Stay Useless: La Luna de Miel de Brant & Katie, Viva El Peru, pt. 4

The remainder or our trip was convoluted, so rather than give a day-by-day account, I'm just going to write a little about each place we went. To give you an idea of convoluted, here's the itinerary:

July 22: Fly from Huaraz to Lima to Cusco, because the only airline (LC Peru) that flies from Huaraz does not fly to Cusco.
July 23: Cusco
July 24: Cusco to Ollantaytambo via colectivo (shared van).
July 25: Train to Macchu Picchu. We returned to Ollantaytambo for the night.
July 26: Ollantaytambo to Cusco. Colectivo again.
July 27: Cusco to Lima by plane.
July 28: Lima. Red-eye flight back to the United States.

If you've been keeping track, we managed to travel by foot, horse, taxi, van, bus, train and plane, including 3 different airlines.

Our travel from Huaraz to Lima was eventful for two reasons. First, our flight from Huaraz to Lima was delayed because the inbound plane from Lima was late "because other planes needed to take off". This meant that we missed our flight in Lima. By this time we had learned enough Spanish to explain that we had flown from Huaraz and that our flight had been delayed. The agents for LAN airlines nodded knowingly and put us on the next flight to Cusco later that afternoon. The second reason was that it was a clear day and we had absolutely astonishing views of the Cordillera Blanca on our flight.

Not knowing what to expect, we arrived at the airport early. We did not expect the airport to be completely empty.

Boarding, finally.

Huascaran from the air. It's really really big.

Huantsan from the air. We hiked to the lake in the center of this photo on the second day of the trip.

The cloud that hangs over Lima for several months.

Lima.

Cusco:

Cusco is a sprawling city of narrow, winding streets. It was the heart and the capital of the Inca empire and an important city during colonial times. It felt like a European city, which to me means narrow streets and churches lurking around every corner. This makes sense, given that it was pretty much rebuilt by the Spanish after their conquest of the Incas. Reminders of the city's true heritage can be found in the occasional pre-colonial road or wall, as well as the myriad tourists wearing knitted hats, scarves and sweaters with llamas prominently featured.

Cusco was great. We stayed at two wonderful hotels (The Ninos Hotel and the Amaru Hostal) and ate good food. We also ate some sketchy food at the Mercado San Pedro. We mostly wandered around the city (well, the nicer parts around the Plaza de Armas), admired the colonial architecture and Inca ruins, and did touristy things like eat ice cream and buy souvenirs. This was supposed to be the relaxing part of our trip and that's what it was.

On our first morning, we wandered around the San Blas area and took pictures:

Narrow roads and steep staircases abound, many of Inca origin. Cusco is at 11,000 ft. and so even after numerous days at altitude, these were still breath-taking, in the most literal sense.

Cool artwork as well:

The city is hundreds of years old. Doors stay at the same height but the roads pile up.

This colonial building was built atop an Inca one:

On our last day, we went up to the Sacasaywaman ruins above the city. This site featured the largest examples of the famous Inca masonry. Some of these stones extend several feet into the ground as well.

This is the most massive stone at Sacsaywaman.

The ruins also provided excellent views of the city below.

Llamas, all dressed up.

Cusco's Plaza de Armas. It took us a little while to figure out that the city flag was a rainbow. It was amusing to see rainbows plastered everywhere in such a conservative country, as it means something slightly different in the US.

The Ninos Hotel is in a cool old colonial building.

"Need. Coffee."

Our room at the Ninos Hotel. It's run by Scandanavians, which explains the decor.

Looking out our door at the Amaru Hostal.

The 28th of July is Peru's Independence Day. Our last day in Cusco was July 26, so the celebrations were ramping up. We caught this seemingly random parade on a side street. It featured several groups of dancers and a marching band.

Clean clothes! Woo! (Much needed after our trek.)

"Can't talk. Eating."

Our lunch at the Mercado San Pedro. Fried egg, hot dog, french fries, and avocado over rice. All for less than $2. In retrospect, this was a dumb idea.

Ice cream = happiness.

One of our (okay, my) goals for the trip was to experience some local cuisine. Here, Katie has alpaca. It was tasty.

I went all out and ordered the cuy. Cuy is Guinea pig, and considered a delicacy in Peru. It wasn't bad, but I expected it to be more meaty. It was mostly skin and bones, and while the skin was very crispy and well seasoned, it was difficult to escape the thought, "I'm eating Guinea pig skin."

Ollantaytambo:

We used Ollantaytambo as our way station between Machu Picchu and Cusco. It's a small town that features excellent Inca ruins of its own. The town, in fact, has been continuously inhabited since the Incas founded it in the 15th century. The layout and even the roads themselves have been the same for over 500 years. We stayed at the wonderful Apu Lodge. The Inca ruins here are extensive --theres's a massive temple that overlooks the city as well as a several small outposts nearby.

The Apu Lodge. In Quechua (the indigenous language), apu means "mountain spirit".

Inca roads.

Inca ruins.

Inca masonry. This wall is unfinished -- you can see the handholds used to move these stones into place. Once complete, the holds would be polished flat.

Ceremonial site at the very top of the ruins.

This gives you an idea of the scale of the terraces.

Looking over the town.

More ruins across the way.

Machu Picchu:

Machu Picchu is a tourist trap of epic proportions, but none of that actually matters because once you get there, it is every bit as amazing as you've been led to believe.

Getting there is a bit of challenge. Other than the Inka trail trek, the only way to get to the base of Machu Picchu (a town called Aguas Calientes) is by train, and it's not cheap. Then you take a bus up to Machu Picchu itself, which is, again, not cheap. Then you get your tickets to enter Machu Picchu (which, of course, you reserved in advance), and these also are not cheap. Want to know your way round Machu Picchu? Well, your ticket doesn't come with a map. Want to know what your looking at? There's no signs. Why? So you can hire a guide, of course, and guess what? Also, not cheap. And, like I said, none of this matters. Well, it matters a little, because I took the time to type it. But I would do it all again, and not mind one bit.

Machu Picchu is truly astounding, even in the fog. Looking down the terraces into a grey abyss, admiring the culmination of Inca masonry, marveling at both the engineering and the artistry, and wondering at all the unanswered questions about this place make it more than worthwhile.

Sadly, our time here was not as long as I would have liked because I got sick. Again. I tried my best to tough it out, but it ended up something like this. Our guide, Naomi, went from just being generally zany to full on mother hen mode, making me wear her hat and eventually insisting that I go to the infirmary. So despite crappy weather and illness, Machu Picchu was still awesome.

The temple of the sun, in the fog.

Check out my rad hat. Thanks, Naomi!

The fog lifted. Kind of. For a moment, anyway.

Few tourists get the opportunity to see the Machu Picchu infirmary. It's something special, really.

Lima:

Lima was interesting. We took full advantage of it being the culinary center of Peru. In addition, we were there for Peru's Independence Day, and despite what seemed to be fervent nationalism, it was a little different from your typical 4th of July celebration.

We arrived in Lima late morning and by the time we got checked into our hotel (the Inka Frog) in the Miraflores district, it was well past lunch time. Fortunately, the venerable El Enano was just down the street, serving up fresh jugos and hot sandwiches. We wandered around Miraflores for the afternoon, before having dinner at Costa Azul Seafood, which was hands down the best meal of the trip. We were a little skeptical upon entering as there was some old guy in there singing along to classic rock on the radio. Turns out he was the owner, Carlos. After being seated, Carlos offered us a four course meal for two, and while he was very friendly, it was definitely implied that this is what we should order. So we did. The first course was raw octopus served with avocado, tomato and olive oil. Ridiculously, unbelievably good. The second course was crab and cheese empanadas. Delicious, and I don't even like crab. The third course was sea bass ceviche, which is basically raw fish marinated in citrus and spices. Again, unbelievably good. My mouth is now watering just typing this. The final course was squid and sea bass with onions, peppers and papas fritas, served over rice. Amazing.

Our second day in Lima was July 28 (Peru's Independence Day) and we attempted to visit the Centro Historico, which includes a lot of cool old colonial buildings as well as many government buildings. When we arrived, the area was fully shut down for an 8 block radius by bus loads of military and riot police, fully armed with riot shields and tear gas guns. At first, we thought it was to contain a small protest in the Plaza San Martin, where our taxi had dropped us off. But later, as we ate delicious Chinese food, we found out that it was all so that the president could step outside and wave to the cameras. The area started to re-open in the afternoon, but by that time, we were headed back to our hotel to pack and catch our flight home.

First course at Costa Azul: