We left Nasca at 7:30 a.m. for a 2 hours ride on a local bus to the wine region of Peru, Ica. We dumped our bags at Cruz de Sur in Inca as we were taking the 2:30 bus to Lima that day. After negotiating with a cab drive we were off in search of a winery or 2. First stop Tacama, we have been enjoying their wines while we were in Peru. The winery was a beautiful restored monastery where we got to try some new wines and of course the famous Pisco. Then off again; this time it was the cab driver choice for a winery and he took us to an artisanal Pisco winery, it was a great choice. We learned how Pisco was originally made plus this particular winery still stomps it grapes by foot..yup by feet power. Back to the bus station and a quick lunch and off we went on our 5 hour bus ride to Lima.
We stayed once again in a Pirwa hostel in Miraflores a suburb of Lima. First day we decided to go to downtown Lima and take a free walking tour of the historic center. Free really means they work for tips. The tour was 90 minutes long and gave us tidbits about Lima’s historical centre and of course more info about the Inkas. Next day we hiked around Miraflores and went for a relatively expensive lunch on the water front at La Rosa Nautica. (We found out afterwards that this is one of their premier restaurants.) As we were sitting there watch the surfers and the waves coming in we felt a slight movement in the restaurant thinking it was just the waves hitting the pillions we continued on with our appetizer seafood lunch. Later that day we learned that we had experience a little earthquake.
We woke up to a beautiful sunny day which is not normal for Lima this time of the year and took a bus tour around Miraflores and just enjoyed the last day in Lima/Miraflores before our flight back to Canada the next day. We had planned to do some shopping for final souvenirs but Lima was at least twice as expensive as anywhere else and at the airport 5 times more.
Next stop Canada via San Salvador El Salvador then Toronto. While we left Lima 30 minutes late (and we only had 50 minutes to connect in El Salvador) we had no problems and arrived early in Toronto. Karen’s brother Bruce was waiting for us at the airport and whisked us off to Niagara Falls. It has been a while since we have experienced traffic jams, and at 10pm you really don’t expect them. We guess it was Toronto’s way of saying “Welcome home”!
Thursday, September 8, 2011
Little Green Men made the Nasca lines Right???
As we arrived in Nasca at 8 a.m. having taken the overnight bus from Cusco were our hostel host picked us up and took us to her family run hostel called Nasca Trails. Not only is it a hostel but is also a travel agent so we checked in and started to arrange our tours for the day and our flight over the Nasca lines. As we went wondering around town to find breakfast and to book our bus ticket to Ica and Lima we noticed that every second street was under construction and most of the street are made of sand and dirt. After the spectacular cities like Cusco and Arequipa, Nasca was just a little town with no architectural history but it certainly has other claims of fame to bring in the tourist. So after paying a small fortune for breakfast, $8US, shopping for food for dinner and booking bus tickets we spent the day relaxing and having a glass of wine in the garden at the hostel. That evening we went off to the planetarium named after Maria Reiche who spent 50 years of her life studying the Nasca lines. We got to see Jupiter again thru a telescope and saw a 45 minute slide show on the Nasca lines and learned about all the theories of how and why they were made. Just in case you want know the number one theory, much to Cheryl’s chagrin(she liked the theory of little green men making them) is that the lines were made by the Nasca Indians to identify where water was….yup it is a desert. Okay why is there a spaceman in the lines Cheryl asks??? Cheryl will have to wait and see the next day if it really a spaceman.
Up early for our flight over the lines, after we got weighed in and received our safe briefing off we went. First stop a whale, then it was the little spaceman…but the locals believe the spaceman really represents a shaman…okay but Cheryl still like her theory that little green men made the lines therefore it must be a spaceman. It seems since we went early in the morning the ride was not that bumpy and it was well worth the $120 per person. It is still amazing that they; whoever they are, made the lines in the first place let alone that they are still here.
After a quick lunch we were off to see an aqua duct (not what we expect) basically a round well in the desert, generally the water table is about 10 meters down. Then a 45 minute drive into the desert to see some more pre-inka ruins. Yup we think we are ruined out. Next morning Ica, some wineries, then Lima.
Up early for our flight over the lines, after we got weighed in and received our safe briefing off we went. First stop a whale, then it was the little spaceman…but the locals believe the spaceman really represents a shaman…okay but Cheryl still like her theory that little green men made the lines therefore it must be a spaceman. It seems since we went early in the morning the ride was not that bumpy and it was well worth the $120 per person. It is still amazing that they; whoever they are, made the lines in the first place let alone that they are still here.
After a quick lunch we were off to see an aqua duct (not what we expect) basically a round well in the desert, generally the water table is about 10 meters down. Then a 45 minute drive into the desert to see some more pre-inka ruins. Yup we think we are ruined out. Next morning Ica, some wineries, then Lima.
Legs and Lungs Don't Fail Me Now!!
At 3:30 a.m. we heard our wake up knock on the wall from Mark and Deb, our signal that today was the start of our trek. Our guide Miguel was at the hostel at 3:45 waiting for us and to tell us a little bit about our day and our next 4 day adventure. First words, okay the second words out of his mouth was this was not that easy of a trek ….gasp….no problem we have an emergency donkey to ride if we need to… can we get 4???? We thought we signed up for the easy trek but apparently the little villages along the way do not want trekkers camping near them because some trek operators have been leaving garbage so we are going a different way and it is not easy…..okay lets go back to bed and re think this one…but we are up anyways and the words “not easy” had not sunk in, probably because we hadn’t had coffee yet, so off we go. We stopped in a little village so our cook and assistant cook could pick-up some last minute provisions and fresh buns and we ended up picking up some candy for the kids which we would apparently we will meet along the way. We opted not to pick-up a coffee as Nescafe is not high on our coffee list. Where is a good cup of coffee when you need it? As we drove through some beautiful valleys, our guide and van driver stopped along the way to give some buns and candy to some of the mountain kids who were tending their herds (sheep, cows and alpacas), the smiles on the kid’s faces and big wave gave you such a warm feeling.
We arrived at our start point at 3700m to wait for our donkeys and to re-pack our day packs. As we said goodbye to our van driver and said hello to: our new 4 legged vans (the donkeys) and their handlers Humberto and his 9 year old son Moises. Our cook Isidro and assistant cook Rony had come with us from Cusco, prepared our first coca tea and our snack package (fruit and chocolate bar)for the first day trek. As we were getting our psyche ready for the first climb to 4600m; yup up a mountain 4 hours UP…UP UP and yes UP and 2 hours down. No problem. So off we went. Okay we got about 20 minutes into the trek and we had to stop and start to strip off the layers….really it was an excuse to have a rest. As our lungs started to scream and we then realized what the guide meant by not easy, boy it is going to be tough day….By the way the first day was supposed to be the easiest.
For the most part of the trek you are looking at your feet, so as we made our way up, we stop every 20 or so minutes to look at the amazing valleys and mountains with a few lagoons thrown in for colour, at least that was our excuse for now. Oh, look snow up there in the hills!…..Oh, look Karen is about to throw a snow ball! Yup we walked throw snow and ice. As the donkeys, and our team, passed us our guide Miquel kept offering encouragement saying the “top is just around the bend”. Okay the next bend. After 4 hours we final made it to the top, with high 5’s all around and a few pictures, we started our way down. After an hour we stopped for lunch by a river where our crew had set up the dinning tent for a lovey meal starting off with guacamole with wonton wrappers for an appetizer, then followed by an amazing soup. We thought that was it, then came port chops, fried potatoes and fresh veggies all cooked in garlic. Wow. We could not eat it all …we then said that we need to have smaller portions in the future because the meals are huge. So after our lunch we rolled off our stools and continued our trek. A couple hours later and 12 km we finally saw our camp site. There were 2 other trek groups there, they had walked the road from Lares after a dip in the hot springs, now why did we not do that! As our crew set up our tents and the cook and his assistant started our dinner, we hid from the light drizzle and wondered how our legs were going to feel tomorrow. We had a 1 hour before dinner so we got our stuff ready in our tents so after dinner we could collapse. A huge and amazing dinner then it was off to our tents and bundled up for the night.
Next morning as we stuck our noses out and could see our breath. Moises and Rony delivered coca tea and a hot water wash basin outside our tent door. Room service, who would have thought! Breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate and we were off with our snack pack to climb to 5000m only an 8 hour day today. About an hour into our trek we see this young girl sprint pass us with a full load on her back and what do we see at the first mountain pass about 3 hours later the girl selling water, beer and souvenirs. So we bought a little figure puppet and gave her some fruit and candy. We climbed/crawled/panted our way over the 5000m mountain. 6 hours up and 4 hours down. One hour before we hit the top we were greeted with a little snow storm, yup snow. Just for fun, at the top, it changed to hail. Our emergency donkey and 9 year old Moises stayed with us for the climb and when he got to the top even the donkey looked tired, but we all made it on our own two wobbly legs. At the top we didn’t even stop for the “I made it pictures” we just started down in 2 inches of snow on our trail. (Yup we all had running shoes on except for our guide) It would make a great running shoe ad. “Yes these shoes can go through anything”. An hour and half from the top we spotted the dinning tent and our crew at a creek (they had passed us about 4 hours earlier). Once we got there, lunch was served. Once again appetizers, soup and full course meal (Cheryl is now thinking of marrying either the cook or his assistant). As we left the crew to take down the dinning tent and cleanup we looked around to see the mountain that we had gone over and realized for the past 6 hours we were the only one around and what a feeling….beside the feeling in your lungs and legs. As we made our way down the valley we passed streams, wild horse, alpacas and llamas it was just truly amazing. We kept wondering where our crew was as they had not passed us yet, at 3:30 p.m. we saw our crew coming along the narrow path behind us. Miguel asked us if we want to keep going and have a shorter day the next day, so we all agreed a shorter day would be great, what is an extra hour after you have climbed Mount Everest. As we continued on the hour turned into 2 and it was starting to become dusk we wondered when we would see our camp, but finally we spied our tents all set up and our gang waiting for us at a beautiful waterfall in a valley surrounded by mountains and picturesque hills. Just us, awesome. You could not pay enough for this view. After 22 km we crawled into camp at 5:45 p.m. It was pure determination that got us through the day or logic as there really was no turning back.
Day 3 room service delivery was at 5:00 a.m. and a great breakfast and we were off by 6:30 we had a van and train to catch at 12:50 p.m. to Aquas Calinetes (now called Machu Picchu Village). It truly was short hike and all downhill to a little village where once again our cooks wiped up an amazing last lunch in the front yard of a B&B. As our van driver drove us away to the train station we waved goodbye to our houseman and his son even though they didn’t speak much, the smiles from both sides said it all. They were super. At the train station in Urubamba we said goodbye to our two cooks, Cheryl was still torn between which cook to propose marriage too but she was more interested in the real bed and hot shower waiting for her at in the Inka Town Hostel in Machu Picchu. After standing in the shower for ages we put on somewhat clean clothes and went out on the town….we really are back in civilization with tons of restaurants and souvenir shops. Miguel joined us for dinner and a celebratory drink and made plans for the next day, when we would finally see Machu Picchu.
We arrived at the bus station at 7:30 a.m. to line up for the hair raising bus ride to Machu Picchu. These bus drivers are nuts. Miguel gave us a history lesson and tour around the highlights of Machu Picchu and after 3 hours we said farewell to our new friend. He was an amazing guide, he loves the mountains and it certainly showed. With some tears and a wave we were on our own to explore this amazing site. We can’t imagine living there but we can certainly see that they knew how to adapt to their environment. We had a 3 p.m.??? train to Poroy (just outside Cusco) so we had lunch back in Machu Picchu Village picked up packs and we were off on a 4 hour train ride. As we arrived just outside of Poroy we got picked up by our van driver who left us the day before and he drove us back to our hostel in Cusco.
We did it and we are glad we did and yes we have bragging rights but we do know that we will not try Mount Everest. Climbing a mountain was not on our bucket list so I guess we are one ahead now. Apparently the Lares trek is harder than the Inka trail.
Would we do it again NO. But we are glad we did it. The views where spectacular you could say figuratively and literally breathtaking. Our lungs are now recovering and so are our muscles. Now we are looking for flat land for a while.
The next day after a great meal of Roast Beef and all the fixin’s at the Real McCory, Cheryl and Karen hopped on the 6 p.m. bus to Nazca leaving Mark and Deb until we meet again in Panama. We miss them already.
Tidbits
Cost for the trek including: 5 donkies, 2 handlers, 2 cooks, 1 guide, all the food tents, van start and finish, train from Urubamba to Machu Picchu and from Machu Picchu to Poroy, bus round trip up to Machu Picchu ($15.50), entrance into Machu Picchu ($47.00) and one night stay at Inka Town Hostel(a double was 90US). The train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Caliente was $35US and the train from Agua Caliente to Poroy was just over $50US. All of these items were included in our price $480 per person plus $25 for sleeping bags. We rented 2 hiking poles for $5. While this trek was on the expensive end of the scale, we would recommend it highly. From those that we have talked to who paid less they got a lot less!
Day 1: We started the trek in Quishuarani 3700 m, climbed over Abra Hulliquikasa Pass at 4600m, first night at Cuncani 3780 m. 12 km, 6 hours
Day 2: 22 km, 8 hours over the Nevado Pumahuaca pass at 5000m and camped at Chapasonco Orgo 4851 valley overlooking the Scared Valley.
Day 3 – Down 4 hours to the Pumahuanca Valley then to village of Ahuamarca where we said goodbye to horseman. We picked up our van which drove us to Ollataytambo to take the train to Aguas Calientes town (Machu Picchu village). Stayed in Inka Town Hostel.
Day 4 – Caught the 7:30 a.m. bus to Machu Picchu spent the morning then train back to Poroy (just outside Cusco).
We arrived at our start point at 3700m to wait for our donkeys and to re-pack our day packs. As we said goodbye to our van driver and said hello to: our new 4 legged vans (the donkeys) and their handlers Humberto and his 9 year old son Moises. Our cook Isidro and assistant cook Rony had come with us from Cusco, prepared our first coca tea and our snack package (fruit and chocolate bar)for the first day trek. As we were getting our psyche ready for the first climb to 4600m; yup up a mountain 4 hours UP…UP UP and yes UP and 2 hours down. No problem. So off we went. Okay we got about 20 minutes into the trek and we had to stop and start to strip off the layers….really it was an excuse to have a rest. As our lungs started to scream and we then realized what the guide meant by not easy, boy it is going to be tough day….By the way the first day was supposed to be the easiest.
For the most part of the trek you are looking at your feet, so as we made our way up, we stop every 20 or so minutes to look at the amazing valleys and mountains with a few lagoons thrown in for colour, at least that was our excuse for now. Oh, look snow up there in the hills!…..Oh, look Karen is about to throw a snow ball! Yup we walked throw snow and ice. As the donkeys, and our team, passed us our guide Miquel kept offering encouragement saying the “top is just around the bend”. Okay the next bend. After 4 hours we final made it to the top, with high 5’s all around and a few pictures, we started our way down. After an hour we stopped for lunch by a river where our crew had set up the dinning tent for a lovey meal starting off with guacamole with wonton wrappers for an appetizer, then followed by an amazing soup. We thought that was it, then came port chops, fried potatoes and fresh veggies all cooked in garlic. Wow. We could not eat it all …we then said that we need to have smaller portions in the future because the meals are huge. So after our lunch we rolled off our stools and continued our trek. A couple hours later and 12 km we finally saw our camp site. There were 2 other trek groups there, they had walked the road from Lares after a dip in the hot springs, now why did we not do that! As our crew set up our tents and the cook and his assistant started our dinner, we hid from the light drizzle and wondered how our legs were going to feel tomorrow. We had a 1 hour before dinner so we got our stuff ready in our tents so after dinner we could collapse. A huge and amazing dinner then it was off to our tents and bundled up for the night.
Next morning as we stuck our noses out and could see our breath. Moises and Rony delivered coca tea and a hot water wash basin outside our tent door. Room service, who would have thought! Breakfast of pancakes and hot chocolate and we were off with our snack pack to climb to 5000m only an 8 hour day today. About an hour into our trek we see this young girl sprint pass us with a full load on her back and what do we see at the first mountain pass about 3 hours later the girl selling water, beer and souvenirs. So we bought a little figure puppet and gave her some fruit and candy. We climbed/crawled/panted our way over the 5000m mountain. 6 hours up and 4 hours down. One hour before we hit the top we were greeted with a little snow storm, yup snow. Just for fun, at the top, it changed to hail. Our emergency donkey and 9 year old Moises stayed with us for the climb and when he got to the top even the donkey looked tired, but we all made it on our own two wobbly legs. At the top we didn’t even stop for the “I made it pictures” we just started down in 2 inches of snow on our trail. (Yup we all had running shoes on except for our guide) It would make a great running shoe ad. “Yes these shoes can go through anything”. An hour and half from the top we spotted the dinning tent and our crew at a creek (they had passed us about 4 hours earlier). Once we got there, lunch was served. Once again appetizers, soup and full course meal (Cheryl is now thinking of marrying either the cook or his assistant). As we left the crew to take down the dinning tent and cleanup we looked around to see the mountain that we had gone over and realized for the past 6 hours we were the only one around and what a feeling….beside the feeling in your lungs and legs. As we made our way down the valley we passed streams, wild horse, alpacas and llamas it was just truly amazing. We kept wondering where our crew was as they had not passed us yet, at 3:30 p.m. we saw our crew coming along the narrow path behind us. Miguel asked us if we want to keep going and have a shorter day the next day, so we all agreed a shorter day would be great, what is an extra hour after you have climbed Mount Everest. As we continued on the hour turned into 2 and it was starting to become dusk we wondered when we would see our camp, but finally we spied our tents all set up and our gang waiting for us at a beautiful waterfall in a valley surrounded by mountains and picturesque hills. Just us, awesome. You could not pay enough for this view. After 22 km we crawled into camp at 5:45 p.m. It was pure determination that got us through the day or logic as there really was no turning back.
Day 3 room service delivery was at 5:00 a.m. and a great breakfast and we were off by 6:30 we had a van and train to catch at 12:50 p.m. to Aquas Calinetes (now called Machu Picchu Village). It truly was short hike and all downhill to a little village where once again our cooks wiped up an amazing last lunch in the front yard of a B&B. As our van driver drove us away to the train station we waved goodbye to our houseman and his son even though they didn’t speak much, the smiles from both sides said it all. They were super. At the train station in Urubamba we said goodbye to our two cooks, Cheryl was still torn between which cook to propose marriage too but she was more interested in the real bed and hot shower waiting for her at in the Inka Town Hostel in Machu Picchu. After standing in the shower for ages we put on somewhat clean clothes and went out on the town….we really are back in civilization with tons of restaurants and souvenir shops. Miguel joined us for dinner and a celebratory drink and made plans for the next day, when we would finally see Machu Picchu.
We arrived at the bus station at 7:30 a.m. to line up for the hair raising bus ride to Machu Picchu. These bus drivers are nuts. Miguel gave us a history lesson and tour around the highlights of Machu Picchu and after 3 hours we said farewell to our new friend. He was an amazing guide, he loves the mountains and it certainly showed. With some tears and a wave we were on our own to explore this amazing site. We can’t imagine living there but we can certainly see that they knew how to adapt to their environment. We had a 3 p.m.??? train to Poroy (just outside Cusco) so we had lunch back in Machu Picchu Village picked up packs and we were off on a 4 hour train ride. As we arrived just outside of Poroy we got picked up by our van driver who left us the day before and he drove us back to our hostel in Cusco.
We did it and we are glad we did and yes we have bragging rights but we do know that we will not try Mount Everest. Climbing a mountain was not on our bucket list so I guess we are one ahead now. Apparently the Lares trek is harder than the Inka trail.
Would we do it again NO. But we are glad we did it. The views where spectacular you could say figuratively and literally breathtaking. Our lungs are now recovering and so are our muscles. Now we are looking for flat land for a while.
The next day after a great meal of Roast Beef and all the fixin’s at the Real McCory, Cheryl and Karen hopped on the 6 p.m. bus to Nazca leaving Mark and Deb until we meet again in Panama. We miss them already.
Tidbits
Cost for the trek including: 5 donkies, 2 handlers, 2 cooks, 1 guide, all the food tents, van start and finish, train from Urubamba to Machu Picchu and from Machu Picchu to Poroy, bus round trip up to Machu Picchu ($15.50), entrance into Machu Picchu ($47.00) and one night stay at Inka Town Hostel(a double was 90US). The train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Caliente was $35US and the train from Agua Caliente to Poroy was just over $50US. All of these items were included in our price $480 per person plus $25 for sleeping bags. We rented 2 hiking poles for $5. While this trek was on the expensive end of the scale, we would recommend it highly. From those that we have talked to who paid less they got a lot less!
Day 1: We started the trek in Quishuarani 3700 m, climbed over Abra Hulliquikasa Pass at 4600m, first night at Cuncani 3780 m. 12 km, 6 hours
Day 2: 22 km, 8 hours over the Nevado Pumahuaca pass at 5000m and camped at Chapasonco Orgo 4851 valley overlooking the Scared Valley.
Day 3 – Down 4 hours to the Pumahuanca Valley then to village of Ahuamarca where we said goodbye to horseman. We picked up our van which drove us to Ollataytambo to take the train to Aguas Calientes town (Machu Picchu village). Stayed in Inka Town Hostel.
Day 4 – Caught the 7:30 a.m. bus to Machu Picchu spent the morning then train back to Poroy (just outside Cusco).
Wednesday, September 7, 2011
Cusco wow
We took a whirl wind tour from Puno to Cusco called the Ruta del Sol (Route of the Sun). Our $40US bus trip of 10 hours started at 7:30 a.m. on Inka Express with our first stop at Pukara an archaeological site in a pre-Hispanic city. It is known for its statues and monuments. Then off to La Raya the highest point along the way at 4335 m to view the snowy Andes reaching for the heavens, and to have the opportunity to buy more ‘precious stuff’, yup for a “good price” too. Of course one always needs food along the way so we visited the town of Sicuani and had a Buffet lunch where we got to try all kinds of traditional dishes. After filling our stomachs and looking at more “precious stuff” we got back in the bus to go to the Temple of the supreme God of the Inka at Radchi, here we only had 7 minutes to wonder around after the site had been explained to us, and this was definitely a place you could spend an hour or so….oh well next time?? Last on the list was the church de Andahuaylillas (the “Sistine Chapel” of the Americas). They are restoring the church but you can still see the amazing paintings and of course the glitz of all the gold.
Finally we arrived in Cusco at 5:30 p.m., where we were picked up by our hostel representative (Pirwa) and as we made our turn towards the main square, the Plaza de Armas all we could say was WOW, the building and setting is just WOW… the buildings and the setting is amazing.
Our first hostel was on the Plaza de Armas, it was okay but noisy. We met up with our trek operator (Qente Adventure Trips) the next day and made arrangement for our briefing with our guide. We wondered around town for the first couple of days, scouting out warm clothes and places to visit. After two nights we moved around the corner to our new hostel another Pirwa and settled in. The new hostel is clean and confortable but there is disco 2 doors away which starts at 10 p.m. and go until 5 am every night, so ear plugs are in order.
The main square (Plaza de Armas) is bustling with activity day and night and is completely surrounded by beautiful churches, cathedrals and old style buildings. As you wonder around the city you will be approached about every 5 minutes by someone who is trying to get you to go for a massage or to their restaurant. If you want a retreat from having someone bothering you, the municipal police patrol the main square and do not allow anyone to solicit for anything. One thing we notice as we walked around is that if someone is physical challenged or begging, the locals, even if they don’t look like they can afford to give anything, will give something.
Cheryl was down for the count as a cold and altitude caught up to her so much so that the Karen called a doctor. A doctor came to the hostel and 2 days later Cheryl was somewhat up and around and went to the clinic for a follow-up visit, the total cost was $40 US. Cheryl had a week to recover enough to hike the Lares Valley.
While Cheryl was laid up Karen, Deb and Mark toured Cusco. We went on a walking tour one day, it was supposed to be 90 minutes, but turned out it was 4.5 hours and fantastic. While we did go to the main square we also went to several other areas, San Pedro and San Blas being the two most important. San Blas is a rich, touristy area, on the hill, with great old buildings and amazing views. San Blas houses a great French style bakery, which makes amazing sandwiches; we had lunch there while on the tour and went back several times. We also tried fermented Chicha, a corn beer, which I would seriously NOT recommend! San Pedro on the other hand is not touristy. It houses the local market and many, many street vendors. In the market they had about 4 rows of ladies making real fruit slushies and another 4 rows of men and ladies serving a variety of soups. The locals just pull up a stool and enjoy. The Spanish tore down many Inka structures and used the stones to build their own buildings. The Peruvians call the Spanish the destroyers, not just the conquerors.
If you are in Cusco you really must visit the remains of the Sun gods temple. The Spaniards raped the site, but you can still get an idea of its glory. A gentleman approached wanting to guide us, as it turned out he had come to Cusco to study the Inka and as Mark asked him more and more questions he got more and more excited. We had a great tour! We now know how to find the black Llama in the sky, the secret is that the Inka look for the dark (black), were as we look for the stars . The Inka had been great builders; they knew the secrets to earthquake proof their buildings, something that was lost for centuries.
We tried to meet up with our friends Mark and Sam (who we met in Chile) who had just finished the trek but we missed them by a couple of hours. Through e-mail we got some little tidbits on what it was like t and what not to take. Then we met up with our friends Harry and Karen (The Kiwis) who had just got off the Trek that day and had dinner and picked their brains for some more survival tips. Armed with our new found information and questions, the next day we had our trek briefing, our guide was still on a trek so another guide gave us the low down. His enthusiasm added to our excitement. So off we went to buy our last bits of whatever and to pack our 6 lbs worth of “got to have stuff” and the rest of our gear we stored at the hostel.
To continue our training we took a tour to the Scared Valley to see Moray and Maras. Moray looks like a coliseum of walls or spiraling terraces but it was in actual fact a Inka biosphere, where the Inka’s built circular terraces to determine the best crops to grow at various altitudes and temperatures. As the terraces spiral down the temperature difference from the top to the bottom is 15 degrees C. Then we were off to see the salt terraces in Maras, a working salt field where salt creeks feed the terrace ponds and the workers, by hand, skim off the salt that the sun has dried. We were late leaving Maras, so the driver and guide decided to try a short cut. That was working quite well until we arrived at the spot that the road was washed out! The guide got out to walk the route we would take with the bus, he was smart! It was not an easy cross country trek in a 45 passenger bus, but we made it!
On the Sunday it was an early night as our van was going to pick us at 4 a.m. the next day. Legs and lungs look-out !
Finally we arrived in Cusco at 5:30 p.m., where we were picked up by our hostel representative (Pirwa) and as we made our turn towards the main square, the Plaza de Armas all we could say was WOW, the building and setting is just WOW… the buildings and the setting is amazing.
Our first hostel was on the Plaza de Armas, it was okay but noisy. We met up with our trek operator (Qente Adventure Trips) the next day and made arrangement for our briefing with our guide. We wondered around town for the first couple of days, scouting out warm clothes and places to visit. After two nights we moved around the corner to our new hostel another Pirwa and settled in. The new hostel is clean and confortable but there is disco 2 doors away which starts at 10 p.m. and go until 5 am every night, so ear plugs are in order.
The main square (Plaza de Armas) is bustling with activity day and night and is completely surrounded by beautiful churches, cathedrals and old style buildings. As you wonder around the city you will be approached about every 5 minutes by someone who is trying to get you to go for a massage or to their restaurant. If you want a retreat from having someone bothering you, the municipal police patrol the main square and do not allow anyone to solicit for anything. One thing we notice as we walked around is that if someone is physical challenged or begging, the locals, even if they don’t look like they can afford to give anything, will give something.
Cheryl was down for the count as a cold and altitude caught up to her so much so that the Karen called a doctor. A doctor came to the hostel and 2 days later Cheryl was somewhat up and around and went to the clinic for a follow-up visit, the total cost was $40 US. Cheryl had a week to recover enough to hike the Lares Valley.
While Cheryl was laid up Karen, Deb and Mark toured Cusco. We went on a walking tour one day, it was supposed to be 90 minutes, but turned out it was 4.5 hours and fantastic. While we did go to the main square we also went to several other areas, San Pedro and San Blas being the two most important. San Blas is a rich, touristy area, on the hill, with great old buildings and amazing views. San Blas houses a great French style bakery, which makes amazing sandwiches; we had lunch there while on the tour and went back several times. We also tried fermented Chicha, a corn beer, which I would seriously NOT recommend! San Pedro on the other hand is not touristy. It houses the local market and many, many street vendors. In the market they had about 4 rows of ladies making real fruit slushies and another 4 rows of men and ladies serving a variety of soups. The locals just pull up a stool and enjoy. The Spanish tore down many Inka structures and used the stones to build their own buildings. The Peruvians call the Spanish the destroyers, not just the conquerors.
If you are in Cusco you really must visit the remains of the Sun gods temple. The Spaniards raped the site, but you can still get an idea of its glory. A gentleman approached wanting to guide us, as it turned out he had come to Cusco to study the Inka and as Mark asked him more and more questions he got more and more excited. We had a great tour! We now know how to find the black Llama in the sky, the secret is that the Inka look for the dark (black), were as we look for the stars . The Inka had been great builders; they knew the secrets to earthquake proof their buildings, something that was lost for centuries.
We tried to meet up with our friends Mark and Sam (who we met in Chile) who had just finished the trek but we missed them by a couple of hours. Through e-mail we got some little tidbits on what it was like t and what not to take. Then we met up with our friends Harry and Karen (The Kiwis) who had just got off the Trek that day and had dinner and picked their brains for some more survival tips. Armed with our new found information and questions, the next day we had our trek briefing, our guide was still on a trek so another guide gave us the low down. His enthusiasm added to our excitement. So off we went to buy our last bits of whatever and to pack our 6 lbs worth of “got to have stuff” and the rest of our gear we stored at the hostel.
To continue our training we took a tour to the Scared Valley to see Moray and Maras. Moray looks like a coliseum of walls or spiraling terraces but it was in actual fact a Inka biosphere, where the Inka’s built circular terraces to determine the best crops to grow at various altitudes and temperatures. As the terraces spiral down the temperature difference from the top to the bottom is 15 degrees C. Then we were off to see the salt terraces in Maras, a working salt field where salt creeks feed the terrace ponds and the workers, by hand, skim off the salt that the sun has dried. We were late leaving Maras, so the driver and guide decided to try a short cut. That was working quite well until we arrived at the spot that the road was washed out! The guide got out to walk the route we would take with the bus, he was smart! It was not an easy cross country trek in a 45 passenger bus, but we made it!
On the Sunday it was an early night as our van was going to pick us at 4 a.m. the next day. Legs and lungs look-out !
Disneyworld in Peru
Disney would be proud of Puno Peru…. sort of. We arrived down at the pier in Puno at 8:30 a.m. to set off to see Lake Titicaca, famous for being the highest navigable waterway in the world. So off we ventured to the pier where there where hundreds of boats waiting to take the next batch of tourist to Uros, the famous reed floating islands on Lake Titicaca. Off we went with 16 other tourists armed with warm clothes and our cameras. As they pushed and poled the boat away from the pier….we thought that was not a good sign and we were wondering if we had to row our way to the islands but they soon started the engine with a big puff of blue, black and white smoke, nope the boat wasn’t named Sleepy or Dopey but it could have been name Smoky. Mark and Cheryl climbed up onto the roof of the boat to get a better view of the traffic jam of boats heading to the reed islands. As all the boats formed a single file though the canal, it looked like they were being pulled on an underwater cable. As we headed toward the islands yup we passed through a ticket booth where the first mate threw a roll of coins at what we guess was the toll collector, of course dressed in traditional Peruvian attire. We have paid the toll and now we really have entered Disney World.
There where over 50 floating reed islands complete with men, women and children beckoning you to come to their island. As each boat pulled up to their respective reed island we were greeted with a big smile and a little song from the women (We sort of were waiting for them to break out into the song “IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL”). We were led to a seat made of reeds to learn about the people and how to make a reed island, it was good thing that there wasn’t a test as we know for sure we would have wet feet trying. After our lesson we were separated into small groups and shown by an island family their home and of course some of their local treasures of which were all available for a “good price”. Cheryl wandered around and looked into some of the homes that were not on our tour looking to find their food stash or even their cooking stuff, but no luck. It appears that they don’t live there; they probably have a place on the mainland and just commute to the island to entertain the tourists. For $5 US a person you could get a ride in the luxury reed boats (they called it Mercedes Benz as it has 2 pontoons) but being cheap we opted to stay put and wait for our “Smoky” boat. We hopped on “Smoky”, and headed to another island called Taquile, this time the island was made of rocks but had 500 steps to climb in order to get to the town square…okay this is the training part of the trip for our hike up to Machu Picchu. As we climbed up the 500 steps to the top of the hill to see the ceremonial dances, have a great local fish lunch (apparently some of the trout in Lake Titicaca came from Canada around 80 years ago) and of course look at more “most buy” souvenirs we met up with 2 Kiwis (Karen and Harry) who hopped on our old boat “Smokey” and we struck up a friendship instantly with plans to meet up in Cusco Peru and New Zealand when we get over there. As we left Lake Titicaca what can we was say, it was a must see, an opportunity to try to understand their way of life and to realize that it was the Spanish who drove them off the main land and to build the floating islands. As for building a floating reed island, maybe, but we think we will stick to floating on our boats instead.
So what do you do in Puno besides visiting islands in Lake Titicaca? Being sailors you go and visit an old steamship called Yavari built in 1862. This beautifully restored steamship, was brought in pieces over land from Arica Chile by donkey and man power which took 6 years to do and then reassembled on the Lake were it sailed around for over 150 years and now it is a B&B. The brass is so shiny you can see yourself and you can tell that tender loving hands have been hard at work. Now that Mark has his new watch cap (with Yavari ensign on the front) he said his life is complete!
Next on your Puno tour, you go to some pre-Inka and Inka graves, rather funeral towers, in Silluastani and listen to the ancient spirits in the winds. The towers were built on high ground, so that the spirits would be closer to heaven. You could almost hear them talk to you, but we are not sure what they are saying as we don’t speak their language. The towers were a minimum of 500 years old and still in amazing shape. On the way back we stopped at a local farmstead and had a tour of their home, plus had the opportunity to try several local dishes: fried corn, fresh made cheese and potatoes dipped in a clay ‘Ketchup’ made from silt at the bottom of the river (Heinz you don’t not need to worry!). It was amazing how warm the adobe homes were, but we would still love a good electric heater!
And just for fun you go and watch a local Alpaca wool spin-off. What is a spin-off, well you start off by taking a handful of Coca leaves (the leaves you and the locals chew to prevent altitude sickness) and start chewing, and then you take your pile of Alpaca wool and wrap it around your arm and then test your wooden spinner. The rules are simple; you must spin the raw wool into a thin tread in 20 minutes. The winner is the one with the right thickness and the most tread on their spinner. Simple? Yes….well we picked our favorite right from start and we think she won but Mark had had so much excitement watching we had to leave before the winner was crowned. Between chewing and spinning the contestants worked up a thirst so they all received a free bottle of coke which by the way, originally had Coca leaves it, but Coke stopped using the leaves a number of years ago as the leaves have .4% cocaine in them. This tidbit was learned at the Coca museum in Puno where we had the opportunity to learn all the things Coca is good for besides a cocaine buzz like altitude sickness, circulation and stomach problems.
In Puno we stayed at Vargas Inn the first three nights, as Edison’s cousin owned it. That was a mistake, it was not clean and it was cold. They ran out of diesel, so we couldn’t even have a hot shower. Mark and Deb couldn’t even get towels. We tried 3 heaters the first night, the first didn’t work, the second went up in smoke, but the third was just right! All for 70 Soles a night, $25US. Next we moved to Posada Luna Azul, which was lovely and only 80 Soles a night $27 a night. We had a clean, large room with a heater, hot showers, rooms cleaned each day and Raul to help us plan our days.
Puno has some exceptional restaurants and as we did not have cooking in either hotel, we tried many of them. We had pizza (of course) and the fixed menus, often including Alpaca. But most memorable was the restaurant Colours. Colours had a beautiful Greek salad, were they made their own feta and an amazing beef dish with mushrooms and a balsamic vinegar sauce. We ate there twice, Deb, Cheryl and Karen all ordered the beef the second time, on Cheryl’s suggestion.
Mark determined the price of the restaurants by the price of ‘the girls’ wine! And then it was obvious that a bottle was cheaper than buying by the glass, so we bought by the bottle. Someone had to do it!
Cheryl was sick, so Deb and I followed Mark to the Dreyer museum, not our best plan. The sign for the museum was only visible if you walked backwards, so we climbed hill and dale before we made it. It did mean that we said “hello’ to the 9th Inka King whose statue overlooks the city. The highlight of the museum would be the mommies, preserved in the fetal position (which Cheryl says is because they are so stooped from carrying too much weight) but experts says is because they are waiting to be reborn in the next life. We also got to see a display of pottery from various pre-Inka Indians showing a variety of patterns and styles used by different tribes.
Well it time to head to the next adventure, Cusco. This time we are taking a tour type bus for 10 hours with 5 tourist stops along the way to Cusco… yes to see more Inka ruins and a few churches.
There where over 50 floating reed islands complete with men, women and children beckoning you to come to their island. As each boat pulled up to their respective reed island we were greeted with a big smile and a little song from the women (We sort of were waiting for them to break out into the song “IT’S A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL”). We were led to a seat made of reeds to learn about the people and how to make a reed island, it was good thing that there wasn’t a test as we know for sure we would have wet feet trying. After our lesson we were separated into small groups and shown by an island family their home and of course some of their local treasures of which were all available for a “good price”. Cheryl wandered around and looked into some of the homes that were not on our tour looking to find their food stash or even their cooking stuff, but no luck. It appears that they don’t live there; they probably have a place on the mainland and just commute to the island to entertain the tourists. For $5 US a person you could get a ride in the luxury reed boats (they called it Mercedes Benz as it has 2 pontoons) but being cheap we opted to stay put and wait for our “Smoky” boat. We hopped on “Smoky”, and headed to another island called Taquile, this time the island was made of rocks but had 500 steps to climb in order to get to the town square…okay this is the training part of the trip for our hike up to Machu Picchu. As we climbed up the 500 steps to the top of the hill to see the ceremonial dances, have a great local fish lunch (apparently some of the trout in Lake Titicaca came from Canada around 80 years ago) and of course look at more “most buy” souvenirs we met up with 2 Kiwis (Karen and Harry) who hopped on our old boat “Smokey” and we struck up a friendship instantly with plans to meet up in Cusco Peru and New Zealand when we get over there. As we left Lake Titicaca what can we was say, it was a must see, an opportunity to try to understand their way of life and to realize that it was the Spanish who drove them off the main land and to build the floating islands. As for building a floating reed island, maybe, but we think we will stick to floating on our boats instead.
So what do you do in Puno besides visiting islands in Lake Titicaca? Being sailors you go and visit an old steamship called Yavari built in 1862. This beautifully restored steamship, was brought in pieces over land from Arica Chile by donkey and man power which took 6 years to do and then reassembled on the Lake were it sailed around for over 150 years and now it is a B&B. The brass is so shiny you can see yourself and you can tell that tender loving hands have been hard at work. Now that Mark has his new watch cap (with Yavari ensign on the front) he said his life is complete!
Next on your Puno tour, you go to some pre-Inka and Inka graves, rather funeral towers, in Silluastani and listen to the ancient spirits in the winds. The towers were built on high ground, so that the spirits would be closer to heaven. You could almost hear them talk to you, but we are not sure what they are saying as we don’t speak their language. The towers were a minimum of 500 years old and still in amazing shape. On the way back we stopped at a local farmstead and had a tour of their home, plus had the opportunity to try several local dishes: fried corn, fresh made cheese and potatoes dipped in a clay ‘Ketchup’ made from silt at the bottom of the river (Heinz you don’t not need to worry!). It was amazing how warm the adobe homes were, but we would still love a good electric heater!
And just for fun you go and watch a local Alpaca wool spin-off. What is a spin-off, well you start off by taking a handful of Coca leaves (the leaves you and the locals chew to prevent altitude sickness) and start chewing, and then you take your pile of Alpaca wool and wrap it around your arm and then test your wooden spinner. The rules are simple; you must spin the raw wool into a thin tread in 20 minutes. The winner is the one with the right thickness and the most tread on their spinner. Simple? Yes….well we picked our favorite right from start and we think she won but Mark had had so much excitement watching we had to leave before the winner was crowned. Between chewing and spinning the contestants worked up a thirst so they all received a free bottle of coke which by the way, originally had Coca leaves it, but Coke stopped using the leaves a number of years ago as the leaves have .4% cocaine in them. This tidbit was learned at the Coca museum in Puno where we had the opportunity to learn all the things Coca is good for besides a cocaine buzz like altitude sickness, circulation and stomach problems.
In Puno we stayed at Vargas Inn the first three nights, as Edison’s cousin owned it. That was a mistake, it was not clean and it was cold. They ran out of diesel, so we couldn’t even have a hot shower. Mark and Deb couldn’t even get towels. We tried 3 heaters the first night, the first didn’t work, the second went up in smoke, but the third was just right! All for 70 Soles a night, $25US. Next we moved to Posada Luna Azul, which was lovely and only 80 Soles a night $27 a night. We had a clean, large room with a heater, hot showers, rooms cleaned each day and Raul to help us plan our days.
Puno has some exceptional restaurants and as we did not have cooking in either hotel, we tried many of them. We had pizza (of course) and the fixed menus, often including Alpaca. But most memorable was the restaurant Colours. Colours had a beautiful Greek salad, were they made their own feta and an amazing beef dish with mushrooms and a balsamic vinegar sauce. We ate there twice, Deb, Cheryl and Karen all ordered the beef the second time, on Cheryl’s suggestion.
Mark determined the price of the restaurants by the price of ‘the girls’ wine! And then it was obvious that a bottle was cheaper than buying by the glass, so we bought by the bottle. Someone had to do it!
Cheryl was sick, so Deb and I followed Mark to the Dreyer museum, not our best plan. The sign for the museum was only visible if you walked backwards, so we climbed hill and dale before we made it. It did mean that we said “hello’ to the 9th Inka King whose statue overlooks the city. The highlight of the museum would be the mommies, preserved in the fetal position (which Cheryl says is because they are so stooped from carrying too much weight) but experts says is because they are waiting to be reborn in the next life. We also got to see a display of pottery from various pre-Inka Indians showing a variety of patterns and styles used by different tribes.
Well it time to head to the next adventure, Cusco. This time we are taking a tour type bus for 10 hours with 5 tourist stops along the way to Cusco… yes to see more Inka ruins and a few churches.
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