Major Takeaways
Peru is a country with great potential and great problems.
It is a great place to visit. Peru lacks a lot of the infrastructure that we in
the U.S. take for granted, i.e., a decent road system. I am so happy to be able to live in the
United States.
The company leading the trip, Overseas Adventure Travel
(OAT) places a premium on what they call “Learning and Discovery.” By this they mean that they try to provide
lots of opportunities for travelers (not tourists) like ourselves to learn
about the places and people we are visiting through a process of
interaction and discovery. I think that they succeeded.
The Peruvian people are very hard working and
entrepreneurial. Market capitalism is
alive in Peru.
Peru is a culturally diverse place. There are three distinct cultures which are
geographically based:
-
The big city coastal
culture with Lima being the prime example.
These people are “modern” with an emphasis on commerce and city
life.
- The River people and the
culture along the rivers. The river
people can further be divided into the aboriginal people, the indigenous
people, and the farmer/trading people.
- The Mountain people and
the culture in the mountains.
Each of these cultures is distinct and they don’t always get
along. The cultures and needs of these
different people present many challenges to the country. It was
fascinating to be able to visit all three cultures in a short period of time.
The biodiversity of the area was impressive. The colorful birds, monkeys, sloths, ants and
other insects, butterflies, fish and other water creatures we saw and the
diversity of plant life gave us a sense of wonder and appreciation for our
planet. All of the plants and animals
(and humans) displayed an amazing ability to adapt to the desert coastal environment,
the annual flooding and wetness of the river environment and the high altitude
of the mountain environment.
According to several Peruvian people, Vina speaks Spanish
with a Mexican accent. She was able to
communicate and understand all except the river dialect which the river guides
lapsed into from time to time making sure she did not understand.
Hector picked us up to take us to
Sky Harbor but Gary forgot and left the computer on. After about two miles headed to the airport,
we turned around and went back to the house to turn off the computer. We started again.
We joined up with the Schwalm’s,
the Anderson’s and John Johnson at Sky
Harbor.
We had an uneventful flight to
LAX where we had a nice dinner and then checked into LAN airlines for our 8 ½
hour flight to Lima.
The flight took off from LAX
shortly after midnight Lima time, which is the
same as U.S.
east coast time.
After our overnight flight and a
few hours sleep, we arrive in Lima are 9 a.m. local time. After we collect our luggage and go through
immigration, we are met at the airport by our OAT guide. We board a coach (bus) for the trip to our
hotel in the Miraflores District of Lima (about 40 minutes drive). We drive through the city and along the
coastline (which is quite foggy/misty) before we reach our destination.
We meet up with the rest of our
group (24) and receive an orientation before we head out to a restaurant for a
group lunch.
Lima is in a desert coastal area
with almost no annual rain fall. Many of
the buildings are built with the idea that they won’t ever get wet. In many ways, the coastal environment
reminded me a lot of Rocky Point – only more dry.
After lunch we are taken to the Archaeological Museum where we are given a guided tour
and learn of the history of the area – the Inca’s and the Spanish. There was no
written language before the Spanish so little is known of pre-Spanish Peruvian
history.
After visiting the Museum we went
to the main plaza in Lima
– Jiron de la Union founded in 1535. We
toured the Cathedral San Francisco but were not allowed to take pictures in the
church. The tour included visiting the
catacombs of the church and seeing many, many bones of those interred
there. The church/monastery is run the
Franciscans who take a vow of poverty – but are happy to accept donations for
the church.
San Francisco is a very opulent
church with lots of gold and silver, large magnificent paintings and elaborate
decorations.
While being very tired and
suffering from information overload, we enjoyed the tour.
We returned to our hotel around 7
p.m. We went to dinner at a small
restaurant across the street from the hotel with Gary and Marge Anderson. Some of our group with more energy than us,
ventured out and went to a restaurant with a show.
After dinner, we crashed!
After breakfast at the hotel, we
boarded our coach for a tour of Pachacamac – an archaeological site of pre-Inca
ruins. It is in a desolate desert area
and quite large with the bus taking us from one part of the site to
another. We took a short hike up to the
top of the Temple
of the Sun.
After touring Pachacamac we went
to visit Villa El Salvador – an impoverished district where squatters from the
mountain regions live. They have managed
to develop a pretty amazing community. It
began in 1971 when people displaced from their Andean homeland were forced to
resettle in a spot near Lima
that, though located on the seacoast, consisted of desert terrain. Over time,
the residents organized themselves and worked with the Peruvian government to
create a functioning society, complete with schools, clinics, water and electricity,
parks, and paved roads. In 1983, the town was declared an official district of
Lima, and in 1986, it was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize for its
community-building efforts. We toured their village, brought them some food for
their community kitchen and saw a level of poverty and community and desire to
better their situation. It was hard to
see while at the same time, quite inspiring.
After returning to the hotel, we
walked to Kennedy Park, saw the church on the plaza, some art works on display
for sale and then headed back to the hotel for a short rest before a group
meeting at 5 p.m.
We went to dinner as a
group. I had something that was sort of
like fajitas. Most dishes came with both
rice and potatoes and often also with yucca.
For a salad we had avocado stuffed with some cut up vegetables – it was
very good.
We took the coach back to the
hotel and set the alarm for 5:30 a.m.
Tomorrow Iquitos.
Got up early this morning, packed
our luggage, had breakfast at the hotel, boarded our coach and headed to the
airport by 7:30 a.m.
I thought the airport was quite
busy and crowded – especially for a Sunday – but was told, no, it was not
particularly busy this morning.
We checked our luggage, went
through security and had to wait for our plane which finally took off about
11:45 a.m. We arrived in Iquitos around 1:30 p.m. And while Iquitos has seen many commercial
fortunes rise and fall, its isolation has remained constant: Access to the city
is by air or river only.
We are picked up by a very small
bus where we all crammed in for the ride from the airport to our local
hotel. Along the way we saw much of
the city of Iquitos. Most transportation is by three-wheeled
motorcycle type vehicles called TukTuks.
They are everywhere and they carry everything.
Once we arrived at the hotel
(along the river’s edge) around 2 p.m. (we are running about 1 hour late
because the plane was late taking off from Lima), we immediately walk to a restaurant
named Picanto about one block away for lunch.
Both Vina and I had an avocado
salad. Vina had “Chicharron de Lagarto”
(Caiman nuggets with palm heart salad and deep fried plantain) as her main
course. Gary
had “Picadillo de Carne del
Monte” (shredded rainforest guinea pig meat with Amazon seasoning and rice).
After lunch we went back to the
hotel for a short siesta.
We gathered again around 5 p.m.
to begin a walking tour of Iquitos. This was the time of carnival (pre-lent) and
there was a large festival going on along the river front. This is the Itaya River – a tributary of the
Amazon. As we were walking along a main
street a large number of young people celebrating (and probably a little drunk)
drove by on their motorcycles/scooters/tuktuks and got us with water balloons. Unexpected excitement! Seems this is a tradition at carnival time.
Much of the architecture we see
is a 19th-century vestige of the era when European barons held sway over life
and culture here. We saw the
neo-colonial architecture of the city and joined what seemed like thousands
(more probably hundreds) of local people at the street festival.
Then we visited the central plaza
– Plaza de Armas – saw the church and watched as a worker climbed the flagpoles
to secure the ropes. (Every town in Peru
has a Plaza de Armas.)
We went back to the hotel for a
meeting about tomorrow and then dinner on our own at a local restaurant. We joined some of our fellow passengers and
went to get a pizza. Unfortunately, the restaurant
kitchen was overwhelmed by our numbers and it took almost an hour of waiting
before we got our meal.
After dinner we walked back to
the hotel through the crowds who were still celebrating.
Up at 6 a.m., repack our bags,
have breakfast at the hotel and then board the same small bus for the short
ride to the dock to board our ship – the La Arapaima. We get settled in our cabin and go up
topside to the observation deck – which is quite pleasant with a nice
breeze.
Our ship casts off around 9:45
a.m. and winds its way to the confluence of the Marañon and Ucayali
rivers, considered to be the point where the main stem of the mighty Amazon
begins. For this first part of our
cruise, we are truly traveling on the waters of the Amazon River itself, not
just its tributaries.
The river is VERY wide with many,
many islands. It is a muddy brown
color. We see lots of people in their
boats on the river and several river houses along the banks of the river. We see some dolphins and several different
kinds of birds.
The Amazon Basin
is a fragile environment, constantly under threat from industrial development
and population growth. Some 60 miles south of Iquitos, however, the Peruvian government has
established the Pacaya-Samiria Reserve, encompassing five million acres and
accessible only by water.
After lunch on board of fried fish
and baked chicken, rice, beans and avocado and tomato salad, we took a siesta
(which was to become our daily routine) in the heat of the day. They also served a very good juice made from
local tree fruits which looked like grapes.
After our siesta, we board the
ship’s skiff for a narrated ride along the edge of the river. We saw many colorful birds, some iguana and
we were very fortunate to observe a large three toed sloth climbing down from
high in a tree. We were told that they
come down out of the trees once a week to defecate. Must have been his time…
After about two hours exploring
the river shoreline, we returned to our ship and prepared for dinner.
We enjoyed a beef soup and fried
catfish for dinner – along with a green been, carrot and tomato salad and rice. Dessert was a passion fruit pie – very good.
We were given a demonstration on
how to make a Pisco Sour – egg whites, Peruvian type liqueur and some simple
sugar. A tasty and potent smoothie. After dinner we retire for the night.
Tomorrow should be a very full
day. Our wake up “knock” (no phones on
board ship) will be at 5:30 a.m.
Up a little after 5 a.m. Get dressed – coffee and then into the skiff
for a nature hunt along the river. We
saw lots of very colorful birds and saw several monkeys playing in a tree. I wish I had a better memory for (or had
written down) the names of the birds and other animals we saw.
We returned to the ship for
breakfast. After breakfast we headed out
to visit a small village of about 20 families alongside the river. We visited one family’s home, saw how he
harvested the roots of a yucca (not at all like our yucca) tree and watched as
his wife was cooking our lunch (we would come back later) on a wood fired
grill. The kids caught some kind of
catfish. Chickens were prevalent. Fruits and sweet peppers were growing all
around. The houses were built on stilts
to allow for the annual flooding – which is expected soon.
It was very hot and humid.
We went to visit the school where
the children sang some songs for us. We
left some school supplies we had brought with the school administrator. It was both heartwarming and heartbreaking to
see these kids. The potential is there
but the challenges for them to gain an education as we know it are extremely
difficult.
After visiting the school we
returned to our ship which had “docked” next to the village – actually it just
pulled up and parked on the river bank as there was no dock.
After refreshing ourselves and
using “the facilities” (a term we would use to mean going to the bathroom), we
returned to the village for our home visit and lunch with a local family. Twelve of us went to visit Lorenzo (the man
we had visited earlier) and his family.
Banana tree leaves were spread on
the floor of the house/hut as the table and an extensive meal of fish (two
kinds), pork – sort of a relative to the javalina, bananas, yucca, salsa, nuts,
casaba and two kinds of juices – a sweet lemon grass and another whose name I
don’t remember but was a very good sweet fruit juice.
After lunch we gave the gifts we
had brought to the family – a solar powered light and a couple of baseball
caps. They seemed very grateful.
We then went to a small artisan
market they had set up for our benefit.
Vina bought a gourd carved a butterfly.
We returned to the ship and took
a siesta.
Around 4:30 p.m. we boarded our
skiff to go to another village for an individual ride through some local river
areas in dug-out canoes. It was very
peaceful, very beautiful and very relaxing.
I took some video just to record the quiet of the jungle.
Upon returning to the ship we got
ready for dinner. We were entertained by
four members of our crew with great musical numbers. They named themselves the “Chunky
Monkeys.” It set a festive mood.
Dinner was – as past meals – very
good with salad, fish, beef, a soufflé of something yucca and rice. Dessert was apple pie (don’t know where they
got the apples because they don’t grow around here!).
We headed to bed to get ready for
our 5:30 a.m. wake up knock.
Up at 5 a.m. this morning and
board the skiff by 6 for an excursion up the Marañon River, a tributary of the
Amazon. We see all sorts of birds –
several kinds of hawks, parrots, parakeets, kingfisher, and toucan. We observe a group of monkeys playing in the
trees.
I tried to take pictures but the
birds blend in very well with the foliage and are hard to see. My camera’s telephoto lens was not quite up
to the task.
After about a 2 ½ hour ride up
stream we search out some “terra firma” – some actual land that we can walk on
so that we can use “the facilities” that Mother Nature provides.
Our local guide uses his machete
to hack a short trail through some jungle and sets up a plastic privacy
screen. The women go first to use “the
facilities” and then the men.
Primitive but most welcome.
We then push back from the land
to the river, where we are served a nice breakfast – that was sandwiches and
coffee and fruit. Nicely done.
After breakfast, we turn around
and head back down river toward our ship.
Along the way we observe lots more wildlife. Those jungle sounds that you hear at Disneyland and in the movies really do exist. The rainforest is filled with the sounds of
many animals calling out to one another.
Upon returning to the ship, Gary was feeling a little
headache, so we rested until lunch.
We had roast beef for lunch. After lunch it was siesta time.
We met at 3:30 p.m. for an
orientation on our evening ride in the skiff to observe night wildlife in the
Preserve. We leave the ship a little
after 4 p.m. and follow the river Marañon for
a couple of hours. The sun sets around 6
p.m. We are able to observe many birds –
including a whole flock of hawks. We saw
some monkeys up in the trees. We saw
parrots and toucans. At dusk we turned
off the motor to the skiff and sat in silence for three minutes to listen to
the sounds of the rainforest.
Impressive. Some tree frogs make
a clicking sound!
We then started back as the river
became darker and darker. There are no
lights in the rainforest. The stars
shown brightly.
Usiel, our naturalist guide,
spotted a small caiman (like an alligator) in the water and they pulled the
skiff alongside. Jesus, our tour guide
leader, quickly reached over the side and grabbed the caiman. The animal could easily have bitten off a few
fingers if Jesus had missed grabbing him just right. Jesus allowed us all to take pictures and
examine the caiman up close. The then
returned him to the water.
We got back to the ship around
7:15 p.m. and headed to dinner.
Tomorrow will be a very long and strenuous
day with an all day trip on the skiff through the Preserve.
Up at 5:30 a.m. We are “docked” next to Ranger Station #1 on
the Pacaya Sameria National Reserve. The
place is thick with mosquitoes. Lots of
sun screen and DEET bug repellent were the order of the day.
After breakfast, around 9 a.m.,
we board the skiff for an all day adventure exploring the Preserve.
We rode back up the Marañon River where we had been yesterday and
kept on going all the way to the third ranger station.
Along the way we saw many
different and colorful birds including several brightly colored macaws. We saw more monkeys in the trees.
After arriving at the Ranger
Station, we had lunch aboard an anchored ship.
After lunch we head out for a hike through the rainforest. The Amazon rainforest (the flooded forest) is
unlike other rainforests we have visited in Hawaii,
Alaska and Puerto Rico. The moisture and density are hard to
adequately describe. Bugs – especially
mosquitoes – were everywhere.
We saw a whole column of leaf
cutter ants doing their job of cleaning up he forest floor. We saw fire ants that made a special kind of
tree their home. We were warned not to
touch this tree or we would be stung.
And we saw bullet ants about ¾ of an inch long with terrible bites. Unfortunately Gary
Anderson was bitten by one through his sock and suffered
greatly for the next couple of days.
We saw many varieties of trees
that have adapted to the moisture and annual flooding in mahogany, palm and
“grandfather” trees. The jungle is not a
place I would like to be alone or a place I would like o spend any extended
period of time. It was a strangely
beautiful yet foreboding place.
It felt like being in the steam
room at the gym.
After the jungle hike, we reboard
the skiff and head back towards home but taking a small detour to visit a
lake. I don’t know how they can call a
body of water like this a lake but …
In order to get to the lake we
had to boat through acres of water lily kinds of plants that seemed to be a
meadow with nesting birds. It was pretty
amazing. We saw lots more birds, monkeys
and a sloth up in the trees.
We got to the ship around 5:30
p.m. We cleaned up and got ready for
dinner.
Everyone seemed eager to talk and
interact this evening and we enjoyed several good conversations with people.
This was a far up the river as we
would go. We left this morning and
headed back down river – back the way we had come.
After breakfast we stopped at the
village of San Ramon where we are taken to a small hut for a meeting with a
shaman. Like a curandaro, he had a
variety of native “medicines” – potions made of natural materials from the
rainforest. He was able to cure many
common maladies and served as the “midwife” for the birth of children. He offered a blessing for us which included
blowing tobacco smoke on each of us.
He combined medical and spiritual
dimensions to his work. I was struck by
the seeming commonalities between most all religious rituals I have experienced
including this one deep in the Amazon.
Then back to the ship for lunch
and siesta as the ship continued down river.
After siesta, Vina decided to
stay behind and Gary
went off with the group to go see the giant lily pads and go fishing for
piranha. The lily pads were quite
impressive with nocturnal flowers and thorns along their sides. They look pretty but are not very
friendly. Lots of bugs like the lily
pads.
After seeing the lilies we head
over to a flooded grove of trees for fishing.
On the way we pass a village where the children are having a great time
swimming and jumping off of trees into the water. They seemed very happy to see us. We waved and took lots of pictures. The tropical sun was very hot.
After they passed out the fishing
poles and some cut up beef as bait, we all tried to catch a piranha. Gary
was the first to catch a red belly piranha.
Its teeth were quite sharp. (Its lower jaw and teeth is now a souvenir
at home). We continued fishing for
another 45 minutes and Andrew also caught a piranha. A couple of other smaller fish were also
caught before we headed back to the ship.
So far on this trip we have not
had any daytime rain – most unusual we are told. We are happy for the good weather. It is very
hot and very humid –
especially during siesta time – which is one reason for taking a siesta!
We enjoyed another good meal
although we were disappointed that the ship had run out of beer. We made do.
We were entertained by the
“Chunky Monkeys” – a crew member band that was very enjoyable. After dinner they showed a National
Geographic movie about the Amazon which showed many of the things we have seen
up close and in person.
This was our last full day aboard
the ship. After breakfast we boarded the
skiff for the last time and went to Nauta town for a tour. Nauta has more than 20,000 people. The pictures show some of what we saw but not
the smells and sounds. We toured the
market which is held every Saturday.
Amazing. Whatever you wanted to
buy was available there. We were each
given one sole to purchase some food to be fixed for lunch. It was amazing how much fruit could be
purchased for just 1 sole (about $.37).
After exploring the farmer’s
market – where Vina was able to use her Spanish speaking abilities to good
advantage, we took a three block walk to the Plaza de Armas in Nauta.
There we shared what everyone had
purchased. Then we got into the
mini-moped three wheeled Honda carts (called tuktuks) for a tour around the
town. We visited a park/lagoon where we
saw a caiman, lots of turtles, and several fish. We fed the turtles some bread and then went back
into the tuktuks for more touring. On
the way our moped threw a chain but it was quickly fixed and we continued
on. Some of us needed to use an ATM so
we headed off to the local bank but the ATM machines did not work – mission not
accomplished.
We made it back to the skiff and
back to the ship and continued heading for Iquitos.
We took a tour of the “below
deck” part of the ship and saw the engine (190 hp), the kitchen, the water
processing area and the crew’s quarters.
We also went up to the wheelhouse (bridge) where the Captain steers the
ship. They were rather elementary systems
with the sonar broken. The ship clearly
relied heavily on the expertise of the Captain.
Then it was time for lunch and
siesta time. We started to pack to get
ready to leave the ship early tomorrow morning.
We have not had any daytime rain
but it was threatening. The wind picked
up and it turned just a bit cooler – but no rain.
The cultural differences in Peru
are quite pronounced.
- Aboriginal people living remotely in the jungle cut
off from the rest of the world.
- Indigenous River people who interact
with others and live along the river in a subsistence mode.
- City people who live in the cities and towns and
follow mostly European ways.
- And mountain peoples who we will learn more about
next week.
We enjoyed our last dinner on
board. We were entertained by the
“Chunky Monkeys” again before dinner and greatly enjoyed the energy of the
band. After dinner the Captain and crew
came in and were presented. We all got up
and in a receiving line gave them their tips in envelopes – the crew, Usiel and
Jesus.
We went back to our cabins to
complete our packing and get some sleep before waking at 4:30 a.m. for a 5:15
a.m. breakfast and 6 a.m. departure for the airport.
Up early and into a small bus for
the short trip to the Iquitos
airport. Our flight is only a few
minutes late taking off. We are headed
back to Lima where we will check into the same hotel where we stayed
earlier. We arrive back at Lima and meet our new
tour leader – Cero (pronounced like zero except with an “S” – Sero). We board a bus and head to the Hotel Jose
Antonio in the Miraflores section of Lima
– about a 50 – 60 minute drive from the airport.
We try to check into the hotel
but they are not ready for us. So we
leave our luggage and walk several blocks past Kennedy Park (named for JFK) to
a restaurant for lunch. The lunch was
good and filling but not memorable.
After lunch we walk back to the
hotel, checked into our room (9th floor with a great view all the way
to the ocean). We reorganize our stuff
and pack everything we want to take to Cusco and Machu Picchu into one bag.
After a siesta, we join Dave and Karen Schwalm and John and Cathleen Brock to explore
a bit of the area and find a restaurant for dinner. We walk the several blocks to the ocean front
where there is a large American style shopping mall built into the side of
cliff. It goes
down three stories
and includes a Tony Roma’s, a TGIFriday’s and a Chili’s among many others. We chose a Peruvian restaurant named
Mangos. We took our seats on the patio
overlooking the Pacific Ocean and enjoyed a
fabulous sunset.
After an enjoyable
dinner, we walked around the mall just a bit and then walked back to the hotel. Remember, we had woken up at 4:30 a.m. this
morning and we were tired.
Tomorrow we travel – the 12 of us
on this leg of the adventure – to Cusco.
Up at 5 a.m. and complete
packing. Off to breakfast at the hotel
and then board a coach for the ride back to the Lima airport.
The route and the sights are now becoming familiar.
We board the plane a little after
9 a.m. and head south east over the Andes
mountains.
We arrive at the Cusco airport shortly after 10 a.m., collect our luggage
and board a coach for the ride into town and our hotel. We are greeted at the hotel with cups of
cacao tea. Cusco
is at about 11,000 feet and altitude sickness is sort of expected. I feel a little light headed and develop a
small headache – not bad but noticeable. “A little curudo.” We are checked into our rooms and told to lay
down and rest for the next couple of hours.
We are glad for the opportunity.
We gather in the lobby around 1
p.m. and head across the street for lunch.
The restaurant has musicians playing flute and the food was very good.
After lunch we begin a walking
tour of Cusco.
We walk quite slowly because of the altitude. We end the tour at the Inca
Temple of the Sun (now a Catholic
Church) and tour the ruins of the Temple. We learn a bit about the distinctive Inca
architecture. Inca walls are built at an
incline – not 90 degrees and the stones fit together with incredible tightness
and accuracy. The Inca’s were first
known in the 1100’s and the Inca Empire lasted from the 1400’s to the arrival
of the Spanish in 1539.
Vina now believes in ET as she
cannot see how the ancient Incas could have moved and cut these huge rocks
without heavy machinery.
We walk back to the hotel around
5 p.m. and go to the room to rest until we meet at 7 p.m. for instructions for
tomorrow and go to dinner.
After a nice breakfast we board
the coach and head to an archeological site of the Inca’s called Saqsaywaman
(sexy woman). The major part of it
consists of two long zig-zag walls. It
is hard to imagine how the ancient Incas managed to build such walls with such
large stones put together like legos and no modern machinery.
We then toured another part
called Q’enqo where there was a long carved pathway curved through a rock and
then another tunnel where the Incas prepared bodies for mummification. One needs to use your imagination to
understand how these areas may have been used 600 or 700 ago.
We then boarded the coach for a
trip to visit a native Inca healer for a spiritual ceremony calling upon the
mountains to help cure our ills.
It was a pleasant experience to
watch the man place representative items of the world into a ceremonial pile
then wrap it all up into a cloth. He
then used the square bundle to bless each of us.
Ancient or modern, the religious
ceremonies seemed consistently similar over the centuries.
We then moved on to visit a
showroom of woven goods. They explained
and showed us some of the differences between baby alpaca, adult alpaca, alpaca
and synthetic fabrics.
Then on to another buying
opportunity at the silver factory. I had
promised Vina a gold bracelet for Christmas this past year but we were unable
to find one that she liked. We were able
to find a gold bracelet chain for Vina as a late Christmas present.
Then we headed for lunch at the
home of a local family. These home
visits are unique to OAT travel and I find them very enjoyable. We were able to talk with the family – a mother,
a 5 year old daughter and a 21 year old son.
A really nice experience.
Then back to the hotel. We take a short walk to a local supermarket
and buy some water and snacks to take with us on our trip to Machu Picchu tomorrow. We visit a local warehouse full of small
souvenir shops and buy some T-shirts and other items to take back home.
Then back to the room to repack
what we will need for our train trip into our backpacks. Then siesta time and get ready for dinner.
This was a special day. We got up early and after breakfast
boarded a coach for the trip to the Sacred
Valley. Cusco is at around 11,000 feet elevation and
we drive over the Andes Mountains up to more than 12,000 feet before dropping
down to the Sacred
Valley. At the Sacred Valley we join the Urubamba
River which we will follow all the way to Machu Picchu.
We stop at an artist’s studio
where we buy some of the ceramic artwork.
We then head to a farmer’s market
which is held every Wednesday. It was a
pretty amazing sight to see. All kinds
of potatoes, beans, corns, chickens, ducks, turkeys and everything else you
might imagine. It was a wonderful
experience.
We arrive at the town of Urubamba
where we board the train for the last leg of the trip.
The train is a nice narrow gauge
railroad with small but thickly padded seats.
We follow alongside the river and see some amazing rapids. It was the rainy season and the river was
full.
We finally reached the small town
of Aqua Caliente which is changing its name to Machu Picchu town, around 2 p.m.
– 7 hours after leaving Cusco.
We are tired but eager to get our
first glances of the “lost city” of Machu Picchu. We leave our backpacks with the staff, carry
just what we need – hiking poles, small backpack and water – and board a local
bus for the ride up the side of the mountain on some rather harrowing narrow
switchback road. The exciting drive up
the mountain takes about half an hour and then the site comes into view.
We enter the park and immediately
begin the hike up to a major lookout point.
While we all have probably seen
the pictures of Machu Picchu, seeing it in person is quite dramatic. The afternoon was chilly and the clouds were
floating in and around the mountains. It
was beautiful. We finally get some rain as
we tour Machu Picchu.
We toured the ruins. I wish I would have taken notes to capture
just some of the knowledge of our guide.
It is hard to imagine how the
Inca’s managed to quarry the stones used for the buildings, transfer them to
the site and then to build the structures.
Those stones were large! And the
masonry used to put them together is amazing.
It is hard to imagine. Makes you
want to believe in creatures from outer space doing the work.
Also we do not know why the
Inca’s built Machu Picchu in the first place.
Was it a retreat for the nobility?
Probably not. Was it the start of
a new city that was not finished?
Maybe. Was it a university?
Perhaps.
Whatever it was built for, it is
one of the only places not changed by the Spanish conquerors that arrived in
the 1500’s. Machu Picchu was built
around 1440. Why it was abandoned, we do
not know. But it remained hidden in the
jungle until Hiram Bingham re-discovered it in 1913. It provides one of the best archeological
records of the Incas surviving today.
After touring the site, we
returned on the bus down that switchback road to Aqua Caliente where we had
dinner and then checked into our hotel for the night.
We got up early, ate breakfast at
the hotel and boarded the local bus for the harrowing trip on bus #19 up the
mountain to Machu Picchu. The driver of
bus #19 seemed determined to make it up the mountain in record time. He was fearless and paused for no one – not
even buses on their way down.
We arrived at Machu Picchu before
the crowds. This is free time to explore (learning and discovery!) and five of
us chose to go with our local guide Saul and hike the Inca Trail from Machu
Picchu up to the Sungate. The Inca Trail
was “paved” by the Incas with stones. It
is a consistent upward climb – not too difficult but consistently up. There is one section close to the top where
the trail is narrow along the side of a cliff.
Exciting. The sky is filled with
floating clouds and the view is constantly changing and magnificent. Vina makes it almost to the top and the
other four of us (plus Saul) make it all the way to the Sungate.
Then it was back down the same
way we came up. On the way down we see
some beautiful iridescent butterflies, lots of different kinds of orchids and
wonderful views.
The hike took about three hours.
We then headed back to Aqua
Caliente, gathered our belongings and had lunch before heading to the train to
begin our journey back to Cusco.
The train ride back to
Ollantaytambo is much the same as the trip up.
The river Urubamba is running swiftly and the scenery is
impressive.
After leaving the train, we board
our coach for the trip over the mountain back to Cusco. On the way we make a couple of stops.
Our first stop is at the town
square, where we take a short walking tour of part of the village observing the
ancient Inca architecture and stone masonry.
More learning and discovery and seeing up close how the ordinary people
live.
Then we get back in the coach and
our next stop was a local “bar” alongside the road where we were introduced to
a Peruvian game where you try to toss brass coins into a brass frog’s
mouth. Fun. Then we tasted the local brew – a sort of
beer that came in two flavors – one flavored by strawberries. The beer was brewed right there in pots. Again, more learning and discovery and a
glimpse of the lives of local people.
Then back into the coach and the
ride back to Cusco. We climb to over
12,000 feet before dropping down to the 11,000 feet of Cusco. Along the way we have wonderful views of some
snow capped tops of the Andes.
We arrive back at the hotel after
dark and have dinner.
Our wake up call is 4:15 a.m. to
allow time for us to get to the airport for our early flight back to Lima.
We got up early, have breakfast
and board our coach at 5:45 a.m. for the short trip to the Cusco airport.
We get checked in and all goes
smoothly. We say a fond good bye to Cero,
our tour guide for the last six days.
Our boarding time arrives but there is no plane. There are clouds and fog all around. Finally we are told that Cusco is fogged in
and the planes from Lima are circling overhead but cannot land until the
weather improves. Around 7:45 a.m. they
announce (in Spanish) that the flight has been cancelled and direct us through
the airport and down to the luggage area to collect our bags. We then go to the end of a long line with all
the passengers from the four Lima flights that were cancelled.
Gary went ahead, while everyone
else waited for the luggage, secured a place in line and then found a public
coin phone to call our tour guide, Cero.
Cero had not left the airport and soon reappeared to help us through
this process.
We end up spending about three
hours standing in line. No seats were
available until the next day. This
messed up all of our international flights back home. Finally things got sorted out and all 12 of
us were re-booked – but not until the next morning was everything finalized.
We went back to the hotel around
12:30 or 1 p.m. We were exhausted and a
bit cranky from our experience. We went
across the street to a restaurant for some lunch and then back to our hotel
rooms for a nap.
We met again as a group at 7 p.m.
and Cero passed out the new flight schedules for everyone.
Everything was OK for everyone
except for Gary and Vina who had been booked on a late afternoon flight back to
Lima – too late to collect the luggage we had left at the hotel in Miraflores.
After some phone calls to correct things – to no avail – we decided that we
would go to the airport at 8:30 a.m. the next morning to try to get the
Kleemann’s ticket changed to go with the rest of the group.
We had dinner at the hotel
restaurant, went back to our room and crashed.
We sleep in until about 5:30
a.m., get up, organize our bags for the trip to Lima, have breakfast and then
go down to the lobby to wait for Cero.
Ciro arrives about 8:30 a.m. and
we catch a cab to the airport where we are greeted with another long line. We waited in line about an hour and finally reach
the front counter where Cero helps convince the person that we
needed to
be on the flight with the rest of our group.
He is successful.
Back to the hotel to collect our
luggage and then back to the airport with the group.
We fly from Cusco to Lima and are
met by our local guide, Jose. We board a
coach for the ride to Miraflores and our hotel.
Once we get settled into the
hotel and collect the luggage we had left there six days ago, we repack and
consolidate and get prepared to join the group for dinner. We are met by another local guide and she
takes us to the same restaurant we had visited earlier. It entailed a walk through Kennedy Park –
which was busy with lots of people enjoying the nice weather and just being out
on a Saturday night.
Then back to the hotel and we
board our coach for the ride to the airport.
We get to the Lima airport, check
in with a young trainee who is flirting with her co-workers. We finally get our boarding passes. We go through security and begin the great
wait.
We board the plane around 12:30
a.m. and settle in for the 8 ½ hour ride to LAX. The flight goes without incident. We then make our connection to Sky Harbor and
arrived back in Phoenix around 1 p.m. local time. Given the changes in our flight schedules, we
were not surprised to discover that Gary’s luggage did not arrive. We reported it missing and the luggage was delivered
to our home around 9 p.m.
What a trip!!
