Peru - Day 5 & 6

Tuesday, May 20, 2008 – Urabamba (Sacred Valley), Peru – Sol y Luna Lodge

Up bright and early! Early as in 5am! I have yet to really sleep in any morning on this “vacation” – there is just so much to see and do and I am trying to pack in as much as I can.

But we can't have a trip without a little drama! While getting ready to checkout, I realized that my phone was missing…. Thankfully, it had been turned into the front desk and had only been used to send three text messages (my apologies to the three of you who got text messages from “me”). I apparently left it in the gift shop when I was getting change. That phone is my life line home - I use it to keep my parents updated so they aren’t worried about me getting kidnapped by South American Guerillas, occasionally check email and live for text messages - thanks to everyone for staying in touch so that I don’t feel so…out of touch.

But after the phone fiasco, I got to the airport, checked in, paid my airport tax and cleared security with no problem. (I WAS a bit worried after my last airport fiasco…)

I met a nice group of English girls on “holiday” while we were waiting for the plane. Apparently the planes have to leave early in the morning because the winds and the temperature do …something….that makes it hard to fly. So we took off at 6:45am. An uneventful flight and I arrived in Cusco an hour later. Cusco is a pretty big airport and it was really easy to get to the Sacred Valley. I did quickly notice that we were at 11K ft elevation, but after 16K the previous days, it was a piece of cake. The Sacred Valley is only 9200ft so I wasn’t at that elevation for long, although, I‘ll be back in a few days for a ½ day and an overnight.

On a side note – I found out that Jorge and Felix (my guide/driver from the previous days)made a bet I wouldn’t be able to make the Colca Canyon journey because of the altitude. They had oxygen in the van and didn’t think that this “senorita” would make it past 8K! Hmph - they apparently underestimated me. I bring this up because it is apparently a badge of honor! In Cusco, the driver’s jaw dropped when I told him where I had been. He actually pulled out a map and pointed to the Canyon to confirm we were talking about the same place (my Spanish is conversational, at best, so the map helped!). He kept shaking his head and mentioning it to other drivers whenever we stopped – "Fuerte senorita de Canon del Colca”. Apparently the altitude and cold weather aren’t tourist draws… not sure what I was thinking or why I went… but I am going to wear it as a badge of honor, especially if it gets me discounted cab fare again.

The point of the day was to tour the “Sacred Valley” known for its Incan heritage and preservation of that heritage. Outside of the historical significance, it is also beautiful with terraced landscapes, green fields and serves as the border to the Jungle. The mountains are huge and the weather was beautiful today so it everything was bright and clear. It was a bit eerie, but there are also hundreds of holes in the cliff walls which served as Incan tombs. Overall, the valley and gorge are unlike anything I’ve ever seen before and with this trip I’ve visited 6 continents so I can say I have seen a few things! Pictures won’t do the area justice, and I wish I was a great writer who could describe how beautiful the drive was, but I can’t think of words that would describe how pretty it was/is either!

There were so many animals – just laying out in people’s front yards – cows, donkeys, chickens, pigs…And on more than one occasion we had to stop to let the animals cross the road in front of us. It is definitely a rural farming community. The towns all seemed to be fairly small and poor, but the homes seemed to be well built. There were quite a few little towns that we drove through, all unique in their own way. And the people waved at us as we drove by – it was like being in Texas!

So on the way to the Sacred Valley, after I made a stop at the top of the city to take pictures, it was on to a camel farm. More Llamas, Vicunas, Alpacas and the elusive Guanaco, the fourth camel I had yet to see.(Ray – thx for the spelling!) Even though it was in captivity, it was still neat to see.

Another Peruvian tidbit – the Sacred Valley is supposed to be the longest in the world and is also rich in Copper, Silver, Gold and Tin (or so the driver said, I haven’t been able to verify…)

After the camel farm, on to a local market in Pisac. The market had pretty much the same tourist “stuff” that all the other craft booths had but on a much bigger scale. I’d say there were at least two hundred different booths. I am not one for shopping… I know, I am a girl, but I just don’t like shopping! But I walked through the market and looked at most of the different booths and their crafts. The jewelry was pretty impressive and I saw a lot of pretty things, but it appears I have expensive taste so I kept on walking. There were traditionally dressed locals in colorful native dress in addition to all the crafts. I also grabbed lunch at the market and I am pretty proud of myself for thus far having eaten only local dishes and delicacies, but I had a piece of pizza and it was YUMMY! I couldn’t eat it all, so I gave the rest of it to a little boy who was begging in the market. Sad, such sad, deep, dark eyes, but my pizza made him smile.

AND, then I ran into 5 Aggies. One of the guys was wearing a Texas A&M sweatshirt so that was an easy conversation starter. It was fun to meet them and then of course, there was the required smack talk about whose alma mater was better! Still, it was great fun to chat, in the middle of Peru, with people who said “y’all"!!!

Pisac is also home to a colonial village and an Inca Fortress but I didn’t have time to see much because I wanted to push on to a larger fortress deeper in the valley.

Makes sense that a river runs through the valley - I was supposed to go white water rafting tomorrow, but that was before I saw the river…!! I cancelled the trip. The river was really shallow and GROSS. Apparently, the sewage of the local towns runs into the same river I would have been rafting on. I didn’t bring enough antibacterial soap to make that trip! ICK! They didn’t mention THAT in the guide book! I was really, really disappointed because I REALLY want to go whitewater rafting. I’ve never been and it looks like so much fun – guess I’ll save that for another trip! Anyone wanna go whitewater rafting?

So after scouting out the river, we kept driving into the Sacred Valley. The next stop was Ollantaytambo (I still can’t pronounce it and I’ve been practicing all day!) to see the Inca Fortress the city is known for. Apparently, it is the best maintained example of Inca city planning with narrow cobblestone streets and town layout. According to the guide book, the city has been continuously maintained since the 13th century. That is a LONG time!

The ruins are, for lack of a better word, breathtaking. The Incas never finished the fortress/temple, because it was started close to the decline of the Incan Empire and the arrival of the Spaniards, but the structure is still very impressive. The Incas hauled the stones for the terracing and the temple from over 10 miles away. I hired a guide, Jose, to help with the history and although, he was knowledgeable, he wasn’t in such good shape. The ruins were steep and even though we were at 9,000ft, I wanted to climb to the very, very top. But… he had to keep stopping and catching his breath. It was driving me nuts! I wanted to climb! But in fairness, Jose did give me a few tidbits about the Incan empire. We eventually made it to the very top and the views of the valley, as well as the fortress below were memorable. I am sure I’ll be able to call up that picture in my mind’s eye for years to come. I was looking at the pictures I took that day and… none of them really do Ollantaytambo justice…

Thankfully, heading down didn’t take as long as climbing up. Sadly though, there was plenty of evidence of human erosion. Such a shame.

After leaving the ruins, we headed into the center of town to get a feel for the way the Incans laid out their cities. More interesting than the layout was the way they channeled water through the city to serve as the town’s water supply. The town’s buildings are mostly Incan and much of the original architecture is still intact. We walked the cobblestone paths and were even invited into one of the houses. I felt very awkward and didn’t take any pictures, but the houses were very small and cold. And they had about 20 guinea pigs running around the floor for upcoming meals – THAT was a bit disconcerting but only because it is a different way of life.

After walking through the town, I made my way to the Lodge. I’ll be here for two nights – a record breaker since for most of the trip I’ll be in a different hotel EVERY night. Since I am not rafting tomorrow, I’ll most likely walk into town and explore, do a little shopping (I need postcards), laundry and possibly treat myself to a spa treatment. If the weather holds, I’ll make time to lay out by the pool! The grounds here are really nice. Again, I have my own bungalow; there are horses on the grounds and a fitness center. This will be a nice place to relax before I leave for Machu Picchu bright and early on Thursday morning!

Before bed, I walked outside to look at the sky – no city lights to take away from the stars and the hotel does a bit of a constellation show. It was a beautiful night and a full moon. The groundskeeper/security guard pointed out the Milky Way, a Cross constellation and Mars? I don’t know any better so for all I know he was right. I just thought that it was a pretty night with pretty stars, but I think that I’ll read up on astronomy when I get back home!

I didn’t stay outside too long – lots of bugs! Made me glad that my shots were all up-to-date!

I hope you enjoy the pictures! I am taking, on average, about 150 per day so I am only sharing a few or you’d die of boredom! Thank goodness for this little laptop – it is tiny, but it allows me to journal my trip, download pictures and then use the internet! What did people do before computers?!

Wednesday, May 21, 2008 – Urubamba, Peru – Sol y Luna Lodge

So today, the plan was to sleep in and I did – until about 7. But that is later than I have been sleeping the last few days. I did go for a little bird walk – the hummingbirds here are fantastic and so are… other birds. (Sorry Judy, I didn’t catch half the names, but they were pretty!) And… the rest of the day was spent by the pool – (Simone, thanks for the valuable advice to ALWAYS travel with a bathing suit no matter where you are going!) I enjoyed reading and chatting with other hotel guests. I was so excited to meet two American couples and they let me TALK to them! I was starved for human conversation! It was fun getting to know them. I did get a little laundry done so (with a little bottle of Fabreze, another Simone tip, I should be able to make it the rest of the trip!) I decided to pass on the spa, but I did take a nap after lunch and finish up two books I had started. I also read my Peru guide book so I knew what to expect over the next few days.

The staff here is really nice, but the hotel is fairly remote. I was warned against walking the highway into town, for safety reasons, so I was pretty much confined to the hotel. It was just as well – gave me chance to rest up a bit and since this is a “vacation” I wasn’t averse to resting! NO internet or TV so I had to keep myself entertained.

Dinner was quite entertaining. They had local musicians visit and demostrate their talents on ethnic instruments, including a stirring rendition of "Pop, goes the Weasel" :)

After dinner, I started to pack. The train for Machu Picchu leaves early in the morning and I can only take one small bag. I’ll leave my bag here and stuff a change of clothes into my backpack and hit the road early in the morning. Machu Picchu is the whole reason for this trip so I am very excited about the next two days!

Love,
Kathleen