My crazy Irish friend, Aiden, decided we needed to take a road trip. So we decided to head out of Cusco and to the state of Apurimac, to the town of Abancay. I knew very little about this region of Peru, but Aiden had heard about some great ruins and a natural preserve that were supposed to be pretty cool.
So off we went…The adventure started with us getting a bus ticket at the Cusco terminal – which has now been moved to very far outside of town…we finally found it, and got the last ticket for the day aboard a double decker tour bus. We braced ourselves for an always-exciting bus ride through the Peruvian Andes. Despite the constant fear for my life – I couldn’t help but be in awe at the amazing beauty of the scenery. I had never driven so far out of Cusco – the ride was four hours of winding down the Andes and one visual splendor after another…
At one point near Abancay, Aiden tells me “I think this is it” and proceeds to tell the bus driver to let us out right there. I looked around, saw that we were in the middle of nowhere, and said, “are you kidding me??” He assured me he kinda knew where this thing was, so he grabbed my bag, and we hopped off the bus. As it drove off, and I realized I was in the middle of the Andes miles from the main town, I felt a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. So, off we went…
We began hiking down a path off the side of the road, and soon, began to see other signs of life, and a few actual human beings. We asked a local man if this was the road to Saiwite – and he kinda nodded yes. For those who haven’t been to the Andes, you will learn that when someone tells you “it’s just over there”…either it’s actually quite farther than that, they have no idea whatsoever, or they are just straight-up lying to you. So, we proceeded, and soon saw this amazing little boy with his llama. I fell in love with them both immediately, and took this great photo, that still doesn’t do them justice, but I think it’s pretty awesome.
After paying what we think was a park employee about 10 soles each to proceed, we see off in the distance this immense boulder. We walked up and couldn’t believe what we saw…this legendary Monolith of Saiwite was right in front of us…it was amazing. Better to just share the pics :)
