I betrayed my beloved United Airlines by flying Delta to Lima, Peru, but as airfare was expensive, it made more sense to redeem award miles. I have no elite status on Delta, so I relegated to "Zone 3", what a travesty! We flew from Phoenix to Atlanta, endured a 3 hour layover, then Atlanta to Peru. I didn't have any lounge access, so in Atlanta, we hung out at a cafe that had free wi-fi. Delta had individual video screens so that helped pass the long flight time.
We arrived in Lima at 11pm; by the time we got through immigration, baggage retrieval and money exchange, it was past midnight. We walked past all the people asking if we wanted taxi service to the exit doors of the airport where a mass of tour guides were waiting for their customers; Eduardo was holding up a South American Vacations sign with our names on it. He was to escort us to our hotel for the night, the
Ramada Costa del Sol, which happened to be right across the parking lot, so that wasn't too difficult. :) We checked in with no problems and received two coupons for a free drink at the bar (which we didn't use because we were too tired). There were a lot of tourists milling about at this late hour, hanging out at the bar and the lobby area. We met a guy in the elevator who was in Lima on his fifth church mission.
We were to meet Eduardo in the hotel lobby at 7:50am the next morning (or rather, this morning), so we didn't have much time to shower and sleep. The room was clean and adequate. The view was of the airport parking lot.
In the morning, we went down to have breakfast (included in every hotel we stayed at). There was a lot of selection, and even a chef cooking fresh eggs and omelettes. Eduardo came and we were escorted to the domestic terminal where we checked in for our LAN flight to Cusco. Eduardo showed us the most efficient way to check in: have one person stand in the baggage line while the other person checked in at the kiosk, as the baggage line was very long. When Babe finished checking in, I saw that the boarding passes indicated that our seats were "on request". We had seats assigned at booking, so I was getting a bit worried. When we made our way to the counter, it was not a good sign to watch the agent typing with a questioning look on her face and calling someone over to help. After a few minutes, she apologized for the delay and said there weren't any seats available and that she needed to step away for a bit to talk to someone. Oh no! There wasn't a way to contact whoever was waiting for us in Cusco to let them know we may be on a different flight. As we were waiting for the agent to return, a couple approached the counter next to us to check in, only to hear the same predicament. I assumed that we were probably on the same flight. However, their agent didn't give them any hope and said they would be placed on the next available flight and that they would receive a travel credit voucher for their inconvenience. The man was angry, proclaiming that they were supposed to meet up with a tour and that they would miss the train. (probably to Machu Picchu) In the meantime, our agent came back and gave us boarding passes! The seats weren't adjacent to each other, but we didn't care as we were fortunate to have checked in earlier than the couple next to us, else we may have been in their shoes. (and I wasn't even wearing my Lucky sweatpants!) This was very Seinfeld-like: "reservations" aren't really reservations.
We boarded the plane and headed to Cusco. The flight was an hour and a half, but the airline still served a snack box! (yummy hand-wrapped chocolate) The views out the window were spectacular.
When we arrived in Cusco around 10:30am, Rosa from
Qori Travel met us outside the airport, holding up a sign. We headed to the hotel, the
Libertador Palacio del Inka, located centrally in the city. The hotel used to be
Francisco Pizarro's home. We sat in the lobby area while Rosa checked us in. She also gave us a couple of bottles of water supposedly containing extra "oxygen", to help us acclimate to the altitude (almost 11,000 feet), in addition to drinking complimentary cups of
coca tea provided by the hotel.
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| better not take a drug test after this |
Rosa asked if we thought that we'd be acclimated enough to take a half-day tour of Cusco in the afternoon, so that we could take a full-day tour of the Sacred Valley the next day. Our original itinerary only had the half-day Cusco tour the next day as the extra time was meant for altitude adjustment. Babe and I thought we felt fine (though I had a slight headache) so we decided to go with the alternate arrangements and paid an extra $70 per person for the full-day tour which included a buffet lunch. We agreed to meet in the lobby at 1pm for the half-day tour, then Rosa left. The hotel clerk approached us a short while later with keys to our room.
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| the room safe used an actual key! |
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| I guess Neutrogena is high-end here |
There was about an hour before 1pm so we grabbed lunch at the hotel restaurant. The prices were high, but it was convenient. I ordered an Andean soup (the waiter seemed surprised that I ordered it) and Babe had a chicken sandwich. The deep golden color of the potatoes used for the french fries was our first indication that we were going to be eating all kinds of varieties...they tasted really good! I ordered a bottle of Coca Cola...cane sugar-sweetened. :)
1pm came around and Rosa arrived with Lucio, our tour guide. We found out later that he was Rosa's husband, and he moonlighted as a travel agency owner/tour guide; his regular day job was being a Cusco policeman...we were in safe hands! Because we had booked a hotel that was four-star or above, our tour would be private, so we could control the pace and ask as many questions as we wanted. Our first stop was to
Qorikancha (Temple of the Sun), which was right across the street from the hotel. The Spanish built the
Cathedral of Santo Domingo on top of it, but you can still see the original stonework. It was cool to see the precise placement of the stones, with no mortar in between. There were also paintings and sculptures to enjoy.
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| cathedral doors |
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| perfectly fitted |
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| aligned windows |
After the tour, we had a huge 20 person van to ourselves and headed to the ruins of
Saqsaywaman (sounds almost like "sexy woman" :) ),
Pukapukara,
Qenko, and
Tambomachay.
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| huge place |
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| 60 ton stone, how did they move it? |
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| note the ancient garbage can at Pukapukara |
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| Tambomachay |
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| Cusco from atop a hill |
We learned a lot about Inca history. It was very helpful that Lucio carried around a binder filled with pictures to add to the narration. After the half-day tour was over, we went to a store that sold baby alpaca and vicuna products. Vicuna was really soft! (but way expensive) I bought a Peruvian hat and a cute scarf, both made of soft baby alpaca. It was more expensive than the acrylic garments offered by street vendors, but less costly than cashmere. They offered a cash discount, plus I got them to round down the total. We then returned to the hotel and Lucio was to meet us tomorrow morning for our tour to the Sacred Valley.
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| look at what I got! |
We ended up not eating a proper dinner, just munched snacks that we brought with us. My altitude-induced headache was tolerable with the use of some Chinese herbs as well as ibuprofen and coca tea. Babe felt no ill effects from the altitude. We got in a good night's sleep as tomorrow would be a long day...
