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Lima
This year, Viri and I planned a trip to Peru on August 7th. Our flight schedule was pretty rough, but we were able to save a couple hundred dollars on plane tickets doing so. Our plane left at about midnight. A three hour flight to Mexico City was followed by a five and a half hour flight with a small nap in between.
We arrived in Lima, Peru at about 11:00am on August 8th. The first thing I remember noticing while landing were the brightly-colored rectangular homes.
It was a relief to finally be at our destination. We made our way out to the lobby of the airport only to be greeted by swarms of people offering their taxi services. Their persistence was a new experience for me. In the past, I have generally found it difficult and uncomfortable to say “no” to things, but here I found it necessary and normal. My first stop was to a restroom where I stood in line waiting for a stall only to be ignored by others who shamelessly took their place in front of me. My senses of politeness were not really working for me so far.
Viri and I got our plans together and found a taxi driver named Jonathan who drove us to our first destination at a republican-style house hosted by a Spanish family. The driving was reckless in American terms: lanes were ignored, tailgating was the norm, and nobody hesitated to use their horn or cut in front of others. There were people of all ages at every light approaching the stopped cars with snacks, candies and baked goods to sell. I saw a man with a basket full of “taxi” stickers for sale to anybody who felt like being a taxi driver. There were people standing in the street suspiciously offering crisp 100 soles bills. It was pretty obvious we weren’t in Kansas anymore.
Our first stop in Lima was short. We were introduced to several new fruits through the “jugos” (juices) at a “sanguichería” (sandwich shop) Mango Café: maracuya (a type of passion fruit), cherimoya and lucuma. There, we were also introduced to their sandwiches – my impression was that they loved their sandwiches and their mayonnaise. We walked to the Plaza Mayor de Lima where the government palace and several historic buildings resided. We toured the Catacombs of the Convent of San Francisco where we toured through the historic church. We encountered statues depicting the varied brutal punishments of past priests who did not fulfill their priestly duties. We marveled at the beautiful wood work, well-maintained old religious paintings, and of course the catacombs full of neatly-arranged bones of those who were willing to pay the great monetary sum required to be buried close to God.
Upon walking outside from the church, the first thing we witnessed was an angry man slapping a younger man with a forceful blow and screaming at him. Nobody else seemed to care much about the scene. We made our way to the Choco Museo where we found fresh coffee and European-style (with milk) hot chocolate. Life was good (for those of us not being sucker-punched in the head).
Cusco
Our next stop was Cusco in the middle of the Andes mountains. We woke up at 4:00am for a taxi back to the Lima airport for our flight to Cusco. Our destination is known to have an elevation of 11,152 feet. Sea-level to Cusco is quite a big jump, so we were a bit nervous of how our bodies would react.
Upon arriving, we experienced a scaled-down version of what we experienced in Lima. We were still approached by many offering taxi services, but they were not as aggressive. We quickly found a taxi driver who drove us to the Plaza de Armas. We began with a breakfast of juice, coca tea (*GASP!* 🫢), and empanadas, expectant for strange feelings from the altitude.
The feeling of the altitude wore on slowly. We visited the main square, the 12 Angled Stones, shopped for alpaca wool goods, and found another Choco Museo where I tried the Mayan style hot cocoa (with spicy chili peppers).
Urubamba
We took a taxi with a young man named Efrán who was our transportation to Urubamba. Efrán surprised us by stopping by a Quechua family’s house in Chinchero District. We were able to meet a few alpacas, tour their wool workshop, see how they color-died their wool, and hang out with an adorable young boy, Christian.
This is right around when I started feeling the altitude. I just wanted to get to our destination and rest. We continued through the second half of the hour-long drive from Cusco and arrived in Urubamba. The drive ended down a small dirt road through a neighborhood of houses and hotels. After much back and forth over the phone, we found our destination home.
The house was beautiful. We were sandwiched between the Andes mountains on both sides. There was water running through a stone aqueduct in the middle of the yard. We had the company of two dogs: Na and Coco.
Urubamba is located at an elevation of 9,420 feet. The town is rural and not very populated. The main city is rather small and does not emit much light pollution. That first night we spent time outside wrapped in alpaca wool beneath the stars, covered in bug spray, enjoying hot chocolate tea (yes.. chocolate tea, using the cacao beans’ skins leftover from the roasting process). Afterwards, we finished the night with a hot shower and an indoor wood fire that smoked the whole house! I definitely wish I could have that night more often.
The next day we went into town by “mototaxi”: a motorcycle converted into a taxi. Our driver was a mother traveling with her (very intelligent) 1-year-old daughter in her lap. This option of transportation was much less expensive than a standard taxi, but they would definitely not be approved by the US Department of Transportation 😂 We found a Bohemian-themed restaurant named Kaia where I had my favorite juice of the whole trip(mango, orange, pineapple, ginger, turmeric).
Maras Salt Mines
One of the main attractions near Urubamba are the salt mines in Maras.
They were definitely a sight to see, but I appreciate them even more after reading about them. Apparently the pools have been around since the Incan empire.
Our taxi driver, Mario, shared a bit about his upbringing in Urubamba: how the town had become more crowded and polluted over time. He shared that his brother was a chef in Washington D.C. and how hard it is to obtain a visa to travel and work in America. He shared how global warming was changing the landscape. He shared all these things as we casually sped on both sides of the winding roads of the mountains covered in wheat, almost experiencing a head-on collision with another car while passing a truck. As this was happening, Viri was calmly gazing out at the beautiful landscape while I was trying my best to keep my heart from beating out of my chest.
Our last night in Urubamba was rainy. We got a ride into town, shared a bowl of chicken soup, bought some things for breakfast, and stopped at a brewery for a beer just around the corner from where we were staying.
Aguascalientes
We awoke early the next morning to meet with Mario for a ride to the train station in Ollantaytambo. The tracks span a four hour ride from Poroy to Aguascalientes, but our destination was only an hour and a half from Ollantaytambo. We passed through several rural villages and saw many people working through their four-day hiking journey on the Inka trail. We were seated across from a Japanese couple living in Paraguay where they taught Japanese.
Upon arriving in Aguascalientes, the exit of the train station leads to the center of an outdoor market with people selling gifts and souvenirs. This was only a hint of how our stay in Aguascalientes would be.
There are people coming and going by train constantly. The whole town is attune to the heavy flow of tourism. There are countless hotels and restaurants with servers tenaciously seeking business (we later learned that some of their wages are completely dependent on bringing in customers). Things here were almost as expensive as home in California. My image of a quiet little town secluded in the mountains quickly vanished. One of the first things I noticed were people pushing wheelbarrows full of items up and down the steep roads. Since no cars can drive on these roads, they resort to manual labor to transport goods. I heard this was one of the better paying jobs, but it is very tolling on their bodies. It was a common sight to see the workers stopped to rest and catch their breath for upwards of 5 minutes.
I was pleasantly surprised to find space and seclusion along the Rio Aguas Calientes where there were benches next to the running river. This became my personal favorite spot to spend time within the city. We discovered that not all of the town was crawling with visitors. The other side of town was more quiet and fairly empty. I’m assuming this is where the locals live.
There are heated mineral water baths on the north side of town which charge a small entry fee. Before the entrance to the baths, we found a beautiful sculpture depicting the ruins of Machu Picchu.
Machu Picchu
Our second day in town was our big day to visit Machu Picchu! Our day began with a rude awakening from our alarms at 4:00am. We got ready and entered the LONG line for the bus at 4:50am. An hour and a half later it was our turn to ride, and after 20 minutes of driving we arrived at the entrance of the ruins and were inside by 6:50am.
We began to walk through the ruins and quickly encountered a family of llamas. We were fortunate enough to be able to enjoy time alone with them. One even kissed me. Viri realized her dreams had materialized and was abundant with gratitude.
After a couple of hours exploring the ruins, we realized we had missed our slotted time to climb Machu Picchu Mountain. We tried to enter and were directed to work things out at the front desk. After a bit of time waiting, the woman was gracious enough to give us permission to climb the mountain. We returned and were told we needed to be back by 12. There were 2045 steps to the top and it was estimated we would only be able to climb halfway.
We began climbing and Viri insisted that I go ahead. I was determined to make it to the top. While climbing, it seemed that anyone I asked said I was 30 minutes to the top – about an hour and a half later, I finally made it. I was in dire need of water and could barely stand; the descent was painful.
I finally arrived at the bottom just before 12:00 and reconnected with Viri. We walked (she walked, I limped, like the old man gangster I am) to an overlook of the ruins with Huayna Picchu in the background. We did not take any photos from the perspective of the mountains that depicts a face; it was crowded and I was more interested in a shower and food by then.
We spent the next 3 days lounging in Aguas Calientes (if I were to do the trip over again, I would definitely designate less time in Aguas Calientes). We took the 4-hour train ride back to Cusco and got a taxi to our destination for the night. We were not in a very popular part of town. Our night search for food led us to an awesome little bakery where we bought alfajores and other treats. A notable memory for us was buying a delicious, greasy street-food meal of spaghetti, rice, fried potatoes, chicken and sausage for 5 soles (the equivalent of roughly $1.50 USD).
Miraflores
The next morning, we took a phony taxi to the airport and flew back to Lima. We drove to our final stay in Miraflores. The city definitely had attributes more reminiscent of home in California: pampered pet dogs instead of those neglected and homeless and recognizable restaurant chains (Chilis, Johnny Rockets, McDonalds). The crazy travel schedule was over – now it was time to relax.
One of the first stops we made was to a nearby Choco Museo to gather souvenirs (namely chocolate tea for me). We also scheduled in a “bean to bar” chocolate class where we learned a bit of the history of chocolate and the about the process that creates chocolate as we know it. We found a very neat mixology bar, Carnaval, where we tried some really fun drinks.
We found an indoor market, Mercado de Surquillo, where we found a seafood restaurant that served ceviche. We revisited on another occasion because we loved it so much. The ceviche was much different than the Mexican-style ceviche we were used to. The fish was not left to cook in the lime nearly as long – it was like sushi <3
Our place was located right next to Huaca Pucllana, more ruins in the middle of the city! We didn’t visit, but we walked by several times.
Central
The main event left was a trip to Central. Our meal was delicious, creative and endlessly interesting.
Fín
After 5 days of relaxing and laziness, it was finally time to return home. We weren’t the greatest at planning our day, so we had roughly 12 hours to burn after checking out. We went to the airport pretty early and chowed on “sanguiches” from La Lucha Sanguichería.
At one point, Viri stepped away to use the restroom. On her way back, she noticed a group of guys in all black that had the quality of rockstars. After some pondering, she connected the dots and realized who it was: Rata Blanca.
Apparently, they were on tour and had just played in Peru. Nice note to end our trip on!
Rata Blanca – La Leyenda del Hada y El Mago