It was announced to me late last evening that we will be going to Mission peak in the morning.
So... I went!
The yoga had to be pushed to evening and my "live" singing plan took a nose dive. However, was glad I went because it was really beautiful outside! Mission peak seemed very different. It was alive! There was water in marshy ponds! Ducks and cows and baby baby cutie calf walking around.. songbirds everywhere! The skies were putting on a show and given we started hiking before 7AM, the diffuse sunlight made for great pictures!
Was treated to some nice chai, once we reached the top! That was the other highlight of the hike!
We also took a few detours today to go some other trails on the way that we never explored before. We were treated to some amazing views .. and I got the park bench photos again..
Timing is everything.. going forward, going to hike this peak in late Jan, right after it rains..
Felt on top of the world this morning.. (and again this evening after doing a Bikram Yoga class! The rest of the group didn't have to do that.. so it was a challenge for me.. but I am actually feeling great now after all that exercise in one day)
and for some nature pics and panos..
the rolling fog made the pictures even more interesting..
the same water we passed on the way in.. but on the way out.. there were cows..and glorious clouds!
It has been two weeks and this blog so no entry! It has been a busy two weeks with Jr. going back to college and me getting cranky to see her go, then the little one's school sends us daily notices to show how many new COVID cases are there in the school (why they can't have started the school after testing all kids after 7th Jan is interesting), then work got all busy and we had a pongal celebration!
Have managed two hikes so far.. the first attempt ended at PG&E and we did not make it to Black Mountain.
These two photos are from that hike..
The second hike we made it to Black mountain.. but kind of .. instead of hiking 12 miles and climbing up ~2000 feet, we went through the Montebello Preserve and hiked ~7 miles and climbed ~1100 feet. It was much easier but.. the day we picked to do this .. just awesome! The skies were dramatic, there was a slight drizzle on way back and the colors... were just wow!
I was not feeling great after a heavy dinner the previous night! Was feeling queasy and feverish, but felt better after a long nap. San said we could go on a shorter hike and to make me feel happy about going to Black mountain, one way or the other, took me with her. It is not easy to keep up with her on the way up.. as with everything, we have zero match, even on hiking.. she finds going uphill easy and I find going downhill easy.. so we are always 200 feet away either way.. but we do get photos like this..
Here are some more photos from the hike! As long as I am hiking like this and doing Yoga, that in itself acts like a COVID test!
Always wanted to take a photo on that rock ever since San did it two years ago... the skies made it memorable!
We saw a total of 12 people (not close by) over a 3 hour period other than the 3 people we met and walked down.. The place was pretty desolate.. and it made for an interesting hike..
got to see silicon Valley light up for the evening just before starting down..
A couple of panos of both sides from the top of Black Mountain..
we kept walking down as we watched the sunset!
We saw a lot of deer grazing on the slopes. This preserve has mountain lions and we wanted to get back to parking lot right at sunset.
We met a friend and his friends at the summit and walked down with them. Met some new faces and by the time intros were done, we had come down to the parking lot to more dramatic skies. There was a puddle of water near the parking lot.. and this was the outcome!
Sooner or later, will make the 12 mile trip to Black Mountain, right from our neighborhood, through the PG&E trail..
For now, it is back to work and getting some more much needed rest tomorrow!
The little one saw me editing this and said "Seriously, we went to Peru between Christmas and New Years! and you are still not done with this?"
The short answer is yes. It takes time to go through a 1000 photos, select a few, edit them, post them etc. The good thing is I am disciplined enough to do it. The bad thing is that things like work, dentist appointments three days in a row, jet lag etc. come in the way.
If Machupicchu was the first highlight of the Peru trip, Lake Titicaca was the second highlight. At 7000 feet above sea level, a navigable lake, with floating islands of reed and villages built with reed and a tribe that has been living like this for thousands of years!
We left early in the morning to reach the dock and went on a boat ride to the Uro villages. There were went on a reed boat ride, followed by demonstrations of how the islands are built, how the people live etc. They did not welcome visitors till recently and now they have solar power and their kids are going to school. Soon this way of life as we see it might be over. Technology is leveling everything!
The reed villagers were very nice and hospitable. Their kids were adorable!
There are lots of pictures that capture this experience. Here they are in a slideshow.
Then we had a long ride on the boat to Isla de Tequile, which is one of the larger islands in the middle of the lake. We started on one side of the island, went on a steep and long hike to the top to have a lunch to remember facing the lake.
This island was relatively empty except for our group. The locals were not around trying to sell us stuff like we were used to over the last 5 days. It was quiet, just us and the scenery.
Then it was another long hike to the other side of the island through the church and square. It was a hot day with perfect views. We got a few family portraits on the island..
Another slide show with views from Isla de Tequile and lake Titicaca
Finally we walked back to the boat. They have built a beautiful dock on one side with amazing views of the lake. We got to goof around there for a good 30 minutes before the return journey to Puno.
Puno has a nice plaza with lots of restaurants. We found one where the owner was nice and we got custom vegetarian food.
A slideshow with only the HDR shots. If you go to Peru, do not miss this! Something you don't see everyday!
Our day 6 in video!
At this point our trip was pretty much done and we were packing our bags that night. We had to make our way from Puno to Juliaca airport the next morning, fly to Lima, spend 10 hours in the Lima airport and board shortly after the ball dropped in Times Square..
Little did we know that our plans were subject to change for day 7!
As promised to the little one, I will post day7 later tonight..
On day 4 we were asked again to get up at 4AM. We were to leave the hotel at 4:30AM on a 2 hour car ride to Ollantaytampo train station. Get a short restroom and breakfast break there and leave on a 7AM train to Aguas Caliente, the small town at the base of Machu Picchu. The train ride was almost 2 hours.
So off we went. It was a scenic drive early in the morning with snow covered mountains for backdrops.
A slide show of pictures from the taxi and train rides..
Once we got into the train after that long drive, we settled in to enjoy more scenery along the way.
It was a Mystic experience, alright! To add to the mysticism, they kept serving coca tea to help with the altitude sickness.
The train winds its way along the banks of the Urubabma river and the Andes mountains provide a breathtaking backdrop..
Eventually we started seeing terraces and Inca housing and we knew we were close.
Once at Agua Calientes we were in for a rude shock. Everyone on the train made a mad dash to the bus station. We knew we were to take a bus to the top and meet our tourguide at the entrance to Machupicchu. San and the little one decided to take a "restroom break" in the train station before going on the bus. By the time they came out of the restroom, we were standing in the bus line somewhere in the next town. I was not in a talking mood at that point. It took 5 minutes at a minimum between buses and we were going to be in bus number 15 or so.. Then all of a sudden more buses showed up and after waiting for only 45 minutes, we were on our way up.
A funny thing happened while we were in line with Jr. debating the merits of taking a break on the train as opposed to on the ground. She suddenly said "there is a guy asking for your name". We all said "seriously, there is a guy saying sundararaman ?" and after a few minutes we had a face palm moment when a guy actually was reading out my name. Turns out jr. was right. The tour guide was also late and he had not made his way up and was trying to find us at the base! Always listen to your kids and take them seriously, especially when they tell you things that sound ridiculous!
We made our way up on an interesting bus ride into the clouds! You can see it in the video below..
Once up there, it was a steep hike from the entrance. I was completely drenched in sweat by the time I made it up on that trek with my camera bag. It was worth it though. The view of Machupicchu just makes you take a deep breath and go "how the hell did they do this up here?" It is truly a wonder of the world!
For a few minutes on the hike I was thinking 'there is a reason this place is on the bucket list for a lot of folks.. but it would be better to put it on the end of the list.. one might hit the bucket just going on this hike!"
Kept clicking photos from every vantage point. Here are some of my favorites..
The rest are in the slide shows below..
We did get two family portraits thanks to our tour guide..
After that sweat drenching episode, things took a good turn and my body finally adjusted to the altitude and the hiking. Eventually I put on my new Alpaca sweater that had been purchased the previous day at Chinchero..
It started raining after we had spent close to two hours up there. We stood in line for the return bus again for a good 45 minutes and made it down to Aguas Calientes. There were a lot of restaurants on the bus stand but we did not find anything Vegetarian with good quality. Had to settle for some fries and some Mexican food that was too oily. The kids were not happy, but we had cookies, chips and other snacks to fill up and got some Gatorade to go.
I ran in the rain to get this picture just before heading back to the train station. This small base camp of sorts was beautiful.
Finally at the train station, we met a lot of our previous tour buddies from before and sat together and chatted for a good hour. Then we said our byes and made it back to Cusco via train and car. When we first boarded the train we were wondering why our tour operator had booked us in the expensive Inca Rail train intead of the cheaper Peru Rail. We found out why on the return. Apparently the government owned Peru rail is cheaper but not reliable. They cancelled the previous train and the train station was packed with folks from two trains scrambling to make it into one! After a 30 minute delay we were on our way back..
That night was going to be our last night in Cusco. So we found a real nice Andean food place, but this time the owner was standing outside the restaurant trying to get customers. He saw me and asked "you are looking for good vegetarian food?" and I said "yes!" and he says "we will custom make whatever you want. just come inside". It was called Ama Lur Restaurante and they made us really good food that we picked from the menu. He even gave us rice and Yogurt! Finally the kids came back to the hotel all happy.
When we reached the hotel, we got one more piece of good news. We had to get ready only by 5:45 AM the next day instead of 4 something! We were going on a 12 hour bus ride with 5 or 6 stops... that will be the next post!
When we left Ollantaytambo, it was already getting late. So it was a race with the sun to get to our next stop, Chinchero. Our guide told us that this was a relatively new excavation site where more things were unearthed every day!
We were treated to some really rural sites on the way throughout the journey..
Here is also a video of day 3 from the bus..
We were up in the mountains again and on the way we saw some scenery that was breathtaking. It was also getting chilly..
Finally we reached Chinchero. It was a beautiful place on a hill with another Church built on what was originally an Inca Sun temple. The church was beautiful (gold as far as the eye could see, paintings that would rival Renaissance art done by local artists) and so was the view from the sun temple..
There were little shops that were opened for our bus and folks were going about their daily lives of farming and closing out chores. This dog kept barking at us as we walked past it.. Did I mention that Peru has even more street dogs than we see in India?! stray dogs everywhere.. at least a dozen in every street corner!
The view of the street(s?) in Chinchero..
Every street has that drain in the middle.. very well done given the sudden rains! They have lasted hundred's of years!
The Church and Sun Temple..
The views from the edge of the hill into the Andes mountain range was spectacular.. My pictures don't capture them well enough..
We wrapped things up with a family portrait and were off to our last stop... a workers cooperative store of sorts that sold handicrafts, woolen things etc. . another engineered rest room stop from our tour operators to encourage shopping..
I did buy a nice Alpaca sweater at Chinchero to wear on the reminder of the trip just before heading out of the square..
Saturday, January 29, 2022 at 9:23PM ;)
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