overyourhead - some irreverent musings by a gay London guy - crawling though technology, love and life... so you don't have to.
Showing posts with label Andes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Andes. Show all posts
Friday, December 12, 2014
Tuesday, December 02, 2014
Day 12 - Tues 2 December - Sasha Lodge...
We didn't sleep particularly well at Hosteria Villa Da Fiore due to the aforementioned dog noise but breakfast of scrambled eggs was fine and we were at the airport in good time. Very good time as it turned out as the short 30-minute flight over the Andes from Quito to the river port town of Coca was delayed by an hour. D'oh!
We had packed very light for the trip to Sacha Lodge leaving our main luggage in Tumbaco.
On arrival, we enjoyed a packed lunch followed by a motorboat ride (1.5 hours) down the Napo River, before heading to the Sacha Lodge for our three-night stay. Access to the lodge was via a raised boardwalk and canoe ride. Across the black lake...
Unfortunately we got slightly abandoned at the boat house for an hour so later on by way of apology we were treated to an extra evening lake boat tour by Erik, one of the managers to make up for it.
Sasha Lodge was simply delightful. Wooden lodge houses set in the jungle. Insects, monkeys, birds, bars, small mammals... were everywhere!
Our lake tour was wonderful seeing stinky turkeys, king fishers, herons and all manner of birds I couldn't name. The sunset was lovely too.
Dinner was a sumptuous buffet preceded by a couple of G&Ts and followed by an early night. Having liberally doused the room in RAID. We slept really well.
We had packed very light for the trip to Sacha Lodge leaving our main luggage in Tumbaco.
On arrival, we enjoyed a packed lunch followed by a motorboat ride (1.5 hours) down the Napo River, before heading to the Sacha Lodge for our three-night stay. Access to the lodge was via a raised boardwalk and canoe ride. Across the black lake...
Unfortunately we got slightly abandoned at the boat house for an hour so later on by way of apology we were treated to an extra evening lake boat tour by Erik, one of the managers to make up for it.
Sasha Lodge was simply delightful. Wooden lodge houses set in the jungle. Insects, monkeys, birds, bars, small mammals... were everywhere!
Our lake tour was wonderful seeing stinky turkeys, king fishers, herons and all manner of birds I couldn't name. The sunset was lovely too.
Dinner was a sumptuous buffet preceded by a couple of G&Ts and followed by an early night. Having liberally doused the room in RAID. We slept really well.
Monday, November 24, 2014
Day 4 - Mon 24 November - Machu Picchu...
An even earlier start (5:30am wake-up call) and we boarded the minibus which took us on a two hour journey even higher into the mountains before descending to pick up the Perurail train to take us 99 mins along the valley to Aguas Calientes.
From here, small buses drove us up the steep slopes to the ruined town of Machu Picchu (2,500m altitude). Wow! It was everything we thought it would be. And more.
We spent the afternoon exploring the magnificent Inca site before returning via a so-so pizzeria in the town down below back to Cuzco the same way we had come.
Oh and let's not forget the impromptu fashion show on the train MCed by the Devil. Ok. Let's!
From here, small buses drove us up the steep slopes to the ruined town of Machu Picchu (2,500m altitude). Wow! It was everything we thought it would be. And more.
We spent the afternoon exploring the magnificent Inca site before returning via a so-so pizzeria in the town down below back to Cuzco the same way we had come.
Oh and let's not forget the impromptu fashion show on the train MCed by the Devil. Ok. Let's!
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Day 3 - Sun 23 November - Cuzco...
Up at the crack of dawn with a 6 am wake-up call we headed to the airport for our flight into the Andes.
Peru has three famous cash crops... coffee, chocolate and cocaine. The nearest we got to the latter was a cup of tea made from the coco leaves at the airport. So please excuse the wobbly handwriting.
The flight to Cuzco (3,400m altitude) was pretty smooth with some spectacular vistas of the Andes en route. I took some lovely snaps out of the airplane window.
We were met by locally born guide Romulo and transferred to the Eco Inn Hotel for a two-night stay. After a brief lunch in the next door restaurant we had an afternoon tour of the historic centre of Cuzco starting at 2pm. This included the fantastic Cuzco cathedral and the Inca sites of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Kenko and PucaPucara.
Jetlag, dehydration, lack of coffee and altitude sickness all conspired to give us spinning heads, wobbly legs and migraines so an early night was on the cards. I kept waking up during the night with my heart racing and with a pounding headache.
Peru has three famous cash crops... coffee, chocolate and cocaine. The nearest we got to the latter was a cup of tea made from the coco leaves at the airport. So please excuse the wobbly handwriting.
The flight to Cuzco (3,400m altitude) was pretty smooth with some spectacular vistas of the Andes en route. I took some lovely snaps out of the airplane window.
We were met by locally born guide Romulo and transferred to the Eco Inn Hotel for a two-night stay. After a brief lunch in the next door restaurant we had an afternoon tour of the historic centre of Cuzco starting at 2pm. This included the fantastic Cuzco cathedral and the Inca sites of Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, Kenko and PucaPucara.
Jetlag, dehydration, lack of coffee and altitude sickness all conspired to give us spinning heads, wobbly legs and migraines so an early night was on the cards. I kept waking up during the night with my heart racing and with a pounding headache.
Saturday, November 22, 2014
Day 2 - Sat 22 November - Lima...
We landed in Lima at 7am - pretty exhausted. Having battled Peruvian immigration and baggage reclaim we were met by an agent (Milly) from South American Tours (Voyage Jules Verne partner in the area) who arranged for us to be transferred to the Hotel Jose Antonio in the Miraflores area of Lima for one night with breakfast. In fact we sneaked in another breakfast upon arrival which was pretty tasty.
We also met up with our traveling companions for the trip - Richard, Lynn, Suzanne, Ulla and Lizabeth.
With a few hours to kill Stuart and I headed out to explore. We went down to the ocean, walked along to a new shopping mail, returned along the precipitous walk to Lovers Park and then headed inland to the Chocolate museum where we had a lovely tour - and some great tastings.
Our little excursion taught us that Peruvians love their fast food, drive like maniacs and put Chocolate in any and everything. Oh and you can get really bad sun burn ever when it's overcast. Ouch!
In the afternoon there was a city tour of Lima which included the impressive buildings of the Plaza de Armas Square, the UNESCO World Heritage 17th-century church of San Francisco with its dusty library and piles of 200 years of blackened bones in the crypt and the Larco Herrera Museum (fascinating history of Peru, great art and erotic drinking vases).
In the evening we ate a traditional beef 'lomo' dish in the hotel restaurant with some pretty terrible wine and had an early night.
We were here!
We also met up with our traveling companions for the trip - Richard, Lynn, Suzanne, Ulla and Lizabeth.
With a few hours to kill Stuart and I headed out to explore. We went down to the ocean, walked along to a new shopping mail, returned along the precipitous walk to Lovers Park and then headed inland to the Chocolate museum where we had a lovely tour - and some great tastings.
Our little excursion taught us that Peruvians love their fast food, drive like maniacs and put Chocolate in any and everything. Oh and you can get really bad sun burn ever when it's overcast. Ouch!
In the afternoon there was a city tour of Lima which included the impressive buildings of the Plaza de Armas Square, the UNESCO World Heritage 17th-century church of San Francisco with its dusty library and piles of 200 years of blackened bones in the crypt and the Larco Herrera Museum (fascinating history of Peru, great art and erotic drinking vases).
In the evening we ate a traditional beef 'lomo' dish in the hotel restaurant with some pretty terrible wine and had an early night.
We were here!
Friday, November 21, 2014
Day 1 - Fri 21 November - London to Lima...
Off on our South American adventure we headed for Heathrow for our first evening flight.
We had thirteen flights - twenty-six takeoffs and landings in the next seventeen days. First stop was Madrid for a connection to Lima, Peru.
This first Iberia flight was fine but suffered as they all do from a basic lack of service, uncomfortable seats and indifferent trolly dollies.
The second overnight long haul was much better though. It was a code share with LAN Airways (a new one on us) and the service was great, the food good and the seats comfortable. Even if (or maybe because) the plane seemed to have flown in from the 1960s. We were to come to appreciate LAN more and more as our trip progressed.
We had thirteen flights - twenty-six takeoffs and landings in the next seventeen days. First stop was Madrid for a connection to Lima, Peru.
This first Iberia flight was fine but suffered as they all do from a basic lack of service, uncomfortable seats and indifferent trolly dollies.
The second overnight long haul was much better though. It was a code share with LAN Airways (a new one on us) and the service was great, the food good and the seats comfortable. Even if (or maybe because) the plane seemed to have flown in from the 1960s. We were to come to appreciate LAN more and more as our trip progressed.
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