Cutting shapes in Cusco

We spent about a week in Cusco, the historical capital of the Inca Empire. Our time in Cusco was interspersed with a day trip to Rainbow Mountain, 5-days on the Salktantay Trek to Machu Picchu and celebrating birthdays.

Rainbow Mountain and Red Valley

On our second day in Cusco, we took a day trip to the nearby Rainbow Mountain and adjacent Red Valley.

As customary, we were picked up at the obnoxiously early time of 4am. For once, our tour operator wasn't early and so we weren't thrown out of bed rushing around. However, we took all precautions and made sure we were packed and ready to go the night before. The day ended up being a lot of driving, being 3-4hrs there and back. We were pretty zonked by the time we got back, and a bit over the driving too, both getting a bit sick on the return journey from the altitude and rough and windy roads.

The walk up to Rainbow Mountain is not too far or too hard, but the 5200m altitude sure put a test to that. We huffed and puffed our way to the top, not giving in to any rides offered by the donkeys that we were constantly haggled by. Thankfully, we have been at altitude for almost 1.5 months by this point, so we were somewhat accustomed to the altitude.

Predictably, Rainbow Mountain was horrifically touristy (second only to Machu Picchu) and, somewhat underwhelming. But, we had already prepared ourselves for that and the beauty of the surrounding landscapes was spectacular and well worth the day trip. The valleys were a vibrant green and the snowcapped mountains ran off into the distance.

Interestingly, Rainbow Mountain was only discovered about 10-15 years ago, as it had historically always been covered in snow, hiding its coloured minerals (thanks? global warming?).

Mt Ausangate (6384m - one of the highest peaks in Peru) towered above all. Mt Ausangate is one of the most sacred mountains in Andean cosmology, and is considered an Apu (sacred mountain spirit), which is central to local mythology and offerings. Before we started our hike, we all joined with our guide in providing an offering to Pachamama (Mother Earth in Quechua), giving coca leaves and doing a prayer. The admiration and belief that the Quechua people have (and all indigenous Latin American) is beautiful and inspiring.

Just next to Rainbow Mountain was Red Valley, which we found to be more spectacular than Rainbow Mountain. Few tourists make the additional hike across to the next valley (c'mon, it's 15-20min if that). A rich deep red fills the valley, spilling to the valley floor, caused by the iron oxide in the rock and sand.

Getting old

While in Cusco, we reconvened with our good friends Dani and Fletcher to do the Salkantay Trek to Machu Picchu together. It was also timely to celebrate my 30th birthday (craaaazy!!), as well as Dani's from 4-days earlier and Fletcher's 3-days later.

For my New Zealand birthday, we were actually at Machu Picchu which was incredible and very memorable. I'll never forget that. You can read about the Salkantay Trek and Machu Picchu in our other blog post.

For my South American birthday, we enjoyed some nice accomodation (treated ourselves to a break from the 14-bed mixed dorms for 2-nights) and a well-deserved sleep in after 100km of hiking on the Salkantay. We had a late brunch and then a 90min full body massage. Really, this was superb timing from Laura post-Salkantay because she of course got to also indulge.

We parked up on the balcony of a local cafe on the town square (Plaza de Armas) for a coffee and pastry post-massage to decompress and watch the world go by. After about 45-min of reading, relaxing and calling friends and family a festival erupted right beneath us.

I did some Googling afterwards, and although it is very plausible it was a festival to celebrate my birthday, it appears the festivities were for the Lord of the Qoylluri'i festival, which is a significant cultural and religious event in the Andean calendar spanning 26-29 May, and culminating with a grand pilgrimage on the 29th to a sanctuary near Mt Ausangate. For us, this meant the spectacle of pilgrims, processions, traditional dances and rituals all taking place in the main town square beneath us. The dancing, signing and festivities went on for over an hour, as we sat on the balcony entranced by the traditional dress and dancing. We event noticed that some people had real, dead baby llamas strapped to themselves that they were dancing around with.

Sitting on the balcony overlooking the Plaza de Armas turned out to be an incredibly culturally-rich 90min for us. We had the cultural and religious festival below surrounded by the amazing architecture of the churches and buildings built during the Inca Empire (1400s), the football live streamed on a big screen down the other end (of course) and then a large illuminated Jesus akin to the iconic Rio Jesus towering above all.

In the evening we reconvened with Dani and Fletcher for dinner at a nice restaurant that served Peruvian cuisine. The food was incredible, and the waiter gave us explanations of the historical, cultivation and significance of each local dish. After explaining to them we were celebrating our three birthdays, they later came out at the end of the night with a dessert and candles, with all staff signing us happy birthday. Quite the experience.

We carried on late into the evening at a Peruvian bar knocking back Pisco Sours and pretending to sing along to the live band, while everyone danced salsa around us. A very memorable birthday.

Coffee and local produce

Cusco has a rich cultural history, being the historical capital of the Inca Empire. The city is incredibly old, and the buildings are beautiful. The people have great pride in their Inca heritage and were always clothed in their traditional attire.

We spent our quieter days wandering the San Pedro Market, drinking a lot (I mean, a lot) of coffee that is sourced locally and admiring the rich cultural heritage. The San Pedro Market offered delicious local cuisine for very cheap (NZD $4-6 for main dishes) as well as plenty of souvenirs.

We also knuckled down and counted our days left in South America. Shockingly, we had a little over a month to go, so we booked our flights to Columbia and locked on our final destinations.

After a sad final good bye to Dani and Fletcher, we disappeared from Cusco the following evening on an 18-hour night bus to Huacachina, near the Peruvian coast to continue with our final week in Peru.

Up next; skiing and surfing (sounds just like home).