This is my final trip around South America, before new adventures on another continent. I went on a week trip around Cusco, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu.

Areas of interest: Cusco, Saqsayhuaman, Moray, Ollantaytambo, Salineras, Pisac, Machu Picchu, Huayna Picchu and Museo de Choco. (中文請往下)

Day 1:

Santiago to Cusco via Lima. When you get to Lima, it is necessary to collect luggage and exit customs, before re-entering the airport via an adjacent door to go to national departures, and re-check in again. Usually this is pretty fast, so not stressful at all.

Cusco airport is extremely small, and there will be plenty of people trying to sell you tours on arrival, not a good idea to buy, there’s plenty more options in town! Official taxis are around 30-35Sols, but you can get one for 20Sols if you go outside the arrival hall, and bargain for one. Equivalently your hotel could order one to pick you up for the same price.

Since I arrived late afternoon, I didn’t do too much first day except some logistics, some tips and highlights:

Fun

  • Plaza de armas, their main square is beautiful, surrounded by old churches and buildings – majestic compared to the other parts of Cusco. Even more magical at night when the lights come on.
    Typical Cusco streets
    Plaza de armas during the day.

    Plaza de armas night, Cusco, Peru

    Plaza de Armas at night

  • Morena Peruvian Kitchen serves really nice ceviche and skewered beef hearts!

 

Tours et al

  • There are at least 50 agencies around Cusco, all offering same tours at different prices. Ask around. I went with Puma’s Trek for Sacred Valley tour, 50Sols include transport and lunch. There’s same tours for 130Sols, more details on Day 2.
  • You can rent trekking gear in Cusco, from jackets to boots to pots and pans. Most of the hiring shops are off the main plaza on Procuradores alley. I went to the last one, called Rosely, and it was reliable in terms of getting my deposit back.
  • I hired a fleece jacket and a rain proof jacket for 6 days for 45Sols. They ask you for a money deposit of around 150Sols or your driver license. To be fair, jackets lent out was branded like North Face, so 150Sols really isn’t enough to cover it. Of course, you can bargain for a better deal here too 🙂

Tip: Best way to know the official price of anything is to speak to locals not in the same line of business, or speak to the official tourist info centre. Once armed with knowledge, you can go bargain!

 

Altitude Sickness

  • This could happen to anyone no matter how fit and healthy you are. So if you are spending your first day at Cusco rather than slowly ascending to it, take it easy.
  • Drink plenty of water, chew on coca leaves, muña leaf tea, or altitude sickness pills all can help. I was hit after a few hours with a bad headache, bloated stomach and shallow breathing.
  • Another effect of altitude is wanting to pee a lot, something about lacking oxygen, so it makes you want to pee.
  • Altitude sickness can also make you feel cold. But of course being this high up, the same temperature feels much colder than it would be at sea level.

 

Transport

  • Not every suburb in Cusco is safe at night, so best to ask if you want to walk.
  • Taxis are shown by these red/white rectangles on the side of their car, it’s not very obvious compared to other cities with taxis sporting taxi signs or bright yellow cars.
  • Taxis in Peru are NOT metered, you need to bargain for a price before you get in! From the plaza to anywhere 10 blocks away should be around 4Sols. As a general rule, don’t pay more than 10Sols, unless you want to go as far as the airport.
Day 2:

9am start for the tour to Sacred Valley. The tour cost 25Sols for transport and guide, round trip from Cusco, 25Sols for a buffet lunch. So if you want to save up, pack your own lunch and just pay for the tour. Although the buffet lunch was pretty good, and you get to try different local dishes.

About a third of the people on the bus were staying overnight or catching the train to Machu Picchu from Sacred Valley, so were not coming back on a return trip to Cusco. I was one of them. It’s a normal tour bus, with some luggage storage under the bus, so no big suitcases, but carry on sizes are fine.

First stop was Pisac, about an hour away, we stopped at their craft market, which had plenty of Alpaca scarves, hats, gloves etc. Don’t be in a hurry to buy, as they all look similar everywhere you go. Also don’t be fooled when they say it’s handmade.

To enter into the ruins, you will need a separate ticket. The full ticket includes entry to all sacred valley ruins, plus some museums in Cusco, it’s 130Sols, valid for 10 days. Or you can buy a partial ticket for 70Sols, which is valid for 2 days, and there are three options of different ruins to select from. Machu Picchu is not included.

Pisac ruin was my first ruin in Peru, and it was pretty impressive. Everywhere in the valley there are tall mountains, and the ruin sits on top this hill, and below, are these perfectly layered sectors. The layered sectors are actually for farming different products – the Inkas take advantage of different temperatures at different altitudes and plant different crops from top to bottom. Another use is to prevent landslide, so each layer acts as a stop or buffer.

Pisac Ruins
Pisac Ruins

On the way to lunch you also stop at a silver workshop where they explain silver making, but all in Spanish. A guy also came on the bus trying to sell a licorice liquor in these Peruvian bottles, very nice gift idea if you like licorice liquor.

Lunch was at Urubamba town, the biggest town in Sacred Valley. The name literally means a roll of river. There’s a lot of restaurants here and most public bus connections around the valley are from here. But there are no ruins or much else to do here. Ollantaytambo is a better option!

Next stop, Ollantaytambo, where I also stay overnight. There is a ruin here of the agricultural sectors, but this time rather than just looking at it from above, you can actually climb it! The steps are pretty steep, so it’s a good workout. You can also see some quinoa plants around. Across this ruin, on the mountain opposite, you see more ruins, which are food storage houses, and some faces carved in the mountain. One is naturally formed, another is carved by the Inkas. The one carved by the Incas, catches the first ray of sun at winter solstice on July 21st at his eyes, and hits the ruins. You can climb up to the storage houses for free from the town.

Ollantaytambo ruins
Quinoa
Ollantaytambo, storage houses

Storage houses across from Ollantaytambo ruins. Can you spot the face in the stone?

After the ruins, I left the tour group, and found my bed and breakfast, stayed in a nice farm house, so very calm and relaxing. For dinner I had grilled Alpaca, which the way it was cooked, tasted like aged meat to me, but apparently not everyone felt the same. Another specialty of Peru is Cuy – roasted whole guinea pig! They usually eat this for weddings and special occasions.

Alpaca meat with quinoa
Backyard of my B&B
Day 3: to be continued…

A week with the Inkas – part 3 – Machu Picchu

A week with the Inkas – part 4

Chocolate making from scratch

In Chinese: 這是我在南美洲的最後一趟旅行， 我去了以下幾個地方 ~Cusco, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu。

第一天

從聖地牙哥出發經過利馬到Cusco， 當你抵達利馬你需要 帶著行李出關，然後經過相鄰的一個門再進關，重新再check in，通常是蠻快的，所以不會有壓力。
Cusco機場非常小， 所以當你一抵達就有很多人想要試圖賣你旅遊行程， 但請先不要買，因為城裡面會有更多的選擇。通常正式的計程車子大概 30到35元但是如果你到大廳的外面，你可以只要20元，相當於旅館來接你一程的費用 。

因為我抵達時已經是下午 ，除了後勤作業，我並沒有做太多的活動。

 

有趣的地方~

  • Plaza de armas 是他們主要的一個廣場，周圍有很多老的教堂和建築物，比起其他的城區，顯得非常的雄偉壯觀，尤其是在晚上燈光都亮起來了以後，顯得更 奇幻 。
  • Morena Peruvian kitchen 有很好的 酸橘漬醃魚和串燒牛心。

 

旅遊團 ~

  • 至少有50個 仲介在城裡提供相同的 旅遊不同的價錢 ，多比較才是。我跟了Puma’s Trek 的Sacred Valley行程，50元包含交通及中餐 ，有一些相同的 其他的旅遊大概要130元，詳情見第二天 。
  • 你可以租到所有你要徒步旅行的裝備，從夾克到鞋子，鍋碗瓢盆到褲子。 大部分這些 出租的店都坐落在 Plaza尾端到Procuradores alley。我去了最後的一家叫做Rosely，他讓我覺得他可信賴，可以拿回保證金 。我租了一件法蘭絨的夾克，一件防雨的夾克 ，6天才45元。他們要求你大概要付150元的保證金或是你的駕照。 說實在的，這個外套是North Face的，所以150元是很划算的。 當然你也可以跟他討價還價。

小提醒~ 最好知道價錢的方式是 ，要去跟當地的人詢問或者是官方的資訊中心。不要問在同一排的商店 。一旦你知道的多了，你就可以很好的討價還價 。

 

高山症~

  • 有可能發生在 每一個人身上，不論你是多健康或是身材多適中。 假如你的第一天就在 Cusco，那你就要 放鬆心情， 承受一切。
  • 喝很多的水， 或者是嚼 一些可可的葉子，當地的茶 ，暈車藥都可以有所幫助 。通常是幾個小時以後會開始有一些頭痛，脹氣，然後呼吸變得很淺。
  • 其他的 高山症狀像是你會常常想要尿尿， 因為這是缺氧的關係 。
  • 高山症也通常 讓你覺得比較冷， 當然這是因為同樣的溫度，在比較高的地方會比在海平面來得較冷。

交通 ~

  • 不是每一個區在晚上都是安全的，所以你在 出去之前要先問清楚 。
  • 計程車 是在車子的邊上，有紅的白的長方形 。相較於其他大城市，那不是很明顯。
  • 這的計程車也不是以里程算錢，而是在上車之前就有跟他講好一個價錢，通常從Plaza到任何十個街區之內，應該都是4元， 除非你到機場才會超過10元。

 

第二天 ~

9點開始出發到Sacred Valley，旅程 25元包含交通跟嚮導。另外25元是一個自助餐的中餐。如果想要省錢，你可以帶自己的午餐， 然後只要付旅行的錢。那自助餐其實是蠻不錯的，而且可以品嚐當地人的 不同飲食。

大約在這個遊覽車上1/3的人是要過夜去 馬丘比丘 的，所以不回Cusco。我也是要在這邊過夜的，這是一個很正常的遊覽車，在車子下面有行李的儲存空間。所以你攜帶小的旅行箱是可以的。

第一站是Pisac，大約一小時，我們停在 一個手工藝的市場，那裡有很多駝羊毛的圍巾，帽子，手套等等。不要急著買 ，因為 他們看起來都差不多 ，而且你也不要相信 他們說的是手工製作。

進到了廢墟，你就需要另外的票。全票130元，十天內有效，可以進到所有的 廢墟 再加上一些Cusco的博物館。部分票是70元，只有兩天有效，可選擇三個不同的廢墟，但不含馬丘比丘 。

Pisac ruin是我在秘魯的第一個 廢墟旅遊，他非常的 壯觀 ，有聲有色。這兒全都是高山，廢墟在山頂上 ，下面就是 這些很完美的梯田，它們種植了不同的 農產品 ，印加古人在不同的高度，溫度嘗試種植不同的農作物 。為了防止土質流失，所以每一層他們都做一個緩衝或是阻擋。

在去午餐的路上，有一個銀飾工作坊 ，他告訴我們銀是怎麼製作的，但是全部是西班牙語。有一個人會在遊覽車上賣 甘草的飲料 ，如果你喜歡甘草飲料的話，這是一個很好的伴手禮。

午餐是在Urubamba ，這是Sacred Valley的最大城，意思就是流動的河流 。這裡有很多的餐廳，也是公車聚會轉運區 ， 但是沒有任何的廢墟，也沒有其他的事情可作。

下一站，Ollantaytambo，這邊是我要過夜的城。這一個廢墟，除了你可以俯瞰以外，你還可以去實際攀爬。步道很陡 ，是一個很好的運動。 有很多藜麥種植在周圍 ，穿過廢墟在山的對面，你會看到 更多的廢墟， 那些都是 食物的儲存地 。山上還有一些面刻， 有一個是天然形成的 ，有一個是古印加人刻的。其中一個是在冬至的時候 第一道陽光照射到他的眼中所呈現的。 你可以從小城出發攀爬這些儲藏的房子，是免費的。

看完了這些廢墟，我離開了我的旅遊團，找到我的背包客之家，是一個很好的農莊房子 ，非常安靜而且輕鬆。 晚餐是燒烤的駝羊 ，吃起來好像是陳年的老肉，但似乎別人不這麼覺得。 另外一個比較特別的就是烤幾內亞全豬 ，通常他們是在有婚禮或者是特別的節日的時候才吃。

第三天待續….