ruthmike's TravelStream™ — Recent TravelPod.com entries TravelStream™ news feed for member ruthmike on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/ruthmike en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:21:35 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com The Unruly Passenger — Lima, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187824080/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187824080/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187824080/tpod.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:21:35 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Lima, Peru

Day 22: Oh no! Our last day! We are sad it's our last day but also looking forward to being home with a good shower and bed and able to not worry about drinking water and ice. I'm sure we'll want to be traveling again after a few days.

We had a really nice breakfast at our hotel (Hotel Antigua). They actually had something different than eggs. The vast majority of free hotel breakfasts that we've had on the trip were scrambled eggs or fried eggs served with toast and marmalade. There hasn't been much variation. A few hotels in Peru had buffets which had fruit and other things, but those were the mainstays. We hung around at the hotel for a bit and used their free Internet. Then I led us on a circuitous path to supposed pyramids in Miraflores - the Huaca Pucllana. We eventually found them but that was after walking for at least an hour and stopping at a Starbucks for a coffee and asking for directions. And the pyramids turned out to be a major disappointment. They were surrounded by a big wall and we really couldn't see in. From what we saw through the fence, it just didn't seem worth it and they were still excavating so I'm sure they'll be better when they're done. After seeing what it was, the only reason I kinda wanted to go in was because I saw alpacas. :) (If there had been vicunas, I definitely would have made us go in!)

So, we continued walking until we could find a cab that Mike approved of. We had read that taxis in Lima are touch and go. Many of the cab drivers don't know where anything is and charge high prices. So, Mike figured we should only hail cabs which were driven by older guys. I think it worked out best that way too. We decided to go to the national museum...boy was that a mistake. Before we get to the museum, we did have an interesting cab ride. But at least this time it wasn't because he was trying to get us to pay more money - it was because the driver wanted to make sure that he dropped us off at the right entrance. I was second-guessing our decision to go to this museum when he asked me which entrance we wanted to be dropped off at and when I told him I didn't know, he pulled up and started asking the security guard where we buy tickets. We headed over to where he pointed and then the driver hopped out and ran up and asked someone there if it was where we should be. Clearly not many people visit this museum if this older cab driver doesn't know where to drop us off! Anyway, we got in, bought tickets, and went to find a map of the museum. Another bad sign...the museum has no map. We perservered...but it was the worst museum that we've ever been to. I mean, really bad. At first, we thought maybe we didn't like it because we loved MAP in Cusco so much and were spoiled. But then, we saw this totem pole that looked interesting...except then I noticed that it said on the description that it's a replica. What is a replica doing in a museum?!? We trudged through the museum only because we were there and we felt we should. We pretty much hated it though.

After the museum we decided we should see what downtown Lima is like so we got a cab to the market. Big mistake. Mike was right in thinking we should just turn around, but I insisted we should at least check it out after making it through the traffic. Boy was I wrong. Downtown Lima is pollution filled and really gross. I'm sure there are nice things about it but I just couldn't get over the pollution. I've never been to a place like that. The market wasn't really for tourists either. It was more for household supplies than anything. So, we quickly caught a cab back to Miraflores with an older cab driver who charged us less than the young cab driver who drove us from the museum to the market (which was a shorter distance).

So, we stopped at a coffee shop and that same Internet cafe for a while, and then to dinner at Las Brujas de Cachiche. We had this enormous appetizer platter of traditional Peruvian dishes and also each had a main dish. The food was good, but not great. The restaurant and service were really nice though.

After dinner we met the driver at the hotel who took us back to the airport. We were looking forward to getting on the plane and sleeping. Unfortunately, it wouldn't be se easy. The airport was 10 times as crowded as we had seen it before...it was 10pm...what was everyone doing there?!? Apparently, this was the time to travel out of Lima. It took forever to check in and finally we boarded the plane (after returning our cell phone and having a few tasty drinks at the bar). As we were pulling away from the gate, a flight attendant asked a woman in the row next to ours to push her baggage underneath the seat in front of her. The woman responded that it wouldn't fit, so the flight attendant told her she'd have to put it in the overhead bin. Pretty much that was all that was said when the passenger started saying: "Don't use that tone with me!" Really, there was no tone. She was saying what every flight attendant says. You have to store your bags completely underneath the seat in front of you or in the overhead bin. Well, the passenger wanted the flight attendant to guarantee that her precious ceramics wouldn't get damaged if they were put in the overhead bin. Of course the flight attendant couldn't guarantee that. The passenger continued on about how she shouldn't be given attitude and how she should just keep her bag in her lap. Another flight attendant was called over to talk to the crazy passenger but it didn't help and she'd already gone too far. The pilot got on the intercom and informed us all that we had to return to the gate because we had an unruly passenger who violated federal law by not following the instructions of a flight attendant. The passenger was escorted off the plan and we had to wait there for over an hour while they removed her luggage from the plane. It was craziness and we were so exhausted. We were happy to arrive in Houston even though we were 2 hours late. That was til we felt the humidity...
]]> The Little White Store — Lima, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187736120/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187736120/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187736120/tpod.html Sat, 22 Sep 2007 15:14:32 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Lima, Peru

Day 21: We can't believe we're heading to Lima. Our trip is almost over :( Same routine...got up early, had a quick breakfast at the hotel, and had a friendly cab ride until we asked how much it was (again tried to screw us, but happily, again unsuccessfully). Anyway, the flight was fine and we had someone from our hotel waiting to pick us up. It was really nice to have someone waiting for us and to not have to worry about whether they could find the hotel. Lima is an enormous city. Our hotel is in the Miraflores neighborhood, which is a very nice sort of residential area. It's a really pretty hotel and we're happy to be there. We relaxed for a bit and then headed out to find La Tiendecita Blanca (the little white store), that was a Swiss cafe that also served traditional Peruvian food. On the traditional side, we shared some amazing tamales (totally different than Tex-Mex tamales; really tasty and flavorful 'dough' and only a small amount of stuffing, here chicken and olive and really good) and Ruth had some delicious onion soup, perfect for Lima's dreary and overcast and chilly winter weather (think Seattle). Mike had a Swiss dish, white sausage with onions and roesti (potato pancake-like) that was also very good. It was such a great lunch with tasty wine (which the poor waitress had a hell of a time opening - really pretty funny and I thought about telling Mike to help her, but I didn't want to embarass her). We wandered around Miraflores, just happy to not have anything we really had to do. We spent some time in an Internet cafe and then were drawn into a bar that was playing live music. After a few drinks there, we decided we really were too full to go to dinner as planned and would just relax in the room that night. A fun relaxing day.
]]> Machu Picchu Revisited — Cusco, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187645160/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187645160/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187645160/tpod.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 20:29:37 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Cusco, Peru

Day 18: With the overcast skies the day before, we had been debating whether it would be worth it to get up extra early so that we could catch the first bus at 5:30 a.m. so that we could see the sunrise from Machu Picchu. We decided we'd still catch an early bus, but that we'd miss the sunrise. So, after our worst breakfast of the trip at Gringo Bill's (think stale bread and a bowl of apples), we checked out of our hotel and headed to the bus. We got the 7:00 a.m. bus up to Machu Picchu hoping we'd get there before most of the tourists. There was hardly anyone there, which was really nice, although I think we got there before the English-speaking tour guides, so we went guideless again. Although, this time, we picked up a free map when we were getting our Machu Picchu passport stamp. It's a really cool stamp! We pretty much walked everywhere up there. For the second day I got whistled at by one of the "security" people there. Walking around you don't even realize that they have people throughout Machu Picchu making sure people aren't doing anything bad to the ruins. Well, yesterday, I decided to climb up a rock for a nice photo op, and once I got up there, I heard a shrill whistle and saw a man waving to me to get off the rock. Funny because Mike and I had heard whistles before and we thought it was an obnoxious tour group trying to keep the group together. This time I got in trouble because he apparently thought I was too close to the alpaca that roams the fields up there. Except the day before the alpaca was hanging out by some stairs and tourists were taking pictures of him...which eventually sent him storming down the stairs right past us. Anyway, we enjoyed searching for different places that our guidebook identified as worth seeing and found most of them. The 32-sided stone, unlike the 12-sided stone in Cusco, took some imagination to count 32 sides, but it was still neat. It's really difficult to describe Machu Picchu, but hopefully you'll get the gist when we upload the pictures. Amazingly, my ankle was feeling much better, so we were going to hike up to Huayna Picchu (the 'Temple of the Moon'). They limit the number of people who can be on that mountain but we figured it was early enough so we'd be able to get on it. We were wrong...there was a big group of people waiting by the gate to hike up, so we just decided we'd skip it.

After spending a few hours there, we decided to head back to Aguas Calientes, via bus this time, and get some lunch. We tried another pizza place. It was good but not as good as Chez Maggy. I tried a Peru Libre, which is Pisco with Sprite, which was ok; Mike was wise to stick with his Cuba Libre. We had some time to kill before our train so we walked around the market a little and really saw nothing we were interested in buying. So, after a drink, we got our packs from the hotel and made the trek to the train station. Now, you may have noticed that yesterday's post said that it was a pretty quick walk from the train station to the hotel. That is is true...however yesterday my legs weren't horribly sore from hiking down Machu Picchu! Walking with our 30 pound bags now felt like a trek. No more stairs please! Going up was ok, but down was painful.

The train was very similar to the train we had taken before, but bigger and more people. It was a 4-hour train ride, which doesn't seem that bad, but we had gotten up really early so we were pretty tired and just wanted to get to Cusco. After making a stop about 2 hours into the ride, all of a sudden this creepy music started blaring over the intercom and the passengers were looking around confused and to the stewards in the back to fix it. Then, out of nowhere, a weird masked man appeared, dancing up and down the aisle. I was wondering how this crazy person got on the train when the rest of us had to pay to ride the train! I wouldn't make eye contact because I didn't want him to ask for money...and his mask was really creepy! Well, at the end of his song the music turned into a recording of a woman's voice and it turned out this was actually a show being put on by PeruRail and that was apparently traditional dancing! After that, we were treated to a fashion show with our train car's stewards modelling various llama and alpaca clothing. It was the funniest and oddest thing ever. After the show, they came down the aisle with a cart selling the clothes. At least it made time pass quicker! A few hours later we stopped in Poroy, the last stop before Cusco. Mike pointed out that there was someone advertising that you can take a bus from Poroy to Cusco and the ride only takes 10 minutes. It was going to take an hour on the train! We were tired and decided to just stay on the train, but if we had to do it again, we'd get off in Poroy! Now, yes, by taking the bus we would have missed the slow decent into Cusco and all the lights since it was now dark...but it would have been worth it to get their faster. We were exhausted and hungry!

We were happy to arrive in Cusco. Once again, our cab driver couldn't find our hotel! We had decided we'd stay in San Blas, which is an artsy neighborhood overlooking the main part of Cusco. At least this cab driver was really nice and was really trying to help us. We eventually found it...the car couldn't get up to the hotel because it's on a pedestrian sreet...up a lot of stairs. Yay. We quickly checked in and headed out to find a restaurant we had in mind. Of course, we made the brilliant decision to stay in hilly San Blas after hiking down Machu Picchu. Everywhere we went, we had to go up and down hills! Anyway, we had dinner at a really funky restaurant, Macondo, and then headed back to our hotel totally exhausted. Yay sleep.
]]> Dinner as Art — Cusco, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187369640/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187369640/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187369640/tpod.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:21:00 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Cusco, Peru

Day 15: We really like Cusco and we had a great day. We got up and realized we should buy our train tickets to Machu Picchu because we were going there in 2 days. But first we decided to find out if our hotel had a room in their sister hotel in Yucay for the next night. Yucay is in the sacred valley and is on the way to Machu Picchu. That way we could go horse-back riding and we'd have a shorter train ride to Machu Picchu. They had room, so we booked that, and walked to the train station. Luckily, when Mike was making the reservations for the Yucay hotel, the woman at the desk told us where to buy the train tickets; we were going to go to the wrong train station. So, we had a nice walk there. The streets were really busy but at least the sidewalks were wide (unlike in Cuenca) so I wasn't tripping over the tiny sidewalks. It took a while to get to the counter (the locals seemed to have priority) but eventually we got up there and bought our tickets on the Vistadome train (which is the mid-range train, in between the Backpacker's train and the Hiram Bingham luxury train). Since the ticket place was right near the Manu café we had read about, we decided to check it out. As usual, we were the only people there, but by the time we left, other people had come in. The place was advertised as having international newspapers and magazines but they only seemed to have The Economist and some spa magazine. Oh well...at least the drinks were really good. We had some tasty coffee and I had delicious strawberry juice; Mike ordered a combination of strawberry and lemon juice and the waiter looked at him like he was crazy and laughed (which made him doubt himself), but it was awesome... waiter had obviously never had strawberry lemonade!

After the café we went to go find the MAP restaurant where we wanted to have dinner that night. MAP is the Pre-Columbian museum, and really the only museum we were interested in going to. They have a restaurant in a courtyard inside the museum so it seemed like a really nice evening - go to the museum and then have dinner. We made reservations and then went to have some lunch at Pucara, a really popular place. We had a nice light lunch and then headed to the Cross Keys pub for some drinks. By this account it seems like we haven't done anything today, but walking around and getting lost took a fair bit of time! But I figure, walking and getting lost lets you see the city...

After drinks, we got changed for dinner and headed over to the museum. I can't express to you how amazing the museum is. It's not a typical inside museum; there's the courtyard where the restaurant is and all the museum rooms are off of the courtyard. It was dark out when we got there and so as we walked into a new room, the lights came on. There was only one other couple at the museum so we basically had the whole place to ourselves. We saw mostly ceramics from the different time periods in Peruvian history and we were really impressed with both the art and the displays. I think it was the best museum either of us has been too. It being night and having no one else there also gave the museum a mysterious feeling, like we were discovering everything ourselves. After going through most of the rooms, we went to dinner. The restaurant is basically a glass-enclosed rectangle, about the size of a train car, except it's all glass and fancy. We felt like we were the museum displays, behind the glass and under the lights. This place is truly impressive. The service was outstanding. They serve a prix-fixe meal of three courses, including a glass of wine. We ordered a bottle and they even decanted it for us! I've never seen the whole process. Not only was the service amazing, but the food was sooooo good! They served traditional Peruvian dishes with a modern flair. Our meals were amazing, from the quinoa amuse-bouche to the after-dinner sparkling wine. We were so happy. This was definitely the highlight of the trip.
]]> Mountains 2 - Ruth 0 — Machu Picchu, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187552760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187552760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187552760/tpod.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 17:10:41 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Machu Picchu, Peru

Day 17: After the annoying driver from yesterday, the lady at the front desk promised us our taxi driver would be there on time to take us to the train station. That promise seemed to fade as we stood there waiting. Our driver ran into a problem and so she called a different taxi driver. We were a little concerned because the day before she told us to leave an hour before our train and now we'd be leaving about 30 minutes before our train. Again, we didn't know how long it would take to get there and how difficult it would be once we got to the station. After the taxi driver stopped for gas (and, yes, a roll of toilet paper!) and then again to put air in his tires, we told him that we were trying to make a train, so he picked up the pace. We ended up making it to the train in time and all was good. To go back to the toilet paper...we don't know why 2 taxi drivers picked up a roll of toilet paper when they stopped for gas. Stopping for gas when you have a passenger is odd enough, but getting 1 roll of toilet paper? We haven't mentioned the bathroom issues of Ecuador and Peru...we figured they were better not discussed... but sometimes the bathrooms have no toilet paper, so maybe it was their back-up roll? I really don't know.

Anyway, the train...to our surprise, it was really small with only had 2 passenger cars. We realized that it's called the Vistadome because it has skylights so you can see the sky and tops of mountains. We got food and beverage service on the train, which was a nice addition. The route through the Sacred Valley was along a river and it was really pretty. We saw part of the Inca Trail on the other side of the river. Definitely something we'll have to do eventually. Here's a map of the Sacred Valley so you can see the route we took: The train arrived in Aguas Calientes in only an hour, which was a nice surprise; we thought it was going to be closer to 3 hours. Aguas Calientes is a small town pretty much built up to entertain the tourists visiting Machu Picchu. From the town, it's about a 15-20 minute bus ride up to Machu Picchu. Besides the bus, the only other way up to Machu Picchu is hiking. Someone from our hotel, Gringo Bill's, was supposed to meet as at the train station, but he was nowhere in sight. (By the way, we would never have stayed at a place called Gringo Bill's, however it got really good ratings!) So, we just decided to start walking and figured we'd find the hotel. We passed through a market and over a bridge and after asking a couple people where the main plaza, we found the hotel pretty easily. It really wasn't a long walk - it was just made more difficult by the 30 pound bag on my back. Our room was beautiful; it had a view of the mountains, a Jacuzzi bathtub, and a nice balcony.

We decided we shouldn't waste any time and should head right to Machu Picchu, however it wasn't so easy. We pretty much walked in circles throughout the town in order to buy the entrance tickets to Machu Picchu and then find the bus to go up to Machu Picchu, and bought the bus tickets there. We decided we'd take the bus up and walk down. The bus headed out of Aguas Calientes and up the curvy mountain road with switchbacks all the way up. It was a little disconcerting when another bus passed us going down the mountain because there was no visibility going around the turns. At least the drivers did seem to have walkie-talkies and were working together to not crash...We made it up after about 15 minutes. Everything was still confusing us a little but we found the entrance and decided to head into Machu Picchu without a guide or map. We figured we'd wander around today and then be more structured tomorrow. We headed up some stairs so we could get the view from above Machu Picchu. It was overcast but still an amazing place to be. We climbed down stairs back into the main part of Machu Picchu. It was really neat seeing the stonework on such a grand scale, although we were a little surprised that the stonework wasn't as good as it was in Cusco. It was a really cool place to wander around and were actually kind of happy it wasn't sunny. There were a lot of stairs!

After spending a few hours there, we decided we should head down the mountain before it got dark. There was a trail with steps winding down the mountain. When we were about 1/3 down, I took a funny step down and sprained my ankle! This is the second mountain that made me fall! At least they're 2 pretty impressive mountains (Volcano Cotopaxi and now Machu Picchu mountain) and not some wimpy hill. We had a lot of uneven steps to go, but I wanted to make it down, so we continued. We got to town in a little over an hour...pretty sweaty and me limping. We were both secretly worried that I'd really hurt myself, but hoping that I hadn't. We decided to stop for a drink to reward ourselves and then went to a pharmacy to get an ace bandage for my ankle. Since we skipped lunch we were starving so we cleaned up a little at the hotel and then headed out to find a pizza place that was recommended in the guidebook. Pizza seems to be the food of choice in Aguas Calientes. All of the restaurants have brick-oven pizzas, so we figured it would be best to go with the recommendation. The pizza was amazing and we had a really nice dinner at Chez Maggy. We bought some wine at a store and brought it back to the hotel. It helped us keep warm since it was so cold we had to turn the gas heater on.
]]> Day of Weirdness — Yucay, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187457420/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187457420/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187457420/tpod.html Mon, 03 Sep 2007 13:28:37 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Yucay, Peru

Day 16: We should've taken some Dramamine. Little did we know that we'd be back on the curvy mountain roads that we had gotten so used to in Ecuador. We hired a driver to take us from Cusco to Yucay so that we could get there early enough for a morning horse-back ride on Peru's famous Paso horses. Our driver, Carlos, was really nice and told us that we could ask him to stop at any point if we wanted to take pictures. We were pretty tired and really just wanted to get there, but he was nice enough to stop a few times (without us asking) and we definitely appreciate the pictures now. Mike describes Carlos as thinking he was in a road rally; his little hatchback ripped through the mountainous roads and even when he stopped for gas, he pulled in like he was making a pit stop in a car race. Zoomed in and then zoomed out (with a full tank and a roll of toilet paper...huh?). It was about an hour drive and we were happy when we arrived at the hotel. It was a really nice place; not a typical hotel. The place was spread out like a ranch and had places to read and relax. Our room turned out to be huge, with a living room and dining room table (not that we really needed it) and we could see alpacas out our window. (I think they were alpacas...definitely not vicuñas).

Our hotel arranged for a taxi to take us to the horse-back riding place. Since everything was arranged for us, we didn't think to ask exactly where we were going, how far it was, or the name of the place...unfortunately. We thought it was a little odd when our driver stopped to ask some kids a question about the road. It seemed like they were saying something about the road that we needed to take being closed, but it was hard to hear and understand. So, we went the scenic route through a village in the hills. It was a mix of weird, disturbing, and quaint. There were poor peasant people who were seemingly happy yet some nasty shanty-town-looking places. We got a lot of stares and our driver asked for directions twice...not reassuring. I felt a mix of being adventurous and also wanting to tell him to just turn around and take us back to the hotel. We had no idea where we were going and the driver didn't seem happy to be there and I could hardly understand his accent. I was about to tell him to just turn around when we went through a gate that opened up to a beautiful hacienda-style building. There was a big courtyard, a huge tree, and three horses, so it all looked right.

The guide didn't speak English and was a pretty quiet guy, so there wasn't much talking. He told our taxi driver to be back to pick us up in 2 ½ hours. The horses were bigger than the horses we rode in Baños. We weren't too pleased when we saw that we were heading through that same town we had driven through but at least the people seemed pleasant and were saying hello to us. We were almost out of the little town when we saw these two guys who were walking towards us; one guy was leaning on another guy who was sort of holding the first guy up. From a distance, it looked like two drunk guys going home after a really long night out. They were sort of swerving as they walked towards us. As they got closer, we saw that the first guy was hysterically crying. Very odd. My horse did not like them. Then, as we got to the road, we passed some farmers working...that seemed nice and interesting, until we saw a guy lying face down on the grass in a ditch on the side of the road. Mike and I looked at each other, unsure whether the guy was dead or alive, but the guide kept riding. I was now wondering whether that crying guy was crying because of the seemingly dead guy in the ditch. We will never know... After that, the ride got much better. We continued to ride through different towns and fields but there were no drunken, crying, or dead people, so it was much more peaceful. At one point, Mike led the group because we got to a spot where there was a sort of waterfall falling onto our path and our guide's horse did not like it, so he had to work with his horse to get him passed the waterfall. So, he told Mike to lead us. As I passed the guide, he said something about it being the first time his horse had seen a waterfall. That was Mike's great moment as lead horseman. The rest of the ride continued through the towns, across bridges, and through fields. We thought it was really interesting seeing the people work the fields; some had tractors, while many of them were still using 2 cattle with a yoke and wooden plow. The ride lasted about 2 ½ hours and we pretty much just walked. We weren't sure whether the guide didn't have us run because he thought we were beginners or if the ride is just a walking ride. We never really got to feel the smooth ride of the Paso horse, but it was a really nice ride and the weather was perfect. I liked the Baños ride better because the guide was more relaxed and friendly and I got to run whenever I wanted to; Mike liked this ride better because it was more peaceful. We both agreed it was really interesting riding through the towns and the farms (although sometimes I thought it was a little scary).

Our taxi driver was waiting for us when we got back from our ride. The drive back to our hotel was quicker, he said because that road that was closed earlier was now open. So, we got to the hotel and he told us it would be 60 soles roundrip...that's over $20! It was a quick drive and that's almost how much we paid to drive the hour from Cusco to Yucay and that drive was through curvy mountain roads! This drive was basically straight down the street (except for the jaunt through the town on the way there). Normally when we got into a cab, we'd ask how much it was...that's what the guidebook said to do because they don't have meters. We didn't this time because the hotel had arranged it and we figured there was a standard price. Well...apparently this driver figured he'd try to take advantage, but it wouldn't work on us! We were not happy with him. We told him it was too much and he went down to 40 soles...quite a change in price...It still seemed like too much so Mike stayed in the taxi while I went and got a woman who works at the front desk of the hotel. She spoke to him and he said it was 40 soles because that road had been closed on the way there so it took longer than usual. So, where did that 60 soles price come from? He never mentioned that to her...She told us the typical fare was 30 soles roundtrip, so that's what we paid. We probably would've paid him 40 soles in the first place if he hadn't tried to trick us with the 60 soles...and we would've given him a tip. His loss for being a lying jerk.

We went to lunch at the hotel, a decent buffet, and then relaxed outside, reading and me napping. Then, we got massages, which we had been pretty desperate for throughout the trip. (My backpack is heavier than Mike's!) It was very nice. That evening we relaxed by the bar - reading, drinking, and we had a small dinner there. There was a live Andean band, so we listened to them play an odd mix of Andean music and modern music (think Wyclef's Guantanamero) on their pan-flutes...quite entertaining.

]]> Drink It Before the Ice Melts — Cusco, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187322060/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187322060/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187322060/tpod.html Tue, 28 Aug 2007 23:45:17 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Cusco, Peru

Day 14: We got up very early to catch a 7:50 am flight to Cusco. That sounds like an insane time except that the only other flight to Cusco from Arequipa on the airline we had been flying (and could easily book online) was at 5-something in the morning! We were sad to leave our pretty hotel. The shower was the best so far. I don't know if we've really mentioned it, but the showers are always an interesting adventure. You never know if the water will be scalding hot, warm, or cold and whether there will be good water pressure or just a small stream of water. It was such a nice treat when the Casa Arequipa shower was pleasantly hot and had good water pressure! Even though it was at 5:30 am...

At the airport, we checked in and found out we were flying through Juliaca (nearby Lake Titicaca) instead of through Lima. We were kind of happy about that because it's never nice to have to fly through the city you just came from. The flights were really quick and easy but it was crazy when we landed in Juliaca - just sitting there, Mike and I both felt really short of breath. Then we read that Juliaca is over 12,500 feet!

While checking into our hotel, we saw a newspaper talking about the earthquake and all the fatalities and damage it had caused. That's when we realized how big it really was and decided we should go to an internet place to let everyone know we were ok. We felt bad that everyone had been worrying and we didn't even know it. Sorry again!

Cusco is really pretty with the red-tiled roofs and big main square. There are a lot more tourists here than any other city we've visited. Our guidebook says: "Getting around Cusco is straightforward and relatively simple." We would have to disagree with that. We found the city really confusing to navigate! It does look like it would be simple...base everything on where you are in relation to the big cathedral on the square, but somehow, we always seemed to be going in the wrong direction.

Anyway, we decided we'd go for a leisurely lunch at a quinta, which was described by the guidebook as a traditional open-air Peruvian restaurant where you get big meals of local specialties for pretty cheap. We decided we'd go to Eulalia, the oldest quinta, which has been around since 1941. After getting lost and out of breath from walking a little uphill (Cusco is over 11,000 feet), we got to Eulalia and relaxed with a refreshing Cusqueña beer. All the regions seem to have their own beer. Each tastes exactly the same. However, the Cusqueña beer was especially neat because the design on the bottle was a little Incan stone wall. One of the stones was the famous 12-sided stone, which we planned on going to look for after lunch. Lunch was tasty - Mike had lamb with lots of side dishes and I had a stuffed hot pepper. Both were local dishes and both were very tasty. An American guy at a table next to ours ordered the guinea pig. His girlfriend looked mortified at what he was served. Two locals at a nearby table were giggling at his attempts to eat his rodent-like lunch and began giving him advice on how to approach the delicacy. As usual, the place was packed (probably half locals, half tourists) by the time we left. We really liked it there although the bathrooms were scary (not designed with girls in mind).

We decided to walk around to find examples of Incan stonework. The Incans made amazing walls of huge stones that were cut so precisely that they looked like the pieces from a puzzle. It really was amazing to see how the stones fit together. We went to the famous 12-sided stone and counted the sides. You have to be somewhat creative in your counting, but it was neat.

After relaxing at the hotel, we weren't really hungry for dinner so we went to a bar, Los Perros. I had my first Bloody Mary of the whole trip. It was also my first mixed drink. We haven't mentioned the water issue. As you know, when you travel to certain places, you need to be careful of the water. That seems easy - just drink bottled water. But what about ice? You don't know if it's made from regular tap water or not, so I had been avoiding it, which is kind of difficult when you like mixed drinks. Mike was also being careful but he had a few mixed drinks with ice in them...standing by his theory that either the freezing of the ice or the alcohol would kill whatever was lurking in there. So far, his theory had worked. I decided to give it a try here. I decided that I would lower my risk of getting sick by making sure to drink fast before the ice melted into my drink. Seemed logical! (Later I was happy to see that they got their ice out of bags, so presumably it was purified.) We stayed there for a few drinks and then decided to wander around and ended up having some delicious appetizers at a really nice restaurant, Bohemia. The waiters were wearing tuxedo shirts and bowties and the service was excellent. So were the food and drinks. Exhausted, we went back to the hotel and didn't even get lost.
]]> The Earthquake — Arequipa, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187213760/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187213760/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187213760/tpod.html Tue, 28 Aug 2007 20:47:35 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Arequipa, Peru

Day 13: Today we get to stay at Casa Arequipa, the hotel we stopped by to make a reservation before going to Colca Valley. We knew it was really nice, so we were excited. Once again, the cab driver had issues finding the hotel. We even showed him where it was on a map, yet aside from which area of the city it was in, he had no clue where the hotel was. And it's not even that difficult! At one point he even stopped the car at a stop sign, turned the car off and took his keys (with us still sitting in the cab), and got out to ask someone on the street if they knew where it was. Very odd.

After checking in, we walked to the main square, which took about 10 minutes. (It's not so far that you'd think cab drivers would have such a hard time!) We went to the Santa Catalina Monastery, which was built in the 16th Century and is like a little city in itself. The nuns paid a pretty steep dowry to get in and lived a lot better than you'd expect of nuns. They had servants and seemed to have big rooms decorated really nicely. About 100 nuns lived there back then and about 20 nuns live in the modern part of the monastery now. It was a really pretty place to walk around; it is built of volcanic rock and petrified volcanic ash and it has an open air style with pretty courtyards and alleys. All of the "cells" that the nuns lived in were definitely not what I'd call cells. Some were really big, and most had multiple rooms, with a kitchen and a little courtyard area. In one of the passageways in a cell, there was an odd smell...there were guinea pigs there! Mike pointed and said: "Dinner!" Guinea pigs (cuy, in Spanish), are a popular food in Ecuador and Peru. They are typically served roasted, with the guinea pig intact...head and legs and all. Neither of us tried cuy, even though Mike kept saying that he wanted to try it. I guess the timing was never right...

Speaking of food, we were hungry when we left the Monastery, so we were very pleased when we saw that Zig Zag's creperie was right across the street. (It's the sister restaurant of Zig Zag, that restaurant we went to for the alpaca and other meat served on the hot stone.) They had a really pretty courtyard area to sit in and again we had an amazing and relaxing lunch in the beautiful weather. We started off with some white wine and enjoyed savory crepes. We stayed there for a while, talking and drinking our wine, and eventually shared a dessert crepe. After a few hours relaxing over our wine and lunch, we decided to look in some stores. We realized it was the first time we were going to go shopping the entire trip!

We got back to the hotel late afternoon and relaxed and read for a while. It was such a beautiful hotel...it's a converted mansion and only has 7 rooms. We stayed in #7 and it even had a balcony. (It also had the nicest bathroom!) At about 6:30pm, the room started shaking. I thought Mike was playing a trick on me; Mike thought some people were walking really heavily and making the room shake. But then I saw that the chandelier in our room was shaking! Later when we went downstairs, the woman at the desk said there had been an earthquake. We did not realize the magnitude. It's weird being in the insulated world of vacation in a foreign country. We went back to dinner at Zig Zag (the restaurant, not the creperie) and again had a delicious dinner. Again, throwing caution to the wind, Mike tore off his bib (and so did I). We were sad that we'd be leaving our nice hotel and Arequipa the next day. And, we had a very early flight. We loved Arequipa.
]]> The Ice Maiden — Arequipa, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187126880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187126880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1187126880/tpod.html Tue, 28 Aug 2007 17:36:24 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Arequipa, Peru

Day 12: We woke up early to return to Arequipa. I think we were all pretty happy to go back. Colca and the condors were beautiful, but apparently Mike and I are a little anti-social...and we really did love Arequipa, so we were happy to go back. It took about 3 hours to drive back. (Much better than the 4 hour ride to get there with all the stops.) We were a little concerned about finding a hotel for the night because it was the start of the celebration for Arequipa's 467th anniversary. Mike asked at La Casa de Mi Abuela about a recommendation and they said to try the place across the street, El Descanso del Fundador, They had a room and it was nicer than La Casa de Mi Abuela (and the same price)! Our stay in Arequipa has made it really clear how the guidebooks almost make it difficult to make a hotel reservation. All the tourists stay at the hotels in the guidebook, and it's hard to know where else to try. I'm sure the only reason this hotel had a room is because is wasn't in our guidebook.

Anyway, we were relieved and happy to be free in Arequipa. Well, almost free. We still had to pick up our passports, so our first stop was Colca Tours. We were very relieved that she still had them. Interestingly enough, the passports were still on her scanner, which means she hadn't booked any trips the whole time we were in Colca...guess her lying wasn't working so well. Yes, I am a little bitter. So, now we really were free and we decided to head for lunch. We found this great restaurant called El Jayari, which is attached to another restaurant, El Viñedo (The Vineyard). We sat outside in a nice little courtyard area. I can't express how happy we were to be just relaxing again with no specific itinerary. We had the best lunch. We shared little empanadas for an appetizer that came with a great spicy sauce. Mike had rice and shrimp and I had ceviche. Both were so good. I had been wanting to try ceviche since Ecuador but it just never happened. Apparently there's a debate between Ecuador and Peru about where ceviche originated. I do not know the answer, but I do know that my sea bass ceviche in Peru was amazing. We stayed there for a while enjoying the perfect weather and tasty wine. At one point, a woman walked into the courtyard with a vicuña! (After our trip to Colca Valley, I was able to identify the animal.) I'm guessing she came into the restaurant as an attempt to get tourists to take a picture. The restaurant people quickly asked her to leave but the waitress and I both agreed that the vicuña was really cute!

After our delicious lunch (I think the best on our trip), we headed out to find the museum that holds Juanita, the famous "Ice Maiden." In retrospect, it doesn't sound like the greatest idea to see a mummy after lunch, but it was really interesting! Juanita (as they have named her), was discovered on top of mountain in Colca Valley (Mount Ampato) in 1995. They think she was sacrificed there over 500 years ago. She was found when a nearby volcano erupted and melted the ice on top of the mountain she was buried on. They think she was about 13 years old when she died. We watched a movie about her discovery and then went on a little tour of the museum. She is in a temperature-controlled display case. It's kind of difficult to see her through the thick walls, but you can see how one side of her face is deformed, presumably where she received the fatal blow. We were really surprised how small she was. The tour guide said that people were smaller then; I'd say she was about the size of an 8 year old child today. I thought seeing her was really interesting, but also creepy at the same time. I also wonder what Peruvians think about how she was taken from the mountain and placed on display in a museum.

As we stepped out of the museum entrance, we saw what looked like a military band and realized that maybe we'd get to see some of the celebration for Arequipa's 467th anniversary. We went to the plaza and went up to the balcony of one of the many restaurants on the square. We were lucky and got the last spot by the railing. People were lined up all around the plaza, clearly waiting for something to happen. About 10 minutes later, the military band began, followed by military guys marching and doing formations. Then, the real parade began. Lots of music, traditional dancing, horses, alpacas, floats, and even the mayor. We had the best view and got to enjoy the parade while drinking an Ariquipeña beer. It lasted about an hour and I was a little camera happy so we'll include a few pics of the parade.

After the parade, we went back to the hotel to relax a little before dinner. We decided to break from our adventures in Peruvian local dishes to try a well-known Italian restaurant located at the edge of the monastary that we were visiting the next day. The restaurant's menu was created by the famous Peruvian chef, Gaston Acurio, so we thought we should try it. It was a cute little restaurant and we enjoyed the dinner a lot. We shared some pesto pasta, which had a local twist to it and was really delicious. I had a nice fish dish and Mike had some lamb. His was better than mine. We enjoyed our dinner, although not the best we've had! We certainly are getting picky, aren't we...
]]> One night in Lima — Lima, Peru http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1186783200/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1186783200/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/ruthmike/ecuador_to_peru/1186783200/tpod.html Wed, 22 Aug 2007 09:21:08 -0400 The adventures of Mike and Ruth to Ecuador and Peru.
Lima, Peru

Map pin entry.
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