Amazing Peru
I just got back from an absolutely extraordinary trip to Peru. When I planned my trip to Argentina, I added in an extra week for traveling. I was originally planning to visit southern Argentina, but ended up deciding to use the time to see an entirely new country. I chose Peru, and it turned out to be a truly wonderful experience... perhaps my best trip yet.
In order to save money, I didn't fly directly into Peru. Instead, I flew from Buenos Aires through Santiago to Arica, Chile, which was a lot cheaper than flying into either Cusco or Lima. Then I took a "taxi colectivo" (shared taxi) for a two-hour ride across the border to Tacna, Peru. From the moment I left the Arica airport until after leaving Tacna, I didn't see a single other tourist. I was traveling a well-worn path, but only in the sense that it was well-worn by locals. I definitely escaped the "gringo trail" for a while here!
After spending the night in Tacna, I got up early and took a six-hour bus ride into Arequipa, Peru. Arequipa is famous for being the second-largest city in Peru, and also for its beautiful colonial architecture, which is made out of white volcanic stone.
This is the cathedral in Arequipa and an example of the beautiful white buildings that form the whole downtown area.
I also visited a colonial monastery in Arequipa, which I think was the first monastery for women in the Spanish colonies.
Another really interesting thing in Arequipa is the museum dedicated to the Inca mummy "Juanita." Juanita was a child sacrificed to the god of a volcano near Arequipa. She was covered by snow for about 500 years, and then was uncovered when a nearby volcano started erupting in the 1990s. An American researcher found her in the late 90s and she is now in a museum in Arequipa. We weren't allowed to take pictures in the museum, but it was a really well-done exhibition.

Since I wasn't allowed to take any pictures, here is a photo of Juanita from the internet.
Arequipa is also a jumping-off point for a number of outdoor activities. One of the most popular is a multi-day hike in the Colca Canyon, a canyon about a six-hour drive from Arequipa that is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon. The Colca Canyon isn't the deepest canyon in the world -- that honor goes to the canyon right next door, which is something like 5 m deeper than Colca. Ha. So, after a bout of altitude sickness that postponed the beginning of my trek for a day, I began a two-day battle against this crazy canyon. Looking back, I can say it was really fun... at the time, though, I'm not so sure!
This is a view of the canyon from the top.
And here I am getting started on the hike. You can see the river at the bottom. The first day, we hiked all the way down to the river (1,200 meters down), crossed the river on a bridge, and then walked about 1/3 of the way up the other side to a path that took os horizontally downriver, down to the river again, and then to an oasis where we spent the night. Yup, it was as hard as it looks!

The views in the canyon were spectacular. This was taken after crossing the river and hiking partway back up the canyon on the first day.
The second day was supposed to be a 7 km hike straight up the side of the canyon (a 1,200 meter climb in a 7 km hike is pretty steep!). Four out of the twelve of us decided to take the easy route up...
by mule! The mules really had a mind of their own, and although they listened well to a complex set of whistles and spoken commands by their master, they didn't care one bit what we riders wanted them to do. Here, for example, I wanted my mule to pose for a picture but he was intent on starting up the mountain!
After visiting the canyon, I headed back to Arequipa and then immediately hopped on a bus to Cusco, Peru. Cusco was the capital of the Inca empire about 500 years ago, but was colonized by the Spanish and now has a colonial feel.
This is the Plaza de Armas (central plaza built during colonial times for military exercises) in Cusco. You can see the cathedral on the left.
After spending the day relaxing in Cusco, I got a good night's rest and then headed off for a tour of the Sacred Valley, which highlighted a number of Inca towns, many of which are now archeological sites. The Sacred Valley is the valley of the Urubamba river, and it is called "Sacred" because a lot of Inca cities, including many temples, have been found in the river valley. The tour was interesting to me because it showed how much the Inca empire pervaded (and continues to pervade) the area. For example, the Incas built agricultural terraces on the mountains in order to make the area more hospitable to agriculture, and those terraces (many of which are still in use, with their original irrigation systems still functioning) are a constant feature in the landscape of the Sacred Valley.
Me at the archeological site at another Inca city, Ollantaytambo. This is the agricultural sector of the Inca town, and the terraces were used to grow crops. Ollantaytambo is cool because although the agricultural sector is now an archeological site (no longer being used), the rest of the town is an actual town. You can see the original Inca foundations and walls of the buildings, and the streets are original Inca streets. Amazing that after so long, the Inca construction is still usable and useful.
The water pipes and channels continue to work to this day! This is a functioning fountain in the Water Temple in Ollantaytambo.
The Spanish invasion interrupted the construction of the Inca city at Ollantaytambo, and these stones were left mid-way through being carried up the mountain. They would have been used in the continued construction of the city at Pisac, which is now an archeological site. You can't really tell from the picture how steep the hill was, but it is truly amazing that the Incas were able to transport these huge stones down from a quarry on a neighboring mountain, across a river, and then up this mountain.
After touring Ollantaytambo, I hopped on a train and headed to Aguas Calientes, the town at the base of Machu Picchu mountain and the starting point for my Machu Picchu adventure. There is a bus to the entrance to Machu Picchu at the top of the mountain, and I got up early the next morning prepared to get the bus and hike to the top of the mountain in time for the sunrise. I was greeted with pouring rain and decided to sleep in a bit longer. I was rewarded for my laziness because when I did finally get on the bus around 8 am, it was just starting to clear up.
The path, like all Inca trails, was absolutely amazing. It was paved with stones, and when the path was steep, there were stone steps like these. Compared to the dusty, slippery trail in the Colca Canyon, it was like night and day!
After an easy 90-minute hike, I reached the sun gate...

... and saw a hauntingly beautiful view of Machu Picchu.
Here I am at the top!
And then I hiked back down to get a closer look, and eventually to take a tour of the city itself.
I really enjoyed the tour because it gave me a chance to see up-close the truly impressive architecture and engineering of the Incas. The whole city was put together in such an elegant way.
For example, the stone walls were built with holes in the bottom. This was so that water could run out the hole and avoid causing the wall to deteriorate over time.
And the way that the stones fit together was truly hard to believe. Here, the Incas used a huge natural stone as part of their construction, and then painstakingly carved additional stones to place on top. In these perfect stone walls, the Incas did not use mortar. Instead, the rocks fit together so well that the walls have remained standing for hundreds of years with just one rock on top of another.
Plus, the way it all came together was just really pretty.
I went into my trip knowing that Machu Picchu wasn't the most important Inca city, and in fact is probably so famous today only because its remote location meant that the Spanish did not discover it when they conquered the Inca empire. I was excited that I was going to see Machu Picchu, of course, but I didn't want to build it up too much. I didn't need to worry... I don't think it is possible to build it up too much. Machu Picchu is truly a testament to the beauty and ingenuity of which humans are capable, and I feel so lucky to have been able to visit.
Machu Picchu was the last big stop on my trip, and a wonderful way to end. The next day, I took the bus from Cusco to Puno, a city on Lake Titicaca (the highest-altitude navigable body of water in the world) and near the border with Bolivia. I didn't have time to really explore Puno or to see its biggest attraction, the floating Uros islands of Lake Titicaca (made out of reeds). That, plus the Bolivian side of the lake, will have to remain for another trip. I spent the night in Puno and then took the bus the next day through the Peruvian altiplano back to Tacna, and then the taxi colectivo across the border so that I was full circle back in Arica, Chile. Yesterday I hopped the plane back to Buenos Aires, and today I was back to work, finishing up my last week at work before coming back to the US on Friday.
What a wonderful way to end my most recent stay in South America!















