Stranded at the Iquitos Airport Days 6 and 7 Peru December 15, 16
Saturday, December 15 Cusco
We arrived late Friday night to the hotel, Taypikala Hotel Cusco. Our room faces the courtyard but also the airport in the distance. At 6 a.m. the planes taking off wake me up. Our alarm is set for 8am so I write in my journal while Jay catches up on his sleep.
Sleeping in the high altitude is difficult for some people.
Our mountain travels have been like bounce diving-up down, up down.
Cusco is at 3380 m
Urubamba 2875 m
Aguas Calientes 2040 m
Iquitos-where we'll be on Sunday is 80 m
We had planned a leisurely Saturday morning for our free day in Cusco. Cho-Cho left us last night after making our day trip arrangements and scheduling a goodbye dinner for Saturday night at 7pm. We'll meet him at the Inca Pachacutec fountain in the Plaza de Armas.
Driving through the towns last night, I was struck by the local dogs. They are very loyal here to their people. It seems like every shop and home has one. They are friendly but they do stand guard and watch over the family children. The shop dogs almost look like they are watching not only the customers but also the shop owners-making sure the money exchanges are done properly.
Breakfast at the hotel is yummy. They offered a cheesy-rice dish with veggies and a big bowl of guacamole-that was so good I wanted to eat the entire bowl.
We saw Jason before he left for his horseback ride and he seemed pretty excited. Emma and Ricky were taking it easy and doing their own thing. Linda, we assumed, left at 4:30 am to visit the Rainbow Mountain (3 hours away). The NY Times wrote an interesting article about the mountain and what's happening now that it's a tourist hotspot.
Cho-Cho booked a 1/2 Day City tour for us that includes a visit to four more Inca ruins. We're so excited. Cho-Cho told us to be in the lobby between 1-1:15 p.m. and a guide would pick us up. (He didn't tell us the company name but said it was one G Adventures used and trusted.)
After cleaning up from breakfast, packing and checking emails, we head to the lobby at 12:55 and wait. The Inka Trail group staying in the hotel meet THEIR guide at 1 and off they go. We WAIT.
We waited in the lobby until 2:10 pm and NO GUIDE. We didn't even know the name of the group so the hotel desk people could check for us. Man am I PISSED OFF. I could have booked with Viator and done our own thing. I'm just glad we hadn't paid up front.
Strike two for G Adventures.
So we missed out on seeing Qenqo, Koricancha, Puca Pucara, Tambomachay and Sacsaywaman.
We decided to do our own city tour on foot (so no ruins!) We checked out the Machu Pichu Museum Casa Concha. Checked out the Spanish architecture.
We had "lunch" at a gelato place across from the Palacio de Justico.
I even bought a bag of "popcorn" made from Peruvian bubble corn-a variety with HUGE kernels. It was quite good, like kettle corn but not as sweet.
We chilled in our room until about 6:45 then walked to the fountain. The city at night was gorgeous. And this Saturday was a busy day for weddings (like June here in Vermont!) We saw at least four wedding parties promenading around the plaza.
Cho-Cho shows up limping-he played futbol and hurt his foot in the afternoon but was OK. Jason said he had a wonderful time horseback riding around the Luna Temple. Cho-Cho asks how our city tour went and we tell him the guide never showed up. He seemed as angry as I was earlier in the day.
Dinner was at Uchu, another of Marcel Batata restaurants-did I mention we think Cho-Cho is a foodie! Uchu is a Peruvian Steakhouse where the food is cooked at your table on hot lava stones.
I had the shrimp with sweet potatoes and a lovely avocado salad with a passion fruit Mojito.
Jay had the alpaca steak and his Negra beer. Each plate came with three sauces to try and some butter.
We're all stuffed! We say our goodbyes to Cho-Cho, give him many hugs, wish him Feliz Navidad and Prospero de Ano Nuevo.
We're back to the room and in bed around 10pm. And asleep waiting on the early morning alarm...
Sunday, December 16 Cusco to Iquitos (or so we thought...)
A Day at Lima Airport
Stranded at the Iquitos Airport around midnight
The alarm goes off at 4 am so we can be in the lobby for 5 am. It's only 10 minutes to the airport and we're traveling on a domestic flight to Lima then Iquitos so it's chill.
We're in line by 5:30 am and off to security we go. We breeze through security and wait for our flight to get posted on the board. Gate 5, downstairs and folks immediately queue even though the plane isn't leaving for an hour.
We board at 7:10 for our 7:12 departure. It's a one hour flight to Lima then we change planes for Iquitos.
The captain informs us that there is heavy air traffic around Lima so we wait on the runway for departure-it's now 8 am. While waiting we hear this VERY LOUD snoring. Then everyone gets in a panic. One of the passengers appears to have altitude sickness, so the captain turns the plane around and heads to the medical area so the passenger can be escorted off the plane.
I'm watching my watch and our window to make out flight to Iquitos is closing, I inform a flight attendant and she says someone will meet us at the airport to help. The passenger is taken off the plane, we taxi to the runway and we're in the air at 8:50 am and land at 10 am...
We missed our Iquitos flight. Stuff happenings, I guess. Out of our control.
There is lots of confusion about what we should do. No one from LATAM or G Adventures is there to assist us. We finally are told to go to counter #6 the express area for re-booking, then we get moved to the general check in area and wait our turn.
We're told the six of us have been booked on the next available flight to Iquitos- at 8:55 PM
So we miss our ride to Nauta and our skiff to the La Perla. Stuff happenings, I guess. Out of our control.
So our Sunday is spent in the Lima Airport (and the domestic side at that) instead of realxing in a hammock on the La Perla.
LATAM has given us lunch and dinner vouchers and new boarding passes. We wait for a table in the food court and park ourselves.
After texting and calling the emergency number a rep. from G Adventures shows up and tells us someone (no name given) will meet us at the Iquitos airport and help us get to our hotel (no name given) and she gives us more food vouchers (how many junk food meals can we eat?)
At 8:50 pm we finally board our flight and we're in the air-FINALLY.
We land and the Iquitos airport is empty-we're the last flight in.
Of course there is no one to meet us.
No van to take us to our hotel
And we DON'T know our HOTEL name.
Strike three for G Adventures.
Ricky and Jason begin frantically calling an texting the emergency G Adventures numbers. In the meantime the airport is closing (as in they are locking the terminal and road gate!) We're told to go to the LATAM counter-but the terminal is dark except for the baggage area which the guards are closing up. Still no hotel name.
There are a few taxi drivers still there asking if we want transport-we have no idea where we're going and if a van is coming and just late. So we stall.
Finally we get the name of the hotel that LATAM has arranged. The Amazon Hotel. The taxi drivers tell us 10 soles per taxis, we agree and get in. (We gave our driver 20 soles because he was so helpful and nice!)
Our drivers take us to one hotel-La Casona Hotel which is NOT the Amazon Hotel. Our driver shakes his head and wrinkles his nose at the mention of the Amazon Hotel.
It's almost midnight and we've been up since 4am. What a day.
We finally arrive at the Amazon Hotel just as a rep. from G Adventures is calling the desk to see if we arrived. He apologizes and gives us details on our Monday morning 6:30 am pick by the La Perla/Jungle Experiences guide to take us to Nauta and the boat for our Amazon River tour.
We finally get to our room. I know why our taxis driver wrinkled his nose. The room is gross but it's a bed. I chase Frederika the cockroach into the drain and am glad I packed a small towel because our room has ONE threadbare towel for the two of us. But the water is hot-so that's a plus.
OMG, this day is finally over!!
More photos from Cusco: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018/Cusco-City-Walk
More photos from Iquitos to La Perla: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018/Iquitos-to-La-Perla/
Next up: La Perla Amazon River Cruise