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| Huayna or Wayna Picchu. |
One of the main benefits of being on a sailing vessel is the opportunity to visit places you would not normally visit. Being in Colombia and in the marina in Santa Marta, we thought we would visit Peru and the many wonderful sights, found in that country like Machu Picchu.
We arrived back from Cartagena on Saturday 29 November and started
preparing for our trip to Peru with Intrepid, a tour company we had toured
Japan with and thoroughly enjoyed their whole approach to touring and
travelling. So, on Wednesday 3 December we left Passages behind once again in
the marina and flew to Lima, Peru via Bogota, Colombia.
Our tour, called Classic Peru, was only due to start on Friday evening, 5 December, so we spent two days exploring Lima. As always, we went on the Hop on/off bus and on a walking tour. Lima is a city of approximately eleven million people, and like most cities there are elite, clean, and wealthy areas and then the not so clean, poorer less safe areas. One can see the Spanish or Colonial influence and the influence of the Catholic Church.
During our walking tour, we visited the main city square which was
decorated with wonderful Christmas decorations, and we went down to the
Catacombs beneath the Church of San Francisco. It was quite spooky seeing all
those bones.
We also managed to see the Museo de Sito Pucllana – Pre inca – Ancient Ruins. It was fascinating to see how these structures were built to prevent the buildings from collapsing during an earthquake.
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| Museo de Sito Pucllana |
Our hotel in Lima and where our
tour started from, was situated in a lovely area called Miraflores. We explored
as much of the area as possible as it was filled with lovely gardens, greenery
and parks and cobbled streets. The area ran along the Pacific coastline, with a
few surfing spots and, of course, the main marina of Lima. Every bit of land
was used for either housing, gardens, or sports facilities. In between two main
streets, was a tennis club with over twelve clay courts.
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| Miraflores |
Our Intrepid tour officially only started on Friday afternoon, 2.00pm, where we met up with the other members of the tour:
·
Paul and his Mum,
Stella from Miami but originally from Tawain.
·
Donna - New Zealand
·
Jade - Melbourne,
Australia
·
Mia - Moscow,
Russia but who has been working in Switzerland.
·
Mel and me.
Giscard was our tour guide/leader and all I can say he was
outstanding! He originally trained as a chief and after a few days into the
tour, we decided that the name of the tour should change from Classic Peru to
the Classic Food tour of Peru.
On the first evening of our tour, Friday 5 December, we took the public transport into Central Lima and tried some of the street food. Peru has an obesity (and type 2 diabetes) problem, and we can see why as
EVERYTHING has sugar added to it, even if it does not require any more sugar. We tried Picarones, a doughnut type dessert and some extremely sweet, condensed milk, rice pudding dessert which tasted great, but I could not have much as it was far too sweet. The Picarones, I could easily have had more but they were deep fried. Not at all healthy!
While in Peru, one of the key issues we had to deal with was coping
with Acute Mountain Sickness or commonly known as AMS. We would be travelling
from sea level in Lima to Cusco and Puna, which are over 3400m and 3800m above
sea level respectively.
For the first 4 days and when we were above 3000m’s, we were required
to take our Blood Oxygen level twice a day (morning and evening) as a
precautionary measure. We took tablets (Diamox) as well for the first 4 days to
assist us with the adjustment. Giscard continually reminded us to keep
dehydrated, take electrolytes and to monitor how we were feeling.
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| Cusco - central square. |
Day 2 of the tour, we flew to Cusco. Cusco is regarded as the centre of Peru (and Inca culture), and it is a beautiful city. Giscard took us on an orientation walk around the city and church square, explaining a bit about the history of Cusco and ending at a wonderful restaurant. Giscard would explain the various delicacies or traditional dishes found in whatever area in Peru we were. We drew a line at eating Guinea pig.
Day 3 – Sunday 7 December, we left Cusco and travelled by bus to Aguas
Caliente (Hot Springs/water), where we caught a train, the Hiram Bingham Express,
to the town of Machu Picchu. The train was named after the American historian
and explorer, who ‘found’ Machu Picchu in 1911, although Machu Picchu was known
by the local inhabitants.
On our bus trip to Aguas Caliente, we passed through the Sacred Valley stopping off in Pisac and Ollantaytambo. The Sacred Valley has stunning landscapes and a variety of interesting towns with their
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| The Sacred Vale. |
own unique characteristics and feel about them. Many have links to the Inca Empire. This is also an extremely rich agricultural area. We stopped off at a village just on the outskirts of Pisac where a group of women provided lunch for us. Many activities on an Intrepid tour support local small industries and communities which is something we enjoyed about the company. These women also showed us how they made elaborate table runners and scarves by hand and dying the alpaca wool using natural plants. They were very keen to find out about us, so through the help of our guide, Giscard, we answered their questions. It is a very traditional and ‘old’ approach to family and relationships. They were quite taken aback when Donna, from New Zealand, explained that she had left her husband/partner at home. They wanted to know who would cook for him and do the washing. It was quite funny listening to and seeing their facial expressions. Thankfully, Mel and I passed their
questioning as we were together.
Day 4 – Monday 8 December, we caught an early bus to the main entry
point of Machu Picchu. What an amazing sight! We were so lucky with the weather
as within about 15 – 20 minutes of arriving and walking around, the cloud
lifted and we saw the remarkable Machu Picchu. There are three different
circuits. We were fortunate to be on Circuit 1 and 3. Sometimes it does pay to
book late as Circuit 2 is the most popular, but we felt we had hit the jackpot
with the two circuits we were on. Machu Picchu means ‘Old Mountain’ in Quechua
and is fact the huge peak towering above the Inca citadel.
Huayna or Wayna Picchu is the smaller peak next to Machu Picchu and
means ‘Younger Mountain’ and the Incas considered it to be a sacred mountain.
It was an unbelievable, pinch yourself experience to see the ingenuity
of the Inca people who had a deep understanding or belief in the spiritual
world, where nature and divinity were inseparable. After lunch, we caught the
train back to Aguas Caliente and then our bus back to Cusco.
Day 5 – Tuesday 9 December was a free day where we could enjoy the sights and sound of Cusco. Unfortunately, it was a public holiday so the museums that were worthwhile visiting, were all closed. There were a few optional activities which I was keen on doing like a cooking class and a painting
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| My attempt at the Pucara Bulls. |
class, where you had the opportunity to paint your own Toritos Peruanos or Pucara bulls. They are placed on the rooftops of houses to protect the family and to give them good luck. I thoroughly enjoyed myself trying to cook Ceviche, a popular fish dish, Causa Rellena, a traditional potato dish, and Lomo Saltado which contains stir-fried fillet steak. In the meantime, Mel enjoyed walking around Cusco. Before the painting and cooking class, Mel and I enjoyed walking around the market as everyone was preparing for Christmas and the various Catholic festivals.
Did you know that Peru has over four thousand different varieties of potatoes!
AND they eat potatoes, in some form, with every meal!
Day 6 – Wednesday 10 December - travel to Puno or…..One of the optional
extras on the tour was to go to Rainbow Mountain. There are two areas, one
called Palccoyo and the other called Vinicunca Rainbow Mountain (Montaña de
Siete Colores). This one – Vinicuna is high in altitude, 5200m and is a
challenging 4 – 5-hour hike, whereas Palccoyo Rainbow Mountain is ‘only’ 4900m,
takes approximately 30mins and you can see three rainbow mountains as opposed
to one.
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| Rainbow Mountains. |
We arranged with Giscard for six out of the seven of us, to deviate from our usual itinerary for us to see the Palccoyo Rainbow Mountains as they were on the way to our next destination, Puno. It was well worth the experience and early morning wake up call. It was freezing as we could see snow on the mountain ranges. I walked up slowly as I could feel the effects of the high altitude, whereas ‘Duracell bunny’ Mel as I often call him, walked up at his usual pace. He was keen to go to the Stone Forest, which were 5000m above sea level, but our tour guide, not Giscard, but one specifically for Rainbow Mountain, was not keen for him to go as it had been raining and the walk was quite slippery. In fact, as we were walking down back to the carpark to catch our bus, it started to hail.
We met up with Giscard and our other tour member on our way to Puno. Once
we had settled into our hotel, Giscard, who is originally from Puno, took us to
an excellent restaurant and a city orientation walk.
Day 7 – Thursday 11 December - Puno and Lake Titicaca – we caught a ferry boat from Puno where we enjoyed our time on Lake Titicaca. We were taken to the famous Uros Floating Islands. Lake Titicaca is
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| Lake Titicaca. |
the highest navigable lake or waterway in the world at 3 812m above sea level. The Uros people are the oldest Andean culture where they have made habitual islands from the totora reeds. We were shown how the islands were made using the reeds, their dwellings and how they cooked their traditional foods. We went on a boat ride in one of their traditional reed boats although it was cut short due to a huge thunderstorm that was fast approaching.
After spending time on the Uros Floating Islands, we were then taken
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| We all dressed up in traditional clothes. |
to a traditional homestay on a peninsula close by. This was a unique experience although we have noticed that the Peruvians prefer harder beds to what we, ‘Gringos’ are accustomed to. We stayed with Marcelino, who had as much English as we had Spanish, but we managed through google translate.
Day 8 – Friday 12 December – We survived the night, in a traditional
house, luckily it had a flushing toilet but no running shower. We were told it
could be cold and to prepare for this. Marcelino had put at least five thick
blankets on our bed, one felt like a weighted blanket, it was so heavy. We did
not need all the blankets, thankfully. Before we left our homestay, we walked
around the local ‘town centre and square.’ We had a lovely view of Lake
Titicaca and could easily see Bolivia from where we were staying.
Later that afternoon, we returned to Lima catching a flight from a
place called Juliaca. It was a horrible looking city as far as I was concerned
and according to Giscard, was a city with very little rules and regulations in
most walks of life – everyone had septic tanks as during the development of the
city, no sewerage and water pipes were placed or dug.
Back in Lima, we enjoyed our final meal together with everyone on our
tour before we all went our separate ways.
Mel and I were spending an extra night, Saturday 13 December, in Lima but instead of staying in the same hotel in Miraflores, we decided to go to the suburb/area next door called Barranco. Once again,
the street art was amazing and there were many beautiful parks, walkways, cafes and restaurants, Christmas decorations, and a Bridge of Sighs as well.
On Sunday 14 December, we flew from Lima to Bogota, Colombia which I
will write more about in our next blog entry.
Peru was full of wonderful moments. A place that we were pleasantly
surprised by, and we feel profoundly grateful for the opportunity to have
experienced and visited. We would highly recommend visiting Peru.
So, until next time…..
Take care, keep well, and stay safe.
Best wishes, always
Mel and Caryn
👉Peru - Sacred Valley and Rainbow Mountain
👉Peru - Puno, Lake Titicaca, Uros Floating Village and Homestay
