Cusco and Machu Picchu

After taking the night bus from Huancayo to Lima we caught a flight to Cusco on October 1st. The rest of the day we mainly spent looking for a trek to Machu Picchu. Cusco is the ancient Inca capital and now has a fascinating mix of Inca and colonial Spanish architecture. Unfortunately, it is very touristy, too touristy for us even in the off season. When you walk down the street you are constantly asked if you want massages, tours, food or drugs. Along with the hassle of finding a trek we also had to arrange our own train tickets from Machu Picchu, since there was a train strike the day that we wanted to come back (which is why we couldn´t do the Salkantay Trek). We ended up booking the Lares Trek through Liz´s Explorer. They gave us the impression that it would be a private tour, but it ended up being with 6 other travellers. Liz said the pickup time would be 6:00 or 6:30, but when she pooled us with other people she tried to change the time to 5:00, but we weren´t having any of that. The guide that we were told we had changed twice before we left. The first day we were pleasantly surprised by the quality and amount of food, but after that it got saltier and saltier (or we noticed it more and more) and on the last day much of the group couldn´t finish their plates because of that. To give credit to the cook (and his assistant) though, they tried very hard and even set the table as if we were in a restaurant. Nonetheless, it was an excellent trek and we are only mentioning the above for future travellers. Get what is important to you about the trek written down before paying!
We ended up with a nice group: 2 girls from England, one couple from Belgium (so, we couldn´t "gossip" in Dutch) and one couple from Brazil. We started the Lares Trek by driving to Lares - the scenery is nice: terraced mountains, valleys with villages and even high up on the mountain small houses could be seen and barren scenery in differing colors and vegetation. We made the mandatory stop at a tourist trap to see some weaving, textiles and domesticated caged condors. The area around Lares is covered in green vegetation, so it was a big contrast to the drive there. We had lunch at the hot springs (pools ranging from 28-34 °C) in Lares after relaxing there for a while and started on the trek. The first day was the shortest with only 3 hours of walking. On this first day we saw many children come running down the hills to our group on a quest for little presents. We gave them candy, snacks we were given by our guide, coca leaves and finger puppets. There were so many kids we ran out of candy, fortunately the rest of the group still had some. Also, luckily the English girls had lots of pens to give away too. The children walked in bare feet or sandals and many had dirty hands, feet and clothes. While walking we saw how the Quechua people lived by farming potatoes and herding llamas, alpacas and sheep. They live in simple small houses made from rocks and straw or tin roofs. There are rock walls surrounding all of their potato fields and often their houses, which serve also to protect crops from animals. These walls can be seen all over. We camped in the village of W´aka W´asi. It was quite cold and we both had upset bellies, so our guide made a tea of special herb that he had collected that day. Kids came by with 2 mantas (blankets) full of drinks and hand made clothing to sell. Brian bought a scarf and a beer from the children. Normally we don´t buy things off children, but in this case we made an exception because the children don´t "work" for very long and the proceeds are used to help the families. We asked the British girls where the bathroom was and they told us that it was in an abandoned house (that is what they were told). So, we went there with our flashlight, noticed it was used previously as a bathroom and used the facilities. Because it was so cold, the ground was uneven and we got up at 6am, we didn´t get much sleep. The next morning on the way to the bathroom our guide asked us where we were going and kindly directed us to the proper outhouse (hole in ground with tin walls, a roof and no door), which is a standard toilet around there.
The second day of our trip the scenery was different: there weren´t many villages, there were lakes, glaciers, an alpine forest. This day we hiked from 3600 to 4400 meters and after lunch descended to 3800. The girls and women wore colorful skirts and upturned hats. The boys wore ponchos or westernized clothing. Some of the people we encountered spoke only Quechua, so our guide was our voice. The people that did speak spanish generally spoke very little. Some of the kids in this area have to walk two hours each way to school. We met one boy who had walked his sheep from Lares to where we had walked 6.5 hours in total and was going to return the same day. It was even colder this night and our tent had frost on the outside in the morning. 3 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of pants and 4 top layers didn´t keep Paulien warm enough, so she woke up with tired and puffy eyes. Brian went to bed sick without dinner and had a great sleep and woke up a bit early feeling super. We walked downhill the whole morning, which quickly turned from shade into sun. We saw 4 condors in the distance and many, many butterflies. We had lunch beside a creek and then started to wait for our bus ride to Ollantaytambo. Due to mountainbike races the road was blocked so our bus came 2 hours late. To pass that time and get some exercise the two of us walked to the highway. There we encountered the same girl that had joined us for lunch, so she was walking around with a big bag of spaghetti that she was eating with her hands. She was dirty and drooling chocolate, so after grabbing Paulien´s hands and arms, Paulien went back up the road to find water to wash up. Ollantaytambo was touristy, so the main ruins were busy and expensive. We decided to go to the Pinkuylluna ruins on the mountain opposite, which were free (of tourists and monetary). We could see all the tourists on the other side flashing their cameras. The ruins here were used as storage and were used at the same time as the other ruins (this side of the mountain was not exposed to as much sun, so was cooler). During the walk up Paulien noticed that both of here knees were inflamed, so it was a good thing we chose the Lares Trek instead of Salkantay (which is a harder hike). The town of Ollantaytambo was interesting with narrow cobblestone streets everywhere. Brian tried a Cerveza de Coca (coca leaf beer), which would be so illegal in other countries. At 7pm we took a train to Aguas Calientes, which is the town closest to Machu Picchu. We got to bed at 10:30pm and we had to get up at 3am, because we wanted to shower (for the first time in 3 days) before our 4am breakfast. On this fourth and final day we went to Machu Picchu and lucky us it was raining. Brian bought a plastic poncho and it was the best 3 soles (1$ USD) he ever spent, because it rained a lot that day. After a steep 90 minute hike up the humid rainforest, we had arrived at Machu Picchu. Since it was still raining and very foggy, we couldn´t see any of the surrounding mountains. Once through the entrance it was the same, however, this made Machu Picchu look mysterious. After a tour of almost 2 hours we had some food and waited under umbrellas for the rain to clear. When that happened we checked out Machu Picchu some more and took some photos where you could actually see Machu Picchu. Also, we hiked up Wayna Picchu mountain, which has many Inca ruins as well as an amazing view of Machu Picchu. We were very lucky, because we were #195 and #196 and only 200 people were allowed into Wayna Picchu. It was an hour up and the steps were very big, but it was well worth the effort. We waited at the top for the mist to clear so that we could see Machu Picchu. It was amazing to see what the Incas had accomplished in so little time - the rocks that fit perfectly together, the location (remote jungle) and altitude, using two different mountains, the large variety of areas: agricultural, temple, living areas, etc. It was astonishing to find out that the Incas had managed to keep this whole area, which is now a wonder of the world, a secret from the Spanish. We had to catch a bus down to Aguas Calientes to catch our 3:30 train to Cusco. This train was was a lot fancier than the ride to Aguas Calientes, because it was the only type of ticket available. We got some food and drinks, performance by a traditionally dressed and masked guy and also a fashion show with alpaca and llama clothing. It was especially funny because the girl in the fashion show was strutting her stuff and the guy was walking almost as fast as he could. We arrived at 8pm in Cusco quite tired (it´s faster to take the bus from Ollantaytambo).
The next day there were no vehicles all morning (except police), because of the protests and strikes. Strikes and protests are common here. It was different, because the roads were filled with protesting people instead of honking taxis. Since it was cold and rainy we went to check out important buildings. We visited the cathedral (which is a 3 church complex) and Qorikancha at Santa Domingo, which was once the center of the past Inca society. This important Inca temple was destroyed by the Spanish and now there is hardly anything left. Before going on our night bus to Arequipa we had a well deserved massage. It was relaxing, but we were very oily afterwards and had to hurry up to our bus. Also, Paulien felt a little bit bruised the next day (probably from the Inca massage, which is a rough massage using warm smooth rocks). We took a cheaper bus this time and stopped at a lot of places along the way, which didn´t make it easier to sleep!