Our Flight Back

Saturday November 19

 

Well, on our trip back we took a flight from Lima to Toronto that connected through San Jose, Costa Rica. It had a one and a half hour stopover, which we thought was lots of time. When we checked our bags in Lima, we assumed that they would automatically be transferred to our flight to Toronto, but no, we were told that we would have to get them ourselves and recheck them. Now all of a sudden one and a half hours was not looking like so much time, esp with immigration and security to go through. Then our plane was over half an hour late taking off, so we thought we were cooked. As we were landing, Anton's watch said 2:30, and our next flight left at 3:00. That was an awful feeling. Then we thought to ask a flight attendant if there was a time change, and he said the time was back one hour. Yippee! We now had an hour and a half again. But still lots to do. So we ran to immigration, and were promptly denied entry because we had not brought our yellow fever immunization records. Yes, we have the stupid shot from going to Kenya last year. But no one told us we would need the records for a stopover where we didn't even leave the airport. They made us sit in the corner and went to get an Air Canada rep, who told us that we would not be allowed past immigration, but should proceed back to the gates. At this point we had no luggage and no boarding passes. He said he would take care of that for us. We had no idea how he would find which luggage was ours, or even if he would remember about us. So we sat at the gate waiting while we watched people boarding our flight, and just a few minutes before it took off, he showed up with boarding passes for us and told us that he had taken care of our luggage. Well, at this point we were just glad to be on the flight and there was nothing we could do about our luggage, so we got on the flight hoping for the best. And lo and behold, when we arrived in Toronto, our luggage was waiting for us safe and sound. Amazing. I think I'll let them do all the work for me every time, from now on.

Palomino Islands

- On the boat
- Ready for a swim
- Sea lions
- Sea lions up close
- Anton with the sea lions
- Frankie enjoying a 'Pisco Sour'

Palomino Islands

Friday November 18

Today was Bad Smell Day. It started with our taxi ride. Heather and the kids have left us to go to the jungle, so today was just Pete and us. Carlos who set up our tour today sent a taxi for us. He said 9 am but the taxi was there at 8:30 already. It smelled bad. Again, the driving amazed us. Hardly any stops or lights to get through an entire city. It would have taken us 5 times longer, back home. He dropped us off at the pier beside the naval museum, where Carlos met us. He said we had to wait, so we asked for a banos. He walked all over for us looking for one, one restaurant said the whole area was without water. Finally he got us into the submarine museum, the nice guy with "bouncer" on his shirt let us in. We watched a bunch of guys carry out a crashed boat. The engine followed.

We had to wait on the pier for an hour before our tour started. They had to process everyone's info since the tour was full. Then they put us into a smaller boat to tender us to the bigger tourist boat.

It was rather similar to our Bellastas Islands boat tour, but longer (4 hours). The boat crew handed out their version of gravol and Anton took one, but Frankie didn't want to take any strange drugs. Soon she was regretting that decision and had to make a quick switch with Pete to be near the rail.

We started around a few big islands, one of which used to be used as a prison. Then 3 smaller islands make up the Palomino Islands. There were far fewer birds and far more sea lions. Thousands upon thousands upon thousands of sea lions. There was a lot of noise, and the worst smell we've ever smelled in our lives. Frankie had to put a kerchief over her nose the whole time. A boat crew member gave her a cotton ball and some alcohol to smell.

Anton and Pete were feeling a lot better than Frankie, and they both donned wet suits and jumped into the ocean with a dozen other passengers to swim with the sea lions. Frankie just couldn't get past the smell and the thought of getting into that yucky water. The sea lions came within 10 feet of Anton, it was a National Geographic moment. They got to swim for about 15 minutes.

Back on the boat, Anton got changed, the sun came out, and they handed out chips and pop. The national soft drink is Inca Cola, rather like cream soda. We chatted with another Canadian couple from Edmonton, and a brazilian guy who lived in Curitiba, the city in Brazil near where Anton was born.

The same taxi driver was waiting to take us back to our hotel. Our luggage had already been moved to our new room, a suite on the top floor. This is the first time we've ever stayed in a suite in any hotel. It's twice as big as a normal room, with a sitting area, kitchenette, and a jacuzzi tub. This is the only hotel room we've had in Peru that gave us facecloths.

Frankie made Pete and Anton both take showers since they both smelled like sea lions. Then the 3 of us went to find a late lunch/early supper meal. We found an alley with restaurants on both sides, everyone trying to get you into their restaurant. Anton chose the least aggressive person. It was a pretty typical Peruvian meal. Lomo saltado, beef sirloin strips with onions and peppers on top of fries, and rice. With free pisco sour, the national alcoholic drink of Peru.

After supper the 3 of us walked back through the park and Pete tried some of the street vendor food. We took videos of the crazy traffic that figures itself out. We haven't seen one traffic accident yet. It's a system that makes the pedestrian look for a chance to cross and make a run for it, rather than stopping traffic.

Back at the hotel we waited for Pabel to come pick up Pete, and then we had the evening to ourselves in our suite. We have also hired Pabel to take us to the airport tomorrow morning.

This is the end of the Peru blog. Tomorrow we will be catching a flight home with a stopover in Costa Rica. Home around 10 pm.

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Back to Lima

- The plane that took us from Cusco to Lima
- Park in Lima
- Market in the park
- Church at night.

Back to Lima

Thursday November 17

I'd rather be a hammer than a nail....yes, I would....if I could....I surely would..... El Condor Pasa written by Paul Simon seems to be the theme song of Peru. We hear it everywhere, with a million variations. Always instrumental, usually with pan flutes. Apparently Paul Simon spent time in Peru, was told that the tune was an old folk song, and wrote his song. Later he was sued by the author's son, and Paul Simon said "oops".

It takes 21 hours to drive from Cuzco to Lima. We decided to take the one hour domestic flight instead. They actually fed us a "meal" and a drink for a one hour flight. It took a LONG time for the plane to get into the air on takeoff. Because of the altitude, the air was so thin that the engines didn't develop the same thrust.

We landed at noon and had to catch a bus from the airplane to the terminal. Our bus had to wait for the flight crew before it left. It took 15 seconds to get our luggage. We were picked up by our old friend Pabel. Surprise surprise, our hotel rooms had not been booked for tonight. Everything up until this point had been so well organized, this was unexpected. We had thought we would be staying at the same hotel we stayed at before in Lima, but we were told it was full. We weren't sure why they hadn't booked our hotels ages ago. They instructed Pabel to take us to a different hotel, the Carmen. When we arrived, we were told that we could all stay here tonight but there was no room for the 2 of us tomorrow night. Finally, we were told that we could stay tomorrow night but the only room available was a suite for $50 US more. So rather than stay in the suite for 2 nights, we will stay in a normal room tonight and switch rooms tomorrow. We're used to moving by now.

After another late lunch, Anton had a mid afternnon nap and Frankie went to the lobby with a book. It was so odd to hear Christmas music when every day has been so warm and sunny for us. Heather and the kids are off to the jungle tomorrow, so the front desk has arranged for a boat tour for us and Pete. Carlos who runs the tour came to meet us this afternoon to arrange everything. He hardly spoke english and we don't speak a lick of spanish, so we're not exactly sure what we are getting into. He was able to produce a brochure, so we have some confidence that something will happen. At worst, it will be an adventure!

Julia wasn't feeling well, so in the evening the other 5 of us went for a city walk for a few hours. There was a lovely park with flower gardens. Wonderful to see in November! The park had hundreds of stray cats that people were petting and feeding. There was a circular area for vendors, and these were the least pushy vendors we have seen in Peru.

We walked around and soaked in the city life. So different than what we have back home! Our hotel is very nice, but my, the traffic is loud!
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South Valley

- Rumicollqa
- Church of Saint Pedro
- Church of Saint Pedro
- Wari village
- Wari village
- Tipon
- Tipon
- Native dance

South Valley

Wednesday November 16

We got picked up at 8 am, but Heather and Julia stayed behind because Julia wasn't feeling well. Today was a half day tour of the valley south of Cuzco.

We made a quick stop at Rumicollqa. Basically the Incas built a wall across the valley to keep out other people. The wall had 2 doors in it that they controlled.

Our next stop was The Church of St Pedro (Peter) in the village of Andahuaylillas. The spanish took all the Incan gold, sent lots of it back to Spain, and ornamented their Peruvian churches with the rest. The spanish liked to build their churches right on top of the Incan worship centers, in an effort to convert them. This church is sometimes called the Sistine Chapel of America because of how ornate it is. It was built in 1631, and is elaborately decorated with gold and mirrors everywhere. The original wooden balcony is intact, we were a little afraid to stand under it. The whole church has been undergoing reconstruction for the last 10 years, and they have a ways to go. All the paintings have already been restored.

Our next archaeological stop was the remains of a Wari village. The Wari Empire was a group of people that lived here between 600 and 1100 AD. This place is called Pikillacta (the place where fleas bite). Whereas the Inca, who came later, used granite walls with lots of clay, brick, and grass, the Wari used softer sandstone walls which were not as durable. However, the Wari actually plastered their interior walls with limestone. One dwelling we saw had half of it excavated and the other half not. In the unexcavated part (at least 10 feet deep), you could clearly see at least 3 or 4 layers of sediment, probably from huge river floodings. The streets of the Wari village were long and straight and narrow and went on forever, farther than the eye could see. There was a small museum we visited there which displayed some Wari artifacts, and the skeletons of prehistoric creatures. One looked like a giant armadillo, called a gliptodonte (no idea if that is spanish or not!)

To reach our last site, we had to maneuver some pretty interesting narrow roads up the mountains, all under construction. Everytime we came to a blind bend, our driver honked his horn and went barrelling around the corner. We only had to move aside for other vehicles a few times.

The site was another Incan settlement called Tipon. Supposedly it belonged to an Incan named Yahuar Huaca, and was a place of residence as well as a place of worship, and an agricultural research station. The reason they think it was a research station is because there were several triangular shaped outcrops where the soil was different from the rest of the terraces, and that darker soil could only support potatos. All the Incan sites that we have visited have stone walls that are incredibly linked together, and have slight inclines up to 6 degrees. This apparently kept the walls from collapsing during earthquakes.

What was really cool about Tipon was the system of aquaducts and fountains. The water came from a different mountain, Pachatusan. The water went down one mountain and up another using an underground piping system. The Incas built square pipes out of rope, covered them with volcanic material, then clay. All of this was underground, and is still operating today.

We got back to the hotel around 1:00, and lo and behold, a girl was there with Frankie's sunglasses! We had given up hope of seeing them again. They were sent by public bus, and we had to pay 10 soles for it ($4), a lot cheaper than a new set of prescription sunglasses. The 2 of us gave Dennis some of our clothes that we didn't intend to bring back home, for him and his girlfriend, who happens to be the same size as Frankie. They gave us instructions for the rest of our trip, then the 6 of us went off to find a place to eat a late lunch. We discovered some cheap little restaurant, and you get what you pay for. A huge platter of passable food, but the service lacked a little. Heather told us about her morning - she had to go into town to the police station and report about her cell phone. At first they didn't want to do anything for her, but our guide insisted that a paper was necessary in order to avoid huge replacement fees.

Back to the hotel for the afternoon to rest and pack. Frankie took a shower, and the hair dryer would only work for 2 minutes at a time. Blow for 2 minutes, pack for 5 minutes. Blow. Pack. Blow. Pack.

For the evening, the 6 of us headed for a short walk into town to the Native Arts Cultural Centre where they had a show of regional dances and a live band. To get in, there was a long line down the sidewalk. A large group tried to butt into the front of the line, and anger was expressed in several languages at once. The show itself was pretty good, but the theatre was old and had not so very comfortable seats.
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Sacred Valley

- Llama corral
- Feeding the Guanaco
- Sacred Valley
- Pisac market
- Lunch stop
- Rasta Alpaca
- Ollantaytambo

Sacred Valley

Tuesday November 15

We slept in today, all the way to 6:30. Dennis and a new driver picked us up at 8 am. We drove down into the Sacred Valley. There was a scenic outlook where Dennis negotiated a good price for a huge bag for Frankie. After she bought it, she thought it was too big, so he negotiated a smaller one for her at a different scenic outlook later.

Our first stop was a tiny strip of market stalls, but more interesting was watching the 2 girls herding a bunch of alpacas and llamas into a wooden corral. Then they invited us into the corral and we were surrounded by alpacas. For a small fee, of course.

Our next stop was a place where you could feed different animals. A guy kept us supplied with grasses to feed them. The first pen contained guanacos, then a pen of alpacas, and a pen of llamas. They were all very aggressive in coming to get food, and very used to people. It was quite fun. Then they gave a demonstration of how they get the different colours to stay on the alpaca fur to make garments etc. Apparently the fur has to be dirty and they set the colours with something acidic such as lime or vinegar.

Our next stop was the town of Pisac, which was basically a market town. We had one hour to shop, and we did really well. More Christmas gifts, a souvenir plate, and a gorgious alpaca sweater. At one stall when we decided not to buy anything, a small boy latched onto Anton's leg and wouldn't let go.

We went to a really nice buffet restaurant for lunch. Heather had to eat her cinnamon dessert at a different table because it was too much for Frankie to smell. The restaurant had nice flower gardens, a pen of llamas, and a talking macaw. Dennis said "hola" and the macaw replied "hello".

Our main stop for the afternoon was Ollantaytambo. Dennis said it was simply an Incan place of worship, but our research says it was an Incan fortress designed to protect the entrance to the valley. Again, another impressive terraced structure built into the side of a mountain. The individual stones were massive, and fit together so precisely. The stones would have been quarried from the mountain across the way, and pushed manually up a ramp. Then pushed into place using a ramp of smaller stones. It was another town of the emporer Pachacuti (of Machu Picchu fame), and later served as a stronghold for Manco Inca Yupanqui, leader of the Inca resistance against the spanish.

We walked through the village at the bottom. They have made modern day houses out of the ancient Incan stones.
We stopped at an outlook of a mountain full of snow and a glacier. They grow a lot of potatos here, Dennis said Peru has 3000 varieties of potatos.

On the way back, we got stopped for construction for 15 minutes. Everyone behind us was getting impatient, and when our lane was finally allowed to go, it was a crazy dash of drivers all passing each other in order to be first. Forget waiting your turn in the order you were stopped. We heard a few choice swear words in spanish.

There are speed bumps going into and out of every town and village. Very effective at slowing you down. But then it is a straight drive through with no stop signs and stop lights, sometimes not even in larger cities. Our driver put the radio on and was listening to a soccer game between Peru and Ecuador. Driving back through Cuzco, we saw people sitting watching the game in every single shop we drove past, and sometimes people were crowded in storefront windows looking in. Even our hotel desk clerk was over watching the game.

Frankie's sunglasses were found in the van we came in from Puno, and were supposed to come up with another driver, but haven't arrived yet. We asked our hotel clerk to call and ask for us. We were told they would arrive tomorrow night between 6 and 7 pm. That's cutting it really close since we leave the next morning!

Heather lost her cell phone on the train yesterday, and when Dennis called to cancel the phone, they said she has to go in to a police station and make a police report, and then pay $50 US for the loss of the phone.

We walked down the road with Pete and Keegan to find a place to eat supper, and found a really nice restaurant where we were treated really special. They gave us free pisco sours, the national alcoholic drink. Nasty like vodka.

On our way back, the intersection to our hotel was super busy. Since it is an uncontrolled intersection, a police lady was standing in the middle of the intersection wildly blowing her whistle (one of the sounds of Peru). After she let both directions go several times without helping us get across, we just made a wild dash for it.
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Machu Picchu

- On the train
- Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu
- Machu Picchu
- Group shot
- Machu Picchu
- Lunch

Machu Picchu

Monday November 14

We had a 5:30 wake up call. Dennis picked us up and they took us to the train station for our 3 hour train ride to Machu Picchu. The train was quite nice and comfortable, but rocked a lot from side to side. It is the only train we've been on that did a rail switchback. They served free drinks and gave out a little bag with a snack (dried plantain and chocolate biscuits). For most of the way, we followed the very pretty Urubamba River along the Urubamba Valley. We started out in flatlands and ended up in mountains. The train made 2 stops to let people off for the Inca Trail. One was a 4 day hike, the other was a 7 hour hike to Machu Picchu. After seeing what the trail is like, we were quite happy to take the train.

Once off the train, you had to walk a very narrow path through a bevy of market vendors, just to get to the bus. This village only exists to service Machu Picchu tourists, and there is no road access into the town. We had to take a half hour bus trip up some wicked switchbacks to get to the top. There are 24 buses running up and down all day. It is a single lane, so meeting another bus was always interesting.

We walked through the ruins of Machu Picchu for about 4 hours while Dennis explained about different parts. Machu Picchu means "Big Mountain" because the locals didn't know what it was called. The Spaniards destroyed most of the Incan structures, but for some reason missed this one. Hiram Bingham discovered Machu Picchu in 1911, and thought that it was the missing El Dorado, City of Gold. He found around 128 human skeletons and mistakenly thought only women lived there, because the remains were so small. But the Incan people were smaller in general.

Machu Picchu is believed to have been the home of the most famous Incan king, Pachacuti (1438-1472). The whole structure is built on layer upon layer of terraces, all the way down the mountain. It is about 8000 ft above sea level. The stones were very precisely cut, and they had a system of water aquaducts. There were temples and common houses. The houses had 2 stories.

When we got to Machu Picchu, it was overcast and there was a cool thunder and lightning storm. Then it started to rain and it rained pretty steady for an hour, so we all pulled out our raincoats. It did clear up and we got some sunshine towards the end. It was interesting to experience Machu Picchu in all weather, and it created beautiful clouds among the mountains.

At 3:00 we went back down on the bus, and Dennis took us to lunch (dinner?) at a very nice restaurant. They used a clay oven to heat up the garlic bread. Our meals came with french fries stacked in towers and carrots carved in the shapes of Incas and llamas.

Got back to the hotel and crashed.
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Cuzco

- Angel girls
- Parade in the main square
- Cathedral in the main square
- Koricancha courtyard
- Evening out with Peter
- Supper

Cuzco

Sunday November 13

This morning was free time, we were supposed to rest and acclimatize. We had trouble breathing through the night and through the day before. It is more humid here and much harder to breathe. We woke up early and the 2 of us went for a walk. We passed a church where some young girls were dressed as angels and carrying baskets of rose petals, apparently in honour of St Martin, we were told. We wanted to find a geocache, but after walking for kilometers and then finding out the last kilometer was straight uphill, we gave up and took a dollar and a half ride back to the hotel.

Frankie lost her sunglasses and looked everywhere for them, with no luck. They are prescription and her favourite pair.

At noon the 6 of us walked to the main square to find lunch. We ended up getting Peruvian fast food, just like McDonalds and just as yucky. Although we got a laugh at their "Justin Huever" special. Frankie was waiting outside because Anton was fixing up a messed order, and he completely missed the parade that went by. Lots of bands and costumes and dancing. And a huge gorilla guy who pretended to cut off Frankie's hair with giant plastic shears. The main feature of the parade was a giant statue of Mary being carried with some priests. After the parade a cleanup crew went through with brooms and garbages.

Our new tour guide Dennis picked us up with a new driver and a spanking brand new van. He gave us a city tour of Cuzco, starting with the Cathedral. The thing is huge, built by the spaniards around 500 years ago. There is an altar made of 1200 kilos of silver. Also a huge painting depicting the Last Supper, where they are all eating cuy. Cuy is guinea pig, a very common dish in this area. No, we haven't tried it yet. Apparently it is served whole with a pepper served in a wide open mouth. Also in the painting, everyone is white but Judas has darker skin and was modelled after the nasty spaniard Francisco Pizzarro who decimated the Incas.

The most interesting part of this cathedral was the black Jesus. He used to be a white statue of Jesus. One day during a horrible earthquake, everything was falling apart until they grabbed this statue and took it outside. Suddenly the earthquake stopped. After that people lit candles at the statue's feet in worship, and he turned all black from the smoke. Some women tried to clean him with vinegar and egg whites, but that only succeeded in making the black permanent.

Our next stop was the church where we had seen the angel girls, Convento de Santo Domingo. It is a Catholic church built on top of some Inca ruins, Koricancha (courtyard of gold). This was the location of the most important temples in all of the Inca empire, which included the Temple of the Sun, Temple of the Moon, Temple of Thunder and Lightning, etc. The Incas were a pre-Columbian race that unified and ruled a large portion of South America along the Andes from 1100 to 1500, until the Spaniards came for the gold and silver. The Incas had a very developed society, and their stones were perfectly cut and placed together, but they did not have the wheel. They worshipped one Incan king and when he died they continued to worship him, carrying his mummy through the towns. That area would continue to worship that king, and another king would rise at his death and rule over another area. Unfortunately, the spaniards had most of the mummies burnt.

Our next stop was Saqsayhuamen (pronouned "sexy women"), which was an Incan fortress to protect Cuzco, which was the center of the Incan universe. It was capable of accomodating 5000 fighters.

Next was Tambomachay, a place where the Incans worshipped water. They used water in their purification rituals. Some people called this place Baths of the Incas. It is not known where the source of the water is. Anton asked the guard if he could take his picture, and the guard grabbed Frankie so she was in the picture too. Then he took out his own cellphone and had Anton take the same picture on his phone.

Lastly, Dennis took us to Kenko, one of the largest huacas (holy places) in the Inca region. It was a labyrinth of naturally occuring rock formations where there was a huge sacrificial stone. The Incas used to sacrifice to the local mountains. They also performed surgeries here, and some Incan skulls have been found with dental work (stones implanted in the jaw).

We drove by Puca Pucara, Inca military ruins used to defend Cuzco.

At the end of our day, Dennis told us that Frankie's sunglasses had been found in Henry's van, she must have left them there last night. They will arrive in Cuzco with another tour group driver within the next few days.

We went with Pete and had a really nice dinner at a more upscale restaurant than what we've been used to, it was a nice change.
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Tequile Island

- Tequile Island
- Lunch
- Hiking on the island
- Boats waiting to take us back
- Heather and Frankie

Tequile Island

Saturday November 12

It was the sheep that woke us up. Baaa. And it was very cold last night. When we woke up our teeth felt fuzzy because we had no water to brush them with last night. This morning out of desperation, we used our bottled water and brushed our teeth in the outhouse. We were already dressed when we received a basin of warm water and a towel to wash with. Too late, the sunscreen was already on. We feel like lizards, our skin is peeling so bad.

Gladys and her mama gave Anton pancakes for lunch, and an egg and potatos for Frankie. Gladys absolutely loved the Canadian gloves we gave her, and the pretty placemat set. Then she galloped down the hill, with us in hot pursuit so that we could be at the boat on time.

Our boat took us on a very choppy one hour ride to the next island called Tequile. Lots of people were green on this boat ride. Tequile is another island with local people, about 600, no cars or anything like that, and everyone dressed very traditionally. The whole island is layered with pre-Incan terraces, like Amantani. It is tradition that men learn how to knit, and a woman chooses a husband based on how well he can knit. The knitting is so skillful that it has been recognized by Unesco.

When our boat landed there, we had a very steep climb up, about 3 km, until we got to a public square where we picked up some postcards and some Snickers bars. Manuel took us up a back alley to a restaurant patio, where we had quinua soup and lake trout. Then a gruelling climb down to the other side of the island where our boat was waiting. Even the locals were puffing on these steps. Okay, they happened to be carrying huge propane tanks on their backs.

A 3 hour boat ride to the mainland, much calmer this time. Anton slept a lot, and Frankie and Heather had some girl time on the roof of the boat.

We left Manuel back in Puno. At the hotel we collected our laundry (47 soles, $19) and our luggage from storage. We can't wait to get to Cuzco and get everything organized, we have stuff all over the place. We get to be at the same hotel for 5 nights in a row, yippee! Our new driver Henry picked us up at 5 pm and we had a 6 hour drive to Cuzco. The roads in Peru are excellent, but we ran into a long stretch of construction where we were caught behind a truck. It was dark, and the truck was kicking up a lot of dust, all we could see was a huge dustcloud. We still haven't figured out the high beams system here. It seems to replace the car horn signal "I am here". When cars see another car approaching, they put their high beams on instead of turning them off. It's brutal.
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Lake Titicaca

- Uros Islands
- Uros Islands
- Amantani island
- Top of the mountain
- Lunch
- Lunch
- Dressed up for an evening out