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Peru, Ecuador and The Galapagos, Travel

Our Peru, Ecuador, and Galapagos Islands Adventure – Quito

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Tuesday 3rd Cuzco to Quito

Another early start, though not as early as yesterday. It was a civilized five thirty a.m. wake up call this morning. We actually had time to sit down and eat breakfast before heading for the bus to the airport.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, our hotel, in Cuzco, the Palacio del Inka, was a remarkable hotel. It offered excellent food, luxurious rooms, and brilliant staff. It had everything you could want in a hotel. There was also a lot of history associated with the building. We didn’t get time to appreciate it. Because of the schedule we were on, we might as well have stayed in a Travel Lodge.

This is my only criticism of the holiday. I would have liked this phase to have been slowed down a bit. An extra day in Cuzco would have been good. Our son did a tour of South America a few years back and said that he really loved Cuzco.

On with the journey.

To get to Quito from Cuzco we had to fly via Lima. The first flight left Cuzco about nine and arrived in Lima about an hour and a half later. We had about an other hour and a half to wait for our flight to Quito. That flight took about two and a half hours. By the time we had cleared immigration and customs, and got the bus to our hotel it was six p.m. when we arrived. There was not much to report about today. The quinoa bars that Latam Airlines serve as an in-flight snack are OK. Still, I would have preferred a packet of crisps.

Our hotel was another Marriott hotel. All the hotels we stayed in were Marriott hotels. The JW Marriott Hotel to be exact. It was a modern glass and concrete building, but reasonably attractive. The rooms were comfortable and the food was good

A pair of very curious travelers.

Wednesday 4th – Chocolate, policemen and The Centre of the World.

We had a moderately sane start to today, our tour left at 9:30. Waking up at 7:30 gave us enough time to actually sit down and enjoy breakfast.

Chocolate

Ecuadorian chocolate is probably the best in the world. A visit to an artisan chocolatier was the first stop on our tour of Quito and its surrounding area.

Indemini Baez has been going for about twenty years and is the product of an Ecuadorian-Swiss couple Bertrand Indemini and Cristina Baez. The chocolate pedigree is there. We were given a short history of the origins of chocolate. We were then introduced to how they make their chocolate. Their beans are carefully sourced. All their beans are fairly traded, and they keep track even down to community and plantation level where each batch is sourced.

We were given a demonstration of how the chocolate is made. Samples of their various products were tried. Most of their chocolate is in the 55% to 100% cocoa solids range. ( The 100% stuff is an acquired taste.) They also make an interesting white chocolate, based on cocoa butter and barley.

They also add things such as chilli, black walnuts and Inca peanuts to their bars.

Obviously there was an opportunity to buy some of the chocolate. Which we did, with the intention of taking it home as presents. Some of it even made it back to the UK. It is very good chocolate.

Policemen (and Jesuits)

Following our chocolate experience, we went for a walking tour of central Quito. We walked to the Plaza Grande, home to the Presidential Palace, various other government buildings and more police than you could shake a stick at. They all were very friendly, almost cuddly. (Unlike some of the police we met later when we were stranded in Guayaquil, more of that in a later post). I think they were meant to be a reassuring presence, which they were. But there were a lot of them.

Friendly Cop
Probably Friendly Cops
Presidential Palace

Moving on from the Plaza Grande we visited the Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesús (the Jesuit Church). It is, to my taste, a bit over the top. They have slightly over done the gilding, overdone it to the extent, that if the church was melted down, it would probably solve Ecuador’s national debt. Check out the gallery to see what I mean.

By this time it was more or less time for lunch. We were whisked off to the El Cráter Hotel, which as the name suggests is on the edge of a volcanic crater (no longer active). The Cráter Pululahua to be precise. The views from the terrace were impressive.

Moderately interesting, useless fact; the city of Quito is built over the craters of seven inactive volcanoes.

The lunch was also good.

The Centre of The World

After a short llama encounter we travelled on to Mitad del Mundo (Middle of the World). Ecuador, as it’s name indicates is bisected by the Equator. Quito is very slightly to the south of the line. It was fun to stand with one foot in the northern hemisphere and one in the southern. Giving Diane a kiss across the hemispheres also had to be done.

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Other than taking a few photos there wasn’t that much else to be done there. There were a few shops and places to get a coffee. There was a reasonably interesting display of the history of Ecuador inside the tower, but other than that nothing to keep you on site for longer than an hour.

It was then back to the hotel for what we thought would be our last night on mainland South America.

There was a bit of time to kill before dinner. As the hotel had a pool I decided to have a swim. I had sort of forgotten about the altitude (2850 metres). Being about five hundred meters lower than Cuzco, and because I was becoming acclimatised to the it, I was no longer getting out breath just walking. Swimming was different. I found that I could only manage about ten meters before having to stop for a rest. It was nice to have a swim though.

Then it was dinner and bed, before another early start as we headed off to the Galapagos Islands and the reason we had spent the amount of money we did.

Peru, Ecuador and The Galapagos, Travel

Our Peru Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands Adventure – Machu Picchu

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Monday 2nd

Today was a day that held the possibility of being disappointing. Machu Picchu is a place that is on everyone’s bucket list, and possibly the most Instagramed place on earth. What if it didn’t live up to the hype and expectations?

The day started early, very early, a wake up call at four a.m. early. Our wonderful hotel had breakfast waiting for us, with the option of a take-away. It was difficult to drink enough coffee to wake me up properly. I filled the largest cup available to take with me.

We had to be in a place called Ollantaytambo to catch the train to Machu Picchu. The bus journey there was uneventful, I dozed most of the way. Well apart from when we hit random speed humps placed in unexpected places. We travelled down the Sacred Valley, also called the Urumbamba Valley, as it follows the course of the Urumbamba river.

We arrived in Ollantaytambo in time to catch the 08:00 train to Aguas Calientes.

The train journey takes about an hour and a half. We travelled along the banks of the fast flowing Urumbamba River, through spectacular Andean scenery. On the way we were entertained by a shaman who gave us some of the history of the place. There was also quite a lot about the spiritual and practical uses of coca leaves. I didn’t quite follow all that he told us about the spiritual significance. Still, the practical uses are helping relieve altitude sickness and keeping you awake. There were coca teabags in our hotel room for that purpose. (For relieving altitude sickness, rather than keeping you awake). They are also the raw material for the manufacture of cocaine, but he didn’t dwell on that.

Our Shaman
Coca leaves
Urumbamba River
Urumbamba River

After we arrived in Aguas Calientes, we took a short walk from the station. We then caught a bus to Machu Picchu itself. It is a very long and winding road up to the ruins. Spectacular, but it can also feel slightly scary. Especially if you are not keen on looking down vertical drops of a few hundred meters. After about twenty five minutes we arrived safely at the ruins. But it was the easier way. Well compared the the route our daughter, and also a couple of our friends, took to get there. They walked the Inca Trail. I would point out that they were a lot younger than we are now.

The number of visitors to the site is carefully controlled. Likewise, the parts of the site we were allowed to visit were regulated. There are three designated routes. I went on route two, which has a fair amount of climbing. Diane was still having some trouble with her knee. She chose the low level route three. She also had her own personal guide.

My one piece of advice to anyone planning to visit Machu Picchu is make sure you have decent footwear. You need at least a good pair of training shoes. This is not a place for flip flops.

Now that I had arrived, what did I think of Machu Picchu?

I was not disappointed. It is as spectacular as the publicity suggests, possibly more so. The choice of my photos below only hint at how spectacular the site is.

Our guide was very knowledgeable and entertaining, but I did not absorb everything he told us. This Wikipedia Machu Picchu page link offers a more detailed account of the site than I could manage. It is also more accurate than I would have produced.

One thing I do remember though . The tree pictured in one of the slides above is there because someone put their walking stick in the ground. Then forgot about it. It took root and grew into the tree that is there now.

It took about two hours to walk around the site. I don’t know that we saw everything, but we saw enough.

The trip back down to Aguas Calientes was slightly less scary than the trip up. This was possibly because I knew what to expect with the views of the drop offs. After we arrived back in the town we had a short walk to a restaurant for lunch. It was fine if nothing memorable.

After lunch we had about an hour or so to kill before we caught the train back to Ollantaytambo. So naturally we spent it looking for toy llamas for our grand-kids. Diane also liked the look of some of the silver bangles that were for sale. So she bought some.

The trip back to Ollantaytambo, was similar to the trip out. We had entertainment on the way back as well. This time, we had a theatre group. They presented the tale of two star-crossed lovers from the pre-Columbian times. It was entertaining.

It’s also worth noting that the train had an observation car. This car, with its glass roof, gave an amazing view of the valley.

We arrived back in Ollantaytambo after about ninety minutes. It was beginning to get dark. We found our way back to the bus to take us back to Cuzco. Two hours later we were back at our hotel.

We had dinner and then straight to bed. Ready for another early start the next day,

It was a very long day. It was worth it though. Machu Picchu was every thing that I hoped it would be. It was visually spectacular. It was historically and architecturally interesting. Possibly arriving at dawn, having walked the Inca Trail, might have made the experience even more memorable. Even so I will remember the day for the rest of my life. A genuine bucket list experience.

Please note that the feature image is AI enhanced.

Peru, Ecuador and The Galapagos, Travel

Our Peru, Ecuador and Galapagos Adventure – Cuzco and Sacsayhuamán

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Sunday 1st

Welcome to the, “If it’s Sunday it must be Cuzco” phase of the holiday.

We had breakfast early, to allow enough time to get to the airport for our flight to Cuzco. Lima’s traffic is diabolical.

There were a few problems with Diane’s wheelchair assistance at the airport. But they were overcome. We arrived in Cuzco without any further problems.

The only problem we encountered was due to the altitude. Cuzco is situated at 3,399 meters (11,152 feet) above sea level. This can lead to altitude sickness, especially if you arrive straight from sea level, as we did. Diane and I only suffered from shortage of breath, due to the lack of oxygen. Some of our party were quite ill.

Our hotel, the Palacio del Inca, was spectacular. It is housed in a five hundred year old colonial mansion.

It has a large number of original paintings from that period.

We arrived late morning and after a quick lunch we were whisked off to explore.

First we called at Museo de Sitio Qorikancha. Which was more or less next door to the hotel. The museum is situated in the former Church of Santa Domingo. This church was built on an Inca Temple called Qorikancha which was a temple of the sun. The small museum gave a picture of what life was like in the temple, before the arrival of the Conquistadors. The ancient city of Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire.

Our time in the museum was short but interesting. The artifacts on display were not that much different from those we had seen at the Larca museum in Lima. What was interesting was the way that the temple had been constructed to withstand earthquakes.

If you look closely you can see that there was no mortar used in the construction. This allows the blocks to move freely, during an earthquake. You can also probably see that the openings are trapezoid shaped, rather than rectangular. This gives extra strength compared to a normal rectangular shaped opening.

After about thirty minutes we were whisked off to our next stop. The fortress temple of Sacsayhuamán. On the way there we stopped for a view over the city.

Diane made a new friend.
Cuzco

Sacsayhuamán is an incredible place. It was probably built in the 15th century during the reign of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui. The blocks of stone that it is built from are huge. It is difficult to conceive how they were moved and put into position. The Inca did not have slaves as we understand the concept today. But there was a system of conscripted labour. There were around twenty thousand labourers working on the site at any one time.

Archaeology carried out on the site indicates that may have been occupied from around 900 CE. Some theories suggest that the site was first built upon during the Killke period (900 to 1200 CE). This period preceded the Inca.

The site is still used today. Peruvians continue to celebrate Inti Raymi, the annual Inca festival of the winter solstice and new year. It is held near Sacsayhuamán on 24 June. Another important festival is Warachikuy, held there annually on the third Sunday of September.

The photos give an indication of the size of the blocks that were used. The site is not as spectacular as it would have been when the Spanish first arrived. Just as every farm within fifteen miles of Hadrian’s Wall is built with stones from the wall. Similarly, almost all the older buildings in Cuzco were constructed using stones from Sacsayhuamán. Fortunately it now a UNESCO world Heritage site.

From there we moved on to an alpaca and llama farm. where we got to meet and feed, but not lick, some llamas and alpacas. We also got to see some of the amazing woven wall hangings that they did. The designs are based on Inca designs. They were wonderful, but unfortunately out of our price range. There was also some very attractive knitwear, fashioned from alpaca wool.

By the time we got back to Cuzco it was getting dark. We were dropped off in the main square which was near our hotel. It was an attractive space, but again we didn’t have a lot of time to explore.

We needed to be back to the hotel for dinner. The next day was going to be a very early start.

Note: the featured image is AI generated

Peru, Ecuador and The Galapagos, Travel

Our Peru, Ecuador and Galapagos Adventure

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We have been off on our travels again. This time to South America.

Diane and her friend Helen like the occasional exotic holiday. They have been to Costa Rica and Namibia in the past. About this time last year they started plotting planning again. The Galapagos Islands were suggested. Various options were explored, but they eventually settled on this trip with HX Expeditions. This time, however, they generously allowed me and Helen’s partner Tony to tag along.

For my part, I left the planning to Diane. I did have a problem finding suitable clothing for a tropical expedition, in January, in Kingston. If I had been going skiing, or ice climbing, no problem, but lightweight quick drying clothes, not so easy. I eventually found some trousers, but couldn’t find the type of shirts that I wanted.

We were told that the ship would supply all the snorkeling gear we needed. So I didn’t need to worry about that. They do supply all the required gear. I decided to get a couple of SPF50 rash vests from Decathlon. You don’t normally need to worry about getting sunburn swimming at the Malden Centre.

Friday 30th January: Getting There

Our car turned up at 03:15 to take us to Heathrow. There are no direct flights from London to Lima, so we flew with Air France via Paris.

Diane unfortunately managed to damage her knee during our Pilates class the Sunday before. It had improved, she was still having trouble walking, so we asked for assistance at the airport. Having assistance made getting through security easier. But it also meant some hanging around waiting for a person with a wheelchair to show up.

All aboard the love train

The flights were fine, if long, at twelve hours. Diane decided to upgrade us to business class, which was worth it.

We landed in Lima (Peru) about 17:00 local time. We retrieved our bags and then fought our way through Lima’s traffic. It was about 20:30 when we arrived at our hotel, the AC Hotel Miraflores. We ordered a sandwich and a beer from room service, then went to bed.

Saturday 31st January: Exploring Lima

This would be the last morning for a while that we would have breakfast at a semi-sensible time. After breakfast, we met at about 09:30 for a walking tour of Lima. The hotel is situated a fair way from the centre of the Lima, so a bus was laid on to take us to the centre

We commenced our tour in the Plaza José de San Martin. It is named after the liberator of Peru, General José de San Martin, who proclaimed Peru’s independence in 1841. It is an attractive square, but had rather a lot of police hanging around. Not sure what for. Our guide did mention that the plaza was often the focus point for demonstrations and protests. I don’t know if they were expecting one later in the day.

We walked along Jiron de La Union, the main street. We passed the impressive Basilica de La Merced on the way. We didn’t go in, we didn’t have time.

c19th drawing of the facade

I hadn’t realised it initially, but we had started on an American in Europe style tour of Peru and Ecuador.

We carried on down Jiron de La Union until we reached the Plaza Mayor (Main Square). It has the Presidential Palace on one side. The Town Hall takes up the second side. On the third side, we have the Archbishop’s palace and the Basilica Cathedral de Lima. The fourth side is shops and restaurants.

Archbishop’s Palace
Presidential Palace
Town Hall
Inside the Cathedral
Wedding
Impressive Nativity Scene

We had a look round the Cathedral. It looks very much like any other Catholic cathedral. However, because Lima suffers frequent earthquakes, the cathedral has been destroyed several times. It is now largely constructed from wood and adobe bricks. The Cathedral also holds the bones of Francisco Pizarro, the Conquistador. (The bones on show are replicas)

We left the cathedral, and the wedding that was in progress. We gave our regards to President Balcázar then headed back to the bus. Our next stop was the Museo Larco. On the way there, we passed a pre-Inca pyramid.

The Museo Larco is an impressive collection of pre-Colombian art. Their website tells how the collection came about, and explains the museum’s purpose today. The museum is situated in a private house and is privately owned. On display are pre-Colombian textiles, pottery and metal work. It was all impressive, but as with the conquistadors, it was the gold that caught the eye.

Part of the museum houses a collection of Inca and pre-Inca erotic art. The collection is mainly pottery and were quite graphic in some cases. This being a family friendly blog, I have not included any photographs. For those of you interested, this link takes you to the Erotic Gallery website.

We had lunch at the restaurant attached to the museum, which I would recommend. After lunch, we headed back to the hotel. Diane decided to have a nap. I couldn’t sleep, so I went for a wander. I found a statue of Peru’s most famous character.

We thought about going out for dinner, but I didn’t see anywhere that caught my eye on my wander. We were going to start early the next day. So, we decided to have dinner at the hotel. Then we went to bed.