Getting there is half the fun… ?

It will probably not surprise anyone that Greg has a spreadsheet with a list of potential destinations for our travels. Also not a surprise that he categorizes the destinations in multiple ways. One category is priority (high, medium, low). Another is activity level (high, medium, low). We want to take the more active trips first, while we can. Peru is high on the list for both categories. We were waiting to schedule Peru due to our Mexico RV trips in the winters, since we assumed that it would be best to go to the Southern Hemisphere during their summer. For a while, we hadn’t actually checked that assumption. Turns out that summer in Peru is the rainy season and the best time to visit is July and August. Once Greg figured this out, we quickly booked a trip! And this is Amy’s first trip to South America, though Greg once had a business trip to a conference in Brazil.

The flight connections to Peru aren’t great. We initially booked a flight through Miami with a six hour redeye - not enough time to rest. And we planned to arrive in Cusco the night before the start of the tour. Then we talked to Andy, who told us that we really should arrive a couple of days early to adjust to the elevation. So we booked a new flight a few days earlier, with a longer flight via LAX that gave us a chance to sleep on the plane. (We now have some unused flight credits on American Airlines, so contact us if you might be interested in making a deal). However, the new flight on Delta had just a 75 minute connection in LAX. With a change of terminals and airlines. We got really stressed out when we realized this. Greg tried to change to an earlier flight to LA, but the computer said no and no staffers could override the computer. (Maybe Rick could have helped, but he’s retired now). Our next plan was to arrive at the airport extra early and try to go standby on an earlier flight. This also meant we had to use just carry-on bags, which is no small feat for an adventurous trip.

About an hour before we planned to leave for the airport, Delta texted us to let us know that we were rebooked onto the earlier flight because our original flight would be too late to make our connection in LA. Our wish was granted! However, because of the delay, the earlier flight was 100% full, so we had a new source of stress until we found space for our carry-on luggage.

Thanks to the new flight we had a long layover. We got dinner in the Delta club before heading to the international terminal.

Our flight from LA to Lima was on LATAM airlines. They didn’t check for our passport or our boarding pass, instead they just scanned our face. AI at work. Not sure if that is impressive or scary. We were in the minority of English speakers on the flight. At the start of the flight, the flight attendants assumed we wanted to speak English. At some point overnight they switched to speaking Spanish with Amy. Either way, we were able to communicate: dinner no, breakfast yes!

The flight from Lima to Cusco was pretty short. We took off on time but landed a half hour early. There was barely time for the snack cart, but we enjoyed that they had Peruvian snacks: potato chips from Peruvian potatoes, and Inca Kola to drink.

Today and tomorrow just happen to be Peruvian Independence Day. We were wished a happy Independence Day on our flights. We expected there to be celebrations in town because Cusco was the capital of the Incan empire. Unfortunately, our taxi driver told us that the big celebration is in Lima.

After checking in to our hotel, we took a walk around Cusco. We will go into more details about Cusco in another post. We have a few days on our own in Cusco and this post is already getting long.

Our hotel is on the site of an Incan temple that was turned into a convent by the Spanish. Recently, the Americans turned it into a Marriott hotel.

More precisely, the convent fell into disrepair, and the Peruvian government welcomed outside investment from Marriott, on the condition that the historic site remained open for tours. We took a tour by a staffer dressed up as a monk, who showed us the Spanish architecture, the Inca foundation, and even some pre-Inca ruins. Greg chose this hotel because it has a special feature: they pump 30% extra oxygen into the rooms, to help guests adjust to the elevation of Cusco at 11,000 feet (3300 meters). We also got medication to prevent altitude sickness, just in case!