IncaFlora and Machu Picchu

One advantage of visiting the sacred valley of the Incas in February, the rainy season, is the lush flora around the inca ruins. This makes up for the inca trail to Machu Picchu being closed, so having to find our own way there. Another advantage is that Cusco, the main city, is not heaving with tourists, so people are desparate to give you a room and food for a reasonable price. Here are some pictures from inca sites near Cusco.
flowering cactus at Pisac, Sacred Valley.

After enquiring about heading up the valley to Machu Picchu, we realised that train fares were extortionate, as the only easy route up the steep hanging valley is by Rail. Peru´s government have sold of the railway and prices have jumped from $12 to $96 return over a few years. Considering we would have to fork out 100 quid to get up the valley from Cusco on the train, in a country where we can live for 30 quid a day, we had to find an alternative.

The alternative Inca trail started with an 8 hour bus journey across an andean mountain pass at about 4500m. My head started to be hit by hammers at the top of the pass, but some people were on hand to sell stuffed red peppers and water. Next was a 2 hour minibus trip with as many people as can fit in and on a minibus on some farm tracks, then a 1 hour trip to a hydroelectric station followed by a 2 hour walk along the railway track up the valley to Aguas Calientes (the town below Machu Picchu). All this was accomplished for about a fiver each. We thought that the local train staff might give us a ride on their work truck, but no such luck and we arrived in the dark.

Start of bus journey on mountain pass, Sacred Valley behind.

After a good night´s sleep induced with some Pisco sour we started up the mountain towards Machu Pichu at 7am. Some people woke up at 5 to watch the sun rise over the temple, which looked a bit foolish considering the thick clouds we went through. Thankfully this cleared at about 10am showing the site, and thick clouds moved across the site through the morning on and off. The clouds just added to feeling of the site and we got some great pictures.

Machu Picchu comes out of the clouds.

The mountain behind the ruins is called Waynapicchu, and here is the view from the sun temple`s observatory towards the mountain. This is a line that is exactly north, and each corner of the stone below marks a compass point. The stone is also angled at exactly 13 degrees, as Machu is 13 degrees south of the equator - all this from observation of the sun which was worshiped here. More evidence of the skill of the incas is in the incredible stonework, seen below. This stonework, unlike the spanish colonial equivalent, is earthquake-proof.

Lawnmower of type used at Machu Pichu.

After heading all the way up Machu Pichu, Wayna Pichu etc.. and back down it seemed we deserved a break, and forked out for a train back half way back to Cusco. Even this extravagance cost us 20 pounds each, for a 1.5 hour journey. Needless to say the train was 6 hours late after it's revised departure time and we didn´t get to Ollayantambo until 8pm! No chance of a refund of course. It was no surprise when we learnt that PeruRail is part owned by an English company called Orient Express!

More potential victims of PeruRail playing innocently at Aguas Calientes. There was little danger of this train actually going anywhere though.

The journey back up the remainder of the valley to Cusco was on local buses, which cost about 2 pounds each. Unlike on the tourist only trains, we got to talk with local people, and learnt about the barricades of roads and buses that had taken place the day before. Parts of the road were still blocked by boulders put there in protest at private companies taking money from the area and giving little back to the people. Here are some extracts from the remains of the protest in Cusco.

Tomorrow should take us to Puno, right on Lake Titicaca, again by bus for a few quid. This also should be a spectacular journey across the andes. We decided against the train journey at 70 quid each. We leave you with some more pictures from around Cusco and the sacred valley.

Stonework at Sacsayhuaman Temple, Cusco. Lou added for scale.

Lizard trying to find a crack in an inca stone wall.

Family in Cusco.