May, 2013 - Week 2 and 3 Machu Picchu and The Galapagos Islands

We started our journey to Machu Picchu early in the morning by train.  The train station was a short walk from our hotel and we only had a small bag for 2 nights.  The scenery on the train ride was beautiful and we were happy we had front facing seats.   When we arrived in the town of Aguas Calientas, our hotel room was ready, so we checked in and found we had a wonderful view of the river.  The town is small, but growing due to the number of people visiting Machu Picchu.

View from our room

Downtown area

After a short while, we boarded the bus with our guide and took the 8 mile windy bus ride up to Machu Picchu.  Due to the fact there were so many people at the top, and not enough buses to bring them down, our driver was moving extremely fast, and it was definitely a hair raising event, especially since we were in the front seat and could see everything.

After checking in with our passports (have no idea why), we walked through and I got my WOW moment.  The pictures we took do not do Machu Picchu justice, it's just something you have to see on your own.  To think that this was built by the Incas, without machinery, way on top of this mountain was absolutely amazing.  Even worse was the fact they only stayed there for 90 years and then left.  Jose was very knowledgeable about the history, so we learned the details of each room, staircase and aqueduct system.  You have to be very cautious walking around as the stones are very smooth from wear, and the steps are either very narrow or very high.  We spent approximately 5 hours and then returned to town for some food and rest. 

WOW WOW WOW!



My hero

Step carefully, it's a long way down!

 

Dinner was included in our package at the hotel, and we both ordered beef, but Greg also got some alpaca, which we both tried.  It was actually very tender, but Greg felt it tasted gamey.  The food so far has been very good.  Lots of rice, fresh fruits and vegetables, small portions of meat and seldom any bread.  I have to say if I eat ham and cheese for breakfast one more day, it will be one day too many.

After a good night sleep, we rose early, to see the mist rising off Machu Picchu, but after talking with Jose, learned it wasn't going to happen, as it was too cloudy.   We took our time going up, and also, Greg wasn't feeling too well.  We finally arrived and had the same WOW moment.  We walked through the small area we hadn't visited yesterday and then sat in the shade, talked, and just took it all in.  Greg was feeling worse and worse.



It's a new day, and no hats!

Do we really think you're falling?????

Uh oh, not feeling too well.

We returned by train, picked up our suitcases and rode a large bus, with just the two of us, back to Cusco.  The ride was very long and the bus moved very slow.  We did not take the scenic, tourist route, and it was obvious when little kids were throwing stones at the bus, that we were not welcome in their towns.  We rode through some really bad areas, and the poverty was obvious.   Very sad living conditions, trash everywhere, huts for homes, people just sitting around.  Traveling like this makes you very thankful for what you have and where you live.  By the time we got to our hotel, Greg was burning up and felt horrendous.  We believe he had altitude sickness.

We were at the same hotel we had stayed before and when they heard about our mosquito issue, they moved us to the best room in the hotel.  It was huge, with a beautiful bathroom and sitting room.  Sadly, Greg was so sick and went straight to bed and didn't get to enjoy the luxury.  Since he had pills to take, he was craving a banana, so I had to venture out at night, in search of a market that sold fruit.  I was really nervous, but managed to find bananas and got some food into him.

He felt somewhat better the next morning, although not 100%.  We then had to fly to Lima and then on to Quito, Ecuador for our Galapagos Island trip.  Our arrival in Quito was a surprise, because the city was much more like an American city, with nice roads and downtown area.  After a confusing check in because of wrong room assignment, we went and walked around the city.  They use the American Dollar in Ecuador, which made things so much easier.  We were staying in the financial district, so at night it was fairly quiet, with not many restaurants around.

The next morning, our guide showed up for our city tour.  I think at this point I was "Inca'd" out, so as the guide droned on and on, I was losing interest rapidly.  We visited churches and museums and drove to a point to look down on the city, which is very pretty.  We finally said goodbye to our guide, stopped for lunch, and then went to a huge nearby park.  There were large circles of people and everyone was laughing and having a good time while performers did comedy acts in the center.  Our grasp of the Spanish language was limited, so it wasn't funny to us.  We did have an Irish guy try to sell us his brownies, which Greg would have bought had I not been there!

Animals on the church instead of gargoyles

View of Quito

We had a 6:40 a.m. flight to The Galapagos in the morning, and were super psyched for this part of the trip.  It was hours of flying, then bus ride, ferry ride and another bus ride before we finally arrived at the dock to board our 16 guest catamaran.  We were quite surprised when we found we had to board a small boat (zodiac) to take us out to the catamaran, and we would use these Zodiacs every time we left the boat.  It was an art to step in and out of the boat, and not trip or lose your balance. 

The Zodiacs we used daily

Our Boat

My Skipper

We had a room on the second floor, and were stunned how large it was.  Queen size bed, two closets, sitting area with 2 chairs, nice size bathroom and a balcony.  It was really nice to be settled somewhere for one week, as we had been on the move every other day for the past week and a half. 

So not to bore everyone with the details of every island stop, it's sufficient to say we saw quite a bit of the islands.  Every day we had breakfast at 7, did a morning hike of 1 1/2 to 2 hours, then returned to go snorkeling for an hour, then noon lunch and another hike in the afternoon and then dinner at 7.  Many of the islands were made up of lava rock, which was a bit tricky when hiking.  Fortunately it wasn't too hot, although we were very near the equator.  There was one night when we crossed over the equator and went up to the bridge on the boat to see the dials at all 0's.

Map of our trip

The happy couple

Beautiful sunset



Lava rock island

Do wet suits look make you look thin or what???

No sunburn for this happy couple.

Instead of going through all the animals we saw, the pictures should be sufficient.  We didn't have an underwater camera, but some days the fish were gorgeous and others non existent.  There were green sea turtles swimming around and a few people got sea lions to swim with them.  We were bummed they didn't come our way.  A few people also saw sharks when snorkeling, which I was just as happy not to see. 

Galapagos turtle

Land Iguana



 

White Tipped Shark

Green Sea Turtle



Galapagos Penguin

Flamingos

Brown Pelican

Oyster Catcher

Flightless Cormorants

Crab

So happy with the sea lions

 

Awwwww, plus check out the sand color

Frigate Birds - look like Batman

Blue Footed Booby
Where else can you say "where are the boobies, and not get slapped?"

Marine Iguanas
Blended right into the lava rock



The animals on The Galapagos are not fearful as they have no predators.  Unfortunately this means that tourists go right up to them to have their pictures taken.  We had some really nice people on our boat, and in particular a young couple from Germany and another one from Israel.  These people made the experience all the much better.

After 7 nights on the boat.......some really rocky ones......we were on our way home.  It took us over 32 hours to get home with all the layovers, which was frustrating since it's only a 7 hour direct flight.

We feel so blessed to be able to travel and see the world and all it has to offer.  The saying is true, "there's no place like home".

May 2013 - Week 1 - Lima, Peru, The Amazon Jungle and Cusco, Peru

We arrived in Lima at 10:00 p.m. so only had time to get some sleep and get ready for our city tour the very next day.  Lima is an enormous city with 10 million residents and loads of traffic.

Greg in a park by our hotel

We visited the Miraflores area which is where we stayed, the suburb area of San Isidro and then to the Plaza de Armas for the Governor's Palace where they have a changing of the guards every day.

The next stop was St. Francis Museum and Catacombs.  The cathedral was absolutely beautiful, but unfortunately we could not take pictures.  The next stop was called Huaca Pucllana which is a pyramid they are excavating, and is located right in the middle of the city.  Fascinating to see what they have uncovered thus far.

Our last stop was called Love Park.  Beautiful benches of mosaic and a huge statue. 

The poor section of town, which has the best view

The view from the park into the ocean was beautiful.  Lima has great shore line, but the water is always too cold so they never are able to swim.  Also, it never ever rains in Lima so water trucks have to water all the trees and grass throughout the City.  The City is extremely clean and numerous wild cats sleep in the parks.  We found a great little restaurant for dinner and then off to sleep for our flight the next day.

The next day we flew to Puerto Maldonado for our 3 day Amazon jungle excursion.  The drive to the river on a small bus was crazy.  The roads were dusty and full of huge ruts and the bridges were scary to look at let alone drive on them.  We made it to the boat launch and headed down river for about an hour in a wooden boat.  The river water was muddy and we saw a few birds, turtles and camen.  When we got to our destination, we had to walk up almost 300 steps which were uneven, many parts with no railing and tiring.  We stayed at an eco lodge out in the middle of the jungle.  Our room was really cool, with 3 walls and one open to the jungle which was only about 12 feet away.  We were able to see the squirrel monkeys jumping around in the trees and in the morning we could hear lots of birds and the howler monkeys howling. 

Wooden boat

Lunch on boat - rice and vegetables in a banana leaf - yummy!

So excited!

Camen

Dining Area

Our bedroom, complete with mosquito nets and hammock

Our first trip was a hike through the jungle where we saw monkeys and birds.  Our destination was to a 130 foot tower which we were to climb to see the tree tops.  Since Greg is afraid of heights, this climb was out of the question.  The tower was very shaky once you started climbing and the platform at the top was small.  Once up there, you could see for a very long way and it was beautiful.  I saw two red macaws flying and squawking and then saw a toucan sitting in a tree.  It was all really awesome.



Jungle trail

Tower



White spot at the bottom is Greg!


The lodge was all open, and had a dining area, a bar, and a seating area with hammocks and couches.  It was really amazing for being out in the middle of nowhere.  The meals were great and the accommodations really comfortable.

We got up at 4:00 the next morning in order to get on the river so we could see the giant river otters.  We had to walk down those stairs in the dark, which was extremely scary.  We took the wooden boats to a raft and then rode down a different river.  Luck was on our side as we no sooner got on the river and got to see the otters.  There were 7 and were having a jolly good time.  We saw lots of cool birds  and then went fishing for piranhas.  Only a few people had luck in catching one.  Piranhas are not  nearly as dangerous as the movies lead us to believe.  Apparently the only time they attack is when they smell blood.  The locals swim in these rivers all the time and it's not a problem.  We were even luckier on the way back as the river otters were there again.

River Otters

River Otters

Flightless Birds

Fishing for Piranhas

Later that morning we went to a bird blind which overlooked a clay lick where we were looking for macaws.  There were only two there, but it was really cool to see them.  At different times of the year, there are dozens, but we were happy to at least see two.  We found 7 more very high up in the trees on our way back to the lodge. 

We also had the best experience ever when about 30-40 squirrel monkeys were climbing above and around us.  The trees were swaying and little monkeys were everywhere making noise and jumping all around.  It was an amazing experience.   In all the excitement I lost my really good sunglasses.  Not a good thing to happen on the 3rd day of this trip.

In the afternoon we took another boat ride to visit with the local Shaman.  They walked us around the jungle and explained how they used the bark and leaves of different trees to make medicine.  The guide gave us all a piece of leaf to chew telling us it was sweet.  Once your started chewing, it numbed your mouth and tasted awful.  It also made you keep salivating.  The guide thought this was all quite funny and explained if he had told us what it was really like none of us would have chewed it.  At the end of the tour, we each drank 3 small shot glasses of different medicines.  One of them being something similar to Viagra!

We met some very nice people on this trip and it was interesting to hear all the places they had traveled and their experiences.  Some we traded emails with and will keep in touch for awhile and exchange pictures.  Always great meeting new friends.

The next morning we left the lodge, back to the river, back to the bus and flew to our next destination....Cusco.   Cusco would be our home for the next two nights in preparation for our trip to Machu Picchu.  The altitude in Cusco is 11,200 feet, which can cause chaos in people's bodies.  They recommended drinking coca tea, which we later learned is a stimulant used to help your digestive system work properly.

We had a really nice hotel in Cusco in the San Blas area with a room overlooking the city.  Funny thing was we got only one mosquito bite sleeping in the Amazon Jungle, but had dozens sleeping in this hotel room because the bathroom window was only open slats, with no screen.  It was Mother's Day weekend when we arrived and they celebrate in a big way.  There were fireworks going off all day and parties in all the squares, which lasted until 2 a.m., which wasn't a lot of fun when trying to sleep.  Cusco has approximately 500,000 residents and 250,000 dogs.  The dogs roam the streets during the day and then as dusk comes, you can see them all sitting in their doorways wanting to be let in.

We had a supposed light lunch in a little café where we ordered chicken soup and a club sandwich.  The club sandwich was enormous and Greg said Mucho Grande to the waitress, who was a little old lady who spoke no English, but thought he was hysterical.

View from our Hotel

One of the parties

 We started the next day with our guide Jose, who we adored.  We visited Pisac, Tambumachay, Pukapukara, and Q'Engo, which were all prominent Inca sights.

 





Altar used for sacrifices

 

Me and Jose

After hours of Inca talk, we headed to the local markets.  An eye opening experience.  They have markets for locals and markets for tourists.  The local market was women and children selling everything from ducks and guinea pigs (for eating) to every fruit or vegetable possible.  The people line the streets and you can buy cheaply from them.  In the tourist area, there are stalls with all the same things, but in a much more orderly fashion and priced a little bit higher.  There were stalls that sold this chicken soup we have come to love and smoothies which looked great.  We were told about pick pockets, and sure enough somebody tried to pick Greg's pocket.  No money in the pocket so all she got was two swats on the wrist from him.

 

Voodoo anyone?

Couldn't resist a picture of this one.  They eat everything.

After a full day, we headed back for some much needed rest and another full day in Cusco and the Sacred Valley.

 

We started our next day with a visit to a beautiful cathedral where we could only take pictures of the outside.  The cathedral inside was a mixture of stone, gold flaked covered cedar and mirrors.  Very different kind of architecture, but quite beautiful.

 

 

On our way to the Sacred Valley we stopped at a llama farm where we got to feed them and watch the women weaving blankets and clothes.

The drive into the Sacred Valley was spectacular.  The pictures don't do it justice.  Everywhere you looked, just spectacular views.

We stopped for lunch in a little town, and I couldn't resist taking pictures of the inside.  It was called Blue Llama and there was this cartoon llama in pictures with all kinds of celebrities and also just some comical themes.  Really cute.  We also got to shop in the local market for souvenirs.  The vendors don't have prices, so you have to bargain with them, in Spanish for everything.  I don't normally like that part, but since Greg doesn't speak any Spanish, I had the pleasure and it turned out to be so fun.  I would banter back and forth and then when they didn't get to where I wanted, I would walk away and the next thing I would hear was Senora, Senora. 

Along our drive, we would pass houses with a huge stick and some kind of red bag on top of it near the road.  We learned that they brew corn beer, which only lasts 7 days, so when the stick is out, you can stop and buy the beer at any of the homes.  Interesting.

After a long, beautiful drive, we arrived in the town of Ollantaytambo where we would spend the night.  Very small town, but cute hotel, where once again this year, we would walk into the hotel room which was already occupied.  Bizarre!

 

We visited more Inca ruins, which were spectacular and not expected here.

 

Amazing!

You could actually hike out to here

See the old man's face?

So happy, especially with our matching hats!

Week one has come to an end, and we are off to Machu Picchu tomorrow.  What an amazing week this has been.  We have seen and experienced so much it's hard to believe.  I learned more about the Incas than I ever knew and it is fascinating.  I only wish I had learned more Spanish as it would make this trip a little more fun.  Yes, many people speak some English, but it doesn't seem right that I should expect them to know my language and be able to communicate with me.