite relaxing and nicely located between the river and the steep mountain face. Then met up with the others in an expensive and not so fantastic restaurant called Doldos before taking the train back to Cusco at 4:20 pm. Spontaneously decided to change into the bus for the last 20 minutes of the journey arriving into Cusco at 8:20pm. Returned to the Hostal Resbalosa and then went out with Ingo for a good yet expensive salad at the Blueberry Lounge near plaza San Blas. (Jochen was having knee trouble after the strenuous hike and stayed at the hostel) After our short dinner stop tried the Caipirinhas at Los Perros and ended up in XSS, which I thought to be better than Mama Africa for a good night of dancing.	Various Campsites along the Trail
Empiezo Camino de Inka Araña en Camino Rio Urubamba Pano Valle Rio Urubamba Rio Pequeno - Richard Ruinas Llaqtapata Camino de Inka Paso Warmi Wañusqua Paso Warmi Wañusqua Pano Paso Warmi Wañusqua Pano Paso Warmi Wañusqua - Ingo Camping Segundo Dia Paysaje y Nubes Vista del Ruina Runturakay Runturakay - Ingo Jochen Ruina Runturakay Ruina Sayaqmarca - Ingo Jochen Ruina Sayaqmarca Ruina Sayaqmarca Guia - Marie Sol Grupo Signo Jochen Richard Ingo Ruina Puyupatamarca Ruina Puyupatamarca Portadores Camino de Inka - Ingo Valle Urubamba Terrazas del Sol - Intipata Intipata Intipata Pano Intipata y Paysaje Puerta del Sol - Turistas Rio Urubamba Pano Machu Picchu - Ingo Machu Picchu - Ingo Richard Machu Picchu - Jochen Richard Pano Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Terrazas Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Machu Picchu Pano Machu Picchu Guia Martin Alpaca en Machu Picchu Aquas Calientes
Good Bye Cusco, Good Bye Peru Wed 23/04/03   After the quite exhausting Inka Trail we all decided that a day of rest was in order and I ended up spending most of the morning editing and sorting through Jochen's and my pictures of the tail, whilst the other two enjoyed the sun on the terrace of our hostel. In the afternoon we wandered back up to Plaza San Blas for one of those fabulous Sandwiches, and along the way discovered the best bakery in Cusco towards the top of Camino San Blas. On the way back to the Hostal we stopped off at an internet cafe and in the early evening I headed back to the Flamenco Travel Office where I obtained some more information about the trek (Quechua names and maps). Traditionally had our last dinner in Cusco at our favourite restaurant Ukuku's, before collecting my stuff from the hostal and heading to the bus station for the quite comfortable and clean "Pony Express" cama bus to Puno and from there on to Copacobana, Bolivia. (35 Sol) Peru - wow what an unexpected and varied discovery. Since my original plan did not even include Peru, I am now very glad I came and visited this culturally rich and magnificent place. The highlights of the tour to me were the cities of Arequipa and Cusco as well as the Inka Trail and the excursion to the Amazon rainforrest. I would have liked to spend some more time in Lima and may return to Cusco for a Spanish language course. The Peruvian people struck me as very friendly, with a good sense of humor and equally concerned about safety as I was - which all in all makes for a very pleasant mixture. Continue reading with the return to Bolivia.	no map Hostal Resbalosa - Resbalosa 494 Cusco - Ph:(84) 224839 - 20Sol Simple