Babs-Thanks so much for skipping Margee's part of the report and continuing with your piece of the report. I am really enjoying reading about your adventure. I was so excited when you mentioned that you would be able to get to Machu Picchu. I am really sorry if it did not work out. I know you must be disappointed if you did noit get there, but the rest of you trip so far sounds like it was wonderful. I give you a lot of credit for doing that hike on the island. I am hoping that we do not get altitude sickness as neither Jim nor I can take Diamox. I am looking forward to the rest of your report.

March 22, 2010 Moray and Salineras de Maras

We got up bright and early because we have to return to Cusco to change our Lan Peru tickets back to our original itinerary. We were so early that KB Tambo was not serving breakfast yet. We wandered down the street to Heart Café and they were not open either. We did stop at the ATM in the plaza and got sols and dollars. David Choque wanted to be paid in dollars.

We walked into another restaurant that smelled like they had mopped the floor with a dirty, stagnant mop and I told Margee I could not eat there. We ended up next door where the owner was placing tables and chairs out on the sidewalk. It was a warm, pretty, sunny morning so breakfast outside suited us fine. We were now a bit short on time so we asked if he could have coffee for us in about 15 minutes and he replied yes. We actually ordered pancakes to go with our coffee. I ran back to KB Tambo to leave word for Fidel and Tiger that we were breakfasting on the plaza. By the time I got back to the restaurant our food arrived. We had just the right amount of time to eat and pay our bill before Fidel and Tiger arrived. They apologized for being late but we told them their timing was perfect.

Back in the car we return to Cusco. It is about an hour and ½ drive and this was the third time to see the scenery. Fidel took us to the Lan Peru office and Margee grabs a number while Fidel and I search out a restroom at the hotel across the street. It was not a very long wait until our number popped up on the screen. The best part of our transaction was walking up and sitting down at the service representative’s desk. It went downhill from there. We were to soon learn that she needed a HUGE sign on her forehead that said “IN TRAINING”.

Margee tries patiently to explain to her that all we want to do is to go back to our original itinerary, and here is a copy of what we want. She fussed on the computer, over and over and over and over. It was unbelievable. We have no idea what she was doing. We don’t think she did either. She asked for help from the gal sitting in the next window but all she got was abbreviated assistance that did not move things along at all.

Finally she figured out that she could switch our tickets back as there was still room on the flights. OK, now we are getting somewhere though this has taken an hour. Of course we want printed confirmation of the change; her word that it’s OK is not enough. Confirmation was not so easy for her. This probably took another 30 minutes. Now we are due a refund but she can’t put the money back on the credit card, she has to give us vouchers. Vouchers are another item she has not been trained on yet. At one point, she is so frustrated that she is wiping her eyes and I think not only is she traumatizing us we are traumatizing her. Margee nicely but pointedly asked the gal in the next window to help her because at this point we have been sitting here for two hours, but no help was provided. She could not figure out how to process the vouchers and at one point asked us if she could meet us at the airport and deliver the vouchers to us. I was not born yesterday and I knew if we walked out of that office without the vouchers that would be the end of it. She would hit the delete button and that would be that. So I told her NO, she needed to figure out to process them. Finally, she passed the vouchers over. I bet she went on break after we left and had a good cry, we certainly wanted to. What a nightmare. Lan Peru was not a good experience. We took big cleansing breaths as we walked out the door with patient Fidel and we decided to put it behind us.

During all this turmoil, a nice American couple asked if we needed assistance. We had purchased the Lan Peru tickets with Wells Fargo points and they said they were familiar with the program. I explained that our problem was not with Well Fargo but with Lan Peru but it was nice of them to offer assistance. These nice folks are affiliated with the Methodist Church and are with a group providing health and dental services to people living around Lake Titicaca. I asked if they ever had pre-med students assist them and they said they did. I jotted down their info to give to my son Chris in case he is interested in volunteering before he heads off to medical school. Too bad that Chris is interested and I lost the information!

We walked out of Lan Peru and thanked Fidel and Tiger for waiting on us. We were all hungry by now so Tiger drove us to the San Blas area and we ate lunch at Pacha Papa. Margee and I both had pizza and we shared. The two boys had something off the “tourist menu” that looked really good and we treated both of them to lunch for so patiently waiting while we arm wrestled Lan Peru. The food and the atmosphere were delightful. In fact, we liked San Blas so much that we decided we would come back when we returned to Cusco in a few days.

We are on our fourth trip on the road out of Cusco. We are a bit bored with it so we decide to have a doggy counting contest. On a five mile stretch of road Margee counted all the doggies on the left side of the car and I counted all the doggies on the right side. If a dog was crossing the road, he would be counted on the side of the road he was headed to. Fidel and Tiger thought we were crazy but it didn’t take long before they got into the act. I counted 67 and Margee counted 50. We would see one here and one there, then all of a sudden there would be a pack of 5. Someone we met along the way told us if they have a blue collar on they have been vaccinated by a volunteer group. We never saw any blue collars and most of the dogs were in pretty bad shape.

We have our revised plane tickets; we have a full stomach, finally it was time to have some fun. First stop is Moray, the concentric ring terraces probably developed by the Inca as an agricultural experiment. Each ring terrace has a different micro climate, and the temperature differs by 1.5 degree Celsius each level. It was kind of fun to climb up and down the Inca steps to each level. Inca steps are big rocks that jut out from the side of the wall. They are rather precarious but I figured out that if I kept my center of gravity low it was easier to climb down them. Climbing up was pure jaw clenching work. Of course, I was huffing and puffing but determined to climb to the bottom. I figured if I could climb UP to the top of Pachatata on Amantani, I could like climb DOWN to the bottom of Moray. LOL! Fidel took me a different route going back up and it turned out to be easier. Being the great guide he is, he kept encouraging me along with “Your Awesome!” Margee, being the smarter one of the two of us, watched me from above.

Back in the car, we went to Salineras de Maras. This site is way off the beaten track and it was interesting that we headed down the road right after the school children got out of school. Some of the children had bicycles so were way down the road while the walkers straggled all along the stretch. The road to Salineras de Maras stretches 3 ¾ miles from the main road and there were kids all along the way. Some of them had quite a walk and in wet weather I can imagine the road would just be mud.

AT Salineras de Maras, the Inca had set up thousands of individual salt pans that form terraces on a hillside. Water runs down the hill in carefully created ditches and spreads out to all of the salt pans. As the water evaporates, the salt crystals form. Unfortunately, the workers do not collect enough salt to sell in quantity. Most of their product is sold on location as tourist souvenirs. It was interesting but I wish we had seen it when it was actually being worked but we were there in the off season. We each bought a small bag to bring home.

It had been a long day so we headed back to Ollantaytambo and found that we had been moved to a larger room. They receptionist asked us in the morning if we wanted a larger room and we really didn’t make a decision expecting to be back fairly early. Well, they decided for us and moved our stuff. All of it, even the razor and shampoo in the shower. Neither one of us cared so the move worked out just fine though we did feel a little guilty that we didn’t have everything packed up ready to go.

We had dinner at the hotel and I ordered a beef burrito and Margee ordered the chicken burrito. They brought out beans, really good guacamole, tortillas that were more like crepes but very tasty, cheese, salsa, and our meat. We piled it up on our plates and dug in. It was delicious. To celebrate our successful Lan Peru transaction, we ordered a bottle of red wine. We drank half with dinner and took the rest back to the room for another meal.

After dinner we were heading back to our room when we met Mr. Seattle Longshoreman. We chat with this dreadlocked guy for awhile in the hallway until he invited us to join him and his wife back in the restaurant. We did and we spent another pleasant hour talking about where we had been, where we were going, and what are the chances of getting to Machu Pichu. Zero chance as far as we were concerned but they had plenty of time and we planning as they went along.

We stopped at the desk to confirm our bicycle ride in the morning. We were not on the schedule so the receptionist said she would try to work it out for us and we should be ready to go at 9:00 am in the lobby. This time we made it back to our room and our beds.

March 23, 2010 Downhill Heaven, Uphill Hell

Bright and early we got a knock on our door. It was the receptionist telling us they found a guide for our bike ride and we need to be ready by 9:00 am. The restaurant was serving so we had an energizer breakfast and were ready and waiting in the lobby at the appropriate time. A young man walked up to the door and looked in at us. He said a confused “Hi, bike tour?” We don’t think we were what he expected. He was not what we expected so we started off on the same footing. Evidently whoever had contacted him about guiding the bike ride told him we were two tourists who had eight years of mountain biking experience and were looking to go on a ride. Margee and I have ridden bikes all our lives but in no way are we experienced mountain bicyclists.

He introduced himself as Richard and the taxi driver was Percy. He confided that he was worried about keeping up with the anticipated experienced mountain bike riders. Instead he found that we were “ladies of age” (I love the way some thing’s translate) and that we were a responsibility instead of a challenge. We later learned that he did not take his responsibility very seriously.

Into the taxi we go. The back is loaded with three dismantled bicycles, helmets, gloves and leg guards. It bugged me a lot that the seat belt did not work in the back seat. The buckle had broken and replaced. The problem was that the replacement buckle did not fit the latch. It was a scary one hour ride up the mountain road. I decide to play with Richard a little bit so asked Margee to ask him in Spanish if he could teach me how to ride a bike. His look of utter dismay was priceless and both Margee and I started laughing. I really don’t think he saw the humor of it.

Richard finally mentioned that we were not going all the way to the top of the mountain which was fine with me. During the drive, Margee, Richard and I discussed whether we would ride all the way down on the road or go off road. He pointed out a section of off-road trail and Margee asked how steep the side of the mountain was. Richard explained it was an abyss. Margee did not know what this meant but I sure as heck did. It is a steep cliff and I am not riding a bike next to it. Abyss does not have a good connotation what so ever. Margee pushed the issue and asked if there isn’t some easy off-road trail we could go on for a little bit. I am thinking that going down the nice smooth road is an excellent idea.

We arrive at the top of the mountain, which is not really the top, and thank goodness we brought our coats. It was very windy and cold! Richard is putting the bicycles together and we are trying not to freeze. Percy is going to stay close by to us in the taxi as we ride down the mountain. He would pass us then we would pass him on the side of the road, back and forth all the way down. Richard told us we would take it slow. Off we go and he is leading the way down the hill. I am behind him and am constantly on the break. He must have known this because they squealed loud enough to wake the dead. If I was to take my hand off the brake I would have rolled right on by him. I didn’t say anything, he would not have understood me if I had, but Margee finally had enough and yelled at him in Spanish to speed it up. He did and it was much more enjoyable. We wanted to stop occasionally to take pictures so Margee told him when we yelled “photo” that what we wanted to do. He glumly went along with it.

This road had more switchbacks then a plate of spaghetti. Back and forth, round and round just like a roller coaster. The scenery was beautiful and we saw little houses with gardens, farmers working their small fields and dogs that thought chasing us was great sport.

Richard pointed out painted red rocks on the side of the road. These were the entrances t o the off-road bike trails. They have a huge off-road bike race on this mountain each year and Richard has qualified to race in. Down the mountain we go and everything is going fine. I enjoy speeding by those darn red rocks. Richard pulled over onto a gravel area and we see a red rocks and a small trail heading off. Richard advises that we can ride on a little easy part of the trail right here. I am looking at this easy trail and saying NOOOOOOOO! I don’t want to; I am fine on the road. Well no one listened to me. Richard goes first and he does some fancy bike work of braking and balancing down the hill. He made it look easy. Margee is behind him and if he can do it, she can do it. She heads down the hill and is braking, balancing and maneuvering. As she gets to the bottom she has to turn to avoid hitting Richard who has not moved off the trail far enough. She hit a muddy, rocky area and she wiped out. She thought she fell in slow motion, it looked like slow motion to me, but she still wiped out.

I am at the top of the hill waiting for her to get up. She didn’t get back up but she did yell at me not to ride the bike down. I’m thinking to myself “no kidding”. I am not riding this bike down the hill, so I dropped it, and trotted down safely. She managed to get herself up and is hobbling around. Her knee is bleeding and she tore her pants a little bit. She was pretty upset and her adrenaline was pumping so we let her walk around for a minute before we doctored her up. Richard hands me two small packets that I think are antibiotics. I tear one open and smear it on her knee. Of course, then I look at the packet and realize that I had just put suntan lotion on her boo boo. The other packet is antibiotic so I wipe her knee off and apply the second goop. I then got out my own first aid kit and found a band aid to put on. She walks around some more to calm down. I thought it was her knee that hurt the most but it turns out it was her ankle that hurt more, it just wasn’t bleeding.

Back to the asphalt we went. Under my breath I told Richard to stay on the road. He may not have understood my English but he definitely understood my meaning.

We are going down, down, down and down. At some point I figured out that the gears on my bike did not shift. It did not matter as long as I was coasting downhill but once we hit a level or uphill portion I would have problems. I mentioned it to Richard (via Margee) a couple of times and he played with the gears and said it was fine. I could only get into two speeds. All downhill rides must come to an end and this one did. As I expected, the gears would not shift and I could hardly peddle the bike up the hill. I am puffing and wheezing and am definitely having a problem. On the best of days this would be a tough hill to walk up so I know I can’t possibly ride a malfunctioning bicycle up it. I got off the bike and pushed it. Margee rode by and offered to switch bikes. I was game for anything besides walking the last five miles so I agreed. She agreed that it did not shift very well while hers was a well oiled, well tuned machine. Figures. In the meantime we catch up to Richard and I told him I was done. I had had enough fun for the day. Please call the taxi back and give us a ride into town. It is at this point that Richard tells us he does not have a cell phone on him. Both Margee and I were stunned. What if one of us had been really hurt, he had no phone to call for assistance. He really didn’t take his job or his responsibility very seriously. He rode down the hill and found a phone and called Percy to come pick us up. Percy drove up and they loaded the bikes in the taxi and we piled in. We are not happy with Richard.

We got back to town and pulled up in front of the hotel and in a blink of an eye, Richard disappeared. We haven’t even gotten out of the taxi and he is gone. I think they went inside the hotel to talk to the boss and cover their rears. We saw Richard three more times before we left town and not once did he ask how Margee’s knee was. In fact the first time, he totally ignored us. In my phone book you would find him listed under the letter J.

To celebrate our bicycle ride survival we finished off the bottle of wine at lunch. We ordered the chicken and beef sandwiches at KB Tambo and they were delicious.

After lunch we went to the Ollantaytambo ruins. We decided not to hire a guide and just wander around at our own pace. We hiked around a bit but didn’t make it to the top. I didn’t care then and I don’t care now but it was fun and interesting and we took some really pictures.

We shopped some more at the market and Margee bought a very nice tapestry and some other things for folks back home. After that Margee went to the Internet café across the street and I walked around and took pictures. Since we had a late lunch we decided to go to the Heart Café and have dessert. I ordered apple crumb cake with ice cream. Margee wanted decaf coffee which they did not have. What they served me was not edible. It looked like it had been baked/burned a week ago and left out on the counter the whole time. I didn’t complain or return it, but I certainly couldn’t eat it. I just could not put it in my already iffy stomach. So much for dessert.

Babs-Thanks so much for this wonderful report. I've been looking forward to and enjoying every installment. The bike adventure sounds like way too much "fun". We will be in Peru in just a couple of months and your report is invaluable--lots of good information. Thanks again!

Thanks caligirl56, I am glad you are enjoying the report.

Your report is great! We are staying at KB Tambo in June for 5 nights & I had been considering doing the bike ride. My children were discouraging me as I have a propensity to hurt myself. After reading this, I think we will either pass on the bike ride or make a point to NOT have Richard for a guide. Would it have been an ok experience if you had had a better guide & a better bike? If so, I will still consider it. Looking forward to the jungle part of your trip...

Enjoying your report. We will be in Ollantaytambo this Saturday to begin our adventure. Really looking forward to spending 3 days in this village. The only difficulty we have had is that PeruRail only allows ll lbs. carryon bag for trip to MP on their train! We will be traveling with one backpack each for a 2 week trip. This will be an experienence.

Your episode at the Lan Air offices reminds me of our ordeal at the China Air office in Lhasa, Tibet. We purchased our round trip tickets thru Expedia from Katmandu to Lhasa, but China Air wouldn't honor them in Lhassa on our return trip. The Chinese representatives screamed at the top of their lungs at our guide back and forth (the most bizarre thing ever) and after 2 hours we ended up having to run to an ATM and buy one way tickets back to Katmandu. Yes when traveling you roll with the punches than deal with the credit card companies from home!

fball, the bike ride was really a blast except for the "incident". Try to talk to KB, the owner, when you arrive. Grab him the first time you see him as you may not see him again. Discuss your concerns and you should be OK. No matter what, stay on the road! Wanda, ask the hotel in Olly if they will keep your excess baggage while you go to MP. We travelled really light but 11 pounds is extremely meager. I think I have read elsewhere on this site that the rule is not enforced, BUT don't take my word for it as we never made it to MP and have no first hand experience.

Thanks for the advice, Barb. I think I will set up the bike trip by email with KB & see if I can arrange a different guide for us & completely functioning bikes. There are 5 of us so I don't want anyone stuck on a crummy bike. KB has been pretty responsive by email & I've spoken with him by phone.

The hotel would be happy to keep our excess luggage, but we are going straight to Cuzco from MP in the evening.

Margee finished up our Colca Canyon tour journal so I am going to post it now though it is out of date order. Here goes:

March 15 and 16, 2010 Colca Canyon

An early wake-up call had us eating breakfast on the lovely terrace of our hotel overlooking some gardens with many trees –one in particular with a birdcage suspended housing some colorful parakeets. The breakfast was a nice buffet with the typical eggs, sausage, breads and also included a variety of grains and yogurt that made for a nice hearty cereal concoction. A variety of juices were available and the coffee was delicious. A great start to a great day. We were sharing the terrace with several high school kids who were traveling on a spring break from an elite boarding school in Colorado Springs. We ran into them a few more times on our excursion. We were all headed on a tour to the Colca Canyon.

While they boarded a bus, our guide and driver escorted us to a typical mini van and soon we saw that we were its only passengers. We enjoyed a nice amount of conversation with our very pleasant guide who shall remain nameless due to our inability to remember her name! Nevertheless, she spoke English well enough and had lots of anecdotal information to share as we rode along. As we journeyed to the outskirts of town, we stopped at a small market to buy water and a bag of coca leaves. We were going to be ascending to altitudes of over 16,000 feet as we crossed the Andes and traveled to the famous lookout point to await a view of the infamous Andean Condors. We had been taking meds to ward off altitude sickness, but the locals recommended chewing the coca leaves as well.

Upon leaving town we stopped briefly to photograph a magnificent view of the volcano. As we left the paved roads, the real adventure began as we endured the bumpiest and most uncomfortable roads imaginable. It was four hours of unpaved roads that jostled us about until I thought my kidneys would dislocate. On the positive side, we traveled along seeing amazing vistas. The terrain changed dramatically with each passing hour. What started as flat fields with small family farms dotting the fertile land soon turned into vast open prairies where herds of alpaca, llamas and vicunas roamed and grazed. These same grasses called ichu are the primary source of material for the thatched roofs and mud bricks that are used for the homes’ construction.

At one point we reached the summit where four major volcanoes could be seen. We stopped along the road and walked a short distance to a fascinating area where small stone altars were erected by individuals who then placed coca leaves atop and made a wish to the god of the earth for a safe journey. As the leaves blew away, we were assured that our wish was taken “heavenward”. We stopped a little further up the road to see the plaques naming the four volcanoes and also saw some artisans selling their weavings. A little girl was dressed in the traditional clothing and she smiled readily for pictures.

We continued to gain altitude and see rugged mountainsides until our van stopped again at the place they call Mirador de los Andes. It is where the traveler crosses from the western side of the Andes to the eastern side. More artisans with lots of embroidered fabrics, rugs and general handicraft were displayed. A young boy was walking with an alpaca on a rope posing for pictures with the tourist. I was convinced that the animal was about to spit since it kept chewing and chewing while I stood next to it. Someone had just warned me that they often do such gross behaviors and to be careful. I couldn’t get out of there fast enough!

As we got closer to the town of Chivay I get thinking that we would soon have decent roadways but we weren’t that lucky. The welcoming arches marking the town entrance were the first pavement and if I’m not mistaken, that was cobblestone. Our hotel was beyond Chivay another 20 minutes further and more poor roads to get to a small village called Coporaque where a beautiful lodge awaited us called La Casa de Mama Yacchi.

What a treasure in the rough it was! The setting was stunning with views galore. The stone structure and beautifully landscaped flower gardens made for a serene reprieve from the violent jostling of the long trip. We entered to find a beautiful lobby and large open dining area a flight of stairs down. The bay windows and wood beamed vaulted ceiling made for a dramatic impression. We were directed to our room down a hall and beyond the man painting fresh varnish on the door and hall area. Our first impression upon entering was that of toxic fumes. However, the room looked and smelled fine.

As we checked things out, we were delighted to look out the window and see our neighbor, the hotel llama named Manchito, tethered to a stake and enjoying the grass only 10 feet from our window. We quickly returned to the dining room for a lunch buffet which was beautifully presented in Peruvian style with earthenware dishes and colorful table décor. The hostess and waitress were dressed in traditional garb with veils and sashes.

After lunch we opted to take a walk and tour the area with our guide. She walked us down a path that was pathetically strewn with litter yet bordered the most beautiful acres of vibrant crops such as beans and barley and potatoes. In our conversation it was noted that we were interested in schools and she offered to take us to see a little day care center subsidized by the government. Being a little later in the day, we found only a few children remaining but nevertheless, it was quite an eye opener to enter and see a functioning child care center. My first thought was that it mirrored what I had been seeing in the country in general. The poor conditions and lack of sanitary conditions saddened me. The ladies in charge were very delightful and you could see that they loved the kids. The kids were sweet but quite shy and lacking a good face scrubbing. The toys and materials were equally in need of a good scrub. We took pictures and walked around to see the nap room and the bathrooms. Before leaving we decided to make a donation since we had not brought anything in the way of materials with us to give. I think we left them thirty or forty dollars to buy whatever the children needed. It felt good to do at least that much. The caregivers were very grateful.

Our walk was leisurely but everything at that altitude felt somewhat strenuous. I remember feeling quite tired upon return. We washed up and decided to have a glass of wine before dinner and capitalize on the inviting fireplace. It was very enjoyable and the little area had wonderful artifacts of traditional Peruvian culture—especially some musical instruments.

Our evening dinner was delicious and the dining room seemed especially lively with the arrival of the Colorado high school group. Barb was quick to say that we better get up to the buffet as it wouldn’t last long once they hit it. The staff was attentive and explained the different dishes. I tried most everything and loved them—especially the soups.

We were cautioned that this would be one of our colder stops so we dressed “up” for bed in the long underwear and warm layers. I was overheated and slept poorly. They attributed it to the altitude but I think it had to do with getting up at a ridiculous hour to start the next day’s travels. We were so tired at breakfast, Barb couldn’t even eat. My first pictures note the time as 5 am as we left the hotel.

Another long drive of unbearably bumpy roads brought us to the famous lookout for the Andean Condor. The panoramic vistas along the way left you breathless. We stopped in a small village with a church to use the facilities. There was a man holding a captive Condor and he would perch it on your head for a picture—of course demanding money afterwards. Our guide encouraged us to not support this inhumane treatment of the prized bird. We were back on the road for the final ascent.

We were offered a short walk or a long hike and we quickly opted for the short walk given the altitude issues. The canyon was spectacular and we saw many caves in the canyon walls which served as burial places by the Incas. It was hard to conceive of how they managed to scale these walls and bury their dead. You could see lines suggesting how they carved trails traversing the walls. As we were heading up a path about 300 feet from the look out peak, our guide directed our attention to a couple of Condors overhead. My first impression was that they must be plentiful if we already spotted two before even getting to the best lookout. Little did I realize that those were to be the only two we were to see in the next hour. How I wish I had been quicker with my camera. I got one decent picture. Barb and I then later purchased a few photographs from a vendor on site for a pretty pricey sol or two.

Our ride back to Arequipa was highlighted by two additional travelers riding part way. One American and one Peruvian who seemed to be a “couple” were archaeologists working in Nazca. At one point we had stopped for one last picture of the canyon and the Peruvian gal steps a few feet up the hillside and picks up a piece of pottery and nonchalantly shows us what she’s found. Our guide clarifies that it is authentic from the Inca culture and is hundreds of years old! We then get some explanations as to how the archaeologist evaluates the pottery’s details and how they determine what size the piece was. To our amazement she tosses it back up the hillside claiming that the government red tape involved to register and catalog such a piece is much more laborious than anyone can imagine. At least we got a picture of her holding it!

We arrived at our lunch stop in the town of Chivay a little before noon. Another attractive and extensive buffet awaited us and our ravenous appetites. After all, we had gotten up at the crack of dawn and Barb could hardly talk let alone eat. Perhaps this accounts for her sense of adventure and willingness to try the dish of guinea pig. I could not bring myself but sat mesmerized at her response. Lots of bones was the first comment and little meat to follow. Enough said. I passed on the opportunity. I did enjoy a stew with alpaca meat in a good broth. My favorite highlight was the dessert flan. It was worth going back for seconds.

The remaining hours of our trip were somewhat quiet with one stop for bathrooms and we arrived back at our hotel in Arequipa late in the afternoon. Neither of us can remember eating dinner that night so I think my supply of granola bars served me well. We needed to be up early for our bus to Puno the following morning. It had been a wonderful and full two day excursion to experience the Colca Canyon.

And now back to our regularly scheduled installment:


March 24, 2010 School Visit

We went touring with David Choque today. We telephoned him last night because his schedule indicated that we had a 9:30 am cooking class and a 2:00 pm school visit. This didn’t make any sense as the children would be out of school by 2:00 pm and we didn’t want to visit empty rooms. David called the cooking class and rearranged the day so we went to the school first.

Huilloc is about 45 minutes up a very narrow, bumpy, muddy road. In fact, of all the roads we had been on in Peru, this was the one that scared us the most. Obviously the incessant rains had taken its toll on it. There was mudslide after mudslide and some sections were almost impassable. David kept saying he was a good driver but as the car slipped sideways in the mud towards the cliff, we prayed he was right. Road workers were diligently moving tons of mud and rock off the road with shovels. At one point, David stopped and handed money out to them for their hard effort. We arrived in town and found that we are definitely a novelty. David said the town may get visitors every three months or so. There were no vendors. This was the first place we went where someone didn’t try to sell us something. It was wonderful.

David led us to the school and the first classroom we visited was for second graders. The teacher was delightful and welcomed us into the class. She led the children in songs which was wonderful. Margee and I checked out the classroom and took many pictures of the children.

We had purchased a big box of supplies and one point I saw David digging through it, Evidently, he wanted to pick out some of the supplies for this class and the rest for the kindergarten class. It irritated me a bit that he didn’t ask us what we wanted to do. Months previously when I was planning the trip with him he had agreed to take us shopping for school supplies. That didn’t happen as he sent us off on tour with Fidel. We did manage to locate supplies on our own and we bought a large quantity but I felt like he let us down, and then took over the distribution without asking us. Margee and I decided that we did not want to dilute the moment by discussing glue sticks and pencils with him. I did have to draw the line though when he wanted to give the large stapler to one teacher and the box of staples to another. The teachers showed the children what we brought and they clapped with big smiles, that’s what it was all about.

The children were adorable and well behaved but they all needed baths, teeth brushing, clean clothes and quite a few needed medical attention. Margee wanted to scrub the tables down they were so dirty. Life is hard when you don’t have running water or electricity and the teachers do the best they can.

We went to the kindergarten class next. There were about 30 three to five year old children sitting around their tables and squirming just like all kindergarten children do. The teacher had them sign a song for us then Margee then asked the teacher to continue on with her normal activities and we would just watch. The teacher had painted tin cans yellow, red, blue, and green and used them for teaching colors. She worked on color recognition with the painted cans and colored plastic soda bottle caps. Margee was worried that the younger children would try to chew on them. The teacher reviewed the colors and the children would select the appropriate bottle cap that matched. Margee commented later that the classroom materials were meager and very primitive but resourceful. There was one little boy balancing his chair on two legs. It wasn’t long before he was sprawled on the floor. There is at least one wild child in every classroom and I picked him out almost immediately and knew what was going to happen.

We toured the room and saw nesting boxes, dollies, and kitchen toys. There were many toothbrushes in a jar next to a tooth brushing poster. The toothbrushes did not have names on them. Margee held up a Spanish copy of Good Night Moon and we both smiled. I wondered if my son’s copy is still on the bookshelf at home.

Our schedule had been rearranged but evidently we didn’t have a lot of time to spend at the school because David hustled us out as we had to get to the cooking class. We arrived at Tres Keros in Urubamba and David knocked on the door. Then he banged on the door. Finally a gal answered and told David that the chef, Richard Behar, had gone to the market to buy ingredients. David called Richard at the market and arranged for us to catch up with him. We got to the market and parked the car. Our backpacks were in the back of the car and I was extremely uncomfortable leaving them there. David said are packs would be fine. We have managed to hang onto them and all our belongings so far this trip and here we are leaving our
stuff out with hundreds of people around. I worried about it the whole time we were in the market.

The market is quite big with an outdoor area and a covered indoor area. It was amazing looking down at it all and I enjoyed it very much. There were so many people selling so many different types of fruits of vegetables. The colors were vibrant and I had a hard time taking it all in. We climbed a set of stairs that overlooked the indoor market and David says to look for


a tall man. I wonder “how tall?” We didn’t see a tall man so David called Richard again and we were directed to the fruit department. We wander over there and meet up with Richard and two other cooking class students, Candice and her son Zeek, from Massachusetts.

Richard walked us around the fruit section and explained that the quality is so poor it can’t be exported to the United States. Then he points out some beautiful apples and told us they came from Washington State. Then he points out some very nice fruit and advises it came from Chile. He explained that the US and Chile use technology such as genetics, fertilizer and insecticides to raise crops while Peru does not have this technological advantage yet. It was nutritious, tasty food for the local people but it could not be sold on the international market.

Both Margee and I noticed that Richard was not treating the vendors very well. He wanted to cut a piece of fruit up so we could try it but he did not want to pay the vendor for it. He complained about the quality and price of EVERYTHING. I enjoyed the market but would have enjoyed walking around the market even more without Richard. Richard is buying a little here and little there and he finally has everything he wants so we head back to the car. I am praying that our stuff is still there and it was thank goodness.

At the restaurant there is one table set up with ingredients with one knife and cutting board. I guess only one of us actually gets to prepare food. This is going to be a demonstration rather than hands on cooking class. Zeek, the 14 year old, jumps in and cuts up the salmon for the ceviche. All the other ingredients had been cut up by Richard’s staff so there was nothing else for us to prepare. Richard tossed ingredients into the bowl with the salmon but did not tell us what the ingredients were. One ingredient was a very smooth, off white paste. I asked what it was and he said it was garlic. I asked if it was cooked, blended or what? He was not real forthcoming with the answer. I kept thinking to myself that this is a cooking class and I would like to know what ingredients you are using so that I can make the dish later. All the ingredients for the ceviche were tossed together and it was set aside to marinate.

Next, Zeek sliced mushrooms. Lots of mushrooms. I am looking at the way the knife is cutting the mushrooms and decided it had to be very dull. At one point when Zeek put it down I checked the edge and it was dull as a putty knife. Margee took her turn at slicing and pretty soon there was a huge bowl of sliced mushrooms. Richard put the mushroom dish together and at this point I am losing interest because I don’t want to guess at each and every ingredient. I want him to explain what he is doing but no amount of coaxing from me is going to convince him to do this.

The next dish is marinated beef on skewers. It is marinated in a red sauce. He scoops the red sauce out of a jar. I ask what is in the sauce and he says it is chilies. So then I have to ask how they had been prepared. He confessed that the chilies had been cooked and blended until smooth. I am pulling teeth to get the most basic of info out of him.

During all of this he is yelling at his staff and negotiating food prices with a group of farmers who came in. On top of this he pulls a couple of cook books out and starts flipping through the pages to show us pictures of the food. The funny thing is that they were not his cook books. They were written by other cooks that he apparently was impressed with. It was very weird.

We sat down at a table and the staff served us the food. They served several dishes that we had not seen during the cooking ‘demonstration’ such as mashed potatoes and fava beans. Richard asked us to guess what the secret ingredient was in the potatoes. We had no idea so he told us he put vanilla in the mashed potatoes. Definitely weird.

There was a yellow sauce on the plate and of course I asked what it was. Richard held up a jar full of yellow sauce but the jar
had a fruit label on it. I asked again what was in the jar and he replied that I could buy it anywhere. Well, no I can’t because I have no idea what was in that jar. I never did figure out what kind of sauce it was.

The food was pretty good but at $69.00 US dollars per person, it was a steep lunch.

David drove us back to Cusco, so this is trip number 5 on that road. I napped. We checked back into Nino’s Hotel and got the same room we had before. We sent our clothes out to the laundry then walked over to the Folklore show at the Qosqo Native Art Center that was included on our Tourist ticket. The show was entertaining with colorful costumes, lively music and fancy dancing. We treated ourselves to a taxi ride back to the hotel, the taxi needed shocks desperately.

Back at Nino’s we enjoyed tea, coffee and dessert in front of the warm fire for a very nice ending to a hectic day.

Oh boy! What a mixed bag of an adventure! I'm glad we are not planning on attending a cooking class. I guess all you can say is that the really good days make up for those that are somewhat mediocre. Thanks for posting it. I enjoyed reading more about your trip.

Thanks fball. We joked between us that we didn't have bad days, some days just had more "texture" than others. I guess the best thing to say is that Margee and I always seemed to find some way to see the humor in things. Having a good laugh can make most anything seem not so bad.

March 25, 2010 Sexy Woman and more

David Choque picked us up at 10:00 am for our Cusco tour. It was raining outside so we took our rain jackets. We had definitely expected more rain over the course of the trip but had lucked out as the weather was great. Our first stop was at the Qoicancha Templo del Sol. It had the most beautiful, finely crafted Inca masonry that we have seen. The temple is dedicated to sun worship and used to be covered in gold. It is an Inca fortress on the bottom though the Spanish had demolished most of it. Then the Spanish built the Convent of Santo Domingo on top of the Inca ruins in the 17th century. A section of cloister was removed so that you can see the remains of four Inca temple chambers and the exquisite stone work. The monks kept trying to hide the remaining beautiful Inca masonry by plastering and painting over it so that it would not be ransacked by the Spaniards.

David pointed out a few areas where the Inca stonework had been ripped out so that a convent wall or arch could be built in its place. The difference in workmanship was amazing. There was one small area where the Inca stone was removed and an arch carefully inserted. Evidently the mason decided the Inca workmanship was so good that they may as well incorporate it into their own work.

I enjoyed the tour and the information but did not enjoy the weather. It had turned cold and we were exhaling frost. At the end of the cold tour of the Temple of the Sun, Margee came to our rescue and told David we needed to go back to the hotel and get more clothes, knit hats, and gloves because we were freezing. She also needed camera batteries. He obliged graciously.

After our quick stop at the hotel, we went to Sacsayhuaman which was a short ways out of Cusco. It is a low lying ruin, so did not require much climbing, and it had a stunning view of Cusco. The outer walls are in a zigzag formation with some of the stones at the base estimated to weight 300 tons. David explained the zigzag design was useful in times of defense as the aggressors at the walls would always have their flanks exposed. I enjoyed looking at the areas being worked on by archeologists.

We took a few minutes to enjoy the view and a pleasant surprise was that we could clearly hear a band playing music. It sounded like a huge festival and it was clear as a bell. They were rocking out!

Back on the road to Q’enko we passed by the tall white statue of Christ on the hill next to Sacsayhuaman. Q’enko looks like a pile of rocks with a cave. Inside the cave is a huge alter made out of smooth limestone. We asked David if the Inca sacrificed humans here and he denied it though he said it was possibly used to sacrifice black llamas and black guinea pigs because they were rare and valuable. There were very small steps up to the
slab. David said that old men performed the rituals and they needed small steps to reach the alter. Outside there were smaller alters used by different communities to make their own offerings. They would put fruit and vegetables on their alter along with anything else they wanted to offer up. There was another huge slab in the courtyard. I don’t really want to think about what they did on that huge slab.

On our way out I yelled at David to stop the car. Hanging from a tree next to the road were two effigies of a local boy and a local girl. David explained that boys put the girl up in the tree to tease the girls so the girls put the boy up in the tree to get back at them. It was a cute story.

We returned to Cusco and David dropped us off in front of La Cathedral and went off to park the car. La Cathedral cost 25 sols to enter. David said it used to be included on the tourist ticket but the church decided they would make more money by charging their own fee. We enjoyed David’s tour of the church and ended up by going down into the crypt of Estadio Garcilaso de la Vega the author of Comentarios Rales de los Incas in 1609.

There was going to be a procession so one of the statues of Christ from a side chapel was in the main chapel next to the 884 pound silver altar. Christ was all decked out and ready for the party. Too bad when it was over he would be put back in his little side chapel for another year.

It was now 3:15 and we had not eaten since 9:00 am. We told David that we were fine being left at the plaza as we wanted to do a little shopping and eat. Margee and I decided to cancel our tour with David for the next day as we were toured out. We were going to wander around Cusco and do our own thing. We made arrangements for him to pick us up on March 27th to take us to the airport.

We had a lovely late lunch at an Italian restaurant on the plaza. I have racked my brains and have done an extensive web search but can’t figure out the name of the restaurant. We spent several hours there talking with a young backpacker named Bessie Bishop. Five months out of the year she works on an Alaskan tourist train, the rest of the year she travels. Now that’s the life. Margee had pasta Alfredo and I had pizza. It was relaxing and enjoyable.

We wandered around the plaza and did some shopping. Once it got dark, I especially enjoyed the plaza with all the lights reflecting off the cathedral. Back at the hotel we relaxed in front of the fire and enjoyed hot tea and dessert.

March 26, 2010 Cusco

Yesterday we told David we needed a free day so we are on our own today. To start off we walked next door to the Internet café to print off our Lan Peru boarding passes. To bad they didn’t have a printer. The owner directed us to another Internet café down the street so off we went. Something that would take less than 5 minutes at home took over an hour to accomplish but we ended up with our boarding passes and that’s part of the fun of traveling.

We made our way to the Plaza de Armas and saw a huge crowd standing around the fountain. There was what we would call a mariachi band posing for a photo shoot. The musicians were all dressed up in their handsome outfits with their fancy hats and beautiful musical instruments lining up for photos. So we took some, along with all the other tourists. Then they started to play music. Unfortunately, about the same time they started to play, a protest march started to walk around the plaza with all the accompanying yelling, hollering and chanting typical to protest marches. It was a group of teachers and students protesting against the government but we never did figures out why.

After visiting several shops on the plaza we hiked up the hill to Barrio de San Blas, the upscale artsy district. We had lunch here a few days ago and decided we wanted to see more of the area. We went into the different shops and Margee purchased enough pencils with boy and girl dolls at the end to give to each of her students. We discovered the girl pencils and asked the vendor if she had boy pencils. She said she would go get some and have them ready for Margee when we headed back down the hill. Upon our return Margee and the vendor agreed on a price and Margee handed over her money. The vendor didn’t want to give her back the change so she threw in a couple of inexpensive items. As we are getting ready to leave, another gal came up to me and said that Margee hadn’t paid enough. Well, I told her that I wasn’t involved in it and she needed to talk to Margee. So she went over to Margee and told her that she had underpaid. Margee told her sorry, this transaction is complete. It was very strange, especially since they threw in extra items so as to not give Margee any change.

We ate lunch at a really good Mexican restaurant called El Cuate. We ordered the tourist meal which included nachos, coca cola, and main course. They did not have any coke and would not substitute any other beverage, not even water. It was funny but I can’t complain because my cheese enchilada was really good. While we ate, a little cocker spaniel came inside the restaurant begging for food. When I finished eating, I took my leftover tortilla outside to give to him but he was long gone. I wrapped it up in napkin and took it with me in case we saw him again.

As we walk around I am looking for a hungry dog to feed. Where is a hungry dog when you need one? Everywhere we went there were hungry dogs except when I had food to offer. We were sitting on a bench in San Blas and finally a dog walked by. I offered the food and believe it or not, he was picky. Excuse me, eat the darn tortilla!

Next stop was a Museum Inka. It had an interesting blend of ceramics, textiles, mummies, etc. Most of the displays had descriptions written in Spanish, but every now and then there would be one written in English. It was hit and miss. I purchased a hand woven bag for my sister from the women weaving in the courtyard. It was definitely a 45 minute museum.

By now we were walked and shopped out so we returned to the hotel. We relaxed for awhile and organized our packs for leaving the next day. We decided to walk back to the plaza for dinner. It was Friday night and the church was open and many folks were headed that way. The restaurant touts were out in force. You couldn’t take five steps without being asked what do you want to eat, how much do you want to spend or Happy Hour Ladies. We made a pick and walked up stairs to the restaurant to find white linen table clothes and only one couple eating there. Margee was not in the mood for white linen and I wanted something more lively. We compromised by going to McDonald’s. It was a perfect choice, inexpensive, fast, and tasty and a nice reminder of home. I had a Big Mac, fries and a coke for 17sols. Margee had a Quarter Pounder, fries and a coke for 11 sols! Our last celebration in Cusco before going to the Amazon tomorrow.

Enjoying the details of your time in Cusco. I'm especially looking forward to the Amazon part of your trip. We will be spending a week with Pantiacolla tours in Manu. Any and all details as to what to bring and not to would be appreciated. I hope you saw lots of wildlife. Keep writing, Barb!
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I just returned from a different part of the Peruvian Amazon (near Iquitos). Depending on what activities you would be doing, my packing list would include:

For head covering, I found I preferred a mosquito head net to a hat (yes you look dorky but eventually you realize it's much cooler). Also a bandana or sweatband for the forehead.

Something cool and loose to wear around the lodge.

Enough socks and underwear for the stay..extra socks even. It may be that nothing will dry.

Short sleeve T-shirts and Deet/sunscreen for the lower arms. A LOOSE lighweight long sleeve shirt or a sun-reflecting jacket.

I did mostly wear long pants, the nylon travel kind. Walking around gets muddy and there are plants that can cut your legs. We had rubber boots. Even in the canoes there would be mosquitoes at your ankles.

Head Lamp, if your lodge doesn't have electricity. Much handier than a flashlight. I also had a little battery operated light that I clipped to the mosquito netting.

Antihistamine tablets and cream. DEET and sunscreen.

Two water bottles.

Bathing suit.

Water shoes of some type are nice (I used fake Crocs).

Extra batteries for camera and headlamp.

Binoculars.

What not to bring..black clothing, mosquitos like it
Also scented soaps, shampoo, creams, etc.

Great list mlgb. I especially agree about the extra socks and the head lamp. The Amazon was very wet and rainy when we were there so consider a rain pancho or jacket. The lodge provided rubber boots but they were not very comfortable, thick socks helped with that. Extra batteries a good idea, our lodge had limited electricity and I forgot to get my batteries to the office at the appropriate time. My iphone, which I used as my alarm clock, died the last night so I kept waking up afraid we would be late for our departure time.

You're right, the lightweight rain poncho should be added. I guess I forgot because the last 4-5 days we had no rain!

Another thing I forgot. Bring some ziplock bags and save those little dehumidifier packets (or buy some). Keep your electronics, cameras, watches, etc zipped up with the packets when not in use. Also a ziplock for important papers & even cash, it's amazing how much moisture gets absorbed.

On the positive side, after a week of 80% humidity and bathing in Amazon silt, my skin looked great!

Thank you so much! What great ideas! I would never have thought of the dehumidifier packets. Will definitely bring some. I know my husband will think I'm nuts, but I'll show him your post & convince him to pack some. I am nervous about not having enough battery time on my camera & my iphone. Any suggestions? I'm assuming you both took the anti-malarials, yellow fever & typhoid vaccinations. If so, did you feel ok when you took them? We are just getting started as we leave in 3 weeks.

Yep, took all the drugs including Diamox for altitude and had no side effects from any of it. All I can suggest is take extra camera batteries and if they are rechargable to recharge them before you hit the jungle. I have a 3GJuice battery for my iphone that will give you a few more hours, but once again it has to be charged up which I neglected to do before we got to the Amazon. I ordered mine from Amazon for the Amazon. LOL Keep your toiletries in a zip lock. I had the nasty morning surprise of finding a huge cockroach in my toiletry bag on my toothbrush. UGH! FYI, the lodge we stayed at provided biodegradable bar soap and shampoo, maybe yours does to.

Our lodge also provided bar soap, but not shampoo. I just brought a bar of castille soap, which I used for hair. I'm not even sure if it was biodegradable.

I wouldn't bother to bring cosmetics because you will just sweat it all off. BTW the mosquito net functions a bit as a hairnet when you push it back off the forehead.

I did get the YF and had an itchy red patch about 2 inches by 3 inches for about two weeks. Unless you are going to another country that requires the YF certificate because you were in Peru, you might consider not getting it, especially if approaching or over the age of 60. I took Malarone and didn't have any problems with it.

I did not go to high altitude on the recent trip. Prior trip I spent 3 nights in Ollantaytambo and then 3 nights and Cusco and didn't take Diamox. Except for a slight headache in Cusco at night I was fine. However, I didn't hike the Inka Trail or go to Puno.

Our lodge had a recharge station for cameras etc with some limited assigned slots for recharging, which actually was enough for the small camera. So bring the recharge connections. The spare batteries might be needed for the headlamp depending on how much you use it. Also get a strong beam if you plan on going looking for wildlife at night.

If you have a cheap watch I recommend bring it. Good backup if the moisture sensitive electronics stop keeping time!

March 27, 2010 Amazon Here We Come

We had an early flight out of Cusco to Puerto Maldonado this morning. David arrived to take us to the airport and I asked him if we could settle our bill with him. He said we could do it later in the car. We had an idea of what the tour and hotel costs would be but were not exactly sure as we had made some changes on the fly. Both Margee and I had been hitting the ATM’s for US dollars as that is what David wanted to be paid in. So as we drive along Margee speaks up and asks what we owe him. He pulls some paperwork off of the dash and tells us a number. Yeah! We are within $20.00 of each other. Margee hands me her cash, I add mine to it and hand it over. That was easy.

We get to the airport and we formally shake hands with David and off we go. Inside the airport we wrap our backpack rain covers over the straps and hand the bags over at the check in counter. I hate loosing control of my bag and pray it arrives in Puerto Maldonado the same time as us. We paid our airport taxes and go through security into the boarding area.

I am still looking for cute little souvenirs for some guys I work with and decide to buy each a small bull. I know I overpaid for them but they will have to do. All the gals I shopped for will receive a cute little stuffed llama.

We board the plane and I head for seat 9C. Well, there is a nun sitting in it. I didn’t know what to do so I simply held out my ticket and pointed to 9C. She shrugged at me, got up and moved to another seat. OK, no bad karma for kicking the nun out of her seat.

It was such a short flight that we didn’t even time to nap. The plane stopped on the tarmac and they rolled up the stairway. I love getting off a plane like this. It’s much more fun than a gangway. I always feel like a celebrity and like to do a parade wave. We are both thrilled that we are out of the altitude and into the humidity. I immediately feel like I can breathe again and of course I need to strip off layers of clothing. It is heaven sent.

Inside the terminal a young man walks right up and asks “ Bar bar a, Bar bar a”. Yep that’s me; you must be with Posada Amazonas. We watch the workers toss luggage onto the carousel and we are relieved when our packs come by. The Posada Amazonas guy grabs both bags and leads us out to a bus in the parking lot. We wait a few minutes for two German gals to show up and we are on our way. Our guide for this journey and for the rest of our stay is Armando. Armando is a nice young man with developing English skills. Too bad my Spanish skills are not more developed because we had a hard time communicating. My good buddy Margee translated as needed, bless her heart.

Armando explained that they were going to give us “snakes”. One of the German girls looks at him and says “snakes”. Armando says no, “snakes”. Ok, we are not getting anywhere here and none of us want snakes. He said it one more time and it dawned on us that they were going to give us “snacks”. It was hilarious. He gave each of us a hand woven basket made by Infierno locals. Inside was a yellow beverage that turned out to be tomato juice. We also got a local orange which was green. Banana chips which looked like banana chips and candied Brazil nuts which at first we thought were moldy but actually had sugar frosting on them. It was all delicious and fun but everything sure looked different than what we are used to.

We stopped at the Posada Amazonas office and they encourage all of us to repack and bring a small bag with just the bare necessities. Margee and I had been traveling 20 days with just the bare necessities, how can we leave any of it behind. We solved the problem by pulling out a Rick Steve’s lightweight bag and stuffing all our souvenirs into it. We left that behind but took our packs with us. Armando said we could hire someone to carry it and we thought about it but decided against it. At this point we were pretty used to carrying our packs and since we offloaded the souvenirs they were pretty light again.

Back in the bus we went on a 45 minute drive on a dirt road. There was a lot of road construction going on but no pavement yet. We got to the port which consisted of a very rickety stair case going down the hill to a spot in the mud where the boat is tied up. The hand rails are iffy and the stairs are all catty wampum. It was a thrill a step as we lumbered down with our packs. I think I briefly regretted not hiring a porter to carry my bag, but I banished the thought quickly. Armando grabbed our hands as we made the last giant step onto the moving boat. We looked for a dry spot on the floor of the boat, dropped our bags and put on life vests.

Armando introduced us to his uncle who was the driver of the boat. He gave us a little wave and off we go. It was a lovely 45 minute boat ride up (down?) the Tambopata River. The thing we both noticed is that these was no garbage in the water. No plastic bags, no plastic bottles, and no trash on the river banks. I was impressed with how clean and natural it was. We saw turtles sunning themselves and a few birds.

We arrive at the “dock” and I use that term loosely. Up the rickety staircase we go with backpacks bouncing. We wanted to bring them so no complaining allowed. It was a ten minute wide eyed walk through the jungle. There were so many plants and trees and the water was dripping all over everything. The sounds of animals and birds surrounded us. It was absolutely wonderful and exactly what I was hoping for. Suddenly we came upon a clearing and there was the lodge.

We had to take our muddy shoes off before going up the steps. A young gal offered us a fresh fruit drink and wet towels to refresh ourselves. She invited us to sit down and relax while she gave us a brief overview of the lodge, meals, and activities. We are in room 7 so we grab our belongings and go check it out. We walked through a hanging fabric curtain into our room. There are two double beds with mosquito nets over each, one table with stools and a hammock that Margee immediately claimed. The most amazing thing is that there are three walls and one open area with a three foot railing that opened up to the jungle. We were told not to worry as “nothing big will come in”. I wondered how “big” is “big” but I was afraid to ask. There was no electricity but they provided us with two candles. We also had a sink with running water, a flushing toilet and a nice shower. There were oil lamps outside in the walkways that they lit at night for a few hours.

As we settled in, I discover a huge bug in the bathroom. I figure I can chase it to the open wall and out to freedom. Problem is, bugs don’t necessarily go where you want them to go and it freaked me out. I shrieked so loud I am surprised they didn’t send a rescue team to our room. On second thought, they are probably used to Gringos acting like idiots around the wild life!

Armando gave us about 30 minutes to relax then we met up to select rubber boots and go on a nature walk to the canopy observatory tower. We walked along a beautiful trail and tried to avoid the largest mud puddles. We went through some areas of primary rain forest and some of secondary jungle. We could hear lots of animals but didn’t see any except for bugs, bugs, and more bugs. Especially ants of every size and color you can imagine. I was afraid that if I stopped walking they would pick me up and carry me away. After a fairly long walk we arrived at the tower. It was tall, really tall, 120 feet to be exact. We climbed slowly up the stairs and the higher we got, the more it swayed. By the time we reached the top, Margee was a bit unnerved and the view did not hold much interest for her. I enjoyed the view and took lots of pictures from different levels of the tower. We could hear another tour group tromping through the jungle and so we started to make our way down. We didn’t reach the bottom before they started climbing so we had to squeeze past each other. I loved the view; Armando said we could see Brazil and Bolivia from the top.

Back at the lodge, we both decided we needed a shower to freshen up. I went first and turned on the water knowing it would be cold. It was actually refreshing though I didn’t want to spend too much time luxuriating. Margee asked how the water was and I told her “tepid”. I guess I did not describe it accurately as Margee yelled at me from the shower “this isn’t tepid!”

I wanted a cocktail of some sort so I walked to the bar but there was no bartender. I decided to relax and read my book for awhile and enjoy the sounds of the animals I couldn’t see. Margee hung out in the hammock and read her book and napped.

Dinner was buffet style and pretty good though there were only a few selections to choose from. We sat at a large table with the two German girls, Armando, another guide whose name escapes me and a family of five from the States. We spent our entire 4 day/3 nights with this same group and they were delightful and enjoyable companions.

At dinner, Armando tells us we have to ready to go to the Oxbow Lake at 4:30 am. They will light the gas lamps and knock on our wall to wake us up. It’s been a long day and will be an early morning so we turn in early.

It was kind of scary wandering back to our room using our headlamps. We lit our candles which attract a variety of flying bugs. We both tucked our mosquito nets under the mattress and tossed in anything we might need during the night such as water bottles, Kleenex, and my iPhone for an alarm. Neither one of us wanted to wander out of the “safety” of our mosquito net cave for any reason once we were settled.

My senses were on high alert all night long. There was a noise that kept going off over and over and over and it sounded almost mechanical. After several hours of listening to the noise, it stopped. Or I fell asleep. I don’t know which but that darn noise drove me crazy. I think I did sleep a bit but not for long and not soundly. I kept wondering what was crawling around us all night long and what is that noise in the roof and did I hear a monkey outside, can jaguars get through the railing……..

March 28, 2010 Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake

Before the crack of dawn, employees of the lodge lit the oil lamps and knocked on our wall to wake us up for our Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake excursion. We had 30 minutes to get ourselves together and meet the other folks at the lodge. I brushed my hair and my teeth and vacated the bathroom for Margee. She asked quizzically “did you shower?’ Nope, we only have 30 minutes. I’ll be lucky to stumble down fully clothed at this hour. It’s another extremely early breakfasts and I can barely choke down a couple of mouthfuls of waffles. I’ll be hungry later but now I can’t force anymore down. Margee is looking desperately for coffee and I think she scored if you consider a concoction of powdered coffee, powdered creamer and sugar a good cup of coffee.

We met up with the same group as yesterday but Armando is gone. He went back to Puerto Maldonado to pick up more tourists. In his place if Jihm, who is very personable and speaks excellent English. Margee is happy she doesn’t have to translate today. We also had another guide named Carol join us.

We put on our cute headlamps and followed Jihm down the dark, scary trail, trying to stay close to each other. It was even muddier than yesterday so the trail was a challenge in the semi dark. We board the boat and go for a thirty minute boar ride and then a forty five minute hike to arrive at the Tres Chimbadas Oxbow Lake.

We arrive at the lake and board a catamaran with no engine. There is an oar/rudder at the back of the boat and Carol and Jihm take turns paddling us along. It was very quiet and peaceful and we were intentionally silent because we didn’t want to scare the wild life away. We saw some birds and enjoyed watching them fly around. Everyone had their binoculars and cameras out and we are scouring the water trying to find the resident family of giant river otters. Carol set up a big, powerful, monoscope and we take turns looking at birds through it.

Finally we see the otters. It was a family of five or six and they were hunting fish out in the middle of the lake. They floated right by us and one had a big smile on his face because he was eating a good sized fish. We were thrilled to see the otters as they are endangered and only about 60% of the tourists catch sight of them.

Jihm ties the boat up to a branch near the shore and he and Carol hand out fishing poles. We are going to fish for piranha. I can hardly wait!! The poles are basically long sticks with an eight or nine foot piece of fishing line and a hook at the end. Not fancy, but they worked. Carol had a plastic bag of cut up mystery meat that we used for bait.

There is a technique to Piranha fishing. You swish the tip of the pole in the water to stir things up, then you bob the hook up and down a few times before you slowly lower the baited hook down until you can just barely see it. Then you wait for the tug and yank back as hard as you can to set the hook. If you are lucky you would pull in a beautiful yellow piranha about 3 or 4 inches long. Yahoo! The kids on the boat are catching and releasing as fast as they can bait their hooks. I on the other hand was fishing but not catching. In a frustrated moment I put the pole away and of course someone else on the boat catches a darn fish. I grab the pole again, put bait on the hook and with great determination drop it into the water to be rewarded immediately with a tug. I caught one! I caught one! Margee said I was grinning from ear to ear.

The kids took turns paddling us back across the lake. We backtracked to the lodge and are very happy because a gal greets us with juice and sandwiches to tide us over until lunch. Good thing, by now I am hungry.

I decided not to wear the rubber boots anymore as I have developed a couple of hot spots that I don’t want to turn into blisters. We are going home in a couple of days and I can always put my wet, dirty shoes in zip lock bags and wear my second pair. We had a few hours to relax so we both took lovely “tepid” showers and worked on our trip recordings. We got caught up except for the two days in the Colca Canyon.

Later in the afternoon we went on another boat ride twenty minutes downriver to the Ethno botanical garden. The Centro Nape is a communal organizational that produces medicines out of forest plants and administers them to local patients who seek their assistance. There is a nice trail and scattered along it are medicinal plants with name signs. The curator patiently explained in Quechua what each plant was used for. Then Armando, Carol and Jihm would take turn translating for us. When Armando translated, Margee would have to translate what he was saying. I have a short attention span and this pushed my patience. At the end of the tour we were offered medicinal liquids to try, they must have been 100 proof because the one I tasted knocked my socks off!

Back at the lodge we enjoyed another nice dinner, sat at the bar and drank cocktails and enjoyed chatting with the other tourists before hitting the sack.

March 29, 2010 Parrot Clay Lick

I must confess I did not make a recording for today. After 22 days I ran out of steam.
We had another early morning but not nearly as early as yesterday. We met up with our group and guides about 6:30 am and had breakfast. The plan is to hike to the Parrot Clay Lick and arrive right after daylight. I chose to wear my own shoes today so I did a bit a puddle jumping instead of slogging through the middle of the mud. The clay lick is a twenty minute walk from the lodge. One of the kids was especially loud this morning, if there was any wildlife around, he scared it all away. Finally someone asked him to tone it down a bit and he did.

As we got closer to the blind, Jihm indicated for all of us to be as quiet as possible. We entered the blind and quickly settled down. The blind is a man-made structure with three sides, a roof, floor and built in benches located in front of “windows” cut in the walls. We are situated with the river on our left and the clay lick is actually the river bank to the right of us. Quietly we stare through our binoculars at the clay river bank looking for any movement to indicate there are birds there. We stared for 20 minutes to no avail. Finally, way down the bank I see a flutter, there are two parrots sitting in a tree. I watch them hoping that more birds will come. No such luck. Jihm told us that the birds are scarce after it has been raining, and we had been rained on a lot. Usually there are Mealy and Yellow-headed Amazon parrots, Blue-headed parrots and Dusky headed parakeets. We were all a bit disappointed as we hiked back to the lodge.

I decided I had done enough hiking and that I would spend the rest of my last day in the Amazon lying in the hammock reading, or enjoying the comfortable couches in the lounge area. Margee decided to go on another nature walk to a farming community. She reported back that it was more entertaining than the medicine garden tour. Darn, I guess I should have gone! The group also hiked two hours to see the largest tree in the vicinity, a Ceiba tree. She has a picture of it where the entire group is standing in front of the tree and the truck extends past them on both sides.

I want to mention the sound of the jet propulsion lab that we kept hearing. The noise would start in one area of the jungle then you would hear it coming from another direction then another. It would build up to a crescendo then die out. We could not figure out what it was. When we mentioned it to Jihm he had a laugh at our expense. The noise came from groups of Howler Monkeys! Amazing.

During our walks we always kept our eyes open for wildlife. Armando, Jihm and Carol were terrific in pointed out animals, birds, bugs and interesting plants to us. We saw many monkeys in the tree tops but didn’t manage to get very good photos because they were so high up and hidden by the leaves and branches. There were interesting birds everywhere and we did see a few parrots. There were more bugs than anyone could possible want. We used Deet and kept ourselves covered up but the mosquitoes were incessant while hiking. If you stopped moving you were a target. If you kept moving it was better. We also saw a capybara hopping between buildings at the lodge. We tried to follow it to get photos but it disappeared into the brush. On one of our hikes, Jihm pointed out a branch overhead that crossed over the trail. It had a row of bumps on it. We couldn’t figure out what the bumps were, until he explained they were curled up bats!

Probably the scariest animal of the entire trip was a black feline that followed us into our room one night. We thought we had chased it off until Margee saw the gleam of its yellow eyes in her head lamp. She shrieked, “The cat’s in our room!” To say that Margee does not like cats is an understatement. Being the brave big game hunter that I am, I shooed the poor thing out of the room through the railing. Remember, the railing that won’t let anything big come in.

Margee was packing up her bag in preparation to leave in the morning. She had not been in the pack for a few days because she had either hung up or laid all her clothes out on a shelf. Well, a huge cockroach had taken up residence in her backpack. That same morning I am digging through my toiletry bag and find that a cockroach was residing on my toothbrush. I hate cockroaches!

We enjoyed our last evening with our new friends, had a nice dinner, drank some wine and finished packing up our bags. Tomorrow we are off to Lima for a day, then home.

Very nice report. It sounds like you had a very interesting time &, though you didn't see all of the wildlife you would have liked, it still must have been amazing. Thank you for all of the time you spent doing this report. I have certainly enjoyed reading it, as I'm sure others have, as well. I hope you add your last day in Lima. I'm looking forward to going guitar shopping when I'm there!

Thanks fball, I appreciate you reading my report. I am working on our last day in Lima, should have done this weekend. Now I get to go through my 1000 pictures and Marges' 1000 pictures and thin it down to 500 or so. Next step is a scrap book will the pictures, diary and all the bits and pieces of paper we picked up along the way.

March 30, 2010 Lima and home

Today we left Posada Amazonas to start our journey back home. We had our final breakfast, tipped all of the guides and hoisted our backpacks on for the last jungle hike to the boat. I decided to wear the rubber boots and change into my shoes when we got to the boat. I tucked my last pair of clean pants into the boots and walked carefully to keep them clean. Margee decided to wait and put clean clothes on when we reached the office back in town.

We have a lovely chat with our new friends and enjoyed our last boat ride down the Tambopata River. We disembarked at the dock where the bus was waiting to take us to Puerto Maldonado. I wasn’t so worried about my luggage anymore and was agreeable when they tossed my pack up on top of the bus roof. Margee was not so agreeable and kept her pack with her.

The road back to town was wetter and muddier than the first time we drove on it. It didn’t seem to bother the drive at all though we spun our wheels and slide uncomfortable close to the ditch on the side of the road a few times.

We arrived at the office where we had left our bag of souvenirs and we collected it up and repacked some of the items into our back packs. (Nope, my pack did not fall off the roof!) They didn’t give us much time so Margee quickly changed and we hurried back to the bus. Ten minutes later we are at the airport, Puerto Maldonado is not a very big town.

We have the hang of this airport thing pretty well, check in, drop off our bags, pay our departure tax, go through security, collapse on a hard chair and patiently wait. I did wander over to a shop and buy an ice cream treat. Margee disappeared for a few minutes and came back looking gorgeous with her makeup on. I didn’t bring makeup on the trip with me; she is always full of surprises.

We boarded the Lan Peru plane for the short flight to Cusco, then another short flight to Lima. We had a long layover in Lima so had several things planned for the day. We arrived in Lima and walked out of the gate expecting Renato from TaxiLimaPeru to be waiting for us with a big sign. We looked around and didn’t see him. We figured he was running late so we just waited. A gentleman from Taxi Green approached Margee and asked in Spanish if he could be of assistance. Taxi Green has a booth inside the airport with tours and prices listed on a board. Margee explained that we were waiting on our guide to pick us up so he thanked us a walked away. A few minutes later he came back and again asked if he could be of assistance. By now, we have given up on Renato so Margee explains to Alejandro that we need to pick up a guitar in Miraflores, we want to go shopping, we are hungry and would like to eat at a nice restaurant and if we have any time left over we want to do a little site seeing. She explains that we have to be back to the airport by 9:20 pm for our 12:20 am flight our. The two of them negotiate for a few minutes and then we have a deal. We walked over to the left luggage room and lock our bags up in a locker and off we go.

Alejandro speaks no English but he had a lot to say in Spanish. Margee listened to the entire history of Peru and the rise and fall of all of Peru’s political leaders. I think she became numb at some point because she stopped translating. I wasn’t the best audience anyway as my stomach was giving me problems.

Margee tells Alejandro where the guitar shop is in Miraflores. He suggests several good restaurants in the area, and tells us there is great shopping also. He drives us around and shows us where all these suggested places are and we set a time and a location for him to pick us up later. He drops us off near the guitar shop and we are on our own. We go into the guitar shop and I am looking around thinking that they rearranged things since we were last in. Margee is talking to the owner and he has no idea of what she is talking about. She pulls her receipt out of her wallet and that explains all, we are in the wrong shop. The one we want is right next door. We didn’t know there was more than one guitar shop on the street, in fact there are three. We express our apologies and slink out the door. Next door is the shop we want and it definitely looks familiar. Margee goes up to the counter and hands over her receipt and the proprietor tells her the guitar is not ready. Oh boy, this may be a problem as we are getting on a plane in a few hours. Margee goes on to explain that she had called just a few days ago to confirm that the guitar would be ready on March 30th instead of March 31st as we had originally ordered. Evidently the guitar was done except for the strings but the custom carrying case wasn’t. The proprietor called the case maker and confirmed that it will be delivered later in the afternoon and that he would also have time to put the strings on the guitar. We agree on a time to return and leave with our fingers crossed that this is going to work out.

We are really hungry by now so stop at one of Alejandro’s restaurant suggestions. It is a very nice Swiss Restaurant called La Tiendecita Blanca on Ave. Larco. I had a lovely fish entre, Margee had pasta and we both toasted our successful trip with a wonderful glass of Chilean wine. We topped off our slightly expensive lunch with a shared ice cream dessert. It was a nice way to celebrate our great vacation and our impending trip home.

There was time to spare before we were scheduled to go pick up the guitar so we walked over to the shopping area Alejandro had shown us. There were some very nice gift shops that had every souvenir possible from all over the country available. We are admiring some jewelry and we look at the gal behind the counter and realize it is Teo. We met her on the Paracas Tour back on March 10th and again in Lago Huacachina on March 11th. It is a very small world. She and her American boyfriend were on a little vacation but as we know all vacations come to an end and she was back at work in the shop.

Margee is watching the time so we wrap up our last minute shopping and walk back to the guitar shop, fingers crossed all the way. As we walk up to the counter, the shop owner holds up the guitar now complete with strings. We are admiring it when a young man enters the store and hands the custom made case over to the shop owner. Perfect timing, it is Margee’s case. It is so freshly completed that some of the glue holding the furry liner inside is still wet but that’s OK, it’s here and Margee is thrilled. Hopefully her boyfriend will be thrilled with the gift. She settles the bill and we walk out of the store with Margee happily toting the guitar.

We walked across the street to Parque Central and Parque Kennedy. I tried to talk Margee into posing for a Kodak moment, strumming the guitar with the open case at her feet, but she refused. I even offered to put money in the case but she didn’t go for it.

Parque Central had an outdoor photo exhibit set up. There were dozens of poster sized photos of Peruvian people who were murder victims. It was very moving and unnerving. On a brighter note, there was a crafts fair going on at Parque Kennedy. There was a variety of holistic and mystical items for sale as well as the typical tourist souvenirs. There were many local people enjoying the parks including a cat lady. She was feeding wild cats, dozens of wild cats. Margee walked out of her way to avoid contact with any of them. I don’t blame her, you don’t know what kind of diseases they may have and I don’t want to bring anything nasty home to my pets.

We decided that it was time to go to our meeting point to wait for Alejandro. There was a nice park bench available so we take a load off our feet. It is fun to sit and watch the people go about their activities. Across the road was a little booth selling sodas and snacks. An old lady was sitting in a chair next to the booth and she stared at us. It was disconcerting as she was so intense. Eventually she got up and hobbled off down the road. We patiently wait on our ride but both of us are checking our watches and wonder if we have been stood up. I had written down Alejandro’s full name, phone numbers and taxi number so we were prepared to borrow someone’s call phone and call him if we had to. (My iPhone battery is still dead from the Amazon.) Thank goodness before we resorted to that he showed up. We piled into the car and he apologizes for being late. He had gone home to take a nap and had overslept!

When we had arrived in Lima at the beginning of our trip we wanted to go to the Fountain and Light show but unfortunately it was closed. We told Alejandro that’s where we wanted to go. We hit rush hour and the traffic was terrible. I was sitting in the front seat with a bird’s eye view of the horrible traffic and my stomach was still unsettled. When we arrive we discover that it is closed again and we are very disappointed.

Alejandro felt bad about this and offered to stop so that we could enjoy a soda somewhere. I tell him (via Margee) that I need a restroom but want to go to the airport. Traffic is so bad that it will take awhile but we would rather be early than late. Back on the road, he takes a turn into a dark residential area and my survival instincts immediately go on high alert. In a not very nice tone I ask “where the hell are we going”. Even in English I think he got the message and he reassured Margee in Spanish that it was a short cut to try and by pass some of the traffic. Within a few minutes he was back on the main road and shortly we turned into the airport. He parked the taxi and we all went inside the airport where we settled our bill at the Green Taxi desk and picked up our luggage from the storage area.

We checked in with Delta Airlines and checked our two backpacks through. We were both done with carrying them. We had all our souvenirs in our Rick Steves bag and were set to go. It was a long trip home, Lima to Atlanta, Atlanta to Salt Lake City, Salt Lake City to Sacramento. But when you pay about $450.00 round trip, it’s hard to complain. My husband Tom was waiting for us in Sacramento but he didn’t bring a big sign with our names on it unfortunately.

Thanks for sharing ... enjoyed revisiting Peru through your eyes.

I enjoyed your last day in Lima. Thanks for spending so much time on your report. It was a great adventure. I'm looking forward to mine!

What a wonderful trip. You are a great story teller.

Thank you for your kind comments. Now I am watching for cheap air fares to take a quick trip back just for Machu Picchu.

Did you see Lan peru just opened direct flights SF-Lima? Not cheap, but maybe they will have specials.

Look into airfares mid January. Often there will be good sales on LAN. May seems to be a very slow month for Lima (since the fog starts) but really not a bad month to go to MP.

Barb-We just got back from Peru. We got a good airfare from Boston on Lan for May. As mlgb said, it may be foggy in Lima in May, but visibility at MP was fine. I enjoyed reading your report. Maybe, after I get some things done here, I will get time to write mine.
Shelley

Shelleyk, how was your trip?

Our trip was very good with a glitch here and there, but nothing that ruined the trip as a whole. We did Lima, Sacred Valley, Machu Picchu, Cusco and Puno in 11 days on the ground. One of the biggest surprises to me on this trip is that I got altitude sickness for around 10 hours after we landed in Cusco and went straight to Chinchero, which is at 13, 500 feet. Thank goodness we were there for only a few hours and then checked into a hotel in Yucay (Sacred Valley). After several doses of aspirin and a good nights sleep (no food eaten since landing in Cusco) I felt much better. I do not know why I was so surprised to get altitude sickness. My husband worried about getting it for months before the trip, and he was just fine. I guess I was in denial before the trip, but I sure know what it is like to get it and I hope not to ever repeat that feeling again.

I am sorry you didn't feel well. We didn't have problems with the altitude because we took diamoz. We both had problems with our stomachs on and off the entire trip but nothing that slowed us down. It's all part of traveling I guess. Looking forward to your report.