Machu Picchu: Part 1

Thursday the 23rd we started our big Machu Picchu adventure at 7am. The cab we took to our hotel from the bus station in Cuzco just happened to be driven by a tour guide. He offered us a 3 day 2 night package leaving the next morning for $125 USD which seemed pretty reasonable. We decided to take it.

The next morning we were told that we would have to carry everything we took with us on a 3 hour hike (we knew about the hike but had wrongly assumed that we'd be dropping things at the hostel in Aguas Calientes first.)

So right quick we repacked and each fit three days of adventure into our Flash 18 day packs.

We then hopped into the 12 person van to head up to Machu Picchu. After picking up more people along the way, we ended up with four guys from Chile, a Peruvian family of 5, a Brazilian couple, another Peruvian and his Mexican girlfriend, and us. Okay. Maybe it was a 15 passenger van...

Off we went on the 2ish hour drive.

Five and a half hours later we stopped for lunch with a half hour left to go.

The first part of the drive was on roads through the countryside with pretty views.

Then we got to a twisty (and beautiful) mountain road.

Our driver continued on these roads like a bat out of hell, and let me tell you, Disneyland has nothing on Peruvian roads and drivers.

The twisty road you see is what existed for the 2ish hours all the way down the mountain valley

After that fun adventure we got an hour of windy, washboarded, dusty dirt road on the edge of a cliff. Again, great views.

By this point there were some people clutching plastic bags and diving for open windows. I was very glad I'm not prone to carsickness.

We arrived at Hidroelectrica, a small train station in the middle of nowhere at 4:00. From there we proceeded to hike from there to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu. We just followed the train tracks until we got to town.

It was a beautiful hike, the scenery was amazing.

We only had one train pass us.

Attempted train selfie.  Two problems: the train wasn't going as fast as I thought and my head is too big.

Shay and I completed the ~12 km hike in 2.5 hours, finishing by headlamp.

Sunset above Peruvian mountains

In town we eventually found the rest of our van group as well as a guide who had our names on a piece of paper. It took a while, but we all eventually got placed in hostel rooms and got fed. We ended up in a 4 bed room with two of the Chilean guys, Cristobal and Alejandro. It was fun to talk with them, hear about Chile.

We also gave them their first taste of peanut butter (not a food that exists in Chile apparently). Neither had a favorable reaction.

Bedtime with alarms set for 3:30am to be ready to set out at 4am to start the long climb to the top.

Stay tuned for Machu Picchu: Part 2. I promise a tale of pain and triumph, beautiful pictures (lots of them), and llamas.

It's like a Mario Kart race that never ends

These are small town taxis called mototaxis.

Mostly they are blue and red, but there are also green and yellow varieties. Its like a four team go-kart race through the city.

There are many companies, and in an hour of sitting on the street corner one morning (long story) we determined that the letter before the number on each taxi refers to a specific company.  for example M=El Rayo (see photo below).  K is Pioneros and has a green stripe down the right side.

They rush everywhere on three wheels. Through town, between towns, in parking lots. They beep beep their clown horns to offer rides and to tell pedestrians and cars alike to watch out because they're coming through and not stopping. Even at 8 pm they rush around. I have no idea where they're all going. They seem to comprise 3/4 of the vehicles in town.

They are silly and awesome and have the steering system of a moped. Some are tricked out with stickers on the windshield and sides, my favorites have huge fins and spoilers on the back. Some have shark fins on the top.

The most bumpin´ ones had lights on the spoilers at night also.  Unfortunately they all managed to elude photo capture.

You learn quick to not get run over in the streets. And if they were all running over lines of floating coins and through rainbow surprise boxes it would almost look normal.

Going to Machu Picchu we went through a couple other small towns that had some cool colored ones.

Full Machu Picchu posts coming soon! Pinky swear.

La Cruz de Chanchamayo

July 12, 2015

Yesterday was Sunday so we had the day off. I had some me-time after breakfast and headed off walking up random streets behind town, hoping to find my way up to the cross at the top of the big hill you can see from town.

The end result was me getting sweaty and finding a bunch of dead ends.

But then I ran into my boss and his kids and after having juice with them in town (its just something you do here) he directed me to the proper staircase. Way too many steps and a not too long walk up a very steep road I found the top, the bathroom, and the cross.

So many steps

 It's rather impressive, and each diamond has a light bulb that comes on at night.

There's a couple other crosses and an alter at the top too.

The altar

The lady inside the altar, with some lovely flowers

There was a lovely breeze and a great view from the top. Several families came by while I was there and it seems to be a popular spot for teenage couples too. Also an old guy with a really floofy little dog.

View from the top of the cross

The La Merced church seen from way up high, and Rio Chanchamayo behind it

I stayed there sitting in the shade of the cross for several hours enjoying the day and watching the countryside burn.



I learned later from our small friend Jordan (explanation to follow) that it was burning pineapple fields to ready it for the next planting. Bright red flames were visible along the fire line and I had fun watching the progress.

Progress of the burned spots

Jordan was a kid that Shay acquired on her way up to meet me. We talked with him for a bit, he discovered the camera on her phone and went a bit crazy with it. We also have some gems of random video now.

I've found kids to be at the center of many of the most fun and memorable experiences in other countries. They are so curious and silly and don't have such judgemental looks when the language barrier springs up and you utterly fail at saying something.

Shay and I bought a fresh avocado and two buns for S/.1.50 total (~50 cents) cut the avocado and buns in half and each had a sandwich. Best possible end to the day ever.

Tour of Chanchamayo

July 5, 2015

After a couple days in Lima it was up and over the Andes to the town of La Merced.  We were at 9000 feet elevation at one point.  It was cold and snowy on the ground. Very Andean looking, go figure.

We did the tourist thing and did a tour in our free day before starting work. Chanchamayo is the region where La Merced is located.

It started at Puente (bridge) Kimiri, built in 1905 of wood, rock and eggs to get goods including pineapple and citrus from one side of the river to the other.

Then el Perfil Nativo Dormido (profile of a sleeping native).

His head is the second set of lumps from the right and he´s laying to the right.  There is a forehead, nose, and chin.  Use your imagination.

The mountains look like someone laying down. Legend is he was sick and traveled to this area where he was cured. On his way back he stopped to take a nap since he hadn't slept for 2 days and 3 nights and instead ended up sleeping forever.

La Confluencia del Rios was next, where Río Chanchamayo and Río Paucartambo combine into Río Perené.

It was a little community called Tankuy which is a Quechua (native) word meaning 'encontrar' (to find) since the two rivers find each other.

Up next was meeting Pepe Lucho.

He is a pacarana, a giant rodent found in parts of South America. They resemble the Paca, but are not actually related according to Wikipedia. He is super famous (for a pacarana) and has been in commercials down here for Inca Kola (tastes a bit like cream soda) and in the movie El Dorado. Neither Shay nor myself have actually seen it so we're going to try to watch it somehow while we're down here.

Selfie with a giant rodent!

The other pacarana was named Josefina. She's not famous, but we got to hold her.

Next to a native village, Ashaninka. They dressed us up in traditional garb, painted our faces (one stripe for the single ladies, two if you were married, and three for the guys which represented the three faces if the tiger) and taught us some native words.

We also danced to drumming with all the women in the village. The small girl in green ran straight to me and Shay to take our hands. We discovered no matter the language barriers all small children like to go 'one two three swiiing' when you have their hands.

After that we were strongly encouraged to purchase the crafts they make for tourists. I have a lovely black and red seed bracelet for S/.5 which is around $1.60.  Shay and I had a couple girls come up and ask to see money from our country. Unfortunately neither of us had any US currency on us. It was fun to answer all their questions about the US though.

We had lunch that came with a short boat ride. Basically they loaded us in the boat, motored 5 minutes up the river next to the restaurant, then turned and floated back down to whete we started. Not necessarily the most exciting boat ride I've been on, but it was pretty. How could it not be, since its in the jungle of Peru?

For lunch Shay and I ordered cesina con patacones, not actually knowing what cesina was. Try new things and all. Patacones (fried plantains) were known to me from Ecuador. Turns out cesina is pork. Good pork.

Last on the tour was la Catarata Velo de Novia (a catarata is a big waterfall) which was lovely. There was a bit of a walk up a trail to it.

We didn't have swim suits with us, I'm not sure it was quite warm enough for me to want to get in anyway.

Back to town then, having seen more Amazonian jungle. This parrot was outside the bathroom at the restaurant.

Also I held a blue and gold macaw at the native village.

Apparently it was a good day for holding exotic animals.

Magic Water Circuit- Day 1 in Lima

July 2, 2015

Today was day number 1!  I rode a llama.

We found me a SIM card and figured out how to call between our phones, since Shay still has a US number.  I found a little panadería to buy a hot chicken empanada at, and we didn't get completely lost.  It was a balmy overcast day and was lovely.  After a nap in the afternoon, we headed back out to visit the Parque de la Reserva, which has the largest collection of fountains in the world.  It was an incredible show with 13 fuentes (fountains), some interactive, all of them lit up with colored lights.

Fuente Arco Iris (Rainbow Fountain)

Finally got the timing on this one right

Fuente de la Armonía

Made of four pipes with directional spouts turning it into a pyramid

Fuente Tangüis

This one focused on the four flower fountains, which changed color and shape.  I think Tangüis (Tangwees) was some sort of military personage though, since he got his name on the building behind the fountain and a statue of himself on a horse.

Random teapot fountain, not one of the 13.  Just water coming out of topiary.

Fuente de la Cúpula Visitable

Many fountains had spouts shooting in the air and the water would land in a grate, meaning there wasn't too much splash from it

Fuente Mágica

The grand one when you first enter the main part of the park.  There is a tunnel that takes you under a street separating the two parts of the park. so we did it slightly out of order.  This fountain reminded me of the one at the Seattle Center, it would change height and shape, spouts would shoot up or out, sometimes it was colored up with lights.  The center one was 80m high.  It was beautiful.

There were smaller fountains all around the edge with little figures sitting near them

Fuente de la Fantasía

This one was one of my two favorites.  It was 120m long, 20m high, and was a light show projected on water, as the water was choreographed to it, changing all the time.  We got there at just the right time as the big show was happening, I got some videos of it.  Hopefully they work, if not expect youtube links later.  The music was hilarious to us, it ranged from traditional Peruvian to 90s American pop.  We got there as some crazy techno was playing and sat down.

UPDATE! YouTube links below each video just in case.

This one starts right after 'We Will Rock You' played

https://youtu.be/J3ACO80oIdI

And then some Backstreet Boys 'I Want It That Way'

https://youtu.be/iD22siIIRSE

https://youtu.be/9xeCBiBMfWo

Other songs included El Condor Pasa, Abbas Waterloo, Beatles I Wanna Hold Your Hand, One of the John Williams themes from Star Wars or Indiana Jones or something (we both recognized it but couldn't place the movie, it was a lesser theme.  Don't worry, I know both those main themes) and it ended with the Halleluja Chorus.  It was like Vegas but different.

Fuente de la Ilusión

nighttime selfie!

Fuente del Túnel de las sorpresas

This one was a tunel of water shooting up and into a grate on the other side 35m long.  I wondered how many friends pushed their other friends sideways through the water.  It would have left you insta-soaked.

Fuente del Laberinto del Ensueño

This one was my other favorite.  Interactive maze of concentric circles with 5 jets around the edge shooting up and in, and the circles were separated by jets also.  They were different patterns and heights at different times, randomly.  So you had to try to make it through the maze without getting wet as the fountain would start up randomly.  We saw a couple people time it wrong and get totally soaked.

Video of me and Shay making it out of the maze

Fuente de la Vida

Fuente de las Tradiciones

The figures in the fountain were indiginous figures

Fuente del Río de los Deseos

This one was under construction and boring.  I think when it's operational there are button stations to control each of the little burble fountains, if it's burbling, being a big plume, what color, etc.  It had a house thing with a river going all the way around it with little waterfalls, so it was still kinda pretty.

Fuente de los Niños

This one had 36 grate squares that shot water, had water land on it, etc.  All lit up and changing, it was another you could play in.  I think you'd get much wetter much faster with this one.  There was a little button pad, though we never fully determined if the buttons did control anything, or if we just pressed them when the fountain was changing on its own.

We found the terribly marked tunnel under the street this time

World record certificate for the largest fountain place.

Then to end off the night we went to a little Bohemian Pub two blocks from the park and had pisco sours, which Peru is known for and a beer to split.  It was a lovely ending to a lovely day.

On the plane right from Florida to Lima I sat next to two travelers from Pittsburg.  At the end the guy told me I was a lovely travel mate, and if their talking bird could meet me, he would like me a lot.  I took it as the higest compliment.