Transported by a five hour red-eye flight from Miami to Lima, we arrived in Peru before daylight for a taxi ride along the cold Pacific shore to our Lima hotel, the Casa Andina Select located in the Miraflores district of Lima. After a fine and free breakfast courtesy of the hotel, we relaxed in the top floor lobby while waiting for our rooms and the begining of our contribution to the Peru's growing tourism industry. Tourists from countries all over the world flooded the streets, airports, restaurants and archaeological sites. Tourism, growing at a staggering 25% annually, is the third largest industry in Peru.
Magda's nephew treated us to an afternoon bus tour of Miraflores followed by coffee at a shopping mall built into the cliff along the Pacific Ocean. The top of the mall is a public park! Twenty years ago, Miraflores was a community of single family houses; now condos have replaced the houses. Signs of construction are everywhere. The streets are jammed with cars but the stoplights are ultra-modern featuring the countdown-timer displays.
Economic growth has averaged over seven percent annually for the last ten years lifting millions out of proverty but the slowing of the China boom threatens to impact Peru as it is a large exporter of raw materials such as copper and zinc. Also see Economic Growth and Middle Class.
Check out more pictures by double-clicking on Miraflores Photos or see them scroll below...
Cusco
Up well before daylight, we flew to Cusco , once the capital of the Inca empire, but now the tourist hub for visiting archaeological sites like Machu Picchu and for mounting expeditions into the Andies and the Amazon. After checking into the beautiful Novotel hotel and eating lunch on the plaza, we toured the local area still slightly numb from the red-eye flight and early morning departure. Incas cut quarried huge boulders and then precision cut them to form the massive stone walls of Saksaywaman, a site of religious and military importance located in the heights above Cusco. Here we met a local couple who were marrying after thirty-five years of cohabitation! People commonly live together for a few years before agreeing to marry. They speak Quechua, one of the three official languages of Peru, and practice a blend of Catholicism and traditional beliefs including a reverence for Pachamama.
The Spanish built the Convent of Santo Domingo upon the foundations of Qurikancha, the sun temple of the Incas. After an earthquake damaged the convent leaving the Inca's stone walls intact, the convent was opened to tourists like us. Within the Cusco Cathedral, a painting of the last supper shows cuy (Guinea Pig) on the serving platter! We were not allowed to take photos inside the cathedral; here are two links to UTube videos I found on the Internet: just click Cathedral Video1 and/or Cathedral Video2. Here are more scrolling photos - or click Cusco Photos -
Into the Sacred Valley
Along the road from Cusco to Pisac, Alpacas and Llamas provided great photo ops as they welcomed us to the Awanacancha Weaving Center. After the fun of feeding the animals, we learned about traditional dyes and weaving. Some of the three thousand varieties of potatoes that grow in Peru were on display along with many varieties of corn. Some of us unburdened ourselves of lots of cash at the center's store for very fine sweaters made from baby alpaca wool. See The Alpacas and Llamas of Awanacancha and
Natural Dyes.
Stopping at a turnout high above Pisac and the Urubamba River provided an opportunity to photograph the Sacred Valley. Locals sold vegetables to each other and souvenirs to tourists at the colorful Pisac market. Along the road to Urubamba, villagers were roasting Cuy, a popular source of protein in the Andies.
Wayra Restaurant at Sol y Luna provided an incredible lunch as we watched a fabulous display of Peruvian horsemanship and dance.
Fire on the mountains closed the archaeological site at Ollantaytambo just as we arrived. Fire set by farmers to clear their fields had gotten out of control. We also visited a local who was raising Guinea Pigs inside her house. Of course, they were not pets!
Our visit in Ollantaytambo cut short, we opted to visit another weaving center at the village of Chinchero. On the way a red flag stopped us for Chicha, a beer made from corn. The red flag marks a local bar. We learned how to make chicha and then tried some. The weaving center in Chinchero closed before we arrived but a local dance celebrating spring planting was in full swing. Craig, one of our traveling companions, and Joanne jumped right in!
Check out our Sacred Valley Photos scrolling below...
Train to Machu Picchu
We boarded Peruvian Rail for a pleasant five hour ride to Aguas Calintes, a little town along the river below Machu Picchu. We took advantage of a rain delay to check into the IncaTerra Resort, a wonderful "eco oriented" resort hotel.
The bus, packed with tourists, worked its way up a narrow unpaved road lined with tropical vegatation on one side andnothing but air on the other side. We stopped just outside the country estate that
Pachacuti built for himself that is now known at Machu Picchu!
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Bus to Lake Titicaca
Why take a bus that takes all day when one could easily fly to almost there, there being Lake Titicaca? To see the country, of course! Soon after we rolled out of Cusco early in the morning, a quick stop in the village of Oropesa produced a large round loaf of delicious homemade bread that puts Oropesa on the map.I missed the name of our next stop; just call it the Gate to the Middle of Nowhere! It was important in Inca times. Not so important now, I guess.
The Sistine Chapel of the Andes lies in the unlikely little farming village of Andahuaylillas. Inside photography is not allowed so look to the Internet for a peek: Smithsonian Peru Travel Some Photos
If you peeked, you know why it is the Sistine Chapel of the New World. Just awesome!
Once a temple honoring the Wiracocha God, all that remains is the central wall but it is quite high composed of Inca stone work on the bottom and adobe bricks on the top. It is called Raqchi. Besides viewing the temple, storage and residental buildings, one sees people hard at work in the fields. We managed a photo op with a bunch of school kids on a field trip. Charming children!
We stopped at La Raya, the highest point on the road to Puno and Lake Titicaca at 14,150 ft, for another photo op. To reach Puno we had to travel through, round and about Juliaca which is a mess of new construction about 35 km from Puno. We reached our hotel, the Andina Private Collection, on Lake Titicaca's shore just in time for a fine dinner.
Check out our Photos scrolling below...
Lake Titicaca - Uros
Lake Titicaca , the size of Beligum, lies 12,500 feet above the oceans of the world. Upon this rooftop water live the Uru People on floating islands they build from reeds.
A long wooden dock reached out from our hotel over duck weed and through reeds to our little tour boat. After a fifteen minute ride, we passed a Urus "checkpoint" and docked at one of the reed islands where an extended family group still lives much as they did hundreds and hundreds of years ago except for us, the tourists!
The Urus moved onto the lake to escape unfriendly neighbors, avoided the Spanish invaders but now welcome tourists from all over the world to their floating homes.
The Presidente of our little island managed the props while our guide talked about the life style, past and present of the Urus people. After the presentation, the Presidente's wife invited Joanne and me into her tiny reed home. As we exchanged simple pleasantries, the Presidente tried to hand me a native shirt like the one he was wearing. I politely refused thinking he wanted me to buy a shirt. After a few minutes and several attempts later, we understood that they wanted us to dress in their native costumes for a photo op.
Although he Urus people may retain an ancient way of life, they have mastered modern marketing! How could we refuse to buy some souvenirs! After we parted with some sols, the presidente's wife, pleased with her sales, kissed me on the cheek.
The women of the island lined up to sing to us in English as we left upon one of the reed boats for a ride to another island. See the Utube video. Two little girls climbed the boat and into ladies laps charming everyone.
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Lima & the Larco Museum
We returned to Lima for a fast paced tour of central Lima including the Lima Cathedral. Our trip ended at the impressive Larco Museum where had dinner before a cab ride to our hotel for a short nap before our flight back to Miami early the next morning.
Shining Path Today Shinning Path Alberto Fujimori
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