We camped up above the city for a few days before setting off on the 5 day Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu. Laura managed to get gastro the day before we left which was a good omen, but it was all good for the trek. The campground in cusco was something of a mecca for overland travellers and it was fun hanging by the fire and swapping stories, especially when the south Africans got on the absinthe.
Cusco by night.
These two carried their baby alpaca everywhere. Its amazing how many women still wear traditional dress in the mountains, despite the brutal climate.
Local cheeses. Not a variety you'd have heard of amongst them but good value nonetheless.
This is what 4:30 am in a tent at 3900m and well below zero looks like. Welcome to day two of our trek through the Salkantay pass to Machu Picchu. The guides would wake us every morning with a cup of hot coca tea.
Whilst hiking from our camp up to a nearby glacier lake we witnessed this avalanche. Incredible but terrifying at the same time.
At the top of Salkantay pass. Our group included: a Swiss couple, a German couple, some American brothers and an Indian-New Yorker-Surgeon-Nazi fantasy writer-raver... Saif is quite an enigma. We had an awesome time together and formed some great friendships.
Machu Picchu. This is the most breathtaking setting and construction I've ever seen. We got up at 3:45 and climbed 1000 near vertical stairs as fast as humanly possible in order to witness the sunrise here and see the place before the crowds arrived.
To think that this place sat here forgotten for hundreds of years until the early 20th century boggles the mind.
No matter how many images you've seen of this place it's impossible to be prepared for the scale, setting and nature surrounding it. It's incredible.
The stonework is flawless. No mortar, no gaps, no faults. Each stone is cut by hand and uniquely shaped following the natural cracks.
Another 2000 stairs up and we were on top of the world looking down on the citadel. The climb was not for the faint of heart or weak of leg.
Posing llamas. These guys live in the citadel.
Posin Laura. She doesn't live there, she lives in our van with me.
We celebrated our return to Cusco by going out with Kai and Svenja (friends from the trek) for some traditional Peruvian cuisine, Cuy. It's deep-fried guinea pig, note his little hands and feet. It is important that it's cooked mouth-open and served facing you. If you can imagine duck wrapped in pork crackling, that's pretty close, mmmm.
A canyon we camped in south of Cusco.
This farmer and his herd are in no particular rush to move on. In Latin America road blocks, works, animals, conversations etc. stop traffic continually. Nobody minds, we've had to learn to have the same attitude.
This type of local weekend (or weekday) festival always seems to be going on, its really nice to see. Communities are really communities in the rural areas (that means everywhere except the major cities).
In Bolivia the adventure really begins.
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