Peru 2017: May 7, 2017-On our way to Cusco with stops at Pisac ruins and market; MAP Cafe

Our last breakfast at El Albergue. I order an omelet with everything-cheese, onions, tomatoes, chard-from the menu. My husband opted for the taco-tacu which is Peruvian refried bean pancake with salsa criollo topped with fried eggs and a side of avocado slices. We also help ourselves to fresh fruit from the buffet. Check out is a breeze with everything listed-the cost of our room for 2 nights, our dinner, laundry, the Pachamanca farm lunch. We have loved staying here and would return. Beautifully appointed rooms. Great food and personal service. Before we leave I take a leisurely stroll through the hotel grounds. So many flowers, plants, trees. Gorgeous.

Breakfast menu

Omelet with toast and salsa

Tacu-tacu Peruvian refried bean rice pancake with salsa criollo topped with 2 fried eggs and a side of avocado slices

Landscaping El Albergue Hotel

I have booked Taxidatum for a 9:00 AM pick up with sightseeing stops in Pisac for the ruins and the market (it's Sunday when the locals bring produce to sell and barter) as well as the Ccochhuasi Animal Sanctuary. I have communicated with Leonardo of Taxidatum that we like to take things slow so anticipated arrival time at our Cusco hotel has been set for 4:00 PM. This will give us plenty of time for relaxed pace sightseeing. We exit the train gates with our bags to wait for our driver. We wait and wait but no one comes so I head back to El Albergue to make a phone call to Taxidatum. The girl at the reception desk makes the call and then tells me there's been a very bad traffic accident and the driver who was coming to get us can't get out of Cusco. Well, at least we weren't forgotten! I return to find my husband talking to a guy who claims he's there to take us to Cusco. I say, no, we're waiting for a driver from Taxidatum. He has nothing that identifies him as being with Taxidatum. I don't want to drive away with him only to find out later our correct driver has shown up. He gets on his phone and we talk to a woman but can't hear or understand her. Finally on his phone's screen I see my name, etc. so we will be heading to Cusco with Pano. However, it is now 9:50 AM so we are almost 1 hour behind schedule. It's a nice day. We have been really lucky with the weather. Lots of nice scenery on the way. Pano is a good driver but he is chewing coca leaves one right after the other which kind of makes me nervous. He does this all the way to the Pisac ruins.

Leaving the hotel to meet our Taxidatum driver we have to exit through the train gates

Sights on our drive to Pisac

Roadside produce stand

Almost there

We arrived to Pisac ruins, main entrance parking area at Qantus Raccay, at 11:30 AM. Pano says to us that we have 35 minutes here. I am astonished as it will take us 10 minutes just to walk from the car to the entrance of the ruins. Unfortunately Pano has limited English and we have limited Spanish. I'm really upset as there's so much more to Pisac than the hundreds of terraces. Pisac is one of Cusco area ruins that features all types of architecture-agricultural, hydraulic, military, residential, and religious. Qantas Raccay is one of the residential areas in Pisac. It's composed of rough stone buildings. From here you can view the terraces-around 500 total. Corn grown on the lower terraces, potatoes in the middle, quinoa grain on the high terraces. There's no way I'll be able to walk/explore this site in the time given to us by Pano. I'm very disappointed that this has happened as I was hoping to have 2 hours here as recommended in my guide book. I tell my husband Richard that he should just go on without me and I'll wait for him at this little area of benches. So the only thing of Pisac I got to see were the terraces. As I sit I'm joined by Pano. I try to explain that my husband has gone on the explore the rest of the ruins and he's not happy. He sits down and falls asleep!! Eventually my husband returns. He didn't get to see as much as he wanted but at least it was more than just the terraces. He said he was walking very fast and would have like to have done a slower pace but.... He walked the trail/path from the entrance which looped around. Parts of the path were very narrow. He got to see the one residential area Qantas Raccay and maybe the Intihuatana or sun calendar which is a oval building possibly used by the Inca to track the sun. He said that there was a huge stone taking up almost all the space inside the building. There was a wall that went around this building. You could walk in between this outer wall and the building wall. It's so hard to put it into words as I didn't see it and if I had been there I would have taken a picture as I take tons of pictures of everything whereas my husband-not so much. There was so much he didn't get to see and he's as disappointed as I am. We had 1 hour 15 minutes at Pisac ruins but just walking from the parking area and then back took 20 minutes of that hour. So 55 minutes at the actual ruins when I wanted 2 hours! We left at 12:45 PM. Then Pano has the nerve to ask us if we still want to stop at the market! I tell him yes.

Map

Larger view of the top half of the map showing routes

Larger view of the bottom half of the map showing routes

Entrance to ruins

Stunning agricultural terraces

Intihuatana????

Leaving the ruins

Since it is Sunday the market isn't just locals selling souvenir type merchandise. Pano parks the car and tells us we have 20 minutes. It's now almost 1:00 PM. I can't believe what I'm hearing. I try to make him understand that our agreement with Taxidatum was for us to have plenty of time at these stops and that we weren't supposed to get to Cusco until 4:00 PM. He doesn't seem to understand this. People from surrounding villages come to this market with their goods to sell and barter. We see Quechuan speaking people sitting by piles of vegetables, fruit, flowers. It's so colorful. If we had had the time here I originally had planned we would have had a drink at one of the little cafes that overlook this market. Great for people watching and just to relax for a while. Because of our time constraints I have no time to browse through the souvenir stands. Beautiful weaving, felt hats, alpaca items, ceramics.......

Souvenirs at Pisac Market

In the center is the area for the locals to sell and barter their goods

Nice looking vegetables

You can grab a bite to eat or have a drink while doing some people watching

Beautiful flowers

Yummy!

Lots of fruit

Colorful weavings

Back at the car after spending only 20 minutes here (I had wanted 1 hour here) Pano asks if we still want to stop at the Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary and I tell him yes. By now my disappointment has turned to anger. This is so not the day we had envisioned. Unfortunately as we arrive at the animal sanctuary it starts to rain. We put on our rain ponchos but it's really raining hard and it looks like the exhibits are outside. We decide to cut our losses and we return to the car and tell Pano to take us to our hotel in Cusco. As fate would have it as we get to Cusco the rain stops. We arrived at our hotel around 2:00 PM. So with the loss of an hour with the late start and the 2 hours early arrival to our hotel we have lost 3 hours of sightseeing time. Bummer!! Taxidatum price senior rate with sightseeing is $65.00. I intend to send an e-mail to Leonardo telling him about what transpired. I feel like Taxidatum really let us down/dropped the ball on this so to speak.

Just our luck!

Ccohahuasi Animal Sanctuary

Raining and exhibits appear to be outside

This is the infamous Pano!

Our hotel is the JW Marriott El Convento. It's a very nice hotel and I'm delighted with my decision to book our stay here. We are here from 5/7-5/11/17. Cost for the 4 nights is $1344.49. I have booked us the classic Inca room. As we check in it is explained to us about the destination fee that is part of the room rate. The amenities we receive are daily breakfast, 2 bottles of water per day, unlimited local calls, a $25USD spa voucher each day, coca tea, oxygen in the room daily, the walking hotel tour, and 2 pisco sours per day. We are given voucher slips for the spa and the drinks. Our bags had been taken to our room #211 while we were checking in. As we arrive our bags are just arriving also. The guy explains how we can elect to turn off the oxygen if we want. This is so cool. The oxygen is supposed to help with the high altitude here in Cusco which is over 11,000' Our room is great. There are 2 double beds, a desk, flat screen TV, dresser for clothes, a small table and chair for seating. In the bathroom we find bathrobes and slippers. Hair dryer. Even an iron and ironing board in the closet. There's a nice soaking tub and a separate shower. Toiletries. Our view from our room looks out to the hotel courtyard. Pretty.

Our hotel for the next 4 nights

Reception

Sparkly!

Stores that are connected to the hotel

Our room #211

Comfortable beds

Left is oxygen control; right is regular thermostat

TV and dresser

Mini fridge

Water bottles and coffee/tea

Desk

Table and chair

Bath robes and slippers

Nice soaking tub

Separate shower

Hotel information

This hotel has an indoor pool, a jetted hot tub, a sauna, and a steam room. We are tired, a bit upset and I'm in a better mood. I send an e-mail to Leonardo at Taxidatum about what has happened today and that we are not happy. We unpack and decide to chill out at the pool, the hot tub, and the sauna. We spend 2 hours in this area and I'm feeling rejuvenated! Back in our room I've received an e-mail from Leonardo apologizing for the situation. He stated that due to the accident and his regular driver not being able to get to Ollantaytambo he had to find a replacement driver that was already in Ollantaytambo to get us to Cusco. He assures me that all our future bookings will be as planned so I do feel a little bit better. I really wish I would have had that time to properly explore the Pisac ruins and enjoy the Pisac market but........ And the weather was the reason we didn't get to visit the animal sanctuary.

Hours

Indoor pool was nice

Plenty of loungers around the pool

Jetted hot tub was so relaxing!

Good for tired, aching body!

Sauna room

Steam room

Flavored water and fruit available

Dinner. We decide to go to the MAP Cafe and also visit the museum. Our hotel arranges for a taxi. Cost 5 soles. The restaurant sits inside a glass box-cool. Even though we have no reservation it's early 6:30 PM so we are able to be seated. This place is not large with a limited amount of tables so a reservation may be advisable. The menus we are given have no prices on them. Hmm. Our server explains this is a prix fixe menu of 216 soles per person. This includes an appetizer, a main entree, and a dessert. Ok. It's more than we normally eat but we'll see. Appetizers-my husband gets the mushroom capchi which is a creamy mushroom soup with fava beans, potato, and paria cheese topped with a soft pastry and black quinoa; I get the vegetable garden fresh salad of a variety of organic lettuces and sliced seasonal vegetables with homemade cornflakes, black olive crumble, garlic chips with a house vinaigrette. Mains-my husband ordered the corvina pachamanquera (fish) with Andean root vegetables, fava bean, and baby corns; I ordered grilled tender alpaca (our server told me it's like beef/steak and it was) with native potatoes dauphinoise and asparagus spears. Our server has split the mains so we each get to enjoy each other's choice. Before and in between we get small portions of items to prepare the palette and to cleanse the palette. We are slowly getting to the point of no return! I've never eaten so much food at one time and we still have dessert. Dessert-lucuma kisses of liquid/cream/foam/powder inside a chocolate shell with homemade coffee flavored chocolate ice cream for my husband; deconstructed lemon pie with pastry cookie/sputtered meringue and homemade caramel ice cream with Maras salt for me. OMG. I won't eat for a week after this! Bill without tip 474 soles. It is now past 8:30 PM and the museum closes at 10:00 PM so we decide to visit the museum another day. Taxi back to our hotel 5 soles. But we have our pisco sour vouchers and I think I have room to try this drink that I've never had. We hand over our vouchers at the hotel bar and get our first taste of Peru's famous pisco sour. It's yummy!! We go to our room, collapse into bed and look forward to tomorrow when we will explore the city of Cusco.