Day 145: Cusco, PER
Based on the recommendation from Dale and Tonya (a couple of riders from the US we met on the Stahlratte boat), we chose to stay at the Casa Grande hostel in Cusco. Not only it spared us the trouble of looking for a place to stay upon our arrival on day 144, the hotel's location is excellent (one block away from the main square), and it is one of the very few places that has secure parking for the bikes.
The mission for day 145 was to get some maintenance done on the DR's, as well as to find someone that would agree to hand wash our filthy motorcycle gear. Our friendly hotel receptionist got us in touch with a brave lady that agreed to wash our pants and jackets. We then asked around and quickly found some oil for the bikes. All the moto shops are located on the same block in Cusco, which is pretty practical, as you don't have to run around all over town. You find what you need in one spot.
We then moved to a gas station, where the bikes were pressure washed (first proper cleaning since leaving Montreal...), and where we were able to do our oil change. I also replaced my rear brake pads, and we called it a day.
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| First proper cleaning since Montreal... |
On the previous day, we had booked an all inclusive tour to Machu Picchu, which was departing from Cusco at 2 PM.
We took it easy in the morning: slept in (even if it's a vacation, we don't get to do this often), had late breakfast, bummed around on the internet, and then met up with the hotel receptionist, which had booked the tour for us. The bikes would stay at the hotel. We also paid for the room, just to have somewhere to leave our belongings while we're in Machu Picchu.
The program was the following:
Day 1:
- Taxi from hotel to the collectivo (mini-bus) station.
- 1.5 hours by mini-bus to Ollantayambo.
- From Ollantayambo, 1.5 hour train ride to Machu Picchu
- A night's stay in a hotel was included, as well as breakfast.
Day 2:
- Bus to Machu Picchu at 5:30 am (20 mins.)
- Visit of Wayna Picchu at 7 am, and then guided tour of Machu Picchu at 10 am.
- Train from Machu Picchu to Ollantayambo at 4:15 pm.
- Mini-bus from Ollantayambo to Cusco.
Total cost: 230$. Pretty steep by Peruvian standards, especially the train ride (100$) and the entry fee to the site (around 60$).
The mini-bus ride was just a reminder to us how much more fun it is to travel on a motorcycle. Backpacking is not for me; I wouldn't do such a trip by relying on buses for transportation.
We made it to the station just 5 minutes before the train took off, so it was a close call. There was a bridge under construction on the way, and we lost a good 15 minutes waiting there. Once again, peruvian roads being unpredictable.
The 1.5 hour train ride was cool. We were sitting next to a lady from Quebec who has traveled quite a bit around the world as well, so we exchanged some stories and impressions on South America. The train was full of tourists from all over the World, even if we're in low season. Machu Picchu is definitely a hugely popular touristic destination.
Once there, we dropped off our minimal luggage at the hotel, and headed out for dinner. The ''gringo ghetto'', or how I called it, is quite expensive, so we opted to go across the bridge to the part of the village where the locals live. We had delicious roasted chicken (and that's saying a lot, coming from a guy who doesn't like chicken that much...), with tasty fries and rice, all for just under 3$ per person.
We called it an early night at around 10 pm, since we had to wake up at 4:30 am (ouch...) to catch the early bus to Machu Picchu.
A few pictures from the Machu Picchu village (the gringo ghetto part):
This photo was taken on the side of the village where the locals live. There was a large artificial turf sports field. A lot of people there, just having fun, playing soccer and volleyball. Nice atmosphere, and a great idea to keep the kids out of trouble. Too bad there's not more of such fields in the generally poor towns of Peru.
The following are photos of pictures seen in a pub in Cusco, after returning from MP. They show how the village has been severly damaged by flash floods back in 2010.
Day 147: Machu Picchu, PER and return to Cusco, PER
We woke up at 4:30 am, had some bread and jam at the hotel, and headed to catch the bus to the site at 5:30am.
The plan was to visit the Wayna Picchu (WP) ruins first. These are located on top of the Machu Picchu (MP) mountain, right above the main site. In order to preserve the WP ruins, only 400 visitors are allowed per day. Mihai has already been to MP in 2008, but he had missed out on WP, so this time around we wanted to get there early and make sure we would make the cut.
At 7 am, the gate to WP was opened, and we both dashed on the trail, in order to get ahead of the crowd. The weather was kind of shitty (rainy and cold), but the 1 hour hike was difficult enough so that we made it to the top out sweaty and out of breath. I ditched my rain poncho half way through, and just continued in a t-shirt, even though it was still raining and probably not much more than 12 deg. Celsius.
We hung out at WP for about 2 hours, waiting for the clouds to clear up, so we can get a good picture of MP down below.
At 11 am, we joined a guided tour of MP. Fortunately the weather got better by then. By 2 pm, it started raining again, so we left the site. We were pretty much done visiting anyway, after spending close to 8 hours there. All in all, a very cool visit. I was definitely not disappointed.
We caught the return train to Ollantayambo at 4:30pm, and were back in Cusco by 9 pm.
A few pics from WP:
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| Rain sucks. |
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| On top of Wayna Piccu. Pretty steep. |
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| View of Machu Picchu from Wayna Picchu |
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| Wayna Picchu |
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| Wayna Picchu |
...and the photos from MP:
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| Machu Picchu |
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| Bed/table. Does not look very comfy. |
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| The Inca Rail train between MP and Ollantayambo. Four cars on the way there, and only one on the way back. I don't know what happened to the rest of the gringos.. ;) |
We stayed an extra day in Cusco, just to relax and to do a little more sightseeing.
Cusco itself is the only 'good looking' town we've seen in Peru. The historic part of it is very nice and well maintained. It was originally an Inca town, but when the Spaniards arrived, they destroyed a lot of the buildings and re-build their own in the colonial style. The interesting thing is that they re-used the foundations of the Inca constructions. Therefore, many buildings are Inca/Colonial hybrids.
A few pictures of the city:
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