Peru

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Peru – Jeff

Twenty eight hours on a bus is enough to drive anyone crazy. Needless to say, our arrival in Lima from Guayaquil, Ecuador was welcomed with open arms. After checking into our quaint hotel in the Central Lima district, we decided to grab a meal to tie us over for the evening. We chose a restaurant suggested by our guide book that was only a few blocks away called La Choza Nautica. The food was immaculate! Prepared and served with incredible attention to detail. We had heard the Peruvian food scene was excellent and the rumor was proven true on night one. On day two, we toured Lima with no real highlights to mention. Lima had some interesting architecture and historic buildings but it seemed to fall in to the standard South American capital city stigma. We were ready to see more of Peru. We packed up our bags and set off for the bus terminal the following morning only to be stuck in Lima due to a massive strike that shut down all southbound busses. So we went back to the hotel and stayed another night before heading to Lunahuana early the following morning.

Lunahuana was a short four hour bus ride away. Following the bus, we were crammed into small car with four more adults and everyone’s luggage for a twisting, thirty minute trip through a beautiful valley. For whatever reason I, easily the tallest passenger in the car, was put in the back middle seat with my ankles touching my chin. The view of the valley wasn’t quite as enjoyable when stuck in a yoga position for the duration of the trip. Fortunately, Lunahuana happens to be the wine region in Peru - and really the only thing to do in the town is sample the local product. Erin and I spent a couple of days enjoying the Pisco and wines as well as the scenery. The first afternoon, while Erin was napping, I went off on a hike to find a good spot to fish in the river that ran parallel to the town. I found myself climbing through fence and walking through the private properties of the local substance farming families. Shortly into my walk through the “backyards” of the locals, two small dogs ran at me aggressively barking. Intimidated, I kept walking. Soon after, an enormous black dog came barreling around the corner, charging at me with a frothy, pissed off growl. Scared shitless, I tried to yell back at it to stop its charge. The dog was not stopping. I had to make a run for it. Running didn’t get me far since I was wearing my flip flops. My only option was to jump in the small river next to the trail and hope Cujo didn’t like to swim. In I jumped; Cujo didn’t swim. He sat at the bank showing every tooth in his mouth with his growl. I was forced to wade down the river and splash water at the dog along my way until he finally gave up. Unfortunately, there was only one way back to our hotel and that was crossing the same property. Of course, another attack ensued so I made another trip into the river. The woman of the house came outside with a bamboo stick to get Cujo to back down. A few slaps of the bamboo and the dog returned to the house so I could return to dry land. No fishing for me in Lunahuana.

Two nights of sampling wine and Pisco were enough for Erin and I so we voted to keep moving through Peru. We took a less crammed minivan back through the twisting valley to the bus station. By the end of the travel day, we found ourselves pleasantly surprised at our final destination, Huacachina. Huacachina is a small lagoon outside of the city of Ica. The lagoon is a dessert oasis tucked at the bottom of several enormous sand dunes. It was a low key place with a handful of activities to partake in such as dune buggy rides and sand boarding. The days in Huacachina were hot followed by very cold nights. The temperature swing came as a big surprise. We spent hot days lounging around the dunes and enjoying the sun and desert scenery. We also signed up for a dune buggy and sand boarding trip. We enjoyed the ride as the driver cruised over the endless dunes stopping at several locations to wax our boards and send us head first down the sandy mountains. All went well minus a big bruise on Erin’s hip. Our dune buggy trip was concluded by watching a beautiful sunset over the desert landscape.

We exhausted our fun in the little oasis and were ready to move on to Puno. Puno is a larger city that sits right on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake on the planet. Our first impression of Puno: it is really really cold there. Night one was spent alpaca sweater shopping; we threw in some gloves and hats to boot. Our main objective in Puno was to see the floating islands of the Uros tribe. We set up a tour and set off in our boat early the next morning.

The present day Uros still live on the island but almost all of the families make a living through tourism. Because of this, there is a very touristy vibe when visiting the community. It is still quite an interesting site to see. Our guide explained the year long process of making the islands out of the reeds of the lake. They also eat the reeds, make their boats out of the reeds, their houses from the reeds…everything is made from the reeds. We had the opportunity to sample the raw reed to eat and it was actually quite good. Thanks to modern technology, the Uros did have solar panels on the island to provide some electricity at night. Following the introductory lecture, the habitants of the island invited us into their huts to see a typical Uros home and even try on some of the typical garb. I don’t see them making a big dent in the fashion industry anytime soon but the clothes were colorful and very warm to fight the bitter cold wind that cuts across the lake. Our tour concluded by some traditional songs sung by the women of the island. It was definitely an experience to remember.

It was time to head to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley; a location that we had been looking forward to for our entire trip. Ten hours on one of the many luxury bus lines in Peru and we had arrived in Cuzco. It is one of those places that you immediately recognize you are somewhere special the moment you arrive. The history, the architecture, the streets…everything is impressive. We spent our first couple of days just walking around the city since there is a historic building or monument around every corner.

The spirit of Cuzco is, without a doubt, Incan rather than Hispanic. The descendants of the indigenous empire have preserved many aspects of the culture, including the Quechua language. Many signs around the town are listed in Spanish, English, and Quechua. Surrounding the city are several Incan sites. Tourist can buy one ticket that grants entry into about a dozen different places of interest. Erin and I each purchased one and started checking off the list as we made the rounds to all of the sites. Saqsaywaman was our first visit and we were truly blown away by the size of the site and precision of the stonework. It definitely gave us a breathtaking first impression. Other ruins we toured (without going into too much detail) were Qenko, Puca Pucara, Tambo Machay, and Pisac. Walking around the Pisac ruins gave us a preview of some of the rather scary trails we would be forced to take in order to visit the ruins. The Incans loved building these places on cliffs and apparently had zero fear of heights. Erin clearly has no Incan blood in her. The trails often forced her to slowly crawl on all fours or slide on her backside up and down what was left of the Incan steps. Her fear of heights was tested, but she managed to overcome them and enjoy the historic sites.

Machu Picchu was obviously a main target of ours. Rather than leaving from Cuzco, we decided to get out of the city and visit the ancient city of Ollantaytambo, the last town before Aguas Calientes (the town at the base of Machu Picchu). Ollantaytambo had several ruins of its own to visit. We spent a few days climbing the towering mountains that surrounded the old Incan town, chomping on coca leaves to fight any fatigue or altitude sickness. The ruins and the town itself were in such a majestic setting. The town hasn’t changed much in the last 700 years so it felt like we were basically staying in one big ruin site. Everywhere you looked, there were views of Incan architecture.

After few days of hiking around the mountains it was time to catch our train to Machu Picchu. The train was very comfortable with nice service. Whoever thought of putting windows on the roof of the train was a genius. The views of snowcapped mountains, Incan ruins, and beautiful streams along the way made the trip very enjoyable. We arrived in Aguas Calientes and grabbed a quick breakfast before hopping in line for the bus that takes visitors to the entrance of Machu Picchu.

Entering Machu Picchu is surreal. We have seen thousands of pictures and now, there we were, seeing it with our own eyes. The landscape surrounding the old city is just as impressive as the city itself. Towering, steep cliffs that look superimposed surround you in every direction. We did not have too much time to gawk because we were schedule to climb Huaynapicchu, the mountain that backdrops the classic pictures of Machu Picchu. The number of visitors to climb Huaynapicchu is limited to only 400 per day. 200 are allowed at 8:00 AM and 200 more at 10:00AM. We were in the 10:00 group. The climb was a steep, hour long hike. It topped Erin’s “scary trail” list. Needless to say there was a lot of nervous shimmying and sliding on her part. The view at the top was worth the hike. Looking down on the site and being away from the tourist groups was a breath of thin but fresh air. The climb down was perhaps more scary but less exhausting then the climb up. Erin, nervously clinging to the mountain like spiderman, managed to make her way down without incident.

We spent the rest of the afternoon walking around Machu Picchu to see the different sites. We later found a peaceful spot with a nice view to post up and enjoy the view for the remainder of our visit. Machu Picchu is truly spectacular. With the ties to the indigenous culture, the naturalism, and its isolated location, it was the perfect location to conclude our trip through Central and South America.

A quick trip back to Cuzco followed by a 24 hour bus ride to Lima and we were on our way to Asia…but not without eating at La Choza Nautica in Lima one last time.

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Photos

Pisco Tasting :)
Great night in Lunahuana