Still following along with your travels. I love Cuzco as well so looking forward to seeing how much it may have changed since I was there last five years ago. We may go again in March.

live42day, it was about five years since we were last in Cusco. It has definitely moved upmarket and with it , the prices! Lots more shops, restaurants and hotels and of course tourists. Still a great place though!

PISAC THE HARD WAY

The last time we visited Pisac was during an epic, whistle stop tour of the Sacred Valley by taxi. This time we jumped on a collectivo and 40 minutes and 3 soles later we were the town famous for two things, its Sunday market and its iconic ruins. Today was not a market day so it was supposed to be quiet but instead we happened upon a fiesta in full swing.

The square and surrounding streets were full of people, marching bands and dancers most in costume, most totally bizarre. The whole town and indeed the whole valley was filled with the sound of the music. We stopped awhile to enjoy the fiesta and then went to the tourist office to buy our " bolleto touristico" which would give us access to most of the sights in Cusco and the Sacred Valley that we wanted to see, including the ruins here.

Last time here we got our driver to drop us off at the " top car park" avoid the long hike up a very steep mountain to the ruins. This time we were doing it the hard way by hiking straight up, exploring the ruins and then back down. Although lower than Cusco the walk involves ascending about 600 metres and believe me we do feel it!

Tickets purchased we set off initially through a series of stone terraces before taking a slightly wrong turn for an alternative route to the top. Our route is quieter and we see few other people along the way. The climb is estimate to take about an hour and we make it in about that time so I suppose we were not to far off track. Along the way up the views alone are spectacular and the walk would be worth it even without the ruins at the top. Eventually we get to the mirador at the first summit. Here the ruins really start and, once again we marvel at how the Incas could have built such an impressive edifice in such and awkward location. The ruins are in really good condition and, in my opinion are arguably even more impressive than Machu Picchu. We are glad to have reached the summit as it has been really hard but so worth it for the views along the way. This first "peak" seems to be mostly about lookout posts and defence and there are superb views along to both ends of the Urumbamba valley.

Wander around the ruins for a while we admire the temples, priest quarters and the inevitable sacrificial altar complete with channels for the dispersal of blood.

We then move on around the mountain on precipitous paths with sheer drops of hundreds, of feet ( guard rails are few and far between!) until we get to the next peak where we go through a tunnel to the next peak where we get great views of the agricultural terraces, the residential area and the, very tempting, taxis waiting in the car park. Resisting temptation we retrace our steps back to the Mirador where Carolyn decides we should take an alternative route back. I am convinced that this route was intended for donkeys only, but we do eventually make it back to the terraced area even though it is extremely steep and rough in places.

We make it back not the town, tired and hungry but can't find anywhere we like the look of to eat so head back to the collectivo stop. By a stroke of good fortune we see a bus stopped at the traffic lights, the bus driver has popped into a shop for to by a drink so we jump on and head back to Cusco. Another great but exhausting day out.

All I can think about is "I just know my knees couldn't handle that"!

Catching up and enjoying your report. Next to MP, Pisac has the best ruins - just loved them. Intresting to hear your changed opinion on Lima. I didn't care for it at all when we were there maybe 6-7 years ago, but perhaps if its changed I will feel differently on our next trip to Peru.

Did I miss how long you will be away?

We will be away for 6 months yestravel. Having said that we have been talking about delaying our return and maybe helping out in a Hostal in the sacred valley for a few months. Will see how it goes once we are in Bolivia.

Susan my knees have only just recovered 5 days on. It is the lungs on the way up and the knees on the way down.!!

Apologies for several posts in quick succession but I am trying to catch up before getting the night bus from Cusco to Copacabana in Bolivia.

SACSAYHUAMAN HIKE

There are many, many tours to be had around the streets of Cusco. Throw a ball in any street and it will almost certainly hit half a dozen tour agencies, a few good, lots bad and most, pretty average. They all however, are expensive. With a little bit of research and some most places can be visited on public transport and do not require a guide, unless of course you are really into Inca history. Personally, my attention span wanes rapidly after a few minutes so a guide is sort of wasted on me. Having said that, we did have a great guide for a day in Trujillo and our experience there was greatly enhanced by her services. Our first full day out will be to Pisac, one of the greatest sites in the Sacred Valley but I will deal with that in other entries.

Our trip for today is to the Inca sites in the hills outside of town involves walking to the collectivo stop to get a bus to Tambo Machay. Fifteen minutes walk and a short wait and we are on the, already packed bus. One seat is left so I take it and Carolyn sits on my lap. A short while later, a seat becomes available to a mother and daughter so Carolyn transfers and immediately strikes up a conversation with the 3 year old daughter ( mum completely ignores her). They then start a game of poking one another which continues until our destination, still ignored by Mum!

Tambo Machay

Alighting at Tambo Machay we walk up hill to the site which is also known as Los Banos del Inca (Inca Baths) was basically a spa retreat for high priests and Inca nobility. The site is quite small consisting of a few Inca buildings built around a stream. On the way up we do notice the change in altitude as we have now ascended some 400m to 3800m asl. Wandering around the site we are soon surrounded by a busload of people on a tour so we make our retreat down the road to the next site of Puka Pukara.

Puka Pukara

This site is a lot more impressive and was more of a working fortress with great views over the valley to the snow capped mountains beyond. In Peru, we find ourselves in constant wonder of the spectacular scenery. This site has a lot more to see and we spend some time just wandering around the rooms and walls admiring both the stone work and the views.

Passing by the inevitable hawkers selling everything from Alpaca knitwear and artisan jewellery to photo opps of themselves and their baby alpacas, we head on down on our cross country walk back down the mountain to Cusco. Armed only with a pencil drawn map, which turns out to be wrong anyway, we quickly get lost. Soon after we take a wrong turn in open countryside we are approached by a couple of French girls who ask us for directions. Inclined to reply that we don't know where we are going either, we have noted our mistake and point them in, what we think, is the right direction and end up walking with them for a lot of the way. The countryside around here, only a few kms from Cusco city is really beautiful. Sprinkled with farms, Inca ruins and a few lakes it makes for great walking country. Old Inca pathways, still in use today, crisscross the countryside and I assume most lead back to Cusco, so even if you do get lost, it is no big problem.

Eventually we find our way to Zona X a big rock riddled with tunnels and caves, beloved of hippies as a mystical site and local couples as a place to "be alone". We see some of each! We stop briefly to eat our sandwiches and move on to the next site a few kilometres distant, of Q'enko.

Q'enko

An even more impressive site. An amphitheatre and temple, it includes an altar where sacrifices where made and you can still see the channels carved into the rock to drain away the blood! Judging by the size of these channels there must have been a hell of a lot of blood flowing! The site has a number of caves inside the rock inside which are yet more altars. The most impressive site so far.

Sacsayhuamán

The greatest and closest to Cusco of all the Inca ruins, this site is just 10 mins walk from SAExplorers, a good job because after 10 kms of walking, our legs are beginning to feel the strain. This site really is impressive and exhibits some of the most impressive Inca architecture in the Sacred Valley. The experts don't seem too sure whether this was a temple, a fortress or both. Whatever it was, it is certainly impressive, sitting as it does, high on the hill overlooking Cusco. From here the views of the Centro Historico, the Plaza de Armas, the airport and greater Cusco are simply breathtaking.

The ruins are built of the tradition Inca block work precisely fitted together without the aid of cement. Some of these blocks are 4 metres high and weigh 120 tons. How they got them into place is an incredible feat of engineering. After exploring the ruins we head on back to the clubhouse, a few minutes down the very steep hill.

This evening after resting awhile back at the clubhouse we wander out to the suburbs of Cusco in search of some non- tourist food and beverage. First stop is a very small local bar complete with two barflies who, clearly having been there all afternoon, welcome us like long lost friends. The barman, complete with Stetson hat and shoulder length hair has the best collection of blues music playing on the sound system. All my favourites from Robert Johnson and Howling Wolf to Eric Clapton and Bob Dylan. He even had a Captain Beefheart CD behind the bar ( Robert Ivey, where are you? You are missing out!). We have searched high and low for this sort of place since arriving in South America,

Due to a communication mix up I unknowingly order 2 litres of beer, "fortunately" Carolyn spotted my mistake which was quickly rectified. After savouring the ambience, the beer and the music for an hours or so off we set down the street to find a local Polleria. We order two meals which consist of salad, roast chicken, fries and a whole array of sauces, some extremely fiery. The food was delicious and extremely filling. The bill? 11 soles for two, about $3.50 US. It sort of brings into context the prices in the tourist areas where a main course for one goes for approx. 25-30 soles.

Heading back into town, we pass by our new local bar where our new found friends are leaving, struggling to stay upright they bid us a cheery buenos noches!

The total cost for our day out is 22 soles, 3 for the bus, 11 for dinner and 8 for beer. Not bad for an excellent day out.

Cusco markets and food

Having explored most of the usual sites around Cusco over a period of a couple of days, we decided to venture just a little further into the markets and local areas around the centre, mainly because markets fascinate us and partly because this is where some of the better, more typical local food can be found. We had visited Santa Clara market many times before as it is just beyond the two main Plazas and in famed for its freshly pressed juices. Venture anywhere near the dozens of stalls and expected to be shouted at by all of the stallholders at once, begging you to patronise their stall. The juices are really good and for 4 soles you get two large glasses of just about any variation of fruit you can think of. I recommend zanhoria con naranja ( carrot and orange), delicious.

A little way from Santa Clara on are some smaller markets where the stalls are jam packed with fruits, vegetables and meats of all description, including some quite gruesome cuts we and never seen before, cow faces!!! Apparently used for soup. Sadly, the food here is not to the standards we found in Ecuadorian markets, so we move on and eat in a small local restaurant, but not before we stumble into a couple of subterranean drinking holes which were signed as restaurants. One o'clock in the afternoon and they were full of Peruvian men, absolutely legless!

Another day, we head of to Wanchaq market on the other side of the centre. This is a more refined market with a huge food court on the upper floor but we opt for a ceviche mixto on the ground floor, very good it is too. Not up to the standards of Lima but less than 20% of the price. To follow, we head off to one of the juice stalls where a couple of young ladies are holding court as the mix and pour juices for a group of admiring men. Good juice but that did not seem to be the main attraction for the remaining customers! A little later we pass by the stall and a whole mariachi band has stopped to serenade them (see photo).

Cusco is a fascinating, if somewhat busy city and despite being heaving with tourists, somehow manages to hang on to its charm.

For our final night in town we decide to treat ourselves to a wedding anniversary dinner, we tend to spread our celebrations throughout the year regardless of the date. After some deliberation we choose to push the boat out at Chicha, a restaurant by Gaston Acurio, who is the Peruvian equivalent of Gordon Ramsay or Michel Roux. The restaurant specialising in his take on Andean food with a bit of fusion cooking thrown in for good measure. There are a few photos here that show the food far better than I could describe, but the food really was special.

Briefly, we shared two appetisers and and two mains:

-Fried guinea pig with purple corn pancakes (a take on Peking duck?)

-Causas with four sauces ( four varieties of potatoes with different sauces and toppings)

-Crisp roasted belly of pork

-Pachamanka, lamb, pork, chicken, sausage, potatoes and cheese, baked in an earthenware pot and served with a delicious sauce.

All the food was amazing, definitely worth splashing out if in Cusco. We rounded off our meal by toasting our friend Lesley as it was her 60th, many happy returns Lesley!!!

Our final day in Cusco marks the start of Peru's Independence Day celebrations. The Plaza de Armas and surrounding streets are heaving with marching bands ranging from the Girl Guides and WI to the army. Quite some sight!

Tomorrow we head off up the Sacred Valley to our old haunt of Ollantaytambo.

Returning to Ollantaytambo after five years felt like coming home as we had spent a month there in 2008 when we volunteered with Hearts Cafe. We lived in a bungalow in Urumbamba and commuted daily by collectivo. In our spare time we took Spanish lessons from an Argentine woman in the town. The town itself had changed little in the last five years, it is a lot smarter with more restaurants and hostals all of which seemed a lot more upmarket than before. The biggest change however was the massive increase in the number of the visitors to the town. I feel partly to blame as I have been recommending the place for years as a place to stay when visiting the Sacred Valley.

We left Cusco on a minibus after wandering the streets for an hour or to find the minibus station which had been shown in completely the wrong place on the Cusco map - a common problem!!

As soon as we get out into the Sacred Valley we remember why we love this part of the world. The two hour drive takes us along the Urumbamba river between the snow capped peaks of the Andes. Spectacular by any measure!

Despite the increase in visitors, Ollantaytambo still manages to retain its innate charm and the local Quecha people seem blissfully unaffected as they go about there daily business. As we spent so much time here before, this is very much a flying visit as we just hang out in the town for a couple of days and wander around the ruins which we manage to do just before the tour buses arrive from Quito. If you do want to visit Ollantaytambo it really is best to stay overnight and hit the ruins as early as possible, say 7.00 - 9.00am before the buses arrive. Later on it gets really crowded, especially in the afternoon.

Visiting Ollantaytambo is not just about the Inca ruins, impressive though they undoubtedly are. The town itself is the most complete example of an Inca city in the Americas. Built on a grid system with lots of cobbled streets with many original Inca buildings it is still inhabited by many direct descendants of the Incas. It is easy to spend a pleasant couple of hours just wandering the streets.

We stayed in Casa de Wow!!! run by Winn, a great hostess from the Southern United States who shows us what the legendary southern hospitality is all about. Good breakfast, hot water ( luxury indeed after the last week) and THE most comfortable beds to date.

In the evening we set out in search of a meal which takes a bit of time as every place we go to seems to be taken over by tour groups. Looking for something a bit quieter we settle on a small, local Pollo Asado. The usual chicken, roasted over an open wood fire is always a safe bet. This place is not the Ritz by any stretch of the imagination and, apart from us, is full of locals. We sit a at able next to one of them who must have had a really hard day as we watch him slowly fall asleep until he ends up with his face in his plate full of chips. One of the ladies in the restaurant wakes him up and he continues on with his meal. Minutes later he is face down in his food yet again, this time with a half chewed drumstick, sticking out of his mouth! Great entertainment for all in the restaurant but then the guy wakes up, picks up his sack of vegetables from the market and leaves for his walk home, which, in these parts, is quite like
Ybto be 10 miles or more. It is a hard life for most in these mountains.

I laughed when you "unknowingly order 2 litres of beer". On our first day in Buenos Aires a couple of years ago, I ordered a beer and got the biggest bottle ever. My husband doesn't drink alcohol, and the waiter couldn't understand why he was ordering a coke. The waiter had the top off the bottle before I could say no. Needless to say, I wasn't able to drink the whole bottle.

You are remarkable, Crellston (& Mrs. Crellston)...I am just loving these reports. Stay well, continue to enjoy yourselves, and keep these reports coming.

~Marnie

Crellston, thank you for your fabulous trip report. I'm considering a trip to South America around this time next week, and you're giving me tons of info to help me think about it. Right now, I have sights set on Peru and possibly Brazil, Chile, or Argentina.

Six months--lucky you!

Many thanks to you all for your kind comments. We are almost halfway through this trip and made it to Bolivia. Here is the first installment...

It is time to leave the familiar environs of Cusco and the Sacred Valley and head off to Bolivia, a new country for us. Our bus leaves Terminal Terrestre at 10.00pm so we spend the evening at The SA Explorers Club before taking a taxi to the station. Bus stations are never great places to hang out but this one is not too bad. We had booked "full Cama" seats on VIP bus with La Luis line, direct from Cusco to Copacabana. We board the bus more or less on time, only to discover that our seats 51 and 52, do not exist. Just as bad, the seats that are there are not full Cama but normal bus seats, not great for a 14 hour overnight journey. The bus guys don't seem to give a toss and just point us and other passengers to any seat. They have effectively managed to p*** off an entire bus load of passengers at a stroke. Given that it is now 10.30pm in a not very nice neighbourhood in Cusco, none of us have any real choice but to go with the flow.

To add insult to injury, it turns out that it is not a "direct, non stop" service as it stops many times along the way and we have to wait 90 mins in Puno to get a connecting bus. After many years of travelling we had forgotten the essential rule when dealing with bus companies - TRUST NO ONE!

We arrived in Puno bus station just as dawn was breaking over Lake Titicaca ( yes, a bus station with a view!). After the horrendous journey in a cramped, uncomfortable and hot bus, surrounded by people snoring, coughing and farting all night, we were rewarded by one of the most beautiful sunrises we had ever seen ( and there have been quite a few!).

As soon as we entered the bus station we were immediately accosted by a guy from the Panamericano bus company who would take us on he next leg of the trip to Copacabana. He pointed us to the desk where we had to exchange our tickets and then we waited. This guy was terrific, he was buzzing around the station picking out his passengers and directing them to the right places and he even came on the bus with us to Copacabana, a journey of around 3 hours through some pretty desolate countryside, giving us instructions en route on how to get across the border, deal with immigration and the police on both sides etc., all in Spanish and English. We had heard many horror stories about crossing the border from Peru to Bolivia, but this one at Yunguyo was a piece of cake ( the one at Desequero is apparently a nightmare!). The immigration was cheerful, helpful and even gave us a 90 days visa when asked, the norm is 30 days. When Carolyn went back to the bus for a few minutes, I got chatting to one of he border guards for a while in Spanish, when he realised I was English he asked if we could speak in English so he could practice. When he then went off to open the border gate, he thanked me, welcomed me to his country and shook my hand. I doubt I will get he same reception when returning to Heathrow!

Arriving in Copacabana was a very pleasant surprise. Set on a bay, right on the shores of Lake Titicaca it is a delightful place, a little like a quaint Cornish fishing village, if you ignore the snow capped mountains, the Bolivian women in their bowler hats etc...

Carolyn had booked us into to nice Hostal called Las Olas. Of course, it has to be one of the highest in the town. Despite the total lack of street signs we manage to find it after consulting a few locals. Turns out they don't know either, but within minutes of asking a couple of people, a guy on a bike chases after us and points us in the right direction, up a very steep hill. Even though we have been at high altitude for quite a while, Titicaca is even higher than most places we have been at 3850m asl and we really notice he difference as we walk up the hill. Las Olas has been built in a sort of "Flintstones" style. We have a duplex suite with kitchen facilities, a wood burning stove and a bathroom built out of rock ( a little like showering in a cave), masses of really hot water (a real luxury after Peru) and, best of all, a double height picture window overlooking Copacabana bay and the Lake. All this for $42 per night, around double our normal expenditure, but a special treat and wonderful value for money.

We spend some time wandering the streets and markets just taking it all in and already we as beginning to love this country. We find our way, by accident, to the Cathedral which dominates the town with its colourful domes, tiled in the Portuguese style. Inside is equally impressive, in fact, although it is not the biggest, it is certainly one of the most beautiful churches I have seen anywhere in the world! Definitely worth a visit if passing through.

Having shopped for produce in the market for dinner tonight we book a boat trip on the lake out to Isla del Sol, which according to Inca legend/ religion was the birthplace of the sun. Because of the altitude, Titicaca gets clear blue skies and brilliant sunshine most of the time but this doesn't stop it being really cold, especially out on the lake. As we sit on the top deck of the boat on our way out, I don't think I have ever been so cold! The views however, more than compensate as we look out over the lake to the snow capped, high Andes peaks that surround the lake. Surely one of the most impressive sights anywhere in the planet?

Isla del Sol was to be frank, as expected, a bit of a tourist trap. We had the opportunity to walk up to the top of the island to have a look around the ruins, but having seen so many ruins over the last few weeks we were "ruined out" and, instead decided to just sit on the grass and watch the islanders unload the boats and load up their donkeys to cart their supplies up the very steep cobbled paths to the top of the island.

On the way back to Copacabana we get chatting to a couple of students from the USA who are working in La Paz as part of their masters degrees in community health. They are a mine of information on what to do, where to go and what to watch out for in the capital city. They recommend some places to stay which is really helpful as wifi is all but no existent here and we haven't been able to book anything. This is not usually a problem for us as we are happy to find something on arrival but, prefer to at least have a vague idea of where we are going on arrival in a big city in the late afternoon.

All things considered and despite the awful bus service, we are glad we chose this route into Bolivia rather than stopping overnight in Puno which is not the most attractive of Peruvian cities ( although great for visiting the floating island of Uros etc.). We could easily stay a lot longer here but Bolivia is a big country and there is a huge amount to see.

Sunday morning and we make maximum use of our cooking facilities before leaving for La Paz. Carolyn cooks eggs tomatoes and chorizo which we eat whilst looking out over Lake Titicaca below. Sunday brunch doesn't get much better than this!

The wifi in the hostal is not working so we head off to an Internet cafe before catching the bus as we haven't anywhere booked in La Paz and we will not arrive until late afternoon. We fail in our quest to secure a bed for the night and will just have to find somewhere on arrival.

The bus trip from Copacabana to La Paz must surely be one of the most spectacular in the world. As we climb out of Copacabana back into the mountains we get a true idea of the size of this lake. It seems to go on forever. As we skirt around the lake we climb ever higher and get great views of the Cordillera Real. Titicaca is already at 3800m but these snow capped peaks soar even higher. Even as we drive through the barren and desolate altiplano, we see families scraping a living in this hostile, desolate but still beautiful environment. Amazingly, there are people tending herds of cattle, sheep and donkeys at what must be over 5000m above sea level, even though there is very little grass. After an hour or so, we descend once again to the shore of the lake where we disembark at a dock and get on to a very small boat for the 15 min crossing of the lake. The bus is taken separately across on a barge. On the other side we jump back on and continue our journey. The remainder of our journey takes us through a slightly less interesting landscape until eventually we hit the outskirts of La Paz.

Never before have I seen so many minibuses. They are everywhere jamming up the roads in and out of the city. Eventually we get through and continue on to the centre of La Paz and start to descend. Only then do we appreciate the spectacular setting of this city, set as is on the sides of mountains. I don't think I have ever seen as impressive a cityscape, there actually audible gasps from the passengers on the bus.

Eventually we arrive at the bus station. Time to find somewhere to sleep tonight...

OMG, now I want to go to Bolivia! I don't know much about Bolivia, and it sounds amazing.

Great trip, great trip report. Do hope you didn't wind up sleeping in the bus station!

Following along with great interest, Crellston - so excited that you're now in Bolivia and maybe on your way to Madidi before too long. You two are SO intrepid. We've done a few buses in SA and CA, including a couple overnight ones, but nothing compared to what you've described. I love how the fabulous sunrise on Titicaca overshadows the night enduring bad seats, coughing, and farting. ...... looking forward to more!!

Thanks so much for these posts, we will do the opposite, from Bolivia to Cuzco so really interested in your blog.
"I don't think I have ever been so cold!"
I remember when we stayed on an island, cant remember the name, on Lake Titicaca I felt the same way. It was lovely during the day but that night I slept in all my clothes including gloves and tuke!. I still have never been that cold to this day, and I live in Canada!!

I am hanging on for more.

Must be time for a Bolivia update by now!

Your descriptions are fabulous!