PERU AND THE LOST CITY OF THE INCAS ("MACHU PICCHU")

Whilst in South America, if you've considered travelling, we would highly recommend taking a trip to Peru.

Peru has 22 million inhabitants and stretches from near the Equator in the north (bordering Ecuador and Columbia) down to its most southerly part (bordering Chile) and of course, has Brazil as one of its neighbours inland. Whilst 'doing our homework' before we went, we discovered that Peru consists of immense desert coastlines and vast tropical rainforests, divided by chain after chain of breathtaking peaks - The Andes - reaching over 7,000m high and 4km wide in places.

Lima, Peru's capital, is a 5-hour flight from São Paulo and, given our tight timescales (1 week), we only used this as a quick stopover (arriving at midnight and leaving the hotel at 4am) before departing for the hour-long flight to Cusco at 6am.

V Cusco lies 3,500m above sea level and, because of this, acclimatisation is very important; it can also, therefore, become quite cold. The city was built by the Spanish during the 16th Century, on the foundations laid by the Incas around 1300AD and, due to it's proximity to archaeological areas of interest including Sacsahuaman (pronounced 'sexywoman'). The Sacred Valley and, of course, Machu Picchu and the Inca Trail, is perhaps the most obvious place to start. It's a beautiful and bustling colonial city - the ancient heart of the Inca Empire - and is surrounded by some of the most spectacular mountain landscapes and palatial ruins in Peru.

We stayed at the El Dorado Inn, a comfortable hotel centrally situated and within easy reach of Cusco's many sites (we know that this sounds like an extract from a travel brochure but it honestly is centrally situated etc) and restaurants, where we had our first encounter with some of the local delicacies - roasted Guinea Pig (apologies to those who had one as a pet!) and Alpaca (not to be confused with Llama, although when it is on a plate it all looks the same!) - you know the old cliché "When in Rome", well we did, but we won't be rushing back for seconds! For the less adventurous, other types of cuisine are readily available as the staple diet consists mainly of potatoes and vegetables or "tourist menus" - i.e. pizza, pasta etc.

Whilst we personally were lucky not to be affected by altitude sickness, many people are, suffering from headaches/nausea etc. Simple and effective remedies include not exerting yourself (you don't realise just how hard simply climbing steps can be at altitude) and drinking coca tea/chewing coca leaves. These leaves are the raw ingredient of cocaine (although apparently you need 10kgs of leaves to make just 1g!) and it is completely illegal to remove them from the country in any form, even tea bags.

Machu Picchu is situated on the edge of the rainforest, 112kms from Cusco, and can be reached by a scenic train journey to a small village called Aguas Callientes and then a short bus ride to the top of the mountain. For the more energetic travellers, Machu Picchu can also be reached by following the Inca Trail, which apparently involves a grueling 4 to 5 day hike.

Hirham Bingham officially rediscovered Machu Picchu in 1911, who named it the Lost City of the Incas. Due to the Incas' religious beliefs that their temples should be near to their Gods (the Sun, Moon and stars), it's mountain-top location (approx. 2300m above sea level), remained undiscovered by the Spanish during their invasion, and over time, became overgrown. Fortunately, it was rediscovered and we were amazed at the sheer magnitude of the site and the expertise of construction, considering it's whereabouts and lack of the technology which is available today. There have been various theories as to exactly how Machu Picchu was constructed, one of which includes extra terrestrial intervention! Unfortunately however, scientists have recently discovered signs of subsidence and how long it will remain, is difficult to know.

We visited the site during a day trip (yet another full day tour starting with the 4 hour train journey leaving Cusco at 6am) and spent approximately 3 hours there. For those who would wish to spend longer there, maybe taking in some of the local hiking trails, we'd highly recommend taking advantage of an overnight stay (there is an abundance of accommodation available locally).

After leaving Cusco, we travelled overland (by luxury coach) to Puno on the edge of Lake Titicaca (although this involves a journey time of around 6 hours, it is broken up by several stops at historic sites on the way) and spent the night at the Hotel Libertador (5 star and wonderful views of the sunrise over the lake during breakfast). From Puno, we continued our coach journey the following morning to Copacabana (which is, in fact, where the name of the famous Brazilian beach was derived) where we picked up our luxury catamaran before starting the 4/5 hour journey across Lake Titicaca to Bolivia. We then spent two days in/around La Paz (not the capital of Bolivia as many people think - Sucre is the actual capital), which boasts a difference in altitude between uptown and downtown of 4,000ft (higher than the highest mountain in the UK), before returning to Curitiba and a mere 3,000ft above sea level.

Our package (flights, accommodation, transfers, tours and guides) was arranged by Isac Gervásio of Chamon Tour (Tel: 222 7774 or e-mail: isac@chamontur.com.br who specialise in tours to Peru and Bolivia.
Article written by: Dawn Cansell

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