The flight to Cusco was an easy one taking only a little over an hour. But right away I could feel the altitude. Just walking out of the airport felt like I had been running instead of walking at a fast pace. Don’t underestimate how poorly the altitude can make you feel.

With the name of the hostel in hand and my new taxi negotiating skills, I got a great rate from the airport to the hostel. However, I wasn’t sure enough about the name of the hostel to correct the driver when he repeated it back to me… When I said Pirwa, he thought I had said Pariwana and took me there. Not knowing any difference, I checked in and got some rest. It turns out it was the wrong place, and when Ewan came in a few days later, he checked into Pirwa and it was nowhere near as nice as Pariwana which was just opening it doors. If you’re in Cusco, this is a fantastic place to stay.

I rested for a few hours and woke up feeling even worse from the altitude sickness. I had heard about the remedy of coca tea, so started sucking down the tea and chewing on the leaves while I met a few other travelers hanging out in the common area. Two English guys were on a motobike rally across South America and had a ton of adventures to tell. It was their only day in Cusco and they really wanted to go out, so they talked me into grabbing a beer and heading out with them.

Cusco is a party town at night. The clubs are crowded, playing great dance music, and everyone is having a great time. I danced my first night in Cusco into the wee hours of the morning.

I spent the next day recovering and wandering around the town to get oriented. I found even with the help of coca leaves that climbing any stairs or walking very fast my heart would really start to pound trying to provide my body with enough oxygen. It took a few days before I started to feel pretty good again.

Ewan arrived on the third day, and after one night in the other hostel and seeing the nicer place I was in, came over to Pariwana. We went out that evening too. This night though, I had a fresh battle with my nemesis… vino. We decided to grab a bottle of wine to share, and when we found that a bottle of nice Argentinian wine was only $3, we bought two. After finishing most of a bottle each, we went out to the clubs and things get very blurry for the rest of the night for me…

I’ll skip out of the drinking and night life from here on… just let it be said that if you want to, you can party your time away here in Cusco.

Sacsayhuaman and the Sacred Valley

Finally on the fourth day, I went to see some Incan sights! We took a hike up to Sacsayhuaman (this sounds very much like ‘sexy woman’ and is an endless bit of joking going on about it) and other points in the sacred valley. The hike up, even though it was only a few kilometers, was long and hard as we were still experiencing altitude sickness. But seeing the amazing walls of stone with some weighing over 120 tons, and intricate designs built into the walls themselves, it was amazing. Then a horse ride up to the other sites of Pukapukara and Q’enqo plus some not on the main tourist routes. This really was worth the few dollars it cost.

Once we finally got back into town, there was a parade going on, and to complete out the evening, we decided to sample the Cuy (Roast Guinea pig). Although this was something I had to try, it certainly isn’t a dish I’d be so quick to eat again. The skin was thick and rubbery with very little meat underneath. We hacked away at these little guys for 30 minutes before giving up and going to get some more nourishing fare.

Pisac

A few days later, Ewan and I took a bus trip out to Pisac because we had heard the market was very cool on Thursdays and there was a site there to check out. Well, the market was interesting enough, but nothing really new to see… however we were totally surprised by the ruins of Pisac.

Not having followed the normal tourist route, we hiked up the opposite side which is a huge hill and took us about 1.5 hours in the heat and sun through many terraces until we finally arrived at a few watch towers. We thought that was it and were very impressed with the views and the size of the terracing which encompassed a whole mountain, however as we went on we kept discovering more and more. After chatting with some others coming the opposite direction, we soon found out that we had a few hour hike still ahead of us to the road which is where most people get a ride up to, then take the easy route down the mountain! Regardless, this was perfect for me. I love going against the flow and running up against challenges.

Pisac is a great place with four different little ‘cities’ spread apart on a mountain top with plenty of watch towers and tons of terraces. There is an artisan city, a military city, a spiritual city, and a farmers city. Of all the ruins I saw on my whole trip, the stone work in the spiritual part of Pisac was the most intricate and well done. I was really impressed by the whole place.

Machu Picchu

Two days after Pisac, we jumped on the bus early in the morning heading for Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Machu Picchu. I think it took about 4 hours from Cusco to the foot of Machu Picchu in total. We were in Aguas Calientes about 10am and had heard that it was unlikely that we would make the gate up to Huayna Picchu, so we decided to climb up from the bottom to the top instead of taking the bus up. That little climb took a little over an hour and we were pretty well wiped. As we bought our tickets into Machu Picchu, Ewan asked the gate if it would be possible to still get through into Huayna Picchu and they said if we hurried over we would make it.

They only let 500 people per day up, and we were number 497 and 498! Although the excitement at getting in was high, the climb ahead was daunting as we looked up to the top. Up and up and up we climbed and the view got more and more amazing and also scary. There were some stairs that you could only put your toes into and grip as you got dizzy from the altitude, exhaustion, and height. Finally at the top, you have the most incredible view of Machu Picchu and it’s a marvel that they were able to build up on such a steep cliff.

Just as I like it, adventure always seem to come my way We decided to take an alternate route down the mountain back to Machu Picchu… it appeared to just be a short wrap around trail back to the main trail. After about 30 minutes of climbing down and a couple of switchbacks (that made us think we were heading in the right direction), we finally figure out that there is no way this trail is going where we want it to go. Now we had a choice of climbing back up to the very top and back down the correct way, or following the trail we were on which was maintained (so couldn’t just lead off to nowhere) so probably eventually lead where we wanted. We decide to soldier on… oh, and I forget to mention that we had run out of water just after starting the climb.

Down and down and down we go. Until we know for sure that we’re even lower than Machu Picchu now, which means that now no matter what, we will be climbing up again for a while. We’re starting to get dehydrated and are having difficulties. Finally the trail stops going down and begins to climb up again. Now is when we realize we’re in a tiny bit of trouble. We have trouble climbing more than 20 steps without having to stop and rest for a few minutes. Luckily both Ewan and I have a great attitude about it all and continue joking and smiling.

After 4 hours of pretty much straight hiking up and down the mountain, we arrive back into Machu Picchu. I’m so dehydrated that my vision is blurry. Ewan begs a water bottle off a guy, and we swallow a few gulps each. However, the last bus we can take back down the mountain to our waiting train is leaving in 15 minutes and we haven’t even seen anything of Machu Picchu except from above! I hustle as fast as my dehydrated body will allow to the sun temple, and struggle to climb the 100 feet or so up to the top. There was quite an audience of old English or American tourists who were gawking at us clearly exhausted men who could barely walk.

After snapping a few shots of the astronomical rock at the top of the sun temple, I knew we had just minutes to get to the bus, or possibly miss the train. Ewan couldn’t get up from his resting spot and was willing to spend the night in Aguas Calientes if need be. I told him I was going for it, and got moving to the bus. I just made it down and to the train with a few minutes to spare for buying about 3 liters of water and Gatoraide. As I settled into my seat I and the train is dinging it’s warning bell for departure, I see Ewan running towards the train and pushing right through the attendents to get on in time before it leaves. He just made it!

We were so exhausted! I ate some food, drank some water and slept through the 4 hour train ride. The train let us off in Poroy and we had to catch a taxi to take us all the way into Cusco. At this point we really didn’t care and just did whatever was required. Home and bed was about all that we could muster.

Ciao

I had booked my flight to Guayaquil Ecuador already and so only had one more day to hang out with some the great guys I’d met during my stay. Cusco was an amazing city and I met some awesome people.

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