Time for some Plane Talk

Definition of Plain Talk according to Cambridge University:
the act of saying clearly and honestly what you think without trying to be polite: It's time for some plain speaking. Blunt and direct in speech & behaviour.

Definition of Plane Talk according to Joanne:
the act of saying clearly and honestly what you think about planes without trying to be polite: It's time for some plain speaking about planes. Blunt and direct in speech & behaviour related to planes.

Well, that's a new low, a 'but I digress' in the title.  Can one digress as a starting point?  I mean, I have certainly taken a wrong turn right out of a hotel door and digressed in the completely wrong direction while holding a tourist map upside down so I guess one can.  

But I digress (twice)...

We bought our plane tickets from Cusco back to Lima so we have that quarter (temporal and geographical) of our trip booked and mostly paid for.  Cusco to Aguascalientes to Machu Picchu to Cusco to Lima.  

Once again, I was overwhelmed with options.  I had been following the prices with Google flight alerts.  They were up, they were down.  I finally pinned Val on the phone for an hour and a half and we went through all of the airlines, departure times and costs.  And then we just picked one and bought them.  

First we were ready to book with eDestinos because they had the cheapest tickets when we were looking.  But as I was filling in the details and was about this hit the pay button, I got Val to google them.  Super bad reviews. Apparently that super cheap price is for Peruvians only and non-Peruvians have to cough up to $150 more to get their seat.  Nope.  

Then Viva Air.  They look cheap until you detail in.  That $28 flight is just a folding chair and some paper wings, I think

If you have a bag (which I will, it will be the end of our month so I might have two), that costs more.  If you want to pick your seat, that costs more, etc etc. 

We decided to go with Combo +, always pick the middle lane is my motto in life (and driving).  I might be able to get away with 15 kg of baggage?  hahahahha.  Or just pay for an extra bag. 

We bought our tickets after much back and forthing through the website, removing all of their hidden costs - no insurance, no boarder pass printing, no seat selection, no $10 friendly greeting, just kidding on that last one, I must have been thinking of Air Canada (boom!). 

I'm sure we will regret at least one of those removed costs but where's the story in 'we took a flight and it all went well' when you might be able to get 'we spent four hours in Cusco trying to find a printer to print our boarding passes and had to wear all of our clothes to meet the luggage weight restrictions' intrigue.  You're welcome. 

Other news?  Nothing I can think of off the top of my head.  I did recently get to say to someone that our trip is next month.  OMG, our trip is NEXT month!  5 weeks to go. So exciting! 

Here's a picture of a Viva Air plane.  The bubbles mean it's friendly! 

Back on track

I have been dither-dathering about buying our train tickets from Cuzco to Aguascalientes.  There are so many variables!  Railway: Peru Rail or Inca Rail.  Departure point: Cuscso, Ollantaytambo, Urubamba.  Class: Expedition, Vistadome, Voyager, Hiram Bingham.  Departure times: super early, moderately early, kind of early, afternoon, later afternoon, too late, you get the drift.

Ahh, I couldn't decide.  I kept looking at options and then getting distracted by work or homework or social life or The White Queen TV show marathon.  Val was no help.  She just said she trusted me and to buy whatever I thought best.  Hrmmph.

I even used my research as homework but creating a Machu Picchu Pecha Kutcha video.  You can watch it if you have 6:41 minutes to kill.  Don't judge, I got an A on it.

I kept not buying the tickets and not buying the tickets.   And then today, Black Friday deal day, I thought 'hey, I wonder if Peru railroads have sales on Black Friday'?  Guess what, they do!

So, I just bit the bullet, picked Peru Rail and hedged my bets on stations and classes.  We leave Cuzco in the not-too late morning (7:50am which is way better than 5:20am).  The train from Cuzco to Ollantaytambo doesn't run in rainy season so we bus it to Ollantaytambo.  We board the train at 10:30 or so and hit Aguascalientes around noon.  For this one, I bought the cheap tickets, Explorer class.  $38 US

Peru Rail Expedition Class

For our return tickets, we leave Aguascalientes at 10:30am or so.  I sprang for the Vistadome, the next class up with bigger windows. $54 US.  We get off in Ollantaytambo which seems like a nice little town and then we have to figure out how to get back to Cuzco.  I'm sure there are buses.  Or not, whatever, I can only do some much deciding in one day.

Peru Rail Vistadome 

We saved a bunch of money (around 40%) because I couldn't commit for weeks and then boom, it is time.   I had like five minutes before my next appointment so I didn't have time to think about it. This might be why my name is Joanne Cumberland Cumberland on my ticket.  Anyway, it is done.

We have assigned seats.  I tried to find some info on what side of the train they are on or even if they are window seats (on Expedition) but there doesn't seem to be consensus on seating plans.  Apparently, every train has a different configuration so it is a crap shoot.  Oh well, I don't mind leaning over a stranger to take a picture/spot a bird/rest my arm on their head.  I think Vistadome is all windows.  You know you are going to hear all about it eventually.

Next task, plane tickets from Cuzco to Lima.  I need another few days recovery time before I tackle that one.

Here's sa pretty picture of Peru Rail

Machu Picchu tickets and vaccinations

Well, after all of the whining and whinging from my last post, I checked the Machu Picchu site a week later and 2020 tickets were on sale. According to the website, they only sell 100 tickets to Machu Picchu and Mountain (6am entry) per day so I forced Val to pick a day and I bought the tickets. Now we just have to be there at the right day and time.

Here is how full December is! 

Then I had to send in a scan of both of our passports.  Val figures we are just paying someone to steal our identities but I figure if my super-sketchy Uganda tour worked out, this should be fine, it is only moderately-sketchy.

We booked a room in Aguascalientes for the night before our entrance date.  We added the bus option to our entrance tickets which takes up from Aguascalientes to the park entrance  Now we just have to book the train from Cuzco (but not Cuzco because the train doesn't leave from there in the Winter) to the Aguascalientes.  No problem.

Yesterday I went to see the travel nurse at Nova Clinic.  She was her usual efficient self.  I needed several updates.  I got the Pertussis (Whooping Cough) shot.  I was sent home with the oral vaccines for Typhoid and E coli (Dukeral, my poop-based best friend). And prescriptions for antibiotics (* just in case if you know what I'm saying) and altitude pills.  And I got a flu shot at Shoppers Drug Mart on my way home.

There is yellow fever in Peru but not where we are going to be.  Plus, my yellow fever vaccine from 12 years ago, which was supposed to be for 10 years, has been upgraded to lifetime immunity so that's a bonus.

Again the talk about not playing with kittens (which I will probably ignore) and not eating dairy (goat's cheese is out so that is a definite ignore), no street food (that will probably get ignored within the hour after we land in Lima), and no unpeeled fruit - as if!  I might be able to not touch rodent excreta but I really don't think I can make any guarantees.  I didn't dare mention cuy (guinea pig street food!)

There are so many diseases that are transmitted by bug bite.  Bugs that will kill me by various means are out and about at night, during the day, at sunset/sunrise, at low altitudes, high altitudes, in the mountains, on the beach, and in my mud hut with its thatch roof. 

Here is a list ("Other Diseases" is where the bug borne nightmares live):

So, bug spray, lots of bug spray.  Although that's not going to help with the plague.

http://novatravelclinic.com/

Only other update is my mom gave me some hiking boots. They are green.  

Machu Picchu - why do you have to be so complicated?

I think Hiram Bingham had an easier time figuring out how to get into Machu Picchu that I have!

A while ago, I thought I would google some info about entering Machu Picchu.

By the way, if you google 'rabbit hole' and 'machu picchu' 
which pretty much describes my google adventures, 
you get this which isn't even a rabbit, it is a Viscacha

This is the what I have finally patched together over the last few weeks of interneting.

A bazillion people go to Machu Picchu.  Heck, Machu Picchu is why many people even go to Peru.  But good luck getting some info on how to get in to it!  Apparently, those bazillion people have become a problem.  Machu Picchu lasted for centuries in the jungle because basically no one but some farmers knew it was there.  Then Hiram (or some German explorers and then Hiram if you want to take sides in the debate) told the world it existed and then 118 years passed and now I want in, dammit!

In order to limit the number of tourists visiting the site, which is being trampled into nothing due to intragrammers (not me) and non-instagrammers (me) alike, Peru started limiting the number of people who could enter each day and how long they could stay in the park.  Entrance times were 6am and noon and you could only stay in for four hours.  And that everyone would need an official guide while in the park. This change happened in July, 2017 but from what I can tell, it wasn't fully enforced.

Not very inviting but I guess that is the point. 

As I was reading about these changes I discovered that it is very important to match your train tickets (did I mention the train?) and train arrival time to coincide with your park entrance time so you don't waste your four hours with just getting to the front gate.  What I had read at this point was that you should buy your train and entrance tickets up to three months in advance, particularly if you want to climb Huayna Piccu (did I mention Huayna Piccu yet?).

So, I find the Machu Picchu ticket site and discover that you can't buy tickets for 2020 until 2020!  Even if we buy them on January 1st, we don't have three months!  And how are we supposed to match our train tickets to our entrance tickets if we don't know when we can enter!?

This is around where I kind of lost it.  Again, this comes back to my new split tourist personality.  Past me would have not even researched this far ahead if at all, present me is a planner-a-header.  And apparently future me may never get to see Machu Picchu.  So I called Val who told me to calm the f*** down. She said it nicer than that but that was the gist of it.  It will all work out, she said.  So I calmed the f*** down.  That was a couple of weeks ago.

Here's another cute Viscacha to help you calm down. 

Today, I tried again to see what's what.  I found new info and the ticket site has been updated (a bit)

Now there are new, new rules that started in January, 2019.  In 2017 there were two four hour windows, but now he entrance times are staggered every hour starting at 6am.  And on top of that, there are four options for entrance:  Machu Picchu only, MP + Huayna Picchu, MP + the MP mountain or MP + the museum. And if you take one of the packages with a hike, you can stay in longer. MP + Mountain is 8 hours!   

And now the website is saying we can buy our 2020 tickets in mid-December.  We may not buy them until we get to Peru, now that I realize Huayna Piccu involves serious climbing (there is a ladder involved!). And there are only 400 tickets a day and a 6 hour window.  The MP mountain sounds a little less strenuous and there are 800 tickets a day so less competition. Plus the two bonus hours. 

Huayna Picchu vs Machu Picchu Mountain

Oh, for bloody sake, I googled  again and found this.  We will practically be in Cuzco by late January!

The only way to secure the ticket to Machu Picchu 2020 is to wait until mid-December 2019, when the official website allows you to make the purchase. 
    

On many occasions, on that date only the purchase of the Machu Picchu ticket was opened for January. Visitors looking for a ticket for February, March or the coming months; They must wait until mid or late January.

STOP GOOGLING, JOANNE!

After all of that, I don't have it in me to start looking at the train just yet.  I did read that between January and April (rainy season, have I mentioned rainy season yet?), the train doesn't leave from Cuzco.  But that freak out will have to wait for another day.

Viscacha watching the sun rise from Machu Picchu.
That bunny has no worries. Be the bunny.  

Trip planning for the aged

Val and I are getting old.  We met today to figure out a rough plan for out trip.  In the old days, our rough plans were to have our flight and first night booked and wing it from there.  This has always worked for us, on road trips to the Rockies, across the US, circumnavigating Mexico, and backpacking through Thailand, Ecuador, and Costa Rica.  But now, we want a bit more comfort perhaps.  We have a bit more money. And at one point today we were comparing which pain medications we were bringing to Peru for our various aches and pains.  So...

Maybe we're not exactly old, but not as carefree as we used to be (some would say careless but they have never bribed a Mexican border guard with a stack of Maxim magazines to get out of a jam and thought nothing of it at the time.  Hmm, maybe they have a point.  But I digress).  So, a planning session to figure out a route.

Planning session - manager

When we met last time we had lots of places we wanted to go, our map was covered in little stickers - go here! fly there!.  But Peru is big and our vacations are comparably short.  So expect a 'Joanne and Valerie in Peru' part two at some point.  We are going to have to limit ourselves to the south for this time.  And a very traditional, overly Instagramed route at that.   Lima, down the coast, over to Araquipa, Puno and up to Cusco and Machu Picchu. I believe that Lonely Planet calls it the 'Gringo Route'.  Slightly shameful but greatly efficient.

Planning session - management mandated break

Not that I am complaining.  This allows us to see some super cool stuff (and fingers crossed, finally a condor?) and have the time to do it.  Val gave up the Amazon and I gave up the mummies of Leymebamba.  Thus another trip soon.  We tried to fit some northern stuff in but it just meant we would be rushing in the south.  So, the age old travel question: is it better so see less of more places or more of less places.  We decided on the latter, well probably a compromise of the two.  And even with out revised routes, we are still rushing on some towns to make time in others (Machu Picchu and the sacred valley over several days for example).

I made a little calendar so we could keep track as we thought about dates & locations

hands on manager - checking the details

And then cleaned it up so we can plot a few days ahead while we are on the move

Each day, morning and afternoon (this worked for us in the past)

In our defense, we do need to know some hard dates because we have to book our train to Aguas Calientes, Machu Picchu entrance tickets and our flight from Cusco to Lima for our flight home.  Plus work around that festival in Puno.  

Rob at work warned me that Jan/Feb is actually summer break for South American schools.  So, while it is low season for northern hemisphere tourists, it may be high season for southern tourists.  I posted a question to TripAdvisor Peru Forum about hotel availability in January/February.  General feedback, no worries.  Lots of cheapish rooms available on short notice.  But we did look over Booking.com today and booked in for Lima when we arrive and Puno for part of the festival.  Puno is very booked already so that was probably wise.  Other than those two locations, we are going to try to stay flexible as we travel between the three main spots. I am about to get much busier at work so hopefully I don't have time to overly think/plan. 

Other trip related info.  I have an appointment with the travel clinic in October.  It's time for some boosters I think.  

Attitude about Altitude

Everyone keeps warning me about the altitude at Machu Pichu.  So, here is some research I did today.  Val and I climbed Cotapaxi Volcano in Ecuador.  We made it to the Refuge and were surrounded in the ladies bathroom with the sounds of puking.  We, I proudly say, did not puke!

Cotapaxi Refugio (for proof), note we are not puking!

We will be spending some time in Puno on Lake Titicaca before hitting Cusco and Machu Pichu.

So,
Quito, Ecuador  2850 m above sea level
Cotapaxi Refugio:  4810 m
Puno: 3827 m
Cusco: 3399 m
Machu Pichu: 2430 m

I think we will be fine.

But I do think it is time for some vaccinations from my travel nurse.  So, I will ask. 

so far...

I mostly have everything I might need for this trip.  We are going in the down (aka rainy) season so I bought another/new waterproof rain jacket.  It was on sale at American Costco when I was down there in the spring and it was super cheap ($20) and super lightweight.  Let's hope it is super waterproof.  I haven't forgotten my 'water resistant' jacket during rainy season in Ecuador which as resistant to NOTHING, especially rain.

I have a new cat who never comes home (she has mostly moved into Chris's house) but I thought I better have a house/cat sitter this year.  A. so Pigeon (the cat) doesn't completely leave me.  And B.  because last year was a gong show with the snow.  I am responsible for four houses worth of shoveling and 2019 snow fall trapped a few of my neighbours while I was away.

So, my friends Carolyn and Joe are going to hang around the house on a part time basis (cable TV bribery works again!  Plus free laundry!).   They also agreed to shovel if necessary and be around to fill the cat bowl if Pigeon ever feels like dropping by.

I bought a Birds of Peru birdbook!

Yes, it is heavier than it looks

And a map of Peru.  I got the cheap one which turned out to be cheap because it is in Spanish but I think we can manage to figure out the montañas,  lagunas and ciudads.

Val and I had a pre-trip planning meeting to discuss what we want to do.  We have been studying the Atlas Obsura website.  We put stickers on the map so we can visualize a route.  Looks like we have an circle (huge) in the south with a northern side trip (probably a flight).

Those tags are not close in the grand scheme of things

Now it is time to figure out when we when to be where, how to get from place to place, and where we want to stay once we get there.   Peru is like Ecuador in that it has coast, mountains and Amazon.  But Peru is way bigger.  We managed to see mostly everything we wanted in Ecuador but I think we may not manage in Peru.  I'll keep you posted. 

We bought out tickets so this is happening