Land of the Incas- Day Two

Land of the Incas

Day Two – 30 Sept 2011

Weather: Cloudy, 15 in Lima. Cusco sunny with fluffy clouds 15-20 C.

Five in the morning comes fast. Actually, so does 3:45 am. Yup. Woke then and couldn’t get back to sleep. Good news is my total submersion into every anti-histamine, eye drop, throat spray, nasal spray, cough drop, decongestant and Kleenex that I had last night has paid off. My head is much clearer.

Glad I didn’t add a diuretic to the mix.

Luggage was out at 5:30 and I head down to breakfast as late as possible as I want to research the two optionals for Cusco online. There’s not a lot of information, but given that the mines require a fair walk down and up (45 metres for one of them) I might opt for the animals.

After breakfast, we were off through light Lima traffic for the airport. In one neighbourhood, we passed and enclosed area that had hundreds of dead chickens laid out side by side in the open with their heads hanging over the edge of the tables.

Lunch.

The trip to the airport takes about 45 minutes. Our flight is on a LAN Peru Airbus 319. Checking in was straight forward. Two people were overweight and had to pay a fee.

Their luggage was overweight.

Yeah, I know what you were thinking.

We went through security which was pretty basic. No Super Duper Star Trek Transporter Xray machine. I didn’t even have to take off my shoes. We boarded on time and I got a window seat behind the wing. Woohoo!

The views were amazing. We were flying at 33,000 feet but the mountains looked far too close. Coming into Cusco, the plane had to make a hairpin turn to hit the runway in a valley.

Very smooth flight and beautiful landing. They even managed a drink service with snacks in the 55 minutes that it took to go from Lima to Cusco.

It didn’t take long for the 11,152 feet of altitude to hit. Nothing bad. Just a slight dizziness and lightheadedness. While we waited for the luggage, we felt like we were walking on the moon. No vomiting or fainting to add to the excitement.

Cesar didn’t let us touch our luggage. He kept insisting we take it easy and he had porters take the bags to the bus. We met our local guide for Cusco, Luis. He will be with us until we leave for Puno on Tuesday.

First thing he told us was that Cusco was really pronounced Costco.

We pronounce Costco as Price Club.

He said we were just on the edge of rainy season, but that they don’t see heavy rain till December. Between then and March they can get 32 inches of rain. For now, the rain is lighter and doesn’t last long. Cusco area has ½ million people and the main industry is tourism, mining and agriculture.

On the way out of Cusco, we stopped at an alpaca shop where we were first given cocoa tea.

It didn’t taste like chocolate.

Darn. What was I thinking!

It was a yellow tea and helps stimulate blood flow to the heart, so it’s good to take *before* symptoms of altitude sickness start. Afterwards, rest and water is the recipe. Between cocoa tea, Coke and Inca Cola (really big here. Tastes like Cream soda) I was ready to walk on the moon.

If I had realized the wake-up time for tomorrow, I would have reconsidered that second Coke.

As we drank our tea, the girls gave us a lecture on how to tell the difference between real baby alpaca products and acrylic or a combo. Baby alpaca wool is actually cool to the touch. And much softer.

I got three hats for my nieces and nephews, a scarf ($40) and a sweater ($100). Worth the cost when you’re certain you’re getting the genuine product.

After I got my stuff, I went outside to see a woman dressed in traditional Peruvian clothes with two llamas. Well, the cameras came out.

Then the woman’s hand came out. We usually pay 1 Soles for taking a picture. That’s about 30 cents.

And they *know* we’ll pay for it.

We continued to climb out of Cusco, reaching an altitude of 12,700 feet before we descended into the Sacred Valley.

Our first stop was at Pisac to visit the market.

The stall operators are not aggressive at all. Not like China where they would physically drag you back to their stall.

As if that will convince you to buy.

On the street next to the market, two little girls all done up in traditional clothes were waiting for us. Of course.

But they were both carrying baby goats.

Talk about an “ahhhhhhhhhhhhh” moment.

And yes, they had their hands out saying “money, money.” LOL

From Pisac, we headed off to a buffet lunch about an hour deeper into the Sacred Valley. Yeah. This valley is like the energizer bunny. It keeps going and going…with hills hundreds of feet high on either side and the Urabamba river in the middle. Part of it flows into the Amazon.

Getting the bus down a laneway not built with coaches in mind really earned the driver his tip. The restaurant was beautiful with gardens outside going down to the river and some llamas hanging around down there, including two young ones.

White with tan markings!

The buffet had a large selection, but Luis advised us to avoid raw food for the first day. However, I think it’s important that you eat. One woman didn’t eat much and she’s flat on her back right now. We thought another person was having trouble with the altitude but it turned out to be a stomach problem. She thinks she got it from eating walnuts from a street vendor.

After I had a feed of oriental chicken, I headed out to chat with the baby llamas. Word to the wise – don’t aggravate the little guys. One woman was pushing it and everything trying to get a picture.

Well, she was, until it spit at her.

He did fine for me after I offered him a handful of grass.

I wandered (slowly) down to the river to take some pics and took my time walking back up. One woman took the steps fast and paid for it the same way I paid for running up the stairs in Vail.

Huffing and puffing.

On the bus, Luis said we had another stop to make. I think at this point, most people just wanted to go to the hotel. The one person who was sick actually took a taxi back there.

Instead, we drove to the Inca village, 25 minutes away. It’s actually called Ollantaytambo. I’ll just call it the Inca village.

And the visit was worth it. Luis showed us the rock work in the original walls and let us visit a local family who had a few large rooms off a courtyard. There were cats, ducks and dogs in the courtyard.

And inside the rooms were little herds of guinea pigs.

Yeah. That’s dinner for them. Perfect since they breed so quickly. Nothing is cuter than 30 or 40 guinea pigs chirping for food.

Not to mention 30 or 40 tourists trying not to step on them.

We moved on to see a bar and Luis showed us a version of their local beer. No samples. Not sure if there would have been volunteers. I was taking pictures of the cats on top of the wall.

We moved on to where we could get a good view of some ruins in the hills. The granaries were built in the hills where the wind would help dry the grain.

There were a number of terraces on the far hill.

The whole town has open culverts with fast flowing water in it that the locals use for cleaning. They have no shortage of water now, but Luis said they are all acutely aware that the snow pack is expected to be gone between 2030 and 2050. He has no idea where they’d get water after that.

We walked back to the bus where Cesar said that anyone that needed insect repellent and sun block could get it at a store there. Machu Picchu is on the edge of the rain forest (or rainy forest as Cesar calls it) so that mosquitos could be around. Dengue is more of a concern than malaria. No one is taking malaria meds. Machu Picchu is considered low risk as, like many tourist sites around the world, the area is sprayed.

I have Super Duper Wakins insect repellent with me. That would keep an elephant away.

Navigating the narrow streets out of the Inca Village was an amazing feat for the driver, especially cutting the wheels to avoid the culverts on the edge of the road. The drive back took about 30 minutes and people were very tired. I notice that the current version of the tour has switched up the order in which sites are visited so that they avoid this long day in the Valley. As it turned out, we drove that half hour to the hotel only to have to return to the Inca village the next morning for the train to Machu Picchu. Now, the visit to the village happens on the return from Machu Picchu and this essentially eliminates an hour of driving.

We are staying at the Sonesta Posadas Del Inca in Yucay. Talk about a diamond in the rough. This is a very rustic hotel but very cozy. The rooms are basic. Mine has two beds, TV, safe, shampoo etc and a bottle of water.

It does not have iron, kettle, bar fridge or a lock on the door.

Yeah. It’s just a bolt latch. They gave us skeleton keys to get into the rooms, but I don’t think I needed it.

I was so wiped with my allergies I decided to skip dinner since lunch was so late. Had a nice long shower, organized photos etc and passed out at 9:30.