Machu Picchu

Our plan on the morning of our trip to Machu Picchu was to get up early and catch on of the first buses up the mountain so that we could spend as much time as possible there before returning for the 4:30 train back to Cusco. We would leave my backpack at the hotel and take his backpack with our jackets, his camera and my can of oxygen. As we packed to leave, John realized he couldn't find the tickets for Machu Picchu anywhere.  We had purchased them the day before as they only sell a limited number each day and we didn't want to come all this way and not be able to get inside!  I had kept a black folder with all of our hotel confirmation numbers, flights, train tickets and so on but the only thing I didn't have was the tickets for Machu Picchu.  I was sure he had put them in his camera bag but the only thing he could find in it was the train tickets.  Frantically we searched everywhere with no luck.  We did find his receipt but not the tickets.

We had a quick breakfast in our hotel lobby.  It was mostly breads and some yogurt and John's coffee was a thick dark liquid coffee concentrate that he poured into his coffee mug and then had to add hot water to in order to drink.  We talked to the front desk clerk and he said we should be able to get in to Machu Picchu with just our receipt so we boarded the bus (still had our bus tickets!) and started the long climb up to the top through a series of switchbacks on a narrow gravel road. 

When we arrived at the turnstiles at the front gates, we showed the attendant our receipt and he went inside to check if we could use that to get in.  As other people handed in their tickets we noticed that the tickets looked very similar to our train tickets. John pulled them out of the camera bag - oops!  They weren't our train tickets, they were the Machu Picchu tickets.

And then, we were climbing the steps up to the guardian hut and overlooking the amazing lost city. Words can't begin to describe how big it is - truly breathtaking to be looking over the temples, the agricultural terraces, and the homes of Incas from hundreds of years ago.  We were up so high that the clouds were below us and the village of Aguas Caliente was a mere speck in the distance. 

One of the most unexpected surprises during our trip was the weather.  We were travelling during the rainy season and every weather forecast I had checked had called for cool wet weather with a high of 17C each day.  Instead we had beautiful warm weather each day.  Poor John had to carry the backpack with our jackets and sweaters and I found myself wishing I had worn shorts! 

While we had a fantastic time spending the day exploring the site, I do wish we had hired one of the many many tour guides who were waiting at the bus drop off point. I had a booklet with information about the various buildings and a map but there were very few signs inside and the bits and pieces that we overheard from the guides working with other families sounded really interesting.   If I had one piece of advise to give to other people planning a trip to Machu Picchu, it would be to hire a guide!  Hindsight .......

It was hard to choose just a few pictures to post of our day at Machu Picchu.  No matter how many pictures I post, they just don't capture the spirit and the amazing energy of this sacred place.  If you are thinking about going to Machu Picchu, if it's on your 'bucket list,' go!!!!!  It is worth every penny, every inconvenience, every minute!!!!



The clouds are below us - crazy!!!!!  My new screensaver :)

 

 

 

 

When we first entered Machu Picchu, we climbed to the Guardian Hut and then made our way past one set of agricultural terraces to the entrance for the Inca Bridge, which is about a twenty minute hike. Before you can hike on the trail down to the Inca Bridge they make you sign a guestbook, and then you sign back out again at when you return. That we they know if someone went down the trail and didn't come back.  Now you are only allowed to hike to a certain point and then you have to stop.  Years ago, you were allowed to hike onto the Inca Bridge but someone fell and died, hence the change in rules. As we were hiking to the Inca Bridge, John was backing up to take a photo and I noticed there was no guard rail, no rope, no nothing behind him, just a very very long drop to the valley floor below.  I wonder how many tourists are injured here each year?



If you look closely the dark line about three feet above the path is a piece of chain that hikers would hold onto as they hiked down to the bridge.

Close up of the 'bridge'

Signing the guest book so they know we made it back safely from the Inca Bridge trail

 

Temple of the sun
 

Even though I had to stop at many points throughout the day, we felt like we had been able to take our time and see all the sites we wanted to see.  Colleagues who had visited Machu Picchu last year had done it as a day trip from Cusco and they had advised us to stay overnight.  They had felt rushed and I'm so glad we took their advice.  The train from Cusco arrives around noon, by the time you went and got your bus tickets, got on the bus ride up to Machu Picchu, you would only have an hour or two before it was time to head back down to catch the last train to Cusco at 4:30. 

Sacred plaza with temples and house of the high priest

Sacred Rock which is almost the same shape as Huayna Picchu

Below the Temple of the Sun is the Royal Tomb, which is called that even though there is no evidence that anyone was every buried there.  Many of the buildings are simply known as the Temple of Ten Windows or the Temple of Three Doors as no one is certain what they were used for.  Because there is no written Incan language, what interpretation you hear depends on who your tour guide is.  One tour guide would describe the Temple of the Condor as a prison and then next tour guide would exclaim 'can you believe they used to think this was a prison.  Ridiculous!'

 

Look at the size of those rocks. And the ever present trapezoidal window.

 

This rock is a really big deal and the park staff are there to make sure you don't touch it or sit on it.  This is the Intihuatana which loosely translates to 'hitching post of the sun.'  Most of these rocks were found and destroyed by the Spaniards in their attempt to eliminate sun worship.  It is thought to have been used as an astro-agricultural clock for viewing the relationships between the stars and constellations. 

My new buddy :)
 

We caught the bus around 8:30 and stayed at Machu Picchu til around 1 pm.  Just as we got on the bus to head back downhill, it started to rain.  Great timing!

As we went back downhill, we met several buses coming uphill on the very narrow winding road and actually had to back up a couple of times.  SCARY but we made it.  We decided to have lunch at Trip Advisor's number 2 restaurant in Aguas Caliente - El Indio Feliz Restaurant.    Luckily this was one meal that didn't involve a long search - it was right across the street from the restaurant we had lunch at the day before. How sad to think that while we were suffering through that awful lunch, a fantastic restaurant was right in view.

Our booth, the kissing booth, at Indio Feliz. Awesome food!

Our lunches were amazing, the service relaxed as always.  By the time we finished a leisurely lunch the rain had stopped so we did a little last minute souvenir shopping and then made our way to the train station to begin the journey back to Cusco.  It was like the peak of Machu Picchu had been the peak of our trip and now we were starting the descent - train and bus to Cuscu, flight to Lima, flight to Detroit.  Time to start the whole process in reverse.

By the time we arrived back in Cusco, we were pooped.  We checked back into our hotel and were assigned a different room. Same price but this one was on the second floor and had a little living room area.  We grabbed some snacks at the convenience store a block away to eat in our room and then 'hit the hay.'  What an amazing day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The tip of Huayna Picchu as seen through John's telephoto lens.  You have to get a separate free ticket for access and they only have 200 tickets at 8 am and 10 am each day. Temple of the Moon is on this peak.  We didn't have the time or energy for this hike. Maybe next time????

LONGEST.DAY.EVER.

On Tuesday we decided to skip the all day bus tour and after breakfast we took a hike to find the bus depot for tomorrow.  In the past when travelling from Cusco to Machu Picchu, travelers would simply board the train for the four hour ride. During the rainy season from November to May there were often problems with mudslides, landslides and rockslides so now travelers during the rainy season take a two hour bus ride to a station just beyond Ollantaytambo and then a two hour train ride the rest of the way to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. 

After a quick breakfast we headed down the hill, past Q'orikancha, looking for the bus depot.  We wandered around and around several blocks, stopped in to hotel lobbies to ask for directions, and ended up at a local market.  I had seen these vendors in Lima as well:  there is a bunch of hard-boiled eggs in what looks like an aquarium - a small glass container.  On the side of the glass container is a bowl for holding the egg shells and below is a group of quail who are laying the eggs for the vendor to cook and sell.  Customers purchase the eggs and the vendor peels them, puts the egg shells in a bowl and then puts the peeled eggs in a plastic bag, sprinkles them with salt and gives the bag to the customer.  The other street food that was very popular was a boiled/steamed cob of Inca corn which is much larger than our sweet corn at home.  These are also sold in a plastic bag which customers use to hold the corn as they eat it.  I did not try either of these local treats.

Quail egg vendor

As we waited out a quick rain shower at the local market, John used the data on his phone to once again search for the bus station.  We saw lots of other interesting things in the city, but no bus station.  By now I was feeling tired and dizzy.  I suggested to John that it was time to go back to the hotel, and that we needed to grab a cab rather than walk.

Some of the sites from our strolls around Cusco:

I like the juxtaposition of the traditional dress and modern dress.  We saw women everywhere in Peru, including the airport, wearing the flat-brimmed beige hat, braids, brown pleated skirt and flat shoes, and carrying colourful bags slung over their shoulders carrying all sorts of things including their children! 

Just down the street from our hotel

Turns out this fountain is very close to the bus depot.
We walked around this plaza countless times; we knew we were close!

When we got back to the hotel, I laid down and was sure I would feel better once I had a quick rest.  WRONG! By 2 pm I was sick.  Really, really sick.  I won't go into graphic detail but I was vomiting and had diarrhea nonstop all afternoon and into the evening.  John relaxed just outside the hotel door on the patio, reading his book and playing games on his computer, and came in periodically to make sure I was still alive.  As the day progressed and my condition showed no signs of improving he somehow managed to find a pharmacist who spoke English and got me antibiotics, a Spanish version of Gatorade to restore my electrolytes and a canister of oxygen just like the Japanese tourist had at Sacsaywaman.

As  afternoon faded into evening I was still spending most of my time in the bathroom and I began to have serious doubts about my ability to embark on a two hour bus ride followed by a two hour train ride in the morning.  Our bus left at 7 am and we had strict instructions to be at the bus depot no later than 6:30 am.  We had made arrangements ahead of time to check out in the morning, leave our suitcases at the hotel and then check back in on Thursday evening.  We just planning to use our backpacks as overnight bags for the trip to Aguas Caliente.  The staff at the front desk assured us that the taxi driver would take us to the mysterious bus depot in the morning.  But I couldn't imagine leaving the bed, except to go to the bathroom, let alone leaving the room.

I was sure that I was going to miss out on our trip to Machu Picchu, which was the whole point of this trip and I suggested John go ahead without me, but he argued that he would rather stay with me and  not leave me behind.  I figured at least one of us would get to see it; he figured it would still be there and we could see it together another time.  I was too weak to argue, which is unusual for me!  I woke at 3 am, still sick and even more convinced that we were going to be spending another day in Cusco.

On to Cuzco

We slept in til almost 9:00 and then got ready and went downstairs to the breakfast buffet.  Wow!  It was really good with foods from around the world.  In addition to the usual fruit, yogurt, meat, cheese, eggs, pancakes there were tamales, sushi, dim sum, and the best chicken shawarma.

John and I went for a short walk around a nearby park. It was very hot and humid and there were stands on the street corners selling Inka Kola, this yellow soda pop.  After seeing it everywhere, John bought a bottle to try.  It tasted like a combination of bubble gum and cream soda.  Not my favourite.

The ubiquitous Inka Kola

Reynaldo picked us up and we were off to the airport for our flight to Cuzco.  For a Sunday morning there was really heavy traffic.  Reynaldo explained that today was a day for college admission exams.  Students can receive free college education but there are over 25000 applicants for 1500 spots. 

Our flight to Cuzco was quick and uneventful and we grabbed a cab ride to our hotel, the Terra Viva Cusco Saphi. When researching hotels on TripAdvisor, Booking.com and other websites, I had noticed that at some hotels the cab had to drop you off at the bottom of a hill and then you had to hike upstairs to the hotel.  At such a high altitude I knew I didn't want to be doing extra hiking, and I was thrilled when the cab dropped us off right at the front door.

our room with traditional alpaca decoration

the front of our hotel in Cusco

It was a great hotel and only $100 per night - close to the Plaza de Armas but far enough away that it was quiet at night.  Our room was big and bright, and there was a lovely interior courtyard where we could sit outside and relax.  In the lobby there was a pot of coca tea as well as loose coca leaves to help combat the altitude sickness that many people experience. 

Image from theculturetrip.com

Here's John in the doorway to our room. Notice the two bulls on the roof - one male, one female.  These are seen on homes and businesses everywhere around Cusco and mean different things, depending on who you ask.  There is usually a cross and sometimes a ladder as well.  According to some it brings good luck and good fortune to the residents, and the ladder and cross are there to ensure a speedy journey to heaven.  If you ask five people, you'll get five different answers!  For some differing opinions check out Yahoo, or this website or even this website.


We went for a walk downtown to Plaza de Armas and there was some sort of water balloon and shaving cream battle going on.  I'm not sure why, but everyone seemed to be having a great time.  There was a large crowd gathered to the one side so we went over there and watched some sort of dramatic presentation that involved two men in costumes having a pretend battle.  I really need to learn more Spanish so I can ask more questions! 



Some of the shaving cream fight participants



wearing a hat of shaving cream

Plaza de Armas was beautiful and I'm glad we stayed nearby.  I loved all the cobblestone streets, the historic buildings, the gardens - a great homebase for exploring Cusco. 



Shops and restaurants along the perimeter of Plaza de Armas



The Inca fountain - a new and controversial addition to the Plaza

 

The Plaza is beautiful and filled with restaurants, shops and people offering massages.  I guess they figure you need a massage after all the uphill hiking that you are doing in and around the Sacred Valley.  Facing the cathedral is a tall golden Inca statue which was added in 2011 and caused a great deal of controversy.  Some residents feel it is helping to restore the Inca presence to the city and others feel that the Plaza is a colonial area and the fountain should have been left in its original form.  I guess there used to be a statue that someone brought from New York with a Native American Indian with a bow and arrow at the top of the fountain.  I think that would look weirdly out of place in Cusco, but that's just my opinion!

We settled on a patio for a leisurely dinner overlooking the street and then were off to bed.  After all this walking and fresh air, the bed felt wonderful!

Machu Picchu - Here we come!

While we were staying in Argentina I had wanted to go on a side trip to Machu Picchu but somehow it never worked out with our schedule.  We decided that after spending our March Break in 2013 relaxing on the beach in Costa Rica in a state of near perpetual relaxation that we would go to Machu Picchu for March Break 2014.  What a very different holiday this was to be - six flights, four bus rides, two train rides, three different hotels....  it was a trip not a holiday!

As we left home early in the morning  on March 8th to head to Detroit airport the streets were covered with a thin layer of ice.  We had an uneventful flight from Detroit to Atlanta and then four hours to kill in the Delta Sky Lounge while waiting for our flight to Lima. They had a nice outdoor patio so we sat outside and enjoyed the warmth and sunshine, as well as the free drinks, snacks and wifi.  After such an incredibly cold and long winter, any chance to sit out on a patio in the sunshine was too good to miss.

When we went to board our flight to Lima, both John and I as well as two other guys were pulled aside and not allowed to board.  We like to take advantage of our Sky Miles Priority status and board early so we can get our bags into the overhead compartments before they run out of room.  After a few minutes, the staff gave me the go ahead to board, so I took both of our carry on bags and got on the plane while John waited, not so patiently, at the gate.  But when I got to my seat, another girl was there with the same seat assignment.

Unbeknownst to me, as soon as I had boarded the plane, the staff at the gate told John to "get her back."  (Meaning me). He tried texting me, but, to no avail.  Meanwhile, the girl and I flagged down a flight attendant to help us figure out what to do about our seat situation.  Then the another flight attendant came to get me, and as we started walking off the plane, John was walking onto the plane.  Even though we had booked our seats with his SkyMiles frequent flyer points and John was sure that we wouldn't be upgraded, we had been moved up to Business Class.  Hurray! After some negotiation with other passengers, we were able to get two seats together and finally settled in for our flight to Lima.

As we were relaxing with champagne and orange juice, the pilot came on to announce that there was an error message with the left engine and we had to roll back to the gate for the mechanics to check it out.

A little while later they announced that the light wasn't coming on any more so we could depart - almost an hour late.  I was a bit leery - why was the light coming on in the first place?  Did the light stop coming on or did they fix what was causing the light to come on? But soon we were airborne so I tried not to think about it. The seats folded down flat into beds, so after dinner and a movie (Nebraska), I laid down and had a nice long nap.

We landed in Lima around 12:40 am, quickly moved through customs and immigration, grabbed our luggage and then got a cab to our hotel, the Sheraton, which I had booked using my SPG bonus points.  Our cab driver, Reynaldo, was from Lima but had lived in Virginia for four years.  He told us all about Lima - 11 million people of the 29 million people in Peru live in Lima.

The interior of the Sheraton Convention Centre in Lima - hope you don't have vertigo!

When we checked in at the Sheraton they had upgraded us to the Club Level.  It seems our theory about not being upgraded when booking on points had been proven wrong twice in one day!  We had a quick shower in our lovely room and then went downstairs for our complimentary pisco sour.  Both Chile and Peru claim to be the origin of the this drink and I had been looking forward to trying the Peruvian version.  They tasted similar to me, although the Chilean version uses lemon juice and the Peruvian recipe calls for lime juice. It would be interesting to have a side by side taste test, but not at this late hour.  By 2:30 am, we were finally headed to bed.