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Published: November 12th 2006
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We made it to Peru after a very long and cramped 7 hour flight - Continental is a far cry from KLM. We were delayed about 2 hours in Houston, which put in Lima around 2:ooam, where we were eagerly greeted by about 100 taxi drivers. Fortunately for us, we secured a taxi from the hostel before we arrived, as we stayed in Mira Flores about 30 miles from Lima. Mira Flores is a bit more colorful and diverse, also safe for tourists. We learned tow good lessons our first day: 1) always check your money for a counterfeit! We received a fake s/ 50 (soles) from the bank! That is about $15, so we consider ourselves lucky. Turns out it is very common here in Peru and is a huge problem, so there are few clever ways to differentiate the two; scratch the fabric of the man on the bill—there should be texture. From this point forward, smaller bills only. 2) things can always be cheaper. We paid about 3x more for a cab ride than what is typical. So now we know and are armed and ready to take on the rest of Peru!
We left Lima
on Tuesday morning for Cuzco, which is located near and the around the Andes Mountain range. The views from flight were breathtaking, peaking between the clouds were jagged mountain tops covered with snow. The altitude here in Cuzco is approx 11,000 ft, we immediately felt the altitude; headaches, shortness of breath and a dry mouth. Once again, we were greeted by an entourage of taxi drivers but the travel company we booked the Inca Trail with picked us up. So far we have been in Cuzco for 5 days (I recommend 3) and have toured every local Inca ruin there is to see. The “mama” at our hostel connected us with a great bi-lingual tour guide. Our advantage is that our guide was more of a docent, offering more historical information and not what he called “tourista mystica”, as we all know, sex sells. As it turns out, the Conquistadors were not the Spaniards, instead the Castilians. The word Inca translates from Quechua (the native language of the Indians here) to King and he was a slave driver—mean, very mean. So when the Castilians came and wanted to take over the Incan empire, the Indians gladly joined the fight, as
Sunrise over Plaza de Armas
We arrived to Cuzco at 5:30am with no place to stay so we came here and watched the sunrise until the city woke up. for them they thought life could only get better free from the Inca.
The ruins are amazing, these massive chunks of earth, stone, with sharply cut edges that fit together with exact precision. They would put water between crevices in the rock, let it freeze so it would expand then crack. After they would shape the edges and actually polish them with other small rocks. The engineering of these ruins have with stood time and seismic activity over thousands of years. The city of Cuzco suffered a major earthquake in the 50´s, everything demolished except the ruins. ¡Que interesante!
I have to say, Cuzco is a giant tourist trap. It is a beautiful place with beautiful and extremely aggressive sales people, even down to the little 5 year old Indian girls asking for money to take a photo with her little lamb….so you know I did. I can’t resist the kids, but you know Chad can I brought 2 lbs. Hershey Kisses just for the kids, I’m the lady with chocolate. I know, I’m such a contradiction, seeing how I worked 6 months on an obesity prevention project this year, but this is different, these kids
An Incan fountain
this one was located at Ollyantantambo in the Sacred Valley aren’t over weight and they work for a living. For the past 5 days we have been in Cuzco, there are several phrases in bedded our minds “but señora, es alpaca….es alpaca” and “señora pase por favor, for you especial precio…..es alpaca”. We have learned to read all the labels, “Baby Alpaca” means “Maybe Alpaca”. We’ve gone to several local mercados, here you can buy anything and everything including a custom made cowboy hat or a cow’s head—teeth included!
Tomorrow (Sunday) is the big day; we are off on the Inca Trail for 4 days and 3 nights to Macchu Picchu. It is raining like crazy, but hear that is good for the trek as there won’t be any bugs. You won’t hear from us for 4 days….wish us luck!
PS - It is election season here in Peru as well, and we thought the campaigns battles in our country were aggressive. There isn’t a blank wall, street post or moment of silence wasted. Don’t forget to vote!!!
PSS - Having trouble uploading pics to blog page. Click our photo, the click View Gallery, there you will see the some pics.
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Monica
non-member comment
First week
Wow you guys look like your are having a great time. The size of that plane kinda freaked me out. The dunes are awesome and the Ruins are spectacular! Be safe you world travelers you, Love Moni