Sorry for the delay in getting info to you. Just got safely to Cusco last night and still not back with the ship until tomorrow or Thursday at the eariest. Here’s some info to get you up to speed! Pardon the writing style and typos as I just found out we are heading out of Cusco at 2 pm and I´ve got to run for lunch and the bus!!! Yeah!
As you know from our last post Margaret and I were taking a side trip to Machu Picchu so we left the ship in Lima, took a flight to Cusco and then got a driver to take us to Ollamtaytambo (in the Sacred Valley) to catch a train to Aguas Caliente. Our plan was to stay overnight in Aguas Caliente and in the morning take the bus up the hill to the mountainside site.
What actually happened was there had been torrential downpours the prior couple days (Biblical in nature) and the river was a raging torrent. We found out the rain had undermined the train tracks so all trains were cancelled for the remainder of the day while they fixed the tracks. Our guide wanted to take us back to Cusco (a 1 ½ hour drive!) but we thought it best to stay overnight at a B&B right at the train station. We met some nice people, got a somewhat stiff mattress and all in all slept pretty well.
The next morning we found out the trains were running again and we got on the 6:40 am train to Aguas Caliente. We thought it strange the train was more than ½ empty and considered ourselves quite brave as we looked at the “crazy” river violently cascading alongside of our train. After an 1 ½ hours of nail biting intensity we got off the train and found our way to the buses that take visitors to the site.
Margaret is going to fill you in on the details of our visit to Machu Picchu in a separate blog entry — so be on the look out for that!
After visiting Machu Picchu we took the bus back down the hill and went to catch the 3:50 pm train back to Poroy (near Cusco) where our driver was to take us to our hotel where we would stay overnight to catch the plane to Lima in the morning.
Of course, not all things happen the way you plan…
After coming back down off of the mountain from Machu Picchu we went to the train station and found the trains that day, starting at around 10 am or so, were all cancelled due to landslides blocking the train tracks. We went to the Inkaterra hotel http://www.inkaterra.com/en/machu-picchu and stayed overnight all the while thinking things would be better the next day. Unfortunately it continued to rain, and rain, and rain.
The next morning there was still uncertainty about the trains so we did a walkabout town. To make a long story short, the trains still couldn’t get out and we heard that government helicopters were going to come in and evacuate everyone (approx. two thousand people). There was no timetable and no story about who goes first etc, just rumors floating around about the sick and elderly first, then groups with oldest to youngest, first women and then men. There were 68 people on the official Regent Tour that we have talked to and then another 8 from Regent who booked the Machu Picchu excursion independently…we are in the independent group and are now known as the Independent 8. Most of us tried to book through Regent but they sold out early and the only way to get to see Machu Picchu was to book independently.
The river was a raging torrent and I have lots of video and pictures of it. They were worried that it was going to start taking out houses and hotels on the river and we had heard that the hotel where the other Regent people are staying was going to be evacuated. Margaret and I trekked out and, with a great degree of difficulty, found our way through red tape (literally because they weren’t letting anyone down by the river) and found the other group. After seeing their situation we thought we were safer at the Inkaterra property (it was further upstream and up and away from the river).
Later that day, a dam upstream at the hydro-electric plant broke and they had to blow up a couple bridges that were blocked by debris. There was a siren and people were told to evacuate to higher ground because a large flood of water was coming down the river directly toward us. Everyone scurried to the safety zone which ended up being a concrete soccer field which also acted as a heliport. Rumors started flowing that helicopters were going to begin evacuating people. Margaret and I happened to be in the town square earlier that day and heard the town mayor (we think it was the mayor) on a megaphone telling the crowds that they were going to start giving out free food and places to stay. This was getting serious. Margaret and I went to the ATM machine and found there was no cash left in it — we found another one and waiting in line for 10+ minutes and were able to get a little spending money just in case we got stuck.
We went back to the hotel and got our stuff together and headed up to the stadium looking for the Regent group and found well over a thousand people crowding the streets and hunkering down in the soccer field. Eventually, someone gave a speech that said nothing was going to happen today so we went back to our hotel and waited. About an hour later I heard a helicopter flying over and saw that it was landing up river close to the hotel. I grabbed my cameras and ran down a jungle path that is part of nature hike on the property.
On my way down this lush jungle trail all kinds of activity was taking place – armed soldiers rushed past me as well as helpers carrying people in wheel chairs, stretchers, babies, elderly people, etc.
I finally got to the end of the quarter mile path and sure enough, there was the helicopter on a grassy area right on the riverbank. They loaded the people and took off. 10 minutes later another helicopter came and I watched them load another group of people. Another came after that but I had already returned to the Inkaterra and was having a drink in the bar with some people, George and Jill, we had met on the train so I opted not to run down there again.
The Regent group ended up coming to the Inkaterra hotel when their hotel property was evacuated. So now we have about 80 of us, the bar is hopping and the dining room is packed. Needless to say, the Regent group is VERY happy that they found the Inkaterra hotel. Things are good again. But the rumors are still flying.
The next morning we all had breakfast and then we heard that helicopters were going to be picking us up sometime that morning. They collected all of our passports, made lists with our sex, age and nationality and we sat back and waited. As timing would have it, we had just sat down to lunch with some of the fellow Independent 8 when we got the order to move out! We didn’t even have time to pay our lunch bill as the waiter’s urged us to go quickly and we grabbed our bags and headed down the jungle path toward the landing area.
As we headed down the trail we could see there were more helicopters today, not only the Peru Policia but also the Militia. They were still loading sick and elderly but we were told our group would be one of the next to get out.
They split us into groups of smaller groups (depending on the size of the helicopter they expected to land) and moved us down the path. The frustrating thing was locals kept coming down the path and passing us and the soldiers, fitted with automatic weapons, didn’t seem to notice or bother stopping them.
It was one of the most interesting “evacuations” I have ever experienced. First, the jungle path was beautiful, we walked past the “tea house” which is were the locals dry their tea and roast their coffee, the path was lined with orchids and lush greenery. There was even an enclosed area that housed one of the local bears. As we stood waiting in the line we were amazed to see our waiter from lunch coming down the trail toward us with our bill! We settled our charges and Margaret jokingly asked “do you have our receipt?”. The waiter shook his head “no” and we laugh because we were only kidding. About 10 minutes later he came back to us with receipt in hand! Now that’s service!
After another hour or so they took our group and brought us down a steep dirt path that went over the railroad tracks to a flat grassy area by the riverbank. They separated us into non-US and US citizens. At this point we thought we were “saved” when we found out the US Diplomatic authorities were there at the evacuation site! They took our names and our passport numbers and told us to wait – that they had a US helicopter coming and they didn’t want us to fly on the Peruvian helicopters. We didn’t really understand this as the rest of our Regent group had already been evacuated and they went on Peruvian helicopters – but we took what they told us at face value and we waited.
Some of us started asking questions about when the US helicopters would show up, where they would take us, etc. The US Diplomats couldn’t tell us when the chopper would come and said we might have to stay over another night. That they had a chopper but that it needed to fuel up in Cusco (about a 40 minute chopper ride away) and that they didn’t have authority to make the Peruvians fill their tanks and that the Peruvians choppers had priority (duh). This caused a lot of concern as the rest of the Regent group had already gone and we were now just 27 Americans stranded without the tour group leader and basically on our own…albeit with US Diplomats, but at this point we didn’t care if we got out on a Peruvian helicopter or a US helicopter.
Still we waited and watched as chopper after chopper came and went with more people being brought down the jungle path from the Inkaterra.
I went to the front of the line and started talking to what seemed like the head “guy”, I started taking his and his buddies’ pictures (showing them their photo and telling them they would be internet stars soon) and asking him to tell the Colonel (who was the guy really in charge) that we would be the next group. He told me to get everyone in a single file line, something that earlier groups of Asians had done masterfully. We got our group of 27 into a line and I continued to nicely push the solider to make sure we were on the next chopper. The Colonel came down and had an discussion with him and he was successful in winning him over, despite the fact that the Colonel didn´t seem to like us at all and was more than willing to leave us “Americans” in Aguas Caliente another night.
Finally our chopper came and, while we kept pushing that we were next, the solider just told us to run to the chopper. Margaret was first in line and I was second (having to keep the discussion going). We jumped in the chopper which held about 20 people and took off. Lots of pictures and videos will be coming. The solider then made sure that the remaining Regent folks got on the next chopper.
The chopper took off over the river and made it’s way past the town and then up to and around the Machu Picchu site. It was approximately 20 minutes later when we landed in a soccer field in Ollamtaytambo. There were chairs set up, oxygen tanks, nurses taking blood pressure and doctors available. Our driver from the first day was waiting for us and, after putting our name on two more lists, we got in his car and drove to Cusco through what was, in my opinion, some of the most beautiful countryside and mountains in the world. Absolutely spectacular and a perfect place to spend 5 days taking pictures. It wasn’t possible going 50 mph but I got a couple nice scenic shots.
We stayed at the Montesario hotel in Cusco, Peru last night. It is a beautiful hotel that used to be a monastery and is considered to be one of the top 3 hotels in the world. Our group leader was attempting to get us all on a charter flight being arranged to a spot in Chile where we could connect with the ship. Otherwise, we are going to go to Lima and connect to Santiago Chile where the ship will be on Friday.
Lots more exciting details and pictures-movies to come. But we and everyone else of the 68 Regent Tour group and the Independent 8 are OK.
My hat is off (literally, as I have been wearing a hat lately) to the people in this large group for their perseverance in trying times and their ability to physically endure this very tough experience. I only hope that I can do this type of thing in another 20 years, although I certainly wouldn’t and couldn’t plan a trip like this. We made some good friends, both from Regent as well as some folks from New Zealand and Australia and a very nice couple from Seattle. We’ll have to make up some T-shirts with something like ‘I survived Machu Picchu 2010’ as we all deserve it!
I will write a more detailed blog entry later and put pictures up when I can. You won’t believe what the river looks and sounds like. This particular river flows into the Amazon. We found out that Machu Picchu was closed yesterday and the people that were up there got stuck are having to walk down the hill and then up the railroad tracks back to town. Not good. The helicopters were making side trips to pick people up yesterday. The bridges and roads to Machu Picchu are washed out as well. Fortunately, it is not raining today after raining all night for the past two nights.
Dale
Aguas Calientes Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Aguas-Calientes-Jan-25-2010/25165815_wcJRtR#!i=2063945203&k=RVwrX5Q
MP Rescue Picture Gallery: http://travelwithdm.smugmug.com/Travel/South-America/Rescue-Aguas-Caliente-Jan-24/25166213_L3Kv5V#!i=2063985748&k=7Z6VHxn
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Fred Kurasiewicz - Barbara and I have been enjoying reading the updates on your blog since we disembarked the Mariner in Lima. It’s almost like experiencing an extended cruise! Anxious to know about Antartica. Keep it all coming!
Dale - That’s great! We miss you guys. It is sort of sad to make friends and see them leave so soon. It’s getting rough as we head to Antarctica. Thanks for keeping up with us!
Dale