Stapleton Travel Blog

We left NJ early Tuesday morning in the dark.  For some reason we now can’t recall why we planned to drive to San Antonio in just 2 days.  Day one took us through NJ, Pennsylvania, Maryland, West Virginia, Virginia into Tennessee.  Day 1 driving was about 14 hours.

We left Tennessee and drove for about 15 hours to arrive in San Antonio.  We drove though Tennessee, Arkansas and Texas on day 2.  We stopped for breakfast in Texarkana.  I didn’t know that was a real place.  We’re staying in a cute Airbnb house about 20 minutes away from Lackland Airbase where Matt is completing his Basic Military Training.  We were told to arrive early (by 6am) to ensure we had a place to park.  When we pulled through the gate we had no idea where we were going and expected to follow about a hundred cards in front of us.  Unfortunately they all seemed to disappear and we ended up driving aimlessly around until we found the reception area.

The first thing that struck me was how large the group was.  I didn’t realize that there are 780 trainees graduating this weekend to become Airmen!  The place was packed and very chaotic.  We attended a briefing and then headed over for the Airman’s run.  This is a symbolic event that the Airman obviously love to participate in.  Matt’s group is in the gray t-shirts and he’s in the first gray shirt group.  See if you can spot him. 🙂

Next we saw the honor graduates, the top 10% in each flight. They also had a brief ceremony where 6 new Airman were sworn in as citizens of the US.  They were from the Philippines, Jamaica and Columbia.  This was a very moving event to see.

Next was the coin ceremony, where each Airman was given a symbolic coin to acknowledge their elevation from trainee to Airman.

 

Finally it was time to “tap out” our Airman.  This is when a family member approaches the Airman and he/she can leave formation.  I had a hard time finding Matt because on the information the Air Force provided they had him in the wrong group!  It was also difficult because of how he’s wearing that hat (see below).  Most of his face was covered.  I had to check 2 groups but finally found him.

We spent the rest of the afternoon with Matt touring different parts of the base.  We’re really looking forward to the official graduation ceremony tomorrow and excited that Kathy, Drew and Xander are coming to celebrate with Matt.

 

With an early check out time (9:00am) and an afternoon flight (4:00pm) we decided to take another cooking class.  Our chef teacher Javier was originally from the Sacred Valley and had worked as a porter on the Inca Trail.  He also worked as a cook so it was great to hear his stories from the porters point of view.  We were joined in the class by Sam from Dallas who was also leaving today.

Javier first took us to the San Pedro Market to get the ingredients for our meal.  It was very interesting watching him navigate all the different stalls and interact with the merchants.  He told us later that he likes to purchase items from as many people as possible to help them all. All of the food was natural, farm fresh and he frequently talked about the health benefits of the different foods.

We made stuffed peppers, potatoes with a peanut sauce, rice pudding and a Pisco Sour.

 

After eating our fill we headed to the airport.  Our adventure is over but we both are very proud to have successfully completed the trek to Machu Picchu.

When there are 500 people all trying to get to the same place first you need to get up very very early.  We got our wake up call at 3:00am and breakfast was at 3:30am.  We lined up to take our final hike to the Sun Gate and Machu Picchu.

As we were preparing to leave we could see the stars in the sky.  They were so bright and seemed so close you could almost touch them.  We knew it was going to be a beautiful day.

Our group (minus us) raced to the sun gate which should have taken about an hour and a half to two hours.  They arrived in just under an hour!  We joined them and the view was amazing.

We headed down from the sun gate to Machu Picchu…we arrived!

We spent the remainder of the morning exploring Machu Picchu.  Unfortunately the photos don’t do it justice.  It was massive and beautiful.

 

We had our final group meal together in a small village called Aquas Calientes.  It was time to celebrate our success!

 

The group split up and 8 of us were headed back to Cusco.  We took a train to Ollantaytambo and it was the strangest train ride we’ve ever been on.  About 30 minutes into the ride this strange creature came out and entertained the group.  Then the fashion show started.  It was a very odd combination but a lot of fun.

 

We arrived back in Cusco around 9:00pm and very anxious to take very long hot showers, put on clean clothes and sleep in a nice soft bed with sheets!

 

 

Today we climbed another summit (12,234 feet) which was followed by a steep descent. After this is it was an up and down day followed by another steep descent.  At one point we went through a small tunnel. We took pictures before going through it. Christian our guide hid inside and came out and scared me (Tom) and a few others as we  went through.

The day was very foggy so we didn’t get to see or take pictures of the views but it’s okay because we’re hoping for clear skies for tomorrow’s trek to Machu Picchu. We did manage to entertain ourselves by talking about our favorite cartoons.  Most of the others were remembering their childhoods but we were remembering our kids.  It was fun to learn that kids in the US, Canada, UK and Australia all loved SpongeBob, the Rugrats and Blues Clues.

We stopped to see a couple ruins along the way and ended up arriving at our camp in the dark. After dinner the cook surprised us with a cake he made without an oven.  We were off to bed early as our wake up call in the morning will be 3:00am!

• Day 2 began with introductions to the porters and cooks who would support us on our journey.  There were 16 people to support 15 trekkers and while this might seem like a lot, they carried everything on their backs including tents, tables, chairs, food, stove, propane gas and our excess gear.  Each of us introduced ourselves and Christian translated as most of the porters spoke Quechwa. Christian asked everyone where they were from, age, family, etc.  I said I wasn’t going to tell them my age. Tom introduced himself in Spanish and of course told everyone that I’m 58.

We then started the hardest trek most of us had ever experienced.  We were ascending from 9,870 feet to 13818 feet.  The combination of the altitude and steep climb made it difficult to breathe but fortunately we stopped frequently.

We stopped for lunch about halfway up the mountain for another delicious meal but the conversation was the most memorable.  Our guide Christian was asking questions to improve his English and we somehow got into a discussion about the difference between crispy and crunchy. This led to us trying to give examples with people shouting out foods; potato chips, apples, roasted chicken, etc.  The problem was we had trouble explaining the difference so I think we just confused him more.  We sounded like a Seinfeld episode.

Christian liked learning what he called bigger words and “unbelievable” became his favorite.  He did work it into the conversation whenever he could.

The afternoon walk to the summit was challenging.  Our guide suggested breathing techniques to our lung capture more oxygen but the only thing that helped was walking very slowly and breaking often.  When we were only about 100 yards from the top I (Beth) became nauseous and lightheaded. Eventually we made it to the top!

 

The rest of the day was an equally steep decent.  It was also foggy, cold and wet so we weren’t the only ones taking it slowly.  We walked with Tatiana, Tim and Iffy.  Iffy had a minor fall because of the wet rocks but wasn’t hurt.  Fortunately we all made it down safely to the valley and our camp.

Our day started getting to know our fellow trekkers: Eric & Haley (St Louis), Michael & Yujin (Washington),  Tim & Iffy  (Australia /UK),  Aaron, Soma & Louie (young  lads from London),  Kimo (Austalia),  Tatiana (Russian living in Amsterdam), Chris & Aaron (Canada). Our guides were Christian (with 10 years experience) and Pablo.

We started at a much lower altitude than Cusco (9409 feat vs 11,186 feet). We would drop down to 8,429 feet and finish the day at 9,870 feet.  There was always one guide at the front controlling the pace and one behind the last trekker at the back where we usually were.

 

We were the last group to get on the Inca trail that day (only 500 people are allowed on each day and you must have a guide.  The lead guide would periodically stop throughout the day so the group could get together. He would usually give us information abut the Incan culture or about a particular ruin we might be passing.

For lunch they provide a dining tent in which they served multiple courses of Peruvian cooking. The porters and cooks  worked incredibly hard each day.  They would carry around 55 pounds on their  backs and race ahead of us to have the camp and meals set up for when we got there.

Our first campsite was behind a ladies home where we had a “proper toilet”.   We start every evening in the dining tent for happy hour tea followed by a meal with multiple courses of food that were incredibly delicous.  We had a blast getting to know the various “personalities” in the group.  Micheal was the philosopher in our group who would always provide us with many deep quotes like “the mountain doesn’t change, you change”.  After a great evening Beth and I went to sleep in our tent which was cramped with all our gear.  Tomorrow, we go to the summit (Dead Woman’s Pass) at 13,818 feet.

 

 

 

Continue reading “9/15/17 Cusco to Ollantaytambo”

Today is our last day in Cusco before we head to the Sacred Valley and then the Inca trail to Machu Picchu.  We spent a mostly quiet day but the highlight was a cooking class that our instructor, Elvira, called more of a culinary experience than a class.  These classes range from 2 to 10 people and we were the only ones in the class.  It was like getting a personal lesson.  We started out in their market learning about the indigenous food of Peru.  For example, there are 3000 different types of potatoes, 30 different types of corn and 5 different types of quinoa.

We then did a fruit tasting and tried different fruits including some that are pre-Inca period so they have been around for thousands of years.

We made Peruvian drinks, a Picso Sour  and lighter summer version. Both contain Pisco, an 80 proof, which tasted a little like vodka. Tom got to shake it up.

We made ceviche, a raw fish dish and Loma Saltado, a stir fried flaming dish with Alpaca.  If anyone is counting that’s 3 days in a row eating Alpaca!

We finished the class by eating our work and it was delicious!

We may not have WiFi starting tomorrow.  If we don’t we’ll catch up when we can.

Last night we went out to dinner and had alpaca. It tasted like steak.

In the morning we went on a 3 hour walking tour of Cusco.  Our guide, Elvis in the white hat below, took us around to see some historical buildings and churches. We learned alot about ancient Incan history and visited the San Pedro market which was cool and tasted some exotic fruits.

We are still breathing hard going up steep hills which has us concerned.  We drink coca tea and you’re also supposed to chew coca leaves to help with the altitude’s effects.  Elvis told us that Peruvians are small but have big lungs to handle the lack of oxygen.

We went to check in at our tour group and we asked to see the ages of the people in our group. Almost all were in there 20’s (ugh) with a 53 year old couple and someone around 40. We were hoping for a group of 60 year olds with bad knees, oh well.  I guess we are the patriach/matriarch of this group.  Maybe we’ll  get special privileges like a free alpaca ride!

Had lunch overlooking the plaza at a traditional Peruvian restaurant.  They had alpaca skewers (how do you say no when they have alpaca on the menu! ).  We also had cicha morada, which is a local drink made with blue corn, pineapple and lime.   It tasted like cranberry juice to me.

We arrived late on Monday and stayed at the Wyndham Hotel a block from the airport. Luckily, planes stop coming in around 11 pm, otherwise it would have been like trying to sleep on the runway.  The next morning we flew into Cusco to experience what 11000 ft feels like.  We get winded fast climbing up the steep narrow streets of Cusco and we feel a little compression on our heads but that’s all for now.

We ran some errands in the afternoon (Sim card, bank, etc).  We stopped by a bakery called El Buen Pastor where the profits provide a home for 50 neglected young girls.  In addition to shelter they also provide them with an education and skills training, etc.   I’m sure we’ll be back.

We are staying at a cool little hotel called Hotel Terra Viva San Blas. Everyone here is extremely nice. We should have a nice couple of days here as we get acclimated to the altitude. They have a beautiful garden, we just hope it’s warm enough to sit outside.

Traffic here is insane.  Most sidewalks can only fit one person.  The only thing between us  and the cars’ sideview mirrors seem to be about 8 inches.  Love those small narrow streets though. So much fun to walk even if it’s difficult breathing.

Toughest part so far is having to abstain from alcohol to avoid getting altitude sickness. There’s a big glass of wine waiting for us when this is all over!