Tomiko's Blog

Hi Everyone,

I meant to blog sooner, but I have had a difficult time adjusting to being back after my trip to Peru.  There was a lot of adventure along with drama, but still a trip worthwhile.

Heading to Peru was an adventure.  I was ready for pick up at my hotel, but the photographer overslept.   By the time we got to Orlando Airport, we were 10 minutes too late to check in and they wouldn’t let us on the flight.  As luck should have it, there was another flight leaving at 3:30 PM with the same connections going through Panama City to Lima.  It all worked out.  We just had to wait from 6 AM to Noon to check in again in hopes that the flight wasn’t full.  I think there was 4 seats left so we really lucked out.

We were booked through a tour group through AAA.  I have to tell you that I have never done a tour before when traveling so this was new for me and it was so worth it.  Really takes the stress out and they were so organized.  You get picked up from the airport, dropped off, taken on the tours, etc.  I have always winged it and had to handle worrying about how I was going to get from point A to point B.  It was refreshing to be worry free from things like that.

Getting in late to Lima really screwed up my sleep because I had flown in from the West Coast the day before and really didn’t get a lot of sleep.  A lot of the tours were early AM pick up with full days.  I was thankful for the Peruvian coffee.  It was so good, I bought some bags to take back with me and my friends have been raving about the coffee.

I was in Lima for the night, but then it was back to the airport early in the AM to get back on the plane and head to Cusco.

Here is the snack they served on LAN airlines.

Here is the view from the airplane.  This was so amazing…

The tour guide was there to meet with us and we headed to the hotel and had a couple of hours to chill before going on the tour of Cusco.

I had no idea about all the cool places there were in Cusco! It was truly amazing!

You will see the Basilica Cathedral and the Koricancha (Temple of the Sun)

I wish I could share them all, but I took 1000 pics or so.  I basically spent a whole day going through all of them trying to figure out which ones to share for the blog and narrative.

There was a holiday that day celebrating tourism.

We also headed towards the Inka ruins.  I had no idea that this would be part of the tour and the city of Cusco was truly amazing.  This is a shot of the city from above.  We were heading up windy roads that were steep.  Cusco is 10,000 feet elevation.  When you get to the very top (Tambomachay) we are talking 12000 feet!  They say that you need to take a day in Cusco to get used to the elevation before you continue onto Machu Picchu.  I drank a lot of water and didn’t experience the headache and the winded/nauteous feeling that is typical for a lot of people.  Thank goodness!  I did come prepared just in case with some different medicines.  I am just so glad that I didn’t have to really use them.

Tambomachay (Fountain of Youth) also known as

View of Cusco on the drive up

Saqsayhuaman

Q’enqo

The charming local woman who lives close to Tambomachay.  I purchased a painting that a young guy from Cusco did that features these women and the streets and buildings of this wonderful city.  The sad thing is that the unemployment rate is 60%.  People do what they need to do to make ends meet so you see a lot of vendors and such.  I also noticed that there weren’t many tourists due to our terrible economy.  I paid the woman about 1 Sole to take a picture with her.

Another thing that was sad but joyful at the same time, was  stopping by the orphanage.  There were 36 girls ranging from 6 – 14 years old.  I brought two big packs of crayons as well as a bunch of those cool bandages.  I am not sure if they really knew what those were, but I am sure when someone scrapes their knee and gets one of those to put on, they may smile?  I hope so.  The photographer I was with brought these plastic jungle animals which seem to be a hit with the kids so that was cool to see them smile.

I had the opportunity to try some of the food and the traditional drinks of Peru.  One was the Coca Tea which was delicious and soothing for the stomach.  The Pisco Sour is a cocktail that is delicious along with the beer.

The coffee was also awesome.  I think I already mentioned that but it is worth mentioning again.

I had a chance to try Alpaca (Lama Meat), but was disappointed I didn’t get to try Cuy (Guinea Pig).  You can only find that in Cusco and it has been around for centuries and was part of  the diet for the Inka culture.

Daniel was such a sweet person and was the waiter at the hotel in Cusco.

I learned that the houses were made with grass and mud holding the adobe bricks with mud and grass roofs.  The many trees growing around the area are used not only for the houses but firewood.  They also help with the vegetation.  Another thing that I thought was interesting was how the houses were built into the hills and built up.  The dogs also roamed free.

The traffic was scary.  There was no staying between the lines and a lot of avoiding other cars.  I thought for sure I would see a lot of accidents, but not really.  Was super exhausted by the end of the day and had to get up early in the AM to go to the train station and take the little over 3 hour train ride to Machu Picchu.

The train station was in Poroy.  It was quite comfortable with cushiony seats and a table.  You faced another couple of people to share the table, and snacks and drinks were served on the train.  I had thought it would be more rustic, but it was really quite comfortable.

Here are some views from the train.  I will be adding footage I took on my “adventures section” at the bottom of my acting reels page soon.

Drinking one of the local sodas on the train.

windows on roof of train

Got to the bottom and still had a 25 minute bus ride to get to Machu Picchu Ruins.

Made it to Machu Picchu!!!  Lots of pics to share here.

LOL  I think I got ahead of myself and already posted some of these pics.

You get the idea!  Pretty awesome, isn’t it?  The Lamas are there to take care of the grass, and the guy above is the tour guide.  very knowledgeable!

I had an amazing time.  If you like to hike and like the outdoors, this is the perfect place to go!  I had a ball checking out all the buildings and climbing around all the stairs.  I could have stayed there all day!

Because it is located in a rain forest, there is a tendency for a lot of rain.  Bring a rain pancho just in case!  Machu Picchu believe it or not is only 8,000 feet.  If you get used to Cusco, you are definitely going to be OK here, but don’t forget the mosquito repellent.  It is very lush here.  I brought three different kinds and didn’t have any problems at all.

Remember that seasons are opposite to ours.  Their Winter is our Summer and vice versa, but it doesn’t really get that cold.  I was loving life and it was a nice change from Vegas weather.

Can you believe that Archaeologists are still digging here and discovering more things about how the Inka people lived here.  It is fascinating.  They have a water system they created that still works and is over 700 years old!

It was a nice long day and it was time to get up early the next morning to catch the plane again back to Lima where there would be another tour once we were settled.

Lima had some really cool things that were quite surprising.  Unfortunately, I was unable to take a lot of pics where we were going.  no pics allowed.   The Gold Museum was amazing and had mummies that were found intact with the hair and teeth.  They were buried in fetal position as a sign of being important, and they were heavy into nose rings made out of gold and other piercings.  It was quite fascinating.

Also, went to the Catacumbas which was located underneath the catholic church in Lima.  People were piled in a whole and buried only if catholic.  The wealthy had their own coffin contraptions.  Once the bodies deteriorate, the bones are placed in this giant circular bin.  There was at least 25000 people buried there.

I can go on and on about Peru.  I think it should be definitely on your list of things that you have to see.   It was truly amazing.  The people, the culture, the history…everything about that place is magical.

Sorry for the long blog.  I am heading to New York on Thurs and wanted to make sure I got this blog out.  I know people have been emailing me asking how Peru was, so I thought this would really give you an idea.    You know how I love to share the stories and the pictures.  Have to get back to work.

Have a wonderful week and thanks for stopping by as well as your support!

xoxo

Tomiko

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