Peru is chaotic and disorganised. All roads within Peru are being dug up just in time for elections. Sand dunes merge into cities.
Political and religious messages are written with painted white rock in the mounts of sand or rock, able to be seen from a great distance. Motorcycle taxis are everywhere, winding their way in every possible direction. Mounts of earth are piled along the roads and mud slides form the footpaths and streets after a hard rain. People construct their shacks creating citadels on land that isn’t being used by anyone, many (approx. 200,000) having been internally displaced by the political violence from 1980 - 1993. Generations have been born here with many more to come, the land often still not belonging to them in the eyes of the law. The man who took us to Lima (Marlo with his luxurious car), after standing for 2 hours in the piercing hot desert sun at the toll booth, is a lawyer and an active member of the political party, Partido Popular Cristiana, who consider that times have changed and we need to start attending and supporting the middle class instead of the poor. We had opposing views to say the least.
We made it to Lima with my stomach grumbling from hunger. Marlo generously invited us to a lavish lunch, mine consisting of a mountain of battered seafood, too much to finish in one go. He took us to the bus station and upon our goodbyes, inserted 100 soles (approximately $30 US) into the hands of Agustin.
All the buses heading to Cusco were full and it looked as if we were going to have to spend the night in Lima. Luckily, some dodgy coach drivers told us that they could take us and snuck us out onto the road to wait for the coach, away from the scrutinising eyes of management. There were exactly two seats left (which had been paid for but the passengers hadn’t shown up) which we happily filled. Later that night, I started to feel sick in the stomach. The discomfort worsening as the night inched on until my body couldn’t hold it any longer and I threw up, aiming with precision into a small plastic bag, all the seafood that I had consumed. One toilet stop later, I started to feel a little better when one of the coach drivers came to find us to tell us that we were to go into hiding as the coach inspectors were getting on in a few minutes. The bus stopped and we were showed to the ‘deluxe suite’, a luggage compartment turned into a bed. We comfortably hid from the inspectors and at the same time slept like babies for the rest of the night. A few microphone calls later and an hour of waiting, we were let out of our hideout and were able to enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Andes mountain range,
green pasture, luscious curves in the landscape with llamas, alpacas and sheep dispersed amongst the way. Small villages appeared now and then, the houses made out of adobe appearing quaint with a rustic charm. We arrived in Cusco after 30 hours of coach travel and 60 hours in total since we had left Cuenca. I was delirious from so many hours of travelling. The mattress and the motionless room were heavenly after so much drifting and little sleeping.
Cusco is the cultural capital of Peru and the ancient centre of the Inca civilization, considered to be the naval of the earth by the Incas. The city and surrounding terrain possess numerous ancient Inca temples (Huaca in Quechua) that have been uncovered as ruins which are the key to unfolding the history of the Inca empire. These Huacas were placed at certain points along lines that the Incas believed radiated out from Cuzco, creating a sacred landscape along with particular sacred mountains. Qoricancha is the principal temple of the Incas, covered almost entirely in gold (which was looted by the first Spanish conquistadors), with life-size gold corn and solid gold treasures such as a replica of the sun and llamas. Qoricancha holds the finest stonework of the Inca empire with curved walls, mortise and tenon stone blocks (sometimes being unable to see where one stone ends and the other commences) and trapezoidal architecture which has withstood the many earthquakes that Cusco has suffered. Religious and agricultural rituals took place here, with chambers dedicated to the sun, moon, stars, thunder and rainbow, as well as being a place from where high priests studied the stars and constellations to foretell the future and prepare the Inca empire. Pachacutec (the first Inca emperor), designed Cusco in the shape of a puma with the head being what is now the ruins of Saqsaywaman. A zigzag of immense and impressive stones is said to be the teeth of the puma, making a large wall that was used as defence in times of attack. The wall holds a stone that weighs over 300 000 kilos as well as a stone with over 18 edges.
Nearby to Saqsaywaman is a ceremonial stone bath that holds pure spring water that flows through fountains that amazingly still function to this day. No one knows where the water comes from! Pisac citadel, another Inca Huaca, is set up high looking over the Urubamba valley with plummeting gorges on either side of the fortress. It has well constructed agricultural terraces which contour the mountain they are placed upon, forming an amphitheatre shape. These terraces have micro-climates which help different crops grow at different temperatures. Ollantaytambo fortress is like all Inca constructions, another breathtaking (literally as you walk up the many steps) Inca creation. The stones used to construct Ollantaytambo were obtained on the opposite side of Rio Urubamba, up on the side of a high mountain, 6 kilometres away! Man power was the only tool they had available to lug these massive stones down a mountain, through a river and up another mountain, using well-thought out techniques such as putting the stone on top of logs and pulling with rope. Pumas, condors and serpents were sacred animals for the Incas, relating to the three worlds: the condor relates to the higher world, the puma relates to the world of the living and the serpent relates to the underworld (the three worlds are also represented by the Chakana, the Inca cross). These animals are repeatedly seen in the mountains surrounding the Inca cities and villages and within the temples and fortresses that the Incas built. Rainbows are significant in Inca cosmology. The 24th of June is the start of the winter solstice (Inti Raymi, an ancient Inca ceremony celebrating Inti, the sun god) and is marked repeatedly in Inca temples by the sun illuminating a certain stone and creating a particular shadow, indicating to the Incas the time of year it was.
Everything the Inca’s created was extensively thought-out, calculated and designed with a specific purpose and meaning in mind. What is impressive is the difficulty of construction that the Incas achieved, choosing sites which are almost always perched precariously on mountain tops, looking over stunning views.
The night before our journey to Machu Picchu saw us considering the option of walking the 30 kilometres along the train tracks to Machu Picchu. A motor taxi driver told us that the security had been reinforced and that it was now almost impossible to bypass the guards to get onto the tracks. Instead, we decided to take the back road to Machu Picchu which with a combination of bus, taxi and walking would get us there the next day in the afternoon. First we caught a bus to Santa Maria, spent the night there and caught a taxi to Santa Teresa which turned out to be a hair raising ride on a very narrow strip of dirt road where two cars had difficulty passing at the same time and which featured a steep and tremendous cliff edge on one side of the road (not the normal route to Santa Teresa as there had been land slides in the last few months). We walked two hours through desert like land surrounded by mountains, passing over a storming river while sitting in a small cable car which we had to run ourselves by pulling on a rope it was attached to.
Along the way we passed a massive waterfall bursting out the side of a mountain with such force and quantity that I was amazed that the earth around it was still upright. Part of the road that we would have followed before the rainy season was entirely washed away leaving a large gap in the side of a mountain, nature-taking control once again. The mountains felt awe-inspiring and humbling at the same time, as we passed through the valley that the rio Urubamba flows through, making me think of how insignificant we are in the vastness of the world and how tremendous nature is. Reaching Hidroelectrica (the hydroelectric power station), we started walking on the train lines that was bordered by thick jungle vegetation on one side and rio Urubamba on the other. We walked another two hours in the heat of the day and at last, exhausted, reached the village at the bottom of Machu Picchu called Aguas Calientes. Machu Picchu was misty in the dawn of the day, the trees protecting our passage up the steep and numerous steps leading to the entrance of the ancient city. Catching our breath at the top, I was caught by surprise when looking to my right after walking up some stone steps, I caught a glimpse of Machu Picchu, the glorious citadel lying magnificently in the early light of the day. The sacred grounds carry a mystical and mysterious ambiance, emphasised by the largeness of the mountains which encircle the wondrous place. We filled our lungs with pure air and set our legs for inclined trekking, climbing up Wayna Picchu, a mountain nearby the ancient metropolis which once attaining the top, allows you to view Machu Picchu with greater clarity especially on a sunny day that has finished waking up.
The intricacy of the site is bewildering; to think that it was all built by hand, with accuracy and complexity that stuns all. The extensive dwellings, plazas, baths, temples and living quarters composing the place are all built with extensive calculations in relation to the stars, sun and the moon. We stayed for hours and wanted to dwell about for longer but had to start our long journey back to Cusco. We were both very tired from walking up and around Machu Picchu but with a bundle of carbs in our stomach we energised our way back and finished the walk in three hours instead of the four it took us on the way there. We arrived in Cusco at 4am the next day. Arriving at a hostel, Agustin had the bitter surprise of missing his wallet adding a slight sourness to what had been an adventure-full and energetic few days in sacred Inca territory. We had embarked on such hectic and tiresome travelling so as to be able to participate in a meditation course in Lima. We took a coach back to Lima but this time, it didn’t turn out to be as horrendous as on the way there. Vendors came onto the bus at every major town and hawked their wares by either going from seat-to-seat and showing you their products or by standing at the front of the bus and making a discourse about such and such miracle product for so and so disease. I felt scattered and tired from so much travelling, craving for a place to relax and stay at for a long period of time. I didn’t feel prepared for meditation but I knew that it was now or never.
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