Lares, Peru

Our original plan was to return from Machu Picchu, spend the night in Cusco, and set out the next morning for the hot springs in Lares. We ended up getting into Cusco around 9:30pm on Wednesday (01/22), and the thought of putting back on our sweaty clothes from the Inca Trail the next morning was too much to handle. Plus, on the long bus ride back we made friends with an awesome couple from a suburb of Sao Paulo. We were happy to spend an extra day in Cusco resting, getting our laundry cleaned, and having dinner & drinks with our new friends. (we hope to meet up with them in Brazil for an evening)

Lares is a town about two hours above the Sacred Valley of the Incas which can be reached by taking two local buses, with a transfer in Calca. We had about an hour to kill while waiting for the second bus (Calca to Lares) to fill up, and enjoyed watching a very cute old couple cleaning their store front and selling ice cream bars to a variety of people coming down the street. There was also a market across the street which provided a bathroom and another source for peoplewatching.

Scenery from the drive up (above/below)

After arriving in Lares, we paid our entrance fees for the hot spring, set up our campsite, and made/ate some guacamole before relaxing for the rest of the afternoon in the thermal pools. 

The pools varied in temperture, and the children congregated in those that were cooler. These same pools smelled a little like pee, so we kept to the hot pools in the middle. These were about as hot as we could handle, so it was a constant cycle of heating up, getting out, rinsing in the cooler waterfall nearby, and then getting back in.

It was all very refreshing and relaxing, and we enjoyed the proximity to the river. We finally called it quits once our fingers became prunes.

As this was our first night camping, I was excited to use all the gear I´ve been lugging around thus far. I broke out the stove, boiled some water, carmelized some onions, and cooked pasta. For all the effort, it came out a little gross because the pasta was wierdly mushy and sticky... Perhaps it was the pasta's fault, or maybe it cooks weird when using a camping stove. Either way it was a little disappointing. We fell asleep with the sounds of water cascading down the river.

The next morning we woke up, eventually made it into the thermal waters before the morning heated up, and then began breaking down our camp. 

Just as we were walking back up to our site, my BRAND NEW air mattress decided that I over-inflated it the night before, and burst in the morning heat. Great..... I was sad for an hour or two, but we listened to music and relaxed for the rest of the morning. The sun was doing damage, so I took shelter in the only shade I could find:

We hiked back in time to catch the bus back to Calca, and saw some cool mineral deposits along the way.

Our leg from Calca back to Cusco was terrifying because we took a ride with a taxi driver who was screeching around turns like he was in formula 1 in a past life. We are now alive, and in Puno.

(How we stay powered)

Aguas Calientes / Machu Picchu, Peru

Monday morning we woke up at 7, finished packing, and were out the door to Machu Picchu by 745. When planning the trip with the manager of our hostel, we discovered that any trip to Machu Picchu would be fairly expensive. $600 for the Inca Trail was instantly eliminated as an option. The option that seems to be pushed is one involving the train, because it is very direct. When coming from Cusco, your guide drives you ~90 minutes to a rest stop where you conveniently catch the PeruRail up to Aguas Calientes (the overnight tourism based town where you end the first day). The problem is that it still costs around $300, apparently because the train up is absurdly expensive. 

This was still outside our budget, so we pressed and were presented with a cheaper $150 option, which we took. This option involved a "5 hour" (7.5 hour) ride through a high mountain pass and around the back side of Machu Picchu to a town called Santa Teresa. On the way we saw a lot of natural beauty, drove on roads next to sheer cliffs above rivers, and took a lot of cool pictures. The cheaper option turned out to provide the best exposure to the Peruvian landscape:

Landslides that block the road are very common in the rainy season, we saw a few but this was the most dramatic. Fortunately we were able to squeeze by..

As we descended from the high pass (4016 m), I was a bit carsick. You can get an idea of how the roads are here from the switchback picture of the road above.  After getting to the bottom of the other side of the pass, we diverted from the paved road and drove along an extremely turbulent river. The road was about 1000 ft above the river, was carved into the side of a cliff, and had many places where rockslides had clearly taken out the road. Oh, and we passed a lot of crosses where perhaps guides had driven gringos off the cliff to their deaths. We were on edge... Literally!! Haha.

Eventually we came down from the cliffs and encountered the power of a river at maximum capacity. We imagined the quick death we would meet if we were stupid enough to raft it. The picture below doesn't do the river justice. More pictures and videos to come. But this was a cool waterfall coming out of a cliff so it made the cut:

The road up the river dead ends at the "Hydroelectric" PeruRail stop. From here we hiked 2.5 hours up the train tracks. We watched as the train sailed by us filled with obviously less hardcore travelers. The scenery was amazing on this hike, with lush green vegetation and very steep Machu-Picchu-esk peaks rising from the river on both sides:

 

I guess I can't upload the video here, so here's a link to YouTube:

http://youtu.be/jrcwQgDj3gc

Now that I know how to do this ill include links to videos more often. We began our hike around 415pm and arrived in Aguas Calientes just after dark, around 645pm. I'm fairly out of shape, and was carrying all of the stuff like a good boyfriend, so my back was killing me.. Also I tend to overpack. Either way, here's some more happy pictures from our hike:

Aguas Calientes exists only to rip off international tourists on their way to Machu Picchu... We were grateful to have a place to sleep, but we quickly learned that everything cost at least 150% of the already inflated tourist prices of Cusco. Because of this we spent a lot of time walking around in search of the best deals, and while there were few to be found, we manager to find some street carne con papas on a stick for about $1.25 USD. While eating we joined the crowd of locals watching soccer for half an hour, and laughed with the crowd when one of the players was struck very hard in the face by the ball. 

The next morning, we woke up at 4am, dawned our fleece tops and bottoms, sealed in the warmth with our waterproof tops and bottoms, and set out in the rain with about 300 other early risers to hike the final stretch of the famous Inca trail. The rain slowed to a mist after 530am. We realized we were very overdressed for the  steep switchback-staircase headed straight up, and the layers started coming off. I ended up bring too much stuff again, and struggled up the accent with 25 pounds on my back... One day I'll learn that you can be over-prepared. The hike sucked so bad I didn't even think to take a picture, and when we reached the top at 630am I was a sweaty half-delirious mess. (I've never been one to stay in great cardiovascular shape, and since I had hernia repair surgery in June I've been taking it especially easy..) I recovered slowly as we watched the clouds pour over Machu Picchu before most of the busers got to the park at 830am.

After a few hours the sun came over the peaks and burned the fog off. The weather was really perfect all morning, as the sun remained present without becoming too hot. I ended up getting kind of sunburned... but it doesn't take much for me haha.

http://youtu.be/RqwNM_5xDlc

http://youtu.be/TMkrnEjZEK0 

At the top of Machu Picchu there were about 10 extremely tame alpacas for tourists to take pictures with. Later that night, Marcela and I decided to see how they tasted. Pretty similar to beef if you were wondering, and they served it very salty (just like everything else here). Marcela said it was similar to her dads seasoned carne asada. Don't feel bad, there will be more Alpaca in the future.

This was a long one! Now were going to go buy food for our camping trip to the Sacred Valley. I willl post about it when we get back. Thanks for reading!

Seahawks!!!!

Clapped so H0RD!!!!

Go HAWKS!!!!!!!!

Cuzco, Peru

First entry by MVC :). Before heading to Cuzco we went to Nazca for the day. We took a bus from Ica to Nazca which dropped us off at a viewing tower where we would be able to see the Nazca Lines...the ones we saw from the tower were most likely fake jajajaja...The Nazca Lines are huge designs that one needs to see from an airplane to fully appreciate.

 Nazca was a quaint town. We ate lunch, we walked around the plaza, and witnessed a beauty pageant for Miss Nazca:

 We took an 11pm bus from Nazca to Cuzco and arrived exhausted from the crazy 16 hour drive on a super windy and somewhat dangerous road. The driver of this double decker bus had no fear. We drove through the night and tried to sleep as much as possible, but Owen was sick (stomach issues) and I got car sick for the first time in my life. In the morning we stopped off at a little bus stop to eat, and then continued for another 5 hours. 

Although the ride was tiring, it was worth it because Cuzco is so beautiful! We are staying in a hostel called El Mirador del Inka, which is on a hill above the San Blas area of Cuzco. The view is amazing:

 First day we got here we reserved our 3 day trip to Machu Picchu, which we will take this Mon-Wed, and we have decided that we will go camping in the Sacred Valley once we return from Machu Picchu, where we hope to soak in the hot springs. After that we head to Puno (Lake Titicaca). 

Yesterday we walked around Cuzco. We found a cute bakery with tasty pasteries and coffee, and took some photos out the window:

Then we went to the Plaza de Armas and into nearby stores to look at their amazing art.

 We also went to San Pedro Market which was surprisingly very clean and nice. 

I think Owen´s highlight of the day was finding the gas tank for his stove, which we have been searching for since Lima. He also bought a knife he wanted. Luckily the weather held up for us the whole day. 

We also realized yesterday that we will need a Visa to get into Bolivia, opps. So we got on it and have gotten all documents in order to get the visa upon entering Bolivia. (Thanks Jason for helping :))

This morning it poured for about 3 hours straight, but we threw on our raingear and trekked in the rain to eat lunch and get Owen a passport photo for the Bolivian Visa. Since it's our anniversary today, we are going to splerge and get massages and go out to a nice dinner. :) We have an exciting week ahead of us, and will keep you all updated. Until then Ciao Amigos!!! 

P.S. - Owen has become addicted to the Settlers of Catan App on his iPod...its very annoying... And he dropped it earlier so now there is a crack :( maybe ill finish the job on the iPod to prevent future catan-ing.

Also there's a pool table here, but the pockets are absurdly too small so it's damn near impossible to make a shot!