Mental Detours: Peru: Cusco, Machu Picchu

Day 3

Day 3 was a travel day. We stayed in the hotel in Lima until checkout, then took a private car to the airport. Driving in Lima is horrible. It takes a long time to get anywhere because of the traffic, and there are frequent speed bumps built into the roads. We arrived at the airport with plenty of time to spare however. There's no frequent flyer lounge in the domestic terminal so we waited at the gate. The flight to Cusco was less than an hour long. We passed snow covered mountain peaks on the way and arrived to good weather and mild temperatures in Cusco. We were met outside the airport by a representative of our travel agency Viajes Pacifico. We climbed into one of their vans, and drove us to our hotel. On the way they reviewed the itinerary for our tours in Cusco. Our check in at the hotel was managed by the concierge Abel, who went out of his way make us feel welcome. He even showed us to our room. After getting settled, we went back to the lobby to wait for Romulo Orellana who was coming to brief us about our condor tour on Sunday. When he became significantly late, I asked the front desk to call him and he apologized for forgetting our meeting and said he'd be there in 15 min. He arrived, briefed us on the tour and accepted our payment. He also mentioned an optional add-on to do the walking part of the tour on horseback. We told him we'd consider it and get back to him.

Jennifer and I decided to take a walk around the nearby historic central square in town before dinner. While there we were approached by a local artist Jorge who was selling his work. Jennifer was interested in one of his paintings and negotiated a significant discount off his asking price. After completing the purchase we had dinner in the hotel restaurant where we tried our first Pisco Sours. We went to bed in anticipation of our 5:30 AM trip to Machu Picchu.

View from Lima Hotel

Mountains on the way to Cusco

Cusco Landing

Entryway to JW in Cucso

Check in desk at the hotel

Cathedral in Cusco central square

Cusco Square

Pisco Sour

Day 4

We got up with our wake up call Saturday morning, and headed downstairs. The hotel provided a box breakfast for us that we ate in the lobby while waiting for our pick up. We drank some coca tea with it. Our shuttle showed up on time at 5:30. I thought they were taking us to a bus for the trip to the train in Ollantaytambo, but it turned out the shuttle was our transportation for that entire 2.5 hour trip. When we arrived at Ollantaytambo we were met by more representatives of Viajes Pacifico who guided us on to our train and told us we would be met by our guide a the other end. The train ride was scenic and lasted about 1.5 hours. The cars had large windows on the sides and roof. The seats were in groupings of 4, 2 on each side of a table. We were served coffee and carrot cake. We shared a table with a couple who were in Peru for a motorcycle tour.

Peru Rail Vistadome train

Snacks on the way to Machu Picchu

When we arrived at Aguascalientes we were met by our tour guide, who was amazingly named Hamilton Daniel. He led us to the buses and we boarded the next available bus within minutes. The bus took us on a winding switchback road up the mountain to Machu Picchu. Outside the entrance we stopped for bathrooms and to stamp our passports with a Machu Picchu visitor stamp. Inside the guide did an excellent job of relating the history of the complex. To get to the classic 'postcard view' of Machu Picchu it was necessary to climb a lot of steps. I had to stop and rest a few times but I made it all the way up. The view there is worth it. From there, it is mostly downward stairs to get to the various temples and rooms of interest in the site. We were guided through most of the complex and our guide had explanations for all we saw. In all we spent about 2.5 hours in Machu Picchu. Afterward we took the bus back to town. Our guide offered to recommend a restaurant but we weren't hungry so we parted from him and spent a little time walking around Aguascalientes. We rested on a park bench in the square for a while, then returned to the train station to wait for our return train. On the return trip we sat across from a young couple. She (Danielle) was from Lima and he (Ledjon) was from New York. The return snack was a chocolate brownie. There was also an Inca dance show and Alpaca fashion show during the ride back. We were met at the end of the train and driven back to our hotel. We were tired but thought we should eat, so we ordered from the in room menu. Another early wake up call was scheduled on Sunday for the condor tour.