Tuesday, 24 December 2024

Cusco to Lima

After last night's late arrival from Machu Picchu I am not quite ready for a 4:30am wake-up--but wake up we must in order to finish packing, have breakfast, and be ready for our 6:30am ride to the Cusco airport. I scheduled the ride for this early because it took almost an hour to get from the airport to the hotel on the day we arrived. Turns out that this morning traffic is much lighter and we make it to the airport in about 20 minutes and have lots of sit-around time before our flight leaves.

Waiting for Take-Off at Cusco Airport

Flying weather is great and I have wonderful views of the varied Peruvian landscapes during the short flight.

At noon we check into the Wyndham Costa Del Sol Lima Airport Hotel, where we left our luggage four days ago. We will be checking out at 9pm for tomorrow morning's 12:50am flight to Los Angeles and Phoenix. We need to rearrange our suitcases to distribute the weight properly and we certainly didn't 't want to sit in the airport for those nine hours. We have time for a nap and dinner at the hotel before going across the street to the airport.

We are checked in right away and get through security and immigration quickly. We are then taken to a private airport lounge that accepts business class passengers on Lantam's international flights. There is lots of free food and drink and comfortable chairs.

Wednesday, 25 December 2024

Lima to Los Angeles to Phoenix to Tucson

There is a bit of a seating kerfluffle when we board our 12:50am Lantam/Delta flight to Los Angeles. Will and I reserved adjoining full-bed seats in business class, but for some reason I am assigned to a different seat on the other side of the wide-body plane, without any prior notice. Fortunately, once we are on board the cabin staff finds me a seat much closer to Will. We enjoy a hearty dinner as soon as we reach cruising altitude for this nine-hour flight. After dinner I am soon asleep for several hours and wake to an omelet breakfast.

We land in Los Angeles on time shortly after 6am (there is a three-hour time difference from Peru). We thought that Christmas would be a quiet travel day, but we were very wrong. LAX is packed with passengers but there aren't enough employees around. We get through immigration and customs pretty quickly, and our luggage is automatically transferred to our Delta flight to Phoenix. Will's wheelchair assistant walks us over to the Delta terminal, fortunately right next door to the International Arrivals Hall, where we are transferred to a different wheelchair service. Because there is such a shortage of workers here, we wait over two hours for someone to take us through security to the gate.

Our Delta first class flight leaves and arrives on time, but the flight is so short there isn't time for any special first class service. We have only a short wait for our pre-reserved Groome Shuttle which takes 90 minutes to drop us off at Twin Peaks Road and Tiffany Loop. Our friend Anita is waiting for us and we have dinner at Dove Mountain Bistro, a Chinese restaurant on Tangerine and Thornydale. We are soon home at Mountain View and ready to retire after roughly 23 hours of traveling since we left the airport hotel in Lima. 

This is the final blog from our 21-day trip. In spite of a few bugaboos, we had a really marvelous time and shared many exciting experiences. I hope you have enjoyed traveling with us on LFLatSea. I especially appreciate the kind folks who responded to all this trivia. LFLatSea is ready for a rest now, but I promise to return soon with information about our next journey at sea.

Saturday, 7 December 2024

Miami

As promised, LFLatSea goes back in time to 7-8 December, our first days on board ms Marina. We have spent the night at the Sonesta Regency, more a construction site than a hotel. But management is very nice to us, the bed is good, and today we wake to a fine breakfast buffet.

Our hired ride to the port arrives exactly on time at 11am and we are soon off on the 30-minute ride in his extra-large SUV. Check-in goes smoothly and we are quickly on board enjoying lunch in the Waves Cafe--wagyu beef burgers and lobster on buns--until our stateroom is ready. We are located on Deck 9 mid-ship, just a few doors away from the Concierge Lounge. We spend the afternoon emptying our suitcases and putting away all our clothes and other paraphernalia.

At 5:30pm we head to the top deck Explorer Lounge to listen to the band and have a pre-dinner drink. Unfortunately, our waiter is a total fuck-up, taking 45 minutes to bring our drinks and then getting our order totally wrong. This is a very rare occurrence on Oceania ships and I make a point of complaining to the room manager, especially since these are drinks we are paying for. We get free champagne and wine or beer with meals, but we pay individually for drinks from the bars. The manager comps our drinks and we assiduously avoid this waiter for the rest of the cruise.

From here on the rest of the evening goes well. We have a table for two in the Grand Dining Room, where we enjoy our first of many glasses of fine French Champagne. We both start with bowls of lobster bisque, followed by shrimp cocktail (W), and Caesar salad with anchovies (L). We both have excellent bœuf bourguignon for the main course. For dessert Will enjoys a chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream; I have pistachio cream with almond croque. All that is more than enough to insure a good night of sleep as we sail away from Miami.

The Grand Dining Room

Sunday, 8 December 2024

Day at Sea

We awake to a fine day at sea on our way to Costa Maya, Mexico. As we are dressing, we discover a winged insect crawling down the fabric headboard of the bed. Will manages to dislodge the critter and after several attempts with his shoe, finally smites it fully dead. I imagine most people would think nothing of this and just drop the bug(ger) down the toilet. But we decide to show it to our stateroom steward as we head to breakfast in the Grand Dining Room, followed by cappuccinos at the Barista bar, and then to the Marina Lounge for the first of several lectures on television news personalities, starting today with Walter Cronkite.

Around 11am we return to our stateroom to find several messages blinking on the phone. Almost immediately there is a knock on the door and the head of housekeeping and several assistants are waiting to tell us that the insect we found was a dreaded BEDBUG. We are being moved to another Concierge Veranda Stateroom on Deck 10 (one above where we are), but pretty far toward the back of the ship. Before we can leave our stateroom, the staff collects every bit of our clothes and anything else made of fabric (backpacks, etc)--it will all have to be debugged, cleaned, and sterilized. Staff will collect everything else we so carefully put away in drawers snd shelves and bring it all to our new stateroom. 

We are escorted to the new stateroom and told to remove everything we are wearing (including shoes), and put it all in a bag outside the door. We then carefully shower and put on clean bathrobes. It's now about 1pm and we can't go anywhere because we don't have any clothes. So we order room service lunch and settle in for an afternoon nap. At 5pm all our clothes are returned freshly cleaned and pressed. We are dressed and ready to go to dinner in the Terrace Cafe at 6:30.

Clearly, Oceania ships have a regular protocol for dealing with bedbugs. Besides the small inconvenience to us, the staff handled everything very well. We were fortunate that another Concierge Veranda Stateroom was available. The concierge also informed us that we would receive an extra $300.00 cash to spend during the cruise. And so ends the adventure of the bedbug. 

The main reason I have delayed in posting this information is that fellow passengers often request to see the blog while we are sailing. I thought it best to avoid a bedbug scare while en route to Lima, and to publish this only after the cruise ended. We did not hear of any other bug incidents during the cruise.

Monday, 23 December 2024

Machu Picchu, Peru

Today is the big day for Machu Picchu. As soon as we decided on this trip I signed up for an all-day tour. I am very glad I did because all the transportation, transfers, and guides are taken care of. At every stage I only have to look for a sign with my name to move on to the next stage.

I am ready for my 5:40am pickup from the Hilton as I join other travelers to journey even farther up in elevation to reach the PeruRail station at Poroy, a mountain suburb of Cusco. There are several different kinds of trains available, from the very expensive Hiram Bingham Express to the much cheaper Expedition Class. I am booked on the Vistadome, with better service and amenities, set to leave at 6:30am.

The train travels at a very slow speed (max 25kph), and takes almost four hours to reach the town of Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo), the end of the line. The train fills up completely as it makes two brief stops along the way

Aguas Calientes is bright and colorful, full of hotels, restaurants, and gift shops. The Urubama River runs through the center, and there is literally only one street on each side. I will return here for a late lunch after touring the ruins. From here, buses take visitors--see the waiting line in the photo below--up a road of treacherous curves and setbacks to the ruins themselves.

The tour group consists of four of us and our excellent guide, Paul. We exit the bus at the bottom of the site, and as soon as I see the long flight of stairs, without any handrails, leading up just to the ticket office, I begin to think this whole adventure might be a big mistake. But I have my cane and I work my way up. What I then discover is that we are at the very bottom of the site and we must climb up a long series of irregular wooden and stone steps to reach the entrance at the top. Most of you are aware that I am totally blind in my left eye, which affects my depth perception, especially at near distances. I usually have no problem when the steps are evenly spaced and there are handrails. Here, the stone steps are completely random and the wooden steps have few handrails. The walk is not physically difficult, but I have trouble telling where to put my feet and I am terribly at risk of falling.

Fortunately, Paul is there to help every step of the way up, and then all the steps down, as we explore the site. My travel bag hangs around my right shoulder, my cane is in my right hand, my camera is carried by Paul, and my left hand is on Paul's shoulder for almost the entire two-hour tour. I am able to walk unassisted on flat surfaces, but most of the time we are going up or down. Be assured, he fully deserved the very generous tip I give him at the end (most people in Peru do not expect tips, even from tourists).

Approaching the First View of the Site

Three things to note as you view the photos below: the functions of many of the buildings are still not known; there are no signs or maps to identify or guide you through the site; the site is not very crowded at all compared to pictures of typical days. Machu Picchu's greatest significance is that it is the only indigenous site that remains exactly as it was left by its inhabitants. The village was probably abandoned after a long war for power between two half-brothers, each of whom wanted to rule as the sole Inka. 

Our Guide, Paul

Temple of the Sun--Sunlight Enters the Central Window on the Summer Solstice

Started at the Top and Walked All the Way Down--and More

After the return by bus, I have about two hours to have lunch and explore Aguas Calientes before the departure of the train back to Poroy/Cusco. I select a busy restaurant with an excellent view for my first and only foray into local Peruvian food.

The dish pictured above is Andean Trout a la Huancainca, served with fried potatoes and a small salad. The trout is absolutely delicious and the yellow salsa huancainca is only mildly spicy. However, for the next two days I pee deeply red liquid. Very scary--but since I do not have any pain or other symptoms, Will (remember, he's a retired RN) assures me that it would soon pass. And, indeed, it does pass. We check the internet and find that this is a fairly common effect of the salsa.

I walk along both sides of the river to admire the views and look at all the trinkets for sale. If you visit Machu Picchu you will see the same trinkets since I don't make any purchases.

The 4pm train departure is delayed almost an hour and our coaches are combined with those of another train. About 20 minutes after departure the train stops abruptly and we start moving backwards to Aguas Calientes. It turns out that the engine has broken down and has to be replaced! After another 20-minute delay we are finally on track again. Even though the new engine will clearly exceed the speed limit on the way up to Poroy,  the train will still arrive over an hour late. I am supposed to be delivered back to the Hilton at 10pm, but I don't arrive until 11:30. And we have a 4am wake-up for our trip back to Lima!