Vermont to JFK to Lima to Cusco, Peru

Sunday, December 9 
Our adventure to Peru is very close now. I've wanted to visit the Amazon since I was a kid and after seeing the Mayan ruins in Belize I wanted to see the Inka ruins in Peru-especially Machu Picchu.

Here in Vermont it's 15 F but we still want to hike with Riley before sending him off to the kennel for a couple of weeks (he'll not be a happy camper for sure.)

We watch some football to kill time then load the car up and head for New York. We're flying direct from JFK to Lima, Peru.

We're traveling with a different tour operator for this trip- G Adventures. Hopefully all will go well, I'm not very comfortably with their customer service. They have offices around the globe but are based in Toronto (although their newsletter says Boston, MA.) Whenever I call to ask questions I'm on hold for 40 plus minutes. My tour "specialist" was located in New Zealand and my receipts were listed as Barbados. Fingers crossed.

Chilling at JFK we wander into the Terminal 8 New York Sports Bar where we meet Sasha-(Ace) the bartender. He's super cool and does some pretty serious card tricks for us and even buys us a round of Scotch (MacCallan 12 year) and beer! We close the bar and wait for boarding to begin.

Monday, December 10
Our flight leaves JFK just after midnight and we fly all night west and south to Lima, Peru. We arrive around 8:30 a.m.. Our flight was uneventful. Immigration and customs were a breeze. I get a CLARO SIM card for my phone and we make our way towards ground transportation. We are met by the G Adventures Lima Rep. Javier.

Very heavy traffic in Lima-I thought Boston traffic and drivers were bad-they are skilled and courteous drivers compared to Lima drivers. We cower in the backseat with fingers crossed during our one hour drive to Miraflores and our hotel San Augustin Exclusive.

I had emailed the hotel asking for an early check-in if at all possible and our room #505 is ready when we arrive. We check in and do some light unpacking. We decide beer and lunch are in order. I look up the nearest brewery/pub and there is one right near our hotel.

 La Cerveceria has 21 beers on tap and they make a delicious Pisco Sour! Not only are the beers great but their food is also great. I only speak a little Spanish, they only speak a little English but between our combined Spang-Lish, a translator phone app and tourist charades we order lunch and love the food. I tried the Tacu-Tacu (beans and rice and steak) and Jay had the Que Buena Papas (potatoes and cheese sauce.)

Back at the hotel we have our meeting with Javier. Five of the six in are group are there.
Jason from Singapore
Emma and Ricky (newlyweds) from Belfast
Linda (arriving late Monday night)
We toast with Pisco Sours and Javier tells us how out trip will unfold:
6 -640 am breakfast then van to airport for our flight to Cusco. Our Naturalist/ Guide will meet us at the airport and get us to our hotel and our Andean adventure.

It's 7 pm but I'm ready to crash-OK I'll watch one more episode of Mrs. Maisel...

Tuesday, December 11 645 am. 
We're on the bus and someone mentions we don't have Linda so Javier runs inside and calls her room. I guess the front desk didn't tell her we had a 6:40 am lobby call.

Our flight to Cusco is on a A360-200 (3 x 3) I get a window seat and get to photograph through the window.

We have celeb sighting-Gordon Ramsay is in the baggage area-crazy!

We meet our guide- Alexander Nunez Quispe (Cho-Cho) and we're off to our hotel the Taypikala Hotel Cusco room 209.

We enjoy some coca tea; its supposed to help with altitude sickness-Cusco is at 11, 152 feet. We're on meds to prevent altitude sickness but the tea can't hurt and it tastes great.

(BTW-the coca leaves and tea DO NOT have a narcotic affect but you will test positive for cocaine if you get drug tested at work.)

The hotel offers coca leaves too for chewing and they have an oxygen tank for anyone that gets soroche bad.


We settle in a bit then Cho-Cho takes us for a quick orientation town walk. The group is pretty hungry so we head to a Cho-Cho favorite restaurant--Marcelo Batata.

I try the alpaca kabobs with a pisco sour.

Jay trys the alpaca steak with a cusquena negra (beer).

Our group walks back to the square where we all split up. Some go back to the hotel, some go to the Chocolate Museum/Shop and Jay and I hit the Inka Museum (right behind the KFC!)

They don't allow cameras but it was pretty cool to see neolithic Cusco right up to present Cusco. They have some wonderful pottery and tools, and even a couple of mummies (one was buried with what looks like a monkey.)

Back at the room we have to sort out what we can take (for 2.5 days of clothes) on the train to Aguas Calientes (Machupiccu Puebla) you cannot take big suitcases on the Peru Rail Train-small wheelies, backpacks or duffel bags ONLY. Now they tell us... Our big luggage will remain at the hotel until we return in a couple of days.

At 7 p.m., we head downstairs to the hotel restaurant-it's dark, no one around. I ask at the desk and someone goes and turns on the lights for us. I think I made a mistake and ordered the chicken soup. It's didn't come out very hot and I got sick later in the evening. NOT GOOD. Luckily it passed quickly.

Next up-Cusco to the Sacred Valley and Urabamba River

More photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018/Lima-to-Cusco