A Room with a View

Stone's throw from the famous Prado Museum from my room at the Hotel Ritz Madrid!

Home Alone

Literally just barely made it to our gate Kevin McAlister-style. Should have heeded my own professional advice and been at the airport a minimum of 3 hours prior to int'l flight...

See you in Madrid!!

Meeting the Sun in Madrid Pt. 3

John's photo of Madrid all dressed up for Christmas!

On Sunday morning, I will be waking up in Madrid! It has been two years since I have been back to my European home-away-from-home and I am counting down the days.  I lived and studied in Madrid in 2007, where I made my blogging debut with my amiga, compañera, and co-author, Becca. Now my brother, John, is living in the city that (literally) never sleeps.  My parents and siblings didn’t get the chance to visit Madrid while I was living there, so now we will all go visit John and they will have the chance to experience John and my beloved city for the first time.  After lots of tapas, sangria, and sightseeing, we’ll fly to Rome for Christmas.  I love Rome in winter and I am excited to see the city all dressed up for the holiday!

Not only am I am excited to play in two of my favorite European cities, but I am also excited to experience Europe with my family.  It has been years since we all traveled together, now that we are all ‘grown up’ (well, maybe that’s giving some of us too much credit J).  My parents’ prioritizing traveling as a family and as a learning tool for their young children is one of the key reasons I am where I am today.  So I am very excited for the now-all-adult Jenkins family to travel together.  Also, it will be my parents’ and sisters’ first time in both Madrid and Rome, and my mother’s first time to Europe.  I think we are in for an adventure!

Needless to say, this is a personal trip, but being in the travel industry means every trip is professional development! I am looking forward to seeing Madrid and Rome from the eyes of a luxury travel advisor this time!  Stay tuned!

Machu Picchu > Pompeii

Sunday morning I woke up bright and early in Cusco ready to check off another item on my Bucket List - Machu Picchu! Gilmar and I drove to Ollantaytambo and boarded the Vistadome train for our scenic transfer to Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu. We didn't waste any time upon arrival and went straight up to the site. You climb up a curving staircase, about a 3 min walk, and turn the corner to find the grand Machu Picchu image you see in pictures staring you in the face. "I might start crying," I told Gilmar and seriously thought I was going to. Machu Picchu epitomizes the saying "photos don't do it justice"... and by the way neither does Where in time is Carmen Sandiego?.  So many times we would just stop walking and gaze. I asked Gilmar if it ever got old, coming to Machu Picchu once a week, and he said that it's a dfferent experience every time. I don't doubt it.  So I had been advised that instead of climbing Wayna Picchu (the iconic peak in the backround of the citadel), the better view is to climb Machu Picchu Mountain, on the other side of the citadel, as it is the highest point from which you can look down on Machu Picchu. I don't think Gilmar was too thrilled with my grand plan as it is almost twice as long a hike and sometimes you get up there and you can't even see down to Machu Picchu through the fog.  But I was not coming all the way to Peru not to try, so we decided if we were going to hike Machu Picchu Mountain, we might as well get after it.  It took us about an hour and 15 minutes to reach the top, sweating and out of breath.  No better way to get to know someone quickly, huh?  When we first reached the top, visibility was limited, but the clouds moved fast and we soon had the perfect view.

We spent the rest of the day hiking around the citadel. I'm sure Gilmar regretted telling me, "There's no such thing as a stupid question." (X, Rach, Mego & Kelly... we would have had a field day making up our own history here...)  Actually that's pretty much what I did all day while Gilmar just laughed or shot holes in my theories (shocking, I know).

I spent the night at the Inkaterra Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel.  Not as small as the Inkaterra in Cusco but also a very intimate, rustic luxury experience.  The Masias Family really did a fantastic job with these hotels! Inkaterra has a great three-tiered pool/hot tubs with water from the hot springs - so you can soak your muscles from your Machu Picchu hike without having to join the sweaty backpackers at Aguas Calientes.

Monday Gilmar and I took another hike to the Sun Gate (where Inka Trail hikers enter the site) and passed the final hours of my personal retreat at Machu Picchu. The Orient Express Hiram Bingham train was such an elegant way to end the Machu Picchu experience.  Gorgeous rail cars, a great bar with live music and friendly staff, plus an excellent dinner.  The Peruvian champagne they served rounded off my beverage tour; I officially sampled Peruvian wine, beer, liquor and champagne.  Would you expect any less?

I am so sad to say goodbye to Peru!  This was my first trip but certainly not my last.  I am already making a list of new places to go when I return, and next time I want to hike the full Inka Trail!

I wanna know where da Gold at

Now that I am on my own in Peru I am really receiving the star treatment!  There is nothing like a private guide to make a destination really personal. Gilmar is my new friend and travel partner for the next few days! 

Sacsayhuaman

Today we visited the Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple overlooking the city of Cusco.  It was constructed from stacking massive stones (some weighing 60-120 tons!) and I am still struggling to comprehend how the Incas got these boulders down from the mountains with no wheeled vehicles (at least the Egyptians had that!), sculpted them to fit perfectly with one another, and stacked them on top of each other with no mortar to hold them in place.  I can't wrap my head around it.  The temple was never finished as the Incas were mid-construction when the Spaniards arrived.  Everything genius about the Incan empire is magnified by the fact that, unlike the Egyptians, Greeks or Romans, they didn't have centuries to develop what they did - they really only expanded in South America for about 85 years before the Spaniards came and said gimme da gold. 

We also toured colonial Cusco, which is particularly interesting because it is one of the few of such ancient cities that is still inhabited as a bustling city today; most of the buildings' foundations and walls are visibly Incan constructions, with colonial buildings taking over about halfway up. Very cool to be walking around a room that an Inca probably used to live in, then a Spaniard, now me :)

Here in Cusco I'm staying at the charming Inkaterra La Casona, which operates like a private manor with only 11 suites and House Rules. I can't wait to soak in my tub tonight fireside in preparation for the big day that is tomorrow - I'm off to Machu Picchu!

Mystery & History, Beaches & Ballestas

The next morning we set out to check off something that was really on my bucket list - and if it's not on yours I recommend adding it! - flightseeing over the Nazca lines. These mysterious figures were formed by the ancient Nazca people (or by aliens, according to some) but no one knows how or why. Living on the plains, and without planes, how could they see what they were drawing into the rock on such a massive scale (hundreds of meters) and with such precision, these figures that can only be seen by air today? It is crazy and seeing it in person makes the mystery even more impressive.

Hummingbird, Las Lineas Nazca

One would think another day of back-to-back jaw-droppers is not possible - think again. Off the plane from Nazca we boarded a boat for Las Islas Ballestas. One of my fellow travel advisors described the adventure as Galapagos Lite. I have never seen so many birds in one concentrated area and had never seen a sea lion or penguin in the wild. We spotted rare cormorants, Ballesta boobies and mommy sea lions giving their babies swimming lessons or taking a tan.

Friday evening marked the time to say Adios to fast friends and fellow Virtuoso advisors. We had such a great group of women with whom to share these unforgettable experiences! Unfortunately for them, they're probably already back in the real world right now... or more likely sitting through their layovers in MIA or JFK... sorry about it... While I'm in flight en route to Cusco and Machu Picchu for 4 more days of my Peruvian adventure!

(Unless of course Julio picks me up from the airport, in which case I'm not coming home.)

Doing the Desert in Style!

Paracas has been the Limeños beach retreat for a century but how can you relax by the pool all day when there is so much more to experience in the region! Of course our stay at the Libertador Hotel Paracas started with nothing less than a pisco sour bartending lesson (I'm now a pro in multiple variations of the beverage). We're really getting used to daily piscos served by tall, tan y guapo camareros - can I go back to living any other way?started with nothing less than a pisco sour bartending lesson (I'm now a pro in multiple variations of the beverage). We're really getting used to daily piscos served by tall, tan y guapo camareros - can I go back to living any other way?

Paracas and the Southern coast of Peru is like the Pacific coast of Mexico in that it is a meeting of the desert and the sea. Thursday we viewed the coast in style by yacht... and a little champagne and ceviche completed the scene.

 

Taking a break from holding on for dear life,
watching the sun set over the California Desert

After a day on the water, we headed for the desert by night. We thought Lima never got rain with 1.5 inches per year- here in the California Desert it's 1.5 inches every 20 years! We hopped into our offroad SUV and headed out over the massive dunes... Are we in Peru or the Sahara? We put our lives in the hands of our uninhibited driver David, who assured us that he had experience driving the Paris Dakar races... Not sure whether this fact was comforting or even more unsettling! The experience was out of control, bouncing around the truck with windows down whipping around the sand and flying down 90 degree dunes. We stopped on a sand peak to watch the sun set over the Pacific ocean behind us - another magical momen to add to our list!





But of course when has one over-the-top experience on this trip not been immediately topped by another? We hopped back in the jeeps for a few more rollercoaster runs. As we crested peak of a 90 degree dune literally 2 football feilds high, facing down the sheer slope of sand, we were greeted by a candlelit cocktail party awaiting us at the bottom. David barrelled us down the dune between shrieks, oohs and aahs. Dining and dancing under the stars in the Peruvian desert - check!