[00:00:13] Speaker A: Welcome to two Travel Dads podcast. Here we share our favorite destinations, travel tips, stories from our adventures, and bring on awesome guests to share insights into their travelsome lives. Be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and check out our detailed show
[email protected]. Podcast episodes hey, welcome back to another episode of two Travel Dads podcast. I'm Rob.
[00:00:39] Speaker B: I'm Chris.
[00:00:40] Speaker A: And we are still talking about Peru. When you spend two weeks in Peru, you have a lot to talk about. So today we are going to dig into our time in the Andes, which.
[00:00:53] Speaker B: Went up to like 12,000ft, a little more than that.
[00:00:56] Speaker A: 12,163Ft was our cap.
[00:00:58] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:01:00] Speaker A: Which is a bit much. And we will definitely get into that and talk about that.
And also, just in case I forget, you cannot get Andy's mints in the Andes. I did not see them in any little shop that I went into.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: So just, no, not possible.
[00:01:14] Speaker A: Yeah, you know, I thought maybe it might be something that's actually from there, but nope, no relation.
Anyways, though. So, yeah, the Andes, that's where you find Machu Picchu and the sacred valley and Cusco and all kinds of cool stuff.
We flew there from Lima, which was a mistake.
[00:01:36] Speaker B: Going from Lima to Cusco was a mistake?
[00:01:38] Speaker A: I think so. So if you've got the time, what is recommended is that you actually take your time to get up to Cusco elevation by driving up or going up, going via bus, and then spending a few nights, a few thousand feet up, a few nights a couple more thousand feet up until you get up to Cusco, where you're, you know, up at 11,000ft.
We did not do that.
[00:02:03] Speaker B: We just flew directly from zero to 11,000ft.
[00:02:06] Speaker A: Exactly. Zero to 11,000ft, which we live at sea level. So once we pass like that, 5000ft, we start to feel it and.
[00:02:15] Speaker B: Yeah, and we felt it.
[00:02:17] Speaker A: It was unpleasant. So one of the options that some people have is there's a sickness or elevation, altitude sickness medicine that you can take before you go. And once you're there, that helps you acclimate. It's called Diamox, and you can talk to your doctor about it if you're planning a trip like this. We talked to our doctor and it was not an option for us because if you're allergic to certain things, then it's just not an option. And that was us, so we didn't get to take that as kind of like a buffer to help us. So we were just going with the drink lots and lots of water and get good rest and all that stuff.
But altitude sickness still hit us hard.
It was. What was it like, day two, day three?
[00:03:07] Speaker B: It was day two and day three.
[00:03:09] Speaker A: Yeah. Day two and day three.
[00:03:10] Speaker B: Yes.
[00:03:11] Speaker A: So we got. We got.
[00:03:13] Speaker B: I mean, the best part, though, was that it. Yeah, it did. And, you know, it hit us. However, it didn't impact our ability to go see the sites that we wanted to see, which is great.
[00:03:22] Speaker A: Yeah, that's true. But, yeah, there was a lot of vomiting.
[00:03:26] Speaker B: Yeah, yeah. Public vomiting. All that fun, great stuff. Like, you know, just make sure, I think when you travel, make sure that you have backup tissues, backup toilet paper, paper towels, tummy medicine. Pepto, 100%. Bring Pepto. Just have that on your person.
[00:03:45] Speaker A: And you know what?
[00:03:46] Speaker B: You never know when you're gonna need it.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: And especially. Actually, even if you aren't worried about getting sick or think that you're gonna.
[00:03:51] Speaker B: Have elevation problems, still have all of those things.
[00:03:53] Speaker A: Yeah. Especially the tissue and toilet paper, because it is very.
What's a good way to put it? It's very rational.
[00:04:03] Speaker B: It is uncommon to go use a bathroom. And there will be toilet paper.
[00:04:07] Speaker A: Yeah, usually there's no toilet paper. And a lot of times you'll need.
[00:04:11] Speaker B: To pick two soles.
[00:04:12] Speaker A: Two soles to use a restroom.
[00:04:13] Speaker B: And they give you four sheets. That might be two ply, maybe, but.
[00:04:18] Speaker A: It might just be a paper towel. Anyways, though, especially if you're not feeling good, you need to make sure that you are well equipped with your own supplies that do not go into the toilet, but go into a trash can near the toilet.
I think that's good for talking about potty stuff.
[00:04:33] Speaker B: Sure. No, I mean, just make sure you have those supplies on hand.
[00:04:37] Speaker A: Be well ready.
Anyways, though. But the whole elevation sickness thing. Altitude sickness that really got us was. It was definitely. It was after day two. Cause we had gotten to Cusco and then gone with our driver.
He met us at the airport and then drove us to Oyan Te Tombo, which. It was interesting because as we were.
[00:05:00] Speaker B: It was quite a drive.
[00:05:01] Speaker A: It was quite a drive. But as we were leaving Cusco, which. Cusco was like, this maze of streets. It's just. It's absolutely wild.
[00:05:09] Speaker B: And if you don't know, it's like the Inca Empire capital. Like, I mean, there's a ton of history there. We didn't get to see it, but, yeah.
[00:05:16] Speaker A: So this is a really, really old city built on alleyways and staircases, and then there is now roads that go all through it. But as we were leaving. All of a sudden. Our driver was like, hey, we need to stop. But we had to really work through our language barrier on that one. Cause he had us get out of the car but leave our luggage, which felt weird. So I brought my backpack with, like, my camera gear and our passports and wallets and all that stuff. And he said that we needed to just walk on the road for a little bit. And then he would meet us up ahead because he was not authorized to carry passengers out of Cusco, which was odd.
[00:05:54] Speaker B: Cause we were passing a police checkpoint.
[00:05:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it was a police checkpoint.
The four of us got out and started walking uphill out of Cusco, and he drove off with our luggage. But then once he went through the police checkpoint, he pulled over, and we were able to get back in the car and continue. Yeah, but I'll tell you, that was odd. And then, yeah, we had a nice drive to Oyante Tombo, which was absolutely beautiful as we, like, headed through the sacred valley, and we got to see the cliff hotels. And then our. Our driver was, again, confused.
[00:06:28] Speaker B: And, well, we just ended up off on the side of the road, like, in a weird spot, meaning he did not read the instructions correctly on Google Maps and took this side road that went off. We were driving right next to train tracks by the river, off on a weird dirt road. And we kept going for quite some time. And then in pitch black darkness. Pitch black darkness. And thankfully, he had a decent car. And then we ended up at this one spot where it's like, boom. Like, the river's right there. We can't go any further. You can't cross the river in a car. But he thought maybe it's possible.
[00:07:02] Speaker A: Yeah. So he actually got out, walked down to the river to evaluate if there was a spot for us to be able to drive across it. No, this is literally, he had his.
[00:07:10] Speaker B: Hand on his head, like, he's thinking, how do I do this?
[00:07:13] Speaker A: So I jumped out of the car and was like, I'm sorry, no, this isn't an option. We have to get back in the car and turn around. We cannot do this. Go back. There is a road. We'll get on it. So we turned around and did that. And then right as we. Right as we're leaving the scary dirt road, we cross the train tracks. And right after we cross, a train goes over.
[00:07:32] Speaker B: I mean, it was just, like, perfect timing.
[00:07:34] Speaker A: Good times. So it's funny, I think maybe it's like our first or second podcast episode we ever recorded was about Nova Scotia. And when we got stuck in the forest in Nova Scotia because we were following a bad Google map that had taken us on a snowmobile route and we got stuck off road and had to get towed backwards up a hill. This was worse than that.
[00:07:57] Speaker B: Worse than that.
[00:07:57] Speaker A: So much scarier. But we made it to our really cool hotel.
[00:08:01] Speaker B: We did. Beautiful hotel.
[00:08:02] Speaker A: Oh, yeah.
[00:08:02] Speaker B: So, Del Pilar.
[00:08:03] Speaker A: Yeah. I found this place actually using American Airlines hotels. So, like, if we're going to be staying in hotels, let's see if we can get some miles for it, because Chris has explained this to me and now I understand. Wow. When you actually book through American Airlines hotels, you're paying the same price as, like, Expedia or something like that, but you're also getting miles and loyalty points. So I did that for as many of our stays as possible, including this super cool place in the sacred valley where they had alpacas on properly. We had a really cool, like, two bedroom bungalow loft sort of place with a balcony and big living room. And it was absolutely awesome.
[00:08:42] Speaker B: Yeah.
And perfect place to puke at night.
[00:08:45] Speaker A: Yeah. So day two, we woke up in this beautiful place and it was gorgeous. Had a lovely breakfast.
[00:08:51] Speaker B: I mean, we got to see the mountains. Huge. Like the windows. There's windows everywhere. And you get to see, it's just so beautiful.
[00:08:57] Speaker A: You wake up surrounded by the Andes and they're unlike any other mountains I've seen.
[00:09:01] Speaker B: Gorgeous.
[00:09:02] Speaker A: Really green and lush and amazing. Always a couple clouds hanging out. Really cool.
But yeah. So then our first morning waking up there, Oscar showed up and he.
What was his company called? Exclusive Inca experience. That's what it was.
[00:09:18] Speaker B: There you go.
[00:09:19] Speaker A: And he was one of the best tour guides I ever had for anything. He was so knowledgeable. And he picked us up in his really nice van and we started visiting all the cool sights of the sacred valley. We started.
[00:09:32] Speaker B: We started in Oyan Tentambo, which is.
[00:09:34] Speaker A: The coolest town also. It's got.
[00:09:36] Speaker B: It's so cool.
[00:09:37] Speaker A: It has, like, streams running through the.
[00:09:39] Speaker B: Town, has their water infrastructure.
[00:09:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. It has the Inca, the original, like, inca water system, which is just so cool and it's all ancient and beautiful and.
[00:09:50] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:09:51] Speaker A: So we started, yeah, we started there at the Oyante tombo, actual archaeological site that just climbs up the hills to. There's a temple, there's old granaries, there's terraces. It is the most fascinating storage facilities. Yeah, it's the most fascinating architecture ever because you've got these absolutely giant rocks that are precision cut and fitted together to build.
[00:10:18] Speaker B: They're like perfect puzzle pieces.
[00:10:19] Speaker A: Yeah, it was amazing.
[00:10:20] Speaker B: How do you do that when you have. No, you don't have horses, you don't have wheels, you just have human power. That's it.
[00:10:29] Speaker A: It was a standing.
[00:10:30] Speaker B: There's. Yeah, huge rocks, precision cut.
[00:10:34] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:10:34] Speaker B: Perfect fitting completely, you know, innovative stuff for their time.
[00:10:40] Speaker A: Yeah. And then there's, you know, the whole farming system built into all that as well.
[00:10:44] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:10:44] Speaker A: All the terraces and the water and irrigation system, and it's really fascinating. So even if you're not into history or cool stuff, you're gonna think it's cool. The kids thought it was awesome, so. Yeah, so we did that, and it was really cool and special. That was our first stop. And then from there, where did he take us? He took us off to Moray. Yeah, Moray, which was winding through quinoa farms and wheat fields. And it's funny because you go from this ancient town with rushing streams and cobblestone and all that to all of a sudden being out in the middle of farm country.
And when we got up to Moray, that was another inca site, and it was like the big inca agricultural lab, where they have these big.
Not craters.
[00:11:33] Speaker B: Well, kind of. I mean, it's like, kind of like a crater. I mean, it's a big. Call it a huge divot. Like, they didn't build them, they didn't dig it out. It was just a natural crater.
[00:11:43] Speaker A: Like sinkhole.
[00:11:43] Speaker B: Like sinkhole. Natural sinkhole. Where they figured out that there's. Well, in Peru, and I talked about this before, there's 125 different microclimates in the world, and Peru is 85 of them, they learn that there, of course, are different temperatures at different elevation, and they learned how to grow non native crops in different types in this setting, in this natural crater. And they had terraces, and so they could build some stuff at one temperature, way down below different temperatures. Of course, as you continue to grow.
[00:12:16] Speaker A: Up in elevation and then hybridize all these different crops that they brought in from the coast and from other regions.
[00:12:21] Speaker B: And if you have not been to Peru, when you go, you learn it's all about the potato.
[00:12:24] Speaker A: Oh, my gosh.
[00:12:26] Speaker B: How many different types of potatoes? 120?
[00:12:28] Speaker A: I don't know. So many different types of potatoes.
[00:12:30] Speaker B: And you'll get them like 85 different ways.
[00:12:33] Speaker A: And, yeah, every meal comes with at least one form of potatoes, sometimes three different forms of potatoes.
By the time we were done in the Andes, I was completely over potatoes.
[00:12:43] Speaker B: I never had a potato salad.
[00:12:46] Speaker A: I kind of had a potato salad. I had like a cold mashed potato, clumpy mashed potato dish with avocado and stuff.
[00:12:52] Speaker B: Okay.
[00:12:52] Speaker A: It was like a peruvian potato salad. It was pretty. So I took a picture of it.
[00:12:55] Speaker B: Okay.
But no, so that was Marais. We didn't spend a lot of time there, but I mean, we learned a lot, again, about the climate. It was super fascinating. And you're just seeing, like, I think the cool part is you're seeing all these, these terraces. Right. But also, so peruvian people are still short and so the Incas are very short.
And, but they built these amazing stairs in their terraces. So you would see, uh, stone, floating stone, floating stones coming out, because that's how they navigate. And went up and down. Of course, you get to the different terraces. Super cool.
[00:13:31] Speaker A: That doesn't necessarily have to do with the stature of peruvian people. Um, other, other places it was really clear because the doorways are all very, very small.
[00:13:39] Speaker B: Yeah, I'm just saying this is what they tell you when you're there.
[00:13:41] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Um, but more, it was cool. And then from there, where we go, we went on to, oh, the salt mines. Yeah, we went through, um, salinas Del Maras, which was the ancient terraced salt mines. There's a lot of terraces in Peru.
[00:13:58] Speaker B: Oh, so many everywhere.
[00:14:00] Speaker A: But this is like, this is one of the coolest places. So there's this. In this valley, there is a spring that goes.
[00:14:08] Speaker B: Doesn't stop running.
[00:14:09] Speaker A: Yeah, it doesn't stop running. And it flows over all these sodium deposits. And so salt water is just gushing out of the hill. So now, you know, for what is it, 800 years or something, they've been just building up this. It's basically a salt farm, not a salt mine. They call it the mine.
[00:14:27] Speaker B: 700 families or something in there.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: Yeah. And families have been. They've got their plots in the salt farm that they've had for hundreds of years and people take care of them. And the saltwater flows down through the terraces and then as it dries. Yeah. And, oh, yeah, there's just channels and little irrigation canals everywhere and the divert water and all that stuff. But then it goes through several different drying processes for everything from making Florida sal, like the really wonderful, yummy salt crystals you sprinkle on fancy food to table salt, to the type of. Or. No, that's not where the road salt came from. The road salt came from a different place.
[00:15:05] Speaker B: Road salt came from paradise.
[00:15:07] Speaker A: Yeah, we went to several salt places, but just the coolest place that. Visually stunning. Just all of these, like, checkerboard pools of salt and water, just colors of water and mud and salt.
[00:15:26] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:15:27] Speaker A: And they give you what was kind.
[00:15:28] Speaker B: Of cool is that like, you pay your entrance fee and they give you a bag of salt.
[00:15:31] Speaker A: Uh huh. Yeah.
[00:15:33] Speaker B: Fancy. And then of course, like, you get back to oriented tombow and other places in sacred Valley, you can buy the different salts and stuff that they make from that place.
[00:15:40] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah, it's really cool. That's actually, I think, one of my favorite places going through. I didn't do like tons of like social media and making videos and stuff. That was, I think, the only video I actually posted when we were in the sacred valley was just sharing the craziness of the salt farm. I thought it was so cool.
But after that was a really cool place that Elliot and Oliver thought was just awesome.
We are our guide. Oscar, his buddy, opened this really cool retreat up in the andes right before COVID and so, yeah, you know, and then COVID hit and tourism died and all that. So he's got it reopened again and really, like, growing it. It is called Mountain View and it's got a really cool restaurant and then.
[00:16:27] Speaker B: Really cute little cabins.
[00:16:28] Speaker A: Yeah, glamping cabins and tents and stuff.
But the thing that makes it so cool, besides the setting, you know, you've got the Andes all around you looking across these valleys and there's mountains, there's llamas everywhere.
[00:16:40] Speaker B: Like, I don't know, like in the.
[00:16:42] Speaker A: Restaurant, like, yeah, they're all along out on the patio, out in the yard.
[00:16:46] Speaker B: And in the restaurant.
[00:16:47] Speaker A: And in the restaurant, like, they can kind of come in if the door gets left open in the restaurant.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: But it's, it's, that's expected and people love it.
[00:16:57] Speaker A: And they've got people cleaning and stuff too.
[00:16:59] Speaker B: Well, yeah, for sure. I mean, it's not gross. It's a beautiful place, but no, they come in the restaurant and they have a whole entire, like, container of basically corn husks and other food that they put out there specifically so guests can go grab a basket, put in some llama food and then be around to go feed the llamas.
[00:17:18] Speaker A: You just walk outside and voila. You just hold it out and they come.
[00:17:22] Speaker B: Or inside or inside your table.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Yeah, but it's just, it's the coolest experience because it's good food and you're in such a magical setting surrounded by llamas.
[00:17:32] Speaker B: Oh, it's beautiful.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: It's exactly what you dream of having, like a peruvian Andes experience.
Loved it.
And then after that, we kind of rounded out our day of exploring in the sacred valley by visiting. This was our highest point. Chinchero which is such a cool city. And they're actually building an airport there that will be the highest in international airport in the world. Over 12,000ft. And I'll tell you, we really felt it being over 12,000ft.
[00:18:05] Speaker B: Sure did.
[00:18:06] Speaker A: Cause even though, you know, we, we parked to go up to the.
[00:18:09] Speaker B: It was done.
[00:18:10] Speaker A: Yeah, it was visible that you were done.
We parked up by the archaeological site and went into the park where there's just all these really cool old buildings that are built on top of inca and pre inca structures. And then the coolest old church that it was so ornate and it was spanish and it had inca influences with.
[00:18:36] Speaker B: Like, I think that was the coolest part, was the hearing how they integrated like, inca religion and culture into christian religion and culture.
[00:18:49] Speaker A: It was fascinating.
[00:18:49] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:50] Speaker A: Like from like a study of religion.
[00:18:53] Speaker B: Perspective and change management and world domination.
[00:18:56] Speaker A: Like how they were able to convince the inca people to convert to your son God.
[00:19:01] Speaker B: Is this God?
[00:19:02] Speaker A: Yeah, literally the imagery, they made it match up with Inca. Yeah. Inti made it match with inca imagery. Fascinating. Oh, but also the church. The church had tiny doors. Well, yeah, that's where, that's where there were lots of tiny doors too. And we got to see Burroughs, you know, carrying crops and stuff falling off.
[00:19:21] Speaker B: And the donkey freaking out. Yeah, very.
[00:19:24] Speaker A: It was great. Yeah, good times. But Chicharro was really cool. But that elevation was really, I think, what really did it in for everybody.
[00:19:31] Speaker B: Yeah, we ended at the height. Yeah, I mean, it was just a.
[00:19:35] Speaker A: Twelve and just walking back to the car was huffing and puffing and just, we all got in the van and.
[00:19:41] Speaker B: We'Re ready to go back hardcore. And that's when both Oliver and Elliott were puking at night.
[00:19:47] Speaker A: Yeah. So then super fun, middle of the night, we heard all kinds of commotion, repeatedly going. It was just, it was all that.
[00:19:56] Speaker B: I mean, if you've ever like, you know, watched the Goonies and heard like chunk at the, you know, what happened and just, I mean, it's just puking.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Yeah, yeah. Anyways, so that lasted literally all night long with both kids and which was a bummer because the next day was, you know, heading to Aguas calientes, which is, you know, Machu picchu town. But we, we mustered and we're like, we don't have a place to stay here and we have train tickets.
[00:20:22] Speaker B: Had to get to the train. We just had to go.
[00:20:24] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:20:25] Speaker B: So we boys rallied. They were good.
[00:20:26] Speaker A: Yeah, they were, they were good. And then Oliver puked in the train station in Oyante. Tombo.
[00:20:29] Speaker B: Yeah. Out the mouth and nose.
[00:20:31] Speaker A: And then we had that beautiful. Really, the train ride was fantastic. It was beautiful as we went along the Urubambe river and there was music and performance and snacks.
[00:20:44] Speaker B: I mean, I mean, so Grant, like, Oliver, like after peeking at the trains, he's like, I feel great like that. And then he ate all his quinoa snacks, you know, cause he loves his snacks.
[00:20:54] Speaker A: And as we lowered, so we went down 3000ft in elevation from the train station in Oyote Tambo down to Aguascaliente. So it was kind of great. As we got there, we all kind of felt better, even though once we got there, Elliott puked on the train and then puked in the train station again. But then we were good.
[00:21:12] Speaker B: Yeah, we were. And then because we got to our next hotel spot, which was.
[00:21:16] Speaker A: We stayed in the coolest, funny place it was the Rupa, rupa high jungle. B and B. Yeah, yeah.
[00:21:21] Speaker B: And so we had this really great room. We had to wait a bit for it, but once we got it, we set up some Netflix, set up a movie and had a day of recovery. Relax and watch some Netflix.
[00:21:33] Speaker A: Yeah. And the whole, like, there was, there's a big like open air living room up on the very top floor for all guests. And then our room that we had also had our own private, like covered balcony looking out over avas calientes, which is another really fascinating town because it's not old like Cusco or Chinchero, it's old what they say it was like they started building it in the seventies.
[00:21:54] Speaker B: Yeah, but you see some asian influence in there though too, with like structure. It's remind me, like parts of Shanghai, it looks like.
[00:22:00] Speaker A: Yeah, Yan on, in northern China, like zigzaggy narrow streets with very. It's. It's very like chinese architecture.
[00:22:09] Speaker B: Yeah, the architecture and like the bump outs and stuff of like the buildings up top with some really cool, what, you know, ornate wood carvings and things like that.
[00:22:16] Speaker A: If there were no words on anything, I would have not guessed that we were in Peru, but I would have guessed China. It was really interesting. But then it's really also a super cool town because, you know, you got another beautiful town. The river runs right next to it and then you've got this big stream running through it with all these footbridges all over and there's no cars or anything. It's super cool. And the train comes directly.
[00:22:38] Speaker B: The high jungle.
[00:22:39] Speaker A: Yeah, the high jungle. Or the cloud forest.
[00:22:42] Speaker B: That too.
[00:22:43] Speaker A: The cloud forest. Either way. And also there's parakeets flying everywhere, which is super cool. So we did that, and it was great. And we chilled out and everybody felt way better.
[00:22:53] Speaker B: Aid.
[00:22:54] Speaker A: We drink so much Gatorade. And then the next morning, Percy met us at our. At our place. He was our next guide. We had lots of guides.
[00:23:04] Speaker B: I think they were critical, though.
[00:23:05] Speaker A: Yeah, super gosh. It made the entire trip so much less stressful.
[00:23:08] Speaker B: Yeah. Then we got. Waited in line for the bus in the morning, got on our bus, which I was like. I don't want to say it was, like, scary, but I heard all these stories, like, oh, my gosh, the bus going up to, like, machu picchu. It's, like, so frightening. You're on this teeny tiny road. You look down and you see all the buses that have fallen off the cliff. No, this thing was like a piece of cake. Like, just get on the bus. A super nice mercedes like sprinter AC.
[00:23:31] Speaker A: Like, it was a great bus ride. I will say that there was a couple moments where I looked out the window and we were on a cliff.
[00:23:38] Speaker B: I mean, yeah, yeah, you're on like it is. But it was not scary at all.
[00:23:43] Speaker A: But then we got to the top, and so if you haven't been to Machu Picchu, or if you're planning machu picchu, when you go to, like, get your tickets or plan a tour, you'll see. Plan early, plan early. Because when I went to get tickets, we couldn't get them, which was jarring, which is why we hired a guide and then ended up being great that we actually had a guide because he was able to get tickets, and he was one of the most knowledgeable, passionate people ever. So Percy was awesome, and I'll have a link in the show notes to how you can find him in that company.
But we went on circuit four, so there's four different circuits to be able to tour around Machu Picchu. And we were on circuit four, which is the least visited. Still amazing. You still get all the awesome masha booze.
[00:24:27] Speaker B: I didn't feel like I missed anything.
[00:24:28] Speaker A: No, not at all. Like, you get to go to the temple, you get everything. All the terrace views. You get to go through, like, houses.
[00:24:35] Speaker B: You get to go llamas.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Llamas, all that. And chinchillas everywhere.
[00:24:38] Speaker B: Chinchillas? Yeah.
[00:24:40] Speaker A: That was super cool.
[00:24:40] Speaker B: I didn't see any chinchillas in Chinchiro.
[00:24:42] Speaker A: There were no chinchillas in Chinchilla.
[00:24:44] Speaker B: What?
[00:24:46] Speaker A: No chinchillas and chincharo. You're right. But there were plenty at Machu Picchu, and they were super cool and cute and I loved it. But, like a big rabbit.
[00:24:55] Speaker B: Rat.
[00:24:56] Speaker A: Yeah, it. Well, rat.
I don't know.
[00:25:00] Speaker B: Tail.
[00:25:01] Speaker A: Yeah. I thought they would look a little different, but they were super cute.
The boys really loved Machu beach, and we lucked out.
[00:25:08] Speaker B: No, the weather was perfect.
[00:25:10] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:25:10] Speaker B: Perfect. Gorgeous day.
[00:25:11] Speaker A: I've seen so many picnic people, like, share pictures of getting to Machu picchu.
[00:25:15] Speaker B: Stuck in the clouds.
[00:25:16] Speaker A: Like, stuck in the clouds and. Yeah, the clouds move and then, you know, ten minutes later, it'll be sunny. But, like, so many people go up there covered, like, wearing ponchos.
And we got there and we were hot and it was beautiful and perfect. And the clouds just kind of gently rolled through and it was a dream. Machu picchu.
[00:25:34] Speaker B: But, like, I remember, like, on the bus and, like, just seeing it and I'm like, wow, that's Machu picchu. That's impressive. And finally getting to see it in person is so, so much more incredible than just seeing, of course, video of, you know, not geo or pictures or whatever. It's.
[00:25:52] Speaker A: Yeah, well, and one of the things we talked about in our podcast episode, just, like, talking about our proo trip and our itinerary was with hiring guides and actually, like, doing guided tours, it makes a complete difference in and how you experience things. And for us with kids who have lots of questions, especially in places we haven't been and on subjects that we don't know a lot, having guides who are, like, the epitome of knowledgeable and patient made the trip extra awesome because they could ask anything. Guides were down to talk about it all, pose everything back as a question, just like a teacher. It was great. I loved it.
[00:26:30] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:26:31] Speaker A: So I.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: And they did, too.
[00:26:32] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:26:32] Speaker B: They love getting questions. Right.
[00:26:34] Speaker A: Yeah. But, um. Yeah, that was. That was basically our time there at Machu Picchu. We, um.
[00:26:41] Speaker B: Actually, we were there for what, like three and a half hours or something. Yeah.
[00:26:44] Speaker A: Walking around.
[00:26:45] Speaker B: I mean, definitely make sure you have water and all those things and sunblock. Uh huh.
[00:26:49] Speaker A: And then when we were done, it was. We were also. We weren't spending another night in aguascalantes. We were going back on the train. But, um. So I'm in a boo boo.
[00:26:57] Speaker B: Always check your train tickets.
[00:26:58] Speaker A: Yeah, I made a boo boo when I booked our train, and it had reset our return date to be the same as our arrival date, and I didn't notice it. So we go to get on our train that day to go back to Oyanta Tombo, and they wouldn't let us board because our train tickets were for the prior day. So I went over, ran to the office and explained. And they're like, no, you just need to buy new ones.
So we had to buy the fancy tickets instead of the standard tickets. So we had another ride on the Peru rail, Vista Dome observatory car, which was lovely again.
But we were able to get out a couple hours later and make it back home, which, thank goodness. And we just checked back into the same place where we had been the nights before, the del Pilar, which is.
[00:27:47] Speaker B: Great because they held our luggage.
[00:27:48] Speaker A: They held our luggage so we didn't have to bring a whole bunch of stuff, which is awesome. And then that was the night where Alfred sickness hit me. And I haven't vomited that much ever in my entire life. And by the way, when we were in Aguascalientes, we also made the decision to cut our time in the Andes short because it was so intense. So we opted to skip Cusco and just head straight down to sea level ASAP. So we changed our flights, changed our car rental for when we got back to Lima, changed our hotel reservations, so we had a place to stay. All that. And I'm.
[00:28:24] Speaker B: So we didn't puke anymore.
[00:28:25] Speaker A: Well, I puked all the way to the jetway in Cusco.
[00:28:29] Speaker B: Yeah, just the jetway.
[00:28:31] Speaker A: And it was very funny how, um, how non plussed the airport staff was when I was vomiting. Uh, they literally. I'm sure everybody was just thinking, oh, there's another one. Just throwing up everywhere because. Yeah, but you had bags.
[00:28:46] Speaker B: So we learned not only do we travel with toilet paper, paper towels, tissues.
[00:28:51] Speaker A: Travel with vomit bags.
[00:28:52] Speaker B: Also vomit bags.
[00:28:53] Speaker A: Yeah. But, um. Hey, as soon as we were back down in Lima at sea level, we all were just feeling like a million dollars. And I was so glad because I couldn't do that again.
Would you return to the indies? Yeah, I wouldn't. Yeah, I felt it was.
[00:29:11] Speaker B: Just set the plan properly.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: Yeah. Maybe it would be better if we were able to take our time.
[00:29:16] Speaker B: Exactly right.
[00:29:17] Speaker A: But, man.
[00:29:18] Speaker B: Because it was beautiful.
[00:29:19] Speaker A: It was beautiful. It was remarkable and so unique. But I was left in so much pain and so nauseous that I.
I had a tough time imagining going back there.
[00:29:31] Speaker B: Yeah. Just got a plan for it.
[00:29:33] Speaker A: Well, so we'll see. I. Maybe I won't write it completely off, but. Yeah. Was there anything else you wanted to mention about visiting the andes and all the stuff we did up there?
[00:29:43] Speaker B: Guinea pigs. Delicious.
[00:29:44] Speaker A: Oh, yeah. Cooey. If you want to try something interesting, it's called Cooey. If you see it on a menu.
[00:29:49] Speaker B: I had the Kentucky fried chicken version is what they call it, the KF.
[00:29:53] Speaker A: Yeah, it's interesting because it looks like chicken thighs.
[00:29:57] Speaker B: I mean, it's just, yeah, it's just.
[00:29:58] Speaker A: You know, it's delicious. But there's not a lot of meat on one of those guinea pigs.
[00:30:03] Speaker B: Not a lot of meat. That was the bummer.
[00:30:04] Speaker A: It's a lot of work for a.
[00:30:06] Speaker B: Little bale and a lot of potatoes.
[00:30:08] Speaker A: And potatoes. So many potatoes. Good times.
Well, that's it for now. We still have more to share about our time in Peru because we, again, we covered a lot of territory and saw lots of cool things. So check out our other episodes, all about the peruvian Amazon.
Just travel in Peru in general and then also traveling down in Paracas and checking out the penguins and flamingos and all that cool stuff. So thanks for listening. Be sure to subscribe if you're not already. Give us a nice little rating or just be quiet and we'll talk to you later.
[00:30:44] Speaker B: Ciao.
[00:30:45] Speaker A: Bye.
Two Travel Dads podcast is created by Rob and Chris Taylor in St. Augustine, Florida. We'd love to answer your questions here on the podcast, providing both our experience and stories. To share our own insights into whatever you're wondering about, visit twotraveldads.com podcast episodes to leave your questions and to check out past episodes and show notes. Don't forget to hit that subscribe button and have an awesome day.
