Amazon 2002: 2 - Machu Pichu, Peru to Lima, Peru

It has been a pretty exciting day today. John & I set off first thing to scale the very steep mountain adjoining Machu Pichu, Huayna Picchu. It is 2,700 meters or 8,860 feet high. This is the taller mountain that usually appears in photos of Machu Pichu. It was a killer for me, but we made it in about 45 minutes. Just to add drama and authenticity to the project, on the way back down through a narrow and slippery cave the gods of the Incas pulled my feet out from under me, causing me to do a face plant into the cave wall. This marred my perfect features only marginally.

The hotel on the mountain here has the earliest checkout of any hotel I've ever been in - 9 AM. At any rate, suitcases were checked to be picked up at the train station before John and I left, but when we got back at about 9:45 AM there was no place to clean up or wash from our climb, so we got a hold of the food services manager and had three been each instead. We both felt we merited it after the climb and descent!

The women weren't around, so we headed for the bus to go down the mountain to the rain - we were taking the first one out, and I boarded it early to get the front seat next to the driver for taking some video. Marilynn & Lee soon appeared, and once down, Marilynn wanted to be let out at the beginning of the market so she could get into serious shopping mode. I tired of that very quickly, and even John & Lee were ready to do something else, so we hired a young postcard seller to show us the way to a restaurant in the village that was recommended by the food & beverage manager from the hotel on the mountain. It's a good thing we hired him, as we'd have never found it, but it was a really cute little place. I'd introduced our guide to Marilynn and he went back to wait for her to finish shopping to then bring her to the restaurant. Meantime, the rest of us got into more beer.

When Marilynn showed up we ordered an enormous lunch, then John & Marilynn headed off for more shopping and Lee and I went to explore the rest of the town. The streets are all stairs, so there are no vehicles in the town. Freight, deliveries and anything else must all be carried to their destination by hand, or foot, as the case may be. There were hot springs at the top of the main street - which climbs very rapidly and certainly did assist in wearing off the huge lunch we'd had..

Eventually we all met up at the train station. I waited until the departure time for the train, and then left Marilynn to sit in two adjoining seats so that by sitting sideways I could fit my legs in. Unfortunately the train was 15 minutes late in leaving, and during this time I had to move twice as people came aboard to claim their seats. This is being written in the last set of two seats on the train, back in the section where guides and staff sit. So far so good - no one has said anything about me being here.

By the time we arrived back at Poloy station where we were met by our driver and guide we were all really tired. We were back at high altitude again, and that makes you tired as well, until you acclimatize to it. We had reservations for a dinner show that night, but got our guide to cancel them, as besides being tired no one felt like eating much - we were all still full from the enormous lunch we had.

When we arrived back at the hotel we put our gear away, changed and went back to the Irish pub we were at previously for a few drinks. That was followed by a walk around the main square, which ended up at a little restaurant where snacks were in order. As I said, no one wanted much, but they did small sandwiches with homemade bread and I had just arroz con leche, which is a type of rice pudding that we also have in Costa Rica.

While we were in the restaurant a local band with local instruments came in and played to the two tables of people who were there. They were absolutely excellent. There were about six members in the band, and they had pan flutes varying in length from a few inches to about four feet, plus a locally made drum, guitar, another guitar-like smaller instrument and flutes. They were selling CD's that they had made, and were also very receptive to any tips that we were going. We tipped them well, as they played for quite a long time, and the music was really enjoyable. In the end we didn't feel we had missed anything by not going to the dinner show at all.

When we got back to the hotel we did the check out procedure before going to bed, as we had been warned that the hotel was full and that there would be a large line up trying to check out in the morning. There is a conference of Latin American lawyers here which ended today, so they'll all be headed home in the morning.

On arrival at the airport we went to check in the bags, and they would allow neither Marilynn nor I our carry on bags. What was in Marilynn's was her backpack with her camera equipment in it. One more indicator of the stupidity of the system, she took out the backpack and checked the empty suitcase. That was then fine. I took all my computer, video, shaving, pharmaceutical and other electronic equipment plus the binoculars our of my suitcase, for which they provided a bag, and checked a nearly empty suitcase. This then made them happy.

It is interesting that the reason the clerk said we had to check the bags was because they were too heavy. That is fascinating, as they are on the same plane checked or not! In the end, we still carried on the same weight each as all the heavy objects were removed before the bags were checked. It is a fascinating system indeed, seemingly designed for maximum inconvenience to the travelling public but with no benefit to the airline.

There has also been a change in itinerary. Apparently, Continental Airlines has changed the flight time into Lima for the arrival of most of the passengers, so our departure to Iquitos has been moved to late this afternoon. We won't arrive there until 7:30 PM, when it will be dark. This means the city tour and the chance to explore this old, once very wealthy city of the rubber barons will be lost.

On Saturday afternoon the four of us took a cab to the Miraflores District where the Indian markets are. Marilynn and Lee had a wonderful time shopping in the hundreds of booths, but were a bit put off to find they had paid two to three times the price for items they bought in Cusco and Machu Pichu than they could have bought them for here.

After the shopping urge had been temporarily satiated we walked to the central part of Miraflores where we found a sidewalk café that served us up beer and drinks. We walked down the main street, and received the same recommendation for a restaurant from a couple of people, so we went there. It is a "parillada", or meat grill type of restaurant, named La Tranquera. The food was fabulous and the portions enormous. We had pork ribs, lamb and fillet mignon between us, and no one could eat their full portion. John & I had the smallest portion of ribs offered, and were sure glad we didn't order the large size!

The meat was cooked over a wood fire, and served over a brazier filled with hot coals taken from the cooking fire. Bottles of wine, beer, pisco and liqueurs accompanied the meal, and we all left in very mellow shape! M even took the advice of the waiter and drank down a large Pisco shooter which he said would stop her sneezing. It did! The sneezing was replaced by a certain amount of gasping.

Fortunately the taxi driver who took us back to the hotel had a sense of humour, as John, who was sitting in front, assisted him with his driving throughout the trip, both verbally and by frequently leaning over to blow the horn. Upon arrival at the hotel John then tried to pay the $5 cab fare with 5 soles, which are worth about $1.40. It all sorted out in the end!

On Sunday morning when we were just arriving for breakfast, in walked our friends from England, Roger and Sally Nelson. We hadn't expected to see them up and about as they had just completed a gruelling two day trip from England via Sao Paolo, Brazil, where they had a layover from 6 AM until 7 PM. Apparently it didn't go too badly due to the courtesy of a Brazilian who took them to a pleasant park for the day. John reported that Lee was down for the count, with both ends going steadily. At least she picked a day of leisure to have the problem!

I negotiated for a driver and van to chauffeur us around from 1:30 PM onwards at a cost of $12 per hour. While we waited for it we had drinks by the pool and I went for a swim. The pool temperature was great, over 30 degrees.

The driver took us into the old part of Lima, where there are a lot of beautiful old buildings and big plazas. I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of green space and the general state of the city. We walked along a shopping street which was closed to traffic from the Plaza de Armas to the Plaza Bolivar. The driver took the van around so we had to cover the four block area only one way. Marilynn saved lots of money by finding a camera lens she wanted on sale, and Sally bought some comfortable walking shoes.

We carried on another block past our van, where an ice cream shop made a welcome treat, then went to explore the Franciscan Monastery, which was very worth seeing. The catacombs below the monastery, which contain exposed bones from some 25,000 people who were buried there, was quite an experience on its own!

Marilynn and Sally went to have a look in the church, but the guys spotted a pub across the street and unanimously decided that touring monasteries was very thirsty work, so opted for a couple of beer instead. After the women joined us, we climbed into our comfortable van and headed back to the Indian Markets of Miraflores, stopping along the way to buy a battery for Roger's hearing aid.

The shopping was completed in an unusually short period of time, so we headed off for drinks and dinner. Our driver had a restaurant in mind, and soon we were travelling alongside the beach where surfers were making good use of the big waves which were rolling in. Once again the driver proved his worth - the restaurant, La Rosa Nautica, was a really interesting old structure built on a pier right over the point where the waves were breaking. We paid off our driver, and headed in to enjoy more cold beer and drinks.

We had a great meal of seafood appetizers, as no one felt up to a main course. We are learning that the food portions here are enormous and even John was ordering light. A couple of beer and three bottles of wine saw us through dinner, and all five of us managed to squeeze into a cab for the return trip to the hotel.

In the morning when we met for breakfast we were delighted to see that Lee had returned pretty much to normal. A quiet morning was spent packing, settling hotel accounts and for me, writing and getting emails away. Tonight we will be settled in on the ship "Explorer".