26 Jan – 12 Feb 2018
We’ve had these two
world heritage sites on our bucket list for years. When we saw an Overseas
Adventure Travel (OAT) announcement that both would be offered together in one
trip, we jumped at the chance. Two locations for one long inter-continental
flight, what’s not to like? OAT did a good job providing competent guides and
trip leaders and getting us to places that we would not have figured out on our
own.
26 Jan, Fri – We got less than four hours of sleep before
leaving at 0230 for the airport. We dropped the car off at ParkNJet2 and got to
the Delta counter so early that there were no personnel yet on duty. We waited
in line for a while then got checked in. I had naively assumed that there would
be no crowd at SeaTac in the middle of the night but there was quite a line at
Security, even in the TSA Pre-Check area. Our flight to Atlanta was mostly
uneventful except that a passenger collapsed as he passed our back-of-the-plane
seats and a doctor had to be paged. When we reached ATL, he was helped out by
some paramedics. We had a late lunch/early dinner at PF Chang’s upstairs in the
B Concourse. Then we walked back from our gate at the E Concourse to C
where there was a gelato shop (two actually, we went to Pino Gelato) where we
shared a large cup. C.J. noticed that our boarding passes did not have
consecutive seat letters, so we checked at the podium and got new seats in the
premium coach area right over the wing (the seats didn’t seem like anything
special to me). For a change, the flight was not full. After an hour and a half
or so, when we had passed beyond the tip of Florida, C.J. pointed out that the
airplane image on the GPS screen was not pointing south, but rather east. As we
watched the image continued to rotate to the north. We had not felt the plane
turning but a check with my phone using Backcountry Navigator confirmed that we
were heading back to Florida and points north! Finally, after a long delay, the
pilot announced that he had in fact turned back to Atlanta because the
instruments were showing a problem with an engine. As it turned out, he didn’t
go all the way back to ATL but instead landed at MCO, Orlando, to the
accompaniment of several emergency vehicles with lights flashing. Everyone
offloaded and hung around waiting for Delta to send another plane and get us
back on the route to Lima. During the four-hour wait Delta brought in water and
snacks and then a bunch of Nathan’s hot dogs and Chick Fil-A nuggets and
sandwiches. The “rescue plane” (their words) from ATL arrived around 0140 and
we didn’t take off until after 0230. This of course totally messed up our plan
to get to Lima a day early, so we would have some time to acclimate before
joining the OAT group on the 28th at 1100. Hopefully the emails I
sent to the Hotel Jose Antonio would keep the hotel driver from going to the
airport and waiting for us.
27 Jan, Sat – it felt like a long flight to Lima being in
the middle of the night (although it was only 5 1/2 hours long. We tried to
sleep as much as possible; that was made easier because there were no hot meals
served. An hour and a half out of Lima we had a box breakfast of mostly snack foods.
There was a cheer as we finally touched down at LIM. We negotiated the usual confusing
immigration lines and then collected our bags (C.J.’s rollaboard showed up much
later than our other two checked bags) and exited through a no-check Customs inspection.
Once out through the area where ground transportation companies (three taxis, shuttles,
and rental cars), we spotted first an OAT rep, then a driver with our names. We
totally ignored the OAT rep (it wasn’t Carmen and may not have been for our
group at all – there seem to be three OAT groups) and rode back to Lima through
pretty heavy traffic. One of the sights I noted was the number of billboards
welcoming Pope Francis to Peru. He had been in town just a few days earlier. We
got to drive along the beach on one Malecon or another and then were quickly at
the Jose Antonio Hotel (right across the street from the JA Deluxe) located in the Miraflores district of Lima. It was 1030 and too late for the hotel breakfast (0600-1000) but we got signed right into our room and settled in with
a shower for me and a wash-up for C.J. I wanted to see if I could get a SIM
card (“chip”) for my phone in case it was necessary to contact Carmen or the
other trip leader. Google Maps showed that a four or five-block walk would take
us to a big Claro store on Avenida Jose Larco. There was a lot to see as we
walked up Ave 28 de Julio and then E on Larco. The Claro store was full of
people – a bad time since it was just about noon and on a Saturday. We headed
back toward the ocean on Larco and found a gelato shop (Ice Cookies) which
provided us with a snack . Along the way we had already stopped
at a GN.Bank and taken out 300 PEN, about 100USD). Larco had several
interesting alpaca wool shops and some souvenir shops, too. We got to the beach
(well, the bluff above the beach) where we found the LarcoMar Mall, a mostly
subterranean, up-scale shopping area built into the cliff. We had already seen
a paraglider in the foggy sky earlier, but that had turned out to be a trike.
Now we saw several soaring PGs, some to the north and some to the south. We
stopped at a bike rental kiosk which had a map and talked to the rental guy and
he said we could go north an easy 15 (we heard “50”) minutes or south. We could
just make out the launch to the south, so we went that way along the Malecon.
But the direct route was interrupted by a deep canyon with a busy highway, so
we turned back and took another route back to Jose Larco. By now we were fading
since we had not eaten since the snack on board our last flight, so we stopped
at the first little restaurant we came to that had a menu posted outside; it
may have been named Café Arab, right next to Café Italiano. We got a two course
meal for S/.18 each and we shared a local beer. Soup/salad and
fish/churrasco with fries, quite good. Claro was closed (only open until 1300
on Sat) when we got there so we stopped at a sidewalk shop that serviced
electronics and bought a Claro SIM card and 1GB of data . The tech guy
installed everything and got the phone working (even though he had to
re-install my own SIM so that I could access the unlock code). We stopped in a
few more souvenir shops on the way back to the hotel. After noticing a couple
of paragliders soaring from the hotel entrance, we decided to head back to the
beach down Calle Colon and go north past Parque del Amor to the big tandem (and
solo) PG launch area just south of the lighthouse. It was busy with tandem
operations but there were a few solo pilots flying also. We understood from
talking to a not-quite bilingual “operator” that we would just need our rating
card and passport and some amount of fee to fly there (if we had our gear; we didn’t
ask about rental). We were getting tired and had had enough sun so headed
inland along a ravine with lots of sports courts and a cobblestone street until
we reached a pedestrian bridge that got us across to Ave 28 de Julio, the
street our hotel is located on. Carmen Frisancho, our trip leader was there to
greet us and give us each a bottle of water. Carmen had called me while we were
walking just to try out my new Claro chip and to find out what it cost so she
could recommend it to others. Back at our room we tried writing in our journals
but kept falling asleep, so we decided to take a nap (it was around 1700). I
woke up at 1920 and decided to just keep sleeping (although I got up a number
of times to go to the bathroom.
28 Jan, Sun – Up around 0630 for showers and finishing
recording yesterday’s events in our journals. Around 0800 we went down to
breakfast buffet in the second floor restaurant. It wasn’t elaborate but there
was a lot of choice (even some ham and cheese to put on rolls for
lunch/dinner). We sat with another OAT couple, Pete and Susanne from Arvada, CO. After breakfast we sorted through our three
suitcases to try to get organized for the trip to Cusco-Machu Picchu. We still
don’t understand what we can bring in terms of “small duffle” to MP. Hopefully
that will get straightened out at our 1100 meeting with Carmen. We got a call
from Carmen on our room phone at 1055 saying that everyone was waiting for us,
so we went to the lobby – no one there. A hotel employee directed us to the
ninth floor and up some stairs to a meeting room. How come nobody had told us
about all this? Anyway, there was a long, not very informative meeting then we
broke for lunch. A full-size bus took the 14 of us down the busy highway that
we had overlooked and along the jammed highway leading to the beaches. It was a
cloudy/foggy day and not particularly warm but crowds of people were heading
for the sandier beaches to the south. We stopped in Barranco at La Planta for a
buffet lunch of typical foods – cooked vegetables for salad (“don’t eat the
lettuce”), skewers of chicken and beef, various kinds of potatoes, sea bass,
fries, corn/hominy and, later, desserts. While we ate there were two dance
exhibitions, one with a hat and the other with fluttering (bird-like) napkins. Afterward,
we had a little time to walk around the beach and then we re-boarded the bus
heading south for one of the sandy beaches and the big fish market. The beach
was crowded with people and umbrellas and there were a bunch of folks in the
(reportedly) cold water. The fish market wasn’t as big as I had expected but
there were a lot of fresh-caught fish available, as well as vendors all over
the place trying to sell whatever they had. We were told by our Lima guide that
many were from Venezuela, fleeing the upheaval there. After crossing the
highway and negotiating a steep, grassy slope we got back on the bus. The
traffic was still slow from the north but we were heading the other way so
there was no slowdown. We drove past places we recognized from our walk the
previous day, but we saw no paragliders flying. The bus took us through the
expensive San Isidro neighborhood and past the large golf club before reaching
our destination at Huaca Pucllana, an ancient, partly reconstructed mud-brick
pyramid constructed about 2000 years ago. We had an opportunity to check out
the museum and gift shop before our guide, Yvonne (?) took us on a tour that
reached the top where some of the stucco walls still had their original yellow
paint. It’s a good thing that Lima has only two inches of rain a year or the
whole mud-brick edifice would have been washed away. As we wound up our tour I
asked both Carmen and our Lima guide about the Miraflores Indian Market which I
had seen on Google Maps when I was looking for Huaca Pucllana. They said the
bus could drop us off there and that it was an easy walk back to the hotel. We
got off near Kennedy Park and Parque Central de Miraflores which was pretty
lively. Then it was something like six or seven blocks to the market. I figured
that we would not make it before 1700 when Maps said it closed but many of the
little shops stayed open later, and it was not at all crowded. We found a shop
we liked that had “alpaca” traditional hats for much cheaper than we had
seen them in shops on Jose Larco; C.J. even bought a pair of socks for Ginny. In another shop we picked up a couple of water-bottle carriers. By
then it was after 1800 and we figured we’d better head home before it got dark,
forgetting that it was summer in Peru. Bladder issues led us to stop at Ice
Cookies again, and this time we got an ice cream sandwich made with a chocolate
chip and a chocolate brownie cookie. From there it was a very short walk
to the hotel. After some difficulty at first, I downloaded our photos onto my
computer; we did some more packing for the early start on Monday for our flight
to Cusco. Then we ate the sandwiches we had made at breakfast and caught up on
our journals.
29 Jan, Mon – Up at 0550 to beat the 0600 wakeup call. After
a shower we met some of the group down at the restaurant for breakfast. After
the usual breakfast (bacon with the scrambled eggs this time!), we each had a
cup of mata de coca, coca tea, in prep for our trip to Cusco and even higher to
Chinchero. We boarded our bus at 0715 for our 1025 flight. The traffic was the
usual rush hour slow but we were at the Lima airport plenty early to get our
boarding passes and get through security. Our boarding passes showed Gate 13
but we had settled there for only a short time when we got word to move to Gate
2, then to 13, then 8, then back to 13 where we waited while a bomb-sniffing
dog checked an unattended backpack. Finally we got to the jetway and then we
had to wait while the cleaning crew finished with our Latam Airbus 319 (?). All
the larger rollaboards had to be gate checked so mine went, leaving me with
just my backpack (convenient for carrying, not so great if I needed the warm
clothes that were in it). The flight left more than an hour late, but took only
1 hr 20 min to reach Cusco, mostly in the clouds. We had an occasional view of
mountains with snow and then close-up views of steep hillsides as we came in to
land at the high-altitude airport (11,000 ft). All of our checked luggage was
loaded under the bus and we set off climbing through Cusco and eating our box
lunches. On the way to Chincherro (located at 12,352ft elev.) it started
raining and we needed our raingear (and fleece, which I didn’t have) for the
covered, but outdoor presentation by a weaving co-op. C.J. let me get her down
jacket from the bus and gave me her fleece vest to go under my North Face rain
parka; then I was fine. The explanation of spinning, dying and weaving the
alpaca wool was really well done. Several of our group, including C.J., were
dressed in Quechua garments and we got some good photos with the likewise
attired local women and the coop president. After the demos, woven materials
and other wool garments were available for purchase. C.J. got a woven belt and didn’t buy a loosely woven scarf. I was already happy with my hat – but I
wished I had had it with me. Back in the bus we descended over the course of an
hour or so to Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. Our hotel, Villa Urubamba was a
charming, single-storied, rambling wooden building. We checked into our rooms
and rested for an hour. Then we had dinner (incl) in the hotel restaurant:
quinoa soup, chicken and rice or white and black quinoa with chicken, and
dessert was bread pudding or fresh fruit, We sat with Suzanne and Pete and
talked about traveling. Back at our room we got ready for tomorrow: curandero
healing ceremony, shopping for lunch at a local market, home-hosted lunch, chicha (corn beer) brewery, dinner at a
restaurant in Urubamba.
30 Jan, Tue – The Sacred Valley, “A Day in the Life” was
what OAT called today’s program. We got up before the wakeup call at 0700.
Breakfast was actually better than at the Jose Antonio, for one reason, the
juices were not watered down. However, there was no chocolate to mix with the
hot milk (boo hoo). At 0830 we gathered around a firepit where a healer
performed a ceremony for us while Carmen explained what he was doing. Each of
us got a personal blessing. It would be nice if my chest stopped hurting and
C.J.’s digestive upset this morning went away. After a quick run back to the
room to get our backpacks, we loaded on the bus and drove about an hour upriver
to the village of Calca where there was a traditional market with vendors
selling fruits, vegetable, meats and all kinds of hardware and clothing, definitely
not a tourist market. [Along the way we stopped where a team of men and women
were loading a big truck with corn the hard way, one heavy bag at a time.] We
were divided up into groups of four and assigned a couple of ingredients for
today’s lunch. We paired up with Suzanne and Pete and went off to find calabasa
and saboya (?), neither of which we knew so we had to ask several vendors who
sent us into the next building where we found a vendor who had the two kinds of
squash we were after. Once we had gathered again with our foods, Carmen sent us
off on a string of tuk-tuks to a big statue of a puma (still found in the
nearby forest/mountains) and then to the main square where we re-boarded the
bus and headed back down the river to a museum with a big totem out front from
a civilization prior to the Inka. That was mostly a bathroom stop and we were
soon back on the road heading for a chicheria,
a brewery for corn beer. We played a game involving throwing metal disks into a
box containing a metal frog with an open mouth. There were also holes in the
base of the box that the disks could pass through with varying point values.
Apparently, that is a traditional game played at a chicha bar. The lady brewer gave us a description of how she brewed
the corn beer and then we got to sample both the yellow, somewhat sour chicha,
and the pink, sweeter with strawberry (fruitilla). The bus then took us to the
host family for lunch. We divided into two groups; one went to make tortillas,
patties containing corn, oil, egg and peppers then fried in oil, and set the
table, while my group went to see the preparation of the cuy, guinea pig, for dinner. I was surprised that the cuy was
killed by twisting and pulling its neck and then plucked like a bird after
being dipped in very hot water. We had squash soup, rice, bean stew, another
puree-like dish called Inca soy beans, and fried cuy (which was tough and
probably an acquired taste). We had a sweet tomato in syrup for dessert, more
like a pear, except hollow). [Guinea pig seems like a good idea for a meat dish
since they breed every two months and produce two or three offspring at a time.
The family had a pen of guinea pigs outside.] Before going back to the hotel,
Carmen took us to the ceramic studio of Pablo Seminario. A guide showed us
around and we actually got to meet and talk to Sr. Pablo. Afterward, there was
time to browse through the gallery. The bus returned us to Villa Urubamba where
C.J. and I spent a couple of hours packing two small duffle bags to take to the
hotel at Aguas Calientes. We will also bring our backpacks, but our three rolling
bags go on the bus back to a hotel in Cusco. At 1840 we walked up to the bus
just in time for the super moon to rise over the local ridge. We drove a very
short distance to Oscar ____’s hacienda where a nice meal of rotisserie
chicken, bread, “Peru fries”, and tomato slices (a decided lack of veggies).
C.J. and I ordered Pisco Sours which were very good. Oscar later showed us
his collection of pre-Inca and Inca items. And his artist wife showed us
through her gallery. We were back at the Villa by 2030 and spent time catching
up on our journals.
31 Jan, wed – Up at 0645 for a departure time of 0800 on
another sunny day. We bused to Ollantaytambo where we walked a rectangular path
through narrow, cobblestone alleys between Inca walls. We did not have time to
climb up into the Ollantaytambo ruins. Back at the main square we waited a few
minutes for the bus then drove the short distance to the PeruRail train
station. We unloaded the small duffle bags that we had packed the night before
and left our big rolling duffle bag and our two rollaboards in the bus to be
transported to our hotel in Cusco. We waited almost an hour in the train
station so we had plenty of time to observe the special Hiram Bingham train for
travelers with an excess of money. When we boarded our Executive Class train,
we had seats set up in groups of four with a table with a folding top between
them – perfect for eating our box lunches supplied by OAT. We left at around
1115 heading more or less north (downstream) along the Urubamba River for the
1hr30min ride to Aguas Calientes. We shared our table with Suzanne and Pete.
There was plenty to see including the steep-walled canyon, the brown, rushing
water of the river (no rafting allowed below AG), and the two trailheads of the
“Inca Trail”, one reachable by bus, and the other only by train. Around 1300 we
were in the AG train station and a hotel agent took our duffels on a hand-drawn
truck to the hotel while we walked through the crafts market (no other exit
from the train station) and the main square to our hotel. There appeared to be
only one road fit for cars through the town; we walked on paving stones and over
a narrow bridge to the Machu Picchu bus stop. We got our tickets from Carmen
and boarded the bus for the ride up the many switchbacks of the unpaved Hiram
Bingham Highway. When we got to the entrance (after using the last rest rooms
(2) – none in the ruins at all) Carmen gave us the entry tickets [4hrs for
S/.152, glad we didn’t have to pay for the bus ($24, RT) and the entry!] then
took us on a guided tour of everything major in the archaeological park. That
would include (but I may be missing some things) Royal Tomb, Temple of the Sun,
Temple of the Earth Mother, three-window temple, orchid terraces, Intihuatana, equilateral
triangle stone, storehouses and Temple of the Condor. The weather held good all
day although mostly overcast with occasional sun. There were also a few
raindrops and some thunder rumbles. We didn’t head down until 1715 and then the
trip down took about 30 min although it seemed faster than the trip up. From
the bus stop we walked through the main square (church of Virgen del Carmen,
and large statue of Pahucachec) and up the main “street” to our hotel, El Mapi,
where we checked in and went directly to dinner in the dining room. We had
already made our choices on Tuesday so there wasn’t much of a wait before our
elegantly-presented meals arrived. We ate with Kirk and Dee from Minn. And
shared travel stories. We all ordered Pisco Sours.
Up in our room we washed out some underwear, wrote (literally) in journals, and
went to bed early. Tomorrow we will be on our own for some hiking, then free
time in town.
1 Feb, Thu – Up at 0540 for a 0700 meet in the lobby of El
Mapi. OAT local guide Wilson took us to the paradero
and we rode up to MP again. By 0755 we had finished with the last chance rest
room and we were on the way up the steps leading to the Sun Gate and Inca
Bridge trails (and Circuit 1 of MP). It was a slow hike for me as I was feeling
the altitude but we reached the Sun Gate around 0943 (according to C.J.’s
InReach satellite tracker). The weather had been mixed on the way – sometimes
foggy, sometimes clear enough for views of MP, sometimes spatters of rain. C.J.
and I waited at the Sun Gate until the fog cleared while the other six in our
party headed down with the intention of taking the trail to the Inca Bridge;
Dan and Kim had turned back about a third of the way along when Dan’s knee
started to act up. We got some decent photos and then started down; the descent
was much easier even though there were a lot of steps to negotiate. There was
less fog as we approached the upper guardhouse. After taking more photos
including some selfies or assisted selfies of MP in the increasingly crowded
viewpoints above the park (near the Ceremonial Stone), we followed the crowd
down steps (passing several men working on cleaning between the wall stones) to
the entrance/exit and restaurant. Since it was an hour before the agreed upon
time for meeting at 1215, we shared an ice cream cup and then caught a
bus back to Aguas Calientes. I gave C.J. the key and then followed slowly
behind her. When I got to the hotel I couldn’t figure out which building (block
4) and which floor (floor 3) we were on so I had to go down to the lobby and
wait for her there where the group was gathering to go to lunch together
at Chullpi. The food there was good, but it got noisy after the other OAT group
arrived. On the way back to the hotel I took out another S/. 200 from an ATM. After
cleaning up a bit, we went out across the bridge to the artisan craft market.
After looking at a dozen stalls we found a t-shirt that C.J. liked and the
proprietor went off to look for an Inka Trilogy (condor-puma-snake) tee that I
liked. C.J. then saw a scarf she liked and then another one for Ginny. [We
saw some baby-sized alpaca hats and thought of Allison’s twins, but we didn’t
know how safe that would be for babies.] It had been raining hard while we
shopped but it had stopped by the time we had wandered all the way to the
bottom of the market. Then we walked over to the river and the statue of Inka
Pachacutec (?) with the symbolic condor, puma and snake. On the way back to the
hotel we took a shortcut through a small, local public market. At the hotel bar
we cashed in our free Pisco Sour tickets (and someone else’s as well). We
joined Lee and Caroline, then Betty came in followed by Dan and Kim, Kirk and Dee,
Pete and Susanne, Doug and Pam, and finally Penny. Some were going to dinner
with Carmen at a place that she had not been to before, but seven of us had had
enough food at lunch and did not join Carmen and the other half of the group.
We went back to the room and got ready for our departure on Friday.
2 Feb, Fri, Groundhog Day – We met at 0745 with our duffels
at the lobby. We took the train along the Urubamba River to Ollantaytambo.
There we transferred to our bus and drove along the Sacred Valley passing
through Urubamba, and Calca where we had shopped at the market. [Not far from
Ollantaytambo we pulled off the road to look up at a unique hotel whose rooms
were literally hanging from the cliff. You could reach them by climbing rungs
set into the cliff or by using the cable. At $150 per person per night, it was
a little expensive … and weird.] (Speaking of expensive, the 4-star El Mapi had
posted prices of around S/. 950 or close to $285 per night; we wondered what
OAT paid.) Beyond Calca we went through Lamay (I think), the cuyeria capital of Peru. Women were
standing in front of guinea pig restaurants waving roast cuy on rotisserie
sticks trying to entice passersby in for lunch. We were heading for Pisac where
the route we turned onto started to climb the valley wall. There was a big
archaeological site near Pisac; we could see terraces on the steep hillside,
and ruins of Inca temple(s) on the summit. A bit beyond the last good view of
Pisac, we stopped at Altar Inka restaurant which had great views down the
Sacred Valley and artistic light fixtures of the Inca gods (sun - Inti, moon -
Killa, earth - Pachamama, water and ?). We had a good buffet and then drove on
up the canyon, which seemed to be composed of red rock, until we reached Sacsayhuaman,
an ancient Inca temple complex overlooking Cusco. Carmen provided us with
tickets and we climbed to the top of what was left of the complex after the
Spanish had mined the area for stones to build their cathedral on the main
plaza in Cusco. There was a mirador
that gave us a great view of the city below and the Christo Blanco on an adjacent hilltop. We were surprised to find
out that the giant rocks forming the base layers of the complex were not moved
from a quarry but were carved in place from the dolomite bedrock. The bus
picked us up on the far side and we continued into Cusco to our hotel, the Jose
Antonio. After checking in we had time on our own to visit the artisan market
right across the street (Ave El Sol). C.J. found two pairs of circular-knitted
socks and a pair of fingerless gloves/mittens. We continued to look
through the market for a silver pendant, but we didn’t find an awesome deal. Later,
on Ave El Sol, we ran into a vendor and bought two pendants and cheap chains
from her. For dinner we joined most of our group at Valentina’s across
from the hotel (even though Carmen had really pushed the hotel restaurant. We
had pizza and a Coke and shared a banana split with Kirk and Caroline.
3 Feb, Sat – Up at 0700 for a bus ride to the baby alpaca
factory tour/sales presentation. The best part was they had an actual baby
alpaca wandering around. The demo showed how to tell that you were buying real
alpaca wool scarves or shawls/caps/sweaters (all alpaca offering were
expensive). From there we walked down Plateros to the Main Plaza with the
Cathedral and Jesuit church. We went to the Inca/Pre-Inca museum where Carmen
gave a detailed description of almost everything, then we went to the
Qorikancha (Incan base and Santo Domingo Spanish construction above). C.J. and
I stayed to visit the underground Qorikancha museum while the rest of the group
went back to the hotel and Valentina’s for lunch. We stopped at an ice cream heladeria (6) for a shared cup then
walked down Ave El Sol to the hotel where we ate our sandwiches and rested.
Around 1545 we walked up to the Main Square again and followed "Gringo Alley" (Calle Procuradore) to the steep street that became a long staircase, back
to Plateros. We stopped at an open-air craft market but didn’t find anything
more that we wanted. We returned through the Main Square and then along El Sol
to the hotel. At 1800 we met for our last educational activity – how to make a
Pisco Sour - and had a round robin discussion of our trip (best parts, etc.). Then
we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant, Yuraq, where the food was very good.
We left a tip for Carmen and went back to our room to pack for a 0400
wakeup call.
4 Feb, Sun – Up at 0350 (!) for a 0515 departure on the bus
to the Cusco airport. Once we got on the uncrowded aircraft and had taxied away
from the terminal, Lee, who was seated behind us noticed that Betty was
unresponsive, as if in a minor epileptic seizure. The flight attendant came
quickly and also a doctor. One of the flight attendants called Carmen and I
sent her a text just in case she had not received the call. [Later I got a
response from her saying that she was in the terminal and would assist.] Betty
was moved into a narrow wheelchair and rolled off the plane. No one had any
idea what might have caused her illness. Although she was taking medication for
high altitude, she never showed any signs of altitude sickness, and was one of
the strongest hikers when we all went to the Sun Gate. Anyway, having to return
to the gate put us quite a bit behind schedule and when we landed in Lima, the
scheduled departure time for our flight had passed. We were met by an OAT
person and directed to the international terminal – apparently, our flight was
being held for us. Nevertheless, we hurried through Immigration and Security
and walked quickly to our gate (the farthest one from the entrance, naturally).
Sure enough, we were able to board our flight, after a bus ride to the boarding
ladders, and we even got a three-person row to ourselves far enough behind the
wing that we could see the ground when the clouds weren’t too thick. [It wasn’t
all that surprising that they held the flight for us since there were two OAT
groups totaling 25 people plus some others, a good portion of the plane’s
passenger load. Both flights were on Avianca, although the LIM-UIO leg was on
an AeroGal plane.] We were met after going through Immigration (no “get even
fee” this time) and Customs by Jorge and Sylvia in lieu of Luis who had to be
in the Galapagos to vote (mandatory in Ecuador) in Sunday’s referendum. The new airport
(opened about five years ago) is a 40+ minute drive from the Mariscal Sucre
(“Gringolandia”) where our hotel, the Mercure Alameda was located. As we got
close C.J. and I started to recognize things like the museum we went to and the
Parque Ejido which is the location of a craft market and art sale. After
checking in we went up to our rooms for 30 minutes then gathered in the lobby
for a short orientation walk. We walked around the block that the hotel is
located on with Jorge pointing out things to help us get oriented. After we got
back we walked to the craft market in Parque Ejido with Pete and Suzanne. C.J.
found an embroidered shirt right away and then we could enjoy the sights
of the market without having to buy something. Still, on the way back we went
to the Mercado Artesanal and looked
at some more stuff. Back at the hotel, we rested a bit before Jorge loaded us
into the bus for a trip to the Mandalae Ethnohistoric and Crafts Museum, where
we also had dinner. First, we got a tour of the mostly Pre-Columbian artifacts
with some interesting stuff about shamans. Dinner was excellent. Somehow, I had
chosen all the best dishes – shrimp cocktail (actually, three small cups of
various ceviches), and a beef tenderloin served on a sizzling metal platter.
The marinade was excellent and the steak delicious. C.J. got calamari in cream
sauce and a nice big filet of sea bass. Dessert was a gooseberry mousse for me
and C.J. had some kind of dough wrapped in corn leaves (mine was good, C.J.’s
not so much). We bused back to the hotel for bed (tired after getting up before
0400).
5 Feb, Mon – The bedside clock woke us up at 0545 and it
wasn’t immediately clear how to shut it off totally, so the snooze alarm got us
at 0600. We had my phone set for 0645 so we tried sleeping a bit more before
getting up. The buffet breakfast was pretty good but not as good as some we had
in Peru. Our first learning activity for the morning was a trip to Mercado de Carolina, a public market.
Jorge got us samples of fruit like maracuya and a red banana, we also tried a
batido made with raspberry juice, alfalfa juice, sugar and ?. It was excellent.
After we finished there, we bused back through Mariscal to the “colonial town”,
where the Main Plaza is located within a rectangle formed by the presidential
palace, the palace of the archbishop, Quito city hall and the metropolitan cathedral.
We stopped on the way there to look at the exterior of the Basilica del Voto
Nacional begun in 1892 and dedicated in 1985, an amazing neo-Gothic structure. C.J
bought a couple of lightweight, neutral color scarves from one of the street
vendors. We were really lucky that this Monday was a holiday, as well as
the usual time for the changing of the guard. We got to the Plaza Grande at
exactly the right time to see the gorgeously uniformed cavalry parade out and
then back again. There were bands, more dress-uniformed guards, school
children, even a speech by the president. [There were also lots of riot-uniformed
policia, just in case.] From there we
walked along Garcia Moreno to the Jesuit church, “church of gold”, Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus, a
baroque creation begun in 1605-1765. We spent some time inside with Jorge
explaining the features of the gold-leaf covered interior. From there we
continued south passing the Carmelite convent and church where Ecuador’s first
saint lived. Another couple of blocks brought us to a park with a great view of
the Virgen del Panecillo, the winged Virgin
(wings symbolizing her Assumption into heaven). We walked a ways east along the
Calle de la Ronda, one of the most
ancient streets in Quito. We stopped at Chef Tiff Artesanal Chocolates for an
explanation of how chocolate is made. And we got some small samples as well as
a piece of cocoa butter to rub on our hands. From there we retraced our steps
to the main square and our lunch at a restaurant in the Palacio de Arzobispal, “Hasta la Revuelta, Señor”
(Until I return, Lord). I may have not had enough water (I didn’t have my
insulated bottle with me because we were not carrying backpacks and I didn’t have
my bottle carrier) so I was feeling a little digestive upset with some
not-quite diarrhea bowel movements. I didn’t eat much of my potato soup, but I
did eat the goat meat out of the stew and I managed to eat a dish of guanabana
and mora ice cream. The restaurant was spectacularly situated on the
third-floor balcony overlooking the central courtyard. From there we returned
to the bus by walking north for a block or two from the main square. Back at
the hotel we went up to our room to rest and re-pack our stuff for going to the
Galapagos Islands. We’re taking our rollaboards, backpacks and the Nat. Geo. Duffel
with our snorkeling gear. By 1930, I was having some diarrhea and took two
Immodiums. Hope this is a short-term problem. I sat for a couple of hours in
the uncomfortable desk chair trying to catch up with this journal. [Betty
arrived at our hotel this afternoon after being cleared for travel. She seems
to be fine after the hospital gave her some fluids by IV. Apparently the
doctors thought that she had been prescribed a dose twice what they would
recommend for the high altitude medication and that led to dehydration.] I went
to bed early (2030) and started to feel better.
6 Feb, Tue – Up at 0600 feeling better, but I didn’t finish
my two fried eggs, so maybe my system is not yet 100%. It was raining when we
woke up. We got all of our bags out early for the hotel staff to pick up and
move to the lobby – service that we haven’t been accustomed to in our long history
of travelling. This is certainly a different level of care. After breakfast we
met at 0810, shuffled luggage around until we had a pile that stayed at the
hotel and a pile to take with us. The bus driver took a route that avoided the
expressway and took us down into one of the canyons. We were at the airport in
45 min and had to take our luggage through a check that insured that we were
not bringing in any flora or fauna to the Galapagos Islands. Our flight on
Avianca went first to Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, unloaded and
loaded passengers while we stayed aboard, then flew for about two hours to San
Cristóbal
Island, the capitol of the province. After deplaning on the tarmac, we walked
into the terminal and went through a check of our documents to be sure that we had
paid both a $20 fee for entering the Galapagos Islands and a $100 fee for
visiting the Galpagos Islands National Park (OAT covered these). Our carry-ons
were opened and inspected and we were then finally free to collect our checked
bags. It was only a short ride to the pier. And a short wait until we boarded a
“panga”, an inflatable Zodiac-type raft, to our boat, the Galaxy. We left our
shoes outside and had a brief introduction then we were shown to our cabins.
Even though C.J. and I were among the last to sign up for the trip we ended up
with a premium cabin on the upper deck with huge windows and a king-size bed!
Lunch was next and it was a buffet after a really good soup served by the chef.
Our first activity started after the Galaxy had motored partway clockwise
around San Cristóbal to a shallow channel between SC and Isla Lobos. Those
who did not want to snorkel went for a panga ride to find some wildlife. C.J.
and I went with the snorkelers. We all got assigned masks, fins and snorkels
(we had our own masks and snorkels), and wetsuits were offered (for $10 per
day). We wore our shorty wetsuits and I, at least, was happy to have it in the
cool-ish water. The big attraction at this site with its shallow, sandy bottom
and rocky shore was the chance to swim with young, playful sea lions. They
rocketed past us as they rolled onto their sides or backs, or juggled rocks or
shells playfully. There were also a few species of fish who stayed close to the
rocks. I climbed out when I started to get cold (and needed to pee) and most of
the rest of our group followed me into the panga. We motored along the shore
for a ways spotting some blue-footed boobies, a lava heron, and several frigate
birds with their chests puffed up showing red plumage beneath their black
feathers. I caught just a glimpse of a sting ray against the sandy bottom. Of
course there were numerous sea lions on the rocks, including a couple of lighter
colored mothers nursing their single offspring. Both pangas returned to the
boat and we had some time to use the bano
and get a hot shower. The Galaxy returned to the harbor where we had boarded,
Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, and anchored there for the night. At 1800 we had an
emergency drill and at 1830 we met in the main lounge to be introduced to the
crew. Luis must have held a meeting sometime earlier where he went over the
safety rules and SOP for how things are done on the boat. We all got a drink
and Luis told us what the plans are for the next day. By then it was 1900 and
time for dinner. Although we had had great weather so far, it rained (rainbow
over the town) during the early evening. We ate with Dan and Kim, a tasty piece
of snapper with sauce on two slices of potato and some string beans and
carrots. The chef served a nice cup of chocolate mousse over two green grapes
for dessert. By the time we had finished we were ready for some down time.
First I downloaded our photos from the last couple of days. Then I caught up on
this journal. This time C.J. went to bed early. BTW, my digestive upset seems
to have resolved itself.
7 Feb, Wed – The ship weighed anchor around 0300 and motored
to Española
Island where we anchored in Gardner Bay. After breakfast (0700) we used the
pangas to do a wet landing on the long, white-sand beach. We walked the length
of the beach past lots of sea lions, Hood mockingbirds, large beaked Darwin
finches (the small-beaked ones were common on the boat), marine iguanas,
red-headed lizards, and even a set of whalebones from a humpback. Back on the
boat we found a nice towel-fold heart formed into two swans, and our room
freshly made up. After a short rest and some time to move the boat to Gardner
Island, we met for our next activity. C.J. and I were the only ones who wanted
to kayak, so we were first off while the other 12 people either snorkeled or
went for a panga ride. We went a little ways west to the edge of the next bay
and then back east around a point to a cave and then out to the next point
before turning back to the boat, about an hour altogether. We saw blue-footed
boobies, golden rays, other snorkelers, and maybe some flying fish. We had
another tasty lunch which began with a creamy cauliflower soup. Right after
lunch the boat motored an hour to the south end of Española and anchored near Punta Suarez, Point Suarez. I rested in
the cabin until we met for the panga ride to a dry landing on a cracked and
broken concrete path on a jetty-like natural rockpile/lave rock. C.J. stumbled
and fell down cutting her forehead, the bridge of her nose and her knees. We
had to wait while a panga brought some medical supplies back from the boat. I
was surprised that Luis did not have that kind of minor-injury repair stuff
with him. After patching C.J. up, we continued on a rough, boulder-y trail
where we saw lots of colorful marine iguanas, more sea lions, of course, and
many nesting and young Nazca Boobies. There were also the nesting places of albatrosses
(when they are present), and an albatross carcass. We saw fuzzy, young Nazca Boobies
and even a new-born booby. Someone pointed out what might have been a young
albatross in the distance. The trail was rough enough that Doug and Pam turned
back, and Penny and Dee decided not to continue down into a gully and back up
the other side (and have to retrace the route on the way back). The trail was
no problem for C.J. and me but it was tiring, and it was helpful to have the
use of our trekking poles. We turned back at a clifftop overlook that had a
view of a great blowhole that erupted after almost every wave. We retraced our
route and got back to the boat later than expected. We got showers and changed
and went to the meeting at 1845 where Luis gave us some more history and told
us the plan for the next day. Sometime after 1900 dinner was served – good beef
with mushroom sauce, and shrimp in garlic sauce. The boat was scheduled to
begin a six-hour navigation to Floreana Island for our activities on Thursday.
We went to our cabin and worked on our journals and downloaded our photos. The
boat left sometime after 2100 and it was a not-so-smooth ride.
8 Feb, Thu – C.J. and I both woke up when the ship arrived
at Post Office Bay on Floreana Island (although I don’t recall any particular
noises). We got up a bit before the wake up call time of 0600, got a shower and
went down to the gathering point for an 0630 panga ride. There was some small
hope of seeing one of the few endemic penguins, but we didn’t see any. Both of
us got good photos of blue- footed boobies, though, and there were the usual
marine iguanas and sealions. Back at the boat we had breakfast around 0730 then
we went back out at 0830 for a wet beach landing and a short walk to the post
office barrel and a bit farther to the remains of a Norwegian colony that tried
to make a go of a cannery. There was also a trace remaining of the track or
road that pirates and whalers used to reach a spring in the highlands about
eight miles away. Back again at the Galaxy we got ready for a snorkel trip to a
rocky shore just to the left of the post office beach. We were lucky to have
relatively calm conditions and we were able to snorkel with at least a
half-dozen large sea turtles. There were some colorful tropical fish as well. C.J.
and I are the only ones wearing wetsuits, but I feel like it’s really necessary
for comfort in the not very warm water. Once we got back from snorkeling and
had taken a shower, we hung out on the upper deck while a few of our group went
to the beach to swim or just hang out in the sunny stretch of sand. (It felt
hotter today; maybe it’s the lack of clouds.)(BTW, apparently the beach group
saw a bunch of turtles and rays in shallow water.) Around 1130 we got a call to
assemble in the bar and Luis introduced Chef Santiago who demonstrated how to
prepare a ceviche as it is done in Ecuador (Marinate whitefish, onion peppers
in lime juice marinade for four hours, add an onion, olive oil, sugar, salt, gazpacho,
and _____. We had ceviche for lunch, not coincidently, along with spaghetti
Bolognese, chicken drumsticks, vegetables and fruit, with a layered gelatin
dessert. While the crew moved the boat to Cormorant Point, a short distance
away, we rested for an hour after lunch then C.J. went with the snorkelers to
the Devil’s Crown, a volcanic rock formation, while I stayed on the boat (I
just wasn’t warm enough to make me think I’d enjoy the relatively cool water
again today). When C.J. came back she reported that the water was too rough at
the Devil’s Crown and only Dan and Kim battled the waves and current. But they
then went to a nearby rocky reef and were able to swim with a lot of tropical
fish (but the water was cold, C.J. said). After some rest time, we met again
for a hike with a wet landing near Cormorant Point. We first boated past the
cliffs edging the bay noting many blue-footed boobies; then we disembarked on
the “green sand” (Olivine) beach. We walked along the beach a ways seeing many
boobies on nests or courting or defending territory. The trail started back
where we landed. First, we went a short distance to edge of a shallow, brackish
lake which supported a small population of flamingos (there are only 700
flamingos in the whole archipelago). The trail itself was smooth and sandy but
we did climb up to a saddle and descend to a beach. It may have been 2km each
way. The beach had a bunch of tracks of female Pacific green sea turtles and
hollows where they deposit their eggs. On the way back C.J. and I stopped to
climb to an overlook of the flamingo lake. Back at the boat we rested (and fell
asleep) until the briefing at 1830. Dinner was amberjack in a nice sauce,
mashed potatoes and red cabbage, with a slice of an apple pastry for dessert.
Luis invited us outside with our flashlights to take part in another learning
experience. His bright dive light showed us Galapagos reef sharks circling the area
behind the Galaxy. He also caught several flying fish in his light’s beam and we
could see how fast the sea lions were in the water as they chased the fish.
BTW, there were two sea lions who had hopped up onto the rear deck of the boat.
They left to chase flying fish but at least one came back later. We went to bed
early as we were both tired. During the night the boat motored to Santa Fe
Island.
9 Feb, Fri – Up at 0615, breakfast at 0700 and then off to
the beach at 0800 for a wet landing and a walk on Santa Fe Island. There were
lots of young sea lions on the sandy beach and on the rocks. We walked a loop
from the eastern beach to the western (or maybe it was vice versa) and saw the
big opuntia cactus whose main stem looked more like a tree than a cactus, but
when you tapped on them they sounded hollow. Although it is the rainy season,
there hasn’t been any rain yet, so the environment is very dry. We were on the
north side of the island; the south side is usually the wetter side. We also
saw land iguanas which are dull tan-brown, and not colorful like the marine
iguanas. One of the birds that Luis identified for us was the Galapagos
flycatcher. We returned to the boat around 0930 and 15 min later C.J. and I and
Dan and Kim were kayaking back to the beach along the shore and then back along
the far side where the waves were breaking on the rocks on the outside and the
water was a bit choppier. We met a whole flotilla of tourists in inflatable
kayaks on our way back. Shortly after we got back at 1030, the boat started
moving again heading for Plazas Islas, two small islands. The boat left right
after lunch and C.J. and I dozed in our cabin until 1430 or so and then
gathered for a hike with Luis. There was a big rain cloud in the distance (I
haven’t figured out which way is N/S/E/W although at this season, the sun
traverses the sky south of the zenith – we are very close to the equator and
the sun is working its way back north from the solstice position over the
Tropic of Capricorn. On March 21 it should be almost directly overhead at noon).
[I used my phone app Backcountry Navigator to mark our position at Isla Plaza Sur
and it was S 0.58, W 90.2.] We had a dry landing on the island and walked on a
rocky trail over the spine of the long, but not wide island. There were the
usual sea lions and Sally Lightfoot crabs, a few marine iguanas and more land
iguanas. We saw a lot of the red-footed Swallowtail Gulls with their red-rimmed
eyes and on the cliffy windward side there were red-billed tropicalbirds
(that’s the real name!) with their long white tails and rapidly flapping wings.
There were also colonies of narrow-winged Galapagos Shearwaters, dark on top
and white beneath. It was a good walk with the temperature kept down by the
strong wind and occasionally cloudy sky. We got back to the boat to be met once
again by a snack (empanadas, sauce, chips and peanuts/raisins) and a fruit
drink prepared by Marcello. [We missed a chance to snorkel at Santa Fe because
there was an incident recently with a guest being injured by a tiger shark. That’s
why we had a kayak paddle instead.] At our 1830 briefing today, Luis had all
the ship crew show up again so we could toast them for their efforts. We had
warm canelazo in cups for the toast. This trip is winding down, and I had
already got my wetsuit dried out and put away yesterday and got C.J.’s dried today
and packed with our masks and snorkels.] Luis says that we’ll see giant
tortoises on the last day, but only at the Darwin Research Center. We will have
to leave early to make our 1130 flight from the airport on Isla Baltra, an old
WW II, US airbase. The boat is moving to Isla Santa Cruz starting at 2200
tonight and we take a bus from the town and a ferry to Baltra.
10 Feb, Sat – We woke up at 0515 in Puerto Ayora harbor with
a nicer-looking town than San Cristóbal. Breakfast at 0600 then into the
pangas at 0630 for the short ride to the dock; our luggage had already been transferred
to the bus. We waved goodbye to the boat crew who were already busy preparing
for a three-day OAT trip starting at noon. It was a short drive to the other
side of the harbor where we got off the bus at the entrance to the Darwin
Research Center, an NGO closely allied with the national park. No vehicles were
allowed in so we had to walk about 1.2 mi roundtrip to see the giant tortoise
breeding area and the various species of giant tortoise (plus a few land
iguanas). It was a hot walk back out as the sun rose higher in the sky. We were
glad to reach the air-conditioned bus. We drove north for a while before
stopping at one of Luis’ surprises, a woodcarving shop where the artisan was
actually doing some hand carving as well as using electric bench tools. C.J.
and I did not buy anything – it’s easier when we’re already trying to pare down
our accumulation of stuff. Back on the road, we passed over a 1500ft-high road
summit and duly noted that the ecosystem was totally different from that on the
low islands – there were actual trees! The ferry was just a 25ft boat and our
bags were piled on the roof. The channel was very narrow and we crossed in ten
minutes or less. Then we had to wait for another bus to fill up, and this one
wasn’t air conditioned. When the next ferry arrived, the bus filled up and we
drove another ten minutes to the airport. While we had to go through security
and hand in half of our Galapagos fee card, there wasn’t much formality. We
were at least an hour early for our 1130 flight which gave us plenty of time to
look around all the nifty-gifty/T-shirt shops. Typically for an airport, there
were no screaming deals. We boarded by walking out to the plane (Avianca) and
going up both ladders. We were a bit behind the wing but there wasn’t much of a
view because we had aisle and middle seats. We had another 40 min layover at
Guayaquil where we did not deplane, but this time very few people got on the
plane there, so there were some empty seats. At Quito (UIO) Luis collected our
luggage and had it brought to our bus and then we drove the expressway route to
the same hotel, Mercure Alameda. C.J. and I spent most of the next hour or so unpacking
and repacking our three bags. Fortunately we don’t need to do the final packing
right away because OAT has arranged that we can stay in our rooms until we go
to the airport around 2030 for our 0035 flight – most of the group is taking
the same flight to Atlanta. At 1900 we had our farewell dinner in the hotel
restaurant. C.J. and I had the ceviche (different again), pork/sea bass, and
chocolate mousse. With the veggies (carrots and hearts of palm) and starch
(manioc/yucca patties/saffron rice), we had more than enough to eat. Since it
is not our last day with Luis, we didn’t give him the customary gratuity. We
plan to do it on Sunday with the rest of the group. OAT bought us a drink (Canelazo: Canelazo is warm spiced cinnamon cocktail made with
cinnamon, water, sugar and aguardiente) (this time it was served cold) and served wine or beer (or soft drink or …) with dinner.
11 Feb, Sun – Up at 0630 (phone alarm was still on Galapagos
time so it was a good thing we woke up on our own. After breakfast, at 0820, we
took the bus to Sinamune Foundation which OAT helps support. We saw a musical performance
by Maestro Paraiso and some of the school students. There were instrumentals,
songs and dances (during some of which, audience members (us and the other OAT
group) were pulled into the dance. We stopped to shop in the school souvenir
shop and I couldn’t resist the price on a Montecristi Panama hat, finer than
the one I bought in 2008 at the Otavalo market. C.J. found a green ruanna
(serape?) like her red one from Bogota, but with a more ethnic pattern on the
wide border. From there we went farther north to a museum, Inti Ñan
(path of the sun), which was supposedly closer to (“right on”) the equator than
Mitad del Mundo (which was based on the French expedition’s data). [My phone
GPS showed -0.000105 degrees which is pretty darn close.] We got a guided tour
which demonstrated all the usual equator stuff like water going down a drain
without a swirl on the equator, two-sided sundials, and walking with our eyes
closed on the painted equator line. There were a lot of native-carved statues
like tikis and Easter Island heads, etc. From there we drove back toward the
hotel stopping for a surprise, this time by Jorge. We visited a small craft
beer brewery (Quiteña) and had several samples plus bread and sausage, and
avocado and tomato salad. We didn’t need any lunch after that (and we could
hardly walk a straight line). Back at the hotel C.J. wrote a note to Luis, and
we prepared an envelope with his gratuity. I checked us
in with Delta online and arranged for three checked bags so we would not have
to carry our rollaboards. The schedule is to have our luggage out by 2000 and
leave for the airport at 2030. Sometime after 1430 C.J. and I went out for a
walk to the El Ejido park where we looked at all the vendors’ booths. Then we wandered
a bit checking out the holiday (Carnival) activities. There were some young
people with water guns and others with the same kind of spray cans of foam we
saw in Roldanillo. We didn’t find any T-shirts we liked (or anything else), so
we went back north a couple of blocks to the Mercado Centro Artesanal. After browsing the narrow aisles, we
found a booth with some shirts we liked at a reasonable price for thin, cotton
shirts. We stopped at a heladeria
for cones and then used our change to buy a Patari chocolate-cherry, 60%
cacao, artisan-chocolate bar. We came back and finished (mostly) packing
and then rested for a while. C.J. wasn’t hungry enough to go downstairs and see
if there was anything on the appetizer menu that might sound good, so I went
down alone. Caroline, Lee, Betty and Penny were in the hotel restaurant, Spicy,
and invited me to join them. Caroline was eating a huge hamburger with a pile
of French fries and shared some of them with me. Then the others got their soup
appetizer which turned out to be a large bowl, more than they expected. Thus,
when their main course arrived, they were already quite full, and I ended up
with a good bit of Lee’s ravioli bowl. Just as I finished, C.J. showed up and
scarfed down a couple of rolls. Back in the room we finished the last bit of packing
(I had already taken a shower and put the three checked bags out at 1900) and
joined most of the rest of the group downstairs in the lobby, about 45 min
early. Luis got all our checked bags on the bus and we left around 2030 or so,
arriving at the airport about 2130. Luis pointed us to the correct counter and
then left us to check in and get our boarding passes. Ours said that we didn’t
yet have assigned seats, but the gate agent found us seats together in an exit
row. We all went through the immigration and security formalities and most of
us ended up at the same gate for the same Delta flight to Atlanta. However,
some group members had paid OAT a fee to upgrade and had Sky Priority. We had
some sort of priority ourselves maybe because we were in an exit row so we got
to board in zone 1.
12 Feb, Mon – The plane was late in arriving so we didn’t
start the boarding process until nearly 0015, and we probably did not take off
until close to 0100. It was a long, cold flight – the exit rows are always
colder than other rows, especially in the window seat. We both had fleece tops
to wear and light blankets, but C.J. was shivering at times (no wonder, when we
checked her water bottle, there was a skim of ice in it!). We got a snack or
maybe a light meal of either a “cheese plate” or a sandwich, both with a small
container of liquid yogurt and some fruit. On arrival in the US at Atlanta we
used Global Entry and avoided one long line, but the next line for the TSA
security check there was no pre-check so we had a waiting line and had to take
off our shoes, jackets and belts. And then, for the second time that night I
had to wait while an agent checked my computer for gunpowder (?) residue. At
our gate, (we arrived at Concourse E and had to go to A33), I bought two
bananas and a chocolate filled croissant for breakfast at Boars Head.
While I was gone, the gate agent asked for volunteers to take a later flight
(1730, instead of 0810) for $400 each. That was a no-brainer. However, when
they had loaded everyone, our seats were still empty, so all the volunteers
were herded onto the plane and we lost out on some easy money. We were in the
far backend of the plane with seats that did not recline and were right
opposite the rest rooms, but at least they weren’t frosty cold. I watched a
couple of episodes of the Ken Burns documentary, Vietnam, since I couldn’t seem to sleep. We got back to SEA early
at about 0945 and retrieved our bags; C.J.’s was somewhat damp from the drizzle
in ATL (we had already noticed that the large duffle bag was wet when we picked
it up in ATL). It certainly is easier travelling with just three rolling bags
rather than having, in addition, two paraglider packs. We had to use C.J.’s
phone to call the ParkNJet2 shuttle (my phone still had the Claro sim card from
Peru) but it was almost out of battery which necessitated a bit of a delay
while she charged it. Still, when we got out of the baggage pickup area, the shuttle was still loading and we had no wait time. On the way home, we stopped at
the post office to collect our mail. The house was cold – well, maybe not all
that cold but it felt chilly compared to our last two weeks in the tropics. I
turned on the heat and made a fire. We had part of a Safeway pizza for lunch. C.J.
got started right away on our laundry after lunch.
Later, C.J. wrote a brief description of our trip in an
email to the Goldmans. I‘ll include it here for her slightly different take on
our trip.
Hi,
Paula, Stephen and Bobby,
Holy moly, what a trip
we just had!! I think this was the best non-flying vacation we've ever taken—so
much to see, to learn, to experience, in two such different locations. We've
just begun to sort through our photos; I've attached a few of my favorites from
my 600+ images. George probably has at least that many, and since his camera
has a much better lens and zoom than mine, he'll surely have some perspectives
that I didn't get. Will update later...
Our adventure got off to a really rocky
start: On our flight from Atlanta to Lima, we were a couple hours out of
Atlanta when I noticed on the flight-path display that just before getting
above Cuba our plane icon suddenly appeared 90° to its previous straight-line
course. We hadn't felt a turning, so we figured it was some weird anomaly on
the display. But then the icon turned another 90° and pointed back towards the
US. Uh oh. You can imagine all the scenarios that flashed through our
imaginations! The flight attendants were passing out meals, and I asked one
what was going on. "The captain will be making an announcement shortly,"
she told me. But the announcement was, "Flight attendants, please cease
meal distribution immediately." Double uh-oh (although we'd already been served,
so there was that consolation...). We soon learned from the captain that there
was a warning light on one of the engines, and he was taking us back to
Atlanta, where another plane was available to re-start our journey. But then we
were told that we'd be making an emergency landing in Orlando. At that point I
began hoping our captain was channeling Sully, just in case we had to ditch
short of Florida...
But all went well; we landed in Orlando and
de-planed, then had to wait many hours for the replacement plane to arrive from
Atlanta. It was the middle of the night, and the Orlando airport was totally
closed up. The staff or crew (or whoever) sent out for hot dogs and Chick-fil-a
sandwiches and lots of granola bars and other snacks, and we all settled in for
a late-night impromptu party. When the plane finally did arrive, it was a crazy mess trying to get everything
sorted out, since the computers weren't
accessible and everybody had to be cleared to board from a printed-out list (presumably the one
that would have verified who was on
board, had we gone down in the ocean...), which took way too long.
Oh, well, we eventually arrived in Lima, along
with all our luggage, and we were able to check into our hotel for a shower and
a loooooong sleep. And that was the
only major stressor of the whole trip.
Here's a brief summary of all the fun stuff we
did: The Machu Picchu segment included a side trip up to a Quechua weavers'
village at 12,000' in the Andes. Really
interesting to try our hands at spinning the wool, and making the dyes from natural substances (that beautiful
bright red comes from the tiny cochineal
bug, which lives on a fungus that grows on the pads of the prickly pear cactus—who knew?!) Our
guide, Carmen, grew up in a similar village, didn't go to school until she was
11, and is now an archeologist with lots of experience at Machu Picchu and the
other Inca sites throughout Peru. She was (as would be expected from OAT)
really knowledgeable about the culture, history, geology of the whole region we
traveled through. One of our "learn and discover" experiences was
just before our home-hosted lunch: At
the huge local market, she divided us into
groups of three or four, handed each group a 5-soles coin (worth about $1.50), and told us the names of a
couple things we were to purchase,
ingredients for the meal. That was all the info she'd provide, so off we went,
with our minimal (at best) Spanish and no clue whether we were looking for
animal, vegetable or mineral. It was a really fun adventure, trying to ask the
vendors where we could find our items in this huge market, probably butchering
the pronunciations, sharing laughs and shoulder-shrugs and eye-rolls with the
people we were trying to interact with. We were all successful, coming back
with such things as alfalfa (to feed the guinea pigs) to spices we'd never
heard of, to giant squash and little potatoes.
The meal was pretty good, although I
wouldn't recommend cuy (roast guinea pig)—leathery skin, lots of bones, not
much meat. Good soup, though, served with tortillas that looked to us more like
potato cakes, and interesting drinks and dessert made from sweet beans and
unknown fruits. Carmen is very
politically active, and she had tales to tell of the political corruption that's
left huge industrial developments half-finished and deserted, and horrific
treatment of many of the indigenous people who are illiterate and who suffered
horrible injustices because they weren't able to read what they were being
urged to sign under pretense that "it's for your health" or similar
pretext. Later on she introduced us to a woman who had been sterilized (along with
thousands of others) under pretext that she was having her appendix removed.
Very sad situations.
On a happier note, we stayed at a beautiful
hotel set among the flowers and below the big mountains in the Sacred Valley,
before going on to Machu Picchu. We were so lucky to have a warm, sunny day for
our "healing ceremony" at the hotel, so we could be outdoors rather
than in the yoga studio. The healer conducted the ceremony as he would in a village,
and we were all invited to participate to the extent we felt comfortable. What
a unique opportunity to glimpse a part of Quechan culture that we'd never
imagined.
And then, finally: Machu Picchu! We packed
our overnight bags and took the train through the deep and stunningly scenic
Urubamba valley, the tracks following alongside the Inca trail, and the rushing
river, into the city of Machu Picchu. The good weather was holding for us, and
our first glimpse of that magnificent ruin was with clear air and only distant
rumbles of thunder. Since we were staying right below the ruins, we didn't have
to worry about making train connections back to anywhere and were able to
remain on site after most of the other tourists had headed out. So nice to be
able to focus on the rocks and the mountains and the ambience of ancientness,
without being interrupted by crowds.
When we went back in the morning, cloudbase
was much lower, and we caught only glimpses of the ruins through holes in the
clouds as we approached in our bus. Several of us opted to hike the Inca trail
the 1.5 miles up to the Sun Gate, where the winter solstice (that'd be June) sun
shines through the gate. I was surprised to find the Inca trail is a (relatively)
smooth path of big stones laid out for (relatively) easy walking, rather than
just a trail through the jungle. George and I took our time (we were at 9000'
or so, after all!), pausing often to look back to see if we could catch a hole
in the mist that would reveal the ruins below us. When we did, it was
magical—especially when we were in the mist, and there was a shaft of sunlight
illuminating part of the ruins. What an incredible experience this trip was!
A few days later we were back at sea level,
where, as one of our group members commented, there were enough air molecules
to make breathing worth the effort. George and I were fortunate that we didn't
suffer any ill effects from the high altitude, other than huffing and puffing
when walking uphill. And then it was on to the Galapagos, where you've been and
already know how amazing those islands and all their critters and plants and
landforms are! I'm sure we did pretty much the same things you did: snorkeling with the sea lions and
the tropical fish and the turtles (I
took lots of underwater photos, but only a few came out well enough to share), hiking and kayaking and
riding the pangas to spot the blue-footed
boobies and visit the turtles' nesting beach, lazing aboard our boat (the
Galaxy), eating way too much excellent food, trying to figure out the southern
constellations (we could spot Orion directly
overhead but never did locate the southern cross), and one evening hanging
out on the stern deck after dark while our guide Luis beamed his uber-bright
flashlight on the water to entice the sea lions and the flying fish and the
sharks (sharks?? we were swimming in that water a few hours ago!) to put on a spectacular
under- and over-water show for us. Thanks, BTW, Paula, for recommending we
bring our wetsuits—the water was indeed chilly, and I don't think George would
have gone in at all if he'd not had some insulation.
Our last "discovery" stop was
back in Quito, at the "middle of the world" museum, right on the equator.
What a disappointment to learn that the spot we'd posed on 10 years ago,
believing we were right on the equator, has since been proven by GPS to be a
bit off the mark. So we posed again, this time sharing a kiss between two
hemispheres. Good memories!
We had a really congenial group, lots of
fun folks to hang out with, although we did have three mobility-challenged
members that rather slowed the pace of the group when we weren't in a situation
where the group could be divided. I was disappointed that there wasn't better screening,
on such an active itinerary, to be sure everyone would be able to keep up the
pace, but in truth I doubt we missed out on very much because of the slower
pace. I think that was the only negative thing I can say about the entire
trip—even the weather wasn't worthy of a complaint!
