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Published: August 9th 2007
We spent about a week in Peru and fell in love with this beautiful country of contrasts -- from the desertic coastal city of Lima to the highlands of Cusco to the lush greenery and mountains of Machu Picchu. Of course, there is much more to see of Peru, and we hope to discover it someday.
We started and ended our tour of Peru in Lima, known as the City of Kings, and the capital of Spanish-ruled South America from the mid 1500's to the early 1800's. While we were there, we had a walking tour of downtown and also toured some pre-Incan ruins, like Pachacamac. We next flew to Cusco, a city of about 300,000 in southeastern Peru near the Urubamba Valley (Sacred Valley) of the Andes mountains. Cusco is at around 11,500 feet in elevation and the rooms at our hotel even had oxygen piped into them to help the "lowlanders" with acclimation. Since we haven't been living in Denver for some months now, I suppose we have become "lowlanders" ourselves and had our own bit of acclimation, but nothing a little coca tea couldn't cure! At one time, Cusco was the capital of the Incan Empire and we
were treated to some amazing Incan ruins in the area like Ollantaytambo and Sacsayhuaman. But, of course, we were really looking forward to our visit of Machu Picchu, and again, we weren't disappointed!
First, we took the train from Poroy down through the Sacred Valley and on to Machu Picchu. The views on the journey of the snow-capped Andes, the terraced crops of the valley and the Urubamba River were spectacular. But we were still stunned by the views at the ancient citadel of Machu Picchu, one of the most familiar symbols of the lost Incan Empire. It was built around 1450, at the height of the Incan Empire, for about 300 residents, but was abandoned less than 100 years later. And although it is only about 50 miles from Cusco, which was occupied by the Spanish conquistadors, Machu Picchu was never discovered by the Spanish and was therefore not destroyed as many other Incan sites were. We toured the citadel with a guide and on our second day there, Ted and Tyler hiked up Huayna Picchu, the largest peak of the mountain range behind Machu Picchu. It was an awe-inspiring couple of days as you'll see by our pictures,
and a fitting ending to our time in South America which has left us with so many wonderful memories. Next we are on to a few days of relaxation in Costa Rica before returning to Denver on the 19th. I wonder if any of you will be as sad to come to the end of this wonderful journey as we will be. We will post one more entry when we reach home, so until then, hasta luego!
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Betty & Gerald Kirby
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Your journey
What an awesome journey you have had, and we have enjoyed every minute of it!! Now you have a lifetime of memories to look back on and we have a great folder titled " Nelsons Journey" to look at anytime we want. Had no idea until watching these pictures of you four how close to the same height the boys are. Bye for now, look forward to seeing you, but will miss the blogs. Love, Gerald and Betty