2014_09_10 Train ride to Cusco!

This train ride was just plain spectacular!  From start to finish simply first class.  We departed from the train station in Puno this morning round 8:00 and arrived in Cusco (The Imperial Inca City) around 6:40.  The best way to describe the trip was what Bobi Steingart said near the end.  "It may have been 10 hours but that was really not enough".

When we got to the station and checked our luggage I went outside to people watch.  A bunch of ladies with there kids were passing by.

Inside the boarding area a couple of guys were playing Peruvian music for us.  You know, El Condor Passo with the pan flutes....

Time to board.

Found our seats....

In the observation car at the end of the train (obviously).

A lot of barren dry earth in the Alto Plano (High Plain).

The Andean Express has several classes of cars but allows for a total of 100 people on the train.  I believe that it was totally sold out.  Each day a train leaves from Puno heading towards Cusco while at the same time an identical train goes the other way.  We stopped for about 5 minutes about the half-way mark to allow the Cusco to Puno train to pass us at a siding.

We were in the A car and it was really swank.  You felt like you were in a old black and white movie riding on the Orient Express!  Each seat was a padded side chair - nicely padded with a table between.  There were either 2 seats side by side facing to the front of the train with a table and 2 more seats facing the rear of the train.  Or, just a single seat with a smaller table and the other seat facing the other way.

Larainne, Bobi and Paul

Gyle and Rich

We were told we were going to be fed but that was an understatement!  They started us out with breakfast - a bunch of fruit in a yogurt base.  

Then a bit later that came with an assortment of rolls and a salad made of quinoa with other vegetables with sprouts on top.

For lunch I had trucha (trout) over a slice of au gratin like potato.  A bit overdone but you're on a train?  I gave them a break.

Connie was still feeling a bit cautious with what she was eating and chose a pasta dish served in a big square.

For dessert a cheese cake slice with some fruit on top.

Ok we ate a BUNCH of food!

Stopped a couple of times along the way for a break and walk around a bit.  Along the way we went through small towns were there were stalls right up against the tracks selling you name it!

Yes, we just had gone through there!

We stopped just after we had reached the highest point on the trip La Raya Paso.  Either 14,000 some feet as the guide books say of 16,000 some feet as Rich Rediker's phone said.  To be continued.....

The church you see there on the right is pretty famous for a painting of Jesus Inca style.

There it is.

Obligatory llama led around by a lady trying to get you to give her a few Soles for an image.

Later on some more Peruvian music and dancing in traditional garb.

How to make a Pisco Sour (traditional Peruvian grape based drink) with Connie as Vanna.

Fashion show of several juvenile Alpaca items.  This is a pretty cool Pashmina.

At one of the stops this lady was hawking her wares.  This was where we were waiting for the other train to pass by.  A know event.  She was hustling to try to seek something.

By the back of the train at the observation deck.

Seems to have worked.  Mackenzie will have her new "Dolly Llama".

Snow capped mountains along the way.  This was near the high point of the day.

Eventually disembarked in Cusco and got to our hotel for the next 3 days....

Belmond Palacios Nazarenas and all I can say is OMG!

Connie in our suite.  WAY more about this place later.  Buenas Noches from Cusco!

2014_09_09 Back to Puno

We will have a visit to a museum started by the owner of the hotel this morning and then around 12:30 speed straight back to Puno by the fast boat.  A totally relaxing day and I think most will be thankful for that.

No I didn't take this - I wish!  Hanging on a wall in our hotel and I shamelessly took a picture of IT.  This is an alpaca.  No wonder their wool is so prized.  Looks pretty abundant!

I was up trying to get internet access this morning and was sitting in the lobby.  Look at the view!

We walked on the property to the owner's library and museum.  That plant in the front is the national plant of Peru - name not remembered.This place was really pretty nice with a lot of historic artifacts.  The library had a ton of books about Lake Titicaca and Peru.  I wish I learned about it sooner - too late to make use of it.

You can barely see tow canoes in the distance. I thought for sure it was Rich Rediker and someone else.  I wanted to capture the moment - the view from the front veranda of the hotel is pretty great anyway.

This was our guide at the hotel Wilson.

Inside going up to the rooms - this shows you the architecture of the hotel.

It was pretty hot in the sun.  Maybe 55 degrees but it felt like 90!

Rich and Gayle went for a walk back towards the hill this morning.  The llamas that were in their pen last night were out grazing.  They said that the llamas were walking on the trail!

Rich Rediker on top of the high speed boat back to Puno.  He stayed up there the entire 3 hours (bundled up) as the wind got pretty stiff.  I stayed up there an hour but I only had on shorts and a long sleeve tee.  I was hiding out of the wind but I got tired of it.  Rich is a trouper.

Almost back to Puno I think they were fishing.

This guy is definitely fishing!

Inside the boat.

Almost there.  That's our hotel straight ahead.

Duck along the pier walking back to the hotel.

This old lady sheep herder was yelling at everyone "No foto", "No foto".  Unless you paid her some dinero.  So I walked a bit further - take that Señora.  I think she was also waving her switch at our friends.

The view out of our room looking at Lake Titicaca.  First floor this time, second floor last time.  View not quite as good but the lake is pretty shallow right by us.

2014_09_08 Isla Sausi

Up pretty early today for breakfast in order to catch the fast boat to Isla Suasi.  A little adventure with a "lost" room key bit I found it in my vest pocket after we were on the first floating Island.

Lake Titicaca is pretty massive - 100 miles long by about 70 miles wide.  We loaded onto the boat and motored for about and hour and a half when we disembarked on on of the Uros Islands.  All of these islands are made of reeds and the President of the island we stopped on told us about how they are made and maintained.  There are PLENTY of reeds available for construction purposes!  The island we stopped on had 35 people living on it - 15 families.  Even their houses are made out of the reeds.  A floating island lasts about 30 years after which time the people who live on that island have to make a new one.

This is the President of the floating island we stopped at today showing us the base element of the islands.  These blocks of reed roots are cut and transported to where they will build there new island. Massive blocks of reed roots tied together and anchored using a 10 meter long eucalyptus pole ito the lake bottom.  The we were on was made of 3 blocks of reed roots.

Here are Richie, Larainne and Connie in front of traditional huts on Isla Uros.  You can see the reeds
forming the base of the island  - the base is 3 meters deep  The reeds that make up the island base are topped off every 17 days.  Each hut is physically lifted up and moved so the new reeds can be added. The reason they the islands last about 17 years is after that amount of time the base looses it's bouyancy and the entire island would sink.  In the really old days the islands were not anchored and if the people got into a dispute with their neighbors they would just pole the entire island somewhere else!

Extreme closeup of reeds.  Thanks Richie Steingart!

This lady and her little girl had set up some of the items they had made for sale to visitors.  The little girl is eating the bottom part of the reed.  We all got to try it and it wash't really sweet.  It had the consistency of celery with a bit of a cucumber taste.  Some people said ti tasted like nothing at all.  Not like sugar cane.

Two awesome images by Luis Costales!

Some of us went for a short ride in a traditional reed boat.

We met people from 2 distinct cultures today.  The people on the floating islands speak Quechua.  The people on Isla Tequile speak Aymara.  In the area around Lake Titicaka, generally the people to the north speak Quechua and this to the south Aymara.  Our guide told us that at one time there was just one nation with 2 distinct zones.  Peru and High Peru.  Eventually Peru to the north remained Peru while the Aymara speaking area (High Peru) became Bolivia.  Both groups are direct descendent of the Incas.  By the way Titicaca means Titi (Puma) and Caca (rock) in the Quechua and Aymara languages.

 The men on Isla Tequile do all of the knitting of caps and the women weave textiles, blankets, decorative belts for the men and coca leave baskets.  We watched both the men knitting and the women weaving.  Incredibly difficult weaving using traditional ways - a blanket takes 4 years to complete!

These 4 ladies crouch over their traditional looms for quite a while making textiles.

Thanks to Richie Steingart for this awesome closeup

Preparing thread from raw wool.

After a while the the men played music  traditional dance) for us with instruments and the 4 women asked others to join in the dance.



Luis dancing with one of the ladies with Chio taking images (and dancing)

Young men watching the group shop.  The 2 on the right are single and not interested in looking for a wife (too young).  The one on the left is single AND interested.  All shown by the way the tasseled part is lined up.  Straight back, not interested.  Left side, interested.

Bobi Steingart shot this incredible image of a married man.  The tassel to the right tells anyone that he is married. We found he is 72 years young and going strong.

I think this is his wife.  She is wearing a red garment which signifies marriage.



Shortly after our arrival at Casa Andina Suasi Island Hotel we had a delicious outdoor barbecue buffet.  Delicious trout, chicken, pork AND Alpaca.  The alpaca didm't taste like chicken!  Tasty but if the portion you got was too thin it was a little overdone.  The larger ones were very tasty.  Many grilled vegetables and some delicious sauces to put on them.  Locally made breads and lemon custard with fruits for dessert.  Delicioso!

Our room - pretty swank!

 

Wild vicuna on the walk to the "hill".  All of 500 feet - took us to 13,000 feet though.  And, still out of breath even though it was only 500 feet.

Full moon over Isla Suasi

2014_09_07 Lake Titicaca

View from our window this morning - Lima Airport is directly across the street from our hotel.  It's currently 60 degrees in Lima and later today the temperature will be a high of about 54 degrees at Lake Titicaca.

We will be taking a 1 hour flight from Lima to Juliaca (Lake Titicaca) .  26 kilometer van ride to Puno - on the edge of Lake Titicaca.  Lake Titicaca is the largest lake in South America by volume of water.  Lake Titicaca is considered the highest navigable lake in the world and borders Peru and Bolivia.  12,500 feet above sea level almost immediately should test our adaptation to higher altitude.

Casa Andino Puno will be our first stop and I think we may be laying low for the day as we adapt to the altitude.  We'll see........

The flight to Juliaca was uneventful - the airport was pretty crowded and it's interesting to see exactly what hoops they want you to jump through in the security line.  Shoes on, laptop out (I forgot and was THAT guy) going back for a tray.......  Flight was about an hour or so.

The Andes were looking pretty cool on the way.

Some Incan emperor (no plaque) one of many massacred by the Spanish, I'm sure.

Got our bags and looked for the van that was supposed to be there - it wasn't.  No problem, there were a bunch of taxi guys willing to take us to Puno.  It cost about the same - $8 per person for about a 1 hour trip.

Checked into the Casa Andina Private Collection Lago just in time for a ferocious rain storm - with hail!!!!  It was pretty cold - the ladies are not happy.

Here's Connie standing on our balcony with the clouds coming real low.  You should be able to see Lake Titicaca from there. Or not.

Had a great meal - I mean a great meal - I had a local chicken dish with vegetables and some rice. 

Nicely presented, and tasty.

Walked up the stairs and I'm talking about 11 feet and I was out of breath and my legs were leaden.  This does not bode well for the trekking.  A little later quite the headache.  Feeling like quite the girly man!  A couple of the others are not doing well either.  We found an oxygen tank and after gulping mucho coca tea I'm feeling much better.  Not moving around much helps as well.

Feeling a bit like Frank Booth from the movie Blue Velvet.  Mommy!

This is a walkway to the pier that is at our hotel.  Tomorrow morning we will take the high speed ferry boat to Isla Suasi Island almost all the way across Lake Titicaka.  We will be staying at another Casa Andina sister hotel on this isolated island.  One activity is to walk up a 500 foot hill to star watch - supposed to be spectacular.  Tomorrow is supposed to be a full moon as well!  May mess with the star gazing a bit.  We'll see.  Plus we'll see how the 500 foot hike affects us.

The other end of the pier looking back to our hotel.  Awesome place.

Here's the 10 of us after dinner.  Luis and Chio, our friends from Guayaquil, Ecuador got the ski caps for us.  They are so giving - they either have a shirt or cap and now ski caps.  This year is says "Rediker Tour Machu Picchu 2014".

At the end of the day this lady was heading home walking down the railroad tracks right behind our hotel.

2014_09_06 Getting to Lima

We arrived at the Lima Airport around 10:30 tonight and walked across the street to our hotel.  Let the adventure begin tomorrow.  Flying to Lake Titicaca area and the 12,500 foot altitude - right away!  Take that anti-altitude sickness medicine diligently and we should be fine.

Connie is glad all our bags have appeared!

Waiting for Paul and Larainne's to come out.

2014_08_26 - Almost time for our Peru, Machu Pichhu trip

And let the excitement begin.........

http://www.weather.com/news/central-peru-earthquake-20140824


Seems like there was a pretty big earthquake Sunday in south central Peru.  Pretty near to where we will be going in a couple of weeks.  Not any damage to speak of anywhere in the cities or outlying areas.  This should allow plenty go time for the aftershocks to subside as well.

What fun is travel without some adventure?

Flying into Lima the first night just in time to sleep at a hotel right at the airport.  The next morning we get up, eat breakfast and take a 1 hour flight to Juliaca which is a 27k bus ride to Lake Titicaca.  We will be acclimating ourselves at 12,000 feet for the first 10 days or so at Lake Titicaca (3 days) , Cusco (3 days) and The Sacred Valley (3 days).  There is also a 10 hour train ride from Lake Titicaca to Cusco on day 4.  The first 7 days will be at around 12,000 feet and the last 3 in The Sacred Valley is a bit lower.  Hopefully, all will be successfully acclimated to the high altitude by the time we are ready for our hike.  We have plenty of meds to take to counter any bad effects.

Then we begin a six day hike to Machu Picchu that should be quite "interesting".  The "highlight" will be day 3 of the hike where we must go over a mountain pass at 15,213 feet (don't forget this last 213 feet)!  Then it's all downhill (almost) to Machu Picchu which is around 8,000 feet.  I expect it to be pretty cold at the top so we will have to prepare with layers.

I am really excited to see this after almost a year of thinking about it!

Just finished a very interesting book "The Last Days of the Incas" which talks of the Spanish conquest of the Inca's in many of the places we will be visiting.  The Spanish were pretty barbaric in their treatment of the Incas - to say the least.  Now when we are seeing various places along the way I will have some historical context in my head.  Now I just have to remember them.   I will have the book loaded on my iPad so I can refresh my memory as needed.

So, as usual I will try to post to this blog as often as I can.  I may also post an image or 2 on Instagram as well.  Have aloof if you have the time or the interest.