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Peruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu

October - November 2021
A 14-day adventure by Diane Read more
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  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    1
    Day 9

    Machu Picchu!

    October 27, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    The Incans arrived in the Machu Picchu area around 1450, and under Emperor Pachacutec (remember the city builder?), they set to work constructing the city and temples and improving the existing farming terraces. Machu Picchu was still under construction when the Spanish arrived to conquer the Incan empire in the mid 1500s. Before the Spanish could find and destroy Machu Picchu, the Incans abandoned the city and destroyed the trails leading to it. Locals continued to farm the lower terraces, but the bulk of Machu Picchu became overgrown and lost to the outside world.

    It wasn’t until 1911 when Hiram Bingham came to the area looking for another lost city, that Machu Picchu’s existence became known to the outside world.

    Only a few structures have been restored to show as examples to visitors, but most have just been cleared of jungle overgrowth. It’s a testament to the skillful construction abilities of the Incas that so much of the structures are still relatively intact. Our very informative guide explained how the Incas built “hanging” steps to connect the farming terraces so they wouldn’t take up any arable land for growing crops (see our photo).

    It was so fun to see the llamas that the Park Service maintains in Machu Picchu. They graze the farming terraces, preventing them from becoming overgrown.

    On a more recent note, floods and a mudslide in 2010 washed out roads and sections of a railway, stranding 3,500 tourists at Machu Picchu. It took 4 days to evacuate them by helicopter. In the village adjacent to Machu Picchu, where most tourists stay, the ATMs were emptied out as tourists sought to adapt to a stay that was longer than the one-night excursion they’d planned.

    By the way, the weather on this trip has been fantastic so far. Yes, the Amazon was uncomfortably humid near the end, but we’ve really only had rain at night or while driving. Considering that Machu Picchu is a “mountain rainforest,” we’ve really lucked out.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    Day 10

    Sunrise trek at Machu Picchu

    October 28, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    Our tour package included a 6am entrance into Machu Picchu and the opportunity to trek to Waynapicchu, the peak that dominates all the photos of Machu Picchu. It was cloudy, and we got some dramatic views of the cloud forest. Being at the site with almost no one around (and without a guide) was wonderful as well.

    The trek is a steep 1+ hour hike up irregular Inca-laid steps to a military lookout station. The site has a commanding view of the main Machu Picchu complex, as well as the river and the tourist village of Aguas Caliente. From there, we got a real sense of how crazy steep the mountain site is where Machu Picchu was built.

    Of the 11 who came for sunrise, five of us were up for the trek. We hiked 1,100 feet up to around an elevation of 9,000 feet. We were better acclimated than a few days ago, but it was still tough. The views at the end and along the way were well worth it!    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    Day 11

    Cuzco Public Market & Historic Sites

    October 29, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 63 °F

    After a long travel afternoon from Machu Picchu yesterday, we arrived in Cuzco. The city was the center of the Incan Empire, and its Quechua name, Qosqo, translates to the “navel of the world.”

    Now, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a bustling center of tourist attractions, as well as a very livable city for everyday people. Our tour guides are all from Cusco.

    We started the day with a trip to San Pedro Market, a kind of farmer’s market that operates every day. Our guide took us to her usual shopping stalls and explained some of the traditions and uses for some of the unfamiliar foods. Two holidays are coming up — Reformation Day and All Saints Day, so some special breads and flower arrangements are on display for sale.

    We tried to get to an archaeological site, but the roads were temporarily blocked for a visit by President Castillo. For security reasons, the site of his meeting wasn’t revealed ahead of time, so the tour company couldn’t anticipate this.

    So we went to a Spanish colonial church and monastery built on the foundations of the “Golden Temple”built for the Sun God, Inti. The walls and floors of the temple were covered with sheets of gold. The conquerors tore down the gold adornments and covered the walls with frescoes. It wasn’t until an earthquake in 1950 severely damaged the Dominican complex that it was decided to reveal the Incan structures in one part of the site. Now you can see both the colonial and Incan structures side by side. Also on display were the various methods used to join the large stones—such as mortise and tenon, but also brass rings, “][” shapes and many more techniques. These were never visible, leaving a smooth outer surface.

    We did eventually get to the Sacsayhuamán archaeological complex built as a fortified city by the Inca in the 1400s. Archeological evidence indicates that the earliest occupation of the hilltop dates to about 900 CE. Since Peru didn’t begin protecting any of its historic sites until 1941, the site was subject to parties and looting of its stones (how do you steal a 1 ton rock?)    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    Day 12

    Travel Day, Miscellaneous Photos

    October 30, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 64 °F

    COVID times have canceled many domestic flights, so instead of a 30-minute flight from Cuzco to the Lake Titicaca area, we spent 5 hours traveling via Lima. So nothing special to report for today. However, we thought we’d share some things we’ve learned from our guides, and a few random thoughts.

    Peru only recently became widely open to tourists. From the 1980s to the early 1990s, the terrorist organization called the Shining Path made it unsafe for travelers, particularly in the Amazon and Machu Picchu. Their leader recently died after a long imprisonment, but the group is still operating on a smaller scale in some parts of the northern Andes.

    The COVID-19 protocols here have been quite strict, which is reassuring. Double masks are required in airports and on planes. We wipe our feet on doormats with disinfectant before entering any indoor space, including buses; we are greeted by an attendant dispensing hand sanitizer (or directed to sinks for washing), and usually a temperature check; and single masks are required outdoors at all times. All of the residents we’ve seen are compliant. For our climbs around the archaeological sites, where the air is thin, we were lucky that they had slightly loosened the mask requirements a week ago. Around Lima, the population is 60% vaccinated; for the country as a whole, it is in the mid-40% range.

    Darryl has found a few wild orchids, but there aren’t as many on view as there will be when the rainy season starts in another month.

    There is mandatory voting in Peru, and residents are fined if they don’t vote. Each receives a sticker in their ID card. If you don’t pay the fine, you can’t travel about the country. Some politicians would like to change the mandatory voting requirement because some of the rural and indigenous people don’t care about the election and their votes can be easily bought.

    We would never rent a car and drive ourselves around anywhere in Peru. Kudos to our bus drivers!

    The Peruvians are proud of their culinary skills and how their cuisine has become world renowned. The food presentation was always attractive, and in general, the dishes were very tasty. We did find that the meats were often overcooked for our tastes. Ceviche is a national dish and there are probably as many ways to prepare it as there are restaurants — from near-sushi to smoked in a leaf.

    Our tour group of 23 (now 22 due to a dropout who seriously underestimated the requirements of the trip), is on the older side of our usual tour travelers, but everyone is friendly, flexible and enthusiastic about the activities. Our tour manager, David, is full of great information and our local day-tour guides have been passionate and informative.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    Day 13

    Uros Floating Islands & Sillustani Tombs

    October 31, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 59 °F

    We are in Puno, a city at 12,000 feet elevation—our highest on this trip. Our hotel is on a “bulb” of land in Lake Titicaca, and every room has a lake view. The lake is 100 miles long and is shared by both Peru and Bolivia. It is the highest navigable lake in the world.

    A motor boat picked us up from our hotel to take us out to Uros to meet the Aymara people, an indigenous culture who live on islands built from reeds in Lake Titicaca. There are about 100 islands, each holding an extended family. Each island has a president or chief, and the cluster of islands overall has a mayor.

    The president of one island welcomed us with a speech in the Aymara language. Fortunately, our local guide could interpret for us. He showed us how they build their floating islands, starting from cutting the thick roots of the reed beds from the 88,000 acres of reeds on the mainland. The chunks of matted reed roots will float, and then reeds are layered on top, and finally houses and cooking areas are built. They need to add fresh reeds to the top every few weeks, but an island will usually last about 40 to 50 years. The islands are anchored so they don’t float around. Otherwise, they might end up in Bolivia without a passport!

    We were treated to a demonstration of the bird calls the men use to attract water birds for hunting. We also got to travel on one of their traditional reed boats to another island. Thor Heyerdahl commissioned the Aymara people of Uros to build a boat, the Ra II, for his expeditions in 1969-1970.

    The Uros people are not strictly living a primitive lifestyle. They have small solar panels to power an LED bulb or two, and the president’s house had a TV. There is a school and health clinic onshore, as well as using their own healers and midwives. They also use motor boats for fishing and going to market in town. Many of the younger people left to live and get jobs on the mainland during COVID, since their main source of income, tourism, was gone and they weren’t adept at the traditional way of supporting themselves with hunting and planting.

    After lunch at an alpaca farm, we set off to see another pre-Incan archaeological site—this time to a burial grounds for the nobility. Large funerary towers known as "chullpas" are distributed across the Sillustani site, representing various eras and styles of construction.

    There is evidence of occupation of the site from as far back as 800 B.C., but the structures we saw likely dated from 1100-1400. Over time, the tomb construction progressed from completely underground to tall towers. A lightning strike destroyed part of one tower, which allows a view of the layers of construction.    Read more

  • Diane and DarrylPeruvian Amazon & Machu Picchu
    Day 14

    Last Day, Larco Museum in Lima

    November 1, 2021 in Peru ⋅ ⛅ 66 °F

    On our last day with the Collette tour group, we flew from Puno (floating islands) to Lima and were taken by bus to the Larco Museum downtown. The museum houses a vast collection of pre-Incan artifacts that Rafael Larco’s father, and then Larco himself, collected. There are over 30,000 pieces housed at the museum — so many, that not all are on display, but set out on ‘visible storage’ shelves. The collection spans a 5,000-year time period.

    We were told at the museum that some of the first artifacts of the collection were found as the workers were digging the fields and that the Larcos ‘rescued’ the artifacts before tomb robbers could send them out of the country for a profit. Other sources say that the Larcos may have employed some freelance grave robbers themselves.

    In any case, it is a stunningly well-preserved collection of ceramics, stone figures, gold and silver headdress and facial adornments, and a few tapestries. Because the pieces had been buried underground in stone, and in extremely dry conditions, the colors are still so vibrant. We were told that these pieces did not go through any restoration.

    After a farewell dinner at the museum’s restaurant, we were on our way to the airport for our flights home.    Read more

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