How
we spent our summer in Peru
Huzefa & Reena
(1996)
About two months ago Peru meant nothing more than a collective idea of
potatoes, Alberto Fuhimori, Andes, Peruvian mummies, Incas and shining path
guerillas. Most of this was due to articles in National Geographic in recent
years on Peruvian mummies and Peru, a special Peruvian travelling museum on
pre-Inca cultures sometime in September 97 at San Fransisco and from reading
the popular cartoon comic Tintin. What we found it is one of most diverse
places on earth going from the driest climate on the coast to the Amazon basin
in a very little
area. We had no idea what the Inca culture meant which was about 18 million
strong from Columbia to Chile when the Spanish arrived, had no written
language but had an excellent distribution of goods and messenger
system. Besides the white potato, varieties of corn and drugs such
as quinine and cocaine. Most of known Inca history has been through the eyes of
Spanish conquistadors when they arrived (the last Inca did catalog his history
but he had spent most of his life in Spain when he wrote it) and through
speculation and theories of architects and historians.
For Indians, the Peruvian visa is pretty straightforward, $13 and you need an
itenary. A lot of US airlines (American, Continental) fly to Lima but the best
deal we got was through Lacsa (Costa Rican airline) but stops most of it way
through Central American. Not bad especially if you are flying during daylight
you can view the aerial geography.
24th Mayo Domingo 1998
San Fransisco
Moments after Ajat dropped us at the SFO airport, we found out that our Lacsa
flight (via Guatemala City/San Salvador/San Jose/Panama City Lima) was
cancelled because someone died in the flight. Because of the suspicious nature
of the death, the flight was grounded for about 12 hrs, And would leave 12 pm
noon instead of that midnight. We did not want to lose a day, so we lied to the
authorities saying we would miss our friends in Peru and
our trip would be disrupted, they offered to book us on Continental (via
Dallas/ Lima) leaving 25th morning and reaching in the evening. A
Peruvian family also in the same situation at SFO airport offered to take us
home and give us sleeping space. So we spent that night somewhere in the San
Leandro area near Berkeley.
25th Mayo Lunes
Lima
The Peruvian family brought us back to the airport early that morning. Our
flight to Dallas/Lima was quite uneventful. We slept most of the way. Reached
around 8pm. Lima (or Peru) is on the Eastern time zone. The left edge of South
America coincides with the right edge of North America. I wasnt really aware of
that. Being on the southern hemisphere we were expecting it to be cool, but
Lima was quite humid. The northern part of Peru is about couple of kms north of
the Equator and the southern part of Peru is 18deg south of the equator. So it
never really gets cold on the Peruvian coast. Changed about $50 or so. ($1 =
2.8 soles or so) depending on the place, bargaining, and whether you give
travellers checks or cash. The lady whose house we had stayed in SFO
offered to take us to her home in Lima, but we refused, since we didnt know our
plans and wanted to stay in a hostel where we could discuss with other
travellers finishing or starting their travel. A taxi offered us to take us to
Hostal Espana, a gringo get together recommended by LP. The hostel did not have
room, and did not want to look for another hostel at that hour they managed to
give us a bed, on the terrace, where the owner had kept some exotic pets and
birds, big turtles, macaws..
26th Mayo Martes
Lima
That morning, the birds on the terrace woke up before us. Had breakfast, and
started inquiring about how to get down the Pan American highway. Also inquired
if we could spend two to three days in the Amazon Basin if we took a flight
from Cuzco. Turned out there was special deals going on, we got flights from
Cuzco to Puerto Maldanado ($39) and Puerto Maldanado to Lima ($49). After
booking these and inquiring about our night plans to go to Pisco we went to see
the Catacombs at the St. Fransisco monastary. This monastary was used as a
burial site below the church site. The church facade and compound is beautiful
with a fountain in the center with lots pigeons. The catacombs were
interesting, apparently it was used as a burial site till late 1800. The
excavations look quite scary with the bones and skull still in the same place
and the church authorities arranging scores of skulls for dramatic effect for
the tourists. We spent about an hour or so underground and then we got
back to the main cathedral from hidden footsteps (aka indiana jones last
crusade).
Then we loitered around till we got to the Plaza de Armenas. Every city in Peru
has a Plaza of Arms which they call their central plaza. The government/
presidential palace on one side, the main cathedral on the other and other
government offices and a big fountain in the center. Went to the imposing
cathedral. The interiors didnt look too impressive. Many buildings have
the moorist style balconies, sort of like India but are covered. After
getting back to the hotel we checked out and stored our luggage, had lunch and
decided to see the Museuo de Inquisition. We walked for about an hour and got lost
in the maze, till we found the museum just before it was closing and manage to
ghiss in. The museum was interesting and stored real underground exhibits.
Anyone suspected of any crime against catholism (adultery, pagan practices ..)
were tortured in these chambers.
After seeing the museum we got back to the hostal collected our baggage and
left for the bus stop about 2km along the main road (??) for Pisco. The biggest
bus company in Peru (or South America) is Armanas. We got 6:30 bus a big
double bus (a big compartment attached to a normal bus). After about an
hour or so the bus died on the Panamerican highway. The driver said he would
help us get to Pisco and we waited for another Plaza de Armanas bus till about
9:00pm. Finally we got our bus and continued for Pisco. In Peru we found
most locals asking us to be careful with our luggage. Petty crime especially
along the towns of Pan american highway is quite common. Secondly many
locals were quite inquisitive about us. We didnt look like Latin Americans, and
very quickly recognized our skin color to be Indian. The reason is that
dubbed melodramatic family Hindi movies are quite popular in Peru. So people
would ask Reena why she didnt have any “teeka”? Why did we not wear marriage
rings? How long are we married? Why dont we have kids inspite of being married
so long? etc etc.
Finally at about midnight we reached Pisco. A young lady approached us and
asked us if we wanted a room in an hotel (about 25 soles) and mentioned it was
a new hotel not mentioned in the Lonely Planet. She took us by taxi to the
hotel. It was a house whose second floor was converted into a hotel. The hotel
manager was quite nice. Later she asked us if we would be interested in going
to Isla de Barras, supposed to the Peru’s Galapagos. About 30 soles per person
she said. If we were interested in going to the Reserve it would be 10soles
additional. We agreed.
27th Mayo Miercoles
Pisco
Woke up early and asked the hotel manager to give us some coffee and break and
jam. Before we could finish our breakfast, the van from the boat operator came
to pick us up. It is about 25 km from Pisco to the actually Reserve. The road
passes through a desert where on both sides of the road there are nests of
Peruvian boobies. After we got on to the boat, we went to this island quite
close where we saw the first lines in the desert. No one knows the real story
of this place. Apparantely the Nazca or the Pisco cultures used these signs to
direct ships into the bay. The top head of the sign points north and it looks
like a leaf. We continued till we reached Isla Ballestas. Peruvian boobies,
vultures all perched on cliffs. We circled around this beautiful island.
Humans are not allowed to land on this island except to collect guano,
the bird droppings which is used in the fertilizer industry. The guano
was used as the fertilizer even in ancient Inca times. Saw more of the
boobies and sea lions. Went around to the white island to see the penguins. Saw
a couple of them.
Really small. Got back to the harbort around 11:30am or so. After
freshening up we waited at a roadside restaurant till we could go inside the
reserve. The bus would come at 1:30am. The bus took us first to the
spot where we would see the flamingoes. The Peruvian independence from the
Spanish was launched in this region and the red-white red-colors which one sees
on the Peruvian flag are supposed to symbolised the flamingoes which met the
freedom fighters. The Reserve landscape is quite strange. There is the
desert which meets the see and it looks quite spectacular. The next we went to
the monastery. there were some pretty views of the ocean here and the
beach. Went down to the cave which looks and is shaped like a monastery.
Then the bus stopped at a fishing village which caught oysters and we had our
lunch there. After spending about an hour we went to the museum on the Reserve
which explained some of the Nazca and Pisco cultures.
The Pisco culture was famous for their fabrics and the museum we saw in Lima
had the world record in the number of stiches (400) per inch.
We returned back to Pisco and after freshening up at the hostal caught a bus to
Nazca. There was no direct bus going to Nazca, but we took a connection from
Ica. We arrived about 9:30pm and Mr. Dominick approached us and took us to the
hostal international (about 30 soles or so) We were quite tired and sort of
agreed a tour from him (plane ride over nazca lines ) without being too
concious of how much he was charging us.
28th Mayo Jueves
Nazca
That morning we did not have our breakfast and waited for Mr. dominick he did
not arrive at his mentioned 7:15pm, so we waited for about another hour and he
did not arrive, we got worried. I had paid him fully and he could have
disappeared. Started to walk around and met another tourist who had also been
booked by the same person. After about another half hour he shows up.
apparantely he overslept. Although he had promised to take us by Aero
Condor we land up in some other company and he says it is the same company or
the planes are the same. There is a big queue. We inquire with some other
people and find out they have paid $35 for the air trip and the nazca desert
cemetry trip. We ask mr. dominick for the money back and he says he will take
us to the cemetry and then later us return us part of the money. we left
with him to the desert cemetry.
The plane was a single engine with about 4 seats. The copilot offered us vomit
bags the moment we took off. The reason is that it was very hot and extremely
turbulent and the plane was turning around quite a bit to make us queasy.
But the sites were quite interesting. We first saw the astronaut carved on the
side of the hill, then the whale, a bird, condor, alcatraz a parot a monkey.
We got back and were quite angry at mr. dominick to have duped us of the order
of fifty bucks. Reena says I have been too long in the US and lost my
bargaining skills. I was quite adament to get my money back after we got from
the airport. I stayed around till he gave us some story about having to go
somewhere. For a while I felt helpless. I went out to call the police which
scared him and he tried to run away. After about half an hour he tried to
run away and I caught him back and almost got physical with him (he was about
half my size). Someone on the road after seeing the commotion interfered and
tried to help us. He changed his story again. And after a while we sort
of called it quits and allowed him to leave.
We walked around got our tickets for the bus (there are no buses which
originate from Nazca but only couple of seats can be reserved we were lucky to
get reserved seats)
That evening we left for Arequipa. The bus journey from Nazca to Arequipa takes
about 8hrs. We took the 11pm bus and with a comfortable journey to Arequipa.
29th Mayo Viernes
Arequipa
we reached Arequipa around 7:00am. took a shared taxi to the central with a
tourist who was travelling with us. We went to Hostal Regis about 28 soles with
shared bath. The hotel manager asked us if we wanted to go to Colca (about $20
per person). The room was in a balcony which faced right down on the main
street. After showering and getting dressed, we went to the Monastery of Santa
Catalina which was just around the corner. This monastery was actually a
convent who kept their own slaves. It wasnt recognized by the Pope who thought
it was more of a exotic club. Till the early 1980s the convent was kept closed
till the Mayor of Arequipa forced it to comply with city regulations requiring
it have proper electrical and sanitory facilities. The monastery is one
of the most beautiful I have seen. With colorful castel colors and beautiful
bogan villas and little alleys we shot more than a roll of film there and spent
about 2 or so hours. It was almost a city with internal street names within the
convent. It is still a working convent but only part of it is used. After the
convent we walked around Plaza de Armanas and saw the Catedral.
Later we got some camera batteries and walked into a tourist agency to book our
bus for the Colca Canyon and book our train tickets to Puno. They charged us
about $18 to go to Colca and about 30 soles or so to Puno. Returned back
and had gyros for dinner.
30th Mayo Sabado
Colca canyon
The morning after our desayuno, the travel agency lady came and handed our
Cuzco tickets (5 soles commision per ticket) and we left in a collectivo for
Arequipa. At a bus stop we replinished our munchies and water supply.
within about an hour the road turned quite bad and it remained like that for
almost all the part of the trip. The scenery was quite beautiful and we could
see most of the volcanic peaks (Misti,Picchu Picchu,Ampato ). We passed
through the Reserval Nacional Salinas y Aguada Blanca, where we saw the first
member of the Andes camel family the vucuna. Later in the trip we saw
domesticated llamas and alpacas. There are four member of the south america
camel family. The llamas, alpacas, vucuna and the guanaco. We never saw
the guanaco it is believed to have almost disappeared from the Peruvian andes.
The Incas are to be credited to have domesticated the alpacas and llamas. The
vucuna has never been tamed. Most of these animals live in groups. The wool of
the vucuna is supposed to the best in the world and a coat of vucuna costs
about $5000 in the Peru market. It is banned to sell the vucuna wool.
Even in the Inca times it was only the kinds which were allowed to wear coats
of the wool of the vucuna. As distinguishing feature of the three, the
vucuna is much more slimer, smallest of them all and more playful than the
llama or the alpaca. The llama has longer ears and tail that sticks out. The
llama is always one color whereas the alpaca can be multicolored. The alpaca
has hair on its face. Both of them can interbreed. The alpaca has better wool
than the llama. At a later stage of the trip, before our trail to Macchu Picchu
we bought two alpaca sweaters (20 soles each about $6). The problem is for
tourists like us is impossible to distinguish between the alpaca and the llama
wool. The llama and alpaca are also used for their meat. about 2 hrs
later another distinguishing feature between the llama and the alpaca is the
llama has a shorter temper especially when it is eating is can spit about
5m. we stopped on the way to take a restroom break at a coca tea house.
a tourist trap. we had our first taste of coca tea. quite bland but
refreshing.
Most of Peru’s indigenous people both chew the coca leaf and brew it as a tea
just like they have done for centuries. In its raw form, the coca leaf contains
less than one-half of one percent of the alkaloid cocaine. A mild stimulant,
dilates the capillaries and has effect like caffeine. A 1961 UN treaty however
prohibited international commerce in the leaf except for medicinal usages. It
also called for ban on coca chewing in 1986. Raminder tells me that it could be
also that it is a hunger supressant, which we sort of found also when we chewed
the leaves in the highlands but am not sure if the effect was because of
altitude.
after about a hour the road became less dustier and the scenery became much
more greener. lots of alpacas and llamas. passed through a high pass where we
could view the volcanoes around. some photographs and after about two hours we
reached Chivay, a little Andean village situated in the valley. Here we could
view the agricultural terraces which was quite amazing. most of the terracing
is pre-inca. Things which are grown are tubers (potatoes), carrots. we reached
our hotel and we left for lunch. Had alpaca bistek (steak) for lunch while
Reena struggled to find some veggie food. after lunch we visited the thermal
hot spring at chivay. it was getting cold in the evening, but the springs were
refressing. in the evening, we went to a restaurant where there was some native
dancing, had fish and reena had soup and jugos.
31st Mayo Domingo
Colca canyon
The next day after breakfast at 6:00am we left a church at Yanque dating
back to the 1700 century. Here we had a close glimpse of Ampato. the mountain
became famous in 1996 when Johan Reinhart and a local mountaineer and guide
Miguel Zarate from the Chivay area discovered the Inca girl which had been
sacrificed. Apparantely it was unseasonally hot in 1995-1996 when the ice on
top of Ampato melted exposing the Inca girl. the girl and her internal
viscerals were perfectly preserved. This story has been carried by the National
Geographic (author Johan Reinhart) several times since then. In the recent July
1998 issue there is another article by him giving further exploration
details.(Mummies of peru) The locals from this area are quite angry at the
recognition that Reinhart had received when Miguel the local had not been given
that much of credit. The mummy girl has been called Sarita by the locals and is
now located in the Catholic university at Arequipa. We tried to see it when we
got back but unfortunately it was closed. We proceeded along and stopped
on the way to see some burial sites on the cliffs. Bought some sapata (a sweet
cactus fruit) from the locals. In about 2 hours or so we reached Cruz del
condor at the point supposed to be the deepest canyon in the world. It is
debatable. earlier this century National Geographic exploration found this
canyon and classified it to be the deepest if the measurement is taken from
Mismis summit. One side of the canyon froms the wall of Mt. Mismi and depth
measurement if done from the top of Mt. Mismi to the bottom of the canyon, it
is classified as the deepest canyon in the world. This place is also
famous for the Andean condors with wing spa n of about 3.5m. We saw several of
them as they circled around. after spending about 1.5 hr at this spot we
returned back to Chivay, where we had a brief lunch halt and also purchased an
alpaca sweater and retreated along the same road we had arrived to Chivay. We
arrived late in the evening at Arequipa.
Reached the Arequipa train station at about 8:00ish (taxi 2 soles). We had the
first class (about 25 soles). This is recommended if you are doing night
travel. The service is quite good, providing blankets, pillows drinks etc.
1st Junio Lunes
Puno
Reached Juliaca around 6:00am. People who werent going to Puno but to Cuzco
have to change here. After about an hour the train left Puno. A tourist
official gave us advice on where to stay in Puno. He would provide free
transportation he said. The train stopped in the middle of nowhere for about an
hour or so, which gave us the opportunity to walk outside and check the
surroundings. We reached Puno around 9:30am or so and took the transportation
provided by our official to the hostal. It was about 25 soles or so. Most of
the After breakfast, we got back and showered and went around the city. Saw the
popular Hare Krishna restaurant chain (Govinda). Went to the main plaza and get
some change along with some information. Got back and had lunch at the Govinda
restaurant. Returned back around 1:30 for the bus which was going to Silustani.
We reached the Salistani around 2:00pm. It is a island in the lake umayo On top
of the hill the view and it beautiful.
The Inca empire known as Tahuantinsuyo or the Land of four quarters. The
souther quarter was occupied by the Colla tribe which occupied Silustani. These
were the Aymara speaking tribe and their dead were burried in funery towers
called chullpas. The tallest of this reaches about 12m. These towers look
impressive since they are on a hill surrounded by Lago Umayo. These towers are
round and they were burried in family groups with belongings they would need
for their next life. The only opening faced east just enough for a person
to crawl through. Some chulpas were left unfinished. Accross the lake is
a national reserve for the vucunas.
We got back about 7:00pm had dinner at a vegetarian place.
2nd Junio Martes
Puno
The next day the bus took us to a boat on the Puno harbor. The Puno
harbor is covered with of weed (water haycynth) which is used to produce
energy. The lago Titicaca is also silting up and we could see the earlier part
of the lake which had dried up with cattle (mostly llamas and alpacas).
We climbed to the roof of the boat till we approached the first floating
island. Pretty touristy we thought.
The tortara reeds that grow are harvested to make the islands themselves.
The reeds rot away from the bottom and are replaced from the top so the ground
is soft and in some places the weeds are rotten. The biggest of this island has
a school. The Uros people build canoe shaped boats for transportation and
fishing. One boat lasts for about 6 months before it rots.
The reeds were quite stable. Huge wooden sticks anchored the reed island.
to prevent them from drifting away.
You could feel as if you were walking on a water bed. Went on little platform
where you could see the little island. There were ladies trying to sell little
items. This island also has a school with grades 6 and less on one side and
grades 6 and above on the other side of the room. Bought a little reed boat and
a souvenir showing Pachamama the earth god and then went back to the motor boat
to go to Isla Taquile.
We continued for about and hour and half to Isla Taquile. The people in this
region speak Aymara (not Quecha). The Aymara speaking Incas were always with
war with Quechua speaking Inca.
The approximate quechua speaking region is from the north of the Plaza de Armas
of Puno all the way up to Columbia, the aymara speaking region is the south of
the Plaza de Armas of Puno down to Bolivia and Chile. After climbing a bit we
could see the Bolivian colderas. We went to the center of the town (Plaza de
Armanas) and walked around the village and climbed to the highest vantage
point. Got back to the Plaza de Armanas for lunch and then headed back to our
boat which had been taken accross the island. The hike down the inca steps
through beautiful arcs and the altiplano in the background was very beautiful.
Reached the boat and headed back.
Played some cards and chess on the boat with a Peruvian businessman from Lima
out to celebrate his 25th wedding anniversary. Just before
reaching the port our boat stalled. It took the boatman about 15 mins to get
things resolved and cool the engine and we got back just around 5:45. Our
agency had promised us to stall the bus at the bus station till we got back. He
had sent us a taxi which took us to the hotel, picked up our luggage and headed
quickly for the bus terminal. Luckily the bus was still around. He bought the
tickets (cost only 14 soles but charged us about 20 soles).
The bus was packed with locals heading to Cuzco. There were kids sleeping on
the floor of the bus, moms trying to quieten their kids, people getting in and
out, people selling their wares and best of all there was no way we could get
to our seats. The aisle to our seat was blocked by luggage and people
lying/sitting on the floor. The bus took off in about 15 minutes. I could hear
the passengers couplaining about the bus being late because of a couple of
gringoes (us). Reached Juliaca in about an hour and the bus stopped there and
couple of more people got in and they had reservations for the same seats as
us. Apparently there was some miscommunication between the Cuzco and Juliaca
reservations. Not knowing what to do and where to sit we requested the driver
to be our in between where we explained the them in our broken spanish what had
occured. i dont know what he did, but resolved the thing pretty quickly
and asked the other party occupy some other seats (after asking the occupants
of those seats to give us their seats). Got some munchies for the night,
and went back to sleep. Got up around midnight when the bus stopped at some
police station (busses have to stop at police stations when they cross state
boundaries, enter cities) and the police were searching our bus. After about
half and hour of searching, the conductor came back and asked all of us, about
some bag. I had no clue what was going on, since most of the conversation was
hushed and in Spanish. The lady ahead of us removed some stuff from below her
leg and asked me and some other passengers to hold it till the police left.
I refused. The police searched again and after about 15 minutes the bus
was on its way. This got repeated at the next police station and the lady ahead
of us asked to hide some stuff for us. I have no clue what was happening or
what was wrong and is still a mystery to us. Reached Cuzco about 4:00am.
3th Junio Miercoles
Cuzco
Arrived quite early (about 4:00am ish) and our friend at Puno had arranged a
taxi/hostal so that we would be taken care of early in the morning. This was
because couple of days in a row several “official” taxis had taken the tourists
out and completely stripped them of their belongings. So we were told not to
take any taxis in the middle of the night. The person from Hospadaje Sambleno
came and picked us up. This was a hospadaje and sort of a guest house run by
someone. He brought us back and showed us our rooms. The first signs of
old Cuzco was very impressive. Cobble stones, little lighted streets which were
on a hill. Very very pretty. The manager showed us our rooms and we
grabbed about couple of hours of sleep. We got up and checked in with our
passports. Reena was not feeling well so we had some coca tea for breakfast.
Walked around the plaza San Blas. We then went all the way down to Plaza
de Armas. The catedral in the central is very impressive. Baroque style
designed by local inca craftsmen. We had our desayuno and walked around
the main square. Went to the La Compania (The large cities have a side
accompanying church ). Inquired several places on the Inca trail we
wanted to go the next day and found several. Our hostal manager met us along
the way and asked us if we wanted to sign up for the trip and also the city
tour. Later we went back to the hostal and he refused to take travellers checks
(usually travellers checks are a cost to the buyer and you usually paying up a
small fee about 2%). So we went back to Plaza Armas just around 1:30 and
signed up for a bus. We also bought this little travellers tickets issued by
the Cuzco tourism. It comes in about 10-15 tickets for the different sites to
all the churches and museums and costs around $10. It is cheaper if you
are going to see a lot of stuff. So we bought this coupon. We first went to the
Catedral. One of the few places in Cuzco where photography is completely
prohibited. The church itself has 3 catedrals and has various beautiful
biblical stories painted by Inca craftsmen. This is something we found quite
interesting. The spanish when they arrived took a lot of gold with them which
spurred the Renaisance era and the arts and architecture in Spain and other
parts of Europe. And they were not impressed at the Inca craftsmenship so they
brought in famous painters and had the Inca craftsmen trained in arts what they
thought was beautiful. There was a sculpture of christ which was in black
(christi negro), mostly due to sooot. Every year during corpus christi the
sculpture is paraded in the main square (this ritual was initiated after the
earthquake tremors stopped when the christi sculpture was paraded). Corpus
christi occurs mid June every year. We had to miss it on our trip because we
did not have enough time.
Our next place was the temple of the Sun (coricancha). This was the main place
of the Inca. The inca ruins form the base of the colonial church of Santo
Domingo. Today most of the remains is stonework of what used to be the riches
temple of the Inca empire. Coricancha means Golden Courtyard (queucha). The temple
walls were lined with some 700 solid gold sheets each weighing about 2 kg.
There were gold silver replicas of corn (for agricultural) and altars, llamas,
sun.
The balconies was covered with gold and there was the throne. Within
months of the arrival of the first conquistadors the wealth had been metled. In
the center courtyard there used to be sacrificial stones covered in about 55kg
of gold. The temple riches were so quickly looted that proper temple records
are hazy.
The construction of the walls are still intact
(the lower part) and only the top part is restored and are typical trapezoidal
inca architecture one of the finest examples in peru. Since the Spanish
came in with certain notions about worship, the diety storage rooms which were
not worship rooms were destroyed.
Cuzco was the capital of the Inca empire. Legend has it that the Incas began
when Manco Capac and Mama Occlo, the first Inca and his wife emerged fro Lake
Titicaca sent by the Sun God Inti to civilize mankind. He gave them a
gold staff that would sink in the grounds of where they would found the capital
of their empire. The place was Cuzco from where they began their task. The
expanstion began during the reign of Inca Pachacutec conquering other
civilizations but allowing them to continue their way of life but to worship
Inti and recognize the Inca. They were taught to farm and improve their
conditions in return for what Incas would learn from them. The empire called
Tawantinsuyo, meaning four quarters center in Cuzco, Chinchaisuyo in the north
(Pasto in columbia) collasuyo in the southwest (Maule in chile) and Antisuyo in
the east (tucuman argentina) connected entirely by a road network used by a
messenger system that would enable tranfer of goods. the architecture and stone
buildings were so advanced that they were made to abut exactly and not a razor
blade could not be inserted within the joints. The advancement was achieved
without any knowledge of the wheel or the written word. They lasted only
about one and half centuries (1532 AD).
When Fransisco Pizzarro arrived to Cuzco.
To secure his release, Atahualpa offered to pay Pizarro the most fabulous
ransom in recorded history. Indicating a point roughly 8 feet up the wall of
the room in which he was being held, the Inca promised his captor that he would
fill the chamber to that height with objects of gold. He pledged to fill
another room twice over with silver. When this treasure was given, Pizarro
melted it down and after reserving a portion for the King distributed it among
the men and killed Atahualpa. There were several other famous Incas most
notably Manco who hid at Vilcambamba which was lost and which led to a search
by Hiram Bingam and Tupac Amaru who tried a unsucessful rebellion against the
spanish and the reign ended in 1532. The spanish called most of the people rule
by the Inca (and the pre-inca cultures) as the Incas just as they did with the
Mayan and the pre-Mayan cultures.
Next we went to Sacsayhuaman (pronounced as sexy human or sexy woman) This ruin
is quite close to the Christo Blanco on the top of the mountains surrounding
the Cuzco valley. Some of the rocks at Sacsayhuaman weigh about 300 tons. The
city of Cuzco forms a puma shape with Sacsayhuaman as its head. The different
zig-zag of the fort/wall at the ruins form the teeth of the puma head and can
be seen well if seen from an aerial view. This was more of a religious
city rather than a fort and is still used for religious purposes. The grounds
were being cleared for the sun festival in June when we there. However when
Pizarro started by capturing Sacsayhuaman and used it as a base to lay seige on
Cuzco about 250m down in the valley. Manco Inca finally recaptured this city
at a later stage only to lose it again and retreated to Ollantaytambo.
Next to Tamo Machay.
This place had excellent water circulation system. The Incas channeled most of
the underground spring water and carried it through the different rooms and
channel it through pretty mini waterfalls inside the rooms. This stone bath is
called El Bano del Inca.
Next we went to Quenko. (zig-zag)
There are some carvings and has a recently discovered cave under the
sacrificial rock where they found an altar and bones of alpacas and llamas.
We returned back when it was dark and inquired again for our Inca trip.
About $50 for all the 4 days per person was the approximate expense. We found
some people, got through an agency and got guides and porters.
4th June Jueves
Inca trail
Left early in the morning. Took the collectivo for about an hour and half to
the town Urumbamba. Had breakfast there, bought our ponchos (it looked as
if it was going to rain) (3 soles) and bought a bag of coca leaves (1 sole) and
some warm headgear. We then continued to Km77. After getting off
near the banks of the river Urumbamba, our guide David briefed us a little bit
on the trail. The trail is about 50km long, and the maximum pass is at height
4200m. The height fluctuation per day however is +1000m to -1000m.
We would do about 7-8 hrs of walking everyday, pass through a lot of beautiful
ruins and villages and on the last day we will walk for about an hour and half
and reach Macchu Picchu before sunrise. The porters carried our tents and food.
The first couple of hours we walked alongside the Urumbamba passed through
little villages and reached the Km77 train station. After a little rest crossed
the Urubamba and continued on the other side till about 2:30pm. The porters
made us lunch, avacado filled with onions and coca tea and bananas. We
continued till we reached the entrance of the trail, the guide paid the fees
and we reached our first ruins called Paucarchancha. It is a fort and
supposed to be a control site for Macchu Picchu. Macchu Picchu was the city for
the chosen women and all travellers going on the road had to pass through these
control points and if they qualified were allowed to proceed.
We continued for about an hour and half till about 7:00pm till we reached our
first campsite. near a stream.
Setup our tents and gear and porters made us dinner. Vegetable Soup and some
chicken and coca tea. It was cloudy and warm and the night was quite
uneventful.
5th Junio viernes
Inca trail
The second day after a bread and jam breakfast we left our campsite about
6:30am. Our guide asked us the chew coca leaves if we felt tired or felt
altitude sick. We walked for about 7 hrs till we reached the pass at 4200m.
Its called the Warmiwanusca or the dead womens pass. The route was very
pretty but it was quite backbreaking, and tiring. The path went through some
cloud forests and some very scenic routes.
The mountain scenary with llamas and alpacas was very beautiful. It was quite
chilly at the top. Took some photographs and descended about 150m where our
guides had setup lunch. Some chocalates and a vegetable made out of pumpkin and
potatoes. After resting for about an hour, we descended about 500m or so into
the valley where we decided to camp. We could see the ruins of Runturacay up in
the mountains just accross from dead womans pass. Since we were early
that day, most of the evening ourselves and the group spent playing
cards, making popcorn, and talking till it was dark. The next day apparantely
we had to get back to the same height and cross two passes. Washed our clothes
in the nearby stream and had a towel bath to remove the salt.
It was quite a warm night.
6th Junio Sabado
Inca trail
The morning after desayuno and breaking our campsite we started back to
climb the mountains on the other side. The first stop was Runturacay a little
ruin on the edge of the cliffs. We made it there in about an hour. after
spending some time there, We continued our way up the pass, went by some
beautiful lakes and reached the pass. From the pass we could see the major
peaks Cordillera Vilcabamba and the then descended on another ruin called
Sayacmara. The site is constructred on a mountain spur and is most impressive
of the ruins. after a couple of hours we passed some beautiful cloud
forest and scenery where we could view the Urumbamba river and the peaks (also
can view Veronica) and finally the the last ruin of the trip Phuyupatamarca,
where we had our lunch.
We started descending around 2pm and passed through 3500 steps of the real Inca
trail. It was quite a painful 1000m descent, with huge steps but later the
trail went through some very pretty forests till we reached sight of our hostal
perched about 2000m above the valley. We could view a newly discovered
ruin of Huinay Huayna but we did not go there. because it was quite a
distance off the main trail. After about an hour on the switchbacks we
reached the hostal. We camped on the grounds. They had hot water here, and we
had a quick wash. The dinner was good we tipped the porters (20 soles), since
they would be leaving from there and not be carrying any meals.
7th Junio Domingo
Inca trail (Macchu Picchu)
That morning after our breakfast we said bye to our guides and left
around 5:30am. After about an hour and half of intense walking we reached
Intipunku the gate of sun, one of the gates of Macchu Picchu. We waited
for a sunrise for about an hour. It was cloudy but it took sometime for the sun
to completely shine on Macchu Picchu. The official tourist gates open at
7:30am. We went down and the view was spectacular.
Macchu Picchu is claimed to be the best archaelogical site in South America
discovered by the west by Hiram Bingam a Yale professor who wanted to get
acquainted with South American history so that he could teach it the following
semester. He started out with some expeditions and finally decided that he
should find the city of Vilcabamba the refuge of the Inca Manco Its still
unclear where the city of Vilcambamba is, the peruvian government has still not
revealed it clearly, but there have been speculations that Espritu Pampa, which
are much deeper in the jungle are the ruins of Vilcabamba. In July 1911,
he came accross this magnificient site which was occupied by 2 indians. The
ruins were covered by forest and he offered an equivalent of 50c to the Indians
if they would show him some more. They found this site intact, nothing
was destroyed by the Spanish conquistadors and most of the damage done was
natural. He cleared up ruins and offered another silver sol to anyone who would
find him burial sites. About 4 were found and then several. Most of them women.
The theory goes that this was the chosen site of the Inca virgin women who were
to serve the present Inca to bear children to future Inca kings.
Bingam named the city after the mountain it was close to. In his book
“the lost city of the incas” he claims macchu picchu to be vilcambamba.
There have been some new reports of burial sites and the temple of the
moon on Huayna Picchu the impressive mountain behind Macchu Picchu (called
Marampampa).
It can be covered by a three hour trek but it is closed because of forest
fires. The Macchu Picchu site holds the Temple of sun.
The architecture is magnificient and so is the site. The building stones were
so carved and chiseled so as to fit exactly and hold each other from all the
sides. Most of the Inca buildings have remained intact with the different
earthquakes which have struck Peru throughout the centuries whereas the Spanish
and modern buildings have suffered considerable damage.
Spent about 4 hours at Macchu Picchu and was planning on hiking down but Reena
was not feeling well and we wanted to soak in the waters of Agua Caliente (hot
water) so we took the tourist bus down. The walk to the Hot Springs of Agua
Caliente was uphill and atleast half an hour away. But it was good. Nested in
the valleys the hot springs really good. I took dips in the cold stream water
and the hot spring water to shock my body like the local kids who were doing
it.
Walked down to the railway station after about an hour and half and found our
guide with the train tickets to Ollaytambo. There had been a landslide between
Ollaytambo and Cuzco so we need to take the bus from there. The train station
is something quite unique I have seen. The stores and the restaurants are right
on the side of the railway track. Got some bread, tomatoes and avacadoes and
made sandwiches. The train arrived and a local kid followed us in for
chocolates.
We reached Ollaytambo in about 2 hours. The scenery on the river was
spectacular. From Ollaytambo took a collectivo and reached Cuzco around 8:00pm.
Went back to our hostal but they had no rooms, so we changed to another nearby
hostal. Had dinner (sandwiches) and had a good sleep.
8th Junio Lunes
Cuzco
That morning we got up lazily and by the time we got to breakfast it was almost
10am. Had coffee and a sandwich and took a taxi to the local bus station
(2soles). We took the next bus to Pisac which also cost us around 2 soles. The
ride was quite pretty and we reached around 11:30am. The town was dead
when we got there. The church is beautiful and on every Sunday a local market
gathers here. Besides that we could not find anybody around except local dogs.
The road upto Pisac ruins is about a 500m climb. We luckily found a collectivo
which was going in the direction of the ruins. Took the collectivo and we
got off at Pisac. The valley and the ruins were spectacular. Apparantely the
finest examples of an Inca fort in the Andes. Walked around but we were
very very saturated with archaelogy and ruins. After spending an hour we
decided to head back to the road. The last bus had left so we walked about one
and half km to the regular intersection to flag down any trucks. Got a ride
pretty soon and went back to the Pisac town. We found some shops open selling
wares and some beautiful wall hangings and carpets.
Got one very beautiful one depicting the
beautiful Sacred Valley with Pisac and Ollaytambo Calca and Chicero
We waited to get into the busses arriving from Calca and whenever we tried to
get in the bus conductor declared the bus full and asked us to get out. After
missing a couple of busses we became aggressive, getting ahead of the line
pushing most of the locals around. Every long distance bus has to go through a
police station and if the bus is over-crowded the bus operator gets charged a
fine. Our bus was overcrowded so when we stopped the police checkpoint the
driver closed the windows of the bus and asked the standing passengers to lie
down on the floor. We reached Cuzco around 5:00pm. Walked around. Wanted
to visit Blanco Christi (The white statue of Jesus) on a hill which overlooks
Cuzco. Got back to the hostal and was getting back to our room when a girl
inquired if we were from India. In subsequent conversations we found she was
doing her research in Peru at Penn State University in the US. Later
found that she knows my brother Yusuf and lives only a couple of appartments
away in Nittany Appartments at Univeristy Park.
Went out to see the museums but they were all closed. Later that evening after
dinner we found an internet access site (about 6 soles per hour) and logged and
sent some emails.
9th Junio Martes
Cuzco
Well the morning we rushed to airport (about 5 soles) after getting up late and
found that our flight was actually scheduled for 11th June. Hadnt
read our tickets correctly. Got back to our Hostal and slept for about couple
of more hours. We got up and decided to take it easy for the day. After
visiting the museum of history, the modern art museum we had lunch at this
picatario but they did not have the traditional dishes and the museum of
religion The problem with museums is that the explainations are mostly in
Spanish and so it is difficult to understand what is going on unless you use
the dictionary quite well or have a translator or a guide. Went back and
had an afternoon nap and in the evening loitered around the Plaza de Armas and
tried to take some moonlight photographs of the lighted fountain.
10th Junio
Miercoles
Pt. Maldanado
Our flight to Pt. Maldanado was uneventful. It was humid and just after
we landed we were almost drenched in sweat. After getting hussled to join
a collectivo we reached Pt. Maldanado plaza (about 5km / 5soles from the
airport) to a hostal recommended by the Lonely planet. Since the taxi had
dropped us there I walked around to other hostals to check if the price range
was reasonable and we checked in. One guide approached us and asked us if we
wanted to join a trip with him down Rio de Madre to Lago Sandobal. He
said about $ 35 per person. We wanted to check out what other guides would
offer. We had breakfast and decided to find someone quickly so that we could
watch the Brazil/Scotland game. Went to the hotel Wilson one of the big tours
of that area and they said about $45 so we came back. Luckily one of the
best guides recommended by the Lonely planet approached us. This was a low tourist
season and so we could get a better deal. We bargained for about $28 and he
agreed to take us. Went to bank and exchanged some money. Got back in time for
the match. Every little corner grocery store, medicine shops had the match
running. After the match we decided to take a nap since it was quite hot and
then rent motor bikes and go accross the rio de madre and see how far we could
make it to brazil border. We checked out the motorbike (3.5 soles for an
hour) but he got nervous after seeing how I was handling his bike and he took
it back. We walked to the ferry where a ferry canoe took us across the
river. The river is about 500m wide and about 6m deep. Its quite powerful
midstream. Something strange about Rio de Madre is that it flows south into
Bolivia (unlike other tributaries of Amazon from Peru which flow north) and
then into Brazil and joins the Amazon quite late. We walked in the other
direction for a while. Little bars and restaurants and huts. The road is not
paved anywhere in the Pt. Maldanado area. This area around is quite
popular for gold prospectors, who about a decade or two ago would have made a
fortune with the gold in current markets. Now gold mining is not that
profitable but there exist a lot of little mining towns. We decided to return
back after about an hour and stayed for a while in the Plaza de Armas. Had some
sandwiches and jugos and got back to the hotel room and slept early.
11th Junio Jueves
Lago Sandobal
We got up quickly waited for Hernan after we checked in our luggage. He
arrived with his macheti. Picked up some batteries for our torch on our way to
the ferry. Didnt need iodine tablets but may need mosquito repellants he said.
We went down on the Rio de Madre for about 45 minutes. Reached the trailhead to
Lago Sandobal and he asked the ferryman to meet us the next evening. Got off
from the banks into the jungle. Hernan pointed out several leaf cutting, army
ants and ant hills. Saw huge butterflies along the way. Took us about an hour
to reach the lake. We set up our stuff and decided and Hernan said we should go
for a dip in the lake. The lake was initially the part of the river several
millions of years ago and it forms a nice ecological system with birds,
caymans, monkeys and little fishes including the piranhas. It was quite hot and
we went for a swim. Hernan said he would go first into this lake to
remove our fear of going into this cayman/piranha infested waters. After
feeling some imaginary bites in our body we got used to it. It was refreshing
and cool. Got back and we had lunch.
In the afternoon we got back into the boat to go for a ride on the lake.
Found several birds
king fishers
a name i forget (??)
toucans
macaws
There is an interesting article by National Geographic (Jan 94) on macaws
of the Puerto Maldanado area. This place is on the Tambopata river (a
tributary of Rio de Madre) and the macaws and parakeets of the area come to
this natural salt lick wall to neutralize the toxin fruits they makign the
wall quite colorful with different colored macaws and parakeets. This
place is about 4 hours by boat and requires atleast 4 people to go.
While we were going around a cayman dived under us making our flimsy canoe rock
giving us a little scare. We went close to a bank and Hernan removed his
Macheti and took us for a half and hour walk in the jungle to see the monkeys
he said. We didnt see any and when the path got slushy and muddy we turned
back.
Later we crossed the lake to a place he said we would catch piranhas. He got
some meat out and his little fishing line and couple of minutes he had caught a
small piranha. tHe piranha clenches his/her teeth and its quite loud. He let it
go to catch a bigger one. The flesh of the piranha tastes like meat and not
like fish (because it eats other fishes). Hernan caught a big one and
killed it with his macheti. Reena wanted to catch some, and she did catch
one but lost it back into the water. We waited on the water till it got
dark and squirrel monkeys were coming back to the lake after their trip in
the jungle. As it got late we headed back to our camp.
After dinner, Hernan said he would like to take us to see the caymans and maybe
even catch a little one. We got into the canoe and Hernan pointed one 2m one
about a couple of meters from us. This scared us a bit because it was really
dark and the only way to recognize the cayman was to shine the torch in its
eyes. We went almost half of the lake and suddenly it got windy and chilly
(This phenomenon is called Friajes and it is pretty common. The wind moves in
from the Andes into the jungle making it quite cold (10deg) and brings rain
along with it). It started raining so heavily and it was so windy that Hernan
decided to head back. We were scared we would topple over. We got back safely
and slept the night well.
12th Junio Viernes
Lago Sandobal
Hernan woke us up a 6:00 and after a visit to the nearby stream we got ready
for the canoe ride. He said we might see a cayman and some macaws. It was
cloudy, windy and slightly rainy. We went around the lake saw some fruit bats.
no caymans. finally it was quite windy and Hernan decided to head back.
It took a lot of his effort to get back to the camp. Had some breakfast after
we got back. And after it stopped raining we headed for the jungle. We walked
for about 2 hrs in the jungle. He showed us quinine, brazil nuts, lots of
medicinal and utilitarian plants, wild bananas, aadvark burrows etc.
When we got back it was 12:00. Had our lunch and after resting for about an
hour we headed back to Rio de Madre. Reached the river around 3:30pm. Saw some
monkeys and macaws on our way back. Reached Puerto Maldanado around 4:30pm.
13th Junio Sabado
Lima
Checked out quite early, bought some brazil nuts at the airport, the flight
back to Lima via Cuzco was uneventful. Reached Lima and got back to Plaza de
Armas in a shared taxi with two other tourists in 10soles. The taxi driver
offered me to take me to a hotel maintained by his cousin. We declined. After
two minutes of hunting we found Hotel Viracocha and we decided to stay.
The checkin was slow, mexico/japan game was on. After a shower and lunch,
decided to visit the museo de oro. This museum is quite far in the suburbs
which gave us a chance to the lima surroundings. The museum costs a
whopping $10 however it is worth it.
It is situated in a vault in the basement.
It has mostly gold silver items from various periods but does not have
any english titles so its not possible to get any information. The
display is quite dark but what is impressive is the amount of gold in couple of
rooms.
There were couple of mummies and lots of ornamental stuff.
There is pottery from the Chimu and Moche pre-Inca periods mostly
ceremonial chicha jars. A lot of pottery from these cultures have explicit
sexual positions and phallic shapes on their jars and pots. Apparantely
these cultures had very open sexual norms and one of the New world diseases
which Spanish carried back to the old world was Syphillis. In the same
museum building on the upper floors there is the Arms museum. Both
these sections are apparently world famous. The lights of the city went
off in the middle and we decided to call it quits. Got out and took the
collectivo to Mira Flores, apparently an upscale beachfront neighborhood
(1 soles). Walked around the central park. There were lots of little
community events and artist gatherings. Had some sandiwches in
the roadside stalls and some juice and after a couple of collectivo
changes got back Plaza Armas.
We slept early that evening after quick dinner.
14th Junio Domingo
San Fransisco
The taxi to the airport was cheap (5 soles). Paid the international
airport tax ($25 per person) and with the remaining soles we had made phone
calls to Bombay (9 soles per minute). The airport internal tv had soccer. The
flight stopped in Panama city and we could get an aerial view of the channel
and about an hour in San Jose (where we changed planes). Then to San Salvador,
where when it landed the airport building looked like the IIT main building.
There seemed to be no buildings around. People playing soccer in nearby feilds.
In about 6 or so hours we reached San Fransisco where Ashok picked us up.
Cerveza: Pilsen, Arequpena and Cuzquena. There is one more beer I dont recall.
Cuzquena was the best but not that good, I thought. Almost had a chicha
(locally brewed beer) at a local stall in Lima and then decided not to drink
it.
Language:Mostly spanish, and quechua/aymara in the highlands. Most places
people do come out and help you with the language. Kids like to talk English.
If you are in the tourist areas, most people will speak english and have
english menus. Our Spanish has not improved at all since our last trip, the
reason being that it is quite easy to get around by speaking words from
dictionaries and not learning the grammar. Hopefully we might take a
class or so at the local community center. Museums do not have english
translations. Maybe it is our growing up in India that we are used to variety
of languages. In Latin America spanish being so widespread in some places it is
quite difficult for people to understand that someone would not know spanish.
Costs: Our costs averaged about $25 a day for both of us. About $10 a day
(sometimes a lot less) on shelter and a dollar for each meal (lunch and dinner)
per person. Breakfasts are the most costly. In fact if you have a simple
continental breakfast with two cafe con leche, pan y manticillas, and dos jugos
will cost you about $4 or so. About the same as all the other meals combined.
Only tourists have breakfast. Costs vary drastically from the coast to the
Andes down to the Amazon. Being cheapest in the Andes and costliest in the
Amazon (transportation of goods is difficult) Transportation costs vary.
Initially quite hesitant of taking the taxi, it is best to ask someone on the
road (bypasser) how much a taxi will cost to a certain place, instead of asking
a taxi driver, who normally dont expect to be asked the price but assume you
know. Rides which take couple of soles can be charged with 15 or soles
otherwise.
Food: This was our best surprise. We had no clue what Peruvian cuisine meant.
We did before we left try the Peruvian cuisine on Van Ness in San Fransisco
(exhorbitant) and one in San Jose downtown. Both of them non-authentic.
Miguel tells me there is one at Berkeley which is good. Should try that out. In
any case, a real Peruvian lunch/ dinner are very very inexpensive (about 3
soles). In all cases this includes a sopa(soup), a segunda (the second or the
main dish) and a fresca(refreshment). We normally avoided the fresca the
locally brewed refreshment, because it is generally made in-house and is cold,
though in the end of our trip we though we had immunized ourselves and would be
close to getting back. There is a sopa which there is an very wide
selection and very tasty.
In Reenas case it used to serve as a meal in itself.
The segunda normally is a pesca(fish) or bistek de carne (steak of some meat).
With side of potatoes and rice.
The fish is so well cooked and tasty that after initial experimentation with
llama alpaca and cuy (gunea pig) I normally opted for pesca. For Reena it
was a slight problem. In the first place you walk into a totally foreign place,
keep shouting “soy vegetariono” (i am vegetarian) and not being convinced
whether they had understood her, pull out your dictionary and phrasebook and
ask them to prepare meals specially for you. Assist them by pointing out
vegetables you want prepared. But the restaurant owners seemed more than glad
to oblige. Somehow, when we pulled out our phrasebook in despair people would
crowd around trying to interpret us (and we in turn them) and they would go in
and out of the kitchen pulling out things they thought we meant. In one case,
at Puerto Maldanado myself and Reena somehow had this pang for chocolate cake.
Finally found a eatery which had a cake. Not knowing how old the cake was,
Reena told the restaurant owner chocolat caliente (hot). The restaurant owner
got us hot chocolate and then he didnt understand why we wanted the cake
heated.
Although it is illegal in Peru not to prepare the fruit juice with boiled water
(agua terpida) we made sure several times till sometimes the manager would get
annoyed. The most common jugos de fruitas are Pina, Papaya and Naranga (about
2-3 soles depending whether you want the water to be replaced with leche (milk))
Memorable moments: The Inca trail was certainly the highlight of our trip. It
was the fact we discovered little bits and pieces of the Inca history all along
the way and the ruins and the three passes and valleys we went through and the
help and assistance our guide David gave us. The night canoe ride on Lago
Sandobal in cayman infested waters was certainly one of the most scary.
We took about 14 rolls of film (about 1 every 1.5 days). Total cost of our trip
was $2200 (travel + stay) + $150 (photo costs) for both of us.
Misc: Inca Kola is prevalent more than Pepsi or Coca. I dont know why.
It is a yellow colored drink tasting like bubble gum.
LEave for Greece this Thursday to attend Thattes wedding at Volos and will be
back in another two weeks.
Some of other places we would like to visit is Central Asia and Iran starting
from Persipollis.
LP guide Peru
LP guide South america
Several National Geographics
Lost city of the incas, the story of Macchu Picchu - Hiram Bingam
Spanish phrasebooks and dictionary
Quechua phrasebook
