While the Incas certainly didn’t make getting to Machu Picchu easy by putting it on a mountaintop, despite 500 years to work on it, modern Peruvians haven’t really improved on the process. Our journey from Cusco starts with a 2 hour bus ride to Ollantaytambo. We were here a few days ago on our tour of the Sacred Valley, but didn’t have much time to spend in the town itself, so today we arrive early with plans to check it out while waiting for the train to Aguas Calientes. Aguas Calientes is the town closest to Machu Picchu, and is accessible only by train or foot (via the Inca Trail). Knowing this, PeruRail has courteously priced the 90 minute trip at about $60 per person, each way (by comparison, the 2 hour trip from Ollantaytambo to Poroy (the nearest station to Cusco) can be added on for an additional $8).

There really isn’t much to do in Ollantaytambo, but settling in at a table outside a small cafe is a nice change of pace, and we are able to sit back and enjoy more of the local culture.

As the day wears on, we wander over to a place off the main road for a quick meal. We’ve come to learn that local way to eat here is order the “menu” at lunch time and the “cena” for dinner. In both cases, you get a soup, then a plate of grilled chicken, rice, and french fries. For a couple of bucks it is quick, filling, and you pretty much always know what to expect.

From there we grab a few hike-friendly items (trail mix, chocolate, and some Peruvian energy bars that look like rectangular blocks of bird seed) and head down to the train station.

The trip to Aguas Calientes takes about 90 minutes, and passes through some great country. Our train is the higher end “Vistadome” (which is a much more elegant way of saying “we cut a few holes in the roof and made them windows so we can charge you silly tourists 30% more”), and provides some opportunities to get a few photos of the surrounding mountains.

There is not a whole lot to say about Aguas Calientes other than it is a place to stay for the night. A hodge podge collection of no name hotels, restaurants, and souvenir shops, it feels like all of International Boulevard in Orlando, packed down into just 5 blocks. That said, it is a fantastic evening, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that the weather holds for tomorrow.

Down to our last day in Cusco, we have only a few things left on our list. First off is finalizing our travel to Machu Picchu. The easy path is to book a tour from the US, which would include all of the tickets, transportation and accommodation required, but for three people that gets pretty spendy pretty quickly, so we are doing things on our own, backpacker style. With that out of the way, we head out to see a couple of nearby museums.

Two things become apparent pretty quickly. The first is that Sam’s attention span and museums don’t mix well (although he gets to dress up Inca style at the second one). The second is that I know very little about South American history. Unfortunately, these are a little at odds, since the only solution to the former is to quickly move through the exhibits, focusing on cool boy things like weapons. Meanwhile, getting even a basic understanding of what has transpired in this part of the world over the last 5,000 years means methodically taking in on that is on display.

I have to admit, the prior to arriving in Cusco, I would have described Incas more or less like the Egyptians of South America, with a long, productive rule culminating in the creation of massive works like Machu Picchu and the 22,000 miles of paved “roads” that connected all parts of their empire. What I have come to learn, is that while there is history going back many thousands of years, the Incas really only comprise a part of that, rising to power in the 1400s and 1500s. Prior to that the area was a patchwork of different cultures that rose and fell such as the Mohica, Tiahuanaco, Nazca, and Wari. It’s fascinating to learn of such history, but unfortunate that we will have time to only scratch the surface.

The rest of our day is consumed wandering through different parts of town, stopping here and there to do some shopping. Sammy scores a pair of llama shoes and Mom settles on a tapestry (or wall carpet as I have taken to calling it) that will surely find its way into my backpack for the next two weeks. Sam also comes to the realization that American food really is only good in America (no more hamburguesas).

Tomorrow begins our journey to Machu Picchu, which after all the build up, travel arrangements, and tickets/fees hopefully lives up to expectations. We have enjoyed Cusco, but are excited to see the one thing that, more than any other, brought us to Peru.

Today is the start of a stretch of early mornings, so there is just a hint of grumpiness as we head to the main square for our 9:00 am tour of the Sacred Valley. I don’t know a whole lot about the place, but from what I’ve been told, there are some interesting archeological sites and small towns that still have some local charm (i.e. less tourists).

Crossing over the ridge above Cusco and starting our descent into the valley, our first stop is a small roadside market. There isn’t a whole lot to see, but Sam manages to spot another llama and immediately heads over.

We hit another market next in the town of Pisac, known for the quality of its silver. Here Angela walks away heartbroken, defeated by a ring just one size too small. Sammy on the other hand walks away thrilled with his new traveling companion, whom he has named Terrence.

Shopping finally out of the way, we head into the hills above Pisac to the first set of ruins. These are the first examples of the extensive terraces the Incas used that we have seen, and they make for a very impressive sight.

Our guide spends the next 30 minutes or so talking about the history of the buildings, Inca religion, and the tombs built into the walls of the adjacent hills where most of the mummies on display in Peru were discovered (all the holes you can see in the picture). He then turns us loose to explore on our own.

After a quick lunch in Urubamba, we continue on to Ollantaytambo, which has another set of ruins. These are similar to Pisac, but we get to walk straight up all the terraces here, so they seem more interesting (to me at least). Connecting two sections, there is also a great example of an Incan trail (very narrow, very high, and with very little between you and a quick trip to the bottom) that is impossible to resist.

Quite a few people end the tour in Ollantaytambo as the train to Machu Picchu departs from there, so with only a handful of us left, we head back toward Cusco, stopping at the small town of Chincerro on the way. According to the guide, this is where the Inca bloodline remains the strongest, and the old traditions adhered to the closest (or they have a great marketing department). We watch a demo of how they clean and dye alpaca wool for making blankets and such, and then pile back on the bus for the final hour back to Cusco.

A fun (long) day, and Sammy is very anxious to FaceTime his brothers and show off Terrence.

Over our many trips, I have noticed a strikingly high correlation between the time the hotel closes the restaurant for breakfast and when certain members of Roberts family wake up in the morning. Not to say there is any specific link (coincidence is always a possibility, however remote), but something worth further study, maybe as a research project for some enterprising statistics major.

Anyway, after emerging into the sunshine just shy of noon, we set of in search of a tour of the sights around Cusco (conveniently, the only one that hasn’t started hours ago). I figured a “city tour” would take us places like the major churches, plazas, and other notable buildings, but we’re in for a treat as the focus is all on what was here before the Spanish arrived. While Machu Picchu gets all of the PR, we soon find that there are a host of equally important stops both in and around the Cusco.

Right in the heart of the city is a former complex called Qurikancha. It was partially destroyed and rebuilt as a church, but in its time housed the most important temples in the Incan Empire. Then, the walls of many of the buildings would have been covered in silver and gold, but what remains is still very impressive. It is one thing to read about how skilled Incan craftsmen were with stone, but to see firsthand the detail takes it to a whole other level. During a period without mortar or metal tools, the blocks in these buildings fit so tightly together (hundreds of years later in a seismically active area) a playing card wouldn’t fit between them.

Above the city are a series of ruins, each with a different purpose. Tambomachay was a bath complex, with some debate as to whether it was for high ranking citizens of Cusco coming up for a spa day, or visitors to Cusco getting clean before entering what was the holiest city of the time. At 3,765 meters it is the highest place we will visit (despite its impressive perch, Machu Picchu is over 4,000 feet lower), and is the site of Sammy’s first llama hug.

Next up are Puka Pukara (a military outpost/customs depot) and Q’enqo (a religious site where mummification of high ranking officials was carried out). Of course we have many pictures of these as well, but I can’t post everything or I’ll be here all night.

The last site is Sacsayhuaman, considered to be one of the most impressive sites built by the Incas. Here, blocks weighing as much as 300 tonnes are fitted together with mind-boggling precision. They are just rocks, but it feels like I could spend all day just staring at them, imagining the work it took to put them together, and the people that have come and gone since.

Finished with our tour for the day, we stop in for a quick bite to eat. Sam is thrilled to find the home of the Big Max.

Tomorrow we are off on another tour, this time to the Sacred Valley.

Opening on a happy note, Sammy looks much better this morning. Mom and Dad not so much, as this wasn’t the most relaxing night. Doctor’s orders are to stay low key for another day, but I’m pretty sure that he didn’t mean me, so while the rest of crew takes it easy at the hotel, I decide to explore more of the city.

Wandering aimlessly, I manage to get some shots of a few of the great old buildings (of which there are far too many to count).

Beyond those, is a neighborhood called San Blas, where our guide book says the better art galleries are clustered. Curious what good Peruvian art looks like, I head off in that direction. I come up empty on anything that would pass for a gallery, but one of the many people trying to sell me “art from their school” shadows me for quite a long ways, pointing out interesting nuggets from time to time. One of these is apparently the most famous stone blocks in all of Cusco, unique because of the 12 corners that were carved into it to make it perfectly fit it’s spot in the wall.

Feeling indestructible, I get the crazy notion in my head to try and find a good place for some bird’s eye photos. Unfortunately, while it may be possible to delude myself that I’m not in horrible shape at sea level, 12,000 feet has an amazing way of exposing the truth. I feel like a 400 pound, 4 pack a day smoker climbing just a few flights of stairs to a platform that overlooks the city. The view is worthwhile, but any notion of continuing even higher is quickly discarded.

Returning to the hotel, I find both Sam and Angela back to normal. We spend a bit of time making reservations for our trip to Machu Picchu in a few days, and then head back out to find some dinner. It takes longer than planned, as one of us can’t stop looking at shoes/scarves/tapestries, but we eventually settle on a place, just as it begins to pour.

The other famous food in Peru (besides ceviche) is cuy. I’m not quite as stoked to try this one, but everyone agrees to give it a go if I order it, and 15 minutes later this handsome devil shows up.

Sammy goes with the drumstick…

At the end of the day, I’m not really sure what the attraction is. The fact that we are eating a rodent aside, it doesn’t taste particularly bad (although not particularly good either), but it has very little meat on it, so is like trying to make a meal out of an unladen swallow (African or European, doesn’t matter).

It is still pouring when we finish up dinner, so breaking out the plastic ponchos, we take the shortest path back to the hotel. No plans yet for tomorrow, but with everyone looking healthy again, it’s time to get into full tourist mode.

We start out early today (at least by our standards), and by the time I normally get my posse out of the hotel, we’ve already made our way to the airport, boarded a flight, flown an hour, and are touching down in Cusco. It’s a much different feel than Lima, with things seeming to move much more slowly (although that could just be lack of oxygen to my brain). Incan influence is far more prevalent here, with narrow stone streets and meticulously carved walls, many of which have simply been incorporated into newer construction.

After checking into the hotel, we step out to get a lay of the land, and find some lunch. Since we don’t have anything in particular to do, our outing is quickly hijacked and turned into a shopping extravaganza. Without mentioning any names, suffice to say the majority of our group is beyond bored from looking at scarves and sweaters.

The combination of early morning and high altitude has us dragging a bit, so after a few hours we head back to our room for nap. While this would often be the end of the story, today the fun is only beginning.

While catching up on a few emails, Sammy wanders by on his way to bathroom looking a little green. This is soon followed by him screaming in pain, and when we come around the corner, a skin tone normally reserved for dead people. He’s completely inconsolable, and when he says he can’t see, Mom comes unglued.

An ice pack on the neck seems to bring him back around a bit, but by then a doctor is already on his way and quickly diagnoses altitude sickness. The treatment (aside from the medications that he started the day before) is an evening with an oxygen tank, which I think Sammy finds kind of cool. It also means we’ll be taking it easy for the next day or two, so thankfully, our tickets to Machu Picchu are not for another 5 days, which should be plenty of time to acclimate.

Keeping our fingers crossed that all is back to normal in the morning.

We have one last full day in Lima and the plan is to spend it in the old part of the city, where most of the colonial buildings were constructed after the Spanish arrived. It turns out to be just a few blocks from our hotel, so after breakfast we load up and head out. The difference between this part of the city and Miraflores is evident almost immediately, as the streets are more crowded with locals and the sidewalks lined with street carts. One of the famous foods here is ceviche (raw fish marinated in lime juice), so it has been on our “must do” list. How then could we turn down the opportunity to not only try uncooked meat, but to do so from a dingy box on wheels. A+ to Sammy for staring botulism in the face and not flinching.

A few blocks further is the main square, Plaza de Armas. On one side is the Presidential Palace, and by sheer coincidence, we arrive as they are going through the daily changing of the guard. Adjacent to that is the Archbishop’s Palace, where after a quick look a the church, we are approached by a man selling paintings (his back story is that he teaches art to kids in Lima, and of course, has a good friend in Seattle). As he is flipping through his portfolio of original works, poker-face Sam gives him a big thumbs up whenever he sees a picture with a llama, and comments how the prices are pretty cheap. Not surprisingly, we end up with a painting of Machu Picchu that contains llamas, but for only twice what we probably needed to pay.

Just off the square is a restaurant recommended in our guide book, so we stop there for lunch, including some less sketchy ceviche, yuca fries, and fantastic rice pudding for dessert. It is definitely the best food we have had so far, and probably a spot we would come back to if we were staying in Lima longer.

Like Asia with all of its temples, it is easy to get “churched out” here, but one I did want to see if the Monastery of San Francisco, primarily because you get to walk through the catacombs and see the 70,000 people that are buried there. The rest of the tour is very engaging though and includes a room full of priceless painting by Peter Paul Rubens that you can walk right up (no sheet of plexiglass or ropes 5 feet from the wall), and a stunning library with over 25,000 texts going back over 500 years.

For the rest of the afternoon, we just wander around town, checking out the various markets and trying different snacks here and there (note the ever present Inca Kola). It’s crowded, noisy, and admittedly a little infectious, but after a few hours we are ready to get back to the hotel and relax. Tomorrow we are off to Cusco.

After spending a full days cooped up in airplanes flying to Asia, the 8 hour trip from LA to Lima was a piece of cake. As always, I used a good chunk of the time to catch up on movies from the past year (since movie night at the Roberts house typically revolves around such blockbusters as Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2), while Sam refused to waste a single minute of being in total control of his own TV. Angela slept (shocking, I know).

One of the particularly nice things about traveling South instead of East, is that the time zones aren’t a whole lot different. We will be on Central Time, so when we arrive in Lima at midnight, thankfully we’re tired and can go straight to bed, instead of staring at the ceiling, wide awake, for hours.

Given the late night, it is no surprise that we start of a bit slow the next morning. I’m a little antsy, as usual, but nothing here seems to open before 10am anyway, so that keeps me from annoying my travel companions too much (at least for today). After a quiet breakfast and a few hours at the cell phone store trying to buy a SIM card in broken Spanish, the high point of my day thus far has to be this exchange:

Angela; “Sam, get away from the balcony, I don’t know how sturdy it is. Let your Dad go.”
Sam: “How come Dad can go, but I can’t?”
Angela: “Because your Dad is smart.”

We know what she meant (even the dull one), but couldn’t resist the opportunity to bust her chops a bit for how it came out.

Finally geared up and ready to go, we head to an area called Miraflores, which is the affluent area of Lima. We have no particular agenda, other than the check things out and get a feel for the city. As the uppity part of town, prices are higher, but we manage to find $3 lunch, most of which we recognize. Sammy also discovers his new crack cocaine – Inca Kola. There must be a good story behind how something that tastes like liquid bubble gum and looks like a trucker bomb became so popular, but nonetheless, it is all my son can talk about (he starts making beeping sounds when the bottle is almost empty to let us know he is running out).

There are a few sights in this part of town, but nothing overwhelming, and by dinner time we are powering down. With none of the restaurants in our guide book close by, we break down and pick the first place we see. One uninspired meal later, we decide to call it a day, and head off for a nice walk back to the hotel (or at least where we believe the hotel to be).

Overall, a good first day. As capital cities go, Lima seems very clean and orderly. Traffic is bad, and horns are blaring all the time, but there is still some structure to the whole experience versus the outright chaos we found in places like Cairo and Delhi. The people here are extremely friendly, and thankfully very patient with the scraps of broken Spanish I have to use to communicate. English is less common here than other places we have been, but so far we’re getting by.

No matter how far in advance we start talking about where we’ll go next, the night before always ends up being a chaotic scramble to get things in order. Sammy has talked about going to Peru for 2 years, our flights were all booked weeks ago, yet here we are burning the midnight oil again, in a panic about what we are forgetting. However, time stands still for no one, so ready or not, come 8:20am , we are wheels up on our next adventure.

This is, of course, the second chapter in our grand plan to introduce our kids to the world outside of Redmond. Sam has spent the past few months figuring out all the things he wants to see and do in Peru, and after thinning it down to a manageable level, our plan is as follows:

3 days in Lima
7 days in Cusco/Machu Picchu
2 days in Puno/Lake Titicaca (what 11 year old boy could refuse a place with both “titi” and “caca” in the name?)
4 days in Nazca/Paracas
7 days in Galapagos Islands (a bit of a cheat since it is not part of Peru, but given how animal-crazy he is, we couldn’t come this far and not let Sam experience it)

While connectivity should be good in many of these places (Lima and Cusco in particular), in others, like Puno (where I’m going to try and convince my road warrior wife to home stay on a manmade island) and Galapagos, probably not so much. That said, documenting this journey may come in waves, but hopefully I can keep up.

Vámonos.