Travelover
Elite Member
If he is like me, he will be in his hotel room in Cusco with an oxygen tube in each nostril, drinking cocoa tea.
Machu Picchu
- Thread starter EddieWalker
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If he is like me, he will be in his hotel room in Cusco with an oxygen tube in each nostril, drinking cocoa tea.
dmccarty
Super Star Member
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
First I have to thank all of you for all the great advice. Peru was amazing. Really one of the most amazing places that I've been. This was my 26th country, and easily one of the top five!!!! Everyone was friendly, Cusco and Aquas Caliente where clean, safe and beautiful. The train was the best I've ever been on, and I've taken them in Europe and Asia. The Inca Ruins are beyond belief. Both in the settings and the skill taken to build them. The size of the boulders that they worked, then moved and fitted together is very impressive.
Machu Picchu truly deserves to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The location is as good as it gets. Just being up there and looking around was amazing, but then to wonder through the place and see all the buildings was almost too much. I took over 800 picutures that day!!!!
Overall, I took 2,577 pictures. I have a Canon SX35 point and shoot camera with a 16 gb card in it. I had room from about 1,500 more pics when I got home, so I'm very pleased with how that worked out. Great camera, perfect for travel!!!
The toilet paper concerns where never a problem for me, but the girl I went with had to pay for it a few times when out in town. Not flushing it down the toilet was weird. They have a sign right in front of the toilet, so when you are sitting on it, that's what you read. They want it in the trash can!!!
The elevation was a problem for my friend. She got altitude sickness in Cusco. She also got food poisoning in Lima and spent the last day of the trip in bed, throwing up.
I'm posting pics on an album on facebook. It's faster and easier for me to do it that way, so unless anybody asks, I'll just post a link here for anybody who wants to see them. They are open to the public, so you don't have to send a friend request or anything to see them.
Facebook
Thank you to everyone who helped and gave me advice. I really appreciate it!!!!
Eddie
Machu Picchu truly deserves to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. The location is as good as it gets. Just being up there and looking around was amazing, but then to wonder through the place and see all the buildings was almost too much. I took over 800 picutures that day!!!!
Overall, I took 2,577 pictures. I have a Canon SX35 point and shoot camera with a 16 gb card in it. I had room from about 1,500 more pics when I got home, so I'm very pleased with how that worked out. Great camera, perfect for travel!!!
The toilet paper concerns where never a problem for me, but the girl I went with had to pay for it a few times when out in town. Not flushing it down the toilet was weird. They have a sign right in front of the toilet, so when you are sitting on it, that's what you read. They want it in the trash can!!!
The elevation was a problem for my friend. She got altitude sickness in Cusco. She also got food poisoning in Lima and spent the last day of the trip in bed, throwing up.
I'm posting pics on an album on facebook. It's faster and easier for me to do it that way, so unless anybody asks, I'll just post a link here for anybody who wants to see them. They are open to the public, so you don't have to send a friend request or anything to see them.
Thank you to everyone who helped and gave me advice. I really appreciate it!!!!
Eddie
dmccarty
Super Star Member
FYI, I tried the link and FB said it was not available.
Glad you had fun though the being sick on vacation is not fun. BTDT.
Later,
Dan
MoKelly
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forgeblast
Elite Member
Wow Awesome Pics. Where there a lot of things in english and spanish? Did you notice a language barrier?
brin
Super Member
I have tried and no luck...here is what I get..." This content is currently unavailable
The page you requested cannot be displayed right now. It may be temporarily unavailable, the link you clicked on may have expired, or you may not have permission to view this page. "
" Return home " So you must have to have a Facebook account...I don't and won't so I'm sure they are nice pics.
MoKelly
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Yes -- I already had a Facebook account. You may want to set-up an account just to see the pictures!
MoKelly
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
I didn't know that you had to have an account to see pics that I made available to everyone. I'll post a few on here, but it wont be anything like what I'm posting on there.
Most of the people spoke some english, and those who didn't, tried real hard to understand one way or another. The menu's at most places had english on them, and if you asked, there was the tourist menu. It was in english, cheaper and had three dishes. That was the best deal every time!!!!
We relied on the hotel to call the taxi for us, and that worked out great. They told us how much it would cost to take the taxi, and it was always very fair.
Shopping was always about them starting out at a crazy price and then offering them half. If you went to enough places, half seemed to be the going price.
Eddie
Most of the people spoke some english, and those who didn't, tried real hard to understand one way or another. The menu's at most places had english on them, and if you asked, there was the tourist menu. It was in english, cheaper and had three dishes. That was the best deal every time!!!!
We relied on the hotel to call the taxi for us, and that worked out great. They told us how much it would cost to take the taxi, and it was always very fair.
Shopping was always about them starting out at a crazy price and then offering them half. If you went to enough places, half seemed to be the going price.
Eddie
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
texasjohn
Super Member
glad to have you back....glad trip went OK....you have some really great photos...brings back memories...look forward to seeing them all...Facebook worked for me, have an account with them. Hope your friend enjoyed it as well, in spite of the bouts of illness, which too often detracts from such a trip.
jinman
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Eddie, I looked at the photos on FB yesterday and just looked at the added photos of the rock walls. The stones look large until you see people up next to them. Then they look HUGE.:shocked:
Looking at the photos of the market, I'd make a rough estimate that about 1/10th or less of the people had traditional garb. Was that a city thing? Were there more traditionally dressed people around when you got out of the city (tourists excluded)?
I'm lovin' your photos. . . keep 'em coming.:thumbsup:
Looking at the photos of the market, I'd make a rough estimate that about 1/10th or less of the people had traditional garb. Was that a city thing? Were there more traditionally dressed people around when you got out of the city (tourists excluded)?
I'm lovin' your photos. . . keep 'em coming.:thumbsup:
dmccarty
Super Star Member
WOW. The sky sure was BLUE and no haze. I take it that there was low humidity. Interesting that the church did not have many windows and the few windows were high in the wall.
Later,
Dan
Later,
Dan
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
These are all from around Cusco and the Sacred Valley.
Eddie
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
The bottom boulders are the biggest and are set into the ground up to three feet. The size and detail in fitting them together is what is the most impressive. To touch them and feel the joints meant more to me then just seeing them. Hard to describe the "WOW" factor!!!!
Most people wore normal, western wear clothing. The ones in the bright colors where mostly posing for tourists. They want a Soule to have their picture taken, or to pose with them. Some people took the pics without paying and they asked, but never pushed it.
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
It was winter time there, so it was cold in the mornings and evenings, but perfect during the middle of the day. I never noticed any Humidity, but Cusco is at 12,000 feet and I'm not sure how humid it gets at that elevation.
Eddie
MarkV
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Looks like you had a great trip Eddie. The craftsmanship of the stone work is amazing.
MarkV
MarkV
brin
Super Member
Eddie, thanks for posting some of the pics...Very nice, I know you had a great time. You say it was winter there but yet you are in a short sleeve shirt in one photo....so it must really warm up during the day which is surprising at that altitude...Did you notice if it was any harder to breathe or were you ever short of breath ?
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
In Cusco and the Sacred Valley, I was in jeans and a t shirt during the heat of the day, which I'm guessing was mid 70's. The mornings and evenings where chilly. Again, I'm guessing in the 50's. In Aguas Caliente and Machu Pichu, which was at 8,000 feet, the temps where warmer. Maybe 60's to 80's.
I had a terrible time getting my breath when climbing quickly, but if I took my time, it wasnt bad at all. there are stairs and steps of some kind everywhere. The Inca's build great trails and they likes stone steps. They didn't seem to care if they where consistant, or flat!!!
But for most walking around, the thinner air was never an issue.
Eddie
I had a terrible time getting my breath when climbing quickly, but if I took my time, it wasnt bad at all. there are stairs and steps of some kind everywhere. The Inca's build great trails and they likes stone steps. They didn't seem to care if they where consistant, or flat!!!
But for most walking around, the thinner air was never an issue.
Eddie
OP
EddieWalker
Epic Contributor
Peru Rail was a very pleasant surprise. I didn't really think too much about it beforehand, it's just a train. But it was just reall nice. Big comfortable seats, spotless clean and great service. They included a snack that was delicious, and on the way back, they put on a show that included an Inca character in costume that danced around the train, then a fashion show with alpaca wear that they sold afterwards. The train is a narrow guage that only goes about 18 mph, so it's easy to take pics, but very hard to stay awake!!!
Aguas Caliente is tiny. It took a few minutes to walk from end to end. They are working on the roads and seem to be doing all they can to make it nice and tourist friendly. We stayed at a bed and breakfast for $60 a night, US Cash only. It was nice enough, but nothing special. There where lots of places to buy stuff, but we found the best prices to be on the shops along the road through the middle of town.
Eddie
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