Machu Picchu

With Huayan Picchu in the background

With all the rush of getting home, I never got a chance to post about our last day, the day perhaps I'd been waiting for since the trip began.  Machu Picchu, a World Heritage Site and one of the 'new' 7 Wonders of the World (though there are so many lists it barely counts these days) was definitely one of the main reasons our South American trip shifted over to Peru.

The Incans built it atop a mountain like so many of their other cities, but this site is special specifically because of its size and the fact that it was undiscovered and therefore not 'bettered' by the Spanish after being abandon around the time of their invasion.  It was only rediscovered in the 1920s, and a lot of work has been done on it since then in cutting away trees and grass and the restoration of some of the walls.  It seems a rather obvious sight from the valley, and I had to question how the Spanish never looked up from the river to see it when using the  terraces around the mountain.  But I gather the tree growth and greenery did cover up much of it.

Our day started early again, not early enough to see the sunrise from the top of Machu Picchu but enough that it was still pretty chilly out.  But also as expected, the bus station was swamped with people and we had to wait as they loaded up bus after bus to take the treacherous climb up the mountain.  JS was telling me how the drive had been much worse years ago when he had gone to Machu Picchu for the first time; how he was sitting in the back and the bus's rear tires were barely staying on the road, which meant the section past the rear tires that he was sitting in kept fishtailing off the road and over the edge of the cliff.  The road is much wider now, and they were even working to continue to improve it as we drove up.  But on the turns (because the whole drive is pretty much a series of switchbacks) there is definitely only room for one bus, and we came to an abrupt halt several times to creep forward and let another bus carefully pass us.

We also passed a number of people who were climbing up the mountain instead of taking the bus, and I excused us for being lazy seeing as we were going to climb Huayna Picchu, (which means young mountain to Machu's old) the nearby and much taller mountain, later that morning.

Temple of the Sun

But once we got to the top, we got to explore Machu Picchu.  We started at the top of the terraces which gave us the traditional postcard view which is, of course, breathtaking.  It's amazing to look down at history like that, especially when it's still kind of early morning with the fog burning off and a chill in the air.  We next went down and explored the upper part of the ruins, which included the living space of the Inca, who was their leader (and the only one who had an in-suite bathroom), other living quarters, the temple of the Sun, the temple of the three windows, and a couple of outlines of rocks that had been shaped to resemble the nearby mountains.  There were also a number of rooms and terraces that we wandered through, seeing the tight-fitting original construction for the temples and the more fluid rock shape of the living quarters, along with the rock and cement that makes up most of the restoration.

Then it was time to climb to the summit of Huayna Picchu!  They only let in 400 people a day in two groups, and we were the second group at 10AM.  This made things a little complicated on the very long, very steep way up, as people were coming down at the same time and the paths were very narrow, with only room for one person moving.  There were parts where I wouldn't want to be the person holding still on the outside--a significant bump definitely could have sent someone plunging pretty far down the mountain.  The stairs we were going up had been modified slightly, but were still based on the original steps the Incans had made to get up to the additional towers they had made at the top of this mountain.  There were ropes tied into the sides to hold for balance, but there were places that you just kind of had to crawl up slowly, mindful of your balance.  It was a little scary, but the view from the top gives you such a feeling of accomplishment when you look down at where you've been that it's all worthwhile.


The climb down was almost worse than the climb up.  Because of all the walking we'd been doing, I was actually fine with the climb up, but the uneven steps, especially coupled with their large size, made for a more difficult climb down.  My knees were definitely feeling the impact with each hop down by the end of it.  Someone told me that they're thinking about building a cable car to the top of the mountain.  I think half of the appreciation is the effort that it takes to get up there, personally.

We wandered through the lower city, seeing the temple with the condor of stone and the reflecting pools which may have reflected the stars at night before heading out for another bus trip down the mountain.  Then it was a train ride, a car ride, and three planes to home!

Sacred Valley

We were back on our early mornings so that we could drive out of Cuzco to the Sacred Valley of the Incans, which is sacred mostly because of the fertile land and the river that runs through it. It was a few hours of driving through beautiful, foggy landscape and again seeing all those Incan terraces, created so many centuries ago, still being used for farming today.

Písac Farmer's Market

Písac was the first town we stopped near, to see another set of Incan ruins.  It's kind of funny going back to write this, because it seems like we visited a whole lot of ruins and I feel like I'm saying the same sorts of things about them.  But understand that going to all these sites is totally different.  We were fascinated by all the different ruins, and they all were amazing to explore and wander through.  So many little quirks and corners to get lost in, it's easy to image that you're back in time, especially with the fog rolling in off the hills.

Písac is also famous for its craft market, which apparently attracts people from Cuzco as well as other villages nearby.  There were a lot of touristy things there, but there were also some more unique items as well.  The colors of all the scarves and shirts and ponchos for sale made for a beautiful background to the market.  There was also a big fruit market, with some more unusual types of fruit, ones that I wouldn't necessarily know what to call in English.

Ollantaytambo street, water on the right.

The town of Ollantaytambo, where we stopped to look at another set of ruins, is pretty old and neat itself. The entire street is made of stone, and because the houses are made of the same stone, still ruins from an Incan settlement, it gives the whole town a very rustic feel.  There's water running along one side of the road, giving it a constant watery tingle.  You can tell that some of the doorways used to be the entrance to a temple because it's not just a simple line of rocks, but has protrusions on either side and the top.  And there was only ever one door to these places, so the locals have had to do a bit of work either making additional doors, or always walking around to one certain side.

The ruins here were quite the uphill hike, which perhaps puts us in training for Machu Picchu and the climb up the nearby mountain we're to do tomorrow.  They did have stairways up the terraces, which isn't always an obvious thing to have.  Most farmers climbed up over each wall using rocks that purposefully jutted out from the walls.

Terraces and ruins at Ollantaytambo

This was another religious temple, also dedicated to the sun, which was incomplete and abandoned during construction, perhaps because of war.  The most impressive part is called Wall of the Six Monoliths, which are colossal stones that once seemed to have been carved but through the centuries have been made smooth by the elements.  Our guide had us look out at the mountainside, and he pointed out the location the stones were believed to have been carried from.  They were halfway up another mountain across the river, and he reminded us that the only beasts they had to assist them aside from their own labor were alpacas, who didn't carry more than 60 lbs, and most of the rocks hauled up weighed more than that.  The other fascinating tidbit he revealed was that the stones were carved up in the quarry on the other side of the mountain and then brought to the temple, where they fit perfectly into their spot.  Pretty impressive if it's true.

On the other side of the mountain, we could see areas of little caves in the cliffs, which we were told were the graves, probably of many of the laborers who worked on Ollantaytambo.  There are graves all over the mountainside, hidden as best they could be from the Spanish and other later grave robbers who might take the valuables buried with the bodies.

After all that talk of death, it was time for lunch!  We ate at a beautiful buffet that had macaws and alpaca as well as pecunias in addition to the good food.  Then it was time to catch our train to Machu Picchu town!

After arriving there, we wandered the town for a bit of dinner.  It's very touristy, and the prices are definitely driven up because of it.  We also figured out that the tourists must like Mexican food, because it was offered, along with pizza and local dishes, at almost every place.  The great thing about Mexican food in Peru is that they grow palta, or avocado, so guacamole is super cheap and easy to get there.  The bad thing is everything else...it's definitely Mexican food with a Peruvian twist!

The town is really pretty, though.  We were finally in more of a tropical zone than a desert for once, with lush trees and a river running down the middle of the town, which is pretty small to begin with.  Our hotel had three stories, and JS brought his beer up to the top and we watched the mist gradually settle over the top of the mountains as it grew darker.  Mysterious.  Machu Picchu, here we come!

Cuzco

Finally, a chance to sleep in! I made good use of that; traveling long distances practically every day and getting up early to go and do things definitely takes its toll.

Qorikancha ruins inside a Spanish church

We had scheduled a tour around Cuzco for later in the afternoon, but for the morning we went out for a late brunch at my favorite spot, a little coffee shop nearby our hotel. JS did mention how the clientele of the coffee shop was exactly as he would have expected a coffee shop to have anywhere. People with hipster glasses reading books, etc. They had really good smoothies and empanadas, too!

Our guide picked us up and we went right across the street from our hotel to the Temple of the Sun, or Qorikancha. The Incans worshiped the four elements of Wind, Water, Earth and Sun, with sun being one of the most important. This temple, in the center of the city of Cuzco, which was the Incan capital of South America and this temple perhaps the most important one there was.

You can tell the important Incan buildings by the care that is put into their brickwork. For their fortresses, the stone stays about its original size and they used rocks of all sizes to fill in where the rocks didn't quite match to fit them together properly. For worship, the temple bricks are all about the same height and color, though the width was often different. This actually allowed for better earthquake stability - yes, the Incans had seismic building strategies! They used a thinner stone placed in between bigger ones which would give way more easily to the stresses of an earthquake. They also used a rolling stone at the bottom of the walls to allow it to move.

Interlocking stones

Another amazing thing about these walls is that they actually link together because the Incans carved out holes to fit the pieces together smoothly. That's why the Spanish found it impossible to knock down the temple walls when they invaded (though perhaps invaded isn't quite the right term - the Incans allowed them to simply waltz into the city because they believed them to be Gods because of their beards. By the time they figured out the truth, it was too late) and built a church on the same spot as the temple. Because what is the best way to convert a populace? To use their same holidays and religious places in the new religion. So the Spanish built up a grander church around that temple, and when they were unable to knock down those Incan walls, they simply plastered them and painted frescos on them. The Peruvians themselves didn't know that the walls contained inside the church dated back to the Incan times until kind of recently, when the plaster started coming off.

Incan doorway

We visited three other sets of Incan ruins after this, starting with a water temple that had water bubbling up from a spring and filtering it to nearby fields. This one also had a number of niches in the walls that our guide said used to hold mummies. On special days, such as the winter solstice, the people would march with the mummies down the street in a parade as worship. We also visited a watch tower ruin high on the red hills and the largest ruin in Cuzco, Sacsayhuaman, which we were taught sounds like 'sexy woman'. The complex was huge. It was also a guard fortification, but was considered to be the teeth of the city when it came to people and weapons. The entire old city of Cuzco was actually made in the shape of a puma, with two streams of water running along the sides to form its front and back and tail. And Sacsayhuaman is where the eye and mouth of the puma is. And the cool thing is that the walls actually look like jagged teeth.

I'm not sure if I mentioned this before, but the puma is one of the animals that represents one of the three worlds, the living world and the level of humans. The condor represents the Gods above, and the snake is the underworld. A lot of items in these temples come in threes because of these three worlds, which hold religious significance.

Sacsayhuaman. Three levels for three worlds.

Another major part of Sacsayhuaman, which is mostly closed off, are the cave trails that lead from one mountain to the other. Our guide actually took us through a short open one, where we had to use a flashlight and squeeze through carefully. I still hit my head. We then went across a huge square, which our guide told us used to hold all the water for the city, which would actually drain out through the tunnel we had just walked through. A little scary to think of. Then we climbed up a bit higher for an actual entire view of Sacsayhuaman, after telling the little children who lived on the hill nearby that we didn't have any candy for them. It was pretty amazing.

After, we went to a local chicken restaurant our guide had recommended, forgetting how he had mentioned that we shouldn't eat the salad until we were halfway through. It was still a pleasant meal with no complications, and on our way back to the hotel, we ran into a small parade making its way down the street, with dancing girls and guys with bells on their legs. They seemed to have some sort of saint on their shoulder, but we couldn't figure out which one, and no one else seemed to have any idea. It was like before, when there had been fireworks in Puno and no one seemed to know what was being celebrated because they have so many little festivals.

Tomorrow is the Sacred Valley and the train to Machu Picchu town, or Aguas Calientes. And the day after that is our final tourist day before a day of traveling to head home!

On the way to Cuzco

Early morning had us jumping on the tourist bus bound for Cuzco, the last major city we'd be staying in for our tour. We learned from our guide that the straight drive to Cuzco is only about six hours, but ours was going to be nine and a half with all the stops we were going to be making along the way. We were hoping they'd be good stops!

Our first chance to stretch our legs came in Pukara, where we visited a museum that contained Incan and pre-Incan stone carvings. We learned about the circular symbol for water, which was obviously one of the most important things in life for these people, and saw stone sculptures that apparently proved that the Incans did perform human sacrifice, often in order to send messages to the Gods in other realms. Probably not to eat them.

Not too long after that was a very brief stop in La Raya, which is the highest point along the road from Cuzco to Puno in the mountains at 4,335 meters. We did quite well up there, I thought, with no altitude sickness to speak of, but we were only there for ten minutes and it was a bit chilly. Not really a chance to run around much.

Then we stopped in Sicuani for a buffet lunch in a pretty area in the valley. They had a nice little waterfall flowing under the railroad tracks and a few alpaca tethered as pets. One of them again almost attacked JS (he swears he loves animals, and does go out of his way to try to pet every stray dog and cat wandering around the towns). And I have to say that before today, I always thought those people in Alpaca costumes with the long hair that whips around were kind of silly and not very authentic. But this one black alpaca looked exactly like a person in an alpaca costume, so I now owe apologies to all those people in costumes.

Another two hour sprint and we were at Raqchi, home to one of the biggest sets of Incan ruins outside of Cuzco. Probably the coolest stop along the way. We walked through a whole village of ruins, where they had their grain storage, where they lived, and the walkways that only royalty could pass through. The most interesting tidbit I learned was that the Incans were big on trapezoids rather than squares, so their walls slanted inward as they went up. I had just thought the ruins were leaning because of age, but they were actually built that way.

I have to mention in here somewhere that the landscape along the way was just amazing. It reminded me a lot of Scotland, with its magnificent hills. Really gorgeous.

In Andahuaylillas, we went through the cathedral that our guide said was the South American Sistine Chapel. It was very ornate, and very reminiscent of churches in Spain. Lots of gold leaf covering everything. But one thing that's interesting about a lot of these churches that I might have already mentioned is that the Incan civilization were the builders of a lot of these churches, under Spanish orders, and they put their own symbols of worship in them as well, such as the sun. I'm not sure how sneaky they were being, but you can see a pretty good mix of the two cultures even in the churches meant to convert the Incans.

Finally we made it to Cuzco! There were a lot of neat sights along the drive to the hotel. There is a giant bronze statue of an Incan leader (no one specific) in the center of one of the squares and a number of nice fountains. The back of our hotel also runs along the avenue of heroes, which has a lot of statues of the said heroes of Cuzco. We also walked to the main square for dinner and saw the cathedral and passed the temple of the sun along the way. We'll be visiting that tomorrow!

Lake Titicaca

Uros Floating Islands

There is lots of Coca tea to be had in Puno to help with altitude sickness, but I was feeling pretty much fine after arriving in Puno in the afternoon. It's an interesting-looking city as you curve down the hill in the bus toward it. Everything is very small and square and the buildings are mostly reddish adobe, built on hills with square windows. Everything leads downward to the dock, which is the main reason for the existence of the city.

Lake Titicaca is immense.  It's the largest lake in South America, and straddles the border between Peru and Bolivia. Our guide Manuel joked that the Peruvians say they have 60% of the lake and Bolivia 40%, but that the Bolivians say the opposite. It's also the largest lake at such a high elevation. Surprisingly, it's fresh water, though Manuel tells us it used to be salt water and much larger before the Andes mountains started pushing it upward. There are a number of islands on the lake, which feels more like an ocean when you get out on it. We got to stay overnight on one of these islands with a local farming family to really get a feel for the culture.

How the islands float

But before we set off for the real islands, we boated out to Uros, the floating islands. Pre-Incan people used to live out in the lake, making floating islands out of reeds and building houses and boats out of them. Today, the Uros live in the same way, though solar panels make a slight difference to their lifestyle.

We landed on one of the islands, home to a few families. Only the women were there to show us around, as the men had gone off fishing for food. Stepping onto the island felt a little questionable as the reeds crunched pretty well under our feet, and we sunk down a little with each step. But seeing as their houses and all their belongings were still floating, I figured we'd be okay.

A typical home

One of the women demonstrated how the islands were made. They find the drifting roots of reeds and lash them together, then crisscross reeds back and forth along the top, until they're pretty high able the water. They also add extra reeds to their houses to get higher above the water so it isn't as cold and so their things stay dry. They also now use cement pieces to put their cooking fire on, seeing as before there were many accidents lighting the islands on fire.

The islands themselves are pretty difficult to describe, though I've tried my best. Photos will definitely be the better explanation here.

After visiting the floating islands, we continued our boat ride out of the bay near Puno to the peninsula. The boat only goes one speed, which isn't the fastest in the world, so it took nearly an hour to reach the other side. This also helps to demonstrate the size of the lake, especially when we were just puttering around a tiny part of it.

Once landed, we took a small hike up to a local house, where they set up a beautiful table outside with a view of the lake and served us a traditional meal. I had my new favorite Peruvian food, which is quinoa soup. It had quinoa, obviously, but also carrots and potatoes, all home-grown at the farm. They also fried up some trout from the lake, though I opted for an omelet made with fresh eggs instead. JS loved the peppermint tea, where we put the little branches into our hot water and let it soak up the flavor. I found a lot of little bugs in mine, but shrugged and considered it extra protein.  Our walk back took us through where all the sheep were staked or running around as well as past the cows, who had mooed occasionally throughout the meal. They were only the first of many animals we saw on these farms.

After saying goodbye to the family, we got back into the boat and headed out toward the island where we would spend the night. Normally, the family comes out to greet you at the dock, but apparently they were having a problem with their water tank when we got there and didn't realize we'd arrived. Once they did, they showed us to the little hut we would be staying in, which was a one room circle with two little beds, covered in four blankets each. Even with that, the family asked us if we had brought out sleeping bags, as it became quite cold after the sun set and the only electricity they had were dim lightbulbs; no heaters. When we told them no, they gave us two more blankets each.

I was pretty nervous about the night at that point, but we wandered around the island a bit before Manuel took us to the little museum on the island which had been started only four years ago when the high lake water had revealed a grave site. The museum contained several skeletons of women not unlike what we had seen at the Chauchilla Cemetery. They were folded up in the fetal position, wrapped in excellently woven blankets, with their things ready to be taken with them to the next life. 

After poking around there for a bit, we hiked to the top of the island to watch the sun set from the ruins there. The hike felt a lot more difficult than it would have elsewhere because of the elevation, and I had to stop several times to catch my breath on the steeper uphills. But we had a lovely view of the sunset, and Manuel told us about the arch found at the top of the island, saying how the Spanish made arches over everything when they arrived to show their conquering. I only then realized how many arches we'd been seeing in the other towns, in front of churches and elsewhere.

After the sun went down, it was definitely cold. I had five layers on and was still shivering in our little hut. But after a hot dinner, again made from food grown on their farm, I dove under the covers, covered up my head, and slept as best I could.

I only tossed and turned a bit that night, and was happy to awaken to sunlight and warmth again. After feeding us a nice breakfast, we bid our family adieu, having presented them with our thanks in the form of some fruit and staples, such as pasta, rice and sugar, as well as a bag of American cookies, which they seemed pretty excited about.  Then one of the sons set up his sailboat, which was pretty much a rowboat with a homemade sail and mast, and took us across the water to another island, Amantani. We walked around the island a bit, seeing the local morning market and passing the main square as well as several schools. At one of them, we came across another group of tourists and a number of locals playing a friendly game of volleyball and decided to join them. After winning at that, my team then found it fit to beat them equally well at a game of soccer. It was a little rough playing in the higher elevation, but I again felt like I was getting better as time went on.

We parted ways with the other group and went on to another local home for another home cooked meal. But this time, we had to earn it. We went out with one of the women and helped take the cows out to a different pasture, which mostly only meant we walked behind the cows as she led them. I did manage to make one of them try to headbutt JS accidentally, though, as we were helping stake them down. We were really probably more of a hindrance than a help, but it was fun.

After a meal of fried cheese, rice, tomato and avocado, we headed back to our boat for the long ride back. It was pretty relaxing to kick back and nap a bit on the water. But tomorrow is the ten hour bus ride to Cuzco--yikes! Luckily, there will be a few leg stretching stops along the way.

Arequipa

Convento de Santa Catalina

Yay movies! Our bus was actually late, so I only ended up watching one movie before getting some sleep, but those buses are definitely as comfortable as a plane, probably more so because you can actually recline and sleep! JS and I were decently rested when we got to Arequipa this morning, so we dropped our bags, had breakfast at the hotel, then set out to explore.

The main square wasn't too far away, and once again there were a ton of pigeons around, with locals selling bird feed to draw them in. There was a cute little boy running around scaring all of them, which was pretty funny. The main squares in the cities are pretty standard--the town hall, a church, and a square with greenery and a statue in the middle.

Convent kitchen

We have also officially entered the land of no toilet paper. Yes, the hotels do have them, but anywhere else, you're supposed to bring your own. And even in the hotels, you aren't supposed to throw it in the toilet, but in the trash to prevent clogging. And that will be all I have to say on the subject.

The main thing we visited in town was El Convento de Santa Catalina, or the Convent of Saint Catalina. It's really a city within a city, with a lot of colorful walls and little nooks to wander through. The convent today is pretty tiny, consisting of only fifteen or so nuns, so the rest of it is open to the public for a small fee. It was definitely pretty, though I was happiest at the end when we actually got to go up on a roof and look out over the city.

Misti Mountain in the arch

After grabbing some lunch, we caught the tourist bus around town and spent some time at a bunch of different locations. We saw the famous arches, which detail why Arequipa is called the lion of the south; it's always ready for a revolution if something happens in the capital they don't like. We also saw the great Misti mountain, which is actually a volcano that is still technically active today, though it hasn't erupted for a few hundred years. But it was apparently smoking last year, and residents keep building closer to it. Bad idea. There is another chain of inactive volcanoes with snow on the top that we could see nearby as well.

The next place was a beautiful overlook of those volcanoes and the river below, with the city of Arequipa as well as much of the farmland nearby. I bought some of the local ice cream, which turned out to be cheese-flavored, much to my surprise. But it was actually really good! I think the local cheeses here are a lot more fresh than in the US. Not that that necessarily makes them better, but it's definitely different than back home.

Alpaca!

We also visited an alpaca inclosure, where they make products from the wool, and a couple more touristy places before being dropped back in the main city. After, we grabbed dinner and a show at a nice place about a block away from our hotel, where JS was adventurous and tried the alpaca meat. I had a bite and didn't like it much. But then I'm not really a fan of steak in general.

Spins

It was neat to see the dances that they put on, in the traditional garb. The hats are pretty crazy. There were three dances, and the first was probably the most funny in that the boys were playing alpacas and the girls got to hop on their backs and ride them around. There was also some oddly high pitched shouting during the dance, which kind of grew to be grating. The second dance was difficult, a boy's dance though one of the girls did it too. Lots of "hey!"s in that one too. The third was pretty flirty with the boys and girls, with the waving of handkerchiefs and such. Very cute. And the girls' skirts kept flipping up, which I'm sure was part of the appeal to the boys.

Headed to Chivay tomorrow. We'll see how we do with the elevation!

Chivay

We caught the bus to Chivay and realized that we were actually going to be on a tour instead of just being shuttled to a new place and being met by a local guide. That meant that there were lots of stops along the road to Chivay, which made the three hour drive much longer. But we got to see a lot of picunas, which are kind of like a cross between an alpaca and a deer, and then a ton of alpaca as we entered the wildlife refuge.

Alpaca!

I'm not really sure why it's actually considered to be a refuge, because all the alpaca are owned by specific people, but they do roam freely across the land for most of the year. But in early September, they are rounded up and shaved for their wool. And the way they round them up is they get a ton of people to hold hands in a circle around the alpaca, and then they make the circle smaller and smaller. Really interesting.

We've been coming across a lot of alpaca wool products, which tend to be pretty soft. They also have baby alpaca hair products, which aren't actually taken from baby alpaca.  It's just a measurement of how fine the hair is.  The other thing I learned about the alpacas was that they tend to travel in groups of maybe five to ten, but like with lions, there's only one male in the group. The lone alpacas tend to be the older males who have lost their groups.

Dance statue

We stopped at a store where they were selling cocka products, such as leaves and candies. It's one of the things that is supposed to help with altitude sickness, seeing as we were going high up into the mountains. I got some toffee, which was okay. But the leaves themselves taste pretty bad. I had a handful of them and only the sweetener makes it bearable. Otherwise, you're really just eating leaves.

And yes, before anyone asks, this is the same type of leaf that can be used to produce cocaine. But it has to be processed and a whole bunch of other stuff I know nothing about, so don't worry. No drugs for me.

After making it to the hotel, we changed and took a trip to the natural hot springs that are in Chivay. I was worried when we first got up there and could seriously smell the sulfur rotten egg smell. But once we got down into the pools we were fine. The water was warm and relaxing, and it felt good to kick back after time on the bus.

Local Market

After, we wandered downtown and found a bunch of strange statues along the main street.  Well, some were strange, but traditional I suspect. I'll ask the guide about them tomorrow if I remember. But the highlight of the night was definitely discovering the night market, where there were a couple little food stands all up and down the road, with benches to sit on as you ate. JS and I ended up getting a hot chocolate and sharing the bench with a few other locals, who had gotten bread and were dipping it in their warm milk. It was really cool to see the little stands and the locals eating dinner.

El Pozo del Cielo, our hotel

I forgot to mention how cute our hotel is. It's at the top of a hill overlooking the city proper, and has a bunch of little terraces and levels along with arches and stairs that make you feel like you're in the courtyard of a castle. Pretty neat! I think it's early to bed tonight, as we have an early wake up tomorrow morning to see Colca Canyon. It's deeper than the Grand Canyon! We'll see if it's also as breathtaking.

Nazca

We were up decently early for our tour around some of the sights of Nazca. We had been convinced to wake up an hour earlier in order to go to see the Nazca lines from the ground and from a rickety metal tower that has been erected by the freeway near two of the smaller designs, just in case we didn't get the flight that afternoon.

El Arbol, from the viewing platform

For those unaware of the Nazca lines, they are a series of lines and geography (or pictures) that stretch across the Nazca desert for about 50 miles. They are believed to have been made by the Nazcas starting around 400 AD. The more famous ones are images, but there are also a ton of geometric shapes as well as simple lines. There are a number of theories of why the Nazcas might have made these miles-long lines, the leading ones being that they were writing messages to their Gods, that they used the lines to walk on for worship ceremonies, and lastly, that the lines are an astrometric calendar and the shapes are constellations in the sky.

It was actually really neat to be able to walk up to a line and take a good look. There doesn't seem to be that much to them, in that all is done is removing the red rock from the area of the line to reveal the white ground underneath. Maria Reich, a German who moved to Peru and studied the lines for most of her life, was an instrumental figure in preserving and cleaning the lines, so they could be seen again with greater clarity. The lines are actually mostly self-cleaning, seeing how it doesn't really rain and the wind tends to blow away the small stuff in the afternoon.  That seems to be why they've lasted this long.

We went up on a nearby hill that intersects a few of the lines and our guide showed us the solstice lines, the lines that point to where the sun will set on the days of the summer solstice (June 21st) and the winter solstice (December 21st). The sun still sets there, perfectly in line according to our guide.

After, we went to the tower where we saw the outline of the tree (el arbol) and another strange one which is called the hand (el mano). It actually kind of looked like a heart with hands. But the hands only had nine fingers, which apparently could have several meanings. Perhaps it's the nine months a woman is pregnant, or perhaps it has to do with the nine months of drought in the Nazca desert--they only have water January through March, which is why many people only get an hour of water a day, despite the ancient aqueducts that still pump water from afar.

The mummies of Chauchilla Cemetery

After the lines, we went out to Chauchilla Cemetery, which is apparently an important place for the locals. It contains the desecrated graves of many Nazcas who were buried starting in 200 AD. Many years ago, the site was found by grave robbers, who dug up many of the bodies and stole the treasures they were buried with for use in the afterlife. The somewhat mummified remains were left on the surface, but have now been placed back inside the graves for people to wander around and see. However, there are specific white stones that you must walk in between, as there are still random bones scattered around the desert and other untouched graves underneath.

Every now and then along the roughly circular trail is a pit where the original grave was, with stones built into the ground to house them. A woven roof protects the bodies from the sun, but nothing else. You can see the skeletons, sitting up in the fetal position with their clothes on and most of them still had their hair. It was kind of surreal, definitely something you can only see in another country.

After that bit of graveness, we went a bit lighter and visited a pottery shop whose owner told us about the ancient way of painting and firing the clay. He also showed us the various items that were used to make the colors, which was neat to see. Then it was off to the hotel to see if there was word about the flight.

There was word, but it wasn't good. We wandered around town for a bit before going back to hear if they were going to be able to squeeze in a flight after all and were told no. After a large bit of drama and crossed wires, the airline called back and said they had been given clearance for a late flight and a car was on the way to pick us up. We jumped in!

The monkey.  See the spiral tail?

After a short wait, we strapped in to a six seater and smoothly took off. The pilot gave us bags, just in case, but I didn't think much of it until we reached the first glyph and he banked the plane so that our eye level windows were parallel to the ground and circled. It wasn't too bad, but we were definitely pulling a few gs! We then proceeded to do this twice with nearly everything, once on the left and once on the right so everyone could see.

It was pretty amazing having seen the lines on the ground but being unable to make out the images because of the sheer size of them, and then to fly above and see the whole picture. A lot of the picture ones were harder to see, because a lot of the lines overlap as they stretch across the desert. But I think I snapped them all!

Despite the drama, it sounded like we were luckier than the early morning flight, who got the at 7am and had to wait for their flight clearance until 1:30. At least we had the morning to explore!

Nazca Planetarium

We're catching the night bus to Arequipa tonight, but we had the chance to go to a planetarium here in Nazca, which is near the bus station.  It was a pretty cool show, mostly about the stars and the Nazca lines.  I was amused to find that their planetarium stars were created by a lamp and a closed up shade that had the star patterns punched out of it.  A little less sophisticated than my planetarium.  But afterward, we took a look at Saturn and the moon and such with a telescope outside.  It was neat to be able to see alpha and beta Centauri, our closest neighbor stars which can only be seen from the southern hemisphere, as well as the southern cross.

That's pretty much it for today.  I think the bus going to be more comfortable than the plane by a long shot, seeing how far back the seats reclined last time. And hopefully there will be movies!

Colca Canyon

Adding to a very unrestful night's sleep was this morning's call time of 6am. I decided that it was probably a combination of altitude sickness, which JS says often hits harder around bedtime, and maybe the milk from the hot chocolate. I must admit to not being sure what kind of animal it came from, and I'm sure I'll get some grief from the family about that. But authentic street market! Worth it.

Despite the lack of sleep, it was a fine day for viewing the Colca Canyon, which was our main destination for today. From Chivay, it was a bumpy few hours' ride, half of the way on an unpaved road. We stopped every now and then to choke on the dust and to take in the panorama that surrounded us.

Part of the amazing view has to do with these, which are called stepped terraces. They're basically rock walls built up so crops could grow on these steep Andes Mountains. The most fascinating thing about them in my book is that they were originally made in pre-Incan times, making them over eight centuries old. And the farmers still use them today! The most impressive part can't even be seen from this one photo--these rock walls continue on across the entire valley. They had to take forever to make.

At every stop we made, there were women dressed in the traditional Pervian garb of skirts with embroidery and the special hats they wear, selling the same scarves and hats and gloves. I bet they made a killing in the freezing cold morning. And people still bought things in the afternoon. I did enjoy our first stop, where we got to try some tuna, which is not fish but a fruit that grows on the cactus in Peru. It looks like a kiwi on the inside, but is very sour. They use it to make Colca Sours, which is similar to Pisco Sours but using the tuna instead of tart limes. Both will make you pucker!

Our guide talked a bit along the way about the history of the region and the terraces, and the other really interesting thing he mentioned in association with the women and their hats. There were a couple little tribes living in the mountains in the Inca time, and each one had a specific mountain that they considered holy. To honor this, they shaped the skulls of their children into the outline of these two mountains, one of which was kind of a flat topped mountain and the other which was very peaked. It made me a bit squirmy to think about this, so I won't go into any more detail, but when the Spanish came around they forbid this practice and instead allowed the natives to create flat and peaked hats to worship their mountains with. Which are the same sort of hats you see them wearing today! When in traditional garb, that is.

Something else that strikes me as kind of funny is how often we walk around and see a local wearing what I would consider tourist garb. A lot of people have jackets that say Peru on them, and they also wear the cute beanie hats that say where they are from and have little alpacas on them. I'm not sure if it's advertising, national pride, or just that the tourist stuff isn't too pricy to buy.

We finally arrived at the Canyon itself, and it was all right. Yes, it's two times as deep as the Grand Canyon, but the colors are definitely monotone in comparison. The cooler part was definitely seeing the condors that made the canyon their home. You could really tell how deep the canyon was when they would come wheeling over your head and then soar down to the bottom, becoming nearly invisible in their tininess.  Our guide kept talking about the Flight of the Condors and JS and I were having trouble not referring to it as the Flight of the Concords.

But the condors were cool. There weren't any flying around at first, so we were worried it was going to be a dud, but they came out after a bit and kindly flew over our heads for pictures. They have a huge wingspan and look so smooth gliding in the sky, but when they get in close and you can see their turkey heads, they really aren't that pretty. But boy can they fly!

It was a long drive all the way back to Arequipa. I might have slept. But I was happy to be back in a lower elevation city with a few hours to wander around the shops. Wish me luck for tomorrow with the even higher elevation Puno!

Paracas

Animals, animals, everywhere!

Candelabra

Bundled up in both my jackets, I was ready for the boat. We walked out to a misty dock and after some boat confusion, ended up in one called the Milsy. Significance? Not sure. But we went straight out into the water, and spotted a few dolphin pods straight out. Awesome!

As we were skimming along the shore, the boat slowed to show us my first geogliph, Paracas's Candelabra. It's nearly 600 feet tall and can be seen from 12 miles away at sea, apparently. But not in the fog. Pottery fragments nearby date it to 200 BCE, but they have no idea as to its purpose or message. Something I'll probably be hearing more about in Nazca with the lines. Anyway, it was pretty cool to see it etched in the sand.

Then we broke away from the shore and headed out to the Ballestas Islands, a wildlife refuge or bird poop central as we later learned. There were a bunch of little islands that we went around, seeing the different kinds of birds (including penguins!) as well as getting super close to the sea lions on the rocks jutting up.

Huacachina

Sandboarding!

After our foray into the wild, we got on a bus headed for Ica and the small desert oasis of Huacachina. This was easily the best part of the trip so far. We took a sand buggy out into the real desert and were riding up and down the sand dunes. We had roll bars because believe me, it's happened to our driver at a couple points. But he took us up to the top of one of the dunes and instead of dropping down it, he stops the buggy and pulls out some boards. I've seen a couple actual snowboards for rent that you can use for sand boarding, but these were more just heavy boards with velcro straps for your feet. I was actually the only one who tried real sand boarding--everyone else just slid down the mountain at crazy fast speeds. And it was definitely easier that way. With sand boarding, you're supposed to keep your weight at the back so you keep moving downward, which is the opposite of snowboarding. Tough.

After, we had lunch and wandered around the oasis for a bit. I thought about going swimming in it, but in the end settled for a chocolate milkshake which didn't actually taste a whole lot like chocolate. It was cool, though. Nice and icy.

Then the time came to catch another bus to Nazca. We thought we had already reserved a flight to see the Nazca lines, but apparently not. And with the airport strikes going on in Lima, the flight company said they're not sure how many flights they'll be able to get out. We're supposed to check in with them tomorrow at noon so...fingers crossed!

Miraflores

We decided to sleep in a bit, but still managed to wake up in time to wander. We started to walk toward the Miraflores district of Lima, though we had already realized it would probably take too long to walk there and back by the time we had to catch our bus for Paracas. We walked a couple of blocks before deciding to be daring and trying to take one of the local buses.

Now understand, these are not city buses in the normal sense. They're refitted vans which are privately owned, usually by the driver, and they come in all sizes and conditions, from new-looking to totally run down. I managed to flag one of the ones going our direction down, and we rode it to Miraflores without any problems. They're definitely cheaper than a taxi, and just as fast. Perhaps safer as well, considering their size?

Regardless, we walked around Miraflores a bit, finding a great park where lots of cats liked to lounge and shoe shiners liked to..shine shoes. Again, lots of locals and only a few people with cameras. An older gentleman who spoke excellent English also struck up a conversation with me about his city and what we'd seen so far. Everyone keeps talking about Cusco, so I'm glad we have a day there to explore.

We also saw some people protesting horn honking. It's pretty superfluous throughout the city, either because cars are cutting people off, about to crash into them, or because pedestrians are in their way. That was one thing we were warned about first thing when we arrived--Lima is not a pedestrian has right of way kind of city. The autos rule the streets. Taxis also honk to get your attention while walking, and if you turn around, they think you're hailing them. I had to start forcing myself not to look at the double tap.

Catching a bus back was also relatively easy (and we actually got seats in a nicer one for the ride) and we made it back in time to catch our four hour bus to Paracas. Which costed 5 nuevos soles, or about $2.50. Almost cheaper than  the bus at home. And this was a really nice travel bus, more like an airplane with the service. There were tvs showing movies and they even gave us lunch. Which actually would make it nicer than most airlines these days. I even ate the sushi! Though I would barely consider it sushi, considering the meat inside seemed to be chicken. Baby steps.

The views along the way were amazing, at least for me who has never seen a real desert before. I'm talking sand dunes and bantha tracks with sand people hiding over the rise. Very cool. And most of the drive was along the coast, the Pacific stretching the whole way. There were also a lot of shells of abandon buildings all along the way. Some people did have stalls set up along the freeway, where you could stop for food or to shop a bit too. But most of the buildings were empty, with only sand to fill it.

When we got to Paracas, we found a bus station that seemed to be made mostly of wood and straw. The three little pigs wouldn't last long here!

The bus station was pretty much the only thing on the first street, and there are really only two other streets that make up the city; the one our hotel is on and the one next to the ocean where the dock and all the seafood restaurants are. So yes, we had seafood. JS actually enjoys seafood and took a risk, getting the ceviche mixto, which is a mishmash of a bunch of different raw seafood like clams, octopus, shrimp, and fish in an acidic bath of lemon lime juice. I did try a few bites; the juice kind of burned the tongue, but was good. I think I'm just not so down with the texture of the various sealife. I did have fish filete, which was fried enough not to be too fishy. But I won't be too sad if this is our last port of call for seafood.

While Lima seemed to have an over abundance of cats, Paracas seems to have the same of dogs. And seeing how I'm hearing the dogs barking out my window even now, I have a feeling I'm going to prefer the silent cats.

Looking forward to going out on the boat tomorrow to the wildlife preserve. Hopefully we'll see a lot of animals!

Lima

 So begins another journey.

JS and I took the the redeye to Peru Monday night, the day directly after the fair closed. I did manage to sleep for most of the flight, but I think that taking off right after the fair was the same mistake I made last year leaving for Europe. You definitely need a few days to decompress.

But once here, I perked up pretty fast. Lima is a crazy city, intensely populated and not with that many tourists, I'd say. JS and I got here pretty early, but it was around noon before we got out of the hotel to explore downtown. There were very few people walking around with cameras. Instead, it looked like the locals actually enjoyed sitting around their public squares, reading the newspaper or having their coffee. A big change from Spain, where the locals dress up as cartoon characters for the tourists. I definitely liked it.

One thing I could do without, however, was the crazy traffic. It's definitely dangerous out there, and I've been saying that I had the most dangerous taxi ride of my life now, which beat out the NY taxi going half a mile down a one way street backwards. It looked as if collisions were eminent several times before brakes were slammed or the steering wheel was swerved. Often, two lanes became three as people squeezed through. I think the drivers of Lima are a lot more alert than our American drivers. But then again, their cars are also a lot more scraped up. JS said it wasn't the most dangerous taxi ride he'd ever had (the dubious pleasure went to a drive in Egypt) and he was the one whose seatbelt was broken. But the driver spoke a little English and enjoyed talking to us about the city in between near collisions and shaking the car apart. It was definitely an education.

Governmental Palace

Another interesting thing about the driving is that whenever you hit a significant stoplight, people selling snacks and sodas swarm the cars. There are a lot of window transactions and people with portable trays of goods specifically stake out certain lights with long waits. It's a much faster way to get through customers.

The downtown area had a lot of older buildings, including the Governmental Palace, which had a changing of the guard ceremony similar to that in Prague, though their uniforms were red like the English. They weren't as well trained as either though -- scratching your nose seemed to be okay for these still sword-wielders.

Pigeons of San Francisco Cathedral

There were also a couple cathedrals, one of which we took a tour of and was named San Francisco, the same saint named for our California city. There were lots of old murals of his life and other pictures painted by local artists as well as catacombs under the church, which we were able to visit. It wasn't as cool as the catacombs in France, but the bones were stacked and there were a lot of grinning skulls staring back at us.  Aside from that, my favorite room was definitely the library, which looked like it could be straight out of Harry Potter with spiral staircases and bookshelves galore.

After returning to the hotel for a quick nap, we were disappointed to find that the restaurants we'd wanted to try had closed for the evening. We did manage to find one that was open, though I doubt it was anything legendary the foodies would talk about for Lima. Though we did try the Pisco sours! Definitely my kind of drink.  And after a long flight and day, we were satisfied.