Well folks, I got some video strung together. I had to use Adobe Premiere, which I seldom have had occasion to use, so it's pretty choppy. I also apologize for my cheesy exclamations, and for the section of video that rhymes, it wasn't intentional. I apologize for the lameness of the quality, I tried several times to upload a better higher definition version, but the bandwidth just wasn't with me. (It is worse than the force not being with me.
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
Sunday, January 15, 2012
MACHU PICCHU
Finally, the moment you've all been waiting for: the trip to Machu Picchu. We left off in Ollantaytambo, waiting for the train. The train itself is an interesting situation where the Peruvians ride in different cars than then foreigners. The foreigners pay quite a bit more, and the train cars are therefore quite a bit different as far as comfort goes. I can't tell you much about the Peruvian experience, as I didn't ride in their cars, but Joe and I went in relative comfort, It was night, and there wasn't much to see, but we had individual seats and it seemed like a nice trip, even though I believe the engine was sort for ghetto and stopped a few times. (We didn't stop once on the way down and the train was nicer). Anyway, it took about an hour and a half to two hours to get to Aguas Calientes. The first thing that I noticed upon arrival was the mountains are SCARY close and REALLY steep. It's like the suckers are going to fall over on you. I am sorry to report that I didn't get any good pictures of the mountains, I took a few at night that didn't come out, and I forgot to take more when the sun was shining. Believe me though, they loom, they loom with a vengeance.
The Hotel: wasn't so great. I forget what it was called, which is unfortunate because I wouldn't recommend it, but the good news is that we were only there for 4 hours, and that the shower had hot water, which is all that I really cared about. I also carried Mauricio like 5 blocks uphill along with my backpack, and later found out he was feigning being asleep. Next time I think I'll toss him first to see if he's really asleep. Alas, we made it up to the hotel, in spite of the rain and the grade of the hill, and snatched a shower and a few hours sleep before getting up for the main event.
4:00 AM- we got up, showered, and hurried down to the buses that go from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu. They start leaving at 5 AM, and we wanted to be on the first bus up. We were on the second, but good enough. We had a guide arranged for us who SUCKED, but thankfully, once we got up the mountain and he made us wait for about a half an hour for no reason, he handed us off to another guide who was great. I'd tell you the names, but there are dozens of guides, so the odds that you would ever deal with these guys if you go is pretty slim.
5:00 AM ish- we got on the bus and headed up the hill, and by hill, I mean mountain. In fact, "Machu Picchu" means, "Old Mountain" in Quechua. I would tell you lots of what I learned about Machu Picchu, but I feel like you folks can check out what wikipedia has to say much more easily that I can write it all out for you.
Around 6:40, we got to the gate to Machu Picchu, where we proceeded to wait for our guide (whose lameness has previously been established). I should mention, all the way up the mountain, we were passing hippy looking foreigners, (mostly Argentine) as they walked up the hill. Because of these hikers and their obscenely early morning start, we arrived early in the morning... to wait in a pretty large line.
That line got MUCH bigger after we arrived though, so good for us I suppose. After we were relieved of our lame guide, and got our better guide, we finally entered the gate and entered Machu Picchu.
First, we saw some terraces on the south side, apparently, this is where the bulk of the food for the cities was grown. This was my first glimpse of Machu Picchu as I rounded the bend:
(I know that some of you at this point are thinking that I am abusing the 'photomerge' function on Photoshop, but it's the only way I can do these sites justice)
Pretty snazzy, I know. From there, we hoofed it over to the main urban area, where we got this view of the Temple of the Sun:
After that, we went to the Temple of the 3 windows, and along the way, there was a prime example of how the Quechuas broke up rocks. They pounded sticks into holes and used other rocks to break them into straight bricks.
The rain was coming down pretty regular during all this and I was having a deuce of a time keeping my camera dry. I was also wrangling a cheap tripod that I purchased here. It was 20 dollars, and came in supremely handy. Another great purchase was my 100 Sole "Columbia" waterproof shell (38 bucks). It wasn't really Columbia of course, but they really pay attention to detail and it's a pretty decent fake. It even says that it is a Portland Oregon company on the tags.
But back to Machu Picchu. We finally made our way up to the Sun Dial, which was pretty nifty looking, as you can see here:
Interestingly, there is a noticeable chip out of the top of the Sun Dial. What happened was the beer company, Cusquena, was filming a commercial and the camera fell on it. .... Ooops. Yet another reason beer sucks. Alas, from there, we went down to the gate of Machu Picchu where the trail goes on to a peak, Waynapicchu. We were with the grandmother and child, also Malu and company are weak sauce, so we didn't go up there. It would have been pretty unrewarding anyway, because the whole day we couldn't even see that peak due to the clouds and rain. I imagine that the view down was as lame as the view up.
This gate is on the far north end of Machu Picchu, as you can see on the handy map that I included in this link We then wended our way down south again through the "House of Factories" area, and somewhere in there we happened upon the "Condor Temple". From the skeletons that have been excavated in that area, they figure that the Incas sacrifices llamas/alpacas and other animals there. Here is a picture of the Condor Temple, the dark rocks above are supposed to be the wings.
I have emphasized the condor so you can see it better. The condors here have a white beard looking thing under their necks, and the Incans even included this detail in their temple.
At this point, it was probably around 10 AM, so we stopped to eat some cookies and juice around the prisoners area. That is where this picture was taken:
At this point, we walked up to the "guardhouse" which is situated on the south side at the top of the terraces where we started. The fog didn't permit for very good pictures, but in a field below the guardhouse, Joe asked Carolina to marry him, and she said "yes", so high five for Joe.
After the proposal, we went back down the mountain and ate lunch in Aguas Calientes.
Here's a video of the event:
... Nevermind, that's a lie. There are lots of good videos to share, but my video editing software is gone for the moment. I will attempt to rectify this later. For now you get an official IOU. (There are also lots of good videos of Valle Sagrado, but because they are high definition and really big files, I need to compress and edit them, which I need software to accomplish. My apologies.)
We did end up exploring, but it was so wet I didn't feel like risking my camera any more than I already had.
The train ride down happened about 2 PM and that was a lot cooler than the way up. The train was better, and the view was splendid. I have a video of it, which will be uploaded at a later time. In any event, here are some closing shots for you:
The Hotel: wasn't so great. I forget what it was called, which is unfortunate because I wouldn't recommend it, but the good news is that we were only there for 4 hours, and that the shower had hot water, which is all that I really cared about. I also carried Mauricio like 5 blocks uphill along with my backpack, and later found out he was feigning being asleep. Next time I think I'll toss him first to see if he's really asleep. Alas, we made it up to the hotel, in spite of the rain and the grade of the hill, and snatched a shower and a few hours sleep before getting up for the main event.
4:00 AM- we got up, showered, and hurried down to the buses that go from Aguas Calientes up to Machu Picchu. They start leaving at 5 AM, and we wanted to be on the first bus up. We were on the second, but good enough. We had a guide arranged for us who SUCKED, but thankfully, once we got up the mountain and he made us wait for about a half an hour for no reason, he handed us off to another guide who was great. I'd tell you the names, but there are dozens of guides, so the odds that you would ever deal with these guys if you go is pretty slim.
5:00 AM ish- we got on the bus and headed up the hill, and by hill, I mean mountain. In fact, "Machu Picchu" means, "Old Mountain" in Quechua. I would tell you lots of what I learned about Machu Picchu, but I feel like you folks can check out what wikipedia has to say much more easily that I can write it all out for you.
Around 6:40, we got to the gate to Machu Picchu, where we proceeded to wait for our guide (whose lameness has previously been established). I should mention, all the way up the mountain, we were passing hippy looking foreigners, (mostly Argentine) as they walked up the hill. Because of these hikers and their obscenely early morning start, we arrived early in the morning... to wait in a pretty large line.
That line got MUCH bigger after we arrived though, so good for us I suppose. After we were relieved of our lame guide, and got our better guide, we finally entered the gate and entered Machu Picchu.First, we saw some terraces on the south side, apparently, this is where the bulk of the food for the cities was grown. This was my first glimpse of Machu Picchu as I rounded the bend:
(I know that some of you at this point are thinking that I am abusing the 'photomerge' function on Photoshop, but it's the only way I can do these sites justice)
Pretty snazzy, I know. From there, we hoofed it over to the main urban area, where we got this view of the Temple of the Sun:
After that, we went to the Temple of the 3 windows, and along the way, there was a prime example of how the Quechuas broke up rocks. They pounded sticks into holes and used other rocks to break them into straight bricks.
The rain was coming down pretty regular during all this and I was having a deuce of a time keeping my camera dry. I was also wrangling a cheap tripod that I purchased here. It was 20 dollars, and came in supremely handy. Another great purchase was my 100 Sole "Columbia" waterproof shell (38 bucks). It wasn't really Columbia of course, but they really pay attention to detail and it's a pretty decent fake. It even says that it is a Portland Oregon company on the tags.
But back to Machu Picchu. We finally made our way up to the Sun Dial, which was pretty nifty looking, as you can see here:
Interestingly, there is a noticeable chip out of the top of the Sun Dial. What happened was the beer company, Cusquena, was filming a commercial and the camera fell on it. .... Ooops. Yet another reason beer sucks. Alas, from there, we went down to the gate of Machu Picchu where the trail goes on to a peak, Waynapicchu. We were with the grandmother and child, also Malu and company are weak sauce, so we didn't go up there. It would have been pretty unrewarding anyway, because the whole day we couldn't even see that peak due to the clouds and rain. I imagine that the view down was as lame as the view up.
This gate is on the far north end of Machu Picchu, as you can see on the handy map that I included in this link We then wended our way down south again through the "House of Factories" area, and somewhere in there we happened upon the "Condor Temple". From the skeletons that have been excavated in that area, they figure that the Incas sacrifices llamas/alpacas and other animals there. Here is a picture of the Condor Temple, the dark rocks above are supposed to be the wings.
I have emphasized the condor so you can see it better. The condors here have a white beard looking thing under their necks, and the Incans even included this detail in their temple.
At this point, it was probably around 10 AM, so we stopped to eat some cookies and juice around the prisoners area. That is where this picture was taken:
At this point, we walked up to the "guardhouse" which is situated on the south side at the top of the terraces where we started. The fog didn't permit for very good pictures, but in a field below the guardhouse, Joe asked Carolina to marry him, and she said "yes", so high five for Joe.
After the proposal, we went back down the mountain and ate lunch in Aguas Calientes.
Here's a video of the event:
... Nevermind, that's a lie. There are lots of good videos to share, but my video editing software is gone for the moment. I will attempt to rectify this later. For now you get an official IOU. (There are also lots of good videos of Valle Sagrado, but because they are high definition and really big files, I need to compress and edit them, which I need software to accomplish. My apologies.)
We did end up exploring, but it was so wet I didn't feel like risking my camera any more than I already had.
The train ride down happened about 2 PM and that was a lot cooler than the way up. The train was better, and the view was splendid. I have a video of it, which will be uploaded at a later time. In any event, here are some closing shots for you:
Monday, January 9, 2012
Cuzco and the Sacred Valley
Due to the high volume of photos and video that was produced during the past week, we here at Peaks and Pitfalls have decided to divide the adventures into 3 parts. This will be the first, which talks about sacred valley, then we'll move onto Machu Picchu, and then Puno and Juli. Now that that has been settled, we (Myself, Malu, Joe, my Mother in Law *suegra*, my 6 year old brother in law Mauricio, and my wife's grandmother- Mama Yoli) left Arequipa on Monday night and slept all night on the bus. It is about 9 hours to Cuzco from Arequipa, and they even gave us a small meal of meat and rice. Not too shabby. When we arrived at Cuzco, we went to our Hotel, which was nice and located in the PERFECT spot. About a half a block off of the main plaza. It was called the "Inti Wasi", and it costs about 50 bucks a night for a double. This is pretty pricey for Cuzco, and I have stayed in other places for as little as 10 bucks a night. That being said, the location and the niceness of the hotel easily justified the price. Did I mention that they served a respectable breakfast? They do.
It also had a sweet view of the Plaza de Regocijo (Square of Rejoicing).
Like this:
From the Hotel, we checked out the town a bit. I bought a few patches for my fav Backpack ever, which you can check out HERE. They come about 2 for 5 soles, or about a buck apiece. I got a US flag and a Machu Picchu patch. We then went to lunch at a place about a block away from Plaza de Armas called "Kusi Kuy". They serve typical food, and do a dang fine job. I was impressed with the restaurant because they didn't take forever to serve us, the food was good, and it wasn't ridiculously expensive. It was a little above average price wise, but you're not going to find anything cheaper and better as close to the main plaza. Malu and I took a risk and spent 18 soles on a fried trout in lemon. I am sorry that I didn't take a picture, but it was awesome. 18 soles comes out to be about 7 bucks, so not too bad at all. If you ever want to go to that restaurant while in Cuzco, it's located on Calle Suecia 339, about half a block due north off of the Plaza de Armas. You can find out more about it HERE.
After lunch we embarked on the City Tour Which I've written about before, I don't know where, but I'm sure it was somewhere in either this blog or my other one. This time around, I figured I'd throw up a COMPLETE photo of each attraction, and my opinions of each.
Coricancha
The first stop on the City Tour is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, which is also known as Coricancha, or Inti Cancha, or The Temple of the Sun. This was the most important religious center of the Inca Empire, and when the Spanish came in they did what they usually did: that is to say, they destroyed and pillaged as many physical symbols of the prior civilization/religion and replaced it with their own. Therefore, where the Temple of the Sun once sat, now there is a big Catholic church that was built on the remains of the Incan walls that weren't quite torn down all the way. Our tour guide sucked, unfortunately, and he was terrible slow and gave painstakingly long explanations of the names of things, but way more then you wanted to hear. He skipped over lots of cool legends, cultural tidbits, and other interesting historical facts to belabor the various names and how incorrect they all are today from what they probably were. This was something he did at each site, which was aggravating, but luckily, I've been through the tour twice before and so I mostly wandered around taking pictures. His English wasn't super clear, so some of the more interesting things, I also translated for Joe. Coricancha is an interesting place to visit, but in my opinion, quite boring a third time through.
Sacsayhuaman
After seeing the church, we cruised on up the hill to Sacsayhuaman. It was pretty chilly and windy, and it seems like every time I go to a new site, they have more and more stuff roped off. My first trip through, we could crawl all over the place and see interesting stuff. Now most of the walls are closed off. It really bums me out that the snake stone (which was significant if you understand Incan religion) is on the top and people can't even go up to see it. The last time I went here, I went to the north side where there are some groovy tunnels and some interesting circular terraces. This time, our guide was super fome (a Chilean slang word for lame/boring), as mentioned, and so we kind of just ambled through the middle in a bored fashion.
Tambomachay
The next stop on the city tour was Tambomachay, which is a cool fountain. There are some springs that feed it and run through a series of aqua-ducts. According to previous, not lame guides, the water comes from some source that has yet to be located. Anyway, they are pretty good. When I went there with Malu, we were told that to drink the waters would make a women fertile. Malu took a drink, so yikes to that. Nowadays, the fountain is roped off, no touching. It's a bummer, no more women are going to get fertilization boosts from the Incan fountain. :(... I guess.
Pucapucara
This was an old Incan fort, and I like it for some reason. Maybe because it's really close to the road, and you can snag some really quick pictures that usually look pretty sweet. In any event, it's a stop on the trail from Cuzco to the sacred Valley and it's quaint.
Qqenko
I am not a huge fan on Qqenko as a spot. This is probably because every time I've been there, it has been the last stop on the tour and almost dark, which isn't conducive to good pictures. It has a small caveish area that you walk through and look at an alter that may or may not have involved human sacrifices: no one really knows. There is a throne carved out of the rock that I got a picture in the first time I went there, and guess what? Yep. Roped off. I had Mauricio take a picture of me in it this time anyway just because I felt like I needed to do something to stick it to the "man". Take that.
Pisaq
The next day we embarked on what is called the "Sacred Valley Tour". Here is a photo of the sacred valley from the entrance along the road:
Soon after reaching the Sacred Valley, you go around a mountain, and on the backside lies Pisaq. I like Pisaq, there is a long walk and some steep cliffs, which makes for breath taking vistas and fun walking. When my parents came here, I thought they might croak because of the elevation and the effort. They soldiered through and happily lived to tell the tale. This time, I assume because of heavy rain, we didn't go all the way around the mountain on a long trail but rather disembarked from the buses a lot farther up and a lot closer to some cool ruins I'd never seen before. It was an enjoyable difference, although I was confused most of the time until towards the end when Malu told me we were a lot farther up than on previous trips. Pisaq is a lot of terraced mountain and some cool stonework where the Quechuas lived (the proper term for the population that we refer to as Incas, because only the rulers were Incas).
Ollantaytambo
Ollanytaytambo is the coolest stop short of Machu Pichhu. Lots of stairs, lots of terraces, lots of stone ruins, and also nice views. This was the last place the Inca/Quechas retreated to before the Spanish finished subjugating them. Here is what is considered the last living Inca/Quecha village, a place where they still live and the layout of the town hasn't changed since it was built. It is laid out in the shape of a corn cob, and each block is called a "cancha", or kernel (also a common term for roasted corn kernels). There is the place where you catch the train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain that has Machu Picchu on top of it.
While we were there, at Ollantaytambo, I got a picture of this paper blossom on a stick.
This indicates a place where "Chicha" is sold. Chicha is a beer made out of purple corn. I obviously have never sampled it, but the locals seem to like it... in copious amounts. We were stuck waiting in Ollantaytambo for 4 hours while we waited for our train to Aguas Calientes, so we wandered around. Joe and I found a guy that makes amazing pottery, but it cost like 150 dollars a piece, so we scampered from there. We ate dinner there, a pizza that was ok, and occupied the restaurant with our stuff until it was time to leave.
Chincheros
The tour continues on to a place called Chincheros, which is another Catholic Church built on top of some ruins, but it's not all that exciting. The best thing about Chincheros is that the artisan things are pretty cheap compared to the other locales.
Also during the trip was a stop at a town called Urubamba for lunch. It was a buffet, and I was REALLY disappointed with the whole affair. It's a one time through the line type of thing and they really rip you if you want anything to drink. I wouldn't recommend it. It was included with the tour package that we got. Previous trips through I always just ate empanadas and stuff, and if you have the choice, save your 20 soles that the buffet costs and just take something to eat. In any event, here's a picture of my plate:
The meatballs were something decent, but the piece of meat was not so great. Also, the pepper looking thing is Cuzco's version of Rocoto Relleno... and it sucks. It was pretty nasty, the Arequipa is vastly better. The last thing was a piece of breaded chicken, and it was ok. Desserts were dry cake, and they ran out of both kinds before half the people went to get some. That's right, they ran out... at a buffet. Like I said, save your money and eat something else.
Well, that's a pretty fair account of that. This took me forever to write,(mostly editing the photos) so don't be alarmed if the Machu Picchu post doesn't appear for a few days. I'm sorry I lied last time, as you have undoubtedly realized, this isn't the Machu Picchu post that I promised. Next time for certain. I know that there weren't many people in the pictures for this post, so here are two closing photos. One of yours truly and the cutest girl ever, and one of the merry band that went gallivanting all over the Altiplano.
It also had a sweet view of the Plaza de Regocijo (Square of Rejoicing).
Like this:
From the Hotel, we checked out the town a bit. I bought a few patches for my fav Backpack ever, which you can check out HERE. They come about 2 for 5 soles, or about a buck apiece. I got a US flag and a Machu Picchu patch. We then went to lunch at a place about a block away from Plaza de Armas called "Kusi Kuy". They serve typical food, and do a dang fine job. I was impressed with the restaurant because they didn't take forever to serve us, the food was good, and it wasn't ridiculously expensive. It was a little above average price wise, but you're not going to find anything cheaper and better as close to the main plaza. Malu and I took a risk and spent 18 soles on a fried trout in lemon. I am sorry that I didn't take a picture, but it was awesome. 18 soles comes out to be about 7 bucks, so not too bad at all. If you ever want to go to that restaurant while in Cuzco, it's located on Calle Suecia 339, about half a block due north off of the Plaza de Armas. You can find out more about it HERE.
After lunch we embarked on the City Tour Which I've written about before, I don't know where, but I'm sure it was somewhere in either this blog or my other one. This time around, I figured I'd throw up a COMPLETE photo of each attraction, and my opinions of each.
Coricancha
The first stop on the City Tour is the Iglesia de Santo Domingo, which is also known as Coricancha, or Inti Cancha, or The Temple of the Sun. This was the most important religious center of the Inca Empire, and when the Spanish came in they did what they usually did: that is to say, they destroyed and pillaged as many physical symbols of the prior civilization/religion and replaced it with their own. Therefore, where the Temple of the Sun once sat, now there is a big Catholic church that was built on the remains of the Incan walls that weren't quite torn down all the way. Our tour guide sucked, unfortunately, and he was terrible slow and gave painstakingly long explanations of the names of things, but way more then you wanted to hear. He skipped over lots of cool legends, cultural tidbits, and other interesting historical facts to belabor the various names and how incorrect they all are today from what they probably were. This was something he did at each site, which was aggravating, but luckily, I've been through the tour twice before and so I mostly wandered around taking pictures. His English wasn't super clear, so some of the more interesting things, I also translated for Joe. Coricancha is an interesting place to visit, but in my opinion, quite boring a third time through.
Sacsayhuaman
After seeing the church, we cruised on up the hill to Sacsayhuaman. It was pretty chilly and windy, and it seems like every time I go to a new site, they have more and more stuff roped off. My first trip through, we could crawl all over the place and see interesting stuff. Now most of the walls are closed off. It really bums me out that the snake stone (which was significant if you understand Incan religion) is on the top and people can't even go up to see it. The last time I went here, I went to the north side where there are some groovy tunnels and some interesting circular terraces. This time, our guide was super fome (a Chilean slang word for lame/boring), as mentioned, and so we kind of just ambled through the middle in a bored fashion.
Tambomachay
The next stop on the city tour was Tambomachay, which is a cool fountain. There are some springs that feed it and run through a series of aqua-ducts. According to previous, not lame guides, the water comes from some source that has yet to be located. Anyway, they are pretty good. When I went there with Malu, we were told that to drink the waters would make a women fertile. Malu took a drink, so yikes to that. Nowadays, the fountain is roped off, no touching. It's a bummer, no more women are going to get fertilization boosts from the Incan fountain. :(... I guess.
Pucapucara
This was an old Incan fort, and I like it for some reason. Maybe because it's really close to the road, and you can snag some really quick pictures that usually look pretty sweet. In any event, it's a stop on the trail from Cuzco to the sacred Valley and it's quaint.
Qqenko
I am not a huge fan on Qqenko as a spot. This is probably because every time I've been there, it has been the last stop on the tour and almost dark, which isn't conducive to good pictures. It has a small caveish area that you walk through and look at an alter that may or may not have involved human sacrifices: no one really knows. There is a throne carved out of the rock that I got a picture in the first time I went there, and guess what? Yep. Roped off. I had Mauricio take a picture of me in it this time anyway just because I felt like I needed to do something to stick it to the "man". Take that.
Pisaq
The next day we embarked on what is called the "Sacred Valley Tour". Here is a photo of the sacred valley from the entrance along the road:
Soon after reaching the Sacred Valley, you go around a mountain, and on the backside lies Pisaq. I like Pisaq, there is a long walk and some steep cliffs, which makes for breath taking vistas and fun walking. When my parents came here, I thought they might croak because of the elevation and the effort. They soldiered through and happily lived to tell the tale. This time, I assume because of heavy rain, we didn't go all the way around the mountain on a long trail but rather disembarked from the buses a lot farther up and a lot closer to some cool ruins I'd never seen before. It was an enjoyable difference, although I was confused most of the time until towards the end when Malu told me we were a lot farther up than on previous trips. Pisaq is a lot of terraced mountain and some cool stonework where the Quechuas lived (the proper term for the population that we refer to as Incas, because only the rulers were Incas).
Ollantaytambo
Ollanytaytambo is the coolest stop short of Machu Pichhu. Lots of stairs, lots of terraces, lots of stone ruins, and also nice views. This was the last place the Inca/Quechas retreated to before the Spanish finished subjugating them. Here is what is considered the last living Inca/Quecha village, a place where they still live and the layout of the town hasn't changed since it was built. It is laid out in the shape of a corn cob, and each block is called a "cancha", or kernel (also a common term for roasted corn kernels). There is the place where you catch the train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of the mountain that has Machu Picchu on top of it.
While we were there, at Ollantaytambo, I got a picture of this paper blossom on a stick.
This indicates a place where "Chicha" is sold. Chicha is a beer made out of purple corn. I obviously have never sampled it, but the locals seem to like it... in copious amounts. We were stuck waiting in Ollantaytambo for 4 hours while we waited for our train to Aguas Calientes, so we wandered around. Joe and I found a guy that makes amazing pottery, but it cost like 150 dollars a piece, so we scampered from there. We ate dinner there, a pizza that was ok, and occupied the restaurant with our stuff until it was time to leave.
Chincheros
The tour continues on to a place called Chincheros, which is another Catholic Church built on top of some ruins, but it's not all that exciting. The best thing about Chincheros is that the artisan things are pretty cheap compared to the other locales.
Also during the trip was a stop at a town called Urubamba for lunch. It was a buffet, and I was REALLY disappointed with the whole affair. It's a one time through the line type of thing and they really rip you if you want anything to drink. I wouldn't recommend it. It was included with the tour package that we got. Previous trips through I always just ate empanadas and stuff, and if you have the choice, save your 20 soles that the buffet costs and just take something to eat. In any event, here's a picture of my plate:
The meatballs were something decent, but the piece of meat was not so great. Also, the pepper looking thing is Cuzco's version of Rocoto Relleno... and it sucks. It was pretty nasty, the Arequipa is vastly better. The last thing was a piece of breaded chicken, and it was ok. Desserts were dry cake, and they ran out of both kinds before half the people went to get some. That's right, they ran out... at a buffet. Like I said, save your money and eat something else.
Well, that's a pretty fair account of that. This took me forever to write,(mostly editing the photos) so don't be alarmed if the Machu Picchu post doesn't appear for a few days. I'm sorry I lied last time, as you have undoubtedly realized, this isn't the Machu Picchu post that I promised. Next time for certain. I know that there weren't many people in the pictures for this post, so here are two closing photos. One of yours truly and the cutest girl ever, and one of the merry band that went gallivanting all over the Altiplano.
Sunday, January 1, 2012
I'm Back.
Well,
Here we are in Peru again. I have been pretty thrilled to discover that there are two or three new large malls here, which is great. There are more movie theaters, more food court options, and more american brands. I don't buy American brands here (because they are expensive), but it lowers the novelty of some of my stuff, so I don't stand out as much and am less likely to be robbed. (Not that there is any real danger of that usually, at least, I've never had any issues) BUT STILL.
Anywho, so far, we've had a grand Christmas, and a fairly lame New Year. The Christmas was as usual, at Malu's aunt's house. There was lots laughing, her family drank a bit, and we danced quite a bit. On another note, Joe and I sang Karaoke by ourselves in Malu's one night, and I have to say, we are pretty good. Joe has been courting Malu's friend Carolina, so we haven't been with him all the time.
New Years, we went to Camana, a place I've never been. It's a beach, small town, and a place where all the young people go to get bombed on New Years. Since we don't drink, and the weather was cloudy and not at all conducive to jumping in the ocean, it was a pretty lame trip. We had decent food, and I love my ceviche, but then I got the wonderful experience of the runs, so, less great for all that. New Years itself, Joe fell asleep at around ten, and then Malu was tired and didn't want to walk to the plaza and I was sick so I didn't insist. So I watched TV in the hotel room while the rest of the world partied. I didn't take any pictures of Camana, mostly because I didn't take my good camera, and also because I didn't see anything really worth photographing. If you have a choice between Mollendo and Camana for beach visits from Arequipa, go to Mollendo; they have the same quality of beaches, but Mollendo is closer to Arequipa and the Beach in Mollendo is closer to the town.
The most fun thing we did in Camana was on the 29th, we found a Karaoke where we were the only people there. Their selection was slim, but we had a good time anyway. And the person in charge of the music was a transvestite, so that's a bonus. She/He kept saying creepy things to us over the speakers during the non singing parts of the songs. It was flattering.
All in all, there has been some good times had here in Peru so far. I apologize for the lack of interesting tidbits, as you've grown accustomed to seeing, but alas, time is short and my computer has had some issues. I will next post about MACHHU PICHHU!!! so look forward to that.
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