Peru Tour - 5 - Machu Picchu

29 Dec 2005 – Machu Picchu -> Cusco

It was noisy outside so it took a long time to sleep, but still got up to the wake up call. It was raining so decided to delay the Machu Pichhu climbing…slept some more. Got up later and went for breakfast, the bag will be sent to the railway station. The fruit and bread was not that great, but pineapple jam and potatoes were awesome.

Reached Machu Pichhu by 7:30 am and by 8 am we were ready to conquer Wayana Picchu. Two Japanese girls got together with us as they did not know where the entrance was. We have company. We signed in and started the climb. Little did I know what I was getting into! The trail is about 200 m high and took about 1 hr. to complete. The steps were all very uneven and made of rocks. There was rope to hold on to, but not in all places so had to have good balance to trek.

My bag pack was too heavy for this kind of trail and then I had to take off my jacket too…an added burden. The climb was steep and I had to stop at several places to catch my breath. The girls and Bhaiya never needed to stop…but they did for me. Sweet. I really feel out of shape!

We reached almost the top and walked around the mountain and admired Machu Pichhu and Urumbura. It was cloudy but the clouds kept moving so all was visible.  We sat and admired all the scenery before hitting the last few meters of the trek. Oh! Who knew it was going to be like this.  There was a narrow, dark and low tunnel – it was only a few feet but I had to crawl through the hole without my bag pack to get through. A little harrowing. And then a wooden staircase let us to the highlight of the climb….the top of Wayana Picchu.

Wow!! What a view! So worth all the climb. There were some huge rocks and there were already so many people up there.  We sat for a while, walked around, took some nice pictures.  We sat and waited for the clouds to dissipate for about an hour.  It did get nice and sunny. Then it was time to go down!

We decided to go the other way, not the way from the hole. The first thing that came was a huge steep rock with some place holds for feet, but oh Lord it was steep! The only way down was to just sit and slide down, and that was not the worst of it. Then came the narrow, steep, small steps.  The steps were so narrow that I could barely keep a foot on them and that too sideways. When I saw them, I just about freaked out! It would need total concentration – sort of meditation, to go down. It was treacherous. I was facing the mountain and held the rocks with both my hands. There was no rope! It was such a relief to be down those stairs.

The rest was still rocky and uneven but doable.  Going down I did not have to stop. We got back to the gate by 11:45 am. And it just started raining, so all in good time. I was exhausted! I wish someone could carry me to the train. It rained and rained. We sat around Machu Pichhu till 1:30 pm and then took the bus down. (The Adios kid followed again!)  There were many kids doing touristy things, like dressing up traditionally for photo ops.

We walked around Agua Calientes to shop a bit, until our train time. Train left punctually at 3:35 pm.  The scenery is great as usual. They brought out some snacks, cookies and cake and drinks. Then some dancers came by with local dance show and grand finale was a lovely fashion show of all the local wool wear. Some of the shawls and sweaters were beautiful but as expected more than $100. Good thing I don’t wear these clothes.

We arrived at Poroy at 6:30 pm from where our guide/driver picked us up and took us to Cusco, back to the same hotel. It was a 25 min drive.  The hotel did not save us a double room so they put an extra bed in another room and no phone. Not cool.

We had some tea and went to do some grocery shopping. I always love going to local grocery shops. Bhaiya took a long time to decide which cookies he wanted which then did not buy any J.  We did buy some juice and plantain chips. I had some hot chocolate, made by hotel manager, it was great! Very rich.

Great day! Great climbing, great train ride…I have lovely visions in my head.

Peru Tour - 4 - Machu Picchu

28 Dec 2005 – Machu Picchu

Got up by 6 am and were having breakfast by 7 am. Good spread of juices, the local pita bread, potatoes, pancakes and eggs. I ate a little bit of everything (as I always do!). The omelet was delicious!  The taxi guy promptly at 8:15 am to take us to the train station at Ollyantatambo. Waited for our 9 am train to Agua Calientes, on the base of Macchu Picchu.  The train was very comfortable, it was AC and the TT played three roles: that of checking tickets, serving us breakfast (which we could not eat as we were full) and finally as a vendor for the Macchu Picchu goodies.

The scenery on the way was beautiful. We rode by the Urumbura River, it was flowing rapidly over rocks and boulders – I don’t think this one can raft in this river.

We reached Agua Calientes promptly at 10:40 am. Met the guy from the hotel (Inti Inn) and our tour guide from Condor Travels.  He was a short, stinky man – Horatio. He was a little hard to follow because of his strong accent.

We took the bus to go up the hill to see Macchu Picchu – a 20 min ride. Lovely ride, went like a zig zag on the side of the mountain to get up to the top. The Sanctuary Lodge was at the bus stop. I am really eager now to see the sights! 

The first sight is awesome! Terraces going from bottom to higher ground. There were sections of building of solid stone, the roof must have been made of something else that is why it’s not there anymore after 500 years.

Macchu Picchu was discovered only around 1920 and it is speculated to be about 500 years old. It is hard to tell authoritatively who lived there and how. It’s quite a mystery. Apparently this site was chosen to keep it as a secret; but was this a religious community, a royalty with slaves – who knows? But it is definitely an Inca ruin. The architecture and build of the buildings is the same as we have been seeing for Inca history. They all have same joints as others. The stones had a variety of cuts – 4-12 and they still managed to fit together – great engineering. Some had the male-female joints for good connection. All stones are granite, so dark and definitely very hard. And their sizes are so big – who knows how they cut them and put them in places.

There is a great significance of 3 in Inca – the three animals are the condor, puma and the snake. The symbol of Inca is also significant – why? Horatio showed us all the rooms and temples but its all speculation. Everyone seems to read the same touristy books. Macchu Picchu was not discovered by the Spanish so Inca were their own enemies by letting their culture die out by making Macchu Picchu so inaccessible and secretive. If they were hiding from someone – then who? So many questions… The Inca did not have a script, their structures don’t have any carvings either. So maybe they were a culture just trying to exist – there was no way for them to communicate except verbally, which is probably why they did not last long.

Being on the top of the mountain must have been hard too…it was not an easy mountain. They did have a good aqua duct and irrigation system, a good ventilation system – so really good engineers. Rooms were all small, the doorways are all small - maybe they were tiny people. But then how did they manage to move around such huge stones? And why are the royal quarters and the farmer’s quarters the same size and shape? Maybe this was a monastery.

Horatio was speculating that about 3000-4000 people lived here – but it seemed big enough for only a few hundred. So right now I am just going to admire the place, make my own story sine the one from the guide is not working well for me.  We went all around Macchu Picchu before going to the Watchman’s Hut – which is where one gets the classic view of Macchu Picchu.

Just spectacular! I can just sit there and not know how much time has passed by. Today it rained all for almost 3 hrs. while we were touring. It’s no fun trouping such a beautiful site under an umbrella. And of course since we were high up, clouds were everywhere. It was very pretty, but still….

Horatio left us to tour by ourselves at 1 pm. We had lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge. I was a little tired as there was a lot of going up and down during the tour. Lunch was buffet and it was ok – had some lentils, rice, potatoes.

The sun came out at 2:15 pm. And we went to the Watchman’s Hut the hard way – straight up! Okay! The view was just amazing – breathtaking. Sun does make things so much better.

We decided to go on a trail hike – about 35 mins round trip to see the Inca Bridge. Nice walk, saw the Urumbura River all the way. We were walking away from Macchu Picchu at this point. The trail was not that strenuous – just narrow but not hard to do. The bridge was a little rinky dinky thing on the side of the mountain – but still….a nice Kodak moment (or Cannon moment).

Came back by and decided to tackle the Sun Gate trail – 45 mins walk one way!! And the entire trail was uphill. Oof – what a killer! It was really tough on the feet and butt…but of course I did it. It was lovely view all the way. We could see MP from there – quite spectacular – totally worth the walk. There were a lot of people on the trail, so it was nice. There was a wishing point on the way. I never miss an opportunity to make a wish.

Walk back was a lot better as it was downhill. We stopped again at the Watchman’s Hut to get some more photos. Now MP was quite empty…lovely.  Took the bus down to Agua Caliente around 5:15 pm.  A little boy – around 6 yrs. old, would come to our bus at every curve and shout out “Adios”. So cute – little dangerous, but so cute. At the bus stop his dad and he came on the bus to ask for money. Oh I should have seen that coming!!

Agua Calientes is a little town which has a hot spring (hence the name). The town is really just there for MP visitors. So it’s all very touristy. It is full of hotels, restaurants and shops. Our hotel seemed so far away from the bus stop, since my feet were really hurting. We checked in – nice hotel. We walked back into the city to have dinner – pizza. We also managed to get pisco sour (a drink). Pizza was good – thin crust and not oily like American pizza.

What a great day! Went back to the hotel, took a shower and went to sleep!

Peru Tour - 3 - To Machu Picchu

27 Dec 2005 - Cusco -> Machu Picchu

Buenos Dias!

It’s not cloudy today and we are in no hurry today. The tour bus will be here at 8:30 am to pick us up. The bags were packed for 2 nights. We will be back in Cusco for one night. Went for the delicious, simple breakfast.  We gave our hotel manager a small gift (part of Christmas too). Our guide came at 8:30 am promptly and we were off. Left the rest of the luggage at the hotel.

We were the 2^nd group to be picked up so we had great choice of seats in the bus. We met some of the same tourists as yesterday as they got picked up. Our guide today was Elizabeth, was an older lady and very good in speaking English.

During the drive to Pisac we stopped in a couple places to take pictures. We were descending from Cusco. The scenery was just lovely – huge mountain ranges with valleys below for agriculture. All the spots we stopped at had nice shops and kids dressed locally ready for photo shoot. Its interesting business.

We drove to llama farm owned by a family. There were different size and color llamas – who knew there were so many types! And they were quite tame, we could get close to them and take photos and feed them.  There was a little tour thing too – they showed how they would dye the llama wool and some handloom work. It all ended with a gift shop – of course. Everything was very expensive there. It was all good but too expensive. And for me – not quite useful as I don’t wear sweaters or shawls. A very good stop…

Out first real stop was Pisac, which is an agricultural town. It has a great market! It was about 11 am and we had about one hour to shop around.  We thought it would be more than enough – wrong! We had barely seen half the market in one hour. We started with having boiled bhutta, and then walked around. The shops were amazing, so much to buy! A lot of them had the same stuff, but it was good stuff. And the jewelry – so much jewelry – I had to buy some. Walked around some more. Every time I thought I was done with buying, I was buying some more. I think I will be needing a couple of llamas to carry my stuff.

From there we drove to Urubamba, which is a town near Rio Urubamba. For lunch six of us got down at hotel Alhambra while the rest of them went to hotel Tunupa. Apparently ours has all natural food. The food was good. Salads were all tasty, macaroni and cheese, some spinach and cheese pastry. The potato vegetable was very tasty (it could have been just the potato being tasty itself).  Deserts were okay. Peruvians seem to eat their rice kheer with purple corn syrup. Nothing too exciting for me.  The best was the quinoa soup! Amazing! And finally we had tea – real tea – no coca business.

Walked around for the 5-10 mins we had to take photos – there were beautiful flowers all around. Elizabeth came promptly at 2 pm to pick us up.

We drove about 20 mins out to Ollantaytambo ruins.  I like how Elizabeth is doing the tour, very relaxed. We walked about 1 km to get to the site. The ruins were primarily huge blocks of stones, there was farming going on the steps. On the top was the sun temple. It was a huge area. It was about ½ km high and wide. There were 300 steps leading to the sun temple. After a little intro from Elizabeth, we all braved the 300 steps. These were not just steps, they were high steps! It was not as hard as it looked, but still!  

The top was wonderful, little windy but good view of the town and the steps below. The walls were made from huge rocks cut very nicely and placed on each other with quite precision. And they were not all squares either. A number of rocks were quite odd shaped, but still were not cemented together. They were just placed on each other.

The sun temple was for huge stones – about 10 ft. high and 4-5 ft. wide joined by narrow blocks of rocks. There were some carvings on it too. The zig zag carving seemed very common as is the number 3 – which for Peruvians signifies the sky, earth and the earth below.

We walked around the terraces to other terrace, past the storage house and dam. Quite a good tour. We finished off by seeing the water temple where people would take ablutions. The only sad part about all this is that a lot was ruined by the Spaniards and there is no clear historical description describing the structures. A lot of it is speculation.  Most of it was written in the 1920s – so quite recent. There is no sculpture or any paintings showing the life of Inca people.

We were done here by 5:20 pm. The tour was going on to Chenko but we were going to be dropped off at a hotel in Yucay. The hotel was a beautiful setting. Lovely courtyard with flowers all around, even better than the Cusco hotel. Our room was very nice – great view of the mountains on one side and the courtyard on the other. We walked around a little bit, but it started raining so we came back.

Good day!! 

Peru Tour - 2- Cusco

26 Dec 2005 - Cusco

A new day in Peru! Were ready by 8:30 am. There was breakfast downstairs. It was very informal and unassuming, and so tasty. Started with papaya and orange juice. Then came the local bread, kind of like the pita bread only tastier. And of course coffee. Amazing coffee – Indian style not American! Everything was just great. Really felt like I was on a vacation.

Went off to wander the streets of Cusco. Took the scenic route to San Blas, a beautiful plaza with a church. On the way were several art shops. We did buy a number of things today. The plaza up the San Blas was lovely. Stopped by another shop there to take pictures and shop. We walked uphill on Choquechaca to get to another plaza. This walk was a killer!

And then we turned left and there were more stairs!! The first right from that road brought us to a beautiful spot from where we could see the entire Cusco valley. The walk was so worth it. We sat there for a while.  A few women walked by with llamas and of course we would have pay them to take pictures with the llama – did not do it!

We walked to the church and there was a traditionally dressed woman with a girl with a llama. Again one would have to pay them for photo. I think there are too many tourists here so they come all traditionally dressed. We walked down Procuradores to Plaza de Armas. Good walk! 

Went back to the hotel after a little more shopping. Ate lunch, took a nap. The tour bus came to pick us up at 1:40 pm. It was for five places:

1.       Cathedral at Plaza de Armas

2.       Museum of Religion (or Museo de sittio del Quricacha)

3.       Saqsaywaman

4.       Tambomachay

5.       Qenqo (Quencho)

Here is the description.

1.       Cathedral at Plaza de Armas: at least we had seen the Plaza, but the church came as a great surprise. It was just beautiful inside. We were not allowed to take pictures inside because the Catholic Church has patents on the design – well fine. The left entrance had a beautiful gold motif from floor to roof – about 50 ft. tall! Amazing! And the work was very intricate and beautiful. It’s strange because outside the building is a just a dark stone building and inside it’s just too beautiful. There was a huge painting which has both Spanish and Cusconian art. There was a beautiful organ room for the choir. Lovely architecture. All the work was a great blend of Spanish and Cusconian art. The central pulpit was made with 2.4 tons of silver. All so beautiful. Apparently the church had been destroyed by an earthquake about 400 years ago, but was restored again in 1912. All just beautiful – wish we could have taken pictures.

2.       Museum of Religion (or Museo de sittio del Quricacha): This was okay. There were some old Inca walls. The guide, Jose, told us about the architecture. The big stone blocks were kept on top of each other, not cemented together. There were grooves which would fit into the stones to hold them.

The next three stops were old architectural sites, quite similar but different purposes.

3.       Saqsaywaman – this was very impressive! These were huge stones placed in a zig zag manner in three steps. The guide was not able to explain why they were made this way. Maybe the zig zag was lightening and the three steps were the order under the universe, the earth, hell and heaven? The only thing remaining of whatever these blocks were for were just huge stones in an entropic manner. Apart from the huge blocks and design there was nothing else to see here.

4.       Tambomachay – this was smaller and was supposed to be a resting spot for travelers and did not have any buildings remaining.

5.       Qenqo (Quencho) – also did not have much except for some tunnel. The guide said it was supposed to be a temple – but who knows?!

Drove back to the city and got dropped off at the hotel around 5:30 pm. Got a little bit of a city tour from the bus. Decided to go to a dance/cultural show at 7 pm. So had some coca tea and left at 6:30 pm. The cultural center is not far at all, and besides everyone seems to walk here. The show was quite nice. The dresses were quite colorful and interesting. The dances were quite pretty but had very similar steps in almost all dances. It was still good to see.

Came back by 8:30 pm, had dinner and time to go to bed!!

Peru Tour - 1 - Cusco

25 Dec 2005 - Cusco

Our guide, Jorge, picked up us at Lima international airport and took us to the domestic, which is next to the international airport.  We had to rush as there were only 20 mins for departure! We got a little Christmas gift as we boarded the plane – sweet. It was a comfortable flight even though it as only a 55 min flight. We got a little snack to eat. We started to see the Andes range – very pretty with all the snow capped mountains.

We reached Cusco on time and Carlos, another guide, picked us up. He gave us some instructions about the high altitude (~11,000 ft.) and took us to our hotel, El Andereigo. We got tea as we got into the hotel – sweet! Carlos told us our program for the next few days.  Sounds good since all I can think of is going to sleep! The hotel is very nice, very comfortable room and so quiet. (Maybe a little too quiet!) I took a shower and went to sleep. It is quite cold here.

Got up around 1 pm, ate some puris and walked the short 4 block walk to Plaza de Armas. It started raining as we were walking out. The streets of Cusco remind me of streets of India. They are all cobblestone, little dirty and narrow. Houses and businesses are mixed. A number of shops are closed today because of Christmas day. 

But as soon as we reached the Plaza, there were many people there. It seemed like everyone was out. There were a number of Americans and a lot of foreigners. We walked around – took pictures. The plaza is very picturesque with flowers all around and a fountain in the middle.

Plaza de Armas

We came back to the hotel by 3 pm, rested again for a while (not to forget, we have to get used to the altitude). Went out again at 5 pm. Our hotel owners were having their Christmas dinner right there at the hotel and they offered us their home made Tiramisu – oh wow! Amazing taste! And so nice of them to share. We went out to the Plaza San Francisco. It was very crowded. There was some sort of meeting going on – must have been a college thing as all the people were young.

Plaza San Francisco

We then walked to Plaza de Armas about 3-4 blocks away. We found a restaurant Tunupa there where they have live music and dance. So we came back to our hotel, had our dinner and went back to the hotel to have desert and enjoy the dance show. Very nice show. The dresses were colorful and dance had stories in it. We stayed for about an hour. Oh – the desert were not that great. No chocolate!

Plaza de Armas

Came back and promptly went to sleep.

Peru Tour - PreTour

So begins the trip to Peru. Bhaiya (my older brother) and I are going. This trip has been in the planning for more than one year and has finally culminated!!

In October we bought the tickets and decided to use the touring company Peru4me. I had found Richard from one company and then Bahia found Maria in this company. Both were about the same in prices and packages, so we decided to go on with Maria. I had no issues. Since Bhaiya is doing most of the planning he should go with who he is more comfortable with.  I am happy not to deal with the planning so much, I can take a break.

We are flying American Airlines – best price! We both upgraded our tickets to 1^st and business class. Had enough points to do it. I am glad we did this – it’s a long trip. Just two days ago I had come by first class from Honolulu to Dallas – courtesy of the ticketing agent. It was quite an experience for me – my first time! The air hostess hovered over us the first two hours with drinks and nuts. They even managed to bring me something vegetarian. It was surprising that they did not have any vegetarian dinner! Well – the nice thing is that in first class I at least got something to eat.

This will be the first full first class trip for me. Great!

We have a good itinerary:

Miami/USA -> Lima -> Cusco -> Macchu Picchu -> Lake Titicaca -> Arequipa -> Cocla Canyon -> Lima -> Miami/USA

Just hope all goes well.  Kansas City to Dallas was great and Dallas to Miami was even more fantastic. I almost had my own little cubicle in the plane – four times the size of coach – OMG!! It had this $75,000 chair which could do anything I wanted, swirl, lay back to give a bed, etc…awesome! Had a really good dinner of salad, tortellini and bread topped off with cheesecake. Watched TV and just enjoyed my journey.

Reached Miami and went to the Admiral’s Club (only for first class travelers – what a privilege!). It was a nice lounge with complimentary beverage (even alcoholic!), snacks and shower.  Sat around reading magazines until Bhaiya arrived from Columbus.

Boarded the plane to Peru. The first class on this one is not that better than coach – just some little bigger chairs and little better service.

Landed in Lima, Peru on Christmas Day at 5:30 am! Merry Christmas.