Machu Picchu - Old Mountain

We had an early flight to Machu Picchu (Old Mountain) last Wednesday at 7 in
the morning. This time, the reservations went without incident and we were on our way
to visit the sacred Incan city of Cuzco.
We arrived in Cuzco about midday and spent the rest of the day walking the dirt
roads around this historical city. Surrounded by small mountains, Cuzco is sprawled out
over a valley and extends into the mountains. The sun rises at about 5:40 every day,
which means you shouldn’t plan on sleeping in unless you have your pink sleeping
shades stitched with “Princess”. Pedestrians are considered the equals of cars which
really isn’t fair since cars weigh so much more. Stray dogs still roam around the street
barking at cars and crocheting blankets out of baby alpaca.

Our first meal in Peru - Grilled Alpaca

It was delicious!

Katie and I forgot our matching sleep shades, add the 2 hours Cuzco is behind Santiago, and we were up at 6:00 the next morning. This was ok as we had to meet at the tour office at 8:30 to travel a 1 ½ away to the Urrubamba River to do some white water rafting. On the way out there, I saw many sizeable yet confined bonfires alongside the road. I told Katie that with all the Ponzi Schemes around these days, they were probably getting rid of sensitive documents in lieu of an audit. She didn’t validate my statement and rightfully so. Having a pencil was considered being technologically advanced in these parts.

Our rafting group was a global melting pot as we had one person from Sweden, France, Argentina, and two from Ireland. When the rafting guide advised us that he needed two of the strongest people upfront, my unanimous selection as the right front rower came as no surprise to me with all of the pushups I had done recently. Manning the front left of the boat would be the Argentine who didn’t speak English. Later on, this language barrier would disrupt the harmony of our team.

Away we went, 6 rafting novices accompanied by our pubescent rafting guide, to conquer Level 3 and 4 rapids. The first stretch of the trip was used to get everyone in sync with the commands. Paddle forward, paddle backwards, jump left, jump right, etc. Our diverse team was working pretty well together with an occasional slip-up from the Argentine. In the most intense moments, battling the white-capped rapids while weaving through huge boulders like a pinball, it was difficult to hear the guide’s commands.

This only added to the difficulty that the Argentine had with understanding the commands, particularly with the forwards and backwards commands. So, we spun around a couple of times when the Argentine would paddle backwards when he was supposed to go forward and vice-versa. Just as it was becoming somewhat of a nuisance, he realized he should take a quick glance over at me to see how a native English speaker responded to the specific commands. It sure didn’t take long to find the natural born leader of the group.

As we floated further down the river, we were starting to synchronize much like the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, but not near as pure and innocent. With confidence growing with every series of rapids we went over, we were finally humbled in a very unwelcome way. We started to make our way down another rapid while quickly approaching a massive boulder. Fearing that this boulder could potentially disrupt the current and cause us to capsize, our guide had everyone jump to one side of the raft to maintain equilibrium. Instead, we achieved disequilibrium and capsized.

Katie and I were at once transformed into pinballs and away we went bouncing off rocks as we struggled to reach the shore. Finally, exhausted, we reached the shore about 100 yards upstream from our raft. We walked along the rocky shore to the raft and I explained to the guide that I just had to use the restroom and that’s why I fell out. Lost in all of the chaos, Katie, the French guy, and I had all lost our sandals. A raft that was in front of us was able to retrieve three of the six sandals. All left-footed...just our luck.

Also, the French guy’s paddle somehow broke in all of the ruckus and was now rendered useless. He was easily the biggest guy on the raft and so the fact that he got to sit on his ass the rest of the way made things much more difficult. I didn’t think of it at the time, but it really wouldn’t have been hard for the Frenchie to ask one of the two girls, who were less than half his size, to take over for them. Instead, he played the role of deadweight much like WWII. Not being in military shape, carrying this deadweight exhausted me. My sympathy turned into empathy for Elian Gonzalez and all of his Cuban brethren that made the trip from Cuba to the U.S. via raft. You earned it Elian, you earned it!

Getting suited up for the river

Later that night a street peddler selling paintings of Machu Picchu aggressively approached us.  For one painting, he wanted 80 soles ($20 USD).  That number didn’t sit well with me and so I put on my haggling pants and we started to bargain.  I played the stubborn gringo that was fixated on the 20 soles figure.  In the initial negotiations, the price of the painting was in a free fall going from 80 soles to 60 to 40 to 30 to 25.  The Peruvian saw that I wasn’t going to budge and so he wisely started pleading his case with the much more understanding Katie.  Katie was acting as a pseudo-mediator, though she let her big heart in the way which is a big no-no in business negotiations.  We ended up settling for 21 soles and Katie’s allowance for Oreos was cut by the 1 sol ($0.33 USD) that we had to pay extra.

The next day we went to visit ancient Incan ruins surrounding Cuzco.  We saw four different small towns including Pisac, Ollantaytombo, Urrubamba, and Chinchero.  There were some fascinating ruins in both Pisac and Ollantaytombo.  The ruins in Pisac were actually bigger than the ones that we would see in Machu Picchu.  The other towns were just typical small Incan towns with the houses made of the stone that the Incans used.

Katie with two Alpacas and a Peruvian

A stop on the side of the road on the way to Pisac

 The Pisac ruins - the largest Incan ruins

Ollantaytombo ruins - Do you see the face in the side of the mountain?

Chinchero

We watched them take alpaca wool and turn it into yarn and then color them with all natural dyes

We woke up at 5:00 the next morning in order to board a 7:40 train ride that would take us 3 hours up to the foot of the mountains where Machu Picchu lays.  The train wove its’ way through massive mountains, some snowcapped, and ran parallel with the Urrubamba River.  Across from us just so happened to be two people from the United States from Texas from Dallas.  It was kind of nice relating to people from our puzzle piece of the world.  We had a typical Texan conversation talking about the politics of our favorite fast food chains and burger places.

We arrived at Aguas Calientes which is a town only existing because of the tourists that Machu Picchu brings in every year.  Having just enough time to set our bags in the hotel room, we were off for a hike to a waterfall.  It was just the two of us and our youthful Peruvian guide.  On the trek to the waterfall, we were enlightened on the various types of flora, yaaaaaawwwwnnnn, while hiking through jungle.  On the way, we got our first glimpse of Machu Picchu from afar.  After about a 4 hour hike, we decided to head up to the much talked-about hot baths.  We won’t talk much about them because they were lukewarm and looked like a mix between number 1 and number 2.

During the rainy season these rocks are completely submerged by water

 Baby Pineapple

 Pineapple

 The nasty hot (luke warm) baths.  We took one look and decided getting hepatitis wasn't worth it.

We woke up the next morning at 4:30 in order to get to Machu Picchu before sunrise.  As we had been briefed the night before, our guide wanted us to be down for breakfast at 5:15 and we would leave no later than 5:30 for the ruins.  When we went down the next morning, we were greeted by complete darkness minus the TV blaring at our guide’s friend who was in a drunken coma sleep.  After about 5-7 minutes straight, literally, of shaking him he finally woke up.  I sent him on a very difficult mission upstairs to go find his friend/our guide and tell him that we wanted to go to Machu Picchu.  After about 10 minutes without a sound from upstairs, I went upstairs to confirm what I had suspected; the guy had passed out again and not alerted his friend/our guide.  I then treated the situation less like Mahatma Gandhi and more like Don Corleone, and we were on the road to Machu Picchu.

Our tardiness caused us to miss breakfast which I subtly reminded our guide throughout the day.  I figured having to wake up at 5 after a very evident long night of drinking was torture enough for him.  We arrived at the ruins about 20 minutes before sunrise to where the Incans used to have keg parties and snowball fights.  The ruins were just as amazing, if not more, than everyone had described before.  Again, I will let the pictures do the writing because I feel like using flowery language to describe stunning landscapes takes away from my street cred.

 Our first look at Machu Picchu

 The initial discoverer spotted this house first from below which led him to discover the ruins

 Behind us is the mountain we are about to hike

 This is the last year that this passage will be open.  From now on you have to walk around and not through it.

 Our tour guide - Valentin

Our guide took us on about a 3 ½ hour walking tour which he explained the history and all of the intricacies of the ruins.  The rest of the day was ours and so we decided to hike Mountain Machu Picchu (Old Mountain Mountain).  Out of the 2500 daily visitors to the park, only 50 make it to the top.  A person that is reasonably fit can make it up the mountain in 1 ½ hours and down in 1 hour.  Not realizing how hard the climb would be, I decided to carry an extra 25 lbs on my back for a “better work out”.  I feel that for me to be considered an unbiased blogger, I have to include that Katie had warned me that it would not be the best idea to carry the bag.  So, my own ignorance of my limits, advanced the hike from excruciating to 127 Hours, starring James Franco and at Blockbuster near you, excruciating.  The trail lacked switchbacks and was made up predominantly of steep grade lined with jagged stone steps anywhere from 1 – 3 feet tall.  We made frequent stops along the way which gave Katie opportunities to cunningly weave into the conversation patronizing statements about the extra weight I was carrying.  Nevertheless, we finally made it to the top and enjoyed the view for about a half hour.

It took us about an hour to get down in which I think I lost about 3-4 years on my knees.  We came down the mountain and then caught the train back to Cuzco about an hour later.  On the way the servants on the tourist-catered train entertained us with an over the top fashion show and also a guy jumping around in a clown costume which they billed as a cultural Peruvian dance.  The clown scared Katie twice who has this thing, not a good thing, with clowns.  The Japanese family sitting across from us laughed hysterically, but politely, as Japanese people laugh.

 Made it to the top!

 This is what we though of "Old Mountain Mountain"

 There used to be a huge rock in the middle of the green area there, but several years ago the Presiden from Spain wanted to land on Machu Picchu in a helicopter so they had to remove the rock.  Way to ruin one of the Man Made 7 Wonders of the World.

The Peruvian God that scared Katie

Katie and I both loved Peru.  The food, the people, the landscapes.  We were sad to leave but felt like we accomplished a lot in the short time we were there.  We got back to Santiago the next day where we are both now teaching solely private business classes.  We are working less hours, making roughly the same money, and still eating a lot of fresh bread. 



North of Chile

Our next part of the journey was up to northern Chile to San Pedro de Atacama, the world’s driest desert in some parts.  Before we even set foot on the plane, there was some turbulence.  It turns out that when you are buying tickets online, the best practice is to reserve the tickets under the name that matches your official documentation.  Being that I am not used to secretarial work, but rather handy work such as fixing water heaters and building engines, I was not accustomed to this process. 

            When news got to Katie that I had reserved her ticket under ‘Katie Balsley’ and not ‘Kathryn Balsley’, the room got hotter than Texas.  I was kind of taken aback by this as I was the only reason that Katie was donning the last name of my Danish ancestors.  I didn’t tell her this, so I’m hoping she reads this and realizes how grateful she should be.  In reality, this ancestor talk is only a veil for the guilt I really did feel about botching up the reservation.  Nevertheless, we got to the check-in counter at the airport, I winked at the female check-in clerk (Katie was prepared to do the same if it was a male), and everything went swimmingly. 

            We got to San Pedro about mid-day and walked around a little bit.  The town itself has a rather medieval feel to it with dirt roads lined with pueblo houses.  After walking through the streets for a while, we found a tour office and we stopped in and booked three tours.  San Pedro is known for its’ sunrises and sunsets and so we booked our tours accordingly. 

            Our first tour was to the Valle de la Luna (Moon Valley), where watching the sunset on the lunar landscape is suppose to be one of the more impressive sights.  First, we stopped at Valle de Muerte (Death Valley), which gets its’ name because the many who had died falling off a dangerous road that circles the rim of the valley.  We made a few other stops along the way and then we got to Moon Valley about a half hour before sunset.  My aspirations of going to the moon were at once quelled as the jagged terrain was much like you would imagine the moon to be.  We stayed there for about an hour enjoying the varying hues in the sunset.

Valle de Muerte

Valle de la Luna

Rock sculpture that looks like a dinosaur

Katie licking the salt off the wall of a salt cave

Our tour guide getting creative with his picture taking skills

Valle de la Luna at sunset

            The next morning we had to get up at 3:30 in the morning to catch a 4:00 bus for the Geysers Tatio.  Going up The Geysers was going to require us to double our altitude from about 7,000 feet to 14,000 feet.  The 2 hour ride up to the Geysers was over an unpaved and extremely bumpy road.  We were supposed to get there before sunrise and it was also supposed to be unbearably cold.  Both came true, the second one too true. 

 

 

We stepped out of the van when we got to the Geysers and were both taken aback by the -14 degrees below zero temperature that we confronted.  We both had layered up, Michelin Man style, but had neglected some parts.  Our feet and hands felt like they were to the point where if you hit them with a hammer they would have just shattered.  We started walking around the geysers to warm up and after about 10 minutes Katie was passed her cold threshold and had to go back to the van. 

            There were about 3 or 4 different geyser stop-offs that we traveled to via bus.  During this time, Katie started to become increasingly nauseated.  Unfortunately, Katie was sitting in the best seat for someone who may involuntarily have to part with breakfast.  The very back row (out of 6) and all the way to the left (away from the door). 

            With every jarring bump, my anxiety increased as I knew Katie would meet her fate hopefully later than sooner.  While Katie was resting her sick head on my shoulder, I felt another head come to a rest on my other shoulder.  The Italian girl next to me had also discovered my shoulder as a resting spot and so I was just sitting there doing calf raises with two broads on my shoulders.  I could now unquestionably say that I had broad shoulders.

            All good things must come to an end and so they did.  About an hour into the ride, Katie suddenly sat up giving me a look and I knew she meant business.  The first vomit was surprisingly stealthy and had not disrupted anyone.  The second one was the whistleblower and we stopped the bus to let Katie get some air.  Katie didn’t have anymore left in her and so the driver and I buried the goody bag under a big rock on the side of the road.  You could say Katie left some of herself behind to remain forever in San Pedro de Atacama.

            Once we got back in the van, a bilingual French guy confirmed what we had suspected about Katie, altitude sickness.  He said that he had been advised to stay 2 full days in the actual town to get acclimated to the altitude before going up to the geysers.  We had not been told this and so it wasn’t even a full day before we ascended to the geysers.  Don’t know why I had been spared but I’m thinking it was because of my strong Danish ancestry.

            The next place we went to was the Laguna Cejar which was the least touted tour out of the three we went on.  After seeing the snow-capped volcanoes reflecting in the crystal blue water of the Lagoon, all while the sun was setting, this quickly became our favorite tour of the three.  The views were amazing and I have pictures to back it up if you don’t believe me.

            Our next part of the journey was to La Serena, a coastal city north of Santiago by about 5 hours.  This city is known for two things, observatories and the Pisco (popular brandy liquor) distilleries in the nearby Elqui Valley.  We booked tours to the observatory and a distillery for the following day. 

Even in the winter, this region of Chile has a warm climate without much rain.  So, when we got on the road towards Elqui Valley, we were disappointed, not surprised, when our guide told us that we would not be able to go up to the observatory because of the snow that had fallen the previous night.  Our guide has been doing tours for the past 30 years and said this was the lowest that he has ever seen the snow line on the mountains.  In its’ 13 years of existence, the observatory had never been closed either.  Just our luck…

We still were able to do plenty of other worthwhile things.  We got a nice buzz going at the Pisco distillery, saw some beautiful scenery, and ate at a restaurant in a solar village.  This solar village of about 100 people had been designated by the government as a project to see how well life could sustain itself living on only solar power.  However, due to the cloudy day, they had to make our food with gas.  It made me think that the solar power rules may be pretty lax.

In heeding our tour guides advice on what to get at the restaurant, Katie and I both ordered the goat.  These goats must have only been eating the finest clothes because the taste of the meat was unbelievable.  The meat was much like how my heart has been described, extremely tender, and much like the gossip around Kim Kardashian’s wedding (reference to show that I’m still hip), extremely juicy.  The goat has been the best meat that we’ve had since we’ve arrived, and we just went to Argentina.

The tour lasted until 6 that night and then we went back to our friends’ place in La Serena.  Our friends, also previous DUOC teachers like ourselves, found jobs in La Serena and also…..an apartment right on the beach.  They are paying the equivalent of about $600, all bills included, to have a two-bedroom, furnished apartment on the beach.  Needless to say, we were pretty jealous, but I don’t think we let it show.  We stayed at their apartment for a couple of nights, enjoying the wave soundtrack, and then headed back to Santiago.   

On our friend's balcony looking onto the ocean

Tomorrow we are headed to Peru to see Machu Picchu, so be expecting a post soon about that.