Peru - Day 1

On March 16th, the day of the crazy snowstorms on the East Coast, I moved out of New York! My flight was around 7am, from NYC to San Diego. I was a bit worried of the forecast, but confident my flight would get out.... I received at call from American Airlines around 1am telling me that my flight was cancelled. Ack!!!! But they moved me to an even earlier flight at 6:15am... Good thing for me the flight left on time. It had just started snowing, but wasn't very strong. Lucky me got upgraded to first class on both legs of the trip (Whoo-hoo!). And I arrived in San Diego by 11am! (btw, my neighbor from St. Louis to San Diego drank at least 5 gin-and-tonics on that trip! 5!!! In the morning!!!)

I received many messages from New Yorkers checking if I made it out. I guess they ended up having a massive storm with flights getting cancelled left and right that day. Whew.

It was ESSENTIAL that I made it to San Diego early since we were flying out to Peru from LAX that very night! So imagine how I felt, when I got a call at 12:30pm from Copa Airlines informing me that our plane for that evening was switched to a smaller one. The person wanted us to postpone our trip by half a day! No Way!! If we did that, we would get into Lima around midnight! Our original itinerary was to get in around 3pm, so we had half a day to explore and adjust ourselves to the culture. Anyways, the lady wasn't terribly thrilled with me when I said no, and told us to get to LAX extra early to ensure we didn't get bumped from that flight. Ack!

Around 7pm, Neill came over, and the three of us drove down to LAX... We stood in line for the Panamanian carrier Copa Airlines for a while, but managed to get seats on the 1:30 am (YUP, AM!) flight out! 6 hours later, we were in Panama. The airport is very interesting there, all the stores sell electronics! I mean, you can buy a 40" flat screen TV from the airport, or Ipods, or Wiis. An hour later, we were on our second leg. And then 4 hours later, we were in Lima, Peru.... (That's right, in a day and a half, I have been on 4 planes from NYC to SD to Panama to Lima. Craziness.)

In the plane (and not very awake) At Tocumen International Airport (Panama)

We spent an afternoon and evening in Lima before heading off to Cusco the next day. We stayed at a very nice place called Hostel El Patio in the Miraflores neighborhood of Lima. I would highly recommend this place. The people are so nice, and it's pretty cute with flowers everywhere. And it's in a safe area within walking distance of all sorts of shopping, food, the ocean, and even some ruins!

Check out the cool old-fashioned key to our room.
Neill in front of our room Welcome!

We were starving when we got there! So we went to a little place recommended by one of our guidebooks called Rincon Chami. This place was fantastic! What a great first place to eat at!

Pisco Sour (a Peruvian drink, super yummy!)
Dave drinking the Peruvian cerveza, Cristal
Neill and his Cristal Check out this spread! (Food and drinks, all for just $24!!!!)

Arroz con Pollo, Chicarrones de Pescado, Lomo Saltado, Tacu Tacu

Some views around a Plaza in Miraflores

We then took a walk to the ruins in Miraflores, called Huaca Pucllana. Pretty cool to see some ruins in middle of an urban setting. It was closed when got there, so I don't have any pictures of it (hmmm, but Neill might).

That first night was an early night, as we were all exhausted from the flights. AND we had a 6:30am flight out to Cusco the next morning.

Peru - Day 2

Sunday, March 18, 2006

We woke up at 3:30am. Got picked up at 4am, and headed to the airport to head to Cusco. This is where you have to fly to if you want to check out the Incan Ruins of Peru....

Neill trying to maximize his sleep
Dave and I pretending that we're happy and awake
LanPeru
An hour later.... Flying into Cusco!
In the Cusco International Airport

We arrived into Cusco with little idea of what we were going to do. We figured this was going to be a trip of spontaneity! Anyways, we used one of the travel agents at the airport to help us plan out next few days.

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So this was our plan:

Monday - Drive through Sacred Valley to check out a few of the Incan Ruins. Get dropped off at Ollantaytambo to catch the 8:30pm train to Aguas Calientes.

Tuesday - Take the bus from Aguas Calientes and explore Machu Picchu early in the morning! Before all the crazy hikers from the Incan Trail, and before the tourists taking the train from Cusco show up.... Recuperate at Aguas Calientes that evening.

Wednesday - Take the 6:30am train back to Ollantaytambo. Get picked up and driven back to Cusco by early afternoon. Explore Cusco.

Thursday - Rafting in the Urumbamba River!

Friday - Head back to Lima

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The travel agent also helped us book a room at the Hostel Intiwasi, a place that looked nice from the outside, but a dump on the inside. We decided to stay there the evening, but searched around for a nice place to stay when we get back from our trip to Machu Picchu. We found a nice place called the Hostel Cusco Plaza I for only a few bucks more! ($50/night for a triple!)

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Anyways, that morning, there was a parade. We never did figure out what the occasion was, but it was a good opportunity to take some interesting pictures...

Peruvians in traditional dress + a lamb
Plaza de Armas
Plaza de Armas

People getting ready for the parade!
Went to a cute little cafe for lunch! (Including empanada, torta, y cafe)
Pretty balconies
Views from Plaza de Armas

Rooftop views from Hostel Cusco Plaza I

At night

Fountain in the Plaza de Armas

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that Cusco is at high altitude (over 10,000 ft), so man, we were huffing and puffing just walking around. Stairs suck! Altitude sickness is really common, so it is recommended to come prepared taking either Diamox (acetazolamide) and/or drink lots and lots of Coca Tea. Yup, tea made from the leaves of the same plant cocaine comes from..... I love the fact that Dave can now write prescriptions. I went running around filling my script for acetazolamide that day we flew out. I'm sooooooooo grateful for it. It definitely helped ME adjust to the altitude. I handled the Cusco area much better than my last trip to Colorado several years ago (climbing Mount Elbert, uh, let's not bring back memories of THAT horrendous hike)....

Peru - Day 3

Monday, March 19, 2007

At 8am, we were picked up by our driver, Ciro...

He drove us out of Cusco towards the Sacred Valley.
Some pics from our drive.....

hard to see, but a flock of sheep with shepherdesses in traditional dress


some small ruins
houses are generally made from mud bricks
Scenic View from along the way

Ciro first took us to Pisac, a village in the Sacred Valley. Our first close up look/hike along some Incan Ruins (read the wiki link for description)....

Pisac ruins

Cemetary (note the holes in the hill)




This is what high altitude does to you (makes you crazy!)

Neill, what are you doing??
Dave climbs everything
Sheep!
Lambs!
Can you see the sheep?

Neill and Dave having a race up the trail (they both died going up. too hard at high altitude!)
Can you see the sheep? (Ha ha, I can't!)
Super corn

After Pisac, Ciro drove us out to Ollantaytambo (another town with large intact ruins) for lunch, ruins, and a train ride.... We had lots of fun saying Ollantaytambo (oy-yan-tai-tam-bo) all the time.

Dave and Neill waiting for lunch to show up. We had this monstrous meal, whereas the Italian family to our right (on the left in the pic) didn't eat much (one kid had a single fried egg, another little kid had a small plate of fries, the mom had a small small salad... crazy people with small stomachs.)

Statue in middle of Ollantaytambo's Plaza

View from the lunch place and Ciro's car (on the left)
Map of the Ollantaytambo Incan Ruins


Do you see the face in the mountainside?

This looks like a big nose


Leaving our mark

Hint, the cactus we carved is in this picture


Ollantaytambo Marketplace

Melissa's Hairsalon
Burro!

Train to Aguas Calientes

Waiting for the train was crazy! The train was almost an hour late, and there was a horde of people waiting in front of these wire gates. Half were tourists with large backpacks of gear, the other half were locals heading to Aguas Calientes to sell their wares or foods at the marketplace over there. I saw people carrying huge stacks of eggs, and even stacks of 500 styrofoam plates! The crowd was getting very restless with the late train with many people calling out "Ahora! Ahora!" (Now! Now!) to the station agents to open the gates.... Once the gates DID open, it was pretty scary. I think a young child could be easily trampled in a situation like that.... But we got on the train, safe and sound... 2 hours later, we were in Aguas Calientes. During that time, it started raining. No, it wasn't just raining, it was POURING.... Thank goodness we brought ponchos with us!

We were met by a man taking us to our hostel, Hostel Ima Sumac. Another place our travel agent booked us. Okay, I have to say in retrospect, our travel agent did a great job arranging out activities, but man, she SUCKS at finding suitable lodging!... Whatever, we sucked it up and anticipated our nice room waiting for us in Cusco....

Oh, and we were starving, so we ran over to a nearby restaurant for their hamburger special: "hamburger", fries, and a coke for just about $2!! The hamburger was interesting as the patty was pretty flat and had some veggies in it (reminded me more of a meatloaf?).

Also, some more food stuff from Ollantaytambo... Neill ordered a panqueque today. Yup, that's pronounced pan-kay-kay, as in pancake!... I'm starting to realize I REALLY like cafe con leche. It's a big deal to order a cafe con leche because you end up with all sorts of little pots in front of you. One for the cafe (which is more like espresso), one for the leche, one for the extra hot water to dilute the crazy espresso, and then one for the sugar. And don't forget the cup and saucer for you to make your drink.... Dang, that was good.... AND DAVE really really really enjoys drinking espressos. Funny, because it doesn't keep him awake!