SummaryAirport Rating n/a Reception of locals *****
As far as natural beauty goes, there aren't many places in the world more beautiful than Ollantaytambo. Unlike Cusco, which gains some of its splendor by its architecture and cobbled streets, Ollantaytambo's splendor is completely in the breathtaking scenery that surrounds the settlement.
The drive from Cusco to Ollantaytambo was a little over two hours, and on the way we stopped at a lookout point that had spectacular views of the Sacred Valley, of which Ollantaytambo is an important part. The Valley was the traditional heartland of the Inca Empire, and looking at the difficult mountain passes and Incan Era fortresses still visible, it makes you wonder how the Spanish found and then conquered the area. The drive down takes winding routes through mountainsides and the views are pretty amazing. SummaryAirport Rating ** Reception of locals ***** Cost: £££
I don't like flying at the best of times, which is strange considering all the flying that I do. Something about being in a glorified rocket where you put your life in the hands of complete strangers just doesn't work for me, no matter how many times I'm told it's the safest form of transport in the world. Usually, however, once I'm in the air at cruising altitude I tend to forget where I am and get lost into a book, or, on the larger flights a film or music until I have to land again. The flight into Cusco was genuinely one of the scariest flights I have done.
The flight from Lima isn't particularly long, and unlike some other journeys it was a decent sized plane that was almost full. The flight was relatively smooth until we came in for landing. Cusco is a city built at a high altitude (almost 3,400m) and as we began our descent I very quickly realised that some of the surrounding mountains were actually higher than the plane which was now beginning to make a lot of sharp turns and a very steep and quick descent. Usually at this point I would look around and see people around me acting normal but almost everyone else had their hands dug into their seats, some had their eyes closed. I turned to look out the window and the hills and valleys looked ridiculously close to the plane, it was both beautiful and also panic inducing. The constant turns from the plane didn't help and I don't think I've ever been more glad than when we finally landed on the runway. We walked out into an environment significantly cooler than Lima and an airport which was extremely small. However, if I thought my journey into Cusco was bad, going out, almost two weeks later, would be even worse. SummaryAirport Rating ***** Reception of locals *****
Lima was my gateway to South America and formed the basis of my first impressions of the continent. Its difficult to generalise a whole continent on one city, not all of Europe is like London, not all of Asia is like Amritsar, but the heat and the chaos were two characteristics that would follow in most other cities. In fact, as soon as I left the airport in the nearest taxi we pulled onto a main road, and it was absolute gridlock with cars pulling manoeuvres that I didn't even see in SE Asia. In Asia I came across a lot of 'organised chaos'. Well this was just 'chaos, chaos'. The taxi driver, like many in other countries, was interested in talking about English football and was happy to know that one of his favourite Peruvian players had played for my favourite team.
After checking into my room, I decided the first thing I would do was use an app that can connect you with local people to show you around. Once I had sent a message out I decided to go for a late night walk to orientate myself and get a feel for the city. After a long flight (including a layover in Madrid) I was quite tired and only managed about 20 minutes walking around the centre of the Miraflores area. Generally regarded as 'upmarket' the area felt safe, even late at night. Until this point, Hanoi in Vietnam had been the place where I found crossing the road quite difficult, especially at the start. Lima was comfortably more dangerous. In Hanoi I was told that you just need to step into the road and vehicles will automatically navigate their way around you, in Lima, if you weren't careful they would go straight through you. I found myself waiting for sometimes nearly 5 minutes before I was safely able to cross. The one thing I'd like to mention about my journey to Peru was the stop over in Madrid. In attempting to board the flight from Madrid to Lima, I was checking my bags through security and once I had walked through the metal detector, a security guard stopped me and asked me to remove my patka. I politely refused and explained it was an article of faith. The guard remained unconvinced so with a bit more force I explained that the metal detector had not gone off and therefore I would not be removing my patka unless I was given a good reason. I then gestured that he was more than welcome to do a patdown, which he did and then let me through. As I was collecting my belongings from the tray, another security personnel approached me. She asked me if everything was okay (in English) and I replied yes. She then enquired whether I felt I was ill treated by the security guard. I replied that I didn't feel ill treated as the guard had let me through once I explained my position but added that her staff should have further training on Sikhs to prevent other passengers having to explain themselves. She made a note of this and wished me a pleasant journey. |
AuthorBritish Sikh, born in the Midlands, based in London, travelling the world seeing new cultures. Categories
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