Tuesday, November 19, 2013

Arequipa, Lima, and Our Last Days in Peru

For our final few days in Peru, we left Cuzco for the southern city of Arequipa and then spent another day and a half in Lima before flying back to Atlanta to end our 11 day Peru adventure.

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru, with around a million people.  The city is located in the Southeast corner of Peru and is closer to La Paz Bolivia than Lima.  It's the furthest south the two of us have ever been (16°S). Arequipa is built primarily using the local volcanic rock found in the region (sillar), so everything is white and very pretty, especially in the historic center of the city near the main plaza.  Overall, we found Arequipa to be a little sleepy compared to the big city of Lima and the tourist flurry of Cusco, but it was still a nice place to visit.


View from the plane on the way to Arequipa

Casona Solar, our hotel in Arequipa.  Only complaint: no windows so it got stuffy!

Courtyard of our hotel

Plaza de Armas and La Catedral

Colonnaded buildings line Arequipa's main square

El Misti volcano in the background

View of Chachani and El Misti volcanoes from the Cathedral roof

One of the most interesting sites in Arequipa was the Monasterio de Santa Catalina. It's a huge nunnery founded in 1580, taking up a whole city block. It consists of a series of streets lined with former nun's houses, cloisters, and other religious rooms. It's unique because the nuns, who were rather wealthy, all had their own houses inside the monastery. This was put to a stop by the pope himself in the 1870s, when the nuns were forced to take on a more humble lifestyle. It was a very peaceful and beautiful respite from the noisy, dusty streets of Arequipa.


A street in Monasterio de Santa Catalina 

Fountain and church in the monastery

A street in central Arequipa

Globalization in full force.  Kentucky Fried Pizza King!  Only missing Taco Bell.

Plaza de Armas at night

On our second day in Arequipa, we took an organized trip to Colca Canyon using Colonial Tours. They picked us up before 3AM, because it's a 200km drive on winding mountain roads and dirt roads to get to the canyon. The road leading to the canyon goes to a height of about 4,900m (more than 16,000 feet) at Patapampa pass. This is by far the highest elevation we've ever been to, and the air was noticeably thinner and cold. It's interesting being so close to the equator at such a high altitude - it's a dry desert environment with no snow/glaciers, just some small scrubby brush and moss. It was cold, but with intense sun.

Colca Canyon is (depending on how you measure) the world's second deepest canyon at 13,650 feet. We didn't get to see the deepest part because it's a long journey to get there, but our tour did go as far as the Cruz del Cóndor overlook. A family of threatened Andean Condors live there, and we saw a few of them soaring through the canyon. They're some of the largest birds on earth, with wingspans of 11 feet, and watching them glide on thermals is an impressive sight. The Canyon itself is impressive, but doesn't live up to the majestic views from the Grand Canyon, and we also preferred the lush green mountains of the Sacred Valley. Nevertheless, it's an interesting biome, and quite a contrast from the Cusco and Lima areas.

Canyon view at Cruz del Condor

Arid region of Peru at the Colca Canyon

Andean Condor

We took a hike along the rim

Agricultural terraces along the canyon

Hot springs.  Lots of lingering vulcanism in Peru!

Scary rope bridge over the river to the hot springs

The small town of Chivay

El Misti with llamas

We left Arequipa and returned to Lima for our final day and a half in Peru. This time we stayed just south of Miraflores in the neighborhood of Barranco, which we loved. It has a charming bohemian feel, with colorful restored houses and lively streets. It also has some really high-end condos along the ocean cliffs, and a wide variety of restaurants and bars.


Colorful houses in Barranco

A public square in Barranco

Pacific Ocean view from the cliff-top parks in Lima

Lots of neat historic details throughout the neighborhood

Dinner and drinks on the balcony at sunset


We saw a lot of these little buzzard-like birds

On our last day in Lima, we went to Museo Larco, which was probably our favorite museum of the whole trip.  The museum showcases a wide collection of artifacts, including jewelry, pottery, tapestries, and weapons.  Also, there is a nice cafe inside the museum that served some great food and drinks.  After the museum, we walked to a nearby park that houses one of Lima's two zoos.  The zoo is built around several Inca and pre-Inca ruins that are incorporated into the zoo itself.


Bling!

Cute!

Museo Larco Cafe

Peruvian Penguin!

Interesting fact: sea lions are called sea wolves in Spanish (lobo de mar)

An Inca site inside the zoo

Jaguar/puma

We thought we might see another llama birth, but this one really was just constipated

Peru is a wonderful country to visit. There's a wide variety of things to see and do - from the impressive ruins and vistas of the Sacred Valley, to the volcanic desert scenery near Arequipa, to the museums and Nuevo Peruvian cuisine of Lima (plus the huge Amazon rainforest portion of the country that we didn't have time to visit). It's relatively easy to get around, even with limited Spanish skills. The people here are friendly and eager to share their culture with the world. Start planning your trip!

Sunday, November 10, 2013

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu is arguably the most impressive archaeological site in the Western Hemisphere.  The ruins themselves are great, but the main attraction is the setting.  Nestled high in the mountains, the view is amazing.

Getting to Machu Picchu takes a while. We caught the first train from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes at 5AM, then took a 25 minute bus ride climbing 1,300 feet up the mountain, arriving at Machu Picchu around 7:30AM.

After you enter the site, the view is breathtaking. We had perfect weather with a deep blue sky, and a clear postcard view across the ruins and the surrounding mountains. Like the Pyramids of Giza or the Great Wall of China, this is a wonder that lives up to the hype.

PeruRail train arriving in Aguas Calientes

Our first view of Machu Picchu

Inca ruins on Machu Picchu

Hanging out at Machu Picchu

Incredible views on all sides

Seconds before David got yelled at by employees for jumping. Also, Coke should buy this picture for advertising.

The mountainous setting is gorgeous

View through an Inca window

While we were walking around, we saw a llama that looked like it was squatting to go to the bathroom, but nothing was coming out. A few minutes later as we were passing by again, we noticed feet sticking out of the llama, and realized it was about to give birth. The employees helped with the birth, keeping the other curious llamas away and pulling out the baby. Seeing a baby llama being born at Machu Picchu was like living a Peruvian stereotype.


Just some llamas, nothing to see here

Wait a minute, it's a baby llama!

Awwww....

The famous mountain behind the ruins is called Huayna Picchu. 400 visitors a day are allowed to climb 1,180 feet up an Inca trail to the top of the mountain. We booked our tickets a month in advance to make sure we'd have the opportunity. The climb was strenuous, taking about an hour and going up a lot of steep stone stairs and even through a cave and up a ladder. We finally made it to the top and were rewarded with amazing 360 degree views of Machu Picchu, the surrounding Andes mountains, and the Urubamba River below. We highly recommend this climb, but make sure to bring lots of water (we didn't have enough and were very dehydrated by the end of the hike).

The top of Huayna Picchu. See the tiny people?

Looking down at the river

So many steps at such a high altitude

That winding trail is the road the buses take up the mountain

Stephanie at the end of the cave

We made it!

Like being on top of the world!

The breeze at the top was great after the long climb

Watch your step!

View back to Machu Picchu from near the top

Back in Aguas Calientes, we had some guacamole as a reward! :)

David above the river in Aguas Calientes

Time to catch our train back to Ollantaytambo. We had the same train attendant we had for our morning ride!

The scenery on the train ride wasn't too shabby either!

We caught a cheap combi (shared taxi van) back to Cusco, arriving around 9PM after a very exhausting day. Machu Picchu was an amazing experience. It's an expensive and complicated journey: you have to buy your entrance tickets on a confusing website ahead of time (especially if you want to climb Huayna Picchu), travel from Lima to Cusco, take a train (it's the only way to get to Aguas Calientes), and take a bus for the final leg up the mountain. We highly recommend staying both the night before and the night after visiting Machu Picchu in Ollantaytambo and/or Aguas Calientes. Our hotel (Tunupa Lodge) is a great option. We went all the way back to Cusco on the same day, and it was a bit too much travel. We all got a little sunburned and our legs were sore, but visiting Machu Picchu and climbing Huayna Picchu is an experience we'll never forget.


Cusco and the Sacred Valley: Part 2

We've really been enjoying our time in and around Cusco. After our first two days in the area, we spent the third day exploring more of the city, and the fourth day visiting a few sites on the way back to Ollantaytambo. Our first stop was Qorikancha, an impressive temple to the sun god that was the most important site in the Inca empire. It used to be covered with gold, but the Spanish pilfered all of it and built the convent and church of Santo Domingo on top of the site. In its current form, it's an interesting mix of huge Inca stone blocks and Spanish colonial architecture with Moorish influences.


Inca windows at Qorikancha

Church built on top of the ruins of Qorikancha

Plaza de Armas in Cusco

Coffee for Pablo!

Cuy (Guinea Pig) at the last supper - painting in the regional museum

There was a sudden downpour. The rain dropped the temperature by 25F for the rest of the day.

There are still lots of traces of the Inca throughout Cusco

Traditional dancing and music at Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo

Plaza de Armas on a wet night

San Pedro market

Little kid eating breakfast by the market

On our way to Macchu Pichu, we went from Cusco north to the town of Ollantaytambo, stopping at several interesting sites. The scenery was spectacular. This was our first sunny day, and traveling on dirt roads across the rolling plateau above the sacred valley was breathtaking. Parts of it looked like mixes of the American West with Switzerland. We went to Moray, an Inca agricultural site. There are several large circular terraces. There's a big temperature difference between each terrace, which allowed different crops to be built on different levels - it's considered by some modern researchers to be an Inca agricultural research station that contributed to the thousands of different potato varieties in existence today.

Scenery near Moray

One of the smaller circular terraces at Moray

The main terraces of Moray

Floating steps so the Inca could walk between terraces

Crossing the high Plateau.

Our next stop was Salinas, which has been a salt collection site since pre-Inca times. An underground saline stream emerges from the mountain and is channeled into a series of dramatic shallow ponds that cascade down the mountain. When the water evaporates, the salt is collected. We walked around the site for a while, taking in the great views.


Salinas

Walking around Salinas

Salinas

More awesome high-elevation scenery

Watch out for animals in the road!

After descending to the city of Ollantaytambo (which is still at 9,160 feet above sea level), we wandered around town for bit before eating dinner and going to bed. Our hotel, the Tunupa Lodge, had a beautiful location right next to the river, and was easy walking distance to the train station and the town center.

Ollantaytambo main square, with Inca ruins on the mountain behind

Ollantaytambo has the most intact system of Inca streets

The moon and Venus in a long-exposure shot from Tunupa Lodge Hotel
The Sacred Valley is an awesome place - we've loved every minute of our stay here!