Machu Picchu and Galapagos - 2008

We planned this trip using the Overseas Adventure Travel (OAT) company which limits its tour groups to 16 people.  Normally Rita and I do not join tour groups and usually travel on our own but the locations visited on this trip lend themselves to group travel.  We were fortunate that our group was a well-traveled, intelligent, and interesting assortment.  We were not the oldest or the youngest of our group but nicely fit in the middle.  Everyone got along well, nobody became ill or hurt, we did not lose any luggage, and all of our many flights were on time.  Landings equaled takeoffs which is always important, too.



We began the trip flying from Austin to Miami via Dallas/Ft. Worth on Friday, October 3.  We planned to fly into Miami a day early and spend the night in an airport hotel just to be on the safe side.  Our trip to South America really started the next day on a late, late flight to Lima, Peru.  On Saturday, just a few minutes before midnight, we departed Miami and arrived in Lima about 4:30 am Sunday morning.  We did not sleep much on the flight so we arrived bleary eyed and were a little upset that it took nearly an hour and a half to get our luggage.  Someone from OAT met us at the airport as promised and took us along with two other couples to our hotel in Lima.



We went to our room, showered, and tried to get a few hours sleep before meeting our tour group leader but we were too wired to sleep.  At 11:00 am we met our tour leader for Peru, Juan de Dios Castillo, plus our entire group.  We started out on our first bus trip to the Museum of Anthropology and Archaeology at Bolivar Square in Pueblo Libre, a section of Lima, where we learned about the pre-Inca peoples of the Andes.  Next we went to Plaza San Martin and Plaza Central in the Colonial District of Lima.  Guess who forgot his camera?  We saw nice old colonial buildings that surround the squares and then we walked to the 17^th century Franciscan Monastery which we toured before returning to our hotel.  There was a group dinner but Rita and I had made plans to meet an old friend from Brussels and Athens.  We had fun rehashing old times with our friend, Mac, and I had my first, of several, Cusquena beers.  We begged off early as we were exhausted and needed to get to bed early.



Monday was a free day with no group activities scheduled so Rita and I slept in getting about 10 hours of much needed rest.  We walked up Avenue Jose Larco to the Miraflores flower park and the Indian Market where we bought just a few souvenirs.  Next we walked back down the main avenue to a large new shopping mall that looks out over the Pacific Ocean.  Here we found a new branch of the Gold Museum which we toured.  Since the Conquistadors melted down all the Inca gold and shipped it back to Spain, these items were pre-Inca and recovered from sites the Spanish didn’t know about.  We found a nice café for lunch and had big, hot soups – a specialty of Peru.  I also drank an Inca Cola which had a faint taste of cream soda to me.  We walked back to the hotel for a short nap before going out as a group again to Dama Juana where we were treated to a large buffet dinner of Peruvian dishes and a floor show of various native folk dances from different areas of Peru.



Tuesday morning we had to wake early to check out of our hotel after breakfast and fly on LAN airlines to Cusco, Peru which is at an altitude of about 10,800 feet.  We were taken to our nice San Jose Cusco Hotel where we drank coca leaf tea, also called maté, to help combat altitude sickness.  We were instructed to rest, especially for the first hour, and to do nothing strenuous.  After a while we walked as a group to the main Plaza de Arms and viewed the old cathedral and churches before going to Don Tomas restaurant for a late lunch.  Food was good and almost all our lunches and dinners consisted of three full courses.  Here I had a starter of chili rellaño and mountain trout for main course with flan for dessert.  Our tour leader walked us around the city center looking at interesting old colonial buildings and plazas.  Dinner was in our hotel and most of us retired early having some minor effects from the altitude.



Wednesday was cool with sprinkles and after our normally large, hot breakfast buffet we headed out by bus to a local produce market.  Our goal was to buy something modest for the shaman we were going to see.  It was thought to be better if we did the traditional barter for his services rather than pay in money.  This may be our future as well.  The market was interesting with colorful stalls and women selling produce.  Rita bought six eggs and I bought a small bag of apples to take to the shaman.  This Andean medicine man is also called a curandero a Pacco and we met him under an open tent where our leader, Juan, interpreted for us.  The shaman spread out a cloth on the ground and added a number of items which all had some sort of significance to the mountain gods.  One by one we walked up to him where he held our hand and we made our wishes then he bundled up the concoction and threw it on a fire so that the smoke drifted off to the gods.  But I’m a skeptic – Rita says I still have that bald spot at the back of my head. 



Following this uplifting event, we drove to the Incan ruins of Kenko, a small temple with a sacrificial altar.  The Incas did occasionally sacrifice humans we were told.  On the way to our next ruin we stopped at a nice shop of alpaca products to help the local economy.  Then we stopped at the massive Incan temple called Sacsayhuaman which the Conquistadors considered a fort since fighting did take place here.  Apparently from the air the temple is in the shape of a puma or a condor depending on your imagination I guess.  The huge stones stacked on top of each other with no mortar were very impressive.  The Incas may not have had a written language, or the wheel, but they could certainly build walls.



Following Sacsayhuaman we drove to our first home-hosted lunch in the suburbs of Cusco.  A nice family met us at the door; two ladies and three children.  Our tour leader left us alone so we could practice our Spanish.  The first course was good quinoa soup and the second course surprised most everyone.  We were served that treat of the Andes, cuy or roasted guinea pig.  It does not taste like chicken.  Both Rita and I ate small portions (you can’t get much meat off those little critters) to be polite but we wouldn’t recommend it.  I forget what dessert was but it was anticlimactic. 



Our bus headed back to the hotel but Rita and I asked to be let off at the Plaza de Arms so we could walk around on our own and take photos.  We stopped at the renowned Ayllu, a local chocolate shop where we sat on their balcony and had good, hot chocolate with a pastry.  We stumbled upon a parade of colorful dancers and bands but we didn’t know what the occasion was.  It was the start of Yom Kippur but I don’t think they were celebrating that.  We also came across the Textile Museum which interested Rita so we toured that as well.  Back at our hotel the group met for our dinner where, as usual, we had a choice of from three to five items for each course.  I started with a stuffed avocado and then had lomo saltado or beef stew with flan for dessert. 



Thursday we checked out of our hotel taking a small bag and leaving our two suitcases in storage.  Our bus traveled over passes above 12,000 feet to the town of Urubamba which is on the river of the same name.  We stopped at a little roadside café, definitely a blue-collar place, and were introduced to the most popular drink of chicha, an alcoholic fermented corn drink similar in taste to some of the beer I brewed when I first arrived in Saudi Arabia.  Next we arrived in the town of Ollantaytambo and toured a local home where people live today much like the Incas of old.  There were dozens of guinea pigs running around on the floor of the living room.  We saw a family altar with skulls of ancestors on a shelf. 



After this cultural event we caught the train to the town of Aguas Calientes, the closest town to Machu Picchu.  We had lunch at the Inca Wasi restaurant where I tasted alpaca off the lunch buffet.  We checked into our Santuario Hotel, the least favorite hotel of the trip, and boarded a bus to climb up a switchback road to Machu Picchu.  What can I say about Machu Picchu that hasn’t already been said?  It was great, in a spectacular setting among the mountain peaks.  We were unfortunate to have some rain showers at first but it stopped shortly.  Our guide took us to the Ritual Baths, Palace of the Princesses, the Main Fountain with its irrigation system, the temple of the Condor, the Three Windows temple, and the Sun temple.  There were agricultural terraces along the mountain sides and many winding alley ways to explore.  We stayed there until it closed at 5:00 pm then headed back to town and our hotel for a short rest.  We met again to walk to Pueblo Viejo restaurant where they grilled meat on an open spit.  I chose wrong and had a tough, skinny pork chop but Rita had a nice grilled trout that I envied.  There were plenty of good vegetables to go along with the ever-present potato.



Friday morning we took a bus back up to Machu Picchu and had much better weather.  In fact it became warm and some insects came out to bite us on our exposed arms.  Most of us hiked the three-hour round trip to the Inca Sun Gate on the Inca Trail.  We climbed about 1,000 feet on uneven rocks.  We went from about 8,000 feet to 9,000 feet and the going was tiring but most of us, including Rita and I, made it to the summit where we had great views in all directions.  We hiked back and took the bus down to have a good lunch at Toto’s House.  Then we caught the afternoon train back to Ollantaytambo where we had a little time to explore the town.  On the bus ride back to Cusco we saw distant snowy glaciers, mountain vistas, and Mount Veronica which stood out like a pyramid.  We stopped at a nice pottery shop before returning to our previous hotel in Cusco.  It was a free evening so Rita and I caught a taxi into Cusco and dined at a very nice restaurant called Baco.  I started with lentil soup while Rita had a nice, spicy tomato soup.  Then we both had steaks – hers prepared with a tomato sauce with black quinoa.  Mine had a creamy mushroom sauce and was served with spaghetti.  We had an excellent Argentine Shiraz wine with the meal.  We walked through the nicely lit up town square back to our hotel.  It was a long and tiring day.



Saturday we headed into the Sacred Valley once more, stopping at a farm with llamas, alpacas and vicunas.  We got to feed them and watched demonstrations of weaving and wool dyeing before helping out the local economy once more.  Then we stopped at the ancient Incan ruins of Pisac which has some of the best examples of extensive agricultural terraces.  We went into the modern town of Pisac and visited a local handicraft market.  We had nice box lunches that we ate on the bus returning to Cusco.  There we stopped at the Church and Convent of Santo Domingo.  In 1950 Cusco had an extensive earthquake and much of this church fell down revealing extensive Incan ruins that the church was built upon.  The ruins are verified to have been Qorikancha or Koricancha (spellings vary) which was an Incan sacred temple.  Cusco was the Inca’s capital.  In the evening we met in the bar for our last dinner in Cusco and were given pisco sours cocktails.  We took a bus to the Pachacutec restaurant on the Plaza de Arms and had another nice meal accompanied with music and folk dances. 



Sunday, October 12 was a travel day.  We said our good-byes to our great tour leader, Juan de Dios and left very early to catch a flight to Lima where we caught another flight to Quito, Ecuador.  Here we met our new tour leader, Andres, who would remain with us to the end of our tour.  We settled into our rooms at Mercure Hotel and after an introduction to our guide and briefing of what to expect in the coming days, we had a nice dinner in the hotel’s restaurant named Spicy.  We started with locro de papas or a creamy cheese and potato soup.  For mains we had chicken in a pastry roll with potato soufflé and a peach dish for dessert.  After a tiring day we retired early like the rest.



Monday was Columbus Day which is not celebrated in these countries.  I asked if they had a Christopher Columbus statue and was told it was taken down about ten years ago.  There is no love lost for the Spanish and especially the Conquistadores.  After breakfast the first stop of the day was the Sinamune School in the suburbs.  This school gets financial assistance from our travel company, OAT, and we had a concert by the school orchestra which is comprised of “special” students – physically and mentally handicapped teenagers.  They put on a good performance for us and after about an hour we were back on the bus headed for the equator.  Back in 1997 Rita and I had visited the old original equator line calculated by the French in the 1880s but since then a new equator has been calculated using GPS coordinates.  It is near the old equator and goes through the Inti Nan Museum which we visited.  We enjoyed witnessing some experiments on the equator such as balancing an egg and watching water flush in a special sink they set up on the equator.  When placed a few inches in the southern hemisphere the water flushes counter clockwise, when placed in the northern hemisphere it flushes in a clockwise motion and when directly over the equator the water drains straight down and doesn’t swirl one bit.  We also saw a couple of real shrunken heads and were given directions on how to decapitate someone and shrink their head so watch out!



We had a good lunch at a nearby restaurant then headed to the old, colonial section of Quito.  We walked several blocks in the old center of town and were happy to see it cleaned up much more since 1997.  We saw several restored buildings that were in the French style of architecture and visited the Independence Plaza and the very ornate Church of the Society of Jesus (Jesuit) which was started in 1605 and said to be the richest church in the western hemisphere.  Estimates vary on how much gold leaf it contains but it is impressive.  Regretfully, I could not take photos of the interior so you’ll just have to visit it yourself.  The rains started to come down in buckets so we hopped on our bus and headed back to our hotel.  In the evening we all took the bus up into the hills to the Escondite de la Cantuna restaurant with great night views over Quito.  The meal was good, too, but by now we had been eating way too much and we were ready for a peanut butter sandwich.  We repacked our suitcases for a warmer climate and left one suitcase in the hotel to be retrieved later.



Tuesday we headed for the Galapagos Islands.  Our OAT guides helped us with the paperwork needed for the visit and we made it through just fine to catch our flight on AeroGal airline.  We had a brief stopover in Guayaquil then flew on to the island of San Cristobal arriving about noon.  A bus took us to the pier where we donned life vests and took our first “panga” or rubber dingy trip to our home for the next five days, the Athala.  To our pleasant surprise it was a very nice boat and Rita and I were lucky to get one of the four upper deck cabins with a large king-sized bed.  The bathroom was roomy too and we were quite pleased with our surroundings.  We unpacked and had the obligatory life vest drill and a briefing on the rules of the Galapagos National Park.  After a nice three-course lunch (curried chicken) we took the panga back to the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno on San Cristobal and visited the park interpretive center for a short history of the Galapagos Islands.  We went back into town and had a couple of hours of free time to shop for last minute items we may need on the boat.  After a short time most of us gathered at an outdoor bar and drank local beer with the name of Pilsener.  About 6:00 pm we rode the panga back to the Athala with a beautiful sunset in the west and a full moon rising in the east.  In the harbor we saw several sea lions and frigate birds.  The ship’s chef prepared a very nice three course dinner with the main course being wahoo fish.



We were getting used to the rocking motion in a deep sleep when we were awakened at midnight by the ship weighing anchor and heading out to sea.  The sea was a bit rougher than in the harbor and we rocked and rolled all night long.  By morning we were off Espanola or Hood Island.  Almost all the islands have two names, those given earlier by the British and those currently in use by the Ecuadorians.  We were surprised to find out that the chef sets up an omelet station every morning but would also prepare fried or scrambled eggs for us.  He also had pancakes or French toast along with ham, cheeses, and other pastries.  Tropical juices and hot coffee were standard each meal. 



After breakfast we rode the pangas to Gardner Bay for a wet landing on the beach.  Landings were classified as wet (wading ashore in shallow water), dry (onto a pier or rocks), or dramatic.  We were lucky and never witnessed a dramatic landing but came close a couple of times.  On Espanola we walked among sea lions on the beach and saw Sally Lightfoot crabs and marine iguanas for the first time.  We were also pestered by Hood mockingbirds for handouts.  The mockingbirds are endemic only to this island and the marine iguanas found here are endemic to the Galapagos.  Soon we took pangas back to the Athala for another big lunch followed by rest time until 3:00 pm.  Our boat had moved to the other side of Espanola Island and we next took the pangas to a dry landing at Suarez Point.  Here we hiked along a rocky trail viewing more sea lions and marine iguanas plus blue-footed boobies, Nazca boobies, Galapagos hawks, wave albatrosses, and red-billed tropicbirds.  We saw shear cliffs with nesting boobies and a rock formation called the blow hole which spews water high into the air.  As everyone remarks, we were impressed on how close to wildlife we could get.  Birds, sea lions, and iguanas are not afraid of people approaching them and we had to be careful not to reach out and touch them because it is against park rules.  Around sunset we returned to the Athala and had our special meal.  Earlier in the day fishermen pulled alongside the Athala and showed us some huge lobsters they had caught.  Asked if we wanted to buy a large lobster (one would feed the two of us and cost only $20) everyone agreed and the chef cooked up a nice lobster dinner for everyone.  We bought a bottle of wine to go with the meal as most people did.  Wine and drinks did cost extra on the boat but that was all.



Around 2:00 am Thursday morning we were awakened once more as the boat weighed anchor and sailed for Santa Maria Island, also called Floreana or Charles Island.  For some reason it gets three names.  After breakfast we took the pangas to a cove where we sat in the panga and viewed a single Galapagos penguin and some brown pelicans.  Pelicans and boobies would dive straight down into the water close to the panga, sometimes splashing us with water.  Then we headed to a beach and a wet landing with a short walk to visit the unusual barrel post office where sailors since 1793 have been leaving letters for delivery.  The post office is still in use today and we mailed ourselves a post card with hopes that it will be delivered some day.  You don’t put stamps on the mail but hope that someone living close to you will come deliver it in person one day.  We took one for somebody in Houston and will try to deliver it next week.



We returned to the Athala for lunch and a short rest until 2:00 pm before our next wet landing at Cormorant Point where there are no cormorants.  A short walk took us to a lagoon where we did see flamingos and white-cheeked pintail ducks.  Flamingos are not one of the birds one can walk up close to.  They are skittish.  We crossed the point to another beach where we could see green sea turtles and stingrays in the water just a little way off from the beach.  Next we returned to the Athala where we played cards with another couple until dinner which was fish again, this time amberjack. 



Friday morning we were off Santa Cruz Island having sailed all night.  We took pangas to the Charles Darwin Research Center where we witnessed our first giant tortoises but they were in captivity.  The center is trying to restore lost breeds of the tortoises and had one male who was the last of his breed called Diego because he had been sent to San Diego Zoo in California to learn how to mate again.  Another one named Lonesome George is the last of his breed and probably over 100 years old.  From the center we walked into the pretty tourist town of Puerto Ayora.  Here we walked the town, did a bit of shopping and stopped at a fish market to watch frigate birds, pelicans, boobies, and a sea lion beg for scraps from the fishmonger.  We had a beer at an outdoor café and soon met up with our pangas once more to return to the Athala and lunch.  We sailed during lunch.



After lunch we had another dry landing at South Plaza Island where we saw more sea lions, land and marine iguanas, red-beaked tropic birds, brown pelicans and the swallow-tailed gull which is the world’s only nocturnal seagull and endemic to the Galapagos.  Bright red and orange carpet wheat covered the ground here and this small island had beautiful views over sheer cliffs full of sea lions and birds.  We saw an area where bachelor sea lions congregate.  These are sea lions that had been beaten up badly in fights and, therefore, could not get a harem or mate.  We returned to the Athala and had a ceremony to toast our crew who had dressed up in their nice navy whites.  Then we had a nice steak dinner, settled up our bar bill and handed in our tips for the great crew. 



Saturday we had to wake up at 4:30 am for a quick cup of coffee and a panga ride to South Seymour Island and another walk among sea lions, iguanas, and close to nesting and mating frigate birds and blue-footed boobies.  We saw how the Magnificent frigate bird puffs out his red chest trying to impress a female into nesting with him.  Both Great and Magnificent frigate birds nested in close proximity and we saw several babies as well as eggs.  We returned to the Athala for our last breakfast onboard and told our crew good-bye as we took our last panga ride to Baltra Island.  Here a bus took us to Santa Cruz Island again, the north side this time, and across the island.  As we climbed uphill we noticed how the trees became denser, green and jungle-like.  We stopped in a couple of places to see old volcano sink holes.  In town we had our second home-hosted lunch with a couple named Emma and Pablo Alcivar.  Pablo worked for a major cruise line so he could speak fairly good English.  We had a nice dinner of beef and beans mixed with rice and plantains.  After lunch we were taken by bus to our nicest hotel of the trip, the Royal Palm Hotel.



The Royal Palm was a series of separate thatched roof bungalows and we had the good fortune to get one of the three suites, the Imperial Suite.  Besides a nice entry way with table, chairs, and small kitchenette, we had a king-size bed and a huge walk-in shower with gigantic rain shower head.  We also had an outdoor patio with private Jacuzzi, and a sauna which we never used.  It was quite posh and remote in a jungle setting.  Dinner was good and nicely presented.



Sunday we had a nice breakfast buffet before heading out by bus to Pirmicias Ranch where we viewed giant land tortoises in the wild.  We also saw several of the Darwin finches here as well as pretty yellow warblers.  We drove a few miles away to visit a lava tunnel before going on to a farm that showed us how they make sugar cane liquor and roast coffee beans.  We had samples of both on the premises.  Next we were taken to a nice restaurant in a jungle flower garden where we had a good lunch.  Back to the hotel and a free afternoon so we played cards again with a couple until it was time for dinner.



Monday morning we flew from Baltra Island in the Galapagos directly to Quito where we returned to the Mercure Hotel once more and got all our luggage assembled together.  We had a nice farewell dinner in the hotel and said our good-byes to some of our group who were leaving earlier or later than we were.  Our guide, Andres, was leaving early with the 4:30 am couples so we told him good-bye here.  He gave everyone a CD with photos of our tour that he had taken. 



Tuesday morning we, along with three other couples, left on the 9:55 am flight directly to Miami.  The flight was uneventful and arrived in Miami mid afternoon ahead of schedule.  We said our good-byes there after going through customs, immigration, and gathering our bags.  Rita and I caught a shuttle bus to our airport hotel and relaxed.  We walked to the 94^th Aero Squadron restaurant that was nearby and had a nice dinner where we could actually eat the salads and drink the water out of the tap.  On Wednesday we caught an early morning flight to Austin via Dallas/Ft. Worth arriving in Austin about 11:00 am.  We had to stop at the post office to pick up our mail and at the grocery store to get some food but Rita’s first requirement was a good hamburger for lunch which we both enjoyed. 



It was a great trip, a long trip, and one that was difficult to pack for.  We needed long-sleeved shirts and wind breakers for the mountains and beach wear for the islands.  We were gone for three weeks and had to get some clothes washed along the way.  But it wasn’t a difficult trip and we enjoyed every day.  We saw two major places we wanted to check off our “bucket list” before we kick the bucket.  I would highly recommend this trip.  Plus we were fortunate to miss most of the empty campaign promises, back stabbing, and dire predictions of the world-ending economic crisis.  Now it’s back to reality.  At least a gallon of gasoline dropped about a dollar while we were gone.