Machu Picchu

When Julie sent out some photos of Peru from her iPhone, her best friend since childhood replied, "You've seen one picture of Machu Picchu, you've seen them all."

While that may be true, I have to say that being in Machu Picchu on a picture perfect day is not the same as seeing photos snapped by someone else.

I think even the llamas who roam among tourists at the remarkable archaeological site there would agree.





Our second floor room in Urubamba

Our morning began with a 4:30 AM wakeup call.  We needed to have our bags packed and outside our door by 5 AM, which is also when we were due back in the buffet room for breakfast so that we could depart at 5:30 AM for Ollantaytambo to catch the first train of the day to Machu Picchu. 

As a result, our tour companions who took the optional trip to Pisac had zero daylight time to appreciate the beautiful gardens and views of our hotel.  I think it is good to remember that rather than trying to do everything, we should always factor in a certain amount of down time to savor the experiences, including lovely accommodations.

     

Entering Machu Picchu

Hiking the Inca Trail may well be amazing, but most travelers take the scenic train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Calientes.  The hike up to the fortress from the last train stop would still be challenging and take several hours if not all day, so our Machu Picchu Express tour included a bus to the entry.  Our guide Adriel suggested making an initial ascent to the highest point we would be visiting and then gradually working our way down, which as the day warmed up definitely proved to be a great plan.



Wes in Agua Calientes by statue of Pachacutec

Hiram Bingham's explorations of Machu Picchu in the early twentieth century as chronicled in National Geographic took that magazine from being an obscure journal of interest exclusively to academics and wealthy patrons to a widespread readership. 

It also sparked interest among the general populace in adventure travel and more general tourism. 

I dare say we never would have had the Indiana Jones movies without Bingham's Peru expeditions, but he didn't so much discover Machu Picchu as focus attention that led to capital being invested to dig the ruins out from under centuries of jungle.

After all, farmers were still cultivating the terraces there, and a farmer, who was busy working other fields, sent his son to lead Bingham to the ruins with no apparent concern of the child's ability to find the ruins or make his way home.  Nonetheless, Bingham did an outstanding job popularizing the romance of re-discovering artifacts and architecture of ancient civilizations.  And Machu Picchu's magnificent ruins improbably sitting among dramatic mountain peaks and steep valleys may have remained overgrown for centuries more had Bingham's natural curiosity not been fed.  As we stood looking down at the structures, Adriel directed us to imagine what this place was like when it was new, when golden straw roofs provided shelter to the wise men and priests who advised the Incas, when the now gray-with-age granite walls were gleaming white, some possibly gilded in real gold, when the finest sculptures and paintings from throughout South America were on exhibit, and when the well-dressed inhabitants wearing the bright colored fabrics of their home regions walked the streets contemplating the great issues of their day. 

While no one knows for certain, Adriel surmised that Machu Picchu was essentially the brain trust of the Inca empire.  It could have also been a vacation home for royals, but we know it must have been the dominion of a privileged few and their servants.  Who else could afford to live in such a remote and spectacular place?

The agricultural terraces, while impressive, could not have produced enough food for the population of Machu Picchu according to Adriel, who as someone who worked his family's farm in the region seems a trusted source on the subject, and Adriel thought perhaps scientists experimented with crops found in newly conquered regions and with alternative agricultural techniques.  Perhaps it was sort of an organic garden for the royal chefs to use in preparing the finest meals.  I thought back to the garden tour at Getty Villa near our home in California, where we learned that in their country estates, Roman senators cultivated species of plants and trees from places they visited, as sort of living souvenirs, just as we today might collect artwork or t-shirts or post photos on facebook or Instagram as proof of our travels. 

Roman Senators would try to influence guests to support their political schemes in Rome by bringing them to their palatial country homes, impressing them with gardens filled with growing proof of their world travels (and presumed broadened points of view) among other status symbols, along with unrivaled hospitality.  I see so many similarities between the Inca and Roman Empires, I have no trouble believing that a similar trophy garden may indeed be the purpose of these terraces at Machu Picchu as it was in Italy's rural estates.  Just like the Romans, Pacachutec expanded his empire by conquering new lands and then letting the new subjects keep their local languages and cultures.  The Incas weren't interested in micromanaging their empire but rather only wanted to collect taxes, although they did institute some laws, structure and improvements.  Just as the official language for government in the Roman Empire was Latin, so did the Incas conduct business in their official language, Quecha.  Many locals of the Sacred Valley, including our guide Adriel, still speak Quecha in addition to or sometimes instead of Spanish.

What is most phenomenal about the Incas is that they basically emerged prominently from regional players to conquerors around the thirteenth century, becoming a dominant military powerhouse and uniting lands from Central Chile to Columbia under Inca rule, only to be utterly destroyed by Spanish Conquistadors in 1572. 

By definition, Inca actually means the main leader of the empire, but historians have labeled the entire empire Incas for simplicity's sake.  To give you an idea of the brief, meteoric rise and fall of the Incas, Pachacutec, their greatest leader, was only the ninth Inca.  He expanded the empire through most of modern day Peru, and then turned over rule to his son Topa.  The empire expanded into Bolivia, Argentina and Ecuador, making it the largest native American empire at the time of the arrival of Columbus far to the north in 1492.

By that time, the Inca Empire was interlaced with a complex highway system through valleys, mountains and jungles, with extensive trade throughout.  We'll never know the exact history of the Incas, because their official records, which had been kept with a series of knots in colored strings called Quipu, were destroyed by the Spanish.  In 1493, Topa's son Huayna Capac, became the last indisputable Inca.  It should be noted that the tall mountain seen towering behind the famous ruins in most photos is Huayna Picchu.  The Incas considered mountains to also be apus, or spirits of ancestors, but I digress.  From the first landing of Columbus in the New World, Spanish military technology including fine swords of Toledo steel, primitive muskets, cannons and strategy soon overwhelmed native Americans everywhere they were encountered.

The primary objectives were to save the souls of "savages" with Catholiciscm and plunder gold and silver for the Spanish government and the Conquistadors themselves.  Francisco Pizarro tried twice unsuccessfully to bring men down from Panama along the West Coast to find treasures in South America.  On the second trip in 1527, Pizarro left two sailors ashore, presumably because one or both were stricken with smallpox or some other deadly Old World disease for which Incas had neither developed immunity nor knowledge for treating.

It seems an unlikely coincidence that Huayna  Capac died unexpectedly that same year.  The transition of Inca leaders had traditionally been quite systematic and smooth, with a council of royal advisors selecting the most competent of the Inca's legitimate sons to take his father's place.  The Inca emperor could have as many wives or concubines as he wanted, and he could have children with all of them, so at the time of Huayna's death, he had 500 sons.  Huayna's favorite son, Atahualpa, was a great general in Ecuador, commanding 40,000 troops, but his half-brother Huascar, who was better known personally in the capital of Cusco, parlayed better political connections into power.

   

According to some sources, Huascar was sort of a playboy in the city, but Adriel disputed this, saying the royal council would never have selected someone less than admirable.  Regardless of Huascar's virtues, Atahualpa decided to claim the title of Inca.  In a move not unlike Julius Caesar crossing the Rubicon with his army to claim to Rome in 49 BC, Atahualpa declared war on his brother's forces, and at the conclusion of bloody civil war, capturing and executing him before marching into Cusco to claim his throne.

The Incas picked a bad time to have a civil war, because Pizarro would soon return a third time with 177 Conquistadors destined to overturn their empire.  Fleet-footed Inca messengers brought word to Atahualpa of Pizarro's approach, but the spy reports underestimated the Spanish, claiming the swords were mostly decorative and the guns simply thunderbolts that worked only twice.  They thought the 67 cavalry troops and their horses were useless when the riders dismounted.  They would allow these fools to march to their doom rather than waste manpower bringing them back into as prisoners.   

When the Conquistadors would eventually arrive, Atahualpa planned to make them eunuchs to serve as slaves to their Inca masters, learning about their strange domesticated livestock (including those horses and chickens) just as they had captured that of native Americans.  When the Conquistadors finally settled into Tumbes, an Inca city surrounded by three walls, they requested a parley with the Inca leader, who arrived in the city unarmed as requested. 

Perhaps Atahualpa assumed his overwhelming advantage in sheer number of troops (40,000 to 177) would protect him against the armed Spaniards, but Pizarro, knowing of a similar gambit in 1519 by countryman Hernando Cortes against Montezuma in his conquest of the Mayans of Mexico, took advantage of the situation to kidnap Atahualpa, pulling him from his golden carriage and slaughtering would-be defenders.

The Incas considered their leader a demigod, so they were willing to pay any price to free him.  Eventually they promised Pizarro one room full of gold and two rooms full of silver in exchange for the freedom of Atahualpa, and they fanned out through the kingdom to gather the ransom.  Most likely, they came to Machu Picchu, which in its almost insurmountable mountain location surrounded by a river would have been a perfect place to hide treasures due to being both hidden and strategically defendable high ground. 

Nonetheless, there seemed no limit Pizarro's treachery.  After receiving the ransom, he still executed Atahualpa, garroting him for "crimes against the Spanish state."

To give some air of legitimacy, Pizarro installed Manco II as his puppet Inca leader.  You may recall Manco II, having escaped captivity under the auspices of retrieving more treasure for his masters, led his people to their only victory over the Spanish at Ollantaytambo, but the Spanish wave could not be turned back.

The Inca people retreated far from the Conquistadors into distant Amazon jungles where they survived another forty years as what came to be referred by historians as Neo-Incas.  Three sons of Manco II ruled in succession in exile.  The first son was poisoned by his own people, and the second died of a disease possibly brought by a missionary, who was subsequently killed.  After a brave stand against insurmountable odds, the third of his generation to rule, Tupac Amura, and his bravest generals were captured from their last stronghold in Vilcabamba and brought to Cuzco in chains.

The beheading of Tupac Amura in 1572 ended not only the Inca struggle against Spanish rule but the Inca Empire itself.  To this day, however, there are descendants of native tribes in the Sacred Valley.  Our guide Adriel, for example, proclaims his family roots in the area extend far before the Incas, and as such philosophically accepts that the Incas were a blip in history, a conqueror supplanted by a stronger military power.  Whether we like it or not, that is the nature of history and evolution: survival of the fittest, or perhaps we should say militarily and technologically superior.

We can and should honor the past, appreciating the accomplishments of humanity that played their parts well in their time upon the stage.  Thanks, Mr. Bingham, for bringing us here.

Someone said that you cannot see Machu Picchu on your own in two days, but with a good guide, you can do it justice in two hours.  Because we hadn't seen any mention of a guide in our Gate 1 tour description, we assumed we might need to hire one as we entered, but we were pleasantly surprised to learn that Adriel and his assistant John Claude would lead us on our tour, and they did an excellent job. 

By lunch time, we were ready to go back down the mountain to Agua Calientes.  Still full from our breakfast at the hotel in conjunction with reduced appetite caused by the elevation, we broke off from the group, which proceeded to an optional lunch with our guides, and bought a Diet Coke to have with some snack food Julie had stashed in her purse.  We ate on a bench next to the statue of Pachacutec, while nearby Andean minstrels played traditional music.

After lunch, we took the train back to Ollantaytambo, where we walked around the town a bit before boarding the bus for Cusco. 

We took a couple of breaks en route. 

We had a scheduled stop at a chicha factory, where we learned how the low alcohol "beer" is made from purple corn and then sampled this favorite brew of local farmers.  Chicha has the texture of an unrefrigerated pina collada with none of the sweetness.  I wouldn't recommend it as an alternative Pisco Sours or Inka Colas.

As those who wished to participate drank our shot glass sized portions, Adriel took a pint in both hands, and following tradition of spilling a bit on the floor for the Pachimama (earth god) while reciting the proper Quecha phrase, proceeded to down the entire glass.  He encouraged John Claude to do the same.

Behind the tasting room was a barn of sorts, where guinea pigs were kept.  Grilled guinea pig, or cuy as they call it, is a delicacy in Peru.  Having owned them as pets as a child, I know guinea pigs multiply very quickly, so raising them for food certainly makes sense economically.  We didn't try any cuy on our trip, but it supposedly tastes like rabbit (not that I've ever eaten a bunny either).

Adriel said local farmers drink chicha after a long day in the field and then play the toad game, which is similar to darts but with disks thrown at a table with the "bullseye" of a metal frog in the middle surrounded by trap doors of different scoring values, with the loser buying the next round.  Adriel said the bar owner would often give the first round for free, and that, as an skilled toad game player, he (Adriel) often drank the entire evening without paying. 

Many of us gave the game a try.  John Claude did a good job with the game, but after a short ride on the bus, he had to get off to purge the chicha from his system, so I'd guess his system isn't as accustomed to it as Adriel's.

At an unscheduled stop, Adriel jumped off the bus and returned with a white beetle in his hand.  He asked if anyone knew what it was before crushing the bug, producing a bright red beetle juice.  Not that it made much of a difference to the beetle at that point, but it is not beetle blood, which would be clear.  Beetle juice has been used as the basis for red lipstick for 3,000 years, and it continues to be used in cosmetics today.
 

By the time we reached Cusco, it was dark.  The hotel again turned out to be a modern 4 star property.  Adriel recommended Valentina, the restaurant immediately across the street, for dinner, and now being hungry after having a light lunch, Julie and I followed his advice.  The waiter brought us small Pisco Sours, which are similar to Margaritas, as complimentary welcome drinks.  My Trout Pisco from the Urubamba River was excellent, as was the Cusquena Negra cerveza.  A band dressed in traditional clothing played local music for us while we dined, and it proved to be a lovely way to cap off a very full day in Peru.

 

Gate 1 in Peru

We booked our Machu Picchu Express tour through Gate 1 because the price of the air alone would have been close to the price we paid for the entire package including hotels and tours with air.

Cuzco

Rationally, we understood this meant we would not have the best air itinerary, and that proved to be the case, with redeye flights in each direction broken up by four-hour layovers in Lima. The redeye flights meant we would have 4 days in the Sacred Valley using only 3 hotel nights, so it seems a logical approach to a short trip.

Our 1:05 AM flight on LAN left Miami a few minutes late, but we had a smooth flight. Worn out from a long day walking all over South Beach in the sun, we expected to be sleeping soon, but an improbable complimentary dinner service a few minutes after takeoff meant staying upright to avoid disrupting dining passengers behind us.

Village in Crevice of Andes

I started watching “We’re the Millers,” an odd comedy that failed on many levels but never managed to bore me to sleep. Then again, I seldom sleep well on planes. I did manage to nod off for an hour or so eventually, and I was suddenly awakened by the pilot announcing we would arrive in Lima in thirty minutes. I wish he would have waited another twenty minutes to tell us we would be landing soon.



Sacred Valley Farmland

Arriving in any foreign country to clear customs and change airplanes can be confusing, but Gate 1 had local representatives meet us to help us find our way. Yes, as with any group, it involved a bit of standing around and waiting for slow pokes, but this was definitely a positive first impression by Gate 1, which as a discount packager could be forgiven had they skipped this service.

Julie and I bought a cappuccino at McDonald’s, and not too much later it was time to board our flight to Cusco.

Because it was now morning, we enjoyed a scenic flight over the Andes, where little villages in steep valleys sit below jagged peaks which presumably include the fields on which villagers farm for subsistence.

Colorful Sacred Valley scrub brush and farmlands

Later during our tour, our guide Adriel told us he grew up on such a farm near Ollantaytambo, and he said he would walk for two or three hours up the mountain to begin his work day, and then after a long day of physical labor farming his family’s fields, he would walk two to three hours back down. That should put “grueling” commutes in air conditioned cars with stereos into perspective.

Incredibly blue skies at 2 miles high

The flight from Lima to Cusco didn't take long.

Soon we were entering the terminal, where we encountered a beverage cart offering free tea leaves, which Andeans chew in order to have energy in the high altitudes. I decided that when in Peru, I should do as the Andeans do, grabbing a few leaves and chewing them as I headed to baggage claim. As promised, I was soon alert.

Outskirts of Cuzco

After retrieving our luggage, we were herded outside and separated into groups by our guides.

Once on our correct bus, our guide Adriel counted the passengers and said there seemed to be a problem. The people count on the bus was wrong.

He called roll, with each of the passengers responding when his name was called. Everyone was present.

“Is there anyone here who’s name I did not call?” pleaded Adriel.

No response.

Almost surreal etherealness sometimes.

He counted again.

And then counted again.

He got off the bus to talk to another guide, and soon that other guide’s bus was driving off.

Adriel came back on the bus.

“Is there anyone on this bus who is not part of my group?”

No response.

Clouds come and go in the Sacred Valley

He patiently called the roll again, and again asked if there was anyone whose name had not been called.

No response.

Adriel re-counted his roster.

We had 25 passengers and only 24 names.

He got off the bus to make a phone call.

By this time, the passengers were getting restless, adding stress to poor Adriel’s face.

We would come to learn that Adriel treats his group like family, taking every situation seriously.

A couple of nights later at our hotel in Cuzco, for example, a 25 year-old girl in our group was deathly ill. Her boyfriend called Adriel at 5 AM, and Adriel said he’d be there in ten minutes.

He was there in five, immediately rushing around to pharmacies and getting a doctor, who eventually had her taken to a hospital.

It turned out that young lady had both a parasite and a form of food poisoning.



Peruvian and Llama at Sacsaywaman

She had violated a couple of Gate 1's rules during the tour.

 

She spent a lot of time petting llamas that wander around archaeological sites, which is where she probably got the parasite, and she had ordered an avocado stuffed with raw vegetables in Agua Calientes.

 

In Gate 1’s travel documents and also in a package printed for us by our guide Adriel, those activities were specifically warned against.

 

Common sense should tell you that snuggling with llamas and stray dogs is not advisable for a number of reasons.

 

Food poisoning seems more likely to be encountered by the average traveler, especially by vegans who think they are being healthier than everyone else by eating uncooked vegetables. 

If you can’t drink the water, what exactly do you think they use to wash the vegetables? Obviously, you need to eat cooked vegetables only. Fruit that has been peeled is safe, but we simply don’t have the same antibodies in our systems as locals do in other countries.

Traces of modern civilization in Sacred Valley

Keeping in mind that Adriel had warned against these activities and in fact tried to get the group to all stay together for lunch at his restaurant selection in Agua Calientes, he never went into “I told you so” mode. He just tried to resolve the problem like a loving parent.

Back to the bus count, Adriel finally walked around asking each person his or her name, soon coming to a guy in a yellow jacket who I think our guide had noticed didn’t answer the roll call. After some whispering, Adriel asked Yellow Jacket and the woman sitting next to him to step off the bus.

After another ten minutes of discussion, Adriel came back on board the bus with the woman, having found a taxi for the man who was trying to sneak onto our tour. Adriel went out of his way to not embarrass the woman who had been trying to smuggle her boyfriend into our group without paying. The woman, for her part, never made any effort to apologize throughout the trip, even when that same blockhead in the same yellow jacket kept turning up like a bad penny to delay us.

After an unnecessary thirty minute delay, we were finally on our way to our hotel, beginning with a scenic drive through the Sacred Valley.

Miami Express

Imagining a dream South America cruise, we knew we wanted to add Machu Picchu to one end of the trip.  We were surprised to learn a Machu Picchu excursion from a cruise runs over $2000 per person, or about as much as the enture fare for the two week cruise itself. 

One of my vendors, Gate 1, sent me information about the Machu Picchu Express from Miami, which came in at about $1000 per person, including air from Miami, for a four day vacation in Peru including the Sacred Valley, Cuzco and Machu Picchu. 

Too bad we don’t live in Miami, I thought, but then again we had already learned that flying from LAX to Peru frequently routed through Miami.

Upon hearing the Gate 1 deal, Julie immediately proclaimed, "Let's do it." 

Flying into Miami a day early allowed us to lock air to Miami for only 12,500 air miles plus $5 per ticket, giving us a chance to enjoy a day in sunny Miami rather than enduring a long airport layover.

It didn’t occur to either of us that we would be arriving in the hottest destination for college students during Spring Break. After settling into the airport-close Best Western Premier Hotel, which has a free shuttle from MIA, we headed to South Beach and partied until dawn, hip hopping and drinking Cristal Champagne with P. Diddy, Shakira and beautiful fashionistas from all over the world.

Actually, we walked to Burger King for dinner and then settled into our room for a sparkling evening of television accompanied by a fine bottle of Sutter Home Red Moscato, circa 2013, and if I’m not mistaken, the flavor belied a bit of frost on the morning of the grapes’ harvest.

After a good night's sleep, we checked our bags with the front desk clerk and headed out in early morning to take the bus into downtown Miami.  By the time we reached Little Havana, it was standing room only, with Spanish as the primary language among working class people.

There’s not a direct connection to a bus heading to South Beach, so we exited in downtown and walked a few blocks until we caught another bus, on which the demographics became college-aged people in bikinis and board shorts.  Once again, most people were speaking languages other than English, with accents from Western Europe and the Mediterranean.

Dropped on a South Beach street corner, we immediately headed over to see the aquamarine water along the beach, a sharp contrast to the gray to dark blue of California's Pacific Ocean.  The wide, white sand beach along the gorgeous water is quite inviting, and the 70-plus degree water adds to the temptation.  No wonder college kids flock here to escape cold winters.

We were still quite a way from the Art Deco district where most of the revelry would be found, so when we walked past Tequila Chicas, we noticed several open tables under palapas.  While the sand berms along the beach walk (presumably defense against hurricanes) obstruct the ocean views of most beach side restaurants in South Beach, our restaurant certainly had a pleasant setting with sea breezes and great people watching.

My breakfast burrito and Julie’s hamburger were both great, but the service was terrible. Our waitress was only moderately surly, but her ability to always be nowhere doing nothing was what really made it annoying to see the mandatory 18% tip on the bill.

We spent the day lazily walking along the beach and past the art deco buildings, circa 1920s and 1930s, which have been lovingly restored thanks in large part to efforts begun in the disco era by the Miami Design Preservation League.  There's a free art deco museum that features great poster art for the area.

Several historic hotels boomed with hip hop from rooftop decks and pool areas crammed full of college kids partying.

 

Sidewalk cafes were filled with beautiful people, and the beaches packed with sunbathers, doobie-smokers and Frisbee flingers.

 

Some young men played catch with a football in the turquoise water, while others had soccer games between trash cans in the sand, while nubile young ladies in bikinis did their best to distract them all.

If you’re young and heading on a cruise from Miami, you should definitely spend a night or two in South Beach rather than dealing with a daily commute from a cheaper hotel near the airport, but everyone should make a point to at least see it.

At the end of the day, we settled into Finnegan’s Way for Happy Hour.  Beers were half off their normal $5 for domestic and $6 for import, and the Guinness, delivered in a proper pint glass, was the best I’ve had outside Ireland and the U.K.  When our bearded Russian waiter brought the bill, I was amused to see the price was $2.75 per pint, so apparently they consider Guinness somewhere between a domestic and import in this Irish bar.  Julie and I split the early bird dinner of barbecued ribs and fries for $9.95, and it was terrific.  This being South Beach, the people watching from our padded seat at our table on the sidewalk was terrific.  I highly recommend this place.

Our bus drive back from South Beach included free entertainment.  Drunk college kids tried to carry on conversations, and then one lady started yelling into her phone at the top of her voice in Spanish, frequently including the F-word or some other expletive in English for emphasis.  Whoever she was talking to in New York needs to watch out the next time she catches up with him.  Julie and I kept wondering why the other person stayed on the line. 

 

Then again, maybe this woman had Tourette’s Syndrome and used the cell phone as a prop, but she was the poster child for prohibiting free cell phone usage on planes. 

Can you imagine a six hour flight listening to someone like that across the aisle?

Back at the hotel, we picked up our bags, giving the desk clerk a reasonable tip, and changed clothes in the wash room before taking the complimentary shuttle back to the airport for our long flight to Cusco, Peru.