Perusing Peru

Peru: April 2019

The Peruvian Coast

Our day started off innocuously enough, with just enough time to clean up and do the washing before heading to the airport at midday. Then we arrived at the counter at 12.30 (the plane was at 2pm) for the attendant to remark that we were "cutting it a bit fine" for our 12.40 flight to Auckland. It would have been a disaster before we even got started, but luckily we were flying Jetstar, so they were delayed and everything was fine. Our good luck continued into our long-haul to Santiago, Chile as we had three seats for the two of us.

After the third flight up to Lima, Peru we managed to navigate main roads littered with speed bumps and truly appalling traffic to our ridiculously cute hotel and wandered off to find ourselves in Italy. There was pizza restaurant after pasta restaurant. So we had pasta and a Merlot which positively drank itself before retreating to a shower and bed, ready for the 7am pick up to travel south to Paracas.

Our hotel (with Leo posing outside) was a real delight. Super cute and unusual.

Our first morning started with a truly morose breakfast and the standard disappointing travel coffee before an increasingly nervous wait for our bus to pick us up. However, our bookings seemed to be correct and we snagged the best seats on the coach for the drive south towards Nazca.

A very odd place.

We stopped for breakfast at a very odd place that 'specialised' in bread. It was ok, but maybe their skills lie elsewhere.

Next, we explored 'Tambo Colorado'. 

The Chincha and Inca ruin from 1450AD has a few unique aspects that set it apart from other similar sites. Notably, the orientation is towards a mountain to the north, rather than to the sun as was typical.  You can see it beyond the ruins on the photo (right) above. The mountain, revered as a deity, is visible in the photos due to its slightly darker colour. 

As one of the best-preserved ruins of the Incan era, we could see remnants of the colour used to decorate the mudbrick buildings. Tambo Colorado was the military and urban administrative centre of Pisco province for roughly 90 years. Its name derives from the Quechua word "tampu" (place of rest) and the Hispanic term "colorado" (refers to the red, white and yellow decorative paint).

A panorama from the internet.

After leaving the ruin, we drove to Paracas, a seaside village with a beautiful prospect out to the Pacific Ocean.

We tried some local seafood - very nice, and some coffee - not very nice. We paid one soles each to venture out onto the pier as the sun set over the ocean. We figured out that it was setting directly towards where New Zealand would be.

The red marker is us, looking home.

Day two dawned early and we had a catastrophically disappointing breakfast before boarding a large speedboat out the Ballestas Islands.

On the way, we saw the 'Candelabra' a geoglyph of unknown origins that was carved into the face of a cliff over 1,000 years ago.  Originally about a metre deep, erosion had made the glyph much shallower over time. You can also see the track of a tourist down from the left, right through the 'candlestick' area - a tourist who is now in jail.

The islands are famous for the bird life, sea lions and the absolutely massive quantities of guano (bird poop used for agricultural fertiliser). The islands are so intensely covered in poop that I remarked on the white colour quite far out, thinking they islands must be some sort of limestone. Nope. Poop.

The sheer numbers of creatures are due to the cold currents of Humboldt swirling past the islands, protecting them from predators and flooding the water with plankton and other edible goodies. We mainly saw Peruvian boobies,  Humboldt penguins, pelicans and sea lions. A highlight was watching mother sea lions teaching pups to swim by letting them ride on her back. They made an absolute racket. We saw two huge males fighting also - massive creatures up to 350 kgs dominating the little beach.

After returning to the peninsula we drove to the Paracas National Reserve which is one of South America’s biggest protected desert reserves. The isthmus of the peninsula was a pretty great sight and the coast was a real "wild beauty" and relatively deserted. It was a nice change to see something that impressive without the swell of tourists everywhere (apart from us, yes).

The afternoon saw us arrive in Huacachina, a small natural oasis located in the Ica desert. The dunes were incredibly impressive and cradled the small oasis in their shadow. It was the sort of oasis that you read about - just popping up out of nowhere.

We explored the dunes by tourist buggy - a monster of a vehicle that rumbled and snorted, carrying 6 of us haphazardly across the sand.

We stopped fairly often to take photos and look at the view and then to 'sandboard'. This involved a piece of wood and velcro straps that faintly resembled a snowboard and a multitude of locals telling us not to stand up and instead go on our tummies.

I went on my tummy.

There were three dunes and I felt a little dubious. But the first one down was great and the next two weren't as big. Climbing back into the buggy we climbed another dune and struggled up to the apex to see a monster drop. I was hesitant but took the plunge after Leo didn't die. The next one was a doddle and then we climbed to the last one to find a quiet little group of others who were dithering about tackling the final dune. As we got to the top it was abundantly clear why. It was huge. Huge.

The dots at the top are the people who haven't built up the courage yet...

LOOK at the sand on my face.

We opted out of the 'group barbeque' that evening (one hour of as-much-as-you-can-drink with maybe some food) and opted for a rooftop restaurant overlooking the oasis lake. Before heading for dinner we got briefed on the Nazca flight in the morning, and incredulously enjoyed a woman complaining to the guide that the desert was 'too sandy' and someone should have warned her about it so she could have protected her camera.

Waking up early in Huacachina, we blessedly found some coffee which did the job but was predictably pathetic. We climbed into a minibus for the 3 hour trip to the Nazca airport. As we neared Nazca a Belgian girl vomited in the aisle of the bus, and all I wanted was for her not to sit behind me in the plane. Guess where she ended up?

 

The plane was tiny and the pilots were friendly and confident. They threw us around the valley and the views of the symbols carved into the plains were clear and perfect. As I knew it would be the monkey was my absolute favourite. (Naturally, this was the moment the girl behind me chose to fill up SIX sick bags.) But the surprise was how majestic the bigger picture was with clumps of the famous animals' links with these huge triangles and straight lines.

The Nazca lines are colossal geoglyphs etched into the Peruvian coastal plain. They were created about 2 millennia ago by the local people of the area and amongst other mysteries of the lines, the most baffling is that they are only fully appreciated at altitude, which clearly was not a vantage point that the creators could have enjoyed.

The lines have 3 main categories. Most are basic geometric shapes and of the 800+ straight lines some reach up to nearly 50 km. Of the 70 animals and plants, some are 370m long.

Contrary to my initial thoughts, archaeologists believe that the lines were created by removing the darker rust-red surface rocks to reveal the lighter colour below. The dry, arid atmosphere and lack of erosion have kept the fragile glyfs in good condition.

After starting our drive back the driver offered to stop at the Palpa Lines - similar to the Nazca ones but about one century older. They include figures of the local royal family and a deity of the Paracas culture. These were much more human than the more zoological ones of the morning and quite cute.

We arrived in Huacachina again to get our bags, dinner and a proper bus back to Lima. After a bit of panic and some confused staff, we ascertained that Leo's bag was on the way to Arequipa, the opposite direction to where we wanted to go. Oh dear. Luckily the bus was destined for Cusco on the evening we arrived, so it got to see Arequipa and the Colca Canyon while we had to re-endure Lima and it's traffic without being there at a time to enjoy the city.

Cusco

Cusco was an immediate delight, even sans bag. The city was more lively, prettier and 'warm' somehow. Not temperature warm but friendly warm. We freshened up and bought Leo a tourist tee before heading to lunch. I was hoping to get him in a cheesy tourist t-shirt with a llama or something but we ended up finding quite a lovely one. Cleanly attired, we joined a walking tour and got the inside goss on the Spanish occupation and looked at some phenomenal Incan construction. The way they fitted the stones together was so precise and, again, a mystery. 

Cusco was founded in 1100 AD at 3,400m. It was the capital of the Incan empire at its height and is beloved of the indigenous Quechua. The buildings are a mashup of Incan architecture on the lower levels and colonial Spanish on the top. The terrain is steep and recalls the terraced farms of its history. The steep streets and thin air make for laboured walking on the first day but we remained hopeful that we would acclimatise to the altitude quickly.

Dinner was a gastronomic adventure. I finally wrangled the courage to try ceviche as the fish was locally caught trout and the restaurant was recommended by our walking guide. It was very acidic but the fish had a cooked texture and the flavour was really special. Leo had an alpaca stir fry which was delicious also. Now there was just guinea pig to try!

Our first morning in Cusco started with the most promising result of my "best coffee in Cusco" Google search and we landed at a lovely second storey restaurant with its own artesian bakery downstairs. My eggs and toast were complimented by the delicious Peruvian avocadoes that I cannot get enough of, and two coffees, they were that good. We then re-explored the more interesting parts from the walking tour that we flew through too fast and accidentally ended stumbling across a fantastic viewpoint above the city.

Meandering back through the labyrinthine streets we stumbled into a few stores, finally finding a gorgeous handmade llama ornament and an anatomical heart with traditional flowers adorning it. The artist was visiting the shop to restock the pieces for sale and we got to meet her and ask about the designs.

Heading back to the hotel, we stopped by a cute little coffee museum and had a second excellent coffee and a savoury crepe before packing a very light bag for the SkyLodge.

We had shown a lot of people back home the place we would be staying and I had watched a great video of the experience. But I was nervous about the climb up the cliff and I was even more nervous about how I was feeling health-wise as we drove over the hill and dropped into the Sacred Valley. I was feeling so awful I didn't take any landscape photographs or talk much for the two-hour drive. On arrival, we passed a large tour bus of people taking photos of the capsules we would sleep in.

See the pods right at the top??

We had a very basic safety briefing during which we were shown what to do with our harnesses and zip line clips, but before we could practice we were harnessed up and right onto the cliff face. The climb was sheer and you were totally in charge of your safety, clipping on to each new cable. It was mainly metal rungs driven deep into the rock, but they meandered all over the show. So even though most of the times it was clear where you should put your hands or your feet, it was not always clear how. This left absolutely no brain function for worrying about how I was feeling unwell. Almost immediately I began enjoying myself and the whole climb was completely achievable. There were a few bits that were quite a challenge, where you really had to stretch, or a bit of an overhang that meant you had to pull with your arms.

The only bit that really got me was, for lack of a better term, the bridge. This was two cables for your feet, sort of lashed together and one for your hands. You kind of shimmied with your bum on the rock to get your feet set right and then you just had to stand up. There was nothing at all under you. Just air, and far, far below there was a road and a river. Once there was some semblance of balance you set off, shuffling your hands and feet along and breathing, breathing. It was the oddest thing because I was concentrating so hard and I was quite scared. But there was a time little part of me that was wide awake and loving it. I also couldn't hold in the sass when the guide called out "Not long now, about two metres to go." And then like ten metres later said exactly the same thing.

We had, of course, loved the view on the ascent, but when we made it to the dining dome we could relax and fully appreciate it. We got to know the other guests over a fantastic dinner and once it was dark we faced the climb to our capsule. Ours was the furthest away and in the dark, the climb across seemed much more difficult than the one up the cliff. I also had a small taste of climbing down and I do not like it.

Once inside we got a little tour and advice on using the loo and we could relax. We ablouted quickly and sat in bed with homemade tea infusions. The moon glowed brightly over our heads and a train rumbled through the valley every ten minutes or so. And right above our heads, the Milky Way glittered. We fell asleep under the stars with the alarm set for 2am so we could enjoy them in a different way after the moon had set. When we woke up in the middle of the night it was so spectacular.

We woke with the dawn, having slept all night with the curtains completely open and watched the cool grey valley begin to glow in the sunlight. We climbed back across to the dome for breakfast and realised that the dark hadn't made the climb more difficult. It was just a difficult climb. Breakfast satisfied again and so did the coffee. The climb back to the pod was just as tricky the third time and we packed up to get down. But getting down meant climbing up to the top capsule and across to the top zip line. And this was my first real scary moment. You had to clip on to one cable, navigate a sizable overhang and hold on mainly with your upper body. Then let go with one hand and clip on to the next cable. It was really not nice and I backed off it and had to have a second, more successful, run at it.

The zip line was intense in that you had to pay attention to the guide on the far side and, based on his signals, use your gloved hand to apply friction to the line to slow down, and while doing that, wait for a second signal that you had slowed down enough. By the fourth zip line, I was confident enough with the system to really enjoy myself and by the time we were at the base of the cliff I was just buzzing. The whole experience was one of the best things I have ever done. I was proud of myself for attempting it and then being successful, the sleeping experience was mesmerising, and the zip lines were the cherry on top.

Look what I just did!

As we drove back over the mountain to Cusco we decided to have a little wander around and try a restaurant recommended by a guide. A little underwhelming, but nice to eat amongst mostly locals. We were back early at the hotel for an easy night, a little tired after a week of really fast paced travelling.

The next two days were at a super sedate pace as we adjusted to the altitude and had a bit of downtime before joining the trail tour. We enjoyed local museums, cafes and wandering the streets. Highlights include some ill-kept catacombs in a Spanish church, the Pre-Colombian Art Museum and a chocolate shop that explained the process of creating chocolate. The coffee of Cusco continued to satisfy with a more trained eye. There were a few artisanal brews that had a new flavour but it was welcome. 

The 12-angled stone. Most likely to show off the technique of the Incan mason making the wall - all the stones fit perfectly together without mortar and easily withstand earthquakes.

On our final day we hired a taxi for the 22km, but 45-minute, drive to a wildlife sanctuary called Ccochahuasi Animal Sanctuary. It is one of the very few places in Peru that is concerning itself with animal welfare. It is family run and has been operating since 2007. On our arrival, we were greeted by an English speaking keeper who showed us each animal and told us the reason they were in the sanctuary and the rehabilitation process they were undergoing. 

There were several alpaca, llama and vicuna (smaller, more vicious and more valuable llamas) near the entrance. Most were taken from people trying to smuggle them out of Peru.

Vicuna

There were several tortoise. Our guide told us that it is illegal to keep these animals as pets and we recalled the pet tortoise being tormented by drunk idiots with a boom box at our hostel in Huacachina.

Next to the tortoise enclosure was a teeny box with misty perspex. The guide slide back the perspex and I almost fell over as the most gorgeous toucan turned and looked right at me, and dropped a large, bright red poop. The cage was small as they are hoping to release him once his damaged beak heals.

We saw coati (famous for eating coffee beans and pooping them out for our enjoyment) monkeys, parrots, guinea pigs, Peruvian geese (much cuter and of a nicer temperament than the geese I've met before. There was an Andean eagle that had been used for tourist photos, it's eye poked out to keep it from escaping, and a smaller Andean hawk with a broken wing, just weeks away from release.

The pumas were a delight, until we heard their story. The three females had been rescued from a nightclubs where they were part of nightly entertainment amongst loud music and flashing lights. They had filed teeth and their claws were pulled out. They were tiny for the species, due to an insufficient diet and sedative drugs. The claws had grown back but in a mangled way. There was no chance for them to survive in the wild.

Lastly was the condor cage. It was a lovely, large enclosure with at least 8 massive black scavengers. As they prefer dead and rotting flesh they were completely complacent about our alive and vital selves sidli g carefully up to them as they dried in the sun, having just been "given a bath". 

Condors are one of the three most scared animals in Peru and ancient culture. They represent the heavens, with the puma (earth) and snake (underworld) completing the trilogy. They are also the second largest flying bird.

The Inca Trail and Machu Picchu

That evening we had a briefing for the Inca Trail which managed to terrify me and received our duffel bags, which would be carried by porters, containing a sleeping bag (2.5kg) and a sleeping mat (1kg) and 2.5 kg of personal gear. And the next morning we were off. We started with a tour of the Sacred Valley and a visit to the local charity that G Adventures sponsor. They showed us their production of alpaca wool and it's products, and we learned that most of the women's husbands would be our porters.

We stayed the night at Ollantaytambo - a picturesque little mountain town with Inca-era cobblestoned streets and well-kept ruins on the hill looming over the town. At an elevation of  2,792m, we were actually quite low for a change.

The next morning we started the trail, with the first steps and initial excitement literally dampened by a downpour. About 2 minutes in, we all stopped to don ponchos and then took a terribly unflattering photo at the sign marking the official starting point.

The walk on the first day was deemed 'easy' but we found ourselves at the back and wheezing a little. We meandered over undulating hills, the inclines hitting me hard. If this was the easy day...

  

Below, the dinner tent (and where the porters slept) and our tent.

The whole team, including the incredible porters and the magic chefs.

Day two was The Big One. We were to climb up to Dead Woman's Pass (“Warmiwañusca” in the Quechua language) and down into the next valley. The pass sits at 4215 m above sea level. The air is THIN. The climb is steep. And it is a long day.

This panorama was taken on a 45-degree angle - the path on the right is STEEP and those mountains are colossal - it was the only way to get the scenery into one shot.

Our approach was slow and steady. We plodded along, slowly gaining height. We stopped frequently but only for short periods. Eventually, the pass was in our sights, but the air was running out and it was still a long way off. As we neared the summit the sun poured down on us and we lost the cooling cover of the vegetation. We stopped to apply sunscreen and then moved on. We were metres from the top, squinting into the glare of the (almost exactly) midday sun, and with no warning, the sky was swallowed by cloud. It came out of nowhere and the temperature plummeted. We reached the summit to be greeted by icy winds and white-out conditions. The first picture below was taken by a member of our group about five minutes before the one beneath it, from nearly the same perspective.

Grateful for gravity helping us down the other side of the pass, we made excellent time, and along with another couple were the first into camp on the day of the most difficult part! Elated, and with the sun shining again, I celebrated with a cold shower. Clean, dry and warm, I was tucked up for the afternoon siesta when the rain (and hail at the summit) started and felt both guilty and relieved as I saw the wet and bedraggled hikers come into the camp.

Camp - Day 2. You can see the dinner tent above and our tent in the foreground. Leo and our walking buddies Katie and Leigh from the UK are stoked to be drinking warm tea while we waited for the rest of the group.

Day Three was meant to be easier, but longer. There was a second pass at a lower altitude and then a lot of going down. I was nearly as apprehensive of this day - my legs had very quickly turned to jelly on the descent the day before and I wanted to come out of the trail able to walk. I also had been conserving my phone battery and with about 75% left, I felt more confident to take photos. Which was fortuitous as the scenery was easily the most spectacular yet, even with the persisting mists obscuring the long views.

The day was punctuated by stops at the increasing number of ruins and features along the way, including two passages hewn out of giant rocks blocking the path. The way was 80% original Inca, and at times was built up metres high from the cliff face. It was incredibly impressive.

Day Three we rolled into camp an easy first, something that I did not realise for about ten minutes. Elated, we enjoyed the view out of our tent. The mountain to the left is Machu Picchu mountain, but the ruins are on the other side.

Day Four. Ahhh Day Four. Day Four was the last day. Day Four was Machu Picchu day. Day Four was the Sun Gate Day. It was also the day we got up at 3.30 am. The porters desperately needed to pack up and make the 5.30 train (the only one they can afford), and that meant we needed to be out of their way early. Anticipating this, I was awake about 2. The walk started at 5.30 when the checkpoint opened so we had a cold and dark wait on the track. It was a good hour to the Sun Gate - the ruins from which you can see your first glimpse of Machu Picchu. The last bit is called the 'Monkey Steps' as they are so steep you climb them like a monkey. Which means that you arrive at the top sweaty and out of breath. But...

...It Is Worth It.

The Sun Gate (Intipunku in Quechua) was the guardhouse marking one of the main entrances to Machu Picchu. 290m above the ruins, and around the other side of the mountain the view was really moving.

As we descended down, we could see Machu Picchu in more detail. The day turned glorious, and a little too hot. We had a guided tour of the ruins for about an hour, before exploring on our own.

The Incan ruins of Machu Picchu are some of the best preserved and easily the most famous in Peru. The structures are built using the same “ashlar” technique as the buildings in Cusco - without mortar. The execution is so perfect that a needle cannot fit between two stones. There are more than 600 terraces cascading down the steep hillside, fed by man-made water trenches that extend to over a kilometre away. Archaeological evidence shows that people were present in the area and its adjacent valleys since 760 B.C. It is assumed that Machu Picchu was built for the Inca king Pachacutec around 1450. The population of Machu Picchu is expected to have been close to 1000 inhabitants, mostly of members of Pachacutec’s lineage and the religious elite.

In 1911, Oxford history professor Hiram Bingham "discovered" the site with extensive help from locals and the world was made aware of the World Wonder. In 1983, Machu Picchu was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

After roaming around the ruins we caught a bus down the hill, a train to Ollantaytambo (rather infuriatingly covering our hike distance in an hour, but on the flat so...) and then a van back to Cusco. Along the way, I realised ALL my clothes were revoltingly dirty from the trail and I was meeting Leo's parents the next day, so we did our best to get our laundry done at 8pm on Good Friday. Through some sort of magic and a lovely receptionist, Leo managed to get it sorted and I had my clothes, clean and dry, packed in my suitcase by midnight.

The start of the Inca Trail from the train.

The next morning, after much too little sleep we said goodbye to Peru and flew across the Andes towards Argentina, where Leo's family was waiting for us.