Peru

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I crossed the border by land from southern Ecuador and spent a couple days in northern Peru, a city called Piura. Not a particularly interesting city, but it was pleasant enough to offer some creature comforts in the way of good Chinese food and sufficient logistical capacities to allow me to make some plans. I decided to fly to Lima from here, needing a break from long-distance buses...

I stayed in Lima for about 4 days, in the Miraflores district, see http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=Miraflores+Lima&gbv=2 for some idea of the area. I was just blocks from the Pacific Ocean, which is unfortunately quite polluted around most of Lima, though this does not discourage the surfers.

I then flew to Cuzco, the former seat of the Inca empire as well as the Spanish. See some photos of the city at http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Cuzco+city

Upon arrival at the airport, I was somewhat concerned when spotting a man at a booth selling individual oxygen tanks. The altitude is something around 14,000 feet. The immediate impact was one of being somewhat lightheaded, but later that evening while walking the streets I had to duck into an internet cafe to sit down as I was experiencing both tunnel vision and seeing stars... After that, I simply had to walk slow, avoid hills and take many breaks. The city of Cuzco itself is quite impressive, retaining a colonial charm and blending it with pre-existing Incan architecture. You find many buildings with foundation walls of Inca construction, then other, more modern additions on top of that. The surrounding mountains also offer great views from anywhere in the city.

The time had come to make the trip to Machu Picchu. The sacred valley in the midst of gorgeous, verdant mountains. It was about a 4 hour train trip from Cuzco. ¨Lost¨ and overgrown with greenery until ¨discovered¨by Hiram Bingham early in the 20th century, this is the postcard place you have all heard of and likely seen in documentaries. Check out some shots at http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Machu+Picchu

I elected to go a day early and spend a night at the base, along a river, in order to get to the site at sunrise. Most tourists elect to make it a very long day trip from, and back to, Cuzco. Despite morning rain precluding picturesque sunrise views, it did subside soon enough for me to both enjoy a guided tour and then to wander around for about 9 hours at the site. Though the city, more a village (a maximum of 500 people are thought to have actually lived there at any given time) is well-preserved and intact, with a variety of temples to the sun god, various homes, still-functional aqueducts, terracing for agricultural production and lots of stone steps, it was the setting among the surrounding lush mountains, the feeling of impenetrable insularity, the steep cliffs and raging river below that most impressed me. Well worth a trip!

Following my trip to Machu Picchu, I went to the city of Puno,on Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake on earth and if I remember correctly, the birthplace of the sun god for the Incas. I took a day trip to Sillustani, a pre-Inca site for burials. There remain a series of towers where up to about 10 people were placed after death, so as to be ready to ascend into the heavens in style. See some of them at http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Sillustani Outside this area we stopped at a local home and were treated to some traditional foods. As the birthplace of the potato, we enjoyed a strange combination of tiny boiled potatoes, which were then dipped in clay, yes clay from the ground, that had been liquified into a watery paste. Not too bad, not particularly good.

Another day trip was to visit some floating reed islands of Uros. See them at http://images.google.com/images?gbv=2&hl=en&q=Uros
Very interesting construction, the locals harvest reeds from the lake, including a substancial part of soil, and tie it all together to make floating village islands. Kind of like walking on straw, bouncy. We were then rowed across to another village in a large reed boat. Interesting factoid-if a particular family is not getting along with others in the village, they simply cut away that portion of the island with the family home and they row themselves over to, and attach their parcel to another community.

A gastronomical note- I tried both alpaca and llama steaks. Both are quite similar, though alpaca wins by a slight margin. No, it does not taste like chicken, more like a veal/beef/pork combination. I regret to report I never mustered the courage to try guinea pig, a favorite in both Ecuador and Peru.

My time in the Peruvian highlands had come to an end, and it was time to cross over into Bolivia, which shares Lake Titicaca with Peru.

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Comments

[S.Y.]

'Am loving to read these!
Dear Marc, Yet another wonderful blog, this one on Machu Piccu. I wonder what minerals came with the clay wrapped potatoes. Hummmm. Pretty interesting. Your descriptions are great and your writing style really smooth. 'Such a fine job, Marc. Take care. 'Looking forward to the next installation!

[Debbie Erickson]

when does the book come out????
Hi Marc, I argree with the person who made the comment on April21. You are a great writer and this experience definatetly should continue on in a book. I hope you are taking notes..... I also love your little sidebar facts you throw in to your letters. keep up the entertaining letters!