Peru: Machu Picchu

Finishing Cusco pre-Maccu Picchu

During our travels for the Inti Raymi festival we found a cute little side street off of our street with lots of restaurants. It appeared to be a tiny Jewish section (who would’ve though we’d see that in Peru?) We went to a place that had a little upstairs balcony, and sat looking over the street. There was a bar across the street with music playing, which was a nice touch. It was cold, but beautiful. I got the best glass of the warm spiced wine (vino caliente) I’ve had, and Laura and Barb got mediano cusquenas (double-sized cerveza bottles). The food was great and ambiance even better. Amparo was really tired and just stayed in bed.

On the way back we stopped to get bottled water, and a girl was sitting on the sidewalk playing with her younger sister who was just adorable. The older one looked up at us and said “un sol” laughing. She was trying to sell us her sister! Well, of course we had to bargain, and offered cinquenta soles (50 cents) which set them both in fits of giggles that we joined in with.

We were early to bed as we were getting ready for the BIG DAY. And we had to get up at 4:30 to take the train...

Machu Picchu

We woke again to the dogs running around the neighborhood barking-not sure if I’ve mentioned that yet, but they woke us up yesterday too. Barb R, I almost felt like I was at home!) It was 2 am when I woke, and I think I was too excited to sleep. Oh well.. who needs sleep anyways?

The train began with some interesting switchbacks getting up the hill to leave Cusco. We noticed a lot of houses made of the dark brown “earth bricks.” Many weren’t painted like in the center of the city. Some were covered in plaster and painted, often in bright colors like turquoise or pink, and others were just white. Usually only the front of the house did have any color, if at all. Some holes in the wall had these bricks stacked up in them without mortar. There were lots of houses right by the side of the train track with what appeared to be no electric or water. We’d call them shacks by our standards, and many of the buildings hardly looked solid. The few people we saw all waved at the train smiling. There were big puffy clouds accenting the high mountains, and the day was gorgeous. For that matter, every day has been. It’s very cold in the morning, but heats up during the day so layers are a good thing!

We arrived to Aguas Calientes with a little bit of excitement making it around the town to get our MP tickets and bus tickets. We got directions, but after no sleep and walking through a crazy crowded market, it was all a bit overwhelming. We got all of the required tickets and rushed to the bus. The bus ride was quite impressive! We rode up and up a mountain on switchbacks so narrow that busses could mostly only go one way at a time. When one approached, the other had to actually pull over incredibly close to the ledge. The drivers have nerves of steel! We also saw stairs going up, so you could hike if desired. Not sure I’d want to come that close to the busses given their speed on the narrow switchbacks!!

The train appears to be the only way in and out and Aguas Calientes is in the middle of the forest. There’s little to see in the small village, but it wasn’t quite as bad as we expected based on what we’ve read. It’s very touristy though, and filled with restaurants and hotels (no McDonalds though!). It’s very easy to see how MP was swallowed by the forest and jungle, as it’s thick and everywhere surrounding the village.

We picked a guide named Rodolfo and started off. He tried to charge us extra for his english speaking, which was enthusiastic but needed work. We actually helped him a bit with some words and grammar, and he was very thankful. He came from Cusco, and stays in AC for several days doing tours, which he started a month ago! So, armed with our hiking sticks, we approached the entrance.

Rodolfo promised us the “best view in MP” so we eagerly climbed. And climbed, and climbed. He didn’t disappoint. The view from the Guardhouse was spectacular and gave us the entire view of MP. The land is simply amazing and so rugged—it’s amazing that hundreds of years ago MP was build high on the mountain. MP simply needs to be described by pictures, and I’ll be sure to post lots. We toured all around the site, including the houses, terraces, temple an even a bathroom! It was simply amazing!!!

Of course on our way out, I had to meet the llamas. I was able to get right up to them and got some fun pictures. I did get near one who looked quite pissed off so I backed off quickly, hoping to not get spat at -- or worse!!!

We ate a late lunch with two really tasty chicken dishes. I got Arroz con Pollo and Barb got a dish that was flavored by vinegar we think. Both were very good and we were absolutely starved! We went back to our hotel to get off our feet and rest for a bit. Our hotel was just fine- not very nice but clean and decent. The perfect part was it was right on the river, so we fell asleep to the sound of the rushing water.

We went back to Cusco for our last couple of days, and decided to go back to the cute neighborhood of San Blas. We walked around the hippie area and did some shopping. They sell these gorgeous stones with braided twine in the shape of bracelets and necklaces. They have bracelets of silver too, and lots of beautiful things. Also there’s the tapestries of alpaca and llama, scarves,hats, etc. I was cracking up over some t-shirts which are the Peru equivalent of “life is good” shirts. One showed a guy with a big hoop in front of a kettle, trying to get guinea pigs to jump in! Ick. We bought a bunch of gifts for people and then something really funny happened that we’re still laughing about. A beggar woman approached barb for change, which she was going to offer but realized that she didn’t have an single sol (Peru dollar). The beggar actually opened her bag to show all the change that she collected, and offered Barb change for the money she gave!!! Never seen that before.

Needing a break from the “lady. good price lady”, we escaped into a really cute place called Muse. It was very cute and reminiscent of places in Northhampton MA, which I loved. Bright colors and funky. We talked with a group of students from Switzerland (I thought they were speaking German and recognized it, but realized that I was having a really hard time understanding what they were saying. It was “Swiss German!”), and they were wonderful. We then met up with Amparo and Laura to find a place for dinner, and had a wonderful meal of traditional Peruvian food. I’ll definitely miss the food here, which is quite good! Lots of quinoa, alpaca, avocados.

A few observations to end with:

1. What I’m looking forward to:

-seeing my furry critters

-my own bed

-Taking a nice, long, hot shower that’s consistently hot and long enough that I can rinse all the shampoo out of my hair.

-Not hearing “hey lady. hey lady.. good price”. (though that may depend where in Phoenix I go!) Some of them were funny knowing little bits of English, and when you said no thank you their reply was “maybe later”. One person last night actually said in espanol “maybe in your next lifetime!” We cracked up.

-I’m thankful for not being a female dog in this city. None of the dogs are neutered, and being a female dog... wouldn’t be fun.

-I’m very much looking forward to thinking about all of the wonderful memories, and sharing them! This has been an incredible trip. I love the country, love the people and have enjoyed everything about it. I’m ready to go back home, but will be thinking of this for a long time to come! And if Laura does eventually move here, I’d love to visit again!!

Hasta la vista,

Sam