This week’s dream: hiking the high road to Machu Picchu
Coachloads of tourists leave the Peruvian city of Cusco each day for the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the lost city of Machu Picchu. But to immerse yourself in the Andes mountains and to discover something of the local culture, you should make the journey on foot, says Stanley Stewart in Condé Nast Traveller. To do so via the spectacular Lares Valley takes four days. Passing through villages where you hear more Quechua (the “soft, sibilant” language of the Incas) spoken than Spanish, this route sees few tourists. Nonetheless, there are luxurious places to stay along the way, thanks to Mountain Lodges of Peru, a company that donates 25% of its profits to local communities.
First stop is the old Inca town of Písac, where the market square teems with local women in hats, riotously colourful skirts, and woven shawls concealing babies, lambs and trussed-up chickens. Tiers of ancient stone walls rise up the mountainside above it to the Temple of the Sun, an Inca monument that is “the equal of anything at Machu Picchu”. Reaching the height of their power in the 15th century AD, the Incas had some “odd” obsessions – such as human sacrifice and skull modification – but at “ravishing” sites like this there’s no doubting their artistic genius.
Beyond Písac, you pass villages with simple bars where fattened guinea pigs (a local delicacy) run about on the floors, offerings are made to a moustachioed local god called Ekeko, and chicha (corn beer) flows freely. Then the way becomes lonelier, crossing the Ipsaycocha Pass at 4,450 metres, and affording “immense” views across rank after rank of “spectacular stony-faced summits”. Finally there is Machu Picchu itself, whose origins are shrouded in mystery, and whose great walls have been laid low by time, but whose location – astride its own mountaintop, “framed by plunging canyons” – is overwhelming. Audley Travel (01993-838620, www.audleytravel.com) has a 13-day Peru trip from £4,750pp, including flights.