Tuesday, November 4 - Machu Picchu (Liz)

This was yet another early morning for us, as we needed to be at the train station at 6:10 AM. We bough some cheese sandwiches outside of the station for breakfast. Our train car on the way there was filled with a group of French tourists. I know this sounds funny, but I don't like being in places with lots of tourists which doesn't quite work since I myself am a tourist and contribute to the number. The train included beverage and snack service, which was a nice surprise due to our small breakfast.

The train ride was again full of beautiful scenery. The tracks follow the Río Urubamba which is a fast-flowing river with beautifully weathered rocks. We were sitting right behind the conductor's area and the French tourists kept coming up and shoving their cameras in a little window to take pictures of him. They had Peruvian-style panflute music playing the whole time, but it was all American / British pop music that they were playing such as Can You Feel the Love Tonight, Hey Jude, and Simon & Garfunkel songs. It made us laugh.

The train ends in Aguas Calientes, the staging town for Machu Picchu. When we got off the train, we headed down the 20 minutes to the entry point for hiking up to Machu Picchu, while the other 98% paid way too much money to take a Mercedes Benz bus up to the top. Well, when we got down to the bottom, come to find out, we needed to go back to town to actually get physical tickets rather than just our internet print-outs. (Of course, our print-outs didn't mention anything about this.) So it was 20 minutes back up to Aguas Calientes, and 20 minutes back down. We were REALLY warmed up by the time we started the hike up to Machu Picchu.

The hike is very steep but short - it's 1.8 kilometers and it's an estimated climb of one hour. I counted the stairs to keep myself going, as I was still a little sick. Mark was very patient with me, and we made it to the top, huffing and sweaty, in about an hour and ten minutes. It was very rewarding to have made the climb.

The photos with this sign actually happened before we started our upward ascent.

Mid-hike. This is a good representation of the slope of our hike.

We entered the grounds and Mark was in awe. We followed the typical paths through the ruins and took lots of photos. We didn't hire a guide but rather went in with what minimal information our guidebook had, and whatever tidbits we overheard from the English and Spanish speaking guides. There isn't really much else to say - we took plenty of photos and did lots of walking. Afterwards, we ate our leftover pizza from the night before to get our strength up for the hike back down.

It rained a bit as we were going down, which was actually very refreshing. I sweated more than I thought I would for going down, but we made it in 39 minutes and then walked up to Aguas Calientes to eat something more substantial.

We found a restaurant that wasn't impressive by any means but cheaper than the other tourist traps, and had a decent lunch. We then found an ATM and finally got my bank card to work (yay!), then went to the station to await our train.

Dog at the restaurant where we ate lunch

The train ride back to Ollantaytambo was pretty uneventful - this time there was a large group of Chinese tourists in our car - and then we loaded into a colectivo to head back to Cuzco. There were a few German girls in our van so Mark was happy to have a chance to practice a little of his German. My bowels were about to explode by the time we got to Cuzco, and luckily I recognized the plaza where we stopped so I was able to run into a nearby restaurant. We ended up eating mediocre pollo a la brassa there, then headed to our hotel for some much needed R&R after a long day.

Observations:

• Some tourists (especially older ones) take completely unnecessary photos. For example, the arrivals board at the train station when you yourself are leaving rather than arriving. Also, the Americanized cafe in the train waiting area or the train conductor in his own special room with whom you've had absolutely no contact.

Monday, November 3 - Cusco and Ollantaytambo (Mark)

Even though we had no early morning obligations today, we still woke up around 6:30 without alarms. Guess we're used to early rises. Our hotel was comfortable to sleep in but unfortunately their breakfast left a lot to be desired. The bread was really stale. We had a few goals in what to see in Cuzco today, and we started by going to the central market. It wasn't too different from markets that we saw in Lima and Arequipa, but it was in the morning and didn't smell like offal yet. We didn't spend too much time here.

Next, we went to the cathedral. We got there just after it opened (we relaxed in the Plaza de Armas as we waited for the line to dissipate). Unfortunately, we couldn't take pictures inside the Cathedral, which is too bad because it is magnificent. Audio tours were available at no additional cost. Some highlights were the black Christ (stained black from all the candles burning near it), a patron saint for singles looking for a spouse, and of course, the Last Supper where they are eating guinea pig. There was one in Arequipa, but this one is larger and easier to see.

We went for lunch and found a place with reasonably priced meals. I got lomo saltado and Liz got tallerines verdes with chicken. We were nearby the best place to get souvenirs, so we went in to acquire them. The souvenir market was pretty extensive. Most places had the usual fare - brightly colored textiles, a variety of things to wear. There were a few places that had Inca-style fetishes of men with enormous dongs. We decided not to buy one of those. We did, however, get a nativity, a sweater for Claire, a tie for dad, and alpaca slippers for mom, Becca and our students.

We had problems getting cash from the ATM. Apparently, US Bank did not set up our debit card properly to withdraw cash in Peru even after Liz made all the necessary phone calls in advance. We spent a frustrating amount of time trying to get our card working, but it never did work. We decided we would give it another try later. We walked to the area to hop onto a colectivo to Ollantaytambo. We sat in the back, next to a friendly lady who looked to be about my mom's age. We chatted with her during the trip. Turns out she is married to a Swiss man and lived in Bern for a very long time. She asked us a lot of questions about the church and we were happy to answer - maybe she will receive the missionaries someday.

As for the trip, it was stunning. I've never seen landscapes quite like this. Urubamba, a town about halfway through our trip, looks like a Peruvian Garmisch. We arrived in Ollantaytambo before dusk, and we found our hotel with a little help from the locals. It was right next to a river with a small balcony with a view of mountains, the river, fields, and even some ruins. We wandered out to the main plaza and got some pizza for dinner (saving the leftovers for the next day). While latino pizza isn't my favorite, this was relatively good. We had more frustration with US Bank before calling it a day.

Plaza in Ollantaytambo

Ruins close to our hotel

What the streets looked like in Ollantaytambo. Note the water system on the left side of the road.

Creek by our hotel room

Ruins, from our hotel room

Didn't check to see if they had any Squishies

Observations:

• In American restaurants they get your drinks right away. Not so with Peruvian restaurants. They usually come with or during your main course, and they frequently don't ask if you want drinks at all.
• Speaking of drinks, a whole row of the market is dedicated to juice bars. To get your attention, the ladies working there wave their menus at you. Since there weren't many customers at that time, we got a lot of juice menus waved at us.

Sunday, November 2: Cusco (Mark/Liz)

The next leg of our journey was to Cusco, so we took a Taxi to the airport and boarded our flight in the morning. The flight wasn't long, even with a stop in Juliaca. As we were walking out of the Cusco airport there were tons of taxi drivers trying to convince us to go with them in their overpriced "secure" taxis since they were parked inside the airport. We just walked outside the airport an extra minute or two and caught a different taxi for about a third of the price. One of the benefits of Liz being familiar with the area! The airport was actually in the boundaries of one of Liz's areas on her mission so we headed straight to the church building. Near the end of Liz's time in Cusco, the ward she attended was split so we attended sacrament meeting with one of the wards she served in, Barrio Los Alamos. We grabbed a mediocre breakfast at the nearest convenience store before going in.

(Liz wrote this paragraph.)
We got to see lots of people I knew while at church. Estela was there with her hubby Henry and their ADORABLE son Santiago. Estela was always willing to help us hermanas out and she is an excellent cook to boot! We sat with Hermana Francisca, who used to give pension to the missionaries and has always been a huge support to the hermanas, and with my former companion from my first transfer in Andahuaylas, Hermana Emma Farías. She is from Tumbes but moved to Cusco post-mission. Feelings are friendlier when you don't have to live with each other 24/7. :) We saw many others that I recognized but didn't have time to chat with everyone, especially since we only stayed for sacrament meeting.

With Estela and family

Hermana Farías

There was another American family there, picking up their daughter from her mission. They didn't seem quite as comfortable in a Latino environment as we are.

We walked to the bus terminal next to inquire about bus tickets to Andahuaylas. Once that was achieved, we took a taxi to our hotel very close to the Plaza de Armas (Liz was proud of her skills at negotiating down the price). The taxi ride made it clear that Cusco was going to be a very different experience from Arequipa - Arequipa is an old colonial city, but Cusco is ancient Inca city. It really is remarkable and beautiful.

The hotel was comfortable, and there were other tourists there, including some Arabic and German speakers. Once we were situated and our bags were in place, we were STARVING and spent far too long searching for a reasonably-priced lunch. Since Cusco is the tourist hub of Peru, things tend to be overpriced in the parts of the city close to tourist destinations. We also discovered that many restaurants were closed on Sunday which made us happy but was frustrating from a tourist's perspective. We finally found a reasonable priced lunch spot. I ate milanesa (which was very different from Argentine milanesa) and Liz had arroz a lo pobre, rice with fried plantains and eggs on top. It was decent food and satisfied our hunger.

After lunch we went out to enjoy the sights of the city, following the walking tour in our guide book. Our first destination was Qorikancha, the Inca temple of the sun. It's beautiful inside and out, and also sits on a vantage point that offers a great view of the city.

We scoped out the place where we would catch a van ride to Ollantaytambo the following day while we were there. We proceeded through our walking tour of Cuzco's narrow streets and stairways. One cool thing about the city is its walls, which are older, stone walls on the bottom, with relatively new adobe walls built on top of those. Many of the walls also have cacti growing on the top. The Incas did not use masonry on their walls, so it's really impressive how they cut the stones to perfectly fit together and stand for hundreds of years. One wall famously has a 12-sided stone in it. We took a picture with a man in an Inca outfit, with whom Liz was photographed years earlier on her mission. Our walk concluded at the Plaza de Armas, which also has several beautiful buildings, including the cathedral.

Piles of garbage like this are a common sight

The famous 12-angled stone

Liz before...

Liz after!

(At this point we recovered our journal, so it resumes as normal, with Liz narrating)

We took a break in our hotel for a few hours and then finished our day by visiting the Familia Flores Vaccaro - they had given me pensión as a missionary in Cusco. They now live on the other side of town so we took a taxi to get there and it started pouring down rain with lots of lightning to go along with it. The taxista didn't know exactly where their house was and neither did we, so the taxista let us out and we had some fun searching in the dark and for the house. We did eventually find it.

We enjoyed a pleasant evening with Hna Lurdes, Daniela, Gaby and Emy - unfortunately, Edwin was out of town. They fed us chicken and fries and we reminisced about my time as a missionary in their house. I love that family!

Observations:

• Pollo a la brasa is a common type of Peruvian restaurant featuring rotisserie chicken and french fries. Mark and I looked for a pollería but only found one on our entire walking tour. But once we were in the taxi outside of the tourist district, we saw as many pollerías as you see Starbucks in Seattle. Apparently tourists don't go for pollo a la brasa.
• All of the stores and restaurants that need extra help have signs out that say "Se necesita una chica." Why does it have to be a girl? Couldn't a boy be capable of selling goods or chopping potatoes? Sexist.

Saturday, November 1: Colca Canyon and Arequipa

The good news is that Liz was feeling better in the morning! She wasn't nearly 100%, but it was better than she had been the day before, and was at least capable of enjoying the day. She did go through several more packages of Halls, but at least she didn't feel like death at this point. (She said that the yesterday was the 2nd most miserable day of her life, next to the day she was in labor with Claire.) We had our breakfast and prepared our bags for the return journey. As we expected, we would need to ascend the mules, since Liz wasn't feeling up to climbing on foot. This was really disappointing for Liz since she had been doing a lot of training to be able to manage the hike at the high elevation while pregnant. I decided to go by mule as well. I'm sure I could have managed on foot, but decided it would be better for our marriage to go up with Liz. Hans walked, but he kept up a pretty impressive pace, only finishing about 20 minutes after we did.

Riding the mules was certainly easier on our weary legs than walking and provided an unplanned adventure to our tip, but it was nerve-wracking at times. They were pretty fearless about heights, and got what seemed to us to be dangerously close to the edges at times. However, each time it seemed like we were about to fall into the canyon, they turned up the next switchback and continued unabated. Some of the mules were competitive: my mule passed up another as soon as it found a chance. The order changed several times. For a good stretch of the ascent, the mule in front of me kept farting, and I got to be just downwind of it. How lovely.

At the top, we posed for some pictures overlooking the canyon. We forgot to get a photo with our mules, unfortunately. There were a lot of other tourists there, most of whom weren't staying at Sangalle with us. Almost all of them were from North America or Europe, and all of them had hiked up the canyon. We felt pretty lame coming up on the mules. Hans reunited with us here, and led us to a place in Cabanaconde where we had a second breakfast and got WiFi access. After a leisurely break, we met up with our van, which took us down the same road to return us to Arequipa. We were in the van with a different set of tourists this time, these ones from Canada. Liz kept on passing gas in the van without realizing that they were actually smelling pretty bad, since she was stuffed up at the time. We had a good laugh about that later.

We had a few stops along the way. One of them was the thermal pools of La Calera, which we got access to. Liz and I decided to enjoy the waters there, and we're glad we did. It was a short, relaxing stay in the pools there. Hans took advantage of the time to take a nice, long shower. The water was warm, but not hot. That was okay, since the weather was pretty warm anyway. We tried to stay under the canopies. There were a lot of people there, and we ended up having to go to the shallower pool because that was the only one we could find a place to sit. As far as I could tell, we were the only foreign tourists there - most of the other clients were locals. Maybe the nicer hot springs a bit further up had more tourists, but we didn't want to walk that far (and we're pretty comfortable around the locals anyway).

Onward to Chivay, we stopped at the same hostel we went to yesterday and had our lunch there. This was a buffet, with a variety of Peruvian standards available to us (and some desserts, and chicha morada - I probably should have tried this, but I didn't. Now I'll never know if I like it). We returned to the van and had a few stops on our way to Arequipa. I don't remember the name of one place (I'm sure it's written in our original journal that was lost) but it had a lot of shops, a church, and we tried some interesting foods. One was the juice of a local fruit that was very tangy, but unfortunately I don't remember what it was called. At another stop, Liz and I tried a tuna fruit. I later learned that this is the fruit of a prickly pear cactus. It has a mild, pleasant flavor.

Going further, the weather got a bit worse, and it actually began to snow. There was no real danger of the snow accumulating, but it was cold and windy, and the snow was flurrying. We passed by a large group of alpacas, who didn't seem to mind the snow. We took a few photos and moved on.

The weather had calmed down by the time we returned to Arequipa. We bade farewell to Hans and gave him a nice tip. It was good to meet him, and we're glad that we got to speak to him mostly in Spanish. He's a nice guy. We wish we could have been more "fun" for him but Liz really was just feeling awful most of the time. We went back to our hotel and retrieved our bags, and checked in to our room. We spent a good chunk of the remainder of our evening hanging out in our hotel, though we ventured out to have dinner at a crepe restaurant. We had sandwiches and a dessert crepe, and splurged and got lemonade to drink. Even for being one of the more expensive meals of our trip, it was still pretty cheap when factoring in the exchange rate.

We didn't stay much later than that, since we had a flight in the morning. We dropped by the Plaza de Armas one more time on our way back to the hotel so that Liz could enjoy it in better health than before, and then proceeded back to our hotel for the night.