He who would travel happily must travel light.
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
-- Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Own only what you can carry with you; know language, know countries, know people. Let your memory be your travel bag.
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
-- Alexander Solzhenitsyn
ON THE BEATEN PATH TO MACHU PICCHU
It's not easy getting to Machu Picchu but thousands of people do it every day. They try to limit the number of daily visitors to about 3,000. Our trip started about 5 AM and involved a van ride, a long bus ride, a long train ride and finally a bus ride up the side of the mountain to Machu Picchu. Our tour folks showed up with the van and got us across town to the bus depot on time. The bus included a family from Ottawa that we met the day before but there were many people from different countries on board. We climbed out of Cusco on a series of switchbacks and crossed a high plateau (Altiplano) and eventually entered some of the same territory that we saw the day before. The road - a two-lane blacktop that had turned to gravel in places - reached Urubamba and descended a long series of switchbacks to reach the level of the river. Once in Urubamba the highway followed the valley to Ollaytantambo and the train station...a journey of almost two hours.
The train station is a little chaotic. At first we tried to get on the wrong train but ours was still getting ready so we had to wait another twenty minutes. One of our travel folks found us and told us what to expect once we got to Aguas Calientes -- there would be someone waiting for us and our luggage would be conveyed to the hotel while we went to Machu Picchu. We also learned that we had been upgraded to a five-star hotel (Inka Terra) rather than the original 'comfort level' hotel (El MaPi). We were not sure what to expect but we had come this far and the travel company seemed to be well in control so we just went with it.
The Peru Rail train is very comfortable and each car has a steward or two who take care of your needs. They passed out free drinks and offered other items for sale. The train trip is fairly slow...it takes almost two hours to go a fairly short distance but it follows the Urubamba River so it is very curvy. We ended up sitting on the land side rather than the river side but the rail car has many windows and sort of a sunroof that allows you to see almost everything as you go. The most interesting thing about the train trip is the gradual transition from a dry tropical forest and settled agricultural area to what is part of the Amazon jungle. The train goes through a couple tunnels and is a little bit bumpy at places. We had a few sprinkles along the way.
Aguas Calientes is a jungle town that is sandwiched between the roaring Urubamba River and the steep canyon walls. Its only reason for existence is to get people up to Machu Picchu and then get them back on their way once they have finished. Everything comes to Aguas Calientes by train...there is no other good way to get there. There are only a few motorized vehicles other than the shuttle buses and almost all supplies and other material are moved around town with human muscle power. We saw porters carrying huge bundles on their backs or pushing and pulling huge loads of supplies on handcarts and dollies. Prices are unusually high for everything in Aguas Calientes because of its remoteness and because visitors are a captive group with limited options. Even so, everyone seemed to be in good spirits and had a unified purpose. We found our guide, Angel (yes, that was his name...he pulled out his picture ID do prove it), and he took us under his wing...so to speak...and we found a hotel rep who took our clothing-stuffed backpack while we kept the camera backpack. We had a short introduction and then we were off. We were getting a private tour...there was no one else in our group.
There were several buses waiting to haul us up the several hundred feet to the top of the mountain. Angel had tickets for everything and for both days. The bus ride is a bit harrowing. There are eight or nine switchbacks that seem too small and sharp to allow the bus to negotiate them and the bus is going pretty fast on the gravel road. The slope is almost perpendicular...it's a long way down...and there are other buses racing down the hill as we are trying to go up plus there are occasionally a few hikers trying to climb up the slope who are obviously thinking they should have bought a bus ticket. Almost to the top you get your first glimpse of Machu Picchu and our bus driver stopped to let people take pictures and just savor that first view. A few minutes later and we were piling off the bus and getting organized to pass through the entry gates and present our passport and ticket. I'm not sure why the passport was important...by the time you have reached Machu Picchu you have shown it to just about everyone who would be interested.Angel led the way and asked if we wanted to take the high trail first and then loop around to exit by the lower trail or vice-versa. We opted for the climb just to get it over with early. I had my walking stick and was glad I had it. Some of the stone steps are unstable or very uneven.
Your first impression is one of amazement and wonder. The site almost spills down the mountainside. It is both huge and also on a very human scale. It is clearly a planned place...this was engineered and carefully laid out to take advantage of the terrain and to project the sense of exclusive remoteness. I'm not sure there are many places in the world like this to draw a comparison. I've seen pictures of Hitler's Eagles Nest retreat at Berchtesgaden and, though an unfortunate comparison, that might be close to the view from Machu Picchu. The two places existed for an exclusive group of power elites and they were both difficult to access with an inspiring view of the surroundings...but Machu Picchu served more of a religious purpose rather than a political purpose.
Angel was a great guide. He is an anthropology student at the university and clearly has a grasp of the site and devotion to getting people to have more than a cursory trip through Machu Picchu. He would occasionally stop and ask us what we thought something was used for. We would look at him with blank stares but it became apparent that he wasn't going anywhere until we offered some lame idea of what we thought we were seeing. We were right once or twice but usually we had no clue and he would have to fill us in on what we were seeing....or not seeing in some cases. Angel was also intrigued by Jill and me...trying to figure us out. He was a young guy and at one point he mentioned how pretty it was that Jill's eyes changed colors in the varying intensity of the sunlight....then he turned to me and said "yours does too", just to be on the safe side. 
One major impression one gets is the the prevalence of terraces. There are long slopes of agricultural terraces that were irrigated by mountain springs piped to the site by aqueducts. There are also large sturdy looking terraces that were built to stabilize the mountain slopes and to serve as foundations for the temples and noble residences. Some terraces served as roadways, especially in the worker residential area. The residences were built against the terrace wall and the first floor was the habitation area but the second floor was a storage area accessed from the upper terrace.
Machu Picchu is an engineering marvel. The precision of the stonework and the way it is laid out is amazing but they didn't spend a great deal of effort on beauty...at least as we would perceive it. The actual buildings are plain and utilitarian. There were only a few places where there seemed to be some effort at beautification. At one area, supposed to be residences and work areas for the engineers or architects, the stonework is different. The lower courses of stonework are very precise and clearly were created with great care. The upper courses of stonework, from about four feet up, were more rustic and made of rougher field stones. This upper section was apparently plastered over with a yellow-colored stucco while the lower section was left as native cut stone. 
The areas of the site that had very finely cut stone were reserved for the temple sites and for the nobility. The architects' area was sort of a transitional area and the workers' residences were almost all made of rough field stone. 
The Temple of the Sun is the one place where there was an engineering flaw. The building was probably intended to be the centerpiece of the whole site and when it was constructed the underlying ground and foundation began to sink from the heavy weight of the stones. The builders were not finished with the construction when it began to fail. I assume some heads rolled over this but they didn't have time to correct the error before the site was abandoned.
The gateways were equipped with a security locking system. Maybe as a means of protection or just to keep the riff-raff out of the more exclusive areas. The security system was apparently some type of locking door that would be wedged into place with a wooden crossbar that fit into some stone sockets. Angel had Jill stand in the one main entrance gateway that was reserved "for very important people" since he learned that this was a graduation trip for her. Some of the gates had a double jamb that was a sort of indicator to those passing through that beyond that gate there was a reserved or special precinct. The gates leading into the temples or nobility residences were of very finely cut stone. At the "Royal" residence (nobody knows for sure if it was royalty or some local dignitary's home) there is a small space, almost like a guardhouse, just outside the residence. High up on the wall there is a stone knob that Angel wanted us to guess what it was used for. He didn't know, he was just trying to figure it out himself.There are lots of things at Machu Picchu that we have no idea what they were used for. Hiram Bingham, the "discoverer" of Machu Picchu, had a vivid imagination and went about naming things willy-nilly. Some of those names stuck and are incorporated into the tour narrative. I'm not sure we know the Temple of the Sun really has anything to do with the sun.
There are two curious stone bowls filled with water at one part of the site. What they were used for is any one's guess. They don't seem to be grinding stones because they show no signs of wear and are very precisely cut. Angel wasn't sure but said that they might be reflecting bowls that were used to gaze at the sun and that perhaps it was a taboo to look directly at the sun at some times. They may have been used in some kind of religious rite when the reflection of the sun was used in some ritualistic way ...maybe like we would think of a crystal ball used to foretell the future...who knows? I think it was a window to the Inca underworld. They had a detailed view of the cosmos and believed in three levels of existence.
Another feature that is not understood is the Intihuatana, a specially cut stone that is considered to be one of the sacred stones of Machu Picchu. I guess the current prevailing explanation is that it was some type of sun dial. There is also an explanation that it is the hitching post for the sun...where it was tethered in it's journey across the sky. Again, I'm not sure anyone knows. I had seen pictures of this stone and I was surprised how small it was...I had pictured it as a megalithic stone maybe six feet tall...it is maybe three feet tall and it does cast a shadow so maybe it is a sun dial of some sort.
The other sacred stone is one carved deliberately to mimic the profile of the mountain that lies directly behind it. Again, no one knows why but there must have been some reason to revere the mountain. Maybe the stone was a surrogate for the mountain or was used in time of cloudy or foggy weather when the mountain was not visible. On the day we visited the backpackers didn't seem too impressed and were drying their wet clothes by the sacred stone.We were at Machu Picchu two days and have many more pictures. This is just a sample...
 |
| Workers' residence |
 |
| Temple of the three windows |
 |
| Stairway |
 |
| Inca Trail |
I have been fascinated by this exposure to the Incas and what they accomplished in a relatively short time...really only about 200 to 300 years from when they first appeared until they were overtaken by the Spanish. Not only by what the Incas built but how they managed things and even how they thought. It serves to expand my own perception of what the human mind can accomplish and the great variety in human thought and philosophy. We have a fair amount of tangible material and structures from the Incas but we have lost so much because of their lack of a written language and the repression of their ideas and customs by the church.
They were a very symbolic people and were tied to images and symbolism. The original city of Cusco was laid out in the shape of a Puma...not that you would know it from the street level but it would have been more apparent from above. The Incas had a notion that everything had a spirit or a life force and at Machu Picchu they used the contours of the mountain to shape the city. They didn't destroy the underlying mountain but built on top of it or incorporated it into their plan. There is a rock outcrop that they could see clearly as the outstretched wings of a condor and they elaborated on that particular site and created a more apparent image and then used it as a specialized funerary site where VIPs were laid to rest after their death. The condor was their symbol for heaven. Another example of their different perception is the way they looked at the night sky. The Incas created constellations out of the blank spaces, not out of the stars. The Milky Way was a river of stars and the dark spaces represented animals or sacred beings moving along the river.
AGUAS CALIENTES
Angel gave us a great tour and we saw just about everything we wanted to see. Since we had two days we decided to take our time and make a slow exit back down to Aguas Calientes. Angel departed and we spent about a half hour just reflecting on the place and the spectacular views. It was a little hard to really take it all in.
We were getting hungry and our lunch reservations were only good until 4 PM so we decided to head back down and eat lunch and then go find our hotel. We had followed Angel into the site and once he left we were a little lost. Machu Picchu is sort of a maze and we went down a few dead ends before we found our way back to the entrance and the buses. The bus ride was uneventful but Aguas Calientes was jumping -- the market was in full swing and there were barkers at some of the restaurants trying to get you to come in. The standard response when you told them you weren't coming in was "Maybe later?"
We found the El MaPi hotel, where we had lunch reservations, and went in. It was a buffet lunch...adequate but not memorable. The El MaPi hotel was where we were originally supposed to stay. It looked OK and it was in the middle of the action in Aguas Calientes. We decided to go find our hotel, the Inka Terra. Other than knowing it was an upgrade we really had no idea where it was or what it was. Angel had drawn us a map on the back of an envelope to show us how to find it so we headed off. We were getting a little confused and thought we were lost when we stumbled on it.
Inka Terra It is a five-star Eco-lodge located along the river. We went to the registration desk and were given an I-pad slide show of the amenities and features available to us including three pools, a spa, two restaurants, a bar, Internet cafe, and an Eco Center that offered activities. We could go on a bird walk or an orchid walk or learn about the Andean Bear. Or we could just chill out. All meals were included and we were entitled to a complimentary Pisco Sour at the bar or with our dinner.
Jill and I were looking at each other like maybe we were in the wrong place...surely there must be a mistake. They had our luggage and took us to our room. We were amazed...we had nice rooms at the other hotels but this was way beyond any of those. The beds were wonderful. We had bathrobes and sandals to wear. The bathroom had a huge walk-in ceramic tile shower with a rain shower head and exotic bath toiletries ...including natural bug repellent. We had a balcony that looked out over the jungle foliage and could watch the hummingbirds flying through the trees.
We settled in, cautiously. I still expected a knock at the door and someone saying that there had been a terrible mistake. The shower was too good to pass up and we were pretty grubby from the three buses and the train not to mention the tour of Machu Picchu. We started to relax and enjoy the experience. We signed up for a visit to the Andean Bear rehabilitation center that they had on site and scheduled for the next morning. They requested a 30 soles donation which we gladly paid.
After relaxing a while we went down for supper. The restaurant was very nice. We started off with our Pisco Sour, which was very good. It is a wine/brandy based drink with citrus and a little egg white that reminded me of a Margarita without the salt. This is the national drink of Peru. Our first course was cream of spinach soup with croutons and fresh bread, which was very good. Jill ordered beef served over Andean mashed potatoes. I had Andean trout cooked with lemon grass and fresh vegetables, all baked together in a foil pouch. Both were very good. Jill's beef was grass fed and very lean. My trout was almost as big as a salmon. Dessert was homemade ice cream (chocolate, strawberry and a tropical vanilla) with chocolate sauce drizzled on top. Portions were reasonable...not so much that we felt stuffed.
After eating we stopped at the Internet cafe and checked our email and sent out a few emails. We slowly wandered back to our room, finally convinced that we really did belong there. When we got to our room we were surprised to see the beds prepared and our sandals set out for us along with some chocolates. They even placed hot water bottles in the beds under the blankets to warm up the beds for us.
We slept well and got up early for breakfast and our nature walk to see the bears. We had a nice breakfast. We ate light but there was a great deal of food laid out and we could have easily pigged out on all sorts of things. We went to the Eco Center and met the local bear guide and then took a short walk through the jungle to the bear rehabilitation center. I was fascinated at the jungle...the ground cover was Angel wing Begonias as far as you could see.
The Andean Bear is also known as the Spectacled Bear and we have seen them at the St. Louis zoo. The rehab center takes bears from zoos or bears that have been raised in captivity as pets (really?) and tries to get them back to the point where they can survive on their own in the jungle. There are now about 6,000 Andean Bears in the wild and they have been taken off the endangered list because their numbers are increasing. The rehab center had three bears, all males, but only two are ever likely to be released. The third one is 21 years old and too old to be able to survive on his own.
The bears are vegetarian but the zoos feed them chicken, which messes up their digestive system and metabolism. They have to train the bears to go back to being vegetarians and also show them how to forage for food. the caregivers hide mangoes, avocados and other fruit in holes in the trees for the bears to find. They also give them melons and some fresh alfalfa grass to eat. Andean bears are peculiar because they have retractable claws like a cat. Inka Terra is trying to raise money to build a larger pre-release enclosure where the bears can be released in a semi-wild setting prior to their actual release. Right now they have fairly small enclosures and need more space.
After the bear tour we checked out of our room and prepared to go back up to Machu Picchu for our second visit. The hotel took charge of our extra backpack and said they would have it at the train station an hour before our train left. We decided that we could get used to this kind of treatment.
Our second day at Machu Picchu was sunny and hotter than the first day. There were a lot more people touring the site in large groups, usually following behind someone carrying a brightly colored flag. Some of these folks looked like they were worn out from the heat but had to keep moving or be left behind. Jill and I took more pictures and then found a shady spot to stop and have some water and a couple cookies that I brought along from home. We wandered through the ruins looking for the llamas that we saw the day before but they were gone.
We decided to head back down the mountain and have lunch. We found a pizza restaurant and shared a pizza and I had a beer to celebrate our visit to Machu Picchu. Although it was a sunny day it turned cloudy and began to rain as we arrived at the train station for our trip back to Cusco. We were early but the hotel already had our backpack delivered. We waited as various trains filled and pulled away from the station. Ours was about the fifth one to go and we piled on with the rest of the tired folks.
BACK TO LIMA
We had an early pick-up time to get to the airport for our flight back to Lima. I was puzzled because our flight didn't leave until the afternoon. When the tour van arrived I asked why we were having to go to the airport so early. Apparently there was a strike scheduled in the afternoon and the tour company was afraid that Cusco and the airport would be tied up by the time we would be leaving. We resigned ourselves to a long wait at the airport but when we got there to check in the Star Peru airline folks got us on a morning flight back to Lima. We told the tour company and they said they would have someone waiting for us at Lima.They were a very symbolic people and were tied to images and symbolism. The original city of Cusco was laid out in the shape of a Puma...not that you would know it from the street level but it would have been more apparent from above. The Incas had a notion that everything had a spirit or a life force and at Machu Picchu they used the contours of the mountain to shape the city. They didn't destroy the underlying mountain but built on top of it or incorporated it into their plan. There is a rock outcrop that they could see clearly as the outstretched wings of a condor and they elaborated on that particular site and created a more apparent image and then used it as a specialized funerary site where VIPs were laid to rest after their death. The condor was their symbol for heaven. Another example of their different perception is the way they looked at the night sky. The Incas created constellations out of the blank spaces, not out of the stars. The Milky Way was a river of stars and the dark spaces represented animals or sacred beings moving along the river.
 |
| Head of the Condor |
AGUAS CALIENTES
Angel gave us a great tour and we saw just about everything we wanted to see. Since we had two days we decided to take our time and make a slow exit back down to Aguas Calientes. Angel departed and we spent about a half hour just reflecting on the place and the spectacular views. It was a little hard to really take it all in.
We were getting hungry and our lunch reservations were only good until 4 PM so we decided to head back down and eat lunch and then go find our hotel. We had followed Angel into the site and once he left we were a little lost. Machu Picchu is sort of a maze and we went down a few dead ends before we found our way back to the entrance and the buses. The bus ride was uneventful but Aguas Calientes was jumping -- the market was in full swing and there were barkers at some of the restaurants trying to get you to come in. The standard response when you told them you weren't coming in was "Maybe later?"
We found the El MaPi hotel, where we had lunch reservations, and went in. It was a buffet lunch...adequate but not memorable. The El MaPi hotel was where we were originally supposed to stay. It looked OK and it was in the middle of the action in Aguas Calientes. We decided to go find our hotel, the Inka Terra. Other than knowing it was an upgrade we really had no idea where it was or what it was. Angel had drawn us a map on the back of an envelope to show us how to find it so we headed off. We were getting a little confused and thought we were lost when we stumbled on it.
Inka Terra It is a five-star Eco-lodge located along the river. We went to the registration desk and were given an I-pad slide show of the amenities and features available to us including three pools, a spa, two restaurants, a bar, Internet cafe, and an Eco Center that offered activities. We could go on a bird walk or an orchid walk or learn about the Andean Bear. Or we could just chill out. All meals were included and we were entitled to a complimentary Pisco Sour at the bar or with our dinner. Jill and I were looking at each other like maybe we were in the wrong place...surely there must be a mistake. They had our luggage and took us to our room. We were amazed...we had nice rooms at the other hotels but this was way beyond any of those. The beds were wonderful. We had bathrobes and sandals to wear. The bathroom had a huge walk-in ceramic tile shower with a rain shower head and exotic bath toiletries ...including natural bug repellent. We had a balcony that looked out over the jungle foliage and could watch the hummingbirds flying through the trees.We settled in, cautiously. I still expected a knock at the door and someone saying that there had been a terrible mistake. The shower was too good to pass up and we were pretty grubby from the three buses and the train not to mention the tour of Machu Picchu. We started to relax and enjoy the experience. We signed up for a visit to the Andean Bear rehabilitation center that they had on site and scheduled for the next morning. They requested a 30 soles donation which we gladly paid. After relaxing a while we went down for supper. The restaurant was very nice. We started off with our Pisco Sour, which was very good. It is a wine/brandy based drink with citrus and a little egg white that reminded me of a Margarita without the salt. This is the national drink of Peru. Our first course was cream of spinach soup with croutons and fresh bread, which was very good. Jill ordered beef served over Andean mashed potatoes. I had Andean trout cooked with lemon grass and fresh vegetables, all baked together in a foil pouch. Both were very good. Jill's beef was grass fed and very lean. My trout was almost as big as a salmon. Dessert was homemade ice cream (chocolate, strawberry and a tropical vanilla) with chocolate sauce drizzled on top. Portions were reasonable...not so much that we felt stuffed.After eating we stopped at the Internet cafe and checked our email and sent out a few emails. We slowly wandered back to our room, finally convinced that we really did belong there. When we got to our room we were surprised to see the beds prepared and our sandals set out for us along with some chocolates. They even placed hot water bottles in the beds under the blankets to warm up the beds for us. We slept well and got up early for breakfast and our nature walk to see the bears. We had a nice breakfast. We ate light but there was a great deal of food laid out and we could have easily pigged out on all sorts of things. We went to the Eco Center and met the local bear guide and then took a short walk through the jungle to the bear rehabilitation center. I was fascinated at the jungle...the ground cover was Angel wing Begonias as far as you could see.
The Andean Bear is also known as the Spectacled Bear and we have seen them at the St. Louis zoo. The rehab center takes bears from zoos or bears that have been raised in captivity as pets (really?) and tries to get them back to the point where they can survive on their own in the jungle. There are now about 6,000 Andean Bears in the wild and they have been taken off the endangered list because their numbers are increasing. The rehab center had three bears, all males, but only two are ever likely to be released. The third one is 21 years old and too old to be able to survive on his own.The bears are vegetarian but the zoos feed them chicken, which messes up their digestive system and metabolism. They have to train the bears to go back to being vegetarians and also show them how to forage for food. the caregivers hide mangoes, avocados and other fruit in holes in the trees for the bears to find. They also give them melons and some fresh alfalfa grass to eat. Andean bears are peculiar because they have retractable claws like a cat. Inka Terra is trying to raise money to build a larger pre-release enclosure where the bears can be released in a semi-wild setting prior to their actual release. Right now they have fairly small enclosures and need more space.After the bear tour we checked out of our room and prepared to go back up to Machu Picchu for our second visit. The hotel took charge of our extra backpack and said they would have it at the train station an hour before our train left. We decided that we could get used to this kind of treatment.
Our second day at Machu Picchu was sunny and hotter than the first day. There were a lot more people touring the site in large groups, usually following behind someone carrying a brightly colored flag. Some of these folks looked like they were worn out from the heat but had to keep moving or be left behind. Jill and I took more pictures and then found a shady spot to stop and have some water and a couple cookies that I brought along from home. We wandered through the ruins looking for the llamas that we saw the day before but they were gone.
We decided to head back down the mountain and have lunch. We found a pizza restaurant and shared a pizza and I had a beer to celebrate our visit to Machu Picchu. Although it was a sunny day it turned cloudy and began to rain as we arrived at the train station for our trip back to Cusco. We were early but the hotel already had our backpack delivered. We waited as various trains filled and pulled away from the station. Ours was about the fifth one to go and we piled on with the rest of the tired folks. The train moved slowly back up the Urubamba valley to the town of Ollantaytambo. It was raining and dark when we arrived and we had to transfer to a bus for the ride back to Cusco. There was some confusion and almost a panic situation as people got off the train and made a race to the buses as if they were fleeing from Godzilla. It was pretty chaotic and no one seemed to be in charge or even giving direction. Jill climbed on one bus but by the time I got on there were no seats left so I had to get on another bus. They were all going to the same place -- the railroad station in Cusco -- so it didn't matter all that much and there was really no need for the crazy race to the buses. The buses all got on their way in a few minutes....all of them except mine. We were stuck about 20 minutes because some doofus had parked his van in the street and there wasn't enough room for us to get by. The streets are very narrow and the bus was a full sized bus. Finally after a lot of shouting and aggravation somebody showed up and moved the van so we got on our way. The driver seemed intent on making up for lost time and we actually got to the Cusco station only about five minutes after the other buses. Jill was waiting with our tour folks in another van so we were taken back to our hotel and got checked back into our room for our last night in Cusco. We went back to Plaza San Blas and ate at Pacha Papa again and then went back to the hotel and repacked our luggage and went to bed
The flight to Lima was smooth and fast. At Lima we found our tour guys and were on our way to the hotel in just a few minutes. We were four hours early at the hotel but they had our room ready so we moved in.
LARCOMAR
This was to be our free day in Lima and with our early flight we had more time than we expected. We decided to hit the bricks and walk over toward the ocean and the Larcomar shopping mall that is perched on top of the cliffs. Traffic in Lima is horrendous and we were even shy about crossing the streets. We tried to stay with other people, thinking that locals must know the code or have some understanding of how things work. The walk is fairly short, maybe six or eight blocks and we didn't have to cross any major streets. Our route took us to a nice manicured park overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Miraflores district (where we were) is located on steep cliffs and it is difficult to actually get down to the ocean. There is a highway at the base of the cliffs and then the beach meets the water. Even if we could climb down the cliffs we would have to cross the highway to approach the water so we were happy looking at it from above. The park was pretty busy. People were sitting on benches or strolling along. There were a few skateboarders. Some couples were getting to know each other very well. There was a man with a fully clothed poodle - shirt and pants - sitting on a bench.
We walked along the clifftop sidewalk toward the mall...just another block away. Larcomar is a very modern and very American-looking shopping mall even though it was developed by a Chilean retail developer. We were looking for lunch and found an amazing number of American restaurants. We ate at a T.G.I. Fridays but could have selected KFC, Burger King, Chili's or Tony Roma plus some other places like Sofa Cafe or La Havana Grill. They also had Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts. We had a light lunch and mostly watched the ocean and the people. There were surfers out on the ocean and hang gliders in the sky.
We headed back to the hotel but took the same walk at supper time and ended up eating at Chili's. We had intentions of eating at one of the nice looking Peruvian restaurants we passed along the way but they were crowded and folks were waiting for tables by the time we went out. It was getting dark and it was interesting to see the lights of Lima along the ocean shoreline. They have a huge lighted cross at the south end of the city that serves as sort of a lighthouse. I'm sure you can see it far out to sea. We had no problems walking the streets during the day or after dark. There are a few security guards stationed outside the restaurants that had things under control...even to the point of shining their flashlight on the pavement as we crossed the street.LIMA CITY TOUR
On Thursday, Hernando, our guide, was at the hotel at 7:30 to take us on our morning tour of Lima. This was another private tour. I'm guessing that we had the guides to ourselves because we were here in January rather than in August. Hernando was late middle aged guy who had lived in Lima all of his life and had some very interesting thoughts and observations about the place. He was not shy about talking about the "bad old days" of the Shining Path terror war or the corruption of the elected officials. Of all our guides I think I liked Hernando the best because he was older and had a longer perspective of things. He had successfully raised a family in Lima and he saw Lima grow to ten million people over his lifetime. He had seen Lima go through good times and bad times and now back to good...but he had a realistic view...maybe fatalistic. No matter how good things get there is always a cycle...maybe things won't always be so good. I enjoyed talking with him.
Our tour headed to downtown Lima, the old city. Traffic was bad, especially since this was rush hour. We stopped briefly at an archaeological site where they are excavating and restoring a seventy foot high adobe block pyramid built by the Lima people way back before the Incas. Everyone thinks of the Incas but there were many earlier people in Peru who built important civilizations thousands of years ago.  |
| Olive trees in Lima |
We got to old Lima and saw the Plaza Mayor and the City Hall and Presidential Palace. At the Plaza San Martin there is a large statue of Jose de San Martin, Peru's liberator and the first leader of independent Peru.
We spent a lot of time in the Lima Cathedral. Hernando pointed out the main features and we toured the various side altars. The cathedral had been destroyed several times by earthquakes but it looks very impressive. There is a great deal of ornamentation, gold and silver, but also some tropical wood used in carving and decoration. Much of the wood used in the church comes from Panama because Peru, back in the 1600s, didn't have much in the way of large trees. The large pines and eucalyptus trees that they have now were introduced to provide useful wood.
In one side chapel, just inside the front entrance, is the tomb of Francisco Pizarro. Pizarro defeated the Incas and founded Lima but he is looked upon as both a hero and a criminal. He achieved an amazing military conquest with a very small number of soldiers (fewer than Gen. Custer had at the Little Big Horn) and overwhelmed an empire. At the same time he introduced practices that exploited and destroyed an entire culture and belief system. He is vilified for his murder of the Inca ruler, Atahualpa, after the Incas paid a huge ransom for his release but honored as the founder of Lima. Pizarro was assassinated in 1541 by an opposing group of Spanish soldiers trying to gain control of Peru.
We made a few other stops including the Convento de San Francisco - the Franciscan Monastery. The monastery dates to 1673 although it wasn't completely finished until 100 years later. Some of the floor tiles date to 1620 and come from Seville.The monastery houses a very old library of manuscripts and old books dating back to colonial times and even before the conquest. there are 25,000 volumes. During our brief visit they didn't look all that protected considering their age and rarity. The liturgical books were very large with large print so that they could be read at a distance by attending priests and bishops during church services. The monastery church itself has a Moorish design. the cloister and courtyard are very nice with fragments of mosaics and frescoes on the walls. The monastery was severely damaged in an earthquake in 1970.
Below the monastery is the catacombs...the old burial site used in colonial times. Thousands of Lima's Spanish-blood residents were buried under the monastery. Most of the bodies were removed to a new cemetery back in the 1800s but there are still hundreds left and no actual record of who they were. After so many years the caretakers would dispose of the smaller bones and keep only the long bones and skulls. Somebody came along and tried to make an organized display of the skulls. It's kind of hard to make this look very pretty. Hernando seemed a little uncomfortable in the catacombs...he was whistling as he walked through and asked (maybe hopefully?) if we were claustrophobic. |
| Train Station/Writer's shrine |
 |
| Love Park |
HEADING FOR HOME
Hernando finished the tour back at the Larcomar mall. We were getting hungry for lunch so we parted ways. We ended up eating at the food court (Burger King) and just relaxing for a while before heading back to the hotel. We had checked out early but they were holding our luggage for us. We chilled out in the lobby for a few hours. Our ride to the airport for the flight home was scheduled for after 8 PM so we had a lot of time to kill. We walked back to the mall for an early supper (Sofa Cafe) and then headed back to the hotel for the last time. Our ride to the airport was on time and we took one last ride through the harrowing traffic of Lima. I was happy to have that over with...I could not drive in Lima.The flight home is a blur. We left Lima at midnight and got to Miami before the sun came up. Going through customs in Miami was sort of a pain due to the aggressive and obnoxious attitude of the agents. They don't make a good first impression on foreign visitors to the US. We left Miami at 9:30 AM and were soon back in the cold weather of winter in St. Louis. It was good to be back home and our final leg...the drive home...was fine. We were greeted by our cats who were very happy to see us after so many days.
 |
| Pacific sunset - Larcomar |
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment