Easter in Cusco and the Sacred Valley

After getting back from the jungle we spent a few days reaclimatising to the altitude in Cusco. We also realised that it might have been worthwhile prebooking our activities to the Sacred Valley because Cusco was inundated with tourists for Holy Week. We rearranged our plans entirely to suit the train availability (we refused to pay $300 each for a 3 hour journey) but in the end things worked out really well.

The Monday after Palm Sunday is what those in the highlands of Peru consider the beginning of holy week – so we were able to witness the joy of a huge wooden crucafix being carried around the plaza and into the main cathedral. We happened upon this by chance, in trying to meet some friends in the pub we were blocked by parade of people and not five minutes later this huge black Jesus on a cross appeared in front of us. It took 22 men to carry the thing. It was breathtakingly beautiful. Women around us were weeping, and because we were so tall we lifted up local children around us so they could see. The entire plaza was filled with people – it was magical.

A few days later we set off with our small daypacks to find a local bus to the sacred valley. We were the only gringos in the bus – filled to the brim with locals, dogs, children and all. We spent the night in Ollantaytambo, visited the ruins and had one of our best value meals to date (fantastic mexican). The next day we spent the morning playing scrabble before heading to Aguas Callientes on the train. The journey was lovely but arriving in the town was like arriving in a circus. Our accommodation was overpriced but comfortable, and finding somewhere to eat was even more of a drama. Bernard's portion for his $10 meal was so inadequate that it felt like a joke. Welcome to the world of “rip of those visiting Machu Picchu”.

Being Good Friday I visited the church for about 20 minutes of reflection – and then during dinner much to my amazement locals brought another statue of Jesus through the town to do the stations of the cross. It was very special moment. The next day we woke early to take the bus up to Machu Picchu – but clearly not early enough. The queue for the buses up to the site for first light was over 20 bus loads long. Many had queued since 3.30am. But we were on the site by 6.30am and just like last time, it was cloudy and grey. We spoken to many exhausted folks who had completed the inca trail, and then pottered around the amazing sight. And, like last time, the clouds burnt off by 9.30am and everything looked spectacular – but with the site being full of tourists at this stage, we decided to take our last photos and go back to town. On our way out we saw a llama give birth – it was pretty amusing watching others try to absorb stuff like this – I'm a country girl – animals giving birth are par for the course. We spend the second night in town, having learned our lesson had a much better experience for dinner, before taking the second train out of town the following day.