WorldTravelReynolds

Hello from Peru!

I have a ton of information to provide you as Royal Caribbean outdid theirselves on this one so I’ll save my history lesson for day 2 or even 3.

Our day started very early in the morning with a flight from Pisco to Cusco Peru. About an hour flight. We were all still holding out hope that we would get to visit Machu Picchu but with all the public announcements about the strike we doubted we would step foot on those sacred grounds (according to the Incas). Royal Caribbean chartered 4 planes to get all of us, about 500 people, from Pisco (28 ft (ASL) above sea level) over to Cusco (11,000 ft ASL) so that we could experience Machu Picchu at 7,972 ft ASL. If that doesn’t make your head swim, not sure what will. Our heads were a little light and our breathing was a little troublesome. Some of us started taking altitude sickness prevention prior to our flight. It helped most people, but there were some that were not fairing so well. The key was to take it slow and drink lots and lots of water.

We left the ship at 7 am after going through immigration and made it to the airport for a 10 am flight. An early start. Our tour guides were absolutely amazing especially with about 500 of us to corral. We received our boarding passes on the bus, made it through checking our bags in and getting to our gate and waiting for our time to go. Deplaning an hour later and after picking our luggage back up, we were given a number. This number was our lifeline for the rest of the trip. It was our group of 10 people we were with for the entire trip. Our tour guide and our bus driver was with us for the long haul as well and they were amazing. It was great having locals take care of us in this foreign land. We had a Peruvian greeting when we exited the airport with costumes and music as well as some coca tea to help alleviate some of the illness that comes with the altitude differences. Our tour guide was the best we have ever had.

Our first stop was for lunch. We were not informed that lunch would be that quick and ate lunch on the plane. which as I mentioned was only an hour flight. We had lunch and refills of drinks by the time we hit the ground. USA cant compare! Lunch was Coca tea, vegetable soup, stuffed chicken with quinoa and dessert. If we could have eaten it, it would have been amazing. We just picked at it to be polite and ate about 1/4 of it. The sandwich on the plane was huge so we weren’t even hungry. The Peruvians at the restaurant were so nice and accommodating. Many of the restaurants we encounter especially after we found out we weren’t going to Machu Picchu put this together with only hours notice. How’s that for service.

After lunch our first stop was the Cathedral Basilica. We weren’t allowed to take photos due to all the artifacts so I purchased some postcards and took pictures of those. In walking through the Basilica we were in awe. There were 2 chapels and 1 cathedral within the Basilica. It was amazing. Beautiful artwork, gilded gold in every corner with different Virgin Marys. I didn’t realize the way they carry their hands or head has a different meaning. The sanctuary had so many virgin Mary’s I lost count. But, it was beautiful. The building itself was once an Inca palace but was torn down by the Spanish who introduced Catholicism. Paintings within the Basilica were partially done by locals and others were painted by the Europeans.

The cathedral was located inside the Plaza de Armas. A beautiful park/plaza that had a statue of Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui, also called Pachacutec, was the ninth Sapa Inca of the Kingdom of Cusco which he transformed into the Inca Empire. Most archaeologists now believe that the famous Inca site of Machu Picchu was built as an estate for Pachacuti. The plaza also had Spanish style balconies that were adorable. But, you didn’t have one unless you were very wealthy back in the 1500’s.

When our tour guide was telling us about our next archeological site, we thought we heard him say sexy woman and we all giggled. Well, he was right. However, its spelled Saqsaywaman but its pronounced sexy woman and we didn’t see not one in there!

The Saqsaywaman site was, to make a long story short, built by the Incas in the 15th century, particularly under Sapa Inca Pachacuti and his successors. (Remember the statue?) Dry stone walls constructed of huge square and smooth stones were built on the site, with the workers carefully cutting the boulders to fit them together tightly without mortar. You couldn’t even get a piece of paper in between them. Think Easter island statues in regard to weight and size of the boulders. They were stacked and so massive to look at. In my opinion it was like a mini Machu Picchu until we were introduced to another site on day two. While walking out of the site we saw a large statue of Jesus similar to Christ the Redeemer. Much smaller, only 26 feet in comparison to 98 feet. We weren’t able to get over to it to take a picture up close but it was built in 1945 and called White Jesus. It is erected in a position that it watches over not just Cusco, but all former Inca lands — from Colombia and Ecuador all the way down to Chile and Argentina.

Our last stop before hotel and dinner was the Santa Domingo Convent. Originally named Intikancha, most of the temple was destroyed after the 16th-century war with the Spanish conquistadors. Settlers also took it apart to build their own churches and residences. Much of its stonework was used as the foundation for the seventeenth-century Santo Domingo Convent which is what we are touring today. It was built after the 1650 earthquake destroyed the first Dominican convent.

In walking around the convent we found huge paintings outside the courtyard area. Being outdoors in the elements is what suprised us but the guide said they would rather be out on display and replaced/repaired every few years than be inside. He wasn’t a fan. We walked through a museum of sorts first to understand how the building looked before it was destroyed. Much of the walls were covered in gold and some mummified bodies were still buried underneath. Following over into the church, the cathedral was very pretty but not as elegant as the Basilica.

We finally get to our hotel, which was a production in itself. We stayed at the Palacio del Inca. It was indeed a very nice palace. They treated us so well, catering to our every whim. It was chilly and one of the doorman had a long coat on that reminded me of Scotland Yard. I was making fun of him in my country accent trying to imitate British. I had him laughing pretty good when I left. We were greeted with non alcoholic drinks, chocolate on our pillows, robes and slippers and gifts in our rooms. All of this from Royal Caribbean. They really went above and beyond.

We only had about an hour to freshen up and get ready for the gala so we took a quick shower and dressed and headed out to meet our tour guide, our caretaker, our lifesaver. He was just amazing. We were greeted at the convent for dinner with an illumination of Ultimate World Cruise on the wall. A very nice touch.

Before dinner, we were entertained by local artist with a story in Spanish about their culture. We didn’t understand a word they said or what the story meant. However, it was beautifully done and nice to watch.

Dinner, although I’m not sure how we ate it, was amazing! The food was served on charger platters as a beautiful touch. We had wonderful conversations throughout dinner about our day and then the bomb dropped. Royal Caribbean informed us that the strikes and protests had not ended and that we would not be going to Machu Picchu. Surprisingly no one was neither suprised or severely disappointed. We pretty much knew it wouldn’t happen and based on today’s events, we knew that Royal Caribbean would take care of us. So, we just continued our evening of enjoyment and lively conversation as usual.

Our evening was great and as we were leaving we were escorted out by some quite lively characters that was fun.

What a day! What an amazing day God gave us to share with our family and friends and all of you! I am still pinching myself.

No A/C in this hotel, not that it wasn’t available, they just don’t have A/C as the weathers not hot enough to need it. Well, not on the inside of the hotel. We were in for a hard night with no sleep. Opening the window helped some but the street traffic noise was too much. We hoped we would get some sleep since we were in for an early day tomorrow and more adventure. We didn’t. We’ll talk about that on day 2.

May God bless you always.

Chuck & Lea Ann