Category: Peru

Day 345: Inca Trail Trek – Day 3

Rain. That pretty much seems up our hike today. Well, we knew we were visiting Peru in the wet season – this was actually what we expected the entire trek to be like. Luckily, today we only had a half-day of hiking scheduled, and most of it was flat. We passed a couple of ruins along the way. It was raining too hard for us to bother taking out the camera at the first Inca site – Phuyupatamarca. The second site, Intipata, was merely foggy, so we were able to explore a bit more before walking the remaining 15min to our campground.

 

Passing through a “tunnel” on the trail

 

Nonstop rain and heavy clouds obscure our view of the ruins at Phuyupatamarca – “The City Above the Clouds” (not today)

 

Miserable hiking in the rain. So much wet.

 

Foggy conditions at the ruins of Intipata

 

Lindsay can barely make out the Urubamba River in the valley

 

Waterlogged llamas and two wet couple of boots at the Intipata ruins

 

We continue 15 more minutes to our final campsite of the trek. Lindsay is fed up with the rain and hides in the tent after lunch

During our trek with Alpaca Expeditions, we learned that different trekking agencies have slightly different itineraries for the Classic Inca Trail. Alpaca likes to start hard and finish easy, while other companies space out the difficult days (especially the two mountain passes that we did the day before). We discovered that one of the really great benefits of Alpaca’s itinerary is that we got an entire afternoon at leisure in the last campground.

Why would you want so much time here? Well, there are 2 large Inca cities (Intipata and Wiñaywayna) which were a mere 10-15min walk before and after the campground. And, unlike Michu Picchu (which we would discover tomorrow is crowded with tourists from open to close), these ruins are nearly deserted. Sure, there are several dozen fellow trekkers at the campground, but when you have all afternoon, you are not all going to be at the ruins at the same time. When Igor backtracked to Intipata after lunch, he was *literally* the only person there (our guide didn’t even bother to go with him!), and when we visited Wiñaywayna around sunset, we ran into 4 other tourists who were just leaving. If you want your magical moment, wandering around ancient ruins and pretending to be Indiana Jones, you gotta do the Inca Trail, and you gotta pick your agency wisely. We noticed many other groups (G Adventures in particular) were still arriving at the campgrounds between 6-7PM. By the time they arrived, it was too dark to visit the ruins, and since they would be leaving for the Sun gate at dawn with the rest of us, they would completely miss out!

 

Igor returns to admire the terraces of Intipata and finds blue sky and sunshine starting to appear

The terraces of Intipata abutting a steep cliff along the Classic Inca Trail

 

Exploring the stone steps of the Intipata ruins

 

Igor has the entire complex and all the llamas to himself!

Final view of Intipata

 

More of Igor’s nature photography: flowers and moss

 

Lindsay joins Igor to visit the ruins of Wiñaywayna – the “Forever Young” City where nobles would stay during the ancient days of the Incan Empire

Terraces of Wiñaywayna, and the Urubamba Valley below

 

The Wiñaywayna complex has a canal and fountain system that flows fresh water through the city

 

Lindsay admires the view of the ruins

 

Majestic Andean peaks create a beautiful backdrop for the ruins

 

Exploring the double gateways into the city

A waxing moon sits high in the sky as we take in the breathtaking view of the Andes Mountains

We had our final sit-down meal of the trek tonight, as we would make better time with a packed breakfast for our 4AM start tomorrow. We also said farewell and gave tips to our team of chaskis and our chef, as they would be exiting the trail via a different route going straight to Aguas Calientes to catch the early local train home. It’s been a great trek, guys – we wouldn’t be surprised to find out we’d gained some pounds instead of losing them these past few days. Thanks for taking such good care of us!

 

Back in camp, half the trekkers are on the roof of the ranger station, trying to get a cell signal. We can’t get any data, so we return to our site to wash up for dinner

 

PIZZA AND CAKE. My camping standards have officially been ruined

Our fantastic team of chaskis and our brilliant chef – thank you for an AMAZING trek!

Day 344: Inca Trail Trek – Day 2

The second day of the Inca Trail seriously kicked Lindsay’s butt. It was a loooong day with a lot of climbing, but we actually made really good time! The dreaded Dead Woman’s Pass wasn’t as bad as we thought it would be. The ascent was tough – don’t get me wrong – it was 900M straight up, but we were able to complete the estimated 6hr. hike to the lunch break spot in only 4hr! Fuck, yeah! 30-somethings blazing the trail!

 

Early morning cloud cover over the Dead Woman’s Pass – we get a 7AM start on the steep climb up the mountain staircase

 

The second half of the ascent was easy in comparison to the staircase – a gentle incline up to the peak

 

Made to the top of Dead Woman’s Pass! One down, one more to go!

 

We get a glimpse of some Andean mountain peaks as thick clouds pass through the sky

 

Making our way down into the valley

 

Igor’s nature photography: moss and flowers

 

We arrive at the Pacaymayu campground at 11AM, where our chef is hard at work making lunch in the mess tent

 

Relaxing on our mats as we wait for another decadent lunch – chicken wontons, YUM!

The only downside to having such a fantastic chef on board our trek is that it’s hard to portion control when the food is so tasty! We ended up eating more heavily than we normally would during lunch, which made for very full bellies. Lindsay in particular found the second mountain pass to be more difficult (where it was from being tired, or from having a food-baby it’s hard to say), and ended up sitting out most of the ruins we passed along the trail. But at the end of the day, we were both feeling healthy and very satisfied with our progress on the trail.

 

We stop at the small, Runkuracay ruins on our way up the second pass

 

Lindsay finds hiking after lunch to be much more difficult and takes a break at the ruins. However, it’s soon crawling with other tourists, so we pick up and head on

Misty mountains in the Peruvian Andes

 

Lindsay is EXHAUSTED when she finally makes it up to the second pass. Igor, on the other hand, is feeling just dandy and runs around like a mountain goat, taking pictures from an even *higher* lookout

 

Lindsay needs a moment to recuperate before descending into the next valley

 

The hardest part is now over – no threat of turning back now!

 

The rain has stopped and it’s getting a bit toasty. Igor contemplates jumping into a small pond by the side of the trail. Or at least washing his smelly clothes…

 

The Sayacmarka ruins – a pretty big complex about 20min away from our campsite. Lindsay is just too tired to explore with Igor, so she just sits while he runs around taking pictures

 

Igor gets a small break in the clouds at the Sayacmarka ruins

 

Within minutes, the mist rolls in and covers the viewpoint in a cloud of white

 

Our campground in the distance – when we arrive, our tent is already set up

 

Lindsay takes a nap until teatime – of course she would wake up in time for food! Seriously, this chef and his fruit tart are taking glamping standards to a whole new level!

Day 342: Inca Trail Trek – Day 1

We booked our Inca Trail trek with Alpaca Expeditions – one of the mostly highly rated agencies on TripAdvisor with a solid reputation for professionalism, ethical employment of porters (called “chaskis” in the native Quechua), and best of all for having delicious food! Our guide, Joyce, picked us up at our hotel at 4:30AM for the 2hr transfer to Ollantaytambo (to pick up supplies), then another 1hr drive to the trailhead at the KM 82 mark. Our journey over the next 4 days would take us 27KM down the “Royal Route” AKA “Pilgrimage Trail” to Machu Picchu. (There is also a 2D/1N trail along the river which was the ancient “Commercial Route” between Cusco at Machu Picchu. Shorter and easier – where’s the fun in that?)

 

We arrive in Ollantaytambo around 6AM – Lindsay is so bleary eyed she can barely appreciate the mountain-top ruins peeking out of the mist

 

Local market is already in full swing selling various foodstuffs: bread and cheese…

 

…fresh chicken and meats…

 

…and a variety of local vegetables from the farms of the Sacred Valley

 

Walking around the Plaza de Armas of Ollantaytambo, where Disney Pixar may have a copyright lawsuit on their hands…

 

A misty morning in Ollantaytambo. As we wait for our team of chaskis to assemble, we make friends with yet another street dog.

 

Warm water for washing and a delicious breakfast spread are set up for us at the trailhead

Every year the Inca Trail is closed to trekkers during the month of February. The government is very strict with conservation regulations in order to protect the trail (no wonder – it’s one of their biggest tourism draws!), and they use the off month to perform maintenance and clean up. It’s also the wettest month of the year, so closing the trail helps to prevent rapid erosion. Since we were starting our trek the first week the trail was reopened, it was fresh and clean, but also very, very wet. We had our fair share of hiking in the rain (even with “rainproof” pants, mended boots and ponchos, we still got drenched and miserable), but most days the weather cleared up for a few hours of sunshine. We were expecting worse conditions in the rainy season, so we were pleasantly surprised.

 

Starting the Inca Trail at the KM 82 trailhead

 

Crossing the Urubamba River (AKA Chocolate River – due to the heavy silt deposits) after the first checkpoint

 

During our first snack break, our guide points out a plant with white flowers called Brugmansia, or “Angel’s Trumpets”. When brewed into a tea, it produces hallucinogenic effects – used by the Incan shaman for religious purposes. (No, we didn’t try any.)

 

Mist and rain on the trail forces all trekkers to break out our neon-colored rain ponchos. Looking ahead we can see a line of green and blue – it’s an army of chaskis walking down the trail!

 

Stopping at the guardhouse of our first Incan ruins: Wayllabamba

Thanks to being active all year and in good trekking shape after the Everest Base Camp Trail, we were *killing it* on the Inca Trail. We were a good hour ahead of the other trekking groups (granted, a small private group is always going to go faster than a large group of a dozen or so tourists), and we felt great at the end of the day. Which was very promising, as today was considered the “training day” – we had hiked for about 6hrs and had a mild ~600M ascent. Tomorrow would be the real challenge: two mountain passes, including the infamous Dead Woman’s Pass which would peak at 4,200M – the highest point on the trail. We headed straight to bed after our enormous dinner around 8:30PM – gotta preserve our strength!

 

While sitting around and waiting for our lunch, a pair of kittens randomly decide to crawl into Lindsay’s lap. (No pussy-grabbing jokes, please.)

 

OMG – a stuffed avocado is our *appetizer* during our ridiculously large and delicious lunch spread. Rice, salad, corn, trout, potatoes and garlic bread – how are we going to hike after eating all of this?!?

 

Relaxing after lunch in the sunshine on our matress pads, sipping cups of coca tea and trying to digest a mountain of food

 

Locals carving a llama onto their wall, and a cute little piggy walking near the trail

 

A dry and sunny trail for the rest of the afternoon. It was starting to get pretty hot, but luckily most of the rest of the trail was in the shade

 

Stopping at the second checkpoint – this one is for porters, to make sure they are not carrying more than the 20KG limit

 

Our first glimpse of Dead Woman’s Pass – eeekkk!

 

We arrive at camp along with our porters around 4PM – we try to stay out of their way as they set up our tent for us

 

Our chef prepared another fabulous feast for dinner and surprised us with banana flambé for dessert! Fancy!

Days 339 – 341: Cusco

Our flight from Lima to Cusco was easy and unremarkable. When we arrived, a driver from our hotel met us at the airport and brought us to the Torre Dorada – a small hotel in a very quiet residential neighborhood. Sure, it was far from all the attractions in the center of town, but we soon agreed that while it’s nice to walk around town during the day, we prefer to sleep away from the hustle and bustle.

After checking in, we called a USD $2 taxi to take us downtown where we could explore and grab dinner. We made a quick stop at the offices of our trekking agency, Alpaca Expeditions, to pay the balance of our private 4D/3N Inca Trail tour which would start in a few days. As we wandered through the streets, we decided to visit some of the local travel agencies to inquire about booking our post trek flights to the Amazon. Igor had been shopping around online, but had read that it’s possible to get better deals directly from an agency. Boy were they right! Travel agents in Peru must get some sort of special rate from the domestic carriers as the price we got from the agency was *literally half* of what we found online (even when we searched the exact same flights and carriers!). The only sketchy thing was that we paid for the airline tickets in cash, and only had two print-outs as proof of our reservations. Hopefully the guy won’t just cancel the flights tomorrow and pocket the money…

 

We each sip a cup of coca tea as we are welcomed into the hotel, then catch a taxi to the Plaza de Armas in the evening

 

As we explore the city square, we pop into a few travel agencies to inquire about cheaper flights to the Amazon

 

Loading up on the “free” salad buffet before ordering the most AMAZING Peruvian dish ever: Causa de pollo! Mashed potatoes? Good. Chicken salad? Good. Avocado? GOOD.

We gave ourselves 2 full days in Cusco in order to acclimatize. At 3,400M, the city is high enough to give some people altitude sickness. (Two guests in our hotel were suffering pretty bad – they were sick all night and couldn’t get out of bed for breakfast. When we were on the plane a week later, we ran into a woman who had to change her flight and leave early because she was reacting so badly to the altitude!) Luckily for us, we were totally fine – other than a little shortness of breath when climbing stairs, we didn’t feel the effect at all – not even a headache! (Igor is convinced we were somehow still acclimatized from our trips to Tibet and Nepal, but Lindsay thinks that’s impossible as 3 months have passed.)

While Cusco was the ancient capital of the Incas, sadly not much of the native architecture remains. The Spanish invaders torn down most of the palaces and temples (despite being initially impressed by their beauty and sophisticated workmanship). They left many of the walls standing and rebuilt churches and government buildings in a European Baroque-style (very evident in buildings surrounding the Plaza de Armas). Still, the city is very pretty, with cobblestone streets (some too narrow for cars – they were built for llama-drawn carts!) and modern-day tributes to the Inca culture (such as statues and street art).

 

Statues of mighty Inca warriors decorate the streets and plazas as we walk through town

 

Two grand churches flank the Plaza de Armas in Cusco – the Cathedral de Santo Domingo on the left and La Compañía de Jesús on the right

Since we didn’t have a schedule for the next two days, we decided to walk from our hotel to the Plaza de Armas, which took about 30min. When we got to the city center, we were approached by several hawkers – people selling paintings, shoe polishers, “natives” in traditional garb posing for pictures, etc. One of the shoe polishers look a look at Lindsay’s couple of boots and started harping her about the poor condition – her USD $90 boots from Indonesia were much the worse for wear: the soles were starting to get detached and the rubber at the toes was peeling. “These are not waterproof,” he claimed, “you can’t trek in them.” We rolled our eyes and asked the guy how much he would charge to fix the boot. He wanted USD $8.25; Igor agreed to pay USD $6.75, but the guy weaseled the extra dollar fifty out of us in the end. While we were waiting (barefoot) in the square for him to come back, we were prime targets for more hawkers, since we couldn’t walk away. When a pair of “native” ladies came by, offering a baby goat for pictures, Lindsay fell hook, line and sinker. I mean, how could you not? Fork over the USD $2, honey, Imma cuddle this baby goat *wearing a cute little hat.*

 

While waiting for a street shoe-polisher to return Lindsay’s hiking boots, she totally falls for a pair of women hustling tourists for photos with a baby goat. Sure it’s a bit of a scam…but…IT’S A BABY GOAT.

It’s the rainy season in Peru right now, and the locals warned us that the weather is pretty predictable: sunny in the morning, with rain coming in right around lunchtime. Sure enough, the skies opened up at 12:30PM and it started to *pour* – we flagged a taxi and returned to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon. At dinnertime, we did something very uncharacteristic of us: we returned to the same restaurant for the second night in a row! Lindsay had been craving another taste of that delicioso causa all day! Guys, the second time was even better – we have learned that Peruvians LOVE avocados even more than the Chileans! God Bless Peru.

 

Returning to the same restaurant second night in a row – tonight there’s live music and Igor even buys a CD (first new CD in, what?, 10 years?)

 

CHEESE-STUFFED AVOCADO. Fireworks were going off in the sky and on our taste buds. Loving Cusco cuisine!

Our second and last full day in Cusco was a bit of a repeat of the day before – we walked to the Plaza de Armas again and wandered around the city. Today was Sunday, and even though Lent had already started, it appeared that some Carnival celebrations were still going on as the streets were flooded with revelers, dressed in brightly colored, traditional garments, and kids were running around with water balloons and foam spray again. Best of all, however, was the huge street fair with food stalls selling a large array of Peruvian specialties!

 

Walking through the streets of Cusco, passing by the second-floor office of our trekking agency, Alpaca Expeditions

 

A huge procession of local dressed in traditional grab line the street outside the Plaza de Armas, waiting for their turn to enter and perform in the square for the Carnival celebrations

 

Performers practice their dances, as they twirl in the street

 

Weekend fun: an old man practices his soccer skillz, a boy and his father set off fireworks outside the church (why in the daylight tho? No one can see the sparks!), and a young boy selling Carnival foam spray eyes us as if to say, “Watch out! You’re next!”

 

Food fair lining the plaza – so many cakes to choose from!

 

It took us forever to select our flavors of cake!

 

Roasted guinea pig (with whiskers and teeth!) – supposedly a Peruvian delicacy, but we couldn’t bring ourselves to eat any. We did buy some mystery meat for a friendly street dog (who then followed us around town for the rest of the afternoon)

After enjoying the festivities for a few hours, we had to get down to business: after nearly a year of travelling light, it was finally time to buy some souvenirs! We’ve missed a lot of birthdays and Christmas while on the road, so we wanted to bring back some small tokens from our adventures. We’re huge fans of the Bolivian/Peruvian-style winter hats, so we stocked up. No, seriously, we *really* stocked up: the vendor had to leave the market to clear out her entire inventory. In fact, we suspected that she even “borrowed” hats from other vendors to fill our order. On the plus side, we ended up getting a great deal on all our purchases! The only problem was…where are we going to pack all of these new clothes?!? We stuffed our day bags to the brim and still couldn’t fit everything. We asked the owner of our hotel if she knew anyplace where we could buy a very cheap piece of luggage – instead, the sweet woman actually ran home and brought us a backpack that we could have for free! She shrugged it off, saying she had trekkers leaving unwanted luggage and other items in her hotel all the time.

Seriously, Cusco was the BEST.

 

Igor haggling with a souvenir vendor who keeps calling him, “Mi amor.”

 

We load up on gifts for our friends and family back home – hope US Customs believes as that this huge pile of clothes are not from commercial resale…

Day 338: Lima

We gave ourselves just one full day in Lima – enough time to hit the obligatory famous buildings and unique parks, and utilize some fast Wifi before heading out into the mountains. After breakfast in our hotel restaurant, the managers at the concierge desk tried to talk us into booking some half-day city tours. We retreated into our air-con room to peruse some brochures, but after some Google research we figured we could do a self-guided tour via taxi for a fraction of the cost.

Around 2PM (right when the paid tour would have started), we caught a taxi to the Plaza Mayor – Lima’s plaza de armas (historical main square). We walked around for a few hours, visited the Cathedral of Lima (which sadly was undergoing renovation work in the sanctuary), bought some double-scoop ice-cream cones to try and beat the oppressive heat, wandered down to the river, and finally returned to the plaza just before sunset to catch the changing of the guard.

 

Relaxing in our spacious Lima apartment, and fueling up with a big breakfast buffet

 

The 6PM changing of the guard at the Government Palace – Igor assures Lindsay that London does it betta’

 

The fountain in the center of the Plaza de Armas (where the gallows used to be!) and the Cathedral of Lima

 

Descending into the crypt of the Lima Cathedral – spooky!

 

Dead babies and a pile of skulls – I don’t think those are props…

 

Igor does his best to look interested in visiting a church…

 

…he’s not very convincing.

 

The cathedral has several monstrance on display – each with decorated with plenty of bling

 

The head of St. John the Devine and a mural of Inca converts

 

Except for the spotty llama, this riverside park is disappointingly boring

Instead of returning directly to the hotel (as we would have done if we booked tours), we stopped at Lima’s famous water park – Parque de la Reserva – thereby reducing the amount of time we’d spend sitting in traffic. For a USD $2 entrance fee we got access to a large park with about a dozen water fountains, all of which were colorfully lighting up as the sun went down. We brought bathing suits and a towel just in case we wanted to run around in the fountains, but found they were too crowded with little kiddies to warrant the bother of changing (Lindsay risked a small sprinkle of water to walk through one of the fountains). We stuck around for the 7:15PM water, light & music show which was just as corny as you can imagine, and left just as the evening crowd was really starting to pour in. We were a bit too lazy to venture far for dinner (which was a shame, as the touristy spots near our hotel were very disappointing) and called it an early night in prep for our morning flight tomorrow – to CUSCO!

 

Large colorful and interactive fountains at the Parque de la Reserva in Lima

 

Lindsay braves the droplets and enters the Fountain Tunnel

 

Lindsay gets drenched while posing for a picture

 

Admiring the changing colors of the fountains

A rainbow of lights and color at the Lima water park

 

“In 10 minutes, something fantastic will happen!” So they promised – then they started to give us a Peruvian history lesson

 

Meh – Vegas does it betta’. This isn’t really a “fountain” show, more of a laser show, using the fountain mist as screen.

 

Evening at the Lima water park

 

Choking down a huge plate of ceviche. We’re sure there are better places in town but we fell prey to a “quantity over quality” tourist trap in Miraflores. Boo.

 

Getting our drink on in Lima – free Pisco Sours as a welcome drink from our hotel and a ridiculously large mug of Cusqueña from the large portions tourist bar