Day 14 Monday March 18th Machu-Picchu!

Up at 4.00am for a cold shower and then we catch the first bus (recommended) for the 30 minute ride to Machu-Picchu. We have a guide for two hours and he walks us around the site and then leaves us so we can have an additional few hours to ourselves. This a terrific place, we have seen a great many of the world’s ancient sites and Machu-Picchu ranks amongst our favorites. It’s very misty but it isn’t raining and then the sun starts to lift the mist and the surrounding mountains appear and frames the background to what’s left of the 600 or so year-old development of the pre-Incas and Incas. We make the 90 minute climb up to the Sun Gate (the original entrance to the site from the old Inca Trail) but Mach-Picchu is covered in mist for about 30 minutes but then it clears and the view is fabulous. We get back down to the main site and now, even though it’s low season, it’s packed with tourists-we’re glad we took that first bus up.

We go back down to Aguas Calientes for the train back to Ollantaytambo and the mini bus back to Cusco and the Hotel Ninos. Dinner of Lentil Soup, Peruvian Beef Stew; Spaghetti with fried tomatoes, chestnuts and herbs. Red wine and a wood fire.

Day 13 Sunday March 17th Aguas Calientes.

There isn’t much to see in Aguas Calientes but we find a good restaurant and negotiate a price discount on the Pisco Sours and stay several hours to watch a tennis match on their big screen TV. It’s pouring with rain and so we shop for additional ponchos.

I have misplaced my wallet, it’s here somewhere but, with cargo pants, a puffy jacket, a rain jacket and two ponchos I think I have 128 pockets. I would like to be mugged and then, as long as the mugger has 2-3 hours to spare, we can try to find it again.

Day 13 Sunday March 17th Aguas Calientes.

We have booked a round trip from Cusco to Machu-Picchu with an overnight stop in Aguas Calientes. $310 each. We have paid for everything and are always nervous that people won’t show up but, so far, they always have and are remarkable in keeping to their promises. Our taxi turns up and takes us to the mini-bus (packed with locals riding to nearby towns) that will take us on the 2 hour ride to the train station at Ollentaytambo. Then we board Peru Rail service for the two hour ride to Aguas Calientes. It’s a great journey with fabulous views along the valley. A member of our hostel’s staff meets us at the station and walks us to the hostel. It’s very basic and the shower is cold water.

Day 12 Saturday March 16th. Cusco

Cusco (elev. 2800m) was the capital of Peru under the Incas but all their buildings and culture went under the Spanish boot when they arrived and imposed Catholicism. It’s an attractive, walkable city and we climb the surrounding hills to look at a huge statue of Jesus Christ that overlooks the city and there we meet local musician and hustler Maximo Huaraka Gusiquispe and buy his CD for $6. Hey, it sounded good at the time.

Day 12 Saturday March 16th. Cusco

We spend part of the day at the huge farmer’s market. All the farmers have come in with their wares to sell to the Cusco locals: all sorts of home-made cheeses; fruits and vegetables (most of which we have never seen before but they blend up smoothies for us to try); all sorts of freshly slaughtered animals-this, not for the faint of heart. It’s a day to meet and greet and try to make some money. We will try and visit some of the remote farms. Peru is fertile and people seem to have plenty to eat.

Day 11 Friday March 15th Overnight bus Arequipa to Cusco

We leave at 10.00pm. The bus is good and we are on the upper deck (VIP class for $52 each) and the stewardess tucks us in to our fully reclining seats with a blankie and pillow. We could sleep but the road is terrible and I’m awake for all the several hundred sleeping policemen (speed bumps) and rumble strips. We arrive at Cusco at 6.00am Saturday and go to the Hotel Ninos where we are invited to check into our room early for a hot shower. Then we are served a breakfast of coffee, bread, cake and fried eggs in front of a wood fire. The hotel is boutique chic with a central sunny courtyard. $52/night is at the top end of our budget but worth it here. Breakfast and dinner are extra but the food is great.

Day 10 Thursday March 14th Hostel Casa De Avila, Arequipa.

More Spanish class (good) and bureaucracy working with Melissa (Hostel De Avila front desk-she’s very good) forward-booking a week or more to Cusco, Macho-Picchu, Lake Titicaca, Copocabana, La Paz, Rurrenabaque (Amazon head-waters and jungle in Bolivia) and then back to Juliaca for a night and then a flight to Lima and an overnight bus to Huarez in the Peruvian Andes for some hiking.

Day 9 Wednesday March 13th Arequipa

Spanish class with Giovanna (she’s good and we like her) then a walk to town for lunch and then a visit to the Monastery. $14 each and the money goes toward paying the nuns for their lives here. I wish I could take my money back.

We hope that they Spanish helps during our two month trip here. It’s been not stop charades for 10 days already. Me Talk Pretty One Day.

We have booked our trip to Machu Picchu and leave for Cusco on the over-night bus Friday evening. We like Arequipa.

Day 8. Tuesday March 12th. More Spanish class

Lunch after Spanish class at Tipika, a nearby restaurant and very good. We order Pisco Sours- doble, thinking that means they will be larger but they are simply twice as strong as normal (very unnecessary). We have good food, have fun chatting to our great waiter, Ciro, and then go home and nap. We like the people of Peru so far.

Day 7. Monday March 11th. Spanish Class with Giovanna

Just our tutor and Christine and me in the garden of our hostel for four hours a day all week now. She’s very good and Christine and I hope that we can do better than we did in High School French. We are joined by the hostel’s tortoise, Paco. She is very insistent in pushing against our feet and chairs. We pick up the 40lb 45 yr. old lady frequently and move her to the far side of the garden but, within a few minutes, she is back.

Very good lunch (roast Alpaca) on a terrace overlooking the central square and Cathedral in Arequipa, then back for a nap.

Day 6. Sunday March 10th Condor Canyon

Up at 5.00am and then, after breakfast, a two hour drive over unmade roads to get to the canyon. Then an hour’s hike along the rim to hunt for a view of the condors. The sun comes out and it’s beautiful and we soon see some of the 25-50 condors that are supposed to live here. Several take fly-by loops to take a look at us, riding the rim thermals on their 9’ wing spans, and so we see them less than 20 or so feet away. They mate for life, the chicks stay in the nest for two years (I could give them some advice about that-charge them rent!). If the female dies first the male commits suicide by flying high enough to pass out and falling to his death. Christine is looking at me and I know the question she wants to ask me.

Day 5. Saturday March 9th Calca Canyon

(Supposedly the deepest canyon in the world). 6.30am start for the four hour drive, along with about 20 other tourists, up to 5km above sea level. Almost everyone has some sort of sickness. Brian is stretched out on the back seat and our Guide passes out alcohol soaked cotton-wool swabs to place under our noses. It seems to help a little (I suppose like the Victorians used smelling salts and Laudanum). We stop for tea made from the leaves of the Cocoa plants grown in Peru-an old Indian remedy for altitude sickness and a little diversion from the main outlet for the crop.

A short while later the bus stops again to let another poor fellow off to quietly wretch by the side of the road. The views are amazing but this is very high. We can see our home for the night nestled in the valley below but that’s still 4km above sea level.

Mama Yacchi Hotel. Coporque, Colca Canyon. It’s very good and there is a Llama sleeping against our bedroom door.

Day 4 Friday March 8th, Arequipa

Brian feeling quite sick. Bread and water and altitude tablets. Getting ready for the high Andes tomorrow..

Day 3 Thursday March 7th Lima to airport

The taxi driver unscrews the “Taxi” sign from the top of his car. He is interrogated by the airport police and we are sitting in the back with our knees together clutching our passports and back-packs trying to look like members of his family

Arequipa. 90 minute flight from Lima. Casa deVila, room 117. Katie and Sarah stayed here last year and it’s very good. $38/night. Our 5-day Spanish class doesn’t start until Monday but I now know some Spanish. Estoy enfermo; mal de alturo/soroche. We are at 2km/8kft and have been OK at that height before, perhaps it’s a little food poisoning as well. Higher still up to Calca Canyon tomorrow for two days of hiking….

3-6-13 Japanese Cultural Center, Lima. We (and about 400 others) have three hours of terrific jazz at the Jazz Jaus (Jazz House). A whole group of young but professional musicians rotating on and off the stage and performing jazz standards.

Clubbing it at Club Rustica with Ricardo and Jenny. We have come to see Lucia de la Cruz, one of the most popular singers in Peru right now. She starts at midnight but Pisco Sours get us in the mood.

What the rest of the world has and you don’t want: humidity and noise. Peru runs to a loud and fast-paced Samba beat. 20 cars waiting for a light to change but that doesn’t stop them all honking their horns, many have wired their car alarms to their horn buttons in order to get attention- that leaves an ambulance with a problem.

3/7/13 Lima to airport the taxi driver unscrews the “Taxi” sign from the top of his car. He is interrogated by the airport police and we are sitting in the back with our knees together clutching our passports and back-packs trying to look like members of his family

3-7-13 Thursday. Areoquipa. 90 minute flight from Lima. Casa deVila, room 117. Katie and Sarah stayed here last year and it’s very good. $38/night. Our 5-day Spanish class doesn’t start until Monday but I now know some Spanish. Estoy infermo; mal de altero/soroche. We are at 2km/8kft and have been OK at that height before, perhaps it’s a little food poisoning as well. Higher still up to Calca Canyon tomorrow for two days of hiking….

Ricardo

Met him on the Metro, bought him a beer and some Ceviche and he took us all around the various sights and told us some of the do's/don't do's. We will join him and his wife tonight for some live music. Basic hostel at $33/night, everyone else is 22 and a hippie but it's fine, we have a room and private bathroom. Start our week of Spanish class in a couple of days and we need it!

1st Day-Lima, Peru

Security Message for U.S. Citizens – Reduction of Potential Kidnapping Threat in Cusco

U.S. Embassy Lima, Peru

March 6, 2013

The U.S. Embassy has conducted a thorough review of current information surrounding the potential kidnapping threat against U.S. citizens in the Cusco and Machu Picchu area by members of a criminal organization. Based upon this review, the February 13 restriction on travel by U.S. Embassy personnel to the region has been lifted.

Rough Plan-only flights in/out booked so far..