Day 14 January 17 - Back on the ship

Back aboard photos
Back onboard Mariner on 1/17.
There are new people onboard! So, there was a block party for sailaway. Since the ship was held for us, it sailed as soon as we and our luggage were aboard. We should note that the earthquake damage was evident at the dock. So, there was a block party being held during the sailaway. At the same time, we were sailing through this really interesting area! There was nothing about what to see at this sailaway and no announcement that there would be a speaker for it on the top deck. Debbie happened to be late with unpacking and tired and stayed in the cabin a while the block party was going on and could hear the talk through the balcony door. First it was not on the TV and later it was. By then we were almost out of the bay! Anyway, no idea what we missed. But, Debbie went out into the hall and told everyone to come out and see the Candelabra formation on the cliffs on the port side. No one came, no one had any idea what she was talking about. Terry Breen talked about it the next morning and almost no one knew what she was talking about! How could something so important just slip under the radar? Anyway, Clay and Margie came in to the cabin because they did not want to hurt Debbie's feelings and were astounded. The thing was 595 feet tall and can be seen from 12 miles out at sea according to Terry Breen. It was starting to get dark and there was a marine layer forming so we did not get great pictures, but hopefully you can get some idea.
It was Country Club Casual and we had a quick light meal in Compass Rose. Why you ask? Because we each wanted 2-3 desserts from that menu! So, we didn't eat much but we had a lot of dessert! We got back to the cabins to learn that the clocks had to be advanced an hour. Oh no! Just when we are desperate for sleep, we lose an hour! So, early to bed and trying to recover from the last 3 hard days. Was it worth it? Absolutely, Machu Picchu was just phenomenal. Was it a 6-star experience? No, not even close!

Here are some asides from today:
Everyone needs an entry ticket to Machu Picchu. Since there were 69 of us, Lima Tours had handwritten the names and nationalities as required on each ticket and they just handed out one to each of us. One guy on the bus, who turned out to be a man named Angel,said the winner would be the person who got their own name on a ticket. A woman seated across the aisle from Debbie had hers and waved it around. Debbie saw her name and realized that she had the woman's husband's ticket, Donald. She offered it to him and got Toni's which could be a man or woman. (Here is an aside. Later, we met Angel and Margie had his ticket, which she traded Robert Schwartz. Margie then found him, but he went by Bob, which complicated things. Bob did not want his ticket back, but would swap Margie for Daisy's ticket. She did not want Daisy's and kept Bob's. Debbie came to Margie and told her that Bob, her little mascot dog, had been to the top of the city of Machu Picchu and though she had not known before that his last name was Schwartz, that she would trade her Toni's ticket for Bob's. Clay started and ended with the ticket of Harrison. We never did find our own tickets, but we did get some back to their rightful owners. Margie also got Linda to give Angel's wife's ticket to her. And there ends our aside.) Our wonderful guide Harvey told us later that if we had our passports with us, the ticket booth people would have stamped them for us. Alas, we did not have our passports, someone else did. We don't know who at the moment.
The steepest and final portion of our climb was up to the Guardhouse. Margie was bringing up the rear and being coaxed by Harvey. About 25 big, shallow, narrow, turning steps from the top Margie was balking and thegroup that was still climbing was standing panting waiting for her. Margie started complaining about being a 70-year old woman when there was an enormous clap of thunder. Margie's eyes got big and she shot up the flight of 4 steps in front of her. That was surely a loud message of something from someone!
Here is a small world moment story. As Debbie and Clay were finalizing their deal with their market vendor to hurry to the train station and get back up with Margie, a man walked up to Clay behind Debbie and asked him if he had gotten his Monet T-shirt at the NC Art Museum exhibit. Clay said yes and the man said, I was responsible for that exhibit. Debbie turned around and recognized Larry Wheeler as the Director from the NC Museum of Art. What a surprise! As we exited the Market with Margie, we saw a group of 4 men pointing at us and it was Larry pointing out the T-shirt to his traveling companions. Very funny! Then as we toured the reversed train on the way back to Cusco (A disappointment! The engine was now in front of the Observation car, and the kitchen car was the end of the train, so there was no view front or back. Plus, now we were the next to last car and we had an incredibly rough ride back, apparently from the loss of the stabilizing of the engine.) So, on the way forward Debbie was stopped by the 4 men in a booth a car forward of ours who called out to the Raleigh people. They were all amazed at seeing the T-shirt at Machu Picchu, the Aguas Calientes market and on the Hiram Bingham train. On the way back to our car, Debbie asked Larry if she could take a picture of him with Clay in his Monet T-shirt. Larry agreed. (Larry, a photo postcard is on its way to you from Chile, our next stop!)

The bus ride back down was just as impressive as the bus ride up because it came with a surprise. As we rounded the first switchback, a group of Indian boys in bright red costumes was yelling and waving. One was pointing to himself with both hands as we passed. Debbie told Clay, did you get a photo. No, why? Because that boy is going to beat us to the bottom. How? I don't know, slide on his butt, swing on vines, he'll go straight down while we drive a longer distance zigzagging back and forth. Sure enough, a few swichbacks later, we noticed the stone stairs exiting and entering the jungle on either side of the road and then the kid starting flashing by and waving each time. He got more red-faced each time! At some point, he had to run down the road in front of the bus to get to the next set of stairs and he did so waving back to us the whole way. At the flat road to Aguas Calientes, they stop the bus and let the kid on to collect money and have his photo taken. Then, the kid gets a ride back up to the top. The boys are only allowed to do this when school is out. School is out from December to March, so now. The kid was only wearing sandals on his feet. He must make a lot of money when he can work. Machu Picchu Bus Racer must have as short a career span as professional dancer or NFL player! The market was amazing and Debbie and Clay never got further than the first booth at which they stopped, that woman had vendors running from all over the market to get them what they wanted. The vendors all knew where we were headed and when we had to be there. A word should be said about all the street vendors here, they all speak very good English, they are extremely polite, clever, and not aggresive when you say no.
Back aboard photos