Peru 2017

Getting ready

Because I am so interested in visiting ruins Machu Picchu has been on my list of must sees for a long time. My husband and I have decided to visit Peru in 2017.

Background information: Husband, age 74, and me, age 72, are both retired and would normally take a month or longer to travel to another country/destination. Initial plan was to spend 2 weeks in Peru focusing on Machu Picchu and other nearby areas and then swing over to Ecuador for time in Quito, a week long Galapagos cruise, and several days on the 3 main islands so my husband could scuba dive. I soon discovered that the Galapagos boats average 16 or so passengers and the one whose itinerary was perfect was sold out for all of 2017 and even 2018!! So no Ecuador this trip. Just Peru. Then my 93 year old mom who is in a nursing home started to show signs of failing health so we decided 2 weeks in Peru would have to do. My brother would be there for my mom but still.........

I had gotten lots of help from the Trip Advisor forums for our recent trips to Alaska and TCI/Provo so I decided to browse the Peru forum to get some ideas for this trip.

I read some trip reports as well as posts from others requesting help. I developed a tentative itinerary and posted it on TA for feedback which I got. Made a few tweeks. Thanks go out to Gigis_mum, wes032, xochitl, paolo C for answering some of my questions. Helpful tips on Machu Picchu from USALouise. Enjoyed soniaToronto's trip report and wished I was young enough to do all the hiking she did! Encouragement/support from bigwawao who was traveling to Peru shortly after me. I'm sure there are many more and I thank you all. I also used reviews on TA to help me choose hotels and make up a list of recommended restaurants.

With my itinerary mostly set I then booked my international flight. Jet Blue offered the best deal. Round trip flight from Buffalo, NY to Lima and return at $1124.00 booked for 2 adults using expedia.com. Then trip insurance. Because I had free cancellation at the hotels my trip insurance was mainly to cover the amounts I'd be out if I did have to cancel the trip. I also wanted a policy with good medical evacuation. Used www.insuremytrip.com and compared some plans. Settled on AIG Travel Guard Gold. Cost $416.00. Made reservation to park our car for the time we'd be gone. Had used ALOFT before and booked them again. They provide shuttle service to and from our Buffalo/Niagara Airport. Cost $104.00.

Hotels: Booked August and September 2016

Costa del Sol Wyndham Lima Airport-twin room 1 night Cost $187.11

Tierra Viva Machu Picchu-double room 2 nights Cost $306.00

El Albergue Ollantaytambo-superior double room with balcony 2 nights Cost $437.80
Above hotels booked through booking.com with free cancellation, breakfast. Other amenities-hairdryer, A/C, safe, free toiletries.

JW Marriott El Convento Cusco-classic Inca room 4 nights Cost $1290.39
This hotel I booked direct with free cancellation, breakfast. Important to my husband was the amenity of an indoor pool. It also had the important hairdryer as I didn't want to have to pack mine.

Casa Andina Private Collection Miraflores, Lima-superior room 5 nights Cost $808.75
This hotel I booked through expedia.com because the rate was so much lower due to my booking our international airfare with expedia. Included was free cancellation, breakfast. Other amenities-hairdryer, an indoor pool.

Local flight: Avianca Lima-Cusco-Lima Cost $280.50 for 2 adult round trip tickets which I booked directly with the Avianca web site in October 2016.

Machu Picchu: Since this was the main reason for the trip I decided to book my train tickets, entrance to MP site tickets, bus tickets in advance and all on line. It wasn't easy but doable.

Peru Rail Ollantaytambo-Aguas Calientes-Ollantaytambo Vistadome 1st leg Ollanta to AC Cost $134.00 for 2 adults one way. 2nd leg AC to Ollanta Cost $186.00 The different prices reflect the times you pick for your departures. Some time slots are cheaper than others.
Machu Picchu entry ticket for 5/4/17 Cost $97.19 for 2 adults. Machu Picchu/Huyana Picchu hike entry ticket for 5/5/17 Cost $127.88 for 2 adults.
Bus ticket Consettur for 5/4/17 Cost $50.16 If you buy in person cost is $24 pp or would be $48.00 for 2 adults. The extra amount is credit card fee. I had some trouble with this site so decided to purchase my bus ticket for 5/5/17 when I arrived at Aguas Calientes.

I went to a local bookstore and bought the travel book Machu Picchu including Cusco, the Inca Trail, and Lima published by MOON. I read it and highlighted areas of importance to me.

I used TA to check out things to do at each of our destinations in Peru. I then made a calendar for MAY 2017 with room to write in a daily schedule of sorts. I am a bit OCD but this schedule could be flexible if necessary as things don't always go the way you think they will. I also printed out our 2 week schedule which I will refer to for flight information, hotels, etc. By the time we returned home all of these pages had changes marked on them.

Packing

I was determined to try to keep to 1 checked bag each with a weight of no more than 40 lbs, each even though the airline limit was 50 lbs. per checked bag. I also would have 1 small carry on with all my camera and video gear. The other carry on would hold our empty back pack and our clothes for our 2 nights in Aguas Calientes for Machu Picchu.

I did a much better job of selecting clothes for my husband. He wore almost everything I packed. Only the buffs and his warmer outer wear vest were not used. However, I did not do as well packing for myself. Never wore black dress, black skirt, shawl, buffs, 2 sleeveless dressy tops, long sleeve flannel shirt, navy design T shirt. I should have packed a few pr. of casual socks. This is for 2 weeks in Peru. We did laundry twice. Once in Ollantaytambo and once in Cusco.

Richard:

2 pr. pj bottoms/pants

1 white T shirt top to go with pj bottoms

2 pr. knee length shorts

1 pr. swim trunks

2 buffs-never used

1 wide brim hat

5 pr. underwear

1 pr. gray Dockers slacks which he wore on the plane

1 pr. lt. weight/summer navy slacks

1 pr. black long hiking pants, 1 pr. beige long hiking pants

2 long sleeve wicking hiking shirts

1 long sleeve flannel shirt for cooler nights

1 long sleeve nice shirt for dinner

1 short sleeve shirt for dinner

4 ss golf type shirts

1 outer wear vest-never used

1 pr. hiking boots which he wore on the plane

1 pr. waterproof closed toe Keens

1 pr. flip flops

1 pr. casual shoes to wear for dinners

1 ss design T shirt which he wore on the plane

1 black fleece which he carried/wore on the plane

3 pr. hiking socks

4 pr. casual socks

Christine (me):

2 nightgowns

2 pr. shorts

1 swim suit and swim suit cover up

2 buffs-never used

1 hat

5 pr. underwear

1 sport bra

1 shawl-never used

1 pr. black slacks-wore on the plane

3 pr. capri/knee length pants

2 long sleeve wicking hiking shirts

1 long sleeve flannel shirt for cooler nights-never used

set of base wear-pants & top

1 black long sleeve sweater

1 elbow length wrap

1 black dress-never used

1 black skirt-never used

1 ss black lace top

3 sleeveless dressy tops-only used 1

6 ss wash & wear multi color tops-these were great-didn't wrinkle and very versatile

1 navy design T shirt-never used

2 blue tops-one was sleeveless and the other had short sleeves

black long sleeve shell from my Columbia jacket I had bought for our Alaska trip

1 pr. hiking boots which I wore on the plane

1 pr. waterproof closed toe Keens

1 pr. flip flops

1 pr. casual sandals to wear for dinners-I wore them a few times
1 black design T shirt which I wore on the plane

1 black fleece which I wore on the plane

3 pr. hiking socks

Miscl. stuff:

few bandaids, neosporin

travel size jar Vaseline, sm. jar Vicks-never used

sm. bottle pepto bismol, aleve as husband allergic to aspirin

tylenol, cepacol for sore throat-never used, benadryl/antihistamine-never used

sudafed for sinus-never used, RX meds, probiotic

sunscreen, insect repellant

single use Tide, sewing kit-never used, eyeglass kit-never used

travel size kleenex-never used as all our hotels had these packs in the bathroom

wet ones singles-never used as bathroom facilities were fine, hand sanitizer

deodorant, disposable razors, shaving cream in travel size

toothpaste, toothbrushes, dental floss, travel size mouthwash

Most of the midcl. things we didn't use was based on luck that we didn't need to utilize them.

Camera and video gear was all stored in one carry on. I have a travel case for my gear but it's heavy and awkward to carry as it has no wheels for easy mobility going through airports, etc.

Canon EOS rebel XTI SLR and EF-S18-55 mm lens which came with the camera and
TAMRON 18-270 mm lens (wide angle bought just for this trip).

Filters-UV and circular polarizer.
Plenty of memory cards for both cameras as well as back up batteries for each.
Flash drive for uploading/backing up photos and video clips.
Lens/camera cleaning kit.

Canon Power Shot SX600 HS with incredible zoom. I used this camera most of the time.

SONY CX260V digital HD video camera.

Back pack for carrying the gear when sightseeing.

MacBook Pro. The computer was a bit heavy but came in handy for uploading photos and video
every night. I was also able to keep in touch with family as my mom back home is 93 years old.

Check in at airport. My bag was 33 lbs. and my husband's bag was 34 lbs. so I was happy that we had managed to stay under my goal of 40 lbs. per bag.

My carry on bag with camera & video gear and some midcl. items

My husband's check in bag

Carry on bag with clothes for 2 nights AC/Machu Picchu

My check in bag

May 2, 2017-Leaving on a jet plane

We leave the house around 7:00 AM to get to ALOFT Parking by 8:00 AM. Their free shuttle takes us across the street to the Buffalo/Niagara Airport. All of our flights to/from Peru are on Jet Blue.✈️ Our first flight is JB #2301 departing Buffalo at 10:25 AM. Supposed to arrive at JFK at 11:44 AM. We are TSA approved so we whiz through the special security line. We don't have to remove our shoes or take the lap top computer out of its carry case.😀

Our flight Buffalo to JFK is delayed by around 30 minutes. I'm a bit worried as our connection time at JFK is only 1 hour. Luckily for us I booked seats in Row 3 so we exit the plane quickly. As luck would have it the gate for our next flight is right where we exit. Everything so far is going smoothly.

Our JB #2301 is delayed.

Jet Blue flight Buffalo to JFK

Our JB plane from BUF to JFK

In the air finally leaving the Buffalo/Niagara Airport.

Goodbye Buffalo for now!

We arrive JFK no problems. Our second flight is JB #301 departing JFK at 12:45 PM, arriving Ft. Lauderdale at 3:56 PM. This flight is also delayed but only by 10-15 minutes. Again there is only around 1 hour connection time. We're in Row 7 so I'm hoping for the same good luck!

Arriving NYC

JFK Airport

Our second flight JB #301 from JFK to Ft. Lauderdale was delayed-not on time as seen in this picture.

Jet Blue flight JFK to Ft. Lauderdale

Our JB plane from JFK to FLL

Arriving Ft. Lauderdale

Luck is still on my side as our final flight is delayed too! We are now on JB #1825 from Ft. Lauderdale to Lima. This flight was supposed to depart FLL at 5:04 PM but it's over 1 hour delayed so no problem making this connection. However that means we will arrive in Lima way later than I thought. Going to be a VERY long day and my husband and I are not spring chickens anymore!

This final Jet Blue flight #1825 from Ft. Lauderdale to Lima was delayed too!

Jet Blue flight Ft. Lauderdale to Lima

Our JB plane from Ft. Lauderdale to Lima

Finally in the air-around 6:30 PM-leaving Ft. Lauderdale.

View of sunset from the plane

Very pretty

Lovely colors!

Arriving Lima at last!

Well, instead of arriving in Lima at 10:01 PM, it's more like 11:30 PM. Tons and tons of folks in line for Immigration. Had to change USD for soles at money changer at the airport instead of using the ATM. Capital One closed my debit card account without my knowing this and couldn't reopen it in time for our trip. Normally I have money in my CO debit account and just use the card to withdraw money as needed on trips out of the country. There are plenty of places at the Lima Airport to change USD to soles. While my husband waits for our bags I change $400 USD for 1206.68 soles/PEN. Charged 3% commission so $12 for that and that left $388 to change into soles/PEN.

Welcome to Peru!! We are in Lima after a long day of travel.

All bags accounted for so we exit the airport and walk right over to our hotel-Costa del Sol Wyndham Airport. Took just a few minutes to get to the hotel. By the time we check in it is now 1:00 AM or 2:00 AM Buffalo time. We are exhausted. We are offered choice of welcome drinks-bottled water or lemonade. I chose the lemonade and it was great. Cost for 1 night $187.11.

Our hotel steps from the Lima Airport

May 3, 2017-Lima to Cusco to Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes; Incontri del Pueblo Viejo

Our room is #721. Nice view of the Welcome to Peru sign and the airport. Comfortable beds and a tub for a soak if you choose. Toiletries and hair dryer. A desk, coffee maker, mini bar. Despite being so close to the airport we heard no airport noise and slept great. It's a convenient place to spend the night if you have a flight the next day.

Comfortable double beds

Desk, coffee maker, mini bar

Bathroom with tub/shower combo

Toiletries provided

View from our hotel room

Hotel lobby/reception

Hotel has a small indoor pool

Juice choices

Sliced meat and cheese

Cereal

Scrambled eggs were too mushy for me

Coffee, tea

Out of 4 choices only these 2 kinds of fruit left

Bread for toast

We are over to the airport by 6:30 AM for our Avianca #809 flight to Cusco which departs 8:40 AM. Just can't escape the lines! There are tons of people waiting to get boarding passes and to check their bags. Good thing we got here early. We finally get our boarding passes and get through security to our gate. We take a shuttle bus from our gate to our plane. Seat configuration is 2-2. I booked seats on the right side of the plane and had great views of the Andes. Beverage and a snack were served. Flight was more or less on schedule.

Avianca flight #809 from Lima to Cusco

Avianca #809 Lima to Cusco

Shuttle bus

Boarding our plane

View of the Andes from the plane

We collected our bags once we arrived in Cusco at 10:00 AM and found a guy holding a sign with our name. He helped us with our bags outside where we found John, our driver from Taxidatum. I guess he had to stay with the car so sent his friend? in to collect us?? I had prebooked our transfer from Cusco straight through to Ollantaytambo with Taxidatum which comes highly recommended. On our way out of the airport by 10:30 AM. Cost of this one way transfer was $32.00 with no sightseeing stops. Because we are seniors we got a slight discount on the price.

Getting ready to land in Cusco

Arrival Cusco Airport

Welcome to Cusco

The scenery was nice on the drive which took about 2 hours. All too soon we are in Ollantaytambo about 12:30 PM but John can't drive the car all the way to where we get on the train. He helps us take our bags over to the El Albergue Hotel where we will stay on our return from Aguas Calientes/Machu Picchu. This hotel is right where you catch the train. We are able to leave our 2 large bags here at the hotel. In hindsight we could have taken a moto taxi or walked into town for some exploring while waiting for our train.

Think this is an alpaca??

On our way to Ollantaytambo

Pretty scenery

Ollantaytambo town

We take the 3:37 PM Peru Rail train heading to AC/MP. We have to be ready to board 30 minutes before departure so at 3:00 PM we are by the train tracks. The weather is warm, humid, slightly overcast with spots of sun. I had booked our PR train tickets before we left home. I booked Vistadome. Cost $134.00 for the 2 of us. We are in carriage A, seats 11 and 12 which are on the left side of the train giving us views of the Urumbamba River. Great scenery. Our seats are very comfortable. We have our 2 seats, then another couple in 2 seats facing us with a table in between them and us. During the train ride you get a beverage-hot or cold-and a pastry filled with elderberries, raisin, and cinnamon. The coffee was too weak for my taste but the pastry was good. It was a pleasant train ride. The Vistadome train has nicely padded comfortable seats and viewing windows that go up on the side and half way across the top of the carriage. On board we brought my purse, a lightweight back pack of camera/video gear, and 2 small rolling carry ons that held our trekking poles and clothes and toiletries for the next 2 nights. Luckily there was space by our seats for the 2 carry ons. We saw people with much larger bags than we had so......... There is supposed to be a 11 lb. limit but none of our gear got weighed.

We are in carriage A/Peru Rail train

Comfortable seats with a table

View from front of carriage A

Our seats are on the left side with a view of the Urumbamba River the entire train ride

We arrived on time to Aguas Calientes at 5:02 PM. At the train station exit in town we are surprised to see a man with our name on a sign. Richard tells us that he is here to take us to our hotel Tierra Viva. I have booked 2 nights from 5/3-5/5/17 at this 43 room hotel in a twin room for $306.00 total. Breakfast is included. From town to the hotel is around 5-10 minute walk. Check in is super quick and easy. Staff are efficient and friendly. We're told breakfast starts at 4:30 AM!! Our room #408 is clean and furnished with all we need. There are 2 beds, a desk, a table and chairs. The bathroom has toiletries, a hair dryer, and a shower-not the bathtub I was expecting. 😞 The WI-FI works fine. I decide to charge my video camera and my batteries for my 2 cameras. We unpacked a little and decided to head out for dinner. In the lobby there is a table set up with teas and coffee for the guests. There's also a nice seating area. We see the room where meals are served. This is where breakfast will be served tomorrow morning. I asked the receptionist for a map of town if they had one. They did and he showed us how to get to the restaurant I had picked for our dinner. He told me it was a good choice. I'm glad to be wearing my hiking boots as the pavement is not even. There's a bit of fine/misty rain falling now.

Sign by the train station in Aguas Calientes

Richard is the guy with the tan slacks holding the hotel sign at the train station

AC town

Machu Picchu Pueblo is another name for the town of AC

Consettur office

Our hotel

We are in room #408

Comfortable beds

Room had a desk, TV, small table with 2 chairs

Toiletries provided in the bathroom

View from room

Hotel has a colorful elevator

Reception area

Lobby sitting area with for sale items on display

In the lobby area 24 hr. coffee and teas are available

We walk uphill slightly and soon arrive in town at the main square area. Here there are shops, restaurants, the Cosettur office. With the map from our hotel it's easy for us to find our restaurant which happens to be located on a main street. Incontri del Pueblo Viejo. Very busy. Had read reviews stating this was a good place for brick oven pizza. Since it is going on for 8:00 PM which is later than we normally eat dinner a lighter meal is what will work for us. We have the diavola pizza-tomato/pizza sauce, mozzerella, spicy pepperoni. It is a tradition with us that no matter where we are on a trip we have pizza at least once. This pizza was yummy with just the right amount of blending of ingredients. The crust was perfect for me-not too thin but not too thick. Cost of dinner 38 soles without tip. Don't think credit cards are accepted here.

Dinner at Incontri del Pueblo Viejo

We ordered the Diavola pizza

Very busy

Yummy pizza!

Walking back to our hotel we heard singing and saw a large gathering of people-lots of children. There was guy dressed funny and he had a monkey puppet that was a hit with the kids. He'd say something in Spanish and the kids would yell a response. We stayed to watch for a little while and then walked back to our hotel for a good night's rest before tomorrow and Machu Picchu!

Entertaining the kids

My monkey and I

Main square of AC town