Note: this trip took place around February/March 2009. Although I believe the info is useful, you should be aware that things (even if prices) might have changed.

(Continuing from Pt 1) “We asked the combi driver to leave us by the train tracks so we could start walking towards Aguas Calientes… we just weren’t expecting good old Mother Nature to come and greet us again.” (end of Part 1).

So… five travelers, two flashlights, the train tracks which would lead us to Aguas Calientes and an apparently calm night. It looked like it was going to be a relaxing walk (despite long) to town. However, as soon as we started walking the rail tracks, and as the scarce street lights gave way to general darkness, the rain came. And not just any rain. One of those sudden, big, good ol’ neverending bits of it.

So we kept following the tracks, and because of the intense rain sometimes it was almost impossible to look at the ground 3, 4 metres in front of us. There are several bridges there, and you’ve got to be a bit careful not to make a mistake. It’s not that dangerous if you can guide yourself by the sound of the river below. As soon as you hear water running louder and louder, that means you’ll probably bump into one of these bridges. Problem was, the rain was rather noisy as well… but everything went fine.

At some point we got off the tracks to try a shortcut the polish had been told about. We got completely soaked and muddy, lost and wandering in the dark. We eventually found some sort of camping site and woke up these guys inside a huge military tent to ask where the heck we were, but didn’t get much out of the sleepy startled bunch. We had to get back to the tracks and keep going from there to Aguas Calientes. Oh, right: there is a shortcut indeed, and we must’ve passed the right intersection in the dark several times probably; but it was so dark and raining so much, that we would just spend the night going around in circles (we had been for one hour at that point), so following the tracks seemed like the best option.

Nearly three hours later (note: in good weather conditions you should do all this pretty quick, max. a couple of hours) we arrived in Aguas Calientes. We entered the first hostel we found  - one of the – if not the – first on the left, when you’re coming from Santa Teresa through the tracks. We woke them up in the middle of the night and fortunately they had rooms for us. We were completely drenched and those were the only clothes we had (usually you leave your backpack in Cuzco at your hostel, if you’re going back there, that is)… which means we would have to wash them and wait for them to get dry before doing anything else. Each wearing just a hostel towel, the argentine and me had a small discussion with the manager so that he’d weigh our clothes only AFTER laundry. They charge you by the kilogram, you see, and my outfit was hitting nearly 4 kgs (most of it water…!). Slick fellas, you see? Oh, 3 of us shared a room and the other 2 got another one, and I paid 15 soles per night, which was probably one of the cheapest fees around Aguas Calientes. So there’s your price reference.

Anyway, we spent one day sleeping as much as we wanted. Just took the day off, period. We took care of groceries, cooked and ate well, and went for a walk and to take care of the entrances to Machu Picchu. When I went there, and without any student discounts or whatever, I paid 130 soles.

So after a day of resting we were going to the Inca city the following dawn. The first bus leaves Aguas Calientes at 6 a.m. and it costs 7 dollars. But for any budget traveler this isn’t an option…! Our plan was to wake up at 4 a.m. in order to hike the mountain all the way up and try to arrive at the gates before that first bus.

To be continued.

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Resuming:

1) Get the bus from Cusco to Santa María (max. 10-15 soles).

2) Once there, get a ‘combi’ (small bus) to Santa Teresa (a.k.a. “hidroeléctrica“, 7 soles, maybe less), which will take 2 hours (by night, anyway).

3) In Santa Teresa the combi can leave you in town or drive you to the “vía” (rail tracks); you should specify that to the driver.

4) The tracks cross the town of Aguas Calientes, so as long as you follow them you’re on the right path. Bring flashlight and (also depending on the time of year) better buy one of those cheap plastic raincoats you can find almost everywhere.

5) The first hostel on the left as soon as you enter Aguas Calientes charged us 15 soles for a 3-bed room, that’s probably as cheap as you’ll find. Plus, you exit the building, cross the road, and you keep going down and then go right following the river. That shortcut will take you to the other shortcut… to the Inca city.

6) Go to the center of Aguas Calientes and get to the Tourist Office to buy your entrance ticket to Machu Picchu. As far as I know, 130 soles.

Being very interested in music, one of the things I found most fascinating while traveling in SA was the wide range of African influences which have been mixed over the centuries and resulted in some of the most interesting forms of artistic expression in modern times. Been some time since I’ve written here, so today I’ll give you a brief glimpse of the ‘murgas‘.

The origins of the modern ‘murgas’ trace back to the colonial days. It’s an ancient form which was born out of the culture and drumming of the African slaves who were brought to Buenos Aires. The story is somewhat similar to that of the Blues in North America (Mississippi Delta and all that) where the African slaves had also been taken to work.

The slaves would secretly gather around fires – without the knowledge of their masters – to dance to the roar of the drums. They’d writhe and jump and dance nonstop while kicking the air, perhaps a symbol of breaking the chains, and demanding their rightful liberation from a life of slavery. Some of them would even wear their masters’ clothing inside out: the cloth would end up all sweaty, so this way they could turn the clothes back again and let them dry naturally, and so that their masters wouldn’t notice. Satin is used in the outfits (example here).

The cultural influence lasted centuries and it was enriched by the arrival of the European immigrants to Río de la Plata in the beginning of the 20th century. Different elements (from 1920 onwards) got mixed, originating the ‘murga porteña‘: the frock coat and top hat, the European carnival, the pantomime, the humour, the irony, the Pierrot and the Columbine characters, etc. The ‘murga’ is also a tool of social criticism, but generally those who meet to celebrate the carnival are considered members of a commune where all are equal – no social, racial, any differences. It’s an entertaining event embraced and cherished by the families… the neighbourhoods, the whole community.

There are two main geographical ‘murga centers’: Montevideo and Buenos Aires. The ‘murga’ from the first is more vocal, while the one from the latter is more focused on dancing. However, both countries have embraced a bit of the other, especially in their popular music, through artists as Bersuit Vergarabat (Argentina) and Alejandro Balbis (Uruguay), for example.

From a musician’s perspective and to add a bit of depth, here’s a formation description I took from Wikipedia: “the singers perform in polyphony using up to five vocal parts. Vocal production tends to be nasal and loud with little variation in volume. The percussion instruments, derived from the European military band, are bombo (a shallow bass drum worn at the waist and played horizontally), redoblante (snare drum) and platillos (clash cymbals). The two most important pieces of the performance are the opening song (saludo) and the exit song (retirada or despedida).“

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Murga en La Boca, Buenos Aires

Murga Uruguaya

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Bersuit Vergarabat

How many “peluquerías” (hairdressers) are there in Calle Santa Cruz?
How many “panes con palta” can you eat for breakfast?
How many times do you hear “ya” per day?

Well, you’ve got to love La Paz.

After a few days in Cuzco, we (me and the Polish I’d previously met in Guayaquil, Ecuador – read this) decided to finally leave town, on the way to Machu Picchu.

March 19th. Got up around 5:30 am in order to meet them and go to the bus terminal from which buses to Santa María – our first checkpoint – usually leave (it’s not the main Cusco terminal). I had arranged with César (at the Huiñariy hostel, read here) to leave the backpack and most of my stuff there, since I’d be coming back. The bus to Santa María would leave early in the morning. Can’t really remember who, but someone had told me that it would be quite early. For what I recall, it actually leaves around 8am. Well that gave us enough time for breakfast, some food supplies and observing the people.

When we eventually left Cusco, everything seemed to be fine. We got to Ollantaytambo and suddenly there were news of a landslide some kilometres ahead. The bus kept going because there wasn’t much information. However, after more driving the bus stopped, in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by moutains with a view to a valley on our left. There was a vote whether to go back to Cusco or not, and the majority (locals) didn’t want trouble so the bus turned back. After much discussion, we (Polish, me and four Argentinians) got out of the bus, which left. Suddenly there comes this pickup truck, most of us put our thumbs up and they stopped. We had a ride for the eight of us! The land had apparently slided when this truck was passing by, and it seemed the poor driver had been killed. These two guys were from that company and were about to face the sad task of confirming this.

Several miles further on up the road we got to the landslide. Tourist guides were helping foreigners across the very slippery grounds. This Peruvian truck driver told me that besides the deceased truck driver, it seemed a local had already fallen that afternoon also. I don’t know if any of this is true, but we figured out another way out of it: there were four other guides with machetes who were about to go up the mountain, and go around the landslide, which would take some time – but it did seem safer, at least, we all agreed on that. Well, it wasn’t. Long story short, I’d say in 2 hours we were already back on the road, the other side of the landslide. Completely dirty and smiley. Now there were no vehicles and we didn’t quite know how much would it take us to get to Santa María. Oh!, almost forgot – never came to figure out if this was also true or not, but there was in fact police on this side of the landslide, and rumour has it that they were ordering everyone climbing the landslide to turn back again because they weren’t allowed to do that. Imagine that, to risk your life all the way back again. Well, we only did it one way, anyway…!

We walked for some time, until we arrived at a small village by the side of the road. Several truck drivers were parked and seemed to be waiting, as if they knew we’d need a ride. As in business opportunity, of course. We waited a bit for more travelers and managed to get a group of people on top of an oil truck or something. The driver only accepted until he was offered 10 soles per person. After he told everyone that Santa María was 60 kilometres away, we agreed. Even walking we’d take a long time; and it would be really cold and rainy during the night, and without any camping equipment we had no choice. We climbed aboard the truck and off we went.

Night time. After a long drive (the guy did have a point – it was still a long way). We arrived to Santa María. There were the combi drivers waiting. We bargained starting on 10 soles a person, and we closed the deal on 7 soles (I’d say you can probably get it cheaper but it was night and everybody wanted to move on!). It took more or less two more hours up the mountain until we got to the “hidroeléctrica” and Santa Teresa. Three Argentinians decided to spend the night in town, resting. Me, the Polish and the other Argentine figured out the other way around: since we’d been through the whole thing up to that point, we would only stop to rest at our final destination. We asked the combi driver to leave us by the train tracks so we could start walking towards Aguas Calientes…

… we just weren’t expecting good old Mother Nature to come and greet us again.

To be continued.

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RESUMING (and with no landslides involved!):

1) Get the bus from Cusco to Santa María (max. 10-15 soles).

2) Once there, get a combi to Santa Teresa (a.k.a. “hidroeléctrica“, 7 soles maybe less), which will take 2 hours (by night, anyway).

3) In Santa Teresa the combi can leave you in town or drive you to the “vía” (railtracks); you should specify that to the driver.

A “4 in 1″ kind of post

Alright, as promised I’m going to start posting a cheap way to do the journey to Machu Picchu. All the information I’ll share was acquired in March 2009 through personal experience and talking to both locals and travelers. It’s not an exact guide because on the way there we were delayed by Nature.

So – and before anything else – you’ve got to get to Cusco. You should definitely spend some time visiting the once capital of the Inca Empire, and the nearby ruins. From there on we start our journey to Aguas Calientes, the final destination before the famous World Wonder.

You will find ATMs in Aguas Calientes, but in any case, and if you want to play it safe, do the maths throughout the posts plus 130 soles for the entrance in Machu Picchu. Also, better get a flash light and depending when you’re visiting, an impermeable (more or less like this!). Some snacks for the way, water and you’re done.

For more practical information on Cusco (where to stay, what do do, etc.) check out the “backpacker’s glance over Cusco” post.

RESUMING, GETTING TO MACHU PICCHU LINKS:

I) From Cusco to Santa Teresa
II) From Santa Teresa to Aguas Calientes
III) From Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu

Approximately one century later, the Incas would settle in the region and proclaim Cusco the capital of their empire – la Ciudad Imperial.

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Photo: Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia

While traveling in South America I became aware of this refreshing sound which was news to me. The instrument was the “charango” and I completely fell in love with it.

It’s a guitar-shaped instrument, and as you might be able to find out, it’s typically made with the shell of the back of an armadillo. It has 10 strings combined to form 5 pairs (just like the Portuguese guitar, which has 12 strings combined in 6 pairs), each pair tuned in the same note (including octaves).

Fabricio (who’s surfing the charango in the photo) recommended that I’d browse the shops in La Paz if I wanted to get myself a decent, cheap charango. So I did, and after almost 3 hours of bargaining around town, I finally purchased one, with the traditional cover plus a book with chords, tuning, technique, etc. I admit, there wasn’t much more touristic activity for me that day: I went back to the hostel and spent something like 4 hours playing…my fingers rejoiced when they encountered strings! Mine isn’t made out of an armadillo’s back, anyway – those are more expensive and I didn’t want to spend much.

The instrument’s most famous appearance worldwide (that I remember, at least) was probably in the soundtrack for “The Motorcycle Diaries” by Gustavo Santaolalla. Actually, that was the first song I managed to play by ear when I purchased the charango, since it’s quite catchy and beautiful.

There’s a very interesting article by Max Peter Baumann from the University of Bamberg (Germany),  ”The Charango as Transcultural Icon of Andean Music“, from which I transcribe a part:

“In the Altiplano, on the other hand, particularly in the Oruro district, the material used for the sounding body came from the shell of the armadillo (charango de quirquincho or tatu), in unusual cases even from pumpkin shells or permanently formed bulls’ hides. The wooden pegs inserted from behind found in rural areas were generally replaced in urban areas with steel pegs with spiral screws inserted from the sides, and nylon strings displaced the steel ones. While the instrument used to be strung with animal tendons and gut in the villages for lack of metal wire, stringing with metal courses has since emerged predominant among the Indios, who prefer a metallic sound.“

If my post triggered any curiosity at all, then you should definitely read Baumann’s above mentioned article on this whole subject, and even learn a bit more about South American ways and History.

There are many resources out there, like the Sociedad Boliviana del Charango, so you’ll have no trouble finding out much more about this fascinating musical instrument.

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Photo taken in Machu Picchu

I’ve been wanting to post practical information on how to get to Machu Picchu on a small budget (also as in, forget about the Inca Trail – unless you really want to do it!), but I haven’t been finding the time. While most posts are written by memory, this one requires investigating the travel journal a bit more (’cause I wrote down some prices you might find useful to bargain, and all that).

However, I hope next weekend I find a bit more time to write it down.

Oh, one more thing I’ve remembered: when you taste Inka Kola, you’ll never want to have any other soda again! No, they aren’t paying me any commission unfortunately.

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