Garden Lunch

Lunch was a pleasant surprise.  We were taken to the very swanky Belmond Hotel Rio Sagrado, where we were transported in a golf buggy through luscious green lawns and radiant bougainvillea to El Jardin restaurant .  On arrival we were given a Pisco sour - the national drink and my first tasting.  It was delectable and went straight to my head.  First checking that we had finished our touring for the day, I helped Richard out of a tight spot by selflessly drinking his too.

As the name hints, El Jardin is set in the hotel gardens with a view down to the river close by.  From the comfort of our dining chairs we watched the BBQ being fired up ready for our lunch.  Richard and Ian were mighty pleased with their meat feast. 

We lingered over a three course lunch and then fed the baby alpacas that were resident in the hotel, before moving onto our overnight stay.  That night was probably my least favourite of this trip.  The setting was fine but it was very cold, in terms of temperature and hospitality.  Since I only had my 5kg bag I layered up with all the clothes in my possession.  The hotel had very few guests, a very strange sunken bar and a cavernous restaurant with no customers.  I had a hot chocolate and went to bed, feeling very far from home.   

Lunch is being cooked for us

Feeding the baby alpacas

 

Our overnight stay

13th May: The Sacred Valley

Our schedule moved us on from Cusco and so Richard put a brave face on his troubles and rejoined the gang.  This was a tour within a tour, because we each had to pack a bag weighing no more than 5kg for the next 2 nights and store the rest of our luggage in the hotel, awaiting our return.

Our first stop of the day was Pisac archeological site, about 1 hours drive from Cusco.  Unlike most of our trip so far, the weather was inclement and the dreaded coaches were disgorging masses of people elbowing their way to the entrance.  However, the people fanned out and the fantastic views of the fertile Sacred Valley restored my good spirits.  In Inca times the terraces were farmed, and how they managed to do that I don't know because simply walking was awkward.  With the clouds clinging to the peaks around us, the river winding in the valley far below and the wind and rain whipping my face, I frame this as my 'Mountaineering in the Andes' adventure!

A short drive and we parked up in Pisac market as the sun came out.  What a glowing array of brightly coloured stalls containing every conceivable traditional handicraft.  Louise and I both bought the same souvenir - a table runner hand-made from pure alpaca wool and natural dyes.  I indulged in a mid-morning snack of a spinach empanada, freshly cooked in a huge adobe oven in the centre of the market.  Yummy and very artisan.  Behind the oven was a guinea pig run, the supply for the Peruvian delicacy of cuy (pronounced kwee), guinea pig flattened and cooked whole, with the head, teeth, ears, and other parts left intact, doused in salt and garlic to crisp up the skin.  This was a dish that I was too faint-hearted to try. 

At the next stop we were faced with the prospect of a climb up massive, steep terraces so Richard voted to remain in the mini-van with the driver, listening to Peruvian radio.  The Incan ruins at Ollantaytambo are both fortress and temple,  where the Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle.  Once again it was raining heavily and I am pleased that I managed to negotiate the uneven, wet steps with a little help from my friends.  At the top of the fortress you enter the Temple of the Sun and the wall of the six monoliths, each weighing about 50 tons.  There is an astronomical feature that catches the sunlight through the mountains at the Summer and Winter Solstices.  There was a loftiness about the place, which of course arose from the physical elevation and imposing mountains, but also because the Incas harnessed the grandeur and dignity of the natural world. 

 

Mountaineering with a smile (even from Rich!)

 

Lookout over the Sacred Valley

  

Won't that look wonderful on the sideboard at home!

Richard is happier shopping here than Bluewater

Pisac's Shopping Arcade

The way to Ian's heart

Adobe oven with guinea pig run at the back

Cuy al palo (guinea pig roasted over a spit)

View of Richard in the car park -
from the top of Ollantaytambo fortress



Wall of the Six Monoliths at the top of Ollantaytambo ruins

12th May: Cusco city tour and Inca ruins

Richard was ok-ish so long as he was resting in bed and urged me to let him sleep and go sightseeing with Louise & Ian.  Hotel Los Portales suited us very well and they did what they could to help their poorly guest.  The buildings in Cusco are a blend of Spanish colonial architecture and Inca archeological sites.  We started in Qorikancha, or Temple of the Sun, opposite our hotel.  Something that I found absolutely fascinating about the Inca architecture was the huge granite stones which were minutely shaped so that they could link together like lego bricks, without the need for mortar to stick them together.  The Inca used techniques that were mindful of the regular earthquakes in the area, such as the trapezoidal shape of the doorways.  The Spanish colonists built the Church of Santo Domingo on the site of this Inca temple, incorporating the Inca stonework into the structure of their new colonial building. Major earthquakes severely damaged the church, but the Inca stone walls, built out of huge, tightly-interlocking blocks of stone remained standing. The interior walls were once covered in gold but sadly the Spanish stripped this away.   Next we moved outside the city centre to visit the Inca archeological sites in the outskirts.  First was Tambomachay, or Temple of Water, due to the existence of two aqueducts that carry water throughout the year. At 4000m above sea level this is the highest I have ever been, or will ever be I'm sure.   (To give you some comparison, Everest Base Camp is 5,380 m).  It was tough walking uphill in the heat and rarefied atmosphere and I thought what a good job it was that Richard hadn't joined us.  Second set of ruins was the Temple of Mother Earth, where Ian was worryingly fascinated with the altar on which virgins were sacrificed.  Last and most formidable of the temple ruins was Sacsayhuaman (pronounced sexy woman, which we all find worth a giggle).  It was an Inca citadel of massive proportions, most likely with ceremonial function.

We travelled back to Cusco city centre and the main square Plaza de Armas, which is a pretty place, buzzing with life.  Here we toured the Basilica Cathedral built by the Spanish conquistadors, a grand building with a theatrical feel.  The cathedral contains some important works of art, including a painting by Mark Zapata, who created a unique "Last Supper" in which the main dish is roast guinea pig (Peru's favourite meal).  Opinion is divided as to whether this was merely an adaptation to local customs or a mickey-take.  Despite the fact that I would have loved to join Ian & Louise for a late, lazy lunch in one of the restaurant balconies overlooking the square, at this stage I also had to retire back to the hotel with a gippy tummy.  Richard and I didn't surface until the next day.

View of our hotel in Cusco, high up in the Peruvian Andes

Inca designed earthquake-proof, trapezoidal window



Showing how the granite slabs are
fashioned to fit together like lego bricks

Temple of Water © Ian Phipps

Our guide at the sacrificial altar
in the Temple of Mother Earth © Ian Phipps

Panorama of Sacsayhuaman Ceremonial Plaza

Sacsayhuaman is built with very large granite stones

Incan dry stone walls still standing



Native Indian and Alpaca © Ian Phipps 

Plaza De Armas, Cusco Main Square © Ian Phipps

No Tesco delivery then © Ian Phipps

 





11th May: Arrival in Cusco

Ughhh - a second day of travelling, starting at 5am.  We took a flight from Quito (Ecuador) to Lima (Peru,) a couple of hours stop-over in Lima airport and then another flight to Cusco. Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire in the 13th & 14th centuries and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  It is also 3360m above sea level and 'offers crisp, clean air' to quote the guide books or, more honestly, offers a decrease in atmospheric pressure that makes breathing difficult because you aren't able to take in as much oxygen. As soon as I got off the plane I felt light-headed with a slight shortness of breath.  The nhs website says
In its mildest form, altitude sickness can occur at heights over about 2,500m (8,000 feet) above sea level.  However, the more severe symptoms of altitude sickness tend to occur at altitudes of 3,600m (about 12,000 feet) and above.  Our guide advised us to take it easy, drink lots of water, keep up the sugar levels and drink the local coca tea.  I tried to jolly Richard up by commenting that I knew of no other illness for which chocolate and cocaine was prescribed, but he didn't find it at all funny and spent the next 36 hours in the hotel room with a severe headache and nausea.

 

Meanwhile, Louise had her own mini-crisis.  Being of a thrifty nature, she had saved all her pillow chocolates from the Galapagos cruise to use.. I don't know when.  Christmas presents?  Anyway.  Somewhere on the long trek from the ship the chocolates had melted.  And spread over her clothes!  Not wishing the hotel staff to think she'd had an 'accident', she had to dispose of the evidence very secretively in a public rubbish bin.  Not such a frugal venture after all.    

10th May: Transfer from Galapagos to Peru

Darwin called the Galapagos a 'little world within itself' and I was very sad to leave this little world.  As with everything in the Galapagos, the parting was leisurely.  We lingered over the spectacle of the wildlife playing around our ship in the dock of the bay, with sea lions entertaining us by hitching a ride on the panga carrying our luggage to dry land.  Once disembarked we were driven to the Interpretive Centre in Puerto Baquerizo Moreno, which is the capital of Galapagos Islands.  I found it very informative about the island's history, geology and environmental details and where we are reminded of the number of circumstances that have come together to make the Galapagos so special.  We whiled away a pleasant hour or two along Avenida Charles Darwin, the main strip - bought a fluffy blue-footed booby for Isla and enjoyed a cold drink whilst watching the boats bobbing in the harbour.  San Cristobal airport is just a few minutes drive away for our flight back to the mainland, but we didn't reach our hotel until 7pm.  I suppose the Galapagos is 600 miles from the coast of Ecuador and we had to remind ourselves that being remote makes it what it is.  Our hotel was just 20 minutes from Quito airport, which was a good thing because we were only there to eat and sleep, but as we drove through a very poor and dilapidated area, with stray dogs, shoeless children, shady men and blousy women loitering on street corners our hearts sank a little.  What had Trailfinders done to us?  The hotel put me in mind of a colonial Spanish pleasure dome, with heavy dark wood furniture and fittings, sun loungers, pool, juke box but no people.  I felt like I was in an episode of The Prisoner.  I ordered steak, egg and chips for dinner, washed down with a delightful Carmenere.  That was a good choice by Ian, so good in fact that Phillip treated us to a second bottle, if I remember correctly.  However the comfort food failed to raise my spirits.  Richard was fretting over our next destination, becoming very anxious about the effects of altitude and talking about getting a flight home early.  It was definitely a low point of the trip for me and I couldn't help seriously wondering if staying in the Galapagos wouldn't have been a better option. 

Sea lion thumbs a ride with our luggage going ashore

Our guides at the Interpretation Centre

I hope Louise is listening as this is
clearly a very important point

The main post office in the capital of Galapagos (!)
 

Hosteria Rincorn De Puembo near Quito Airport

9th May: San Cristobal Island/Punta Pitt

Charles Darwin is something of a demi-god out here, putting Galapagos quite literally on the map and establishing that, when it comes to wildlife, there is no place on earth like it.  San Cristobal was the first island that Darwin visited in September 1835 and I'm sure it looks much the same now as it did then.  We live just 5 minutes from his home in Kent (Down House) and it was weird to imagine that we'd both come all this way to walk along the same shoreline.  I felt a connection.   Back on board Socrates gave an engaging lecture about Darwin and recommended a book called Annie's Box, which takes a human interest approach to his life.  I am reading it now.  Richard obviously felt a similar attachment as he has volunteered to be an English Heritage guide at Down House. 

Our day was full of more panga rides, birdwatching and white coralline beaches.  Louise & I took a kayak out.  We did this back in Cambodia, and once again paddling Hawaii Five-O style, we were able to shake off the rest of the human race and revel in a 40 year friendship that has brought us to this perfect point in place and time.

To round-off the cruise we enjoyed cocktails on deck followed by the Captain's farewell dinner.  There were lots of little luxuries to enjoy on board without feeling decadent or over-indulged.  However, the thing I loved the most was learning all about the islands and the wildlife.  A slightly more serious type of cruising, but absolutely enthralling. 

Perfect harmony

Proof that he came out of the cabin

Poshpacking happiness

Goodbye Galapagos

Espanola Island/Gardener Bay

1:30pm Sunday 8th May 2016 = a moment in time.

I had enjoyed a tasty lunch with a glass (or was it 2?) of chilled white wine.  I was alone at the stern of the boat, ostensibly waiting for Richard's stuff in the tumble dryer, but that doesn't begin to paint the picture.  Leaning over the rail I could see a pristine white-sand beach, empty of course, that I would be visiting later that afternoon.  It was warm and tranquil.  I felt blessed and at peace in this wonderful world within my world.

By Day 3 of our expedition and the voyagers were now getting along very well.  The staff couldn't do enough to make our holiday the best.  The guides were especially impressive with their scientific knowledge, physical fitness and patience with the rookie adventurers.  One of the passengers was the opera singer, Joyce DiDonato (click here for her website), who was performing at The Royal Opera House, London shortly after the trip.  10 of the 26 voyagers were from the States, and whilst being of a certain age, were game for Galapago-go-going.  Someone came up with the bright idea of jumping off the ship's stern.  The staff asked the captain, the captain radioed back to base and got the ok.  Seemed a bit 'elf 'n safety at the time, but turned out to be a wise precaution.  Janet took the plunge and dislocated her shoulder.  The ship had to divert to the hospital, but all was well once it was clicked back into place (ouch). 

Fellow Brits, Judy & Phillip, our best buddies on the cruise



The family from Ecuador with happy teenage girls!

Terri and Dotty: so sweet until they
tried to smuggle nail scissors in their hand luggage 





Our very own opera singer



And her partner the dancer

David gives the jump a try

and his wife Janet, moments before she dislocated her shoulder

Anthony (IRS gamekeeper turned poacher) with wife and friends

This couple loaded up with cards from Post Office Bay
and plan to drive around their state delivering them. 



Our guides Christopher, Dennis and Socrates

Galapagos Big 15

Galapagos BIG 15 captures the most iconic Galapagos wildlife.  I saw 10 of the Big 15 - what a thrill!  

Within my blog I have mainly used my own photos, which I am very pleased with (thanks for the new camera Rich xx).   Of course my friend and co-traveller Ian takes photos that are a cut above mine.  I have dedicated this post to Ian Phipps's photography of the wildlife we experienced in Galapagos.

Ian's Fab Fotos (click to enlarge!)

1. Galapagos Albatross

2.  Blue-footed Booby

3.  Nazca Booby

4.  Red-footed Booby

6.  Male Frigate Birds

7.  Galapagos Hawk

8.  Marine Iguana

9.  Galapagos Sea Lion

10.  Galapagos Giant Tortoise



FYI - the 5 not recorded here are:
American Flamingoes (we saw these through the telescope)
Flightless Cormorant
Land Iguana (on Santa Fe Island only)
Galapagos Penguin
Galapagos Fur Seal