Arequipa

After Machu Picchu, our next step was to trade in ruins and highland mountains for colonial architecture and canyon country by heading to the city of Arequipa.  Dominated by the snow-capped volcano El Misti, "The White City" is peppered with dazzling colonial buildings made from sillar, a reflective white volcanic stone.  With it´s mild climate, languid plazas, and delicious food, it´s easy to see why the name "Arequipa" is derived from Quechuan for "Yes, stay."  While we didn´t stay as long as we wanted to, we quickly realized that this was our type of city.  Although it´s the second largest in Peru, Arequipa had a real small-town feel to it which was intensified by it´s fiercely independent citizens.  As one guy put it, "I´m not from Peru, I´m from Arequipa."  Maybe we were feeling homesick but, combined with the vibrant art scene and delicious food, it reminded us of a Peruvian Portland.  The city does have a dark side, however.  It has a very big problem with "express kidnappings". Basically, shady taxi drivers will pick you up, hold you at gunpoint, force you to clean out your bank account at numerous ATMs and drop you off in the boonies, if you´re lucky.  Criminals actually rent taxis for this purpose.  While we generally dislike taxis anyways, this was one more reason to hoof it or take the bus.  Fortunately, the city is fighting back, warning tourists everywhere to take radio taxis, not just ones off the street.  But even despite this tarnish on an otherwise great city, we both decided that if we lived in Peru, we would live in Arequipa.
One of our unforgettable experiences was a visit to the Museo Santuarios Andinos to pay our respects to Juanita, an Inca princess sacrificed atop a volcano and preserved for over 500 years in ice.  Discovered in 1995 atop Mount Ampato, she is one of the best preserved mummies in the world.  On display were many statues, textiles, and pottery pieces offered up in sacrifice and similarly well preserved.  As if peering back in time, they looked like they could have been made days, not centuries, before.  After seeing so many ancient ruins in the Sacred Valley, it was Juanita and the offerings she was sacrificed with, that really brought us face to face with the Incas.
We didn´t spend all our time hanging around such morbid sights, however.  Arequipa is a top gastronomic destination of South America, and we just had to indulge ourselves.  "We can´t eat chicken and rice all the time," we rationalized.  Plus we wanted to see how it stacked up to it´s rival, Lima.  So, after a little searching, we put our trust, hopes, and palettes into the very competent hands of ZigZag, a culinary fusion restaurant specializing in Alpandino dishes.  Excited, but worried because we didn´t have reservations, we timidly asked if they could squeeze us in.  Instead of merely showing us to the bar, we got the best seats in the house, up an iron staircase designed by the French architect Gustave Eiffel, and overlooking the beautiful Plaza San Francisco.  The view would not be the only delight of the senses, however.  For an aperitif, we shared a trio of Pisco sours: coca, elderberry, and dried fruit, followed by an appetizer of ostrich carpaccio.  But the real star was the main course: alpaca (a new favorite), beef, and pork steaks served on sizzling volcanic stone.  Having a chunk of sizzling volcanic rock cook our food while wearing bibs to protect our clothes from spraying meat juice was a new experience for us, but the flavor was also amazing.  We washed it all down with a huge cocktail for two served in a frozen ostrich egg.  Needless to say, we strolled back to our hostel full, buzzed, and with the night lights of Arequipa reflecting off the pearly white stone and our happy faces.

Cameras were not allowed in the museum but here she is, thanks Google.

Laura looking pretty as always in the Plaza San Francisco.

Handsome devil.

 

 

Yes, please.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cusco to Machu Picchu via the Inca Trail



Once the ancient capital of the Inca empire, then the center for colonial Spanish expansion, and now a UNESCO World Heritage site, Cusco is the base for exploring the Sacred Valley of Peru.  Nestled high in the Andes mountains, it is a city which thrives upon its past. To call it touristy is to call the Andes high.  However, once you get past the cheap souvenirs, constant hawking of massages, and overpriced bathrooms (yes it costs money to use toilet), it has changed little over the centuries.  Surviving earthquakes and the Spanish, beautiful Incan stonework lines the center, century-in-the-making cathedrals tower over the plazas, and stone streets climb the hills in breath-taking fashion (as in its hard to breathe at 11,000ft).  To get here, we would have to take an 18 hour bus ride through countless switchbacks and stomach-dropping ascents.  To give you an idea of the bus ride, it was the only one where they hand out barf-bags to all the passengers.  So we buckled up, took our motion-sickness pills, which have the fortunate added effect of drowsiness, and settled in for a windy ride.  We arrived in the morning, queasy and tired, but so happy to have made it within a couple hours of our projected time (this route is notorious for washed-out roads, landslides, and bus strikes).  Our first mission, after catching our breathe climbing the steep stairs to our hostel, would be to book our trip for the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu.  Responding to ever-increasing popularity and pressure from UNESCO, the 4 day trek through the Andes to the lost city has been limited to only 500 people per day, and only about 200 of those are tourists.  In the high season, you´re advised to book 6 months in advance.  However, since it´s low season, we weren´t sure exactly when we would be there, and traveling on a deadline in South America is stressful anyways, we decided to press our luck and book when we arrived.  Fortunately, after shopping around at the myriad of tour companies available, we found one that gave us a couple days to acclimatize and explore the city before heading out.  The city and surrounding area is chock full of ruins and historical sights.  Unfortunately, a combination of the change in weather from hot and dry to cold and rainy, recycled air on an 18 hour bus, and a drastic change in elevation caused Oliver to come down with a bug that left him weak and achy the day before we were to leave.  But after resting up all day, Laura nursing him back to health with vitaminC and coca tea, we geared up for our adventure.
The first day we were picked up early morning at our hostel by Edwin, our humorous Quechuan guide, and we raced around the city to swoop up our company for the next four days.  All in all there would be 12 of us: Us, Edwin, a young Parisian couple, an Argentinan, our chef, and 5 other porters ranging in ages from 18 to 58.  Loaded up, we headed into the mountains to the trailhead, a mere 45 km from our destination.  After strapping on our packs and taking a picture while we all still looked fresh and energetic, we were ready!  The first day we only had 12 km of hiking, mostly flat, where we passed a couple of uninspiring Inca farming ruins, the much more impressive "mini Machu Picchu", all the while Edwin chatted away about the local fauna and flora.  It was also our first chance to see our porters in action, with massive packs and wearing mostly sandals, practically jogging up and down the hills which had us panting.  Granted, we were still getting used to the altitude and Oliver was still nursing his cold, but these guys were warriors and we would only get more impressed as the days wore on.  It was also our first introduction to our chef´s skills and his surprisingly good hearty meals.  Since our porters were much faster than us, they always had our camp set up and ready with food cooking when we arrived, wet with sweat.  From pancakes with caramel, soup and garlic bread, fresh trout, family-style spaghetti, and a new dessert each night, every meal was tasty and welcome after burning so many calories all day.  We even had "tea time" in the late afternoon which was usually hot chocolate or tea, popcorn, and fried banana wontons.  So yeah, we were spoiled.
The next morning we were woken up at 6 am by our porters with a piping hot cup of coca tea, a fairly taste-less but incredibly healthy tea made from the coca leaf.  While it has a bad reputation as the base for cocaine, coca has many excellent uses, such as warding off altitude sickness, and is like the redbull of the Andes, chewed in massive handfulls by the locals.  It has also been one of the backbones of the the Andean economy stretching back to pre-Inca times, and one of the primary reasons the Inca expanded their empire into the jungle, built the road we were hiking on, and created such cities as Machu Picchu.  So it was only fitting that we would start off each morning with a cup of this important leaf.  The second day was the toughest of them all, and rightly so.  The first obstacle would be "Dead Woman´s Pass", or as Oliver called it "Dead Tourist Pass".  At 4215m, it would be the highest point of the whole trek and we would feel every step.  From here, we had a 2 hour, knee-jarring descent until we came upon the ruined outpost of Runkurakay.  This was an important stop for the Inca runners, the ancient Pony Express of the Andes.  After exploring this site, we would tackle the next pass where we would be treated with some amazing views.  The spectacular scenery throughout the trek would be our constant carrot and stick.  Putting our knees back to the test, we headed down from the second pass to the next ruin of Sayaqmarka, a mountain fortress perched on a cliff and like something out of an adventure novel.  At cloud level and with a single entrance of incredibly steep narrow steps, it had us wondering how anybody could have possibly conquered these people without deceipt and disease.
The third day would be fairly easy compared with the previous.  For one, we had hiked farther than most groups who camp after the first pass.  Since we are awesome, we got most of the hard stuff out of the way.  We only had 12 km to do, all downhill, compared with 16 km the day before, but those steps are not kind on the knees and we were starting to get bruises on our hands from clutching our hiking poles.  Also, the rain clouds obscured our views for the morning and had us worried about the next day at Machu Picchu.  Fortunately, we had gotten down to jungle level and we had flowers and hummingbirds to occupy our sights.  By the time we arrived at the next ruin of Phuyupatamarca, an awesome complex of dozens of terraces perched on a mountain, the clouds had cleared and we were treated to an amazing view of the whole Sacred Valley.  From here it was only a short push to our final campsite, which itself was only 10 min walk to one of the most awesome sights of the whole trek, Winay Wayna.  A fantastic city with a temple and terraces towering above, the city is not even compeletely uncovered but still breathtaking.  Also, since we were among the first to arrive to our camp, we had the entire ruin to ourselves.  If we weren´t impressed with what the Inca could do with stones before, we were now.  But even this would pale next to the "Lost City."
Today was the day! All those km´s uphill, downhill, on buses through Cusco, Peru, even South America itself.  The crowning achievement of our trip abroad.  By lucky coincidence or not, today was almost exactly halfway from the start to home.  At the peak of our voyage, we would be privy to one of the greatest lost cities of the greatest empires known to man.  But we weren´t there yet.  And worse, there was no guarantee we would actually see the city.  The previous day´s cloud cover, and the rain which came during the night, had us worried.  We woke up at 3:30 am to get an early jump on the other trekkers and by 5:30 when the last checkpoint opened we were racing for the Sun Gate, the first chance to glimpse Machu Picchu.  It was only an hour or so, but it was a tough hour as we allowed ourselves few breaks.  Finally, dripping with sweat and anticipation, we reached the Sun Gate and looked down at the ancient city.  Exhaustion and nervousness gave way to appreciation and giddiness as we drank in the clear sight ahead of us: Machu Picchu.  Even at that height, the city looked impressive.  We would have no idea, however, at the immensity and complexity until we were actually walking it´s streets.  Practically running down the mountain to get there before the rest of the tourists, the city continued to look grander and grander the closer we got.  Once inside the city, Edwin gave us a 2 hour tour taking us around all the important temples and sights to see.  There have been many books written about the city and most people have been inundated by the iconic pictures.  None of these can match the magic and wonder of actually walking the city and taking in it´s size.  We didn´t expect to be taken aback the way we were.  Fortunately, we would have plenty of time to see every nook and cranny.  Our train back to Cusco wouldn´t be until later that night (we think its a scam to get you to spend all your money in nearby, expensive Aguas Calientes), giving us hours and hours at the site.  We would take full advantage of this time, exploring the intricate fountains and advanced sewer system (without which the city would´ve collapsed upon itself centuries ago).  Our quest for the "unexplored" Machu Picchu would take us down and around where few tourists visit and losing ourselves in the many houses, buildings and terraces.  Away from all tourists and sounds of people, we would find ourselves alone, among chinchillas and the "ghosts of Machu Picchu."

Cusco by night.

The adventure begins!

First day and going strong!

Camp! Bring on the popcorn and hot chocolate!

Dead Tourist, er, Woman´s Pass

Top of the Second Pass

Downhill from here!

Mountain fortress of Sayaqmarka. Note the single entrance, that windy staircase on the left.

Love in the Sacred Valley

The awesome and unexpected ruins of Winay Wayna. The temple is on the right.

View from the Sun Gate.

We made it! Go team!

Inside the city.

A scene probably not that different from when the city was alive.

Llama butt!

Taking a break from exploring.

Getting off the beaten track

 

Exploring the forgotten side of Machu Picchu.



An unforgettable experience.



Huacachina

The sandy gringo playground of Huacachina, with its massive sand dunes and sunny weather, beckoned us to stay and play on the coast a while longer before heading inland to the Sacred Valley.  A short four hour bus ride southeast of Pisco, it would be our last short bus ride for awhile.  We actually arrived in nearby Ica, home of many bodegas(wineries), and a quick cab ride to Huacachina.  By now, we had mastered the art of dealing with South American taxis.  Step #1: Never ask how much the ride costs. Step #2: In your best and most confident Spanish, state your destination as if you're the mayor of the town. Step #3: Hand them exact change and only what you think is a fair price. It is helpful to get advice on this beforehand. Step #4: Say 'gracias' and walk away.  The result? They will either chase you down screaming for more money or, more likely, they will pocket the money and drive away.  A couple of times we've been asked for an extra sole, about $.30, but we haven't been ridiculously overcharged since.  Driving into the tiny oasis of Huacachina (less than 200 people live here permanently) we were blown away by the size and beauty of the massive sand dunes which tower over the town.  Our hostel, complete with swimming pool!, was located at the base of one of these sandy monsters and offered a constant reminder that we weren't in Portland anymore.

Huacachina is known for high-flying, death-defying, rollercoaster-adventure rides through the sand, and we couldn't wait to strap into a dune buggy and conquer these behemoths of the desert.  Excited and a little nervous, we paid our 'sand-tax', whatever that is, and started to climb our first dune.  While most roller-coasters will slowly take you to the top of the ride, pause for a moment over the edge, and then send you plummeting down the tracks, this was a completely different experience.  There were no tracks, we went blazing up the dune at full speed, then over the dune at equally full speed, to end up staring down the vertical face of a massive dune, while going full speed.  Throw in a couple turns at full speed, a few more dunes, and all of a sudden we were smack in the middle of a desert with miles and miles of sand dunes in all directions.  As if this wasn't enough excitement, our driver pulled over at the lip of a dune, waxed up some sandboards (think smaller snowboards with velcro straps) pointed at us, and then pointed down.  Once at the bottom of this dune, walk twenty feet, and there's another, and another.  We had the option of going on our bellies or strapped in feet first.  After Oliver fell and ate sand on the second dune, we both decided to stick strictly to our bellies.  This would prove to be a good decision as the dunes kept getting bigger and bigger.  Needless to say, this was one of our favorite tours so far and had us wishing we could do it again and again.

The next day was our bus to Cusco but since it didn't leave until the evening we decided to kill some time by touring some of the local wineries, know for producing some amazing piscos.  A form of grape brandy, pisco is the national liquor of Peru and is best known in the tasty cocktail Pisco Sour.  We would be taken on a winery tour by a friendly Quechuan, the self-proclaimed Mr. Inca. We got the full range of Peruvian wineries as we visited a major producer of wine and pisco with vats the size of rooms, as well a local bodega still producing pisco in the traditional indigenous fashion.  This second was a cross between a wine cellar and an antique museum, with relics spanning centuries strewn haphazardly next to giant clay fermentation bottles.  Buzzed and happy, we headed back to Huacachina to gather our packs and ready ourselves for the overnight bus ride up the Andes.

Ready to ride!

Laura face first down the dune!

At some points we had to walk but mostly we got around on our bellies.

Taking a break before our next vertical plunge down the face of a dune. 

See those tiny specks down there? Those are people! These were some seriously high dunes.

We took the late afternoon tour for sunset views!

Laura and Mr. Inca mashing the grapes.

Learning the secrets of pisco distilling.

Wine and pisco cellar/antique museum.

All those jars are fermenting different wine and piscos and we got to try a bunch, including the ever popular 'panty-dropper.'

Oliver making a call on the 'Inca phone.'

Islas Ballestas

Heading further south of Lima, our next stop would be the small town of Pisco.  As 80% of the city was destroyed in an earthquake 4 years ago, there wasn´t much to hold our attention.  The real draw for us was the nearby port of Paracas from which we headed out to tour the Islas Ballestas, or "the poor man´s Galapagos." A group of islands comprised mostly of rock formations jutting out of the sea, these islands are an important refuge for thousand-strong colonies of blue-footed boobies, cormorants, pelicans, and guanay guano birds.  Never before had we seen so many birds in one place.  Of course with lots of birds come lots and lots of bird shit.  We wore our hats to shield us from droppings and surprisingly escaped unscathed.  In addition to the birds, we were also treated to fur seals and sea lions who loved showing off for the cameras, diving from the rocks and frolicking near the boats.  In a strange sight to see in such a warm climate, groups of Humboldt penguins also strutted around, jostling for position among the other fauna.  At one point in the tour, a group of French tourists started shouting, "Medusa, Medusa!" which we came to learn meant "jellyfish" when we saw their humongous heads and tentacles drifting gracefully by our boat.  Our camera definitely got a workout as we tried to capture the grand display of wildlife mere feet from our boat.
One of the other highlights of this tour was the Paracas Candelabra, a giant geoglyph scratched into the side of the Paracas peninsula.  At 595 ft tall and consisting of 2 ft deep trenches carved into the hillside, it is large enough to be seen from 12 miles at sea.  Pottery found at the sight dates to 200 BC but nobody knows why or who built the massive glyph.  Some theories hold that it was a representation of the trident, a lightning rod of the god Viracocha, seen in mythology throughout South America, while others range from Masonic symbolism to extraterrestrials.  Nevertheless, the mystery surrounding the glyph only serves to heighten its impact.
While the real Galapagos islands were way outside of our budget this trip, our visit to the beautiful Islas Ballestas helped to satisfy our desire to see some of the native wildlife that the South American coast has to offer.

Ahoy! Heading out to the Islas Ballestas.

That´s a lot of birds.

And more birds.

Penguins??

Lazy buggers.

These two loved the camera. They would climb up to jump off. Then repeat.

Seriously, there were a lot of birds. 

Medusa!

Paracas Candelabra.
Ancient trident of a god, or signpost for aliens? You decide.

Lima

With a last wistful look back at Ecuador, we crossed the border into Peru to begin the next leg of our adventure.  In doing so, we would encounter greater distances, far more tourists, higher prices, and new landscapes.  Since Peru is huge, almost twice the size of Texas, we really had to prioritize what we wanted to see and do.  So we made the painful decision to skip the northern Peruvian coast, with its mysterious ruins and rugged towns, and jump on an 18 hour bus to Lima.  Andean highlands turned to flat coastal desert as we crossed the border and, after a quick stop in Piura to shave Oliver´s increasingly unruly beard, we nervously boarded our first overnight, and longest to date, bus.  After encountering a wide range of buses in terms of quality and reliability, we decided to splurge on the ritzy Cruz del Sur, a two-tiered cruiser with (almost) fully reclining seats, dinner service, WIFI, movies, and bingo! (Although the numbers came much faster than we could possibly translate and then find on our boards so, no, we didn´t win.)  We arrived in Lima the next morning still tired and with low expectations for the city we´d been told was dirty, dangerous, and not worth the stop.  What we found, however, was a diverse metropolis with a modern edge, a foot in the past, and really good food.  We would stay in Miraflores, an upscale district of fantastic restaurants and beautiful parks.  However, our hunt for indigenous ruins would take us through the underbelly of Lima, miles and miles of shanty towns just outside the city.  While we have seen poverty before, never on such a large scale.  The contrast between the prized districts of central Lima and these forgotten squalors was astounding.
Top on our lists of ruins was the citadel of Pachacamac, the most important religious site on the Peruvian coast for over 1500 years and an enormous complex of temples, oracles, houses, etc. from different periods of time and cultures.  As no English-speaking guides were available (we couldn´t afford one anyways) we decided to play archaeologists and "discover" this vast area for ourselves.  Pachacamac, or "Earth-maker", was a feared god who could cause earthquakes and other cataclysms, and the temples were built in his honor.  The oracles were consulted by chiefs from all over the Andes and as each culture came to power, they built upon the others, concluding with the dominating Incan Sun Temple.  Needless to say, the site was quite impressive.
Closer to our hostel, we also visited the ruins of Huaca Pucllana, a site of adobe pyramids and houses constructed in the 6th century A.D. The largest structure is 500 meters in length, more than 100 meters wide and 22 meters high, in a massive pyramid style.  Comprised of small adobe bricks set in a "bookcase" style and numbering in the hundreds of thousands, the entire ruin is surrounded by the modern city of Lima, making the contrast between the old and the new ever-present.
Our time in Lima was not entirely spent on archaeology, however.  We soaked up plenty of metropolitan life, going to the movies (in English with Spanish subtitles!), shopping, and gorging at the delicious restaurants of Lima.  The highlight would be our splurge visit to Astrid & Gaston, where we would try such local delicacies as alpaca and cuy, or guinea pig, and delicious cocktails crafted with pisco, the national drink of Peru.  Our favorite South American capital so far, Lima satiated our minds, sense of adventure, and bellies.

No more beard! and the coast of Lima.

Oliver "discovering" the temple of virgins at Pachacamac.

Laura "discovering" the Temple of the Sun at Pachacamac.

Laura worshipping the sun god atop the pyramid.

Oliver even found some artifacts!

The archaeological duo at work!

Random jazz-ercize class on a closed street in Miraflores.

Huaca Pucllana with Lima in the background.

Atop one of the many structures in Huaca Pucllana overlooking Lima.