Peru 2015

For a short funny video of the trip, watch Tony’s video. For the gory details, here goes…

Planes, trains and automobiles – Are we there yet!

We took the red eye from Seattle to Miami late Friday night and arrived in the morning on Dec 26. There was ample time for connection from Miami to Bogota. I was surprised to see the famed Cuban restaurant, Versailles, had an airport outlet that offered Cuban essentials. We opted for the guava & cheese empanada which was delicious. Rest of the wait was fairly uneventful and we eventually got on a LAN flight to Bogota, Columbia. The flight was about 3 hrs or so and pretty standard fare. We had a 5 hour layover in Bogota which was right in the ‘sour spot’ where you couldn’t really go out and explore the city nor was it a short wait. The airport was clean & modern with a smattering of shops that was enough to while away your time window shopping. The iconic image of Juan Valdez reminded us of the old Columbian coffee ads that showed on TV all the time. The airport itself was surrounded by the Andes mountains and was very picturesque.

It was around 10:00 pm Saturday night when we eventually arrived in Lima. Immigration was a breeze. We exited the airport and took a big taxi to the Mira Flores area of the city. Mira Flores comes up as one of the more desirable neighborhoods of Lima per any tourist information material. We checked in for the night and the reception staff told us that breakfast will be open at 6:30 AM. We said we needed to leave for the airport at 6, so they were gracious enough to put out some muffin, coffee and juice by 6 AM, so we could leave on time. The cab driver who brought us to the hotel the previous night slept in her vehicle so she could do the morning drop off to the airport. As we drove back, we couldn’t help but notice that the city was fairly clean and some of the streets in Mira Flores had an old Bangalore of the 1980’s feel to it. Colonial buildings, grassy traffic roundabouts and streets lined with trees are hardly sights you see in Bangalore these days.

The 45 minute ride back to the Airport went by pretty fast. We all got the much needed rest to continue the journey onward. Lima airport was bit smaller than what I had pictured in my head and was pretty crowded. We quickly found the line for the LAN flight to Cusco and as you would expect, the line was packed with tourists from around the world. The flight to Cusco was about a hour and half. Even on such a short flight, we were served a breakfast of sorts that included cookies and a small cake. As for drinks, the clear star was coca tea. Coca tea is made out of coca leaves – yes the same plant that through the magical application of chemistry becomes cocaine. Given the high altitude of our destination – Cusco, coca tea was recommended to alleviate the symptoms of altitude sickness. Some of us had the coca tea and it tasted a bit like any of the many weirdly flavored teas that you might get in the super market these days – not too bad. An alternative option is to chew coca leaves and and hold in your mouth without swallowing. For those thinking this is an opportunity to introduce your friends to coca tea or leaves in the US, please be warned that coca leaves and products made out of it are illegal in the U.S.

Upon landing in Cusco, the first order of business was to get the train tickets to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu). We headed over to the Peru Rail counter at the Cusco airport and showed proof of purchase which included showing your passports and the credit card you used to make the online purchase. Passport information and verification is required at all tourist sites as well as hotels. It seems like a good way to prevent id theft and fraud, so its not at all an issue providing them with this information.

After securing our train tickets, we approached the exit area and braced ourselves to get hit by a swarm of taxi drivers, all hoping to get our business. So before venturing out in the wild and haggling with the taxi drivers outside , we settled on a lady who was manning a tourist information counter and asked her about taxis to Ollantaytambo. She offered to call her contact and got us a taxi van. Its anybody’s guess if we got a good deal on the cab fare, but and we settled in for the long 2 hr cab ride to Ollaytantambo. Cusco is a dusty city with its buildings and shops reminding us of India. The ride through the sacred valley into Ollantaytambo was picturesque. Except for a short bio break in the town of Urubamba, we decided to push boldly onward to Ollantaytambo.

We pulled in to the train station around 3 pm with enough time still left to take the 4 pm train to Machu Picchu. The train station and the township surrounding it was quaint and picturesque, although a bit touristy. We used the time for some refreshments and taking pictures around the train station. We boarded the train at 4 pm or so and settled into our assigned seating. The train had big windows and glass skylights, which allows you to get an unobstructed view of the scenery. The train set off on time and soon we were traversing the Andean landscape alongside the Urubamba river. It was Hiram Bingham, a Yale professor who followed the Urubamba river with help of a local guide and ‘discovered’ Machu Pichu for the western world. The train ride was comfortable and passed through beautiful landscape. There was very little human occupation that we could see and was very sparsely populated. We were treated to an orange, nuts and glass of juice or tea of our choice. As expected, coca tea was on offer here as well.

An hour and a half later, we pulled into Aguas Calientes, which is at the foot hills of Machu Pichu. This is a very small town which acts as the staging point for going up to Machu Pichu. Only option is to walk around town as there is no public transport (nor is there a need for one) and the only buses you see, perform the function of shuttling passengers up and down the mountain. With some high school Spanish help from Alex and Tejas, we were able to find our way to the accommodations for the night.

3 beds, 4 guests

Denny’s House happened to be a small apartment building which is in the business of renting out rooms for tourists. In spite of our booking confirmation stating that we had 3 adults and 1 child – if you can count Alex as a child – there were only 3 single beds in each room. We were four in each family and the room only had 3 beds each. After a bunch of back and forth in English and Alex’s Spanish, we resigned to reality and decided to settle in for the night. Alex and Tony were not too happy with the cramped quarters, but given how tired we all were, it didn’t matter for too long. Once we freshened up a bit, we immediately set out to explore Aguas Calientes.

It basically has 2 main streets and several restaurants and souvenir shops catering to the tourist crowd. After exploring around a bit, we walked into a restaurant serving traditional Peruvian food. I must say I was a little disappointed with the local food. For one, it was served lukewarm and the food which was loosely similar to Mexican food was bland totally devoid of any spice. This was a bit of a surprise to us. Perhaps, we tried the wrong entrees. In any case, we spent a couple of hours at the restaurant before calling it a night and heading back to Denny’s house.

Outdoor Christmas tree – Aguas Calientes

It was now, a little more than 48 hours since we left Seattle and after long rides on planes, trains and automobiles, we had finally arrived. For how remote this place is, it has to be the most popular remote tourist location in the world. Our plan was to take the early 6:30 bus to the summit the next morning. So it was important to get as much as rest as we could that night.

Machu Pichu (Old mountain)

For a really old mountain, this one is a beauty. You get up to the summit entrance either by taking the shuttle bus or a hike up for 2 hours. We were planning on taking the bus all along given the short time we were going to be in Peru. The bus meanders up the mountain with multiple switch backs and within half hour, you arrive at the entrance for the ruins. We hired a local guide to regale us with his knowledge and embellished commentary about the place. The place had a dream like surreal quality to it. The views from the top were majestic and the scale and size of the huge complex that consists of the Inca city is indeed impressive. There are several areas to hike at your leisure. You are not allowed food and drink past the entrance, except water & very small snacks. We had plenty of water; and for lunch there are a couple of eateries at the entrance. You are allowed entry/exit 3 times with the ticket. We hiked all day and the plan was to take the 5:50 pm train back to Ollantaytambo.

The complex has many sections that includes agricultural terraces, residential structures, worship areas and a main plaza. At one point Alex, Mercy and Sridhar had headaches and minor nausea – presumably due to altitude sickness in spite of them taking of altitude sickness medications. We spent the whole day hiking around Machu Picchu. We, however, did not go up to Huayna Picchu as only 500 tickets are sold for that summit and we couldn’t get tickets. Huayna Picchu is another peak at an elevation of 9000 ft which you hike up to from Machu Picchu. Its a very steep hike with sheer drops on side and narrow trail, hence the limitation on number of people allowed up. The weather held up nicely and while it was hot, there were times of cloud cover so we were not completely baked in the sun.

Sacred Valley of the Incas

At the end of the awe inspiring Machu Picchu visit, we took the train back to Ollaytantambo and from there we took a cab to Urubamba which is where we had hotel reservations. We checked into the Amaru Valle hotel. The road leading up to the hotel was slushy and and the buildings in the area seemed a bit dilapidated. After the less than stellar experience at Denny’s House, it seemed like we were in for another uncomfortable night. But, much to our delight, the hotel was beautiful with cottage style accommodation and was set in a really beautiful garden with an awesome view of the mountains. The next morning after breakfast, we set out to explore the ruins of the sacred valley area.

We walked to the main square in Urubamba and took an auto rickshaw to the local bus station – we even saw a Bajaj auto rickshaw. We found a taxi to go back up to Ollantaytambo and see the ruins. Although much smaller in scale than Machu Picchu, it had its own charm and is well worth the visit. For the return to Urubamba, we joined the locals and took the minibus back to Urubamba. We then settled in for the 2 hr ride to Cusco via Pisac. Pisac also has similar ruins, but it was less maintained and far more rustic than Machu Picchu or Ollantaytambo. Another attraction is the local market at Pisac. Since we arrived late in the afternoon, the market was closing up, so it didn’t do too much damage to the purse. After about an hour of hiking in the area, we then continued on to Cusco cutting through mountainous roads and rural villages.

Cusco – Capital of the Incas

We arrived in Cusco in the evening and the main square was beautifully lit with people enjoying themselves outside. Our taxi driver stopped and inquired about directions to our hotel, which thankfully was in the city center. Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire and has a beautiful public square with 2 big churches facing the center. It has other Spanish colonial buildings and native Peruvian structures. It is now a UNESCO world heritage site. After resting for a while at the hotel, we took to the streets and found a traditional restaurant for dinner. Alpaca steak was the star of that meal. As Tony said, after seeing them and taking selfies with them, it was time to eat them. Vegetarians also had some decent options that didn’t involve Alpaca.

The next day, we took to the streets of Cusco and went up the hill to the ruins of Saqsaywaman and a mini Christ the redeemer statue called Cristo Blanco. For lunch we decided to look for a Mexican restaurant and found one that was clearly not accustomed to putting speedy and service in the same sentence. After a really long wait, we finally got our meals which turned out to be excellent. After lunch we headed towards the San Pedro market. Its your typical India style open market, except much cleaner.

The group went crazy bargaining with the shop keepers which was made more difficult and fun due to the language barrier. Alex was again being pulled for translation duties by everyone and was a fun experience. We also had dig deep into our dumb charade skills to compensate for gaps in our knowledge of Spanish. After a couple of hours of haggling and expending way more energy relative to the number of things we bought, we walked back and crossed over to the other end of town and visited the neighborhood of San Blas. San Blas is a neat little neighborhood close to the city center filled with art shops, small restaurants (including an Indian restaurant) and souvenir stores. We then wrapped up the night with dinner at a soup joint which was really good.

Amazon Rain Forest – Wild Thornberry days

As we began our journey for the last segment of our trip, which was the Amazon Rain Forest, a feeling of dread was starting to descend upon us. It was not due to the fear of the forest or the prospect of 3 more days hiking that worried us. It had to do with the request that our tour operator (Bioandean Expeditions) had with regard to toilet paper. One of their recommendations was to bring our own toilet paper roll. This was a curious ask given that we were expecting to spend the nights in a reasonably comfortable lodge. So the question of why this was needed continued to haunt us and we were conjuring up all kinds of uncomfortable scenarios in which we may be forced to use it.

So in any case, fearless explorers that we were, we continued on and flew out to Puerto Maldanado to the south east of Peru (close to the Bolivian border). It was hot and humid and after exiting the plane, we were greeted by our tour guide. We took a taxi to the offices of the tour operator. At the office, we were asked to re-pack and just take the bare essentials in a back pack. We were given rubber boots for wearing at the start of the forest trail. Given that rainy season had just started, we were told that the jungle trails will be full of water and muddy. We were also told to bring a healthy stock of bug spray. In the office, we also paid the remainder of the expedition cost in cash. However, the guy was not happy with the physical condition of the currency bills. If the bill was soiled or had folds, he wouldn’t accept it. After much argument, we withdrew some Peruvian Sols from an ATM across the street and settled the bill. For future reference, it might be a good thing to stop by a Mint near you and load up on some crisply printed green backs before heading out to the jungle – who would have guessed?

Well, with re-packing complete and the bills all settled, we were taken to a boat jetty where we took a small motor boat to the forest trail head. The boat ride was about an hour long, and the river Madre de dios (a tributary of the Amazon) meandered its way through very sparsely populated rural hamlets. Once we arrived at the trail head, the boat operator Pedro bid us good bye and we were left to our own devices along with our guide to deal with whatever the forest had in store for us. We changed into our rubber boots and it was soon easy enough to tell why we had to do that. The trail was water logged and muddy almost throughout the hike. We stopped to see various trees, boiler ants, squirrel monkeys & tarantula burrows in the ground. We also saw a snake (yes, a venomous one) crossing the trail for which everyone paused for a bit to let him pass. After a 3 hr hike through muddy trails, we arrived at lake Sandoval. At this point, we took canoe ride for about half hr before finally arriving at our lodge.

There were about 5 lodges with a restaurant/eating area completing the picture of the lodge complex. Since we arrived at the lodge late in the evening, we really didn’t have time for any further exploration and headed straight for dinner at the restaurant. The food was good with rice and a tofu dish. Since power is turned on only for a couple of hours in the evening, we quickly retired to our digs for the night. The beds were comfortable and had a mosquito net for each of them. The walls were boarded up till waist height and then it was netting that extended up to the ceiling. Needless to say, it felt like camping and you could hear all the sounds of the forest the whole night. We were pleasantly surprised to see that the lodge was stocked with toilet paper and we were worrying for nothing. I never broached the subject with the guide for fear of the conversation hitting the fan. All’s well that ends well!

The next morning, we woke up at 5 AM and started early on a boat ride along side the lake. We stopped to see howler monkeys – these monkeys wake up and start the day with huge roars and the collective sounds of the monkeys reverberated around the lake. The morning sounds of the forest had a light industrial sound quality to it. We stopped at various spots in the lake to look for howler monkeys, squirrel monkeys and various birds. After about an hour on the lake, we disembarked and started a hike to look for macaws. We spotted a bunch of them at an area where they apparently congregate for feeding in the morning. After an hour of hiking and watching the sun rise slowly in the horizon, we headed back to the restaurant for breakfast. Breakfast consisted of papaya juice, pancake and eggs. After this scrumptious breakfast, we had 1 hr rest and then headed back to hike again. We saw some of the larger trees in this part of the hike.

Squirrel monkey pretty happy with the abundance of food

One tree was curiously called the walking palm tree. Apart from the main trunk of the tree, it has a stilted root system which periodically dies and new ones are regenerated. Legend has it that the tree walks ever so slightly by a few centimeters every year. This remains a story that guides tell tourists and there is no scientific evidence that the tree actually moves. After about 3 hours of hiking we were back at the restaurant for lunch. We then had 2 hours for rest before heading back to the lake for a 2 hr ride again to look for black caimans (alligators), and other wild life. Towards the end of this, we sensed that a big thunder storm was about to hit and everyone was anxious to get back to shore. Luckily we made it to shore before the heavy downpour started.

The heavy rains lasted all night and we heard some of the loudest thunder ever. We were to check out of the lodge the next day and the continuous downpour was worrying us quite a bit. However, as the morning arrived, the rain stopped and we were ready to start the trek back towards civilization at around 8 AM. We completed the return journey in 1-1/2 hours and we arrived at the zip line location for the final activity of the trip. Once that was done, it was another hour boat ride back to the office and headed straight to the airport without having an opportunity to change into clean clothes. The airport folks must be used to seeing many tourists who walk in dirty with soiled pants and shoes so we didn’t really get any funny looks from the airport employees.

The whole experience reminded me of one my favorite TV shows called The Wild Thornberrys. Unlike, Eliza in the show, no one was successful in talking to the animals though. The incredible bio diversity in the forest was an amazing thing to see.

Adios Peru

After a week of intense hiking, taking in the culture and beauty of this amazing land, it was time to head back to reality. While intense, it was a fantastic experience and the trip was certainly one for the books.

Until next time,

Its bye from Joe without borders

Joe Without Borders

Peru 2015