Create your Trip Journal [click here]I fly from Richmond, Virginia to Lima via Newark. The flight from Newark to Lima is long but it arrives on time at 10:30 pm local time. Fortunately, my hotel which is just across the street from the terminal. I meet my roommate Andrew when he arrives shortly after I do. We are both pretty exhausted and go right to sleep.
Andrew and I are on an early flight on LAN to Cusco. We are picked up at the airport in Cusco and whisked to our hotel. We soon meet our guide Vidal who takes us to the Plaza Del Armas where we meet up with some of our fellow travelers who had arrived a day earlier. We take a tour of the basilica and then grab some lunch. Then its on to Sacsayhuaman which is on a high cliff above the city. The view is spectacular as are the ruins. The way the Incans could fit such large, odd-shaped stones together using hand tools is stunning. Much of the old part of Cusco is built using the remains of the Incan structures as foundations for the more modern buildings – a testament to Incans' building skills.
We are driven out of Cusco toward the Sacred Valley for a morning of whitewater rafting on the Urubamba River. The river was not running as fast as I had expected it would be, but we still some pretty good rapids towards the end.
We had a nice lunch at small place along the river and then drove to Ollantaytambo. The ruins at Ollantaytambo are impressive – its difficult to comprehend how the Incans could have built such large structures so high up a steep mountain. The town of Ollantaytambo lies at the foot of the ruins and has a tourist market and is a treat to explore. For dinner we ate an excellent little restaurant in the town.
We meet up with our mountain biking crew in the Ollantaytambo's main square and then begin the drive up to Malaga Pass. The views of Victoria and Wakaywillca Peak along the way were incredible. We stopped and got on our bikes just past the top of the pass (almost 14,000 feet). It was a fabulous ride. The weather was perfect and the scenery beautiful – more than once I almost crashed because I was looking at the view rather than where I was going! They are still building the road, so it had no traffic and was perfect for biking. The first part is finished with a nice, new pavement. The second half is still under construction, so we had to deal with a bumpy, muddy, road, mud and dodge construction crews. A word of warning to those who might take this trip: wear clothes that you don't mind getting dirty. By the end of the ride we all had backsides covered in mud!
After a night camping out, we were treated to breakfast al fresca complete with a birthday cake in honor of one our fellow travelers. Then it was off to the jumping off point for a hike on one of the old Incan Trails. The view along the trail was once again spectacular. As before, I'm impressed by the Incans – they were able to carve trails on the sides of steep mountains. You can see the remnants of these trails throughout the Sacred Valley running along the tops and sides of the ridges. We stopped at a small village for a refreshing lunch (including much needed cold drinks!). After finishing a pretty tiring hike, we boarded the van for the ride into Santa Teresa. We stayed at the EcoQuechua hotel where some us of had a very delightful and refreshing bath in the river.
Change of plans. Vidal asks the group if, instead of the planned hike, we would like to go straight to Aguas Calientes and have an extra afternoon to explore Machu Picchu. Being flexible and adventurous Adventure Lifers, we all gladly jump at the idea. The new plan was to drive to near the hydroelectric plant on the west side of Machu Picchu and catch the train from there in to Aquas Calientes. For reasons that were never made entirely clear, we discovered when we got to the train station that only Peruvian citizens were allowed on that particular train. The only option at that point was for us to hike along tracks into town. Since he has a Peruvian passport, Vidal could ride the train, so his solution to our dilemma was for him ride the train and take our luggage while we hiked.
After waving good-by to Vidal and our bags as the train pulled away, we began the two hour walk to Aguas Calientes. It turned out to be a nice hike and a great time. The weather was cool and most of the way was shaded. The route approached Machu Picchu from the west and north, so we got a great view of it from below that probably few travelers get to see. We had group bonding moment when we sang Stand By Me as we walked across a railroad truss bridge just like the one in the movie. We even had a temporary guide in the form of one of the local dogs who attached himself to our little group and lead us all the way to Aguas Calientes. We met up with Vidal just outside of town – he already had our bags moved to the hotel and checked us in.
In the afternoon, most of the group headed up to Machu Picchu. I wanted to do something different and Vidal suggested I climb Putucusi, which is mountain directly across the river from Machu Picchu. It turned out to be a pretty steep climb. Near the beginning, there is a section that has ladders where the climb is almost straight up. It turns out that some of the ladders had washed away and some of the others were rotten (which probably explains why I had the trail to myself). That made the climb even tougher, but it was well worth it when I got to the top. All of Machu Picchu, from the Gate of the Sun to Huayna Picchu was laid out directly in front of me on the other side of the river. It was a perfect place to see Machu Picchu.
We head up to Machu Picchu early in the morning to beat the crowds. Machu Picchu is one of those special and mysterious places that is difficult to describe – I certainly can't do it justice and won’t even try. All I can say is that my favorite spot was the Gate of the Sun. I think the view from that spot is one of the most unique in all of the world.
In the afternoon we all re-group at the train station for the train/van ride back to Cuzco. We arrive in Cuzco late in the evening. Roomate Andrew is headed for the Galapagos in the morning, so he and I treated ourselves to a farewell dinner of very tasty alpaca at the El Monastario.
I'd been kind of dreading the next leg of the trip – an all day bus ride from Cuzco to Puno. But it turned out to be a wonderful day. The bus was nice and it made several stops to see visit some ruins, churches, and (of course) markets. Lunch was excellent. The scenery was very beautiful as we moved up onto the altiplano. The company was excellent and the trip passed much more quickly and pleasantly than I had thought it would.
In the late afternoon we get to Puno and get our first glimpse of Lake Titicaca. A chance to visit the lake is one of the main reason I chose this trip. Lake Titicaca is one of those mystical, exotic sounding places -like Machu Picchu, Timbuktu, or Kilimanjaro- that I remember reading about as a kid. Sometimes just the sound of the name is enough to make me want to visit a place. For me, Titicaca has been one of those must see places and I was not disappointed.
A very busy day: we start off with a bike taxi ride down to the docks to our boat, then we visit the floating Uros Islands, followed by some kayaking on the lake. The lake is beautiful, of course, and the water is incredibly clear once you get away from Puno.
After kayaking, we were back on the boat and headed to Ticonata, which was one of my favorite places on the trip. The view of the sunset from the top of the hill on the island was magnificent, I spent a couple of hilarious hours playing cards with our guide Alfredo and the crew from the boat. After dinner our hosts performed some of their traditional dances for us and then we slept in very cozy huts.
In the morning, I took a hike around the island before breakfast. We visited the island's small museum to see the pre-Incan mummies that had recently been found on the island and then boarded small sail boats to sail to Amantani Island where the group splits up for our homestays.
I stayed with Ignacio, his wife Olga and their four children. It was wonderful to see how the family and enjoy their hospitality – squeezing into their small kitchen for meals and conversing with them using my very poor spanish. It turned out that Ignacio & I had several interests in common and he asked me almost as many questions as I asked him. In the evening, we are provided with local traditional clothing for another evening of dancing.
After breakfast with our host family, we met up the rest of the group and re-board the boat for the trip back to Puno. The ride back to Puno is my last chance to enjoy the beauty of Titicaca. I am especially enchanted by the view to the southeast where you can see on the snow-capped mountains surrounding La Paz. Those mountains are probably 150 miles away but they hang just above horizon, seriously tempting me to extend my trip and head to Bolivia!
In Puno, some of us spend the afternoon walking around the local market where it looks like you can buy just about anything you can possibly imagine. The food is hot, fresh, and delicious. On our last night, I get to sample the Puno night life with a couple of my favorite traveling buddies – Ashley and Kassi. We have a nice dinner before hitting a disco and a karaoke bar. Since its the last night of the trip, I throw caution to wind and actually sing in the karaoke bar (my sincerest apologies to Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel!).
After a morning strolling around Puno watching all the people in the street, its time to begin the long trip home. It takes almost 30 hours from the time I leave Puno until I get back to my house – which gave me lots of time to think about where I am going on my next trip – perhaps it will be to La Paz and its beautiful mountains!
