Peru

  Peru, Peru
Tuesday, July 31, 2007

On to Peru....
 
Peru gives the impression that it really celebrates its indigenous culture.  Speaking to the some of the locals it appears that this has only really emerged in the last 10 years.  Perhaps the tourists fascination in the Inkas has been a positive thing?!  
 
One thing we have really noticed during our time in South America is the role of children.  The majority of children we came across were working; shoe-shining, selling arts & crafts, and/or photos of themselves. We very rarely saw children 'playing' and adults or older children's interaction with younger children was not as warm as we have seen elsewhere in the world.  To us this appears a pretty hard life, right from the beginning.  We had a couple of really memorable occasions sitting on the steps of the local church or square and just chatting with the kids (usually shoe shine boys), and giving them the few gifts we had brought with us. This was the perfect opportunity to use our basic Spanish as the questions they asked were usually fairly simple! 

Colca girl

 

Laundry day

 

Kids in Puno

PUNO & THE UROS ISLANDS
Puno is not the pretteist of places but we really loved our trip onto Lake Titicaca and the Uros Islands.  Whilst the almost 50 reed Islands are now very touristy, they are still incredibly surreal.  They are contructed of thick bundles of reeds which are added to daily as the materials underneath gradually disintegrate. Each Island has a large extended family living on it and the Uros Islands community has a floating local school and church, reached by elaborate boats made of reeds. 

Uros Island

 

Reed boat

  

Washing up

CUSCO AREA
The former capital of the Inka Empire was converted into a colonial settlement by the Spanish conquistadors.  The main squares are surrounded by beautiful colonial cathedrals and homes, but even more impressive are the famous Inka walls.   The fact that these walls have survived 2 major earthquakes while many colonial buildings have not is testament to the architectural skills of the Inkas.  We visited a couple of nearby Inka villages & fortresses (Pisac, Ollantaytambo and Sacsayhauman - also know by the mnemonic 'sexy woman'!), that again have impressive remains of Inka architecture.  The tour guides frequently pointed out images in the rocks (Pumas, Condors etc), which you had to have a pretty good imagination to really appreciate. Brendan's imagination went further than most and he was soon spotting Paul Holmes, Angelina Jolie etc in the rocks. 

A Cusco alley

 

Inka wall

 

Sacsayhauman

INKA TRAIL & MACHU PICCHU
The Inka Trail was fantastic and challenging, but the reward at the end was worth it.  Brendan found the challenge wasn't quite enough and managed to break one lense of his glasses playing footie with the locals. This would have been ok had he remembered to bring contact lenses, and if he didn't have negative 7 eyesight!  Despite the one eye (pirate style or Diego Almagro the famous conquistador), he mananged to be the first to camp each day.
 
It was fantastic turning up to our campsites, to be met with warm smiles and cold drinks from our porters who had already set up our cosy tents and mattresses. They of course had run past us hours earlier carrying our luggage, tents, cooking equipment etc!!  These guys are simply amazing - tiny guys walking in little floppy sandels. This will definately be one of the images we hold forever.
 
Machu Pichu didn't fail to impress.  In fact it has been the highlight of our trip.  On the final morning of the 4 day trek we arrived to a misty valley in which you couldn't see the hand in front of your face.  It was an incredible sight watching Machu Picchu appear from out of the mist!  We spent the morning climbing the steep hill above the site (Wayna Pîchu), then exploring the ruins.  

Our porters!

Highest point of Inka Trail

Waiting in the mist

Machu Picchu appears

Terraces

AREQUIPA
We said goodbye to Brendan in Cusco and travelled overnight to Arequipa.  Arequipa is a beautiful town, due to the colonial buildings being built of a white stone called sillar.  A highlight was a visit to Museum Sanctuarios Andinos, which is home to the frozen body of an 12-14 year old girl who was sacrificed to the Gods by the Inka's at the summit of a nearby mountain some 500 years ago.   Her body, clothes, and various sacrifical offerings found with her are incredibly well intact as they lay frozen all of these years.    Whilst in Arequipa we also took an overnight trip to Colca Canyon where we got to see the magnificent condors. Our trip also coincided with the local religious festival of Santiago Apostol.

Llama fashion accessories

Condor

Religious procession

NAZCA & HUACACHINA
The main reason to travel to Nazca is to visit the Nazca lines, and the town has largely arisen for this purpose.  Han overcame her fear of flying and become co-pilot when we viewed the lines from a light plane.  Many theories have emerged over their history (astronomical calender developed for agricultural purposes,  running tracks, extraterrestrial landing lines) but the jury is still out (by the way you'll need to double click on the image of the hummingbird to see it properly!).
 
Huacahina is a tiny resort village surrounding a small lake and surrounded by giant sand dunes.  This was the perfect spot to relax and enjoy our last couple of days in Peru before returning to Lima and flying to Australia for Gerald and Gretch's wedding in Port Douglas.    

Che Crumpera

Hummingbird

Trapezoid

Haucachina Oasis