Peru 2010 - Cuzco and the Sacred Valley
Flying over Lima, I knew immediately that I would not like it. We stayed a total of 28 hours in Lima, spread over three weeks and each time we were there it was gray, industrial a,nd depressing. My mantra to Haviland was, “PLEASE don’t make me live in Lima!”
First stop – Cuzco
Luckily, we left before 6:00 a.m. the next day to fly to Cuzco. We really liked Cuzco. Right when we arrived, the woman who picked us up from the airport bought Sam a big chocolate cake for his 7th birthday. Mmmmm chocolate cake for breakfast! It was a nice welcome and a good beginning to our time in Peru.
Going to Cuzco at 10,000 ft was fine for Sam and me, but unfortunately the high altitude really affected Haviland. She spent the first 24 hours stuck in bed feeling lousy. While Haviland was suffering in the hotel room, Sam and I got out and explored the city. His favorite activity was feeding the pigeons in the Plaza de Armas. I enjoyed people and llama watching. Fortunately, by the end of the next day, Haviland started feeling well enough to walk around town and eat some food.
Sacred Valley - Pisac
We left Cuzco to go to Pisac- a town nestled in the base of a valley, next to a river and surrounded by beautiful, steep mountains. The best part of Pisac is that it is lower in elevation than Cuzco so Haviland lost the headache and stopped throwing up – whew! The town is also famous for its Sunday market. We all had a grand time finding presents for people and ourselves. Sam was focused on the beautiful rocks, crystals and fossils that were found in the mountains of Peru. He ended up using all of his travel money on some polished stones and a lovely crystal.He even bought an egg-shaped piece of Serpentina from Machu Picchu which is said to help rid you of headaches--good kid, thinking of mom.
Machu Picchu
Several buses, a taxi, and a train ride brought us to Aguas Calientes – the mandatory stopping point to visit Machu Picchu. Since it is the dry season we, of course, woke up to rain. At 5:30 in the morning we boarded a bus and rode the 20 minutes to Machu Picchu. Since we couldn’t see the world famous, amazing archeological site through the fog, we decided to hike a nearby peak called, Wayna Picchu. The hike was steep and exposed. It was perfect for Sam because there were steps, cables to hang on to, ladders to climb and caves to crawl through. Even though it was strenuous, he felt very proud that he was able to hike this peak. We hiked through the clouds and reached the summit and a view of ...nothing. At the top, we waited for the clouds to lift so we could look down on the famous Peruvian landmark. Over the next hour we watched as Machu Picchu slowly revealed itself. It really was very dramatic. The views became better and better as we crawled down the mountain. By the time we were ready to meet our guide, the day was sunny and beautiful. We had a full day exploring and learning about the site – by 4:00 we were all exhausted and ready to go back to the hotel. Ravenous, Haviland decided to eat alpaca for dinner – she loved it! We didn’t try the local favorite of guinea pig, but the alpaca got rave reviews with Sam chanting, "Carne! Carne!"
Urubamba and Return to Cuzco
After being on the move for five days, we had two “rest” days in Urubamba. After our big hiking day in Machu Picchu, we were ready for some down time. Unfortunately the road to our hotel was closed due to construction, so the taxi left us with all our bags about 2 -3 km away. So, without really knowing where we were or where we were going, we shouldered our bags and started walking through a beautiful farming area surrounded by lovely mountains. Some very nice locals helped us find our way and soon we were at “Las Chullpas” – one of our favorite places during our trip. Most houses in Peru were built from an adobe block, but Las Chullpas took adobe to a new level. Each room was beautifully constructed with fireplaces, lofts, different colored bottles, windows and sky lights placed into the adobe for natural lighting. We had two very peaceful days enjoying the quiet, farming area – all we needed to do was read, hike and run on the trails behind the hotel, play cards and find good food in town. Ahhhh… vacation!
A squished public bus brought us out of the peaceful valley and back to Cuzco. Sam had to endure countless local people through-out our trip testing his Spanish skills, as they couldn’t believe a small blond haired, American could understand Spanish. When they got over the initial shock, and they realized the parents were Spanish language morons, they had a great time talking to him. Haviland and Sam made friends with a nice craft woman who was going to Cuzco to sell her hand carved gourds. We spent the bus ride looking at what she had to sell and the stories behind them.
We enjoyed two more days in Cuzco wandering about aimlessly. We ate more good food, bought alpaca socks to get ready for the Cordillera Blanca and caught glimpses of the World Cup everywhere. After the two days, we packed away our down coats, hats and gloves and got ready for the Amazon Rainforest near the town of Puerto Maldonado.
Pictures are at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/GrobGuat/CuzcoAndSacredValley#
