The Cathedral, Plaza De Armes, Arequipa
Santa Catalina Monastery
Canyon del Colca
Mirador del Condor
Incan farming terraces on the Inca Trail
Our group with porters and guides
Machu Picchu - enjoying the weather!
Hola Amigos!
I´m not sure where to start! We have had such a great time in Peru and I can tell you that Peru is now my new favourite country in South America!
Let me begin by telling you a few fun facts about Peru.
1st, Languages! Many Peruvians are bi or tri-lingual and really hold on to their indigenous ancestry, including for marriages. The languages are all local indigenous along with Spanish the national language.
2nd, Peru has its own unique cuisine. Finally a change from the normal stuff we can get back home! Marina says its very similar to Russian as they have lots of potato dishes, soups and stuffed peppers. I think she was craving some Russian food.... :D
Lastly, history! Peru has the most significant and famous history in South America. At the forefront are the Incas which you will hear more about below.
Our Peruvian path thus far; Puno>Arequipa>Cabanaconde>Cuzco>Inca trail>Aquas Calientes
Saturday - Sullestri and the floating islands: On Lake Titicaca thousands of indigenous people live on floating islands which they make from roots and reeds. They build houses of the reeds and previously subsisted by fishing and now its also supplemented by tourism. At first you feel the softness of the ground and have concern at falling through, but really they are pretty strong. Later in the day we took a tour to Sullustani which is set on top of a hill on a peninsula around the lake. The site contains ancient Incan ruins. In particular they are chimney looking burial sites where the highest of Incan society would be buried. That night we met a few travellers and immersed ourselves in Pisco Sours and Jenga in a local pub which was heated by a wood fire - at 3830 meters (approx 12,000 feet) it was literally freezing outside!
Sunday - bus travel to Arequipa: This trip reminded me of the gorgeous views in Bolivia. Along the way we gazed at huge towering volcanoes in the distance. The bus also cruised past salt lakes full of pink flamingos. That night we went to the most traditional Peruvian restaurant where they made all the famous local dishes. The Ricotto Relleno - stuffed spicy peppers were my favorite, yummy!
Monday - Santa Catalina Monastery: No Marina hasn't gotten tired of me and joined a convent; typical of Russian wives if you think back to Russian Czars such as Peter the Great... However, we did spent a good portion of our morning exploring this amazing city within a city. At 450 years, this place is as immaculate as the previous residents. That being said, the place seems to have a seedy history with an amount of nuns who did not enter voluntarily. Also, the dowries of the rich families were happily taken as the girls entered the convent. With the different colored areas of the monastery and well preserved rooms, this site is a sure stop for any religion or history buff.
Tuesday - Canyon del Colca: This was possibly that hardest one day hike of our trip so far! Reflecting on the hikes in Japan, Korea, Nepal, China, and Argentina - this almost killed us. Colca canyon is almost the deepest canyon in the world measuring 3,000 meters (10,000 feet) deep at its deepest point (aprox double the grand canyon). A nearby canyon is actually the deepest at 250 meters bigger but is not well setup for trekking. We started what should be a two day hike and having done more than half by 11am, we decided to extend it to a further town in the valley called Tapay. Having used all our breakfast energy, we were desperately hoping we could get food in Tapay. Unfortunately we had to carry on hungry down to the river which splits the canyon; there we found several chocolate bars for sale. Now at 2pm and the hottest time of the day, maybe 32 degrees (90F) we were going to hike up at least about 1300 meters (4000 feet) with no energy. Luckily we had plenty of water and after several prayers to God we made it to the top barely with enough energy to walk the next 30 minutes back to town. For dinner we went with pizza from the Hostel as we couldn't even walk to other restaurants. We were so hungry we ordered a second - how I love wood-fired pizza!
Wednesday - Condors: We were heading back to Arequipa to catch our bus for Cuzco, all in all, about 16 hours of bus travel, fun, fun! But first, we woke up early and took the bus from the main square in Cabanaconde. This was headed to Arequipa, but after 30 minutes we jumped out and went to see the condors. Just next to the main highway is a place called Mirador del Condor where a large number of condors fly around hunting for food. We only saw one condor up close (about 5 meters or 15 feet) and it was, lets say, a pretty big bird. We nestled along a cliff overlooking the canyon with our big backpacks for hours, just gazing into the valley- don´t worry mom, not too close.
Thursday - Cuzco city tour: Having tired muscles from the Colca canyon, we took advantage of the $6 massages in Cuzco. An hour later we felt like a million Soles... Yes its still a lot! :D Today we had tours to the ruins around Cuzco. Whilst they were significant, they were not very well preserved, but offered a good start to our Incan adventure! That night we had dinner at a restaurant called Tabasco - I know, how can you go wrong with a placed named Tabasco, but they had made their own Tabasco, I'm guessing without preservatives and it gave me a dodgy belly for the night. My first problem with food in nearly six months!!
Friday - The Sacred Valley: Feeling well again, we started our Sacred Valley tour. This is a collection of Incan sites. The best being Pisac which is a huge agricultural complex along with a housing sector. Cuzco is just full of history and is a gorgeous, fun little city to enjoy.
Saturday to Tuesday: The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu: Firstly, let me explain what this is all about. If you are not familiar with the Incas, they were an advanced group of indigenous people who lived in Peru roughly from 1000BC - 1600AD. The Spanish chased them away and killed them in their conquest of South America. The Inca trail was only recently discovered and it linked their settlements around the Cuzco area finally ending at Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu itself was a settlement of 1000 people who had temples, schools, houses, and also as most of their sites had a large agricultural area. They worshiped the sun and mountains, they build their settlements on very high mountains which now makes for many spectacular views around the ruins.
We joined a tour, which is a must for the highly regulated Inca trail and with 8 other fun and crazy tourists, we set out up the trail on Saturday morning. The trek took us past many old ruins which we were able to explore. The setting is the Andes mountains and the trail led us though valleys and upon the mountain tops. The dense dark green forest provided the Incas with much cover for their hidden locations. We camped for three nights and our porters cooked us 2 or 3 course meals which were often traditional Peruvian foods. At night, we would marvel at the clouds passing through the mountains which produced a very mysterious backdrop.
On the fourth day, wet from the mornings rain, we reached our final destination - Machu Picchu. Set amongst the clouds, we explored the vast ruins and were led by our guide who showed us all the significant achievements of the Incas. With sore legs from the 45 KM (30-ish miles) up and down mountains, we viewed what is most likely South America´s most impressive archaeological site! Now we are sitting in the town of Agua Calientes and relaxing; getting ready for our trip back to the big city of Cuzco (the capital of the Incan people) and to have a few Pisco Sours. This trip was by far the highlight of our trip in South America and you absolutely have to come and see this place!
So what is next for the travels of Dan and Marina; Nazca and then up to Lima before going to the north of Peru.
Hope you have enjoyed our stories and I look forward to giving you the scoop on next week´s adventure.
Hasta Luego,
Dan and Marina
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