View of the actual room we stayed situated across from the courtyard
View of the Second Home Hotel from the backyard
View from Second Home Hotel's backyard overlooking the beach. Nice huh?
We also learned that the hotel use to be the home/studio of world-reknowned Peruvian artist Victor Delfin. His art is everywhere on the property.
~*~
Day 2-- Flying from Lima to Cuzco and heading to the Sacred Valley to the town of Urubamba
After awaking to the beautiful grounds of Second Home Hotel, we caught a quick breakfast with the owner of the place Victor Delfin's daughter, Lillian. She was very helpful. She got us a taxi back to the airport so that we could catch our 1:15pm flight.
Once we touched down in Cuzco, we immediately felt the difference in the oxygen level. Cuzco is about 10K feet above sea level, so most people get sick pretty quickly with altitude sickness. Luckily, we were staying in the SV which was lower, so we weren't going to be in Cuzco long...also we had medication for altitude sickness as well because we're cool like that and think of almost everything.
Our drive from the airport to Cuzco already started our whirlwind vacation. Claudia who works at K'uychi Rumi (the place we were headed to in Urubamba) called the driver's cell phone and asked us if we wanted to stop at Pisac Market. Pisac is a nearby town in the SV and they hold a huge market only on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Sundays. This would be our only day available to see it during our stay. Of course we said yes. On the way to Pisac, we stopped at an alpaca and llama petting zoo. Alpaca are bred for their hair similar to sheep. Alpaca sweaters are very similar to cashmere and just as pricey. After the petting zoo, we walked around the market, bought a few souveniers, and headed to KR. Didn't get very good pictures of the market though.
I heart alpacas, but they don't heart me... Wow, my feet look like Keebler Elf feet...
Being attacked by llamas and alpacas. I'm hoping they like white meat more than dark ;)
We called it an early evening since we already had a full day of sightseeing just getting to our house at KR. We grabbed dinner on the main street in Urubamba at a restaurant that I can't remember the name, and then turned in early.
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Day 3-- Horseback Riding through the Sacred Valley (Going through the towns of Moray, Maras, and the Salt Mines)
On our first full day in the SV, the KR set us up with a 4-hour horseback riding tour (that actually ended up being about 5 hours) with a personal guide named Mario for just me and Baby through the SV, along the Urubamba River, seeing some towns along the way, and stopping at the Salt Mines.
Baby was quite surprised at my equestrian expertise. Not that I'm awesome or anything, but I did ride quite a bit in college since I knew someone whose parents had a ranch. Guess that paid off...
We started off at the town of Moray. Moray had three big meteors hit a mountainside and created these large craters. These craters were used as research facilities for the Incas (or so they theorize). Each terrace (or level that you see) was considered a micro-climate. They grew various crops on each terrace in order to determine which crops would do well in what levels of altitude. Those Incas were smart, huh? This is only a picture of one of the craters since the others were not as ornate. I literally almost died on the way back up from walking down the base of the crater seeing as we were 12K feet above sea level and the air is so thin. This was my only time I had issues with acclimatizing, but let me tell you...it was SCARY! I really couldn't breathe, my vision was blurred, I was dizzy, almost lost consciousness a couple of times, and felt completely nauseated. Luckily, I recovered after resting about 30 minutes.
Note the 3 tiny specs toward the top of the circles. You might not be able to tell from the size of this picture, but those are people. Gives you perspective of just how big this thing is!
Here we are near the base of Moray by all those circles you see in the above pictures (before I almost died - note the smile still on my face)
After recovering from my altitude issues, we got on our Peruvian Paso Horses and rode through the SV. The views were breathtaking.
I keep thinking of the movie City Slickers...hahaha!
**Insert the theme song of Bonanza**
If we slip off the side of the mountain, we're screwed!
The glacier that looks like snow-capped mountains in the above picture has been melting for thousands of years to provide freshwater to all of the SV creating the Urubamba River. Pretty awesome, huh? Sadly, scientist believe there are only a couple hundred years left of the glacier due to global warming. Once that all melts, the SV will dry up and create all kinds of problems for the people who live there since the Urubamba is their source of freshwater. How depressing!
Photo of the Salt Mines of Maras
Apparently, there is this mysterious spring of saltwater that flows from the mountain. The Incas used this same methods thousands of years ago to harvest salt and distribute it throughout the entire empire. It's fascinating how largely it takes up this specific part of the mountainside.
View of the Urubamba River towards the end of our riding tour
By the time we finished our horseback riding, we were so worn out by the day's events that we again just caught a quiet dinner at a nice restaurant called El Huacatay and was asleep by 10pm.
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Day 4-- The Big Day: Machu Picchu
We got up early that morning so that we could make our 7:05am train ride from Ollantaytambo Station (which was about 15 minutes away from KR) to Machu Picchu. Our guide Jaime would be waiting for us at the train station when we arrive.
The train ride on RailPeru was spectacular! We were lucky enough to get the very first row on the first train car, so we got to see everything coming - best seat in the house! Once we arrived to MP Station, Jaime was there holding up a sign for "Jennifer Ling." Seeing as he was the very last guide standing there, I determined that somehow my name must've been lost in the translation (how, I have no idea). I asked him if he was expecting people from KR, and he was. We finally sorted it out...thank goodness. And, no, you cannot start calling me Jennifer Ling.
Jaime was extremely knowledgeable and spoke near-perfect English. That was awesome seeing that my Spanish is only so-so and Baby's comprehension of the language consists of five words: bano, cerveza, queso, agua, and gracias - ok, he does know a few more words than that, but not many. Jaime told us everything about everything we came across throughout MP - theories, beliefs, Inca ideologies. He is a history and tourism major at the university, so MP is his specialty. We were lucky to have him for the whole 8 hours we were there!
Here we are at the main square of the town of Aguas Calientes at the base of the mountain of MP. Baby thinks I look like a child next to him. I've always said I wanted him to carry me around in a Baby Bjorn...teehee!
View from the bus ride up the mountain to MP
Welcome to Machu Picchu! Note that these buildings all once had thatched roofs on them.
Again, I'm hearting the llama...and again denied reciprocity
I've decided that llama is a HAM!
These terraces were multi-functional. They not only assisted in the prevention of erosion, they also served as areas to grow crops to help feed those who lived in the city.
I think they used this large field to play futbol (aka soccer), but researchers say it was merely a place to congregate. What do researchers know anyway? ;)
The guy who lived in this house was apparently BIG TIME! He had a separate room in his house with his own personal hole (aka toilet). Most people only had a one-room home. Nice!
Until next time, Machu Picchu!
~*~
Day 5-- Going Home
We got up relatively early to pack up and be driven to Cuzco. We took our LAN Peru flight to Lima and had an 8 hour layover before we were to head back to Houston. Upon the suggestion of Lillian, the lady who runs Second Home Hotel, we went back to Barranco. We left our bags with her and walked around Barranco. We had a late lunch/early dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant and even stopped into a supermarket to see how they displayed things. All the different fruits and vegetables, and how they presented their meats was quite interesting. After hanging out for a few hours at the B&B, we headed back to the airport and took our almost midnight flight back home. We arrived back at IAH at 6:02 am Monday morning.
So that's it. We're still a bit tired - needing a vacation from our vacation so to speak, but it was well worth it. Who would've guessed that we'd be able to fit so much in such a short amount of time? Baby and I decided that we would come back and spend more time at K'uychi Rumi. Just relax and take some horseback riding tours. Maybe we'll tackle white water rafting next time. Maybe.
3 comments:
The pictures look amazing! I think you should work for National Geographic or the Travel Channel. Not only were the pictures informative, but some were quite funny. I think my favorite one is you and the Alpaca.
I liked the alpaca too, and of course the llama, and the views of mountains, especially when you were horseback riding, were awesome ... what a beautiful place!
Beautiful pictures! You didn't tell me you were going to Peru!!! I would've hitched a ride in your carryon.
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