Cusco Peru is where it all began for me. It was my first solo travel trip and where I caught the travel bug. It was 25 years ago and I figured since I was in Peru, I might as well revisit it and see how it’s changed.
25 years ago I was inspired by my good friend Tom Keleher’s slide show of his time in Ecuador and visits to Peru. Yes I said slide show which even then was outdated, and usually boring. But not this time, this slide show had my attention. Soon after, I booked my ticket, my hotel room, bought a Lonely Planet guidebook and Spanish language phrasebook, and off I went.
That trip showed me how different, exciting, and adventurous our world could be. Simple human interactions brought on new meanings. Language differences were a barrier and a bond at the same time. Hikes were walking through history. I was hooked.
A few stories from that trip really stand out in my memory. First, I was wandering around Cusco one day and was walking down some stairs. Keep in mind these were no ordinary stairs, each step was not uniform, the rocks that formed the stairs varied in size and shape because these stairs were built centuries ago, these were Inca stairs. And while I was walking down the stairs a school teacher with his class of girls in standard school uniforms were also going down the stairs, and most had small potatoes in their hands. One of the girls, clearly recognizing that I was not from around here, offered me a couple potatoes. The school teacher and I were both smiling at the generosity of his student but as they saw a little confusion in my face (uhm..why did this schoolgirl just hand me potatoes), they both showed me that the potatoes were a snack ready to be eaten. Which I then did with them.
That incident is one of the reasons I started writing the stories of my trips. Simple experiences like that I wanted to make sure I remembered. To document. To memorialize. To make sure I could recall those memories and feelings long after. And I still do often.
The second was our Machu Picchu hike. Back then you hiked the “Inca Trail” for 3 days and the 4th you woke up early and hiked a couple hours to a view point (the Sun Gate) overlooking Machu Picchu for sunrise (and then entered and toured Machu Picchu). Taking our guide’s advice, each day we walked a little faster and farther than the other groups following the standard plan, and arrived at the final camping spot earlier that third day. And with the extra time that afternoon we hiked to the Sun Gate. And there, just the 10 of us, sat in silence, absorbed in solitude, watching over an empty Machu Picchu in all its glory as the sun set. I was not a spiritual person then (and am still not), but that was a spiritual moment.
Lastly, I remember knowing nothing about nothing when I planned this trip. I ended up flying into Cusco, getting picked up at the airport by a driver and taken to my hotel where I stayed alone. When the shuttle for Machu Picchu was picking people up, I was the only person from my hotel. But we stopped at other places where several backpackers for our trip were emerging together. I soon learned these were called hostels. And that piece of information, changed my life.
So here I am again today, 25 years and hundreds of hostels later. We both have changed. But this again is not a rant about places becoming too touristy (it is bound to happen and there is a reason people want to go to these places) but things are certainly different. In Cusco, a schoolgirl isn’t going to be curious anymore about a gringo walking around town.
Back in the day I had booked my hotel, but I had read in the Lonely Planet (or was told by Tom) that I should wait until arriving in Cusco to book my Machu Picchu tour. Tourist agencies were lined up near the main square in makeshift “stores”. Tarps served as ceilings and walls and space heaters provided the heat. Cusco seemed like a primitive historical center. A small town built around Incan ruins that tourists were flocking to see.
That is still true today but that feeling is gone. Cusco is no longer a town, it’s a city. It’s the city that is the gateway to the big business of Machu Picchu. The tourist agencies are everywhere (and comfortably indoors). Some fancy, some not so much (I chose not so much but more on that later). Empty green hills that surrounded the town are now filled with houses and at night with the lights, feels more like metropolises like Medellin or La Paz. In the main square you see signs for Patagonia, North Face, KFC, McDonalds and Starbucks.
No longer can you plan to show up and book your Machu Picchu tour. Those are booked months in advance and because of overcrowding and deterioration, another trekking route to Machu Picchu was opened (there are many inca trails). And hundreds of people flock to Cusco every day to now do that new one (even in the rainy season). Ticket prices to Machu Picchu have exploded and now come in various shapes and sizes. You can see this but not that. You can enter here but not here.
I figured I didn’t want to ruin my memories so instead of Machu Picchu this trip I decided on some other tours that were created to capitalize on the tourists in town. Initially I thought about the Choquequirao trek which is over 4 days to ruins similar to Machu Picchu (note: this is likely similar in feel to what my Machu Picchu trek was and as people get tired of the crowds at Machu Picchu, it will likely become the next big thing). However, being the rainy and low tourist season, I could not find a tour (and I didn’t have the interest to do it on my own). So I settled on doing a couple day trips.
The first was to one of the rainbow mountains. A mountain made up of several minerals thus providing a multitude of colors when looking at it in the right conditions. (Now, this may be a good time to remind you my dear reader as to why I am on this trip. Remember at home, I am surrounded by mountains that at this time of year are covered in white snow). So, the day after paying my money to join the tour, I got in a van at 4:30am for a 4 hour drive to the rainbow mountain. And a funny thing happened on the way to the mountain, it started snowing. Yes, snowing. So needless to say by the time we arrived, the rainbow mountain was just one color..WHITE!! Yes, I paid money for a tour, and sat in a van for 4 hours (plus a 4 hour drive back), to look at the exact thing I was down here to avoid.
So after I finished what might have been the worst tour I ever had, I decided to reevaluate. This after all occurred not long after recent tours in Atacama and Arequipa that also were not as enjoyable as hoped. So that day I decided no more paid tours (in South America).
Luckily I was still able to fill my time in Cusco in enjoyable ways. My friend Linda (who has been dying to see me again ever since Bariloche) was in town for a few days and we had some fun. This included trying the local delicacy, Cuy, or what we in the US would call Coco, Cuddles or some other pet name, or just plain – Guinea Pig. I liked it and according to Linda, it tasted like rabbit. In addition, besides shattering Linda’s psyche by beating her at drunk Jenga, I did some hiking around the Inca ruins above Cusco, stared at the amazing Inca wall architecture, and hung out with other travelers I met.
Those other travelers included a couple of Mexican sisters I met in Arequipa, where I stopped on my way to Cusco from Chile. In Arequipa I had signed up for a tour to hike the Colca Canyon. This included a hike down into a canyon for the day/night, and an early morning hike out. The hiking was great but the tour included a lot of additional stops that were blatant tourist traps and were just not needed (in my opinion). When we finally returned to town I had dinner with the sisters at a chicken place and one, loving ceviche, ordered the chicken ceviche. While we didn’t think it would actually be raw chicken it turned out to be exactly that. She didn’t eat the whole thing and luckily didn’t get sick either. I had tried a piece of it and thought it was a little undercooked.
And with that, it was time for this year’s South America visit to come to an end. From Lima I flew up to Central America and my first stop, Honduras, to do a little scuba diving.
Bubbles Up!!