Saturday night was horrible. I was really sick, but so was Little Monkey. He developed a horrible cough and was vomiting. JZ stayed up all night checking on him. By morning he had a cough that sounded like croup (except at the time, we didn’t know it sounded like croup and were just horrified by the sound!). I had never heard a more horrible sound in all my life.

Sunday morning, Jake went and got breakfast for us and brought it back to the room while I stayed with the babe. The plan was for the family to attend mass together but I went alone so that JZ and Little Monkey could rest. I stood in the back of the cathedral during mass. After mass I visited the different stations and prayed, in a very real way, for the health and life of my child. I had never been so scared before. I know for certain that the unfamiliarity of a foreign country had a lot to do with that. We ended up walking to a 24-hour travel clinic, only to discover that they actually do home visits. I’m actually glad we ended up at the clinic though because the doctor was very worried and needed certain equipment he wouldn’t have had on hand. When a doctor that doesn’t speak your language very well, and you don’t speak his, has fear in his eyes after examining your child, shit gets real. He gave our little one a steroid injection to help him breath, and oxygen. Also, letting a foreign doctor give your baby any medications is fucking terrifying. Excuse the profanities, but that is how it felt! We had to make a decision and fast, and ultimately we decided to trust the doctor. The doctor was adamant that we needed a pediatrician immediately or to go to the hospital. He was so kind and was able to find a pediatrician willing to come to the clinic on a Sunday evening and examine our sick baby. Eventually, the conclusion was that Little Monkey had an ear infection that spread and was causing his cough. The good news was that it was not a respiratory issue. We were told to cancel our plans to Puno and stay in Cusco until the doctor cleared him for travel back to Lima.  We were given several medications and scheduled a follow up for Tuesday evening. The pediatrician predicted that if he had in fact diagnosed correctly, the medication should work almost immediately. If anything got worse we were to call the doctor and they would both meet up with us again or meet us at the hospital.

Canceling our plans to Puno wasn’t difficult. We were originally going to take a night bus Monday night into Puno, so no need to cancel any flights or trains going that way. We lost a deposit on our hostel but that was $10 or less. The hassle was changing our flight to Lima. Instead of taking a flight from Puno to Lima, with a layover in Cusco, we needed to just take a flight from Cusco. Sounds easy enough, but it was absolutely horrific. I won’t bore you with the nitty gritty details, but if you can possibly ever avoid flying LAN airlines you should run away in the other direction as fast as possible. Every single detail about their customer service during this stressful incident was nightmarish. Enough…

The good news is that he did improve within 24 hours, as the pediatrician had predicted. We kept him wrapped up warm and nursed him back to health, but still experienced, explored and enjoyed our time in Cusco. Instead of a few nights in Cusco we stayed there a week. By the time we checked out of the hostel Little Monkey had pretty much been adopted into the family!

Mural on Av El Sol.
During the walk “home” from the doctor visit.

Leaving Aguest Calientes, the adventure began to take a turn for the worse. I wasn’t able to get a call through to our hostel and was hoping that they would receive my email regarding our transportation. I had requested pick up from the train station, but with the strike we wouldn’t be getting in until at least midnight. I wasn’t sure if they got it, and what we would do if we didn’t have someone waiting for us. Also, Litlte Monkey had come down with a fever and a stuffy nose.

It was about 2am when we finally arrived at the station, nobody waiting for us. We arranged a taxi for 40 soles, which was actually less than the pre-arranged price of 60. We got to our hostel late, having to knock on the door and wake the night manager. He said “we sent someone for you, they waited until 10:30pm”. Guess they didn’t get the message.

Our room was really nice. It had a little sitting room, mini fridge, a big bed, a crib, a small balcony and a shower with consistent hot water. Orquidea Real Hostal. It is in a prime location, about two blocks from the town square/cathedral, on the edge of the artsy San Blas and walking distance to Av El Sol. A nice, warm breakfast is included every morning until 9am. It is quiet; not a party hostel. We saw a lot of families and were some of the youngest guests there. The family that takes care of the place is very nice and helpful, but they don’t speak English very well. The night manager actually speaks the best English, but you don’t see him much.

Saturday we were lazy. Little Monkey seemed to have come down with a cold and we were all exhausted from traveling. We cuddled in bed and relaxed the day away. Watching cartoons and How I Met Your Mother in Spanish or with Spanish subtitles is a great way to improve your foreign language skills and to entertain a sicky baby. Saturday night we ventured out for fresh air and dinner. We found a comfortable restaurant (Los Tomines) with great service and hot soup.  Our server treated us to house made Cocoa Pisco shots. This gave us a bit of energy to explore. After dinner, we followed the sound of fire works and found our to way to Plaza de Armas, at the cathedral, where towers of fireworks were being set off. It seemed as though Little Monkey wasn’t the only one not feeling well, as I also had felt sick all day and still did; so we decided to call the night short and keeping Little Monkey bundled up tight, we walked back to our room. Inadvertently, we found ourselves at the famous, historical, Inkan wall. We snapped a selfie and enjoyed the scene as we strolled. To our enjoyment and surprise, once settled and cozy back inside, we could still enjoy the fireworks show from our balcony!

I remember later speaking with our friend Mr. Lima and he says to me “Cusco has some magic about it doesn’t it?”. Yes it does, indeed.

The magic of Cusco, from our balcony!

Stepping back in time, cobblestone streets of Ollantaytambo.

Discovering upon arrival in Cusco that our baby carrier had been broken during transit was a stressful way to begin our next chapter in Peru. After a couple hours of frustrating dialogue, we finally got a satisfactory resolution to the problem. The airline (LCPeru) was very helpful and responsive to the problem. They gave us cash money and also transported us directly to our hostel in Ollantaytambo (about two hours away from Cusco). Arriving in Ollantaytambo, we knew immediately that we had just entered a special place.

Wandering cobblestone streets and hiking Incan ruins, we soaked up the atmosphere and enjoyed the feeling of stepping back in time. If going to Macchu Picchu I highly recommend staying at least a couple nights here and experiencing the old world.

Our hostel, Casa de Wow, was up the cobblestone streets and away from the hustle and bustle of the Macchu Picchu transits. We scored the matrimony room and were much more comfortable here then in our Lima hostel. This time we actually had hot water and eggs for breakfast. It was a great hostel for families or those looking for some quiet away from the party scene. Ollantaytambo is so small though, the excitement is just a five minute walk away.

We did a lot of shopping here for souvenirs. Beware of the art gallery though; she scammed me. Shame on me for being so gullible. If I had spent time in Cusco first, I would have known that what she claimed to be original pieces were actually just run of the mill prints that many will try to hawk to you in the Cusco town square. Oh well. We had a good time chatting with her (as she lied to us), and we have artwork that reminds us of Peru and a funny story to laugh about when we are old (or anytime we look at the print!).

We did the “Pinkuylluna” trail and I recommend it to anyone on a tight budget looking for some amazing ruins to explore. Unlike most of the Ollantaytambo ruins, these are free. It’s not what I expected as a trailhead, and we nearly missed it because of that. See picture of trailhead sign below.

Pinkuylluna trailhead

The hike is about two hours total, but steep. If you have walking sticks with you, now is the time to use them. My husband found it using this app: Triposo Peru. Recommend that app too. We used it for general guidance here and there as an alternative to my lonely planet book.

View of Ollantaytambo from Pinkuylluna hike.

Eating in Ollantaytambo is awesome. Lonely Planet made it seem like (to us at least) there were limited places to eat here. Not the case. The food is amazing and options plentiful. Our first night we went basic with a pizza special. We were not impressed with the service there; I think they forgot about us. I know things are slower in Peru, but this was reeeeaaaallllly slow. We didn’t go back there. (If I could remember the name of the place I would warn you against it, but I can’t. It’s on the corner of the main square on the left hand side as you look down the hill towards the transit area.) We loved a little café where we ate an alpaca lunch after our hike. Alpaca is delicious. We also loved everything about another cafe run by a very nice Peruvian who spoke wonderful English. Again, I can’t remember the name of the place, but it was in the south corner of the plaza. They had scrumptious sandwiches and served Peruvian beer on tap. TIP: get the beer! We were excited to see beer on tap but were not in the mood for a beer at that moment so we didn’t order it. We assumed we could get some another time. Not the case. They only serve that beer in the sacred valley. That was the only time we ever Peruvian Beer on tap, and we never got to try it. So if you find it, have a round for us! Our favorite place was a lonely planet recommendation: Puka Rumi. We ordered the burrito as recommended and just continued to eat there as often as possible. We also followed Lonely Planet’s advice and ate some ice cream from Tutti Amore while we waited for the train, and ordered box lunches to go for our Machu Picchu trip from Hearts Café. The boxed lunches from Hearts Café were delicious and a great value; tons of food. Not really necessary though because we didn’t realize that when the train company says the ticket includes a snack they actually mean a meal plus a couple snacks. Peruvians do like to feed you! If you’re seeking good coffee though the café con leche at Hearts Café was the best coffee we had in Peru.

Our original itinerary was two nights in Ollantaytambo, but Perurail went on strike and we ended up staying a third night. The third night we grabbed the first hostel with a room available, close to the train station. The sign read “Hostel”, the price was right, and we were thankful that with so many stranded travelers we were able to snag a private room. It didn’t include breakfast or anything, but that didn’t matter since our box lunch was pretty much breakfast too. While the strike situation was annoying and frustrating, another night in Ollantaytambo was a good consolation. If I could go back to any of the places we visited in Peru, I would go back there. I’m in love with this little town.

Ciao,

Kato