PERU ADVENTURE, Page 2
We knew that once in Cusco our guide and driver would take us to the train station at Ollantaytambo where we’d board the train to Aguas Calientes, the town below the ruins at Machu Picchu. What we did not know was the train station was more than an hour away and we’d travel over two passes, each over 12,000 feet in elevation. Due to the heavy rain, our flight arrived forty minutes late in Cusco. The ensuing drive to the train station was the scariest we’d ever experienced as our driver passed cars and trucks on the single lane road going 50 to 55 miles per hour. We arrived at Ollantaytambo just as the gate was closing.
At Aguas Caliente we stayed at the Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.
The lounge and dining room
were beautifully decorated and there was a balcony overlooking the train station and Urubamba Rio.
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We contacted our bilingual guide, Luis, an excellent birder and naturalist, and made arrangements for our next day’s tour of the Incan ruins at Apu Machu Picchu (Sacred Old Mountain) and climb of Apu Wayna Picchu (Sacred Young Mountain). This would be the realization of Alice’s dream.
We had eight hours of clear sky with white puffy clouds as we toured the ruins. This was so different from the photos we had seen of the typical sky there.
At one stop on the return train ride to Cusco, loud music started in the coach. One attendant danced down the aisle in a fox costume and a fashion show began, up and down the aisle. Suddenly, outside our window two women appeared offering us flowers. We gestured toward the window asking to take their pictures and they nodded approval. But we were saddened that we could not offer them some money for the flowers. The window was locked, the aisle blocked.
In Cusco we met our same guide and driver who then drove us through the Sacred Valley, at over 12,700 feet in elevation. The air was crisp, the sky clear, and we were energized and inspired by the snow-capped Andes Mountain Range in the distance. We stopped at a weaving community in Chincero where a 15 year old woman gave us a presentation in excellent English. She showed us the process used to shear, then dye the wool for hand woven goods.
We stayed at a restored colonial mansion that Inkaterra converted to an 11-suite boutique hotel. During one on our nights there a booming thunderstorm produced hail that covered the interior courtyard outside our door. During our final day we attended a military procession in the Central Plaza. A color guard, bands, soldiers, and trade unionists, paraded in front of a dais where local dignitaries were seated. Alice photographed while I watched our surroundings. The soldiers watched us.
