14 November 2019
Civil unrest in Bolivia. Surely that won’t effect us, I mean after all these years of travel we have never been inconvenienced by such local issues. Our luck has run out. Travel to far off places requires flexibility and patience. And so it is with this trip. Our plans to visit the salt flats and the salt hotel in Bolivia will have to happen another time. No travel to Bolivia this time.
Plan B has been invoked and we now have the time visit places the average traveller never sees. Of course there are plenty of local tourists visiting their cultural sites its just the international tourist is pretty scarce in these parts. Excellent I say.
After the train ride from Machu Picchu which included a fashion parade of locally made garments we caught a mini bus for Cusco. This journey traversed open mountainous country covered by small farming plots. We are told there are thousands of potato varieties grown in Peru and there are certainly potatoes fields everywhere. I must confess to eating a black potato with my breakfast one morning.
Up here a rich family is one with a couple of bullocks or oxen that you can rent to your neighbours to plough their fields. Some of the fields however are on such steep land that cultivation can only be done by hand.
We visited the salt mines of Morass and later Inca ruins at Moray. The Inca stonework never ceases to amaze. I thought the Inca stonework was unique to Machu Picchu, not so, it’s everywhere. The Incas were amazing stone masons. It would be amazing to see their skills demonstrated, I just can’t imagine how they achieved such accuracy and such a smooth finish to granite and basalt.
We drove on to Cusco and arrived as the sun was setting, quite an amazing site across the city. Our hotel is part Inca ruin and part Spanish palace. Regardless its another 5 star hotel we will have to enjoy.
Our next two days have included tours of what was an Inca temple to the sun god and to more Inca ruins. We have now also visited Wari ruins. The Wari were the civilisation that preceded the Inca.
Some insights into Peru and Cusco. Peru is certainly a developing country but you get a sense that this place is made up of a hard working population that is focussed on doing better. The towns and villages are tidy and neat. The cities are bustling with vehicles and people. Everywhere you look you know you are in Peru. The people still wear traditional clothing and the architecture away from Lima is definitely Peruvian. The Andes just take your breath away. You might like to research Pisco Sours or you can trust me when I say these are a cocktail to be enjoyed.
Today we are at 3400 metres and tomorrow are going higher.
A Traveller's Tale 