Are we in Urubamba? Really?

I am not a luxury resort kind of guy, but I like to think that I know quality when I see it.  I saw it this weekend.

 

My mom, recently arrived from NYC,  was feeling awful in Cusco because of the altitude, and on a whim we hatched a plan to spend two days at a brand new hotel in Urubamba, a dusty little town best characterized as a rural weekend getaway for the upper crust of Cusco.  Mom, with the help of her friend Leslie, has elevated the practice of collecting frequent flier miles and credit card points to the level of a martial art, and was able to book us a $565/night room for, yes, nothing.  

 

The Tambo del Inca just opened its doors two weeks ago, nearly a year behind schedule, and still somewhat prematurely.  We were given a tour of the amazing facilities only to find out that many of them were not yet functioning.  We saw steam rooms with glowing constellations built into the ceilings, five different saunas, therapy pools with soothing udnerwater lights undulating between greens and purples, and a gorgeous pool that began indoors and then vaulted outdoors to a perch overlooking the Vilcanota river.  With mouths agape we were slapped in the face by the fact that virtually none of these attractions were ready yet.  We could look, but that was it.  Isabel and Sophia took the news like champs, but we were all quite disappointed.  But once all those goodies are up and running, man, if you are planning a trip to Peru, by all means try this place out!

 

Our room was stunning and oh so very quiet.  The whole place in fact was eerily silent and empty.  With the hotel recently (and marginally) opened, the number of uniformed and perfectly groomed employees far outnumbered the guests.  All those workers evoked the image of Dr. Evil's henchmen, making the whole place feel like the elaborate hidden lair of some super-villain from a James Bond movie.  I kept expecting to brush against a concealed button and have intercontinental-ballistic missiles slowly emerge from the floor in preparation for launch.  Adding to the mystique, the buildings that make up the hotel are completely invisible from the road and sit low on the land, following the contours of the river bank.  As you walk in the front door the floor falls away four stories to the dining room below whose center is occupied by a stone chimney 50 feet wide by 15 feet deep.

 

We had a relaxing time walking the grounds, partaking of the sublime shower and playing scrabble on the deck. 

The hotel is building their own mini-train station and will soon be offering single ferro-car train service to Machu Picchu, avoiding the usual circus of finding lodging, getting train tickets on PeruRail and entrance tickets to the ruins themselves.  Travelers will just get on a bus at the Cusco airport and Tambo del Inca will take it from there.  


I can't really fathom what the inhabitants of Urubamba make of this place.  The price of a lunch entree is more than what most people make in a month in this agricultural town.  From the elaborate wooden deck with over-sized couches, adobe houses are visible through the eucalyptus branches, perched precariously on cliff edges across the river.  I can only hope that such a high-end hotel will bring money to the town and provide more opportunities for the folks living in those mud homes, with a bird's eye view of another world just outside their dusty windows.