Cusco
I arrived to the former capital of the Inca Empire and Peru's most touristic city after several consecutive exhausting days of cycling. It was a real relief for me and a perfect time for a long break. Cusco is very different from other Peruvian places that I've seen in two months of cycling across the country. The city is clean, quiet and full of beautiful buildings, which were constructed during three hundred years of Spanish rule. Most importantly, there are no annoying, loud mototaxis in the historic centre, where everything revolves around tourism. Moreover there are no street food vendors in the beautiful, green parks. A short walk around the main plaza is enough to stumble upon at least fifteen people offering you a massage, selling you a variety of handmade products or inviting you to their restaurant or travel agency. There are also women dressed in traditional Andean dress, holding baby alpacas and inviting you to take pictures. Tourists seem to outnumber locals, and the tables of the restaurants and cafés on the lovely wooden colonial balconies are almost always fully occupied. It is impossible to ignore the influence of the Spaniards, who arrived in Cusco in 1532 and immediately began a brutal imposition of their culture and religion. For this reason one can see many churches from different eras in the city, for example two huge, beautiful cathedrals in the main square alone. Nevertheless, a few walls and remains of Inca palaces from pre-Columbian times have survived as well. It is also worth noting that Cusco was hit by a major earthquake in 1950, which severely damaged more than half of the city's buildings, meaning that all the historically important buildings have been rebuilt or restored. Cusco thrives on tourism, but not at the expense of its impressive architecture, but because it is located relatively close to one of the Seven Wonders of the New World. Machu Picchu is an Incan city hidden high in the Peruvian jungle that attracts tourists from all over the world. I am forced to miss out on some popular tourist destinations because of traveling by bike, but after talking to other travellers, I realised that I simply cannot skip Machu Picchu. I wanted to make sure that I see it, so I booked a four-day Salkantay trek long time in advance.
The departure from Cusco was at 5am and our guide Ebert explained that around hundred people do the Salkantay trek every day. Most people sign up for the five-day trek and our group was the smallest. It consisted of me, five French people, a couple from Ireland, two Belgians and a guy from New Zealand. On the first day we hiked to Lake Humantay, which is a popular day trip from Cusco, so we met many local tourists on the way. After a steep trail at high altitude, we all arrived at the lake rather out of breath, which reminded me of Laguna 69 in the mountains of northern Peru. It is forbidden to swim in the lake and the security guard dutifully blew his whistle whenever any of the curious tourists approached the water. The strict surveillance is a post-covid thing, as the lake has started to change colour due to the large number of people swimming in it. We climbed further up to the viewpoint and – typical for our generation – took many pictures of us with the lake in the background. There were a lot of cairns around and I thought they resembled the little stone columns in Slovenian mountains. Our guide explained that they originated from Inca times, as that was how they expressed gratitude to the mountains. We descended back down to the starting point and had another half an hour walk to the hut where we had lunch and dinner. The clouds parted in between meals and we could admire the mighty 6271m high Salkantay. We slept in triangular wooden huts above 4000m, so that it was quite chilly at night.
The second day was much more challenging, as it was the longest day and we were to cross the highest pass of 4600m at the foot of Salkantay mountain. The guides woke us up with coca tea at 5am. We ate a simple breakfast and got ready to leave. Those who had been affected by altitude sickness the previous day made the journey with porters and cooks on horseback. It was a wonderful day and we were able to enjoy a remarkable hike, enjoying the views of Salkantay, covered in distinctly white snow. Our guide handed out coca leaves, which we chewed obediently, as no one wanted to join the pale-looking people on horses. We got to the warmer sunny side and climbed the serpentine path to the pass. Everyone walked at their own pace and we quickly realised that our group was quite fast. Ebert educated us on the importance of tourism in the region and he admitted that the pandemic times in Cusco looked pretty miserable as most people are working in tourism. He also told us about his roots and the culture of Quechua. Quechua is a language spoken by about eight million Peruvians. I agreed with him when he told us that, as tourists, we should at least be able to say thank you in the language of the local people. He also taught us some of the other most important words in their culture, such as the words for mountain and sun. A good hour before the pass, the landscape levelled out and we took a longer break at some interesting rectangular rocks. With Benji from New Zealand and James from Ireland, we juggled a small ball filled with rice (hacky sack) to pass the time between all the longer breaks. Groups of hikers and porters could be seen far ahead and behind along the serpentine path. We made one more stop for pictures and before the summit, Ebert – after having been encouraged by the Belgians Charlotte and Lore – taught us a traditional dance of the locals, expressing gratitude to sun and mountains. We arrived at the pass in warm weather and enjoyed a stunning view of Salkantay. We appreciated the wonderful weather, especially as Ebert told us that his group had a lot of rain on the trek the week before. He gathered the group and explained about the history of the Incas. There were fourteen Inca rulers and the most important was the ninth, named Pachacutec, who ruled during the construction of Machu Picchu. The Incas were a royal family and were a large minority compared to the common population. Following an old Inca custom, we took three coca leaves in our palms and turned towards the sun, the mountains and the sky, and made a wish. The weather suddenly changed and we hurried into the valley. We had quite a long way to go before lunch, and along the way we could see large rocks scattered across the valley. Ebert told us that they had been brought to the valley by the landslide that in 2019 carried away an entire village below the pass. After lunch, we descended rapidly and were surrounded by more and more green vegetation in the surrounding mountains. The first insects also started to appear, landing on the exposed skin and biting us mercilessly. After a long day we were pretty exhausted, especially Benji, who insisted on playing heckie all the time and who just lay down and fell asleep in a small triangular hut.
On the third day, we got up half an hour later and started a brisk hike along the riverbed. The landscape was humid and warm, making sun screen and insect repellent indispensable. We were slowly starting to feel our muscles from previous days, which didn't stop us from playing football during our first longer stop. Along the way there were several small farms selling fruit, juices and snacks. Ebert showed us the fruit trees. We saw avocados, papayas and granadillas. After a good three hours, a van picked us up and took us to a village that produced coffee. We were shown the process of picking, peeling, roasting and grinding the coffee. As the roasted coffee beans were being ground, the amazing coffee aroma filled the air. We tasted the coffee, which was quite strong, and drove on. We had lunch at the hydroelectric power station, from which we had to walk the last ten kilometres to the town below Machu Picchu. We walked along the railway line and slowly the mountains began to reveal themselves. They resembled those mountains which can be linked to the most characteristic images of Machu Picchu. Mosquitoes ate me as we walked, but deep down I felt the spirit of Hiram Bingham, who more than a hundred years ago, following the instructions of the locals, walked through a much wilder jungle to discover the Inca city. He first got there in 1911 and presented it to the world, cleared of overgrown trees, three years later. The rest is history and a century of tourist infrastructure later it seems almost impossible that the place still feels so inaccessible. After two hours we arrived in Aguas Calientes aka. Machu Picchu Pueblo. We walked past five-star hotels, restaurants and tourist information stands. A train passed through the middle of the town and the tune of El Condor Pasa could be heard from one of the restaurants advertising alpaca and guinea pig dishes. A place without cars with steep streets immediately beat out Cusco as the most touristy place I have seen in my life. The people in our group who didn't have tickets queued up and the rest of us headed for a simple hotel. In the afternoon, Benji and I walked around the city, looking at the completely bitten legs of the tourists who were still walking around in their shorts. In the evening we got together for dinner and we were happy because we all had our tickets for the next day at six o'clock in the morning. Excited from anticipation, we went to bed early and set the alarm for 4am.
The day why we decided to do this trek, the day people visit Cusco and Peru in general has finally come. For some in our group, it was the highlight of the trip, the fulfilment of a childhood dream or a tick on the bucket list. For me, the anticipation grew as the visit approached and I must admit that I could hardly wait to head towards Machu Picchu. We got up early and set off in the dark towards the starting point for the climb up to the entrance. We walked with headlights to the bridge, where we showed our passports and our tickets. The bridge opens at five o'clock and at least fifty people were already there. We sweated as we walked up the steep stairway in the humid morning air. My legs ached from the whole hike, but the motivation was too big for anything to stop me. The end of the hike was also the peak and after three quarters of an hour I arrived at the top, a little behind James. We waited for the others and our guide Ebert, who arrived on the first bus at six o'clock. There was already a long queue of tourists arriving by bus at the bottom entrance and we had to queue for a while. In the morning mist on the lower terraces the view was not yet so fascinating, but with the view of the mountains to our right it quickly became clear why Machu Picchu is so popular. Ebert took pictures of us on the first terraces overlooking the ancient Inca city and took us to one of the higher terraces where he could tell us a few words about this amazing place in peace. The city was built around 1450 and has survived to the present day thanks to the architectural skills of the Incas. First, terraces were built on the steep slopes around the entire city to consolidate the area on which they began to build the city. The terraces also serve as earthquake protection, which is crucial in such an unstable area. During the rainy season, the landscape receives daily heavy downpours and all Inca buildings were typically connected by an elaborate system of drainage channels. We walked on to the Temple of the Sun, which is one of the buildings that has preserved original walls. The Incas built without cement and it is hard to imagine how much effort went into making the stones in the walls fit together to within a millimetre of each other. The Temple of the Sun is also a testament to the Inca's awareness of astronomy. Every winter solstice, the sun's rays shine through the window and illuminate the ceremonial stone inside the temple. For this reason, many enthusiasts book a visit on this date long in advance to visit the Inca site on the winter solstice. We walked around a few more rooms and Ebert showed us that the city was divided into two parts – one for living and the other for growing food on the terraces. We said goodbye to James and Katie, who went on to Huayna Picchu, and the rest of us went out of the complex to say goodbye to Ebert.
With my Slovakian ticket I made my way through the second entrance together with the Belgians. Our tickets also included a climb up Machu Picchu, which I did not complete because I was in a hurry to get back to the bus, so I went to the two viewpoints, which are, in my opinion, the most beautiful part of the whole complex. Once again, the weather was in our favor and almost all the clouds disappeared. I saw that there were quite a few people on the platforms, so I hurried past the llamas, which were vigorously chewing grass. I reached the viewpoint and the typical view of Machu Picchu that is depicted on all the T-shirts, postcards and drawings. Typical of Peru, even here there were dogs sleeping lazily on the grass. There were plenty of people taking pictures of the stunning scene beside me, but they did not disturb me, as I was too absorbed in admiring this mystical place. The ruins of a centuries-forgotten Incan city with the mountain of Huayna Picchu in the background. The location of Machu Picchu is difficult to describe, as the city is literally in the middle of the clouds, among round green mountains completely covered in dense vegetation. To the left and right you can see steep slopes, almost precipices, descending deep down to the level of the river. The city is trapped and surrounded by mountains, which is one of the theories that it was built in such a remote location, as mountains played a very important role in Inca's religion. I spent some time at the viewpoints and after taking many pictures, I decided to go further and I descended to the level of the buildings and walked amongst them. There were more and more tourists and I had to wait in the narrow passages for the groups to finish listening to their guides. I noticed some large stones carved in the shape of the surrounding hills and overheard the guide pointing to a stone in the shape of Machu Picchu mountain. I rarely put my phone in my pocket, as there was always something new to photograph. My time was running out and, pleasantly tired and fascinated by the incredible city, I headed for the exit. I still had a three-hour hike back to the hydroelectric power station and a seven-hour drive along a winding road to Cusco. Driving back, I realised that I had experienced something special and incredible. I had the privilege of visiting one of the most unique places on earth. I was also lucky with the weather, so that from the viewpoints I could admire the whole panorama of the city and its surroundings, which makes Machu Picchu so special. I usually have doubts about extremely touristy places that can lose charm due to the influx of tourists, but Machu Picchu, despite the crowds, is undoubtedly worth a visit and was one of the highlights of my trip in South America.
