14th August

14^th August 2015

Three days crossing the Pacific in a south westerly direction heading for Easter Island, we have another day steaming to get there. At this stage things aren’t looking good for getting ashore at Easter Island as we don’t berth and have to use the ships tenders and so far we have had very rough seas so it is not too promising. Failing that it will be Saturday the 22^nd before we set foot on land again at Tahiti and I guess there are worse places to go ashore.

We do a bit of cruising around Pitcairn Island a couple of days after Easter Island but no one will be going ashore there.

Machu Picchu. – 8,400ft

Our ship docked in Lima at about 0700 last Sunday 9^th. We didn’t get a real good look at the port as at the same time we were meeting the tour groups for our big adventure.

Eventually we boarded coaches that took us to Lima airport where manjana (Murphy) took over and our flight was delayed by one hour and then we sat on the tarmac for half an hour. Nancy was a lot more at ease when she realised we were flying in respectable jets with attractive and efficient cabin staff and not small propeller driven planes.

Flying over the Andes it looked very dry, steep, rugged and inhospitable, but amazingly in the most remote localities you could see roads or trails winding zig zag up steep ranges to small settlements perched on small plateaus, God knows how they exist.

At Cusco (11,200ft) we organised ourselves into smaller groups of nine or ten people and boarded small fifteen seater buses plus driver and a guide. After doing a brief tour of Cusco we visited a couple of historical sites one being their huge cathedral of which they are very proud, one gets the impression the bulk of the population is catholic. Personally when I see a country with so much poverty, I get quite cranky at seeing the opulence and grandeur with all the gold and silver plate everywhere and after travelling best part of the way around the world being shown major churches and cathedrals everywhere, I am all cathedraled out and would have been quite happy to just have a quick look inside and out, particularly as we couldn’t take photos so there is nothing to remind us of what we saw and were told. We spent far too long in the cathedral.

Moving on, after a short walk we entered a very nice restaurant for lunch. By this time you could feel the effects of altitude with slight shortness of breath, occasional tingling of the fingers and a sensation of light headed-ness now and then, none of it enough to cause concern or distress. However this is where the first victim of our tour group to succumb to altitude sickness had to be administered oxygen. It would appear that every hotel and better restaurant carry oxygen bottles for this very reason. Fortunately the following day the lady had completely recovered and was able to continue on to Machu Picchu.

After spending far too much time in Cusco but not enough time to explore the interesting looking old cobbled streets laid down by the Incas over 500 years ago and market places, we drove up across the range (13,000ft) and down into the Sacred Valley where our hotel was situated, taking about two and a half hours over not so good bitumen roads and stopping a couple of time to take quick photos – the scenery was terrific.

Down in the Sacred Valley we passed through numerous villages of scruffy mud brick homes and areas of hand tilled cultivation the locals still live very simply although they do have power and water now. According to our guide the climate in the valley is pleasant not too cold in winter and not too hot in summer and being fertile it is suited to family vege farming. The people here are the local Indians, they are a small nuggety built race of people although it is said the early Incas were quite tall. The road follows the valley floor running parallel to the fast flowing rocky Vilcanota River that eventually ends up in the Amazon.

Steep mountains bleak and barren rise like sentinels above the valley on either side and in locations where there is almost a foothill the steep slopes have been terraced to gain more cultivating ground and control erosion. I can only think they must work with a rope around them selves so as not to fall and of course it is all hand farming. They must have strong legs to get up there in the first place. 

Crossing a somewhat spindly bridge we arrived and checked in at a health resort - Aranwa Hotel. Everything about this place was 5 star, absolute luxury and silver service in the restaurant to boot. By the time we navigated our way to our allocated room, Nancy was pulling her usual stunt, “I’m busting to go to the toilet, quick let me in”. After two hours of bumpy bus ride I can’t say my bladder was exactly happy. We had been issued with a couple of electronic keys that had arrows on them so naturally you insert the thing in the direction of the arrow, wrong, red light, tried again then tried the other card same thing by this time she’s whimpering and with threats. So I raced off and managed to find a staff member not too far away who obligingly opened the door with the arrow outwards duh. Arrow goes downwards in the inside slot for power and lights. It was Nancy’s fault she was trying to rush me.

Dinner at seven in a beautiful restaurant a set menu of three courses, good food and good helpings, everyone’s plate was placed in front of them at the same time.

We were offered wine or beer with our meals but had been previously advised not to drink alcohol while in the rarefied atmosphere. Do you know how hard it is to say “No thank you” to a free good wine (well it’s not exactly free).

Back in our room we had the choice of two queen-sized beds with enough room between and around them to hold Zumba classes.

Day Two:        Called at 0600 breakfast in the buffet at 0700, classified as Continental you had plenty of choices from cereals to bacon and eggs or omelettes no one could or should go hungry. Another thing we had been advised was not to eat too much in the rarefied atmosphere but every time you turned around someone was feeding you. At breakfast we drank Cocotea recommended by the locals to combat affects of altitude. A handful of green leaves infused with boiling water like drinking green tea and not unpleasant. These leaves are what they can make cocaine out of but the amount in the tea is miniscule and quite legal in this area only, outside of this region it is illegal to grow the plant (shrub).

A bus ride of an hour or so further along the Sacred Valley to Ollantaytambo another archaeological Inca monument considered being an old fortress, very interesting and all part of the Inca – Machu Picchu experience.

Finally we boarded the valley train taking us further still along the valley to Machu Picchu Pueblo a scenic run in a comfortable carriage with large panoramic windows and viewing windows in the roof. On the way they fed us a snack and we all drank more Cocotea this was in tea bag form and was stronger and more flavoursome than the hotels leaves. The train follows the river along the valley floor starting in harsh rugged barren mountains and as we got deeper into the valley foliage became quite rain forest like and greenery started to show on the mountainsides. Our guide told me this was a result of air currents influenced by proximity to the upper Amazon.

At Machu Picchu we had lunch at another 5 star restaurant and were beginning to think we would never get to the archaeological site. Finally we boarded local buses and were driven up the steep, winding, switchback, hairpin cornered, rough gravel road (I think you get the picture). One good thing about organised tours, you don’t have to queue up for tickets.

Nancy and a couple of others chose to go with Maria our fulltime guide on a slow walk and I joined others on a faster walk to cover more territory.

You climb a lot of stone steps that vary in height and tread, the guide experienced and ever watchful stopped at appropriate intervals for photos and or to get your breath back. It is amazing, you walk slowly and climb even slower and after a few minutes you are out of breath and your heart is pounding but stop for a couple of moments and deep breathing and you are fine again.

We went right to the top and worked our way down gradually our guide (Sonia) explaining and giving us history lessons as we went of course.

There is something mystical about the place, there is certainly a lot of mystery about the place. Why did they build a city in such a remote and inaccessible location? What eventually happened to the population where did they go? Apparently they haven’t found evidence of annihilation or massacre such as bones or weapons in fact from what I can make out they have found very little in the way of artefacts. So with no written history the place is shrouded in mystery and intrigue.

Inca ingenuity at its best, they were smart clever hard working people, their knowledge and study of the solar system and sky is numbing I observed a sun dial carved out of insitu rock at the top of Machu Picchu that was used to establish points of the compass. Our guide claims that a compass rested on the dial edge shows the carved facets of the sun dial are extremely accurate. Another insitu rock had been carved to represent the southern cross clearly indicating their knowledge of celestial studies.

Mountain springs have been channelled to generate a running water supply through out the city and irrigation and drainage of the pastoral areas had also been carefully engineered. Their homes built of solid stone blocks incorporated insitu means to anchor any roofing presumably thatch, by building in longer  stones each end with holes drilled through them for securing a tie down. So even today all that is missing from these homes is roofing. Any major structure was constructed from large rocks (boulders) that have been carefully carved to interlock with one another so tight fitting that a paper could not be inserted between them, not requiring mortar and subsequently earthquake proof.

Of course the view from Machu Picchu is also breathtaking, up with the gods you look deep down into valleys in all directions, on one side you can see the end of the Sacred Valley and the toy train that delivered us to the area. And all around steep towering mountain ridges form a protective barrier around the region.

Lamas graze on the grassy flats and chinchillas hop in and out of broken rock walls.

We were up in the lost city for about three hours and it was all too short, everybody complained it was all too rushed, I’m sure future tours will be extended.

On the return train journey following our snack and drinks the carriage crew put on a fashion show with a male and female modelling beautiful Alpaca clothing which they offered for sale afterwards.

It was late when we arrived back at the hotel, straight into dinner at nine pm. Dog tired we skipped half the meal, had a shower and into bed it was ten pm.

Day 3:             I awoke at 0345 and called Nancy at 0415 it was going to be a long day. Two hours to Cusco, flight to Lima and a five and half hour coach ride to San Martin where the ship was berthed arriving about 1730.

Our journey south from Lima passed alongside  the famous *?* desert on our left, claimed to be the driest in the world and the Pacific Ocean to our right. We were told it was very scenic, that we should see Condors flying around and whales out to sea.

It was dry and so dusty it looked almost like fog. For 80% - 90% of the drive there was nothing but shanty towns, chook farms and litter lining the highway, it was disgusting and quite depressing. You only see the water now and then and usually from a fair distance so no chance of seeing whales and as far as Condors go no self respecting bird would be seen dead in the area.

Over the final 15-20% of the journey it became a fertile landscape with cultivation and vineyards so there was some improvement and the last 20kls reverted back to desert dunes and no inhabitants so there was no litter and it looked like desert.

Disappointing but interesting just the same – we live in such a beautiful country it’s times like this you really appreciate what we’ve got  

Thank goodness we are on sea days it has taken several days to get over our trip, just like having massive jet lag but it was all worth it.

We really could have done with an extra day and one thing we couldn’t get used to was the sanitary arrangements. In Peru and I believe several South American countries you are not allowed to flush paper down the toilet so any soiled toilet paper has to be put into a receptacle that is cleared by the cleaning staff later. Yuk.   

I took a lot of photos that yet need to be edited and will post these later when I can.