The Andean Explorer

A week and a half into Chile and we’ve finally found the time to write about our remaining Peru adventures. Still buzzing from our Machu Picchu trip, we boarded the Andean Explorer, a luxury train owned by Orient Express, that took us on a spectacular ten hour trip on our way to the town of Puno, which sits on the shore of Lake Titicaca. From the glass domed observation car we sipped pisco sours and watched the beautiful countryside roll by. Passing vast herds of llamas, alpacas, and the less seen vicunas, we enjoyed swapping stories with fellow travelers while being entertained by local musicians. Our hesitation about breaking our budget with the pricey train tickets was dismissed as it turned out to be worth every cent and another highpoint of our trip.

Andean Musician

The underwhelming city of Puno was overshadowed by the majestic lake, the largest navigable lake in the world. After booking our tickets at the local port, which would enable us to visit the islands, we boarded a boat crowded with local islanders, their weekly supplies, and a few other tourist. We spent the day first visiting the floating reed islands not too far from shore. Built entirely from the dried lake reeds or Uros, the indigenous peoples have lived on these islands for centuries after fleeing from their Inca conquerors who originally forced them into hard labor, instead opting for a more peaceful life of fishing and trading with neighboring tribes.

Our Captain

Lila, ready to barf at this point, was happy when we arrived at our final destination, the island of Taquile, one of the largest islands in the lake. Our guide Eliseo and his mother and father (our captain) shared stories of the local customs and legends as we toured the island for the day. When the Spanish arrived they moved the islands inhabitants to the mainland and turned Taquile into a prison. Without running water or electricity (aside from the one solar panel given to each family by the Peruvian government) today Taquile is still and important agricultural treasure, it’s unique micro-climate allowing for year-round sunny days and abundant crops.

If you plan on touring the islands of Lake Titicaca be sure to book with a local island tour company, which will help to benefit the island communities and not just the tour companies. We highly recommend Eliseo and his family – eliseodetaquile@hotmail.com.

Uros, Islas Floatantes

Another six hour bus ride brought us to the stunning colonial city of Arequipa. After two weeks of non-stop activity, we were happy to relax and not have an agenda of things to do. We enjoyed the many courtyards of our rambling colonial hotel Casa de Melgar and spent time people watching in the Plaza de Armas. Lila was delighted at the many Turkish and Moroccan restaurants as well as the French wine bar run by a young French/Peruvian couple. Arequipa is a beautiful city and the architecture is some of the most interesting we’ve seen.

Plaza de Armas, Arequipa

Another long bus ride and a quick train across the border has brought us into the long narrow country of Chile. Now that we have our own laptop (forgot to mention that), we’ll be writing more soon…

New Peru pics are here and some of our first Chile pics can be found here.

Machu Picchu

After a week in the beautiful colonial city of Cusco, Lila and I headed out to vist the lengendary Inca city of Machu Picchu. Waking at 6 a.m. to catch a tour bus that took us through the Sacred Valley of the Incas, where we visited and learned about several other Inca ruins, including Pisac and Ollantaytambo, we boarded a train that winded its way along the Uru river, allowing for spectacular views of the lush jungle-like surroundings not accessable by road. The Peruvians call this area the “eye-brow of the jungle” because it sits at the top of the valley separating the jungle from the arid highlands.

What a View

The end of the line brought us to the quaint little town of Agua Calientes (or Machu Picchu Pueblo) set amongst towering peaks, a launching point for travellers going on to Machu Picchu. Although the guidebooks dismiss this as an over touristy hub, we found it enjoyable and had one of the best meals of our trip at Indio Feliz, recommended to us by a friend back home. It was also interesting from a historical context since the town grew out of the original camp developed by the early park workers and their families. At the top of the town sat its namesake, a selection of thermal baths where weary climbers and towns people gather daily to soak away their sore muscles and socialize with one another.

The following morning we awoke at 4:30 a.m. to board the first bus of the day that winded us up a series of death defying switch-backs to the base of the ruins. Smart travellers, we learned earlier in our trip, get up early to enjoy the sunrise from the peak and to beat the crowds that arrive later in the day on a parade of trains straight from Cusco. Unfortunately the morning fog hid the sun from us, resulting in an even more mystifying ambiance on the ride up the mountainside and to our first view of the ruins.

Misty Morning

Set just above the town of Agua Calientes, 8000ft in the Peruvian Andes, Machu Picchu is one of the few Inca ruins never vandalized by the imperializing Spanish… because they never discovered the city. There are many theories concerning the history of this ancient city, but no one has truely unraveled the mystery. The Peruvians call it the “lost city of the Incas”.

After spending a few hours among the ruins, we climbed Huayna Picchu, the peak towering over the ruins of Machu Picchu.  A 1000ft vertical climb up an precarious Inca staircase along a sheer cliff — possibly the scariest thing that I have ever done in my life, but well worth the view from the top.  

Steep Steps

Click here to have a look at our pics from Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu. Our next stop was Puno and Lake Titicaca (it means “Grey Puma”). Pics and posts coming soon…

Centro Huancayo Plaza

After a week in Huancayo Lila and I have finally found time to sit down and write again. Our week started with a 7 hour bus ride 10,000ft into the Andes, taking us into the central highlands of Peru. Although driving on narrow roads along-side steep cliffs is not my idea of fun, the buses here are excellent with full lunch service, movies, and legroom to make any air traveler envious.

Huancayo Mercado

Once we arrived we we were greeted by Lucho, the owner of Incas del Peru, who would be our host for the week at his hotel, La Casa de La Abuela.

We spent the week in classes, taking cooking lessons each morning and Spanish lessons in the evenings. The cooking lessons, taught by Nelli, one of the sweetest women I have ever met and who ran the local chapter of the Red Cross during Peru´s dark days, took us to the local market each morning for ingredients for our days lesson. The Huancayo markets are amazing (and huge). Their Sunday market is the biggest in Peru – you can find everything here from clothing and potatos to chainsaws. During our stay Lila and I learned to make several traditional Peruvian dishes, including papa a la Huancaina, papa rellena, lomo saltado, cuy (that´s guinea pig, and yes it tastes good) and several delicious soups and salsas. The food in Peru is unbelieveable!

Lila y Nelli en la cocina

When not in class, we explored the local area. Huancayo is a small city of 400k people stiing at about 8000ft, surrounded by smaller pueblos each specializing in their unique craftworks…like weaving, gourd carving, and ceramics. Like many Peruvian cities, life revolves around the main plaza(s) – Huancayo has several – where you will usually find people out and enjoying the company of each other at all times of day and night. When not roaming the streets, we hiked to the top of the valley to see Tore Tore, the amazing sandstone spires that must have looked like an ancient city in the hills to the Incas when the first arrived.

Tore Tore

At the end of the week we took a day tour to the neighboring town of Chupaca where we attended a giant animal market where the locals buy, sell, and trade cows, sheep, donkeys, and pigs. Life in Peru is very diverse, with the older generation, especially in the mountains, still clinging to tradition as the young people are skyrocketing into the 21st century. After the market, our guide Paula and her Mom, took us to the top of a mountain on the outskirts of town where there were several ancient Inca dwellings built on the hill overlooking a beautiful agricultural valley, not too dissimilar from where Lila and I grew up in Sonoma County.

Fertile Valley de Peru

Tomorrow we take a plane to Cusco for another week in the Andes. This time at 11000ft. Now we are off to buy our Saroche pills (for altitude sickness)…

Click here to see more pictures.

Llama in the Andes

Lila and I are currently in Huancayo, 9000 ft up in the Peruvian Andes. We are staying at La Casa de La Abuela, with our gracious host Lucho. We are spending the week taking cooking and Spanish lessons. Pictures and stories to follow when return to Lima next week.

Day five in Lima and we are already sad that we are heading out of the city in the morning. There is so much to see and we´ve given ourselves so little time. We have already decided that we might come back before the end of the month. If for no other reason than just to continue to sample the culture and culinary delights that Lima has to offer. Delicioso!

We spent the first three days at Hostel El Patio, a boutique hotel in the Miraflores district. After a month in the Costa Rican country it was a bit of a culture shock, but since we are urban by nature it didn´t take long to adapt to the eating and shopping culture that surrounded us. There are malls everywhere. Apparently, at least in Lima, people like to buy stuff. There is even a five story open mall built into the cliff leading from the Miraflores neighborhood to the sea below. Actually quite awesome as far as malls go. A sad side note, for me at least, is that the surf didn´t seem to be too good at the local beaches, so sipping a pisco sour and enjoying the view was the least I could do.

We didn´t come here to shop, however, so Lila and I hopped in a cab on day one and headed into dowtown Lima to the Plaza de Armas. When we arrived it just happened that the Presidente de Peru was out in the square speaking. There were military men everywhere, assault vehicles, bands, and a lot of spectators and media trying to sneek a peek. I wanted to know why, but my Spanish is still weak, so we made our way through the crowd and into the Monasterio de San Francisco, where you can oogle the beauty of the structure while pondering the grusome nature of the layered catacombs below (as in lots of skeletons of the formerly living). After taking in a few more touristy sights we headed to the cerveceria for some fresh fish and chicha morada, a refreshing beverage made from blue corn and sugar that the local drink much like we do iced tea.

Catacombs of San Francisco

Day three we headed a bit further south the the district of Barranco. Like a city at the beach, Barranco residents seem a bit more laid back dresed in shorts and sandles, but with all the chaos of the Lima traffic (I could write an entire blog about driving here:). Eager to learn more about Peru, we then headed back to the city center to the Instituto Nacional de Cultura. The countries rich roots of Inca culture, indigenous people of the Andes, the Spanish, Creoles, and to my surprise a lot of Chinese, make the art here extremely interesting. Not to overshadow the good with the bad, the most interesting exhibit, for me anyway, was the photo exhibit titled ¨Remember¨, a moving chronology of the movement of the ¨Shining Path¨ – a communist-like rebel movement that terrorized the country throughout the 80´s and a good part of the 90´s started by a college professor. I still no little about this part of Peru´s history, but the lesson taken was that sometimes the extreme left is just as capable of committing atrocities as the extreme right.

Tonight more pisco sours and one more meal and them tomorrow Lila and I will take a seven hour bus ride into the Andes to Huancayo where we will leave behind the chaos and culture of Lima to hunker down and study Spanish for a week at a language school.