Peru 2019 Trip Pics

I've updated all of the 17 blogs posts on our Peru 2019 trip with pictures and added a drone video of the start of our rafting trip... enjoy!

Day 17: The Cairo shuffle

My thoughts on Peru, taken from a very limited angle, timeframe and experience have been the following:   

Things run on time - we did not have a late train, plane or car transfer and total travel times were 100% accurate against all odds;  lawful and secure - there seems to be a lot of checks and balances in every process - transportation, ticket selling, restaurants and the people of Peru seem to be very upstanding; focus on the customer - the customer is number one here - certainly from our amazing tour operator, Explore Andes, but I think the same can be said for many other aspects of travel here.   

There have been a few negatives, but they are minor:  there was a fair amount of garbage along he highways (apparently from ignorant local passengers that dispose of things out the windows) and some rivers in urban areas; a few of the hotels we stayed in had attractive rooms but the bathrooms were quirky or just not up to snuff, sometimes the rooms were cold (they have no insulation and usually provide a small, fairly ineffective space heater).

Lots of time to think today.... after all, we were about to do the Cairo shuffle (see Cairo to Kenya transfer day above!).   In the morning, we were picked up for the two hour (exactly) drive to Cusco airport where we boarded an Avianca flight to Lima arriving at 12:30.

Each family had a room across the street again at the Holiday Inn so we walked up and over the pedestrian bridge, checked in and ditched our bags before getting in a private van to take us to the only (slightly) recommended area to hang out in in Lima, Mira Flores.

We hit the same lunch t we all sampled in Arequipa except Alex who hadn’t been feeling well, but he got his fill today as he lucked out with a mishap 2nd burger being delivered right under his nose.   

The Main Street in Mira Flores is kind of like the “Yonge Street” of Lima (lol, we love using those ridiculous comparisons), so we walked to the end of it where it leads to an indoor outdoor shopping mall that hangs off the edge of s cliff overlooking the pacific (the “Sherway gardens” of Lima, if you will).   Time spent at a Starbucks (the “second cup” of Lima.... wait, what??) saw Alex and I go up 17-6 (we just can’t lose... the “Raptors” of Euchre).

I may have slipped the info out to the kids that there was an opportunity to see Spider-Man just up the street, so we made our way back up the main road and ended up at a local theatre (the “cineplex” of Peru).

In the Uber home, the four of us counted how many countries we’d seen a movie in.... we came up with 13!  Crazy.

As I write this, the girls are all snoozing on a king size bed while I lay on the floor waiting for the midnight alarm to go off.   Our flight across the street is at 2:40am.   The shuffle continues.... good night!

Day 16: Ollantaytambo

Our two night stay at the rail side hotel in Ollantaytambo was meant to be a bit of a decompression after the activity of the trek and Machu Picchu.   Though there is plenty to see in and around this small town, we have the kids the day off.

Last night, we hiked up the 1km slope up to the main square.  It was very touristy but we found a decent place to eat.  We got a tuk tuk back and he insisted he could take all 8 of us... luckily it was downhill - the engine was choking all the way.  The kids had a blast!

The adults walked up the main road toward the small touristy square of the town in the morning, though we turned left and walked towards the ruins the town was named after (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ollantaytambo).   There was a plethora of tourist shops near the entrance of the fort.   I am still shocked  at how many trinkety, Alpaca-ty (??) shops there are in this country.   There were more trinket shops in the little shops outside the fort than the Taj Mahal, Eiffel Tower, Pyramids of Giza, Angkor Wat and Tower of London combined.   

Ollantaytambo was pretty cool.... large in scale and played a cool part in the short history of the Incas during the Spanish invasion.  It was very hot in the sun and since the Inca loved building things facing east, we were frying.    After about an hour, we sought out the cool setting of a nearby restaurant where we had a great lunch and Alex and I continued to dominate in Euchre (15-6 lifetime, by the way Kim and Beth!).

We reconnected with the kids in the afternoon, only to learn that their butts were sore, Tynsly code meaning they need some nice cold sugary ASScream (ice cream, for the slow pokes out there....).  We lazed about the rest of the afternoon, playing cards, reading, napping and Beth even indulged in an in-room massage.

Dinner at the hotel was incredible... a real feast only made better by the new expected creative presentation that seems typical of almost every meal we’ve had in Peru.    

Tomorrow will be a long day.   It seems like forever ago that we arrived in Arequipa but I’m sure the trip will feel very short when we are back at work I a couple of days.

Day 15: Machu Picchu

Nep met us at the hotel at 730 and we were soon boarding the bus to get back up to Machu Picchu.  

Though we had the night to recover in our comfortable beds and hot showers, we were all walking with groans and awkward motions.  It’s funny, I never felt that the hike was too difficult throughout the four days.  We paced the uphills well and the downhills were easy for me, but using your body in different ways and stepping up and down at all kinds of different angles and elevations takes a toll on your body.   It had caught up to all of us... especially the adults!

When we got off the bus and Nep handed us our tickets to show with our passports to gain entry into Machu Picchu, he took us straight up... and up... and up.  We passed a young woman all glammed up that was stopped on the stairs and barking at her boyfriend in what sounded like a French accent “you know, I don’t feel well, and I’m out of breath, and it’s dEEfEEcult ok!”.

Nep took us to a quiet ledge on the far side of the grounds above the Incan city and we just stood there in silence taking it in.  

For the first time, we saw Machu Picchu from that famous postcard vantage point and it was beyond what we expected.   The size and complexity of the city was amazing.   The location, nestled in this high valley that drops off dramatically on two sides.  Awesome.

He began his tour, and I was hanging on every word.   He is such a good story teller, and combined with some props in his “Mary Poppins” bag, he began to lay out the story of the city and how Hiram Bingham rediscovered it and brought it into world prominence.  

There were plenty of pictures by our group, for sure, but it was highly entertaining watching other people try and get the perfect pose (“pensive stargazer” anyone) over and over. 

We eventually made our way down, into the citadel, looking at the sun temple and other main structures.   There was a large field in the middle that Nep used to play soccer in with his brother before things got restrictive as the site became popular.   Now, the “soccer field” is a closed off area with a bunch of Alpacas used to keep the grass trimmed :-).   

 

Nep showed us the top half of an Andean Cross or “Chakana” made out of a large stone near the sun temple (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chakana).   He asked us where the bottom half was, and we eventually guessed that the bottom half would show as a perfect shadow of the top half during the winter solstice.   Very cool.

He used the explanation of the Chakana to launch into a discussion about religion and belief.   He explained that his parents were very catholic, and his wife is very catholic.   He was catholic too but also believed in the pachamama - the mountains, the rivers, the living earth.   Probably from sensing that we were not religious (Beth had a laugh fit during the Cusco cathedral tour... lol) his views on belief and spirituality over religion rang true and listened to in context of standing in that spiritual place sent shivers down the spine.

Nep said the place would be crowded today, but crowds are all relative.... Robin and I had just waited five hours to see Kawhi Leonard’s curtain call in the Raptors championship parade.... that, was crowded.   None of us found Machu Picchu even close to crowded, and Nep also did a great job of moving us around to quieter, shadier places to continue his tour.

As we were winding towards the exit after about three hours (thank god for that, thought Robin and others that were desperate for a pee break - there are NO washrooms within Machu Picchu and the main gate 2 Soles washrooms did quite well financially I’m sure), I was a little stunned.   Machu Picchu has more than met my expectations, but as Beth later said, I’m not sure we would have felt the same way had we not done the Incan trail and had such a build up.

We got in line for the bus and were soon back in Aguas Calientas for an included buffet lunch.   Machu Picchu has got to be one of the hardest to access, top tourist attractions in the world.   I didn’t realize that the only way to access this place was by train or by foot.   Everything in the town (including the large shuttle buses. The only vehicles in then) had gotten there by train.  In fact, a few years ago when they had severe rains that caused the Urubamba to flood and wipe out some sections of track, a large number of tourists were stranded for weeks until they were able build a helicopter pad and the government shuttled people out.

We split up after lunch, the kids hitting an ice cream place with tables to play cards, and the two couples splitting up to do some exploring and possible shopping.

   

Beth and I looked around a bit but there was mostly junk.... and as I said before, we are a bit alpaca’ed out.  I did find a funny little trinket in the huge tourist market near the train station that I thought Nep would get a kick out of.

By 3, we were aboard the Peru Rail train in our designated Euchre positions, enjoying the views of the Urubamba and surrounding steep cliffs as we said goodbye to Machu Picchu.

We disembarked in Ollyantatambo where we had dropped our main packs off what seemed like two months ago.  We were spending tomorrow chillaxing here before heading to Lima the following day - our last full day in Peru.

We said goodbye to Nep on the train platform in front of the hotel.  I really appreciated all he’d done for us.   We said a few words, then I handed him an envelope with our tip in US dollars, then gave him a little present that I’d found in the market in Aguas Calientas that morning that i thought would remind him of our group as it related to the story of the woman and her tortoise gift.  He opened up the little present and laughed when he saw the little carved rabbit!   Sometimes, the hares do win the race I guess :-).

Day14: Through the Sun Gate

We were woken up at camp Phuyupatamarca at 3650 meters above sea level  with the customary delivery of coffee and coca tea.   As I hobbled out of the tent with sore leg muscles and a cloudy brain and looked around, I took in the spectacular view of the surrounding mountains and valleys and realized with excitement that today was the day.

Last night, Nep really loosened up and told us stories about different client experiences he’d had that had us on the edge of our seats.   He is a great story teller and this was the kind of stuff that had Robin begging for more... she loves people stories, as do most of us.   

The first story was about a really overweight lady from the UK.   She really struggled, with Nep having to split the group and send the other 6 people (unrelated to her) ahead on their own while he plodded slowly up and down the trail with her, arriving hours late to every checkpoint.   She never complained.   Not one bit.   When she got to the sun gate, she sat down and cried and proclaimed with gusto that she had done it!   She later gave Nep a small token of appreciation for keeping her company day after day... he opened it up and it was a carved figure of a tortoise!

He told us of a British couple who flat out refused to move after getting to the first lunch break on day 1.   They told Nep that they “want options” for what they could do.   He presented them with options.... go back or go forward, but once you reach Dead Woman’s pass, there was no going back.   They insisted on setting up camp at the lunch stop, so he had to radio the porters who had gone ahead to come down the mountain and set up camp.   He told them he would wake them at 3am and he would need their decision about going forward or backing out.   Eventually, they did go forward, with an extremely long day 2.   When they got to Machu Picchu for the tour day, it rained like crazy and all Nep could do was smile at the karma.   We used “we want options” jokingly with Nep a number of times after that story.

Nep guided one guy that had some kind of physical disability (we suspect cerebral palsy) and despite falling a number of times and struggling quite a bit, never complained and never gave up.    

Then there was the story of Belinda, a 42 year old Canadian travelling alone who he described as “special”.  She ended up having some kind of edema and temporary paralysis that had her transported to a hospital for a week’s stay.   To make a long story short, Nep had basically walked and accompanied her from the middle of the trek, 24 hours to Cusco, walking the trail with porters carrying her on a stretcher.  He would visit her often in the hospital and when she left she didn’t say one word of thanks nor provide any feedback.  Geez!

We dropped down the trail quickly from camp, reaching Intipata first at 2743 meters, a cool, extensive set of ruins.

   


We halved the allotted time.   In short order, we got to the lunch campsite at 2500 meters elevation... we were almost two hours early!  

This camp was where the 4 day trekkers did their last overnight stay.  The 4 day trekkers wake up at 330 to get to the last checkpoint before the sun gate, where they line up until it opens at 530.   They then climb up the sun gate, take in the views of Machu Picchu and continue by touring the site then hop on a train in the afternoon back to Cusco.... we were really glad we were doing it over 5 days.  The main difference being we would see Machu Picchu from the sun gate this morning, but do the comprehensive tour of the citadel when we were fresh(er!) tomorrow.

After lunch, we took a little five minute detour to a site called Winay Wayna at 2550 meters.

  

If we hadn’t seen pictures of Machu Picchu before, we would have been blown away by this place, but the prize was still waiting for us.

A half hour more of gradual descending on a four foot wide, truly Indian jones stone path and we were through the last checkpoint and arriving at the monkey steps.  The steps were 50 very steep steps that we took carefully, sometimes using hands and feet.   At the top, we could smell the end being near.

We practically raced the last 10 minutes of gradual uphill stone path until we could see a stone entrance in the middle of a stone wall.... the sun gate or Intipunku, at 2700 meters above sea level, or 270 meters above Machu Picchu.

42 kilometres on the trail...countless meters of climbing and decent over very little even ground and we were finally here.   The sun gate (so named because on the winter solstice, June 21, the sun shines through the gate and into the sun temple ala Indian Jones) is high above Machu Picchu and was the only entrance to the city during Incan times.

The view was breathtaking, but was highly enhance by the build up over the previous three and a half days.  Hiking the trail made the reward of reaching Machu Picchu and seeing it first through the Sun gate even greater than we could have imagined.

We lingered there for 15 minutes, taking it all in.   We didn’t see any other trekkers coming through the gate, though there were perhaps 20 people that had hiked up as part of their visit to the citadel below.

The sun was full on, and we baked as we half hobbled down the arching pathway that would eventually lead to the more postcard view of the site.   Since we’d done the trail quickly that morning, arriving more than two hours early to the sun gate, we’d been mostly in the shade.   The people we passed now that were hiking up to the sun gate were melting.

Eventually, we arrived near the top of the citadel.   We were not to enter it today as our one time ticket was for tomorrow, but we lingered again for some great photo ops and again, to soak it in.  

Eventually, a hot shower beckoned.   We started down the stairs to the exit.   Nep had a quick exchange with a guide he passed going the other way.   The guide sounded shocked.   Nep relayed to us that he had asked Nep if why some of his day trippers were using poles.  When Nep told them we were on the five day plan, he was utterly shocked that we were there so early!  It really didn’t feel that fast.... it just felt steady, with very few breaks along the way the entire four days.

We hobbled down to the entrance area which was a staging area for the bus service to take us down to Aguas.   The bus was the only way, other than walking, to get between Machu Picchu and the small tourist town some 300 meters directly below.  The road was built in the 50’s and followed the original path comprised of a dozen or so very steep switchbacks that snake their way down the mountain.

Before getting in the log bus line up, Nep stamped each of our passports with a cool looking souvenir stamp next to our Peru entrance stamp.  We got to the end of the line about 400 meters from the front and Alex immediately turned up with a round of cold beers.... they really hit the spot, and we quickly went for round two.

Getting off the bus, we were shocked at suddenly being inundated with touts  offering for for one happy hour drinks.   That did sound appealing, but the showers still called.  Kim made the comment that Aguas Calientas seemed like a little alpine tourist town like whistler or blue mountain.  It also reminded me of Pokhara, the launching point for treks in the Annapurnas.... 

Our hotel lobby was not far but we were all hobbling by now.   The twenty minute bus ride had caused our legs to cease up.   When we got our keys, all room numbers starting with 53x, we assumed we’d be heading for an elevator, but no.... we passed building #1, up 6 stairs, ouch.   Building number 2, up 6 more stairs... the grounds were beautiful but this was too much.   We finally got to building 5, then had to climb two more flights of stairs to get to our level.

The shower was amazing.... four days of stench was boiled off and environmentalism be damned I stood under the scalding hot water for another ten minutes.

Dinner was included but our reservation was for 8pm, so at 5 we went hunting for some appetizers, first hitting a quasi Mexican place that served quasi guac and chips, then going to the Carpe Diem sister restaurant for some shared pizza and beer.   The maître d did a really cool card trick that left us all amazed but alas we had to leave and get our third round of dinner hotel.

We are all looking forward to tomorrow.  Hopefully our bodies will heal a bit as I know we have a number or steps to climb and descend.   Getting a brief glimpse of Machu Picchu today reminded me of when Beth and I first went to Cambodia.   Our guide, Lap Tek, drove us past Angkor Wat once over the first two days, never talking about it and only giving us a short glimpse to whet our appetites.   The main course came on the third day where we got the detailed walk through.   My expectations are high for a great day tomorrow.