Cusco and the Sacred Valley

We arrived in Cusco, Inca Capital of Peru, very early on Monday morning. To our surprise we were met at the bus station by the owner of the hotel who quickly bundled us into a taxi which wound its way up through the narrowest cobbled streets we have ever seen to our hostel in San Blas just above the historic centre. When we arrived we were kindly informed that the hostel was under renovation and that we would be staying around the corner at a friend's hotel. We were as little nervous as it was 6 in the morning, only just light, and the town was completely empty. We both thought the owner was being a little dodgy. However, despite our suspicions things actually turned out in our favour as we had a lovely medieval-themed room in a hotel worth triple the price we were paying.

After a brief rest and the most marvellous breakfast of muesli and homemade yoghurt (well, marvellous until Bianca pulled a small hairball out of hers!) we wandered through the narrow cobbled streets of the city which are lined with restaurants, cafes and souvenir shops. Cusco is very touristy but is absolutely beautiful. The historic centre is full of old colonial architecture mixed with Inca stonework. From the heights of San Blas the sprawling city which is largely terracotta in colour reminded us a little of something you might see in Tuscany (well, from a distance of course). There is a magnificent main square with a huge cathedral on one side, a smaller church on the other and old stone arcades and balconied restaurants. We took it easy on our first day getting our bearings and visiting the famous Temple of the Sun, Qorikancha.

On Tuesday we joined a day-long tour of the Sacred Valley. A minibus took us out of Cusco and through the villages and famous Inca ruins that are dotted around the valley. The Sacred Valley was an important Inca area for agriculture as the plains are naturally very fertile. It is a deep, wide river valley with high mountains and altiplano on both sides. Our first stop was the small town of Pisac where we had a quick walk around the local market (entering into some very unsuccessful haggling over silver... they wouldn't budge!) before heading to the Inca ruins and stepped terraces that sit above the town. We were subjected to the usual mobbing from the locals selling choclo (corn), drinks and woven goods as we entered and exited the site.

We were slightly disappointed to find that lunch was an inedible buffet salad bar (or what Bi refers to as a 'salmonella bar') accompanied by a miming pan-pipe player complete with long hair and Iron Maiden t-shirt. So.... after exhausting our emergency stash of cream crackers and muesli bars we headed to another important Inca site above the ancient village of Ollantaytambo. Many of the buildings in the village incorporate original Inca stone walls and foundations. The ruins themselves were beautiful; steep terraces and a ruined temple to the sun at the top with spectacular views across the Sacred Valley. The whole site is astronomically aligned and is built so that the sun hits certain points on the summer and winter solstices. Across the valley and directly opposite the site, there were Inca storehouses built high up the mountain sides and our guide pointed out a face-like shape that the Incas considered to be a god of the mountain. Our final stop for the day was the village of Chinchero which had a beautiful church built on old Inca ruins.

On Wednesday, the hotel breakfast put us both in a bad mood. The butter to go with our basic breakfast had been rolled into balls (probably by hand) in which numerous black hairs were embedded... yummy! They really love to over-handle food here and it continues to be quite frustrating when we are trying not to get ill. We quickly ditched the breakfast and stomped across the road for a much more satisfying cappucino and a ginger, lemon and honey tea. We both then decided to spend a few hours watching cable TV to remind us of our normal lives!

By midday, and feeling much better, we visited the Inca Museum and were fascinated to see the Inca mummies sitting frozen in the foetal position they were always buried in. After a slap-up lunch we visited another musuem, grabbed supplies for our Inca Trail (including Bianca's new best bacteria fighting friend, a bottle of pepto-bismol!) and just chilled out. At 6pm we had a pre-Inca trail briefing which we then capped off with a budget busting but extremely nice and well needed Italian dinner. The rest of the evening was spent packing and getting excited about our 4 day Inca Trail trek to Machu Picchu.