Machu Picchu
From Trips and Tips by Marcy Kruchten
Travel in Style to one of the Seven Man Made Ancient Wonders of the World.
Where to Stay: Monasterio Hotel, Cuzco, Peru
The Monasterio, part of the Orient Express Luxury Group, was built in 1592 as a monastery. Located in the heart of Cuzco, former capital of the Incas, this 16th century hotel has been voted, by Conde Naste, 2008, as the best hotel in all of South America. After a recent visit, we decided the hotel lives up to its name. The dark wood uneven plank floors, wall hung tapestries, antique carpets, thick brick walls of this ancient monastery, turned hotel, takes you back to the late 16th century, when monks walked within these walls. The Spanish style rooms are priced from $594 per night to $1,584 for the Royal Suite. The dining room with its arched brick walls and floor to ceiling windows to the center courtyard garden, is exceptional, serves Peruvian and International cuisine, complete with roving guitar players for your dining pleasure.
How to get to Machu Picchu: Hiram Bingham Orient Express Train
If you are in great shape, by all means, hike the four day Inca Trail. On this trip, we decided to travel in style, so our only choice was to ride the Orient Express. We were surprised to learn, on the train trip, that Machu Picchu is at a lower elevation than the city of Cuzco. Cuzco is 11,000 feet above sea level and Machu Picco is only a mere 8,000 feet above sea level. The train ride gets off on the right foot with the feet of Peruvian dancers, in native dress, serenading you with their pan flutes. CD's, of course, are on sale. The three hour train ride to the ancient site, is seventy miles northwest of Cuzco and is $535 per person, round trip. The Hiram Bingham Orient Express, is named after the archeologist, Hiram Bingham, who rediscovered the man made ancient wonder of Machu Picchu in 1911. The three hour trip seems short and includes a gourmet meal served in the highly polished elegant dining car, reminiscent of our Venice to London Orient Express trip. After the train ride, you can either take a one hour uphill hike to the site or ride the bus. We chose the twenty minute bus ride because of our tennis knees.
What to be concerned about:
Altitude sickness is always a concern at 11,000 feet above sea level. One of the ancient cures, chewing of the cocoa leaf, used by even the modern day Incas, is still a common cure, offered to us in candy form. Many rooms, like the Monasterio, are oxygenated by necessity. Our trip to Machu Picchu, was delayed by one day because of oxygen sickness. This is a very real concern and sometimes needs to be monitored by a doctor.
Machu Picchu: This breathtaking, awe inspiring, truly mystical, ancient site was built by the Incas as a city and worshipping site. Huge granite stones were quarried, then hauled from miles away, up steep mountain sides, fitted together without mortar or cement. Best viewing is at sunrise and after four in the afternoon, when there are fewer tourists and picture taking is more purely Machu Picchu. There are guided site tours and the price is well worth more understanding of this ancient wonder. Allow at least a minimum of three hours at the site. After coming all this way to see one of the seven ancient man made wonders' of the world, a guided tour is highly recommended. Our native guide was very enthusiastic as well as informative.
Can you stay at Machu Picchu: Yes, you can stay at Machu Picchu. There is only one hotel at the ancient site and that is the Sanctuary Hotel, again an Orient Express Hotel. The hotel is quite modern in structure, in comparison to the Monasterio.
What to Buy:
One word, Vicuna. The Vicuna is one of four in the cametoid family and produces the highest quality of wool in the world. Vicuna is known as "The Gold of the Andes" and was highly prized by Inca royalty centuries ago. Only the hairs from under the neck of the Vicuna are shorn for use in this fine fiber. The price per ounce of Vicuna fleece fiber is sold for five times that of the price of an ounce of silver. Some of the most fashionable couture houses in the world, such as Channel and Armani, vive for this "gold", the world's most expensive finest natural fiber. A Vicuna cape comes packaged in its own redwood cedar box, needless to say, is not sold by street vendors. So if you can afford this fine luxury, by all means indulge. Viva Vicuna!
What to buy along the way: If you are not in the Vicuna market, there are other beautiful native natural woven woolen products from alpaca and baby alpaca. Many are sold by street vendors on blankets along tours way. The native women are so charmingly dressed in their native red wool woven capes, complete with brown felt bowler hats or the black felt flat hats with fresh flower on the top, complete with Llamas at their side. Many walk miles, with babies on their backs, to make tips from pictures taken by tourists.
What to expect from street vendors:
Many street vendors bargain and expect to bargain, this is all part of the fun. There are still many bargains to be had, such as hand knitted finger puppets, wood carved native masks, walking sticks imprinted with native symbols, pan flutes, woven wool belts, alpaca sweaters, felt hats, boiled woolen capes, just to name of few of the native treasures to be had.
Unusual Tour:
We were able to tour the house of a local. We realized that the long green shoots that many locals were carrying around on their backs were food for their guinea pigs. These guinea pigs live in their houses, as many as twenty at any one time, and are feed these green shoots on the stone or swept dirt floors of their houses, before one is selected for dinner that day. In the smoky darkness of this house, we could see skulls of their ancestors adorning the cubby holes of the walls. These skulls, gazing back at us, somehow seemed perfectly natural in this setting. I was able to bargain with the master of the house to purchase a smoky red woolen cape right off his wall. This smoky treasure will always be a lasting memory from one of the most breathtakingly beautiful countries in the world, Peru.
|
