arriba y bajo

hola amigos,
it's been an age since i wrote last; the road has slid past with remarkable ease....

not long after i wrote last we arrived in Cusco, Peru: Incan empire capital city and tourist hub. Not surprisingly, the town itself is beautiful, nestled in a basin beneath the hills. Nearby treats include the Sacred Valley, Machu Pichu and Choquequeroa: ancient Incan ruins. machu pichu, of course, is the big draw card. but with nearly 1000 visitors daily it is no longer the Inca trail shrouded in mysticism and ancient wisdom, it is the gringo trail, stamped squarely with dollar signs.
so, being as we fancy ourselves as explorers we decided to head to the lesser known Choquequeroa. more recently rediscovered and restored (seriously funded by the french government: merci beaucoup!) and substantially more difficult to get to.... we bused from cusco to a small (3 house) town and caught a collectivo (shared taxi) down to cachora. 'civilisation' as we know and love it, is fast approaching: the dust road is being improved and concreted in places and the trail out the other side of town, towards the valley and ruins, is being widened into a road.
we opted against hiring a horse, deciding to carry our food and shelter on the trail that went: 32km, 1400m down, 1500m up.... very steep. very. hot and dry. mad insects that bit every bit of you... bleeding incas!!
all moaning aside, the effort was well rewarded by one of the most amazing historical sites i have ever visited. on top of a 3100m hill overlooking a steep, green and well cultivated valley, cheered on by snow capped mountains. all to ourselves.

after the punishment of the previous coupla days arriba y bajo (up and down) we knew when to draw the line and get ourselves a horse. the journey back to cachora was easy by comparison!

and back on the road again, from the relatively isolated and unpopulated mountainside to the hustle and bustle of lima, capital city... diesel stink and bouncing colonial vibrancy. movies, bars, cafes. caught between a rock and a hard place me, i love them both!!

nothing else terribly memorable to report about peru; we zipped up the coast on a series of overnight buses and crossed the border into steamy ecuador, banana capital of the world and producer of panama hats....

as always, photos to follow!
xxxxx
b