South America and South Africa

The last five days I was in Cusco, the former Incan capital and today’s backpacker’s epicentrum in South America and in Machu Picchu, the sunken Inca town in the jungle that was rediscovered by Hiran Bingham in 1911.

Cusco’s centre is defined by the Plaza de Armas. Apart from the Cathedral and another church the plaza and the roads adjacent to it are surrounded by shops that cater exclusively for the tourist’s needs: restaurants, bars, souvenir shops, tour operators, internet and money changing booths that more or less offer exactly the same for more or less the same price. The closer the buildings are to the plaza the nicer they look. Everything there is tidy and clean and the city stretches out to the hills enclosing Cusco. It is nice to sit here while writing travelblog but simultaneously it is a somewhat odd experience as it seems that the city centre is designed for the international traveller and not for the Peruvians. Even KFC and McDonalds have their branches here. Despite the amenities I am happy to leave to Lago Titikaka in Bolivia tonight as I didn’t really come here for seeing a quasi western town centre.  

Machu Picchu, built between 1450 and 1540 by the incas, is uniquely located on the top of the mountains at the border of the Amazonian jungle, about 70 miles north-west of Cusco. There are several ways to get to Machu Picchu of which the most spectular ones are the multi-day hikes, e.g. the well known Inca Trail. I decided to do a two-day bus/train-tour with a visit of the Sacred Valley, an overnight stay in Aguas Calientes, a town consisting of hotels/hostels and restaurants approximately 30 car-minutes below Machu Picchu, and thereafter a whole day at the ruins. I was curious how Machu Picchu would compare to Angkor, the temple city in Cambodia, which really impressed me when I visited it in 2002. (I consider its main temple Angkor Wat still as the most beautiful building I have ever seen.)

When I woke up there was heavy rain and Machu Picchu was in the clouds. Of course I was somewhat bemused but on the other hand the clouds emphasized the location on the hardly accessible top of the mountain and it appeared as almost built in heaven. Albeit the ruins are really good in shape considering that 70 percent were still intact after almost 500 years coverage by the jungle I was mostly excited about how they are located. (See also photos.)