Ever Forward

This is the third post about our visit to Perú.  In this one, Maty and I take the train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, and subsequently arrive in Machu Picchu.  This continues the story about our journey from Chosica to Ollantaytambo.

We woke up early Tuesday morning, paid our bill and headed for the train station.  We were a couple minutes late arriving, as we had miscalculated the walk down the hill, but had no problems making the train.  Always make sure your passport is handy!  The Expedition train does not have a lot of leg room for a guy with 34-inch legs, but is otherwise pretty comfortable.  The 1 1/2 hour trip was absolutely gorgeous!  I could easily observe that we were dropping down from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes, watching the terrain change from desert mountain to forest-covered jungle mountains.

We arrived in Aguas Calientes and effectively took the first bus we could catch up the hill to Machu Picchu.  You cannot see Machu Picchu from Aguas Calientes, nor vice versa.  Machu Picchu remains fairly well hidden from the bottom.  The bus follows a bumpy dirt road up the mountainside, at times having to pause to allow another bus to pass.  The drivers might make you a little nervous, but they are quite accustomed to the route.

At the top, you’ll have to show your reservation or ticket, and your passport to enter.  Also, I had a backpack, which I checked at the luggage desk, since I did not want to haul that and my camera and water.  There are lots of guides to show you around, but be careful what you agree to.  I opted for a private guided tour, but time-wise, think it would have been better to forego that.  Still, it was pretty nice to learn something about the city.  She did a fair job, and her English was reasonably good.  At any rate, I learned some interesting things about Machu Picchu along the way.

When I say city, Machu Picchu is actually quite a sizeable site.  The ruins are in fairly good shape, even one of the temples that has been affected by an earthquake.  Mind you, some of the buildings and walls are reconstructed to some degree.  Based on the guide’s information, Peruvians believe some artifacts were not fully declared by Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor who discovered the site (or at least brought it to the world’s attention).  At any rate, one should probably plan to spend at least 3-4 hours touring the site, plus an additional 2 1/2 hours if you want to climb Huayna Picchu (1 hour each way, plus milling around at the top).

At around 11:30, I passed through the booth to climb Huayna Picchu, the mountain that rises above Machu Picchu.  It forms the nose of the Inca profile that you can see from within Machu Picchu.  Huanya Picchu is not for everyone.  You don’t have to be in tip-top shape, but you should be prepared for uneven terrain, mostly steps made of rock.  While the altitude is still comfortable, you are nevertheless above 8000 feet, and will still exert yourself more than at lower altitudes.  Also, if it rains substantially, you could be in for a treacherous climb, especially at the top.  I had 66 ounces of water with me, which was just about right.  Wouldn’t hurt to have a little more.

I climbed up in about an hour, spent a few minutes exploring the top, and the Moon Temple, and then came back down.  On the way back down, a little less than half-way back, I slipped on a step and landed sitting on it.  I was fine, but I really don’t have enough padding on my butt to fall comfortably on stone steps.  All those steps make your legs and knees feel like spaghetti.  Fortunately, there was a couple in front of me, and another not too far behind me.  All of them told me to take a short break and drink a little water, which I did.  The couple up front stayed pretty close to me after that, and I generally feel it’s better to walk with someone anyway.

When I finally reached the bottom, my shirt looked like I had taken a bath.  Honestly, I’m scared of heights and slightly out of shape.  But I thoroughly enjoyed the climb.  The views really are breath-taking from atop Huayna Picchu.  I met Maty, who had decided to stay behind, and we began to make our way out of Machu Picchu as the rain was starting.  We stopped off at the llamas (pronounced “yah-mas“) on our way, and snapped a few photos.  The llamas did not charge for the photos. 

Back at the bottom, in Aguas Calientes, we ate lunch at “The Tunki” in Aguas Calientes.  The meal was costly, which we knew in advance.  But what made Maty mad was that her chaufa did not include eggs, which is normally part of the meal.  The waitress tried to explain that they don’t make it that way, and I concluded that they avoid eggs for the sake of the tourists whose stomachs may not be able to handle them.  I don’t think she buys that line.  I ordered lamb, which had apparently been pre-cooked and then heated up in the microwave.  How else do you explain a cold spot in an obviously cooked portion of meat?  Also, the drinks were free, but our Pisco Sours turned out to be little more than a shot glass.  While I expect the tourist trap town to be a rip-off, price-wise, I do expect better quality food.  My take?  Don’t eat at the Tunki, which is right next to the Plaza de Armas.

Aguas Calientes (Hot Springs)

We took a couple photos in the Plaza and then caught the train to Poroy.  This is something I haven’t quite figured out.  After all these years, one would think that the train would run directly from Cusco to Aguas Calientes.  It does not.  You have to take a bus/van to Poroy (20 minutes outside of Cusco), and catch the train there.  So we arrived at Poroy and took a van into Cusco.  We returned to the hostal Puka Ventana, where we had our reservation, and watched a little TV before turning in for the night.

I have now uploaded photos of Machu Picchu, and my trek up Huayna Picchu (with comments).  They are in separate albums, as I felt it just makes sense to break them up.  Machu Picchu effectively runs from North to South, with the Inca Trail coming in from the Southeast. Huayna Picchu sits at the Northern end of the city.  The Urubamba River & Valley snake around the mountain on which Machu Picchu sits, nearly surrounding it.

Machu Picchu from Huayna Picchu

I was using my Nikon D70 camera with either my standard lens or the Sigma DG 70-300mm lens.  I had paid to climb Huayna Picchu as well.  This was as much a spiritual adventure as it was a hike.  On the one hand, I am scared to death of heights.  On the other hand, I just love climbing mountains.  Go figure.  This was a climb of about 360m (1180ft) higher than Machu Picchu, and took me just under an hour to get to the base of the top.  Huayna Picchu’s actual elevation is 2720m (8920ft).

The climb up involves a stairway, but I confess I wish the Incas had invented the elevator.  I – and most others climbing with me – had to stop every so often to catch our breath.  The views from Huayna Picchu were so stunning that I practically forgot my fear of heights.  Or, rather, I was so busy with my camera I barely paid attention.  I confess, though, there were a few points at which I was pretty nervous.  Climbing down down from the top, climbing down by the Moon Temple and coming back down the terraces to the trail.  The trail itself isn’t that scary, but you do have to be careful nevertheless.  I slipped on a step and landed on my butt (ouch!).  Thank goodness I didn’t slip on the slope!  The steel cables are there for a reason, but they do not cover the whole trail.

Anyway, I hope you’ll get some idea of the size and beauty of Machu Picchu and be able to enjoy the dangerous beauty that is Huayna Picchu.  As for me, the trek itself was priceless.

I’ve now uploaded photos of our trip from Ollantaytambo through the beautiful Urubamba Valley, aslo known as Valle Sagrado (Sacred Valley) to Aguas Calientes, the village at the foot of Machu Picchu.  Click the link above to visit the photo gallery.  I also added some new photos in the Chosica album.

Rio Urubamba / Urubamba River

This is the second of a series of posts about our recent trip to Peru.  It covers our Trip from Chosica to Ollantaytambo on Monday, September 12.

It was about 4:00 AM when my stomach woke me up, churning with a sharp pain I don’t think I’ve experienced before.  And we had a taxi to catch to get to the airport in Lima for our flight to Cusco.  Both of us hurting (Maty’s stomach had started hurting Sunday afternoon), we nevertheless readied ourselves for the taxi ride.  When the taxi arrived, Maty got the driver to stop off in Chosica at a 24-hour pharmacy, where I had to exit the taxi – I was just that sick.  Finally, we got back underway, and I began to feel a little better.

We arrived at the airport in Lima, and went through security, and settled down to wait for the flight.  We were flying with Star Peru, which was a good thing, since Peruvian Air had been grounded because of safety concerns following an accident back in the Spring.  Our flight was delayed by a half hour, due to foul conditions.  And this was after they had informed us that our original departure time of 7-something AM was delayed until 9-something.  Even so,  the flight with Star Peru was good, and as far as airlines go, I would have to give them a hand.

We finally arrived in Cusco around 11:00-ish.  When I first stepped off the plane, I immediately felt like my legs weighed an extra 50 lbs, due to the change in altitude.  Cusco sits at 3400 meters (11,200 feet) above sea level, and most people can manage well at up to 2400 m (8000 ft) without any problem.  People not used to life at high altitude probably need to adjust and should really do as little as possible for the first day.  At the very least, walk slowly and take your time. We did that part correctly, but remember… we were both still not feeling up to par from the stomach virus.

Maty and I had somehow failed to bring the contact information for the hostal (despite having everything else in order), and decided to trust a taxi driver to take us to the right place.  Bad choice.  Never trust a taxi driver in Peru.  If you are planning a trip to Peru, make sure you make arrangements with your hotel or hostal to have a taxi meet you at the airport.  And make sure you keep their contact information handy.  We were both sick, adjusting to the altitude, and the taxista had left us at about halfway down the hill from our hostal.  We finally arrived, and checked in.

We decided that, given how bad we both felt, we would just take it easy for an hour or so before trying to continue on to Ollantaytambo.  The hostal staff immediately gave us Mate de Coca, which helped tremendously.  After a nap, we found a pharmacy, where we bought meds for the stomach, and the young lady recommended a little restaurant just down the street.  After eating, we took a taxi to a bus “station”, where we caught a van going to Ollantaytambo.  There are public transit buses, much like one might encounter in Charlotte or Atlanta, but frequently, a “bus” is a minivan or “combi” – roughly equivalent to many mid-sized church vans that hold between 15-25 passengers.

Our original plan was to arrive in Cusco early, eat a light breakfast, leave a bag at the hostal and arrive in Ollantaytambo in the early afternoon.  It simply did not happen.  Between the flight delays and us feeling bad, we arrived in Ollantaytambo just as the archeological park there was closing.  We could actually see people making their way back down from the bottom.

Our decision to spend the night in Ollantaytambo was a good one, not only because we had paid for our train ticket to leave from there on Tuesday morning, but also because the lower altitude (2792 m / 9160 ft) was much more comfortable for us.  We stayed at a hostal called Marca Cocha, just a 10-minute walk from the train station, and just around the corner from the Plaza de Armas (the main square in most cities & towns).  Marca Cocha has a beautiful inner courtyard, and just ‘feels’ warm and comfortable.  Unfortunately, they don’t have a website, or I would provide a link.  Since we just sort of “showed up” (we were really looking for another hostal), I suppose you could, too.  It’s basically right around the corner from the Hostal Los Andenes.

At Marca Cocha we paid 70 soles for the night, and got dinner at the guest discount price.  Dinner was a little slow in coming, since the staff is small, but it was delicious.  I was feeling well enough to try the Lomo Saltado de Alpaca.  The room and bed were comfortable and we actually had hot water for our shower – something that is apparently a hit-or-miss proposition in Peru.  Hot running water is not the norm, and is usually only available in hotels, hostals and I saw a public shower that offered hot water.  The hostal also has internet stations that guests can use for an hour for free.  After taking advantage of that to send my Dad and brother a message, Maty and I settled in for the night.

I managed to get just a handful of photos posted from our trip to Peru today.  You can see them here.  Don’t worry, there’s more to come!

Hope you got comfy shoes!

This is the first in a series of posts about my adventures in Peru with Maty.  This post covers our first weekend (9-11 September) in Peru, as we arrived and spent a little time with Maty’s family before flying to Cusco.

Friday, 9-Sep-11
We arrived at Charlotte-Douglas at around 11:00 to catch our 2:00 flight.  Delta had informed us that our original departure time of 3:00 had been moved to 2:00, but we then got delayed until nearly 4:00 before we left.  We arrived in Atlanta and had to rush to the gate for our next flight.  Naturally, the gate was at the end of Concourse E.  But at least we made it – others missed their flights.  Surprisingly, our luggage even made it.

Our flight from Atlanta to Lima left on time.  We arrived in Lima around 11:00 PM and were met by Maty’s family.  We took a taxi from Lima to Santa Eulalia, just a few minutes East of Chosica.  The trip takes 1-2 hours, depending on traffic.  Being dark, I could only make out the mountainous terrain, and the lights of some of the buildings en route.  I could see the outlines of buildings on the way, but could not tell much about them.

When we arrived at Maty’s family’s home, we sat down and ate some soup, chatting a bit before finally going to bed somewhere around 1 or 2 AM.

Sat, 10-Sep-11
I woke up to see the sun shining brilliantly, and stepped outside to see what El Perú looks like.  Maty had told me that there were no trees, and very little in the way of greenery.  She was not exaggerating.  The gray-ish brown mountainous terrain around Chosica could pass for something you might see in a far-out space adventure.  It’s just rock.

The houses here tend to look like miniature box-shaped fortresses.  Frequently, offices and houses are built side-by-side in townhouse fashion for as far as the eye can see.  It can be difficult to distinguish the difference between an office and a house, and sometimes they may be one and the same.  It is also difficult to distinguish between rich and poor in some cases, at least from the outside.  The inside is most often where one discovers what a family has – or doesn’t.

The fortress look of the buildings is not accidental.  There are metal bars on every first floor door and window, and frequently on any windows at higher levels as well.  Crime and corruption are serious problems in Perú.  People must be constantly vigilant in their daily activities to the possibility of an attack.

I took photos around the house and chatted with Maty’s family until her uncle arrived to prepare the pacha manca, a traditional meal cooked by burying meat with hot rocks in the ground.  I helped out with the pacha manca, so that I could learn about how to do it.  I think the family got as much of a kick out of watching me, as I did from participating.

Eventually, more and more family members began to arrive to greet us, and especially to see Maty, whom they have not seen in 10 years or more.  They brought in Mexican-style Mariachis to sing a bit, and we also ate the pacha manca.  We eventually formed a circle outside and talked until  fairly late.  At around 9:30 or so, they brought out a cake, and we celebrated Maty’s birthday.  Eventually, everyone began to leave, and we finally turned in for the night, exhausted from a full day of celebrating and dancing.

Sunday 11-Sep-11
Sunday we made a trip into Chosica, and did a little shopping.  We ate some chicken “a la braza” in one of the local restaurants while we were out.  We mostly relaxed for the day, knowing we had to wake up early the next morning.  Maty began experiencing a stomach ache, but I did not seem to be affected.  We returned to Chosica later that night and ate some Peruvian-style donuts.  Back at the house, we saw some of the 9/11 memorial news, from a Peruvian perspective.  A number of Peruvians also lost their lives in those attacks.