Arrival in Peru, 12/19 - Thursday night late-
We got into the airport late, around 11:30 pm. Several dogs sniffing for ag products and drugs in the baggage claim area.
Customs and immigration was relatively painless, but upon walking out the doors, there were about 500 people waiting with various signs, as well as taxi drivers trying to recruit passengers. Added to that was a group of Hari Krishnas playing drums, cymbals and chimes and singing. Fortunately our guide, Nila, located us by the description of a family of 3 very Norte Americano looking people, including a small child.
We got to our hotel after about a 30 minute bus ride and got settled into our room for some very needed sleep.
12/20 - Breakfast was reasonable with scrambled eggs, ham, cheese, fruit, bread, etc. we met Nila at 10 in the lobby for a tour of Lima. She took us first past the Mira Flores town square. Mira Flores is one of 43 districts of Lima. There is a mayor for each district, as well as city services, parks, etc. there is one Chief Mayor for all of Lima,and currently it is the first female chief mayor they have ever had.
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| Goudy Park mosaics |
There are 9 million people in Lima, and they all apparently have a vehicle that was either in front of or trying to cut off our bus today. Only kidding, but traffic is a bit challenging. Signals and lanes tend to be a suggestion, and turns to the left or right from the opposite lane seem to be the rule.
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| "The Kiss" |
After the town square, we went down to the coast to Goudy park. It is a park with a large statue of two people kissing, and is the location of the former kissing contest. They haven't held the contest for the past several years, but the record was 1 hour 40 minutes. There are also walls and benches covered with tile mosaics inspired by Barcelona, Spain.
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| Paraglider in Mira Flores |
The park also provides a great view of the Pacific Ocean, and hang gliders and paragliders are often seen flying off the cliffs nearby.
Next was a quick stop at a pre-inca pyramid and "holy place" near Mira Flores. It is a solid mud-brick structure, still currently being excavated, and dates to 200 b.c. (The Inca Empire didn't come together until about 1300 a.d., and then was conquered in the 1500s. The complex is very large, and much of it cannot be excavated since many houses, roads, etc. are now built on top of it.
We then drove into Lima center, passing several parks and neighborhoods. In one area named San Ysidro, there were olive trees brought over by Spanish settlers over 300 years ago. This area also had a number of European style houses, and is now the location for several embassies.
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| Plaza de Armas in Lima |
We arrived in the main plaza in Lima around 11:00. The plaza was originally laid by Pizzaro when he and the other conquistadors conquered Lima. It contains the main city hall, the Peruvian presidential palace, the office of the cardinal of Peru, and the main cathedral.
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| The Main Cathedral in Lima |
We started with a tour of the main cathedral. We couldn't take pictures, which is too bad because there were some really cool things to see. First, the church was originally built, but no one thought about a cemetery. The monks decided to share their cemetery with everyone, which was underground in catacombs. The problem was that the catacombs were expanded to underneath the church, and the church started sinking and had to be rebuilt.
The catacombs are still in place, and the remains of about 25,000 people are contained therein. The bones are arranged by type in various places. Sidney found it a little spooky. I thought it was pretty cool, but very much like a musty basement.
The monks also had a wonderful library, and many of the books are still inside. The furniture is also still original to the 16th and 17th century.
Two of the books displayed were large (about 2 feet high) with large print. These were hymnals. They were placed on a rotating stand in the middle of the choir loft and everyone had to be able to see the books to sing.
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| River Rimac and shanty town on the hill |
After the cathedral, we went to a nearby park overlooking where the river Rimac is. We could see shanty towns across the valley running up the hillside. The houses looked very colorful, but precariously perched on the hillside. Many of the people there came from out of the countryside in
the 80's and 90's, and several were draftees into the military during the time of the military government that brought their families to Lima with them.
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| Presidential Palace |
We went back to the plaza to try to see the changing of the guard at the presidential place, but it did not take place due to upcoming Christmas celebrations. We did spend some time on the plaza, which originally served as a bullfighting ring for the Spaniards. Pizarro's daily schedule was to wake up, have breakfast, go to confession and mass, have lunch and a siesta, then bullfight in the afternoon.
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| TP Hawkers |
On the way back to the hotel,we saw some interesting things. There are several street vendors trying to sell to drivers at intersections. One guy had a huge pack of toilet paper and was selling it to people through the windows of their bus. Another guy was riding a bike and carrying a propane tank.
We finished out tour, then walked down to a park close to the hotel. It is a very nice park, and filled with lots of cats. They seem pretty tame, are fed and somewhat cared for, though they do appear a little skinny and dirty. We had lunch at a little park side cafe, then walked down the hill to the beach.
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| Kimber and Sidney at the beach in Lima |
The beach is covered in stones rather than sand. It was fascinating listening to the waves rolling back and forth across the rocks. We also found it fun to toss smaller stones and watch them bounce crazily back and forth across the other rocks. There were a lot of surfers, but the water was pretty cool, so not many swimmers.
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| Tsunami Evacuation Route Sign |
The shore is located at the base of severely eroded cliffs. There are tsunami evacuation routed marked directing people up the hill at various points. We walked along the shore for a while, then up the hill and back towards our neighborhood along the top of the cliffs. The views were nice and there was a good breeze from the ocean.we walked for a while though, and we're getting tired, so we found a nice little restaurant for ice cream and churros. Sidney had her churros with hot chocolate, which was closer to fondue than drink. We wasted none of it though, and mixed it with hot milk we ordered to make a very nice hot chocolate drink.
We made a stop at a grocery store on the way back to the hotel and bought a few snacks, then settled into our room for the night with a couple of pisco sours and a glass of sweetened milk for Sidney.
12/21- This was a free day on our itinerary, so we went back to the mud-brick pre-Incan temple for a tour. The temple was originally constructed by the Lima people over a 300 year period. It was a solid building with no rooms inside, but built in seven levels with ceremonial plazas on each level. They sacrificed pottery and people when they undertook major renovations or expansions, and the remains of several women and babies have been found at the site. These sacrifices were to the moon and sea gods, which were associated with women.
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| Huaca Pucllana Pyramid |
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| Huaca Pucllana Panorama |
They also had areas where large poles were set into the plazas, but there were no roofs on the poles. It is presumed the poles were totems of some kind, perhaps representing ancestors or gods. There were also small holes containing shells, shark meat, and other sacrifices buried on the plazas.
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| A Wari Sacrifice |
After the Lima people came the Wari people. They took over the temple and used it as a burial place for their elite. Then came the Ychsma people, who gave offerings of cotton, coca leaves, corn and frogs (which were associated with water and rains, so were very important. Lima, while it is close to the coast, is actually on the edge of a desert.)
Finally, the Inca came, but they didn't really hold the temple as significant, so by the time the Spaniards conquered them, the temple had fallen into disrepair and just looked like a large dirt hill. It wasn't until the late 1800's that people realized the archeological significance of the site and started restoration. Even still, there were houses and roads already built over some of the area, and today only about 6 hectares of the original 60 hectares of the site remain.
We finished our tour, then had lunch at a corner lunch counter that specialized in sandwiches and juices. Kimber had a chicken and chorizo taco, Sidney had a tomato and cheese sandwich, and I had a chicharron sandwich, which was fantastic.
After a little break at the hotel, we made our way back down toward the shore for a little walk and another session of rock tossing, as well as a little shopping. We were pretty tired and needed to finish up packing, so we headed back to the hotel to call it a night after dinner.
12/22 - The day started out early as we had to leave for the airport early. We ate breakfast, then left for the airport around 7 for our flight to Puno and Lake Titicaca. On the way to the airport, we saw an interesting sight on a bus next to us in traffic. Buses are all private and compete to get passengers. On this particular bus, there was a magician performing for the passengers. Brings a new meaning to "the Magic Schoolbus".
Once we got to the airport, we saw another interesting thing in security. Peru allows you to take water through in your carry-on. The lady in front of us apparently thought that rule extended to her four cans of Pam cooking spray. The flight over the Andes and to Puno was relatively uneventful.
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| Puno Pano |
Puno is at over 3800 meters altitude. We could tell the difference when we arrived, but Sidney unfortunately suffered the most. Our guide, David, took us straight to the hotel on arrival and let us get settled in for about 45 minutes, then we went for lunch. Sidney slept through most of lunch and ate nothing. Kimber had Lake Titicaca trout with quinoa and cheese, and I had alpaca steak with spicy cream sauce with a quinoa and inca corn mix. The food was delicious. The restaurant also served a remedy for altitude sickness, coca tea. Yes, made from actual coca leaves.
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| The Yavari |
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| Sidney on the Yavari |
After lunch we walked down to the lake shore. On the way, the nausea hit Sidney and she hurled, getting her rain coat, shoes, Kimber's shoes and her jacket. She seemed to feel much better after that. We saw lots of ducks and other birds along the lake shore, and walked for a little bit to try to acclimatize more. We made
the years, the ships fell into disrepair. In 1987, a British lady formed and organization that took possession of the ships and started restoring them. The Yavari sails Lake Titicaca once a year now, and is open as a bed and breakfast the remainder of the time.
it around to the MV Yavari, which is one of two iron ships built in 1861 in the UK, then disassembled into over 2700 pieces, shipped around Cape Horn, then taken by mule, llama and human hands over a six year period to Lake Titicaca and reassembled. The ships were made of iron and fueled by llama dung and originally designed to be gunboats slated for use in a was against Bolivia, but instead ended up as passenger ships. Over
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| Tuk-tuk |
We decided not to push Sidney on the way back and opted for a taxi instead. We got back to the hotel, where Sidney promptly hurled again. We decided to call it a day at that point and settled in for some rest, relaxation and a needed sleep for everyone.
12/23 - We started out the day early with breakfast at the hotel, then a pedal-powered tuk-tuk down to the lake shore. We then boarded a boat to the floating islands of Uros. The people here originally moved out onto these man-made islands to escape persecution by the Incas. They constructed the islands by cutting the roots of the abundant reeds in the shallows into blocks, tying them together, then making layers of the reeds on top. The islands are anchored to the lake bottom. Houses, chapels, and every other need is built on top of the islands. New reeds must be layered on weekly. A good island can last 25-50 years. There are over 60 islands in the group, with about 2000 people divided between them. There is even an elementary school on one of the islands. People go between the islands in reed boats, reminiscent of the Kon-tiki.
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| Uros Island Panorama |
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| Sidney at Uros |
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| Selling handicrafts on Uros |
Those are the facts, now for general impression. Kirk first learned about the floating islands when he was Sidney's age. At the time, such a concept seemed very odd. That concept is still true. The islands move underneath you. There are places where you somewhat sink into the island, and the water that squishes out smells a lot like rotting eggs. If you sit on one of the rolls of reeds, which serve as benches, you must put a blanket down over it to keep your bottom dry. And while it seems there is some way the people there try to make money in every way possible from the tourists, it is still a really cool idea that these people live on these islands their whole life. Their primary source of income is from the tourist trade, then fishing (the fish are tiny and not very plentiful) and finally bartering. They do not beg for money, they earn it by selling goods and services. I've been inside one of the houses, and I still cannot imagine my entire life lived on one of these little islands!
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| Uros Girl on a reed boat |
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| Tequile Island Terraces |
After Uros, we went for a longer boat ride to the island of Tequile (not to be confused with tequila!) This is a relatively large island rising out of Lake Titikaka, and is inhabited by a people with a very unique subculture. Knitting is a foundation of the community for both the men and the women. The hats knitted and worn by the men identify their role in the society, whether single or married, and what position they may hold in the government. The women also knit, and they make hats for the kids to help identify which are boys or girls, as kids do not get their first haircut until they are 5 years old, and it is traditional for both males and females to have long hair. The women also knit belts for the men when they get married, and the belts have two layers, including one layer that has hair woven into it. The belts act as support belts, as the majority of the village is high up on the island, and everything must be taken by hand up the hill on the peoples back.
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| Sidney and David, our guide |
We had lunch here consisting of quinoa soup, bread, fish, rice and potatoes. Sidney opted for an omelette rather than the fish. It was all quite tasty. We then strolled back down the hill to the dock to wait for our boat ride back. Of note, Sidney recovered well from her altitude sickness and led the way for most of the hike.
The weather was good the whole day, even being warm and sunny, until the boat got closer to Puno. The wind and rain came rolling in over the hills, and we opted to head back to the hotel for a little rest. David met us around dinner time and we went to a brick oven pizzeria and had a good meal.
12/24 - Another early morning, as we caught our bus for Cusco. The bus was comfortable and made stops along the way at various sites, but it was still 9 hours.
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| Pukara Bull |
We were fortunate to have David with us, as he took us away from the group at many of the sites and gave us a private tour. This allowed us to see much more, as we didn't have to wait for translations for everything (which weren't the best translations anyway. David is also very knowledgeable about history and archaeology, and provided significant details I am sure the main group didn't get.
The first stop was in Pukara. The site was an important area in the pre-Inca time. There was a temple on top of one of the hills, and the people made sacrifices of carved stone statues by cutting the heads off. The group of people that first settled this area did so around 500 b.c. Also of note in this are
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| La Raya Pass - 4350 meters |
a is that they make ceramic bulls, which local people all over Peru place on their houses as "good luck" tokens.
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| Kimber, Sidney and the Alpaca |
Next we stopped at the highest pass along the journey at La Raya. It is 4335 meters (just over 14,000 feet) above sea level. Puno is at about 12,000 feet, and Cusco is 11,000 feet, so it was a bit of a climb up, then downhill from there. Interestingly, the snow-capped Andean peak
s towered over the pass!
We then stopped for lunch at a riverside restaurant. The food was good, but the highlight was actually the llamas and alpacas outside. There were a couple of little kids "tending" a baby alpaca. The idea is people pay to take pictures with the kids and alpaca, but the kids were more interested in playing that tending the alpaca and taking pictures.
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| Raqchi remains |
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| A "street" in Raqchi |
After lunch, we went to Raqchi. This was an Inka temple and village and quite a bit remains or has been restored. The lines of the houses and courtyards were amazingly straight and well-laid out. There is also a colonial cathedral which was constructed of stones taken from the Inka buildings and temple after the Spanish tore them down.
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| The "Sistine Chapel of South America" |
The final stop before reaching Cusco was the village of Andahuaylillas, the home of the "Sistine Chapel of South America". The ceilings and walls have all been covered in paintings, intricate carvings, and gold and silver leaf. Again, photos weren't allowed, so you will just have to take my word for it or Google the name of the town if you really must see the cathedral interior. The square in front of the church is planted with trees that are over 500 years old. It started raining while we were inside the church, and the trees were nice to keep a little rain off us as we got back on the bus.
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| Cusco from the hotel window |
We arrived in Cusco in a downpour. Traffic was pretty backed up, but we got to the hotel with no problems. Our room was a corner room on the third floor, and while we were pretty much breathless after climbing the stairs, the room was comfortable and offered a nice view over the city.
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| The fire dance |
David met us for a special
Christmas Eve dinner later in the evening. It was a buffet, and the food was pretty good, but the highlight was the show afterwards. It started with a traditional music by a local group, then switched to different dance groups performing traditional Peruvian dances. There were dances inspired by Inka, Spanish and African cultures. The final dance involved men and women trying to set little pieces of paper attached to each others' bottoms on fire with candles. As one tried to light the paper, the other would shake, wiggle and move so as to put the candles out.
After dinner we returned to the hotel to await Santa's arrival. At midnight, however, the entire city erupted with fireworks. Our view from the room was perfect for seeing it all, especially since it overlooked several of the churches and the main plaza, which was the center of all
the action. Things finally calmed around 1 a.m.
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| San Pedro Market Spice Traders |
12/25 - Sidney opened her presents from Santa and grandma bright and early. We then got dressed and headed down to breakfast before setting out for free-time exploration of Cusco. The city name Cusco, or Qosco in native Quechua, means "navel of the world". Cusco was the capital of the Inka empire, so was the center of their world.
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| Inca corn in the market |
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| Christmas Fireworks
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We walked around the main square for a bit, then explored a bit further to the San Pedro market. This is the main market for the locals. There is an amazing mix of vegetables, fruit, cheese, meat and pretty much anything else you would need. Sidney and Kirk tried some boiled partridge eggs, and we bought some Andean cheese and dried seaweed to have for our lunch. We headed back toward the hotel, then up a set of narrow steep streets and stairs to an overlook that provided nice views of the city. We then went back to the hotel to meet David.
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| Cusco street with two styles of Inca stonework |
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| Inca stonework |
David walked us around the old city of Cusco, teaching
us about various pre-Inka and Inka building techniques and pointing out how to identify each type. We saw the foundations of many buildings, including some palaces belonging to the Inka kings and the Temple of the Sun.
Other buildings have been built on top of the Inka buildings, but the foundation and several feet of walls remain.
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| Suqsewana |
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| Sidney in front of large stones |
He then took us to the cathedral, but it was closed for tours, so we went back up the hill we climbed previously, except further, to the Suqsewana archeological site. This was the location of an Inka temple and agriculture area. The most impressive thing about this site is the size of the stones used in the terracing. These people were able to move stones, some estimated to weigh more than 350 tons, over a distance of 5 kilometers from the quarry, then cut and place them in a precise interlocking manner to build terraces up to 8 meters high. Unfortunately, the temple and palace on top of the terraces was torn down by the Spanish so the stone could be used to build the cathedrals in town. Only the foundation remains of those structures.
We had a leisurely walk back down the hill, then arranged for our Christmas night dinner. After cleaning up a bit at the hotel, we returned to the restaurant for a traditional dinner of cuy (roasted guinea pig), chased with pisco sour and chicha morada. The cuy was delicious, and even Sidney liked it. It was, however, presented in a very identifiable manner - whole, including the head, and dressed in a little Peruvian hat made from a tomato. We got a couple of pictures, then had them chop it up in the kitchen into more manageable parts.
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| Cuy (Guinea Pig) |
The chicha morada wasn't quite what I expected. Chicha is a corn beer of sorts dating back to the Inka times. It is made by first drying corn in the sun, then having a lady (the chicha mama) chew the corn so as to introduce enzymes that start breaking the starches down. This mash is then boiled and fermented, then filtered to remove particulates. The remaining liquid is chicha. Chicha morada is made from purple corn, and is very dark in color. It is not carbonated, as I expected, and seems to have a very low alcohol content. It was more like a fruit juice than a beer. After dinner, it was back to the hotel for the night, and a huffing, puffing walk up to our 3rd floor room.
12/26 - We met David early for a driving tour into the Sacred Valley. Our first stop, after a beautiful drive through the agricultural areas and villages, was the salt mines of Maras. There is a warm, salty spring flowing out of the mountain, and since Inka times, the water has been collected in pools and allowed to evaporate in order to collect the salt. The ground is practically rusted from the salt, but the process was amazing. We were amazed by the salt rock, as well as the other crystals in the area.
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| Salt Mines from Above |
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| Red flag of a chicharia |
Next, we drove to Moray, the site of an Inka agricultural experiment area. On the way, we came across some chicharias with the poles displaying the red plastic bags, indicating the chicha-mama has chicha ready to serve. We decided to stop, and this was Kirk's first big mistake of the trip. He had a glass of the fresh chicha, and did not have any problems all day. He woke up at 1 a.m. the next morning, however, with pretty bad diarrhea. Apparently eating cheese pizza and drinking chicha is a mistake. Good thing we brought the Cipro with us!
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| Moray terraces below |
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| Sidney inside the "bowl" |
Back to Moray. The area contains three sets of circular terraces located in a
draw in the mountain. Because of the unique geography, each terrace has its own sort of micro-climate.
Archeological studies have found evidence that the Inka tried to grow several non-native plants on the various terraces. For example, coca and coffee normally only grow in the jungle, but the Inka attempted to cultivate them in Moray as well. Sidney had a great time walking all the way to the bottom of the terraces and back. It was also possible to feel a noticeable difference in the temperatures between the different levels.
We then walked down the hill to his sister-in-law's shop, where she and others demonstrated traditional methods for cleaning wool, spinning it into yarn, and dyeing it with natural dyes. One of the most interesting dyes is made from a small bug found on the prickly pear cactus. The bugs are dried, then crushed into a powder which makes a very red dye. This dye is also used in cosmetics including lipstick.
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| Carving gourds |
After David's village, we headed back to Cusco to tour the cathedral. There are many paintings, gold leaf, solid silver and intricately carved items. The most well known item is a painting of the Last Supper that includes many local items, such as a dark, Peruvian-looking Judas, wise men riding llamas, and a roasted wild chinchilla on the feast table. It is commonly said the chinchilla is actually cuy, but it does look different.
We walked around and looked at a little more of the Inka remains in town before making one more pass through the San Pedro market, then headed for the hotel. We had an early morning the next day, so we got to bed early.
Here are a few pictures of Cusco as a bonus -
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| Cusco Panorama |
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| Jesus above the city |
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| Inca king and Cusco flag behind |
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| Bumper sticker on a Suzuki SUV |
Next post - Machu Picchu and the Amazon...
