Chasing the Sun: To the Incan Empire

After four flights totalling 20 hours with 2 six hour stopovers, one overnight stop and a minus fifteen hour time change, we arrived in Cusco, Peru. We spent the first day acclimatising to the altitude and wandering around the city. After checking in for our tour we discovered that it was in fact Inti Raymi, the Festival of the Sun. This meant that the main square was heaving, but we were able to see some of the parade and even the concert and fireworks in the evening. we spent Sunday having a look at the cathedral amongst other religious buildings and museums. we could mot leave Peru without sampling Alpaca and Guinea Pig. So that evening James munched on his whole guinea pig whilst Em had her Alpaca steak. A trip to the local markets was also in order and we eventually walked out with alpaca jumpers, hats and gloves!

Monday morning was an early start as we were picked up to begin our Salkantay trek at 5am! After a three hour bus journey with our guide, Christian, we were met by our cook, porter and 3 horses! Turns out it was just going to be the two of us on the tour! After being dropped off we started trekking at a height of 2900m. Over the course of the day we walked 16km and ascended 900m to our first camp at 3800m. Along the way we were lucky enough to see a condor and learnt that we walk extremely fast (we arrived at the lunch stop 2 hours ahead of schedule). Camping at 3800m was very cold to say the least, but the excellent food served up helped to soften the blow!

On the second day of the trek we were awoken to pancakes at 6am and left the campsite at 6.45. This was set to be a tough day as we had to climb up to the Salkantay pass at 4600m. Unfortunately Em had been ill the day before leaving for the trek and as a result, altitude sickness struck her pretty badly with only 300m left to climb. Eventually Christian insisted that she ride one of the ponies to the summit to avoid further illness or prevent her from completing the trek. Luckily we both made it to the top ok where we has awesome views but it was freezing and covered in snow. After taking a few photos started our descent. By this time Em was feeling better and walked for the reminder of the trek. After descending to 2800m we finally reached our camp for the night where we had dinner and played cards before crashing out. Safe to say this was an interesting day, especially as one of our horses tried to do a runner twice!

Day three was a much easier day, we said goodbye to our horses and porter in the morning and started the relatively flat 14km walk. Along the way we stopped for some fresh passion fruit and to wash our feet in the cold river. After lunch we took a taxi to St Teresa where we would be camping for the night. Our afternoon was spent relaxing at some hot springs we helped to ease our aching muscles!

For our final day of trekking we were especially happy to be allowed to lie in until 7.30. After our final cooked meal from Alberto we walked a very flat 10km route to Aguas Calientes via Hidroelectrica, where we had lunch. We arrived at our hostel around 2.30pm and spent the rest of our afternoon taking out first hot shower in a while.

Friday saw us getting up at 4am and despite the long queues we entered Machu Picchu just after 6am. Christian took us round the important archeological sites for the first two hours. Once he had left we walked up to the sun gate, where we got an awesome view of Machu Picchu from a different angle. Then we took the narrow pathway to the Inka bridge, which is now closed due the degradation of the path. We were still able to see how people used to arrive at Machu Picchu. After the going to the Temple of the Sun, fountains and the Inkas house we headed back To Aguas Calientes to catch our train to Cusco. Due to a recent landslide on the train line, we had to get a two hour train and then a two hour bus journey to get back to Cusco.

The following morning we caught an early flight to Lima and spent the day there. After wandering along the coast, to the lighthouse and through the love park we decided to sample the national dish that Christian had told us was better in Lima than Cusco. Ceviche is raw fish in a tangy source. It was great to try but it is surprisingly filling and not something we would be rushing to have again any time soon. In the afternoon we took a half day city tour which included visiting both the modern and old city, Olive Garden, a temple that used to be used for human sacrifices and the San Francisco Cathedral. This highlight of this cathedral were the catacombs down in the basement that we were able to walk around. In the evening we headed over to Parque de Reserva to enjoy the fountain show which was pretty impressive!