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Andes glacier

Speaking of “whew”. We had been a little concerned about the photos we’ve seen of road shoulders that dropped off to infinity, and crazy drivers, but it actually hasn’t been too bad, for the most part. You’re really high up, no doubt about it, but the roads haven’t been bad, and the driving not too crazy. Until today. The driving wasn’t crazy, thank god, but the road…. oh my. At times, the right wheels of the car had to be (HAD TO BE) 2 feet or less from a 1000 foot sheer drop – on a narrow gravel road that required honking every 200 feet because you couldn’t see around the bend. I would have told the driver to turn around and go back but there was no place to turn around. Twice we had to pull over to let a tour van go by. But pull over where? I’m telling you it was scarey. And the ancient ruin we finally saw was really interesting but I would never ever go there again. But then we had to go back the same way! At least this time we were on the inside instead of the outside. But in reality it was barely more than a one lane road. Whew.

Marasol salt farm. Note the road just above it. This photo was taken from a moving car. That's the edge of the road in the foreground.

Our driver , Jorge (Hor-hey, or George) looked about 18, but was very pleasant. He got lost in Urubamba, or rather, he couldn’t find the restaurant he was supposed to take us to. That was interesting. Up and down all these back streets, stopping and asking pedestrians, mototaxi drivers etc, about the restaurant. We thought it was included in the tour, otherwise why spend so much time looking for it? When we got there, and found out that it wasn’t inclusive, and that it looked okay, but just okay, we said we would rather go to the same restaurant we had visited on the other tour (and really liked) and was also in Urubamba. But by this time it was about 3 and we realized that we had finished everything on today’s tour and that Jorge was planning on sitting outside and waiting for us, so we said, “Let’s just go home”. I think he thought we were mad at him, and he seemed a little sad on the way back. It was funny because he lit up when we tipped him. I guess he thought he had blown his tip. Suppose you had to be there.

Marasal salt farm. Walk down, walk back up. 9000'

Anyway, no altitude sickness. No sickness of any kind (even though Sherry forgot and brushed her teeth with tap water – a drawback of having a modern bathroom). We had a great day. Lots of fun (and excitement). Interesting food. Do we like Peru? Oh yeah. It’s not Mexico. It’s not Argentina. It’s like no place we’ve ever been. There is some poverty. There have been a few negatives, but very minor.

Here are a few of the minors:

Touts. The usual kind of trinket being sold. Most say that they make it themselves and I’m sure some do, but the merchandise all looks pretty much alike, so….. The problem is that they call out to you, but won’t stop when you say no. It isn’t in your face, and they don’t come running after you, but they do keep saying “oh come on, you need this” or whatever. We hate to be rude, so it makes us feel bad to just walk away but that’s what you have to do. It’s not that bad. Really. But it is a minor negative. Having a great time – wish you were here.

Litter. It’s not awful. And we have litter at home. I just find it ironic that a place so dependant on tourism has any at all. The worst, and saddest, is seen right outside our window. There is a small line of trinket and candy sellers lined up to sell to the school kids as they go to school. Fortunately most of the kids prefer trinkets, but the ones that get candy throw the wrapper right where they unwrap it. So there’s a trail of candy wrappers leading to the school. I guess it makes it easier to find the school, but it’s a problem that seems easily solved. It’s a little sad. Not tons of litter, but some. Like graffiti, I hate litter. It’s a needless assault on the senses.

Cobblestones. They’re charming, but here they’re a bear to walk on. This isn’t much of a negative for me and Sherry, but if you have problems walking, this will make it tough. The Sacred Valley is not handicap friendly. Visiting almost any of the ruins requires climbing awkward uneven steps and narrow pathways.

Altitude. We only notice it when we’re going up steep streets or steps. If it’s a long stretch of steps, we (and almost everyone else) stop to take a picture – and breathe. Every once in a while, just sitting or lying down, I have to take a really deep breath just to kind of catch up, I suppose.

That’s about all of the negatives we’ve found. Not bad. It’s really been very pleasant.

In case you don’t know, this blog is attached to a website. You can go there to learn all about Peru and all the places (and more) that we’re visiting by clicking on HOME above and then clicking on PERU in the navigation bar. Of course, the web site has much more than that. From learning Spanish to learning about all 21 Spanish speaking countries. Enjoy.