February 8, 2009

Chinchero

We left Cusco early in the morning to spend several days traveling around the Sacred Valley. Our first stop was in Chinchero where a Sunday market is held with people from all of the neighboring villages coming to buy and sell vegetables and textiles. This was my favorite day photographing all of the interesting people at the market. We had a noodle soup for breakfast at an outdoor stand and spent the rest of the time people watching. All of the Quechua people spent the day eating, drinking chicha, and socializing. Women and girls were spinning Alpaca wool and an 83 year old man was knitting hats with beautiful, complex patterns using 4 needles. After leaving the market we drove through a valley where people were planting potatoes and arrived at Ollantaytambo where we spent the night at a fantastic bed and breakfast right at the train station. We walked around town at night, watched the full moon rise over the mountains, and finished a wonderful day with a Pisco, Peruvian brandy, at the bar in the bed and breakfast.

February 7th, 2009

Cusco

We spent a quiet day in Cusco, recovering from our last trip, doing laundry, and planning the next trip. I did manage to take a few photos - most of these around Plaza de Armas, the main square in Cusco. The moonrise photos were made from the roof of our apartment.

February 6, 2009

Machu Picchu, Day Two

After a fantastic dinner at Feliz Indio (the best restaurant in Peru), we went to bed early last night and set the alarm for 4:30. A breakfast of bread, coffee and bananas was included in with our room and we finished eating before dawn. We walked to the bus station and got in line for the 5:30 AM buses. I was surprised that in the low season, there were 8 buses full of tourists for the first trips up the Hiram Bigham Road to Machu Picchu. We had already planned that as soon as we got to MP we would run up to the "Caretaker of the Funerary Rock Hut" for sunrise. As the official map says: "The hike up the long rigid stairs that lead to the Funerary Rock Hut is tiresome but well worth the effort. Many people choose to hike this arduous trail to the hut and are rewarded by spectacular views that will not soon be forgotten." True.

We sat and enjoyed the sunrise at the hut for quite awhile because it takes the sun a long time to get over the Urubamba Mountains and actually hit Machu Picchu. Then the llamas showed up and posed. The baby was cute but whenever I got close, he would start making very human sounding whimpering noises and Mama would come over to check me out. In all, we spent several hours up by the hut before we started exploring more of the site. We had been able to see crowds at Huayna Picchu, the mountain behind Machu Picchu, and with the binoculars could see people already on top. Tommy wanted to try climbing it so we went over to sign up. They only allow 400 people per day to climb up and you have to sign in when you leave and return. We were numbers 211 and 212, so there was plenty of time for us to climb. First you have to go way down to the bottom of the mountain before you can start climbing up! It was the hardest hike I've ever tried. Harder than hiking back out of the Grand Canyon!! At places the path was so steep and narrow that they had cables drilled into the rock for hand rails to pull yourself up. I kept picturing myself tripping and falling like I did in the Sierra Nevada (and broke my nose), but if I had fallen here, they would have found my body in the Atlantic Ocean! It was a straight drop down to the Urubamba River. We made it to the last terrace where people had told us we would have a view of Machu Picchu. It was a beautiful view but I never want to do that hike again. Coming down was almost as hard as going up!!

We left Machu Picchu about noon to get back to Aguas Calientes in time for some lunch and our train back to Cusco. The train ride was very nice but it was soon too dark to see much. We got a taxi back to our apartment from the train station and I started downloading all of the photos from the past two days.

February 5, 2009

Machu Picchu, Day One

Our trip to Machu Picchu was one of the high points of our stay in Peru. We left Cusco early in the morning on the Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes. The train ride is about four hours through the Urubamba Valley. Perurail is the only way to get to Machu Picchu except walking in for four days on the Inca Trail. Since the Inca Trail is closed for maintenance for the month of February, we went by train. We got to the village of Aguas Calientes in the middle of the day and checked into a nice hotel. Since most of the tour groups go to MP between 10 and 2, we planned to go later in the afternoon to enjoy the sunset and to make plans for sunrise photos for the next day. I had no idea how much climbing is involved if you want to see all of MP!! It is much larger and more spread out than I had imagined. Going during the rainy season turned out to be a good idea. Not only were there fewer tourists, but we were treated to a double rainbow over the Urubamba Mountains. I took the normal postcard views of Machu Picchu from the Caretaker's Hut, but I also tried to get some more unusual views.

February 4, 2009

Cusco in B&W

We joined in another carnival parade today. This one started in the street right outside of our apartment! Also some street scenes in Cusco. It's a great city to walk around.

February 3, 2009

Carnival in Cusco

We spent today again in Cusco, walking around the town and eating lunch in one of the excellent restaurants near the main square. As we were walking back to the apartment, we heard a band and ended up chasing a parade for more than a mile up and down the streets. I only had one camera with me (shame!) so I was running backwards in front of the parade while Tommy helped me change lenses, batteries, and cards. We didn't know it at the time, but this was the first of many carnival parades that we would run into all over Peru. They all seemed to have a few things in common: A group of men straining to carry a very heavy statue of a saint, older women in colorful hats and many, many skirts dancing, young scantily dressed women dancing, men and boys in costumes and big-nosed masks miming being rowdy and drinking, a distinguished majordomo and his wife, lots of very talented brass bands and all of the spectators throwing water on each other! Enjoy the carnival!

February 2, 2009

Cusco

A rainy day in Cusco, spent recuperating from our trip and getting to know Cusco. We started the morning by going up to the roof of our apartment for the view. There was a nice room up there where I had planned to spend a lot of time working on photos and blogging, but the internet connection was less than very low!



We walked around in the rain, visiting the famous 12 sided-stone in the remains of the Inca wall in Cusco. I have no idea why this particular stone is famous but there were always tourists around photographing it. We ended up buying a few groceries from the fortified store across the street from our apartment and enjoying a supper of fruit, cheese, olives, bread, and wine in our kitchen.