Plans for our NEXT trip to Peru

Vilcabamba aka Espiritu Pampa

This was the last strong hold of the Inca Empire, and the place from which Manco Inca orchestrated rebellions against the spaniards for 33 years, from 1539 to 1572. It was actually discovered by Hiram Bingham in 1911, within weeks of his discovery of Machu Picchu. His goal on that expedition was actually to find Vilcabamba, but he decided that this could not be it because it wasn't large enough. Instead he somehow managed to convince everyone until well after his death that Machu Picchu is Vilcabamba. It turns out he just didn't look hard enough and the site is much larger than Machu Picchu. This explains why history professors should probably not become archaeologists! If not for Hiram Bingham originally billing Machu Picchu as Vilcabamba it would have never been so famous.

To get here we will have to take a 9 day trek, with a peak elevation of over 12,000 (!) feet, and ending at 2,624 ft. Why walk 9 days to see ruins mostly covered in jungle roots? First off, that is a lot of downhill, and I like hiking downhill. Second, and more importantly, there are actually several ruins to see along the way, and Vilcabamba itself is absolutely deserted. One account I read said that they were the only person all day. Imagine that compared to the 4,000 people who visit Machu Picchu in a day.

Nazca Lines

Thought by some to have been drawn by aliens, how can you resist? Well, luckily we did resist. This was a close contender for a few days when we found out that we couldn't see Machu Picchu, but it turns out the cheapest tours leave from Cusco, go to Nazca, and then drop you off in Lima, and we had already bought round trip tickets from Lima to Cusco. And then on Thursday an aircraft flying over the lines crashed and all 7 passengers died (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=553123&publicationSubCategoryId=200). This one is definitely best left in the next trip category, when hopefully small aircraft regulations will have improved.

The Amazon

With a picture like this, how can you resist it? Well, first there is the getting there, which would take a sizeable chunk of already short time. Then there are the shots. No one likes needles, and we would need to subject ourselves to lots of shots deemed unnecessary for American toddlers to receive before we enter the Amazon.

Is there anything left to see on this trip then?

What I found so amazing when we started planning our trip to Peru is just how many things there are to see. Why don't more people go here for their vacations? Probably because it is daunting to whittle down all of the amazing sites into a manageable itinerary for the length of vacation that most of us can take. So what did we decide to see? Here's a hint: lots of ruins, markets, cuy, and the culinary capital of South America!

1 week until Peru!!!

Alright, more like 1 week and 1 day, but a week from today I will be taking a flight from Houston to Atlanta, hopefully find some delicious lunch in Atlanta, and then fly to Miami with Ryan, where we will catch an overnight flight to Peru.

Why the extra stopover in Atlanta? Money. We were able to get an amazing deal on roundtrip tickets from Atlanta to Lima for only $324 each! $324! I have spent more money than that on a ticket to CA for a long weekend to visit my wonderful family. It was a no brainer to buy those tickets and then get a seperate one for me to Atlanta, plus it means Ryan and I get to fly together the whole way. Of course, little did we know that we would end up having to take another trip to Peru later.

Another trip? But we haven't even gone on this one yet... yes, but as of right now there is no way to get to Machu Picchu. If you remember, in January mudslides resulted in the closing of the train from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu and the train is still under repair. We were hopeful that we would be able to go through the "back door" to Machu Picchu. This involves a bus ride from Cusco to the small town of Santa Maria, from there we would take a combi through Santa Teresa to the very scenic Hydro electric plant. Yes, an electric plant. From there it is a 2 hour walk, or 15 minute train ride into Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu (more details on this route: http://chanatrek.com/?p=152). This route takes 9 to 12 hours, compared to the original 4 hour train ride that we were planning on taking, but we were ok with that if it meant getting to see one of the new 7 wonders of the world (what are the others? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Seven_Wonders_of_the_World, I've already been to 2 of them, and this would make 3, aka almost half). Plus, this route is a lot cheaper, so we were excited to know that we would still get to see Machu Picchu AND save around $90 each.

So the good news? The train tracks between the hydroelectric plant and Aguas Calientes are repaired so we wouldn't have to walk next to them for 2 hours. The bad news? The road to the hyro electric plant isn't. It turns out there were mudslides on that road as well, and they need to put in 2 tunnels before it will be passable. So ultimately, part of the train tracks have been fixed but there is no way to get there.

And this is why we will be taking another trip to Peru in the future. Although I'm actually very excited about this. When we started planning our trip to Peru, we realized that there is a LOT to see, and a week isn't nearly enough time. So what will be hitting on our next trip in addition to Machu Picchu?