I start the Inca Trail on Wednesday and until then I´ve been wandering around Cusco and visiting some of the Inca ruins in the Sacred Valley. Cusco is a really beautiful city with a blend of Inca and Spanish colonial architecture. Its also up in the mountains (over 10,000 feet!) so there are these ridiculous hills everywhere. I´m staying at the Loki Backpacker Hostel, which is pretty nice except its up this ridiculous hill that I have to walk up every time I go back. That wouldn't be a problem except that with the altitude, I´m dying by the time I reach the top. At least there are some beautiful views from there (I will post those pics later).
View of the main square (Plaza de Armas). Its really lovely except for the touts. I´ve said ¨No gracias¨ so many times, I hear it in my dreams.
The Cathedral in the main square. Remnants of Spanish rule after the fall of the Inca empire.
Putting the mountains around Cusco to good use.
Cusco would be wonderful city except for how ridiculously touristy it is. There are kids and women mobbing tourists constantly, trying to hock belts, toys, postcards, everything that they can possibly sell, including pictures of themselves! The people in Cusco are primarily Quechuan and wear these lovely costumes. They also speak a mix of Quechua and Spanish here. But some of the people wear the costumes for the tourists and charge money to take their pics! Crazy. I sneaked in a few candid ones.
These girls were actually carrying baby llamas around to entice tourists to take photos.
Yesterday, I also went to the Sacred Valley to see some of the Inca ruins. We went to the ruins in Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chincero. Its really amazing to see these ruins up close and see how advanced their society was. Their stone work is really amazing and complex. The walls are so tightly built that not even water can get between the stones. To think how they cut and shaped these stones is amazing. They are also so strong that the town of Ollantaytambo is actually built on the Inca foundations. It was all so beautiful and now I can´t wait to see Machu Picchu!
Me at the top of the Sacred Valley.
The ruins at Pisac. This was originally a religious and astrological center.
Classic view of Pisac, high in the mountains.
The Incas made these agricultural terraces on the side of the mountains so they could cultivate the land. Still intact and perfectly formed!
Look how tightly the stones are stacked. And also the the shapes they carved out of the stones.
Our enthusiastic and knowledgable tour guide, Martin Martinez. His belt buckle has a huge M on it.
An actual Inca plaza still in use. You can see the buildings in the background with the stone foundations. The foundations are the actual Incan ones.
So I have a couple of days left but since I´m feeling a bit under the weather, I´m just wandering around. The big thing to get is stuff made of alpaca. Its finer than wool but not as fine as cashmere. Its really nice and makes for great scarves and sweaters. The other odd thing about Cusco is the crazy backpacker culture. Cusco is full of young backpackers either waiting to go on the Inca trail or who just came back. The nightlife here is huge with a bunch of clubs and bars that cater exclusively to this crowd. Its really strange because its the first place I´ve been to in South America that is just full of foreigners. Its a bit out of control.
Well, my wait is almost over! Everyday that I´m in Cusco, I hear stories of the Inca Trail so I can´t wait! Hopefully, I´ll feel a lot better tomorrow. My next post will be post-Machu Picchu and hopefully the weather will hold enough for me to take some great pictures (summer here = lost of rain). Until then!
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