Travel to Peru
We left our house in Goshen at about 7:45 pm on Saturday and arrived at off-site JFK parking at 9:30 pm. Checked in car and were shuttled to Delta terminal by 9:45 pm. We went to Delta business class check-in (as advised by Amex) but were told to go to Latam business class check-in. After finding it and checking in, we went to the Delta business class lounge at about 10:15 pm for a 12:05 am flight.
The lounge was busy but not packed. Margi got us both a sparkling brut which wasn’t very good. We both got a few snacks and waited until 11:25 pm to go to the gate (just a few gates down).
Most people had boarded so there was no wait and we found our two center business class seats. We were served standard nuts and champagne as we unpacked three Latam canvas bags containing pillow, down-like comforter, and seat pad. Business class pods were not very large or comfortable and the various switches and plugs were confusing. Margi had steak (NG) and I have chicken (OK). Breakfast was served two hours before our 7 am arrival. Neither of us slept much.
We arrived about 15 minutes late and de-planed rather quickly but there was a long wait for luggage to start coming out. Bonus – ours were first out!! Passport control was no problem.
Waiting in Lima airport for CUsco flight
We got to the domestic part of the terminal and found it jammed. We asked a Latam person about what to do and were told we had to use kiosks to check our luggage. After a few minute wait for a kiosk, we switched to English and first tried to scan the QR code on our domestic boarding passes, which did not work. But, we found a registration number on the boarding passes which was the key. It spit out two tags as I had registered two pieces of luggage a few days earlier using the Latam app. We attached the baggage tags and then entered another short line to actually give them our luggage and had our boarding passes scanned. Once luggage was checked in, we were directed upstairs, passed McD’s and other food places and entered domestic security check-in. Security line was very long and took almost 20 minutes. As we both set off the security alarms (replacement joints), we had to additionally remove our shoes and be manually wanded. We were in the crowded Sunday morning gate area by 9:15 am and had 4 hours to wait!! There were a few souvenir shops and places to eat. We killed some time with Starbuck’s coffee, later some lunch, and got about $100 worth of Peruvian sol’s at an ATM. The seats all had plastic dividers between them which made traveling as a couple a bit of a communication challenge.
When boarding time finally arrived, they made a last minute gate change so everyone trooped down a few gates. Using the Latam app, days earlier, I purchased “premium economy” upgrades which reportedly gave us more leg room and early boarding in group 3. Once on, we were in the third row with all rows having three across on each side. Real premium economy seats were in rows 1 and 2, which apparently gave them improved drink/snack service.
We sat on the tarmac for a full 30 minutes before takeoff. Flight was 1:30 minutes long and all announcements were in Spanish only. Flight was fine.
Arrival in CUsco
Cusco airport was obviously smaller than Lima and was fine. Luggage came out relatively quickly but ours were NOT first. Once we had our luggage (and no passport control as this was a domestic flight), we proceeded out of the airport to find all the limo drivers standing across an access street from the terminal. We were looking for our Viajes Pacifico (Vipac) person with a “FATCHERIC” or “VIPAC” sign or a yellow van (as we were told) but saw none. So, we followed the crowd up a bit and across the access street to where the drivers were all located. As we approached, a guy came out and seemed to recognize us and directed us to a non-yellow minivan (with a small yellow sign in the window). The guy was Alvaro Jimenez Espinoza from Viajes Pacifico, who said “call me Al” ala Paul Simon. (LOL) We loaded in the minivan and left the airport around 3:15 pm for 1:45 minute trip to our hotel in Sacred Valley.
Sacred Valley arrival
Al spoke great English but Gilberto, our driver, spoke almost none. At this point, we were dead tired, having been up for most of the overnight flight, the wait in Lima, and now a long ride to Sacred Valley. The minivan ride first went through Cusco city and then over a mountain to Sacred Valley area. Traffic control consisted of speed bumps every so often where vehicles virtually come to a stop to go over. Along the way, we asked some questions and Al pointed out some sites.
We arrived at the Casa Andina Premium Sagrado hotel at about 5 pm.
The ride was tiring due to frequent speed bumps and not too comfortable seats. Check-in was quick but they tried to up sell us on a larger suit, with an upstairs sleeping area. We declined. Hotel staff carried our luggage to our room. The hotel had a number of separate buildings spread over the property, so we went up a path to our building and up a flight to our second floor room.
The room was very pleasant, with standard type layout. Corridor on entry with full bath to right and then a large sleeping area with a balcony.
We unpacked a little and then went down for an early dinner. As it was just 6 pm, the dining room was open but there were only 1 or 2 other parties there. Our waitress Mercedes spoke limited English. Margi had trout and potatoes (without cheese) and I had alpaca steak on a bed of rice. On way back to room, we stopped at the bar for an aperitif and then at front desk to asked about Andean Migration Card that our travel agent said we would receive upon entry, but did not. They agreed to download from a government site and would have for us tomorrow. Back to room and crash.
Sacred Valley – Monday tour
We were up before 7:30 am alarm as we had agreed to meet the driver at 9:00 am and then drive 20 minutes to pick up Al, who had gone back to his home in Cusco. Going down to breakfast, we saw the baby llama’s that were on the grounds. During breakfast, we saw some of the younger guests bottle feeding them on the grounds.
Breakfast (included) was fruit, pancakes, sausage, bread, jelly, juice, coffee, latte, and eggs that you needed to order. Cesar, the driver, met us at the entrance on time and we drove 20 minutes to a train station where we picked up our guide, Al. We then began a tour of the Sacred Valley sights which were about 40 minutes apart. Here were some pics of countryside we drove through.
The first site we visited was the Inca concentric circles in Moray. This might have been a place to do agricultural testing but Al told us that there is only about a 1% difference in the environment from top to bottom. Alternatively, it might have been a religious site. There were 3 pits, one restored and 2 un-restored.
Next we visited the Maras salt ponds down a very twisty road with a steep cliff on one side. We stopped at a viewing point for overview and pics.
Still used today, the naturally salty ground water flows into some 3000 ponds owned by about 100 families. Many sell their output to a common processing group called Marasol.
Between sites, we stopped at a store selling souvenirs. There was no one in the parking lot when we arrived but there were four other vans when we left 20 minutes later, so I suspected every tourist van maked this stop. Margi spent 50 sols (like $15) on a credit card to buy 3 packages of local salt and two small packages of dried banana chips. Place was clean, friendly, and had restrooms.
We had the choice of having lunch or pushing onto next site. We opted to push onto the village of Ollantaytambo. This is an ancient Inca village with temples, grain stores, and stone walled terraces. As many of these required long climbing and we were climb-adverse, we opted for a tour of the village where we saw the food and meat market, including a place where you could pick from live guinea pigs running around your feet for one you would eat for dinner!! NOT!! Al pointed out the original Inca structures within the town.
We stopped for a coffee in the small town square and then drove onto the restaurant for our included lunch. It was buffet style and was “meh”. Plentiful but not special. We got back to the hotel at about 3 pm.
We napped until about 5 pm then cleaned up and went down to bar for a pre-dinner drink. Margi had rum and coke and I had wine. We sat and enjoyed the view.
As we had eaten a late lunch but were tired, we had a small meal, with me getting trout ceviche appetizer and Margi getting roast chicken. Neither of us finished. We used ATM in hotel lobby to get more sols and then back to room to crash.
Sacred Valley to Machu picchu – Tues
We are up early as we had to pack a small bag with just enough for overnight in Machu Picchu as the train accepted only limited luggage. Our main luggage was transported by Vipac (our Peru travel agent) to our hotel in Cusco for our late Wednesday arrival. Margi managed to get all our essentials into one soft-sided bag. We went to standard breakfast where the dining room was more crowded with mostly old people (LOL). After breakfast, we settled our bill (2 dinners & drinks at bar) for about 485 sol. We went back to the room and porter came for out luggage in about 5 minutes.
We went back to lobby at about 9:30 am to wait for Al and driver. They arrived early and we are happy that the plan was to take our big luggage with us in the minivan and the driver would deliver in Cusco later. We took a 20 minute ride to Ollantaytambo train station.
Hit back button and select Machu Picchu.