From Lima to Cuzco..a thousand colors a thousand emotions
Autumn 2003...before then and also after I have travelled a lot...but if someone asked me which place is absolutely at the top of the ranking of my preferences, which place has left indelible traces in me...I would have no doubts: Machu Picchu
My trip to Peru is my first alone, I am excited and also a bit worried: it's my first experience in South America. But I am studying the history of the Incas and Peru is my dream.
The journey starts from Milan via Zurich to Miami and then arrives in the Peruvian capital, Lima with Delta. Lima is impressive, gigantic: the metropolitan area is endless. From Peru I learned one thing: NEVER AND I MEAN NEVER trust too much the rumors and prejudices of those who have never been to a place. Painted as a hell of heat, disorganization and imminent danger, Lima instead opened up to me as it is, with its thousand problems but also its beauties.
The Plaza de Armas, the Government palace, the monastery of San Antonio with the catacombs of the first indigenous peoples, the districts of Miraflores with its villas and its beautiful tree-lined avenues, San Isidro with its little bars on the Pacific Ocean, the museums of Gold (with all the riches...those few that the Spaniards did not melt down and take to Europe) and the Anthropological museum (with the fascinating history of this people, the Incas the greatest empire of all Latin America).
I leave Lima and go to Arequipa: the white city, three gigantic volcanoes surround it, tower over it. The earthquake of a few years ago left evident marks but how beautiful. I meet Veronika, a Peruvian girl and other Australian guys: we spend beautiful days around the city and then with the guide Pilar we go deep into the Colca Canyon up to the spa town of Chivay. The lunar landscape is fabulous, the hot baths in the middle of the mountains and the highest point, the Cruz del Condor where the condors come to nest.
From here to Cusco: passing through the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Here I meet Arturo, a Peruvian who lives in Barcelona, in Spain and who introduces me to particular characters of the Pisac market and the fantastic guide Juan of Ollantaytambo...lunch in a fantastic little restaurant..
after the fantastic excursion in the sacred valley of the Incas, among unsolved mysteries and answers left pending (the guide Juan did his part in creating a certain atmosphere of mystery...)...I decide to visit Cusco, in the Quechua language it means Navel.
In fact Cusco for the Incas was the navel of the world, the fulcrum, the centre of the universe: a Rome of the Inca empire. Cusco is very beautiful: its little streets that climb between the mountains, the Andes with their rude beauty and majesty surround it, Cusco is at more than 3000 metres of altitude...but after ten days at altitude...I no longer had any difficulty moving. Of course..running is out of the question: two steps more and you find yourself sprawled panting...in oxygen withdrawal!
On the extraordinary Plaza de Armas of Cusco overlook beautiful colonial palaces, two splendid churches, one Jesuit (beautiful the frescoes on the facade) and one Dominican. A little further north is found the birthplace of Garcilaso de la Vega el Inca, the greatest and most prestigious mestizo chronicler of Spanish historiography of the New World.
Further south the temple of the Sun: Coricancha, on which the ferocious hand of the Catholic religion placed large stones...the aim was to build on the most important temple existing of the Incas, a religious building, a church..here rises on the rubble of a millennial cult, the church of San Antonio: the impression of the contrast is incredible. From Cusco you leave for a thousand excursions: there is the Inca Trail for those who want to trek in the "high jungle", or the Inca ruins of Sacsayhuaman, a place of festival and celebration or the nearby villages of Chinchero, with its characteristic market. I will never forget the eyes of the children of Chinchero, who did not speak Spanish: to my questions, they answered in Quechua, and on Sunday after the forced mass....no football guys..
the children of Chinchero go with their own families behind the main church of the town to ask forgiveness from the god Inti (Sun) if they are "forced" to worship another god....INCREDIBLE.... the characters I met in Cusco I will never forget: wise elderly people who astonished me for their clairvoyance towards me (sometimes I was a little surprised...) and for the strong attachment to very ancient customs, customs that belonged to an empire by now disappeared. From Cusco I head to Machu Picchu: here I meet Cristina and Ana, two girls from Costa Rica, Pablo from Cuba, and another very nice Chilean lady.
we visit Machu Picchu: words cannot describe the beauty of these green mountains, you feel immersed in a concentrate of very strong energy.
Machu Picchu releases something uncontrollable, an energy that makes everything magical and perhaps unforgettable. the temple of the sun, the house of the Virgins, the wall of wishes, the astronomical table the thousand paths all among the green of the gigantic mountains that tower over it, the vertigo for the sheer drops and the light green of the lawn....the mosquitos bite and hurt but who cares...we resist!
I leave my travel companions, they return to Cusco, I stop in the fabulous hostel Rupawasi of Aguas Calientes. Here I meet the guy who manages it, Oscar, we become great friends. Today he is in Italy in Milan with his wife and has just become a dad.
I recommend this multi-coloured hostel to everyone in the peaceful and tropical Aguas Calientes: the name derives from the hot water springs that gush north of the small town. Bathing there is one of the most exciting experiences I have ever had. in the hostel we prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner all together, I meet a scholar of the peoples of the jungle of English origin (she has never returned home), a mysterious and nice magician named Antonio and many other characters.
I leave Aguas Calientes with a heavy heart and so much nostalgia..which I still feel now as I write. for all those who want info on Peru..
go there and have fun
big hello andrea
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