Peru was pretty special; the sunset over the streets of Lima on our first night was the start to seeing many superb old Inca sites, some spectacular scenery, eating some gastronomic delights, but it was so much more. There was something about this country that is shouting and screaming to us that we really must return one day and must tell everyone that they should go too. There is much we didn’t see either due to limited time or laziness on our part, so we have plenty to see on our next visit. There will be a photo album, but like Chile, it will take a lot of time to pick just 40 photos!

Goodnight Peru – we’ll hopefully see you soon.

After a short 1.5 hour flight from Cusco, we’re back at sea level, well 75m according to my iPhone app, so hopefully the soroche is now gone until the next high altitude holiday. Lima is where our South American adventure started just over 7 weeks ago where you may remember we had great gourmet food and saw some old ruins. See here for a reminder.

This time we are staying in a very pleasant B&B in the district of Miraflores and there are definitely many flowers to look at in the gardens of this, the most posh of all neighbourhoods in Lima, if not South America. We could have been transported straight to Chelsea or South Kensington.

We wanted to see Huaca Pucllana. This is a 2000 year old adobe and clay pyramid located right in the centre of Lima. It is meant to one of the sites to see and is made up of thousands and thousands of adobe bricks and all less than 5 minutes walk from our hotel.

Excellent, we just walk right to it and have a good explore. Or not. The whole site is closed on Tuesdays. And we leave our hotel at 6am on Wednesday to get to Ecuador. Oh bugger.

Salvation came when one of the security guards said that the restaurant is open. Is that the same restaurant that is one of the best around here in the gourmet capital of South America? Yes, one and the same. A quick credit card check and you may hear our disappointment that, well, if the only way of seeing the ruins is eating flipping lovely food, then we have to go. The food itself was awesome, including juicy big prawns, the best octopus that either of us have ever eaten, quinoa crusted tender sea bass and lovely lamb all washed down with perfect Pisco Sours.

Special mention, however, for the dessert that we somehow had room for. It was described as chocolate with honey and soil, we though that this was a translation error but when it came, it was in a plant pot of extreme chocolatey honey gorgeousness and indeed had chocolate “soil” and mint leaf on top – someone here has definitely been to the Fat Duck – click here for our memories a couple of years ago of Snr. Blumenthal’s place. Although compared to the Fat Duck, this was a lot cheaper.

Overall, probably one of the best meals we both have ever had, with only noise in the whole ruins being the sound of llamas braying, waiters attentively hovering, stomaches groaning and our credit card taking a battering.

So, this time in Lima we decided to well, errrm, have some great gourmet food and see some old ruins. Lima to Lima. Circle completed.

Big news from us, we managed to actually leave Ollantaytambo after 8 days. To the side here is a photo from our balcony, this covers around a third of the overall view; the other parts are of the Inca ruins we went to last Saturday (see here) and of more mountains. You will probably understand why it was a drag to leave when waking up to this and almost certainly beats “cat biting your eyebrow” which is often our waking view when back at chez Hardcow.

Augusto, our trusty driver from our day trip a couple of days ago, picked us up for the return to Cusco. This time we took some photos to try and show how spectacular it all was, although quite how many times have we said that this holiday is probably getting a bit boring for you all by now!

A brief hour and a half later we arrived in Cusco. Deciding to book into the same hotel as before, we were greeted by the manager and his staff like long lost friends and they proceeded to give us their special room for the same price as a normal double (it’s normally $40pn more) which is huge and even has a working fireplace. How lovely. True to form however, Allan decided to be affected a little by the altitude and proceeded to sleep for the first 18 hours of being here, but is now recovered far more quickly than last time.

Next stop tomorrow is back to Lima for a brief 2 day visit. We now have less than 4 weeks left for this instalment of hardcowtravels, but still plenty of sites, places and people to see!

We managed to drag our bodies out for the day to visit some salt pans and an Inca agricultural site. It was very easy to arrange, a matter of walking 5 minutes towards the main square here in Ollantayambo (yes, we’re still here after 7 days) and wait for the first taxi driver to approach. We either got lucky or all the taxi guys are all this good, but our driver Augusto organised a great tour that was safe, smiley, informative and conducted in all in finest Spanglish.

Special mention must be made of the journey to the sites we wanted to see. First was the drive in the Orubamba valley and up to the top of one of the big hills overlooking the town of Orubamba. Next was the drive to the sites we wanted to see where the views were pretty awesome, it was like five views in one perfect vista;  first, in the foreground there was Kent with fields of sheep and crops, moving back in our line of sight was hilly Devon, further back then was The Shire with green rolling hills where we fully expected Hobbits to be jumping around, then came green mountains in the Volvic adverts and finally there was the snow-capped mountains of Mordor. Augusto then took the scenic route back to Ollanta, which involved slowly descending over 1000m along a one-track road hoping that nothing was coming the other way whilst taking in more fantastic views. We thought that the car journey from Cusco to Ollanta was the best car journey we had ever taken, well, this one just beat it.

Onto the sights. Our first one was to the salt pans of Maras. These salt pans have been farmed (is that the right word?) for many years and date even pre-Inca times. As with everything round here, it is just massive; each pan must be around 5x3m and there must be around 1000 of them all located in a valley that must be over 500m deep.  Each of the pans can be owned separately, the better quality salt is at the top – used for human consumption (cooking, tasty addition to chocolate etc.) right down to the ones at the bottom where the salt is used for agricultural purposes. We arrived towards the end of wet season, so production is very much on-going. It must be even more spectacular when everything is white and the harvest is ready, even so, we admired another view with awe even though there were many many steps to get down – and therefore back up – to the salt pan levels.

Next was Moray. This was Inca created and is thought that it was used to test whether crops could cope with different temperatures created by the positioning of the circular terraces. Hotter and drier at the top, unto 15c colder and wetter at the bottom is the theory, but as with almost all Inca creations, it’s pretty much guesswork. Not too sure our photos really show the scale of this site, for an idea, click on the first picture and you will see 2 people in the bottom left corner. It’s surprising that us tourists have pretty much free reign to climb up and down the massive terraces (via some steep and slightly precarious steps on the terraces themselves). This site is at 3500m altitude so everyone does take it very slowly, especially the tours with the older guys and gals, but this allowed even more appreciation of the workmanship of the Incas and, of course, the overall site itself.

Gobsmacked with salt farms, circular terraces and spectacular general views and with the Ollanta Inca ruins and Machu Picchu still in our heads, we were returning to our hotel with only one thing on our minds – how much more amazing stuff can there be around here to see?  Our driver had the answer; “go to Pisac, it’s even better there!”.  Next time Peru… next time…

Ollantaytambo wasn’t on our original schedule, but we had a spare week or so because Tacna didn’t appeal to us and Peruvian miners blocked our way to Lake Titicaca. Having chosen a pretty posh hotel at £50pn and deciding to go for the best room (terrace overlooking the mountains, spa bath and a massive bed), we arrived at Ollantay from Cusco. In two hours, we passed over soaring hills, the roaring Orubamba river, colourful fields of vegetables, and skirted the side of mountains over 5000m high in what must be one of the most spectacular taxi, or any other car journey, we have ever taken.

Ollantay is at a reduced altitude (only 2700m!). There is also a lot of history to this place, including a pretty rare incident for Inca history in which they defeated the Spanish conquistadors. The tourist part of the town is basically two streets, one main road and one road down to the train station, with various shops, reasonably basic but good restaurants and a few decent hostels/hotels. It is in the Sacred Valley on the way to Machu Picchu and, from what we have seen so far, is a very pretty little town. Conveniently, for us anyhow, there are engineering works on the Cusco to Machu Picchu line and all trains now start at Ollantay. Most people, therefore, pass straight through here and probably just stop for a coffee waiting for their train.

Ollantay’s main attraction is a very well preserved Inca archeological site, with mighty terracing and that is where we headed on Saturday. When visiting the tourist places, there’s always a bit of a dilemma: do we get a guide or not?  Experience so far has been good, but the Inca language was only spoken, not written, so any Inca sites are still a little bit of a mystery. The general advice for Inca sites is that a guide is often not much better than reading a book and some will make up facts to inject a little more interest. Fortunately, we randomly chose (i.e. she asked whether we were interested) a fantastic guide this time. Ninakuru was enthusiastic, knowledgeable and happy to talk about everything and anything. In absolutely perfect English.

We found about the site being occupied well before the Incas, how the quality of workmanship got better the further up the steps we went (did I not mention steps before now? there were flipping hundreds of them…), seeing the big ramp up the mountain where the massive stones were brought from surrounding mountains and that Incas were a little like The Borg – they took the best parts of cultures that they defeated and assimilated knowledge to improve themselves. We climbed up to one of the highest points of the whole sight and wandered around for a good couple of hours.

Ninakuru, who was from a mountain area where the language commonly used by the Incas (Quechuan) is still spoken, also gave us insights into being brought up at 5000m altitude. One great story was about when she did the Inca trail (with ease) as a small, young Peruvian woman, totally showing up the cynicism of the local macho porters. For those who don’t know, the Inca trail is four days of pretty difficult trekking that normally turns even experienced, big and strong westerners into a gibbering mess.

We also found out that climbing steps at this altitude is SO much easier than in Cusco, what a difference 500 metres makes!  It gives us confidence that going to Machu Picchu will not involve getting there and just looking at a partial view of the spectacular wonder of the world from the comfort of the overpriced coffee shop at the entrance.

Overall, at the minute, we are very glad that schedules allowed us to stay in Ollantaytambo and if you come to this part of the world you should make sure it is in your schedule. And the view from this deluxe room at Tunupa Hotel will take some beating on this holiday or any other to come – breathtaking in a nice way for a change.

We have spent around a week in Cusco, some of which was a little recovery time for me (Allan) from some bug or other. All good now, but before describing what we’ve seen in Cusco, a special mention to altitude sickness.

Altitude sickness is not a good name as it’s really only the extreme cases where any sickness occurs. The Spanish name, soroche, seems so much a more pleasant word. We’ve both been affected in Cusco. The altitude is 3399m (11152ft), which equates to having just 65% of the normal amount of oxygen as compared to sea level. We have not been able to sleep more than four hours a night, there are odd times where we have to remember to breath, doing the most simple uphill climbs (such as the 42 steps up to the roof terrace) is an effort that leaves us out of breath and we need to drink a lot more water than normal. We are very glad that we’re staying fairly much in the centre of town as we can see nightly dread on most of the other tourists getting ready for their walk up a very steep hill back to their “guesthouse with a great view” after their dinners. There’s a reason why even the locals walk very, very slowly here and soroche is that reason.

On to Cusco. There’s definitely something different about this place compared to anywhere else we’ve been in South America. Amongst other things, it is the first place where English seems to be the most common language spoken. This is mainly due to Cusco being the starting point for hundreds, if not thousands, of Americans of all ages to visit Machu Picchu. OK, we’ve only seen the centre of town, but all menus, the tourist information and even the hassle from touts are in English. There’s even a couple of English pubs and one Irish pub. It is also noticeably more expensive, prices seem to be 50% more than than the rest of Peru, but it’s all relative, we’re staying in a nice hotel which is around £40pn and a steak dinner at one of the best restaurants in town came to around £50, including a nice bottle of good Peruvian red and an even nicer tip for great staff at Uchu.

Hotels and food are not the only budget challenges. A special tourist ticket, at £30, is needed to enter almost all the museums here and there’s retail therapy on every street corner. We’ve also been to the Inca museum, where Mr. Head Inca persuaded us to dress up as an Inca prince and princess. There is a photo, it will never be seen. The popular art and the contemporary art museums were both interesting viewing.

Cusco is located in a spectacular location, surrounded by alpine scenery. The main square is beautiful and just wandering around is good fun – well, wandering around very slowly and trying to avoid steps (that’s not trying to avoid Steps the band, that would be a tragedy). City walls constructed by the Incas over 500 years ago are still in existence and looking absolutely perfect, there are fantastic alpaca and llama wool shops – around £1,000 for a vicuña scarf anyone? – and very colourful textiles and prints available everywhere.

We are now off down to the depths of the Sacred Valley – a mere 2700m altitude for the next six days. Considering the soroche, we are very pleased we decided to stay in a nice hotel and get the train to Machu Picchu, instead of attempting the classic, but we imagine very challenging, four day Inca trail trek.

P.S.  We had our first rain of the entire holiday here. That must stop, right now!

With Allan still feeling a bit dozy from the altitude, I decided to have a bit of an explore by myself today. Cusco is one of the major tourist destinations in Peru, being the jumping off point for Macchu PIcchu and the Inca Trail, so it’s pretty hectic. Which is why stepping out into a quiet street, without clouds of exhaust fumes or screaming car horns, was pretty…spooky.

I made my way to the main square. There was no shortage of pedestrians – hawkers, shoe shiners, newspaper sellers, tour operators, food vendors, restaurant touts, even the odd tourist trying to navigate through the commercial jungle – but no cars. Not one.

It turns out that today is a taxi strike, and around 90 per cent of cars in central Cusco are taxis. There is a demo downtown but, just in case the taxi drivers decide that burning brightly coloured hats with earflaps is their best political tool and descend on the crowds of young American backpackers, the local force has deployed a massive six riot police complete with shields. They were rather dwarfed in the large Plaza de Armas, so just hung out in a line outside Kentucky Fried Chicken.

My first stop was the Museo Histórico Regional. A beautiful sixteenth century manor house, it was home to Garcilaso de la Vega, also known as El Inca. He was a famous historian whose work inspired Tupac Amaru II, who lead the uprising against the Spanish in the 1780s.

The ground floor traces some of the history of the people who inhabited the Cusco region from 5000BC until the Spanish invasion.

The second floor is dedicated largely to religious art, including a Last Supper in which Jesus is depicted chowing down on guinea pig (which makes sense, since it’s a local staple).

A bit more wandering about and (somehow) I found my way to the Museo Choco, a cafe-come-chocolate-factory, which displays a brief history of chocolate on its walls. The tiny balcony has a great views of the little plaza out front and the mountains rising behind the city. How could I not stop for a hot chocolate?

From the extensive menu, I chose a Mayan-style. It came as a small bowl of softened chocolate, a jug of hot milk, honey and chilli – simply mix to taste. Delicious. While sipping, I discovered that the Mayans actually drank their chocolate very bitter and very spicy. I was glad for the updated version.

A peaceful wander back through the main square, still no cars, and a chance to contemplate the bronze Inca statue placed on top of the central fountain a few years ago.

He shines handsomely in the sun, looking proudly and serenely up towards the ruins of Saksaywaman beyond Cusco. However, he has become symbolic of a culture war going on in the city.

The Mayor is keen to bring back strong Incan influences, which he has tried to achieve through more visible street art, festivals and performances. He is opposed by those who regard this as ‘fake’ culture, pointing out that Cusco as it is is, essentially, a colonial city in the Spanish-style.

The battle rages on, we tourists merely gaze.

We were up before dawn on Friday, ready to catch the early bus to Puno for Lake Titicaca, only to discover the road had been shut by a mining demo. They were expected to continue for a day or two and, we were told, the police were not guaranteeing anyone’s safety.

Mining has a fractious history in Peru, around employment rights, social responsibility and environmental damage. This week, with action around the country, there’s a strong political focus on many of these issues and the Government’s response has been to deploy an extra 5,000 police not known for their diplomacy-first tactics. We decided to find another way out of Arequipa.

While Allan tromped around town trying to find the best value plane ticket to Cusco, Chloe embarked on a far more vital mission. Tickets for Gallifrey One went on sale at midday local time. We had expected to be on the road but, oh happy day, instead the opportunity to crouch over the laptop waiting for the page to go live. Don’t worry, tickets were procured. This year, tickets went in 75 minutes, completely vindicating her paranoia about a early sell out. Now we just have to work out how to get to LA again next February (oh, and find out whether Allan actually wants to…)

Another unexpected bonus was the stunning sunset over Arequipa, above.

Truman-style, we were up before dawn on Saturday to catch our 7.30 flight to Cusco. This time, though, all went as planned and by 9.30 we were checked into our lovely hotel, Andenes al Cielo. There seem to be various ways to translate this, but Allan’s favourite is ‘Stairway to Heaven’ (of course). At over 3,000m, Cusco’s pretty high and we can feel the altitude, which makes those stairs slightly less welcome, but anything for a Led Zeppelin reference.

We’ve been in Cusco for barely twelve hours and, frankly, a lot of that has been dozing. However, we’ve still had time to wander down to the main square, have our boots cleaned and polished, find a lovely cafe to sell us chicken soup and strawberry/lime smoothies, watch sunset from the roof of our hotel and, now, sit by a log fire sipping coca tea and typing our latest entry.

To round off our successful day, Allan heard about Papiss Cissé’s 95th minute winner. The US of Dave must have loved it.

Dream Caught

A bit up to our ears in historic sites, we fancy a taste of modern Peru so take ourselves off to the Museo de Artes Contemporaneo.

A short fifteen minute stroll from our hotel, the museum is in a grand old mansion opposite Arequipa railway station. There used to be trains from here to Lake Titicaca, but the service has now been suspended. However, the attractive station buildings are still maintained (the odd tourist charter still leaves from here) and it’s a bustling bus station now.

Confusingly, the gates are locked when we arrive. It seems the permanent exhibit is being reconfigured and the upper floors are shut, but we’re invited to view the temporary exhibition for free. How lovely.

Piety

Luckily, the temporary exhibit showcases the best young artists from across Peru. The work is exclusively sculpture and other 3D pieces, and we love it. There’s a strong thread of pop culture, referencing science fiction and the Spice Girls (Chola Power!) There’s  also exploration of religious and social themes, especially around cultural and ethnic identity.

A beautiful garden, housing an old, wooden railway carriage, complete with Coca Cola logos, and an abundance of flowers, completes the short but perfectly formed tour. We think the pictures will say it better.