Saturday - Cusco and the mountains

A leisurely start to the day. We updated yesterday’s blog – with a cup of coca tea to help cope with the effects of altitude.

After lunch we'd booked to go on a sightseeing tour of Cusco and Inca ruins just outside the city.

In the late 15^th century Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire. The Spanish invaders demolished most of the buildings and built their own city on the Inca foundations.

These foundations have withstood two major earthquakes while more modern buildings have been destroyed. We saw lots of examples of Inca craftsmanship on our walk around the city.

We visited the cathedral in the main square. The interior was impressive but we weren’t allowed to take photographs.

We then walked back to the church of Santa Domingo. It was very busy but the central courtyard was beautiful. Some of the original Inca walls remain inside the cloisters.

The original Inca terraces can still be seen outside.

We were then driven up the mountain to Sacsayhuaman, a huge site originally built as a temple and place of ceremonial gatherings. (The photo can only show a small part of the site.)

Cusco was originally designed in the shape of a puma, and this site was believed to be the puma’s head.

Stones from here were used in later years to build many of Cusco’s oldest buildings, including the cathedral.

After a day of sunshine, the clouds darkened and down came the rain.

Our next stop was Tambo Machay (height 12,500 feet) to visit the temple of water. Apparently this is famous for never drying up, even in times of severe drought – but there was no chance of that today!

A good afternoon, but we were glad to get back to the hotel to dry out!

Off to the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu tomorrow so we probably won't be able to update for a few days. But you never know!

All right in the end!

We got to Madrid but had to collect boarding cards from somewhere. As a word of warning to all, if you expect information from the information desk at Madrid airport, you'll be disappointed - they haven't got any! The girl on the desk thought LAN would probably let us on the flight to Lima wihout boarding cards.  ?!

We found the LAN desk and eventually got our boarding cards - unfortunately not for our reserved seats. In fact, we were 6 rows apart. Disaster and calamity. We showed our documents, we gave the reservation code - all we got was "It's the system. It won't let me do it!"

To cut a very long story very short, a very, very nice young man made a few phone calls, scribbled out the numbers on the cards and wrote on the ones we should have had.

Things got better from there on. The flight was on time, the cabin crew were fantastic and we had the best airline food we've ever had - we even had real cutlery!

We also had to take a photo of this with Peter Kay in mind. We haven't tried it yet so don't know if it's crap pop like Rola Cola!

Spectacular sights as dawn broke over the Andes - red skies and lightning flashes.

Connecting with our next flight was made easy thanks to the Audley rep. There were more stunning views over the mountains as we flew to Cusco.

Surprisingly, the altitude hasn't seemed as bad as we'd feared. No oxygen needed yet anyway.

The hotel is great - thanks to Mike and Den for recommending it. It's a bit special and even has a genuine Inca wall. Full of antiques so it suits us well!!

After a tiring journey the quiet lounges and cool courtyards were very welcome.



We've had a short stroll around the cobbled streets surrounding the hotel, doing our best to avoid the street sellers with their paintings, dolls, hats, etc. If you want to photograph the colourful locals, it'll cost you!

Opposite the hotel is the sun temple, or at least its remains.

When Cusco was conquered by the Spanish in 1534 the temple was mostly destroyed and the church of Santo Domingo was built on its foundations. We'll be visiting it tomorrow.

We ended the day with a lovely meal in the hotel restaurant ( our waiter was Jesus no less! ) and sampled the local beer and wine.

Cheers!

Our room looks down on one of the courtyards so a good chance of a quiet night. A lie in tomorrow then a sightseeing trip in the aftenoon.

A good start.

We had a good start to the holiday, making good time up to Heathrow, finding a parking spot and catching the shuttle straight away. Bags were checked in - had a nice meal in an Italian - and then the flight to Madrid for the first part of the journey was delayed!!

Never mind. We've got loads of time in Madrid before catching the LAN flight to Lima, so we've settled in the Servisair lounge in Heathrow, drinking and eating the freebies on offer