Hello Everyone,
As I mentioned earlier, our adventure to Peru began via train to Vancouver, Canada, where we spent the afternoon visiting a casino, an outlet mall and cool stuff at the airport, for Carol’s story about “how to have fun in Vancouver for the day while saving big bucks on your international airline ticket.” Everything went well and by 11:00pm we were on our way to Peru on Aero Mexico via Mexico City.
We were happy when the airplane landed on time in Mexico City because we had only one hour to change planes to Peru. Unfortunately, our unloading gate had another airplane parked in it and they had to move our airplane out to the tarmac to deplane… by bus. This meant that we could not go through the typical transfer gate to our next flight. We had to get in line at imagination, fill out an entry certificate (which we did not get onboard), go through customs and then back through airport security, to get to out next flight. A nice lady at the entry point helped us get the certificates completed and then brought us to the front of the line to save time. We then did the “O. J. Run through the airport” (remember that?) and just made it to our flight as it was boarding. There always seems to be some adventure in traveling internationally these days. What else could go wrong?
Thirty hours after leaving home, we arrived in Lima, where Julio, the nice owner of a small inn near the airport, was there to pick us up. We spent a quick night in Lima and then, up at 3:15am, Julio drove us back to the airport for a 6:00am flight to Cusco, Peru. After traveling internationally for over 40 years, I finally had my first “passport crisis” when, at the airport, I reached for it, in its usual place, and it wasn’t there! Yikes! Where could it be? Think, think, think! I suddenly realized that I had left it sitting on the bedside table, along with my notebook, at the inn. Quickly, Carol got on the cell phone, in Spanish, to the inn, got someone out of bed and managed to get in touch with Julio just as he was returning from the airport (thank you T-Mobile for working in Mexico and Canada just like in the USA – and for free). Julio said he would go and get the passport and bring it to us at the airport. While I waited for Julio to show up, Carol was busy (in her mind) planing our trip to the U.S. embassy in Lima for a new passport, our rescheduled flight to Cusco and our change of plans when we reached there. She’s a real “travel trooper”, as we all know. Fortunately, Julio came through with my precious travel document just in time to catch our scheduled flight to Cusco. Two close calls before we even got started in Peru is a “little much”, don’t you think? However, the rest of the trip worked out perfectly, and, with a couple of unexpectedly pleasant surprises to boot.
At the end of the arrival gate in Cusco was a large bowl of Coca leaves with a sign saying “please take only three per person.” Chewing Coca leaves is supposed to help you adjust to the altitude, so I took my three and gave it a try to see what would happen here at 11,000 feet., I usually don’t “buy in” to this kind of folk medicine, but, what the heck, why not give it a try? I chewed my leaves but can’t really say it had any discernible effect on me. Coca Tea, in bags, was freely available at all the places we stayed here and we drank a lot of it while resting at the hotels. It tastes like a nice mellow green tea, but I didn’t get any kind of extra “kick” from it that I could recognize.
We had prearranged for a taxi to meet us at the Cusco airport and drive us the two hour trip to Ollantaytambo, where we would spend our first three days at 9,000 feet, adjusting to the altitude and visiting the local sights. What we didn’t realize was that the taxi ride included several stops at various Inca sites along the way, mostly at 12,000 & 13,000 feet. One of the more interesting stops was at the Maras Salt Ponds. There is a mountain there that has a large salt deposit inside it and a little spring of highly concentrated salty water flowing out of it. They direct the spring water around into dozens of small ponds where the water is allowed to evaporate leaving a highly prized form of salt that is sold locally and internationally. So…. SEVEN hours later we arrived at the hotel in Ollantaytambo, both of us with a mild head ache from climbing around on the sites at the high altitudes. A little ibuprofen to the rescue and we both woke up the next morning feeling fine. Other than getting a little breathless while climbing up in the Inca ruins, neither one of us had any other ill effects from the high altitudes the entire trip.
Later…… your favorite travelers, Tom and Carol
Peru Photos
Drive from Cusco to Ollantaytambo
Click to Enlarge and Read Caption
