Day 267 - 268: Cusco, Peru
Everyone who comes to Peru raves about the ‘amazing’ Cruz del Sur bus line, and after cheating death (but not discomfort) on Ecuador’s night bus from hell it was definitely a step up, but then so was the price… The overnight trip from Ica to Cusco set us back 172 soles (£45) each, not too bad compared to UK prices but close to double our daily travel budget and way more than Cruz del Sur’s competitors charge for the same journey. For the premium paid we were expecting extreme luxury, haute cuisine and the highest quality of entertainment. We got limited legroom, cold pizza, bingo (yay!) and Robin ‘Gladiator II’ Hood.
At least the bus stayed on the road though, other companies’ have been known not to, so maybe it was money well spent after all? We were in more danger of being pickpocketed by passersby as we crawled through the mountain towns that dotted our route. Eventually we made it into a cold and rainy Cusco, found a decent hostel (Ecopackers) and went out to explore the town and book a trek to Machu Picchu.
The most famous trek is the Inca Trail - four or five days walking following the route through the mountains built and used by the Incas to get there. There’s a daily limit to the number of trekkers allowed to use the trail and only few companies are licenced to lead treks on it, creating a combination of high demand and limited competition that means places get booked up months in advance and allows the agencies to charge whatever they want - usually at least £350. Not ideal when you’re travelling on a budget and don’t want to be tied in to a specific start date.
Alternatives to the Inca Trail do exist though, and usually don’t require booking months in advance and paying through the nose, although that option is available if you’re a complete mug. We decided on the Salkantay trek - four days hiking through (and camping in) the high Andes to Aguas Caliente, before spending the last day at the ruins of Machu Picchu. Cusco is full of trekking agencies and we spent our first day in town wandering the streets trying to decide which to go with. The budget ones were offering the trek for around £70, ridiculously good value when you consider this includes four nights accomodation, food and drinks, guides and porters, entry to Machu Picchu and the train and bus transport back to Cusco at the end of it. The ‘quality’ agencies were offering the same trek for around £450 and when we asked what the difference was, all they could offer was that the food would be better. Not exactly a compelling reason to shell out an extra £380. We ended up booking the trek with Mollepata Tours through the Peru Andes Travel agency, £70 very well spent and after a briefing from our guide and a day trudging around Cusco stocking up on fake North Face down clothing and alpaca woolies, we were ready to go.
