Getting to Machu Picchu

From Quito, we headed south by plane to Lima and then on to Cusco. We only spent two nights in Lima, one on the way to Cusco and one on the way back. We spent our first night in a stark little hotel on the edge of Miraflores, one of the nicer areas of Lima. However, the street in front of our hotel had been torn up and the immediate vicinity looked like a war zone. We arrived at night and I had serious concerns about getting out of the car. It wasn't until the next morning that we realized that the area 3 blocks away was really quite nice. Nonetheless, we didn't stay another night. That decision was reinforced by the banker I met at the airport who lives in Lima and suggested that there really wasn't much worth seeing in Lima.

Cusco is another story. It's a wonderful Andean city at about 11,000 feet with well preserved spainish colonial and incan roots. It's also the staging point for any trip to Machu Picchu. We could have gotten there by car or bus but if would have taken 12 hours from Lima so we took a plane. We stayed a wonderful 3 star hotel called Arqueologo, locate about 4 blocks from the historic center of town. The whole city seemed to be filled with tourists and I could only presume that they were all headed to Machu Picchu. We had seen so few tourists in Ecuador that it was actually a welcome sight. There were lots of good restaurants with more variety than we had in most of Ecuador. Prices in the touristy areas were comparable to those in Quito but we found this place on the edge of the historic district that specialized in roasted chicken and had a wonderful and safe salad bar. All of us ate for about $15 and the chicken was some of the best I have ever had. Needless to say, this became a regular lunch hangout. I think we went 3 times in the 4 days we were there.

From Cusco, we travelled by car to the Sacred Valley and stayed in a small town called Urubamba. The whole valley is littered with Incan ruins and beautiful scenery. There's not much in Urubamba but we found a place called Kuytchi Rumi that had a two bedroom adobe cottage several miles outside of town. We all loved the place. It was like a little wonderland and had two dogs that quickly made themselves at home in our cottage. The kids and I played hide and go seek every evening and there was a sort of tree house structure in the rear that enchanted the kids . Our host Claudia told us about this restaurant in Urubamba that was located in a sort of dark alley. We would never have found the place on our own and the meal was one of the best I have ever had in North or South America. For $15 per person we got a meal that would have cost us $45 per person in Charlottesville. Our second day in Urubamba, we went whitewater rafting. It was the first time the kids had ever gone and there was lots of knashing of teeth by the girls who were concerned about how dangerous it would be. All that stopped after the first rapid. They were hooked and I'm sure we'll have to do it again before the trip is over. For a detailed account, you can go to Anne Nelson's blog.

From Urubamba, we took a train to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu that is only served by train. It's a real racket. The train is very expensive (as I recall, it was about $72 per person). Then when we got to Aguas Calientes, we had to get on a $14 bus for 20 minutes to take us up to Machu Picchu and then pay about $40 to get into the actual site. The buses arrived every 10 minutes all day starting at 5:30am and every bus was full of tourists so you can imagine by about 12pm, the place is completely overrun with tourists. Nonetheless, it is a stunning sight to behold. In retrospect, I'd like to hike into the site from the Incan trail which comes in at a higher elevation. Some people claimed that the sight had brought them to tears when they crested the peak and caught the first glimpse of the ancient city below. I can't imagine what it must have been like to live there. We spent several hours with a guide and then walked around on our own. We really wanted to climb another 1000 feet to the top of Wayna Picchu but it closed before we could get there. I got up at 5am the next morning with the intention of going up again but my stomach wasn't feeling up to par and got worse as the day went on so I was happy I had opted out.

Aguas Calientes is a developer's dream. Lots of unrealized potential. More on that later. We've got to check out and head north to Pucon today on our way to Santiago.