Peru III - Colours

Peru is full of colours and before the highlight of our journey, which was Ausangate trek, we  experienced many other smaller colourfull "highlights"...

some kind of comunity meeting in Cincero village near Cusco... agent Belma has all under controll

same village, different costumes

market in Cincero. We loved markets:)

how they make colours?

they use nature, e.g. insects parasiting on cactuses for red

Side-market in Cusco

in every conditions

amazingt taste!

and fantastic juice

raw trout and avocado, uaaaaa

 

so many different potatoes!

alcoholic drink from corn

made ladies friendly

she needs a drink!

farmacy

we bought something here without any idea what it is

acclimatization trip

and another

service station for UFO

old Cusco

salt mines

our best guide

sharing drink with local farmers

the trip in the countryside is beautifull too

Belma and quinoa

 

Peru II - Machu Picchu

Visiting Machu Picchu (meaning "Old Peak" in Quechua language)  is a MUST. Even the place is full of tourists (the daily limit is 2500 visitors), with good logistics it is possible to avoid crowds and enjoy that mysterious place of peace and power in "privacy".

on our way to Machu Picchu, we crossed that ridge (2300m) on the right. The valley itself is known for its quality coffee

first view at Machu Picchu (behind us)  from "Jaktapata"

after descending into the canyon of the Vilcanota River, we hitchhiked the truck that took us into Santa Teresa (1550m). Nice small town with amazing thermal pools

from Santa Teresa it is possible to take a train or walk along the tracks to Aquas Calientes

Aquas Calientes (1500m) is a base for visiting Machu Picchu (2400m+), so you can expect a lot of tourists

it is worthy to be up there as soon as possible (6:00 a.m.). The morning fog is slowly flying away and the view is magical

local tourists

mountains around....

precise stone work

Belma and Intihuatana - The Stone of Sun

we spent there whole day, climbed up to Machu Picchu mountain (3050m), walked to The Gate of Sun and to the Inca bridge and before sun-set, we wander through the main parts of that extraordinary city, almost alone.

Peru I - Choquequirao

 A "recovery" holiday after our return from a month trip to southern Peru would be amazing... It was a month full of hiking, high mountains, amazing people, transportation, food, cold and hot temperatures, ancient ruins, fun... We travelled in a group of 8 people (not knowing each other before), being guided by Richard (check out his webpage), who is truly amazing. His passion for the country and its people, the ability to make good decisions, style of "leadership" and knowledge of hidden secrets made this trip the amazing experience.

The whole "Peru report" is divided into several parts. The first one describes 4-days trek to the ruins of Choquequirao and further to Yanama village.

we started in Cachora village (2900m), where we slept in great Casa Nostra hostel (web)

we were accompanied by 6 horses, who carried our food and tents. That was great, as whole hike is quite challenging, particularly because of its steepness and tropical environment

deep canyon of Apurimac river (young Amazon river), that we crossed the first day

we reached Choquequirao (3100m) on the second day. Amazing place in majestic nature, almost no tourists around, just a few condors in the sky and us.

Third day we hiked 300m up and then down into Rio Blanco canyon (1900m)

and then continued up again...

to reach simple and lovely campsite Maizal (3100m)

next day we passed gold mines Victoria, reached the beautiful pass of Abra San Juan (4130m) and descended to Yanama village (3600m)

Richard is looking for some chocholate on the top of San Juan

next day we used mighty Toyota, crossed 4660m pass Abra Mariano Llamoja and continued down to the Aluqmabamba (1600m), from where we hiked further to Santa Teresa village

"the road" was steep and sometimes not very stable, but our driver was cool

and managed to go smoothly on those smooth tyres...