Back home

I've been home for 4 days now and I have never appreciated warm running water more...

There are a few things, though, that I would definitely transplant from Peru to the US:
1. Bicycle distribution of fresh bakery goods from house to house in the morning (see picture. They also do it with ice-cream.
2. Tuk tuks
3. The law that you don't have to pay real estate taxes if the house is not finished (that's the reason why so many houses there are never completely finished)
4. Government distribution of free solar panels..
5. Hats
6. Llamas

Lake Sandoval

In the morning, we took a one-hour flight to Puerto Maldonaldo in the Amazon basin. When we got off the plane, we were in a different world -- hot, humid and very green. People from Sandoval Lodge were waiting for us. We took a bus to their Puerto Maldonaldo office, where we were given small green duffel bags. We had to put everything we needed for the 2-day stay into these bags and leave the rest of our luggage in the storage room in the office. Then the bus took us to the river and we got onto a long motorized boat very similar to the boats we took on the Mekong river in Vietnam and Laos. Madre the Dios river also looked very much like Mekong, not as wide, but definitely the same color. During the 40 minute boat ride, we got our lunch --- brown rice with tofu and vegetables wrapped in a banana leaf, banana chips and a banana + a bottle of water. After the boat ride, we had to trek 3 km through the jungle to the lake and then take a 20 minute ride in a paddle boat across the lake to the lodge. Luckily, we didn’t have to carry our duffel bags. There was a porter who carried all of them in a big sack. This is the only way to get to the lodge and even the supplies get there the same way.

The road through the jungle was very uneven, but mostly dry. Supposedly during the rainy season, you walk in mud up to your knees. There are tons of mosquitoes everywhere so we sprayed our clothes, hats and all exposed parts of the body. We all smell like hell. During the paddle boat ride, we watched a bunch of red monkeys playing high up in the trees.

When we finally got to the lodge, we were greeted with a glass of passion fruit juice and a lecture about the rules and the daily drill. The lodge is pretty nice -- a spacious wooden building on stilts. The middle part is open and houses a social area --- hammocks, tables and armchairs, a bar and a dining area. On both sides there are two wings with sleeping quarters. Rooms are pretty small and not completely enclosed. The ceiling of the building is very high and the walls of the rooms don’t go all the way up to the ceiling so everybody can hear their neighbors quite well. Luckily, each room has a bathroom.

We had an hour and a half rest and at 4:30 got on the boat with our guide Hebert to watch the wildlife. If was getting dark and the mosquitoes were vicious. We circled a part of the lake and saw some exotic and less exotic birds, but no giant otters or caymans. We climbed a mirador high above the tree level and listened to the evening sounds of the jungle.

Then we got back to the lodge, sprayed some more mosquito repellent on ourselves and went on a night trek through the jungle. It was completely dark by then so we had to carry flashlights. We walked up and down and Hebert was pointing out creatures to us --- tarantulas, scorpion-spider, a snake, a black alligator, lots of gigantic ants, bats, etc.

We got back for dinner, and then had time till 10 pm to enjoy electric light because there is no electricity at the lodge between 10 pm and 5 am. At 5 am we got a wake up knock from Hebert and we had to get on the boat again at 5:30 to see the sunrise and watch how the jungle wakes up. We circled the lake in complete silence, saw lots of different birds, including parrots and tucans, a couple of black alligators… it was very peaceful. Then the group went back to the lodge for breakfast, and I climbed onto another boat in the middle of the lake to take the same trek to the airport for my flight back to Lima. I joined four young Minnesotans and we traveled to the airport together.

I was really surprised at the level of service the lodge provided. Not only did they pack a nice breakfast for me, but when we got to the office in Puerto Maldonaldo, our bags were already waiting for us and we were given boarding passes for our flight. After repacking, they took us to the airport, carried all our bags to the check-in counter and waited until all the bags got checked in. First class service. I am now sitting at the airport waiting for my flight to Lima. I am very relieved that there are no mosquitoes here!!!

Machu Picchu day 2

Part of our group decided to climb the Happy Mountain early in the morning to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu. They were to leave at 4 am, but the weather intervened. It was still pouring at 7 am when we woke up. Luckily around 9:30 am, the sun came out and we didn’t have to change our plans to visit Machu Picchu for the second time. This time only three of us went without a guide. It was a totally different experience. We visited the places we didn’t have time to see yesterday and just relaxed in the shade and took in the many amazing views of this incredible place.

Then, we went down by bus to the town and explored the market one more time. The more we looked, the less we liked the stuff we saw. There are mostly the same things everywhere…

At 5 pm we took the train back to Ollanta. This time the train was much better, with huge windows and a partially glass roof so we could admire the views of snow-capped mountains. They even fed us on this 1.5 hour ride. Great service. Our minibus was waiting at the train station and took us to Cusco. After checking in (the same hotel), we went out to eat. We didn’t get the food until about 10:30 pm, but a group of Inca musicians came and made the waiting a much more pleasant experience. They were really good.

Machu Picchu

In the morning, we took the tourist train from Ollanta to Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu. The train ride was about 1.5 hours with beautiful views of the mountains and the Urubamba river. You have to have reserved seats for the train so it’s very comfortable.

Aguas Calientes is strictly a tourist town for all the people who want to visit Machu Picchu. It’s quite picturesque, surrounded by high mountains, with a river in the middle of town and several rope bridges to cross it. There are tons of restaurants, bars, craft stores and a huge crafts market.

We got off the train, walked through the town to our hotel, left the luggage and got on the bus to Machu Picchu. There is only one company that operates shuttle buses from Aguas Calientes to Machu Picchu and this is the only way to get there. The buses are labeled “ecological”, but we didn’t ask if they were electric or ran on natural gas or something else. The trip takes 40 minutes to go up the mountain on a zig-zag unpaved road with a deep ravine on one side. The trip down only takes about 20 minutes.

When we got to Machu Picchu, our guide Rony took us to the highest point first. We had to climb what seemed endless steep stone stairs. When we got to the top, the view almost took our breath away. In front of us was the classic view of Machu Picchu with Wayna Picchu in the back, the view that you can see in albums, pictures, postcards… It is spectacular. We spent 4 hours walking around this amazing place and listening to Rony’s explanations about its history. It’s impossible to describe it; pictures do it better.
We were lucky because we came in the afternoon and stayed until closing time so there weren’t as many people there. We had some places totally to ourselves.

At 4 pm (closing time), we took the bus back, walked to the hotel, checked into our rooms and went out to dinner. we were starving since we hadn’t eaten since breakfast.

The internet here is so slow that I wasn´t able to upload pictures. Maybe in Cusco...

Cusco

I was hoping to post this blog last night, but the hotel wi-fi wasn’t working last night or this morning.

Cusco is just as attractive during the day as it is at night, but completely different. You can clearly see the hills around it and the colors of the colonial buildings around the plazas and the old stones from Inca times glistening in the sun.

The first thing we did is walk with our guide Rony to Qorikancha. Qorikancha is a very interesting place because it combines the Inca temple of the sun with the convent of Santo Domingo built by the Dominicans on the site of the Inca temple, using some of the materials from that temple. We mostly concentrated on the Inca temples and Ronnie told us a lot of interesting facts and hypotheses about the construction of the temples. One amazing fact was that during the two very strong earthquakes in Cusco -- in 1650 and 1950 --- all the Inca structures survived intact while later structures collapsed. They built their temples and palaces with stones of different shapes, some of them interlocking, but without any mortar or connector.

Then, Ronnie took us to two other most important churches in Cusco --- a Jesuit Iglesia de la Compania and the Cathedral, which consists of three connected churches. They are beautiful churches that combine Catholic and indigenous religions and beliefs. There is a lot of gold there with gold-plated altars and chapels and many very interesting paintings of the Cuscan school (Escuela Cuscquenia) painters from the 17th century. We also saw paintings and a sculpture of the Lord of the Earthquakes who according to the local legend stopped the earthquake of the 1650 after the crowd had prayed to him. This sculpture of black crucified Jesus is paraded every year during solstice day around the city of Cusco.

Ronnie also told us that Cusco has about 500,000 inhabitants and two universities -- one public and one private.

After the tour, Ania and I went to see the best hotel in town, hotel Monasterio, which is located in a converted convent, very much like hotel Santo Domingo in Antigua or El Convento in San Juan. It is very lovely and very expensive.

In the afternoon, we took the stuff we packed for a two day trip to Machu Picchu and got on the bus. We were to spend the first night in a little town in the Urubamba valley next to the train station so we can take a morning train to Machu Picchu. We made two stops on the way. The first stop was in the village of Pisaq, famous for its crafts market. We spent about 2 hours shopping. We were disappointed because we had expected a much more variety and better quality of goods. We bought some trinkets, but nothing substantial. We were hoping to find nice alpaca sweaters, but no such luck. We had a very good lunch (obiad) in a restaurant run but a German woman, Ulrike.

The second stop was in a house and workshop of a well known Peruvian ceramic artist Pablo Seminario. Andrew knows him well so Pablo showed us around his studio, told us about his designs and showed us some of the pieces from his collection. It was very interesting.

Now, we are in the village of Ollantaytambo in our hotel (Hotel Pakaritampu), which is new and very nice, but does not have wifi either.

Puno-Cusco

I forgot to write yesterday about a strange contrast we noticed on the islands: the primitive mud or stone or reed houses, often without running water and any other conveniences had solar panels on the roofs.

Most of today was travel day. We left Puno at about 9 am and after about 100 km got off the main road to visit Inka and pre-Inka burial site called Sillustani with chimney-like stone structures high on hills between two lakes. Quite a beautiful place. On the way there and back, we passed several interesting-looking old farms. They consisted of two or three small stone houses connected by stone walls, all forming a square or rectangle with an arch for a gate. Most were llama farms with llamas in front of them.

About half way, we stopped at the La Raya pass located at the highest point we’ve been to --- 4,350 meters. La Raya is the point that divides two watersheds --- that of the Amazon and that of Lake Titicaca. There is nothing much there --- lots of colorful stalls with local handicrafts, but behind the stalls one can see the old train station, the chapel and some warehouses. The train line was there before the road and it used to be the highest railway in the world before the Chinese opened the Beijing-Tibet line. It was built by a Polish engineer Ernest Malinowski.

Once we crossed La Raya, the landscape started to change. Until then, we were traveling through Peruvian desert. The landscape was bleak, sand-colored without any green or trees, just sand, dirt or stones or dried yellow grass. The air was also very, very dry to the point that the inside of your nose was so dry that it was uncomfortable to breathe. Several people have been having problems with nose bleeds. The differences in temperature between day and night were also huge.

After La Raya, we started to go down and the landscape became more “comfortable” with patches of green fields and with groups of trees -- mostly eucalyptus trees. The air was not as dry anymore, either. Once we entered the sacred valley of the Incas along the Urubamba river, it became almost lush.

Small Peruvian towns we passed along the way were not very attractive. They are not nearly as colorful as Mexican towns. The dominant color is grayish brown, the color of mud, from which many of the houses are built. They mostly use mud bricks, probably similar to adobe bricks or stone to build their houses.

We got to Cusco in the evening. Our hotel (Royal Inca) is right in the middle of the old town. It is an old colonial mansion converted into a hotel. It’s quite nice and the location is fantastic. We checked in, left the bags in the room and immediately started walking around Cusco. It’s a gorgeous place!

Lake Titicaca and Puno

The night was very cold, probably close to freezing so getting out of our warm sleeping bags was hard. On top of that, there was no running water to even brush our teeth. We had breakfast in Ines’s kitchen again --- a roll, a local pancake (made of corn and some other things) with jam and coffee. We barely had enough time to gather our things and climb down the rocky path back to the boat. It took about 45 minutes to get to the island of Taquila. We climbed for about an hour to get to the town. The views were beautiful. In town, we visited the local artesania cooperative, had lunch of fresh local trout and took a different, much steeper route to a harbor on the other side of the island, got on the boat for the 3-hour ride back to Puno. Then, a visit to the local market, Puno cathedral and back to the hotel.. Everybody was exhausted after two days on the lake. Tomorrow we are leaving for Cuzco…