Moray, Salinas and Machu Picchu

So Tuesday we were up bright and early and we arranged for a private taxi to take us from Cusco to a city called Maras and then to Moray. As I mentioned, Cusco is 3300m high, however to get to Maras, we climbed to 3900m . . . the first picture is us at 3900m. It was crazy, it felt like you were part of the sky. Moray is an Incan agricultural labratory that was likely used to cultivate different plants high in the Andes. The ruin is HUGE, we walked down and around it but it´s so massive it´s hard to get a picture that captured it. Our next stop was Salinas which is where salt has been made since the Inca time down until today. It was really neat to see and you could walk through it. There were 4,000 of these pools that made salt, it was amazing! Our taxi then dropped us in a city called Ollayantambo and we took the Peru Rail train to Aguas Calientes which is the city where you catch the bus to go to Machu Picchu. Aguas Calientes is only accessible by train and so the ride there was amazing. The next morning we were up bright and early and headed to Machu Picchu It´s really hard to get a picture that captures what is looks like and to think that the Inca´s use to walk from Cusco to Machu Picchu through this terrain but hopefully we caught a few that will do it justice. There´s much to tell you about Machu Picchu but I will leave that for another time! Enjoy the pics!

Lima to Cusco

So when I first arrived in Peru and was taking the bus from Piura to Lima, I was horribly devastated by the landscape in Peru. All sand. I had heard it was desert but I didn´t realize the extent of it and quite frankly, it ain´t that pretty to look at, not like the desert in the Middle East. Also, it makes the garbage everywhere feel that much more abundant. The bus ride from Lima to Cusco though (21 hours) started out similar but once we got into the Andes, it was gorgeous. The bus ride was long and a little brutal but we both slept okay. The altitude in Cusco is 3300m and let me tell you, you notice the difference. The first day I was feeling sick but once we got the hang of it, we were okay. The next day, we were onto Machu Picchu.

And the winner is . . .

Okay, if you haven´t read my last blog ´Loja to Lima´, you really must or this one won´t make sense. So I returned to the bus station for 5:30 this evening just to announce to everyone I was there and ensure I didn´t miss the bus. I spoke to the guys at the front who were new and updated them on why I was there. I looked conspicuous since I was a foreigner and wasn´t carrying any bag. Then, I saw my bus driver from earlier today (Juan). Juan told me that the bus was in an accident but that it should be there for 6pm. At this point I was so tired and my spanish was getting worse so I asked him if my bag would go somewhere else but he didn´t know . . . or more likely he didn´t understand me. He knew everyone at the terminal though so he wandered around and talked to everyone. At 6:10 he returned to tell me that the bus was on the street and would pull in shortly. There were tons of buses coming and going from the station so he was waiting for a spot. When the bus pulled in I recognized the driver (and I had memorized the bus number from the night before, just in case). To my suprise, there were people on the bus though . . . in fact I recognized all of the people getting off of the bus . . . it was the same people who had got on the bus in Piura. . . There were 2 girls from the US on that bus and as soon as they saw me they asked me how long I had been in Lima. Apparently their bus got into an accident 3 hours outside of Piura. They waited 2 hours to be told it would be another 3 hours for a bus to come from Piura to get them. . . they had been on that horrible bus for 25 hours . . . guys, to say I dodged a bullet I think is an understatement. I think people would have died had I been on that bus for 25 hours . . . sitting with all of my best friends!! So I got my bag, said thank you and goodbye to Juan and headed on back to Miraflores! It´s funny how a few hours ago you wonder if you made the right decision but then a few hours later who wonder why you ever reconsidered your decision . . .

Loja to Lima

Well I have been travelling for about 48 now but I have finally arrived in Lima. Tired and weary and without my pack . . . let me explain!
It all starts Tuesday! A group of about 60 of us went to Zamora for the day. Zamora is the province beside Loja and is also the name of the capital city where we went. The drive is only an hour and a half but it´s maybe the curviest road I have ever driven on AND I was sitting facing backwards . . . yep for those of you that know me well, not an ideal situation. I was feeling slightly sick but I put my head back and just stayed calm. I was doing good BUT THEN, one of my roommates who was sitting across from me started throwing up . . . yep, I thought I was going to loose it (and I know my sister won´t believe me) but I made it the whole trip and was okay. Even though it´s fairly close, the climate there is much more tropical and they have a lot of flowers and even birds that are considered exotic. We went to this place that was sort of a South American resort. It has this giant stone swimming pool, volleyball court, professional soccer stadium, chairs and we also had lunch there. We had a fantastic day and left at about 5pm to do the drive all over again . . . We got home around 7pm and I was wiped, I tried to sleep for a bit but that didn´t really work but at 9:30 I had a shower and by 10 was headed down to the bus station. My bus left at 11pm for Piura. I was on the Loja International line and on their executive bus which is much roomier then a normal bus. I sat next to a french guy who was really tall though and needed space. As my mom said, it was like sitting beside my brothers except I didn´t have the advantage of using him as a pillow. We made it to the Ecuador and Peru boarders at 3am exactly. We had to fill out paperwork at both boarders and I was near the end of the line but as this isn´t my first rodeo, I was naturally the first done clearing both boarders and back on the bus. We arrived in Piura at 6:30am. Naturally, I was completely exhausted when we arrived but there isn´t a lot to see in Piura so I decided to stick it out and do what I could. I was able to leave my pack with my next bus line and ventured out for the day. Yep, was done breakfast and seeing the sights by 8am. Kidding, but not by much. I had time and felt up to it so I decided to take a collective taxi to a town called Catacaos. It´s about a 20 minute drive from Piura and is considered the biggest and best handicraft village in the north. That it was . . . Peru has a lot of silver here so I looked around, grabbed lunch and then headed back to the bus. My bus left at 5pm so by 4pm I was seated in the station. I had booked my ticket online in advance and that morning I had gone to the station to confirm everything. Our luggage was weighed before we got on and put to the side. I had purchased a cama (which means bed) ticket which is a seat that reclines 180 degrees so you can sleep. I was beyond exhausted at this point so I couldn´t wait. As I stood in the terminal, I started to watch people. There was this little girl who kept rolling on the floor (ya, deffinitely not clean!), then she would try to go through other passenger´s bags, run screaming as loud as she could and just generally be annoying. Her mom wasn´t watching but when she would she would slap her and tell her to stop. The girl would start crying and then then mom would comfort her. Tell me, why do parents do that, discipline and then undermine themselves. Whatever happened to the good old ´I´ll give you a reason to cry´, it worked on me . . . anyways, deffinitely didn´t want to sit near that kid. Next, this guy kept walking by me and every time my eyes would well up with tears because, yep, he smelled SOO badly! Deffinitely don´t want him sitting near me. . . see where this is going? Next there was this family of 4 sitting together. The kids were like 8 months and 2 and they were being so loud and I thought ´they didn´t buy 4 tickets´ . . . don´t want to sit near them. There were 3 buses departing around the same time so there was a chance they weren´t even on the same bus as me . . . ya right. The first bus pulls in but it isn´t a cama bus and I don´t move. They are calling for my bus though . . . I wait for the bus to load and go over and ask the only girl who works there. She tells me, yep, that´s my bus . . what?!?!? I get on the bus and oh it´s not cama and it´s not even the roomier executive bus . . . and who is sitting in front of me .. . yep family of 4 on 2 seats . . . across, yep, little girl who is still acting crazy, getting slapped and then consoled . . . whose sitting beside me, smelly guy. I sit down and realize this is a 14 hour bus (so I thought). There is no way I can do this so I jump off. I go over to the desk and tell the lady there is no way that is my bus. She looks at my ticket and says yep, 5pm. I explained to her (in spanish might I add) that I booked a cama ticket. She looks again and sure enough I had. Apparently online the system shows the 5pm but as being cama, but it ain´t so it gave me the time and seat number and charged me for a cama but gave me a regular seat. Fortunately there was another bus that was cama leaving at 6pm AND there was space so the girl moved me over, one problem. My bag was loaded onto the original 5pm bus though. We ran to the bus but it was packed full and it was 45 minutes late and they refused to take it off. At this point I would only be 20 mintes behind that bus so fine, I had no choice but it would be okay. Then the girl told me the 6pm bus was going to Lima but to a different terminal in Lima. . . what?!?! I asked her if something could be arranged. While she was checking and making a call, I start to chat with the man standing at the counter also. When the girl finishes she says she will tell me where it is and they will arrange for me to be taken over. Fine. Then the guy who I was talking to starts talking to the girl, asking what´s going on. Weird, but okay. He then asks me if I have to be in Lima at a specific time, nope, so he says he is driving the 6:30 cama bus and I can go in his bus, it goes to the same station as the 5pm bus and he can help me get my bag. Great, done and done. I sit in the station, wondering whether I will ever see my bag again but figuring it will all be okay! Our bus left promptly at 6:30, at around 7pm we were served dinner and by 8pm I was dead asleep. I slept the whole night and awoke at 6am feeling refreshed. The bus ride was deffinitely more then 14 hours. We arrived in Lima and at our first station at 10:30 and to the final destination at 11:30. There were 2 other buses at the terminal so I ran around to see if any where the one I wanted, nope. I went back to my bus and the driver was looking for me. He took me around to the area where my bag should have been, explained what had happened to the guys working there and left me. I thanked him profusely and started to wait . . . and wait . . . and wait. No bag . . . there is a huge warehouse there since lots of people ship things back and forth on the buses so I asked the guy if I could walk through. He said no but when his manager walked away he was like ´follow me´. We walked up and down but it wasn´t there. I had the ticket stub for my checked bag and another guy was on the phone with someone trying to find it. Well they claim they tracked it down. It wasn´t claimed when it arrived in Lima so they kept it on the bus, why? No idea, makes no sense to me but it´s apparently still on the bus and when it returns to the terminal tonight at 6pm to head back to Piura, I can pick it up. Will I get my bag . . . only time will tell. Stay tuned!