Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire which at its peak stretched from Columbia to Argentina. It is the oldest inhabited city in South America and is the ‘gateway’ to Matchu Pitchu which is the most visited tourist attraction in South America so needless to say it is full of tourists. And it seems the people on the streets who aren’t tourists are touts. I have never seen so many of them! The streets around the central square are full of people trying to get you to come into their restaurant, get “tourist information” from their tour agency or come and get a massage. And a few people trying to sell you drugs as well. And the prices are ridiculous compared to what we have been paying elsewhere in Peru and Ecuador ( for accommodation and food etc, not drugs. We never asked a price for offered drugs. -comment by Sarah) Food is expensive, accommodation is expensive and the tours and associated travel is just outrageous. The cheap train to Matchu Pitchu is $48USD one way for a 3 hour trip. (The most luxurious one is $500 USD!) Travelling the equivalent distance in Ecuador was around $4.50 USD. On top of that there is also a bus fare from the station to the ruins and entry fee as well. But you can hardly come all the way to Cuzco and not go and see them.
One thing that was cheap was massages. There was one street with about 6 massage places that were pretty aggressive seeking business. I had a very nice one hour massage for 15 Soles ($5AUD) which was very memorable due to the unusual relaxation music. None of the usual hippy dolphins singing and wind in the trees, this was pop hits of the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s on Pan Pipe! The session started with Michael Jackson’s “Heal the World”, followed with The Scorpions(?) “Wind of Change”, Toto's "Africa" and various Beatles songs including the despised “Hey Jude” (I once spent a day at Dreamworld amusement park and they played “Hey Jude” all day on the PA system. Just “Hey Jude“, continuously, on repeat for 7 hours!)
Mat and Harriet are going to do one of the “Inca Trail” 4 day hikes which Sarah is not keen on doing so we are going to part ways after a few very enjoyable weeks travelling together. We will probably run into them again somewhere on the tourist trail.
We got super organised today and booked the train to Matchu Pitchu. It seemed very complicated to buy them and supposedly you need to book days in advance, so we went to the ticket office to find 200 people waiting to buy tickets. We took a number (#750, they were paging 550 at the time) and then walked into a room they had set up for people to buy tickets online and they would print them out. So it took us maybe 10 minutes to book and pay online and we were out of there! What’s with the poor suckers sitting in the waiting room for 2 hours?
The train trip is about 4 hours each way. There wasn’t a return to Cuzco available so we would return halfway to Ollantaytambo and catch a bus from there.
After the train tickets were sorted we stepped into a travel agency and booked a bus for the 31st to Puno on Lake Titicaca, 8 hours away. After the last bus trip we have splashed out on a tourist bus which has 5 stops at historical sights and lunch on the way. Should be a lot nicer than the last bus!