The Hiram Bingham

Wednesday 17 January

When I woke up this morning, I felt the best I had for some time, so leapt out of bed and made breakfast . . . . by 09.00. Though to be fair, I had tried to catch up on a bit of blogging beforehand. There was avocado, olives, brazil nuts and almonds for breakfast, with alpaca ham and local cheeses, which as Colin was saying were not his idea of the first meal of the day, when a waiter came and asked him if he would like poached eggs! Of course he would. When they arrived they had been cooked in strong vinegar water and tasted funny - but he is Mr Egg Man so he ate them and enjoyed them.

We had decided not to venture back up to Machu Picchu today - we had seen about as much as we could manage yesterday, and I for one, was not going to climb up any steep mountains, even to walk a bit of the Inca Trail, or find a temple on a mountain some hundreds of metres above the ruins - I am trying to avoid more altitude sickness. Shame really, as I would have liked to be able to have said I walked part of the trail . . . but you have to be sensible about these things.

Instead, we booked ourselves on a Nature Trail walk, organised by the hotel. There were two other couples, one American and one Australian who were braving the first shower of the day. Our guide, a young Peruvian graduate who was doing this job while he decided what to do with the rest of his life. He was very knowledgeable about the plants and birds and the whole Peruvian environment, despite graduating in Business Management. We wandered around the grounds of the hotel - they have 10 hectares in total, 5 given to growing tea and coffee for the hotel, and 5 for the hotel, and tourist walks. We wandered under the dripping trees, while he pointed out probably more than twenty different kinds of ferns (many of which we see in nurseries at home as indoor plants) and orchids. The orchids were amazing - from large brightly coloured blooms, to tiny tiny dots of flowers. One was bright red fading to cerise that was supposed to represent a young princess dashed in love, but when you looked at it from the side, took on the shape of a humming bird, with its long thin beak and slightly fatter tail. Others grew on top of the leaves, so that insects would be attracted to them to pollenate the plants, others grew under the leaves to protect them from the sun and rain. Most of them did not look like orchids as we know them, but were fascinating all the same.

We saw their coffee and tea plantations and where they prepared the leaves for the tea in the hotel. The leaves were collected and dried on large mesh trays for a few hours (it is warm and humid here), before being crushed by hand and placed in an earthenware pot - for four hours to produce green tea (which they only sell in the shop), to 16 hours for black tea which is served in the hotel. It is then taken and dried on the top of a wood burning clay kiln, before being crushed again, and bagged. The coffee beans turn red when ready to harvest, and then are roasted and ground.

When we got back from the walk we were invited to taste the tea - most people seem to drink coffee, but Colin had had it for breakfast - and we were taken to the lounge and presented with tea with lemon and mint in small glasses. I had mine with ice and found that that took away some of the sweetness and made it quite refreshing. We chatted to the New Zealand couple for a while - they had been on a cruise from Buenos Aires to Valpariso and then flown to Lima and here - before they had to go and catch their train. We visited the shop and I found a gorgeous alpaca coat - warm and light - for about 180 GPB, but Colin was quick to mention I already had sufficient coats at home - men!!!!

We then found the internet cafe on the other side of the railway line - you just walked down the steps and over the line - no safety precautions with lights or level crossings here - to log on to the computer and send a few emails. The internet access here was free again, so I made the most of it and answered most people. I was surprised to find that one of Christmas postcards had only arrived today!!! The New Zealand post office had promised us we were posting in time for Christmas. Still it arrived eventually
Later we walked around the town of Aguas Calientes for an hour or so, and had the impression of being on a building site. There were lots of cranes and buildings under construction – some of which were already occupied by shops or as homes on the completed floors. Other areas were still in the raw state of primary build, a lot of these seemed destined to be new hotels to cope with the influx of tourists – can be as many as a million a day in the high season – it was crowded enough now, I dread to think what it must be like with those sort of numbers. Beside the railway station was a huge market place, of hundreds of stalls, all selling the same goods as we have seen everywhere in Peru. Each trader seemed to be fully stocked and very few tourists were buying, so one wondered how often they had to replenish their goods. We only bought postcards, and stamps from a tiny post office, tucked away at the back of the town. Restaurants in this town touted just as hard as those in Cusco.

We wandered back to the hotel to write the postcards and send a couple of emails – before it was time to make our way to the railway station to catch Hiram Bingham train and return to Cusco. All the staff of the train were wearing dark navy blue, full length capes with the golden HB logo – they looked as if they belonged to a bygone era as they strutted up and down the platform, but very smart. Again we had to enter the carriage by crossing the carpet and using the steps.

There were two dining cars and two bar cars making up the train tonight, but we were once again in carriage “A”. The rest of our carriage was occupied by a tour party, cruising from Fort Lauderdale around South America and back to Miami, lasting 58 days, except for one couple on the table of four beside us – they belonged to the tour group in carriage “B”, again cruising, but this time only as far as Valpariso in Chile. We only had a table for two tonight as the train was full – we knew that a lot of yesterday’s travelers had been disappointed not to be able to return on this train tonight – I am not sure how come we were so lucky to get seats, but thank you Journey Latin America.

We departed just minutes after 18.00 and were immediately served “pisco sours”, not quite as strong as at the restaurant a couple of days ago, but still very good. Dinner was to be served at 19.00, and the menu tonight, again displayed in blue booklets, embossed with gold, included an amusėe of mushroom mousse, yellow potato, chicken and avocado with a fresh tomato mayonnaise, creamy pumpkin soup, salmon trout in champagne and pink peppercorn sauce, and “diplomatic” biscuit, exotic nougat and fresh fruit sauces. After finishing his first “pisco sour”, and not waiting for a refill, Colin made his way to the bar. The waitress came and refilled our pottery “glasses” with Peruvian patterns around the rim – and still Colin didn’t return. With about 10 minutes to go till dinner, and still another pisco sour awaiting his return, I made my way to the bar, where I found him chatting to some American lady in red – one of two sisters I was told – and munching hor d’oevres. I munched on a couple of these delicious mini circles of toast, with interesting toppings including anchovies, sun dried tomatoes and smoked salmon, whilst being introduced and then we made our way back to our seats, as we could see waiters hovering with trays of the amusėes. One course followed another – and although I thoroughly enjoyed the meal, I think yesterday’s menu was better.

We arrived at Cusco about half an hour late, but Daniel was still waiting for us. As we made our way to the car, one of my teeth suddenly broke as I was talking (?) – it was one of my eye teeth that supports my denture.!!! so I am desperately hoping it is going to survive the next three months, or I will be in trouble.

We arrived back at the hotel and were allocated a different room from the “cell” (hooray) – this time on third floor with windows to the front. It may be a little more noisy with the traffic outside – although thinking about it, room 101 was noisy with the chatter reverberating from the reception area – but it was larger and much more pleasant with a window! The furniture and fittings were exactly the same, just the space and the aspect were a great improvement.

We did nothing more than fall into bed, as the train journey seemed to have worn us out – perhaps it was the number of ‘pisco sours” we had drunk! As we were not being collected till 09.40 tomorrow, we would have plenty of time to repack for our next adventure – in the jungle - tomorrow morning.