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Day 07: A Wild Ride Downriver and Heading to Cusco
The day started just BAREly after sunrise (5:30 AM). I wanted to take a shower before our travels today so I’d be somewhat clean in my somewhat clean change of clothes. It was still mighty warm and humid as we met at 6:30 for breakfast while the porters got our luggage down to the boat. We had the system down now. The heavy stuff is in whatever bags we don’t need to have at hand on the boat and we carry our most precious or useful stuff with us. I mean, it’s magic; we leave the suitcases by our doors and the next time we see them is at the next dock–or in our rooms at the next place. Can’t say enough about this. While we were all prepared to haul our stuff in, it would have been much slower going. Here’s a big THANK YOU to all the luggage carriers!
So we had an early breakfast and got ourselves down to the boat. It seemed a little cooler to us, but with the breeze from the boat moving, we figured it might be our imaginations. But, there were certainly more and darker clouds in the sky than we’d seen before. This was about a two-hour trip down the river and sure enough, the predicted cold front came through. I saw a squall line kicking up some dust at a beach-type place in the direction we were headed, but I’d seen something similar a couple of days before and nothing had come of it so I didn’t worry. Well, this time it was for real.
Suddenly the sky opened and cold, I mean COLD rain started pelting our little boat. Wind was whipping up the river into whitecaps. The boat had plastic sides that could be unrolled for just this purpose, but we did all have to shift toward the back of the boat because the folks in the front were getting really wet. Even after they moved back and the sides were down, the cold breeze just funneled through the boat. And where was my poncho? And most everyone else’s panchos? In the luggage the guys had carried down to the boat and stacked in the back. No reaching it there.
So, for the last 45 minutes or so, we toughed it out, wet and cold. It had been certainly in the upper 80s, but by the time we got to our destination, it was 66 and raining. Still, the dock was a welcome sight as it signaled the next phase in our journey, onto the bus and back to the office where we’d left all our warm stuff. Suddenly that stuff was looking mighty good!
The bus ride was pretty slippery in the rain and clay, but we got there safe and sound. In 15 minutes we repacked to our checked/carry-on luggage for the airline and we were on our way to the airport. You can see the dark overcast around our plane. We did check-in, security, wait, board, 40-minute flight, and then we were in Cusco.
Here it’s very chilly, at least for me. I haven’t yet been able to put enough clothes on to get warm. I’m looking forward to finishing this and getting into bed. The warm blankets look very inviting!
After arriving and checking in, we took a short walk to the town square, which you can see in the pictures. We had dinner together at the Bagdad Cafe, then split up a bit to wander around the area.
The pictures are darkish because that’s what the weather is. We saw some small kids dancing for the tourists and I got a few pictures of the buildings. The “boot” picture shows Peru’s version of the cowboy boot, with lots of great colors.
After a little more wandering, we were back at our hotel: Ninos Hotel. The Wi-Fi is working great, so I’ve uploaded all the stuff I did in the rainforest, and will post this tonight to get up to current. Yay!
Tomorrow we’re heading into the “Sacred Valley,” Pisac to be exact, to see some ruins and wander the market. Another early start, so I’ll close for now. Tomorrow’s another day!
