So we´re in Cusco and we have to do the Inca sites in the Sacred Valley. There are a lot of sites to chooses from, not least of which is Machu Picchu.
Research in town taught us that it is cheapest, though not cheap by any means, to go it alone. Tours are too expensive and limiting.
So we bought a return train ticket from Ollantaytambo, the first of the sites we would do, to Aguas Caliente, Machu Picchu town.
We also bought the ¨Boleto Touristico del Cusco¨, a ticket that allowed us entry into sites in and around Cusco and the Sacred Valley. A good deal at 70 Soles and it is valid for 10 days.
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Ollantaytambo
This was the first of the Inca sites we did and we were suitably impressed. We didn´t get a guide, mainly because we were to cheap to, but it was interesting and amazing none the less.
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Machu Picchu
We caught the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes that night and pretty much went straight to bed.
The next morning we were up at 04h45 and managed to catch the second bus up to Machu Picchu.Our first site of Machu Picchu took our breath away and we didn´t get it back until 12 hours later when we left.It was amazing, astounding and absolutely picture perfect.
There were a lot of stairs to climb...
I walked up to Inti-Punku (Sun Gate) in the hopes of getting a wider view of the site, and was not disappointed.
I also walked to the Inca Bridge.
I personally think that Machu Picchu would not be nearly as great if it were set in any other place.
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Pisaq
We went to Pisaq, by bus, the day after our recovery day from Machu Picchu. It is a large site, and we diceided that this time we wuld get ourselves a guide to tell us more about what these ruins were all about. Our guide, Ciro, was well educated about the Inca´s and quite a spiritual man. His english was great and he was very interesting.
Our guide seemed to prefer the not-so-travelled route.
And made us do silly things like chanting into the ¨niches¨. Tara wasn´t quite tall enough for the High Priest one´s though...
Ciro, the guide, followed us all the way back to Cusco and almost to our hostel before telling us that he would be happy to guide us around the ruins near Cusco for free. I think the 20 Soles we gave him may have been too much. We agreed to meet him on the Cathdral steps at the same time that we were meeting Amy and Jason.
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Around Cusco
What we thought was going to be a leisurely 2 to 4 hour downhill stroll around the ruins near Cusco, turned out to be a 7 hour hike, uphill and downhill. This was not so great for Amy and Jason, who had just finished the Inco Trail the day before...
But we had a great time. Ciro was, once again, a great guide and took us to a lot of places that were not on the map, or included in our ¨Boleto touristico del Cusco¨tickets.
We visited all the sites on the ticket and more: Saqsayhuaman, Qenqo, Puca Pucara, Tambomachay, the temple of the moon, the temple of the monkey and some interesting and fun tunnels, some of which lead all the way to the Santo Domingo church in Cusco.
Ciro was also prone to taking the more interesting routes, rather than the beaten track.
We saw some pretty strange things on the way...
And there were lots of stairs, again.
Saqsayhuaman was the last site we did and we were all pretty tired and hungry by then, but it was worth it, for the site and the view of Cusco.
This one is an in-joke for the four of us. It could be labled: The Llama Sp....its.
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