Machu Picchu -

After the erupting volcano in Iceland spoiled our trip to London, Mitch and I made a last minute decision to visit the recently opened Machu Picchu ruins in Peru. This week's blog will focus on how to get to Machu Picchu, next week I will discuss Machu Picchu itself and week three will be our return trip home. For my flight attendant/pilot friends, I hope this blog is both helpful and interesting.

When it comes to traveling, Mitch and I both have strengths and weaknesses. I am good at finding inexpensive, safe, clean hotels and I usually plan the details of what important places we should visit. Mitch is responsible for ground transportation, which usually includes bus, car and rail. When our trip changed last minute from London to Peru, Mitch suddenly had his work cut out for him because he went from needing to plan a few subway transfers to a trip full of extensive, exhausting travel. A word of caution . . . for those of you planning to visit Machu Picchu, I would advise you to wait until the trains are fully operational.

On the morning of our grand adventure, we woke up at 3:30 am (yes, that is in the morning) to ensure we would make it to Atlanta before 5:05 pm. We were not brave enough to wait around for the direct flight to Atlanta so we hopped on the 6:00 am to Denver and then got on a flight to Atlanta without any trouble. We arrived in Atlanta with plenty of time for lunch and then wandered down to our gate. Because we were flying space available, I was thrilled to learn that the only spaces available were in Business Class.

Whoopee!!!

I love flying Business Class! On the Delta planes, the seats lay all the way back, the meals are always delicious, and they serve ice cream! You have your own TV and a huge variety of movies to watch. There are also comfy blankets and pillows and a little Delta gift box with eye shades, socks, lip balm, tissues and a teeny, tiny toothbrush and toothpaste. I'll be honest, if I'm going overseas, I'll plan my entire trip based around how many seats are open in Business Class. I've become a little spoiled, but on a long flight it's the best way to fly.

Grateful that things had gone so smoothly, after my airplane dinner of steak and shrimp, I put on my eye shades, unwrapped my fluffy blanket, laid my seat back and went to sleep. I'm still not sure what Mitch did during the flight; I woke up a few hours later at 11:00 pm as the flight crew was preparing for landing. We got off the plane, quickly cleared customs and went through the Lima airport to check in for our next flight, which was scheduled to leave six hours later.

Mitch and I were both surprised to find that the Lima airport is open and incredibly busy all night. I can't think of an airport in the United States that has flights scheduled to leave regularly all night long. Mitch and I went into the food court, which was also open all night (who wouldn't want Papa Johns and a Duncan Donut at three in the morning?) and found a place to sit on some uncomfortable metal chairs. I immediate fell asleep, and at 2:00 am Mitch woke me up so we could pick up our tickets.

With our tickets in hand we went through security. Airport security rules are different in every country, but I was still surprised that we weren't asked to pull out our liquids nor were we required to remove our shoes, yet they insisted we take off our watches. Behind the security guards were huge, clear tubs of contraband removed from passenger's luggage. There were a lot of scissors, pocket knives, fingernail clippers and files, scalpels, a leatherman and even a closed-ended wrench.

Seriously, who would put a wrench in their carry on bag?

Regardless, we both managed to get through security without getting arrested. We got to our gate and fell asleep for another hour or so before our flight left for Cusco.

If you are planning to visit Machu Picchu, but don't want to fork out cash for a plane ticket to Cusco, there is a bus you can take from Lima to Cusco. It is an eighteen hour bus ride which Mitch and I were prepared to take if for some reason we were unable to get on a LAN flight. The bus ride is $44.00 each way, however now that I'm back home and thinking about our trip, I'm not sure I would ever, ever, again, for any reason, get on another bus in Peru. So a bus ride would not be something I personally would consider, however if you are cash strapped, it is an option.

Sometimes the flights to from Lima to Cusco are weight restricted because of fruit cargo. Although we were prepared for the worst, there was no reason to worry, we got right on the plane. Mitch and I both promptly fell asleep before the plane took off and and hour later we were on the ground in Cusco.

Needing a ride to our hotel, we mistakenly hired a “tourist” cab driver. When we got to the hotel our cab driver spent fifteen minutes trying to convince us to take one of his special tours to the “Sexy Woman”. Although he was showing us the Sexy Woman on a map, I'm still not exactly sure where he wanted to take us. Once we were able to convince the cab driver that we were not interested in any tour, he finally left.

After twenty four hours of traveling Mitch and I were exhausted. Although it was 7:30 in the morning the Hotel Emperador staff were incredibly hospitable and they allowed us to check in. I would highly recommend the hotel (http://www.emperadorplaza.com/index_2.html), it is near the town square, the beds were comfortable and they had hot water. Our rate was only $51 a night, and they prefer you pay in American cash.

If you are planning to visit Machu Picchu, at least twenty four hours in Cusco is necessary. As I curled up in bed, I found I was having trouble breathing. Regardless of what I did, I couldn't get enough air into my lungs. Mitch reminded me that Cusco is nearly 11,000 feet above sea level, a full 6,500 feet higher than Salt Lake. We had journeyed to Cusco early so we could acclimatize, so I shook off my discomfort and went to sleep.

We woke up a few hours later and spent some time wandering around Cusco. Cusco is a cute town, but there is a lot of poverty and the street vendors won't take NO for an answer. One kid working as a shoe shiner actually told Mitch that his shoes were ugly and that he should not be wearing them around, which made me laugh because I had made the same comment about Mitch's shoes earlier. (In Mitch's defense, he was wearing them “one last time” so he could destroy them in Machu Picchu.) After a relaxing day, we went to bed early, the next morning we had a long trip to Aguas Calientes.

In January the Cusco – Aguas Calientes rail line washed into the river leaving thousands of tourists stranded in Aguas Calientes. Because of this disaster, transportation to Machu Picchu had changed drastically and the information available on the internet doesn't exactly describe the new traveling process, which, as you can imagine, is frustrating. We were able to secure two backpacker train/bus tickets to Aguas Calientes (about $100 per person) and although Aguas Calientes is only sixty miles away from Cusco, it takes nearly four hours to get there.

From Cusco, we took a bus for three hours to a train station which was located up in the mountains, literally in the middle of nowhere. The last forty minutes of the ride was on a winding, cobblestone and dirt road which overlooks a long drop into a river. From the bus station we had another ninety minutes on a train. Both the train and bus rides were breathtakingly beautiful, and we were able to see where the rail lines had washed away into the river.

We arrived into Aguas Calientes in the early afternoon and we checked into the Waracocha Hotel (no web site and you have to call to make reservations. Our room was $65 a night and they prefer American cash). The owners of the hotel spoke little English, but the hotel was clean, the water was hot, and our room overlooked the river. Mitch and I had a nice linner (lunch and dinner) and went to bed early so we would be refreshed for our day at Machu Picchu.

Tune in next week to see how our day at Machu Picchu went. It was an interesting day, but the historian in me isn't convinced Machu Picchu should be considered one of the new seven wonders of the world. If you've been to Machu Picchu, I'd appreciate your thoughts as I consider the best way to present my opinion to you.

Until next week, remember,

Life's a Journey, Take Notes!