As the plane lifted off J Chavez airport, so did the gloomy garua surrounding us. Soon, we were heading east towards the Andes, our first of two forays into South America's majestic mountain range, with clear blue skies above us. Destination: Cuzco.
Cuzco seems, as far as I can tell, to be only a starting point to other adventures. A hike along the Inca Trail, a trip to the Sacred Valley. But Cuzco is much more than that.
If the Conquistadors couldn't do much better than a convent/monastery in Central Lima struggling to survive the elements, here in Cuzco, the cathedrals rival those of Toledo or Sevilla.
I should also say that we struggled quite a bit before planning this leg of the trip. I wanted to do the hike, but it seemed the options were relatively limited: 4 Days-3 Nights. Or longer treks. There was one that would have us hike for a couple of days. But no sooner had the planning started, than the limited tickets that allow visitors to enter the trails had run out. There are other trails one could hike.
At the end, it was a question of opportunity cost. We could do the trek (or fool ourselves that we were up to the challenge, and knock off other destination points on the trip. Or we would have to settled for something a little more condensed.
We booked our trains, and the hotels. Because of course we didn't want to leave anything last minute. I can safely say that we arrived unprepared. Unprepared for how the next few days would unfold. "We have the extra day in Cuzco", I suggested, "we could hit the Sacred Valley on that day".
And so it was that I asked Henry, who drove us from the airport to the hotel if he could arrange for us a little mini-tour around the sacred valley. And so the deal was struck.
Good fortune and circumstance landed us in what is probably the finest hotel in Cuzco, the Monasterio. Everything everyone says about altitude is true, and found ourselves clonked out in bed in no time. A short walk to a local barbeque chicken house had us gasping for air.
It's a good thing we didn't sign up for the hike.
The Return path through Chinchera
The Ruins of Pisac
View of the Sacred Valley from the Ruins of Pisac
Condor- Conservation park in the Sacred Valley
Spot the differences
Flight of the Condor
No comments:
Post a Comment