Out Hiking
Thursday 24 April
After breakfast, we went on a preparatory expedition up the road to the Misky Factory Cafe, where we had a most satisfactory coffee and pastry yesterday. The purpose was to arm ourselves with a backup lunch, as there might not be much (if anything) on offer where we planned to go.
It was supposed to open at 8am, but shutters were worryingly half shut with no sign of any warm welcome.
Nevertheless, a young lady slid open the door when she understood we just wanted to buy something to take away. Then ensued a complex incomprehensible discussion about empanadas and various fillings. It all ended well, with us retreating with honour and three empanadas.
Next, was to secure bottled water, which we found in a newly opened small stall, by the market. Things were looking good!
Back to the hotel to regroup and get organised. We planned a long hike into the unknown, aiming to reach two archeological landmarks, Pucapucara and Tambomachay, both near each other about 7km outside Cusco.
We first ordered an Uber to take us to the path leading to Saqsayhuaman (there are multiple ways to spell this name!), which was our hike launch point. The 15 minute Uber cost us 15 Sol (£3.30!).
A lovely stone path with challenging steps took us up to one of the entrances to Saqsayhuaman, thought by some to be the walls of a fortress, and by others a holy Inka temple. The weather was glorious; we needed to pause frequently to reduce our heart rate and once to allow Vivien to take off both her Puffa jackets; the climb was demanding enough without overheating.
Here, we had the first of multiple fateful decisions, take the left path or right…? After ambiguous advice from a local, we took the Schrödinger’s decision, Right. Would Left have been better? Who knows…but we hadn’t got tickets to visit the site and were unclear if the other route went through the fort.
The Right track led us to the main road as desired, but then we were wrong-footed by Google Maps, which showed a neat small road or path: a group of local girls confirmed the evidence of our eyes. No path. Didn’t exist. Ah well. Slog slightly uphill on a larger road.
After a kilometre, just opposite Qenqo, we found that Vivien’s ChatGPT agreed with Google, and we followed an enchanting, but in parts very muddy path through a magic eucalyptus forest, through thick brush, past alpaca farms, enjoying the hike on our own.
Then the path disgorged us back onto the big road again. This is where ChatGPT became unhinged and started blathering about non-existent stone walls and highland fields, with no further guidance.
The long and the short of it was that we were forced to slog the last 3 1/2km on the busy road, with a narrow pavement, despite valiant attempts by Lynne to find a cross-country route from people at a horse riding place.
We weren’t getting nice scenery on the last bit of the trek, but we got what was most important – a good, thorough workout, at altitude.
We had the sole use of a cafe (and it’s toilet) before the last push to Pucapucara, which is an ancient archaeological site, which we saw from the road.
The walls did not look overwhelming, so we didn’t walk around them. Instead we took some photos and had a nice chat with a couple of US Asian men from California, who had walked all the way from Cusco by the road.
It wasn’t far to the neighbouring archaeological site, Tambomachay. Fortunately, we took (after advice from Google Maps) the wrong road, passing through a local village, and taking us up to 3,830m.
It was a great find, a path we really enjoyed. Arriving, we had a lovely bird’s eye view of the site, stopping for an al fresco lunch of the previously-bought empanadas, together with Cocoa Cola to settle Lynne’ stomach.
Having had a sit-down and taken some trophy pictures, and with a quiet promise to read up about the site (crossed fingers), we clambered down a steep path including some large steps into the site and walked nonchalantly past the ticket booth to the main road, summoning an Uber to return us to the centre of Cusco.
The taxi dropped us off at the Plaza de Armas, where we booked tomorrow’s dinner at Sagrado’s before walking back to the hotel.
After our, less than desirable, dinner last night, we returned to Yuraq, which was just as enjoyable as the first night!
We had accomplished the task we had set ourselves:
Distance covered 9km
Altitude
• Start of walk 3,478m
• At highest point 3,830m
• Result 352m climb.
