Peru is a beautiful and amazing country. The people are very friendly, welcoming and
personable. With Spanish as the main
language both of us were feeling more comfortable communicating. We tried to limit the pictures on this blog
but couldn’t reduce it any lower. Sorry
for the long download time.
With our adventures in travel from Tokyo to Lima over we
settled into the travel routine. Our
group in Peru was excellent as everyone was extremely friendly and very like
minded. This made for a very enjoyable
trip.
We didn’t spend much time in the capital and we were a bit
glad as it was cooler and very gray.
Lima is overcast most of the year.
Our tour took us along the coast with a few stops and a journey out into
the ocean. We have included photos of
the animal and bird life in the area.
Even though it was coastal, some of the areas were deserts and this is
where we had the chance to go sand boarding.
We got into dune buggies and were taken high up into the dunes (some of
the dunes are over 1 km tall) and allowed to slide down them on snow (sand) boards. I was amazed at how fast you could get going.
It was now time to venture up into the mountains and the
climb started. The G Adventures tour is
very well thought out as they staged our climb so we could get used to the
altitude. We never imagined how much the
altitude can affect you and the people around you. (We both have stories that we can share)
The first stop in the mountains was in Nazca. Our main reason for this stop was the Nazca
lines. These are huge drawings on the
desert floor (this area is the driest desert in the world) with no real explanation
of why they were created. We took a
flight over the area and have included some of the drawings. The area is also home to some very old graves
where the bodies were perfectly preserved since there is very little moisture
in the area.
We then spent the next few days in various cities getting acclimatized. It was
considerably cooler here than we anticipated.
Even though we were close to the equator the temperatures were cold (the
nighttime lows were below freezing) due to the altitude. We had to buy tuques (winter hats for
non-Canadians) and mitts as we had sent home most of our warmer clothes.
In the town of Puno on the shores of Lake Titicaca we spent
a few days. This town sits just under
4000m above sea level and at times we were finding it difficult to
breathe. It was here that we took a tour
of one of the floating reed islands.
People actually live on these islands with reed huts and they even have
cooking fires. We also had a home stay
on one of the islands. This was a very
enlightening and an awesome experience (much better than our Laos
homestay). The family was very friendly
but spoke no English and a little Spanish.
We even got the chance to help out doing chores.
All of these days were leading up to the main reason for
coming to Peru. We were anxiously
looking forward to hiking the Inca trail to Machu Picchu. This is a four day hike with many ups and
downs (both in climbing and mentally) and one of the hardest things Lisa has
ever done (for good reasons as you will find out). The trail starts out easy enough with an 8
hour hike to our first camp. What made
this day even more interesting was the fact that as we hiked along the trail we
saw very little signs of civilization until we came across this tiny grass hut
with a big screen television and the world cup playing. South Americans love their football (soccer
to Canadians) and so did most of our group as some of them stayed to watch the
rest of the game. (England lost) The second day was by far the most
challenging, especially for Lisa who was not only battling the altitude but
also what we think was a chest infection which made breathing very
difficult. This day had us climbing up
many Inca stairs and mountains for the first 8 hours. It was very emotional for Lisa when she reached
the highest point that day. The next 2
hours had us going down to our camp.
Lisa and I both found this part fairly easy, others did not share our
sentiment as some of the sections were quite tricky. The views from this campsite were amazing. The third day was very deceiving with the
first 5 hours climbing a very steep section of the trail. After this it was all downhill for the next 8
hours. We reached camp at dusk with some
of our group coming in after dark. Lisa
and I pushed it a bit as we didn’t want to be hiking over the rocks in the
dark. The last day we were up at 4:00 am
to make the last push to Machu Picchu.
We reached the sun gate just as the sun crested the mountain and watched
Machu Picchu become bathed in light. It
was an awe inspiring experience. We were
tired, dirty, smelly (We had not bathed in four days as there were facilities on
the trail) and thrilled to be there.
With the trail under our belt we headed back to the city of
Cuzco just in time for the sun festival .
They celebrate the winter solstice and it is a major event in that city
with a 24/7 party that crescendoed with an even larger party. We have included photos of the main square
and the large crowds of revelers.
We had experienced coastal and mountainous Peru and now it
was time to experience the Amazon jungle.
After a short (2 hour) flight we landed and it took another 2 hour boat
ride up the Amazon River to reach our ecolodge.
We have included various photos of the animal life in the area. It was
warm here especially considering we had just come from the cooler mountains and
we were sweating again. The jungle was
quieter than we had imagined and we didn’t see as much wildlife as we had hoped
but it is the jungle and not a zoo.
From the jungle it was time to go back to Lima and get ready
for our next adventure (the Galapagos).
Lima coastline |
Pelican |
Boat full of cormorants |
Penguin colony |
Peruvian Boobie |
Vultures |
One of the various desert graves |
Shanty town outside Nazca |
Whale Nazca lines |
Town of Nazca |
Monastery in Arequipa |
Main square in Chivas |
Wild Alpaca |
Herd of Alpaca |
Alpaca crossing |
Effects of altitude on packaging. It was ready to explode. |
Enjoying Coca tea to get used to the altitude. |
Lamas |
Our group at the highest elevation |
Enjoying the hot springs in Colca Canyon |
Moon rise over the mountains |
Andean Condor |
Andean Condor 3 m wingspan |
Andean Condor |
Andean Condor |
Andean Condor |
Andean Condor |
Eating some cactus jack fruit |
Approaching the reed islands |
Reed island inhabitants |
Cooking on the reed island |
Dan playing soccer with one of the locals |
Local women relaxing |
Some of the men celebrating the winter solstice (below the equator) |
The beer cases and two friends after celebrating the winter solstice festival |
Dressed in tradition wear for our homestay |
The local family we stayed with |
Lisa doing her chores |
Our local family |
Cuzco |
Learning about the Inca sites before our hike |
Springfield must be in Peru (the debate is now over) We didn't see Homer or Apu. |
Starting the Inca trail looking refreshed and ready |
Guinea pig rock |
At the sun gate looking over Machu Picchu |
Machu Picchu (do you see the face) |
Machu Picchu If you didn't see the face look at it sideways. |
Cuzco at the sun festival (winter solstice) |
Offerings for the festival |
Frogs to eat anyone |
Crowds in Cuzco |
Getting ready to eat Guinea Pig (It wasn't very good in our opinion) |
Below are various wildlife in the Peruvian Amazon
Cayman |
Giant Spider |
Lisa getting painted |
Tucan |
Dan beside one of the many large trees |
Most of our group inside one of the trees. Yes it is still growing. |
Opening a Brazil nut |
Parrot eating one of the Brazil nuts |
In the desert before sand boarding |
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