cindyjo

Oops, fat fingers.
We stayed high in the park in the morning as my husband climbed M.P. Mountain and there is a 9-11 timeframe to start the climb. I spent time strolling through the upper ruins, sitting on the grassy areas with the llamas and alpacas and just taking it all in. The hike to the Inca Bridge was especially fun as there was almost no one on the trail. Lots of terrific views, birdsong and interesting plants. The bridge itself was amazing, one of those moments where all I could think was "how the h--l did they do that". It is blocked off near the bridge due to a tourist falling to his death some years ago but it is easily seen from the blockade.
I walked back to the beginning of the Montana trail to wait for my husband and was glad I didn't undertake the climb. More than one person came down in tears with noodlely legs. Of course, my mountain goat fellow loved it. At a moderate pace it took him 2.5 to 3 hours.

Up until then the weather had been spectacular with clouds and sun moving in and out casting shadows on the mountain landscape. But by afternoon we could see the change in the weather and started to hear some rolling thunder in the distance. I encouraged him to take a quick hike to the Inca Bridge before the rain started so he ran off while I waited. Of course, it started raining buckets with folks taking shelter wherever they could. He got caught in the deluge but as he was passing the little hut where you sign in and out for the Inca Bridge (guess they don't want to lose anymore tourists) the 3 amigos and the Argentinian they acquired were huddled in the hut with the park attendant! A happy reunion ensued.

We spent the rest of the afternon exploring the lower ruins in our raincoats. We were soaked but the changes in the sky and light with the storm added to the experience and it was hard to leave knowing we would probably never return. But all good things must come to an end and we had a 6pm train to catch and anticipated lines for the bus. Boy were we right. Lines snaked around the bus area with patient but soaked people still happy from their experience. We did laugh, though. Once the rain started the multi colored ponchos came out covering backpacks and rounding out everyone's contours. It looked like a Telly Tubby convention!
Caught the bus back to Aguas Caliente enjoying the last view of park. Easy ride back to Ollyantaytambo and a sound sleep by two exhausted travellers.

Macchu Pichu, 2 thumbs up.

Kathie

Still enjoying your report!

sf7307

I think I might prefer Aguas Calientes without electricity!

Ha ha!!

Pinkuylluna

You mean the mountain with the sign at the entrance to the path that reads "Es De Alto Riesgo....No Subir" (We also climbed it)

aprillilacs

Love your reporting--it's both interesting and helpful. I'll be in the same area in late May, and your report is whetting my appetite for that trip. Thanks for taking the time to do this. I kept a blog on our 4-month round-the-world trip a couple of years ago and have never regretted the time it took to write.

Looking forward to more!

cindyjo

Cusco
I expected to love Cusco but..... not so much. I am not really sure why, probably many factors. We had such great experiences in Ollantaytambo, we had some travel fatigue, we wearied of the constant assault for massage, tours, and trinkets. It is a beautiful city and the higher we walked the more interesting it got. We did a lot of walking in Cusco. We had an errand to run near the bottom of Ave. de Sol and this took us out of the old city and into the new which was interesting. We ran into our favorite person at Hostal Iskay, Sabrina, who,was in Cusco to buy for the hostal. What are the chances? We hiked the hills above San Blas for incredible views and interesting side streets.
To get to Cusco we hired a private taxi from Ollanta, $50. When we paid the driver, he inspected each bill, back and front and rejected a $20 bill with a microscopic tear in it. Be forewarned and bring pristine US dollars for any cambios or expenses with dollars.
Highlights of Cusco for us:
1. Walking down from Pisac ruins to the Pisac market. This is a fabulous walk with ruins dotting the trail almost until the end. Our driver, Wilbur, took us to the entrance to the ruins (up) and then met us at the market (down) about 3 hours later. I had read that it can be done in an hour but don't believe it. If you want time for photos, exploration and taking in the ambience (yes, I know I am big on that word) you need 3 hours. It is downhill so if you are knee/hip impaired, bring your walking sticks. We passed several folks on the beginning of the trail UP who looked miserable. I would not take this trail up unless you are up for a challenge.
2. The ruins of Tipon. We were there in late afternoon on a beautiful day and it was empty. Very different than most other ruins. We spent a lot of time there trying to imagine how it would have looked with gardens in all the terraces.
3. Wilbur, our driver, through Carlos at Second Home. What a nice guy. He told us his mother is Quechua and his father Spanish. His appreciation for his Quechua heritage made our trip very meaningful. I think we surprised him with our desire to walk down from Pisac, which added to the length of the day. This meant a horrendous traffic jam getting into Cusco and a long commute home for him. In retrospect, we should have warned him so we could begin our day earlier.
4. Second Home Cusco. All the praise for this BnB and Carlos Delfin, the owner, is well deserved. He was a gracious and helpful host as well as a delightful human being. We stayed on the second floor with a siting room and skylight. Loved having some extra room in our 5 day stay. Wonderful place, highly recommended.
5. Textile Museum on Carmen Alto of (name escapes me now, and afraid to leave this page for fear of having to start over). Someone help me here. Anywhere beautiful works of art with helpful and friendly staff. My husband and I joked that if we cut our trip short, we could afford to purchase one.....

We had 2 good meals at La Boheme, creperie just down the street from Second Home and 2 good meals at Greenpoint near the Plaza.

We left Cusco for Puno early morning on Wonder Bus which was Carlos' suggestion. Wilbur took us to buy our tickets on the day we left for our Pisac trip. The office opens at 9am and tickets were $60 pp. we were pleased with their service, the tourist stops that they made and our guide who was friendly, knowledgeable and switched easily back and forth between Spanish and English. The bus was new, comfortable and the driver was cautious for Peru. I would recommend.

We got to Puno around 5pm or so. We were prepared to dislike it from previous reviews but actually enjoyed it for the one night we were there. The street fronting the hotel was closed to traffic and even on a Monday evening was filled with residents enjoying an evening walk. I will look up our hotel, forgotten name at the moment. Very acceptable, clean, comfortable and friendly. We had an early bus to Copacabana and booked Titicaca Touristic Bus. What a mistake. I had read multiple threads on best buses, worst buses but could not find my notes. Titicaca is very prominent and looked like a good company, not so. ( First, be sure to take a photocopy of your passport because you will need it to get your visa in Bolivia. Secondly, be sure to pay the tax on the ticket at a booth located next to the Titicaca booth. It is 2 soles PP I think.
Make sure you have your passport to get on the bus and also,your white migration paper you received when entering Peru.)
The bus was dirty. My seat and the seat in front of me would not stay upright. There was virtually no help for tourists at the border, the driver and supposed guide were irritabble and hurrying everyone, even though there were several loads of folks from other buses lined up at Migration. The greatest guidance was given to order us to a specific cambio in the line of cambios at the stop before entering Bolivia. We later found out this cambio had less favorable rates. Do I dare say the word kickback. Anyway to add to our dismay, we neglected to get our passport stamped out of Peru so that when we finally got to the booth for a Bolivian visa and paid our $135pp (again looked over front, back and side) we had to go back to the Peruvian side for,the stamp. In the meantime, our '"English speaking" guide was hassling us and pointing at his watch. The upshot was they made us take our luggage off the bus and left us at the border.
Well, I own up to having forgotten the border stamp which I did have filed away in my travel brain somewhere and can understand the need to not hold up other passengers, but a simple explanation of border protocol given to passengers in English and Spanish would have prevented the hold up and seems to be a basic requirement for a company that bills itself as a Touristic bus. I also felt their rudeness was pretty poor business practice. We finally got our ducks in a row and caught a taxi to Copacabana. We later heard from numerous residents and travellers that this is not uncommon for this company. Be forewarned. There are other companies with better reputations.
Even though this experience left a bad taste in our mouths, arriving in Copacabana soon washed it all away. Lake Titicaca and Copacabana did it's magic on us. What a place!

mlgb

I'm not sure there is a good tourist bus company between Puno and the Bolivian border! If anyone has a recommendation I'd like to hear it.

Coming back from Bolivia I was on Tour Peru. Although the bus was in good condition, the driver was nutso. By Peruvian standards.

crellston

That is terrible Cindyjo!! Nothing worse than problems at a border in a strange country. Copacabana is a great place to get over the trauma though!

We had an awful trip from Cusco to Puno on what we thought was a direct trip to Copacabana. Instead we were dumped at Puno bus station at 5.00 am and left to fend for ourselves. Wandering around we were approached by what we thought was a tout but in fact he was looking for us to get on the his bus to Copa. The company was Panamericano and they we absolutely excellent. On the ride to the border he gave a talk in Spanish and English explaining what to do and where to go and then went around everyone to check that had all their papers in order.

At the border crossing he was running around like aman possessed making sure everyone got the right stamps and new what to do and when the bus arrived in Copa he made sure all the passengers where their hotels were.

We were so impressed we used then for our onward journey to La Paz which was equally good.

cindyjo

Yes, crellston, when I found my notes re the bus dos amd don'ts, in vig letters is Panamerica with crellston in little letters next to it! To late though....

Since our next month is Bolivia, any opinions on whether to start a new thread TR: 2nd leg etc. am afraid this may get too long with 4 months to go?

crellston

I did my TR in one long thread covering all 5 countries. It got to be very long and a real pain after a while. All that scrolling and searching for stuff! I would go for a separate thread for each country.

Kathie

Oh, Cindy, nothing worse than border hassles. But you recovered well. Glad to hear you liked Puno and Copacabana.