back to the city

 

On our way back to Cusco stopped for the night in Ollanta again. We were so happy to get back to the quiet, non-commercialised town and our lovely little hotel garden! After the usual Peruvian breakfats of eggs, ham and cheese with warm bread, freshly squeezed fruit juice and black coffee with brown sugar, we did some more climbin and wanderin. 

Soon it was time to taxi back to Cusco through the tiny mountain towns, and to enjoy some pretty crazy national costume, music and dancing. 

 

Needless to say, I quickly decided that I need a similar job involving singing and prancing round in amazing skirts. 

Llamas everywhar! 

We spent the next few days in Cusco seeing ruins, art and museums during the day, and meeting up with G's Brazilian musician friends in a crazy hostel for beers, smokes and some live sets.   

 

machu picchu

Aguas Calientes is a strange place. Look up, and you're surrounded by misty green mountains, pushing up to the sky like mossy teeth. Look down again and you basically have a building site plus too much tourism. We arrived in the evening as the mists rolled in and had a nice evening bathing in natural hot springs and having a gorgeous Chifa infusion meal and Pisco sours at The Tree House.

What followed was not so great, and involved a tiny hostel room with a hole in the door and a loud TV in the hall, food poisoning, and a tiny corner cubicle bathroom with a door that wouldn't close. It's fair to say we bonded as a couple in new and interesting ways. BUT. The next morning we rallied and, fueled by Sprite and crackers, forced ourselves onto a bus and up the mountain road, to this...

And this... 

I couldn't quite believe I was there all day. I am now spoiled for mountains for the rest of my life. The Incas managed to keep this a secret from the Spanish, and it stayed tucked away until some European stumbled upon it and promptly began carting off things to museums back home. 

 

 Oh, hai, alpaca!

And then... the rain came down. 

We found a handy boulder and settled back in our rain ponchos to watch rivers stream over ruins and lightening crack over the misty mountains tops. We were so glad we stayed and got over how weak and faint we felt... the smell of a thunderstorm on Machu Picchu has got to be pretty hard to beat. Everyone else scuttled off home too, leaving us to enjoy the ruins practically alone! 

 

 

 

G holds on to his trusty staff.

 

We left as the mists kept rolling up the cliff sides, thoroughly awed... and ready for a big cup of mate tea. 

ollantaytambo

Our first night in Ollantaytambo didn't produce many photographs: we were too busy strolling the cobbled streets and trying to work out what was night sky and what was mountain. Our hotel room balcony opened on to a river and some ancient ruins. We ate alpaca steak. Casual. I'd been prepared for the best seafood of my life on the Peruvian coast, but the Highland food was unexpectedly good too: juicy aji de gallina, fresh trout dressed in simple sauces, quinoa and the occasional Chifa place. 

After admiring this view while eating breakfast we decided to climb the ruins of one of the few forts the Spanish didn't manage to conquer. 

G enjoyed his sun hat.  

Gotta love those anti-seismic doorways... AND those trendy rain ponchos.

We spent a good while wandering around the craft market, listening to the sound of wind-chimes and a blind harp player. I found a few gems, including a turquoise necklace for my Gran and a couple of gold llamas (specifically requested by my parents). 

It wouldn't be a day in the Highlands without another procession!

Ollantaytambo, or 'Ollanta' as the Peruvians say, was really quite special. It felt so remote and cut off, with the mountains looming around... could really understand how the Incas and their ancestors once worshipped them: they must have played such a huge part in their lives and really do feel like giant beings after a while, watching and listening to the activities of mortals! 

The tiny cobbled streets were, again, frequented by women in amazing clothes and a fair few llamas. Some houses' foundations were Incan, and the streets did feel medieval in the prettiest way. 

BUT it was onwards and upwards (downwards, really) to Aguas Calientes, the nearest town to Machu Picchu! 

cusco wanderings

Our second day in Cusco was brief, since we had to take a taxi to Ollantaytambo in the afternoon. The sun, so high and (relatively) near the equator, was strong for such an otherwise cool day. We wandered out of the centre of town to buy tickets and browse markets. 

One of my favourite things about Cusco was the religious art. I'm already a big fan of Catholic kitsch, but this was something else. My photos aren't great, but I have to include this one of Jesus eating cuy: a last supper featuring guinea-pig = genius! 

Peru is a country of remix and mash-up: it's full of many different ethnicities, religions, races and nationalities. The religious art illustrates Peru's aptitude for pastiche: when the Spanish colonists arrived, Catholicism was foisted upon the Incas and they adapted to their own religions and beliefs. From Roman soldiers sporting Conquistador helmets, to archangels clutching harquebuses and sprouting wings of parrot feathers, crucifixions with Jesus sporting a lace skirt and Virgins with robes shaped like the mountains worshipped by the pre-Incas, it was unlike anything I've ever seen. Other bizarre depictions included the Virgin breast-feeding and the Holy Trinity hanging out together. 

When the rain started coming down we said goodbye to the Cusco dog's club and jumped in our taxi. Our driver told us some crazy stories about his childhood and the years of terrorism and violence that plagued the highlands: how his father would hide him in the mountains when men from the Shining Path came to the village and killed the cows to redistribute among the people. And how his grandparents would make the same journey in a week on a donkey to get salt each winter. 

Vive el Peru! 

hola cusco

This January, after many days saving pennies and overcoming my fear of injections, I took the best trip of my life, to Peru. My boyfriend comes from Lima, and we took advantage of our first long winter break to see all the things he's never made time to do before, like Machu Picchu. I've been dying to get my broken laptop back and blog about it! 

After a quick stop in lima to check in with G's family, we took a tiny plane over the Andes to the highland city of Cusco. Even the flight was insane, spying tiny villages atop mountains and miles from roads and the rest of civilisation. 

It was unlike anywhere I've ever been. Even the light was different: clear and harsh even from behind clouds. Women in layers of skirts led llamas along the steep, cobbled streets.The historic capital of the Inca empire, it nestles in a valley at almost 11,000 feet! 

Naturally, we had a bit of altitude sickness when we landed, and did the worst thing possible by trying to nap it off! Tip: sleeping makes your breathing shallow, reducing the flow of oxygen to your brain even more. Lesson learned. 

 

Wandering down to the Plaza de Armas (many Latin American cities' main squares were named this by the Spanish colonists), we caught sight of an amazing procession, the women singing and shaking their hips and the men dancing with whistles and bells around their ankles. We soon learned that processions of this kind seem to be a daily occurrence in the highlands (although not always including a terrifying monkey...)

It turned into a beautiful, clear Sunday afternoon so we caught a bus up to the Inca ruins of Saqsaywaman (in my head, 'sexy woman')to pet llamas and look down at the city. 

 

We spent the rest of our day in museums and churches, chewing coca leaves for the altitude, and eating traditional aji de gallina (note: Peruvian food is among the best in the world and is sure to be the next big thing. The London restaurant Ceviche we visited last summer is really taking off!)

Cusco, te quiero.