Once again a lot has happened since my last update. So, I was sitting waiting for the train in Machu Picchu Pueblo when I left you. Of course no one told us that the train leaves from a different place from where it arrives, but we did realize in enough time that nobody else was arriving at the platform we were waiting at and we hiked back up the hill and through the market to the the actual station. It was an uneventful, but painfully slow, 5 hour train ride to Poroy station, just outside of Cusco--they don't let the trains come right into Cusco any more because too many people were were getting killed on the tracks. Our driver met us there to take us to our home in Cusco, the Hostal Casa Munaycha Hospedaje, a couple of blocks from the main square, the Plaza de Armas. Now the location, while a couple of blocks from the square, is really quite unique. It is on the grounds of a private school. There is no marking on the outside. You enter through the main gate to the school, which is not marked well either, and at night is just a small door sized opening in in the wooden outer gate. You go through the main courtyard and through a short lane into a second courtyard. Now, I knew all of this and so did the driver, but when he got to the second courtyard he was lost and it was quite dark. I thought I remembered that there was just a small nameplate above a buzzer at the door to enter the hostal, but couldn't remember the colour of the door (there were a lot). Anyway, the driver made a phone call and we found it, and sure enough, there was a complete hostal, with its own courtyard, hidden behind the door.
The really strange, and neat, thing about it was that whenever we were coming and going to our room after that, the school yards were full of kids playing or practicing their dancing and singing or even giving recitals. And we just opened the gate and walked right through and nobody looked twice at us--except some tourists who were watching the kids perform throught the closed gates. Day 1 in Cusco we didn't do very much
. We wanted to take a hop-on hop-off tour but couldn't find it, so we just wandered aorund the historical district and took some pictures and lined up a couple of tours for the next day. Saturday morning we got up and went to meet our driver for our taxi tour to Pisac at 9 am at the office of Wayna Peru, where we booked the tour. A few anxious moments when we got to the office and it was closed (it was supposed to opent at 8:00) and there was no sign of our driver until 9:15. Turns out it was just the crazy traffic, which is not as bad as Lima, but still pretty bad.
The trip to PIsac was good. Pisac is impressive, but after Machu Picchu and all the other sites we had already seen, it didn't overwhelm us. Then back to Cusco for our bus "City Tour" of a number of the sites in and very close to Cusco. The City Tour, through Jenly Tours, was a mess. I started to write a detailed description of the disorganization and incompetence and I realized it was becoming a book, so I will save it for my Tripadvisor review. We did actually manage to see all of the sights that we were supposed to--though some were in the dark--but that is about the only positive thing I can say. We went to Q'oricancha, Sacsayhuaman, Q'enqo, Pucapucara and Tambomachay.
We were not "happy campers". Went to a lovely little trattoria, Nonna, across the street from our hostal (well, across the street from the school, since the hostal is behind the school) and had very good pizza and wandered back through the kids' full costume dance recital to our room.An early morning the next day, Sunday, to catch the Inka Express bus tour at 6:50 to Puno, on Lake Titicacca. Of course we allowed 45 minutes for what turned out to be a 5 minute taxi ride to get to the Inka Express office, but it was Sunday morning. Anyway, we sat on the curb and ate the box lunches that the hostal had provided in lieu of breakfast while we waited for the office to open. The 10 hour trip include 5 sightseeing stops, plus a very good buffet lunch stop:
Andahuaylillas, called the "Sistine Chapel of America", an amazing Jesuit, then Dominican, then Jesuit church in the middle of nowhere--unfortunately no photos allowed inside but it was truly spectacular;
Checacupe, a 16th century colonial bridge and replica of an Inca rope suspension bridge;
Raqchi, temple of god Wiracocha, ruins of a huge temple;
La Raya, the highest point on the journey, at 4335 meters (14222 feet);
Pukara, a large ceremonial center, but we just visited a small museum with Inca and pre-Inca artifacts.
All in all, it was a very good trip and got into Puna just about on time. Caught a cab from the Bus terminal to our hotel, which is right on the main square, again Plaza de Armas, at the Hacienda. We really feel like we have splurged on a "real" hotel here (even though our place in Lima was 50% more).
Now we just have to sort out what we are going to do for the next couple of days.
On to Cusco and Beyond
Monday, October 17, 2016
Puno, Peru
Other Entries
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1Here We Go!
Oct 0215 days priorToronto, Canadaphoto_camera1videocam 0comment 2 -
2Finding Our Way Around Lima
Oct 0512 days priorLima, Peruphoto_camera33videocam 0comment 0 -
3More Lima and on to the Sacred Valley
Oct 089 days priorOllantaytambo, Peruphoto_camera42videocam 0comment 1 -
4Hanging Out and Hiking in Ollanta
Oct 098 days priorOllantaytambo, Peruphoto_camera34videocam 0comment 1 -
5More Sacred Valley Meanderings
Oct 116 days priorOllantaytambo, Peruphoto_camera19videocam 0comment 0 -
6Major Machu Picchu
Oct 134 days priorAguas Calientes, Peruphoto_camera39videocam 0comment 0 -
7On to Cusco and Beyond
Oct 17Puno, Peruphoto_camera56videocam 0comment 0 -
8A Day on the Lake at 12,500 Feet.
Oct 192 days laterPuno, Peruphoto_camera36videocam 0comment 0 -
9That's it for Peru
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10On to the Galapagos
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11More Isla Isabela Adventures
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12Wrapping up the Galapagos
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13Some Bad-weather Beach Time
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2025-02-10