The next day we decided we would try and negotiate some shopping. We headed out into town in search of the best wares our money could buy and looked high and low through all the markets. Sadly, a lot of the products on offer were mostly the same tourist-focused prints we had seen throughout the rest of Peru. While there was nothing wrong with this, it’s clearly popular for a reason, it wasn’t what we were looking for. Looking for something else we decided to wander into the Inca museum off the main square. Inside here, we learned some things about the history of the Incas throughout the ages, but we were left a bit disappointed. The museum focused quite a lot on the artefacts discovered from historical digs rather than going into the details of the history.
We had no idea where the time had gone, but the day slipped past us without us noticing. We decided we would go for a walk up to Christo Blanco on top of the hill. This is best described as a miniature (though still quite tall at 8 meters) version of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue in Brazil. The walk up to the sculpture was torturous. We were adapting to the altitude of Cusco, but climbing stairs could still knock the breath out of us. And the walk to the statue was, for the most part, stairs. However, once at the top, we were glad we had committed ourselves to the trail. The view over Cusco was stunning!
The view over Cusco 
Katy and Christ
We noticed there was an exit at the back of the statue that seemed to lead to a national park. We wandered down the somewhat maintained path and came across a historical Incan site which could be explored. However, we had only just gotten off of the track when we were accosted and shouted at by a woman in a stall. She told us off for not having tickets to the site, which was confusing as we weren’t aware you needed tickets. We had taken a clear path from the statue, which was free to visit, and so it didn’t seem logical we could make it to this point and now somehow be committing an offence. She radioed through to the main car park hit and told them we were making our way over to buy tickets, and then ordered us up the path.
I stopped halfway to take some photos while Katy navigated to the ticket booth. Upon her return, she told me how she was informed it was too late to buy tickets and we had to leave the site. This was fair but seemed thoroughly mismanaged by the staff on site. We made our way down an adjacent path to head back into Cusco.
Along our way, we encountered some of the locals who were walking their alpacas up the road. This must be where they stay the nights after they have been somewhat cruelly led about town to have their photographs taken with tourists. However, on the way up one to alpaca decided to be a little cheeky. Stopping by the side and not following her leader, she started snacking on the foliage by the path side. Happily chewing away and remaining calm, the owner was yelling “Luna” from up the hill. Luna had no time for this and carried on munching. After he had a mouthful of greens, she ran up the hill where her owner greeted her with a light smack on the bum. Naughty Luna indeed!
When we got past the entrance gate at the bottom of the path, and to our freedom from being trespassing criminals, we spotted a bar next to us. A sign offering 2 for 1 pisco sours tempted us in, and we had a cocktail with a great view. When the bill came, we had the realisation that 2 for 1 isn’t such a great offer when the 1 is a rip off price to begin with. Still, it was worth the higher cost for a beautiful view.
When we got back to the main square, we messaged Hugo and Martina, who got back from their trip to Machu Pichu. Eagar to see if they would like to meet up one final time before they were to carry on their journey ahead of us. We weren’t rejected, and they met us at the Irish Pub in Cusco, which makes its claim to fame as being the highest Irish pub in the world. This pub also had a miniature train set inside of it, which makes anything far more exciting!
We headed over the square to a fancy restaurant that we saw. The irony is that this place cost the same as most other restaurants, the food was on another level. We finished our dinner, paid off our bill and said goodbye to our new friends from Uruguay. We promised that we would keep in touch when either couple would be on a trip to the others part of the world. We genuinely are really excited to meet them again when they come to Europe!
The one downside to our fancy pants dinner was that we had stayed out slightly longer than was planned. Getting back to our bed gone midnight, we had enough time for four hours of sleep before we were due to be picked up to get out to the rainbow mountain. I don’t know why so many tours are obsessed with this leaving at such an early hour of the day. After Indonesia, I thought this was behind us. Still, we woke up tired and bit hungover and met our driver outside.
We were on the road for a good couple of hours in a minivan with an amount of legroom that even Ryanair would classify as offensive. As a result, I didn’t really get any shut-eye. So, when we stopped for breakfast, I had a sigh of relief at being able to stretch my legs. The breakfast was a tasty buffet that we chowed down on to give us the walking energy required to get up to the rainbow view.
Back on the road again, the next portion of driving was thankfully only an hour. However, this drive was another level of discomfort. Instead of navigating the smooth tarmac highway, this minibus was now snaking its way along cliff sides and streams. Looking out of the window provided a stunning view of the plummeting fall we would have if the driver made a mistake. Nerve-racking is an understatement.
When we did make the stop the guide issued us all with a walking stick to assist in the climb upwards. I politely declined and took out my telescopic walking poles which Katy had given to me on my birthday. Finally, it was time to put these bad boys to use! Thankfully the weather was on our side, and it was not raining, meaning we would see the rainbow mountain in its full glory. However, the cloud was very low and thick and gave the impression that this could change at any moment.
We started walking along and the path, and it felt as if we had no fitness at all. At a higher altitude than Cusco, our bodies were once again fighting for oxygen in the thinner air. To our joy and a great distraction from laboured breathing, we found ourselves walking next to a herd of alpaca having a cheeky morning walk and graze next to us. Some even stopped to say hello and pose for a photo.
Next to the walking path was a trail where horses were carrying lazy tourists up. It was hard to not feel sorry for them lugging the lazy and sluggish people up the mountain. Meanwhile, Katy and I battled on at our own pace, having had a lot of the group fly off ahead of us. This provided us with some more equality alpaca time and enjoying the views at our own pace. However, near the top Katy pushed me on ahead. A break in the cloud had appeared, and it would be a great time to get some photos! Thankfully I made it to the summit and managed to get some great shots.
Katy arrived not too long after and caught her breath back. The first thing to do, get our passports stamped. Peru seems to have these unofficial passport stamps at its main attractions, and so we followed the crowd and had ours done too! We then climbed further up to the very peak of the walk and, much like everyone else there, completed our own personal photoshoot of our adventure. Frustratingly, during this time, another pleb decided to kick Katy’s walking stick. With all the helpfulness of a chocolate teapot, she screamed but didn’t actually help. So the stick went flying down the mountain, and our guide looked at us to ask what we happened. We explained, and he said not to worry and went down to get the stick for us. Very kind, but it didn’t do much for our anger we felt towards previously mentioned pleb.
We walked back down towards the minibus and, as we neared the parking lot, the rain decided to come and say hello. We were pleased we had completed the walk and not had the rain ruin the sights for us at the top. We also looked at the valley below and saw one alpaca apparently bullying a herd of others by running right at them. We decided that this alpaca was probably the police enforcing alpaca law amongst the wider community.
The time had come for our trip to Macchu Pichu, which is so unique it gets its own story…