Cusco / Urubamba, Peru - Day 4

On day four, our trip had us up early, heading to the airport and jumping on a plane for a quick flight to the Sacred Valley!

Everyone woke, happy, ready to go. We took two Ubers to the airport. When we arrived, we were looking around for Jared and Jaime who arrived before us. We were unable to find them, so we started the process of printing luggage tags, dropping of luggage, checking in, etc. We saw Jared and Jaime join the line. Greg went to help them and as I was waiting in the bag drop line, I could see that something was wrong.

When Jaime and Jared tried to check in online, it kept giving them an error. Arriving at the airport, they were informed that their seats (the ones right next to us as we had planned this PERFECTLY!) had been given to other passengers. Jared was taken to the desk and we were asked to proceed through security and head to the plane. Our flight left at 10:50a.m. The airline was helpful and booked them on a flight leaving after 2p.m.  So now they have 4-5 hours in an airport with a one year old! They were thrilled!

The flight was a fast one, just a little over an hour. Cusco is 3,399 m above sea level. Not wanting to struggle with altitude sickness, we all took natural altitude sickness pills, similar to chewing on the coca leaf or drinking the coca tea. Cusco was the highest location that we visited on our travels. Landing, all of us were very groggy and light headed. We jumped in our taxi and headed to our next home away from home.

Driving through Cusco, we were surprised how quickly the scenery changed. From slums, to city, to outskirts, to mountains, to farm land!

 Our driver was amazing. He answered all of our questions, provided information along the way and found great places to stop on the hour and a half drive! Unfortunately, he did not warn us early enough when traveling through one town. Greg and I had our windows down and two 'lovely' boys sitting on a wall decided to deck us with their water guns. Both of us were smacked in the face and ears with water.

The boys were thrilled with their first Alpaca sighting. The views were breathtaking and we knew they would only get better!

 Our last stop allowed us a look over the sacred valley, directly into the city of Urubamba where we would be staying for the rest of the week.

To enter the city, and most cities in the valley, you have to cross the Urubamba River. This river, originating from an arm of the Amazon River, travels through the Andes for most of the length of Peru, specifically through the Sacred Valley providing water to many of the inhabitants in the area. 

The directions for getting to our Air BnB were not the best. The driver, Greg and I all were looking and searching on our phones to help identify the place! You think it would not be hard as we were looking for a literal mansion! 

Air BnB Photo

Hidden behind a wall and a gate, we finally found the house. Now, I know, you are thinking, "WHY?" Here is our answer. As we were all looking (and by we I mean Jaime and Greg as they are the masterminds of this trip!!!) for a place to stay, this 9 bedroom, 17 bed, 5 bathroom house was only a bit more expensive than everything else we were looking at. So, our response, "Why NOT!!!" And, come on, the boys LOVED telling everyone they stayed in a mansion!

Did we take up all the rooms? No way, we are not crazy and we respect that the more rooms we inhabit, the more that needs to be cleaned. We just enjoyed the room that the children had to run, play and get out energy!

The house was older, and a little spookier than the pictures showed, but it was still beautiful and the beds were amazingly comfortable. Greg and I took a room downstairs (first picture below), while Jared, Jaime and Reeve took the biggest room upstairs (room with the crib). Zane and Alden decided to share a room (the blue beds).

 On the second floor, there was an Alice in Wonderland style hallway (Greg is pictured in it below). The hall narrowed and shortened towards the door. I mean seriously, Greg has to DUCK to get through??? Outside this door was a staircase that led to the third floor (room pictured above Greg) and another staircase to the fourth floor.

 Zane is pictured on the staircase to the third floor, and the room with the black couches is the fourth floor. This, the boys dubbed, as the lounge. We were informed, "When we get mad and need to calm down, we will be in the lounge!"

 There was also a roof top patio. The boys really enjoyed going up and looking down!

The house was located on a large plot of land. The flowers were beautiful and native and there were MANY fruit trees around the property!

Views from the top of the house.

Back on the main floor, you found the sitting room, formal dining, kitchen dining and kitchen. The kitchen was the the strangest room in the house. If you look closely at the kitchen island, you will notice that it is a step DOWN from all the floor around it. This would not be a problem normally, except that the sink and counters were on the HIGHER part. Meaning, most of us (Jared not included) needed to use a stool to really access the sink! As with most houses we have stayed in in South America, this one was not sealed at all. Each evening, we were swarmed with flying bugs, and each morning we were greeted to their dead carcasses all over the house. Not such a big deal as most were not biting, but difficult with a toddler around!

After unloading our bags, we decided to take a walk around the town while we waited for Jared, Jaime and Reeve to join us. They were en route as they had notified us they had landed in Cusco. Unbeknownst to us, while we were walking around, enjoying our time, Jared, Jaime and Reeve had crammed into a taxi to travel to Urubamba. Crammed is a nice word after hearing the story. Out of all of us, they had the biggest and the most luggage, due to toddler needs. As we walked around, explored the market, went to the grocery store and watched the sunset, they were miserable. They informed us that the smallest taxi ever had picked them up. They had two large pieces of luggage, a car seat, a stroller, two backpacks, a toddler, and a partridge in a pear tree! They fit what they could in the trunk area, which was not much. Then, they had to put some in the front seat, and the rest in the back beside them. So, everyone was crammed together in awkward positions just praying to get to the location and get OUT of the car. 

 Behind our house you could see a glacier on the mountain.

 These pictures were taken from the top floor. You can see, looking down at Zane and Alden, how tall the house was!

 When they finally arrived, we ate a fantastic dinner of Ramen, eggs, chips, cookies, juice and beer (for the adults). Everyone was exhausted, except for the children, who whined about bed time. They were happy to see each other again and just wanted to play!

Everyone went to bed exhausted and slept amazingly! The beds were comfortable, the house quiet, and no ghosts came haunting (much to Greg's surprise!). 

Next up: Pisac and Awanakancha