Peru Day 11 - Sacred Valley (Maras and Salinas)

At this point, I think we could have done with not seeing another agricultural terrace, but this was part of the damned tour, and was included in our tourist ticket, and we had already rented a car for the day.  So off we went to the Maras agricultural circle.  There were 3.  Left rather unimpressed after the days of stunning sites on the Inca Trail, but here are the photos as proof.  We thought that perhaps these used to be an amphitheater for performances, or executions, or sports.  Maybe they performed the Pachamama song here - this was probably my favourite song from being in Cusco/Sacred Valley, all the street performers were performing it.  Special shout out to that YouTube clip at 1:20 where they make coca leaves rain.  Oh yeah.

The purpose of this segment of the Sacred Valley tour for me really was to see the salt flats and I was glad we did it.  We had to pay a separate S/. 7 entrance fee for that (not included in the tourist ticket).  I dipped my finger into the running spring and licked it and confirmed it was salty, and got scolded by Lingon for that.

We had our last meal at Cicciolina in Cusco.  I only mention it because I want to tell you not to eat there.  It was not good.

We went to the Cusco airport early, since we only rented the car until a specified time.  Cusco airport was unremarkable.  Pringles were cheaper than on the Inca Trail, thankfully.  Waited at the Lima airport food court, had Starbucks and Pardo's chicken (which was actually probably just as tasty as the branch we went to in Lima itself).  The United counter opened at 7.30pm, AA around 9pm, and then we said adios to Peru.  Fond memories.

I will end with a random Peruvian fact according to a guide we had.  Quinoa used to be S/. 4 per kilogram 10 years ago, and is now S/. 22, more than 5 times the price.

Visiting Peru

Lima
 The Lima airport is nothing remarkable.  It actually has a Starbucks and a decent food court (pre-security), and some shopping at duty free (post-shopping).  There is no free wifi for general use.  The international side has a lounge that both One World and Star Alliance premium members can use (I'm not sure if other brands can use it, so please check), which serves OK food but has very slow wifi.  It has computer terminals that are infinitely faster though, so if you are not limited to your own device, try to snag one.

When you exit the arrival area, immediately on your right will be the official taxis called Taxi Green.  The rates are fixed based on where you are going, and we were charged S/. 50 to Miraflores.  It took us about 40 minutes.  The driver said normally it would be about 30 minutes, but there was highway construction which resulted in a diversion.

There are Scotiabank ATMs on the second floor of the airport that do not charge you a fee, so when you exit arrivals you can walk straight ahead and take the escalators on the left up, turn right, keep walking, and see a bunch of ATMs.  There are also other banks, but we found Scotiabank to be sufficient.  :-)

Figuring out a SIM card was a pain, but basically you have to go to a shop that sells the card itself (they call it "chip" there).  We found a department store with Movistar and Claro desks, and managed to get a chip, but then had to go to a pharmacy to get a top up card.  We paid about US$5 for the chip, and US$10 for 500MB of data for 30 days (but the maximum daily use was 10MB).

Restaurants generally do not include tip (one did, Senzo in Cusco for 18%, which did not have very good food though service was good and the ambience was lovely), and the Lonely Planet told us to tip 10%.  Sometimes when restaurants run your credit card, they include a buffer for authorization of up to 20%, but will only charge whatever tip you write down on the paper.

Negotiate a rate before you get into a taxi.  To/from airport/Miraflores is S/. 50.  We managed to get S/. 20 rate between Miraflores and the old historic center, and S/.10 between Miraflores and San Isidro.

The folks in Lima do not speak very good English.  Do try to learn some key Spanish words, otherwise I suppose pointing and gesturing might help.  Lol.

Food was generally salty.  This applies to all of Peru.  I felt like a salt pan after this trip.

Puno
Airport seemed like a giant container.  Do not expect anything.

Altitude here is high, I think around 14,000 ft.  Consider taking diamox or some other kind of altitude sickness pills.  Coca tea is supposed to help with altitude sickness.  I liked the taste, and warm drinks, so I kept drinking it but not sure if it actually helped (maybe, maybe not).

Taxi fare is around S/. 80 from Juliaca airport (JUL) to town, and takes about an hour.  We managed to negotiate S/. 75 on principle heading into town, but got our hotel to get us a taxi back to the airport for S/. 80.

Our Lake Titikaka tour cost S/. 75 each.  The hotel said it is possible to go to Uros (reed islands) on our own, but not Taquille (boat might go there and not wait for you to return, no scheduled boats), so we opted for a tour.  Taquille was just OK, so if you have limited time or just want to chill in Puno which has lots of great shopping (we are told it is much cheaper than Cusco) you can just take the scheduled boats to Uros to see the reed islands.  It is really amazing how they built them!

Cusco/Sacred Valley
Airport sucked, had some food.  There was free wifi but Dawg had to fiddle around for a long time to get it to work, so just take it as there was no free wifi.

Cusco is also at elevation, I think around 11,000 ft, but lower than Puno.  Diamox was also recommended.

Our friends' hotel included a free transfer to the airport.  Lingon and I took our taxis separately since we came on different flights - he arrived earlier and negotiated S/. 20, so I did the same.  Lonely Planet said it would cost S/. 12-15, and Wiki Travel said S/. 10.  The official airport taxi price is S/. 40, so unless you are the sort who is embarrassed to bargain, you can save quite a bit here.

Food in Cusco was much more expensive.

Shop around for a Sacred Valley tour (Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Chinchero).  The Lonely Planet said we could get one for $22 (not including the tourist ticket, which is either S/. 70 for 2 days or S/. 130 for 10 days (about US$25 or $46).  Zito and Dawg's hotel was quoting USD$75 and ours was quoting $88 including the tourist ticket and lunch, but we went near the main square and found a travel agency that charged us S/. 30 not including the tourist ticket and lunch.  What a deal right?  Not sure how the tour would have been like if we took a more expensive tour, but we enjoyed the ruins anyhow and our tour guide spoke some good English so I was happy.


Inca Trail
I believe we start around 9,000+ ft. of elevation.  It is VERY highly recommended to stay in Cusco for a few days to get acclimatized and I completely agree with this if you plan to do the Inca Trail, because the Inca Trail is brutal.

Of all the big hikes I have done (the other two being Kilimanjaro and W Trek at Torres del Paine), this was the most interesting, since there were ruins to see and stories to hear along the way, since people lived here many many centuries ago.

While I think this is a really amazing hike, I recommend it with reservations, since it really was quite a physical challenge.

Cell service was poor.  Toilets were poor.  Please practice the third world squat if your tour company does not bring a portable toilet for you.

After the hike, you will be taken to Aguas Calientes for lunch and to take the train back to Poroy where probably your tour agency will meet you and transport you back to Cusco.  We were booked on the second train at 4.43pm, which was way more time than we needed.  There is a 3.20pm train, so try to get your travel agency to book that for you if possible.  We did the Huayna Picchu hike and managed to finish up around 12.30pm and be at our designated restaurant (where our bags were stored) at 1.00pm, and for us we just wanted to go back and relax so waiting there was brutal.  All the restaurants in Aguas Calientes seemed to be cash only, so make sure you have some cash to pay the bill!  They also take USD but the exchange rate is poor.

Visit Peru!!!!  :-)

Peru Day 6 - Sacred Valley

Today's post will not be a long one since it is late and we have to get up at the crack of dawn to start our Machu Picchu hike.  This will also be the last for the next few days since I will be sans internet.  Bet you are happy about less reading.  ;-)

I'm going in sort of reverse order today.  I wanted to start out with dinner, since it made such an impression on me.

Lingon and I went on a date to Chicha, one of Gaston Acurio's restaurant for dinner.  It was sort of by accident, but a nice accident!  They gave us Andean potato chips with some sauce that I did not like that much.  For our starter we got a mixed cerviche, which had prawns, octopus, trout and a few accompaniments.  Delicious.  For entrees, we got a trout (cuchuro black butter, rocoto red hot pepper, broad bean puree and sauteed jataco) and lechon (sacha tomato, potato, melted kapchi, corn on the cob and sauteed jataco).  The trout was sublime, everything was just perfect, from the way it was cooked to the accompaniments.  The lechon (pig) was cooked with BBQ sauce, which I really did not like, though Lingon did.  The meat itself was really tasty and well cooked.  I was not crazy about the tomato thing, but all other accompaniments were good.  The jataco, which is a leafy green vegetable, was amazing.  Tasted so fresh and delicious and really stood out - funny thing to stand out, a green, but it really did.  I also loved the dessert, which was a chocolate souffle with Andean mint ice cream, and fried coca milk with vanilla cream and quinoa ice cream.  The souffle tasted pretty standard but very well done.  The fried coca milk was most like a custard which was battered and deep fried with perhaps quinoa, tasted a bit like matcha which I love, and maybe that's why I liked it so much.  This was the most unique dish of the night and possibly my favourite.  Included a picture of the inside which was a vibrant green and a nice surprise when I cut into it.

Well, that's it for dinner.  So much for a shorter post.  But now let's go back to the day time.

Woke up for the first time since getting to Puno not feeling like complete backside.  My head still hurt a bit, but the loud painful thumping in my head was absent!  Finally getting over altitude sickness!!  Since Lingon is a Starwood  Platinum member, we chose breakfast as our freebie at our hotel.  Again, this breakfast was pretty standard - fruit, eggs, bacon, pastries.  The only standout was that it had smoked salmon and the pastries looked nicer.

Then we headed out for our Sacred Valley group tour to see the Inca towns and ruins, which cost S/. 30.  This was very cheap since our hotel was charging us about US$63 and Zito and Dawg's was about US$45.  Wow.  We found this tour at some travel agent near the square.  Note that you have to buy your own boleto turistico, which is either S/. 70 for a limited one or S/. 130 for a full one.

We started out at Pisac.  I thought we were going to the town and market, but for some reason it was given a miss, perhaps as it was not the main market day.  We went to the ruins, which consisted of agricultural crop steps, as well as structures for houses, temples, storage, etc.

Then we went to Urubamba for lunch, which was a rather unexciting place.  The bus took us to quinoa, but since lunch was not included for us we walked around and went to another place whose name I forgot which was almost right across the street, but it had a nicer looking dining area with live flute music.  The buffet cost S/. 35.  I think this is a standard stop for all tour buses for lunch, with all restaurants having a buffet option (Quinoa was S/. 25 in comparison but looked a bit sad).  The food was edible.

Next off we went to Ollantaytambo, which had magnificent huge steep terraces that served as a fortress.  Across from the stepped terraces that we climbed were storage units that had holes which allowed the wind (and boy was it windy!) to enter, which served as refrigeration!  How smart the Incans were!

Our last stop was Chinchero, whose church was the main attraction.  Unfortunately no pictures were allowed of the interior.  It was a very old, poorly maintained church, but well ornamented with a rather interesting history.  Nothing spectacular, and if you were on your own I would give this a miss.  I got a picture of the exterior and also of the light after the sun had set (bad picture, sorry!).

I really enjoyed the tour today.  The ruins of Pisac and Ollantaytambo were simply magnificent.  How did they do all this?!  Seems daunting.  The people back in the day seem so clever, resourceful and strong!

OK, well, goodbye for the next few days and hope you don't miss me too much.

xoxo