In the May 2010, we took a trip to Peru, mostly to see Machu Picchu and the Manu Wildlife Refuge in the upper Amazon basin. We flew to Lima, spent a night in a hotel at the airport and headed to Cusco early the next day. In Cusco we stayed in nice hotel in the tourist part of the city. A guide took us to sights around the city in the afternoon. The next day the guide took us to see the main sights of the Urabamaba Valley including Pisac and Ollantaytambo. That night we got to our hotel, the Sol y Luna Lodge at sunset and had to get up at 4am the next morning to get the train to Machu Picchu.
Cusco and Urabamaba
Actually, we did not have to get up at 4am, but there was some confussion with the train schedule and we got to the Ollanta train station long before we were supposed to be there. Fortunatly we were able to get on an earlier train.
We arrived at Machu Picchu earlier than planned and the weather was excellent for viewing the ruins. We started our tour from the Guard House.
Because we were staying in the Sanctuary Lodge just out side the gate, we were able to take a break in the afternoon when the park was the busiest. Given that we got up at 4am, a break was nice.
Traveling to Machu Picchu
Machu Picchu
The next day we got up early with the hope of climbing Waynapicchu, but it was very foggy and wet so we thought it would be to dangerous to go up so we headed off to
Intipunku, also known as the Sun Gate. Visibility was very limited and it was very wet so we took our time and looked things that were close to us. When we got back to the ruins we walked around for a while and the sky started to clear. By this time it was too late to get a permit to climb
Waynapicchu but a helpful guard managed to get us permission and told us it would be clear in half an hour. He was pretty close to right. We took the longer and much less travelled way back, going past the Grand Cavern. The hike was really interesting and well worth the effort. We got back to the main ruins in time to have a look at some of the restoration work as it started to cloud over again. We returned to the lodge about 11 hours after heading out. We had hardly rested or eaten. Fortunately we were able to get a snack from the bar, because dinner would not be for a few hours.
Intipunku and Waynapicchu
For our last day at Machu Picchu we started by walking through the fog to the Drawbridge. The bridge itself is just a few planks that can be easily be removed, but the trail on either side of the gap is quite impressive. On our retrun to the ruins the sky had cleared and it was another lovely day. We spent our time looking for things we had not seen yet and then prepared to leave on the the afternoon train to return to Cusco.
After another night in Cusco we started the second phase of trip--an overland journey to the Amazon rain forest. We rode in a small van with six guests, a guide and a driver. We started by heading to Pisac and carrying on to the northwest to a high point at 4100m. We carried on to the town of Paucartambo where we spent some time walking around. We got back in the van and headed on to a monument honoring the Swedish engineer who was responsible for building the road to the Manu area. We ate lunch at the monument. After lunch we drove on down the road, stopping occasionally to walk along the road looking at flowers and occassional birds. At this point we were in the cloud forest and visibility was quite limited. We stopped for the night at the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge.
The Cock-of-the-Rock is the national bird of Peru. There is a blind near the Cock-of-the-Rock lodge where you can watch for the birds in the early morning. We got up in the dark and fog and headed out to look for them and other birds before breakfast. We returned to the lodge for breakfast and then headed on down the road. We made a few stops along the way, including the town of Pillcopata before transfering to a boat at the town of Atalaya. This boat would take us everywhere for the next two and half days. As we headed down river we viewed the sights from the river and ate our lunch. We stopped at the Pantiacolla lodge for the night, with time for a walk in the jungle before dinner. The next day we continued down river eventually stopping at the Manu Wildlife Center where we would stay for the next three nights. Again, we arrived in plenty of time for a walk in the jungle before dinner.
We got up early the next morning and headed to the Blanquillo clay lick. When arrived it was still quite foggy and dim. This gave us time to eat breakfast and wait for the birds to arrive. We saw a lot of Red Green Macaws and many other birds, but we also saw giant river otters and a black cayman. On the way back to the lodge for lunch, we saw a white cayman on the river bank. It was a very good morning. After a good rest in the afternoon, we headed out into the jungle before sunset, carrying our dinners with us. We headed to a very nicely equiped blind where we ate our dinners and waited for a tapir to come to lick the clay. It had just gotten dark when a tapir arrived and we got a good look at the tapir and heard it slurping the mud.
The next morning we were up early again, but this time we got to eat breakfast at the lodge. Then we headed to an oxbow lake--a bend in the river that got cut off from the main flow of the river when it found a new channel. We traveled first by motor boat, then walked through the jungle for ten or twenty minutes, and arrived at the dock on the lake just as the morning fog cleared. The boat on the lake was made from two dugout canoes with a platform across them for the tourists to sit on. It was paddled by two very skilled men who moved the boat very smoothly and quietly. Almost immediately we had a good sighting of giant river otters. We also saw many birds. We headed back to the lodge for lunch and another rest. In the late afternoon, we walked to a tree-top viewing platform in the jungle. After spending a lot of time on the forest floor, it was nice to get a view from the canopy. While we were there, Winnie spotted a Plum-throated Cotinga way off in the distance. It was too distant to photograph but we were able to see the wonderful colors through our guide's spotting scope. We returned to the lodge for dinner.
We got up a little later the next morning and had breakfast at the lodge. We had to pack up and leave. The boat that had carried us around for the last two days took our group and another group to the Boca Manu airport for a late morning flight to Cusco. The airport is just a grass strip in the jungle but it is 4500 feet long--way longer than needed for the Twin Otter that comes a few times a week. It is left over from some mineral and/or oil exploration many years ago. The flight back to Cusco took us over many of the places that we saw on the overland journey from Cusco to Manu.
After anothe night in Cusco, we headed to Lima where we spent some time in Miraflores, in the southern part of the city, before an overnight flight home.
Inca Drawbridge
Cusco to the Cloud Forest
Cloud Forest to Rain Forest
Blanquillo Clay Lick and Tapir
Manu Oxbow Lake and Tower
Manu to Cusco
Miraflores