Travels through South America

The journey from Copacabana to Cusco was horrendous. A minibus took us to the border where we had to pay a fine for being ‘illegal’ in Bolivia. They claimed we had tried to sneak in to the country avoiding the immigration officials, whereas in fact there had been no sign of any officials at the border. Personally, I reckon it is a sneaky way of gaining some extra dough out of unsuspecting tourists.  Be warned!

The drama over, we then took a fairly decent coach to Puno where we had to wait an hour before boarding a horridly cramped bus bound for Cusco. Seven hours overnight in a brightly lit, decrepid old bus with no leg room. I thought to myself ‘this is it – I can’t take any more. I’ve had enough of traveling.’

We finally arrived in Cusco at about 5am to be greeted by the now usual swarm of aggressive hostel touts and taxi drivers clamouring for our attention and battling for our custom. We ended up opting for a hostel near the main square but, yet again, we were met with a grotty room and cold water. We stuck with it for a night but the next day moved our belongings to the Hospedaje Artesanal de San Blan – the best hostel of our entire trip.

With a proper bathroom, actual hot water, a quiet location and a beautiful, spacious white room with beams, I cannot recommend this hostel enough. Plus, it’s a steal at 15 soles per night.

After La Paz, Cusco was like a breath of fresh air.  Civilised, elegant and, yes, pretty tourist friendly.  We spent our first day there just ambling around the city admiring the colonial architecture and stumbling upon fragments of Inca history.  

We bought a ticket that allowed us entry in to some of the museums in the city, plus entry to some of the surrounding Inca sites.  Of the former, my favourite was most definitely the convent of Santa Catalina.  Those of you who have read some of my earlier posts will know that I am a sucker for nuns and being able to eavesdrop on some real ones singing a ghostly hymn behind a big wooden door added the right note of eerie melancholy to the day.  Of course, it was probably a little ghettoblaster stuck on repeat to fool the gullible tourists who were now invading their holy sanctuary but I’ll choose to picture the real thing instead.

My other favourite was a cluster of rocks called Zona-X, a rocky limestone formation of caves, secret passageways and tunnels.  Again, my romanticism took over and I drifted in to a scene from Picnic at Hanging Rock – yes, for one glorious moment, I was Miranda.  

The Sacred Valley of the Incas

Our most informative tour was a one-day trip into the Sacred Valley where I got a little carried away taking notes…  Our trip took us to Pisac, Ollaytanbo, a ‘traditional artesan market’ (yawn, overpriced) and Chinchero.

Pisac is a sprawling Inca site overlooking the Urubamba river.  The Incas divided their settlements into different sectors based on the inhabitants’ particular role in society (the soldiers lived in one camp, the politicians in another and so on) and the settlements in Pisac illustrate this style of urban planning perfectly. 

The military sector is the first you come upon and, unsurprisingly, it sits on a craggy outcrop allowing the best possible view over the valley.

We then passed the politicians’ sector and the cemetery.  The graveyard in Pisac consists of holes carved in to the mountain in which hundreds of bodies were laid and covered with small stones and mud.  Apparently, coca leaves and chicha were also interred with the mummies in their tombs but the bit that grabbed my attention was the fact that people were buried in foetal position, thereby leaving the realm of the living the same way they entered.  I could feel Miranda beginning to make her presence felt again…

We then emerged from a tunnel carved into the rock out onto a mirador overlooking geometrical terraces supported by stone walls of about a metre high.  Floating steps allowed farmers to get from one terrace to the other – one of the first examples of such a construction.  Above lay the houses belonging to the agricultural engineers, revered for their knowledge and skills in providing food for the masses.

Our final step on the tour was the religious sector with its numerous temples.  The most important of the temples was the Temple of the Sun, built around a hunk of volcanic rock named la Waca, used as an altar for sacrifices, ceremonies and the purification of dignitaries.  The exterior of the temple is Inca in construction but the earlier structure was built by the Wari (or Huari) civilisation who dominated the region before the Incas conquered them.  

The majority of these temples throughout the Andes were destroyed by the Catholic invaders, stripping them of their gold and silver idols and ceremonial offerings.  Even the stones themselves were removed to be used in the construction of new buildings and often churches.  That evening as we wandered around Cuzco, I found myself wondering where some of the Inca stones we saw had originally come from before they were repurposed.

The next stop on the tour was Ollantaytambo, another hugely impressive Inca settlement.  The agricultural terraces made those in Pisac look tiny but the swarming mass of tourists clambouring about the place lessened its impact.  Our guide gave us a detailed description of how the Incas carved their stones and I would be happy to share it with anyone who asks (ho hum).

The final stop on our trip was the beautiful 17th century church, Chinchero.  Faded frescoes painted with natural dyes adorn the walls and a huge, ornate altar dominates.  The back of the church was destroyed in an earthquake in 1950 but has been painstakingly renovated using the same plaster material and paints.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t take any photographs inside and the light was fading rapidly outside.  

Despite being herded about all day, I did enjoy the excursion and was happy for someone else to make the decisions for the day.  A good night’s sleep and we were ready to take a flight to Lima and the meet the family of friends for an entirely different cultural experience…