TR: Galapagos and Peru in July/ Aug 2015

[Milboo]

Spot the kitties!

Park is also home to a number of little carts selling sweet snacks

We stopped off at Manolo for churros as they are legendary and we sampled widely - hey it was my birthday!
They had vanilla, chocolate and salted caramel filled ones as well as traditional with chocolate sauce

 

[Milboo]

One of the highlights of the trip was dinner at Central. I had booked this about 2 weeks before they took out the number 4 spot in the San Pelligrino Top 100 list. It was a 17 course tasting menu - the Mater Elevations which was all about Peru produce from the complete altitude range. Everything on the menu had its altitude on it and most of the ingredients were quite foreign!

The man behind the place was in the kitchen (Virgilio Martinez) and came out to talk to diners and his wife was running the pass. We had prime seats against the glass wall into the open kitchen.

My tip for anyone going - don't do the juice pairing! They were, for the most part, not nice!

This was my favourite dish which was all made from tubers - underneath was gnocchi like balls and the sauce was made from fermented potato skins reduced down. It was almost like hoisin but it was so damn good, slightly sticky, so umami etc - I would have happily eaten a few more plates of this!

This was one of the desserts - and I so wanted to eat it all but was pretty full (despite not eating 3 courses and only parts of others). It is cacao made into a mousse, lucama and the grey stuff was a type of clay that was like white chocolate. Green was from Andean mint.

This was one of my friend's dishes (it was fish) - no idea exactly what but it was the prettiest of the night!

Our view into the kitchen - plating with tweezers and the man himself!

(2 in middle were twins)

 

[Milboo]

[FONT=Verdana, Arial, Tahoma, Calibri, Geneva, sans-serif]Headed off to Cusco the following day. Once again, no complaints at all about LAN ground or in the air. Thankful for the business class check in as the airport is packed and the flights to Cusco are always full. Massive security queue - for anyone who knows the airport, it went back to past the food court. No lounge here though as it was a domestic flight.

Tip is to make sure you get a window seat for the flight into Cusco as it is spectacular. And you understand why the pilots are some of LAN's most experienced as it is a landing that comes over the mountains and banks around.

Aside from feeling like walking was taking more effort, I did not notice the altitude on walking out of the airport however it hit my friend harder and she struggled to catch her breath. Luckily we were being picked up by Inka Natura tours and transferred to the Sacred Valley.

We climbed out of Cusco as we were taking the non- Pisac route there. Interesting seeing the cityscape change. Lots of building works, lots of steep stairways (only way to access houses behind as no additional roads on the hillsides).

Lots of dogs around. We were told that they are in the house as puppies but then they go outside (the cats are inside!) and as they don't have yards like we are used to, the dogs roam but they are well loved, fed etc for the most part.

At the city limits

Our first view of the Sacred Valley - absolutely stunning!

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[Salem]

Beautiful view of Sacred Valley! A hint of what's to come no doubt.

 

[craven morehead]

Spot the kitties!

Park is also home to a number of little carts selling sweet snacks

We stopped off at Manolo for churros as they are legendary and we sampled widely - hey it was my birthday!
They had vanilla, chocolate and salted caramel filled ones as well as traditional with chocolate sauce

Vainilla ?

 

[Milboo]

We stayed a couple of nights/ 3 days at the Belmond Rio Sagrado in Urubamba. This has to be the most beautiful hotel I have stayed in and I can see why it makes the lists for the same from luxury travel mags.

We had to move rooms between the nights as we had booked the 2nd night later and by then, they only had suites left. Reality was the only difference was bigger floor space, maybe a bigger bed and a bigger terrace out front - it was grassed instead of paved.

Only a limited number of rooms but grounds are expansive, including a restaurant, day spa, pool and many nooks/ crannies to hide in. Oh and resident alpacas that you can bottle feed at 8am!

Restaurant food was excellent. Both nights we had to wait for a table which did not impress. They technically have enough chairs but the configurations of groups does not always work out! They comped our drinks in the bar the first night while we were waiting and the second night we had a lesson on how to make Pisco sours which was a real highlight. Don't miss it!

Breakfast buffet and a la carte was all included and again, was tasty and extensive.

Day spa was excellent! Had a hot stone massage and facial. Friend had a scrub, wrap etc and raved. The facility was excellent, including jacuzzi etc

Site is on the banks of the Urubamba river and is steepish. Lots of stairs which was a bit challenging with the altitude! They do however have a handy little golf cart that you can summons!

highly recommend this hotel to anyone heading this way. Could have easily spent a week here (well the wallet couldn't!) and used it as a base to explore the Sacred Valley more as I barely even scratched the surface.

 

[Milboo]

The hotel

Standard room, had a sitting area between the beds and patio doors

A truly awesome bathroom - the shower was the best!

View from our second room from left to right

The spa building

Looking to entrance

Restaurant terrace

Part of the grounds

 

[Milboo]

Pool

one of the residents!

 

[Flying mermaid]

Excellent TR

Thinking this will be high on our must do list ... once we ditch the little amaroos - not long now

Life after children - highly recommended

 

[juddles]

Milboo, great TR, spectacular photos! Thank you

 

[craven morehead]

The hotel

Standard room, had a sitting area between the beds and patio doors

A truly awesome bathroom - the shower was the best!

WOW !!! :mrgreen:

 

[Milboo]

Sorry I have not been back to finish this off - I ended up having to have my hand immobilised in a splint and it was just too hard to play around with photos. Injury was actually sustained on this trip - gave it a tweak in the Galapagos but landed heavily on it when I slipped over on the hard paved roads of Cusco.

Anyway...next day we headed to Machu Picchu. Our guide through InkaNatura came to the hotel and we were driven the 15 mins to Ollantaytambo to catch the Vistadome train to Aguas Calientes. We had initially looked at the Hiram Bingham but sacrificed that for an additional night at Rio Sagrado.

Train ride was spectacular - we were lucky to be in the front carriage so could move to the picture window at the front for photos. You move through very distinct microclimates - from the agriculture land to the cloud forest.

On the train we were served a snack and drink. Ollantaytambo station was very busy but trains left on schedule.

 

[Milboo]

Aguas Calientes is very much a tourist joint but I found it charming. You can't avoid the market as you come out of the train station and head over the bridge to the buses. Unfortunately we did not get to see much more of the place as we did a day trip instead of overnighting. If we had an extra day in the itinerary we would have done that.

The buses up to MP have a very narrow space to dislodge passengers, turn around and move back down for the next load. The queue was massive but moved relatively quickly. Lots of food places to duck into to grab water and snacks etc

From here it is a steep 20 min ride up the mountain via a series of switchbacks. We saw very few people walking up but quite a few people did walk down.

My tips for visiting MP are:
- take plenty of water as you can't buy anything inside
- it gets really hot up there as it is tropical climate - sunscreen is an absolute must, and a hat would be good. There is not much in the way of shelter.
- it is steep if you want to head up to the Guard Hut.
- bug spray! I got bitten on the legs about 8 times but they were not itchy as I was taking anti histamines. They started itching when I got home and drove me nuts and only settled with cortisone.
- you need your passport to enter and you can stamp it at the gate when you leave
- the lunch buffet at the Belmond Sanctuary is actually a good feed!

A lot of people! But it moved fast to get through the entrance.

 

[Milboo]

MP was phenomenal in person. Only once you're there can you appreciate the enormity of the task the Incas took on.

An interesting perspective looking up to the Guard Hut:

Side on reveals the steepness and terraces:

As they clear more of the site, more ruins are revealed - for restoration in the future

Water has been flowing through the aqueduct system since it was built:

 

[Milboo]

The perfection in the construction is mind blowing given it was all done by hand

(the more perfect the construction the more important the building or the person it was for was. The Sun Temple is the most exact building on site)

Contrast to these which were rougher and for the workers. Also no coincidence the angle aligns perfectly to the mountain behind

Met this guy coming around a blind corner!

 

[Milboo]

The Sun Temple stands out with its rounded shape - the only one on site

After we finished lunch we had to queue for the buses (mid afternoon) - this was a popular time as the queue was massive - think we waited around 70 mins. Our guide was insistent we sit in the shade and he queued for us. Loading of the buses is done very quickly and efficiently! Once you get in the final semi circle listen to them calling for single people if you're not hung up on travelling back together - it can mean getting on a bus a lot quicker!

Back in town and the queue was non existence!

Time for a visit to the markets

And then time for the train back to Ollantaytambo. There are decent traffic jams to get out of the town

 

[Milboo]

Next day we sadly had to depart the Belmond Rio Sagrado


I made sure I got in the breakfast feed with the residents! They love their bottle!

Our same guide and driver collected us for the drive back to Cusco - going a different route through the Sacred Valley and through Pisac. This is when I truly appreciated how stunning the Sacred Valley was. You could also see the extension of the Incas' efforts with the mountains lined high with terraces.

We stopped for a look in one of the small towns on the way which is renowned for its cuy or guinea pig. I had no desire to try it and my friend who did decided it was too early in the day and was full from breakfast. There were a number of these little stalls along the main road with stools/ tables to sit at.

 

[Milboo]

Next stop was Pisac to visit the markets. Was not overly busy but found it hard going shopping on the cobblestones! We did visit a jewelry shop there and purchased some nice silver pieces. Interestingly silver is sold by its weight but even in shops, there was room to negotiate.

I have to admit I really dislike shopping when it's about bartering on price. Found a couple of gorgeous scarves in here too.

Then hunger got the better of us and we hunted out the empanadas!

 

[Milboo]

We then continued on to Cusco, stopping at the Awanachanca complex. We did not visit the weaving side but had a look through the various llama, alpaca, vicuña (alpaca relative), chinchilla and guanacos (llama relative) and headed over the last hill into Cusco.

Our last looks over the valley with the Urubamba river flowing through

A couple of residents at Awanachanca

(will cover Cusco in the next few days)

 

[JohnM]

And where was your photo from the top of Huayna Picchu .