Hello everyone, from the magical beauty of Peru!! Most of you requested that I note my travels again. Added a few folks that I thought might enjoy them. Please let me know if you’d like to be removed from the list!
Travel adventures and mishaps
It wouldn’t be an adventure without the customary flight delays! We were held up in Houston for an hour due to a thunderstorm, which produced the most amazing lightening show! Then we get onto the plane to discover that there’s something wrong with the engine and we wait for the news... We then disembark to load onto another plane! Three hours later armed with ice cream (for energy, of course!) we take off. Not too bad, considering.
Our pickup at the airport went smoothly (I’ve never done this, but it makes quite a difference not to try to figure on a cab and to figure out where you’re going in a place you’ve never been!!) We didn’t get in to the hotel until after 2 am or so, though Juan, who picked us up, was in good spirits. Thankfully Barb understands Spanish, as my brain shuts down when I’m that tired! After only sleeping about three hours the previous night, I was a bit exhausted. We got in, settled and to bed at around 3 am.
Thankfully I have a great internal clock, as I woke up at 7 am with a start. We had an 8:55 flight and the hotel said we could leave at 8 am. Wasn’t feeling very comfortable as we were a good 20 minutes from the airport, so I was glad I woke up. We never did get a wake-up knock (there was no phone in the room)! We rushed around and were downstairs for a quick breakfast, then waited on the car. I was quite entertained by a gorgeous but chubby chocolate lab that the owner had, who was aptly named “fatty” in Dutch!!! She was very happy for the attention and of course, since I’m already missing my crew and Barb laid down the law that I am not allowed to pet dogs when I’m in Peru (they’re rather scruffy and Peru does have an issue with rabies), I figured I’d take advantage!!
The airport was jammed and we started to stress. Barb marched right up to the business class desk and asked what we could do-- we had already checked in and just needed to drop our bags. Not knowing that we only had a few hours of sleep and were not quite confident of our Spanish (that would be Barb-- me, even less so!) the lady at the counter thought she’d have some fun with us and said we needed to be in the longest line, which wrapped around a significant piece of the airport!!! Of course, her humor escaped us (and not only due to the language!) though we did have a good laugh once we got on the plane and realized she had just messed with us!! The flight to Cusco was uneventful, except that we passed by this incredible snow capped mountain! It seemed close enough to touch, and was an impressive way of arriving!!
Skipping ahead a moment to address the travel mishaps: when we checked in and unpacked, I found that not only had something in my toiletry bag leaked, also an entire new bottle of moisturizer broke and.. I´ll save you the description but made quite a mess. I am a huge fan of my little LLBean toiletry bag however, in that only a little escaped it!! Yikes.
The drive
We decided to go straight to Ollanta in the Sacred Valley to avoid some of the altitude sickness issues, and a driver took us to the hotel. What an amazing place this is! Now, I know that everytime I go away I claim that it is the most beautiful country that I´’ ever seen, but this definitely ranks among them! It was even more gorgeous than the sweeping green patchwork hills in Ireland! First, the mountains were majestic and went on forever.. they seemed to reach right into the heavens with their ripples in shades of green, brown and yellow. Then the landscape was so diverse! Hills, mountains, farms, haystacks, livestock.. it was just so amazing that I can’t begin to describe in an e-mail, but wait until you see the pictures!!
The houses were what I expected.. rather dilapidated and run down. some brightly colored in the midst. Some were made of handmade bricks, which were rather picturesque when they were eroding. Our driver was fantastic and stopped several times.. once in a little market, and three times to take in views of rivers, mountains and snow capped mountains.
Ollanta
This town is just gorgeous, with its cobblestone streets and square. And the ruins, Ollantaytambo, loom above it. One thing I did forget to mention about Cusco is that I’ve never seen so many stray dogs in my life.. it was just heartbreaking. Ollanta was no different though most seemed in fairly decent shape. I walked with my hands in my pockets some of the time to avoid a scolding from Barb for petting one of them!!
The hotel is GORGEOUS and we are thrilled. What made it really special is the lush, beautiful gardens sprinkled with so many vivid colors. There are 4-5 buildings, all painted a rich terra cotta. We actually walked down to the other hotel we were reserved at, and cancelled for another night here! The other was right on the train tracks and while less expensive, it just wasn’t as nice.
Had lunch at the hotel as we were starving- it was 2 or so when we arrived and we hadn’t eaten much. We walked into town, walked around the market, got a boleto touristico- ticket to get us into the ruins as well as many of the Cusco sites. The ruin is very high, and we weren’t up for the hike, so walked around the town instead. Picked up some bottled water (for the obvious reasons, as in South America, like in Mexico, you don’t drink the water!!) and explored. Very cute!!!
Today we go to the ruins, walk around the town more and then go to Salineras and Moray. Salineras is the salt mine in Maras, which our driver pointed out on the trip from Cusco to Ollanta, carved high in the mountains. It’s supposed to be an amazing thing to see. We had planned on the busses but apparently they don’t run all around the valley. The guy who offered to drive us was very nice, and worked in the restaurant where we had dinner last night. The drivers seem to be a bit aggressive-pushy, and this guy seemed ok. We actually scheduled for the driver who took us to the hotel from Cusco, Wilbert, to drive us tomorrow to Pisac, Awanacahara, and back to Cusco. He’s a good driver (which, given the narrow windy roads, is an important thing!) very nice, willing to stop to let us take pictures, and is reasonably priced.
In case anyone goes to Peru and wants his contact information: 984961035 phone, maco854@hotmail.com. He doesn’t speak any English, so you’d need at least a basic understanding of Spanish. He lives in Urubamba in the Sacred Valley, but drove us all around the valley with pick ups and drop offs in Cusco. For $40 US he’ll drive from one end to the other, and for $75 US he will make stops and spend the day. This isn’t the cheapest quote that we got, but as I mentioned, he’s a great driver and a wonderful person. We’d highly recommend him!
Oh, Tanya, last night I had a pisco sour. I remember years ago, in your Stamford apt, I think, you made these. I didn’t remember what they were like but that I enjoyed them, so it was a nice reminder of a fun time in the past!!Time’s up so I need to run.. oh, one other funny thing. We stopped a woman in the most gorgeous woven outfit to take her picture (con permiso, of course!) She had a baby strapped to her back in a woven blanket and the colors were beautiful. She asked for money, fine, but then said that we didn’t pay her enough!!! We had no more change (one sol here are change).. and after giving her a sol already, we apologized and left. It was a great picture though, that I’ll be sure to share.
Adios! I’m so excited for our adventures today and tomorrow...
Sam
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