24.-28.08. - Cusco, Peru

Finally we got to our accommodation in Cusco. We are located directly above the inner courtyard of a kindergarten. It is full here every weekday morning from 7:30 a.m. In any case, we're now pretty text-safe in Spanish-speaking children's linders.

On 08/24 we had booked a tour to nearby ruins. It started at 07:00 in the morning and the tour ended at 07:00 in the evening at the same place. All in all we were able to see a lot of interesting things (including how alpaca wool is made into fine clothing), but it was also quite a long day.

Machu Picchu was on the agenda for August 25th and 26th. Tickets to the ancient ruined city sell out four to six weeks in advance, with the exception of a few tickets that go on sale the day before for the following day (and are only sold in the town where Machu Picchu is located). We had booked a tour from Cusco that cost 400 soles. Included were: Transport to Hidroeléctrica, lunch, dinner, breakfast (next day), entrance to Machu Picchu and guide there, overnight in hotel. The journey to Hidroeléctrica takes about seven hours, you drive over a pass over 4300 m high and almost constantly next to a 100e meter deep abyss. From Hidroeléctrica you have to walk about 13 km to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu Pueblo), which took us 2.5 hours. Quite a lot of crap happened here that I don't want to describe in full (we weren't attacked or anything like that, everything was just horribly organized). The next day, on August 26th, we visited Machu Picchu. That was really very informative and if it weren't for all that shit around it, it would definitely be worth a visit. Admission costs the equivalent of between €37.50 and €50 (which was included in our tour), but of course you can’t use the toilet for free at these prices and have to pay extra. They really didn't hear the shot, especially since every shithouse in Peru looks worse than a German outhouse. The bus from Machu Picchu Pueblo to the actual sights is also $12 (one way, sure, it's a 20 minute drive). You can also walk, but since it takes about 2 hours (500 m elevation gain, 6 km), we had to be up at 08:00 and then we had to walk 13 km back to Hidroeléctrica, we didn't want to do that to ourselves. In short: Machu Picchu itself (the former Inca city) is really beautiful, but everything around it is absolutely no fun at all and therefore we will definitely not go back here.

On August 27th we were able - at least theoretically - to sleep in. But since we had gotten up relatively early the previous days, our eyes opened at 7:00 a.m. here as well. We spent the morning relatively relaxed in the room and then went to town for a cheap lunch. In the afternoon we took part in a guided city tour, which, however, led less through the city and much more through other nearby ruins. The tour was entirely in Spanish, which wasn't a bad thing. The guide just didn't manage to convey all the historical facts in a way that was even halfway interesting. He stood up in most of the places, gave a (at least) ten-minute, totally monotonous lecture, then you were allowed to look at the ruins yourself for a certain time and take photos and then it went on. At the end there was still a visit to an alpaca wool factory sale shop, which was also junk. We weren't shown here how alpaca wool is made into a piece of clothing, but the owner simply gave a lecture on why his products are the best and why we should best buy his entire shop now. In addition, it was also really expensive, a rather ugly poncho cost the equivalent of a good 70 €, which is 3 times too much even for tourists (probably even more for locals). All in all, the whole tour was more of a coffee ride than anything. People kept getting on the bus and wanting to sell various things (among them coca leaves - supposedly against altitude sickness, some kind of scented spray to spray on your hands - for and against everything, liquor - with a taste, it tasted shitty, candy - I didn't try it, all kinds of alpaca clothes - too expensive, books, .....).

Finally, Peru (or at least Cusco) is way too expensive and way too touristy for us. Okay, in contrast to Machu Picchu, the prices for other tours are still reasonable, but we definitely don't like the way the sights are marketed here. For example, to be able to visit all the ruins around Cusco (except Machu Picchu) you need the Boleto Turistico, which costs 130 soles (about €32) for extranjeros (about €18 for Peruvians). You can't get in anywhere without it, it's not possible to just pay the entrance fee for the respective attraction. And Machu Picchu is another thing in itself, to put it in German: ridiculously expensive, absolutely shitty organized and not worth the price.

Normally today (28.08.) we wanted to continue by bus to La Paz in Bolivia (13-17 h, depending on traffic and road conditions), but I chose the wrong date when booking the bus. That's why we're staying here one more day and then leaving tomorrow. But the whole thing has one advantage: we have the (supposedly) better seats on the bus. It's a double-decker Cama-class bus and we're sitting in the first row at the top (assuming that the bus stays that way...). The seating is supposedly 2-1, so you could have quite a bit of space. Cama class is the highest class of coaches in South America, with luck we can adjust our seats by 160° and maybe I can sleep a few hours then. However, it is not yet clear whether the thing has a toilet on board (it may also be that there is a toilet, but it is locked). Bus journeys of more than 10 hours without a toilet on board are not uncommon in South America. Except for one trip in Colombia, we have never had toilets on board and if we did, they were locked. How the entry into Bolivia works is completely unclear to us, we will probably reach the border around 07:00 in the morning. So far we have heard and read all sorts of stories: from trouble-free entry by land to "on entry you have to bribe the officials" to "the border post is bypassed and you enter illegally" everything was there. We are curious.