We had only planned to be in Lima for just over 24 hours with the bulk of our vacation in the Sacred Valley and the Amazon jungle, so after a quick stop in Lima, we were off. We redeemed 3,000 Avianca LifeMiles per person plus $10.64 (18,000 LifeMiles plus $63.84 total) for the flight from Lima to Cusco, Peru. It was a short, comfortable flight. One of the interesting things about the flight is that it takes off in Lima at close to sea level and lands in Cusco, which has an elevation above 11,000 feet. We were worried about altitude sickness, especially for the kids, so we planned to stay our first couple nights outside of Cusco at lower elevations on the other end of the Sacred Valley. We also bought some coca candies that are supposed to help with altitude sickness. Under a lot of pressure from the adults, the kids reluctantly choked them down. Needless to say, we didn't have any problems with altitude on this trip.
We had lined up a private bus for the 13 of us and began our 90 minute drive down to the other end of the Sacred Valley. We redeemed 12,000 SPG points for one night at the Tambo del Inka in Urubamba, Peru. We talked the hotel staff into upgrading us to a suite for an extra $60 (wasn't too hard of a sell with so many people and Cody's Gold Status at SPG definitely helped us to score the upgrade). The rooms were great and the hotel was beautiful. Unfortunately, we were not able to enjoy it for very long, as we arrived late in the afternoon and had a big day planned the next day in the Sacred Valley.
Whipperman kids in front of the hotel in the morning...unfortunately we did not get to fully enjoy this beautiful hotel.
Kids in front of the Tambo del Inka in Urubamba, Peru.
Kids enjoying the warmth of the huge fireplace in the lobby of the Tambo del Inka in Urubamba.
Sawyer and Paige in front of the Tambo del Inka hotel.
The first stop in the morning was to Moray, which is known as the Incan experimental crop ruins.
Top view of Moray.
Harvey, Levi, Ryder, Nash, and Zander (the boys).
Cody and Eliza at Moray.
Moray, Incan experimental crop ruins.
Whipps and Kemps at Moray in the Sacred Valley, Peru.
Eliza and Alex at Moray.
Fun little Peruvian clothes for sale
Beautiful views on the drive out to Moray.
We then headed back towards Cusco to help with a humanitarian aid project with Eagle Condor Humanitarian. We were able to provide some financial assistance to them for a community center that they were building. We were also able to participate in the construction of the building, working alongside members of the community, for a few hours. Cody was up on a scaffolding filling molded pillars with concrete as buckets of cement were lifted up to him one by one while Eliza shoveled and mixed the cement. Rick was the wheelbarrow man that would take the mixed cement to where the buckets were being filled.
Cody, getting ready to fill the pillars with concrete that will be handed up bucket by bucket.
Eliza, Alex, and Rick mixing and hauling cement.
Our group with many of the community volunteers that will see construction of the community center through to the end.
When we arrived and when we left, the village lined up to greet us and thank us for our donation to the community center.
Kids in front of the construction site.
View from the top of the recently started community center near Cusco.
Sawyer and Paige walking down from the top of the service project.
After we were done with the service project and had eaten lunch, we headed back down the valley (passing through Urubamba) to Ollantaytambo. We wandered around the city for a while and then headed to the ruins where we hiked to the top with all the kids. It was a beautiful, clear day and we had great views of the surrounding area.
Paige and Sawyer walking the streets of Ollantaytambo.
Ryder and Levi in Ollantaytambo.
All 8 kids at the Ollantaytambo Ruins above the city.
All the kids at the Ollantaytambo ruins.
Ryder and Levi at the ruins in Ollantaytambo.
Zander and Addy at the Ollantaytambo ruins.
Cody at the Ollantaytambo ruins.
Whipps and Kemps take Ollantaytambo.
Addy and Nash, walking through Ollantaytambo.
Addy, Ryder, Nash, and Levi at the top of the Ollantaytambo ruins.
Zander, Addy, Harvey, Nash, Sawyer, and Ryder in Ollantaytambo.
We headed back down from the ruins to the city and had some dinner. We had arranged to take the late train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (90 minute train ride leaving at 9pm) at the base of Machu Picchu and to stay in a hotel there in Aguas Calientes so we could get to the ruins at an acceptable hour the next day. There are no points or chain hotels in Aguas Calientes, so we chose to stay at Tierra Viva Machu Picchu which was in a good location only 2 blocks from the train station and the bus station that we would walk to the next morning to catch our buses up to Machu Picchu. The hotel is fairly inexpensive and there are definitely things to complain about (rooms are a little damp, lots of noise from the train), but it came with a free breakfast and they came to look for us at the train station when we arrived at 10:30pm and also met us there with our luggage when we came back from Machu Picchu the next day, so I would definitely give this hotel a good recommendation.
