[Day 5] Wednesday, April 26th.

 

Despite interruptions due to the heat, and train and insect noises, we manage to get an adequate amount of sleep between 9pm and 7am. Breakfast is served in the hotel basement which is a superb location overlooking the rushing Vilcanota River. We have our usual breakfast plus some scrambled egg. We have a free morning before we are due to catch the 2:30pm train back to Ollantaytambo, and begin it by walking away from the town area to get a view of the river at the rear of the hotel - we are rewarded by a sighting of a hummingbird feeding at an hibiscus plant.

Leaving our hand luggage at the hotel, we start exploring the town at 9:45am. We concentrate on the two fascinating markets at the back of the bus station. Jeanette purchases a lovely ring, featuring a design based on the coco leaf and Peru's colours, from a lady who is carrying a very beautiful young daughter. We also find a locally-designed oven mitt as a present for Hazel.

With time to spare, we decide to walk to an orchid house that Juan Carlos has mentioned. This walk takes us downhill, alongside the river, where the bus took us yesterday. We pass through a small botanical garden where we see another hummingbird. After walking for nearly 30-minutes we have seen no sign of the orchid house, and people we ask seem to have no knowledge of it. We decide to turn back and soon meet Ed and Chris coming the other way with a similar objective. They too decide to give up the quest, and also return to the town, after we have studied through the binoculars what appears to be part of the Machu Picchu ruins high above the valley.

In Aguas Calientes, we have a lunch of chicken sandwiches with potato cubes - we sit outside a restaurant where we are joined by Sheri. At an adjacent table a group of three Brits are relaxing, after having completed the Inca Trail. We then relax at the hotel until it is time to catch our train. We are again seated in Car C, but this time our seats (33 and 34) give us excellent views over the river that runs alongside the railway track. Our views include the hydro-electric power station; sherpas carrying huge backpacks for walkers on the Inca Trail; Inca terrace constructions; mountain scenery; and a huge variety of plants - but the outstanding feature is the rushing river. During the journey we are served a snack of fruit and nuts accompanied by a drink of coco tea.

We reach our destination of Ollantaytambo at 4pm, where we are met by our driver for the 2-hour drive to Cusco. The route is very bumpy at times and a banging noise from the back axle area of the bus gradually gets noisier. We climb to over 13,000-feet and eventually pass the site of a new airport for Cusco. The area we pass through is very agricultural and rural with many third world aspects. Farmers can be seen completing their autumn harvest. As usual, everywhere is dry and dusty, many people wear traditional costumes, and there are many dogs, plus occasional donkeys, pigs, horses, sheep, and cattle. Except for the dogs, the other domesticated animals are mostly in ones or twos, and inevitably tethered. During the journey, we get a possible sighting of a high-flying condor. We pass through Poroy, where there is a large weekly market in operation, and eventually reach the large and traffic filled city of Cusco (the historic capital of the Incas) – where we flew into only two days ago, although we seem to have been away much longer.

Our accommodation for two nights is at the Hotel Jose Antonio, and our room (212 again) is large with two double beds, a fridge, and a kettle! We immediately brew cups of Redbush tea, which we find most refreshing, despite the tiny cups supplied in the room. At 7:20pm, we meet in the hotel lobby in order to celebrate Pam’s Birthday at a nearby restaurant. Gill is not feeling well so Juan Carlos escorts just six of us to the La Quinta. This is a very pleasant and good value restaurant where Jeanette has Home Pasta and David has Lamb Stew – both served as large portions, and both excellent. It rains as we depart the hotel to the restaurant, but is dry on the way back at about 9:45pm.

[Day 6] Thursday, April 27th.

 

 

As a result of our first two-night stop, today we will not be moving on, but the day will be spent in Cusco. We are up at 6:45am after a fairly good night’s sleep. There is not much noise from traffic, which is surprising as our room overlooks a main road. The road is busy at first light as buses transport people to work. There is more noise from the room above as we prepare to go down to breakfast. David has a light meal of fruit and cereal, but Jeanette also has scrambled egg followed by bread and jam.

 

Camilla returns to the group this morning and our 9am excursion commences with a drive to Sacsayhuaman – a citadel on the northern outskirts of Cusco. Here, at an altitude of 12,000-feet, the Incas expanded a fortified site that had probably been occupied since about 900 AD. From the 13^th-Century the complex was added to by the construction of dry stone walls built with huge stones. The workers (probably 60,000 in number) carefully cut the boulders so that they fitted tightly together without mortar. Camilla escorts us around this hugely impressive site as she describes its purpose and the building techniques employed.

 

At 10:15am we leave this amazing construction and are taken to La Vicunita – a factory/shop where the difference between garments made from baby alpaca and ‘maybe alpaca’ is  emphasised. Although they have some lovely products, we do not buy. The group then moves onto the main square in Cusco – the Plaza de Armas. This large square, with its central Inca fountain, features many fine buildings, some with ornate balconies, and there are several steep, narrow surrounding streets paved with cobbles.

 

Some sides of the plaza have stone archways supporting buildings constructed in the 1600s. In some areas there is evidence of original Inca stonework at the base of the building. Two huge and ornate religious buildings dominate the square: the Cathedral and La Compania church. The Cathedral is enormous and Camilla escorts us through the dark and somewhat ugly interior as she explains the local variations of Catholicism. From the square we pass the remains of an Inca wall on the way to view the Convent of Santo Domingo. In 1534, theOrder of Santo Domingo arrived in Cusco, and a few years later the construction of the Catholic Church and the Convent had begun. The Convent was built on the original foundations of Korikancha (the Temple of the Sun), possibly the most sacred and important building in the entire Inca Empire. Part of the ruins of Korikancha exist within the Convent, and Camilla instructs us to peer through a small opening in one of its walls, although the purpose of this is not clear.

Back at the hotel, after the excursion, we eat a portion of Pam’s latest Birthday cake. The rest of the group decide to try a new restaurant, but we have lunch again at La Quinta, both having House Pasta. Towards the end of our meal, Juan Carlos also eats there.

Afterwards, we walk to the Plaza de Armas, and from there find the nearby Inca Museum, Casa Concha. The museum is installed on two levels of a former Colonial house. Here we find some excellent exhibits and a good explanation, with contemporary photographs, of Hiram Bingham’s 1911 and 1912 expeditions. The rest of our group are here, plus two Brits who are travelling independently to Machu Picchu after having completed a cruise. Sheri has been to a market, and we decide to do likewise.

We get instructions at the Museum’s desk, but decide these are to the wrong market. We therefore set out to find the only remaining city gate, and near there observe people carrying goods that may have been purchased in a market. This proves to be the case and although parts of the market are closed or closing, we have a fascinating exploration of its large and colourful interior.

On the way back to the hotel, we stop for cakes and cokes at a small café where the floor has just been washed. Despite language problems we manage to get what we require as we enjoy a restful few minutes. We are back at the hotel at about 5:45pm as it is getting dark and there are lots of people on the street, many shopping in small markets tucked at the back of buildings. After relaxing with (small) cups of Redbush, we prepare for an early start tomorrow and are in bed by 8pm.

[Day 7] Friday, April 28th.

 

Our early start this morning is required to catch two flights that will take us from Peru to Ecuador. The initial flight (LA 2002) from Cusco to Lima is scheduled to take-off at 5:30am. A wake-up call is booked for 3:30am, but we respond to our own alarm at 3:00am. Our group meets in the hotel lobby at 4am to collect our breakfast boxes and catch the bus for the short journey to the airport, where our cases are checked through to Quito. We are not allocated seats together on both flights, but the clerk is able to amend our seats to 23 A&B on the Lima-Quito sector.

At Gate 3, we eat our breakfast which consists of two sandwiches: ham/cheese and chicken, plus a piece of cake; we keep an apple and a chocolate bar for later. Juan Carlos has taught our group to bypass the queue to board aircraft by going to the 'Preferential' aisle, which includes seniors. It works like a dream each time and saves us a lot of hassle. On board the Airbus A320, a young girl offers to swap seats and we therefore sit together in 2A&B. It is raining heavily as we board the aircraft, but fortunately we have the benefit of an air-bridge to stay dry. The aircraft backs-off at 5:46am and takes-off at 6am. No food or drink is served on this short flight and we land at Lima at 7:01am.

Our Peru tour manager, Juan Carlos, leaves us at Lima Airport. Although very pleasant and efficient, he has not been very interactive with group, often remaining in the background with his smart phone - general information regarding Peru and its people would have been appreciated when the opportunity arose, such as on the bus rides.

Another LATAM flight (LA 1450) is to take us to Quito. There are plenty of spare seats on the Airbus A319 but an extremely large man sits next to Jeanette - fortunately, he moves to another row. After backing-off at 8:54am there is a long delay before we take-off at 9:38am. On a bumpy flight above the Andes we are served a cold drink and a cake resembling a muffin.

It is dry and sunny when we land in Quito at 11:31am. On the aircraft's approach to the airport it is clear that Ecuador is much greener than Peru - and the buildings that we can see are more modern and more substantial. We are met by our tour manager for Ecuador - Fernando.

A bus journey of about 45-minutes takes us to the Hilton Colon Hotel in the La Mariscal district of the city. The large lobby area is well appointed and features a magnificent display of red roses. We are in Room 859 by 1pm, where we find a kettle and large mugs - we are soon enjoying some Redbush tea. The room is spacious, with two double beds and a good bathroom. There is a view over the nearby El Ejido Park, and distant views of the mountains, an 'Angel' statue, and the spires of the Basilica.

We check with the lobby staff regarding the laundry arrangements, pick up a local map, and confirm Jeanette's hair appointment at 4pm.We then explore the area near the hotel, walking part of the way towards the Basilica and returning by way of the park. On our return, Jeanette has her hair done whilst David sits in the salon reading John Grisham's "Whistler" on his new Chromebook. We then relax in our room, eating the remains of our breakfast box, before preparing to go out for dinner. Fernando has booked a local restaurant and we get there in two taxis - the fare being $5 which transpires as being the standard fare, whatever the distance. The modern Mi Cocina restaurant in a non-tourist area is very quiet - apparently it does most of its business at lunch times. We enjoy some lovely food, Jeanette having steamed sea bass, and David rice with seafood, accompanied by glasses of Chardonnay. We are back at the Hilton by 9:15pm.

[Day 8] Saturday, April 29th.

 

Rising at the almost civilised hour of 7am, we enjoy a good buffet breakfast in the hotel's Cafe Colon - the best breakfast so far. The group gathers at 9am, with the itinerary scheduling us for a city sightseeing tour this morning and an optional excursion this afternoon. There is a choice of optional excursions, and members of the group have been lobbying for a trip on the TeleferiQo Cable Car rather than visiting the Equatorial Line Monument. In view of this morning's good weather, and the possibility of it deteriorating in the afternoon, Fernando suggests taking the cable car ride first, and then doing the city tour. Accordingly, he asks for a show of hands in support of this proposal. Everyone except ourselves votes for his proposal - we vote for the Equatorial Line Monument, but to the obvious relief of all, agree to go with the majority.

 

Fernando collects the cost of $40 each and the bus sets out for the cable car station. The gondola lift runs up from the edge of the city centre to the east side of Pichincha Volcano. It is one of the highest aerial lifts in the world rising from 10,226-feet to 12,943-feet. Our driver pays a small charge to enter the lift area, then Fernando purchases our cable car tickets - the return price for seniors is just $6.50, suggesting a substantial profit for our tour guide. The ascent takes about twenty minutes.

 

There are some wonderful views from the upper slopes of the volcano, although it is very windy and quite cool. We walk a little higher and Fernando chooses a particularly windy spot in which to give us a talk on various subjects related to Ecuador. We then take the gondolas back down and our city tour commences.

 

Our next stop is the Basilica del Voto Nacional. Construction of the Basilica began in 1892 and, technically, it is not finished. The building is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the new world. We only admire one side of the basilica as Fernando points out the gargoyles which are representations of the various animals to be found on the Galapagos Islands.

 

The Plaza de la Independencia is Quito's main square, and our next destination. This large square contains a monument to the heroes of Ecuador's independence on August 10th 1809. The square is flanked by some magnificent buildings including the Carondelet Palace; the Metropolitan Cathedral; the Archbishop's Palace; the Municipal Palace; and the Plaza Grande Hotel. The square is crowded with locals enjoying the good weekend weather, and patronising the many street hawkers in the square and surrounding streets. Fernando takes us round the Cathedral which has a single high bell tower offset to the right of one of its two main entrances. The interior is somewhat overwhelming with three naves, several chapels, a large number of paintings, and huge amounts of gold.

 

Lunch is taken next, at the Octava de Corpus, a restaurant in a Colonial home in the old part of the city. The interior is amazing with artwork on every spare section of wall, and various other collections are scattered around. The friendly owner supervises the serving of a splendid three course meal with wine. After some meaty shrimps, we have flattened chicken with cold vegetables, followed by ice cream cake. The two of us pay for red tea. After this very enjoyable meal, Sheri and the two of us are dropped off near the Plaza de la Independencia. Sheri goes off to look for interesting textiles, whilst we explore the square more thoroughly than previously, and then walk to the Basilica to view its other elevations and its terraced gardens. We find that the Basilica has some wonderful doors.

 

Near the Basilica, we pick up a taxi and pay the usual $5 to take us back to the hotel, which we reach at 4pm. After mugs of Redbush, we have a shower and change for dinner. The members of the group have arranged to meet at the Plaza Grande Hotel in the Plaza de la Independencia. We had dropped in there earlier, to pick up a better map and to check where the restaurant was located - we were very impressed by a very large bowl of pure yellow roses. Chris, Ed, and ourselves share a taxi through the busy traffic to be dropped off near the hotel, and then find the rest of the group waiting for us.

 

Our long drawn out meal is taken in the Plaza Grande Cafe, the speed of the meal not assisted by the waitress making some mistakes. As usual, the helpings are large: Jeanette having too much rice with her seafood, and David having some her rice after eating his sea bass with rice. After some difficulty, Jeanette obtains a Campari (that is not charged for) and coco tea; David has a coke. Ice cream desserts were the speciality of the restaurant and, to our initial surprise, we are served in the dark, to the sound of bells, by a waiter dressed as a monk. Our taxi driver, ignoring a number of red lights, quickly gets us back to the hotel through quiet streets. We are in bed by 10pm.

 

[Day 9] Sunday, April 30th.

 

Today's itinerary specifies a full day excursion to Otavalo, a town about 60 miles to the north of Quito. The route will take us across the Equator and the itinerary specifies that we will visit a monument built in the 'Centre of the World'. The rest of the group, apparently concerned that we did not get our choice of excursion yesterday, have been badgering Fernando to visit an Equator Monument. He informed us last night, that if we are prepared to make a 7:30am start, a better monument could be incorporated into today's schedule. Accordingly, we are up at 5:30am this morning.

 

Utilising part of the Pan-American Highway, the bus takes us to Cayambe, a small town on the Equator. Here there is a globe monument, and nearby the Quitsato Sundial, where we make a stop. At this location there is a wide paved area crossed by a line representing the position of the Equator, and on this line is a tall, thin tower - the sundial that throws a shadow along the Equator line twice a year: at the Equinoxes. Near the tower, we are given an excellent explanation of the relationship of the Earth to the Sun, and buy an expensive explanatory pack after negotiating for the inclusion of a fascinating photograph of the Equinox shadow. The explanation includes reference to the convention that North is shown at the top of maps, and illustrates this with an image of the Mappa Mundi! We find this place (including an unusual WC) very interesting, particularly as the site is probably the most accurate place in the world to mark the position of the Equator, as indicated by a plaque marked “INSTITUTO GEOGAFICO ECUADOR MILITAR”.

 

The nearby town of Cayambe is popular with Ecuadorians at the weekend when they drive to one of numerous cafes that sell bizcochos. Fernando takes us to one of these cafes where we get to taste these flaky, buttery biscuits with pieces of mozzarella cheese. While we nibble our biscuits, large plates of them are brought out for the locals.

 

Our next stop is Otavalo, a town of about 90,000 inhabitants, at an altitude of 8,300-feet, and surrounded by volcanoes. Otavalo is famous for its extensive Saturday Indian market, but there are smaller markets every day - and viewing this market is the purpose of our visit here. After some exploration of the many stalls we buy an Ecuador key ring; a very pretty necklace from a vendor who speaks excellent English; and a sweater for Jeanette. For the latter two we successfully ‘bargain’ for a lower price. Whilst talking to the jewellery vendor (Adrian Nunez) we are approached by a small, very old, very black lady who is begging. Adrian explains that she is very poor and that even the smallest amount will please her, so we donate a few cents. Although the grateful lady looks to be over 100, we are told she is 85.

 

We are at the market for about an hour and leave at 11:30am to go to a nearby weaver’s establishment. The route is along a very rough road beside a railway line. At the weaver’s, a very pleasant lady demonstrates how different coloured dyes are produced, and then a man does some weaving on a manual loom. Some of the group buy some pretty wrist bands before we depart at 12:40pm.

 

Our next stop is for lunch. This is taken at the My Sachaji (which means “My Beloved Mountain”) Wellness Ecolodge, which is located at San Pablo del Lago, and is reached by a very rough, and very steep road. The futuristic lodge is built into the Andes mountainside about 20-miles north of the Equator and has magnificent views over the San Pablo Lake and the Imbabura volcano. After exploring the grounds and organic gardens of this ‘meditation hotel’ we have lunch in a restaurant with panoramic views from its huge glass frontage. Our meal consists of salad; pumpkin soup; grilled trout with yellow rice and salad; cheesecake and crepes. We leave at about 2:30pm, the isolated rural location being emphasised when our bus is held up by a farmer shepherding cattle and sheep.

 

Our return route to Quito is by the Pan-American Highway, bypassing Cayambe, and we complete the 60-mile journey in about 1¾-hours. At the hotel, Fernando convenes a group meeting to outline tomorrow’s travel arrangements to the Galapagos Islands, which will involve a departure from the hotel at 4:15am. The mystery of how we will get to the islands is revealed – we will be on a flight that goes via Guayaquil, but will stay on the plane there. We then go to our room to do the necessary packing, have a mug of Redbush, and to shower before dinner.

 

Tonight’s meal is in the hotel, and is included in the itinerary. This buffet dinner is at 6:30pm, but prior to this we go to the bar for our free ‘welcome’ cocktails. There is an extensive buffet of good quality food and SAGA has included wine for us – we enjoy tasting several different desserts before retiring at about 8:30pm.

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