2/13/16,
“The Journey to the Sanctuary”
Aboard
Vistadome 303, En route Ollantaytambo-Machu Picchu
All that’s
missing is the hat and the whip. I can
even hear John William’s famous theme playing in my head. “Bom pa bom buhm. Bom pa buhm.
Bom pa buhm.” Yes, reader, I feel
like Indiana Jones making this journey.
Only, I am not heading to the Temple of Doom, and I am heading to the
Sanctuary of Machu Picchu, or, as I have been simply calling it, “the
sanctuary.”
Everything here is so
retro. I am clearly in unfamiliar
territory. While there are familiar
aspects from the Central American and Caribbean countrysides I have so
frequently visited, there are is more different than similar. For the first time in my life, I am in Incan
country. Not since I went to India have
I found myself in a more unfamiliar country.
This is one of the last vestiges left of that time period.
There is so much more to Peru than just the
sanctuary, but the sanctuary is the reason for my trip. I will enjoy the other aspects of Peruvian
culture after I have said, “Five down, two to go,” denoting the Sanctuary of
Machu Picchu as the fifth New7 Wonder of the World I have visited. That just leaves Christ the Redeemer in Rio
and the Colosseum in Rome, both scheduled for this summer.
I should be at the hotel in a couple of
hours, and I hope to catch a glimpse of the sanctuary by sunset, but, if I
don’t, I will wake up at the crack of dawn to spend as much time as I can in the
sanctuary before making my way back to Lima.
Either way, I’ll have dinner at the lodge and then, if there is a good
enough connection, watch the Republican Debate.
It will be a whirlwind trip, but I will actually be spending far more
time at the sanctuary than I have spent at any of the four New7 Wonders I
previously visited.
After I closed, we
soon boarded. My plan was to fall asleep
as soon as we took off. We will still on
the ground at 11:11 PM. I didn’t want to
do a movie, but I figured I’d listen to some music. The first song I listened to was a song I’m
almost embarrassed to admit I listened to.
It is a song that I have not listened to since the last time we had a Clinton
in the White House. It was, my apologies
to my readers who are about to cringe, “Oops…I did it again” by Britney
Spears. I assembled a playlist only
using A-F, being too tired to scroll through the whole alphabet. There was ABBA, The Beatles, the Cast
Recording from Grease, David Bowie, Elton John, Frank Sinatra, and others I
think. They did a food and beverage
service. I got the cheese tortellini and
lots of Coke Zero.
I then fell asleep,
waking up for breakfast, ham and cheese on toast. I was dead tired at this point, my 4.5 hours
of sleep being nowhere near enough. I
cleared immigration and then went to get my suitcase, which took so long to
come out that I was starting to worry about it.
Meanwhile, whether it was from the way I held my foot while I slept, or
the acetaminophen, or just time, my foot was starting to feel better, much
better. Actually, there is no pain in
that foot now, though, in a bit of irony, since I have been putting all of my
weight on my other foot while this one heals, that foot is now starting to
hurt. Either way, I can walk comfortably
on my two feet now.
I cleared security
again and got my train ticket. The train
ticket said that the limit for luggage was one bag, 5 kilos. I was thinking to myself, LOL, my computer
bag alone is more than 5 kilos. I have
at least a kilo in tobacco alone. She
said I’d be fine with my two bags. I
fell asleep before we took off for Cusco, waking up as we landed. I was still tired. I was immediately accosted by taxi drivers,
and I went to a booth that looked reputable.
I asked how much for a taxi to the train station in Ollantaytambo. He quoted me a price that was at the high of
what the lady who printed my train ticket had said. I said that that was too much and asked for
the price at the lower end of the range.
He agreed and called his “brother.”
That’s the thing about taxi drivers.
They are always someone’s “brother.”
Is that a way for them to foster trust in their perspective customers,
that the manager is the driver’s “brother”?
I’ve heard it in China, Arabia, and Latin America. I had gotten a notification on my phone from
my friend, that she had sent me a multimedia message that was unable to be
downloaded, as I was on analog only. The
message size was 5 KB. My first thought
was, no image could only be 5 KB. My
second thought was, it must have been a long text message, which made sense, as
I was awaiting a long message from her about her job hunt. My third was, how many characters long does a
text message have to be to be 5 KB?
Isn’t it a character per Byte? That would mean 5000 characters, which is
about 4 pages of a hardcover novel. The
job search must have gone really well.
I
got in the taxi and soon lit up my Davidoff Escurio Gran Toro and put on Red. Still no digital service. After the cigar, I fell asleep. As we approached Ollantaytambo, I heard a
familiar chirp on my phone. The message
had come through. It was actually so
long that my phone couldn’t process it as one message. The message literally ended with
“(More…)”. I responded to the message
and asked her to send it to me by Facebook so that I could read the whole
message once I got on my hotel’s Wi-Fi.
By this point, we were at the ticket office, and I had to walk from
there to the train station. I picked up
some snacks at the train station, and we soon boarded. This is not a train. It’s a glorified trolley car. Yes, just one car. That’s how remote the sanctuary is. There are only two ways to get there: train
or hike. For many reasons, I chose the
train. I think I still need to do a
little bit of walking or maybe take a bus or something once the train drops us
off. I don’t imagine the lodge is right
at the train station.
Well, I’ll find
out the situation once we get there. Oh,
also, when I got off of the plane at Cusco, an elevation of over 11,000 feet,
it hit me like a ton of bricks. I could
barely breathe as I walked. Now, it’s
getting better, just a mild headache, but it was rough then. Okay, so I got on the train, having an entire
four-seater surrounding a table to myself, and updated my travel list. When we left the station, I proceeded to write
this entry, which I will now close so that I can enjoy the rest of this scenic
train ride, which has been filled with sites of both natural and cultural
heritage.
Machu
Picchu, Peru
I was going to write that this was the most intriguing place I have ever smoked my 2013 Christmas Pipe, but the Drake Passage gives it a run for its money. After rereading the entry from our crazy night on the Drake, I think that wins. Machu Picchu is an honorable second. Seoul and Alexandria do not compete. I am in fucking Machu Picchu, possibly the most difficult of the New7 Wonders to reach. Only Petra could compare in difficulty. I am staring at a breathtaking view, relaxing on my hotel terrace, yes, relaxing.
After an arduous journey to
the sanctuary, I can finally relax for the rest of the evening. I never have time to relax on these
trips. Tonight, I can. After I closed on the train, we soon arrived
at the Machu Picchu train station. It
was raining. Small problem. The buses from the train station to the
sanctuary lodge don’t run all night. In
fact, the last bus was in ten minutes, and it was certainly too far to walk,
especially with all my luggage, especially in the rain, especially with my
recovering foot.
There was a greeter
from the hotel, and he rushed me to the bus, and we got my bus ticket. He mentioned something about getting a ticket
for the sanctuary. I figured I could get
it at the hotel. I figured wrong. The bus ride up the mountain to the lodge was
breathtaking. It was a winding,
25-minute ride that went almost straight up.
We were soon at the hotel, and I went to check in. Again, they asked me if I had a ticket to the
sanctuary. I said that I didn’t, they
would have to charge me for one. No,
that wasn’t an option apparently. The
sanctuary opened at 6 AM, and I wanted to be there right at opening to avoid
the crowds. I’d just have to buy the
ticket at the entrance in the morning then.
No, that wasn’t an option, either.
They only sell the tickets back in town.
They said they had to wait in the morning for the manager to call in an
authorization. It would be 8 AM before I
got a ticket.
I almost lost it. The whole fucking reason I chose this hotel
was to be in the sanctuary, so that I could be there right at opening and
maximize my available time in the sanctuary.
I expressed my frustration to the receptionist, and he said he’d see
what he could do. He said that it was
very unusual for someone to arrive here without the ticket, as they usually
know to buy it before they come up to the lodge. My readers will recall a similar experience my
parents had on this very continent a year ago this very month. Lesson: do your homework and secure all the
paperwork you need BEFORE you arrive.
He
took me up to my room and said he’d see what he could do. He also invited me to partake in the
afternoon tea that was being served.
That, dinner, and breakfast was included in my stay. There will be a drink service shortly, so
I’ll do that when I finish my pipe. I
went to afternoon tea, which had an impressive spread, which I counted as my
first Official meal in Peru. It was
actually my first Official anything in Peru, as I had been in transit since the
moment I landed in Lima. I started to
announce, “63,” but then I realized I hadn’t had a Cuban yet, so it wasn’t
Official yet. I enjoyed a single plate
of food, along with a pot of Earl Grey tea.
The receptionist soon came with an authorization code that would allow
me to get a ticket printed at the gate. Perfect. I messaged back and forth with my friend
about her job hunt while I enjoyed my afternoon tea.
Afterwards, I went back to my room and
changed into casual clothes and made it Official, though the cigar was still
pending before I could say “63.” I
grabbed my computer bag and headed to the terrace, exploring a little to find
the perfect vista for my entry. I found
it. I also ordered a local beer. I sat down in the comfy chair with a wondrous
mountain view, where I proceeded to write this, which I will now close so that
I can get on with my evening. The
journey to the sanctuary is complete, and I will head down tomorrow morning to
view the sanctuary. Until then, tonight,
I relax for once.
No comments:
Post a Comment