| A short walk to the Iglesia de San Francisco
(more interesting than cathedral): |
Monastery cloisters
...the guide expounds |
Tiled murals inside cloisters
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Ancient music in library
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Then to the Larco archeological museum
(famous for it's collection of pre-Inca pottery and erotica, and Inca gold and silver).
There's an initial shock at the explicit sexuality of the pottery display,
but it loses its impact when you see shelves loaded with hundreds of examples.
Knowledgeable local guide, but long-winded, and we had to rush our lunch
at Larco restaurant to get back to airport for our flight to Arequipa. |
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More travel hiccups - we boarded the plane, but were taken off again
and herded into a small holding area - a 'technical fault' meant
they had to find another plane for us.
When we finally got to Arequipa, our new local guide, Rosario, outlined the excursion plans.
The hotel seemed good, next to the Santa Catalina monastery.
Too tired to eat, we headed for bed, only to find our room overlooked a noisy nightclub.
We managed to get it changed and eventually got to sleep about 11pm - much too late for comfort.
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Chivay
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Day 4: Sunday 29 Sept
Sunny and warm, cold wind in mountains.
Early start required - 7am breakfast, then pack up cases for 8:30 departure on bus to Chivay.
Scenic route over Patapampa pass (4900m - highest point of holiday).
Lots of stops for photos. |
Stop for picnic lunch at Chucara volcanic crater just before the top.
Felt dizzy and headachy with altitude and definitely didn't want to eat,
but improved as soon as we came down a little. |
Coca tea at 'comfort stop'
with real leaves instead of teabag. |
First sighting of shy vicuña
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The road became very twisty and potholed - just as well for my stomach
that I had a front seat in bus.
Arrived mid-afternoon, at our hotel, Pozo del Cielo (Well of Heaven).
After a rest, it was back down into the town on the bus for a guided walk
around the market area.
Rosario gave us hands-on instruction in feeling the difference in quality
of llama, alpaca and vicuña wool.
We walked - very slowly - back up the hill to the hotel for more coca tea.
Dinner was different too, 'nouvelle-cuisine'-style, nice but not very filling
(my 'salad' starter = 4 slices of tomato+dressing).
Another early start tomorrow, so straight to bed.
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View over Chivay
Hotel Pozo del Cielo is in trees on far side.
What a contrast to the last place - small, quiet,
out of town over the 'Inka bridge'.
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Colca canyon
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Day 5: Monday 30 Sept
Still sunny, with high cloud. Windy later.
Up 5am, on the bus 6:30 for Colca Canyon, to see condors.
Long slow drive on bumpy unsurfaced road, stopping at viewpoints.
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Waiting for condors..
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Arrived at Cruz del Condor about 8:30, lots of people already waiting.
Several viewing platforms, difficult to decide where to see best action.
Condors eventually appeared about 9am, circling up from below, close overhead,
beautiful but hard to catch on camera. They stayed for about half an hour. |
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| Drove on to Cabanaconde - |
Condor statue looks almost real, and much easier to photo. |
Village ladies always hand-spinning. 
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The condor has landed..
We walked back along the canyon edge
but hard to get any idea of depth as sides slope back.
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| The striking miners again interfered with our plans,
blocking the river bridge on the main road to Cuzco, causing a massive traffic jam.
Our coach driver knew a back road where the bridge might still be open;
it was only a narrow mountain road, but he reckoned the coach could get through. |
| So we diverted, only to find the road closed because a truck had gone off the side
(not a good omen). After a long wait we were about to turn back when the barrier was removed,
and we proceeded in a convoy, through miles of roadworks on the unsurfaced winding road.
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our route |
All was going well until we reached an extremely sharp, steep hairpin bend.
Sitting in the front seat, I had a grandstand view of the edges
as our driver eventually managed the multi-point shuffle round it,
to the applause of everyone.
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Sacred valley - Ollantaytambo
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We continued up the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo; very touristy,
narrow cobbled streets unsuitable for buses. Lots of people at the temple(fortress?) ruins.
Across the valley, the carved face of Viracocha stood out on the mountainside.
I joined the stream of tourists on the steep flight of steps up to the sun-temple,
where the steps continued on even higher |
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| Alec stayed down below, where the scene was more refreshing.
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Not sure who this is meant to be,
but his friend appears to be playing
a type of harp. |
We retraced our route along the valley in the bus as far as Urubamba,
then turned off to our next hotel, very quiet and isolated, 2k up a rough track.
This was not quite what we expected - no nearby village or point of interest,
but the hotel was well laid-out, with large rooms in chalets. |
we had 3 double beds to choose from |
plus our own veranda |
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Sacred valley - train
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Day 10: Saturday 5 Oct
Cloud down on hilltops.
Another leisurely breakfast, then a wander around the hotel gardens
- nicely landscaped but nowhere else to go.
Todays main event is the train ride to Machu Picchu. |
I'm sure it's in there somewhere. |
Everyone whiled away the wait for our bus
by trying to get photos of elusive hummingbirds.
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Following our bus route along the valley yet again, we stopped at
a very small, pricy, roadside minimarket to get lunch supplies
(big con - reckon it must have belonged to a relation of the bus driver,
plenty of food on sale at Ollantaytambo train station when we got there). |
All aboard - providing you've got your passport. |
Only allowed on the 'Macchu Picchu express' with reserved seats -
we had to show passports to match tickets at every opportunity.
Prompt departure at 1pm for the dramatic ride down the Urubamba valley.
Panoramic windows
with Inca themed decoation. |
View of the engine from our carriage, rail line following closely the curves of the river. |
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A short walk from the station at Macchu Picchu Pueblo (aka. Aguas Calientes)
across the bridge to our hotel. |
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Walked around town, a nice place but crowded. Bought large baguettes for tomorrows lunch;
looked around market - got small leather purse for 12N/soles.
Hotel room good, lots of freebies, food good, but slow service.
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| Long queues were already waiting for 1pm start of return buses
down to valley - needed to be sure to be in time for the 4pm train.
Got back with time to spare, so walked into town for photos -
didn't anticipate geting thoroughly bitten on legs by tiny black flies.
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In the main square
'floripondio' (tree)
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Pachacutec
(supporting several pigeons) |
Another Inca warrior
with symbolic condor, puma and snake. |
Stopped at small cafe by river,
excellent coffee, plus street entertainment.
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We stayed on the train all the way back to Cuzco - 3½;hours, plus ½ hour on bus -
didn't get to hotel till 9pm, then dinner 10pm, bed 11pm - long, long day.
But still couldn't sleep 'cos noisy rumble all night from duct outside our window.
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These chaps need a lot of puff.
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Swirling skirts everywhere
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The gents had their dance routines too
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and the children
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Many wore strange masks of devils or jesters
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The 'long-noses'
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or the monkeys
 |
| We had another serendipitous encounter that day.
A member of the Peru Runners Association introduced himself,
having recognised my '10k' t-shirt. After chat comparing our experiences of
running, he offered us coffee, then with unexpected generosity,
called a friend to bring us goody-bags from their latest event, the Lima ½ marathon.
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We noted many places in Cuzco where newer buildings were perched
on top of the original Inca stonework. |
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Half way through our picnic lunch in the square,
the sky suddenly darkened with a roll of thunder!
Just in time, we dashed back to the hotel, and avoided the deluge. |
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Madre de Dios
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Day 14: Wednesday 9 Oct
And now for something completely different:
our introduction to the rainforest, where it was sunny and very hot (30°C+) |
9:30am bus to Cuzco airport for flight
over the Andes to the Madre de Dios, tributary of the Amazon.
We'll be down there somewhere |
We arrived in Puerto Maldonado lunchtime,
then were driven to the port
in this ancient open-sided ex-US-army lorry.
Transferred to riverboat for
half-hour ride downstream
to our lodge, the Hacienda Conception. |
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So hot and steamy - they provided welcome drinks and cooling face-cloths.
We had individual palm-thatched cabañas, with mosquito-netted beds and
hammocks in the lounge area. Very nice (except we were no.13!). |
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Not very elegant, but quite comfy. |
| After a good buffet lunch, a guided walk through the forest -
on unexpectedly dry tracks. Many strange trees, with adaptations
for their environment. Needed a cool shower on our return.
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Then out again, for a twilight boat trip down the river, spotting wildlife
along the shore - mostly glimpses of white caimen
(about 6-foot long - didn't really want a close encounter). |
Muliple stilted trunks |
Massive buttresses. |
Back to the lodge for dinner, preceeded by 'happy-hour' free
pisco-sour (the popular way to drink the local firewater). |
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Day 17/18: Saturday 12-Sunday 13 Oct |
Coffee overlooking the Pacific |
Dry but gloomy.
'Free' day but it feels like it's all over - there's not much to do in
Miraflores unless you like shopping.
Tried to walk along the coast, but little escape from the traffic.
We found a nice terraced cafe for coffee, then I insisted on going down to the
litter-strewn shore to dip my toes in the Pacific.
Back to Miraflores centre for lunch - excellent cheap 'plato-del-dia'
in a tiny popular cafe, recommended by tour-leader Hugh.
Late afternon bus through rush-hour back to Lima airport for 7:45pm flight
to Madrid. Spent all our spare N/soles on duty-free booze.
Good flight except the food was dreadful.
After 11 hours it was already 2:30pm in Spain. | |
WARNING to inexperienced long-haul travellers:
If you need to go through transit in the EU, do not buy duty-free booze outside the EU.
At Madrid check-in for our Heathrow flight, we were refused permission to take our
bottles as hand-luggage.
After a hectic dash across Madrid airport, including a train journey to the other
terminal, we retrieved a suitcase to repack them in our hold luggage,
transferring all my shoes to Alec's rucksack to make space and reduce the weight.
We arrived back with 5 minutes to spare before boarding our flight!
And our case arrived at Heathrow with bottles intact!!
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Views dominated by Misti volcano.
Magnificent
Steps up towards Intihuatana.
