Inca Tails

We are finally back to the modern world, after 4 days without internet connection. Not being able to check his mails or surf the net made François very nervous - talk about a disintoxication cure! 

We are now sitting in front of an warm open fire on the lake Titicaca coast, but let's start to where we left you, in Cuzco last Thursday evening.

Cuzco is a great place to eat out: we found two very special restaurants serving revisited local specialties: Chicha and Cicciolina (for the Italians: yes they served food there, not sexy toys!). Did you know that they do not eat Lamas but only Alpacas (yes, there is a difference) and that the meat was cholesterol-free? And did you know that they grow 3000 different varieties of potatoes and corn?

Beyond gastronomy, the last 4 days were spent exploring the lost Inca Cities "les Cités d'Or" and walking across the Sacred Valley. 

We started off on our own with Pisac and the other sites in the surroundings of Cuzco. The next day we went for a 7 hour trek between Moray and the Salinas, fortunately accompanied by an excellent guide otherwise we would probably still be there, milking some lamas along the way.  Alessia unfortunately started to have pain in her knee after all this walking (and so many years of volley), which meant we had to shorten a little the last Inca site of the day (was it an excuse?!?) before boarding on a train to Agua Caliente, the village sitting in the valley of Machu Picchu. The ride was incredible, following white-water rapids and changing vegetation from the Andean Plateau to the Jungle. The night in Agua Caliente was anything but "caliente", and on top of it, it was very noisy, as all the hotels are located along the single line of railway. We were really in the middle of nowhere, but fortunately, Novartis still manages to get there and we found some Voltaren which healed Alessia's knee (for those who don't know yet, she is a Voltaren junkie). 

In the morning, wake-up call at 4:45 to catch the first bus to Machu Picchu (who would have thought François could wake up so early during holidays?!? Thank-you dear Jet-Lag!). Our guide made us cut the huge line and got us among the first on the top to enjoy the amazing sunrise. The level of conservation of Machu Picchu is incredible and the scenery of cliffs above the jungle is breathtaking, adding to the mysticism! Our guide gave us some great explanations about the Inca culture, but he also kept seeing "animals" and "human faces" everywhere in rock formations… only at the end of the tour we did understand where all these illuminations were coming from: he made us a live demonstration of Coca chewing, enabling his "third eye"! We spend the rest of the morning lounging on the terraces contemplating this lost city.

Today, again an early wake-up to travel from Cuzco to Puno. This time, we gave-up our private guides, for a Japanese-style tour bus. Still the trip was definitely worth it, with several stops to visit other Inca sites and cross the Andean Alto Piano (highest point reached at 4335 m.) At several points, we were expecting Clint Eastwood to appear on the horizon with his horse… there was a real Far-West – Spaghetti Western feeling to the trip!

Photo Album of Inca Tails

There was no Gay Pride parade on Machu Picchu, it's the Cuzcanian rainbow flag!