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Cusco
appeared to be a cross between a traditional Austrian town and old
northern English market town. Beautiful architecture, friendly people and
steeped in so much history. Mind you at 3,416 metres above sea level we
were both knackered just walking up the three flights of stairs to our
hotel room!
From
Cusco we went to Machu Picchu, not hiking the Inca Trail as many people
choose to, but by the luxury of train, which instead of taking up to five
days only takes around four hours.
The bus
journey up to Machu Picchu is in itself a feat of achievement as the road
twists and turns narrowly up the mountain side. Once you get to the top
the first thing that strikes you is that they know they have a captive
audience and make you pay for everything! They also only have one
turnstile into Machu Picchu and people arrive on coaches of thirty plus
people every ten minutes. So we queued patiently with our exact entrance
fee in US$s only to be told at the top of a mountain that the guide book
is wrong and they only accept local currency! We later found that this
was not true, but the man at the turnstile couldn't be bothered to take
US$ from us!
However, once you get past the hustle and hassle of getting in you are
immediately blown away by this place. It is like a tardis, because as you
keep walking round it just seems to get bigger and bigger. This was not a
city built by luck, to take the top off this huge mountain and then
construct an intricate network of buildings and farming land had to have
taken some incredible planning and design. Words and photos cannot do
justice to this amazing legacy developed and left by the Inca nation.
At the
base of Machu Picchu, in Aguas Calientes, we found a great restaurant that
prepared delicacies such as Alpaca Creole, Andean Trout in Lemon and
Onions and my personal favourite, Baked Guinea Pig! They also had a
traditional Peruvian Pizza Oven which produced the most fantastic pizzas.
We also wandered round the
market in Aguas Calientes and got totally stitched up by a gorgeous little
eight year old girl, she could show any salesperson a thing or two! I
tried to barter with her and ended up paying more than she first asked!
Genius! |