We arrived in Cusco on a rainy evening after a 30 hour bus ride, so we passed out instantly once we got dropped off at the hostel. The next day, we went on a walking tour around Cusco and saw much of the mixed architecture (buildings built by the Spanish on top of original Inca foundations).
We also explored some of the markets and tried the cheap and tasty food as well as some coca leaves. We became acquainted really quickly with cocoa leaves! You can buy them everywhere in Peru (they are illegal in most other countries) and the locals love them. You take a small handful of the leaves and put them in the sides of your mouth and they give you energy and help with altitude sickness… in very large quantities they can also be used to make drugs, which is why they are illegal in most places! Besides that, we treated ourselves to some nice food throughout the week – see photos below.
We also decided on what day trips we would do before heading off on our hike to Machu Picchu:
- Rainbow Mountain
- Cusco’s Inca ruins – Saqsaywaman (also known as “sexy woman”), Q’enco, Puka Pukara & Tambomachay
- Sacred Valley
- Maras & Moray
Rainbow Mountain
Despite a pick up time of 3am, we decided to book a day trip to Rainbow Mountain with a tour organiser promising to get us to the top as one of the first groups of the day to avoid the huge crowds later in the morning. The day started a bit chaotic with some people not being ready on time and hostel staff running off to their rooms to wake them up. After leaving the hostel 25 minutes late and already on our way, we had to stop again because someone who wasn’t ready earlier was now in a taxi trying to catch up with us – meaning we had to wait another 20 minutes!
Trying to make up some of the lost time, the bus driver was driving a bit like a maniac and during one of the ridiculous attempts of overtaking mid-bend ended up steering the bus into the ditch on the side of the road and smashing along a wall. Everyone was fine but we were all awoken mid-snooze by thinking we were falling off the side of a cliff (luckily it was way less dramatic though!).
We then had to wait another 45 minutes for the replacement bus to come from Cusco. Needless to say that the frustration in the group was rising by that stage. After a very bumpy final hour of driving up the mountain, we did eventually make it to the car park at about 4,600m above sealevel (with hundreds of people in front of us). The hike to the top (5,100m) was very exhausting and we could definitely feel the elevation! Despite the sun not coming out for the whole time we were at the top and the colours not really showing like expected, it was very impressive to see the different layers and colours which have only recently been revealed from a disappearing glacier.
Cusco’s Inka Ruins
We thought we’d take it easy on the next day and just visit some of the more local sights around Cusco. Unfortunately, there are no easy / flat walks anywhere around Cusco so we walked an endless amount of steps up and down to look at the Inca’s impressive stone work.
Sacred Valley, Maras & Moray
Over the next 2 days we went on guided tours through the Sacred Valley and to Maras and Moray to check out Incan citadels, fortresses, farming research sites and a salt mine.
Inca Trail to Machu Picchu
We decided that the hike to Rainbow Mountain and the millions of steps the following days weren’t enough exercise for a week and set off to hike to Machu Picchu on the last couple of days in Peru. We left our hostel at 4am to go on a 2 hour bus ride to the train station in Ollantaytambo. As usual, the driver was a bit of a maniac trying to overtake in bends and racing with other buses along the way. From Ollantaytambo we took the train to the entrance point of the Inca trails to Machu Picchu. Despite only covering about 500m of elevation, the hike was quite challenging at times with extremely steep steps and narrow bridges. We were however rewarded with spectacular views of the valley and coming through the Sun Gate into Machu Picchu and the photos don’t even come close to capturing the actual experience. To top it off, we had a tour through Machu Picchu very early the next day with sunshine all day long.
Adventure Unknown 