Just to tell everybody that in the meanwhile I arrived safely in Brussels (this morning). I still had a nice time in Lima although the city is not that fascinating.. I visited the main sites: again, a plaza the armas, with a presidential palace (where I watched the daily change of the guard at noon.. almost like in Buckingham Palace... ;-) ) and a cathedral (less impressive than many others as relatively young given the destruction of the previous one during an earthquake..). There is more left of the colonial past than in La Paz though even if only a very small part of the centre is nicely restored.. Quite nice was the San Francisco Monastery with its crypt, where more than 100.000 people are buried (of which there are only bones and skulls left that are actually displayed..), and a room with a series of beautiful Rubens paintings.. (at least from his "atelier"). After that I walked around in town, through the streets and the market area (which I found fascinating - as always.. It seems that I really have a thing for markets.. just in Brussels I never go there because once I am up on the weekends, they are usually already over..;-)). By chance I discovered the former buildings of the old University, with 5 beautiful patios, where I went through with a student who made a guided tour.. quite nice.. I had a hotel for one night in the area of Miraflores, which is quite a bit away from the centre, but the centre is really not nice to stay in .. especially at night.. Miraflores, on the contrary, is quite a chic and bourgeois area, with nice bars and restaurants and trendy "Limeños". I had some very good Ceviche in the evening... that was just sooo good, but also quite spicy because of the Chili in the marinade.. the fish was fresh and the portion quite abundant... I would say at least the double of what I had in Arequipa... it was served with sweet potatoe and corn.
On my second day in Lima, I stayed in Miraflores and took it very easy, as I wanted to rest a bit on my last day and before going on my 24 hours trip back to Brussels... I went to nice shops (there is quite a fancy shopping centre built on the rocks falling into the ocean with very nie ocean-views...), bought some Peruvian CDs and books, was sitting in nice cafés, chatting with some people.. while having lunch I met Steven as he asked whether he could sit at my table, a young Peruvian who works for a travel agency and studies in the evening economy/tourism. We had quite an interesting chat about lots of things and it was interesting that he had similar ideas than myself about the country's development / potential. The country will certainly change with this new generation (actually quite a banal of a statement as all societies change with each generation, no ? But given the developent stage of Peru, the change will probably be more important than in Western European countries...). I had also spoken quite a bit to one of the employees of the hotel in Cusco (where I stayed more than a week, so there is time to chat from time to time...) and he was a real admirer of Germany, which he considers as areal example to folow concerning the way Germans have rebuit their country after the second World War. He thinks that Peruvians shoud have the same discipline and will to tochange their country.. While following this kind o philosophy himself, he wahowever less optimistic about the will of his fellow countrymen...But he was determined to stay in Peru and to try to change things.. He also wants to learn German, but it seems that there is no possibility to do so in Cusco... Well, all the talking and chatting had quie a positive effect on my Spanish which was slowly coming back to a decent level I would say...
Oh, a propos change, or better: no change: you remember that I had written about the referendum campaign in Bolivia? Finally President Evo Morales won the referendum quite clearly (he go tmore than 65 % it seems) and will therefore stay in office. At the same time, most of the regional governors (which are the most important opponents to Morales), which Morales wanted to get rid of through the referendum, were however confirmed as well.. So the situation will more or less stay unchanged. The government already announced a further referendum for next year on a change of the constitution.
Around 21h30, I went to the airport (which took 1 hour because of traffic !!) because my flight was at 00h25 and I wanted to be there early.. However, I was almost the last one toarrive and there was an enormous queue.. it took ages to get through and then there was also a huge line for the emigration procedure and the security check.. I thought I would miss my flight, but the supervisor at the emigration was extremely cool and even 10 minutes before my flight should have left he said that there was no problem and that I should just wait.. In fact, in the end, he was right as the fight was 30 lminutes late... still, I got a bit stressed about everything and was happy once I was on board.. Before I wanted still to get rid of my about 90 soles, which I had kept in order to pay the airport tax that everybody told me I have to pay but which was finally already incuded in my ticket.. there was no way of changing the soles back to dollars.. (strangely enough). Then I wanted to buy duty free stuff but they did not accept it as they have to carry the items to the gates and as my flight was already supposed to leave by that time, they did not want to do it.. I started playing the victim and insisted with the ladies who finally accepted to make an exception and to bring the nice bottle of Pisco that I then bought still to the gate.. Ouff!! I had already bought a bottle in the supermarket, but Pisco Sours are so good, so I cannot get enough of original Peruvian Pisco as the basic ingredient.. the problem was however later in Atlanta, where I transited, but needed to go through another security check (why? don't ask mee... but it seems that this also happes in other non-US aiports..) and I was not allowed to carry liquids in the aircraft !!!! Even if it was a duty free item from another airport which was still sealed and had the documentation. How stupid is that ??? I was so mad and started arguing with the security people, but no way. They wanted to oblige me to give away my Pisco-bottle.. but they do not you my determination!! I refused to let it there and went back to a Delta-Airlines-transfer desk and asked a very nice lady for help.. she shared my view that these rules were extremely stupid and said that this happenend every day several times.. She finally found a little paper box, which I taped together and we put the bottle in and she checked it in for me... Very nice.. !! In an act of heroism, I was able to defend my bottle of Pisco against the evil US-security guards.. oh, and by the way: there are new immigration rules (even compared to 4 weeks before when I transited through Atlanta on my way to Lima): instead of two fingerprints and a photo, they now take ALL (!!!) your fingerprints: first 4 fingers of the right hand, then right thumb, then other 4 fingers of the left and then the left thumb..anfd then smile forthe photo.. and then they put signs on their desks and write on it "Keeping America's doors open and our nation secure". Bravo is the ony thing I can say..! and another cultural shock: There were several announcements informing all passengers that a plane with 350 US-soldiers coming from 18 months service in Iraq had just landed and everybody was asked to applaud and welcome them and thank them "for the great service they did for the American nation". And indeed when the soldiers walked through immigration, everybody clapped and cheered.. I was not the only one in the "non-US-citizens" line being a bit puzzled... I really wonder what kind of service these soldiers do for their NATION in Iraq.. but well, I won't start a discussion on this here.. During the 7 hours which I had to wait in Atlanta, I read the whole book "The Alchemist" by Paulo Coelho, which is quite a simple story, but also thought-provoking I have to say..
Now I am back in Brussels, a bit jet-lagged and thought I should finish the blog before leaving for another week to Zeeland with my sister and her kids (among which my new nephew Jonas, that I just saw for the first time.. !!) Unfortunately, I still need to upload my last pictures (nto many as there was not much to see in Lima as I had already said..) and I still owe you the story of the Incas and Machu Picchu as well as some facts and figures.. This will now have to wait for another week.. apologies for this.. ;-)
Hope to see you all soon !!
Friday, August 15, 2008
Monday, August 11, 2008
More Inca ruins and the Sixtine Chapel of the Americas
Yesterday I went to visit 4 more Inca ruins close to Cusco. I took a bus to Tambomachay, the first one of the 4 ruins ç, which is about 8 km uphill from Cusco and then I walked down to the other ruins and then back to Cusco. Tambomachay is a ceremonial stone bath and therefore also called "el baño del Inca". The next ruin, Pukapukara (trqanslated as "red fort" becuase of the reddish stones it is built of..), was a small commanding structure looking down on the Cusco valley. After that the Lonely planet suggested some "off the beaten track" walk down to the next ruins of Q'Enqo (meaning "zigzag" because of its zigzag-shaped stone channels... As suggested in my wise guidebook I asked two different people for the indications for this little walk and their indications luckily converged, which did not mean that it was easy to find.. quite on the contrary.. very quickly I could not see any track anymore and I started to improvise.. after a while I was completely lost and more or less tried to figure out where the ruinbs should be and then walked straight through the fields, over rocks, through riverbeds, etc.. I was however not too worried as I had plenty of time.. I nevertheless started hiding my money in different pockets as my clever guidebook had also said not to do this alone as people repeatedly got mugged on their way.. But O had no choice, there was nobody else to accompany me anyway.. At some point I saw, far away, somebody walking down a path.. I was not sure whether to approach or to hide (could be some robber...;-) ) In the end I figured out that it was another tourist who also climed down some rocks as he had finally found the right path.. so I followed him.. I was quite glad when I finally arrived at the ruins after 1 hour insted of the 30 minutes... but it could have ended much much worse..no ? Q'enqo has subterranean caves with altars carved in the rocks for Lama offereings to Pachamama. The zigzag channels on the top (which visitors are now unfortunately unable to see as you are not allowed anymore to climb up the rocks..) serbçved most probably for ceremonial offereings of Chicha, the traditional corn-beer, also to Pachamama.
After this succesful mission, I went on to the next and main site: Saqsayhuaman, or as tourists and locals often say"sexy woman" as it is easier to pronounce... This is a huge siteof both religious and military importance. It was where the rebeliious Manco Inca fled during the uprising against the Spanish conquistadores in 1536. Even if it looked as if the rebellion woulkd be succesful, the Incas finally lost and Manco Inca was decapitated...The most striking element of the ruins is the zig-zag shaped fortifications with one stone weighing 300 tonnes !! The fortress was supposed to represent the head of the puma and the zigzag wall his teeth, but the walls also constituted quite an effective defence mechanism.
After this succesful mission, I went on to the next and main site: Saqsayhuaman, or as tourists and locals often say"sexy woman" as it is easier to pronounce... This is a huge siteof both religious and military importance. It was where the rebeliious Manco Inca fled during the uprising against the Spanish conquistadores in 1536. Even if it looked as if the rebellion woulkd be succesful, the Incas finally lost and Manco Inca was decapitated...The most striking element of the ruins is the zig-zag shaped fortifications with one stone weighing 300 tonnes !! The fortress was supposed to represent the head of the puma and the zigzag wall his teeth, but the walls also constituted quite an effective defence mechanism.
After haviong walked all back to the Cusco, I visitd the Museum for Pre-columbian Art with a small but extremely exclusive collection of pottery, silver, gold and shells. The museum is located on the very cute plazoleta Nazarena, where I had a nice lemon cake, a coffee and a half a liter of a freshly squeezed tropical fruit juice... yummiee!
In the evening (it was saturday !!!) I checked out the local nightlife and went to the disco "La tentación", located in a popular area of Cusco and not a place for tourists.. the main discos in the centre are just packed with tourists and mostly too expensive for locals.. La tentacion was quite different.. not fancy at all , to say the least: extremely basic, in the cellar of a hotel.. but the music and the people were just great.. Except for a Mexican guy and his friend, it seemed as if I was the only tourist... Ad they only had one liter beer bottles, I started sharing bottles with people and we danced like crazy to a fun mix of Peruvian and international music.. but definetely a lot of Latin American rhythms.. ;-) I got back at 4 am and it took me a while to wake up the night guard of the hotel, whom I had specifically asked before whether it is a problem to come home late / early..
Today, I therefore only got up at 11h30.. after some good breakfast on the main plaza, I walked to a supposed bs stop for buses to go to Andahuaylillas, a little village 45 km from Cusco with the "Sixtine Chapel of the Americas", an extremely richly decorated church with lots of frescoes... I walked and walked, asked at least 10 people one after the other and everybody told me that it was just another 2 or 3 blocks further even if I had walked already more than 10 !! I was getting angry with myself that I did not get a taxi (which costs 75 Euro-cents !!!).. Eventually, after a 40 minutes walk and almost desperate I found the stop and got on the bus..
Andahuaylillas is a very quiet place and there was not much going on while I walked through its streets in order to get to the church.. The church is located on the very idyllic main square with huge flowering trees.. I visited the church and profited from the guide of a small group of Brits and admired the amazing interior of the church. There is literally no space in the whole church which is not covered by a frescoe, an oil painting or a golden altar.. even the whole ceiling is fully painted in very rich coulours... The church dates from the 16th century and was successively decorated until the end of the 17th century.. When I was about to get out of the church I almost got a shock: the very quaint main square had suddenly transformed into a bus terminal with at least 15 tour-buses, and hords wanting to get into the church.. I was so glad that I had arrived before and could still be in peace...
In the evening (it was saturday !!!) I checked out the local nightlife and went to the disco "La tentación", located in a popular area of Cusco and not a place for tourists.. the main discos in the centre are just packed with tourists and mostly too expensive for locals.. La tentacion was quite different.. not fancy at all , to say the least: extremely basic, in the cellar of a hotel.. but the music and the people were just great.. Except for a Mexican guy and his friend, it seemed as if I was the only tourist... Ad they only had one liter beer bottles, I started sharing bottles with people and we danced like crazy to a fun mix of Peruvian and international music.. but definetely a lot of Latin American rhythms.. ;-) I got back at 4 am and it took me a while to wake up the night guard of the hotel, whom I had specifically asked before whether it is a problem to come home late / early..
Today, I therefore only got up at 11h30.. after some good breakfast on the main plaza, I walked to a supposed bs stop for buses to go to Andahuaylillas, a little village 45 km from Cusco with the "Sixtine Chapel of the Americas", an extremely richly decorated church with lots of frescoes... I walked and walked, asked at least 10 people one after the other and everybody told me that it was just another 2 or 3 blocks further even if I had walked already more than 10 !! I was getting angry with myself that I did not get a taxi (which costs 75 Euro-cents !!!).. Eventually, after a 40 minutes walk and almost desperate I found the stop and got on the bus..
Andahuaylillas is a very quiet place and there was not much going on while I walked through its streets in order to get to the church.. The church is located on the very idyllic main square with huge flowering trees.. I visited the church and profited from the guide of a small group of Brits and admired the amazing interior of the church. There is literally no space in the whole church which is not covered by a frescoe, an oil painting or a golden altar.. even the whole ceiling is fully painted in very rich coulours... The church dates from the 16th century and was successively decorated until the end of the 17th century.. When I was about to get out of the church I almost got a shock: the very quaint main square had suddenly transformed into a bus terminal with at least 15 tour-buses, and hords wanting to get into the church.. I was so glad that I had arrived before and could still be in peace...
It was just a short excursion, but exactly the right thing to do after a night out partying... Once I got back to Cusco, I took a taxi (!!!) back to the center and did some souvenir shopping.. yes, time is running out.. ;-)Photos VII
Here is the link of today's photos, almost the last ones as I have only 2 days left in Lima and unfortunately I am lagging behind with my text... sorry guys, I am quite busy... ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru8?authkey=Fx-Sp5rqavg
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru8?authkey=Fx-Sp5rqavg
Sunday, August 10, 2008
Photos VI
Here are today's photos.. only 26 of them... ;-) but some cute Lamas / Alpacas .. ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru7?authkey=JaYh0uWpSJg
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru7?authkey=JaYh0uWpSJg
Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu (chapter finally finished)
The adventure started on August 5th when I took a colectivo from Cusco to Chinchero, which was known by the Incas as the birthplace of the rainbow, and is a typical Andean villageat 3.762 m altitude. It has some very nice Inca ruins (agricultural terraces - again - but they are always different depending on the landscape they are fitted in and in any case they are always fascinating...), a nice little colonial church, which was built on the foundations of an old Inca wall, very beautiful mountain views and a on its main square a little handicraft market, with far less tourists than the one in Pisaq (but, well, it was not a Sunday...)
From there, I took another colectivo to Urubamba (couldn't this be a name of a place somewhere in Africa ???), the central transport hub of the sacred valley. Local transport is really easy: you just stand on the side of the street and you wave to one of the buses, combis or colectivos passing by and if there is availability (and there always is... as they always manage to squeeze somebody in... ;-) ) you get on it after having agreed on a price, usually between 1 and 3 nievos soles (25 to 75 Euro-cents..). In Urubamba I was dropped off at the main gas station.. the village is quite ugly, so I just lookd for a restaurant to have lunch and found a little place where locals had their almuerzo (set "business" lunch), consisting of a soup, a main dish, a desert and a drink.. the soup and spaghettis with beef meat were quite tasty...and for 3 soles (75 cents) for all this, you cannot complain...
With a combi (little mini-bus) I went to Ollantaytambo, from where the trains leave to Machu Picchu. This time, my trip was less confortable: I was the last passenger to be squeezed in and so I had to keep my head down during the 40 minutes trip in order not to bump my head against the van's ceiling. I had a bit of a stiff neck afterwards...
Ollantaytambo has splendid ruins and is the village where the original Inca-town-planning structure is best preserved, with narrow little cubblestone streets and canals in the middle, mostly set out in squares... The village is very cute and I sat on the main square for a while and observed the village-life.. I took some nice photos there with women in their traditional costumes.. it was especially cute how excited they all were about the ice cream they had.. the little girl had quite some problems to eat it properly as nobody had taken off the plastic foil around it.. but somehow she managed anyway... ;-)
I stayed one night in Ollantaytambo as I wanted to visit the ruins in the morning wothout the tour groups.. I booked a very nice cute little room in a guest house on the train platform. Actually it is situated in the old train station, but has additional little buildings aroud a big courtyard / garden.. It was nice to chill out in a hammock ... unfortunately major clouds came up and it started drizzling (for the first time on my trip except the major rain during one night in La Paz, when I was safely in my bed..). It is not cheap but definetely worth the money... http://www.elalbergue.com/en/ Unfortunately, I fogot to take pictures of the place... (how could that have happended I wonder...??) Dinner there was also exceptionally good... I complimented the Chef and he was very pleased.. I wonder whether this had happened to him for the first time ??
The next morning I got up much later than planned, but I really needed the sleep (now you will all say: That's how we know him much better... ;-) ).. So by the time I had breakfast and arrived to the ruins, the first tour groups were already there.. but well, it is a tourist attraction after all... The ruins were really interesting and as always fascinating.. But as always you had to climb up first... the special feature of this site is that it relates to another site just on the hill opposite: they carved one huge face in the rock that you can only see form the ruins on the other site (I have a photo of that one...) really impressive... As I still had time, I also climbed up the other hill.. a little bit of sports and training for Mach Picchu cannot harm..
In the early afternoon, I took my train to Aguas Calientes, or also called Machu Picchu village. The train ride was again very nice.. The interesting thing is that the train goes DOWN the valley as Machu Picchu is far lower that Cusco and the sacred valley.. the landscape quickly change from mountains to high rainforest with a completely different vegetation.. all of a sudden, there are trees everywhere and flowers in all colours... my train was almost empty: only 6 passengers !! I wonder why it was said that the train was fully booked when I tried to book it in advance... another one of these mysteries that will never be lifted.. Aguas calientes is without any interest.. I think I said that already previously .. so I went to the market and I bought a ... RUG !! Yes.. I know, I wonder myself, but it was really nice and not expensive... but it is quite heavy...:-( My hotel, the Gringo Bill's (what a name !!! ;-), was quite ok and I had a little balcony with a quite a dramatic mountain view...
During the night I was woken up by the noise of heavy rain !!! Oh noooooo!!!!!! Ansd in fact the rain did not stop until 4h45 when my alarm clock went off.. I took my shower, went to breakfast, but the situation did not improve.. I decided to wait a bit and not to take the first bus up at 5h30 as initially planned and started thinking about changing my train ticket and to postpone the visit to the next day.. At around 6 the rain was less strong and I decided to go.. I was up at the entrance at 06h30 and went in to queue for the climb up to Wayna Picchu, which is a peak next to Machu Picchu from which you have an excellent view on the whole site. There is however a daily limit of 400 people on a first come first serve basis.. Even without taking the first buses I made it among the 400 lucky ones, after quite a bit of waiting (actually 1,5 hours !!) and climbed up the very steep hill, in the rain and completely in the clouds... wondering if it is worth while the effort as there is probably nothing to see up there because of the clouds... The path was quite demanding, not only because it was steep, but also because it was extremely slippery... but I made itr and on the top there was quite a nice view on the Vilcanota/Urubamba-valley, but Machu Picchu was comletely invisible... I waited up there for about 45 minutes, when the clouds started to go higher up and the Machu Picchu appeared .. that was amazing, really !! I was down again at Machu Picchu at around 10h30 and took a lot of time visiting the quite extensive site (which first of all looked quite small..) For four hours I wandered around, sat down to admire a especially nice view and was suprised that most people visiting in groups have only 1,5 or 2 hours for the visit.. If you come all the way up here, why don't you take your time ??? The only positive thing about the groups is that you can stand and listen to what their guide is saying, which sometimes was quite interesting.. (not always though because some guides were really useless.. ;-) I met a German group from "Studiosus" (sorry for the non-Germans...but this is an insider..), which was so typical and I was so glad that I did this trip on my own... ;-) All these smart teachers, architects etc. with their arrogant attitudes... unbearable... ;-)
For the return to Aguas Calientes, I did not take the bus, but walked down a very nice path through the "rainforest" to the quite well presented museum and from there back to the hotel. I took a noce hot shower and rested a bit. I was so tired that I completely forgot that I initially had planned to go to the hot springs which gave Aguas Calientes ("hot waters") its name..
The next morning I had my train back to Ollantaytambo. From there I took a bus back to Urubamba and fortunatley found a young couple (he was Peruvian and she American), who were willing to share a taxi to visit the salinas of Maras and the circular ruins of Moray (you saw already some pictures below..) there is no other way to get there than by an organised tour or by taxi.. walking is too far.. I would have gone aso alone but sharing the price among three was certainly much better... The ruins of the agricultural terraces of Ñoray are exceptional as they are in circles, like an amphitheatre.. it seems that the Incas used them as a labaratory for testing climatic conditions certain plants need.. and this was found nowhere else.. the salinas were onte of the most impressive things I have seen after Machu Picchu: a small fountain with salty hot water actually provides the water for all these little basins spread out in a whole little valley. Then the sun dries them out and they harvest the salt. It seems that the salinas are almost 1000 years old. I took dozens of pictures from all perspectives as I found this truly amazing !! Back in Urubamaba, I took the bus all through the sacred valley back to Cusco, which actually took much longer than I thought.. but the bus stops all the time to let people out and new ones in.. the women generally have lotrs of stuff with them, which always needs to be stored on the roof of the bus or in the trunk.. but it was also quite interesting to observe all this from a nice SEAT !! ;-)
I will write a small special chapter about the Incas and the importance of Machu Picchu later as I am really tired now and need to get up early tomorrow...
Hope I am not boring you guys.. if so, just close the window and do something more interesting... ;-)
From there, I took another colectivo to Urubamba (couldn't this be a name of a place somewhere in Africa ???), the central transport hub of the sacred valley. Local transport is really easy: you just stand on the side of the street and you wave to one of the buses, combis or colectivos passing by and if there is availability (and there always is... as they always manage to squeeze somebody in... ;-) ) you get on it after having agreed on a price, usually between 1 and 3 nievos soles (25 to 75 Euro-cents..). In Urubamba I was dropped off at the main gas station.. the village is quite ugly, so I just lookd for a restaurant to have lunch and found a little place where locals had their almuerzo (set "business" lunch), consisting of a soup, a main dish, a desert and a drink.. the soup and spaghettis with beef meat were quite tasty...and for 3 soles (75 cents) for all this, you cannot complain...
With a combi (little mini-bus) I went to Ollantaytambo, from where the trains leave to Machu Picchu. This time, my trip was less confortable: I was the last passenger to be squeezed in and so I had to keep my head down during the 40 minutes trip in order not to bump my head against the van's ceiling. I had a bit of a stiff neck afterwards...
Ollantaytambo has splendid ruins and is the village where the original Inca-town-planning structure is best preserved, with narrow little cubblestone streets and canals in the middle, mostly set out in squares... The village is very cute and I sat on the main square for a while and observed the village-life.. I took some nice photos there with women in their traditional costumes.. it was especially cute how excited they all were about the ice cream they had.. the little girl had quite some problems to eat it properly as nobody had taken off the plastic foil around it.. but somehow she managed anyway... ;-)
I stayed one night in Ollantaytambo as I wanted to visit the ruins in the morning wothout the tour groups.. I booked a very nice cute little room in a guest house on the train platform. Actually it is situated in the old train station, but has additional little buildings aroud a big courtyard / garden.. It was nice to chill out in a hammock ... unfortunately major clouds came up and it started drizzling (for the first time on my trip except the major rain during one night in La Paz, when I was safely in my bed..). It is not cheap but definetely worth the money... http://www.elalbergue.com/en/ Unfortunately, I fogot to take pictures of the place... (how could that have happended I wonder...??) Dinner there was also exceptionally good... I complimented the Chef and he was very pleased.. I wonder whether this had happened to him for the first time ??
The next morning I got up much later than planned, but I really needed the sleep (now you will all say: That's how we know him much better... ;-) ).. So by the time I had breakfast and arrived to the ruins, the first tour groups were already there.. but well, it is a tourist attraction after all... The ruins were really interesting and as always fascinating.. But as always you had to climb up first... the special feature of this site is that it relates to another site just on the hill opposite: they carved one huge face in the rock that you can only see form the ruins on the other site (I have a photo of that one...) really impressive... As I still had time, I also climbed up the other hill.. a little bit of sports and training for Mach Picchu cannot harm..
In the early afternoon, I took my train to Aguas Calientes, or also called Machu Picchu village. The train ride was again very nice.. The interesting thing is that the train goes DOWN the valley as Machu Picchu is far lower that Cusco and the sacred valley.. the landscape quickly change from mountains to high rainforest with a completely different vegetation.. all of a sudden, there are trees everywhere and flowers in all colours... my train was almost empty: only 6 passengers !! I wonder why it was said that the train was fully booked when I tried to book it in advance... another one of these mysteries that will never be lifted.. Aguas calientes is without any interest.. I think I said that already previously .. so I went to the market and I bought a ... RUG !! Yes.. I know, I wonder myself, but it was really nice and not expensive... but it is quite heavy...:-( My hotel, the Gringo Bill's (what a name !!! ;-), was quite ok and I had a little balcony with a quite a dramatic mountain view...
During the night I was woken up by the noise of heavy rain !!! Oh noooooo!!!!!! Ansd in fact the rain did not stop until 4h45 when my alarm clock went off.. I took my shower, went to breakfast, but the situation did not improve.. I decided to wait a bit and not to take the first bus up at 5h30 as initially planned and started thinking about changing my train ticket and to postpone the visit to the next day.. At around 6 the rain was less strong and I decided to go.. I was up at the entrance at 06h30 and went in to queue for the climb up to Wayna Picchu, which is a peak next to Machu Picchu from which you have an excellent view on the whole site. There is however a daily limit of 400 people on a first come first serve basis.. Even without taking the first buses I made it among the 400 lucky ones, after quite a bit of waiting (actually 1,5 hours !!) and climbed up the very steep hill, in the rain and completely in the clouds... wondering if it is worth while the effort as there is probably nothing to see up there because of the clouds... The path was quite demanding, not only because it was steep, but also because it was extremely slippery... but I made itr and on the top there was quite a nice view on the Vilcanota/Urubamba-valley, but Machu Picchu was comletely invisible... I waited up there for about 45 minutes, when the clouds started to go higher up and the Machu Picchu appeared .. that was amazing, really !! I was down again at Machu Picchu at around 10h30 and took a lot of time visiting the quite extensive site (which first of all looked quite small..) For four hours I wandered around, sat down to admire a especially nice view and was suprised that most people visiting in groups have only 1,5 or 2 hours for the visit.. If you come all the way up here, why don't you take your time ??? The only positive thing about the groups is that you can stand and listen to what their guide is saying, which sometimes was quite interesting.. (not always though because some guides were really useless.. ;-) I met a German group from "Studiosus" (sorry for the non-Germans...but this is an insider..), which was so typical and I was so glad that I did this trip on my own... ;-) All these smart teachers, architects etc. with their arrogant attitudes... unbearable... ;-)
For the return to Aguas Calientes, I did not take the bus, but walked down a very nice path through the "rainforest" to the quite well presented museum and from there back to the hotel. I took a noce hot shower and rested a bit. I was so tired that I completely forgot that I initially had planned to go to the hot springs which gave Aguas Calientes ("hot waters") its name..
The next morning I had my train back to Ollantaytambo. From there I took a bus back to Urubamba and fortunatley found a young couple (he was Peruvian and she American), who were willing to share a taxi to visit the salinas of Maras and the circular ruins of Moray (you saw already some pictures below..) there is no other way to get there than by an organised tour or by taxi.. walking is too far.. I would have gone aso alone but sharing the price among three was certainly much better... The ruins of the agricultural terraces of Ñoray are exceptional as they are in circles, like an amphitheatre.. it seems that the Incas used them as a labaratory for testing climatic conditions certain plants need.. and this was found nowhere else.. the salinas were onte of the most impressive things I have seen after Machu Picchu: a small fountain with salty hot water actually provides the water for all these little basins spread out in a whole little valley. Then the sun dries them out and they harvest the salt. It seems that the salinas are almost 1000 years old. I took dozens of pictures from all perspectives as I found this truly amazing !! Back in Urubamaba, I took the bus all through the sacred valley back to Cusco, which actually took much longer than I thought.. but the bus stops all the time to let people out and new ones in.. the women generally have lotrs of stuff with them, which always needs to be stored on the roof of the bus or in the trunk.. but it was also quite interesting to observe all this from a nice SEAT !! ;-)
I will write a small special chapter about the Incas and the importance of Machu Picchu later as I am really tired now and need to get up early tomorrow...
Hope I am not boring you guys.. if so, just close the window and do something more interesting... ;-)
Saturday, August 9, 2008
Photos V - back from Machu Picchu
Today I came back to Cusco from my 4 day excursion to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. It was just great !!! I will follow up with all the details tomorrow. Before any accidents happen to my photos I preferred uploading them immediately...
here they are.. as an exceptional appetizer, you will find four of the pictures within this post...
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru6?authkey=FJMEAn8aSOg
you will certainly get tired of the repetitions of Machu Picchu, but also from the site of Moray (circular agricultural terraces) and from the salinas of Maras... but I wanted to be ultra-sure to have some good shots from these sites as they were incredibly beautiful.
The photos include a whole series of people (thanks for the suggestion, Jan..!! ;-) ) which I took while sitting on the main square of Ollantaytambo, also one of the main sites of the Sacred Valley, where I stayed a night (I mean in the village and not on the site..) ..
Given the amazing biodiversity, I also tried to take quite some flowers / plants as I was surprised how many different flowers I could see along my way and especially on the site of Machu Picchu. After Brazil and Congo, Peru is the third country in the world as regards biodiversity and is therefore in the category of "ultradiverse" countries.
here they are.. as an exceptional appetizer, you will find four of the pictures within this post...
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru6?authkey=FJMEAn8aSOg
you will certainly get tired of the repetitions of Machu Picchu, but also from the site of Moray (circular agricultural terraces) and from the salinas of Maras... but I wanted to be ultra-sure to have some good shots from these sites as they were incredibly beautiful.
The photos include a whole series of people (thanks for the suggestion, Jan..!! ;-) ) which I took while sitting on the main square of Ollantaytambo, also one of the main sites of the Sacred Valley, where I stayed a night (I mean in the village and not on the site..) ..
Given the amazing biodiversity, I also tried to take quite some flowers / plants as I was surprised how many different flowers I could see along my way and especially on the site of Machu Picchu. After Brazil and Congo, Peru is the third country in the world as regards biodiversity and is therefore in the category of "ultradiverse" countries.
Tuesday, August 5, 2008
Photos IV
A new series of photos before I am heading off to the sacred valley and Machu Picchu..
I tried to take more photos of people and will try to do so even more from now on, as my friend Jan suggested, but most of the times you have to give a "propina" (tip) if you want to take picture.. but well, YOU as my public are worth it... ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru5?authkey=lqBrfd_jFf8
I tried to take more photos of people and will try to do so even more from now on, as my friend Jan suggested, but most of the times you have to give a "propina" (tip) if you want to take picture.. but well, YOU as my public are worth it... ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru5?authkey=lqBrfd_jFf8
Cusco / Cuzco
Cusco is just an amazing city, I think I could spend weeks here.. and I am glad that I have 8 days for Cusco, the surrounding sacred Inca valley and the Machu Picchu, there is so much to see and the atmosphere is really nice as well. It is just great so sit down somewhere, have a drink.. (I mean a tea or an inka cola or a fanta..., the piscos are for the evenings... ;-) ) and watch the city's life..
Cusco was the former capital of the Inca empire and even if the Spaniard did everything to destroy most of the Inca-buildings, they integrated parts of it in their own buildings, even monasteries... the Quorikancha (meaning golden courtyard in Quechua) palace / Santo Domingo Monastery is the best example... The Palace was the main one of Cusco and the walls were all covered in gold. Everything was destroyed but the walls were left after the gold had been taken off...
As it was the centre of the Inca culture, the Spaniards had to deploy some special effort here to convert the locals to the Christian religion: There are a lot of churches and monasteries here and they are all especially rich in decoration, there is literally gold everywhere.. all the altars are made out of cedar wood and are covered with gold... well, the Inca-gold that the Spaniards did not put in the churches, they brought it back to Spain..., so at least, they left it here... the Cathedral is stunning, I think I have never seen anything comparable...
I visited lots of the churches and monasteries, walked through the little streets with craftsshops everywhere... The main square, called Plaza de Armas like in almost all Peruvian town / city, is beautiful.. it is sourrounded by colonial arcades with shops, bars and restaurants.. the former Inca square was actually double the size !
Yesterday, I took the local bus to Pisaq, a town 30km away from Cusco, where there is a market on Sundays... First of all, it was difficult to find the "terminal", which was well hidden in some courtyard.. I asked a lady passing by (tere were actually not that many people out there in that area at 7 in the morning...) and she was going there as well.. fortunately I still got a ticket with a seat.. as the bus is just filled up until literally nobody fits in anymore.. after not even 10 minutes of travel, we were stopped by the police (as the bus was too full) and , in addition, it seems that the driver did not have all the papers.. So we were stopped for more than half an hour.. then, 5 minutes after we had started we stopped again: a tire had gone flat !!! This took another half an hour.. It was actually quite funny to see the local people's reactions... they strongly complained that the bus was too full and yelled at the driver and the accompanying person, "thiefs" was probably one of the less strong expressions used... but in the end, I made it to Pisaq, where I walked through the market, which , unfortunately, is not that traditional anymore.. most of it is a pure tourist market with local handicraft - some of it in good quality, but also a lot of crap.. I ate a chocolate chip chessecake at "Ulrike's café", the owner of which is A german lady who lives here for quite some time already.. The French couple, Céline and Gildas, had praised this cheesecake so ch that I had to try it.. and it was reallllyy good !! Then I started my climb up to the ruins, which is a 1,5 hours walk very steep up with a lot of "Inka stairs". The landscape is just beautiful with all the Inca-agricultural-terraces on the hillside.. Whn I saw the first ruins, I though I had arrived, but that was just an illusion: the site is ebormous and I actually walked around there for around 2,5 hours. I made some extensive breaks on the site in order to escape the tour groups which arrived in hords between 11 and12 but were rushed through by their guides, which were yelling "faster, faster!" all the time.. In the end, I also decided to walk down again, so in total I was walking around 5 hours, which was quite a challenge given the altitude and the fact that I have cought a nasty cold, whic provokes quite some breathing problems... but the walk was very rewarding ..
The bus-trip back was also a bit challenging as - this time - I did not get a seat and was one of those squished in the bus. I had to stand in an impossible position for almost an hour and eqach time the driver was changing gear, he hit me with the gear stick... not very nice... :-( but I survived... but extremely exhausted...
The night was very hard, as I could not sleep as I was freezing.. even with my sleeping bag and the little heater on.. I suppose I had some fever as well... so, today, I just visited a few other sites within Cusco and bought my train tickets up to Machu Picchu (for which I had to stand in line fo 2 hours.. !!!) But finally I got exactly the trains I wanted even if by e-mail, Perurail had told me that these trains were fully booked...
Tomorrow, I will leave for Ollantaytambo (in the sacred Inca valley9, where I stay one night and from there I will take the train up to Aguas Calientes, the village closest to the site of Machu Picchu, where I will stay for two nights. This allows me to visit the ruins of Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu in the early morning before the tour-group-hords arrive on the spot... You will therefore probably not hear from e for a while as I read that Internet access is not so wide spread up there or extremely slow.. we will see...
Cusco was the former capital of the Inca empire and even if the Spaniard did everything to destroy most of the Inca-buildings, they integrated parts of it in their own buildings, even monasteries... the Quorikancha (meaning golden courtyard in Quechua) palace / Santo Domingo Monastery is the best example... The Palace was the main one of Cusco and the walls were all covered in gold. Everything was destroyed but the walls were left after the gold had been taken off...
As it was the centre of the Inca culture, the Spaniards had to deploy some special effort here to convert the locals to the Christian religion: There are a lot of churches and monasteries here and they are all especially rich in decoration, there is literally gold everywhere.. all the altars are made out of cedar wood and are covered with gold... well, the Inca-gold that the Spaniards did not put in the churches, they brought it back to Spain..., so at least, they left it here... the Cathedral is stunning, I think I have never seen anything comparable...
I visited lots of the churches and monasteries, walked through the little streets with craftsshops everywhere... The main square, called Plaza de Armas like in almost all Peruvian town / city, is beautiful.. it is sourrounded by colonial arcades with shops, bars and restaurants.. the former Inca square was actually double the size !
Yesterday, I took the local bus to Pisaq, a town 30km away from Cusco, where there is a market on Sundays... First of all, it was difficult to find the "terminal", which was well hidden in some courtyard.. I asked a lady passing by (tere were actually not that many people out there in that area at 7 in the morning...) and she was going there as well.. fortunately I still got a ticket with a seat.. as the bus is just filled up until literally nobody fits in anymore.. after not even 10 minutes of travel, we were stopped by the police (as the bus was too full) and , in addition, it seems that the driver did not have all the papers.. So we were stopped for more than half an hour.. then, 5 minutes after we had started we stopped again: a tire had gone flat !!! This took another half an hour.. It was actually quite funny to see the local people's reactions... they strongly complained that the bus was too full and yelled at the driver and the accompanying person, "thiefs" was probably one of the less strong expressions used... but in the end, I made it to Pisaq, where I walked through the market, which , unfortunately, is not that traditional anymore.. most of it is a pure tourist market with local handicraft - some of it in good quality, but also a lot of crap.. I ate a chocolate chip chessecake at "Ulrike's café", the owner of which is A german lady who lives here for quite some time already.. The French couple, Céline and Gildas, had praised this cheesecake so ch that I had to try it.. and it was reallllyy good !! Then I started my climb up to the ruins, which is a 1,5 hours walk very steep up with a lot of "Inka stairs". The landscape is just beautiful with all the Inca-agricultural-terraces on the hillside.. Whn I saw the first ruins, I though I had arrived, but that was just an illusion: the site is ebormous and I actually walked around there for around 2,5 hours. I made some extensive breaks on the site in order to escape the tour groups which arrived in hords between 11 and12 but were rushed through by their guides, which were yelling "faster, faster!" all the time.. In the end, I also decided to walk down again, so in total I was walking around 5 hours, which was quite a challenge given the altitude and the fact that I have cought a nasty cold, whic provokes quite some breathing problems... but the walk was very rewarding ..
The bus-trip back was also a bit challenging as - this time - I did not get a seat and was one of those squished in the bus. I had to stand in an impossible position for almost an hour and eqach time the driver was changing gear, he hit me with the gear stick... not very nice... :-( but I survived... but extremely exhausted...
The night was very hard, as I could not sleep as I was freezing.. even with my sleeping bag and the little heater on.. I suppose I had some fever as well... so, today, I just visited a few other sites within Cusco and bought my train tickets up to Machu Picchu (for which I had to stand in line fo 2 hours.. !!!) But finally I got exactly the trains I wanted even if by e-mail, Perurail had told me that these trains were fully booked...
Tomorrow, I will leave for Ollantaytambo (in the sacred Inca valley9, where I stay one night and from there I will take the train up to Aguas Calientes, the village closest to the site of Machu Picchu, where I will stay for two nights. This allows me to visit the ruins of Ollantaytambo and Machu Picchu in the early morning before the tour-group-hords arrive on the spot... You will therefore probably not hear from e for a while as I read that Internet access is not so wide spread up there or extremely slow.. we will see...
Saturday, August 2, 2008
Photos III
Here is a new link with photos.. I am slowly getting there... I just added all of today's photos, which means that I am finally up to date..... again: I have made no selection (so don't be surprised to see the same thing several times or that some pictures are a bit blurry...) I also now added some titles..
I also realised that the order of the photos is not correct, as each time that I change the battery, the photos get mixed up as I do not set the date/time.. I should do this in the future... ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru4?authkey=pqxsOMb9ubs
I also realised that the order of the photos is not correct, as each time that I change the battery, the photos get mixed up as I do not set the date/time.. I should do this in the future... ;-)
http://picasaweb.google.com/muellju/Peru4?authkey=pqxsOMb9ubs
By train through the Andean mountains / Altiplano
Yesterday, I took the bus back from La Paz to Puno. From there I took, today, the "Andean Explorer", a very nice luxury train, whith which I arrived in Cuzco after 10 hours. 10 hours seems very long, but this was not about transport, the train ride as such was a real pleasure. The train goes really slowly (which explains why we needed 10 hours for 385 km...), but at this speed, you can actually profit a maximum from the landscape around you.. the train crosses villages, beautiful mountain landscapes, passes by charming mountain rivers etc. Most of the time, the landscape was however flat as we crossed the Altiplano, a plain very high up in the Andes...
Each passenger has a comfortable armchair to sit in with an individual table in front. There is a comfortable bar and at the end of the train a very nice panoramic coach with windows all over and open at the back.. you just felt like on a luxury train 100 years ago... we got two very good meals as well and the staff was really nice and funny... all quite young..
At 18h00 I arrived in Cuzco, the most touristy place in Peru I would guess and starting point to the excursions to Machu Picchu, but a sight in itself... This time, I was lucky again with my hotel: it is a really nice place, an old colonial house with two inner courtyards and a fountain in one of them: http://www.hotelmarqueses.com/
In addition, Marco, the guy at the reception with whom I had extensive e-mail exchanges about availability, reservation and other stuff, gave me a luxury room for the normal price for the first three nights (out of the 7 I will stay here...).
From here I will discover the city and its sourroundings, notably the sacred Inca valley and Machu Picchu. I will however interrupt my stay here after 4 nights, will stay three nights in the sacred valley and then come back...
More on Cuzco tomorrow, as I am hungry now.... à propos: food.... Yesterday I had finally the Peruvian speciality: grilled guinea pig.. that was really yummiee - even if there is not that much meat on it... !! For the rest, other delicacies which I have already tried are Lamas and Alpacas... Even if all three animals are quite cute, they also taste realllly good... ;-) sorry, guys.... especially Sarah Catlein (hope I write her name correctly...), who is so fond of my Lama pictures... (special sorry to you.... ) ...
Each passenger has a comfortable armchair to sit in with an individual table in front. There is a comfortable bar and at the end of the train a very nice panoramic coach with windows all over and open at the back.. you just felt like on a luxury train 100 years ago... we got two very good meals as well and the staff was really nice and funny... all quite young..
At 18h00 I arrived in Cuzco, the most touristy place in Peru I would guess and starting point to the excursions to Machu Picchu, but a sight in itself... This time, I was lucky again with my hotel: it is a really nice place, an old colonial house with two inner courtyards and a fountain in one of them: http://www.hotelmarqueses.com/
In addition, Marco, the guy at the reception with whom I had extensive e-mail exchanges about availability, reservation and other stuff, gave me a luxury room for the normal price for the first three nights (out of the 7 I will stay here...).
From here I will discover the city and its sourroundings, notably the sacred Inca valley and Machu Picchu. I will however interrupt my stay here after 4 nights, will stay three nights in the sacred valley and then come back...
More on Cuzco tomorrow, as I am hungry now.... à propos: food.... Yesterday I had finally the Peruvian speciality: grilled guinea pig.. that was really yummiee - even if there is not that much meat on it... !! For the rest, other delicacies which I have already tried are Lamas and Alpacas... Even if all three animals are quite cute, they also taste realllly good... ;-) sorry, guys.... especially Sarah Catlein (hope I write her name correctly...), who is so fond of my Lama pictures... (special sorry to you.... ) ...
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