Urubamba, Peru. Excursion: Jewels of South America: Galapagos & Machu Picchu - Day 5

Qoricancha

Manning organised for our luggage to be collected from outside our rooms and taken to the hotel lobby. He had already checked in our luggage somehow (without our luggage) and put the airline tags on. He had also checked us in for our flights so all we had to do was take our luggage to the drop-off desk which was 'portered' across with us on a trolley to the airport terminal.

Our flight from Lima to Cusco was uneventful and we were met at the airport by another guide, Juan, who will be our main tour guide until we leave but Manning will still be with us.  Our luggage was picked up and transported to our hotel ahead of our arrival there later on.

In Cusco we stopped to see Qoricancha which is a lovely museum/church/convent with Inca temple ruins.  From there we headed to La Cathedral which is a stunning basilica comprised of 2 chapels on either side of a cathedral.  All 3 were beautiful, indescribable….  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take photographs inside.

As we walked to lunch from the cathedral there were some sort of festivities in the town square. Music, singing & dancing - people were in traditional costumes.  We stopped to watch for a bit and whilst doing so, someone winked and jokingly said that Holland America Line should give us complimentary rain coats for tours during the rainy season (it rained on and off during the day)!

At the restaurant (Inka Grill) we had a delicious 2 course lunch of pepper steak with corn and a dessert of some sort of mousse & ice cream.

Coca tea (also called mate de coca) served and we were encouraged to drink it to help with altitude sickness. (In fact someone did feel dizzy during lunch so she was given some oxygen there and then, and her oxygen saturation levels were monitored throughout the day.) The alkaloids in the coca leaves, when extracted, are the source for cocaine. One can legally drink the tea and chew the leaves in Peru as well as in Colombia, Bolivia, Argentina, Ecuador and Chile.

After lunch we headed out to Saqsaywaman Fortress which was a very interesting area.  We had an overview of it rather than going around the whole site.  Rain was threatening on the horizon - you could see the fully loaded clouds heading towards us.

It was time to hit the road again for a drive to our hotel, Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel.  Check-in was smooth, quick and painless after which Manning gave us a briefing about tomorrow's activities.

Most people went to relax a bit before dinner but I took a walk around the hotel complex, complete with a pool, wellness centre, chapel and more.  It was very beautiful.  Unfortunately I became very emotional, both during the walk and also after dinner.  My thoughts were of my twin and wishing she was still here.  Also one of the guests with us reminded me very much of a dear friend in Cape Town who a similar sense of humour, mannerisms and outlook in life.  In this beautiful part of the world everything seemed to come to a head in my thoughts and emotions.  Thanks to Robert, a big hug eventually got me back on track - which I am truly grateful for.

It has been lovely day once again.  So much to see but so little time.  And in the company of a group of lovely people.  I couldn't have wished for a better day.

 PHOTOGRAPHS

Qoricancha

Cusco

La Cathedral

At the Inka Grill

Saqsaywaman Fortress

Aranwa Sacred Valley Hotel, Urumbamba

Sailing Towards Amber Cove, Dominican Republic

We had a bit of a restless night.  Floor 4 of the hotel that we were staying in was a bit noisy, our neighbours especially.  No consideration was spared for tired, travel weary guests.

Our taxi to the port arrived on time and we were dropped off at the terminal after a relatively short drive.  There were 7 cruise ships in port today, 3 of which were Holland America ships: MS Veendam, MS Koningsdam (one of the biggest ships in the fleet) and of course - our much smaller ship, MS Prinsendam.

We were shoved from pillar to post, trying to figure out which entrance of the terminal we should take and no security personnel or terminal officials seeming to know - pointing us in one direction and then being redirected back to where we came from!  Eventually something 'clicked' and we got in through the correct door and went through the usual security checks without any further hassles.  It didn't help because not many crew were embarking nor disembarking due to the festive season coming up and flights/hotel accommodation being expensive - change-overs are kept to a minimum at this time.

There was a delay in the Prinsendam's departure - so many ships - the harbour and the waterways were busy.

It is good to be back on board and to see some familiar faces again.

Our sailing schedule for the holiday cruise is:

Date               Day        Location
21-Dec-2018    Fri          Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States
22-Dec-2018    Sat         At Sea
23-Dec-2018    Sun        Amber Cove (Puerta Plata), Dominican Rep.
24-Dec-2018    Mon       Cap Cana (Punta Cana), Dominican Rep.
25-Dec-2018    Tue        At Sea
26-Dec-2018    Wed       Bridgetown, Barbados, Caribbean
27-Dec-2018    Thu       Scarborough, Tobago, Trinidad & Tobago
28-Dec-2018    Fri         Port Elizabeth, Bequia, St Vincent & the Grenadines, Caribbean
29-Dec-2018    Sat        Fort-de-France, Martinique, Caribbean
30-Dec-2018    Sun       Basse-Terre, Guadeloupe, Caribbean
31-Dec-2018    Mon      Road Town, Tortola, Virgin Islands, Carib.
01-Jan-2019    Tue        At Sea (Atlantic Ocean)
02-Jan-2019    Wed       At Sea
03-Jan-2019    Thu        Half Moon Cay, Bahamas
04-Jan-2019    Fri         Fort Lauderdale, FL, United States

 

Lisbon, Portugal. Bye bye Prinsendam - for now.

We are off the the Prinsendam!

This morning Paul did a handover with his counterpart and then we headed into the port terminal to meet up with a taxi to take us to our hotel.  Town was busy and there were problems with the traffic lights and also problems with traffic.  Our poor driver had difficulty getting us to our hotel because some of the roads were closed but there were no diversion signs.  We later learnt that there was a vintage car show/rally so roads had been blocked off near the vintage cars - which happened to be near our hotel!  Instead of taking about 10 minutes to get to our hotel, it took us over half an hour.

It was too early to check into our hotel (Hotel Lisboa) so we left our luggage in the hotel's luggage room and hit town.  Yes, we came across the vintage cars during our walk.  It was no wonder the roads had been blocked off.  The cars were lining the road so vehicular access to them was blocked off - probably to prevent theft or problems.

We made our way through the streets to the market where there was a food market in progress.  We had a nice mug of mulled wine to warm us up.  Yum!  

We continued along the streets, to the waterfront and came across a man playing music on a long two-handled wood SAW!  He vibrated the saw with one of his legs, the one hand held the upper saw handle and in the other hand he held a violin or cello bow.  As the saw vibrated, the chap drew the bow across the edge of the saw to make the sound.  The hand holding the saw handle end was also used to manipulate the angle of the saw so that the saw would produce different sounds or notes whilst the bow was pulled across it.  Fantastic!

We made our way up to the hill to the castle, visiting two churches on the way.  Inside one church there was a choir practicing.  So we sat and listened for a while.  The music was lovely and made more beautiful in such a good acoustic setting within the church.  At one point I let tears flow - thinking of my parents and twin who passed away in 2015 and 2016; a time to reflect on my life and theirs.

We had hoped to visit São Jorge Castle at the top of the hill but unfortunately there was a long queue of people waiting to get in so we didn't.  Instead we walked around the outside perimeter of the castle and a little bit through the village on its outskirts.  

We were thirsty so we stopped briefly to have a smoothie before making our way down the hill, back to the waterfront, to wave the Prinsendam goodbye.  Unfortunately I think we got our timing wrong.  We waited a while but she wasn't leaving so we headed back to the food market for something to eat and more mulled wine.  It left us feeling pretty full!

Once back at the hotel we were able to check in properly and put our feet up.  We had done quite a bit of walking so our feet deserved a break.  

PHOTOGRAPHS