Seeing Machu Picchu

January 12- Preparations
Tomorrow we leave for the trip to Machu Picchu. Breakfast will be served from 4:30 AM to 5:00 AM with the group leaving at 5. We pack, decide what to take. Assemble our walking sticks, practice using them, and disassemble them for packing. We have dinner with the ship's Rabbi and non-denominational Protestant Minister, and their wives. The Rabbi promises a spiritual experience in Machu Picchu.. The evening show is an energetic musician and his dancing wife. He plays the Xylosynth - half xylophone and half synthesizer. He played Canon in D, pieces from Carmen, and some rock themes by bands I didn't know. Tomorrow the big adventure.

At 5 AM we get our passports back, along with boarding passes for the two flights that will take us to Cusco. We have been taking altitude medication. Cusco is over 11,000 feet high. We change planes in Lima, and arrive in Cusco around 12:30 PM. We have been awake for over 8 hours. We check-in at the Palacio Del Inka Luxury Hotel. We have a fancy lunch, then off to tour Cusco. After lunch we tour Sacsayhuaman, an Inca site honoring the sun god (which looked liked like a fortress to the Spanish), with walls built of stones weighing over 40 tons. After walking through a portion of the site, we visited an alpaca weaving store (ostensively to learn the difference between different weaves and animals, but really to get us to buy things), and finally visited the Plaza des Armes (main city square in Cusco). With two churches, a convent, and a KFC (discreetly identified), plus a fountain with a statue of Pachacutec, arguably the most important Inca chief. After a short time at the hotel, we go to dinner and a show in a nearby restaurant. Sumner has a chance to try seviche, and is told that in Peru, it should be fresh, and must be eaten within two hours of preparation. To bed at the hotel by 10:30 PM - awake for 18 hours.

Sleeping is difficult. The room is 78 degrees. Alice sets the temperature, hoping to cool the room, and there is a setting indicating there is air conditioning in this luxury hotel. It doesn't work, however. During the night the temperature doesn't change. Alice calls the desk and complains. A man arrives and opens the window. Now we have heat, exhaust fumes, and street noise. Ah well, it's 4:30 AM, time for breakfast and then bus and train connections to get to Machu Picchu.

January 15 - The Visit
Since it is the rainy season, the train station in Cusco is not open, and we must drive 1 1/2 hours to the next available train station. We will be descending from over 13,000 feet to over 8,000 feet. We will be taking the Hiram Bingham train ("Indiana Bingham," who "discovered" the place, was the model for Indiana Jones) with first class food and service--once we reach the train station. Unfortunately, we were slowed by a rest stop and much traffic on two-lane roads, and we missed our train. We enjoyed incredible views of the Andes, though. Our bus (we have three small buses, because large buses couldn't handle the roads) races down the mountains and arrives at the next station just ahead of the train. We learn later that our guide bribed the station manager to have the train stopped so we could board. We have an excellent lunch on the train, including filet mignon and wine, and arrive at Aguas Calientes - a hot springs at the foot of the mountains. From there we board buses for the half-hour ride up to Machu Picchu. The ascent reminds Sumner of the ride up from the Fjord in Montenegro. From the window seat, you can't see the side of the road, and it's a long way down. We arrive at the site at around 1:30 PM. At the end of our tour of the site, we will have tea just outside the entrance gate at a lovely hotel before we board the buses at 5 PM to return to the train station for the trip to Cusco and our hotel.

We divide the group in three, so that our guide has less than 10 folks to guide through the citadel of Machu Picchu. One of the 7 wonders of the world, the site is awesome. There has been considerable archeological work and speculation about the site, the culture, and the science of the incas. As described by our guide, the society had a communist, utopian cast with roots going back to Asia and Egypt. In 2 1/2 hours we covered much of the site, at least on the available cliff. Our walking sticks were invaluable. Our pictures will have to follow when we have enough bandwidth. We started down, tired but happy, at 5 PM. Caught the train just before 6 PM. On the train we had Pisco Sours in the club car, listening to the four-piece band; ate a 4 course dinner with wine in the dining car; and shared stories of our adventures. The bus ride from the train station to the hotel was exciting and long. It was a little before 11 PM when we arrived back at our hotel. We still needed to pack for the 3:30 AM wake-up call and early departure to the Cusco airport. Back in Lima, we had a tour of the city, mercifully short, and arrived back at the ship by 1:00 PM. Dear reader, you will understand why we did not report to you yesterday. Much more to report, but that will have to wait.