Not much better sleep last night either. Disco finishes at 5.30AM, church bells ring
at 5.30AM, sun comes up at around 5.30AM.
Bugger.
As a consequence, we get up early. We have to move rooms (as planned) as someone
else has the fancy room booked. Our new room is great, at the bottom of the
complex, down four flights of stairs.
Going down is no big deal, but coming up takes some effort. The porter(?) proves to be a lad of some
strength and stamina, running our (heavy) bags down to the room and racing back
up to get the remainder. We’re happy to
tip him! The new room is certainly
quieter (for the moment), with very thick walls, so let’s hope it keeps the
disco noise out.
For today’s expeditions, we are going to visit the Incan
ruins just outside of Cusco – Q’enco, Pukapucara and Sacsayhuaman. Rather than take an expensive guided tour, we
are recommended that it is easy to take a taxi up there and then move around by
local bus. The ruins at Q’enco are small
but impressive. Andrea is very much
taken by the cave and sacrificial altar inside it. Less impressive is the complete lack of
information available to anyone that does not arrive on a guided tour. No signs, no maps available, nothing. Sadly, it becomes a recurring theme. The Q’enco site is actually cut in half by
the road. The most impressive part is
downhill, but the uphill part was also quite interesting and virtually
deserted.
We caught the bus up to Pukapucara for the grand sum of 1
sol each. There was no entrance person
to check our ticket, however it is only a small site and didn’t take long to
wander around. It’s a nice site
though. We then head downhill in the bus
to Sacsayhuaman. If you pronounce it how
us westerners do, you get “Sexy Woman”, or near enough to it. The bus drops us
off at an intersection nearby, requiring a 10 minute walk in the hot sun. I add more sunscreen to my neck, but the sun
still has some serious bite to it. On
entering the site, we are greeted by a lady who offers to guide us around. Thirty soles for an hour or 50 soles for 1.5
hours. We decide that 1.5 hours seems
fine and agree to that. Turns out she is
a great choice as a guide. She takes us
through a part we would never have found or understood and then through the more
obvious parts of the remainder of the site – think big scale Inca masonry. We are very impressed by the site and
recommend it to anyone visiting Cusco – don’t miss it!
From Sacsayhuaman, it’s only a 15 minute walk downhill back
to our hotel. In the street before ours,
we spy the street name on a small sign – Calle Resbalosa (Slippery Street),
which is quite amusing and looks completely appropriate, as the street is very
steep and narrow. While taking a photo,
I spot a small sign regarding a restaurant called Organika, offering vegetarian
food, salads etc. Why not, we ask? We carefully descend the street and just as
we find a cross-street we recognise from yesterday, we find the
restaurant. It is very unassuming from
outside, and at first glance inside too, however we are hungry and tired, so
sit down to try something. The menu
looks really interesting, so who knows.
Turned out to be a fabulous lunch.
They grow their own organic vegetables and while selling to a whole
bunch of local restaurants, decided they’d give their own restaurant a go just
over a year ago. They are doing a great
job of it. Well presented, delicious
food. Highly recommended to anyone in
the area, as well as to those who aren’t.
Come and visit them and support a bunch of people having a go and doing
a good job of it!
Back at the hotel, we survey the damage. As mentioned, there was plenty of sun. It was also my first day out and about in
shorts for a while and while I put sunscreen on my neck and arms, I missed a
few bits, including my face, nose and especially legs. I’m surprised at how red they are – I’d felt
the sun on my neck and arms but not anywhere else. Disappointing effort on my behalf. As the night wears on, I look more and more
like Rudolph!
We book tickets on the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas
Calientes for our visit to Machu Picchu.
Pretty darn expensive, but we’re making up for it by taking the cheap
option from Cusco to Ollantaytambo – a collectivo which costs 10 soles each,
which is about 4 dollars. The trick with
collectivos though, is that they only leave when they are full. We’ll see how that goes.
There is heavy rain before and during our dinner. Let’s hope that’s not a sign of things to
come.
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