The flight from Lima to Cusco takes about an hour, and all of a sudden I feel young again, the aircraft is a Bae146, I haven’t flown on one of those for years, but Star Peru love them and they are ideal for short haul flights. They make a big thing at the gate about carry-on luggage and they announce that if you have carry-on luggage weighing more than 5kgs, then you must check it in....Nobody takes the slightest bit of notice.
During the flight I have time to ponder on the fact that airlines, even budget ones like Star Peru, on other continents manage to provide you with a drink, and in this case, a packed snack as well, included in the price, whereas in Europe you get nothing except your seat, perhaps the European budget flights are not quite the good deal that we think they are.
Cusco is an old Inka city, or it was until the Spanish invaded it and various other Inka cities, mainly it seems to loot the gold and silver, which the Inkas used for decoration and not as a means of indicating wealth.
Cusco is also about 3,500 metres above sea level.
Those of you who are of advanced years will remember the hassle when the Olympics were held in Mexico, and how all the athletes had to go there early to acclimatise to the altitude. Well Cusco is the same, and going up that far in such a short space of time causes a problem for many visitors who get ‘altitude sickness’. Some people get it, some people do not, and there are no specific reasons why some do and some don’t. Guess who got it? Of course, yours truly!
The reception to my hotel is at the top of 39 steps, the only time I made it to the top in one go was when I arrived.
You cannot say that the altitude causes you to be breathless, because that is only part of it, it is more a feeling that you are suffocating and are trying to draw a breath and cannot as if someone has stuck a pillow over your face. The headache is unbelievable, and I developed another problem which was really painful flatulence because the air inside is at a higher pressure than the air outside!
Fortunately in Peru, nobody lets you a carry your own suitcase, and all the hotels give you a cup of coca tea to relieve the effects of the change in altitude, although some maintain this is not a good idea as it is a diuretic and the increased respiration rate at alititude also causes dehydration. None the less it does act as a pick-you-up. Some people are affected so badly they need oxygen and it is not unusual to see someone walking around with a small oxygen cylinder slung over their shoulder!
There is a rumour that eventaully Cusco will get an international airport which will go a long way to relieving this problem for those that it affects as most aircraft are pressurised to around 2,500 metres so visitors will only have to acclimatise to an extra 100 metres or so.
Included in my trip is a ‘city tour’ which includes not just the city of Cusco but some of the nearby Inka sites, it is a ‘one ticket’ does all event, so for about €40 you can get into 16 different sites including three of the museums which you have to do on your own. At least this tour starts at a reasonable time, 1.30pm!
And what a mixed bunch we are on the bus, sorry, coach. We have Canadians (including a Eskimo, or Inuit or whatever the word is these days), Australians, US Americans, and as you find later we are all doing different tours on different days (hence the reason it is so complicated!), and there are lone travellers like me, and decrepit old fossils who are not at all like me, but it does go to prove that you don’t need to be super fit to do these tours, you just need to have a bit of stamina and enjoy going to bed at 9pm so you can be up at 5am!
Of course, my main interest is the Inka masonry of which there is quite a lot in Cusco, I find it fascinating just to touch it and think that the people who did this did not have iron tools because in spite of the fact that the Inkas were a recent civilisation, up until the middle of the 16th Century, they were still only in the bronze age which Europe had left years before.
The interior of the cathedral in the main square is stunning to say the least, so much gold and silver, and the figure of Christ on the cross is black.....But we quickly move on to Qorikancha, which is now the Convent of Santo Domingo built atop the older Inka walls. As the story goes there was gold everywhere in the original Inka temple which the Spanish kindly removed before plastering the walls. Now, however the plaster has been removed and you are able to see the typical Inka masonry which indicates that this was a building of high importance, there are no signs that the Spanish are going to offer to put the gold back.
Very quickly we are back on the bus for our next stop out of Cusco, which is Saqsayhuaman, which is a huge site worthy of at least half a day, we get half an hour, and the photo call is at an impossible angle to show up the main feature of the site which is the zig-zag wall. Later on the way back into the city there is an ideal photo stop to get a really good view of Saqsayhuaman, but we don’t stop.
There are also two further stops at Chacan, where you battle your way uphill for about 20 minutes to take a picture of three ‘fountains’ before you walk back down again, myself and tha Canadian Eskimo 9who can only walk with the aid of a three legged walking stick), arrive in time to walk back down again. While I make a trip to the toilet in the car park they move the coach so I cannot find it again. And finally we stop again at Q’engo where there are caves....I don’t do caves so I give that a miss and walk on to where they have parked the coach.
In Cusco itself there are a plethora of restaurants surrounding the main square which is dominated by a statue of Pachacuteq, the Inka emporer/king/warrior. I think when they made the mould for him they did a load of copies as the same statue appears all over the place. He has a quite distinctive ‘Inka nose’ which is still in evidence in many of the population even today.
The restaurants around the square are mainly upstairs with ordinary shops below, with the exception of MacDonalds which is on street level plus a couple of other s such as the Inka Grill. Regrettably they have touts out at street level so you often get accosted several times to go into the same restaurant. This along with the girls who keep asking if you want a massage makes this area not quite as pleasant as it could be. The record for offers of massage between my hotel and the main square was 22, and it’s only a ten minute walk.
Everywhere you go around here the gift shops are offering jewellery and locally made clothing some of which is described as baby alpaca wool but which is actually a mixture of baby alpaca and acrylic.
I have my doubts about some of the jewellery too, many of the designs are identical to those I used to sell in Koutouloufari some four years ago and they came from the Far East. Much of the silver is unmarked, and some items are 'Peruvian silver’ rather than silver from Peru. When I push the point with one of the salesmen about the turquoise and lapis used it turns out it comes from Chile not Peru at all. Caveat emptor!
With a free day in Cusco (Jose who booked my tours for me informs me on the itinerary that I can go white water rafting, bungee jumping, or horse riding if I want), I am going to use it to visit the museum and art galleries, except I am not because they are all closed.
I organise my laundry instead, visit the local mobile phone operator to see if they can tell me why neither of my phones work, and try to organise the vast quantity of photos that I seem to have taken.
And tonight I have a dinner date so I will try and look my best......
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