Today me and Evan flew into Cusco, the ancient capital city of the Inca and the self proclaimed ¨navel of the world¨, a bustling city at over 12,000 feet above sea level. Our flight was delayed 3 hours because it was apparently so empty that they lumped it in with the second flight, gifting us with a wonderful 3 hours of lost sleep and standing around at 5 in the morning. Nevertheless, weve finally escaped the clutches of coastal Peru and penetrated the gorgeous interior, the land of llamas and ruins and new realities.
Our last night in Lima was a bit rushed as we flew around town picking things up and dropping off our boards at my friend Felipe´s place. We stayed again at the same hostel where I was ecstatic to discover they still had the shoes I had forgotten there about 3 weeks ago. This was a serious lifesaver because I love these shoes and would not survive in the mountains without them. We went out with a friend we had met in Mancora who took us to LarcoMar, a huge western style restaurant and entertainment complex on the Lima waterfront where I tried to order the coca sour, one of the only places I think its possible to procure one in the world. They were out. But dessert and drinks were good and we got about an hour of sleep before heading to the airport.
The flight into Cusco was pretty amazing, flying past gigantic green peaks kissing the sky above the clouds. The plane was ascending almost the whole time from Lima, and the touchdown introduced us to a whole new Peru entirely opposite of the coastal wasteland we were accustomed to. We checked into our hostel by climbing an intense set of stairs as our altitude sickness kicked into highgear and got us lightheaded and seriously winded. Altitude sickness is no joke, it will bring you down no matter how fit you think you are. But we were in no mood to rest as recommended, we needed to feast and found one a few blocks from the Plaza De Armas at a cool local fare joint.
Yes, I ate an alpaca steak, one of those queer looking andean camelids related to the llama. It was seriously good, and came with a whole set menu with an really good soup and coca tea. Coca tea is a necessity here to battle altitude sickness, and warmed us up as we sat through the first rain we had seen in weeks, and a heavy one at that. Evan had another local dish the name and composition of which have forgotten but it was pretty decent though not as good as mine. Looks like Guinea Pig is the next item on the menu, maybe tomorrow. We were charging Cusco head on at this point.
We bought a tourist ticket that gets you into all the sites around and above cusco including the myriad Inca ruins in the mountains towering above. Catching a taxi up there was amazing, we could see why the Inca settled here and controlled such a vast empire- it was green and lush and beautiful from all angles. Taximan told us about a horseback tour from the top where you can ride to many of the minor ruins in a few hours and we were sold, most of all Evan because he is a horse virgin (so am I, but i did ride some kind of pony when I was young. Not the same deal). This was going to be terrifying or outrageously cool, we had no idea which.
It turns out our guides and handlers were kids, about ages 7 and 12. They were really great and knowledgeable about the ruins, but I cant help but feel bad that they are essentially working everday. It was also kind of hilarious that we were being led on my a little boy who looked like he was 4 on a full sized horse, handling it all his own. Our horses were Corri and Inti, frisky dudes who liked to outrun each other in the critical sections of mud and stream crossings, scaring the shit out of us when they would jump and twist. To lead them on the kids would kind of ¨shush¨them, that was the sound the horses understood to mean ¨keep going¨when they would constantly stop to munch on some kind of bush. It was terrifyingly amazing.
Our first ruin was called the Temple of the Moon, and it was our first taste of Inca stonework and beauty. Carved into a rocky outcropping, the temple is more of a streamlined cave with an alter within for sacrifices to the moon god. There is an opening at the top that would emit moonlight from above on the solstice, and the place reeked of coca. The steps carved in to the sides were really awesome and made you wonder why they would want to undertake all this. Why not, I guess?
Second ruin was called Tombamachay, what seemed to be an Inca resort of sorts carved into a cliffside streambed with original waterfalls and aqauducts still in place. There were all kinds of indigenous goods for sale so it was kind of a tourist trap, but our faithful little guide Jose led us to the good parts and even took some phots of us. The kid has an eye for photography! Seriously, this kid was like 7 and could probably live by himself in the wild with his horses. Amazing little guy. He pushed us onward.
The last ruin was completely amazing, a place called Pucapucara, and it seemed like a mini-Macchu Picchu. There was a rainbow overhead and yeah that completed the experience. Photo-ops and a dizzying tour round the ruin courtesy of Jose had us super winded and feeling the Soroche (altitude sickness). It was time to get down to somewhere breathable. We got the horses in gear and went downhill, which turned out to be harder then going up and the horses would keep speeding up and threatening to toss us into a rocky ravine. It was over, we tipped Jose and his sister well because they are awesome and caught a combi back down into the city below where we promptly passed out for hours. This place takes its toll for the guys who dont want to quit.
In the next few days, we plan on taking some sort of adventure jungle tour to Macchu Picchu for the finale. Stay tuned kids…
