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.

Peru Day 1 - Lima

Epic day of travel to Peru.  We wanted to have half a day more so the Dawg and I decided to take an overnight flight, SFO-LAS-PTY-LIM.

A few beautiful photos from the plane.

It was a long grueling journey but we finally arrived at the Lima airport, and guess what, the immigration systems were down!  We stood in line for about 20 minutes with nothing happening, and finally the systems went back up.  Yipee fricking doo.  Since we had such a long wait, the bags were already waiting for us when we got to the belt, so hooray for that!

We pre-ordered a car from Taxi Datum (S/. 55 or  US$20 - FX rate is US$1 = S/. 2.7-2.9) but they did not show up.  So we took this time to find an ATM.  I read that the Globalnet ATMs charged a fee, and that Scotiabank and BCP ATMs did not.  However, the BCP ATM tried to charge me S/. 13.50, but thankfully Scotiabank did not, so we used that.  The BCP and Scotiabank ATMs (and a few other banks too) were on the second floor.

Then we went to the tourist information counter, and found out that Taxi Green was the official taxi of the Lima airport and supposedly the cheapest.  The counter was inside the terminal, directly to the right once one exited customs and immigration, and it cost S/. 50.  Our taxi driver was nice, but spoke little English.  He would pick up the newspaper and flip through it at stops, which was a tad terrifying.  He told us that it would take a little while to get to the hotel in Miraflores, since the coastal road was closed off.  I told him I needed el bano to get him to hurry, and his response was I could go to la playa.  Haha!  Anyway, overall very nice guy, but impossible to understand.

Arrived at Dazzler Hotel, which at $180/night for 3 people in a room with free breakfast buffet and wifi was a really good deal IMO.  So far so good, only complaints are that internet is a bit slow and the shower does not drain very quickly.  The room is spacious and the beds are comfortable.

We had great plans to go to El Mercado, supposedly very good cerviche,  which closed at 5pm, but due to the various delays - broken immigration system, road works/traffic jam, slow check in, so we gave up on that and decided to settle in and take a short read before finding food.  Once we were ready, we went to our first stop, El Pan de la Chola.  We ordered a caprese sandwich which had the most amazing bread, mozzerella, tomatoes and a lighter pesto.  Holy crap, I wanted to order another sandwich after that but had to think about the other things I wanted to eat in the evening.  Very very good sandwich.  The Dawg got a cuppuccino which he said was delicious.  I took a taste but coffee is not my thing.  According to our receipt, we got a galleta pecanas y chocola (cookie with pecans and milk chocolate) and a barra valentina (short bread cookie bottom with caramel covered nuts).  Both were amazing, especially the latter.  We would totally go back.

Then we went to Pardo's, which is a polloria, that served yummy grilled chicken.  We tried to go healthy so we shared a half chicken with grilled veges.  It came with these yummy mayonnaise sauces, which negated part of the healthy, and the Dawg ordered a chorizo thing which I was not all that fond of (let it be reflected in the record that I love sausage, so I think this was just not a very good one), though the garlicy dip that came with it was unbelievable.  We requested chicken legs.  The chicken was very moist, the skin was very crispy, and it was very delicious.  Definitely a good stop to make if you like Peruvian grilled chicken!

OK, well it's late, so I am going to bed, and excited for tomorrow.  :-)