Day 4: Who's Your Pachamama?

Itinerary: At large in The Sacred Valley

The Brazilians were back.  

Today's adventure was to take us outside of Cusco for a full day's tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas, so named for the river - the Sacred River.  We booked it with the same tour operators as yesterday so I guess it was inevitable that we would run into some of the same people that we met before - we were just hoping that the vacuous headed and challenged would not be among them.  Alas, it was not to be.  There a LOT of people on this tour, far more than the 10-15 the lady in the tour office promised the max would be - but c'est la vie - unless we'd wanted to stump up for a private tour (which would mean less money for alpaca-related purchases, so, um, no) this was the only option.

Why, hello there.

But it soon became apparent that our tour guide and tour bus driver were cut from a different cloth than the lovely but slightly ineffectual chap from yesterday.  They were bad-ass.  The bus driver was brilliant - handling this big tour bus like it was a 2 seater convertible, blasting everyone with his horn to get out of the way, not giving any quarter to anyone and generally not taking any shit.  I'm sure his true spiritual home is in Manhattan as a yellow cab driver but he was fantastic.  He reminded me of my driver in Bhutan - when they drive through these narrow gaps without slowing down in the least because they understand the width of their vehicle to within a half inch (all while you are squeaking with alarm in the back).  Eventually you relax because you know you are in very safe hands and from then on in, all is good.  I think my love for him was complete when, as we were ready to leave Pisac and - guess who! - was late, he actually closed the doors and started to drive away, finally prompting the insouciant Brazilian to get an effing move on and have to make a run for it.  Bloody marvelous.

Our tour guide was equally as in command in his own way as his sidekick driver.  He had a walking stick that he would wave in front of him to corral his tourist herd (we numbered about 30 by the time all the feeder buses had dropped their pick-ups off) and call out "hooka hook" (not sure about spelling) which is the Peruvian equivalent of HURRY THE HELL UP!  He did a much better job of keeping the whole group together ("Powerstick group - over here! We go together!") and on time (with one or two exceptions - one being Lisa and myself as the last ones out of the silver factory!).  I think my love for him was sealed when, about 10 mins into our tour of Pisac, one of the women in our group, approaches him and says "I need to go back to the bus - my husband is cold and needs a sweater".   Our guide looks the guy up and down and says "he'll be fine - its sunny, go stand in the sunshine" and then carries on with the tour.  Brilliant.  Total non-pandering (in case any of you are worried about him, it was in the 70's so it was not, by any definition of the word, cold).

So, enough pre-amble - what was our itinerary for the day?  Well, we were heading out about 50km or so from Cusco and descending to 2,000m into the Sacred Valley.  The drive was incredible with beautifully scenic views across and into the valley, surrounded by the imposing Andean mountains.

Our first stop was (as is the way with all organized tours) at an "authentic" market where we could shop for more souvenirs and where I indulged further my newly burgeoning alpaca (or is it llama?) passion.  Conveniently forgetting yesterday's appetizer at the restaurant, I jumped at the opportunity to have my picture taken with probably the world's best trained Alpaca Picture Poser - it was hilarious!  The alpaca would know exactly where the camera was and look directly at it or, on command, snap his ears up to attention or, as in my case, pretend to give me a big smoochy alpaca kiss.  It was really very impressive.  Of course I had to give his handler a dollar (or a couple soles) for the privilege, but it was worth it!  Both Lisa and I found some great gifts as well, so it was a fun first stop for our Grand Day Out.

The look of love

Going in to seal the deal

En route to Pisac, the stunning Sacred Valley of the Incas

After bidding a tearful goodbye to my new friend, it was back on the bus for a half hour drive to our first ruins of the day, the stunning site of Pisac.  The ruins of Pisac are located high above the town and contain incredible Inca terraces, housing areas and a red andesitic temple.  The Lonely Planet describes Pisac thus:

Pisac village way down in the valley below

 "The hilltop Inca citadel lies high above the village on a triangular plateau with a plunging gorge on each side. The most impressive feature is the agricultural terracing which sweeps around the south and east flanks of the mountain in huge and graceful curves, almost entirely unbroken by steps (which require greater maintenance and promote erosion).  Instead, the terracing is joined by diagonal flights of stairs made of flagstones set into the terrace walls.  Above the terraces are cliff-hanging footpaths, watched over by caracara falcons and well defended by massive stone doorways, steep stairs and a short tunnel carved out of the rock.  Looking across the Kitamayo Gorge from the back of the site, you'll see hundreds of holes honeycombing the cliff wall.  These are Inca tombs that were plundered by huaqueros (grave robbers) and are now completely off limits to tourists".

The beautiful terraces of Pisac

I think this site was, by far, the most impressive we'd seen so far - I think mainly because you could visualize so clearly what it looked like when it was still in use.  Apparently, once restoration is complete in a couple of years, then they will start planting again in the terraces - I think that is very cool indeed.  Other tidbits we learned from our guide during this part of the tour - in the Inca tombs, people are buried in the foetal position, so as to prepare them for their birth into their next life.  Its not the same belief as re-incarnation (same spirit, new body) but instead its a complete new birth into a new life, so the burial practice was performed to help the person on their way.  

The holes in the cliff are hundreds of Inca tombs

Also, the site of Pisac was built in the shape of a condor, one of the three holy animals of the Incas (they are the condor, the puma and the snake).  It was a little difficult to see at ground level, but i guess if you went up high enough you'd see it.  

View looking out from the "body" of the condor onto the "head"

Arty shot

Interesting factoid, blog watchers: The holes on either side
are what the Incans used to wedge sticks with fringing on
them, thus making a door.  Probably not recommended in your
rental, but useful to know.

Anyway, after about an hour of exploring the ruins, it was time to head back down to the bus and on towards our main stop of the day, the runs of Ollantaytambo.  En route we stopped at (yet another) factory - this time a silver factory and yes, I did succumb and buy a couple of bits and bobs.  All in the name of helping the local economy, you know.  Then there was a ridiculously long and involved process where we spent a good hour or so dropping various little clusters of people off at various lunch stops.  I guess each tour operator has an arrangement with a different restaurant and, even though we were all pooled together on the same bus, we were all parceled off to different places. By the fifth drop-off, it was getting rather old (and i was absolutely starving) but then we were next so were dropped off at this perfectly adequate place where the food was actually pretty decent, and the surrounding gardens were beautiful.  So many flowers in crazily enthusiastic bloom!

Pisco Sour Part 2 - vacation lunchtime drinking.
Just the one, mind. 

Dessert!!  Fried bread product!
Definitely more than one.

Beautiful flowers in the restaurant's Area Verde.
Not to be confused with Salsa Verde.

After lunch, we were picked up around 2.30pm and continued the drive to Ollantaytambo.  This was the highlight of the day and here's what our tour itinerary blurb said about it: 

The approach to Ollantaytambo.  As brilliant
architects, designers and engineers as they were, I
guess the Incans didnt predict tourist buses

Ollantaytambo is one of the most beautiful, and significant, sites in the entire Cusco region and is rich with history.  At a distance of 47 miles from Cusco, it is a very interesting and typical pueblo with extensive and well-preserved Inca ruins.  We will visit the unfinished temples high above the villages on the mountainside.  It is one of the most impressive Imperial style complexes built by the Incas and is most important because, with the assistance of the Callaguaya and other nations of the Lake Titicaca region, was the stationing point for the "grassroots" attempts to challenge the power of the Pachacutec.

OK - it was pretty damned impressive.  Coming in through the entry gates, you looked up at the immense structure before you and said "wow".

The next thing you said (albeit in your inside voice) was "shit.  I have to climb up all those steps".

And so it was.  Our visit to Ollantaytambo was an interesting mix of "oooh - this is nice" with "OMG - my heart is about to explode".

I think the training for the hiking portion of this trip is going very well.

Yes.  I took his picture too - and gave him a dollar.
I am the consummate tourist.
I'm also presuming his get-up is at least mildly authentic
and not just purchased from Party City Peru

From the bottom, looking up

From the top, looking across.  The structure you can see halfway
up the mountain is the granary.

The extremely important Sun temple whose ginormous
rocks were rolled across from a quarry several mountains
away.  Very impressive construction - but a little
underwhelming in the aesthetics department.  Sorry.

Catching a breather at the top, hanging out at the sun temple

Proof that I survived the trip back down

Day 3: Tingly bits, alpaca knits and Brazilian twits

The main square - Plaza des Armes

Before I recount the day's adventures, lets get straight to the burning question that I'm sure you all have by this stage - what's the altitude like and how are you feeling?
Well, in a word - tingly.   To counteract the effects of the altitude, both Lisa and I are taking a drug called Diamox which is a diuretic.  Now, don't ask me how taking a diuretic helps with altitude sickness, but apparently it does, so we're taking it.  We're also imbibing the coca tea that i mentioned yesterday, also a diuretic because it has a bucket load of caffeine in it.

Now, since we arrived yesterday we've been feeling a bit weird, on and off, with both of us feeling plain knackered as well as a bit headachey and space-cadet-y.  We took it easy yesterday, as recommended, so today we were starting to feel a bit better - aside from this peculiar tingly sensation that would occasionally pop up in our feet or, in my case, on my face!  Its a bit odd to explain but it comes on for a while, then goes away again.  So we looked up the side-effects of Diamox yesterday and, in among the usual grab-bag of Bad Stuff That Could Happen to You, there it was - tingling of the extremities!  So at least we're not going completely mad and there's a pukka reason for it.  The other slightly less entertaining side effect of Diamox is that it makes you pee like horses.  I do hope that one wears off before we are out for all-day hikes...

The altitude is probably as you'd expect - yesterday we could really feel how any slight exertion caused the heart race to immediately elevate (ie bending down to unpack the suitcase!).  Today its not been quite so bad, however, walking up the steps at Sacsayhuaman (which I'll tell you about in a minute) proved to be rather humbling as we both became winded in a very short space of time climbing less than 100 steps!  Obviously we still have a bit of acclimatization left to go.

But, we're doing fine - we're drinking plenty of water (and consequently peeing like horses) and are staying well hydrated, so hopefully by the time we start our hike proper on Friday, we'll be fully acclimatized and ready for action!

The dark wall of the Sun Temple on the left, as part of the
monastery complex of Quricancha

Anyway, to today.  We had a fairly leisurely start, ambling down to breakfast around 9.30am where I thoroughly confused the juice lady by asking her to blend me some bananas and strawberries.  All very confusing.  I had a cup of mind-crunchingly strong coffee, before deciding that probably wasn't a wise combo with the coca tea and by 10am we were done and ready to head out into town to explore.  The weather was a very pleasant 60 degrees or so, with the sun managing to dodge the clouds enough so that it was warm and sunny to sit outside in.  Our hotel is only 3-4 blocks away from the main square, so walking down through the narrow, high walled streets towards the main square was very easy and, in no time, we found ourselves in Plaza del Armes, site of the main Cathedral of Cusco.

Alpaca!!!  An obsession is born....

In front of the cathedral was a beautiful little planted square, jammed full of beautiful flowers in full bloom, so we sat on one of the benches there, consulted the guidebook to try and figure out our plan and fended off multiple vendors of blankets, paintings, alpaca keyrings and other artisanal knick-knacks.  After a while, we picked a local tour operator that was well-reviewed, so trundled off to find their offices which turned out to be fairly close by.  Once there, we went for it and booked up the following: a city tour of Cusco for today, an all-day excursion to the Sacred Valley tomorrow and finally a cooking class for Thursday!

We figured the Cusco city tour would be a good way to explore our surroundings in a fairly low key kind of way, even though it was a group tour (that I usually try and avoid).  The trip ran from 1.30pm – 6pm and visited the following places:

The Cathedral: Constructed between 1560 and 1654 upon the foundations of the Inca palace of Wiracocha.  This immense chapel includes the chapel of Jesus, Joseph and Mary, and the church of the Triumph.  While the construction lasted for over a century, the decoration went on for 300 years and today more than 400 paintings of the Cusco School can be seen amidst beautifully carbed alters and a magnificent choir stand.

Quricancha: Meaning “cloister of gold”, is located within the monastery of Santo Domingo, where the remains of the former sun temple of the Incas are found.  Inside, one can admire some astonishing slanted Inca walls, windows and niches in trapezoidal shapes that have withstood several earthquakes due to its anti-seismic design, having been constructed with extremely close-fitting stones.

Sacsayhuaman: This Quechua word (the still widely spoken language of the Incas) literally translates to “decorated head of puma”.  It was used as the palace from which the descendant of the sun ruled his people.  The Europeans believed it to be a fortress of some kind due to the immense blocks of rock that were used in its construction.  Cusco tradition claims that around 70,000 people worked here for 50 years.

Qenqo: This name translates to “labyrinth” and is probably called that way because of two caves which hide under an immense rock with carved platforms or “altars”, representing the so-called “sacrificial rock”.  There is also an amphitheater with 19 niches that were probably used for giving offerings and a large rock sculpture (that is said to represent a puma, the deity of the site).  Interesting zigzag channels and a great variety of carved stones are also found on top of the huge rock formation

.

Puca Pucara – Meaning “Red Fortress” this massive construction was used for food storage and also as a control garrison for travelers that visited Cusco in Inca times

Tambo Machay – A beautiful ceremonial site which sits, literally, on a hillside spring and was used as a place to worship water.  Today, the permanently flowing water is still associated with long life and fertility by the people of Cusco.

Gold relief panel at the Sun Temple

The tour was originally supposed to come and pick us up from our hotel between 1.15-1.30pm but then we got a phone call just before 1.30pm saying that instead could we go to the cathedral main entrance and meet the tour there.  It was a bit annoying cos we’d already been in town and had left to come back to the hotel expressly to meet the tour group but fine, off we trotted back into town and waited in the melee outside the cathedral to get scooped up by a slightly harassed looking lady, to then buy our entrance tickets and join the rest of the group who were already inside.  The first few minutes were a bit crap as it was a larger group than expected (at least 20) and because we were late, the guide had already started and we had to sit quite a way away which meant I couldn’t hear anything!  However, that was easily fixed as soon as we started to move to the next bit of interest in the cathedral, both Lisa and I got our New Yorker on, powered through the crowds and made sure for the rest of the tour we were standing/sitting right next to him so we could hear.

Hall way to the sun temple

Unfortunately we weren’t allowed to take any pictures inside the cathedral, so I can’t share any with you.  I did, later, buy a DVD with lots of pictures and videos on (sold to us by a man on our bus) but this computer doesn’t have a DVD drive, so I can’t get to them til I get home!  But, nonetheless, the cathedral was very impressive with lots of paintings, statues, pointy bits, wood carvings and silver.  Churches and the like do tend to leave me a bit cold, though (sorry, it’s the atheist in me) so I can’t really rhapsodize over them for hours – but I can appreciate the artistry particularly the section where the choir sits which very much reminded me of King’s College in Cambridge.

Courtyard of the monastery

After the cathedral, we walked to our next stop on the tour – the remnants of a sun temple within Santa Domingo monastery.  This was pretty impressive, as you can see from the photos below – I’m sure I’ll focus more on this in future blogs but the construction skills of the Incas were absolutely astonishing.  Throughout this part of the tour we were walking past the original walls that they built – and they looked brand new. No mortar was used and the stones are slotted together perfectly.  How on earth they cut them with so much precision is still a complete mystery to me – maybe my DVD will clear it all up for me….

Another impressively carved Incan rock.  This time, this one was
the upturned base of a column handily fashioned into an altar

Next up after the sun temple, the site that all the tourists call “Sexy Woman” – but not before we had to drop off one of our number at the hospital, an older lady who’d been doing the tour up to that point in a wheelchair and who was complaining of shortness of breath.  Her and her granddaughter had only just arrived that day, so they’d broken the cardinal rule of Taking It Easy on Day 1 and they also were not taking anything to counteract the altitude, so no wonder they were in bad shape.  It was probably just as well she left the tour at that point, because the last places we visited all involved some degree of walking and climbing up and down stairs, so there’s no way she would have been physically able to do it.

Anyway, as a result of that unanticipated detour, the rest of our tour for the afternoon was under a bit of a time crunch, especially because the sun goes down pretty quickly around 5.45pm, so we had to get a move on.  Unfortunately, part of the group were three Brazilians who were always late and wandering off, so our guide was getting increasingly frustrated with how much they were slowing us down and throwing us all off schedule.  It got really bad at the Sexy Woman stop where we had to meet back at the bus on the dot, ready to leave at 5.05pm, as the day was running out and we still had 2 places left to visit.  By 5.05pm, everyone was on the bus except them, by 5.10pm, our guide was out looking for them and at 5.15pm, they eventually sauntered into sight.  Everyone one on the bus was very annoyed with them and I even opened the window of the bus and shouted at them to hurry the eff up “WE’RE ALL WAITING FOR YOU AND YOU ARE MAKING US LATE!”).  They looked a little startled and sped up a bit to get on the bus - I blame the Diamox but I think behavior like that is the height of rudeness, so I didn’t hold back.  How terribly American of me....

View of the sun temple from the outside  - its
the long dark wall

Because of that, our last 2 stops were in twilight, then almost darkness – Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay.   We stopped at Puca for about 5 mins, just enough time to get some pictures then got straight back on the bus for the short drive to Tambo Machay, where the final stop of the day involved a 10min walk to go see some more Inca construction, this time with fountains running through them that never run dry.  At both Tambo and Sexy Woman, we had to climb up some stairs or elevation and again, that little bit of exercise gave us just enough of a reminder to not be too complacent yet that we’d beaten the effects of the altitude.  I’m going to wear my heart rate monitor tomorrow so we can see how high we go and the effect on my heart rate, just as a way of trying to gauge how much up Shit Creek we’ll be come Friday.

On the way home, there was the obligatory visit to the Alpaca factory store – so I duly obliged by buying a 100% baby alpaca sweater and throw for my bed.  Both are beautiful quality and weren’t too pricey, so I was pleased to at least get a start on the Alpaca shopping list (which is pretty extensive in my mind already….).

The underground alter and mummification prep
area at Qenqo

After being dropped off back in town by the bus, we then treated ourselves to a very nice dinner at one of the best places in town.  We managed to get in without a ressie because we were quite early (it was only 6.30pm) and we decided to try some of the local specialties including alpaca carpacchio and trout ceviche for starters.  We also tried Peruvian champagne – perhaps less of a success, but hey – it was an admirable effort!  And, with that, we finally wended our way home and headed off to bed.   By all accounts, not a bad effort for Day 3!  Tomorrow, it’s the Sacred Valley!

The impressive ruins at Sacsayhuaman

Twilight at Tambo Machay

The ceremonial fountains at Tambo Machay

Alpaca carpacchio and trout ceviche.  Our waiter was at pains
to make sure we understood "its raw, yes??"

Can't remember what this was, but i guess Peruvian
mountain hens are pretty tiny

The Peruvian Champagne Experiment. n = 1

"Do you have a flag?"

Sarah and Lisa's Most Excellent Peruvian Adventure: Day 2 - Chickens, check-in and Cusco

The Pisco Sour. Small but potent.
 Like my mate Lisa.

Today's itinerary: Lima to Cusco

We made it!!  We're here in our fabulous hotel in Cusco, the El Mercado Tunqui, a little chap has just stopped by the room to present us each with a chocolate in a tiny straw basket, and we're about to head down for dinner after a thoroughly pleasant afternoon of chilling out after our journey.  Our heads haven't exploded yet due to the altitude so so far, so good!

The day started at a reasonable time, with the alarm set for 7am, giving us plenty of time to have a leisurely breakfast before heading over the Sky Bridge across the road to the terminal building for our 10.30am flight.  My head felt a little fuzzy this morning - whether due to altitude or the crushingly strong (but free!) pisco sour I'd had at the lobby bar the night before, so I hopped into the shower before breakfast to try and wake myself up a bit.  The shower was one of those that vacillates between fantastically hot or fooking freezing within about a 3 millimeter dial range, so that was a test of fine motor function.  Adding to the fun was the curious fact that the soap appeared to be made out of some type of stone (soapstone?) in that it pretty much refused to lather up.  It eventually gave me just enough suds to just about get clean, but it was more effort than should have strictly been necessary.

First view of the Andes.
Its quite big really.  

Breakfast at the hotel was very good - I had an excellent frittata thing plus some sweet, juicy papaya chunks and cold meat.  I studiously avoided the white bread rolls - after Deflategate yesterday, I need to be a bit more judicious in my carbo-loading choices.  After checking out, we meandered over to the terminal building to check-in for our flight.  Entering the terminal on the second floor, we wandered round a bit trying to find the check-in desk for Peruvian Airlines until this chap very helpfully asked us "check-in?" and, on nodding, pointed us in the right direction.

Except it wasn't.  After walking for another few minutes in the direction he'd pointed us in, it was clear he'd sent us the wrong way, so back we trundled and decided we had to actually go downstairs to where the check-in desks were.  Another 2 guys asked us "check-in?" on the way there - at which point we started to wonder if we'd actually gotten it all wrong and in fact they were offering us somewhere to go for lunch.

God only knows how I managed to refrain from
opening up this overhead bin...

We got downstairs and saw the desks - but then had to exit the terminal building and then re-enter it again 50 yds further down.  Not entirely sure what the rationale was for that (it was a little confusing) but finally we saw the Peruvian Airlines check-in desk so went and queued up to chicken our bags.  It was at this point we discovered that Peruvians obviously enjoy freaking out their foreign visitors as the list of flights on the board above the desk for chicken did not include our Cusco flight!  After a moment or two of "shit! is this a real airline after all and just who did we book our tickets with" panicking, eagle-eyed Lisa spotted that none of the flights listed were domestic ones, only international flights.  Very strange.  And we we finally chicked in with the chap behind the desk, all was fine, our bags got weighed and loaded on and he even switched our seats to give us the exit row with extra leg room.  Nice!

By this stage there was only about 45mins or so before we were due to board, so we just proceeded straight through security, without even pausing to look at the Britt Shop (much to Lisa's chagrin).  The flight itself was pretty smooth and short, only about an hour and a half during which we actually got fed and I discovered the real reason that T-Rex's became extinct all those millions of years ago.

Free food!  In a box!  

More carbs!  Yey!!

Extra legroom seats also required extra arm room.
Thus proving that the real reason T-rex's became
 extinct was that they couldn't reach their
 airplane meals so starved to death.

And, in no time at all, we were landing in Cusco. The approach reminded me of landing in Paro airport in Bhutan 3 years ago, where you are flying into the valley between the craggy mountain ranges that tower up on either side of you.  It was quite cloudy so the view was a little obscured at times, but it was still pretty impressive nonetheless.  And terrifying too given that, come Friday, we'll be hiking our little asses off in those imposing peaks!

Here comes the tea!  Just arrived and relaxing
in the courtyard of our hotel

As you'd expect, the airport itself is tiny with only a single baggage carousel, which made it easier to guess where our bags were going to come out.  It was stuffed full of tour operator desks, porters with metal trolley carts and taxi drivers looking for their pick-up so had a nicely chaotic feel.  We'd arranged a transfer with our hotel in Cusco (who is also affiliated with Mountain Lodges of Peru, the tour operator who is running our trip) which made it easy and within no time our bags were out, we met our driver and we were on our way!   The drive to our hotel was only about 20 mins or so and we drove past some incredible buildings and monuments.  I'll blog more about those over the next couple of days as we explore Cusco before leaving on Friday to start our hike.  Our hotel is located in the old part of town, which is the main tourist area with lots of fancy hotels, restaurants and plenty of markets and bazaars in which to buy all the alpaca-themed gifts you could ever wish for.

We were met at the hotel by a very friendly chap who took our bags up to our room for us and first offered us (at last!) the famous coca tea!  Apparently this elixir is going to save us from altitude sickness, so everyone has been strongly encouraging us to stay well-hydrated, avoid alcohol and drink plenty of coca tea!  Now, I think the name is a bit misleading cos I don't think it has cocaine in it, but I think it does have a sh*tload of caffeine in it, so its the diuretic effect that apparently makes it effective for altitude sickness.  I'll write more about that tomorrow (I am feeling a bit space-cadety) as well as the wonderful effects of the Diamox that we're taking to also offset the altitude.  I'm very glad we decided to come here a few days early ahead of our hike - just taking the stairs up to our room left us both feeling a bit winded and our hearts pounding, so it will be good to have fully acclimatized before starting CrazyHike proper on Friday.

Coca tea - our beverage saviour!

For now, its almost 10pm and I am fading fast, so I will leave you with the few pictures that I've taken so far of our hotel and our immediate surroundings.  Tomorrow the plan is to have an easy day ambling around Cusco, maybe checking out a few museums (the chocolate museum!) and definitely checking out some of the amazing restaurants this town is known for!  Huzzah for vacations!

Overlooking the rooftops of Cusco from the balcony of our room

Chez Lisa and Sarah

Those alpaca blankets are coming home with me....

View looking down into the hotel's courtyard and out beyond to
the mountain range

Lunch - stuffed peppers and a traditional corn
soup.  Both were excellent.

Relaxing by the fire after dinner for a quick
game of Spite and Malice.  Current score:
Lisa 2, Sarah 1. 

Eclectic decor - alpaca heads?

The bar of the hotel - nice and dim and chilled out,
perfect for 2 weary travelers to relax.

Sarah and Lisa's Most Excellent Peruvian Adventure: Day 1 - Chicago/SF to Lima

Well, hello Peru!  Nice to finally meet you after all this time.  I must say that I am already enjoying your Pisco Sour flavored hospitality (ay carumba - its quite strong!) and the proximity of our hotel to the airport (mere steps away - huzzah!). I'm sitting in the hotel lobby, having finished the final bit of work I had left to do and am now waiting to be joined by Lisa, my travel buddy for the next 2 weeks.  But - to back up for a minute - I've just arrived in Lima, after a day's travel from Chicago to Miami, then Miami to Lima.  It was a pretty early start, up at 4.30am ready for my pick-up with the lovely Tim at 5.30am.   I was a bit McKnackered especially given that my new neighbors who, up until this point have been wonderfully quiet, picked last night to have a raucous party that kept me awake way past midnight when I was trying to have an early night.  Thanks, guys.

Anyway, I managed not to oversleep the alarm, made it to the airport in plenty of time and - this time - managed to actually get into the United lounge as i was traveling internationally.Given its my BIRTHDAY vacation (as well as it just being, well, my vacation), I decided to splurge on the air miles and treat myself to a round-trip business class ticket.  I believe my shampoo tells me that I'm Worth It, so figured it was OK.  (as a grumpy aside/first world problem for a moment - it still amazes me that you can be traveling on a business class ticket within the US and that doesn't grant you access to the lounge!  I mean, come on United!!   Its not as if you have champagne fountains spouting Dom Perignon with abandon and nubile 25 yr olds serving sushi from their rock hard abs, is it?  Whats the big deal about some shitty coffee and crappy pastries?).

The journey itself was uneventful - the planes helpfully left on time and did not crash, so fulfilled my Mazlow's hierarchy of needs when it comes to air travel.  I have to confess to a teeny weeny bit of stress at Lima airport's baggage carousel when my bag was probably one of the last ones out (despite its "priority" sticker) and I was starting to freak out just a little bit that they had lost my bag.  I don't really need to say just how much of a disaster that would be for our trip - but it would be quite a spectacularly crappy way to start, especially as we are scheduled to fly to Cusco tomorrow so there is very little time for any errant bags to catch up with us!   Just as I was starting to run through all the options in my head ("OK, where can I buy replacement hiking boots?" "how long do we have in Cusco til we start hiking?" "I can hike in this skirt, right...right??" ), my bag finally deigned to show up so all was again right with the world.  Phew.  Panic over.  Then it was simply a quick saunter through the arrivals hall, feigning worldly experience while fending off a thousand cabbies, following the signs for the Wyndham hotel.  An excellent piece of planning, I must say.

Now I'm sitting here in the lobby bar, writing this and wishing I hadn't eaten so many refined carbs during the day.  One of my rules during my vacation is that the rules (which usually happily govern my food/drink habits during the week) don't count, so I've been happily munching on white bread ham and cheese sandwiches and supping the free Prosecco in the Avianca lounge in Miami.   All the processed sh*t that I never normally touch.  Well, combined with the air travel, its a perfect storm of GI disturbance (Loopy - I may rival your title of Super Fermenter this evening).  One is making me fart, the other is making me congested so I'm very much hoping i manage to ..umm...deflate a little before Lisa turns up as we're sharing a room this evening (and throughout our vacation).   I just like to think of it as training for the oxygen deprivation we're going to be suffering when we get to Machu Picchu, so i'm doing everyone a favor really.

So, tomorrow, its onwards to Cusco, the gateway to Machu Picchu!  Not entirely sure what time our flight is tomorrow (Lisa booked the flights) but its only a short 1hr or so hop and then we finally get to find out just how crappy we feel at high altitude!!  Bring on the coca tea!!

It's here.....

Yes.  It has finally arrived.  And I'm sure you'll all be delighted to hear that it is even more horrific in the flesh than it was on my computer screen.  Now I can enjoy the fabulous tactile quality of the shiny shiny polyester and very much look forward to Photo Shoot Day itself, where I will get to model this fashion masterpiece for all and sundry.

Here's how things went down just a few moments ago.....

*PING*

USPS NOTIFICATION: Your parcel has been delivered.  Left in mailbox.

Me: "Oh fabulous...."

So innocent from the outside... you'd never know the horrors within.
But I do.  Oh yes.

How can even the wrapping paper be dreadfully tacky?  Who
ARE these people?

It just keeps getting worse.  I even know what the acronym on
the sticker stands for.  

First glimpse.
 First thought "its very brown"
Second thought "its not very nice, is it?"

Finally - the full horror revealed.  I can't believe this is actually
now IN MY HOUSE and, whats worse, is that I paid $90 for the
"privilege"!  This is the front, btw.

But the party continues in the back (steady).  So, no matter the
angle, have I got a bear swimming costume for you! 

Oh man.  This is not going to end well for me.