We arrived in Cusco from La Paz early Sunday morning. First, we needed to make our way to the INC office to buy the entry tickets to Machu Picchu so we could board the train out of Piscacucho, or so we thought. We had not pre-booked transportation for this leg of the trip because it was all a little confusing what the transportation would be. The train to Machu Picchu, before the mudslide, originated in Cusco and that would have made things easy. Now, when Z booked our train tickets, we learned we needed to make our way to Ollantaytambo and would be able to take a bus from there to Piscacucho. Right before leaving for our trip however, Z read that this bus was not running after all and that we would have to make our own way to Piscacucho to catch the train.
We found ourselves a taxi and requested he take us to the Instituto Nacional de Cultural (INC) office only to find out that on Sundays they do not sell tickets to Machu Picchu and that it didn’t matter, we could buy them when we arrived in Machu Picchu Pueblo. Now the focus shifted to figuring out how to get to Piscachcho. As it so happens, our taxi driver who only speaks Spanish, realized our situation and offered to drive us and along the way give us a tour of some of the surrounding towns. He would charge us $170 soles (about $61CAD) for this trip, which took about 5 hours.
Our taxi driver, Hermenegildo, was great. At one point Z was starting to get a little car sick and asked if he could sit up front. Hermenegildo had no issues with that. He pulled over, got out and went into a field across the street and picked some leaves; unfortunately I can‘t remember what they are called. He explained that we should smell them and it would help calm any upset stomach. It seemed to work and even if it was all a matter of the mind, the leaves smelled nice.
This road trip was great because I think we got to see parts of the countryside that we would not have seen had we been on a bus. The ride was relaxing and our driver would stop whenever we wanted to take pictures. Him and Z got to talking up a storm even though Z didn’t always understand everything. The countryside is beautiful and very scenic with rolling hills and valleys amongst the mountain ranges. We learned that two of Peru’s main agricultural exports are corn and potatoes. In fact, our driver told us they have over 80 varieties of potatoes; that’s incredible and we got to see a few of those varieties in the local markets. The livestock could often be seen grazing along the roadside. There are also Inca ruins scattered all along Cusco and the Sacred Valley. I really noticed how majestic a presence the Andes Mountains and surrounding mountains have in this area.
We stopped along the way at several markets and got to see the local crafts being made firsthand. Here is where I noticed how beautiful the Peruvian women are dressed in their traditional dress. And the children always looked happy and excited with lots of energy. They truly looked excited to see you. One thing I really noticed in Peru is that the people seem content despite their hard lives. They always had smiles on their faces; something that I can say I didn’t noticed in Brasil or Argentina. The Peruvian people have a very distinct look; they are a beautiful people. I enjoyed being around them the most out of the places we visited.
We stopped in Chinchero, which had a very large market. We noticed the locals shop at this market as well, which is always a good sign. We bought some cool souvenirs and snacks items for the rest of the trip. We also drove through Urubamba and stopped for lunch in Ollantaytambo.
We had an awesome lunch in Ollantaytambo. There is a restaurant there called Heart’s Café, where I had a very tasty lentil/vegetable soup. At this point I was still recovering from my bout of sickness and didn’t want anything too heavy. Z had a grilled cheese with tomatoes and pesto. This too was very tasty. This restaurant was started by a lady from the UK who upon visiting Peru felt it her call of duty to try and help the plight of the women. She opened the café in 2007 and all profits go to developing programs teaching health, nutrition, education, etc. in the Scared Valley. What a wonderful cause! I was very happy to have eaten there.
After lunch it was off for the remainder of our ride to the train station. The road for the remainder of the way was either a very bumpy cobble-stoned or dirt road. Our driver was good at navigating this one-way road, especially when oncoming traffic was present.
Our driver offered to pick us up for the return trip and again was willing to give us a bit of a tour ride back; this time the cost was $200 soles ($71CAD) and the trip was about 8 hours in total. We agreed because we had such a good trip heading out and preferred this over taking a bus, which we found out after the fact was actually operating. This time our driver was going to take us to Pisac, which is another Inca ruin that he said was “fantastico!!”. Two days later, there he was waiting for us when the train pulled in with the sign Z made for him. On the way back, we got to really see the devastation caused by the rains and mudslides that occurred in January/February. There was debris everywhere still even though rebuilding and clean-up was going on. We had to cross over a temporary bridge at one point because the original bridge was washed out and the town on the other side was without access for a few days. We got some really good views of the mighty Rio Urubamba which caused all this damage.
Pisac was a good site, though I’m not sure it rivals Machu Picchu as we were told it should. It’s still an amazing ruin and also has pre-Inca, specifically Wari, structures. The tour here took about an hour and a half and our driver waited for us during this time.
As we approached Cusco, I could feel a headache coming on which is attributed to mountain sickness. It probably took between 12 and 15 hours to acclimatize and again thankfully most of that occurred while sleeping.
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