Friday night we took it easy. But all the processions went right by our hotel until late into the night. Every half hour or so the drums and music and then Mary and Jesus carried on the shoulders of people as they walked all over the city to celebrate the day of the 12 dishes, that´s Good Friday here.
Saturday we loaded Mom into a taxi and drove over to ¨the wrong side of town¨ to the central market. No tourist there at all. Totally different city of only locals shopping and hanging out. Mom and us wandered through the market for an hour going up and down the aisles looking at everything. Amazing colors in the aisles, each dedicated to a paticular product. Chicken, yup all plucked and hanging by their neck, pig, fish... flowers, fruit, veggies, beans, corn... on and on to the food stalls... then Mom had her shoes shined by the boys outside the market. They were so sweet with her. We were surrounded by about 8 boys all just chatting Mom up. And her shoes look great!
Sunday was travel day. Once again a very nice man came and picked us up to drive us up over the mountains and down into the sacred valley. We got out at one point to take photos at the cliff overhanging the edge of the plateau we were just about to come down over.
When we got to our beautiful hotel compound in Ollyantaytambo it was half raining and half sunshine. The flowers were full of hummingbirds. The gardens are amazing. I seem to be using that word a lot. The beauty of the natural world around us is simply stunning and you have to be a pretty self absorbed person to not stop and just stand in awe. The shear sides of the mountains surround us. You look up one way and there are Inca ruins half way up those mountains, you look the other way and you can see the terraces that run almost all the way up the other side.
We have decided to go to Machu Picchu again on Wednesday. Susan and I took over an hour to get the train tickets. So many parts of the transaction, only cash, must have all passports, find out what trains have seats....I had to get to the back of the line at 4 times and start again. We are taking the 5:37am train and returning on the 12:23 train. We will be able to see the sun rise as we make our way up the canyon.
And while we were standing in line we learned that today....There is a general strike in the Andes... No shops, no trains, no buses, no taxis, no internet cafe until now. The strike seemed to end at 4:pm. So many tourist stranded with no way to get where they needed to go. We planned to be here so it´s been a fantastic day for us. Mom walked all the way up the river road to the town square this morning because there was no traffic. We could take our time and wander around. Susan and Natilee and I just climbed to sides of the valley this morning. Up and up and up into the Inca ruins here... One ruin up a trail so steep and narrow that at times we just had to stop and figure out if we could make it. But we did and the views to the other side and down the valley was pure bliss. Then down, down, down, through the town and up the other side all around the ruins. We were the only 3 people there where there are usually hundreds of tourist tramping around. So special and wonderful to spend those couple hours with my sister and niece.
Nat has walked back to the hotel and Susan and I are getting in a few paragraphs before we head back. Tomorrow we are going to hire a driver and go to all the markets and towns along the sacred valley. It´s market day. So Dad I hope your pocket book won´t hurt too bad!
Love to all of you.
Monday, April 13, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Thursday Machu Picchu
Today we are just taking it easy. Yesterday we went to Machu Picchu. We got up at 5am to be picked up at the hotel by 6am. So we dressed, ate a bit and headed out. Sergio, the hotel employee and travel agency on the side picked us up to get us to the bus. We took a fantastic bus ride up and out of Cusco, up, up, up, up we went... over the high pass at 13, 123 feet.... Along the high valley filled with fields of corn, coca, squash... the sun so bright with the peaks so high still surrounding us even at 13,000 ft. Then we dropped down to the sacred valley to the road that runs along the raging river.... with the most incredible mountains all around us. Surrounding us with the sun and clouds playing tag along the granite and the earth all around as the valley got narrower... then a wall of Inca ruins, up a cobblestone small road into the tiny Inca village of Ollantaytambo. (We are going there to stay for a few days starting on Sunday) Through a tiny town square filled with market people. Then down to the train station at the end of the road. Literally the end of the road. From here...the only way to where we are going is by train. No road goes all the way to Machu Picchu. We take the tourist train. The local train is only for locals, and foreigners can not take it because it's cheap. And well because it's stuffed full of local people who have to take it. Also tourism supports 98% of the people here. A lot of the improvements in infrastructure is paid by our tourist dollars. The experience is priceless and if it was Europe or the US the tourist train would be a lot more money! So it's a bargain even if we pay more, and the people so helpful to Mom.
The train ride, one side we are escorted to our destination by the Urubamba River, the rapids are roaring. The drops in the river bed you can see from the train and the river just flows.. faster then the train, faster then any river I have ever seen. On the other side, the canyon at times widens out to small fields, but mostly granite walls with a ever increasing tropical flavor of flowers and plants growing on it's side. We are changing climates, from the high andes to the the beginning of the Peruvian Amazon area. Machu Picchu is the gateway in between, high and hidden in the clouds up on top of the mountains. The rain starts to fall and the we arrive at the end of the line to the town that was built around the train station, Aguas Calientes. We were met by a woman who's job was to get us from the station to the bus and get us in the front of the line. Down through the market in the ever increasing rain. Mom and us decided that we were going to have to take twice as long coming back since it was going to be all up hill on a fairly steep ramp. up over the railroad tracks, across the railroad bridge over the river... water, water, water, became the theme of the day. It was not going to be dry day at all.
To the front of the line for the bus and into the bus we got Mom. Susan and I by the end of the day must have picked Mom up and down a hundred times over steps that reached anywhere from small ones to ones up at mid thigh height. I know Mom was worried if she could do this. I know she was frighten of getting up there and not being able to get to the ruins. But we told her if it took us all day we would get her to the main plaza of the ruins and plop her butt down. There was no way we were not going to get her there to see the splendor that awaited us. The ride up the mountain side in the bus, switchbacks, up and up and up... narrow one lane road so when one bus met another one had to back up either up or down. A ballet with Mercedes Benz tourist buses up along the dirt road in the jungle of the Amazon along cliffs that when you looked down the river was just a strip of white and the clouds were coming in the windows. And rain, rain, rain... arriving at the main gate, with thousand of people in cheap colorful ponchos that you can buy from the women...and you better buy one if you are not prepared. Because it's raining, steady, wet, constant. But who cares the ruins are just up the stairs, oh no, stairs, then a quarter mile walk along a cliff then more stairs down then.......
out into the opening of the site. And you stop and you just stare at the beauty before you. Our guide Ruben talking to us quietly about what was before our eyes. The agriculture section, the urban section, the religious section... and the valley so deep right at your feet, you could tumble off and not hit any thing until you came to the river. The llamas, there are 22 of them, wandering around eating the grass. And all the while Ruben is sharing his knowledge of this place, he's been a guide for 21 years. You can't stop being in awe, of the beauty, the stunning simplicity, the buildings that so blend in with the natural beauty. And still surrounded by even higher peaks of mountains. The clouds and rain changing the landscape from second to second. One moment a huge building or moutain so clear the next totally shrouded in clouds. Small streams of water running around your feet and we are all soaked.. to the core but who cares because it's beautiful and Mom is climbing stairs and walking down into small plazas and peaking out over lips of granite cliffs down into the valley so far below. Mom is hanging on for dear life but she is walking and climbing and being pulled up and lowered down and got all the way across the plaza and over all of the most of the lower area... Susan and I can't believe it. We send Natilee off to explore the higher areas that Mom can not climb, because let me tell you the stairs are amazing. Straight up the mountain... And it keeps raining... water, water, water.... We decide to head back towards the front area... Not having any idea how long or what it will take to get Mom back down and back up over a major staircase. But we do, with a bit of sitting and lots of laughter and humor and letting faster people go by. We get back to the bus much faster then we thought we could. Amazing, but as Mom said, she needed to get there fast before she gave out. Down back the dirt road, repeating the ballet. Then down to the train station. Were we ate our food and tried to dry out. Some with with dry clothes we had in our backpacks, but dry was relative... and warm drinks. Then onto the train back along the river in the dark with the river so white besides us. Sergio met us at the train station with a van to drive just the 4 of us back to our hotel in Cusco. We arrived around 10pm. What a magnificent day.
The train ride, one side we are escorted to our destination by the Urubamba River, the rapids are roaring. The drops in the river bed you can see from the train and the river just flows.. faster then the train, faster then any river I have ever seen. On the other side, the canyon at times widens out to small fields, but mostly granite walls with a ever increasing tropical flavor of flowers and plants growing on it's side. We are changing climates, from the high andes to the the beginning of the Peruvian Amazon area. Machu Picchu is the gateway in between, high and hidden in the clouds up on top of the mountains. The rain starts to fall and the we arrive at the end of the line to the town that was built around the train station, Aguas Calientes. We were met by a woman who's job was to get us from the station to the bus and get us in the front of the line. Down through the market in the ever increasing rain. Mom and us decided that we were going to have to take twice as long coming back since it was going to be all up hill on a fairly steep ramp. up over the railroad tracks, across the railroad bridge over the river... water, water, water, became the theme of the day. It was not going to be dry day at all.
To the front of the line for the bus and into the bus we got Mom. Susan and I by the end of the day must have picked Mom up and down a hundred times over steps that reached anywhere from small ones to ones up at mid thigh height. I know Mom was worried if she could do this. I know she was frighten of getting up there and not being able to get to the ruins. But we told her if it took us all day we would get her to the main plaza of the ruins and plop her butt down. There was no way we were not going to get her there to see the splendor that awaited us. The ride up the mountain side in the bus, switchbacks, up and up and up... narrow one lane road so when one bus met another one had to back up either up or down. A ballet with Mercedes Benz tourist buses up along the dirt road in the jungle of the Amazon along cliffs that when you looked down the river was just a strip of white and the clouds were coming in the windows. And rain, rain, rain... arriving at the main gate, with thousand of people in cheap colorful ponchos that you can buy from the women...and you better buy one if you are not prepared. Because it's raining, steady, wet, constant. But who cares the ruins are just up the stairs, oh no, stairs, then a quarter mile walk along a cliff then more stairs down then.......
out into the opening of the site. And you stop and you just stare at the beauty before you. Our guide Ruben talking to us quietly about what was before our eyes. The agriculture section, the urban section, the religious section... and the valley so deep right at your feet, you could tumble off and not hit any thing until you came to the river. The llamas, there are 22 of them, wandering around eating the grass. And all the while Ruben is sharing his knowledge of this place, he's been a guide for 21 years. You can't stop being in awe, of the beauty, the stunning simplicity, the buildings that so blend in with the natural beauty. And still surrounded by even higher peaks of mountains. The clouds and rain changing the landscape from second to second. One moment a huge building or moutain so clear the next totally shrouded in clouds. Small streams of water running around your feet and we are all soaked.. to the core but who cares because it's beautiful and Mom is climbing stairs and walking down into small plazas and peaking out over lips of granite cliffs down into the valley so far below. Mom is hanging on for dear life but she is walking and climbing and being pulled up and lowered down and got all the way across the plaza and over all of the most of the lower area... Susan and I can't believe it. We send Natilee off to explore the higher areas that Mom can not climb, because let me tell you the stairs are amazing. Straight up the mountain... And it keeps raining... water, water, water.... We decide to head back towards the front area... Not having any idea how long or what it will take to get Mom back down and back up over a major staircase. But we do, with a bit of sitting and lots of laughter and humor and letting faster people go by. We get back to the bus much faster then we thought we could. Amazing, but as Mom said, she needed to get there fast before she gave out. Down back the dirt road, repeating the ballet. Then down to the train station. Were we ate our food and tried to dry out. Some with with dry clothes we had in our backpacks, but dry was relative... and warm drinks. Then onto the train back along the river in the dark with the river so white besides us. Sergio met us at the train station with a van to drive just the 4 of us back to our hotel in Cusco. We arrived around 10pm. What a magnificent day.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Today a day of musuems
For some reason my body woke me up early. So I laid in bed until I heard Nat stirring then took her off for her first experience with foreign ATMs and then exchanging large bills for smaller bills. Took us about an hour and half and 6 exchange counters. For a bit of a treat we then wandered down to the city center market to stroll around. We found chicken butcher street and got to see how our poultry is treated up close and personal.
Susan´s tummy is a bit upset so she stayed in the hotel while Nat, Mom and I went off to the Pre-Columbian musuem which was spectacular. Not a jumble of items, but each selected piece absolutely beautiful. We sat in the small square a bit..then headed off to the Inka Museum. A much larger place in an old colonial building with lots of stairs and ups and downs. So Mom sat out in the courtyard while Nat and I ran upstairs to look at the mummies. We then had a wonderful conversation with one of the weaving women about her weaving and her 93 year old mother and the markets. Then back to the hotel
Quiet afternoon and slow evening. I ran off for a bit to get food supplies for tomorrow. We get up at 5:am to get on a bus then the train then another bus up to Machu Picchu. Everything is taken care for us so we just have to show up.
Susan´s tummy is a bit upset so she stayed in the hotel while Nat, Mom and I went off to the Pre-Columbian musuem which was spectacular. Not a jumble of items, but each selected piece absolutely beautiful. We sat in the small square a bit..then headed off to the Inka Museum. A much larger place in an old colonial building with lots of stairs and ups and downs. So Mom sat out in the courtyard while Nat and I ran upstairs to look at the mummies. We then had a wonderful conversation with one of the weaving women about her weaving and her 93 year old mother and the markets. Then back to the hotel
Quiet afternoon and slow evening. I ran off for a bit to get food supplies for tomorrow. We get up at 5:am to get on a bus then the train then another bus up to Machu Picchu. Everything is taken care for us so we just have to show up.
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Tuesday it is all about the churches
Oh and we slept. Between the all the traveling a full night of sleep has not happen since Thursday. So last night we went to bed early and slept in until 9:am. We got up had breakfast and then mom and Susan decided another nap was in order. It´s the altitude folks. Anyway we got out of the hotel and took a cab down to the plaza so Mom could save her walking legs for the Cathedral, Inglesia del Triunfo, Iglesia de Jesus Maria and Iglesia de la Compania de Jesus. All around the Plaza de Armas. The first one being built in 1536 and from there they have all been rebuilt numerous times due to earthquakes. Each one very different. Except for the gold and silver robbed from the Inca´s melted down and slathered all over the church alters. They are truly over the top and unbelievable in their richness. I love that all the last supper paintings main dish is guinea pig. Oh and the mixing of Christianity and Inca religion has a naked women with a very pregnant belly on all the alters. She´s the Mother Earth. In he choir stalls the chairs all have her on the armrests...snicker. After all the churches we did a bit of shopping. Susan has to be dragged out of the silver shops.
We had another fantastic meal for a late lunch, early dinner. At Incanto, it would compete and win with many of the new Italian restaurants in the world. Amazing food. Oh and a 3rd of the price for a group of 4.
We have decided to do one day to Machu Picchu from Cusco. We are going on Thursday. From 6 in the morning to 9:pm at night. The travel agency which works with the hotel has done all the arranging. I have not spent hours running around trying to figure it out on my own. All of it is taken care of except for our food. I am more then relieved.
Susan and I dropped Nat and Susan off at the hotel and went out in search of a charger for her phone. We had a map with a circle on it on the other side of town. Turns out we had a great time, we found the main market, took my sister through it, wandered around neighborhoods that tourist don´t go found the electronics market.. no luck..they sent us back to a street sis had already looked on earlier... to radio shack. No luck but a fun adventure and Susan really enjoyed the areas. We are going to take the other two back to the market tomorrow probably.
Well that´s todays report. Now a bit of reading and then bed. Oh reading in bed then falling asleep.
We had another fantastic meal for a late lunch, early dinner. At Incanto, it would compete and win with many of the new Italian restaurants in the world. Amazing food. Oh and a 3rd of the price for a group of 4.
We have decided to do one day to Machu Picchu from Cusco. We are going on Thursday. From 6 in the morning to 9:pm at night. The travel agency which works with the hotel has done all the arranging. I have not spent hours running around trying to figure it out on my own. All of it is taken care of except for our food. I am more then relieved.
Susan and I dropped Nat and Susan off at the hotel and went out in search of a charger for her phone. We had a map with a circle on it on the other side of town. Turns out we had a great time, we found the main market, took my sister through it, wandered around neighborhoods that tourist don´t go found the electronics market.. no luck..they sent us back to a street sis had already looked on earlier... to radio shack. No luck but a fun adventure and Susan really enjoyed the areas. We are going to take the other two back to the market tomorrow probably.
Well that´s todays report. Now a bit of reading and then bed. Oh reading in bed then falling asleep.
Monday, April 6, 2009
The procession tonight. The plaza filled with hundreds of thousands of people
Susan and Natilee went down into the crowd while Mom and I sat up on the street right above it. No way were we going to get her down there. They came back up as the crowd grew so they could barely move around. Mom and I were wondering because we were watching thousands of people just streaming by us down the hill to the plaza. Susan got some photos and a video on her phone. I have to figure out how to upload photos for the blog.. be patient folks it will be a couple days.
SEÑOR DE LOS TEMBLORES
Ever since 1650, when the faithful claim that an oil painting of Christ on the Cross held off a devastating earthquake that was rattling the city of Cusco the locals have been rendering homage to the image of Taitacha Temblores, the Lord of the Earthquakes. The celebration is held on Easter Monday against the backdrop of Easter Week in the city of Cuzco. This celebration is of particular interest because it allows onlookers to get a glimpse of the fusion of Andean religions and Christianity.
The Cuzco Cathedral, where the image is kept, is built on the foundations of the ancient temple dedicated to the pagan god Apulla Tikse Wiracocha. The image of the Lord of Earthquakes is borne aloft in a procession through the streets of the city just as the Incas used to parade the mummies of their chieftains, high priests and supreme rulers. In the end, the dominating part of the celebration involves the ñucchu flower (salvia esplendes), used as an offering to the ancient gods Kon and Wiracocha.
The same flower today is used to weave a crown for the Lord of the Earthquakes. This crimson colored flower, whose petals are scattered by the faithful over the venerated image, symbolizes the blood of Christ. The image used today was donated by King Charles V, and despite centuries of smoke from the candles and incense, no one has dared to restore the blackened painting, that has given the Christ a somber aspect and a dark countenance.
SEÑOR DE LOS TEMBLORES
Ever since 1650, when the faithful claim that an oil painting of Christ on the Cross held off a devastating earthquake that was rattling the city of Cusco the locals have been rendering homage to the image of Taitacha Temblores, the Lord of the Earthquakes. The celebration is held on Easter Monday against the backdrop of Easter Week in the city of Cuzco. This celebration is of particular interest because it allows onlookers to get a glimpse of the fusion of Andean religions and Christianity.
The Cuzco Cathedral, where the image is kept, is built on the foundations of the ancient temple dedicated to the pagan god Apulla Tikse Wiracocha. The image of the Lord of Earthquakes is borne aloft in a procession through the streets of the city just as the Incas used to parade the mummies of their chieftains, high priests and supreme rulers. In the end, the dominating part of the celebration involves the ñucchu flower (salvia esplendes), used as an offering to the ancient gods Kon and Wiracocha.
The same flower today is used to weave a crown for the Lord of the Earthquakes. This crimson colored flower, whose petals are scattered by the faithful over the venerated image, symbolizes the blood of Christ. The image used today was donated by King Charles V, and despite centuries of smoke from the candles and incense, no one has dared to restore the blackened painting, that has given the Christ a somber aspect and a dark countenance.
In our room and all settled
We are in our room and all settled. Mom, Susan and Natilee are sleeping..taking naps. I am about to crash myself. The altitude is making me a bit dizzy and light headed. The other 3 are tired but seem fine. I think it will start to affect them a bit more as the day progresses. I have already seen my first llama walking up the steep stairs outside our hotel. Very sweet and soft looking...
Our room is huge with plenty of room for all 4 of us.. 4 beds, Nat and Susan kind of fought over the double but Nat gave up rather quickly.... We have a nice sitting area and Mom can negotiate the bathroom pretty good. We have 3 steps up to the room but Mom is managing.
The sun warmed up the day to tshirt and shorts weather. So chilly then a steady slow climb in temp as the sun warms the earth and stone.
Got a great photo of Susan´s birthday morning in Peru. She´s going to have to beg a lot for me not to post it... what are sisters for huh?
Our room is huge with plenty of room for all 4 of us.. 4 beds, Nat and Susan kind of fought over the double but Nat gave up rather quickly.... We have a nice sitting area and Mom can negotiate the bathroom pretty good. We have 3 steps up to the room but Mom is managing.
The sun warmed up the day to tshirt and shorts weather. So chilly then a steady slow climb in temp as the sun warms the earth and stone.
Got a great photo of Susan´s birthday morning in Peru. She´s going to have to beg a lot for me not to post it... what are sisters for huh?
We are in Cusco!
We have arrived safe and very sound in Cusco. Our full day in Lima was very nice. After a bit of mix up about flying out of LAX, um I goofed but it got fixed. Dad and Bob if you reading this please forgive me by Christmas. I had booked Natilee on the flight out right after the one I booked the 3 of us. Yup... flight 7734 and 7743 one leaving at 1:20pm, one leaving at 1:50pm. Both flights were full, but due to a very nice young man Natilee got on the last seat on our flight. They had her run from her gate to ours to get one but she got on. They didn´t call anyone standby, the guy just pointed at her and told her to go. So we were all on the same flight. Getting Mom in and out of the vans that picked us up and took us around definitely worked off a few pounds. But we all had fun. We got in the major sights of Lima mostly by driving around and seeing them with some walking... Got to take a beautiful tour of the Monasterio San Francisco. Since it was Palm Sunday we saw a lot of processions going into churches. Took a good walk around Miraflores and sipped iced coffee and tea from Starbucks in Parque Kennedy.
Since it was Susan´s birthday we had a fantastic seafood dinner out at a Victorian Era Building on a Pier out 300 yards over the Pacific Ocean. La Rosa Nautica... fantastic and I even got a bit tipsy on my Pisco Sour! http://www.larosanautica.com/rn_restaurante.html
What we ate:
Carpaccio from our sea, Provenzal style,
catch of the day, cut in fine slices served in tian, with an aromatic sauce,
capers, hard cheese slices and chopped tomatoes
Grilled “albacora” tuna,
raw livornese sauce, with a side of avocado risotto
with sautéed saffron spinach
Rosa Nautica seabass,
cooked in a pernod sauce, served with sea scallops and shrimps, on
a bed of yellow peruvian potatoes and topped with puff pastry
Duck magret from Pachacamac,
cooked and carved at the height of perfection, over a
sauco berries sauce, garnished with oven cooked potatoes gratin
All sitting outside on the patio listening to the waves crashing on a warm night.
(forgive the change in fonts etc... I am on a keyboard that I don´t understand and can´t change it back.)
We got up at 2:30am this morning to be at the airport by 3:45. I had scored a very good price for business class, and all 4 of us flew in style. I think it made the very early morning flight much easier for all of us. Being with Mom has one very big advantage. We do not have to stand in any line for anything at the airport, customs, immigration, security, check in, boarding.. it all disappears and we move to the front... Everyone has been very helpful and very kind.
Today is a easy day in Cusco due to the altitude. We are waiting to get into our room but waiting in the lobby of this beautiful colonial hotel is very nice. We have had a wonderful breakfast and now Nat and Mom are reading on the sofa and Susan is sleeping...
So we are all safe and sound and right now the altitude is not bothering me.
Since it was Susan´s birthday we had a fantastic seafood dinner out at a Victorian Era Building on a Pier out 300 yards over the Pacific Ocean. La Rosa Nautica... fantastic and I even got a bit tipsy on my Pisco Sour! http://www.larosanautica.com/rn_restaurante.html
What we ate:
Carpaccio from our sea, Provenzal style,
catch of the day, cut in fine slices served in tian, with an aromatic sauce,
capers, hard cheese slices and chopped tomatoes
Grilled “albacora” tuna,
raw livornese sauce, with a side of avocado risotto
with sautéed saffron spinach
Rosa Nautica seabass,
cooked in a pernod sauce, served with sea scallops and shrimps, on
a bed of yellow peruvian potatoes and topped with puff pastry
Duck magret from Pachacamac,
cooked and carved at the height of perfection, over a
sauco berries sauce, garnished with oven cooked potatoes gratin
All sitting outside on the patio listening to the waves crashing on a warm night.
(forgive the change in fonts etc... I am on a keyboard that I don´t understand and can´t change it back.)
We got up at 2:30am this morning to be at the airport by 3:45. I had scored a very good price for business class, and all 4 of us flew in style. I think it made the very early morning flight much easier for all of us. Being with Mom has one very big advantage. We do not have to stand in any line for anything at the airport, customs, immigration, security, check in, boarding.. it all disappears and we move to the front... Everyone has been very helpful and very kind.
Today is a easy day in Cusco due to the altitude. We are waiting to get into our room but waiting in the lobby of this beautiful colonial hotel is very nice. We have had a wonderful breakfast and now Nat and Mom are reading on the sofa and Susan is sleeping...
So we are all safe and sound and right now the altitude is not bothering me.
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