On Friday,
06 March, we went to breakfast about 9:30 AM, making us a little late for our
10:00 AM Machu Picchu meet up in the Wheelhouse bar. We had to stand in the back and also missed some
of the instructions about carry-on and personal items, which we later asked the
presenter to repeat. Basically, each
passenger would be allowed to bring one standard carry-on and one personal
item. (Backpacks were recommended, but
there would be a weight limit.)
While
Sally napped, Jesse attended a 12:30 PM Beginning Tango lesson and went for a
short swim. Because the water was very
cold, there were very few swimmers; however, the hot tubs were full. We both attended the 2:30 PM
Intermediate/Advanced Tango lesson.
Apparently, there have been Tango lessons earlier on this 49-day cruise
(for those who boarded in Florida) because the instructors went through a short
review. Since none of the other
participants seemed able to negotiate the steps, we didn’t feel out of
place. We did pick up a few new steps,
but if we don’t practice them, they will be quickly forgotten.
Since
this was a formal night, we had ordered canapés, which were delivered to our
cabin at 4:00 PM; we enjoyed chocolate-covered strawberries and caviar, along
with a complimentary drink. We started
dinner around 5:45 PM, this time sharing a table with Nancy and Gary of San
Diego, and Maureen and Joe of Long Island, New York. They all boarded the ship in Fort
Lauderdale. Although Nancy and Gary have
been on many cruises, we were surprised to learn that they are booked on the same
two back-to-back cruises that we plan to take next August-September. Maureen retired from teaching only one year
ago, and this is their first long cruise.
We had been thinking that we needed to cut our dancing short tonight,
in order to pack for our Machu Picchu trip.
However, the other couples at our table straightened us out on this
issue; the Machu Picchu trip is not until Sunday. After dinner, we danced to the Rhumba Duo in
the Wheelhouse Bar for 45 minutes, then to the Atomic Band in the Explorer’s
Lounge for 30 minutes, before retiring to our cabin for the night.
On Saturday, 07
March, we went to breakfast at 10:15 AM and, afterward, for a swim. As yesterday, the water in the swimming pool
was very cold, but we managed to swim for 20 minutes or so before getting in
the hot tub to warm up. Later, Jesse
went to another beginning Tango and a Cha Cha lessons at 12:30 and 1:30 PM in
the Club Fusion. A young woman named Copiah
was his dance partner; apparently, her husband is not a dancer and spent the
whole time reading at one of the tables.
Later, Sally came also for the 2:30 intermediate/advanced Tango
lesson. The lesson was much too advanced
for us (and certainly for most of the other attendees, too) and, since we
weren’t learning much, we left early for a light lunch.
At 5:45 PM we went to dinner, where we joined Lindey
and Elaine from Nova Scotia, Canada, and Bob and Alice from Washington state,
about 8 miles from the Canadian border.
They have all been on about 10 cruises.
Lindey retired about a year ago, Elaine about 4 years ago, and Bob about
15 years ago. Lindey and Elaine owned an
RV for a couple of years and drove across Canada; Bob and Alice owned an RV for
several years. Although our evening’s
discussions were very interesting and we liked both couples a lot, we realize
we might never see them again on the ship!
After dinner we danced to the Rhumba Duo for about 30 minutes before
returning to our cabin to prepare for our excursion to Machu Picchu. We sat our clocks back one hour before
retiring.
On Sunday, 08 March, we awoke to our alarm at 5:30 AM
and prepared for our 2-day overland excursion to Machu Picchu, Peru. After
breakfast about 6:00, we hurried to meet our tour group in the Michelangelo
Dining Room at 7:00 AM, and were given our passports for this trip. Our tour began with a 20-25 minute bus ride
from the San Martin cruise terminal through desert landscape to the Pisco
Airport. Our guide for this portion of
our trip was Richard. When an earthquake
blocked roads for a time to Machu Picchu a few years ago, it was determined
that about 70 percent of Peru’s economy is dependent on tourism, and more
significantly, on Machu Picchu, which is now one of the modern Wonders of the
World.
Arriving at the small Pisco airport, some construction
made it necessary for us to pull our carry-on’s for some distance through loose
gravel. Inside, we used restrooms and
then stood in a waiting area for at least 20 minutes before showing our
passports and receiving seating assignments on the plane. After that, we waited again in a larger room,
but this time there were chairs.
Finally, people were allowed to board a shuttle to the plane, but the
shuttle wasn’t big enough to hold everyone and had to return again. Even then, we took the last available seats
in the back; the van had to return a third time for the remaining passengers.
About 10:00 AM, we boarded our chartered Star Peru
Airline (“Entel”) flight to Cusco. Since
there were 3 seats on each side of the aisle and most of the passengers were
couples, it was inevitable that some couples were split by the aisle; we were
among those. (“Joined at the hip,” we
don’t like to be separated!) For a
snack, passengers were served pineapple juice and a bag of sweet potato chips.
Our smaller group of 8 passengers had been given a “purple
7” identification tags along with a “brown 8.”
Seven of our group had been on the waiting list for the standard tour. The 8th passenger was Angela, one of the
ship’s crew (she is the “Future Cruise Consultant”) assigned to keep track of
the rest of us. The remainder of the “purple
7” passengers were on the Deluxe tour, while we were on the Standard tour. The Deluxe tour was more expensive and would visit
Machu Picchu twice – first on Sunday afternoon and then again on Monday
morning. (We believed one trip to Machu
Picchu would be sufficient!)
While on the plane, Sally heard a tour leader telling
people shortly before it landed about 11:00 AM that they would have to hurry
when disembarking from the plane because the plane was a little late, and the
train would be leaving shortly.
Therefore, when Jesse took the time to use the restroom afterward, Sally
was very perturbed.
However, that instruction about catching the train was
intended only for the larger deluxe tour group; our group of 8 soon boarded a
15-passenger van and waited there for about 30 minutes until the remainder of
the Standard tour passengers arrived on a second charter plane. We were then joined by 6 additional
passengers. (All 13 of us had been on
the tour wait list.) Angela, our
Princess staff person, rounded out our group to 14. Our tour guide was Eddie, and our driver was
Eduardo. After about 45 minutes in the
van, Eduardo distributed water and box lunches, consisting of a chicken
sandwich, salad, roll, candies, and fruit drink; while eating, we started our tour
of Cusco, Eddie narrating as the van drove through the narrow streets.
Cusco was originally the capital of the Inca Empire,
then an important Spanish colony. Now,
Cusco is a cosmopolitan city and UNESCO World Heritage Centre filled with interesting
sites. Cusco is known as the "archeological capital of the Americas."
Its stately city center is filled with
cobblestone streets, colonial churches, and building foundations laid by the
Incas more than 500 years ago. After
making a photo stop where restrooms were available, we rode on to the Peru Rail
Station.
At 3:30 PM, we boarded our train en route to Aguas
Calientes and sat across a table from Ross, of Vancouver, and Angela. Although Ross is cruising with his wife and
two other couples, he was the only one of their group that chose to participate
in the Machu Picchu excursion. Still
working as a financial advisor, Ross and his business partner cover each other
during vacations. Angela is from the
east coast of Canada. Her parents were
in construction and they moved around up and down the coast with construction
jobs. Her mother is currently on the
ship with Angela. We asked Angela a lot
of questions about cruising. She mentioned
that she has worked on all but three of the Princess cruise ships (though she
seems very young).
The train followed a roaring river through the
"Sacred Valley" of the ancient Incas; the almost constant view of the
rapids was very enjoyable. In addition,
the train staff folded out the tables, laid out small, colored placemats, and
served snacks. We each received two
small pastries, plus a choice of banana or apple, and a drink (coffee, tea, or
juice).
At 5:00 PM, we arrived at Aguas Calientes. After a short walk from the train station to
the small Casa Andina Hotel, we were in our hotel room by 5:30 PM.
 |
| Dinner with Shirley & Andy |
At 6:00 PM, we met for dinner in the hotel’s
restaurant, where we shared a table with Andy and Shirley of Toronto,
Canada. Andy’s foreign accent indicated
he had been born elsewhere; he said he had emigrated with his parents from
Hungary in 1948. Shirley is of
French-Canadian background, but has no accent.
They have been married for 53 years.
Our dinner included Peruvian beer (very good!), but the food was less
than spectacular. The entrée was a small
amount of beef (?) with miscellaneous vegetables, a very large mound of white
rice, plus French fries!
Being very tired, we were the first ones to head for
our room for the night. Before we left,
Eddie warned us not to drink the water from the faucet, though he said it was
okay for brushing teeth. We enjoyed a
nice, long sleep. (The previous night,
Sally had not slept well, knowing we would be meeting early for the trip, and
she had been extremely tired all day.)
On March 9, Eddie had arranged 5:35 AM wakeup calls
for everyone. After a quick breakfast,
we checked out of the hotel at 7:00 AM and boarded a shuttle bus to Machu
Picchu. The 30-minute bus ride was very
scenic as we followed the very rough, narrow road up the mountain. With one hairpin turn after another, the
busses going up and down the mountain had to manage to pass in safe
places. Although the bus started at the
same level as the rumbling Urubamba River, the river was barely visible as our
bus climbed higher. We reached the gate
of Machu Picchu by 8:00 AM.
 |
| Machu Picchu |
Our first view of Machu Picchu, the "Lost City of
the Incas," was spectacular. Eddie guided
us on a walking tour through the terraces and aqueducts leading to the Temple
of the Three Windows. He led us up and
down steps, sometimes squeezing though narrow openings between stones. We could see the sun's rays pass through the
temple to light the Sacred Plaza and visited the curious stone block believed
to be a solar clock. The Inca retreat is
perched between Huayna Picchu (Young Peak) and Machu Picchu (Old Peak). It hovers two thousand feet above the
Urubamba River and contains misty palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and
some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation. Carved from the granite of the mountain top,
many of the building blocks weigh 50 tons or more, yet are so precisely
sculpted and fitted that the mortar-less joints will not permit the insertion
of even a thin knife blade.
The sun was very warm.
Although we were dressed warm, in case it turned cool, we wore hats and
brought an umbrella. Some people wore
shorts. When our little group stopped
very long to listen to Eddie (which we did frequently), Sally sat on a small
seat (part of Jesse’s backpack). She
could see envious looks from a few of the other women – because we were all
getting very tired from the climb.
At 11:00 we enjoyed a buffet lunch, consisting of a
large variety of food, all very good. We
shared a table with Shirley and Russ, and Mary and Leroy. Mary and Leroy live a few miles east of Los
Angeles. By this time, a dark cloud had
appeared, and soon low clouds were hanging low, blocking out some of the
spectacular view; even a few raindrops fell.
Although we took ponchos because we had been warned that the weather can
change quickly in the mountains, we felt very fortunate to have had clean,
crisp air with no clouds for our climb. Only
400 tourists can visit Machu Picchu per day – 200 in the morning and 200 in the
afternoon. We were lucky to have been
part of the morning group.
After lunch, we stood in a long line, waiting to board
a shuttle bus (at 12:15 PM) back down the mountain to the Aguas Calientes train
station. (A few rain drops were falling
by then, but Jesse pulled out our umbrella.)
At Aguas Calientes market, we were given about 30 minutes to shop before
boarding the train back to Cusco. While
we were waiting to board the train, we conversed with Jenny Joe and Clay from South
Georgia, near the Florida state line.
On the train ride, we sat with Ross and Angela again,
actually in the same seats as we occupied on the ride up the mountain. This time, the complimentary snacks were thin
pastas with cheese and small pieces of vegetables inside, plus 2 strawberries
and 3 tiny tomatoes on a long toothpick.
All four at our table chose hot tea for our drink. We were also entertained by someone in a Peruvian
version of a clown suit (it was actually a little scary, with a wig of long red
hair and horns on his head, a little like the devil); then we were given a fashion
show by the staff – of course they were selling the fashion merchandise. Both train rides, yesterday and today, were
extremely enjoyable and relaxing, the best of the van/plane/train/shuttle
transportation of this trip.
At the train station, Eduardo was waiting for us; it
was 3:00 PM. We were soon seated in a
van, which pulled off at 3:23 for our 2-hour-and-20-minute ride to the Cuzco
airport. For some time, we traveled
through the open highlands of Peru, within view of several mountains and glaciers. (Although it would be a glorious sight to awake
to glaciers each morning, we would surely miss some of our modern
conveniences!) By 4:45, we were in rush
hour Cuzco traffic; women with their Peruvian hats and brightly colored clothes
were shopping in the markets; and dogs roamed loose everywhere, as we had
noticed throughout Peru.
At the Cuzco airport, Eddie took us to our gate, where
we bid him farewell. Eddie had been an
excellent leader and very knowledgeable guide.
One by one, we showed our passports and tickets before going to our
gate. Although yesterday’s flight was
chartered, this one was commercial: LAN Airlines. We were told to get in line at the gate, and
stood there for about a half hour (though Sally sat on our handy-dandy stool).
The plane took off for Lima, Peru about 6:55 PM, and
we noticed that this plane had a little more leg room than American planes now
have. We were also happy to be seated
next to each other this time. Although
Sally was ready for a snack soon, two staffers started serving the row behind
us and then went in the opposite direction to the back of the plane; it was 30
minutes later when we received our snacks, which weren’t much: soda crackers,
nuts, & chocolate-covered wafer, plus a drink. The flight lasted exactly one hour. Airplane passengers exited down outside
stairs and boarded an extremely crowded shuttle, with people standing and
holding onto poles or hanging onto loops hanging from the ceiling.
Next, we boarded a 14-passenger bus about 8:30, which
left 10 minutes later. It was a short, 20-minute
ride through cosmopolitan Lima (but still with dogs running loose) to our
cruise ship. Sally kept reminding herself that nothing here looked familiar
because when we had left the Ruby Princess, it was in a different port. By 9:00 PM we were back in our cabin, then
soon at the Horizon Court for a light dinner before retiring for the night. We were very tired!
