Sea Turtles and Llamas

Prelude:

We returned in mid-May from an excellent trip of about 3 weeks to Ecuador and Peru, visiting the Galapagos Islands and Machu Picchu. In nearly all respects, it was a marvelous experience, the unfortunate exception being Pat’s having been whacked, smacked, and generally KO’d by altitude illness in the high Andes in Peru. (More on the delights of altitude illness in a later installment.)

The trip was organized by the indefatigable Susan Walsh at B&K, working with Celebrity Xpedition for the Galapagos cruise and with Ker & Downey and Lima Tours for the Peru tour. Her assistance and advice (i.e. spend a day less in Lima and a day longer at Machu Picchu) were terrific.

As I didn’t keep a trip journal of any sensible sort, this little travelogue will be more-or-less just a series of observations on various aspects of the trip and descriptions of certain experiences which were of particular interest to us, in addition to some comments and suggestions that might be useful to other LCTers contemplating visits to either of these superb destinations.

So, for anyone still awake, on we go…

Cheers, Fred

Part 1 – QUITO

We spent two nights before the Galapagos cruise and one night after the cruise in Quito, as part of the Celebrity package for cruises on Xpedition, staying at the J.W. Marriott. The hotel is quite pleasant and pretty much a self-contained destination, which is fortunate considering that the neighborhood is not really suitable for wandering about.

Although the package included a group tour of Quito, we chose to arrange a private tour, based on advice on the Xpedition thread on CC. We are extremely glad we did so. First, the group tour left at 9:00 am, which for us would have been dreadfully early, as we hadn’t even arrived at the hotel until well past midnight after our Continental flight from Houston. Rather, we began our own tour at 10:30, saw more (of the things we wanted to see - no shopping stops) than the group tour and still were back to the hotel before the group tour buses. Most of the people with whom we talked wished they'd done a private tour like we had, since they were a bit exhausted by the group tour.

We had a fantastic guide arranged by the hotel, Julio Rosero. We went first to the magnificent crater (Pululahua) in order to have a better chance of seeing the lovely valley at the bottom before the whole thing got socked in, which happens most days around noon. Julio is aware of that phoggy phenomenon and always goes to the crater as the first stop on a day tour. The group tour did not get there until sometime between noon & 1:00 pm and saw nothing but fog and clouds. We also got to visit both the tourist equator monument (Mitad del Mundo) and the nearby genuine equator. Group tours seldom go to the latter site. We love private tours because of the flexibility. We decide what to see and how much or how little time to spend at each place. None of that tiresome "All right, folks, we'll be here at the crafts market for 45 minutes. Be sure to buy lots of stuff so that I, your sweet guide, can get a nice commission."

We had a delightful lunch with Julio at a restaurant that is somewhat touristy (they had copies of the menu in English) but is mainly frequented by locals for special occasions. The group lunch at El Crater restaurant also sounded pretty good, although a couple of people didn't like the limited choices. El Crater is (according to our guide books) one of the best restaurants in Quito and is famous for the view of the crater and valley, which unfortunately is often not there when the tours arrive for the late lunch. (The crater and valley are there but not the view. Hmm, is this something like, “If the view of a valley is obscured by fog and no one can see it, is it actually a view?” Sort of like that old question, “If a bear falls in the woods…”)

We had arranged the tour ahead of time with the business center of the hotel. Here is their email address: mhrs.uiodt.business.center@marriotthotels.com. If Julio is not available, the hotel will provide another reputable guide. The guides are employees of the hotel and use a very nice hotel car. Our tour was scheduled to last 6 hours, which was plenty after having flown in the night before. The old historic center of Quito is quite interesting and absolutely worth a visit.

Quito is at about 3,000 meters, not as high as Cusco but quite high. I was fine there; but Pat had trouble sleeping the first night (although not the second and not the night we spent in the city after the cruise). He was a bit winded climbing up the stairs in the parking garage in the city center during our tour with Julio. That was pretty much the extent of any altitude issues in Quito. Several people we knew asked for oxygen tanks while at the Marriott. I found that alternating pisco sours with cups of coca tea seemed to work well for me and was far less potentially explosive than an oxygen tank.

PART 2 – THE GALAPAGOS ISLANDS

The ship:

We cruised for seven days on the Celebrity Xpedition, Celebrity’s only adventure ship. We’ve not cruised previously on Celebrity and cannot really say we’ve done so now, considering that Xpedition is entirely different from any other Celebrity ship. It’s a beautiful little ship, in perfect condition. It’s also all-inclusive (a favorite topic amongst LCTers, indeed), serving premium booze (i.e. JW Black and Chivas Regal) with a smile and without a chit to sign. There are a number of effective reviews of Xpedition on CC; so I won’t describe the ship in detail. We had one of the Xpedition suites, balconied cabins just a bit larger than the balcony cabins on the PG. All of the cabins have great bathrooms for such a small (96 pax max) ship, with a very nice 3 x 5 ft. shower stall with a door (not a nasty curtain to attach itself to one every time the airflow in the cabin changes – after “Psycho”, who can ever trust shower curtains again??).

The ship’s naturalists were uniformly excellent (except for one sweet but rather inept young naturalist who should not have been in that uniform and only was so because her father is one of the most veteran naturalists in the islands). All of the zodiac tours and landings were worthwhile. The wildlife experience – land iguanas, marine iguanas, blue-footed boobies, Great Frigate birds, etc. – is remarkable.

Great Galapagos memory:

Snorkeling with young sea lions. This was the most “Advanced” snorkeling activity of the cruise, which frightened most people away from signing up for it, to their great loss and to the great benefit of those of us who did the excursion (fewer snorkelers meant more time with sea lions). It was snorkeling in deep water in the open sea with no beach nearby and nothing onto which to grab for support, as we were snorkeling along a rugged rock face on Champion Island, a tiny island nearby to Floreana. Ah, but what a total delight and a magical experience it turned out to be. The young sea lions are very playful and curious. Thus, they will approach other water creatures (even portly ones wearing goggles and snorkels) very closely to inspect the newcomers to their aquatic territory. Further, they appear to enjoy comparing their ability to do water acrobatics to that of their visitor. One delightful little (6 ft or so) sea lion decided he would swim with me for a while, after having stared into my eyes from a distance of about six inches from the lenses of my goggles. He first did a couple of back flips to show me how talented he was and then imitated my horizontal spins in the water by doing two of his own around me. The 10-15 minute period I spent snorkeling with that little sea lion and a couple of his buddies (until the whistle from the zodiac reminded me that I was nowhere near the rest of the group) is so fondly etched into my memory that I cannot even conjure up a witty or cynical comment concerning it. Concluding suggestion: If you ever have the occasion to snorkel with sea lions in the open sea, seize upon it.

looking forward to the next installment. Wow,swimming with sea lions, fantasic.

Thanks Freddie for posting this, can't wait for more!

What a wonderful experience. It sounds so much better than my mom's trip there where she tripped, fell and broke her wrist on a Galapagos island. Looking forward to your Machu Picchu report.

Sounds fabulous so far - more Freddie, more!

Really glad that you decided to post a review of your trip. So far, it sounds terrific, especially your snorkeling experience with the sea lions.

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Eugene

Fred, what a magical experience snorkeling with the young sea lion! Clearly you never will forget the experience, and honestly I don't think I ever will forget your description.

Fred, the trip sounds great--looking forward to more.

PART 3 - PERU - LIMA

After our marvelous adventure in the Galapagos, we continued on to Peru for a private tour arranged by B&K with Ker & Downey and Lima Tours. We kind of modeled this tour on the tours offered by Celebrity and by Abercrombie & Kent, making changes to suit our points of key interest, such as spending two nights at Sanctuary Lodge at Machu Picchu (the Celebrity tour doesn't spend any nights at MP, while A&K's tour spends one night at the Pueblo Hotel in Agua Calientes, which is where the train station is for MP). The Sanctuary Lodge stay was the big splurge of the trip; but being able to be at the summit when all the rest of the tourists had gone and being able to see the sunrise before most of the buses arrived were fantastic experiences (as the commercial says, “priceless”). As it turned out, this private tour (car & guides everywhere just for the two of us) of 9 days/8 nights was remarkably competitive with, and in some respects (such as superior hotels) a better deal than the packages offered by Celebrity and A&K, which are small group tours, not private tours.

With no intention or desire to begin a debate about the merits or demerits of the capital city of Peru, I will be frank in stating that Lima is not, by a long shot, our favorite city in the world. Our one day visit there was, for us, fully adequate and will likely satisfy our curiosity about the city for a long while. In full disclosure (as the cable news guys always say just before making some wildly prejudicial statement), I admit that I left the Galapagos with a terrible sinus cold that was severely aggravated by the humidity, dust, and smog in Lima, thus perhaps making me find the city less attractive than I might have done under less-impaired breathing conditions.

In any event, we enjoyed our afternoon tour of the historic city center, followed by a visit to the remarkable Larco Museum, which has the largest private collection of pre-Columbian art in the world. Rafael Larco clearly was an accomplished tomb raider, as most of the tens of thousands of artifacts were taken from burial sites. A particularly famous (infamous?) portion of the museum is the collection of erotic ceramic work of the pre-Incan Moche Dynasty. Our sweet young guide told us that she simply cannot bear to enter that section of the museum and would wait for us outside. That was in rather dramatic contrast to the young female guide whom we saw within the “Sala Erotica” who was entertaining her small tour group with detailed commentary on each of the hyper-priapic figurines on display. I guess that we had the G-rated guide.

PART 4 - PERU - SACRED VALLEY


Trying to observe the traditional wisdom of beginning the Andes experience at the lower elevations and then going to Cusco, we first spent a couple of days in the Sacred Valley at the lovely Sol y Luna resort in Urubamba. The hotel is a walled haven of quiet relaxation, with the scent of flowers everywhere. The food served in the dining room is imaginative and uses many local organic products. Since I don’t much like hot coca tea, the bartender there obliged my request for iced coca tea, assuring me that it was just as effective against altitude sickness as the hot tea and was more consistent from a temperature standpoint with my gin & tonic (the latter being part of my malaria prevention protocol, of course).

Our tour of the Sacred Valley included stops in Ollantaytambo (ruins of a huge Inca fortress) and the charming village of Chinchero. In the latter town, we had an interesting visit to a small crafts cooperative where the ladies were making traditional Andean woven products using the original techniques and only natural dyes. The resulting shawls were quite beautiful but also quite expensive because of the time-consuming process of making the fabric.

Another interesting thing about the visit to the little cooperative was getting to meet their small herd of very cute guinea pigs. The boss lady offered to sell me a couple of them at a very good price to take back to our hotel for the chef to prepare for our dinner. I thanked her profusely for her kind offer but declined, to the great disappointment of our guide, Javier, who had been trying all day to convince us to try his favorite Peruvian delicacy, cuy (grilled whole guinea pig served with its head and feet upturned on the plate). Later in the trip, I did, in fact, have guinea pig ravioli at a trendy restaurant in Cusco; but in that preparation one does not recognize the meat as being associated with a little critter we’re accustomed to seeing playing in a wheel. (Lordie, Ngaire will probably zap this whole post, as she is not fond of “exotic” food.)

If one has time while in the Sacred Valley (maybe, like us, on our way back to Sol y Luna from our day tour) and is interested in Peruvian ceramics, the studio and shop of Seminario Ceramicas in Urubamba is well worthy of a stop. One can see a lot of work from that studio installed on the walls and in the furniture at Sol y Luna. We stopped there at our request, not at the suggestion of our guide (maybe he doesn’t get commissions from the places he takes people). Here is the website: http://www.ceramicaseminario.com/ . The ceramics, particularly the ones with silver decorations on them, are quite beautiful and a nice change from the stuff that looks the same at every souvenir shop in Peru. The studio does contemporary interpretations of traditional Andean designs. We bought a very contemporary plate with whimsical sea life images in silver. It will be a very nice souvenir of Peru and not something anyone else we know who has visited Peru is likely to have. They also have the most beautiful t-shirts we found in Peru (again, beautiful twists on traditional designs). If someone doesn’t have time to make a quick stop at the main shop/studio in Urubamba (which also has a delightful courtyard with large exotic birds and a couple of darling monkeys), there is a shop in Cusco right on the Plaza des Armas, a five-minute walk from the Monasterio hotel. However, the Cusco shop has a much smaller selection than the main shop in the Sacred Valley and does not have any birds or cute monkeys to visit.

I love the Seminario Ceramicas web-site! I'm going to make a point to visit it. Is it very far from Sol y Luna? I imagine taxis are scarce to non-existent, can the hotel arrange transportation if it's not within walking distance?

Laurie - The studio is not within easy walking distance of Sol y Luna, mainly because the main road is a little scary, with lots of vehicles going at lots of speeds. However, the hotel can easily arrange transportation for you to the studio, either by taxi or by the little tuk-tuks that are everywhere in Urubamba. Clearly, the hotel has a good relationship with the studio, as the hotel has Seminario work installed in the walls and furniture of the hotel. The studio is only a few minutes by motorized transport from Sol y Luna. Have fun. It's a great shop. Fred

PART 5 - PERU - MACHU PICCHU

Machu Picchu is far more magnificent and moving than any photograph can sufficiently capture. It is certainly not hard to understand why MP is “South America’s greatest attraction”, according to Frommer. Irrespective of whether it is, in fact, the winner of that contest, it is a glorious place to visit.

We were enormously fortunate that despite the perfect weather we had in early May, the beginning of the high season at MP, the crowds were not overwhelming and were, in some cases, not even crowds. I have photos of many sections of the ruins with no people in them whatever and others with only a handful of people, just enough to give scale to the photos. This moderation of crowds right now at MP is evidence of the dramatic decline (according to our guides, more than 50% from 18 months ago) in tourism to Cusco and MP. Although we enjoyed the lack of crowds on our Peru tour (we were totally alone on the grand Inca terraces at Chinchero and amongst less than a dozen people at the ruins of Ollantaytambo), we recognized that our drivers and guides, all of whom are free-lancers who only get paid for the gigs they do, were suffering a huge cut in their incomes.

Having two and a half days at Machu Picchu was a pure luxury, as it allowed us to tour the ruins at our leisure, rather than try to see everything in the one long o-c binge upon which I would have insisted had we been visiting for only one day. One on my favorite indulgences was going into the ruins late in the afternoon, when most of the visitors had caught the last buses back down to Aquas Calientes, and simply sitting against the ancient stones, enjoying the play of the clouds flying across the summit of Huayna Picchu, the peak that sits just behind the ruins of the city and is always shown in photos of Machu Picchu. Sadly, I did not manage to absorb any wisdom (or even a good set of lottery numbers) from the ancient stones. Perhaps other tourists had already sucked most of the available juju from them. Rats!!

One afternoon, I hiked up to the Sun Gate, from which one has superb views down to the ruins and can wallow in all sorts of New Age zoning out about the summer and winter solstices. It’s not a difficult hike and can be done at an easy pace in a couple of hours. On my way back down, I met a couple who asked me in rather broken English how far it was to the Sun Gate. When I replied that they were only about a third of the way up, the lady (who was a bit zaftig and sweating profusely in the very hot afternoon sun, in addition to having trouble walking on the rough trail in her oh-so-fashionable-but-oh-so-impractical faux-jeweled sandals) looked at me as if I had struck her. As I continued back down the trail, I chuckled as I heard her repeatedly shriek in Russian at her hapless husband that he was a total fool (“durack”) and that she would never forgive him for dragging her up this “expletive-deleted” mountain. I had forgotten that I even knew that expletive in Russian. So, you see, this is what travel can do for someone – refresh old Russian vocabulary from one’s days in the army in the most improbable place. Who would have guessed that I would be the lucky recipient of a Russian refresher course on a trail in the Andes above the splendid ruins of Machu Picchu? Note to self: Do not attempt a hike to the Sun Gate in silly shoes.

PART 6 - PERU - MACHU PICCHU – Sanctuary Lodge

After our trip, we now have become horrible zealots and tell anyone who doesn’t run from us that if one can possibly swing the time and $$$ to stay at Sanctuary Lodge, it is THE way to visit Machu Picchu. Being able to visit the ruins for a few hours, then go back to the hotel for a drink, a nap, a shower, or a meal, and then return to the ruins at one's leisure is priceless. The restaurant at Sanctuary Lodge is quite good and the all-inclusive bar serves premium drinks (e.g. Chivas Regal or JW Black scotch) as part of the inclusive tariff. The hotel sits right at the entrance to the ruins. The hotel was nicer than we'd been led to believe from our guidebooks and has top-flight soft goods as part of Orient Express hotels. It is a modest hotel at a completely spectacular spot and therefore can charge pretty much whatever Orient Express chooses. It was one of the best splurges we've made in our travels.

Check-out time at Sanctuary Lodge is 9:00 am, in order to get rooms ready for mid-day check-in by people arriving on the morning trains or back-packers completing the Inca Trail hike. If you get up early to go see the sunrise over the ruins, you can always come back to your room to freshen up before checking out. Then, after breakfast you can return to the ruins. Lunch on check-out day is also included. After you have checked out, in addition to having access to the bar and restaurant at the hotel, you can also use the pleasant day room, which also has two full bathrooms attached, in case anyone needs a shower before heading for the train in the afternoon. Your daily ticket to the ruins allows multiple entries.

If you are planning to make the climb to Huayna Picchu (which emphatically was not of interest to Pat or me, Pat because he was suffering from altitude sickness and me because I am quite acrophobic and would not really enjoy a climb up slimy stone steps with no railings and a fall of a few thousand feet), you must be among the first few hundred people to enter the ruins in the morning. The park limits the number of climbers and allows them on a first-come basis. It is funny to watch all of those crazy 20-year olds racing each other across the ruins to be sure they make the limit cut. Many of them don’t even look at the wonderful ruins either going to or coming back from the Huayna Picchu climb – they are just comparing their climb times. Yikes, does one have to be a tottering Boomer to appreciate the wonders of Machu Picchu?? Perhaps the best thing is not to allow these foolish young (ah, to be in that category again…) people to even have access to this world treasure, if they prefer to experience it as an athletic contest, rather than as the historic treasure it is? Oops, time to go and meditate on the concept of youth vs. wisdom (and envy of youth).

Now, now, Fred, don't be grumpy. My niece (right after her 2 yr stint in the Peace Corps in Zambia living in a mud hut with no plumbing) loved her trip to Machu Picchu. She neither had the MONEY nor the desire to stay at places like Sanctuary Lodge, (I wouldn't do it any other way after reading your incredible posts)! But, I doubt she was trying to make a record, she had already climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro. We must be democratic, NO? Besides, poor girl is now slaving in some big law firm in NYC, and has those incredible days to look back upon. I envy them, too. Love your trip reports and the humor you inject!

Fred,

I think you need to write a travel book. It would definitely be a best seller. Thank you for taking us all on your trip with you!

Well, now I don't have to report on our forthcoming trip to Machu Picchu before LLAMA. There's no way I'm competing with Fred!

Can't wait to go.

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Eugene

Great trip report to a place I know I will never get to in this lifetime. Thanks for sharing! :)

Fred, thanks for doing this--the snorkel with the seals is the best part so far, for me. And as usual, your writing style is very droll.

I know I will never do those altitudes, especially after hearing about Pat. The Galapagos still remains firmly on my list, however. How overrun with tourists was it generally? Did you see lots of tortoises?

A picture speaks a thousand words. Magical and mystical. Poor Pat, I sympathize, I'd be on my knees the whole time :eek: Should have taken this trip 10 years ago! Good read, my attention span survived! :app:

Well done! I had little interest before but must now add MP to my to do list. I am with Kathy, write the book!
----------------
Helen

Well, that picture sure is amazing, and seductive as well! I too wish I had gone there about 20 years ago, or maybe 40!

Wendy - The Galapagos Islands were not at all teeming with tourists. The ships coordinate their itineraries so that they do not converge on the same islands. The only other groups with which we crossed paths on the hikes were from the small Natl Geo ship that was on pretty much the same itinerary as Xpedition. We always could tell which ship those passengers were from because they all wore stupid name tags!! Cheers, Fred

Fred: A superb report! So glad you enjoyed your visits. Thank you for taking the time to sum it so well. I enjoyed every word. I am glad you found the Seminaria ceramics. They are wonderful.

I second your enthusiasm for the Sanctuary Lodge two-night method for seeing the ruins. It does make sense, especially if one wants to take several shorter visits to see the various areas in Machu Picchu. Oh .. and definitely leave the jeweled sandals at home for this trip.

Huayna Picchu? For those of you who are tempted, or (like me), won't see it personally either by temperment or by physical limits, here are a few shots:

What goes up must come down:


View from above, plastered onto a convenient ledge:



Cheers, Anne

PS - Dearest Fred, Gary is thrilled I'm calling him a foolish young thing today. You've made his day!

Huayna Picchu?...no, I don't think so. I was tempted but Anne and Fred have cured me of that. I got dizzy just looking at Anne's first photo.

I'm going to concentrate on the ruins and the sun gate. No jeweled sandals for me, I'm packing my trusty hiking boots.

<img src="http://i193.photo...w2/09.jpg" border="0">

Holy Alfred Hitchcock!

Fred, I so enjoy reading your travel experiences that I have to make sure to clear the room for uninterrupted reading! What an amazing experience you and Pat had, and as always, I appreciate your wit in your writings. Thanks so much for "taking us with you"!!!

PART 7 - PERU - WHICH CHOO-CHOO TO PICCHU??

A key issue regarding a visit to Machu Picchu is which train to take from Cusco/Sacred Valley. There are three choices, all run by Orient Express as PeruRail: the Backpacker (BP), the Vistadome (VD), and the Hiram Bingham (HB).

The BP is not really a consideration for most mature tourists, as it is not too comfortable and, more importantly, there is (according to our guide, who has to take the BP when he is not accompanying clients on the VD) a high likelihood that you will be sitting among a lot of backpackers (hence the name of the train) who have just finished hiking the Inca Trail and have not been in close proximity to a shower in many days. I guess that PeruRail calls it the “BP train” because calling it the “BO train” would seem rude.

So, for all practical purposes, that leaves the choice between the VD and HB trains. The HB is one of those wonderful old elegant trains that has been restored to its previous glory but is more than twice the cost of the VD. Although we were originally booked both ways on the HB, there was a ticketing snafu, resulting in our going from the Sacred Valley to MP on the VD and returning to Cusco on the HB after our stay at Sanctuary Lodge. As it turned out, that combination worked very well for us and is the one we have recommended to several other people.

The advantage of taking the VD from Cusco or Ollanta (Sacred Valley) to MP is that it gets one there 2 1/2 hours earlier than the HB does, allowing more time at MP. Particularly for people spending only one night there, that extra time on the first day is valuable. Missing the brunch on the HB on the way to MP is no big deal, as there is a very good (included) breakfast buffet at Sol y Luna. Further, the trip to MP is in daylight; so the high ceiling windows in the VD offer better views than the windows on the HB. By going to MP on the VD, one can drop stuff at the hotel, do a nice first tour of the ruins, go back to the hotel for lunch, and then have the afternoon to return to the ruins on one’s own. The entry ticket is good all day. On the second (or last, whichever applies) day, by returning to Cusco on the HB, one leaves MP two hours later than would be necessary if taking the VD. Then there are drinks and a pleasant dinner on the HB, a nice way to end the day. Since the return to Cusco by either train is in the dark, the lack of ceiling windows on the HB is not relevant. We'd never been on one those restored Orient Express trains and enjoyed it. Here is the PeruRail website with info on both trains:

Peru Rail

The passengers and staff on both trains were quite friendly. However, if one decides to have a fling with someone else on the train and has the misfortune to pick up a touch of VD (the STD kind) on the VD (the RR kind), then it is likely best to keep it on the QT but plan to see ASAP the MD at MP. Okee Dokee??

(Sorry, dear readers – I just could not resist playing with all of those letters.)

Luggage issues for the trains to MP are not clearly stated (at least they weren't in our docs) and are a bit of a muddle. Some people were told by their agencies to bring only one small bag about the size of a carry-on bag, while others brought standard-sized luggage. We both brought a carry-on bag and a larger bag about the size of the duffels we used in South Africa (20-30 lbs.). There are luggage compartments on both the VD and HB trains. Upon arrival at Aguas Calientes, there is a uniformed porter from Sanctuary Lodge to take the bags and bring them up to the hotel. Similarly, when one leaves Sanctuary Lodge, the hotel porters take care of getting the luggage to the train. There is a very good luggage storage facility at the Lima airport, just outside the entrance to the domestic section of the terminal, where we left a larger suitcase while we were in the Andes. We then fetched the bag upon our return to Lima from Cusco and checked it with our luggage back to the U.S.

PART 8 - PERU - AMS (YIKES!! HOW HIGH ARE WE??)

Altitude illness, aka AMS (Acute Mountain Sickness) or “Soroche”, does not affect most people in a serious way. Unfortunately, Pat is one of the small group of people who are quite slammed by it. (Please note that I am neither a doctor nor have I played one on TV; thus, these observations are based on our own experience only.)

We had no idea that Pat would be so susceptible to AMS prior to this trip, since we haven't spent much time anywhere at that altitude previously in our 34 years of travel together. We’ve been to a few high places, such as the Jungfrau at about the same altitude as Cusco, with no problems. Of course, that was just for a few hours and was some years ago. In any event, from the moment we landed at Cusco until we left 8 days later, Pat was not comfortable. A huge advantage of being on a private tour was that we could tailor everything to Pat's capacity without holding any other people up, as would have been an issue in even a small group tour. He also took Diamox, the AMS medication prescribed by our travel doctor. It is now sold in the generic version (Acetazolamide) and is quite cheap. We (and our doctor) firmly believe that it moderated Pat's symptoms enough that we did not have to abandon the trip part way through. Diamox has one very odd side-effect - it makes carbonated beverages taste terrible. Since Pat is fairly addicted to Diet Coke, his not being able to drink any for over a week was almost as annoying to him as the terrible fatigue. As I was not taking the drug, I was able to continue my anti-malaria regimen of gin & tonic without interruption.

There is also a Peruvian AMS drug sold everywhere OTC called "Soroche", which happens to be the local name for altitude sickness. A couple of people whom we met in the Galapagos who'd tried Soroche in Peru during the previous week seemed to have survived their use of the local drug without serious side effects, although the husband was stuporously boring. (That may have been a condition he suffered prior to taking the Soroche, though.)

There have been a number of comments by one poster on the CC South America board declaring that using an oxygenated room at the Monasterio in Cusco reduces the chances of one becoming acclimated to the altitude. I am not a expert in travel medicine, but can only go by what I've read and by our personal experience. We could not have stayed in Cusco at all if we hadn't had an oxygenated room for Pat. It allowed him to sleep and not be totally miserable. As far as the issue of oxygen preventing acclimatization, I have not read anything (other than her comments) that suggest that is true. Furthermore, in our case, we were only in Cusco for three nights at the end of your trip. Therefore, acclimating to the high altitude (which normally takes a few days in any event) was simply not terribly relevant by that point in our trip. As Pat had not acclimated to high altitude by then and was still having significant symptoms of AMS, trying to go without the benefit of the oxygenated room would have been quite foolish. One small caveat about the "o" rooms is that they may be a bit smaller than the non-"o" rooms. Our room was fine, though, with a great bathroom. If we had not had the oxygenated room for those last three nights at the Monasterio in Cusco, we'd have had to decamp back down to Lima at sea level as the only reasonable alternative to my offering him as a sacrifice at the nearby temple ruins.

So in the anxious anticipation of AMS (hmm, sounds like the name of an artso-fartso film, not to mention being marvelously alliterative), one certainly should have a consultation with a good travel doctor. Further, since it is so difficult to predict who will be susceptible to the illness, one should try a consultation with a good psychic.

Hmm, this may mean that Tibet and Nepal are off of our trip list...

Freddie,
I loved reading your reports. It's so fun reliving (through you) our wonderful trip to Machu Pichu in 2006. I absolutely loved it and I did better than many with the altitude, sorry it affected poor Pat. Cusco was worse (higher) than Machu Pichu. We too loved the Hiram Bingham Orient Express. That was such a fun train trip.

It is such a magnificent place, it really is impossible to begin to describe it or photograph it. Makes me want to go back but for now at least go look at all our pictures.

Thanks for all your excellent reporting.

P.S. I don't think the oxidizing pump worked into our room. I agree about Lima, didn't do much for us either.

PART 9 - PERU - CUSCO

I loved Cusco and had a grand time wandering about the lovely old city while Pat stayed in our nice oxygenated room at the Monasterio most of the time and learned about such sitcoms as "Friends" and "Everybody Loves Raymond" (or whatever the name of that show was). Thank God for cable.

Most people do tours of the Sacred Valley from Cusco, which we did not have to do, having already spent time in the valley. In addition to our city tour of Cusco (magnificent cathedral), we also drove up to visit Sacsayhuaman, high above Cusco. The ruins are of what was likely the greatest Inca temple complex. It’s nothing like MP, since there are no buildings left (the Spaniards tore them all down) but is quite interesting nonetheless. The enormous stones of the foundations that remain demonstrate the astonishing ability of the Incan stone masons. Nearby, there are fantastic views down onto Cusco (one can even see the Monasterio Hotel quite clearly). The only caveat regarding a visit to Sacsayhuaman is that it is a couple of thousand feet higher than Cusco. Pat was okay (grading, of course, on the curve of his AMS condition) there, since we were only there for a very short time before returning to Cusco and his oxygenated refuge at the Monasterio.

The Monasterio is one of the most beautiful hotels we’ve visited. Here’s the website:

Monasterio

The chapel is exquisite, certainly the most impressive space I’ve ever seen in a hotel anywhere.

The Monasterio is a very short walk (5 minutes) from the Plaza des Armas. But be warned - it is uphill on the return; so one must be sensitive to how one feels and take it easy in Cusco if feeling weak.

Here's a weird item - check-out time at the Monasterio is 9:00 am (as at the Sanctuary Lodge, where it makes some sense). We don't understand that. It surprised many people we saw in the breakfast room (which is quite a spectacular room, by the way), who had planned to explore the city a bit and then check out. Because the hotel was not full and Pat was ill, they allowed us to keep our room until about noon, when we left for the airport (although they turned off the oxygen to the room about 10:00 am - pretty cheap, no??).

The very high price of bottled water at Monasterio annoyed me; but there are little shops everywhere that sell bottled water (same brands as at the hotel) for about 10-20% of the hotel price. This issue (exorbitant hotel prices for bottled water in cities where one must drink only bottled water) is a genuine travel annoyance for us. Generally, the luxury hotels are the worst offenders. Ah, but that discussion is for another thread…

A good place to consider for dinner in Cusco is the new restaurant named Chi Cha, owned by Gaston Acurio, the most famous chef and restaurateur in South America. It's trendy but moderately priced, with the Nouvelle Andean Cuisine that Acurio has championed. Although the concierge at Monasterio told us the dress was smart casual, which we followed, the majority of patrons there on the night we went were wearing levis and athletic shoes. Thus, it is quite casual. We could easily have gone there in our regular daytime expedition gear and fit in well. It might be dressier on a Saturday night, when lots of Cusquenos would be going out.

We loved the Monasterio Hotel !

ok Fred. Jim and I want to go on your next trip. Glad you loved MP. It's one of our favorite trips. Exceeded our expectations which were high. Pam

PART 10 - PERU - LIMA AIRPORT & THE END OF THIS REPORT

Upon our return to Lima to await our flight back to the U.S. later that evening, we had the good fortune (thanks to Lima Tours) to have a day room at the hotel in the airport. It has a great location, literally a 5-minute walk to the International Terminal. The hotel is the Costa del Sol Ramada. Here’s the website:

Costa del Sol - Lima Airport http://www.costadelsolperu.com/lima/ing/index.php

It was quite pleasant, although certainly not a luxury hotel. It's more like a standard business hotel. It had good A/C and a decent little restaurant where we had dinner.

Many people, like us, anticipate the use of an airline lounge at the airport for the long wait until the flights to the U.S., which often depart from Lima between 9:00 pm and midnight. However, even if one has the ability to use a lounge at the airport, the problem is that the ticketing windows don't open until two or three hours before the flight. Thus, one can't get a boarding pass, check luggage, and go through Security/Immigration to get to the area where the lounges are until two or three hours before the flight. In our case, our Continental flight was at about 11:15 pm. The ticketing windows opened at 8:30 pm. We could then check in and go through security and go to the Business Lounge that Continental shares with a number of other airlines.

If we had not had our nice day room at the Costa del Sol, we'd have been sitting for five hours in the crowded and very hot terminal waiting for the ticketing windows to open. This same thing happened to us a couple of years ago in Buenos Aires, after our trip to Antarctica. We had to wait about four hours in the main terminal area before United opened its ticketing windows to allow us to check in and go through security to get to the VIP lounge United used there.

Another thing to bear in mind about long waits at the Lima airport is that it is located in the Callao section of Lima, quite near the sea (and apparently quite near some fishing terminals), resulting in the general air of the airport being one of old fish. Not too pleasant. Luckily, inside the Costa del Sol, we were not subject to that particular olfactory treat. We were able to walk over to the International Terminal, breeze through check-in and security and ensconce ourselves in the lounge (which also had good A/C and not the slightest hint of old fish).

Well, this is likely about as much of my stream of consciousness rambling concerning our trip as anyone could be expected to tolerate; so I will close.

Adios for now. Cheers, Fred

Fred....I'm so glad you posted your travel report. You have the talent of telling the tale in such an interesting and humorous fashion (with or without jewels)!

You definitely make me long to return to MP and now the GI are on my short list as well. Thank you!

Bravo, Fred! Loved it! :app:

You wouldn't dare sacrifice Pat....meanie :eek: Suzanne, Anne and I would force you to listen to our rendition of Michael Jackson's "Thriller"

Fred, an incredible report. Loved reading every word. A fantastic asset to anyone heading to the Galapagos and Machu Picchu. Thanks for taking the time to share your experiences on LCT, much apppreciated.

Incredible reporting Fredie as usual.

Swimming with the Sea Lions is now right at the top of my "to do" list......guinea pig for dinner however, is MUCH further down on the list.


Having not (yet) been to MP, I cannot make a comparrison, but we did have (minor) issues with the altitude when we were in Tibet, though not nearly as considerable as those that Pat faced on your trip.

Fred, I enjoyed your incredible posts. I'd love to take this trip some day. Thanks for taking the time to write about it.

Is there a need to exchange dollars for soles? I know many of the larger stores will accept credit cards but do the market vendors accept dollars?

Fred, thank you so much for all your posts! Not sure I want to snorkel with sea lions, but the rest of them left me with the ultimate curiosity to visit this area when I regain my youth! (the climbing part)

Lauri, We only used USD is Cuzco and MP at both stores and markets. Debbie

Good to know...thanks Debbie!

Olivia - You don't want to snorkel with sea lions??!! That was the best part of the Galapagos trip. They're very cute and probably seldom bite people.

Lauri - We found that anyone who didn't take credit cards accepted US dollars. Even fairly small stores (grocers and pharmacies) took credit cards. We used dollars for tips and taxis, as well. Have fun.

Lauri - when we were there several years ago, the merchants (I'm specifically talking about Cuzco here) had a system where the store's money was held off premises. If you needed change from your purchase, someone would run off with the money and come back with the change. It surprised us the first time it happened, but we always got our change promptly. We were advised to bring plenty of small bills ($1s and $5s). It was a good idea for Peru.

The other interesting feature is Peru is nearly all wired for the internet. The internet cafes in cuzco were really cheap for checking e-mail. We were there in our pre-wireless days so can't say about hot spot availability.

There were two jewelry stores in Cuzco stocking only Carlos Chaquiras silver creations. He's one of Peru's best known artists. The works are unique and breathtaking. I got a few pairs of earrings in the $60-$80 range. Even if the price tag does not make sense for the budget, the silver work is worth seeing. Google was having trouble with the link, so this is a copy of the cached page: Carlos Chaquiras

Cheers, Anne

Thanks Anne!

I'm working on my bargaining in Spanish (yay for podcasts!). Good to know about the easy internet availability. I'm bringing my laptop and iPhone (international data roaming OFF!!) so I can download photos as I go and maybe I'll give skype a whirl if I can find some hot spots. E-mailing home will work if Skype doesn't.

I had a similar experience with the off-site change procedure in China. Good to be forewarned.