The protest blocking Machu Picchu continues, so we instead went on a very flexible, changing itinerary through the Incan capital of Cusco.
Morning Start
To start, we were told that we were starting at 9am. I didn’t sleep super well, as I couldn’t get the temperature right in the room, and I’m bougie, and brought my weighted blanket on the cruise and not having it took me a second to get used to. I was already up, but was getting ready to head up to the lobby to get breakfast at 8:30 and had literally taken a step out of the room, when my phone rang, and my guide told me that we were leaving in 2 minutes. Apparently they changed the plans and didn’t inform us, other than a paper on a stand in the lobby (which I wouldn’t have seen cause I was….in my room). So no real breakfast for me to start the day.
More troublesome was that I was suuuper tired, and running around on 4 hours of sleep wasn’t great all day long.
Touring Cusco and the Surrounding Area
Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun)
Our first stop was at Qorikancha (wiki). We were originally supposed to be there for 45 minutes, but our guide kept talking about each and every single part of the place. It was really impressive (his knowledge) and really cool to have a doctorate level historian who travels and lectures overseas as well guide us along our couple days in Cusco.
I did realize (not for the first time) that I’m not someone who learns by having someone lecture or talk at them. I’m more of an experiential learner. Even in college, I rarely went to lectures, and learned by doing, probably good that I went into engineering where you really learn by trying stuff, not by reading about stuff (in my opinion).
Lovely space, but definitely didn’t need to spend THAT much time here. I was done after about 10-15 minutes, but we ended up staying for almost an hour and a half. We were also not allowed to take photos or videos inside the different temples themselves and also not of any of the paintings, there were lots of signs everywhere that people were ignoring and taking pictures anyways, but I’m a rule follower, and wanted to be respectful of the culture and their wishes. IMO, kind of an annoying tourist move to ignore instructions and warnings to just do whatever the hell you want to do yourself….but humans are the worst…
I did notice at one point that the guides all huddled together and had a couple secret discussions. We also heard the protests coming down the street, so went out on the terrace and watched them for a bit.
When we finally left the temple, our guide informed us that our original restaurant had cancelled on us, and the route was now being blocked (or potentially blocked) so we were going to a different restaurant, the horse dancing show was cancelled, and we wouldn’t be going to Ollantaytambo (some other Incan ruins that were also supposedly beautiful).
Chaos / Good Samaritan
We were driving down the road, when someone in our bus (I think Joe) spotted someone from our cruise walking on the road and trying to flag us down. He alerted our driver and we stopped and we picked her up. Apparently her bus driver had driven to the other end of Saqsaywaman and the guide had taken the rest of the group through while she was in the bathroom, and since they were inside, when she got out, they wouldn’t let her in, cause she didn’t have her passport or ticket to enter (which was with the guide), they had made her WALK to the other side of Saqsaywaman, and she had been trying to flag down a ride from any of the other buses. I think she said we were like the 13th bus she had tried to flag down.
Thank goodness for Joe and his eagle eyes. Even though it wasn’t on our way to the next stop, we made a detour and dropped her off at her bus, and hopefully she got reconnected with her group. Props to our guide and driver too for being flexible.
Sacred Valley
We made one stop at a viewpoint overlooking the Sacred Valley, but then were told that we needed to go to get to the new restaurant at a different hacienda. Our group didn’t get to stop in the valley, and we just drove through a couple small towns in the valley as we made our way to the restaurant.
I was really tired and wanted to sleep the whole time. The temple itself was way too long (especially when you’re tired, and kind of don’t care), and then the drive itself was SO rough over lots of speed bumps and not great roads, before we got to a literal dirt road that we had to traverse to get to the hacienda. Not for the faint of heart, as we were bouncing around in the bus as we went up and down some pretty steep inclines and rocky dirt to get to the lunch place.
Lunch at Hacienda
We finally got to the hacienda, and got to get out of the bus after an hour or so. Getting out was good, and got some nice fresh air as well. There was a museum with some artifacts and some nice views, but mostly I just wanted to sit, and lowkey wanted to just take a nap.
We got seated with some pisco sours (I chose the lemonade instead…cause don’t need alcohol when I’m already dead tired). Buffet lunch was good, but almost immediately after we got our plates, they started to clean up, I think they were trying to turn it around and get us out of there for the next group(s) to get there. Talking to folks later, we discovered that there were at least 3 different seatings, so they must’ve really juggled all the groups (very impressively).
I did get a bottle of Coke Zero with lunch instead of the wine or beer, and immediately felt better. Maybe I just needed the caffeine or just am addicted :P. Some lovely gardens around that I explored a bit after lunch as we waited to head back to Cusco.
As we got ready to leave, I noticed the guides all huddling again and as we were leaving, they told us that there was as surprise change to the itinerary again, and they had found a different horse dancing show to take us to (or brought the horses to the new hacienda — or more likely, they all have horses…).
Peruvian Horse Dancing
We took the buses down the hill to a small field, and got treated to a small horse show. It was nice for us, because we only had a small group of buses with us (only 4 for our group), so we got some great views and didn’t have to jostle with the whole group of 500 people.
They brought out the horses, who walk and prance in a really interesting way, and then some dancers came out to dance and have maybe a dance off between the guy vs horse (at least that’s what appeared to happen). Lovely little presentation.
The horses and the people dancing were pretty cool to see, but the absolute highlight for me (as not particularly a horse person), was a little dog that came out to run around with the horses as they pranced about. It was SO cute.
More Itinerary Changes
We got back to the van, and were preparing to go back to Cusco, when our guide told us that we now had two options as well. We could go back to Cusco and do some shopping around the town, or we could now go to Ollantaytambo and see the ruins, but we’d have to climb up the stairs, etc. No brainer for me, as we came all this way, there was no point to NOT going, but our van split up into a group of 4 that went back to the hotel / city, and a group of 5 that went on to the Incan city.
The theory is that the protestors had moved to a different place, so we could safely go to the Incan city now. After chatting a bit with the guides, it was also not so much that we could get there, but they didn’t want us to get there, and then be trapped and not be able to get back to Cusco by being blocked by the protestors. Really happy with their logistics and the way they were able to be flexible for SO many people. They were saying they’ve never had so many people all at once (500 people), and the way they split us all up and had different itineraries for each group was truly incredible.
Ollantaytambo
We made our way for an hour and a half to Ollantaytambo, and boy was it worth the trek. Awesome trip and really enjoyed climbing up the fortress and seeing all the valley around with the city and the even behind in the next valley. We hiked around for about an hour, and would’ve loved to spend a whole day out there. From google maps, there’s a lovely waterfall somewhere in the valley behind the mountain — and our guide said it’s worth the hike….so I’ll be back sometime.
Really enjoyed our guides explanations of what we were seeing, especially across the valley to the other mountain, where they had carved out the mountain to show a king with a crown, and also carved part of it out so that the sun rises and shines right past the mountain to the temple of the sun at the top of the ruins.
Cool Shot
I was taking some photos when I saw what I thought was a siloutte of a statue, but as I started taking photos, IT MOVED, and I realized it was actually just someone in a peruvian cowboy hat. Really love this shot.
Wildlife
There were some birds in the cliffs as well, which was fun to watch for a bit as they flew (very quickly) back and forth across the valley.
Interesting Rocks
One of the guides pointed out that one of the rocks looks like an old CRT monitor and I couldn’t NOT see it after he said that. Brings me back to engineering initiation at college when we destroyed a CRT.
Alpacas
Ended the day with a little group of alpacas in the golden sun. Lots of fun, and couldn’t have asked for better given the circumstances.
Skylodge
On the way back our guide had us stop and see the Sky Lodge (Instagram) up in the mountain. Really cool to see, and maybe one day if I’m super adventurous. Apparently you climb up there, stay for the night with meals provided and then zipline back down the next day.
As I was looking up, I noticed a huge object flying, and as I zoomed in, I saw a white collar around the bird. As I started to focus on it, it flew over the mountain out of view, but pretty sure it was a condor…one day I’ll get a picture :D.
Back to Hotel
We then made the long 2+ hour drive back to the hotel in time for dinner. We got back with about 30 minutes before dinner, so I went walking around town for a bit, and made the mistake of feeling some of the baby alpaca stuffies, and of course, I needed to add them to the family.
I was looking as well at Google Maps as we were coming back and noticed that there is an Area 21 nearby to Cusco that has a whole bunch of alien stuff :D. I really love that they have a stargate, and one of the images on google maps is someone using it as a stargate. One day when I come back, I’ll definitely try to make that trek as well. Love me some alien talk.
Vibe Check
4 parts joy
1 part anger – for having to wake up so early
Feedback
Leave a comment or question if you have any thoughts! Anything you want to know about as we go around the world? Any things you want to share as feedback, or any images that particularly spoke to you. I’ll try to read all of them as time permits!
Matti 
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