I went to Peru with two girlfriends. Our flight with a layover in Ecuador was canceled because of a volcano eruption in Ecuador, but we were able to get on a direct red-eye flight to Lima. A bunch of cab drivers flocked toward us when we stepped out of the airport and we ended up with this man who insisted on showing us a map of Lima while he was driving down the street.
We walked around downtown Lima. There's not much to see or do except to get asked by men if we wanted to get tattoos or to hear men grunt at us.
Colorful buildings in downtown Lima.
Plaza de Armas in Lima. We later found out that practically every town has a Plaza de Armas.
We took a shuttle up San Cristabol mountains and drove through the local neighborhood.
View from the top of San Cristobal.
Larcomar shopping center in Miraflores, which is an area south of Lima where we stayed.
The next day we flew to Cusco, which used to be the capital of the Incan empire. Cusco has a really high altitude so we were a bit lightheaded. The Plaza de Armas is a lively square, surrounded by shops, restaurants, churches, men offering cab rides and women selling souvenirs.
The Cathedral in Cusco.
Dancers in traditional Peruvian clothes.
No, I don't want to buy your belt.
Check out the llama on the bottom right corner. People totally pimp out animals in Peru.
I'm a sucker for cute kids.
View of Plaza de Armas from our hotel on top of the hill, which took us forever to walk up.
The following day we hired a driver to take us from Cusco to Ollantaytambo. This is Martin, our petite driver, who has some missing teeth and only speaks Spanish. Luckily my friend speaks Spanish so she played translator. Martin has three children ages 3, 4, and 5. When we asked him about his baby momma (we blanked out on the Spanish word for "wife"), he replied that he didn't have one. We gave him 30 soles as a tip (approximately $10) and he was so surprised and grateful. I feel for people like him who struggle to make an honest living.
While driving from Cusco to Ollantaytambo, we stopped by Chinchero, a small town with some ruins. We passed by several women who walk and weave. That's good multi-tasking right there.
View of the valley in Chinchero.
Woman with bundle of hay on her back. The majority of the population in the valley are farmers.
We were the only ones roaming around the field. It was muy tranquilo--the two popular words we kept using throughout the trip to describe our state of mind.
Women weaving in Chinchero.
After Chinchero we went to Salineras de Maras, the Incan salt pans. People still use the salt pans today to collect salt to sell.
Next we stopped at Moray to see the circular terraces where the Incans grew crops. We walked all the way down to the bottom. Again, we were the only people there.
Some donkeys popped out of nowhere onto the street.
We arrived in Ollantaytambo in the evening so we didn't get to see much. The next morning I walked around town while my friends were sleeping. One of my fav things to do when I travel is to walk around and see how the locals live.
Ollantaytambo is a super small town. You could walk across it in 10 minutes. Like everywhere else in Peru, dogs freely roam the streets. They're harmless, except when they start to go ape shit and start barking and chasing at passing cars.
Most kids in the mountains walk about two to three hours to get to school. I think there was a school close by in the town.
We hiked up these ruins.
We also hiked up the mountain across from the other ruins. Once we got to the top, we sat there and simply enjoyed the view and breeze in silence. There was no one else at this mountain because not too many people knew about it.
That evening we took a bus and train to Aguas Calientes, the city where Machu Picchu is located. Later we woke up at 3:30am to ensure that we get in line for the bus to Machu Picchu so we could climb Wayna Picchu, the mountain overlooking Machu Picchu. The park only allows 400 people per day to access Wayna Picchu--200 people can enter at 7am and another 200 at 10am.
We were able to access Wayna Picchu at 7am. I think I would have gone ghetto on someone if I hadn't. While we were hiking up Wayna Picchu, the sun started to rise over these mountains.
To give you a sense of where we hiked, the mountain in the background is Wayna Picchu. It took us about an hour to climb to the very top of the mountain. Several times I imagined myself falling over the ledge to my death. I'm morbid like that.
Some of the steps were narrow and thin. I do stair steppers at the gym but nothing could have prepared me for these steps.
At the top of Wayna Picchu, overlooking Machu Picchu. Being at the top of the mountain was one of the most liberating feelings I've ever experienced. It was muy tranquilo. We sat there and took it all in. Also, we were tired.
We climbed down Wayna Picchu and roamed around Machu Picchu. It's amazing to think that the Incans built these ruins with these heavy ass stones on top of the mountain. They must have had ripped bodies and bulging glutes.
Llamas chilling on the grass. They all had their names tagged to their ears. I bonded with Lydia.
Machu Picchu was a town with a temple, main square, guard tower, king's quarters, etc.
My friends decided to hire a guide to take them around and tell them the history of Machu Picchu. I didn't care to hear about the history. I wanted to listen to my iPod and nap. Machu Picchu is definitely at the top of my list for best places to nap.
We left the park around 3:30pm and took a late train back to Ollantaytambo that night. I was ruined-out.
The next morning we were all expecting to be sore but we were feeling ok. Martin picked us up in Ollantaytambo and drove us back to Cusco. On the way back, we stopped by this lady's house. She sold all different types of corn. Peruvians eat a lot of corn. Corn=not digestible=colorful poop. I can't help but make these associations. Anyways, next to the corn room, she had an area where she kept cuy aka guinea pigs aka her dinner.
Yep, I ate cuy. (Not the lady's cuy but at a restaurant.) How did it taste? Not good. I also tried alpaca in a tamale and it wasn't bad.
Before heading back to Cusco we stopped in Pisac for the market. Here's another Peruvian pimping out her lamb.
These pets belonged to the corn lady. I just thought I'd end my posting with this cute picture. Makes you want to spoon, doesn't it?
1 comment:
looks like you had a fun time. the pictures are amazing. i will add it to the list of places to visit. :)
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