Here I am again. This time I am calling from much further south: from La Paz. After Galapagos I really had to make way. So I started a bus marathon that took me from Baños (Ecuador) to Cusco (Peru). During the day I visited cities, at nighttimes I travelled. That way I saw at least parts of Loja, Chiclayo and Lima. When I finally arrived at Cusco I had been travelling on buses for almost 50 hours. I was really looking forward to sleeping in a bed. It was quite intense to see so many tourists! The whole city of cusco seemed to spin around tourism: tour-operators, pizzerias, western-style bars and cafes. I was no longer off the beaten track – I was right on it. But at the end I had come for exactly the same reason as all these tourists: to visit Machu Picchu, the forgotten city of the incas.
When I entered the sight it was still before sunrise. It had rained the night before and a thick mist covered big parts of the city. The fog doubled the sensation of mystery that this place already has. “Why built a city like that up here? How could this place possibly be forgotten?” questions like these crossed my mind. Later on that day I found at least some answers. The location, for instance, has to do with astrology. I should have figured that out myself; just think of Catequilla, the ancient monument in Ecuador. In times of the Incas, it was all about the sun. Machu Picchu is situated in the middle of a range of mountains. The mountains were Gods for the Incas. Besides that, the mountains helped to recognize seasonal changes, as the peaks served as fix points to distinguish the movement of the sun during the year. Seasonal changes where so important for them, because agriculture was. Agriculture strongly depends on a precise knowledge of the seasons, of rain and dry, heat and cold.
After a day of marvelling and wondering I almost missed the train back to Cusco. I just didn’t want to leave. I circled Machu Picchu at least three times, sharing the place every time with more and more people. In peak season this sight witnesses 4000 visitors daily! The climb from Machu Picchu to Wayna Picchu is already limited to 400 a day. There is talk about limiting MP itself because hundreds of thousands of visitor feet make parts of the historic sight come down some centimetres every year. My thinking concerning this is in what way the limitation would be realized: “first come first served” or rising prices that out cart individual travellers like myself? If it became more expensive in order to shrink the number of visitors, then the visitors where probably a small elite of privileged rich people. The ones that are hosted just outside the main gate of MP in a so called sanctuary lodge. I hope this will not be the case; otherwise the majority of us will really miss out on something great and unique.
From the marvellous MP my route led to the Titicaca Lake. The city of Puno is nothing special and its inhabitants where quite unfriendly. But it is the best point to get to the floating islands of Uros. With a travel mate from USA, called Dan, I headed for Uros. These islands are manmade and consist of reed that is growing along the river. It was really peculiar to see and walk on the islands. The floor, the houses, the boats everything is made of reed and has the yellow colour of straw. The contrast between the blue of the sky, its reflexion in the water and the yellow of the reed buildings was just awesome.
In order to get to a little island, Dan and I crossed the border to Bolivia. When we arrived at the border we were told of a strike on the Bolivian side. There were no public transports, no taxis, no buses. You couldn’t even get to or from the border by private car because the streets where blocked off. Dan and I decided to cross the border anyhow and so we just hiked to the next town, called Copacabana (not the one in Brazil of course – that would have been too far ;). It was a fair 8 km hike with bright sunshine and music from an mp3-player. We almost forgot the weight of our backpacks as we walked and chatted. We were in great mood. We visited the little island were the Incas reckoned the sun was born in a group of 7 people. All of them guys we got to know the night before in a bar. The funny thing was that our host had given us a kind of a curfew for 11 pm. We rang him out at 4 am. I really enjoyed to go out, laugh and dance with other tourists. But it has to be only once in a while.
What I enjoy even more is packing up and leaving. Really! This maybe seems strange but to me it is the beginning of a new story. Here in south America leaving always meant the start to new experiences and impressions. And new impressions are always beautiful and exciting! Tomorrow I will be leaving again!
Till next time. Love, MIKE
When I entered the sight it was still before sunrise. It had rained the night before and a thick mist covered big parts of the city. The fog doubled the sensation of mystery that this place already has. “Why built a city like that up here? How could this place possibly be forgotten?” questions like these crossed my mind. Later on that day I found at least some answers. The location, for instance, has to do with astrology. I should have figured that out myself; just think of Catequilla, the ancient monument in Ecuador. In times of the Incas, it was all about the sun. Machu Picchu is situated in the middle of a range of mountains. The mountains were Gods for the Incas. Besides that, the mountains helped to recognize seasonal changes, as the peaks served as fix points to distinguish the movement of the sun during the year. Seasonal changes where so important for them, because agriculture was. Agriculture strongly depends on a precise knowledge of the seasons, of rain and dry, heat and cold.
After a day of marvelling and wondering I almost missed the train back to Cusco. I just didn’t want to leave. I circled Machu Picchu at least three times, sharing the place every time with more and more people. In peak season this sight witnesses 4000 visitors daily! The climb from Machu Picchu to Wayna Picchu is already limited to 400 a day. There is talk about limiting MP itself because hundreds of thousands of visitor feet make parts of the historic sight come down some centimetres every year. My thinking concerning this is in what way the limitation would be realized: “first come first served” or rising prices that out cart individual travellers like myself? If it became more expensive in order to shrink the number of visitors, then the visitors where probably a small elite of privileged rich people. The ones that are hosted just outside the main gate of MP in a so called sanctuary lodge. I hope this will not be the case; otherwise the majority of us will really miss out on something great and unique.
From the marvellous MP my route led to the Titicaca Lake. The city of Puno is nothing special and its inhabitants where quite unfriendly. But it is the best point to get to the floating islands of Uros. With a travel mate from USA, called Dan, I headed for Uros. These islands are manmade and consist of reed that is growing along the river. It was really peculiar to see and walk on the islands. The floor, the houses, the boats everything is made of reed and has the yellow colour of straw. The contrast between the blue of the sky, its reflexion in the water and the yellow of the reed buildings was just awesome.
In order to get to a little island, Dan and I crossed the border to Bolivia. When we arrived at the border we were told of a strike on the Bolivian side. There were no public transports, no taxis, no buses. You couldn’t even get to or from the border by private car because the streets where blocked off. Dan and I decided to cross the border anyhow and so we just hiked to the next town, called Copacabana (not the one in Brazil of course – that would have been too far ;). It was a fair 8 km hike with bright sunshine and music from an mp3-player. We almost forgot the weight of our backpacks as we walked and chatted. We were in great mood. We visited the little island were the Incas reckoned the sun was born in a group of 7 people. All of them guys we got to know the night before in a bar. The funny thing was that our host had given us a kind of a curfew for 11 pm. We rang him out at 4 am. I really enjoyed to go out, laugh and dance with other tourists. But it has to be only once in a while.
What I enjoy even more is packing up and leaving. Really! This maybe seems strange but to me it is the beginning of a new story. Here in south America leaving always meant the start to new experiences and impressions. And new impressions are always beautiful and exciting! Tomorrow I will be leaving again!
Till next time. Love, MIKE
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