After 90 minutes we reached Ollayantambo where the train currently terminates. We had to find our own bus instead of taking Peru Rail´s $20 offering. We found a fenced area with some buses and mini-buses and found a minibus driver looking for a load. J called the Japanese girls, who dithered this way and that and eventually joined us in buying out the cab for 15 Soles each.
We headed off on the 2 hour trip back to Cuzco. After a while it occurred to me that we knew nothing about the Peruvian in the front seat. I asked J who said he was a young passenger. Well that was good - I had been planning to strangle him if they tried to hijack us. J´s role was to eye-gauge the driver. Hell nobody reads this anyway.
The weather started off clear and the snowy mountains were everywhere at first. The road curved between passes, regaining the 1300m we lost when we came down 2 days ago. We didnt seem to feel different. J was starting to get fidgetty about the trip she planned to take this afternoon and it didnt help when we were pulled over at a police checkpoint. We were singled out of busy traffic and the officer came up to the driver and asked, in Spanish, ¨"Are these your family"? There was some irony in this because the front seat passenger was Peruvian Indian, we were 2 whities and the back seat had 2 young Japanese. A bit of a comedian was this Peruvian Plod. The driver went off for a chat and came back with a long face and a yellow notice, which he kept sneaking glances at. Must have been an unlicensed taxi.
We made Cuzco in good time, walked to the travel agent to buy J´s tickets for this afternoon and all day tomorrow, and just had time to shoot over to Maccas and draw some more money before she had to catch her bus. I humped both rucksacks (how I suffer) back to re-check into our hostel. My afternoon was taken up with searching for a hostel in Lima and then I went back to the city to check out bus trips to the coast at Nascar for Saturday. This is an overnight 16 hour journey which costs about $70 with a flat or almost flat bed.
There was a demonstration in the main square - very orderly and restrained gathering of a hundred or so people, but I gave it a wide berth as advised by the guide books. They can turn nasty quickly.
My first stop on the tour was this fantastic church, Qoricancha. Built by the Spanish on top of the most important Inca temple in the area. The lower grey wall is what remains of the Sun temple. While stones have been removed to build Spanish constructions, the remaining Inca foundations have withstood earthquakes that toppled the previous church built on this site.
Under the arches on both sides of this courtyard are more temples, said to be the Lightning, Thunder, Rainbow and Moon temples. The rooms had been used by the church in the past and are now simply museum rooms that show the craftmanship of Inca stonemasons and a give an insight into the Inca culture.
Next stop was Sacsayhauman which sits on a hill overlooking Cusco. Great views of the city. This was an important site in Inca times and is known for the enormous blocks of stones that form the walls here. (below)
Q'enqo was a small round hillside that was pretty much split down the middle with a labyrinth of passageways and then a cave underneath.
The cave had this alter which they believe was for sacrifices. It was very cold to touch, much colder than the walls of the cave. Mystery really.
Next stop was Tambomachay. Inca baths. Stone walls/terraces and flowing spring water.
It was pretty much dark when we got to the last stop, Pucapucara, or the red fort. Not really a fort, they believe it is one of the wayside inns that the Inca's had between all the important places/cities in the empire. There was some kind of village every 20 miles or so in order to keep the empire in regular contact.
No comments:
Post a Comment