The trip to Amsterdam was uneventful where we boarded the KLM MD11 to take us to Lima. It cannot make the journey in one hop so it stops to refuel in Bonare where we were all turned off the aircraft for half an hour.

Re-boarding in Bonare

I had been unable to book a hotel in Lima via the internet and so we just went to the airport reservations desk and they booked us into a perfectly adequate hotel quite near the airport.
The next day found us back at the airport and on a slightly delayed flight to Cusco, where we were met at the airport by a representative from the hotel booked via the internet.. The hotel Amaru was middle of the range and we had a nice first floor room on the balcony overlooking the town with a distant view of the mountains beyond.

Hotel Amaru in Cusco

Around Cusco
In the afternoon that we arrived we just got our bearings around the town and found the trekking company, again booked via the internet, to pay the balance of our dues. The following day we were still exhausted partly due to the jet lag and partly due to the altitude. Cusco is at 3360m which is a significant step up for us sea level dwellers. Consequently we spent the day doing the sights of the town. Of particular interest is the Cathedral which is not much to look at from the outside but internally the numerous altars are dripping with gold. Except for the main alter which is decorated with tin.
For our second full day in Cusco we did the one-day hike to the Inca sights around the town. We set out at 9.00am up the lanes behind the hotel to reach Sacsayhuaman after about half an hours walking. This is the most amazing introduction to Inca architecture. Most of the stone work was removed by the Spanish to build their churches but even now the remains are truly impressive.

One half of Sacsayhuaman
I was on the other half across the meadow taking the picture.

In the meadow between the two main constructions there seemed to be some sort of youth training underway. No doubt making good use of the altitude.
The individual granite blocks are massive and a perfect fit with each other such that one could not get even a piece of paper in between them. It is strange that no one seems to know how the Incas achieved this although we heard several different suggestions. Obviously it took an awful lot of hard work, and the builders must have had a strong sense of religious fanaticism to keep motivated.

Inca Block work at Sacsayhuaman.
Stonework of this quality is only found on the religious sites.

From Sacsayhuaman one gets a good view of Cusco. The centre is laid out surrounding the Plaza de Armas, central square, with the cathedral visible in the photo to the left

Cusco from Sacsayhuaman

The walk then took us on to a number of other sites, Qenko, Salapunco, Puca Pucara, and finally a water temple at Tambo Macha. We got back to the hotel mid afternoon feeling that we had done a good bit of altitude acclimatisation.

The Sacred Valley - Urubamba
On the next day, Sunday, we took a bus trip to the sights of the Sacred Valley. This is a region of the Urubamba river which runs through fertile meadowland before entering the gorge and winding its way past Machu Pichu. It eventually ends up joining the Amazon in Brazil. We stopped at a small roadside market on the way but the first major stop was the Sunday market in Pisac. Just twice a week the Indians bring their produce down to the market to sell or barter for other goods. Fruit, vegetables, meat and dozens of different varieties of potatoes. There is also a large tourist market selling hats clothes bags etc, all genuine Alpaca wool, but very obviously mass produced somewhere else.

Pisac Market

Above the town are the Citadel Inca ruins. These are extensive with many different temples and farming sites. I include here a fine view of the typical Inca terrace, still in use today, and a view down to the Urubamba.

View from the Pisac Citadel ruins

We stopped at a wayside restaurant for a very lavish buffet lunch and then on to Ollantaytambo at the northerly end of the fertile valley where the gorge starts and the railway makes its way down to Machu Pichu. At Ollantaytambo we climbed up the terraces to a temple remains where the perfectly fitting granite blocks must have been 3 or 4 metres high and had been hauled from the other side of a neighbouring mountain.

Terraces at Ollantaytambo.
The major temple is at the top.

But at the bottom was a water feature as in so many of the Inca sites.

Water shrine

We returned to Cusco via the more remote Indian village of Chinchero. The church here had been built on old Inca foundations and the tourist market had some locally made products but most was just the same as in Cusco.

The Salcantay Trek
The Salcantay trek starts from the town of Mollepata which is a good 3 hours drive north along the road to Lima and then turning off into the hills. On route we get a couple of good views of Salcantay and the guide tells us we are lucky because the top is normally in cloud.

Distant view of Salcantay

We walked the last few hundred metres (height) to the first campsite to find the porters all ready with our lunch prepared
The camping arrangements are tightly controlled by the authorities and are to a very high standard. Our tent is the silver coloured tent in the middle distance and it is a modern fully sealed lightweight tent. The camp also includes a kitchen tent, a dining room tent, a toilet tent. The guide gets a tent to the same standard as the tourists whereas the porters all sleep together in the dining tent.

First campsite

We climbed a local hill on the first afternoon to help with the altitude acclimatisation and on the Tuesday we set out on the first leg of the trek. It is a lovely walk, ten miles or so of gentle climb along the side of a valley. The path started off as a vehicle track but soon narrowed down to a good footpath size. The weather was perfect and we had spectacular views as we walked in to the mountains.

Mollepata to Soray Pampa

The second nights stop, at Soray Pampa, is right in the heart of the mountains with this fine evening view of Salcantay. It was noticeably chillier when we camped, now at an altitude of 3900m, and my sleeping bag was hardly enough to keep out the cold.

Salcantay in the evening light.

The following day I awoke early as the foot of our tent was close to the porters' and they wake and start chattering at 5.00am.
The weather had changed. It was overcast with a little light drizzle in the air.

The climb up to the Salcantay pass

The climb was pleasant enough but the air was running out fast. We had started the day at 3900m and walking at a pace that one could continue at we soon slowed right down. At one point Liz slowed nearly to a halt and had a ride on the horse until she had her breath back. The porters had, as usual, rushed on ahead and set up the dining tent for our mid-morning snack. The drizzle had turned to snow by now and the break was very welcome. The sun was trying to break through and the pass was just visible from time to time in through the snow. Salcantay, however, was totally obscured.

The Incachirihasku (Salcantay pass) just visible in the snow.
Dining tent set for mid-morning snack.

Revived by the snack we set off for the pass. Not so bad this time. Maybe something to do with the coca tea that we had been drinking. The pass was not as shear as we had been led to believe and we added to the stone cairns on the summit making our offering to the mountain gods with coca leaves. The cloud had descended again and there was no view.

Cairns on the Pass at 5100m

We descended rapidly and the pass was soon lost in the cloud. After lunch we had another slight climb before stopping for the night alongside an Inca canal. Again at 3900m. It had been a long day. The next picture is as we descended from the Salcantay pass, the chef on the left, our guide in the middle, followed by the porters.

The chef, guide and porters

Next day, Thursday, we set off down a long valley, a short detour around the archaeological site at Paucar Cancha, and on to Huayllabamber for lunch. This is where the Salcantay trek joins up with the classic Inca trail and we had to dispense with the packhorses and use porters from now on. The weather was showers with the sun breaking through from time to time.

The Inca trail visible running up the side of the far valley.

After lunch we set off for another 700m climb, much of it on steep Inca stairways, through a steamy tropical valley where ancient trees, orchids, bromeliads, humming birds etc. abound. Now on the Inca trail we camped in a somewhat larger site than previously, with all mod. cons. and lovely views back down the valley through the gaps in the cloud
Next morning we had a further 500m climb to Warmihuanusqa (dead woman pass) at 4200m. We frequently had to resort to our ponchos as the showers could be extremely heavy. Between times it was steamy hot. After the pass we had a long and tiring walk over another lower pass and along a modern imitation of Inca stone pathways which were very rough and tiring on the ankles. The original Inca pathway runs higher on the mountain and is now considered unsafe. We passed a couple of Inca archaeological sites which would have been more enjoyable in the dry. We arrived at large and crowded campsite at about 5.00pm very to the welcome sight of our tent and dinner nearly ready.

We awoke to find the weather completely changed. A lovely pink sunrise with some clouds still behind us on the mountain tops. This was the final days trekking and we were on original Inca pathways. They were a delight to walk, contouring the hillside, terraced out on great stone walls in places and in others tunnelled through the cliff face.

Inca pathways

This is the cloud forest and Liz kept ticking me off for photographing yet another beautiful orchid. I must admit that it was not the place to go chasing the butterflies but the occasional one settled on the pathway to have its picture taken.

The views from this high walkway were spectacular and eventually our destination came in to sight. We came to one archaeological site where we were able to look down on Machu Pichu mountain but with the archaeological site tantalisingly hiding behind it.

Machu Pichu mountain in the middle distance with a cloud on its summit.

We had quite a descent before lunch and this picture is of the path descending a flight of Inca steps, but it seemingly just as frequently went up again.

path down

Machu Pichu from the Sun Gate

The Sun Gate was originally the only entrance to the Machu Pichu site and it is through this gate that the mid winter sun shines at sunrise to fall on the sun temple. We descended from the Sun Gate though light showers hoping that the view would remain until we reached the archaeological ruins. In fact the weather cleared again and we had fine views of the site and we sat sketching and taking pictures for nearly an hour before descending, by bus, to Aqua Carientis, for the night.

The classic view of Machu Pichu site

The following morning we returned to the site for a full archaeological tour of the many temples, sundials, terraces, and accommodation buildings. The guide then left us and we spent another couple of hours wandering by ourselves taking pictures and marvelling at the scale of the place.

Liz having the Inca theology explained to her in front of the Temple of Three Windows.

Puno and Lake Titicaca
We left Cusco and took the 9 hour bus ride to Puno, The train costs more, takes 14 hours, and follows the same route. We had only intended to stay in Puno just long enough to see the floating islands. However we were unfortunately not very well and we stayed several days until we had recovered enough to visit the islands. A well worthwhile half days trip.

Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca

Araquipa and Condors in the Colca Canyon
We had planned to go on into Bolivia but what with our illness and Bolivia being in the midst of riots and bus strikes we headed for Araquipa in the South of Peru to visit the Colca Canyon and view the Condors. It was a long and tedious two day bus trip but all made worthwhile by the all too short viewing of the condors flying within a few feet of the tourists just before sunrise in the Colca Canyon. My clip does not really do the scene justice as they were coming very close.

A condor flying at Colca Canyon (.avi video clip)

Nasca Lines
We went on from Araquipa to Nasca. An overnight bus ride. In Nasca we stayed in the very pleasant hotel Allegria and took the not so very pleasant but very interesting flight in a small plane to view the Nasca lines. We circled each of the picture lines in turn and if you did not admit to seeing it to the pilot he would go on going round until you did. He then tipped the plane on the other side for those next to one to get a view. The lines were spectacular in their size, detail and the number of them still clearly visible, although they were not easy to photograph due to the very low contrast. This photo of the Humming Bird has had its contrast enhanced.

Humming Bird, one of the Nasca lines

Pisco and the coast
Finally we made it down to the coast at Pisco, famous for the traditional Peruvian drink of Pisco Sour, but not a lot else. We went on a day trip to some islands and saw Sealions, Humbolt Penguins, Boobys, Guano Cormorants etc. In the afternoon the trip took us to a nature reserve and the fine views of the Pacific and desert shoreline.

Liz views the Pacific from a desert shoreline near Pisco

At length we returned to Lima, had to stay over for a day or so while we changed our e-ticket, and found a very nice hotel in Miraflores where we shopped for all the souvenirs that we had not wanted to buy earlier in the trip because of having to carry them with us.