Peru: Some Closing Thoughts

Now that our trip to Peru is winding down, here are some thoughts about our two weeks here, in the order in which they come to my head.

• Traveling on a trip like this, in a country without an easy-to-navigate tourism infrastructure, S and I both felt that we needed a travel agent to handle the details of our trip. We found Roberto at Peru Inside Out, and he and his support was exceptional! When we landed in Lima, the driver handed us a cellphone that we used on occasion to check in with him, but usually, things ran smoothly. Drivers met us at the hotels, airports, and train stations. We had knowledgeable guides on our trips (Nancy in Lima, Roberto himself in Arequipa, Omar in Colca/Chivay, Janet in Cusco/Sacred Valley, Augustine in Machu Picchu, Dino in the jungle), and the details of the trips (hotel reservations, train and plane tickets, etc.) were all taken care of. We definitely splurged on this trip, but if you want to go to Peru, check out Peru Inside Out (and I hear they're expanding into Ecuador too!).
• I'm very glad that most of our tours were private. The one time we spent stuck on a large bus (for Inti Raymi) was awful.
• Speaking of Inti Raymi, don't buy the ticket to the big show. It's not worth it. Just wander the town and go to the two free events in Cusco proper.
• Cities we liked: Lima, Arequipa, Cusco.
• Cities we didn't like: Puno
• Hotels we loved: Casa Andina in Arequipa, Colca Lodge, Tambo de Inka in Urubamba, Inkaterra in Machu Picchu Pueblo, Hacienda Concepcion near Puerto Maldonado.
• Hotels we didn't like: Tierra Viva in Puno (but the staff was great)
• The star-rating of hotels seem to be relative to what the city has to offer. Tierra Viva was a four-star, but it was by far the worst property we stayed at.  Colca Lodge was a four-star, but it was on par with the five-stars in the Sacred Valley. Do your research!
• In general, all of the staff at the hotels, airlines, etc., were all excellent. Most spoke English, and if not, they indulged my pigeon Spanish.
• We spent way too many days traveling. There was one time we spent three nights in one place. The rest of the time, we were in the same hotel for one or two nights. That was a mistake.
• Also, we planned too many things. We actually had very little time where we were able to laze about. The few times we did, it was often because we were on a train for 10 hours, or something like that.
• Do not discount the altitude issues when traveling in Peru. It's there, and it's real.
• S found some clothing made by Ex Officio that was specifically treated to ward off bugs. We both bought some, and I treated some of my other clothing with a spray to do the same thing. It worked fantastically. We both came back from the Amazon jungle with nary a bug bite.

If we were going to come to Peru again, I think this might be a smarter itinerary:

• Three nights in Lima
• Three or four nights in Cusco
• Four or five nights in the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu
• Three nights in the jungle

Peru: Day 10: Machu Picchu and back to Cusco

It was way dark this morning when I got up and left the hotel. S finally was getting a good night's sleep, so she stayed back. I grabbed some food from the hotel breakfast, made my way to catch the first buses up the mountain, and was inside the sanctuary while the sky was just starting to glow.

I hung out for a while, taking photos, until the crowds turned my perch into a hollering spot. After that, I packed up and joined a few new friends for a hike along a ridge line to an old structure overlooking Machu Picchu. My new friends are in the middle of a long journey around the world, and we made plans to possibly meet up when they pass through LA in May.

By now, the sun was fully up, but I had a few hours to kill before my entry time for the Huayna Picchu hike. Huayna Picchu is the big mountain that's always in the background of the iconic MP shots. You can hike it, but you need a ticket and are assigned an entry time. By the time my window opened, I was ready for a challenge. I hadn't gone running in over a week, and my body was anxious for a push.

The round-trip up and down HP is estimated to take around two hours, but you're given a four-hour window to complete it. The record for the fastest trip up is 22 minutes. I did it in 25. By the time I got to the top, I was soaked and winded, but the views were tremendous. The peak was small and rocky, and only a half dozen people could be up there at once. From the summit, you can see all of MP.

You are also high enough that you have a tremendous view of the surrounding mountains, including the snow-capped ones way in the distance.

After racing up and down (round-trip time: 65 minutes), I took the bus back to town, grabbed a bite, and wandered through the orchid garden at the hotel.

S and I met up, had a massage (which I needed after all of the climbing), and we wandered the souvenir market until it was time to get on the train. The train took us partway back to Cusco, and we caught a shuttle van the rest of the way.

Tomorrow is another travel day, from Cusco into the Amazon jungle. I'm unsure of the internet situation there, so this may be my last post for a few days.

 

 

Peru: Day 9: Machu Picchu

An early morning, with little sleep. We caught an early train into Aguas Calientes, met our guide Augustino, and hopped on a bus up to Machu Picchu, the grandest city of the ancient Incan empire. A was our guide for a few hours, taking us around the remains, explaining what we knew about the site and why we knew it. We saw the Temple of the Sun, with two windows pointed at the rising points of the sun at the two solstices. We saw two stone compasses, houses, an ancient Incan toilet, evidence of abandoned growth, and millions of terraces. We ate overpriced empanadas. We hiked to the Incan Bridge, and we scouted our where to go tomorrow morning for our sunrise journey. We saw mountains, cliffs, bridges, temples, llamas, and thousands of tourists.

After returning to Aguas Calientes, we checked into our hotel, drank our complimentary Pisco Sour, and tried to find a hot tub to dip our legs into. Unfortunately, a family of loud Americans had monopolized the pool and both hot tubs, so it was impossible to get close to a water source without being splashed. We retired, cleaned up for dinner, ate at the hotel restaurant (smoked trout tartar, corn and quinoa soufflé, cuy confit, mushroom risotto), and then walked through town as kids played soccer and shopkeepers closed up for the night. It's off to an early bed for us tonight, so that we can make it to the top of the mountain in time for sunrise in the morning.

Alas, no pictures today. I took lots, but the internet here is very slow. Just text for now. Photos to follow.