Girls Night Out

A friend asked me to shoot her girls night out celebrating an important time for her.  Great fun watching these woman connect and enjoy each others company!

Gizmo at the dog park

Had some fun at the local dog park ~

Machu Picchu ~ part 1 the idea & the packing

We weren't sure where we wanted to go but knew it was going to be International.  Cierra had seen my moms scrapbook from her time in Peru with Amazon/Andes Expedition Explores Natural Health & Healing and from there the Peru/Machu Picchu idea came to light.

I am not big on tours, be there, be here and follow along.  More the wing it and see where we land kind of traveler.  That being said I do like to feel a little grounded and have some idea of what & where plus I don't want to miss something that is a "must see".   So a few months before our trip I started googling and reading blogs. Anything I could find on getting to and staying around Machu Picchu.  Mom sent her info she had saved, pamphlets and maps.  

Machu Picchu Peru is a truly majestic Inca ruins situated above the Sacred Valley and voted one of the New 7 Wonders of the World. When going be aware of the seasons ~ December, January, February, and March are the rainy seasons.  We went March 12 - 18 and saw signs of rain but were lucky and had perfect weather!  The currency is the Peruvian nuevo sol (PEN) and language is Spanish.

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We decided to have money exchanged prior and our local bank did it at no charge a week ahead.  We exchanged $450.00, at the time of our travel that equaled 1,420 PEN and I carried 2 credit cards.  Few things to note on our packing list...power converters - some blogs said it was the converter/adapter with pins and others said flat plug- I puchased 2 converters/adapters, one for each of us Insignia Travel adapter & converter & iConcepts World Wide travel adapter converter  we used the Pins in Ollantaytambo and the flat in Cuzco so you may need both adapters.  I purchased a cheap rain poncho at Walmart but never used it.  Was thankful we had purchased a Small backpack, this brand folds into itself so makes it so easy to travel with! A North Face light jacket as the evenings were little chilly and early am in Machu Picchu was cool.  Granola bars & snacks. Sunscreen (very important as even on cloudy days the elevation is higher and sunburning is fast & painful).  A blog we had read said use regular shampoo as bug lotion so we had little travel samples for "bug lotion" and regular insect wipes.  Our time wasn't bad for insects but I do believe it really depends on when you are there. Passport, credit cards and the bulk of our Sols I wanted to carry in a RFID protected money belt, I wasn't sure about this as never wore one but I had it on from Lima on and really forgot it was there as it is comfortable and didn't show. (After some thought and reading on the money belt I think next time I will use a "dummy" wallet instead as someone could grab your waist and feel the money belt). Comfortable hiking shoes and socks, extra camera batteries and extra sd cards. 

We kept luggage to a min. one small roller each and 1 messenger bag.  

Remember to tell your credit cards you are traveling and find out about your phone service, we have Verizon and could add International for the month.

* next blog post ~ Machu Picchu part 2 the adventure begins...

Machu Picchu ~ part 2 the adventure begins

Ready to go, vacation days all set and 2016 Spring Break Machu Picchu trip is happening!!

So our basic plan is to fly to Cusco, take a Collectivo (bus/van) to Ollantaytambo, stay there couple of nights, take train to Machu Picchu then spend day or so in Cusco on way home...

A couple of days before we left I went ahead and purchased the Machu Picchu tickets ***They are not available for purchase at the entrance, you must purchase them in advance*** we used Tickets for Machu Picchu, you do pay an additional 20% I believe but you can print them out at home and you are done. There is a daily limit on tickets so check ahead and watch your days if traveling during the high season.  We added the Machu Mountain in case we wanted to hike more from what I can tell it is the less severe of the 2 additional hikes.  There are places to purchase in Peru but I just wanted to have them done.  The other purchase I did ahead was the Peru Rail train tickets from Ollantaytambo round trip to Machu Picchu.  ***these you can purchase online but you must go to a train ticket office with passport and the credit card used for purchase at least 4hrs prior to departure to get tickets***

The only other thing I booked ahead was a hotel in Ollantaytambo La Casa Del Abuelo.  It had good reviews and I wanted a place 1st couple of nights to start.

Out of Phoenix Arizona we catch a flight to Dallas Texas.  I was assigned a middle seat in the back of the plane and was thinking ok not such a long flight not a problem.  Cierra was towards the front of the plane.  I get back to my seat and to my left is "Baylor", a Jr college student headed back to school from his spring break in California, to my right is "Air Force"  3 yrs in a special unit just left some paratrooper training...  Cierra where are you this is the perfect seat for you not me!!!  Had great fun talking with them and the flight time flew by! Arrive in Dallas and are looking forward to the flight that evening out to Lima Peru.  As an employee of an airline there are travel ups and downs...the down here was we couldn't get on the flight to Lima that night so we are over night our first night in Dallas.  Thank you Motel 6 for the quick and easy room and the next day, all day, in the airport.  Dallas Ft Worth airport has lots to do...

Ride the Skylink, play games in Admirals Club, Check out the art displays, do selfie luggage pics and  when all else fails sleep...

That night we are on our flight out of Dallas and headed to Lima!

We arrived in Lima first thing in the morning and were booked on a LAN flight couple of hrs later from Lima to Cusco.  An earlier LAN flight had cancelled so the flights were pretty full after seeing that we changed over to Avianca and had a great flight from Lima to Cusco.  Thank you Avianca!  (Right past security in the Lima airport the Peru Rail has a small ticket area, we picked up our train tickets that we had pre paid for there).

Met another airline employee and her daughter on our flight and shared a cab into Cusco from the airport. Parted ways there as we were catching the Collectivo to Ollantaytambo and they were at a hostel up the street.  Now the Collectivo is somewhat of an experience in itself.  The van/minibus is parked in an alleyway and only leaves when it has a min. number of passengers.  After 2.5hrs of waiting with a backpacker from South Korea we had enough riders mostly locals~ we thought we were ready~ drove around the block and came back to get the smaller minibus~ then we were off.  The drive was about 2 and 1/2 hrs I believe and it is everything everyone says about it fast, slow, hold your breath passing, slide one way, slide the other and astounding views. 

We arrived into Ollantaytambo and found our "home away from home "  La Casa del Abuelo.  Close to the town plaza, short walk to the train, great room, nice bathroom, clean, hot water and very friendly helpful staff. 

Unloaded the bags and headed off to find something to eat and explore.  Hotel recommended and gave us a discount coupon for a great place just up by the plaza Uchucuta restaurant.  We enjoyed our first ever Coca tea and I have to admit it was truly good tea so sad I couldn't bring some home!!  The meal was great too!

 

Such a big sandwich we actually had half each left over and packed it with us into Machu Picchu for lunch!

*Next blog post~ part 3 our day in Machu Picchu~