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| Sunrise over Copacabana Beach | View of Rio from Corcovada | View of Rio from Corcovada | Christ the Redeemer Statue on Corcovada |
02/03/2005 - Thursday - Day 1
10:45: American Airlines just announced a delay. The plane coming in
that will be our plane had to circle to wait for Norfolk fog to lift.
It circles so long that they had to divert to Raleigh to refuel. It’s
expected to land here at noon. Our flight was supposed to leave at 11:45.
So, we ate lunch.
Later: They were able to get us to Dallas in time to get the next flight - barely. The flight to Rio was long and uncomfortable, as expected.
02/04/2005 - Friday - Day 2
Coming through customs wasn’t too bad. We got photographed and fingerprinted.
Only Americans get this treatment, since we started doing that to everyone
coming into our country. We were met by Stella at the airport. She had our
tickets/etc for the next few days and she helped get us checked into the
hotel. Then a nap to catch up on sleep. It’s cloudy/rainy today.
Dinner was down the street at a Brazilian seafood barbeque. Stella called to make reservations for us. Help yourself to the buffet, then they bring around food from the kitchen/grill: prawns, lobster, octopus, squid... Met a couple from London here for Carnival also. They leave on Tuesday for an Amazon cruise.
Later we called back home for news on Billy’s hip surgery. But first, I had to call Dave to get the long distance access numbers. I forgot them. Billy’s fine.
9:30pm: Stella called from the lobby with our shuttle bus tickets to get to/from the Sambadrome. She’s great!
02/05/2005 - Saturday - Day 3
Up early. Breakfast. Lobby to meet the bus to Corcovada at 8am. It
finally showed up at 9:30. Gotta watch the elevators in this hotel.
They seem to lack safety sensors, and the doors close VERY fast.
Guillotine! Anyway, today’s mostly cloudy - we can’t see the top of
Corcovada. We rode the bus to the train, then the train to the top.
In the clouds. We walked around a while, then just before we left,
the clouds parted. Wow! Then it was back to the train for the ride
down, bus back to the hotel. No lunch. We asked the guide about that,
but she (Anna) didn’t know what we were talking about. So we ate lunch
in the hotel. We used the business center in the hotel to send email
to several people that we got here ok. Then we took a cab to the
shopping mall nearby - Rio Sul. Shopping. Coffee. Back to the hotel.
M crashed within minutes. We ordered room service later and stayed in.
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| Sunrise over Copacabana Beach | View of Rio from Corcovada | View of Rio from Corcovada | Christ the Redeemer Statue on Corcovada |
02/06/2005 - Sunday - Day 4
Up early again to join the tour to Sugar Loaf Mountain. The ticket
said 8am hotel pickup, but the concierge called and found out that
on Sundays it’s really 9am. They got there at 9:10. Rio time.
Whatever. The tour guy took us downtown and talked about the parks
and buildings and then let us out at the cathedral. It’s modern -
cone shaped. And very nice. Then we were off to Sugar Loaf. We
met a couple from South Africa. Great views from the top. But
very hot. Then back to the hotel. We walked Copacabana Beach a
little bit, then had lunch at an outdoor café. Then it was nap
time for a few hours to get ready for tonight.
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| Sugar Loaf Mountain | Cathedral | Cathedral Interior | Rio Opera House |
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| View of Rio and Corcovada from Sugar Loaf | View of Rio from Sugar Loaf | View of Copacabana Beach from Sugar Loaf | View of Corcovada from Sugar Loaf |
Met the shuttle bus and headed off to the Sambadrome. Chaos! The bus couldn’t get near the Sambadrome for the traffic and crowds, so they let us out about 3 blocks away and we walked the rest of the way. They left no directions on how to find the shuttle bus afterwards - despite our questions. Anyway, we found our way in and got to our seats around 7:45. The first parade started around 9:00. It was great!
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| Carnival | Carnival | Carnival | Carnival |
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| Carnival | Carnival | Carnival | Carnival |
The first parade’s theme was all about Italy. The second parade was even better (theme: ecology). The third (fire) blew our socks off! Wow! It’s impossible to describe the mile and a half long parade avenue filled with people and floats. So many colors! About 3 floats in the avenue at a time. Around 4000 performers per Samba School, and each school is given an hour and 20 minutes for their parade. The schools are not really scholastic; they’re more of a community center. Each community plans for a whole year for the samba parade. Costumes, floats, choreography. Everyone is involved and everyone participates. From the children all the way to the very old.
The music of drums and thousands of people filling the space, filling your body and mind, filling your soul! You can’t hold still. The performers and everyone in the crowd is moving. We made it through five of the night’s seven parades (schools). We stayed to see the fifth in particular since our Sugar Loaf guide was in that one. The last school doesn’t finish until after sunrise. Then the next night they do another seven schools. Fourteen competing for the best in Carnival. Many of them (most? all?) have spiritual meaning in the themes they choose.
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| Carnival | Carnival | Carnival | Carnival |
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| Carnival | Carnival | Carnival | Carnival |
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| Carnival | Carnival | Carnival | Carnival |
When we left, we had no idea how to find our shuttle bus. Remember the bus? Dropped us off three blocks from the Sambadrome? Yeah. That bus. Well, we went back the three blocks to where it dropped us off, but it was obviously not going to pick us up there. Hmm. We found a policeman and asked if he knew where the shuttle buses were, but he had no idea. Plus, he didn’t speak much English. So it was back to the Sambadrome for us. We walked around a while, looking for the buses. Crowds. Massive chaos. Confusion. Anarchy! Our bus pass said on the back that it would pick us up between sections 9 (ours) and 7 (the next one). So we walked around a while more and found somewhere with lots of busses. Then we stared asking anyone and everyone and showing our pass (since English wasn’t getting us anywhere). No one knew where we needed to be. Keep in mind, it’s about 4:30am and the entire city of Rio is out on the streets with us. Then finally, I saw a guy wearing the same bus pass around his neck that we had. Turns out he worked for the bus company and was roaming the streets looking for lost souls like us. Salvation! So then it was back to the hotel for us. But the traffic patterns had changed (they keep doing that during Carnival), so the bus had to drop us off across the avenue. Sound familiar? But this time, the bus guy walked us back across the road to the hotel. If the bus couldn’t make it, at least he could walk us to the door. Nice touch. Needed perhaps for safety at that hour? Maybe. Either way it was a nice touch. We rolled into bed around 6am and slept until noon.
02/07/2005 - Monday - Day 5
A groggy start. Lunch in the hotel, then a taxi over to Ipanema
Beach. We walked along the sidewalk and checked out all the vendors.
M bought a hat - later I did, too. We walked in the surf some, browsed
through a craft market, and climbed the rocks at the point between
Ipanema Beach and Copacabana. Then we walked the length of Copacabana.
Lots of people! Younger, more energetic crowd on Ipanema. Some parts
of Copacabana were dirty - trash in the water. It was hot! Back to
the hotel to clean up and rest. Dinner at 7:30 in the French restaurant
on the top of the hotel. Very nice! Slow pace. Elegant. We watched
the sun set and the lights come on on the Christ the Redeemer statue on
Corcovada. What a nice way to end our stay in Rio.
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| Ipanema Beach | Ipanema Beach | Sugar Loaf Mountain from the beach | Copacabana Beach |
02/08/2005 - Tuesday - Day 6
Stella picked us up at the hotel at 9 to take us to the airport. First
flight on Varig Airlines to Sao Paulo. We had to pick up our bags, then
recheck them at Copa Air. The flight to Panama City is 7 hours in a
737-700. I didn’t know a 737 could go that far. Sure hope we don’t
run out of gas over the Amazon jungle.
Later: We made it to Panama City ok. The airport was a little confusing, but we found our flight ok. We took off for Quito about on time, but ended up circling Quito for a while waiting for the fog to lift. It didn’t, so they flew us to Guayaquil, on the coast of Ecuador, and landed there. By now it’s almost 11 pm, so they announce (in Spanish of course) that they’ll be putting us up in a hotel for the night. They bussed us from the plane to the terminal, where we put all our carry-on bags through the x-ray machine and we had to go through the metal detector. Then back out to the same bus and over to the main terminal. Massive chaos. All in Spanish. They took us through the terminal - around immigration/passport control (strange) - and onto another bus to the hotel. We checked in and asked when we should be back in the lobby to go back to the airport, but the only thing they said was that they’d call us. We rolled into bed at midnight.
02/09/2005 - Wednesday - Day 7
4am wakeup call. Oy! We rushed to get ready, get downstairs, get checked
out. Only 5 minutes for breakfast. Rush onto the bus. And then, wait
for 20 minutes while craving the cup of coffee I left on the table. Then
it was back to the airport - around immigration/passport control again
(still no stamp in our passports). About 2 hours waiting for the fog to
lift in Quito. Finally, we took off and less than an hour later we were
in Quito. We then went through immigration, got our passports stamped
and were legally in the country of Ecuador. Our guide, Isabel, met us
and took us to the van to meet Carlos, our driver. She offered to start
our scheduled day of going to the Indian markets, or to take us to the
hotel to rest for a while and then do a city tour in the afternoon. We
were exhausted and the drive to the north to the Indian markets was over
2 hours one way. We chose the latter.
So, after a couple of hours in the room, we met Isabel and set out. She took us to a Jesuit church first, and then to the presidential palace, and the center city square with two big cathedrals, city hall and the palace. Then up a couple of blocks to a Franciscan church where a service was being held (Ash Wednesday). After that we did a little shopping and M found a couple of tapestries. I got some coffee to take home. Isabel and Carlos took us back to the hotel and then we walked to a nearby mall. We walked around mostly, but M also found some cards and beads for gifts. Then back to the hotel to rearrange our packing and suitcases so we could leave one suitcase with the hotel while we head out to the Galapagos.
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| La Compañia de Jesus Jesuit Church, Quito | Plaza de la Independencia, Quito | Plaza de la Independencia, Quito | View of La Compañia from the San Francisco Plaza, Quito |
02/10/2005 - Thursday - Day 8
Up early (5am) and off to the airport. Flew back down to Guayaquil to
pick up some more passengers and take on fuel. There’s no fuel in the
islands, so the plane has to take on enough to get there and back. It
was another 737. The flight out was about an hour and a half to Baltra
Island (about 600 miles one way). The Galapagos Legend representatives
gathered us all up and took us to the boat. Lunch and orientation on
board while sailing to our first stop at Bartolome Island. They split
all the passengers into groups of around 12-15 such that each group
fits in a single zodiac boat - for coming and going to/from the ship.
They named each group for an animal on the islands. Like the Albatross
group, the Dolphin group, etc. M and I ended up in the Booby group.
We’re boobies! Ha, ha!
We took a zodiac boat ashore and hiked to the top of the island’s peak. 365 steps up! Whew! We saw some lava lizards and Sally Lightfoot crabs, and some sea lions. There was lava cactus there, too. Our guide (Cesar) explained the formation of the islands by volcanoes and the tectonic plates’ movement. The islands are moving southeastward with the plate, but the hotspot remains at the same spot, so the northwestern islands are the youngest. After the climb to the top of the island, they loaded us back on the zodiac boats and took us over to a beach for swimming and snorkeling. We saw some blue fish and some yellow fish. No idea what kind they were - just blue ones and yellow ones. We tried to take some underwater pictures. We also saw a penguin who turned his back on us. Then it was time to head back to the ship for dinner and sleep. Exhausted again.
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| View from the top of Bartolome Island | Marine Iguana | Galapagos Hawk | Flightless Cormorants |
02/11/2005 - Friday - Day 9
Up at 6am. Breakfast at 7. In the boats by 8. Fernandina Island at
Punta Espinoza. Morning hike. We saw lots of iguanas, lava lizards,
sea lions. One came up to sniff at one guy in our group. You’re not
supposed to touch any of the animals - especially the young sea lions
because the mother will smell your touch on them and abandon them. We
saw a Galapagos Hawk. Boobies in flight, flightless cormorants,
pelicans, mockingbirds, frigate birds. One sea turtle. We saw a sea
lion nursing her pup. And we saw lots of Sally Lightfoot crabs. We
then headed back to the ship while some people went snorkeling. We
skipped that to rest on deck. Then it was lunch time followed by
siesta.
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| Frigate Bird | Sea Lion | Punta Espinoza, Fernandina Is. | Darwin Finch |
The afternoon hike was on Isabela Island at Tagus Cove. We started with a panga ride (they call the zodiac boats "pangas"). All 15 of us boobies crowded in a panga, slowly drifting past cliffs and caves. We saw blue-footed boobies, sea lions, pelicans, hawks, and penguins. At one point, we drifted under a cliff overhang and one of us boobies - Brian the surgeon - got pooped on by one of the blue footed boobies on the cliff above. After the panga ride, we hiked up to Darwin Lake - an above-sea-level saltwater lake. We saw some Darwin finches. We hiked up to the top of a point on the ridge to see the volcanoes, but it was raining by then and the clouds were covering everything. Back to the ship for our lecture on the next day’s activities and dinner. Barely had time to squeeze in a quick drink at the bar, where they were having Latin dance night, before heading off to bed.
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| Galapagos Penguin | Blue Footed Boobie | Pelican | Mom and Pup Sea Lion |
02/12/2005 - Saturday - Day 10
After breakfast, we went on a hike on Santiago Island at James Bay.
We saw some birds on the way to the fur sea lion grottos. Plenty of
pelicans, and other birds - including an Oyster Catcher bird - as well
as the fur sea lions. We also saw a young sea lion that had obviously
been abandoned by its mother. So very sad to see that side of nature.
God’s plan is hard to understand sometimes.
After our hike, we went snorkeling. M wore a life vest and that seemed to work out pretty well. I’m still trying to get the hang of it. Also, I can’t really see very well because I have to take off my glasses or else the mask leaks. When we got back to the ship, M was asked by the hostess if she would participate in tonight’s King Neptune show after dinner to celebrate crossing the equator. She’s going to be the Queen!
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| Great Blue Heron | Lava Lizard | Brown Pelican | Marine Iguana |
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| Mom and Pup Sea Lion | Sea Lion | Brown Pelican | Sally Lightfoot Crab |
We have a great group at our table for mealtimes. There are three other couples. John and Robbie; he’s a mechanical engineer and she is a sergeant with the SPCA. They’re from San Francisco. Then we have Larry and Alex from Albuquerque. Larry is a hospice chaplain and Alex stays home with their Great Pyrenees and does some writing. Next are Clive and Ionthe from Land’s End in Cornwall, England. Their son just got married in Lima, Peru and is honeymooning in Hawaii before heading back home to Sydney, Australia. Clive is a diver for the oil rigs in the North Sea, and is away from home a month, home for a month, etc. While he’s working, he stays "pressurized" to the pressure of the dive depth. So after his diving work each day, he and his co-workers get in a pressure vessel until they "go" to work the next day. Wow. We’re all in the booby group except John and Robbie - they’re albatrosses. They’re all very interesting people.
Later: This afternoon’s excursion was to Rabida Island. We did a wet landing (step off the zodiac right into the surf) onto a red sand beach. The red color comes from the high levels of iron in the volcanic rock and sand. Just inland from the beach is a saltwater lagoon. Until about 5 or 6 years ago there were pink flamingos there, eating the shellfish from the lagoon. But over time the brackish water got more and more salty. And the sea lions set up a bachelor pad, which pretty much filled the lagoon with urine. Well, that killed off the shellfish and then the flamingos decided the neighborhood was definitely going downhill and so they left. Heck, I would have, too. Now it’s just a big stinky hole filled with sea lion urine. Yuk!
We walked along the beach for a while and saw a male sea lion with his harem of about 8-10 females and juveniles. His job is to scout out the waters nearby for sharks or other danger to the young. If he sees anything amiss, he calls out to the rest of his harem and they all scurry to the beach. After our beach walk, we headed up the hill to see the other side of the island. There was a beautiful cliff and I took several pictures.
Then we went back down to the beach for some snorkeling. The cool water was welcome after our hot hike. I tried keeping my glasses on inside the mask this time, and it worked out ok. I could see much better. I was terrified I’d drop my glasses somehow to the bottom of the bay, but I didn’t. The mask leaked a bit around the temples so every minute or so I stopped to drain the mask. In spite of all this, I could see, and enjoyed it much more. At one point, a sea lion swam by to check us out. Then M saw a penguin on the rocky cliff next to us. A little while later he must have dropped into the water because we saw him swim right under us. Wow! After about an hour of snorkeling, we went back to the ship, had an ice cream social, and then some down-time to sit on the deck and catch up on my journal.
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| Lava Lizard |
Rabida Island Beach and the Galapagos Legend | Underway on the Galapagos Legend | Sunset in the Galapagos |
The ship was still in the bay and we had an awesome view of the red beach and the island. Larry and Alex came by and sat with us. Larry’s first words after sitting down and seeing the view were, "All this, and heaven, too." Amen brother. Amen.
That evening after dinner was the King Neptune show in the main bar. M was asked to play the Queen. It was great! I videoed most of it, but the battery ran out on me. M’s main line was, "Turtle Blood, or Iguana Pee?" She was great! Everyone had such a good time.
02/13/2005 - Sunday - Day 11
We woke up this morning to cold showers. We found out later that, yes,
the water heaters on the ship broke. Brrrr! After breakfast, we went
ashore and had a short bus ride to the Charles Darwin Research Center on
Santa Cruz Island. We saw lots of giant land tortoises. There are 11
surviving subspecies (originally there were 14), but one of them is down
to a single male, Lonesome George. They are trying to get him to mate
with one of the other subspecies - the closest genetically - but he isn’t
interested. Once he’s gone there will be only 10 surviving subspecies.
He's around 80 years old and may live to be 200. We also saw land iguanas,
which are also endangered. The Darwin Center has a breeding program to
try to reintroduce endangered animals. One of the tortoise subspecies
was down to something like 2 males and 5 females in the 1960’s, but they
were able to breed them and have reintroduced more than a thousand back
into the wild. We got to see lots of baby tortoises. Then we wandered
back through town (Puerto Ayora) doing a little shopping for gifts.
Then back on the pangas to the ship for lunch.
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| Galapagos Giant Land Tortoise | Galapagos Giant Land Tortoise | Puerto Ayora, Santa Cruz Island | Giant Land Tortoise in the Wild |
After lunch and siesta, we went back ashore and rode a bus for about 45 minutes up to the Santa Cruz highlands. There we saw the giant tortoises in the wild. We saw about 6 or so. Some eating, some just staring at us, a couple actually mating. We spent around an hour there, and then a short bus ride to a lava tunnel. It was big enough to drive a truck through. We walked in about a hundred yards or so and then went back to the bus. Back to town, a little free time, and back to the ship. M is famous now as the Queen. It seems everyone really enjoyed the show last night.
02/14/2005 - Monday - Day 12
Valentine’s Day! M was surprised by her card. Our morning excursion
was a short one to Bachas Beach. We saw some marine iguana nests (with
eggs) and also sea turtle nests (and egg shells), complete with sea
turtle tracks in from the water. We saw some empty eggs - they were
leathery. There was a small lagoon where we saw three pink flamingos!
So cool! Then it was time to head back to the ship, shower, final
packing, lunch, off to the airport. There were a couple of sea lions
underneath one of the benches at the panga landing while waiting for
the bus to the airport. Then we flew to Guayaquil (2 hour layover)
and on to Quito. Relaxing evening.
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| Bachas Beach | Sea Turtle Tracks | Bachas Beach | Pink Flamingo |
02/15/2005 - Tuesday - Day 13
Slept late. Hot shower - first since Saturday. After breakfast we walked around the park nearby for a little while. Our pickup for the airport is at 2:30pm. Later: The trip down to Lima was uneventful. Our transfer to the hotel was fine. We had a message from Teresa when we checked in: "Call Teresa. It’s an emergency. But everyone is fine." Hmm. We called and found out that the inlet cold water line under the sink in the master bath had leaked, flooding the bathroom, much of the bedroom, and then soaked through to the downstairs. Poor Teresa! She emptied all the junk under the sink and was just getting to the steam-vac when I called. She’ll call the insurance company for us and try to dry out what she can. She already turned off the cold water valve under the sink.
02/16/2005 - Wednesday - Day 14
We got up this morning, found an ATM to get some local currency, and
met our guide at 9am for a half-day tour of Lima. The guide’s name
was Floriano and our driver was Julio. The first stop was at Lover’s
Park. Then we went on to an excavation of an old pre-Incan site. The
people were known as Lima people, and that’s how the city got its name.
There were four hairless Peruvian dogs there. Then we went on to the
old historic part of town. We walked around through the Plaza Mayor,
saw the basilica, the archbishop’s palace, the presidential palace,
the mayor’s palace and lots of shops. We went into a Dominican church
first, and then a Franciscan church where we also went down to see the
catacombs. We saw a Jesuit church, too. Then our guide took us inside
a private house (now open to the public) that has been there and lived
in by the same family - 17 generations - since the 16th century. Peru’s
independence from Spain came on July 28, 1821, so July 28th is their
Independence Day. They have two days off from work. One to celebrate
and the next to recover.
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| Lover’s Park, Lima | Spanish Balconies, Lima | Lima Cathedral | Interior of Historic Mansion, Lima |
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| Interior of Historic Mansion, Lima | Plaza Mayor, Lima | Plaza Mayor, Lima | Presidential Palace, Lima |
After all this it was lunch time and we ate at a restaurant built right over a breakwater jetty. We sat by the window and watched the surf hitting the rocks right under us. There were some birds that our guide called cormorants (not the flightless ones like on the Galapagos). Lunch was sea bass, appetizer sample that included fried calamari, a mixture of raw fish, sweet potato, onions, etc, and a Pisco Sour drink. The drink was like a lime-aid. Yum. It had a froth on top that our guide said was egg whites. Desert was an ice cream-filled crepe. Back to the hotel for siesta.
The phone rang at 4:14pm from the front desk with a message to call our travel agent. We needed to coordinate getting a fax of the insurance authorization to get our carpets cleaned to sign and fax back. It was about 6:00 when all that got settled. Also, our laundry got back to us all nice and clean. There’s a mall about five blocks from the hotel, so we decided to walk down and check it out. It was built right into the cliff overlooking the Pacific and you couldn’t see it from the road. It was very hard to find, but we asked someone in the Marriott Hotel that was right there, and they told us where it was. The mall was mostly outdoors (but it never rains in Lima!). We ate dinner (Burger King), and walked back to the hotel. We repacked for Cuzco and Machu Picchu and turned in just before 10pm. Not long after 10, the bed started shaking. I thought it was M turning over, but it kept shaking. Finally I said "What are you doing!?" and she said, "I thought that was you!"
Earthquake!!!
It was relatively minor, but our guide (Christian) confirmed in the morning that it was, indeed, an earthquake lasting about 30 seconds. Cool! A little research later on the USGS website revealed that it was a 5.50 magnitude quake.
02/17/2005 - Thursday - Day 15
Up at 6. Breakfast at 7. Off to the airport by 8. This vacation is
starting to be hard work. We left 2 suitcases at the hotel to pick up
on the way back through on Monday. Christian, our guide, walked us
through the check-in process. After a normal check-in, you have to
go upstairs and pay your departure tax separately - $5.05 per person
for domestic flights. Christian did that for us. Then we said goodbye
and found our gate. Arrival in Cuzco was smooth. Our guide (Edgar
this time) met us and took us to the hotel, got us checked in, gave
us some coca tea to help with the altitude (11,150 ft.). Sure hope
there’s nothing illegal in that coca tea. You’re not supposed to
drink it in the evening or it’ll keep you awake, so it must be a
stimulant. The guide said something about alkaloids. Not quite
sure I want to know anything else.
We had about an hour to rest and another guide - Alberto - met us for a half-day tour of Cuzco. We started with a visit to the sun temple and the moon and stars temple. Colonial Spaniards built on top of it, but now much of it has been restored. There were wonderful examples of the Incan stone cutting expertise. Then it was on to the main square, and we went into a couple of the churches there. The cathedral and La Compania de Jesus - called the most beautiful in Cuzco. It’s a Jesuit church and very beautiful, indeed. Next we went for a ride up into the hills - eventually to 12,000 ft - to see Incan ruins. We saw some excavations of what some think was a fortress, called Sacsayhuaman. We also saw Quenko, Puca Pucara and Tambo Machay. Poor M’s allergies kicked off in earnest. It really started in the humid conditions of Lima (and possibly in the Galapagos as well). We had to wait for her for a few minutes during a pretty bad coughing fit. No problem for us, (we’re sorta used to it), but Alberto was very concerned. After returning to Cuzco, we found a drugstore and stocked up on cough syrup, aspirin and insect repellent (for Machu Picchu). The altitude has left me with a migraine and persistent dizziness. I took a few quick photos of the main square, and then we retreated to our oxygen-enriched room and ordered room service. M’s dealing with the altitude better than I am, but I’m concerned she’s on her way to a sinus infection.
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| Sun Temple, Cuzco | La Compania de Jesus, Cuzco |
View of Cuzco from the Surrounding Hills |
Teresa called us this evening with the news that the police had been to our house. She was at the house until 11:30 with the water extraction contractors. They apparently cut a big section of carpet out of our bedroom, and cut a hole in the kitchen ceiling and then set up big fans and dehumidifiers. They and Teresa left around 11:30. Then somewhere around 12:30 or so, the cleaning folks showed up. They went over to the alarm to turn it off, and the whole alarm panel fell out of the wall. They literally had nothing to punch their code into. The alarm company started calling down the list and got M’s folks and Kim. Kim called Teresa at work. Teresa headed to the house. The police showed up. Teresa got the alarm company's number (from the police?) and called. Meanwhile, the alarm is still going off. Kim showed up and took the dogs to her house to escape the mayhem. The cleaning folks are traumatized. Teresa talked to the alarm company, but of course didn’t know the secret code to say all was ok. She was finally able to convince them (and the police?) that she wasn’t a burglar and the keypad fell off the wall. They talked her through dismantling the alarm. She had a little trouble finding the junction box. She told me she now knows how to dismantle my alarm. All it takes is a ballpeen hammer, a sacrificial chicken, and a #2 pencil. She finally went back over to Kim’s to retrieve the dogs. The insurance adjuster is coming on Monday and the alarm company is coming on Sunday. Poor Teresa!
02/18/2005 - Friday - Day 16
Our guide Alberto, and driver David, met us at the Monasterio Hotel
and we drove down into the sacred valley. Our first stop was at a
demonstration farm where we saw llamas and alpacas. We saw
demonstrations by the local men of the way dyes were made, and by
the women of the weaving. We bought some gifts in the nearby store.
Next, we headed off to the Pisac Market. We spent about an hour or
so there, buying several gifts. The people in Peru are very pushy
when it comes to trying to sell things to you, and Pisac was no
different. There was plenty of haggling to be done - which M left
to me - and I’m not sure I did very well, but at least I didn’t
pay the first price given. After this, Alberto and David took us
to a hacienda for lunch, and even joined us. Then it was off to
the hotel in Urubamba to check in and have a little siesta.
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| Demonstration Farm, Sacred Valley | Native Weaving | Sol Y Luna Hotel, Urubamba |
The afternoon excursion was to the ruins at Ollantaytambo. M decided to sit this one out at the hotel because her sinuses are still giving her a hard time. We arrived in Ollantaytambo and were told we couldn’t park near the ruins - there was a festival going on. So we left David and the van in the Plaza Mayor and set out on foot. Alberto was a bit confused about the festival. Most of the town was in costume to dance around a special tree and drink until they were "very happy." They had erected the tree in one of the town squares and decorated it with pots and pans and so forth. They then all danced over to their little bridge over a stream - possibly rededicating either it or the waters under it - according to Alberto. Then they all danced back to their tree. Alberto thought they might eventually have a cutting down ceremony. Anyway, we started hiking up the terraces built into the side of a mountain to the ruins at the top. There were different sections which were all still under construction when the Spaniards conquered them. Some areas were for agriculture (on the terraces), some were set aside for religious purposes where the stones were cut much more carefully, and some areas were probably built as watchtowers. From the top of the ruins, you have a commanding view down three different valleys that all come together at Ollantaytambo. They were still building it all and still moving giant stones from the quarry several miles away when the whole thing was abandoned. You can still see a line of stones leading from the site back to the quarry. One interesting thing was that there’s a small river between the quarry and the site, but they didn’t move the stones across the water. They’d move the stones to one side of the river, and then redirect the flow of water to the other side of the stones and then keep moving the stones to the site. So they never got wet. After walking around the ruins for a little while, we headed back to the hotel, where M and I watched a wonderful sunset over the mountains from the porch of our private bungalow.
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| Ollantaytambo | Festival in Ollantaytambo | Fortress of Ollantaytambo | Fortress of Ollantaytambo |
02/19/2005 - Saturday - Day 17
Today we visit Machu Picchu! We met Alberto and David in the hotel
lobby at 7am for the ride to the train station in Ollantaytambo. The
train got there about 8:15 and the ride to the Aquas Calientes station
took about an hour and a quarter. We got off the train and handed our
luggage over to the Pueblo Hotel staff waiting on the platform. We’re
down to basically our carry-on bags. We left one suitcase in Cuzco at
the Monasterio Hotel, and the other in Lima at the Jose Antonio Hotel.
At this point, I’m carrying claim checks for luggage at three different
hotels spread across Peru. Hmm.
We walked over to the buses and boarded one, armed with cameras, water, and not much else. The bus took about 20-30 minutes, climbing steadily the whole time via a series of switchbacks on what’s basically a one-lane dirt road - with no guardrails. Downward-bound and upward-bound buses occasionally came nose-to-nose, forcing one to back up a ways to a spot where the road is barely wide enough so they can pass. We climbed this way for about 2000 vertical feet. Scary! At the top we got off and waited while Alberto went to buy lunch tickets. There’s a hotel and restaurant right outside the entrance.
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| Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu |
Then we went in. Machu Picchu! Wow! The lost city of the Incas. It’s beyond description. Alberto took two hours walking us through the main parts, describing everything. Absolutely amazing. He really knows his stuff. We discovered after talking with him for a while that he'd been a professor of anthropology and had even helped with some of the excavations at Machu Picchu. After his retirement from that, he decided to become a tour guide. We really lucked out getting him as our guide. He pointed out one place where a couple of natural stones in the middle of a small courtyard had rounded indentations in them - like a mortar/pestle. He told us that some guides would tell their people that it was an old mortar/pestle - and in fact we overheard one say so - but that the scientists had shot down that theory. First, it was in natural stone so over time as it was ground deeper, it couldn’t be replaced. And second, the stone wasn’t the right kind. It would grind itself into sand too easily, getting sand into the flour. Much more likely was that water had somehow dripped onto those places, carving our the rounded indentations over time. Next he showed us the "hitching post of the Sun" but explained that this was a name given to it much later than it was used. No one really knows what it was used for. (Knowing the Incan reputation for human sacrifices, it seemed to me to be a place to tie someone up and kill them.)
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| Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu |
By then it was lunch time and he joined us in the restaurant just outside the gates for a buffet lunch. After lunch, we said goodbye and we were on our own. We went back inside for a couple of hours. We climbed up to the caretaker’s hut overlooking the whole site. It started to rain, and M patiently stayed under the umbrella while I ran around taking pictures. Then we were wet and exhausted, so we caught a bus back down to Aquas Calientes to find our hotel. There was a boy - maybe 10 years old - who ran down the hill with the bus. As the bus went back and forth through the switchbacks, he ran straight down the mountain so that he was waiting for us at about the midpoint of each switchback. He would call out and sing "Good Bye!" or "Adios!" at us each time - all the way down. 2000 feet down. At the bottom, the bus driver let him get on the bus, and we all gave him tips. He earned it. We were all entertained. Plus it was very hard work for him. We all got off the bus in town, and then M and I spent maybe 45 minutes zigzagging across town asking for directions to our hotel (no one spoke English). Finally we found it at the end of a very rough, classically 3rd-world, dirt street. The hotel itself is very nice, but you’d hardly believe it could be on such a street. No air conditioning. Open windows. Cloud forest. Cool, but damp, and M’s cough isn’t getting any better.
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| Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu |
02/20/2005 - Sunday - Day 18
Up early - too early - to get the 6:30 bus (first one) up the mountain.
Everyone’s been telling us we should watch the sun rise over Machu Picchu.
So there we were. And, of course, it was raining. Steady, light, soaking
rain. And foggy. Oh, well. We got to the top of the mountain at 7:00.
M stayed in the doorway of one of the huts near the entrance while I
wandered through the upper, ceremonial areas taking pictures. I rejoined
her and we found a covered bench where we sat for a while watching the
fog and rain. Every so often the fog would lift a bit and we could see
the entire site. Then, it would fog over again covering everything.
Visibility was terrible for pictures, but it was really nice sitting
there watching the fog and rain. After a while, M needed to get in out
of the damp, so she headed out to wait for me in the Sanctuary Lodge
lobby. I spent a few more hours wandering around taking pictures and
video, then joined her.
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| Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu | Machu Picchu |
We had some time to kill (the buses didn’t start taking people down the mountain until mid-day), so we just sat in the lobby for a while, then grabbed lunch in the buffet restaurant next door when it opened. Then we took one of the first shuttle buses back down the mountain around 12:30. Another little boy ran down the mountain with the bus, like yesterday. I can’t imagine running up and down that mountain all day for tips. First order of business when we reached the bottom was to find M some more cough syrup. Her breathing was pretty bad, too, having spent several days in the damp without a break. Eventually we found a pharmacy and got her some more cough syrup. Then we did a quick pass through the market for T-shirts and a doll for Susan, the travel agent. M was tapped out by then, so we went to the train station to wait and rest.
We boarded the train at 3:30, and the next 3 hours - between Aquas Calientes and Poroy - were absolute hell for M. Her motion sickness, breathing problems, cough, and being overheated combined to make her miserable. The only bright spot was the native Peruvian dance demonstration - in the coach - during the second half of the trip. The guy had on a full ski mask head covering that was white, and gave him the appearance of a ghost. He had a little stuffed alpaca that he let the passengers "pet." Yes, M pet another man’s alpaca. And commented on its downy soft fur. Sigh. Never one to let unbearable illness slow her down.
Next came a fashion show featuring the coach stewards wearing alpaca fashions. In the train. While it was going. Weird, but true. At one point, the slope got too steep for the train, and the tracks took us back and forth through some rail switchbacks. Forward, then backward. More strangeness. Finally, we arrived in Poroy where David our driver from before, and Danny our guide (new for us) met us and drove us back to the Monasterio Hotel in Cuzco. Back to 11,150 feet. We got checked in, found our suitcase that we’d left behind waiting for us in our room, and ordered room service. M took a hot bath and I called Teresa to check in. But I discovered that our long distance company had disabled my calling card and there was no way to reactivate it because that department was gone for the day. Also, toll calls outbound from our house were disabled so Teresa couldn’t call us. She finally got through to us using her personal calling card. Jeez! At least everything’s ok at the house.
02/21/2005 - Monday - Day 19
Up at a reasonable hour, breakfast, off to the airport. M’s breathing
is pretty bad. The altitude and her sinuses are working together to make
her miserable. Picked up a bottle of Pisco at the airport for Teresa.
We got to the hotel in Lima around 2:30pm and M crashed immediately. The
flight in was ok, but bumpy in spots (turbulence over the Andes - go
figure!). Our ride to the airport gets here to pick us up at 11:00pm
tonight for our 2:15am flight (Dallas, then Norfolk). We got our extra
two pieces of luggage we left here four days ago. I tallied up the gifts,
etc, that we need to declare to Customs. Over $900! Yikes! Gotta get
some sleep now.
02/22/2005 - Tuesday - Day 20
Going home at last. I got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep at the hotel (M
got a little more) before Manuel came to get us at 11:00. We got to the
airport, went through seven levels of security (initial screening, security
questions, open luggage hand check, check-in for boarding passes - which
took forever, departure tax, immigration, x-ray/metal detector). The
security people flatly refused to do a hand check on M’s film disposable
cameras. My choices were to send them through the x-ray machine, leave
them behind, or stay in Peru with them. They swear that only 200-speed
film and below will be affected, but that’s what they said in Madrid and
they ruined all my film on that trip.
Once we got to Dallas, we found a spot to sit, and then I went on a treasure hunt for cough medicine, Dramamine, water, food, etc., while M called the doctor to set up an appointment. The rest of the way was easy.
Epilogue
20 days, 16 flights on 6 airlines, 7 hotels, 1 ship, 1 train, sinus
infection, altitude sickness, 3 countries (4 if you count Panama).
Scores of wonderful people. One fantastic once-in-a-lifetime experience.
These travels join the rest I've taken over the years to reinforce my impression that, basically, we're all the same. The language, the geography, the politics, the food and much more is definitely different. But beyond all that, down where it really matters, the people around the world have far more in common with one another than you'd think.