Cusco to Aguas Calientes

Wednesday, 1 April

Cusco to Aguas Calientes

Started out at 7.30, with an overnight bag packed for our trip to Aguas Calientes. Our first stop was Pisac, where we visited Inca (Quechua) ruins and saw huge terraces where crops had been grown in the old days. We saw these terraces and the remains of them throughout the Sacred Valley. Down into the town of Pisac for a stop at a silver factory and a walk through the market. No matter where we looked there was always a huge mountain in the background.

 

We continued along the road through the Sacred Valley until we came to our lunch stops. This was quite bizarre and we have no idea why it was that the group was split and taken to three different restaurants, not even close to each other. Smith and I were the only ones left on the bus when we were dropped at the third restaurant, Tunupa. We had an amazing smorgasbord lunch by the river, with Peruvian musical accompaniment. But we had to scoff it down as we only had 40 minutes before we had to be at the gate ready for the bus to pick us up. Everything is pretty rushed on this trip but we're getting used to that now.

Ollantaytambo was the next destination in our Sacred Valley tour and Lorraine and I pride ourselves on our great pronunciation of the word. The ruins here were terraced up the side of a mountain and also contained some foundations and watercourses. Lorraine climbed about a million steps to the top and I opted to explore at ground level as I didn't fancy a heart attack the day before Machu Picchu. By the time the group came back down I was getting a bit anxious as we had to be at the station half an hour before the train to Aguas Calientes. It was a mad rush to the station to drop us off before the rest of the group returned to Cusco.

 

The train journey was slow and a less than smooth ride through beautiful scenery as we rattled along beside the river. It was dark when we reached Aguas Calientes and we were very happy to be met by one of the Chimu people, who walked us to our hotel, about 50 metres or so from the station. When we ventured out to get some dinner the rain was pouring down so we hope that it will have spent itself by the morning, when we have another early start and a very big day.

 

 

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