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3:00 am - wake up call.
4:45 am - depart via Execucar
5:30 am - SFO, sit for 2 hours
1:30 pm - Houston IAH, ate lunch at Bubba's Bar & Grill
3:30 pm - Depart Houston - 30 minutes late due to waiting for a flight from Japan
10:15 pm - arrive in Lima, customs/immigration and baggage + ATM, emerge into a sea of people at 11:15 pm
Taxi to San Ysidro district, 45 minutes in heavy traffic - even at 11:30 pm on a Saturday. Lima seems very big and busy. The streets are lined with packed casinos, nightclubs and eateries. The last couple of minutes of driving were OK, quiet.
We arrived at the Plaza del Bosque Hotel at 12:15 am. The room is huge and clean - but not very modern, except for the flatscreen TV with CNN and 15+ channels of porn. The room has several Cat 5 ethernet cables and instructions for using the Internet, but no wireless. 220 + 110 volt outlets co-exist in the bathroom, which has a bedet, tub and shower. There is a king-sized bed with a hard mattress, but nicely pressed linens.
I fell asleep to the sounds of the city below. At 5:30 am, the sun was up, and so were we - feeling like "deep fried death" :).
"June gloom" covers Lima. It's warm outside (61-71 F) while still being gray out. It reminds me of Summer in SF. It's my first day lived south of the Equator.
Breakfast had potato pancakes, olive tamales, a mango better than any I have tasted in the last 10 years, tomatoes and guacamole, along with all the usual European and American food stuffs. The coffee was pretty good, strong. We're off to Arequipa today!
Stepping off the plane in Arequipa, we were completely surrounded by towering volcanoes - quite a sight.
Our taxi driver told us that "Misti" is the biggest one. We're at 7,669 ft. and Misti is at least another 8,000 ft. or so above us - maybe more.
After checking into QP Hotel, we walked to Chi-Cha restaurant for lunch. I had salad with "papas y lapas" (limpets). Rick had roccoto pepper stuffed with alpaca. After that, I napped for atwo hours while Rick did laundry.
At 6:30, we had our "welcome drink" - a Pisco sour - in the hotel and then walked around town. It as surprisingly warm after dark. Around 8:00, we stopped for dinner at Sonccolnay "Pre-Inka cuisine", which means food grilled on hot lava rock. We had ceviche "cooked" in passion fruit juice, roast duck and another roccoto pepper with alpaca. This pepper was HOT! There were definitely Asian flavors with seaweed in the ceviche and peanut sauce in the roccoto relleno.
We finished with fruit in a chocolate "fundido" - also with peanuts - yum! I had my first Arequipena beer, which was nice and light.
Breakfast at the hotel was meh. We walked to the Sanctuarios Andinos Museum to see "Juanita" the ice maiden - a child sacrifice to the Ampato Volcano. She is completely preserved, including internal organs and ceremonial clothing and artifacts.
Afterward, we walked across downtown to the Contemporary Art Museum, only to find it closed. :( We decided to walk back to the hotel for a rest. We went to a cafe around the corner for beer and a snack. We had pig knuckles in an onion and tomato salsa - won't order that again! The Cusquena beer was good, however.
We went to the Santa Catalina monastery in the afternoon and spent a couple hours photographing the colorful walls and MC Escher-esque architecture, returning to our hotel to do laundry and nap. We left around 5:30 to walk to Jersalen street for dinner at Ary Capay - a typical restaurant. I had spit-roasted cuy and Rick had cuy adobo. They had traditional Andean flautists playing during the dinner. A large tour group came in and stymied our attempts at dessert. I did enjoy a glass of merlot/malbec, which was good.
We had an early breakfast at the hotel, as the pickup for our Colca Canyon tour was set for 9:15. It took nearly a whole hour to get out of town. We made a couple stops along the way - one for cocamate at 12,000 ft. and another at a high altiplano to get pictures of vicunyas and llamas.
We are the only Americans on the tour. There are 5 Peruanos, 2 Brazilians, 4 Spanish, 3 French, 2 Aussies and the driver and guide in addition to us. We came over a 16,000 ft. pass where we stopped for pictures. On the descent to Chivay, we stopped for a view. Rick and I bought some fine alpaca hats from a local lady who was actually knitting on the spot.
Upon arrival, we walked around Chivay a bit. It is a charming town. I got suckered into a lovely water color of local women and llamas. In the early evening, we took a trip to a local hot springs, where we soaked for 45 minutes at 39 C, while watching a zip line soar overhead. After dinner, we stopped in town for a quick bite. I had cream of quinoa soup & fries, while Rick had lomo saltado. Afterward, we walked back to Pozo el Cielo (our hotel) and enjoyed the stars overhead.
Oye vey! The day started with a 5:00 am wake up call, followed by a quick and meager breakfast at the hotel. Then, we were off to find condors. The drive was on a fairly sketchy dirt road - similar to how I imagined the drive the previous day would be (to my pleasant surprise, it was not).
We arrived at Cruz del Condor, and the birds were already flying. There were about 10 out, and 2 full adults soaring all around Colca Canyon, perching just below the lookout. It was absolutely spectacular and well worth the trudge. After the stopped flying, we walked around a bit on the trails. At 9:45, we turned back toward Chivay.
We lunched at yet another over-priced, but good, tourist buffet. Then, we started the 3 hour trek back to Arequipa. The highway had seemed to me a bit dangerous, with lots of 3rd-world driving. I had prayed for safety many times along the route. About 1 hour out of Arequipa, we came across a fatal head-on collision between a milk truck and a tiny tico taxi. So, I guess my fears were not unfounded. It took around an hour to clear the scene. Then, we completed the journey in time to do laundry and head to dinner. We at pizza at Nono's, which was only OK. Then, we had gelato after, which was also only OK.
We got up at 4:45 to catch our plane to Cusco. Oye! This meant a tasty breakfast at the airport. The flight was good, and we arrived a bit early. The only downside of the trip was being SEVERELY over-charged for the taxi ride to town - 80 soles, which was 2x what we paid in Lima for a ride 3x the distance. I had half a mind to chew the guy out and say "eres loco!", but I did not.
After checking in to the Rumi Punku, we walked down to Jack's Cafe, which was on our street, and quite well-known. I had capucchino and appetizer platter, which was fantastic. We tried to stop by Llama Path after lunch to pay our balance, but there were closed for lunch. So, we went back to the hotel for a nap.
At 3:00, we headed back to Llama Path to complete our paperwork. We found out the balance had to be paid in cash. This sent us on a bit of a goose chase to find an ATM that would give us enough dollars or soles, which also ended up emptying our pockets. We had barely enough soles left for dinner and a couple gifts from a fair trade group at the church.
In the evening, we went to El Cajon de Naupa restaurant down the street, which had 3 fixed menus, which were good and reasonable. I had asparagus soup and lomo saltado of beef. We had a custard for dessert.
We got up super-early on Friday for our Sacred Valley Tour. We started by driving over the pass to Pisac ruins where we viewed a cemetery and some houses and terraces. Then, we went into the town of Pisac for shopping. Rick and I checked out the local produce market instead. Then, we drove down to Urubamba for lunch, which was overpriced at 35 soles + beverages, but good. I finally had the trucha, or trout.
We continued on to Ollantaytambo, which was pretty interesting, with a mountain similar to Huayna Picchu that had a granary near the top. We walked to the top to the sun temple and then looked at the fountains below.
For our last stop, we headed over another pass to Chinchero, where we got a demonstration from the local Quechua women and girls on spinning, dying and weaving. We arrived back around 8:00 and had breakfast for dinner at Jack's. We invited a couple we had met on the tour to share our table, since it was crowded and tight on seating.
On Saturday, we slept in and rested in the morning. It was good since there had been fireworks, a car rally, and loud music until around 1:00 am - a part of the festival of the Virgin. Our only task in the morning was to take our laundry down to be cleaned.
We had salad and cake at lunch at Jack's and then went for our city tour. We were led by a Quechua man, who gave an interesting perspective on the local culture and customs. We visited the cathedral, monastery, and Sacqsayhuayman, Tambonachay and Tipon archeological sites outside of town. One was a fortress/temple, one an aqueduct/temple, and one a labyrinth where sacrifices were made and mummies prepared. We ended with a gratuitous shopping stop.
Afterward, we ran through a parade for the festival to make it to our trekking meeting. Finally, we ended with dinner at El Cajon del Naupa again, which was not quite as good as the last, and hot chocolate at Encantada cafe down the street.
We met up at 5:30 am for our tour and took a Sprinter van to the town of Urubamba. As it was Sunday, the breakfast place was not open. So, the crew stopped at the market to get breakfast fixings and we stopped at the base of the trail to eat.
Then, we set out walking along a creek, gradually climbing out of the forest into a higher area that looked like Lord of the Rings land. Then, we started climbing steeply up a waterfall to a high plain, which was our lunch stop. It was raining pretty heavily by lunch. The crew had set up a nice dining tent for us. We had soup with a mussel, and rice and trucha.
After lunch, we started the next part of the ascent. It had rained through lunch, but dried out nicely for the next part of the walk. We ascended a second waterfall to a high altiplano for the night. We were fast, but our tents were waiting for us. I was more than happy to dive into the tent as it was nearly freezing already.
I felt woozy as I rested in the tent and attempted to lay down to calm down a bit. I ate a banana and chewed some coca leaves. When Rick joined, I sat up and said "I don't feel so well" followed by a sprint out of the tent and an offering of my lunch to Pacha Mama (mother earth). Ugh.
The dinner and rest of the night were a bit of a haze as I was puking every half hour for the first couple hours, then every hour, then every two. Once, I couldn't open the tent in time, and I ended up spewing on the bottom of Rick's sleeping bag and my own arm. At one point, I was worried I would need to be taken back down the mountain. But, in the morning, I was told there was an "emergency horse" (a mule) to assist me.
I couldn't eat anything in the morning other than tea and a piece of dry bread. Thanks to Cipro in the system, I was able to keep it down. Then, we headed up the pass. I too the mule, Sorayu, for the first bit, and then I had to walk about 400 meters up a very rocky section, then mule for 200 meters, walk 200 meters, and 200 more to the pass.
The pass was stunning and snow-covered. I walked a majority of the descent past many alpine lakes - taking the mule about 40%. Hector, our guide, led the horse, and we conversed in English and Spanish.
We stopped in a high plain for lunch. A local village woman had trekked some cold beverages up from the nearest town. So, Rick had a beer, and I had a Cola, which helped me feel better - along with an electrolyte drink Miguel and Hector mixed for me, and a Gatorade. Hector pulled me the next 6km or so and I walked the last 4-5km to the Lares Hot Springs.
We had a soak and a shower, after which I felt halfway human again. I had a tiny bit of dinner and then a REALLY long sleep from 9 pm to 7 am.
Around 10 am, we thanked our porters and horsemen. I gave my jacket "chaqueta roja" to Mauricia - the woman porter from Lares. After the thank-yous, we walked to the town of Lares where we tried some honey wine from a local bee keeper. We also bought some early morning chi-cha (corn beer of the Andes) and then purchased some extra to try later in the day.
When we arrived back, Elvis, our cook, had made us a cake (I don't know how!) to celebrate our journey to Machu Picchu the next day. After 1:00, we loaded up the bus to drive to Ollantaytambo.
We went up and over a 4,800 meter pass (~16,000 ft.) on about the craziest road I've ever seen. It was < 1 lane, dirt, and had some CRAZY vertical exposure with no guard rails. There was also construction, which meant doing a passing dance with road crews all the way up. You haven't lived until you've done a 6,000 ft. climb and descent on a road like that!
We had dinner in Ollantaytambo and said our thanks to Hector, who was catching a bus back to Cusco. Then, we walked to catch our train to Aguas Calientes. On the train, we met a nice, if a bit obese, Chileno, who had lived all over the world. We conversed in Spanish and English.
When we got off the train in Aguas Calientes, it was quite late, and was like entering the Twilight Zone. We meandered with all our stuff throu a sea of people, following Miguel our guide. It was a maze of steep streets, humidity, people, jungle, and an endless stream of shops and bars - all playing the Peru vs. Argentina World Cup qualifier with dozens of people staring at the TVs from the street.
We finally landed at our hotel, which seemed nice. But, we found out we did not have a reservation at the usual spot. So, we continued through the maze to Plaza Andina Hotel. It seemed like only a two-star - barely passable. But, at least we had a private bath and a wall-mounted A/C unit. Otherwise, it was fairly dodgy. We went to bed around 10 pm with the alarm set for 4 am - and the sound of the soccer match still pouring out of every doorway in town.
We woke up at 4 am and staggered out of our room - only to find the breakfast room empty except for Jana and Jack - two of our tour mates. Around 4:45, the breakfast was mostly out and our group was gathering. Apparently, the hotel staff had failed to wake us up as agreed. We were all ready to walk out around 5:00 and were in line for the bus at 5:20.
The ride up the 400 meters to Machu Picchiu city was on a similarly dodgy road as the one we had driven the day before. We finally emerged - plenty ahead of the sun rise. It was fairly heavy cloud cover, so a spectacular sun rise was unlikely.
Miguel led us on a 2.5 hours tour through the main sites. One thing I really appreciated was the symmetry used by the Inca - how the building strongly mirrors the landscape around. We visited the temple of the sun, the royal chambers, the terraces, the burial temple and the sundial.
After the tour, we had free time. So, Rick and I headed up to the sun gate - a 4km uphill hike. We descended down the first few steps of the Inca Trail and then came back through the gate and down to the city. Then, we toured the common houses and up to the guard shack and above toward the route to the Inca Bridge.
Finally, around 1:00, we were pretty beat up and ready for rest. We had a cold beverage and ice cream and then caught the bus back to Aguas Calientes. We met up at Apu Salkantay Restaurant to see if we could get the earlier train. We could not. So, we hung out there and then moved to a cheaper place for food and drink. By the end of happy hour, a couple of our group mates were fairly well lubricated. But, they bought more beer to take on the train. As we left to catch the train, rain started to fall.
Our group drank its way back on the train and bought even more liquor on the train. Then, we got on our bus to Cusco, and they made yet another beer run. Rick and I had stopped pretty much back in town, but nursed small glasses of beer to keep the drunks at bay. We finally arrived back in Cusco at 10:45 and said our goodbyes to Miguel and the rest and caught a taxi back to our hotel.
The Rumi Punku had our suitcase waiting in our room. Yay! It took until midnight to get everything re-packed and get showered.
Our group for the tour:
We caught a 10:00 am flight, meaning a 6:30 wake up. A more reasonable 12 soles taxi ride had us at the airport. In Lima, we took the official taxi to Miraflores and the Hotel Antigua, where we did our final laundry and I had a LONG nap.
We walked to dinner nearby at Brujas de Cachiche. We both had lovely salads, and then shared a Chupe de camarones and a leconchito (suckling pig). We had pumpkin donuts with ice cream for dessert. Yum! We had a nice stroll for about 30 minutes following dinner. The neighborhood seems lively in a good way, if a bit crowded in places - a nice vibe overall.
Ahhh. Our first day to sleep in - in what seems like a long while....We had a leisurely breakfast and then walked to the Huaca Pullaca ruins in the Miraflores neighborhood. Ther are Lima culture from 200-1500 A.D. Until 30 years ago, the pyramids were being used as a motorcross track. Ugh.
Afterward, we walked through the neighborhood and water front, ending at Punto Azul Cebicheria, which was recommended by Miguel. It was fantastic! I've never eaten such a large pile of seafood in my life! Afterward, we did more strolling on the waterfront and found a Gelateria Laritza and enjoyed a cone.
After a nap, we had a dinner stroll up the Diagonal, ending at the Haiti (pronounce aye-tee in Spanish) for dinner - which was just salads as we were still filled from lunch. The Haiti is a long-time Lima establishment that Rick remembers from his earlier trips as a somewhat dangerous place were political subversives cooked up mischief.
Saturday, we had another leisurely morning and then took a cab downtown. Downtown was a bit out of my comfort zone - very crowded and dirty. We took a tour of the museum of the Inquisition in Spanish with a big group. Then, we walked to the Biblioteca Nacional, which we could only have limited access to :(. The interesting thing, was that we actually saw the sun downtown. Rick claims to have never seen the sun in Lima on several prior trips. Yay for us!
We had lunch off the main square for 15 soles, which was quite tasty. Then, we hightailed out of downtown. We got dropped off at the Parque del Amor and walked south along the waterfront and back to the boardwalk area for coffee and gelato. After watching the cloud-set, we walked back to the hotel area to VinodalVino restaurant across from the hotel. I had caprese salad and lasagne and chocolate cake. The highlight of the meal was a different pisco cocktail made with milk, which I preferred to the pisco sour.
After dinner, we did a quick stop by the hotel and got our bags and a taxi to the airport. It was my first time in first class, so we enjoyed hanging out in the lounge with wi-fi and watch a movie while waiting for our midnight flight.