Machu Picchu

 

Leaving Cusco on Saturday, we took the train (about 3 1/2 hours) to a town called Aguas Calientes, the jumping off point for Machu Picchu.

 

It was a “panoramic” style train so we could take in a bit more of the scenery as we wound our way through the mountains

The time flew by as we passed through small villages and people watched

At one of the stops, women were selling Orchids which grow naturally in this part of the Peruvian jungle

The town of Aguas Calientes.  A rather unremarkable place that seems to exist solely to support the throng of tourists that must pass through on the way to Machu Picchu!  We bought “dinner” at the market, which consisted of cookies, chips and other cheaper, high calorie food!

  The next morning we were out the door at 5:00am so we could arrive at Machu Picchu in time for sunrise.

We had very high expectations for this place and were not let down! It truly is breathtaking!!

Huayna Picchu, or ‘Waynapicchu’ is the iconic peak that rises beyond the Inca structures of Machu Picchu.  If you make reservations in advance, you can be among the 400 people allowed to climb to the top each day.  Despite being out of shape, we gave it a go!

Waynapicchu as seen from Machu Picchu

Zoomed-in shot of the peak where you can see some of the structures built by the Incas.  You can also see the first trekkers that were allowed onto the Huayna Picchu trail.  They staggered groups of people so as to not clog up the trail (it can get very narrow in spots and is not made for people trying to pass each other!). 

With steep steps built into the mountainside, we now understand why they call this 1-hour trek to the top the “gringo killer”.  Altogether it is a 1200 ft climb up Huayna Picchu, putting you at 9,000 ft above sea level.  It can be a very precarious climb at times, with steep drop offs in certain areas with no fences or gates to hold you back. 

We made it! Machu Picchu in the distance

After climbing back down, we explored Machu Picchu up close.  It was great to be able to walk around all the ruins. 

Our first llama sighting!!!  Here, they are grazing on the terraces of Machu Picchu.  We wondered how they got the grass to look so well-manicured!

We have a ton more pictures/ video, and will post a link to the full set on Flickr a bit later.

We took the 5:30pm train back to Cusco (3 hours) and arrived back at our hostel around 9:30pm… we were beat! The next day (today) will be a perfect day to sleep in, do a blog post, explore Cusco a little more and make arrangements for our next destination—Puno (Lake Titicaca).

Cusco, Peru - Part 1

 

Hello!  We made it to Cusco on our re-scheduled flight out, no delays or cancellations this time!  :-)  We got into Cusco about 9:00am on Thursday, October 27th, and while we previously had only thought of the city as a jumping off point to Machu Picchu, we were pleasantly surprised to find the town had tons of charm, and almost immediately set out to explore the city.  While we had a good time, what came as kind of a shock to the both of us, we came down with a moderate case of altitude sickness, even though we had been taking altitude medicine since the day before we left for South America (you are supposed to begin taking it 24 hours before you go to higher altitudes.)  While this didn’t even come close to putting a damper on things, we seriously did not have the energy to do much around the city of Cusco, which is why there will be a Part II, as we plan to stay a few more days after returning from Machu Picchu to do a city tour.

Much of our time in Cusco was spent trying to obtain (successfully) Machu Picchu tickets.  They have changed the regulations very, very recently, and we only just found out 1 day before we left for Cusco, so we went into the process with very little information (or, rather, very little CORRECT information).  We did it, even though it took 2 days, and even though we (me) made an incorrect purchase the first time!  :-)  **the next post will be dedicated entirely to the process of obtaining permits, tickets, AND bus tickets to get to Machu Picchu, so please read on if this is of interest to you!  :-)

We leave for Machu Picchu tomorrow morning at 5am, up for breakfast at 4am.  We were able to obtain the very much sought after tickets to Huayna Picchu as well as Machu Picchu, so we are in for a climb and a half tomorrow.  Picture-rich posts to come in the next few days!

Thinking of you ALL, and we will talk soon!

Scott and Jen

 

 

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There are cats at our Hostel!  :-)

 

Coco shop, to help acclimate

 

Coco leaf tea, also for altitude sickness

 

This is their version of chips and queso – fried corn and cheese…it was actually very very good!!

Getting to (and getting stuck in) Lima

After a most uneventful day of travel on Tuesday, we are in Lima, Peru. Left Chicago about 9:35am to fly to Houston for a 3 hour lay-over, then caught a 7+ hour flight into Lima, Peru. (side note – we watched the newer Planet of the Apes, the one with James Franco, and it was awesome!!) Although it seemed as though there were literally hundreds of people in front of us in line at customs, in hindsight, it actually went fairly quickly (though at 11pm after a full day of travel, nothing moves fast). Many people on the plane were very curious to find out our travel plans for Peru, and were very excited to share their favorite places to visit!

After a much needed (and free!) breakfast this morning, we were off again to the Lima airport to catch our plane to Cusco. Everything seemed to be going great, checked in, got our seating arrangement, checked our bags…..not 20 minutes later when preparing to board, we find out the flight has been cancelled. Now, anytime you have a flight that has been cancelled, it is a very stressful situation to deal with. With the language barrier that currently exists, it was a downright nerve-wracking experience! We were eventually led to the correct line to see about getting new tickets, and a bit more important, our bags back! By no fault of anyone’s, this was just mass chaos….people were not waiting in the lines, just cutting, others were yelling, getting the cops, cops were not enforcing lines…..I must have looked like a deer in headlights, while Scott is calmly reading in line! We eventually get to the agent to help us, only about 1 hour wait, and my goodness she was so fantastic! We were only concerned with getting our bags back and with getting a new flight, but she got us a voucher for a free hotel stay (next flight not until tomorrow), free breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and she said she would call us at the hotel when she found our bags, and she DID! Absolutely amazing service from LAN airlines (same airline network as American). They did a wonderful job with a pretty crazy situation :-)

Now with one major travel snafu out of the way, we are hoping it’s smooth sailing for awhile…..but I think we know better than that!

We will be in Cusco for a few days, acclimating, and then off to Aguas Calientes, the jumping off point to Machu Picchu. The hostel we stay at will have free internet, so we will definitely be around!

Hope everyone is well, take care, and talk soon!

Jen and Scott

Our first view of the Pacific in South America (barely visible, beyond the Lima Airport!!)

Leaving tomorrow

Hello family and friends!

As many of you know, Scott and I are leaving tomorrow on our honeymoon/ “last hurrah” trip to South America. We set up this blog so that we can keep in touch with everyone and attempt to preserve our memories of this experience.

The map to the right has our rough itinerary:

We start in Peru, visit Machu Picchu, Lake Titicaca and other destinations in the Andes Mountains. From there, make our way south through Chile and Argentina, visiting the desert highlands, salt plains and smaller colonial towns. Once reaching Santiago, fly to the Patagonia lakes region of Argentina, Mendoza and then on to southern Patagonia for four or more weeks of camping and trekking. Moving back north along the Atlantic side, make our way to Buenos Aires, Argentina and Montevideo, Uruguay and try to take in a little South American culture. Move further north into Brazil, including Rio and the Amazon rainforest , a possible stop in French Guiana and the Guiana Amazonian Park, before landing in Trinad for Carnival. Then, one last stop in Curacao for some beaches and R&R before heading home!

As always, we intend to go very low budget, using hotel points and airline miles where possible, staying in cheap hostels and eating the local cuisine (trying to limit our impulse binges on McDonalds!).

Please stay in touch through email, posting on our blog or skype! (skype id: sjwyckoff)

We will miss everyone dearly!!

Take good care,

Jen and Scott

Visa for Brazil

This site will provide you with everything you need to know in order to obtain a visa for Brazil. It's not exactly user-friendly, but with a bit of searching you eventually find everything you need to know....

http://www.brazilconsulatechicago.org/en-2-10-0.html

It says it's the Consulate General of Brazil in Chicago, but it lists ways that you can mail in your request if you do not live in or near Chicago.

*Do your yellow fever research. Depending on where you go in South America, or where you head off to after South America, some countries require that you have the immunization if you have been to Brazil. Others just "recommend" it.

Getting Visas, and shots.....

*When we headed into our first overseas journey together in 2010, what was most invaluable to us (other than our Lonely Planet guidebooks) was other people's blogs about their travels. When we made our last blog public, we came to find that people from all around the world were looking at our website for the same thing: information! We plan to us this blog this time as not only a fun way to keep track of our travels, but also to provide even more useful information and tools to those that are planning to travel, or those that want to and are not sure they can. (This will be done in a weekly recap, as not to interrupt the normal flow of daily posts.)

First up, visas and vaccinations!! :-)

When traveling from the US, there are two countries where you need a Visa to enter, Bolivia and Brazil. In order to get these Visas, you must also have a Yellow Fever vaccination (you also need this vaccination to enter French Guiana and Guyana). Proof of the vaccination MUST accompany the applications for entry to both countries.

When initially starting my research on how to obtain both Visas, I was able to find both a Brazilian Consulate in Chicago, as well as a Bolivian Consulate, which is great news, not having to send our passports away to another state. Unfortunately, upon calling the Bolivian number yesterday, we come to find that they have since closed down. We now have to send out our passports to Virginia to obtain our visa for Bolivia. This will take about 3-5 business days, which means we will not have enough time to get our visa for Brazil (we leave on October 25th at 9am). We were lucky enough to find alternative means of getting a visa (from another traveler's website!) for Brazil in Buenos Aires, Argentina upon our arrival there. (Bolivia, and it's surrounding countries, will not issue an American citizen a Bolivian visa upon arrival, if it is not already in your possession, you will be denied entry.)

Getting a Bolivian visa has proven to be one of the most difficult, by far. You have to provide them proof of how you are getting into their country, as well as proof that you have a hotel booked, which is sort of standard, but we also had to provide proof of financial responsibility, i.e., a bank statement or a letter from the bank. All of this, for the greater good of course, but difficult to part with our passports, let alone personal information like this....we will be hoping for the best! When we get our passports back, I will post the link to the website we used for our visas.

As for the yellow fever shot, most health insurance companies will NOT cover this, however I (Jen) got lucky and mine actually does! This is good news, as the shot can range anywhere from $105.00, to $180.00, plus you have to pay for the travel consultation, which ranges from $75 to $90. If your health insurance does cover it, you have to submit the claim yourself, the only drawback, but totally worth it to save that kind of money! To find a list of places in your area that give the shot, go to: http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/yellow-fever-vaccination-clinics/search.htm

Lastly, give yourself enough time. We had no idea that you had to show proof of vaccination before getting your visas (this is not the case with every country, just seems to be the norm for all in South America). A few places I called could not get me in for 3-4 weeks, so you need to plan well in advance so that you are not pressed for time in the end (like us.)

Be back soon!

***UPDATE - hours after getting our yellow fever shots and getting our visa stuff together, the US Embassy issued a warning against traveling to La Paz, Bolivia (this town was one of the main reasons we wanted to visit Bolivia). This warning, and also the fact that it was going to cost about $500 total for visas, we have decided against going there. However, we did have to speak to an agent at the company providing Bolivian Visas, and they seemed to know their stuff. The website is: http://www.passportvisasexpress.com/visas/visa-to-bolivia.xml?view=requirements&v_type_id=1023

Good Luck!

T-19 Days!

* one way ticket purchased to Lima, Peru

* hotel booked for 2 nights in Lima

* flight to Cusco booked