One Week in Peru - Trip Report
Aug 6th, 2016, 12:52 PM
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One Week in Peru - Trip Report
Foders helped us with planning our trip this past week to Peru so I wanted to make sure and provide the report! We are a couple in our mid-thirties and are DIY travelers; so everything in the below report we planned and booked directly ourselves. We also travel quite a bit for work so have a number of airline/credit card/hotel points that we were able to utilize throughout the trip. Overall we had an amazing trip! Since we only had one week, there is of course so much of the country that we didn’t see and were limited to the main tourist destinations – Cusco/Sacred Valley/Machu Picchu/Lima. We did experience the strikes in Cusco region that affected a number of travelers visiting Machu Picchu from Aug 3 – 5. More details on that are below but we are very grateful everything worked out with minimal affects on our overall plans. Travel karma was on our side for sure!
My husband was working in Bogota and I visited him prior to our Peru trip. So our main flights were in to Bogota and out of Lima. We live in Chicago and found that we were able to get much more cost effective tickets booking out of Miami (and returning to Chicago). So that’s what I did (and got a separate cheaper flight to Miami the night before). But, day 1 below starts with our departure from Bogota.
Friday night – Flight from Bogota to Cusco
We booked our flights from Bogota to Cusco using United points on Avianca Airlines (part of Star Alliance). In order to get to Cusco, you have to go through Lima so since we couldn’t leave until Friday night, we picked a ticket with a long stopover. We arrived in to Lima around 1a on Saturday, went through immigration and stayed the night at the Wyndham Costa del Sol, at the Lima airport. This hotel was as convenient as it gets for airport hotels, right across the street from baggage claim, but you also pay for that convenience. Our flight from Lima to Cusco was around 10:30a on Saturday and we were also able to pick up our Peru Rail tickets right by our gate, which was very convenient and saved us a trip to the office in Cusco.
Saturday – Arrival in Cusco
We landed in Cusco just after noon on Saturday and had pre arranged a pickup through Taxidatum.com (thank you Foders for the recommendation!). Our driver was waiting for us when we exited and we went right to our hotel. It’s a $7 cab ride from the airport to the center of Cusco and with taxidatum, you can pay in dollars if you haven’t had a chance to get any soles yet. We stayed at the JW Marriott in Cusco with hotel points. It’s a gorgeous hotel but an open air lobby and Cusco is cold in the morning and night! There is coca tea set out in the lobby which is supposed to help with the altitude. We drank that and also took the medicine a few days up front and had no issues with altitude (outside of running out of breath easily). This could also be because we came from Bogota which is also at high elevation. We took all the precautions regardless. Once we were all checked in, we spent early afternoon walking around the main area of Cusco. We stopped for lunch at Qosqo Beer House right on the corner of Plaza Regocijo. The food was average but the beer selection was delightful! We typically find that no other country can make craft beers quite like the US, but were pleasantly surprised with the number of local “artisanal” beers that are brewed in Peru and this Beer House offered a great selection. It is in a touristy location, though, and there are a number of people walking through the patio trying to sell you their paintings, or crafts. This is the main downside of Cusco; its very unauthentic in the main areas and hard to escape. Once you get past that, though, there are a number of things to enjoy, but just be prepared. For our first evening, we had booked a reservation with the Cusco Planetarium. They pick you up in the plaza at 5:40 and take you to their family run destination a few km away. Overall it was a great experience! They teach you a lot about the Incas and how astrology was so important to their farming and essentially their way of life. After the history lesson, you learn about the stars in the Southern Hemisphere and then can star gaze yourself. The highlights were seeing the Southern Cross and Jupiter/Saturn. They take you back to the square afterwards, around 8:30/9p. We were a bit run down at this point (and cold!) so just went for a nightcap and snack at the Museo de Pisco next to the Marriott. Great pisco drinks!!
Sunday – Cusco
We had a full day/night in Cusco on Sunday. We slept in and had breakfast at the hotel (great buffet!). We then had the concierge call and make us a dinner reservation for that night at a restaurant that came highly recommended, Cicciolina. We then ventured out to walk to Saqsayhuaman. You can take a taxi up but we had all day and wanted to do the walk. It’s up some stairs and takes your breath away in the altitude, but its definitely manageable. We bought our tourist tickets for the site at the top of the stairs. We bought the tickets for s/130 that included 16 destinations in the region since we had plans to go elsewhere in the Sacred Valley that week. They have a smaller ticket option as well. The site was impressive! It was our first taste of Inca architecture and so we didn’t know what we had in store for us the rest of the week, but it was a great start to the trip to just spend the morning taking it all in and also getting the great overhead views of the city. I made a rookie mistake, however, and did not wear sunscreen. I got BURNED! It may only be 65 degrees but that sun is strong. Wear sunscreen! We walked back to Cusco going down a different path than we came on and on the way down walked past a great outdoor spot where they were grilling BBQ. We stopped for beers and lunch. At this point I realized I didn’t have my credit card on me! The only place I had used mine at was at the beer hall the day prior so our next stop was back there to hopefully get it back. Thankfully, it was there and we ended up chatting and drinking more artisanal beers with the owners brother who was in town from Bolivia. We then headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. Cicciolina was an easy walk from the hotel and a great recommendation. The place was packed, the food was delicious Peruvian cuisine. We tried cuy (guinea big) and alpaca for the first time and then called it a night.
Monday – Cusco to Ollantaytambo via Chinchero, Moras and Moray.
We had booked our train to Machu Picchu from Ollantaytambo on Tuesday thanks to some other recommendations from friends to stay there for a night. So on Monday we were tasked with getting to Ollantaytambo and I knew I wanted to see the salt flats on the way. We aren’t big on official tours, however, and a private tour guide was an expensive option, so after asking around on Foders, the Taxidatum service was recommended. And it was great! We had left our main suitcases at the hotel because we were returning to Cusco and just packed a few backpacks for the next two days. Taxidatum offers a ‘tour’ that takes you from your hotel in Cusco to your hotel in Ollantaytambo and makes a few stops along the way. It’s essentially a driver (ours did not speak much English) and you are on your own otherwise, but that’s all we needed. At each of the sites you can go at your own pace and enjoy. The first stop was Chinchero. The driver did do a slight detour and take us to a staged area where some locals taught you the process of how they make alpaca apparel and then encourage you to buy their ‘local’ products. It was a bit of a trap but not the end of the world. We bought a little sweater for our future nephew and went on with the day. The Chinchero archeological site was the next stop and at first you can’t tell what you are there to see. We used the tickets that we had purchased at Saqsayhuaman the day before and entered. Again you are greeted with people trying to sell you their products but you go past these crowds and over a ledge and then WOW. We could have spent all day there. More ruins set in an amazing landscape. There is a method, tied to the sun, with where the Incas decided to build and farm. And its fascinating. From Chinchero we went to Salinas de Moras – the salt flats. Another must see. The third and final stop was in Moray, which was impressive, but after seeing the other two, it didn’t compare. And we were exhausted. We then made our way to Ollantaytambo, stopping for a few picturesque views of Urubamba on the way. In Ollantaytambo, we stayed at the El Albergue Hotel. A great hotel tucked away at the train station with a wonderful garden and farm. When you make your reservation with the hotel website, you can book for a specific room. We had done our research on Trip Advisor up front and carefully selected our room, based on our findings. We chose room 15 in the back, overlooking the garden and away from the train. It was perfect. We walked around the town prior to dinner back at our hotel where they use ingredients from their farm throughout their menu. The restaurant only has a few seats is reserved for hotel guests.
Tuesday – morning in Ollantaytambo, train to Machu Picchu.
We awoke on Tuesday morning to an email from Peru Rail telling us about an impending strike and that as a result, our return tickets booked from Machu Picchu to Cusco would only go as far as back to Ollantaytambo. Um, oK? I simply changed our pickup from Poroy to Ollantaytambo and we went on with our day….
Our train wasn’t until 3:30p and the only thing we had planned was a Pachamanca Farm lunch at the hotel at 1p. So we woke up and headed to the fortresses of Ollantaytambo! Each day of our trip we progressively saw more and more impressive works of the Incas and this was no different. Ollantaytambo entry is also part of the tourist ticket we had purchased earlier in the week. This is the site of one of the main (only?) battles that the Incas won over the Spanish, and you can see why. It’s a fortress literally built on a mountainside. Not only did we explore the ruins, but we did the hike all the way to the top of the mountain. Stunning. Then it was time for the Pachamanca lunch we had booked with the hotel. We weren’t sure what to expect here but it sounded cool – a traditional Andean experience prepared on their farm with local ingredients. This ended up being one of the highlights of the trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone staying in Ollantaytambo. The Inca way is one with the Earth and this type of meal is cooked in the ground honor of Mother Earth. They placed all the vegetables, meat and potatoes in a hole in the ground and covered them with hot stones and cloth. They sealed the cloth with the soil and cooked our lunch. While the lunch was cooking, we toured the farm and learned all about how they farm in that region. And of course, the food was delicious. We were good and ready for our train ride to Machu Picchu. I should add that it was our guide at lunch that first told us that we might want to be concerned about this impending strike in the region. Why, we asked? We had a driver scheduled to pick us up in Ollantaytambo now, what could the issue be. Boy were we naïve. Turns out when Peruvians strike in this region, it is usually against elements of tourism (trains, buses, hotels) and they physically block the one road that goes from Ollantaytambo from Cusco so cars cannot go through. At this point, our option was to go back to Cusco that day and skip Machu Picchu (which wasn’t really an option) or just wing it and hope for the best and worry about it after we returned. We went with the latter and were on our way to Aguas Caliente (the base of Machu Picchu). We did the vistadome ticket option (middle level) and had wonderful views on the train ride up. It was lovely. We had booked a room at the Terra Viva hotel in Aguas Caliente and they were very helpful answering all of our questions preparing for the next day. They also confirmed that we had printed our tickets correctly to MP, which I was a bit nervous about it! We had booked directly on the website and the process to actually getting the tickets is a bit confusing. But it all worked out. Our biggest decision that we had to make was whether or not to walk from Aguas Caliente up to Machu Picchu, or take the bus. Since we also had tickets booked for the Machu Picchu Montanya (a 3000m hike up upon arrival at MP), the hotel strongly encouraged us to take the bus, but to make sure to line up early. We bought out bus tickets and went to the market to get some food for breakfast and had dinner at Tree House before going to bed early, around 9p, and setting our alarms for 4a.
Wednesday – Machu Picchu + back to Cusco
That 4a alarm went off and we got up and ready quickly to start our day and get in line for the bus. The first one departs at 5:30 and they run every 10 minutes. We took one backpack with us and left one with the hotel (FYI – they will bring your bags direct to the train station later that day for you if you’re interested). We then went out to get in line for the bus… WELP. The line was so long. We didn’t even walk the whole thing and we knew that if we got in line, we weren’t getting to the park until at least 7a. We had a tight schedule as it was, and this wasn’t going to work for us, so we turned and headed in the darkness towards the climb up on foot. It took an hour. And it was hard. But we got to Machu Picchu just after 6a, and saw the sunrise over the mountains. It seemed worth the walk. And then we had the Mountain to hike! We were one of the first few in line to enter Machu Picchu Mountain and began our trek up. And up. And up. This was HARD! We also made the terrible mistake of drinking all our water on the initial hike up and forgetting to get more before this one. That was a mistake for sure. But because it was so early, we were one of the few on this amazing hike, and that was pretty special. About 1 hour 20 minutes later, we were at the top of this mountain. Only three other people had beat us to the top and we were basically able to take it all in in solitude. It was worth the hike up. Most people said that the hike down goes much quicker. Not for me. I thought it was terrifying and ultimately harder to go down than up. So we finally exited the mountain at 10a to explore the rest of MP. We were very hungry and tired at this point so got some lunch in the café. A lot of places in Aguas Caliente will prepare lunches for you, so you don’t have to leave the park to eat, but at the same time you then have to carry those lunches so for us, the lighter bag was nice, but it did take up time to go all the way out of the park to eat. After lunch we were ready to see the ruins and had downloaded a walking tour podcast that explains everything. We started the tour and got about 15 minutes in and realized that there was another hike up to the Sun Temple. We also knew we had just over an hour before we had to try and catch the bus down to make our train. Where did the time go?! In hindsight, a 3:30 train return train ticket was probably too early after you factor in the time it takes to get to/from Machu Picchu from Aguas Caliente in the high season (those dang bus lines!). Anyway, we couldn’t not do ANOTHER hike up and spent our last hour going up to the Sun Temple. That means, we left Machu Picchu without actually seeing the ruins up close. Oops! But for us, that was ok. The vistas were the highlight and seeing the Lost City from above was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. So by the time we get down from the Sun Temple, we are running pretty late and I’m in a lot of pain. But of course, the line for the bus was extreme and in order to get back and make our train in time, we only had one option… hike back down on foot. Luckily, we made it, and were headed back to Ollantaytambo. The only question now… could our driver pick us up and get us back to Cusco.
Well, the answer to that question, we quickly learned upon arrival, was no. No one was driving to/from Cusco. There were a few tourist buses that were taking a back road option but getting a driver to do this was seemingly impossible. We were hearing rumblings that the strikers would get tired at night and you could go in the middle of the night back. We were feeling pretty hopeless at this point and had low hopes of making our flight from Cusco to Lima the next day. After over an hour of trying to get a ride back, we were ready to call it a night and try early in the morning. We had just called the El Albergue and they said they would open up a small room with a double bed that they don’t normally rent out for us. No more than 2 minutes after we said yes, to the room, my husband saw a few people getting in to a car. They were headed to Cusco and had two seats open!! One of the girls spoke Spanish and knew some people who knew people who were willing to make the drive through the back roads for them. And we just happened to be standing in the right place at the right time. But these backroads at night were terrifying. We had to get out of the car to walk over bridges because of weight limits, the dirt was so extreme that you could hardly see a few feet in front of you and we were making turns on cliffs that we thankfully couldn’t see over because it was dark. The roads were only wide enough for one car so luckily there were police in certain locations to help with traffic control. Every once in a while there would be rocks blocking the road from the strikers that someone would have to hop out of the car and move them to continue on. All we could think was, how does this happen? But 3.5 hours later, we were back to our hotel in Cusco and thanking the travel gods. We are ready to pay it forward again because I’m pretty sure we cashed out on karma credit that we had built until that point. There are so many people that probably didn’t make it to/from Cusco or had to venture out at 3 in the morning. We capped off our night with beers and dinner at the hotel – too exhausted to do anything more.
Thursday – Cusco to Lima
Owww! We were in some serious pain when we woke up on Thursday after the day of hikes at MP! But after breakfast we were off to the airport and arrived in Lima around 2:30p. We flew Avianca again (FYI – our tickets were half the price on Orbitz than directly with Avianca for this leg). We used Taxidatum again to transport us from the airport to our hotel in Miraflores (again, the JW Marriott with points). Upon arrival we walked around Miraflores and then ventured to Barranco for dinner and drinks. It was a cute little neighborhood and we had a drink at Posada del Angel - a charming spot near the main square. Our dinner reservation was at Isolina just a few doors down. Also a great spot! The cebiche was perhaps the best I’ve ever had. We then ordered entrees that we easily could have split they were huge. But so good. We continued to bar hop from there and ended back up at Posada del Angel for some live music before heading back to the hotel. Uber is in Lima which worked out great.
Friday – Lima
We were still in a lot of pain but Friday was our ‘foodie day’ in Lima. We only had two things planned and that was lunch and dinner. We walked along the coast line to get to lunch at La Mar. It’s in a bit of a random location but opens up to a great restaurant. More cebiche coupled with seafood & rice on the wood fired grill. Plus some pisco cocktails and lunch was a success. Since we were still in a lot of pain, the walk back to the hotel was slow, but enjoyable, all along the water. There are some great parks in Miraflores and everyone was out and about enjoying the day. Once back at the hotel, we relaxed, packed up and watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies until dinner. Our reservation was at Central – we had booked it months ago when we read about it. It gets top ratings as one of the best restaurants in the world and their tasting menu is all tied to the different altitudes of Peru. Had to try it. It was hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever had, and if you get the opportunity to try it, I highly recommend it. It was 17 courses of unique and delightful combinations, using ingredients that are native to Peru. They actually have a team of people that go throughout Peru to find new ingredients and alter the menu slightly each week depending on what they find. We sat right by the view to the kitchen as well, which was a great experience. You can tell this restaurant is all about the food and not necessarily the profits. It shows. We loved it.
And now I’m finishing writing this report on the plane back from Lima. We have a layover in Miami before flying home to Chicago. Thanks to all for your advice in the planning – we had a wonderful vacation!!
My husband was working in Bogota and I visited him prior to our Peru trip. So our main flights were in to Bogota and out of Lima. We live in Chicago and found that we were able to get much more cost effective tickets booking out of Miami (and returning to Chicago). So that’s what I did (and got a separate cheaper flight to Miami the night before). But, day 1 below starts with our departure from Bogota.
Friday night – Flight from Bogota to Cusco
We booked our flights from Bogota to Cusco using United points on Avianca Airlines (part of Star Alliance). In order to get to Cusco, you have to go through Lima so since we couldn’t leave until Friday night, we picked a ticket with a long stopover. We arrived in to Lima around 1a on Saturday, went through immigration and stayed the night at the Wyndham Costa del Sol, at the Lima airport. This hotel was as convenient as it gets for airport hotels, right across the street from baggage claim, but you also pay for that convenience. Our flight from Lima to Cusco was around 10:30a on Saturday and we were also able to pick up our Peru Rail tickets right by our gate, which was very convenient and saved us a trip to the office in Cusco.
Saturday – Arrival in Cusco
We landed in Cusco just after noon on Saturday and had pre arranged a pickup through Taxidatum.com (thank you Foders for the recommendation!). Our driver was waiting for us when we exited and we went right to our hotel. It’s a $7 cab ride from the airport to the center of Cusco and with taxidatum, you can pay in dollars if you haven’t had a chance to get any soles yet. We stayed at the JW Marriott in Cusco with hotel points. It’s a gorgeous hotel but an open air lobby and Cusco is cold in the morning and night! There is coca tea set out in the lobby which is supposed to help with the altitude. We drank that and also took the medicine a few days up front and had no issues with altitude (outside of running out of breath easily). This could also be because we came from Bogota which is also at high elevation. We took all the precautions regardless. Once we were all checked in, we spent early afternoon walking around the main area of Cusco. We stopped for lunch at Qosqo Beer House right on the corner of Plaza Regocijo. The food was average but the beer selection was delightful! We typically find that no other country can make craft beers quite like the US, but were pleasantly surprised with the number of local “artisanal” beers that are brewed in Peru and this Beer House offered a great selection. It is in a touristy location, though, and there are a number of people walking through the patio trying to sell you their paintings, or crafts. This is the main downside of Cusco; its very unauthentic in the main areas and hard to escape. Once you get past that, though, there are a number of things to enjoy, but just be prepared. For our first evening, we had booked a reservation with the Cusco Planetarium. They pick you up in the plaza at 5:40 and take you to their family run destination a few km away. Overall it was a great experience! They teach you a lot about the Incas and how astrology was so important to their farming and essentially their way of life. After the history lesson, you learn about the stars in the Southern Hemisphere and then can star gaze yourself. The highlights were seeing the Southern Cross and Jupiter/Saturn. They take you back to the square afterwards, around 8:30/9p. We were a bit run down at this point (and cold!) so just went for a nightcap and snack at the Museo de Pisco next to the Marriott. Great pisco drinks!!
Sunday – Cusco
We had a full day/night in Cusco on Sunday. We slept in and had breakfast at the hotel (great buffet!). We then had the concierge call and make us a dinner reservation for that night at a restaurant that came highly recommended, Cicciolina. We then ventured out to walk to Saqsayhuaman. You can take a taxi up but we had all day and wanted to do the walk. It’s up some stairs and takes your breath away in the altitude, but its definitely manageable. We bought our tourist tickets for the site at the top of the stairs. We bought the tickets for s/130 that included 16 destinations in the region since we had plans to go elsewhere in the Sacred Valley that week. They have a smaller ticket option as well. The site was impressive! It was our first taste of Inca architecture and so we didn’t know what we had in store for us the rest of the week, but it was a great start to the trip to just spend the morning taking it all in and also getting the great overhead views of the city. I made a rookie mistake, however, and did not wear sunscreen. I got BURNED! It may only be 65 degrees but that sun is strong. Wear sunscreen! We walked back to Cusco going down a different path than we came on and on the way down walked past a great outdoor spot where they were grilling BBQ. We stopped for beers and lunch. At this point I realized I didn’t have my credit card on me! The only place I had used mine at was at the beer hall the day prior so our next stop was back there to hopefully get it back. Thankfully, it was there and we ended up chatting and drinking more artisanal beers with the owners brother who was in town from Bolivia. We then headed back to the hotel to relax before dinner. Cicciolina was an easy walk from the hotel and a great recommendation. The place was packed, the food was delicious Peruvian cuisine. We tried cuy (guinea big) and alpaca for the first time and then called it a night.
Monday – Cusco to Ollantaytambo via Chinchero, Moras and Moray.
We had booked our train to Machu Picchu from Ollantaytambo on Tuesday thanks to some other recommendations from friends to stay there for a night. So on Monday we were tasked with getting to Ollantaytambo and I knew I wanted to see the salt flats on the way. We aren’t big on official tours, however, and a private tour guide was an expensive option, so after asking around on Foders, the Taxidatum service was recommended. And it was great! We had left our main suitcases at the hotel because we were returning to Cusco and just packed a few backpacks for the next two days. Taxidatum offers a ‘tour’ that takes you from your hotel in Cusco to your hotel in Ollantaytambo and makes a few stops along the way. It’s essentially a driver (ours did not speak much English) and you are on your own otherwise, but that’s all we needed. At each of the sites you can go at your own pace and enjoy. The first stop was Chinchero. The driver did do a slight detour and take us to a staged area where some locals taught you the process of how they make alpaca apparel and then encourage you to buy their ‘local’ products. It was a bit of a trap but not the end of the world. We bought a little sweater for our future nephew and went on with the day. The Chinchero archeological site was the next stop and at first you can’t tell what you are there to see. We used the tickets that we had purchased at Saqsayhuaman the day before and entered. Again you are greeted with people trying to sell you their products but you go past these crowds and over a ledge and then WOW. We could have spent all day there. More ruins set in an amazing landscape. There is a method, tied to the sun, with where the Incas decided to build and farm. And its fascinating. From Chinchero we went to Salinas de Moras – the salt flats. Another must see. The third and final stop was in Moray, which was impressive, but after seeing the other two, it didn’t compare. And we were exhausted. We then made our way to Ollantaytambo, stopping for a few picturesque views of Urubamba on the way. In Ollantaytambo, we stayed at the El Albergue Hotel. A great hotel tucked away at the train station with a wonderful garden and farm. When you make your reservation with the hotel website, you can book for a specific room. We had done our research on Trip Advisor up front and carefully selected our room, based on our findings. We chose room 15 in the back, overlooking the garden and away from the train. It was perfect. We walked around the town prior to dinner back at our hotel where they use ingredients from their farm throughout their menu. The restaurant only has a few seats is reserved for hotel guests.
Tuesday – morning in Ollantaytambo, train to Machu Picchu.
We awoke on Tuesday morning to an email from Peru Rail telling us about an impending strike and that as a result, our return tickets booked from Machu Picchu to Cusco would only go as far as back to Ollantaytambo. Um, oK? I simply changed our pickup from Poroy to Ollantaytambo and we went on with our day….
Our train wasn’t until 3:30p and the only thing we had planned was a Pachamanca Farm lunch at the hotel at 1p. So we woke up and headed to the fortresses of Ollantaytambo! Each day of our trip we progressively saw more and more impressive works of the Incas and this was no different. Ollantaytambo entry is also part of the tourist ticket we had purchased earlier in the week. This is the site of one of the main (only?) battles that the Incas won over the Spanish, and you can see why. It’s a fortress literally built on a mountainside. Not only did we explore the ruins, but we did the hike all the way to the top of the mountain. Stunning. Then it was time for the Pachamanca lunch we had booked with the hotel. We weren’t sure what to expect here but it sounded cool – a traditional Andean experience prepared on their farm with local ingredients. This ended up being one of the highlights of the trip and I would highly recommend it to anyone staying in Ollantaytambo. The Inca way is one with the Earth and this type of meal is cooked in the ground honor of Mother Earth. They placed all the vegetables, meat and potatoes in a hole in the ground and covered them with hot stones and cloth. They sealed the cloth with the soil and cooked our lunch. While the lunch was cooking, we toured the farm and learned all about how they farm in that region. And of course, the food was delicious. We were good and ready for our train ride to Machu Picchu. I should add that it was our guide at lunch that first told us that we might want to be concerned about this impending strike in the region. Why, we asked? We had a driver scheduled to pick us up in Ollantaytambo now, what could the issue be. Boy were we naïve. Turns out when Peruvians strike in this region, it is usually against elements of tourism (trains, buses, hotels) and they physically block the one road that goes from Ollantaytambo from Cusco so cars cannot go through. At this point, our option was to go back to Cusco that day and skip Machu Picchu (which wasn’t really an option) or just wing it and hope for the best and worry about it after we returned. We went with the latter and were on our way to Aguas Caliente (the base of Machu Picchu). We did the vistadome ticket option (middle level) and had wonderful views on the train ride up. It was lovely. We had booked a room at the Terra Viva hotel in Aguas Caliente and they were very helpful answering all of our questions preparing for the next day. They also confirmed that we had printed our tickets correctly to MP, which I was a bit nervous about it! We had booked directly on the website and the process to actually getting the tickets is a bit confusing. But it all worked out. Our biggest decision that we had to make was whether or not to walk from Aguas Caliente up to Machu Picchu, or take the bus. Since we also had tickets booked for the Machu Picchu Montanya (a 3000m hike up upon arrival at MP), the hotel strongly encouraged us to take the bus, but to make sure to line up early. We bought out bus tickets and went to the market to get some food for breakfast and had dinner at Tree House before going to bed early, around 9p, and setting our alarms for 4a.
Wednesday – Machu Picchu + back to Cusco
That 4a alarm went off and we got up and ready quickly to start our day and get in line for the bus. The first one departs at 5:30 and they run every 10 minutes. We took one backpack with us and left one with the hotel (FYI – they will bring your bags direct to the train station later that day for you if you’re interested). We then went out to get in line for the bus… WELP. The line was so long. We didn’t even walk the whole thing and we knew that if we got in line, we weren’t getting to the park until at least 7a. We had a tight schedule as it was, and this wasn’t going to work for us, so we turned and headed in the darkness towards the climb up on foot. It took an hour. And it was hard. But we got to Machu Picchu just after 6a, and saw the sunrise over the mountains. It seemed worth the walk. And then we had the Mountain to hike! We were one of the first few in line to enter Machu Picchu Mountain and began our trek up. And up. And up. This was HARD! We also made the terrible mistake of drinking all our water on the initial hike up and forgetting to get more before this one. That was a mistake for sure. But because it was so early, we were one of the few on this amazing hike, and that was pretty special. About 1 hour 20 minutes later, we were at the top of this mountain. Only three other people had beat us to the top and we were basically able to take it all in in solitude. It was worth the hike up. Most people said that the hike down goes much quicker. Not for me. I thought it was terrifying and ultimately harder to go down than up. So we finally exited the mountain at 10a to explore the rest of MP. We were very hungry and tired at this point so got some lunch in the café. A lot of places in Aguas Caliente will prepare lunches for you, so you don’t have to leave the park to eat, but at the same time you then have to carry those lunches so for us, the lighter bag was nice, but it did take up time to go all the way out of the park to eat. After lunch we were ready to see the ruins and had downloaded a walking tour podcast that explains everything. We started the tour and got about 15 minutes in and realized that there was another hike up to the Sun Temple. We also knew we had just over an hour before we had to try and catch the bus down to make our train. Where did the time go?! In hindsight, a 3:30 train return train ticket was probably too early after you factor in the time it takes to get to/from Machu Picchu from Aguas Caliente in the high season (those dang bus lines!). Anyway, we couldn’t not do ANOTHER hike up and spent our last hour going up to the Sun Temple. That means, we left Machu Picchu without actually seeing the ruins up close. Oops! But for us, that was ok. The vistas were the highlight and seeing the Lost City from above was one of the most amazing things I’ve ever seen. So by the time we get down from the Sun Temple, we are running pretty late and I’m in a lot of pain. But of course, the line for the bus was extreme and in order to get back and make our train in time, we only had one option… hike back down on foot. Luckily, we made it, and were headed back to Ollantaytambo. The only question now… could our driver pick us up and get us back to Cusco.
Well, the answer to that question, we quickly learned upon arrival, was no. No one was driving to/from Cusco. There were a few tourist buses that were taking a back road option but getting a driver to do this was seemingly impossible. We were hearing rumblings that the strikers would get tired at night and you could go in the middle of the night back. We were feeling pretty hopeless at this point and had low hopes of making our flight from Cusco to Lima the next day. After over an hour of trying to get a ride back, we were ready to call it a night and try early in the morning. We had just called the El Albergue and they said they would open up a small room with a double bed that they don’t normally rent out for us. No more than 2 minutes after we said yes, to the room, my husband saw a few people getting in to a car. They were headed to Cusco and had two seats open!! One of the girls spoke Spanish and knew some people who knew people who were willing to make the drive through the back roads for them. And we just happened to be standing in the right place at the right time. But these backroads at night were terrifying. We had to get out of the car to walk over bridges because of weight limits, the dirt was so extreme that you could hardly see a few feet in front of you and we were making turns on cliffs that we thankfully couldn’t see over because it was dark. The roads were only wide enough for one car so luckily there were police in certain locations to help with traffic control. Every once in a while there would be rocks blocking the road from the strikers that someone would have to hop out of the car and move them to continue on. All we could think was, how does this happen? But 3.5 hours later, we were back to our hotel in Cusco and thanking the travel gods. We are ready to pay it forward again because I’m pretty sure we cashed out on karma credit that we had built until that point. There are so many people that probably didn’t make it to/from Cusco or had to venture out at 3 in the morning. We capped off our night with beers and dinner at the hotel – too exhausted to do anything more.
Thursday – Cusco to Lima
Owww! We were in some serious pain when we woke up on Thursday after the day of hikes at MP! But after breakfast we were off to the airport and arrived in Lima around 2:30p. We flew Avianca again (FYI – our tickets were half the price on Orbitz than directly with Avianca for this leg). We used Taxidatum again to transport us from the airport to our hotel in Miraflores (again, the JW Marriott with points). Upon arrival we walked around Miraflores and then ventured to Barranco for dinner and drinks. It was a cute little neighborhood and we had a drink at Posada del Angel - a charming spot near the main square. Our dinner reservation was at Isolina just a few doors down. Also a great spot! The cebiche was perhaps the best I’ve ever had. We then ordered entrees that we easily could have split they were huge. But so good. We continued to bar hop from there and ended back up at Posada del Angel for some live music before heading back to the hotel. Uber is in Lima which worked out great.
Friday – Lima
We were still in a lot of pain but Friday was our ‘foodie day’ in Lima. We only had two things planned and that was lunch and dinner. We walked along the coast line to get to lunch at La Mar. It’s in a bit of a random location but opens up to a great restaurant. More cebiche coupled with seafood & rice on the wood fired grill. Plus some pisco cocktails and lunch was a success. Since we were still in a lot of pain, the walk back to the hotel was slow, but enjoyable, all along the water. There are some great parks in Miraflores and everyone was out and about enjoying the day. Once back at the hotel, we relaxed, packed up and watched the Olympic Opening Ceremonies until dinner. Our reservation was at Central – we had booked it months ago when we read about it. It gets top ratings as one of the best restaurants in the world and their tasting menu is all tied to the different altitudes of Peru. Had to try it. It was hands down one of the best meals I’ve ever had, and if you get the opportunity to try it, I highly recommend it. It was 17 courses of unique and delightful combinations, using ingredients that are native to Peru. They actually have a team of people that go throughout Peru to find new ingredients and alter the menu slightly each week depending on what they find. We sat right by the view to the kitchen as well, which was a great experience. You can tell this restaurant is all about the food and not necessarily the profits. It shows. We loved it.
And now I’m finishing writing this report on the plane back from Lima. We have a layover in Miami before flying home to Chicago. Thanks to all for your advice in the planning – we had a wonderful vacation!!
Aug 6th, 2016, 06:01 PM
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Thanks for sharing, although the pace of your trip had my heart racing. I am glad you were able to visit Peru and managed to pack a lot in. Given the limited amount of time you had in Machu Picchu you did well there. We had 1.5 days at the citadel and felt like we could have used another day. Regarding Cuzco, I actually enjoyed it very much, but had 4 nights there to dig deep. Hope Peru whetted your appetite enough to think about a return visit.
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Evert566
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Feb 10th, 2016 12:22 PM
