Early Tuesday 09/01/09 we showed up at the airport on time to check-in, go through security, and wait for the flight to depart. When we got to LAN’s counter, we were told that our 10:40am flight had been discontinued more than THREE MONTHS AGO. Simple question: When were they planning on letting us know? The counter lady said that because we hadn’t provided a Lima phone number at the time of our on-line ticket purchase, LAN didn’t have a way to get in touch with us. I then pointed out the obvious: They had my e-mail address, which I had provided [View Full Entry]

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We had decided to go to Museo de La Nacion on Monday 08/31/09 (well, Ben and I wanted to go; Cathy, not so much). My cousin Mimi came over for a visit around 10am; it was good to see her again. As we were leaving for the museum, her boyfriend came to pick her up and he offered to take us to the museum. Nice gesture. It turned out that Museo de La Nacion was closed that day; all government-run museums are closed on Mondays. Private museums are open every day, but we weren’t interested in going to any of those; [View Full Entry]

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Sunday morning 08/30/09 we got up and got ready to be picked up, but Monica and Beto were running a bit late. Being low on cash, we decided to kill time by going to the nearest ATM, get dollars, and exchange them with a “Cambista,” a man or woman who wears a bright vest with a big “$” in the back to indicate that he/she exchanges money (dollars/euros/soles), right there on the street. They usually stand near the entrance to a bank or ATMs, and because cops are always stationed outside banks and ATMs, it’s normally a safe transaction. Besides, Cambistas [View Full Entry]

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That’s pretty much all we did on Saturday 08/29/09. We woke up in Cuzco, had breakfast at the Inkarri, checked out, and headed to the airport for our noon flight. Going through security, they found a set of pliers/tools/blades in my purse (I had totally forgotten I had them—Why did I have a tool in my bag? Was I planning on fixing and Inca building?). I apologized and said I was sorry but Security insisted that I had to leave it behind. Bummer. Then, the LAN airline staff told Ben that his carry-on was too big and it would have to [View Full Entry]

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On Wednesday 08/26/09, we got up and headed down for breakfast, checked out (the hotel would hold our bags), and headed back up to Machu Picchu. It was more crowded than the previous afternoon; the bulk of visitors are there through noon. We explored the city at our leisure, going into houses, rooms, ceremonial chambers, looking down at the plazas, and just admiring the place. Around 11am, we headed over to the Inca Bridge, located past the Guard’s Gatehouse. On the way, we stopped at a terrace, with some trees and rocks, perfect place for a break or a picnic. It [View Full Entry]

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On Thursday 08/27/09 I woke up feeling sick and weak. We got dressed, went to the hotel’s cafeteria for breakfast, and then I just collapsed in one of their lounge couches. I’m not a whiner and have a high threshold for pain and fatigue, so if I say I need to rest, it’s because I REALLY need it. Ben and Cathy were good sports and watched TV for about three hours while I napped, the meds doing their work. I woke up feeling better and with enough energy to climb the archeological site of Ollantaytambo. The town is noted for being [View Full Entry]

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Friday 08/28/09 we got up as late as we could to still be able to get breakfast at the Inkarri’s café. Then, we walked over to the Qoricancha, or Gold Courtyard, the most important Inca temple in Cuzco, dedicated to the adoration of the supreme Inca god, the Inti (Sun). Qoricancha is also said to have been the Inca’s main residence (Cuzco was the capital of the Inca Empire), as the Inca was a demi-god. Cuzco, or Qosqo, means “The navel of the world” and Qoricancha is at its center. Both are World Heritage sites. The Incas were very knowledgeable in [View Full Entry]

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On Tuesday 08/25/09 we got up at 5am, had breakfast, and were out the door at 6:30am to take a taxi to nearby Poroy to catch the Backpacker train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the bottom of the mountain where Machu Picchu is located. There are no highways to Aguas Calientes, located 110 Km (about 64 miles) from Cuzco, so the only options from Cuzco are train, Inca Trail, combination car ride/train ride/hiking to towns along the way, or helicopter flights (which we hadn’t really seen or heard about, maybe they’ve been discontinued). For rail, there are three options: The [View Full Entry]

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On Monday 08/24/09 we got up and headed to the hotel’s dining room for breakfast. We had Andean cereal mixed with papaya and yogurt, eggs, bread, butter, strawberry jam, juice, coffee…a pretty good spread. We were supposed to meet up with Percy at 9am but Cathy wasn’t feeling very well (altitude sickness), so it took us a bit to get going waiting for the anti-altitude sickness pills to take effect. The city tour included Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Pucapucara, and Qenqo and would last ½ day. On the way to Sacsayhuaman, we stopped at an outlook, where one can see the entire [View Full Entry]

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We arrived in Cuzco on Sunday 08/23/09 very early in the morning, around 7:15am, and were picked up by a representative from Hotel Inkarri, where we had reserved a “Triple room” with a full-size bed plus a twin bed up in the loft. We had taken the anti-altitude sickness pills Sorochji (sp?) about ½ hour prior to our flight, so we didn’t have any of the symptoms of being at 3,400 meters (~11,150 feet) above sea level other than feeling totally oxygen deprived. It hadn’t even been two minutes since we had gotten off the airplane when Ben said—to no one [View Full Entry]

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