This tour was followed immediately by a cruise to Antarctica on the Sapphire Princess, starting and ending in Buenos Aires, taking in stops in Chile (Punta Arenas), Argentina (Ushuaia) and Uruguay (Montevideo). There is a separate Blog about that part of the journey - HERE
Map of the whole package tour:
To go straight to section describing Machu Picchu, go HERE!
Saturday, 11-Jan-25:
The whole adventure started on Saturday evening, when we flew out of Perth (at 10:55pm), overnight to Sydney, arriving at 06:05am Sydney time (3 hours ahead of Perth). It wasn't the most auspicious way to start off, but we had 6 hours to recover in Sydney before our next flight.
Sunday, 12-Jan-25:
Our next flight was with LATAM (South American airline, formed when LAN and another merged 2-3 years ago). We took off at 12:35pm, flying non-stop to Santiago, Chile, arriving at 11:45am (ie an hour before taking off, due to crossing the International Date Line). But over 13 hours flying time.
At the airport in Lima for a little while, time enough to take a photo of the mountains in the distance, some snow-capped.
Our next flight was from Santiago to Lima, Peru, where we had an overnight stay The flight left at 13:40 and was nearly 4 hours' duration, but Lima is 2 hours behind Santiago, so for our time in Peru we were 13 hours behind Perth. Our bags were checked in Perth all the way through to Lima (in fact to Cusco as well, though we had to collect them in Lima).
Lima is about on the same latitude as Darwin, so I was a bit worried lest it be steamy and hot, but in fact it was quite mild. (and the room was air-conditioned).
Monday, 13-Jan-25:
Monday morning we had a coach tour of Lima, then were dropped at the airport for our flight inland to Cusco, whoch left at 14:25 and lasted not much more than 1 hour. Here are some observations about Lima
So we made it to Lima, Peru, after 2 overnight flights. I can tell you, this is not the way to start a holiday - worn out as we arrive. We did get a good night's sleep in Lima before having our guided tour, then flying to Cusco today (Monday). Here are some highlights of Lima, including the beach (Pacific Ocean!), an example of the pyramids built by the Incas (with sideways bricks, which have been found to withstand earthquakes), the main square (plaza) with Cathedral, Presidential Palace and City Hall. The square was cordoned off, as today the President was due to appear in Court over some crime she is being tried over, has only 2% support from the people, and demonstrations were expected) - but it was pretty quiet...
Lima Surfing Beach:
Pre-Inca Pyramid (huaca) with Vertical Bricks:
Presidential Palace (across the Plaza):
Lima Cathedral:
Lima City Hall:
In the middle of Monday, we flew from Lima to Cusco (just over an hour flight, but 22hrs by car!). Cusco is located at an altitude of 3,400m in the Andes mountains, and we got a good look at some on the way in. We checked into our hotel and settled in (3 nights here, then one at Machu Picchu, then 2 more back here. The hotel is, I think, a converted monastery, and has kept much of the architecture. BTW, Lima is the 2nd-driest capital city in the world (after Cairo), but uses water liberally to maintain many lovely gardens, etc (especially in the rich quarters) - this it gets from snow-melt flowing down several rivers near or through the city: so far, no need for desalination...
Andes Mountains:
Cusco view from airport:
Our Hotel in Cusco:
Tuesday, 14-Jan-25:
Today, Tuesday, we went on a tour of Cusco: actually, more of the hinterland of Cusco than the city itself, though we did finish at the Cathedral. Our first stop was at an Alpaca farm outside (up from!) Cusco, called Manos de la Comunidad, run by a community of locals. They have alpacas, llamas and vicuñas, as well as condors, and create a range of goods from (mostly) alpaca wool. Here are some photos of them, including detail of one of their craft works. We bought cardigans for each of us, made from "Genuine baby alpaca wool".
After the Alpaca farm (Tuesday) we visited the Quenko Inca ceremonial site (where they embalmed their dead), followed by a lovely stand of eucalyptus (a lot are grown here to prevent erosion and are suitable for the dry climate), and then a visit to Saqsaywamam, an big Inca ceremonial site overlooking Cusco. Here were lots of examples of their tight-fitting rock walls. There were several examples of how llamas had been incorporated - can you detect one in the photos here?
Today (Tuesday) we also stopped at Cristo Blanco, a statue of Christ which overlooks the city of Cusco - great views!
Finally today (Tuesday) we descended into Cusco and visited the San Domingo convent (built over the site of an Incan temple, some of which remained), and then the Cathedral. In the Convent there was quite a bit of description of the ways of worship of the Incas, including their view of the Milky Way - they saw a llama, whereas Australian first nations peoples see an emu. There were lovely gardens in the square outside.
Wednesday, 15-Jan-25:
Today is (has been) Wednesday, 15-Jan-25, and we spent the whole day visiting the "Sacred Valley". Part of the reason for it being sacred is that the Urubamba River flows through it, and that river is sacred. Interestingly, this river flows into the Amazon, so we must be over the watershed. The mountain scenery was stunning, the fields were green and fertile, and we saw 2 or 3 ancient Inca sites, as well as 2 or 3 Inca craft shops/stops. Here's some general scenery to start.
Note the use of terraces, sometimes new, sometimes reusing Inca terraces; also the zigzag tracks up the side of the mountains. And in the final photo, on the extreme Right, some "Sky Lodges" which are metal cabins attached to the side of the mountain, for trekkers (mountaineers!) to use (at some great expense!).
Visiting the Sacred Valley in Inca territory today, we visited the Ollantaytambo Inca settlement (parts of which are actually still occupied). There's also lots of tuktuk taxis around, and I show a queue of them at Ollantaytambo.
The other main Inca site we visited was at Pisaq; the predominant feature there were the very extensive agricultural terraces built by the Incas but still in use (and protected by the State). One set of terraces back in the Sacred Valley (the last photo) was said to depict a Condor with its wings outstretched...
On our visit to the Sacred Valley today we also visited some first-nation craft facilities (in particular textiles and silver jewellery) in Chinchero, not far from Cusco. BTW, the produce shown is partly to demonstrate how they dye their cloth, but also depicts (6th & 7th plate from the L, 2nd row) some preserved potato, which can last 20 years! Helen encountered a pretty dressed up young girl who invited her to hold a cute baby goat (and be photographed!).
We also stopped for a group photo opportunity, overlooking some lovely fertile valleys.
Thursday, 16-Jan-25:
Today, Thursday, we traveled by coach to the Sacred Valley as far as Ollantaytambo (retracing our steps from yesterday), where we caught the train to Machu Picchu Pueblo (ie the town of Machu Picchu, aka Aguas Calientes), following down the surging Urubamba River (with some local potato crisps as a snack). The scenery from the train was magnificent, with steep valley walls to lofty mountain peaks and dense rainforest in the valleys (and overhead windows to enable us to see the mountain tops). The weather was good. When we arrived, we had a free afternoon in the town, prior to an early rise tomorrow (Friday) to take the local bus to Machu Picchu itself. Few pics to show just now, partly because I left my laptop in Cusco (deliberately), and partly because I'm so worn out at the end of a not-so-busy day! I put that down to operating at around 3,000m every day, combined with jetlag. BTW, no hint of Altitude sickness, and now (after 3 days) we should be acclimatised, anyway: the tablets may have helped... Here is a pic of the river (Urubamba), and us having dinner overlooking it, a few doors from our hotel (and a view out the other side of the hotel to the jumble of buildings that is Aguas Calientes, along with queues of people waiting to catch the pale green coach to Machu Picchu itself). Then some local fauna (sorry about the hummingbird being out of focus)...
Friday, 17-Jan-25:
We rose early and took the coach on the very winding road up to the Machu Picchu site (Visitor centre) and thence into the site itself. Lots of mist, cloud and rain about, and our first views were rather underwhelming! But if you look at them long enough, you can see the ruins appear out of the mist!
So, today Friday, 17-Jan-25 we got to visit Machu Picchu. There was quite a bit of mist, cloud and rain about, but every now and then the mist would partially clear so you could get quite a good view, just for a few moments! Here are more photos taken between fairly heavy rain showers and mist covering everything. It was marvellous all the same.
Just to prove what Machu Picchu actually looks like, here are 3 commercial views (taken fropm brochures I bought); the last one is a view back over the site from the summit of Huayna Picchu, the "sugarloaf" mountain standing behind the site, which is 260m higher (the peak is reached by "the stairway of death" built by the Incas, and quite hair-raising, I'm told (we didn't try it!); in the 3rd photo, on the far Left, you can see the zigzag road up to the Machu Picchu Visitor Centre from the valley floor that the bus takes:
The rest of Friday was taken up with returning to the Visitor Centre, catching the bus back to Aguas Calientes, having some lunch there at a local restaurant (we both had avenda soup & a drink of Inca cola - like creaming soda), doing a little shopping in the Market, catching the train back to Ollantaytambo, then a coach from there back to Cusco and our hotel for 2 nights more. Here's the view descending the zigzag road from Machu Picchu to Aguas Calientes (with Urubamba River deep in the ravine).
Saturday, 18-Jan-25:
Our last day in Peru, in Cusco (Sat, 18-Jan-25), was a quiet one, with a visit to the markets, then some down time before I visited the local archaeological museum. Finished off with a dinner/show next door to our hotel. The show involved some very vigorous dancing in brightly coloured costumes by 4 dancers; they got me up at one point and I was totally exhausted by the end!! Here are some pics of the Museum displays. The Museum was quite modest, though there is a lot of fascinating history (as well as the invasion) to depict. But I was disappointed not to get better information on the relative time line of all the artifacts, etc. I didn't realise that there was so much resistance to the Spaniards, with one grisly scene depicted that had 4 horses pulling a resistance fighter apart in the main square. [pics of the market, including guinea pigs (!!) and the dancing to follow...]
Here are pics of the market, and the restaurant show:
Sunday, 19-Jan-25:
Today, Sunday, was mostly taken up with flying from Cusco to Lima (1hr+) and thence to Buenos Aires (4 hours, and we gained 2 hours in the process, as BA is 11 hours behind Perth, vs Peru being 13 hours behind). We were escorted through the airport in Lima by our regular Peruvian tour guide (Aldo), and were met at the Buenos Aires airport and taken to our hotel (for 2 nights) by an Argentinian tour guide.
Monday, 20-Jan-25:
We had a free day today in Buenos Aires, and decided to take the open-top hop-on-off bus. There are two, the Red and the Yellow - we chose the Yellow as it was closest and cheaper. We were joined by 2 of our TripADeal group. At the back of the upper (open) deck there was some shade, so this suited us well as I could leap up and take photos without windows in the way. We spent the whole morning traveling on the bus. A great way to appreciate the beauty of this city. Lots of fine architecture (a lot of French influence), broad avenues (the main one being the widest in the world, till Brasilia took that accolade from BA!). Many open spaces, and huge numbers of leafy trees, sidewalk cafes, art galleries, one of the finest opera houses in the world, etc, etc Here is a sample...
Tuesday, 21-Jan-25:
On this day we were taken from our hotel to the Port in order to embark on the Sapphire Princess cruise ship. There was quite a bit of traffic congestion around the Port, and the whole process of embarking took quite a while, with things looking a bit chaotic at times. The main issue was that the Port is a functioning container port, so passengers had to be ferried via a shuttle service to the ship, after they had been processed in the Passenger Terminal. Things were made more difficult by having 3 large ships in port at the same time (a system designed for 2,000 passegers was being used by 6,000), and worse again by one ship having been delayed so it was trying to disembark passengers whilst the others were embarking them. A lot of people copmplained about the propcess and delays, but there are always delays boarding and long wait times, and the above factors were in fact beyond the control of Princess. Anyway, we got through in the end and were on board by about 2pm.
We spent the rest of the day settling in and explorong the ship. We had a standing reservation in the Vivaldi Restaurant for dinner, and that worked smoothly. The ship didn't actually sail till Wednesday, at about 4pm, so we could have spent more time in Buenos Aires, but chose instead to chill out on board.
Wednesday, 22-Jan-25:
Prior to departure at 4pm, there was plenty to do on board. For instance, we took part in a quiz where (I think) we came second. In the early afternoon, I competed in a Table Tennis competition: I lost in the first knock-out round to the guy who went on to win the comp!
Buenos Aires in actually on the estuary of the River Plata, not on the sea. Hence muddy waters (see photo). The estuary is 160km wide at this point (Uruguay being on the other side), making it the widest estuary/river in the world. A good view of the business district of Buenos Aires as we sailed away...
We'll come back to Buenos Aires in 16 days' time, on 7-Feb-25, so I'll post more about the city then.
To follow my Blog of the cruise (taking in Punta Arenas (Chile), Ushuaia (Argentina), the Falkland Islands, and of course Antarctica), go HERE!
Alex Reid
27-Feb-25