28.5. - Cusco
After we got up we followed the recommendation of our hostel host and went to the San Pedro market to get a juice. We took the mixed fruit with orange juice, which was great and a lot. If you order one juice you get 3 glasses. And as we ordered one each, we did not need anything more for breakfast. We went on and had a brief look at the Iglesia San Francisco and then went to the office for the Machu Picchu tickets, which is located a bit out of the center. We got the student price but unfortunately no access to Huayna Picchu as this is now not only limited but also needs a prereservation and we would have had to wait too long. We got an extra ticket to Cerro Machu Picchu instead which used to be completely free. After this we went to the Q'oricancha the site of the most important Inka temple which was mostly destroyed and over which a church was erected. Some rooms of the great stonework still exist and are really nice! We went on and had sandwiches at a butcher called Valle Segrada. We had chorizo humada and salchuga picante, very good! Then we went into the church La Compania de Jesus on Plaza de Armas, which was nice and into the Cathedral which was very richly decorated. There is also a a famous painting of the last super with a guinea pig instead of the lamb. After that we went to the museo Inka which has a huge collection of Inka relics. After that we had some coffee and Radka went back to the hostel. I went up to San Blas chapel which has a nice wooden pulpit carved by a local whose skull is integrated on top of it. Then I also returned to the hostel where the hostel owner explained me or two hours how to get to Machu Picchu and other sites the best way. He really took his time. After that we went to bed.
29.5. - Cusco - Pisac and around
First we went again to the market, which had just opened at 7, to get a juice. This time at another place, there were like almost a hundred. It was good but not as good as the day before. Then we took a micro to a place to take a collectivo to Pisac. The micro was unfortunately so full that we had to stand bent over all the time – very exhausting. The collectivo was better, but we had to wait some time until it filled up. In Pisac we had quite some negotiation with a taxi driver but finally he took us together with two other tourists up to the ruins at a reasonable price. At the entrance we unfortunately did not get the student ticket as we were too old. That made a huge difference as this ticket was valid for several sites and thus quite expensive, around 40 Euros. The ruins were however very nice and scattered over the mountain. We descended from the very top for around 3h through all kinds of buildings and temples. Very nice! Especially the perfect stone work of the temples. Down in the village we had a nice and very cheap lunch and took a collectivo to Tambomachay, a nice site, which is thought to be a bath of the Inka. From there we walked on to Pukapukara, an Inka fortress and then on to Q'enko. To find the path there was not so easy, but we managed. This was also a nice sit with a ceremonial cave. Then it was a short walk to the Christo Blanco, a Christ statue over Cusco and to the last site Saqsaywaman, which is located directly over Cusco. This site has an impressive wall of perfect Inka stonework, really nice! Then we were already very tired, one of my legs hurt and I had a headache. We went back to the hostel slowly and did some shopping for the next day. I went straight to bed and later just got up to go to the ATM to be on the safe side for the next days, before going back to bed.
30.5. - Ollantaytambo – Aguas Calientes
At 6:15 we took a taxi to the collectivo place for direction Ollantaytambo. They talked us into taking a collectivo taxi, which cost slightly more, but wasn't really any more comfortable, nor faster. In Ollanta, as they call it, we checked the trains to Machu Picchu, as my leg still hurt and thus I didn't want to hike the 3h which we would have had to, if we wanted to skip the train. A quite expensive train, indeed. 52 USD for a 1,5h ride. After that we had breakfast and went to see the ruins in Ollanta. A nice temple and system of water channels with small waterfalls. Then we went to the other side of the village with ruins scattered over the whole mountain. We did not hike all the way up, as it was a long and steep climb to the last ruins. Then we had lunch and afterwards some very good ice cream. The place also had very special flavors. I had a chicha and frutas the selva. Radka maracuja and chocolate. At half past three we took the train. It was a nice train with windows also on the top. The ride goes through the sacred valley, which is really nice. On the train we also got a very small snack and if we wanted beer along with it it would have been quite expensive. Then came the best, they went through the train selling all kind of souvenirs. Arriving in Aguas Calientes we went to buy our return ticket as the train was full and we wanted to be sure to get back the next day. We had to negotiate quite a bit to get the return ticket price instead of the one-way price. The woman in Ollanta told us that there was almost no difference and we should buy our return ticket in Aguas Calientes, but in fact the difference was around 10 USD. The guy there was nice and so we got a reasonable priced return ticked for the last train at 21:30 for 34 USD. Actually quite cheap compared to the luxury train also available for 650 USD return! We took the Jairito hostel close by and then went straight to the hot springs. To get to the pools it was a long walk up the canyon. Suddenly the electricity was cut and everything was dark. Luckily I had the headlamp with me and thus we had some light to follow the path. At the pools also everything was dark. By the time we changed the at least organized some candles. The water was really hot and we stayed in there for an hour or so. We also had a Pisco Sour and a Caipirinha there in the pool. Then we went back had some ok dinner and went to bed soon and very tired.
31.5. - Machu Picchu - Ollantaytambo
We got up at 4:30 and even got a small breakfast shortly after 5. We got on the bus up to Machu Picchu at 5:45 and arrived shortly after it opened. They checked the tickets carefully, but fortunately they did not execute the rules stated at the entry – no food and no plastic bottles. It would be hard without this for a whole day in the sun. Everyone rushed to the famous viewpoint and then everyone was waiting there as it took until 7, that the sun finally rose and lit the ruins. Still it was a very nice place to wait. The site is really impressive and although everyone knows exactly this view of Machu Picchu it still is really great. Waiting there we met again the Australians from Punta del Diablo. Then we went through the ruins, also really nice! After that I tried again whatever I could to convince them to sell us an additional or not used ticket or something to Huayna Picchu, however, nothing worked out. So we went at least up to Cerro Machu Picchu, the much higher peak on the opposite side. It was a very steep climb which took us 1h15. From up there, the Huayna Picchu looked like a small hill. It was a great view up there and we had our lunch up there. We met a Swiss girl and two Germans there and spent some time talking with them. We also met a US guy together with a Iranian-Swedish girl who both not even knew Graz but have family / friends there. Then we went back down and to the Inka bridge, which is a wall of stones in a huge cliff wall. Then we spent the rest o the time at a nice view point until the sun set and they closed at the same time, at 5. We again thought we had walked enough and decided to take the bus down. We had dinner and then a beer at the train station, waiting for the train. There we met again the Australians. The cheaper train was also less comfortable – still we managed to sleep a bit as we were very exhausted from the long day. In Ollanta we checked in to the first hostel which was quite run down and expensive, but at that point we did not really care and went straight to bed.
1.6. - Morray – Salinas – Cusco
The next day we had to wait almost an hour until our shower was working and we had to negotiate to get some not very exciting breakfast. Then we negotiated with a taxi driver for going to some ruins and on to Cusco. Finally, we got it for a reasonable price and Guillermo our driver was also a nice guy to talk to. First, we went to Morray, a nice site with circular terraces built into dolinas. The next stop were the Salinas, a place where they produce salt. A very impressive place with salt terraces. Next we continued to Chinchero, where we had a brief visit to the temple, the church and the museum of the site. Radka was unfortunately sick. Guillermo dropped us off at the bus terminal, where we bought bus tickets to Nasca for later the same day. We took another taxi to our hostel and went for a short walk into the center. We got some tablets for the stomach in a pharmacy and had a juice at the market. I also had small boiled eggs (maybe quail / Wachtel) there. Then we went to the butcher for another nice sausage sandwich. Then we went back to the hostel to pick up and rearrange our luggage. A last time the hostel owner ordered us a cheap taxi to the bus terminal of Cruz del Sur. It was like a the airport there. We had to check in our luggage and had security check with even a video of us taken. The bus was great and the ride over night very luxurious. We also got warm dinner, our own headphones to take home and the seats were almost as comfortable as a bed. The only problem was that with everyone in sleeping position it was quite some climbing to get out.
2.6. - Nasca
The night on the bus was quite ok. We arrived in Nasca right after we got our breakfast set which we just put into our backpacks. Out of the bus we wanted nothing but avoid the touts and go right to the hostel we selected in the Rough Guide – The Walk on Inn. Well but then there was a guy, Luis, with a sign, “The Walk on Inn”. Well of course we followed him. He was however no free transport from the hostel, but a clever tout. Well he led us to the hostel at least and also showed us that indeed it changed its name and that it was run down meanwhile as he told us before. So we went with him to see another place which was in fact quite nice and cheap, the Guang Zhou Hostel. This time it was really a special price. Of course he managed to sell us two tours and the flight over the Nasca lines, after I checked for prices on the internet and in the guide book. Well, we also had to bargain a lot for it. Still, quite expensive the flight … 90USD for 30min. in a 5 passenger Cessna. Then I spent some time writing the blog on the nice roof top terrace while Radka was sleeping. Then we went fast into a shop to get a snack so that we'd be ready for the tour at 3. However, when we arrived back at the hostel we found out that Luis postponed the tour for one hour. Great. Well we had time to enjoy our sausage cheese and bread snack. Again we had that feeling that it was not a good idea to purchase trips from a tout. At 4 we got picked up by a taxi and went on in a minibus with 4 other tourists to Chauchilla an ancient Nasca cemetery with a lot of mummies. Our driver was also the guide and was quite ok, except that Luis told us that it would be in English instead of Spanish. Still, we got most of it. The graves were just secured by simple roofs, otherwise everything was open and actually a lot of pieces of mummies, broken pottery and textiles were just lying around unsecured. They also had a small museum there and we had a nice sunset there. What we did not like was that the woman collecting the entrance fees refused to give us a ticket even after we asked three times for it. Our guide had the solution, he gave us some used tickets instead. The woman was obviously a friend of him and we also took her with us after she closed the site. Well seems to be easy money for them. We felt like going to the tourist police, but in the end did not go … maybe we will write an email. We also visited a pottery workshop and a gold processing plant, which was not, as I expected just a kind of overpriced tourist shop plus show, but was in fact very interesting. In the first place they showed us how they produce replicas of Nasca pottery using ancient techniques. In the other place, they sowed us how they still extract the gold from the minerals in a hard manual process using quicksilver. There was a Chinese woman on the tour who together with her Ecuadorian husband bought a lot of stuff, so that our guide was already a bit pissed as the tour took much longer than he planned. We got dropped off at the hostel and went out for dinner. We went to a Chinese restaurant which was not only by chance the same name as our hostel, but really had the same owner. It felt a bit like in China, we did not really know what we were ordering. At least I got something sweet, which was quite good and a big soup. Radka also had a big soup and a big rice dish of which she took a lot home. Then we went home and to bed.
3.6. - Nasca
We got up late and prepared some breakfast for after the flight, as recommended. At nine we got picked up by Luis to go the airport. After registration, Luis wanted us to pay but we wanted to pay afterward as planed. Then we had to pay the airport tax, 7 Euro again. Well and then the flight. We got in the small airplane and well it was great! We had two very nice and professional pilots and at the same time guides. We flew circles over 10 figures and saw some others on the way. The first we almost missed, as the figures appeared much smaller than expected from the airplane. After very short 30 min. the flight was over and we had to pay the rest, which we did – well you never know with these guys. A taxi brought us back to the hostel where a few minutes later the tour to Cahuachi started. We went in a car together with a brother and sister from Nevada. The partly reconstructed temple was nice, however, it is not possible to walk there, at least officially. There were also a lot of pottery pieces lying around. Our guide told us something about the Nasca lines and then let us walk around alone. We walked a bit closer to the temple as allowed, which made the guide come closer but when we walked back he did not complain. Again we got no ticket, but nothing had to be paid either. However, Luis explained to us that the price of the tour included the ticket price. Back at the hostel we met Luis and complained. After explaining he agreed to give us back some money, but actually only because he wanted to get rid of a bill, I gave him the day before, he thought was fake. As the bill was from the ATM and seemed ok to me, we agreed. Then Radka wrote Blog and I went to the Museo Didactico Antonini. They have nice pottery and other pieces, and it is possible to see one of the aqueducts of the Nasca culture there. Then I tried to buy bus tickets, but the office was closed, so I returned to the hostel. On the roof top terrace we met a Swiss couple, Simona and Roger and played a dice game with them. It was fun. Later we went to buy the bus tickets for the next day. We met the Swiss in search for the Chinese restaurant we went to the day before. It was closed, so we went to another one close by, which was also very good. There are really a lot of Chinese restaurants in Nasca. While eating Peru was playing Colombia in soccer. Colombia won and the Colombian fans who were hiding in our Chinese restaurant celebrated. Then we went back to the hostel and had some beer on the terrace and played dice and cards with the Swiss. A nice relaxed evening!
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