Cusco and the Sacred Valley

We arrived in Cusco, real early...like 5:30am.  We did enjoy our bus ride from Arequipa on the true first class of Peruvian/South American Bus Companies, Cruz del Sur.  We went to check in to our hostel but as it was only about 6am at this point our room was not going to be ready for another 5 hours, minimum.  So what better to do then when you have to wait 5 hours for a room...sit in the hostels TV room which was absolutley covered in pillows.  It was like a ball pit at McDonald's but filled with pillows.  Needless to say, while Emily continued to work on her journal (trying to catch up on all her lost entries from her stolen journal) I passed out in the pillow/TV room. After resting for several hours we finally decided to walk around town and explore Cusco (additionally we needed to start researching and getting prices for our trek).  We walked around Plaza de Armas and Plaza de San Fransico checking out the several large churches and the general architecture.  Something that became apparent and continued to bother/annoy us for the rest of our time in Cusco was the annoyance of hagglers everywhere in town.  If it was from the the dozens of men carrying around portfolios of watercolors, or women offering massages, men trying to sell sunglasses, to the kids offering shoe shines even though you are wearing sandles, the dozens of resturants offering there lunch or dinner specials, or tour agencies offering their prices for different trails or trips through the Sacred Valley or to Machu Pichu.  It just by the end of our time in Cusco got extremely annoying and almost makes you happy to be leaving the city although you had an amazing time in both the city, Machu Pichu and the Sacred Valley.

One of Cusco´s main two churches (built on former Inca holy sites)

 The other church

The next day we met up with our friends Sophie and Dean, from our Salt Flats tour.  Dean was feeling kind of under the weather so we decided to meet up a bit later again to go to lunch and also discuss the possibilities of the different trails/trekking we could do.  After lunch we finally decided on the Salkantay Trail a 5 day/4 night trek, that I will describe in more detail on the post about our trek.  There are many of options of getting to Machu Pichu.  First is to pay for a really expensive train ride and then taking a semi-overpriced bus to the ruins.  Second, is the infamous Inca Trail which our tour guide like to refer to as ´The Commericial Inca Trail´ but in reality there are many ´Inca Trails´ still in existance today.  This one is impossible to just show up in Cusco and book.  You need to book this trail well in advance (6 months I hear is good) and you pay upwards of $800 for a 4 day/3 night trek.  Additional, cheaper treks that you can sign up for once in Cusco also include the Inca Jungle trek, which is a one day mountain biking and then 2 days of trekking in the jungle before ending at Aguas Calientes (the modern day town just below Machu Pichu) or the the Lares Valley Tour which is a 4 day/3 night trail through the hilly Lares Valley.  In reality I think it is kind of funny that a lot of people think the ´Commercial Inca Trail´ is the only way to go to Machu Pichu.  We legit met people who were planning on leaving for the Inca Trail that were staying in our hostel is we astonished when they heard the fraction of the cost they were paying and that there were other ways to go to Machu Pichu.  I think part of it is that companies abroad advertise it as the only option.  And try to get people to think that when they say only 500 people (and in reality that 500 is actually only 200 tourists because the other 300 daily passes go to porters who carry your bags and cooks) can go a day, they mean it is only 500 people to Machu Pichu, which is not true, it is 500 people on the Inca Trail.

 The fountain in Plaza de Armas at night

After reserving our spots for the Salkantay trail (which we were not leaving for another two days), Dean and I headed over to the Municipal Hall to buy the tourist tickets for sights in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.  Here comes my next major complaint about Cusco.  It is impossible to buy individual tickets to anything in Cusco, the Cusco area, or the Sacred Valley.  They give you several options of mass ticket packages.  The first is an overall ticket for 130 Soles ($45) of all 16 sites (they offer a 70 soles ticket for students but are very strict about giving it out, you can only use an international student identification card and it must have been issued in the last two years).  The also offer 3-70 soles tickets for the three distinct areas of sites (Cusco, The surronding Cusco area, and the Sacred Valley).  There were several complaints, and I agree, in the guest book at the Municipal Hall that it is very unfair to independent young travelers who come to Cusco.  Just because wealthy American and European tourists (who are abundent in Cusco) can afford such high prices it is very difficult for young backpackers to do so.  Because there was no true other option and the four of us wanted to see several sites not only in Cusco but also in the Sacred Valley we gave in and bought the 130 soles ticket, after they turned down my ´old´ student ID from both Minnesota and Tel Aviv.  That night the four of us went to the first place on our ticket.  It was the only place on the ticket opened at night so we decided to go check it out not knowing what it was.  The Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo, ended up being a two hour dance performance of over half a dozen traditional dances from different regions of Peru.  It was complete with regional dresses (they also ahad a seperate room filled with the amazing dresses that could be viewed during the intermission) and music.  It was pretty amazing and quite a surprise because we really didn´t know what it was going to be.  We forgot our cameras so no photos but if you check out this youtube link it is filled with peoples videos of the dances...YouTube Link.  After the dance performance we headed noticed across the street a slightly expensive but interesting looking store filled with woven goods.  Additionally, there was actually a group circle of traditional women weaving in the store.  We found out the place was a cooperative that was founded to help teach the next generation about weaving techniques so the tradition is not lost in the modernized world.  The store also had a small museum which explained everything about weaving from how it is spun, to colored, different styles, how the tradition is passed down between the generations and more.  After spending almost an hour at this place until they were closing up we headed back to our hostel for an early night because we were waking up for the Sacred Valley Tour the next morning.  We did though before going to bed tried the local drink, Pisco Sour, which is a combination of Pisco, lemon, and egg whites that when blended form a foam on top (we also the next night tried what our hostel called the Passion Soul, which is basically the same but with Passion Fruit juice instead of lemon).

 Inca ruins (with a church built on top) inside the city of Cusco

The next morning we were picked up at our hostel at 9am to head out to the Sacred Valley.  The valley is a collection of both modern villages (who still speak Quechua, the native language of the Incan Empire) and Incan ruins.  After a quick stop in a small village (where I began to search, although never bought, a chess set designed to be the Spaniards versus the Incas) where we bought a small bag of sweet popped Mote, the local kind of corn/maize which grows throughout South and Central America.  The corn is huge it pops to almost triple the size of normal popcorn.  Also Emily tried the mote in La Paz in the steamed on the cob form and it was ok.  It is really really startchy.  They also dry the kernals and use it for either salty snacks or to add to ceviche (the local seafood delight that we enjoyed earlier in Puno).  After this short stop we went to the first of three ruins during the day.  Our first stop was to the ruins at Písac, the ruins were situated on top of a hill that overlooked several valleys.  The whole top of the site was filled with army barracks.  The ruins were amazing and much better then most of the Inca ruins we had seen to this point. 

The Following is a collection of Pictures from Pisac

  Amazing Scenery

 Agricultural Terraces and buildings in the background (the roofs have been rebuilt)

 The ruins from the top

After stopping in another small village that had large markets (and unsuccesfully still finding a chess set I liked) we went to the second site, Ollantaytambo.  The site was pretty impressive and included a now half destroyed alter to the sun god (which the Spaniards destroyed when they invaded Peru), store house perfectly situated to receive the cold winds of the mountains to help keep refridgerated the communities goods, still functioning water fountains, great examples of smoothley polished and fitted Inca stones, and like all Inca sites dozens of agricultural terraces. 

Next is a collection of pictures from the ruins at Ollantaytambo...

  Agricultural Terraces at Incan ruins who would have ever thought?

 If you look really closely right in the middle of the mountain there is a man´s face (locals believed it was a deity).  Also on the left side of the mountain those straight lines were the store houses.

 Destroyed alter to the Sun God.  You can still see on the stone where the Spanairds broke and destroyed large segments of the alter.  Also on the other side of the valley it is possible to see the query where this rock was removed from.

 Emily pondering how exactly the Inca´s were able to smooth and shape rocks so well

 The way the rocks were fitted is amazing

 The little cubby areas is where they use to put little alters to various dieties.

Our final site we visited for the day was Chinchero.  After walking through the small town which houses still display the fact that there bases were built on top of Inca house ruins we arrived at a magnificant church.  Like many other churches in this region, it was built on top of a Inca holy site.  The amazing part was around the church were large areas built with amazing examples of inca carved stones.  Additionally, a large field next to the church was actually used by the Inca army to rally troops before defending the city against the Spaniards.  After viewing the church and the structural ruins we headed back in to the small town and were taken to a store and display place that had several local showing us how they spin the yarn (evidently many women just do it all day long as they walk about doing errands), how they clean the fabric (they use a natural shampoo of sorts that they grind up and then mix in water before hand washing the alpaca wool), and also the coloring techniques of how they use several natural plants, flowers and berries to color the wool (they also explained how in recent years more people in the region are starting to go back to the original dye colors instead of using synthetic coloring).  After watching the display and sipping some coca tea we looked around (Emily bought a new belt) we headed back to Cusco.  When we arrived back in town we had a quick talk at our tour agency about the hike for the next day and then went back to the hostel to go to sleep as we knew we had a tough few days ahead of us hiking the Salkantay trail.

The remaining photos are from Chinchero and the weaving place...

  Aiza Chamud (Hebrew for what a cutie), we saw it on our walk towards the ruins

 Sun beginning to set

 The local church built on top of Incan ruins

 The local church built on top of Incan ruins

 The traditionally clothed women showing us how you spin the yarn and wash it

Colored Yarn with the various natural materials for dyeing

One Day along the Salkantay Trail Emily yelled at me for not taking enough pics of Flowers...this was my response

Don't worry this isn't our update about the Salkantay trail, just one evening along the Salkantay Trail (our trail to Machu Pichu) Emily yelled at me for not taking enough pictures of flowers.  So the next day I literally stopped almost every 2 minutes to take pictures of flowers.  Here is the end result...enjoy the 'prettiness!'

Arequipa, how we got sucked into a hostel for 4 nights!

So this is the story how we came to Arequipa for a maximum of two days and got sucked in for 4, all because of a hostel.

So we arrived to Arequipa in the evening after dark. The bus ride from Puno was around 5 hours.  When we arrived we walked outside to find a taxi. The hostel told us the ride should cost 6 Soles (U$D1=2.8 soles, two things about this comment is I love how the abbreviate the US Dollar in South America, U$D, second the symbol for the sol is S/.).  Well the guy at the taxi stand in the parking lot of the bus terminal told us 8 soles and then I noticed less reputable/cheaper looking taxis waiting out on the main street.  Low and behold it cost only 5 soles to get out to our hostel. When we received the directions to get to the hostel, it said the hostel was not in the middle of town but the place had pretty good ratings so we decided to go.  The drive from the city center was no more then 10 minutes but when we arrived it felt like we were in a different place.  This hostel was in a really nice suburb of Arequipa.  The hostel, Arequipay Backpackers, was brand new and only reopened about 3 weeks earlier.  Literally when we walked in to the hostel it felt like walking in to the living room of your rich friend's house whose parents have left for the weekend.  There was a huge billards table, large screen TV, brand-new kitchen, movie room with state of the art stereo and another flat screen, there was a room was a PS3 and a third flat screen, a swimming pool (which wasn't finished yet), a grill area, large backyard, and more.

Arequipa's Cathedral, with its massive intimidating White Stone Walls

Night #1
The next morning I woke up feeling pretty crummy (and well for the next 24 hours I was sick) and after a brief visit in to town with some fellow travelers from our hostel to visit the tourist information center, iPeru, I decided I didn´t feel like doing anything for the rest of the day so we headed back to the hostel and just sat a round watching movies and shooting pool all day...DAY NUMBER 1 WASTED.

The White Stone Archs that surrond the entire Plaza de Armas (except the Cathedral above), at night it is all well lit up and amazing

Night #2
The next day I woke up much more refreshed, unfortunatley Emily did not.  So the whole second day Emily spent  back in the hostel.  I decided to go out and see the sites around the city (which turned out to be only really two places) and look for a possible tour to go to the Colca Canyon.  I headed into town with the same people from the day before and first went to the famous Santa Catalina Monastery.  The monastery has existed since the 16th century and began as a monastery for wealthy families in Arequipa to send there daughters to become nuns.  Evidently, wealthy nuns knew how to party.  Monastery basically survived by the fact that all of the nuns who entered had large dowries paid for by their fathers.  They threw huge elegent parties, owned slaves (which was mostly forbidden in the Spanish Empire), and some even got pregnant.  Well during the 19th century the Pope heard about the problems at this monastery and sent a new head nun who reformed it and made extremely strict rules to follow.  The nun convent still operates today but the majority of the old monastery was forced to be open to the public in the 1970s.  The place is an amazing maze of colored streets (a small village inside the city) and courtyards.  With hundreds of bedrooms and other things people would need for daily life from the 1500s through the 1970s.  The rest of the day our group just went around walking through this 'white-city' (which we later heard was better then the white-city of Sucre, Bolivia, the constitutional capital of Bolivia. Which we chose to skip over because of time).  The rest of the city had gorgeous architecture that really displayed the wealth of the city through the ages.  The entire main city square (which throughout Peru the main city square is always called Plaza de Armas, compared to Argentina where the main city squares are always called Plaza de San Martin), which was named a UNESCO site, is a beautiful aray of white columns and arches dominated by the white stoned carved exterior of the city's Cathedral.  Several other building both churches, banks, and government officesthroughout the downtown have amazing white stone carved facades.  The city is truly amazingly beautiful and surronding the city are several (5 I think) volcanoes that truly dominate any outlook of the city.  The rest of the day was mainly spent either going for some Doner Kebab (what the Turk's call a Gyro, but in my opinion a lot better) and stopping by a cafe in the artisy district of downtown...SO DAY 2 COMPLETED, and a WASTE FOR EMILY.

Next is a selection of photos from the Monastery...

Sorry for the sideways photo the computer is not turning my photos

View from the top of the monastery over Arequipa and one of the 5 volcanos that surrond the city

Night #3

Day 3 in our hostel, aka Rich Friend's House, was the first day Emily and I were both feeling well enough t adventure out in to town togther.  We spent the afternoon just wondering around downtown so Enily could see the Plaza de Armas, the main square, and also exploring some other stuff like the riverfront and pedestrian mall.  The evening was like the past two evening spent being sucked in to the wonders of our hostel.  And making some pretty damn delicious Shakshuka (Also for you readers from Minneapolis, we also made some pretty damn good Jose's)!...SO THE THIRD DAY WAS A PRETTY PRODUCTIVE DAY IN AREQUIPA.

Amazing/Beautiful Stone Carved Facade of a Small Church

More Stone Carved Facades (this one is of a bank)

Night #4

Day 4 was actually spent doing what we originally intended to do Arequipa.  Heading to the Colca Canyon, which earlier in our travels had been recommended as a really cool place to go.  When we got to Arequipa we found out we had two options to do the canyon.  The first was to do a self-guided 2 day/1 night trek through the canyon and the other option was to go with a tour company out to the canyon for a day.  Well after Emily and I both got a little under the weather in back to back days, the fact we were starting to worry about time, and also because our next stop was going to be Cusco and we were about to start a 5 day trek anyway we decided to take the lazy way out and go on a day bus tour.  Needless to say we regretted this but in the ended we still got to see the canyon.  The hike if we would have done it would have been a 7 hour first day hike which ended in a descent in to the canyon and the next morning you ascend back up on the other side of the canyon.  The bus tour was much different.  We were picked up at 3am from our hostel and began a 3 hour bus ride along windy roads out to the Canyon.  After eating breakfast our next stop was to a famous spot where Andean Condors can be viewed every morning.    This in the end is what both Emily and I thought as the most impressive part of the trip.  Seeing the condors, both adults and children, soar over our heads was amazing.  Also because the condors don't really fly out of the canyon as much as float up from the hot air streams that go through the canyon they get really close to the viewing point and at points soar only a few dozen meters above your head or just in front of you.  Next we began a a bus ride to a series of miradors (lookouts) over the canyon.  The canyon is not exactly what we expected.  We were kind of suspecting much similar to the Grand Canyon (which even though neither of us have been to we have seen more then enough pictures and movies shot there).  Even though this canyon was twice as deep as the Grand Canyon, its about 1,200 meters deep, it wasn't spread out like the Grand Canyon is.  It looks much more like a river valley but is technically catagorized as a canyon.  It was pretty cool to see along the side of the canyon not only Inca Agricultural Terraces but to also see Incan graves which were (at least for the wealthy and royal) done in the canyon walls (or at other Incan sites we have witnessed along a mountain/hill side) by diggiing out a small cave and then enclosing it with adobe bricks.  They are all sitll visable today form the side of the road.  Besides the few lookouts we also stopped in two villages.  The first stop was to an extremely small village an impressive church.  The church like many other churches throughout several small villages in the Colca Valley was built by the Spanish to try to bring a dominate form of Christianity during Colonialism to the region which still to this day mixs both Catholicism and Incan/pre-Incan traditions.  They weren't to succesful but now adays thes giant impressive churches stand in the middle of every small 200 person village in the valley whose houses are not much more then adobe brick.  Most of the churches were actually badly damaged in an earthquake in the 1980s but have been helped rebuilt by private donations from Spain.  Our final visit and for a late lunch was to the largest village in the valley, Chivay.  The village is in the shallowest part of the canyon.  After having lunch we headed back 3 hours to Arequipa which after arriving at the hostel we relaxed a few hours before heading to the bus terminal to take an overnight bus to Cusco (we wisely pre-booked the bus ticket so we wouldn't get sucked in to the hostel for one more night).

Next is a selection of photos from the Condor look out (I have many more but these are my best shots)...

Following is random pictures from the rest of the Colca Canyon tour...

Lago in the middle of the Canyon

Great view of a large part of the canyon

Another great view of the canyon with Inca terraces everywhere

One of the dozen plus White Large churches the dot the canyon in every small village

The interior

Baby alpaca (its fur was really really soft) and a little girl in traditional dress

On our return trip to Arequipa form Colca Canyon with two of the snow capped Volcanos in the background

Overall our stay in Arequipa was really relaxed we knew we are in a rush to make it to Bogata, Columbia but I think we both needed the days to rest and we kind of just hit the right hostel at the right time.  For those who think it was only us being lazy bums and getting sucked in to this hostel, it is not true.  It was not only us that this phenominum was happening to but people we had also met at the hostel were staying up to a week and one couple 10 days if not more for truly no reason.  Just because this hostel was basically the perfect place to be if you needed a break.