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".