Peru Part II: Trapped in Machu Picchu & Living the good life in Lima

After our Colca Canyon adventure, we were happy to be back in civilization-- the large but pleasant city of Arequipa. Jake was still recovering from his altitude sickness and we were trying to get our stomachs back on track, so we took it easy and tried to avoid the cheap set meals with their suspect soups and homemade drinks.

It is very easy to get around Arequipa since cabs seem to charge 3.50 soles (that's a little over US$1) for any destination, including the bus terminal. We actually paid less once, and the only times we paid more were when we came from the bus station via registered taxi, and when the receptionist at the hotel offered to get us a cab... seems like his negotiation skills aren´t as good as ours! (Probably since it´s not his money at stake).

Some random observations about the city...
- This is the first time we saw vendors selling cell phone calls, by the call, to pedestrians. They are usually women who wear bright vests and have a cell phone chained to their waist. You borrow the phone that is still connected to them and place your call about 1 foot from the vendor's face, then pay. Pretty common in Colombia as well. They seem to do brisk business at night near the discotecas.
-None of the supermarkets refrigerate yoghurt. Gross! It´s not special Parmalat yoghurt or anything...

Having already spent a few nights in the city, we took a cab to a huge shopping mall and went to the modern cineplex. We ate at the Pizza Hut in the mall food court, and that seemed to help with our tummy troubles. That marked the start to our fast food cravings, since it seemed like the food at these chain restaurants agreed with us a lot better than the local cuisine! We ate at the Pizza Hut again the next day for lunch, and had breakfast at McDonalds in Cusco. We know that looks bad... Americans seeking out the chain restaurants while overseas... but after 11 months of eating random street food, we don´t feel too guilty. Its scary how fast we jumped back into eating huge portions of fatty foods! This does not bode well for our return to New York. (Un)fortunately, depending how you look at it, we didn't have access to much fast food on the trip, so the vast majority of our meals were mediocre but cheap dishes at local restaurants.

Swine flu finally catches up to us

Since we have been overseas for 11 months, we missed the whole Swine Flu hysteria that has been gripping the US, and especially our home state of New York. We were in Argentina when we first heard about it, and at that time it seemed confined to Mexico. Argentina had even taken the step of stopping all Mexicans at the border and quarantining them in hospitals until they could test for the flu. Arequipa was the first city we went to where people had actually been infected by the flu during our stay. While we were in Colca Canyon, an American man in Arequipa had been diagnosed with the flu and had given it to his maid. So on our return to the Arequipa bus station after only a few days absence, the employees were suddenly wearing face masks.

We later heard a theory from a Cusco cab driver that the US had invented the Swine Flu in order to kill Mexicans. Hmmm... We know South Americans don´t have much love for the US government, but the Peruvian media seems to be especially conspiracy-hungry. A cheap tabloid paper in Lima suggested that Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld were behind the Swine Flu in order to sell more Tamiflu. Not sure if the author realized those guys aren't even in power anymore! Well, you can't take it too personally. The Peruvian papers were also shouting that ´Chileans are stealing our water´. You just can't win...

Bus to Cusco

While at the Arequipa bus station we checked out the fares to Cusco, which is the launching point for trips to Machu Picchu. We were surprised how expensive the fares were on Cruz del Sur, the bus service preferred by foreigners. They charged 90 soles-- US$30-- for the cheaper semi-cama seats on the top floor of the bus. A competitor, Cromotex, charged only 50 soles-- US$16-- for the same level of service. The only difference we saw between the two companies was that Cruz del Sur has a posh private waiting room at the bus terminal, which is entirely filled with foreigners. We booked front row seats on Cromotex, and our bus was mainly Peruvians. The only other 2 foreigners were sitting in the front row with us, behind the panoramic glass windows... after an hour of crazy driving over bumpy, windy roads, it dawned on us that locals might reject these seats for safety reasons!

Cusco

We arrived in Cusco around 5 in the morning, ignored the hotel touts and got a cab to the center for 5 soles (about US$1.50). We thought that was high but were too tired to argue over 50 cents. We asked to be dropped off at the Hostal Suecia II; we had read some mixed online reviews but it was located in a good area for hotel shopping. It was a dingy place but the old couple running it were nice, and the price was cheaper than we expected for Cusco-- 30 soles for a double room with shared bath. We looked around at several other places, but all were more expensive, so we went back to Suecia and crashed for the next few hours.

We had low expectations for Cusco, based on blogs we´d read, and were pleasantly surprised by the city. There are tons of touts (soliciting tours, shoe shines, restaurants and massages... shades of SE Asia there), but it is easy to ignore them. There´s a helpful tourist information center and tons of restaurants near the plaza. Their prices are higher than in the small towns in Peru, but the food is still cheap by any other standard. We happened by a vegetarian restaurant that was clean and filled with tourists (turns out it was Lonely Planet-mentioned), and had the best meal of our Peru trip... vegetarian bistec a lo pobre made with soy meat. Funny enough, the second best meal of our trip would be this same dish, ordered at a Hare Krishna restaurant in Lima. How can you not like (soy)meat, eggs and french fries all in one dish?!

We were at an Internet cafe on a Sunday when we noticed a huge crowd gathering on the street. There were hundreds of kids in school uniforms with their parents, and someone shouting into a megaphone. It seemed like a protest, but after an hour it became some sort of religious procession, with alter boys, priests and a Virgen Mary statue making their way across the plaza. Very random!

Cusco seems to be a favorite spot for Israeli backpackers, and an entire street near our hostel caters to them. It´s home to several Israeli restaurants (with all-Hebrew signage) and many of the computer keyboards have Hebrew characters. We later met an Israeli backpacker that spent a whole month in Cusco. Maybe we missed the attraction of the city, but a few nights was enough for us.

Day trip to Pisaq

We had a full day to kill before the train to Aguas Calientes, so we decided to buy a tourist pass and check out 2 or 3 of the neighboring ruins, using the local buses. When we went to the Cusco tourist office to buy the pass, the staff member talked us out of it, saying we should buy it on-site in case we decide not to go. Seems they have some foreigners trying unsuccessfully to get refunds. It´s a good thing we didn´t buy the pass, since we had underestimated the time and energy it would take us to get to these towns, and ended up going only to Pisaq.

We set out on a local bus for Pisaq, a town known for its handicrafts market and ruins. The one hour ride cost only 2.40 soles, or about 80 US cents, and the passengers were mostly Peruvian. Our Lonely Planet South America guide book didn't have a map of the town, so we weren't sure how to get from the bus drop-off to the ruins. Fortunately, we spotted another backpacking couple with a Rough Guide, which helped us situate ourselves. The path actually cuts through the center of the market... probably to maximize chances the tourists will buy something ;) Of course we didn't, since we'd have no space to carry anything in our packs. There were some handmade chess sets that looked cool, but the market was flooded with tourists and didn't seem like a good place to get a bargain.

We passed an official park station near the entry point to the trail, where we were intercepted by an official and required to buy the tourist pass. Since we were only planning to visit one of the 4 sites the pass covered, we were hesitant to pay the full price. We explained our situation to the agent, and she agreed to sell us the pass for the Peruvian price of 40 soles (about US$13)-- about half of the Foreigner price-- after we swore we would not go to any other sites besides Pisaq. She even crossed out the photos of the other sites on the pass. We were happy to get a deal, and didn´t mind paying for this LEGITIMATE park fee (in contrast to the Colca Canyon tourist pass).

There were arrows marking the trail to the ruins but they often pointed in 2 different directions, so we had to turn back a few times in the beginning. Not a big deal, since all paths seem to lead to the top of the hill. We didn´t see many other people on the trail, and were surprised to see large tour groups at the top. Apparently their buses drop them off near the ruins at the top of the hill, and then they make the easier climb down the trail. Cheaters! Once again our pride at our hiking skills was tempered a bit by the site of a couple carrying 2 babies and heavy backpacks. Not quite as bad as when I struggled on a glacier hike in Alaska and then saw a handicapable person in a wheelchair at the top, but it still put things in perspective! ;) We also climbed alongside a cheesy American guy wearing a dress shirt, tie and Blink 182-style hat. Very impressive.

The view from the ruins was spectacular, and the highlight of the hike. The ruins themselves were interesting, but looked renovated. There wasn´t any information available about their origins, and we didn´t have a guide, so we didn´t get a real sense of their significance.

We had lunch at a cute restaurant in town owned by a foreigner that looked like it belonged on the TV series Friends. We were so exhausted, we decided to take a bus right back to Cusco instead of hitting up any other sights. We ended up splitting a taxi instead with a Peruvian and Swiss couple, plus a random local man, for 5 soles each (that´s about $1.50). Not a bad deal! I´m sure it helped that she was Peruvian.

Aguas Calientes

The next morning we woke up in the wee hours and took a cab to the train station (20 soles), where we boarded the Backpacker train to Aguas Calientes. This is the cheapest train available, and still costs US$50 ONE WAY, PER PERSON!!! Shockingly high by Peruvian standards. Unfortunately, the train is the only way to get to Aguascalientes, the gateway town to Machu Picchu, so the rail company can charge pretty much anything it wants.

Outside of Carnival in Rio de Janeiro, we haven´t seen any large groups of Americans in South America. However, the train was packed with our countrymen, many of whom are older package tourists. It seems Americans are taking advantage of the cut-rate US$300 air specials to Lima. (A roundtrip ticket from NY to Lima is actually cheaper than many one-way flights within South America... the insanity!). The train has 2-seater benches that face eachother, so we ended up chatting with the two American guys sitting across from us, which made the trip pass quickly.

The Lonely Planet describes Aguas Calientes as a grim, unfriendly town but we thought it was fine. We had no clue where to stay, so we followed an old woman from the station to her hostal. We had no idea where we were, since our LP map was not detailed, but decided to set out and look for better deals. We discovered we were on the ´local´side of the river, where there were fewer tourists and cheaper rooms. After seeing some appalling rooms, we found a gem... The outside of Qente hostel looked horrific, but our double room had private bath (albeit with no toilet seat), large windows, clean sheets and a TV with local channels for 40 soles (about US$13). Much better than we had expected, given the LP descriptions.

We had fun watching the locals go about their daily business from our panaoramic windows. We had a great view of the garbage man´s arrival (a very big deal in Peru), children playing in the street, women hand washing their laundry in spigots and guys hanging out on their roofs. The neighborhood looked like it could be in Laos or northern Thailand, with its unfinished cinderblock buildings and corrogated metal roofs.

Aguas Calientes is probably the safest city in Peru for foreigners... there are tons of military police roaming the streets, and overcharging foreigners for food, lodging and transportation makes outright robbery unnecessary. On the tourist side of the bridge there are tons of restaurants geared toward foreigners that offer set meals, but don´t list the price on the menu. When you ask, they start at a ridiculous amount like 25 soles, and as you walk away they go down to 12 soles or less and throw in extras like Pisco Sours or garlic bread. Since we´d had set meals as low as 2.5 soles charging 25 for the same thing is downright obnoxious. To add insult to injury, every restaurant tacks on a 10% service fee, which we didn´t encounter anywhere else in Peru.

After arriving we purchased our Machu Picchu tickets for 124 soles per person (about US$40), and our bus tickets to get to Machu Picchu the next morning (US$14 for the round trip, per person). This excursion single-handedly made Peru one of the most expensive countries on our South American trip. We also stopped by the tourist office and got a better map of the town.

We had run out of money and-- predictably-- the one ATM in town was broken. Fortunately, it was fixed in a few hours. You´d think we´d learn by now to bring enough money to small towns!

Machu Picchu

We woke up at 4:30AM and walked to the bus stop, thinking we would be among the first on line for the earliest bus to Machu Picchu. When we arrived at 4:50 (for a 5:30 bus), there were already a couple of HUNDRED people on line! We were starting to worry, since we wanted to be among the first 400 people inside the ruins in order to make the daily cut-off for the Wayna Picchu hike. That's a steep climb up a peak that has great views of the ruins, and is limited to 400 people a day.

Fortunately, the bus company was prepared and had plenty of buses for the crowd. We got on the 11th bus, with about 30 people on each bus... our chances did not look very good for Waynapicchu. Once we arrived at the Machu Picchu entrance, we waited on another massive line to get in. Once inside the gates, we followed the masses and speed-walked across the site towards Wayna Picchu, hoping none of the other hopefuls would actually start sprinting. We ended up getting tickets 353 and 354-- what a relief! Unfortunately, the requisite mad dash to the Wayna Pichhu line meant we didn´t have time to savor our first impressions of the ruins. It's definitely not the best system. We had 4 hours to kill before our Wayna Picchu session started , so we had plenty of time to walk around Machu Picchu and take it all in when the ruins were still relatively empty. We hadn't realized how big the site is, or how well the ruins have been maintained. (We did see workers cleaning and re-setting the stones on some walls, so it appears a lot of work is going into the upkeep). We didn't hire a guide, and once again there was no signage or materials (not even a map or brochure) explaining the history of the site or putting it into context. Not that big a deal though... that's what Wikipedia is for anyway ;)

We were somewhat surprised that our exorbitant entry fee to the ruins did not cover the bathrooms by the entrance; ticket holders still have to pay 1 sol (about 30 US cents) to get in. I suppose they couldn´t let this last price gouging opportunity pass them by.

Wayna Picchu

The hike up Wayna Picchu was worth the early morning-wake up, especially since we missed out on the Inca Trail. It was a steep and sometimes rocky climb, and we had to take a few breathers. Still, we were doing a lot better than some unacclimated and out of shape tourists who had just flown in from overseas. Jake's altitude sickness did not make a comeback, and overall it wasn't nearly as strenuous as our Colca Canyon adventure. There were amazing look out points with views of Machu Picchu, and backpackers seemed to be competing to find the most perlious peak to dangle from.

We had a great time at Machu Picchu and Wayna Picchu, and were glad we spent the extra money to go. I'm sure we would have regretted missing it.

Trapped?! (Sneaking by the strikes in Aguas Calientes and Cusco)

We took the bus back to Aguas Calientes in the afternoon and had lunch at restaurant next to the train tracks. We noticed some men in indigenous garb (white tunics with wooden spears) gathering by the tracks and singing, but we didn´t think much of it. They then sharted shouting protest slogans while walking along the tracks toward the intersection of the railroad and the Machu Picchu bus, where they stopped. It was now clear this was a full-on protest of some kind, and they chose the most vital spot in the city to carry it out-- tourism literally can not continue if this intersecton is blocked. The train is the ONLY way in and out of town, and no Machu Picchu bus means the site is not accessible for most tourists. After asking a few locals, we found out that this strike was in support of the Amazonian Indigenous people, and was a reaction to policies of President Alan. The protest turned into a huge tourist attraction, with camera-weilding foreigners hoping for their You Tube moment. It was comical seeing khaki-covered tourists getting right up into the faces of the protesters and snapping thousands of photos... you know they were hoping for some major shit to go down, so they could get their footage on CNN.

Locals also gathered around the scene-- this was clearly the biggest event to hit the town in some time. We spotted at least 3 kinds of police-- Special Ops, Tourist police and regular cops-- who ocassionally walked by the protesters in riot gear, but there was no tear gas or violent confrontation. (Sorry aspiring photojournalists!).

As the hours passed we were increasingly worried about getting our train back to Cusco. Ordinarily spending an extra night or two in a random town would not have mattered, but this time we had booked an international flight for the next day. This was also the worst town to get stuck in... very overpriced and not much to do besides Machu Picchu.

Fortunately the protesters let the trains pass, although with a delay. (Apparently the real strike was to start the next day, and there was actually a ´closed tomorrow´sign up at Machu Picchu). After a late start, we pulled out of the station with the protestors chasing the train and shouting their slogans. On top of that, our train made several long stops along the route (mechanical problems?) and we pulled in very late. Still, we´re lucky to have made it out!

The next morning we managed to pull ourselves out of bed, and set out to hail a cab to the airport. The airport is only a few kilometers from town, so we were expecting a cheap and easy cab ride. Strangely, there weren´t many cabs around and one that stopped for us refused to go to the airport, saying there was a strike. Another cabbie offered to take us but only for 10 soles, which seemed exorbitant.

We walked to the tourist office to see what was going on, and were told that protestors were shutting down the main road to the airport this morning. The tourist agent called the airport and was told we should be able to make it through, but taxis may not want to take us. We didn´t have much time to spare before our flight to Lima, so we rushed out of the office and set out to find a cab. We finally found an empty one, and the driver offered to take us for the standard price of 5 soles. What luck! The cabbie was friendly and chatted with us for the ride. When we came to the blockade (actually just a row of plastic chairs), the protesters had not finished setting it up and we were able to get through. They shouted at the cab, but whatever... we made it!

The airport parking lot was surprisingly empty. A police truck had apparently transported a group of older tourists to the airport, and an officer was unloading their bags. We later met an American couple who told us their tour guide had knocked on their door that morning, insisted that they pack immediately then sped the group to the airport, as if they were in a revolution. These protests must have had a HUGE impact on the tourism industry, paralyzing the country's main attraction and cash cow.

Lima

We were amused to find out our flight to Lima was filled with Americans... having not been home in 11+ months, we were hoping our countrymen wouldn´t give us the swine flu while in Peru. That would be ironic... The upside of this foreigner flight was scoring a free People magazine that was left on the plane and catching up on the latest gossip. I would never pay 21 soles for a magazine myself (that´s US$7! The insanity!).

Once at the Lima airport, we could not find the shuttle bus described in the Lonely Planet, which apparently does not exist. We were hounded by taxi touts left and right, but managed to attach ourselves to a foreign couple who had just booked a taxi to Miraflores (the upscale Lima neighborhood where many hostels are located). It turned out they were also New Yorkers and our age, so we became traveling buddies for the day. We split the 45 soles (US$15) fare, so the 45 minute trip ended up being fairly inexpensive.

Jenny and Adam were on a brief trip, but we quickly introduced them to our daily backpacker routine as we dragged them from hostel to hostel trying to find a good deal. We were SHOCKED by the hotel prices in Lima, compared to the rest of Peru. You know things are going to be bad when hostels quote prices in US dollars! Some offered ridiculously high exchange rates to encourage tourists to pay in dollars.

We finally settled on a so-so room with TV and private bath at the Lion hostel, for 95 soles. We would have kept looking, but felt bad for subjecting our new travelling companions to the process. After we parted company, we checked out a dozen other places and found a better deal at the Maria Luisa hotel, where we got a nicer room for 60 soles. It seemed to double as a sexpat hotel-- lots of gross older European men with hot young Peruvian women, a porno channel and a mirrored wall-- but the water was actually hot and the bed comfortable.

The high life in Miraflores

Miraflores is an upscale, elegant neighborhood that didn´t look like any town we had seen in Peru. In fact, it was the safest, most chi-chi hood we had seen in all of South America! Police and private security roam the streets, cars are new, and homes are expensive and surrounded by high walls. The neighborhood is filled with foreigners and expensive hotels, and many prices are quotes in dollars. Which made us wonder, Aren´t we in Peru?!

We got so comfortable in our new hood that we never ventured into central Lima. We thought about going downtown, but couldn´t muster the energy to see yet another plaza, colonial church and museum.

The food in Miraflores was a big improvement over the basic set-meals we had become accustomed to in the smaller towns. Our buddies Jenny and Adam had done their research, and suggested we check out a bakery promoted in the LAN in-flight magazine. We walked to Maga bakery on Avenida Benavides and sampled the brownies... they were delicious! Jake and I ended up going back twice to try other desserts. We all went to lunch together at a Hare Krisha vegetarian restaurant called Govinda´s, which had cheap and very tasty meals. After hitting up Wongs, the giant supermarket, we parted ways with our new friends and wished them well. We accidentally pointed them in the wrong direction to the shopping mall, but they survived unscathed.

There aren´t many tourist attractions in Miraflores, but there are lots of shopping opportunities. Tons of cheap clothing stores line the avenues, and the neighborhood is home to a large foreigner-oriented mall called LarcoMar. It´s home to a Hooters, Chili's, Radio Shack and a movie theater that actually shows kids movies with Spanish subtitles instead of dubbed. Not a very authentic Peruvian experience.

Back to the airport

After 3 days of relaxing in luxury, we headed to the airport for our flight to Bogota, Colombia. Jake had spent a lot of time researching the cheapest and easiest way to get there from Lima, and we had decided to take a circuitous route through the Amazon (which didn´t make sense from a tourist standpoint, since we wouldn´t have time for a boat trip or lodge stay). Fortunately we came across a LAN airlines promotion for a round trip flight to Bogota for US$283, so we booked that and ditched the return ticket. (A one way ticket cost $200 more, for some reason).

Hailing a cab on the street was unexpectedly difficult. We talked to several cab drivers and none would take us to the airport. Finally one explained he was not allowed to enter the airport, but could drop us off along the way and then we could take a second cab. That didn´t make any sense, so we kept trying. Finally an SUV-cab agreed to take us inside of the airport, for the super low price of 30 soles (15 soles cheaper than the cab from the airport). We half-suspected he might take us to some shady barrio and kill us, but he was good to his word and dropped us off at the terminal. Apparently he had some special pass that let him inside the checkpoint.

On the trip to the airport, we passed every American restaurant brand imaginable (TGI Fridays, Papa Johns, Chilis) and some huge shopping centers. It looked like suburban Long Island instead of Peru. There were also a dozen casinos with US-themed names (Atlantic City, New York, etc).

Next stop, Bogota

If you´ve read this far, we congratulate you! Our blogs are getting longer and longer, since we have had slow Internet connections and haven´t been able to make updates. We´ll probably combine our 3 weeks in Colombia into 1 blog.

We´re back in New York in FOUR DAYS!!! How unbelievable after 12 months of travelling. We´re looking forward to seeing our friends and family soon. Miss you :)

---

Part of trip: Round-the-world Trip

---