A 6am start and early breakfast is required today, along with our first Sorojchi pill. Ulysses is in the lobby at 7.15 for our transfer to the airport, ensuring we find the priority check in desk for Latam and whisking us through the huge queues.
Almost immediately after departing Lima we’re flying high over the Andes, its spectacular landscapes jagged and snow-capped, tundra-like and barren, a mixture of red, yellows, greens and browns, dotted with lakes and snaking rivers. I’ve flown over them before on Iron Maiden duties, crossing from Quito to Bogotá, and again from Buenos Aires to Santiago, but their majesty is still breathtaking and otherworldly.
Welcoming advert in Cusco airport
We’re fortunate that our plane isn’t full so Coman and I can move to window seats on both sides and take full advantage of the great views beneath us. The mountains feel very close, especially as we come into land at Cusco airport which is situated literally in the middle of the city, our descent giving us views straight into the streets and houses that stretch up the mountains on all sides.
In contrast to the leaden grey skies of coastal Lima, Cusco sits under a bright blue sky, basking in blazing sunshine. Once the capital of the Inca empire, and home to 100,000 people, its population is now five times the size but still only a fraction of the twelve million people that lived under Inca rule at its height, stretching from Ecuador and Colombia in the north through Peru to Chile and Argentina in the south.
The Sacred Valley
We are met by our very talkative guide Alex and Cira, our driver, and we’re soon on our way from the lofty and somewhat light-headed heights of Cusco’s 3300 metres above sea level, to the more manageable Sacred Valley, a mere 2700 metres, where we’re spending two nights to acclimatise to the high altitude.
However, we climb higher and higher at first on our way out of the city, our ears popping again and again, with a definite touch of breathlessness as well. Alex advises us to drink lots of water as our bodies will extract extra oxygen from it, avoid alcohol on our first night and to help ourselves to the free coca tea at our hotels, but not after 6pm or we’ll find it difficult to sleep… it is the basis for cocaine after all.
The hillsides around Cusco have thousands of eucalyptus trees brought over from Australia and planted to try and prevent erosion, caused during the rainy season. However, they take up too much of the water during the dry season and cause problems of their own. It’s a year-round job to manage the land and beside the road we see men digging channels to ensure the rainwaters don’t flood too heavily. Alex tells us that the local saying is that the rainy season is like a Cusco woman; totally unpredictable. #MeToo has obviously not reached Peru as yet.
Feeding llamas
As we drive on we start to see farms with crops of quinoa, fava beans and potatoes. Over the course of our trip we hear that Peru has variously three, four and five thousand varieties of potatoes – who knows the exact number – but it’s obvious that the tubers form an essential part of the Peruvian diet. Coman feels right at home!
The other key farming focus is livestock – alpaca, llama, vicunya and guanacos. We stop at the Andean textile centre of Awanacancha where they’re all on display, feeding them with alfalfa plants and learning from Alex how the traditional dyes are made, whilst watching women in local dress weaving elaborate patterns on their looms. The attached shop is piled high with glorious fabrics and textiles, cushions, tapestries, ponchos and clothes but the price tag for most of them is eye-watering, so we just buy a fridge magnet and carry on our way.
A few miles further along the route we pull over at a spectacular bend in the road which affords a panoramic view of the Sacred Valley and the Urubamba river which runs through it, descending from the high mountains and forming one of the sources of the Amazon. The Incas believed the valley to be sacred due to the rich fertility of its soils, a blessing from the gods on the land they toiled, but we later learn that the Urubamba river is now hugely polluted due to all the modern waste products pouring into it from the ever-expanding local populations - and of course the tourist trade.
Weaving in Awanacancha
Our next stop is the town of Pisac where Alex takes us around the local food market and through the souvenir stalls, past darkened cheecha bars selling the local fermented corn hooch, to a shop where Alex tells us we can buy authentic baby alpaca garments and real silver, not like the knock-offs many other places foist on unsuspecting tourists.
We politely decline the opportunity - and no doubt his chance for commission from the cosy chats he has with the owners - keen to get on our way as we’re feeling pretty hungry. The roadside restaurants selling guinea pig are not appealing in the slightest, my once-carnivorous curiosity sated when I tried it ten years ago in Ecuador, and it takes almost an hour before we pull up a long dirt track at the Sol Y Luna hotel, just past the town of Urubamba.
Normally over-diligent in my research of hotels, I’d not prepared ourselves for the wonders to come here, assuming it was going to be a decent place to lay our heads for a couple of nights, with a couple of high-end treats later in our tour. How wrong I was. Sol Y Luna reveals itself to be an unexpected highlight of Peru.
Sol Y Luna
It’s a glorious place to spend the next two nights, with beautifully manicured gardens, a tranquil pool and jacuzzi with views of the mountains, pretty little bungalows (or casitas) for all the guests and two fantastic restaurants. However, despite being stunning, the unscheduled stop in Pisac means we arrive just after 3pm, and both restaurants have shut for lunch. Thankfully we’ve been advised to eat lightly on our first day at altitude so the bananas we have left over from breakfast tide us through the afternoon.
We quickly grab our shorts and flip flops and head out to the pool for the afternoon sun, sipping coca tea and taking things easy as we acclimatise to being at 2700 metres above sea level. It’s bliss. As the sun starts to dip behind the mountains we take a dip in the outdoor jacuzzi, which is warmer than most baths.
Two couples in their fifties from Minnesota join us. They’re quite entertaining, having done most of our itinerary in reverse, so fill us in on places to go in Cusco, our hotel in Lake Titicaca and the glories of both the Colca Canyon and Arequipa to come. They’re heading off to hike the Inca Trail tomorrow and cheerfully admit they’re totally under-prepared for it, having spent more time drinking cocktails than practising hiking.
After unpacking and chilling in our cute bungalow we pop another altitude sickness pill and walk over to the nearest hotel restaurant, called Killa Wasi, where we have a reservation for 7pm. We’ve been told they have a good vegetarian selection but are totally not expecting the fine dining experience that awaits us. An amuse bouche of black tapioca, fried cheese, spicy chilli and a green sauce starts things off, with incredible entrées of pumpkin velouté with cheese and pea purée and quinoa falafels with fava bean hummus and roasted tomato sauce to follow.
Dinner in Killa Wasi
Our mains of stuffed chilli peppers and pumpkin lasagne with a morel mushroom sauce are both remarkably good too, and the non-alcoholic mango mocktail we have in place of wine is simply delicious. We’re blown away, but with Peruvian gastronomy being such a buzzing space currently it should be no surprise that high-end hotels across the country boast top-class restaurants too. And it turns out that the owner of Sol Y Luna is vegan, ensuring the standard of vegetarian cooking is absolutely top notch.
The hotel’s extra touches don’t end there. When we return to our casita we are surprised to find fluffy hot water bottles have been slipped into our bed to keep us warm through the mountain night air ahead. We’re in heaven…
