We're Not Descending?

After breakfast at our hotel, Colca Tours picked us up around 6:30 am. We were on our way to the Colca Valley, famous for the Andean Condors and Colca Canyon - said to be bigger than the Grand Canyon!

Our transfer guide's name was Roger and our driver was Francisco. Both were jokesters and had fun chatting with us. They especially enjoyed teasing Caitlin. On our way to the transfer point, we stopped at a lookout to see a Lake called Lagunitas and then another spot to see llamas, alpacas, and flamingos. Here's a picture of us at Lagunitas:

Our transfer spot was a rest stop where we joined a tour group coming from Arequipa. The whole ride was about 5 hours and included more stops to see llamas and sheep. We learned about the colonial settlements. The scenery reminded me of Patagonia where I visited last year with Amanda. It was all pampas and plains, with short shrubbery.

We ascended to at least 4,910 meters which is about 3 miles! We were all short of breath and I experienced my first pins and needles symptom. We had all hoped Puno would be the highest altitude, but alas we were still ascending! Here's Mary Ann showing us the altitude and a picture of me pointing out Chivay:

We descended to Chivay, the gateway to Colca Canyon, to have a buffet lunch and then went to a town called Coporaque, to go on a hour walk where we learned more about pre-Incans, Incans, and colonial life. Also, we could see the volcanos Misti and Chachani and the Rio Colca which is the origin of the Amazon. Here are some pictures of us on our windy walk:

Afterwards, we went to the hot springs of La Calera, where they pumped the water to pools. We wished we could stay longer as it was soothing to our legs after our many days of walking / hiking and we enjoyed the sunset. Here are some pictures of us in the pool including a selfie:

We headed to our hotel called Colca Llaqta in Chivay which had cute duplex rooms. After washing up, we headed down to the Plaza de Armas and had dinner at Cabanas. It included the typical fare we've become accustomed to. I had a quinoa soup, chicken with Andean herbs, and a peach as part of the price fixe. We all shared Cusqueña beers as it was Mary Ann's last night in Peru! After dinner, we headed back to rest for our 5 am wake up call to see the Andean Condors of Colca Canyon!

Andean Explorers

After breakfast at our wonderful hotel, we headed to the Cusco train station to catch the 8 am Peru Rail train to Puno, called the Andean Explorer. The train ride is 10 hours and includes a few stops across around 240 miles. This train is run jointly with Orient-Express and includes lunch, a welcome Pisco Sour, live music and dancing, and a short fashion show.

Coincidentally, we were seated next to Jamie and Mary Ann's colleagues who we met on Wayna Picchu as they were heading to Puno / Lake Titcaca as well. The train runs only on Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday and the ticket is $255. In the back of train, there is an observation car and the scenery is beautiful. Here are some pictures:

This train does sell out and the other option is to take a bus that takes a little less time and is much cheaper, but we all felt taking a train like this was one of those "once in a lifetime" experiences.

When we got off at one stop, I asked a Peru Rail employee, "¿dónde estamos?" And I thought Jamie's colleague was going to correct my pigeon Spanish, but instead cut in and replied "estamos nowhere!" Indeed, the route is very, very remote.

For lunch, we had potato and vegetable lasagna along with some red wine. We also enjoyed happy hour - 2 drinks for the price of 1! We ordered passion fruit Pisco Sours and a Pisco Sunrise. They also brought out desserts and peach Bellinis. Indeed, it was a luxurious experience and the 10 hours went by quickly.

Around 6:30 pm, we arrived in Puno and headed to our hotel. Puno is the highest altitude of our journey at 3,830 meters / 12,562 feet. The map showed that the hotel was about 2.5 blocks west from the train terminal and I confirmed with a Peru Rail employee. Our hotel is called the Casa Andina Tikarani. Casa Andina is a Peruvian hotel chain of reasonable hotels. 

However, as we walked down the road that was dark and had lots of construction, it was a bit of an adventure - especially since 2 wheels had fallen off Mary Ann's luggage on our flight to Lima. I re-confirmed with 2 people on the street and a hotel employee spotted us and ran to help us with our luggage, as the entire road in front of our hotel was being dug up! They did not mention this on Orbitz…

We dropped off our stuff at our hotel and walked over to Edgar Adventures to pay our balance for our day long speed boat tour of Lake Titicaca. I had sent the deposit via Western Union per their request and had to set up an account. According to the website, I can now send money around the world and to US prisoners…

We thought we had reached the Plaza de Armas or main square, but we were fooled. We eventually found the real one that had the restaurant recommended by Caitlin's guidebook. It was called Mojsa and it was across from the Cathedral. We ordered pizza, salad, and a sandwich. We were all short of breath due to the high altitude and I was feeling queasy. I had eaten on the train, but had lost my appetite which is another symptom of altitude sickness. However, I feel much better than I did in Cusco on the 1st day. 

We headed back to the hotel early, which included walking through the road construction and circumventing the piles of dirt, so we could rest before our speed boat tour of Lake Titicaca!

Sacred Valley

We woke up around 6 am to enjoy a beautiful buffet breakfast in our hotel as Cusco Transport was picking us up at 7 am. We met our driver, Jose Carlos and our tour guide, Jaime in our lobby.

In our mini-van, we were off to see the various archaeological sites in the valley. On our way, we stopped at Awanakancha, a private project associated with local farming communities to promote traditional Andean weaving. As such, they had alpacas, llamas, guanacos, and vicuñas. We were able to feed the animals alfalfa and they were extremely mild and hungry. We observed women weaving and learned about dying the alpaca fibers.

Through the valley, we saw many farming terraces, villages, and animals. The Sacred Valley is known for harvesting corn and many types of potatoes. We finally made our way to our first ruin, Pisac where we saw an Inca Cemetery. In the side of the mountain, you could see holes where dead bodies were brought into after being mummified. We walked our way to the top of the ruin where so many people once lived, but were forced to leave. Here's a picture with Pisac behind us:

 

As we were leaving, hordes of tourists were just arriving. We were glad that we had gotten an early start. As we drove through the valley, we learned that schools and towns were proud enough to clear parts of the mountain to put their town name, school name, or number. Our guide told us on the anniversary, they light candles to celebrate.

We then headed to the famous Pisac Market where they were stalls upon stalls of native goods. We didn't buy anything, but it was fun to check out. The market use to only be on Sundays, but due to the many tourists, they have the market everyday.

We drove through the valley to Urubumba, which has grown considerably over the years. Jamie and I had pondered booking a Starwood hotel here, but decided it was too much travel in one day. We had a buffet lunch and a pisco sour. A pisco sour is the most famous drink in Peru and is very popular in South America - I had many in Chile last year with Amanda.

After lunch, we headed to Maras, the famous salt mines. There are about 3,000 salt pans owned by about 300 people from the town of Maras. Legend has it that there were four brothers and they put one brother in a cave and holed it up. Saddened by his brothers' wishes to kill him, he cried so many tears that the salty stream came from the mountain. One of the brothers lived to be the first Inca king. Jaime, our guide, said that the water from the mountains actually flows through salt deposits. We all dipped our fingers in the river and it was indeed, very salty. You can't see all the salt pans, but here's a few behind us:

 

Afterwards, we headed to Moray shown below, known for concentric circles used for raising crops and performing rituals. They were indeed built / restored to perfection. 

 

Due to timing, we had to skip the Chinchero ruins. We had definitely taken a more leisurely pace as both Jamie and I were still suffering from the effects of the altitude. Walking up and down steep ruins definitely made us breathe heavy and our hearts pound. However, we all agreed we had the benefit of resting in the car. We had pondered spending the second day in Cusco, but that would have been more walking at a higher altitude. The Sacred Valley is about 500 meters / 1,640 feet less than Cusco at 2,900 meters / 8,510 feet.

We finally made it to Ollantaytambo where the Incas built "irrigation systems and a crowning temple designed for worship and astronomical observation". Indeed, we got to see the Temple of 10 Niches where there were trapezoidal windows and the Temple of the Sun. We learned about the Incan love for the number 3 as they believed in the skies, earth, and the inner world (underground). We also saw the beautiful Princess Baths.

Afterwards, we walked through the village where our guide showed us original Incan walls and Incan homes. We were allowed to go into one where a man was cooking stuffed potatoes and there were about a dozen guinea pigs on the floor eating scraps. Currently, the guinea pigs were pets, but meant for food later. I equate it to having chickens - there was also a chicken in the home hanging with the guinea pigs. 

Here's a map of the Sacred Valley, so you can see how everything is situated and how much we saw in one day! Typically what we scheduled would be done in 1.5 days in a group tour, but since we had a private car, we could pack it in.   

We walked back to the main square and were taken to the train station where we boarded a train to Machu Picchu. The train service is called Peru Rail and it took us less than two hours to get to Aguas Calientes, also known as Machu Picchu Pueblo. We were met at the train station by a woman from our hotel, called Gringo Bill's - an Aguas Calientes institution. I had booked a family suite which ended up being 2 rooms connected by a bathroom and did not look like the pictures on the website. But it was good enough for us for 10 hours. 

As Jamie wanted to rest, Mary Ann, Caitlin, and I headed to the local square and ate at the first restaurant we found, Amaru. We split a vegetable pizza and a caesar salad. Then we went back to Gringo Bill's, as we have plans to be at Machu Picchu as close to sunrise as possible!

Peru!

Before I start telling you about the day, I wanted to include this side note. Asians, including me, love to take photos of food. But the Asian tourists on my flight took it to a whole new level! They took photos of the airplane food! I mean, they took a photo of both the pasta and the chicken options. A whole new level of Asian taking photos of food...

Okay, so we arrived in Lima just fine and we were planning to enjoy our layover and exchange money and etc. However, due to the massive lines at immigration, baggage drop, and security, we barely got to our plane on time. Due to the bookings, Caitlin was on a flight 20 minutes after us so we met in Cusco, but the flight was only an hour. While we waited for her, we stopped by the Peru Rail booth and picked up our train tickets.

Our dutiful driver and booking agent met us at the airport. I had booked Cusco Transport for our transfers and guided tours by private car. I was a little nervous as with any international bookings and language issues, the emails would be a little confusing. One time they sent me the itinerary and referred to me as "Mrs. Gong". My response: "I don't know who Mrs. Gong is, but the itinerary looks like ours." I wasn't sure if I was more offended he called me Mrs. or another Asian sounding name...

We got to our hotel in about 20 minutes and is the Palacio del Inka, a Starwood hotel. The hotel is gorgeous and with Jamie's platinum status, we are only paying $75 per night along with her points for this 4 star hotel! Nakia, I hope you're jealous as I know you were afraid if you came, we'd be in hostels the whole time!

Immediately they served us mate de coca or coca-leaf tea to help battle the altitude sickness. The altitude is about 11,150 feet and everyone recommends taking it easy on the first day and to stay hydrated! Lucky for us, we were upgraded to a suite and had 2 bathrooms, so we have plenty of room to relax! For the win!

We rested for a few hours and made our way to Avenida El Sol, the main street, and bought a Boleto Turistico which will let us into about 16 sites in the Cusco and Sacred Valley for 130 soles (around $50).

We then headed to Plaza de Armas which is a mecca for international travelers and has a few churches. As we were hungry, we then went up a hill on a road called Suecia where we lunched at Kusikuy, well known for serving delicious guinea pig - a Peruvian delicacy. We all decided we will have to try it once, but today was not the day.

Already battling a headache, I got incredibly unsteady walking up the hill and nauseous. I ended up not eating and had to lay down on a sofa. I felt bad about embarrassing my companions (they said they were cool with it as I had turned stark white), but the restauranteurs were incredibly understanding. We were also the only ones there mid-afternoon. The girls had lamb ribs, chicken and beef kebabs, stuffed peppers, and a chicken casserole which by all accounts was delicious. After lunch, we went back to the hotel and napped for a few hours. The restauranteurs said that this would help acclimatize. Even all our toiletries were affected as all our bottles and packages were squirting and busting open due to the altitude pressure. Needless to say, it provided some comic relief as we all had issues!

During our naps, Mary Ann went down to the bar for some coffee and met a friendly Texan who visited a church with a painting of the Last Supper - the painting had guinea pig on the table! We decided if it was good enough for Jesus, we were going to have to eventually try it!

For dinner, we went to Inkazuela that was on the Plaza Nazarenas where they were known for their stews. I had a coconut chicken curry with ginger that was tasty. The restaurant was adorable with a fireplace and a very attentive waiter. We split a bottle of Malbec to toast our first night in Peru! All of us felt a little short of breath, Mary Ann saw flashing blue lights, and I ended up getting sick - but I rallied and got to finally eat. I have now learned from Caitlin, I shouldn't have drank all that orange juice on the plane as the acidity doesn't go well with alititude sickness. Hopefully, the altitude sickness will go away soon - they say it hits you mostly on the 1st day. 

So we're back at our hotel, and organizing overnight bags for a day tour of Sacred Valley by private car organized by Cusco Transport. They're picking us up at 7 am and dropping us off in Ollantaytambo where we will take a train to Machu Picchu!