A Van for Four

The next day the four of us set off for Machu Picchu – from the looks of it we were cut out for another long dive. Up and down passes, rain, mud dirt roads, mountain bikers braving the busy road – we were doing all this to avoid the main routes and expensive routes to Aguas Calientes; train in from Ollantaytambo or Cusco or the Inca trail. We were going in through the back door; driving to Hydroelectric and then catching a shorter train at 4:00 pm to Aguas Calientes. From Aguas Calientes we would then be able to take the quick bus ride up to the ruins of Machu Picchu the following day. Well like I said before, if you put Dolores on a deadline she throws a fit. Her chosen fit on this day was her fuel pump. The filter had been changed just days before, but upon inspection it was evident that the pump was clogged. Quick thinking George, hooked it up backwards pushed the junk out and when reinstalled she roared to life. This slight delay gave us enough time to eat lunch and be on our merry way.

 We pulled into our parking spot 15 minutes before the train was to depart - ran the 10 min walk to the station and were relived to see the train was still there. As we approached the conductor we were refused tickets. It was too close to the cut off time to departure and they didn’t have time to enter our info in their system. Without much time to debate, we decided that we’d walk the six miles in, we’d just have to move if we didn’t want to walk too much in the dark. Despite our speedy efforts we arrived at Aguas Calientes in the dark, found a place to call home for the night, had bad pizza and called it a day.



After a great breakfast at the Killar Inn we caught the bus up the hill at started to explore the ruins. We first hired a guide and he walked us through the ruins. After the tour we sat overlooking the Lost City, ate our lunch, watched the sunlight make the large polished rocks below us glow and laughed at the llamas. We hiked a section of the Inca trail and returned back to our spot overlooking the city. As we sat there and chatted about how the light changed the scene around us, spotted uncovered stairways windows and walls and it was then that the magic of the place really struck us. Taking in to account all the theories we'd heard about the city, we all concurred that it was a really special place.



We decided to do one more walk through before leaving and were pleasantly surprised to have the whole place pretty much to ourselves. You could hear the water running through the whole city and we amazed by how much more we saw as we meandered around just the four of us.

As the whistles blew signaling the close of the park we made our way to the exit. As we looked back one more time a huge rainbow crested the mountaintops surrounding the city. We stood there in awe of the view before us we couldn't help but be impressed with our luck. As we stepped on the bus it started to rain – perfect timing. That night, we cheered our Pisco Sours over the delicious dinner at Indio Feliz all remarked that is was the perfect ending to the perfect day.



The previous day's rain was persistent all through the night and through our train ride the next morning. When we arrived back at the van and started on the only road out of town, we came to a road closure. A rockslide was being cleared and while the dozer was working on the problem, the hillside continued to fall. A huge bolder half the size of our van, hit the dozer and pushed it about 20 feet. Everyone that was watching the work was on their feet screaming for the workers safety. He jumped out of the dozer and ran for his life. A short while later, after things calmed down, the road opened and we made our way out of the giant valley, just in time for another fuel filter failure. This time we all knew what our jobs were. Dad and George tackled the problem, Ashley made lunch and (after seeing how the Latin Americans handle dangerous breakdowns) I put sticks and rocks in the road to indicate we were broken down around a blind corner. Again, in no time at all we were on our way.



We went looking for a secluded camp spot high in the Andes that we'd seen from some fellow travelers on Instagram. What we found was not exactly what we'd imagined and someone told us the lake was private, but that there was another one ahead. As we climbed to almost 15,000 feet we decided we'd look elsewhere for a place to call home for the night but before we could go a personal market of handmade llama and alpaca wool popped up for us.

 After a fun negotiating session we gave the three little girls and the two women a ride back down the hill. One of the ladies spun her yarn during the whole drive all while chatting, caring for the girls and giving us directions. 

We made our way to Cusco and enjoyed our time in the city.

From there we decided to drive to Canon del Colca. At some point during the drive, I don't know if it was the snow, the windy steep roads, the dark or the 14,000 foot altitudes that made us all decide it was time to pull over for the night. In the morning we found ourselves on the Altiplano surrounded by freshly covered snowy peaks and vicunas.



After coffee we headed into town for breakfast, then to the hot springs to soak out the stress of our high altitude winter drive. Once we were all jelloy we made our way to the rim of the canyon rim where we would stay for the next few nights. On our way we spotted our first of a handful of Andean Condors. They were magnificently large and fabulous to watch glide around the sky. We played wiffle ball, went on hikes, watched sunrises and sunsets and enjoyed our company.



From there we made the atypical decision to skip Lake Titicaca and go straight to Ariquepe where we realized that the cold Ashley had brought with her was having a go with George. He slept while we explored Monasterio de Santa Catalina, a colorful monastery/ciudad that has a crazy and fascinating history.



Ashley did a little souvenir shopping and suddenly the largest raindrops I've ever seen drenched the entire city in seconds.

 We enjoyed a nice dinner for my birthday courtesy of my dad and ran around in the rain looking for a place to watch the Super Bowl. The next morning as we left town we stopped to get gas and Ashley had an oh shit moment when she realized she had left her sunglasses at the store where she did her souvenir shopping the day before. We decided to turn around and at least ask if they had found them. I did say to her, “if they are still there, I'm moving to Peru.” After waiting for about 30 mins for the store to open I was pleasantly surprised about the new country where I’d reside. Ashley's sunglasses and the brochures she was carrying had been safely set aside and were promptly returned to her.



It was a good start to the day and a great way to end our time in Peru so we decided to go to Chile. After our most intensely searched border crossing which included removing the surfboards from the roof and sending them through an x-ray machine we fell asleep to the sound of the waves on the beach in Arica.

 We spent a few days in Arica checking out the festivals, the beach and the crazy mummies and then it was time for Ash and Dad to make their way north. That night over dinner we talked about our favorite and least favorite moments of the past two weeks. Favorites included; wiffle ball (it's pretty hard to play with just two people), Machu Picchu, Canyon del Colca and just being together. Least favorites; driving in the snow, nothing, a sketchy room in Arica and sleeping at high altitude. It was truly a special experience sharing this voyage with my Dad and my sister. They were troopers trucking around with us in the van and I was unbelievably homesick the moment we watched them drive away.