Adventure in Peru

We flew Continental Airlines from Salt Lake to Houston without any problem. That was the last dull aspect of the trip. That same day we got a text from Delta that one of our flights had been cancelled. I call the Medallion Desk and was assured that all of our flights were in good standing. Then we got a call from Mike and Melissa that their flight from Chicago to Atlanta had been cancelled because of weather. They got on standby for half a dozen flights but didn´t make the big time on any of them and ended up taking the same flights they had been scheduled for just a day later. That meant they couldn´t make the Star Peru flight to Cusco as planned or the train to Machu piccu. They ended up staying Lima instead so Mike could write a paper.

They were replaced, sort of. On the Houston to Lima flight Deanne sat next to to an Indiania University coed who was going to Peru to do pretty much what we were. As we got off the plane Deanne said "this is Sarah and she is going to sleep on our floor tonight." Sarah Morlock´s traveling companion apparently had the same travel planner as Mike and Melissa and missed her connecting flight. They were going to meet up in Houston and then find accomodations when they got to Lima at 11:30 p.m. I was a little skeptical that this would all work and sure enough once Ramada figured out there was going to be a third in our room they wanted a copy of a passport and $20. Sarah slept on the floor and woke up at 3:30 like the rest of us to make the 6:00 a.m. Star Peru flight.

Our driver from Lamanita travel (can you tell they are looking for a niche or what) was Diego, a frusterated race car driver. He passed literally everything on the road. The guide was Ophelia who showed us the sites in the Sacred Valley which runs from Cusco to Machu Piccu. The road through the Sacred Valley reminds me of highway 89 from Tremonton to Kanab except that the traditional women´s hairstyle here is either one long braid ending at the waiste or two braids tied togethr at the ends compare to the traditional beehive hairdo in Utah. They dropped us of at the train station after we had seen the Sacred Valley site.

The train through the valley starts in a high desert climate which reminds me of the mountains of Utahs West desert and ends up in a South American jungle. It follows a river with class IV and V rapids. I was looking out the window at the river as Deanne slept and it hit me, I am riding a train though a South American jungle, where are the head hunters.

Saturday we went to Machu piccu. It was way cool. I was surprised at how hiking at 8000 feet got to me considering that I run 4 miles 3 times a week at 4200 feet. We had a guide who gave is a great tour. We walked to Inca Point which should be named "scare the crap out of you point" because parts of it are cut into cliffs which fall at least a thousand feet. We had to come back a little early because there were four trinket shops Deanne had not seen and five knit alpaca hats she had not priced and she wanted to treat all the shop owners equally. I told her I would guard the bags. She reluctantly agreed.

About that time the station master found us and asked to see our tickets. He said that the reservations we had were for train 14 which didn´t run anymore so he put us on train 94. It turned out that train left at 7:00 p.m. rather than 4:10 like our other train and that would have put us back in Cusco at 11:00 at night. There was another train which left at 5:00. Deanne returned from her equal opportunity shopping venture just as they were doing the last call for the 5:00 train. I decided I was not up for another two hours in the train station and my credit cards were not up for two more hours in the shops so I grabbed Deanne and we found the station master. I reminded him that we had had our reservations since April and should have been the first people on the earlier replacement train. My logic was inescapable. My advocacy was masterful. He hunted down two seats on the earlier train.

There is justice in the world. The two seats were in the first class dining car on the back of the train and had a tour run by Peru Rail. We got bread sticks, and smoked ham and cheese on china plates with cloth napkins. They were serving wine. (I reminded Deanne that was on the list of things not to drink in South America.) We rode to the end of the line in style. We then got on a 19 passenger bus to ride back to Cusco which was driven by Diego´s father. He also passed everything on the road.

Given all that has happened to the band of happy travelers since Wednesday I am going to run to bed right now just so I can wake up and see what tomorrow holds.