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Today was a very (VERY) big day for us. We got off the ship very early in the morning with an overnight bag and headed for the airport. On the way out of the port in a cab we were told that we needed a special pass to leave the port. To make a long story short, we had to go to a security office where they had never heard of this”pass”. Eventually, they wrote up something and we headed back the security gate where they just let us through without checking our “pass”. Oh well, we were on our way to the airport, Cusco and off to Machu Picchu! We took the flight to Cusco where the air is thin at 12,000 feet.
From there we met our private car and driver who took us to Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. Next we were to immediately board a train and make our way to Aguas Caliente — at the foot of Machu Picchu! Then, an overnight stay at the beautiful IncaTerra hotel and come Sunday morning (around 7 am Eastern time) we were to be walking Machu Picchu! We are very excited — if you haven’t seen it, check out this link with the history, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machu_Picchu. However, things didn’t work out that way. After our morning at Machu Picchu we were to lunch at the Sanctuary Lodge before heading back down the hill to take the train back to Cusco where we would overnight before heading back to Lima and connecting to a city just south called Pisco where we would meet up with the ship.
The first leg of our trip would then be behind us — on Sunday approx. 400 people get off and another 200 or so get on to continue the journey down to Antartica and around the horn to Buenos Aires!
So, we got to Ollantaytambo after an absolutely magical drive through the Sacred Valley in the Peruvian highlands…one of the places I absolutely will return to and spend more time taking gorgeous photographs of the landscape and incredible people. The pictures will speak for themselves. But, after arriving to catch the train we found out that the trains couldn’t get through because of the torrential rains and the wild river had washed out some of the tracks. We had to spend the night in a bed and breakfast right at the train station and we made the best of it by heading to dinner, dodging the rain as best we could. Hopefully, we’ll be able to get to Machu Picchu in the morning.
Sacred Valley Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Sacred-Valley-Jan-23-2010/25154101_VC6Fvc#!i=2062658212&k=Z55Sgfn
Kathy Krizan - WOW you two are busy~Thanks for keeping me up to speed with your adventures, I look forward to reading the blog daily so keep it up.
Margaret, enjoy yourself and stop working so hard!
Cant wait to hear from you tomorrow after your adventure off the ship
Love you, Kathy
Kathy Krizan - Hey Guys…any news on your status in Peru? I am thinking of you both
Lots of Love, Kathy
Dale - I have posted the latest. Margaret isn´t feeling well this morning but not too bad. Thanks for checking on us.
Astrid - Call home!!
sonya - Hello DM, A friend of George and Jills here. Wondering if you can post your pics of the helicoptor evac and pics of G&J here so that I can post them on their blog for them.
http://www.georgeandjill.blogspot.com
Dale - Hi,
Yes, we will provide access to them. We are still in Cusco trying to get back to the ship, hopefully Thursday but for sure on Friday. Stay tuned as I get the blog updated. Can’t upload pictures from the hotel here in Cusco.
Dale - Keep checking back to our blog. We are still stuck in Lima and no solution has been found to get us out at this point. I don´t have any ability to get content out of my cameras. Sorry. Thanks for checking out our blog.