Peru...Part Seven...Cusco, Q’eswachaka and Three Rainbow Mountains....

We arrived in Cusco (Qosqo) after riding down the road from Ollantaytambo. During our short stay here we were going to meet up with our friends Melissa, Robyn,Georgina, Jerry and Jet whilst also having a day out in the center.

The day after checking in we got a taxi into town and went for a look round. The center square of Cusco,Plaza de Armas was our chosen place to meet up, easy and plenty going on around the square. With Cusco being the original Inca Capital, this square was once known as 'The Great Inca Square' (Huakaypata) at least until the Spanish invaded in approx 1533 after The Battle of Cajarmarca (mention in Peru Part). The Cusco area is surrounded by Inca sites and buildings, all fascinating stuff. If you have time to stay in this area,there's lots to explore. We certainly didn't see enough and will return to do more hiking at some point.

In the square where once the Incan Palace of Amarucancha stood, there's now a church,'Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús'. You'll also find Cusco Cathedral here but the square is more Spanish influenced these days with little remaining of the Incas but original stones in the walls. Besides the usual sellers,plenty of shops to buy souvenirs from and maybe you'll get caught..like me....a sucker for a 'fluffy'.....the local walking round with baby alpacas/llamas for you to have a photo with.....one hopes they treat their animals well and don't keep the babies away from the Mother's too long....personally if they're going to do this, I wish they had the Mother with them on a lead, so the 'Crias' don't get 'separation anxiety'.

Jet and Jerry were first to arrive and with Jet and I hobbling along on crutches, Jerry and Chris walked ahead to a little cafe down one of the side streets from the square, Paqcha Brewing. Turned out the little cafe was a Micro Brewery as well. Good food eaten, beers tasted, much chatting in between and Jerry making suggestions on 'socks'...ha,ha...yes 'socks' to reduce the swelling that my ankle was causing...what with Jet and her pinned leg and me ....you couldn't make a' good un' out of the pair of us. So sports socks were put on the list to buy before we left. After eating we went back to the square to hook up with Melissa, who'd been at work and we headed over to 'The Norton Rat's Tavern' to meet Georgina and Robyn. This pub is a 'Biker's Pub' and a 'must visit' when you're here.Don't forget to sign the Visitor's Book. Avid fellow travellers may recognise a few names in there...we did. I asked for some stickers while we were in there. Sadly they didn't have any at the time, so if anybody coming to or returning to England...bring some back.....but hey ho...the lovely Landlady disappeared ....and came back with a couple of free t-shirts....Nice one....Muchas Gracias 😊

After a fun afternoon in the Norton we all said our 'goodbyes' and Jet, Jerry, Chris and I went on the mission for sports socks and more food. Mission accomplished we then popped up to the lovely little house that Jet and Jerry had rented just above Cusco for Jet to rest up in whilst they were waiting for the 'all clear' to move on from the Doctor. And that was our Cusco, tomorrow we are riding down to Sicuani to visit the last remaining Inca rope bridge in Peru...

Queswachaka

We stayed in Sicuani because it's probably one of the nearest places to stay to get to the bridge, approx 42 miles from it.On the map there looks like there's a shorter route but it's actually not a road more of a mud track and the local we'd hired for a couple of days,David, said it wasn't driveable,

You can also do it from Cusco but it'd be a long day, it's 98 miles away. The hotel we stayed at in Sicuani,'Hotel Wilkamayu', was great and even had a real fire. It was clean, good food and the staff were very helpful. If you decide to stay there make sure you tell them you want food when you get there, check the Chef is available, though there are a few places to eat in the little town. There's also a childs' play area inside the hotel and safe parking round the back for motorbikes. We booked to stay 3 nights as we're also visiting another place which is off the main 'tourist radar'. More on that shortly.

From Sicuani the Q'eshwachaka Ropebridge is relatively easy to get to. If you're going by 'road bike' there's only one section in Yanaoca that was rough going through the town.We drove back up the 3S to Combapata and onto the 34F to Yanaoca, turning off onto the 126 to get to the bridge.

Once you've got through Combapata (it was Market Day when we went through) the drive to Q'eshwachaka is mainly through active farmland and a couple of towns. Once you get to the vicinity of the bridge the land becomes a little more dramatic,dropping down a winding road.

Many people have never even heard of Q'eshwachaka (loosely translated from the Quechua word meaning rope bridge). This is the last Inca bridge in existence today and hangs over the River Apurimac.The locals rebuild the bridge every June to keep the Inca tradition going. We weren't lucky enough to catch it at that time but if you do, you'll see whole communities come out and celebrate, all getting together to weave and build the new bridge. It's built of grass called q'oya and weaved into ropes which are then twisted round one another to form stronger 'cable' type ropes. Once the ropes have been woven,twisted and stretched,they're then utilised to build the bridge. For those of you wondering how you drive across....well you don't, there's a modern bridge slightly downstream for vehicles.

At the time it cost us about 40 Peruvian sols each which is about a tenner.

Three Rainbow Mountain

So...Three Rainbow Mountain....hardly ever heard about and way off the normal tourist track.We'd found out about it after discussing alternative ways to view the 'normal' Rainbow Mountain with Jerry and Jet. Jerry told us that this was a much easier option for me and even if I couldn't walk too much, I'd still get all the views......he was right....what an amazing spot.

David came to collect us and even he didn't know the way, ha, ha.....and he lives here, he'd heard of it but never visited so he was quite excited to be going on the day's adventure.

From Sicuani, drive back up the 3S to Combapata,pass through sticking to the 3S and at the other side of Combapata just over the red bridge over the Rio Salcca is a right turn. You will initially be able to see it on Google if you go into satellite mode as the CU1450. You can also view the red bridge in Street View.Keep following this gravel road until you come to a signpost at a fork in the road that says Palcoyo/Chullocca on it marked as the C-Ruta CU1367....this is not on Google in 'map view' but you can follow it on the satellite view setting. Take the left fork.Follow C 1367 to Chullocca and just keep going. You will drive through the Comunidad de Palccoyo,soon after you get to a little 'Registration/Pay hut'. Stop here and pay around 10 sols per person....that's about £2.50. There may be some children selling snacks and drinks as well. Once past the pay point, again just keep going and you will eventually come to a widened area with a dirt car park. You stop here, the road does continue further but this is where the walk starts and the views are outstanding. Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain is marked on Google as is the car park but it will not be able to 'map you there'.

Once you've parked up, you'll be able to see down into the valley and to the left of the car park is the start of the walk which heads up towards some jagged rocks. Lots of llamas/Alpacas and a few locals hoping to earn a little something. You have to go....it's just beautiful.😊

All the above photographs are natural, no photo shopping. You'll see tons of 'enhanced' pictures online.

REALITY ENHANCED

One tip if you decide to go to Three Rainbow Mountain, (not for you 'savvy' travellers).....if it's raining or even remotely misty, don't bother until it's lifted or dried up. The road is partly the red muddy stuff and for road bikes would be just a tad slippery in the wet , as for the mist or low cloud....would you really want to miss those views....it's a 'fine' days ride/drive and worth it.

For a stunning aerial view take a peek at some drone footage.from our friend Jerry Romine.

Video clip by kind permission of Jerry Romine

Want to see more? You can find Jerry on his Instagram,just click the phone. 📱

More video footage. Below will give you more idea of the road up to Three Rainbow Mountains as well as showing more rural life in Peru.

For those of you who like a bit of mapping, here's more idea on what you need to be looking at on Google Satellite imagery to get there.There are several pictures on a 2 second delay.