I started off the 10 days fairly well, somewhat keeping up with my journal to capture all the details of our trip. I enjoy going back and reading these later. After day 5 I gave up. Each night we were so exhausted from the day's activities I just didn't have the energy to write. So, below you will see my first three days in detail. Days 4 and 5 will follow. The remaining days will likely be lumped together and in the form of bullet points! :-) . (Good thing I wasn't getting paid to write about it!)
Day 1- Monday - Travel Day.
Living in Union makes life a little different now. It's a little more challenging to get to the airport for a 6:00 am flight. Luckily, Anna told us about a great hotel deal where we could spend the night, grab a shuttle to the airport and leave our car parked at the hotel while we were gone. At a very reasonable price! This made Monday morning travel a "little" better. We were up at 3:00 am. Ugh. We had the hotel shuttle picking us at 4:00 to take us to the airport. The airport was much busier than I had expected. And the coffee shops were not open yet. Not good.
We were all tired but still having fun. The coffee place finally opened which helped. We were apparently a bit slap happy and playing with a banana we had. Jim was using it as a phone, a weapon, a hammer and anything else he could think of. I named it Stanley. (The things you do when you are overtired and excited at the same time are amazing.)
Our flight to Newark was only 2 hours but it is uncomfortable and feels much longer. Jaimey can't sleep well on planes and gets no sleep whatsoever. On the plane, we get a snack with our drink. A "Stroopwafel". A snack from Holland. Very good. Not sure why I wrote about this but it seemed important at the time.... We arrive in Newark and now had a 5 hour layover.
We started with a bite to eat. The experience was a bit shocking. I feel that I am fairly well traveled but I have never seen anything like the food market in the Newark airport. There is an area with many choices of food. Kind of like a food mall. You order whatever food you want from an I-pad type screen in each area, get all of your receipts (if you ordered from more than one area) and then go to a centrally located self-serve checkout to pay. Very different.
We walk around the airport and finally end up at our gate. Then we sit. It actually goes quite quickly and before you know it, it is time to board.
It was a long flight. The plane was a 757 so not very large for an 8 hour flight. The seats were terribly uncomfortable but we were able to watch movies which made the time go by fairly quickly. And of course, we napped when we could.
We land and head into the Lima airport. So many people but absolutely no problems at all. As we are going through the airport we see two officers with drug sniffing dogs. One of the dogs goes after a woman's bag. As we pass by the officer is asking her to open her bag.
We find our driver from Gate 1 travel and head out into the city. We are staying in a very nice touristy area called Mira Flores. We meet two other people (Pennie and Jay) that are on our tour. We find out that we have a total of 16 people in our tour group. We are very pleased that it is a small tour group. The bus ride to the hotel is amazing. It's about 10:00 pm and the traffic is crazy. I don't think this town ever sleeps. We drive along the ocean heading to our hotel . Great views. About 45 minutes later we arrive at our hotel. VERY NICE. We get checked in and head out to get a bite to eat. The restaurant in the hotel has already closed for the evening, We are in an area of many bar-type places but we are tired and really can't tell what each place is so we end up at ................................... Houlihans. Yes, Houlihans. It is drizzling. Our excuse is that is is drizzling outside, we wanted to eat outdoors but under cover, we wanted someplace comfortable and familiar............ blah blah.
The good news is they have pisco sours. Our guide had told us that pisco sours are "the drink" of Peru. We all have a pisco sour and we all fall in love with them!
We are now exhausted with a busy day ahead of us so we head back to the hotel and go to bed. Looking forward to tomorrow!
Day 2 - Lima
We all had a great night sleep and woke at 7:00 am to start our day. The shower is fantastic. Great way to start the day.
Jim and I go downstairs for coffee and leave Jaimey to finish getting ready. The breakfast buffet is a variety of goodness. Eggs, pastries, fruit, meats, cheeses...... and coffee.
We meet Gary, our guide for the week. Jaimey joins us and we casually make our way down to the lobby to meet the rest of our group. We have a total of 16 people. Throughout the day we get to talk to each of them and learn a bit about everyone. Teachers from Virginia, a couple from the Dominican Republic, a couple from New York, a couple from Houston..... we get along with everyone!
While we are on the bus we rout the city and learn more of the history of Peru and what an evolving city it is. Very oppressed, but up and coming.
We visit the Monastery of San Francisco. Such a beautiful church with a library from the 1600's that was stunning. Very Harry Potter-ish with spiral staircases. Monastery of San Franciso in Lima.
We tour the city and learn a lot of history from Gary. The Caucasian population only makes up 15% of Peru. The Peru people are Castillion, not Spanish. They generally have a bad relationship with Chile. There are many different Spanish languages.
The end of the tour was beautiful We drove along the coast on a road overlooking the cliffs. The views were spectacular.
We went back to the hotel on the bus. The we had free time for a few hours. We made the decision to change clothes (and shoes) and walk back to the cliffs to have a late lunch.
We had lunch at Mangos which is a restaurant right on the cliff. Our table was outside and the view overlooked the ocean.
The area were were in was a mall-type atmosphere with many stores and restaurants.
The food was amazing and we had another pisco sour. The one we had the night before was a traditional one so this time we chose a passion fruit pisco sour. A bit strong, but very good.
After lunch, we walked along the cliffs taking more photos and then walked back to the hotel. On the way we passed Kennedy Park. There were so many stray cats! I have since researched and found that the cats are somewhat famous. Cats of Kennedy Park
Back at the hotel, we take a quick nap. Afterward, we have our meeting with our tour group. We found out all the information we needed to know for the rest of our trip. We talked wiht everyone about their evening plans. We chose to go it alone and head for a restaurant our guide had recommended. Cafe de la Paz. Again, amazing food!
On the way back to the hotel, we walked through the vendors that were set up in Kennedy Park. Fun evening. Then it was time to end our evening.
Day 3 - Cusco
Another early morning. Up at 5:00 so we could catch our flight to Cusco.
Our luggage had to be outside our room by 6:00 and we had to meet in the lobby at 6:40 to depart for the airport at 6:45. Luckily we had time for a quick breakfast.
The bus was ready and waiting four our group. Driving to the airport was insane. I can't believe we did not witness an accident or see a pedestrian get hit....... but we didn't. Gary gave us a lot of great information on Peru history again.
Once at the airport we made our way easily through security and our gate. Talking to everyone is really enjoyable. We had to take a shuttle bus to our gate. We met a school group from Joliet IL on the bus and talked to them. We met one of the chaperones that had graduated four years ago. Very interesting young lady. She told us of her travels to Hong Kong to study abroad and then spent 2 months traveling around Asia with just herself and a friend. Fun to listen to her.
We get to our gate and have to walk out to the plane to board. Interesting. The flight is quick and uneventful though. There is some minor malfunction on the plane and we end up with a 30 minute delay. I nap for a bit until we take off. WE landed in Cusco less than an hour later where the sun was shining brightly!
Our group got our luggage and boarded our bus. I knew it was going to be a long ride. I was feeling a little lightheaded from the high altitude. Jim had grabbed some coca leaves from the baggage area and shared with me so I was hopeful they would help.
Our first stop was the Chinchero grade school. This was very emotional for me. A little girl came up and took my hand to walk me inside. My heart melted. The children were so wonderful. We left a donation in hopes it helps at least one child.
We left the school and headed to a women's association where we would have lunch followed by a demonstration of the textiles these women turned into product to sell/trade. Lunch was extraordinary! They served us three courses and we were all quite full. The ladies spoke Quechea and we leaned that Thank You in Quechea is Solpayki.
Throughout the day I am trying to remember the difference between Alpacas and Llamas.
We leave and head to the Chinchero region to find our hotel. We are driving through what looks like ruins. We get to the hotel and I am amazed at how nice it is. The have free coca tea waiting for us and are all wonderful. The grounds are beautiful. (The hotel is actually in Yucay.) There are vendors out in the hotel yards selling their goods. Not pushy at all and very friendly. We walk into our room and are quite surprised at how nice it is. As we are looking around the room I open the bathroom window and hang my head out to look around. I am surprised to see 2 alpacas out in one of the side yards. We have about an hour to explore before we meet everyone so we go meet the alpacas (of course). They are adorable. One is tied up and the other is loose. We came to the conclusion that the one that is loose won't leave because it is a mate to the one that is tied up. Just a theory.
We walk the grounds a bit longer and the head out to meet everyone so we can go to dinner. We drive to the restaurant where we are the only people (our group) dining. Not sure why but it works for us! We enjoy a lovely dinner with everyone and listen to a Peruvian 3-piece band. They are great. After dinner we end up buying a CD from them. Jim goes a bit further and buys a pan flute from them...... as do a couple others in our group. This turns into the three of them that bought the flutes trying to play them. Absolutely hilarious! Everyone is laughing and having a great time. This continues on our ride back to the hotel.
We are now at the end of another great day!
No comments:
Post a Comment