Inca Everything

Hola.. Our 10 days in Cuzco has come to an end now but it's really been a fantastic week. There's so much to do in and around Cuzco that it's simply impossible to be bored. The whole Inca thing that's going on around here is really cool and completely different to anything else we have seen in the past 3 months. Of course the powers that be are cashing in heavily and subsequently you can get just about (Inca) anything... Inca Cola, Inca cigarettes, Trans-Inca buses, Inca gas supply, Inca bike hire, the list just goes on and on and on...

My brother Adam and his girlfriend Sophie have been on holiday in Cuzco this past week which has been fantastic and it's been really really good to be able to spend some time with familiar faces and specifically, of course, to spend some time with my brother :) We haven't stopped all week, with one early start after another, going here there and just about everywhere! Hot springs, Machu Picchu, other Inca sites, mountain biking, lots of eating and drinking... it's been fantastic, and totally exhausting!

I'm not really sure why the Spaniards didn't erase every trace of the Incas in and around Cuzco, as they have done everywhere else, but there are loads of sites besides Machu Picchu to visit. We only did a few of them, but the impressive fortress walls at Sacsayhuaman and the Temple of the Sun at Pisac are well worth it and provide, in my opinion, better examples of Inca construction than anything you'll find at Machu Picchu itself. Ear-wigging a guide at Machu Picchu a few days later revealed that 40-50% of the site is actually re-construction and only the base is 'the real thing' - This doesn't really matter though because it is still incredible and easily exceeded expectation...

Past experience of trekking in Venezuela has made both me and Heather realise that we don't actually enjoy it very much, so we quickly trashed the idea of the Inca trail and got the train to Aguas Calientes. A fantastic relaxing evening in the hot springs followed, and then the next day we got up at the crack of dawn so that we could get to Machu Picchu before the crowds. We arrived by bus just as it was getting light and were literally among the first 10 or so people into the site - Wow! - Machu Picchu in the half-light of morning, mist and cloud swirling around the mountains and not a sole in sight is really a very impressive and magical view indeed! Having seen so many photos of it prior to visiting, it felt strangely familiar as though I'd been there before, but this didn't dampen the experience at all - no photo will ever do it justice!. We spent the whole morning there and climbed up the mountain to the ruins at Wayna Picchu where you can get amazing views across the whole area. Finally at about 11am, half of Japan arrived in a continuous stream of buses so we legged it just as the site was turning into a circus!

There's some good mountain biking around Cuzco (I just can't resist the temptation ;) and a day's riding takes you about 40km over just about every different type of surface possible including some fairly tough, technical, rocky single-track waiting to catch you out at a moments notice. Fortunately, my only crash this time was minor and didn't result in any injuries or bike damage!

Today is a lazy day and in a few hours we head down to Puno (Lake Titicaca) for a short stop before we make our plans to head into Bolivia. However, our plans will have to be carefully put together because Bolivia is currently in a state of emergency: "350,000 have been affected by the worst floods to hit Bolivia in 25 years". Not sure what we are going to do just yet, but most probably head to the capital La Paz, which is south of the affected area, and play it by ear.

No end to deadly Bolivian floods: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6380331.stm