Tuesday
Sitting in la Plaza de Aguas Calientes, I watch two little chicos Peruanos blowing bubbles. One sneaks over to dump his bottle of bubbles in the fountain of the Inka. This is officially day two of Peru.
6.16.2008
Monday
Monday
As we stepped off the plane in Lima, we were ushered to customs where we got one more stamp in our passports. It was 12:15 am we couldn’t check in to our flight to Cusco until 3:30 am. We walk up the stairs, first through the throng of people and drivers waiting for their individual passengers. Upstairs we find a small food court, complete with Starbucks, Dunkin Doughnuts, and Papa John’s Pizza. Who would’ve guessed! The cleaners had come to wash the floor so we were shoved into a corridor where other exhausted travelers had taken up camp on the linoleum floor. As we settled down on to the ground, I leaned back onto by bags and fell into a very light sleep, unable to hold my eyes open any longer. It seemed Jill was too anxious to sleep. A while later, we gathered our bags and wandered down to wait in yet another check in line. In typical Latin American fashion, they began checking in ½ an hour late.
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As we boarded the plane, Jill and I both succumbed to our pesky exhaustion and fell asleep.
Finally, after 25 hours, we had landed in Cusco and were met with a chilly, rainy, grey day. We picked up our bags and headed out. I spotted the name Jill Cox right away and found our pick up man. We were strongly advised to pre-arrange transportation as the transportation system in Peru is highly unregulated. He hailed us a taxi, and so began our death defying trip to Samay Wasi. Apparently, in Peru, honking is not only permitted, but frequently used and encouraged. Every five seconds. And the right of way by no means belongs to pedestrians, but rather to the overwhelming number of taxis waving in and out of traffic. So get out of the way! But all in all, after all the sharp turns, close calls, and near would-be hit and runs, we only actually saw one fender bender. Upon our arrival at Samay Wasi, our first hostel, our “Jose” paid three soles for the 20 minute trip. (As of November 14th, 2008, three soles is equivalent to about 97 cents, US.)
We climbed the steep stairs to the entrance of the hostel and checked in. The man at the desk got our information and asked us (I thought…) if we wanted any Coca (as in Coca Cola). I politely declined, but then he asked how we were doing with the altitude. Ah hah! He must mean Coca de mate – known for helping with altitude sickness! “The Divine and Magic Plant of the Incas,” Coca de mate is an herbal tea made from the Coca plant. Yes, you’ve got it right people, the same plant from which cocaine is made. However, the amount of cocaine in each leaf is extremely small, approximately 0.2%. The leaf is illegal in the United States, and is considered to be “drug paraphernalia”, but is a prominent part of Peruvian culture. More information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea. More on that later. The Coca de mate offering man told us to drop our stuff off in our room and come back for some tea.
Finally, after 25 hours, we had landed in Cusco and were met with a chilly, rainy, grey day. We picked up our bags and headed out. I spotted the name Jill Cox right away and found our pick up man. We were strongly advised to pre-arrange transportation as the transportation system in Peru is highly unregulated. He hailed us a taxi, and so began our death defying trip to Samay Wasi. Apparently, in Peru, honking is not only permitted, but frequently used and encouraged. Every five seconds. And the right of way by no means belongs to pedestrians, but rather to the overwhelming number of taxis waving in and out of traffic. So get out of the way! But all in all, after all the sharp turns, close calls, and near would-be hit and runs, we only actually saw one fender bender. Upon our arrival at Samay Wasi, our first hostel, our “Jose” paid three soles for the 20 minute trip. (As of November 14th, 2008, three soles is equivalent to about 97 cents, US.)
We climbed the steep stairs to the entrance of the hostel and checked in. The man at the desk got our information and asked us (I thought…) if we wanted any Coca (as in Coca Cola). I politely declined, but then he asked how we were doing with the altitude. Ah hah! He must mean Coca de mate – known for helping with altitude sickness! “The Divine and Magic Plant of the Incas,” Coca de mate is an herbal tea made from the Coca plant. Yes, you’ve got it right people, the same plant from which cocaine is made. However, the amount of cocaine in each leaf is extremely small, approximately 0.2%. The leaf is illegal in the United States, and is considered to be “drug paraphernalia”, but is a prominent part of Peruvian culture. More information found at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coca_tea. More on that later. The Coca de mate offering man told us to drop our stuff off in our room and come back for some tea.
We put our bags in our room and went upstairs to the dining area. Here met Mike and Ryan, a father and son traveling Peru. We discussed where we were from and our Peru plans. Mike and Ryan were from Cashmere, Washington – a small town on Hwy 2 between Leavenworth and Wenatchee, Washington! Mike had never gotten his bag in Cusco because it had n
ever left Seattle, exactly one of our fears! Jill and I even went as far as putting some stuff in each other’s packs just in case one pack didn’t make it to Peru. Anyway, we told them our plans of going to the bus station, and the train station, and they offered to walk us part way. We gathered and left the hostel. Cusco was cold and cloudy, but we felt fine with the altitude. We walked a ways to the train station, got our tickets, then walked to the bus station, picked up those tickets. By then we had walked quite a ways, we were running on roughly 2 ½ hours of sleep, and about ½ a piece of bread since 7 pm the night before.
The city was a whirlwind of people, all preparing for the upcoming Inti Rami (festival of the sun) on June 24th. Young and old practiced dances in brightly colored outfits. Stray and homeless dogs ran everywhere. Taxis honked and zoomed by.
ever left Seattle, exactly one of our fears! Jill and I even went as far as putting some stuff in each other’s packs just in case one pack didn’t make it to Peru. Anyway, we told them our plans of going to the bus station, and the train station, and they offered to walk us part way. We gathered and left the hostel. Cusco was cold and cloudy, but we felt fine with the altitude. We walked a ways to the train station, got our tickets, then walked to the bus station, picked up those tickets. By then we had walked quite a ways, we were running on roughly 2 ½ hours of sleep, and about ½ a piece of bread since 7 pm the night before.The city was a whirlwind of people, all preparing for the upcoming Inti Rami (festival of the sun) on June 24th. Young and old practiced dances in brightly colored outfits. Stray and homeless dogs ran everywhere. Taxis honked and zoomed by.
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We made the trek back, not without stopping multiple times. By this time, I could barely breathe, felt light headed, and sick to my stomach. Jill was not in good condition either. And on top of it all, we still had plans to make it out to Casa De Milagros, the orphanage we had brought supplies for. As I began to ask the owner of the hostel how to get to Casa de Milagros, I began to get the chills and my eyes went in and out of focus. I was unable to comprehen
d anything, neither Spanish nor English. Jill and I had looked up on the map where Casa was located, it happened to be on the way back from Ollantaytambo. We were already planning on coming back from Machu Picchu through Ollantaytambo on Thursday. We decided to pass on Casa today and take a nap instead. We would drop off the supplies Thursday.
We laid down to rest and fell asleep. Three hours flew by. Jill woke me up at 4 o’clock and said we needed to get something to eat (good thinking jill!). We headed down the long steep corridor to get down to the restaurant the owner had recommended. We walked in and were met with a dark room with several tables and two or three customers. The owner came up to us with a menu, consisting mostly fried or baked chicken, or
fish. Have I mentioned yet that Jill is a vegetarian? That’s right kids. And we knew we might run into some trouble with that at some point, but we didn’t expect it this soon! I politely asked the man if he had anything without meat. He said he did and returned with a nice cream of… mushroom? chicken? Anyway it was soup. With cheese on top. After not eating for nearly 24 hours, this was a nice transition back into the food eating world. Next he brought out a vegetable omelet with white rice. It looked edible, good even, but after just one bite I knew I wouldn’t be able to stomach much more. All together we paid 10 soles for both meals. The owner asked if I didn’t enjoy the omelet since I had only taken a few bites. He had such a worried look on his face, I lied and told him I had had food poisoning.
Back to the hostel and to bed by 7 pm.
d anything, neither Spanish nor English. Jill and I had looked up on the map where Casa was located, it happened to be on the way back from Ollantaytambo. We were already planning on coming back from Machu Picchu through Ollantaytambo on Thursday. We decided to pass on Casa today and take a nap instead. We would drop off the supplies Thursday.We laid down to rest and fell asleep. Three hours flew by. Jill woke me up at 4 o’clock and said we needed to get something to eat (good thinking jill!). We headed down the long steep corridor to get down to the restaurant the owner had recommended. We walked in and were met with a dark room with several tables and two or three customers. The owner came up to us with a menu, consisting mostly fried or baked chicken, or
fish. Have I mentioned yet that Jill is a vegetarian? That’s right kids. And we knew we might run into some trouble with that at some point, but we didn’t expect it this soon! I politely asked the man if he had anything without meat. He said he did and returned with a nice cream of… mushroom? chicken? Anyway it was soup. With cheese on top. After not eating for nearly 24 hours, this was a nice transition back into the food eating world. Next he brought out a vegetable omelet with white rice. It looked edible, good even, but after just one bite I knew I wouldn’t be able to stomach much more. All together we paid 10 soles for both meals. The owner asked if I didn’t enjoy the omelet since I had only taken a few bites. He had such a worried look on his face, I lied and told him I had had food poisoning.Back to the hostel and to bed by 7 pm.
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