Saturday, July 1, "Private" Tour of Downtown Lima

We didn't wake up today until about 7:30 AM -- wow, over ten hours of sleep. We had another wonderful breakfast at the hotel's 11th floor Observatorio restaurant, seated outdoors, which was nice. The weather in Lima was again overcast, typical of a winter day. Victor had told us yesterday that the local people call this weather "donkey belly," presumably due to the color of the clouds and sky.

Our plan today was to return to central Lima area, but to see it on foot rather than through the window of a bus, as we had done with our tour group. We consulted the hotel concierge who recommended that we hire a driver for the day. This was not what we had in mind, but maybe a good idea? So we hired driver Jose Matute who happened to be waiting outside the hotel for just this opportunity with a very nice Toyota Corolla and a nice business suit. We told him what we were interested in, and then we were off.

Our first stop was the Parque de la Exposicion. This park dates back to 1872, when an original city wall of Lima was demolished and an exposition was held to celebrate 50 years of Peruvian independence and also to encourage foreign investment in Peru. Here we admired a fountain that was a gift from China to mark the occasion of Peru's 100 years of independence.

There was also a Moorish pavilion in the park that had been designed by Gustav Eiffel (better known for a certain tower in Paris).

The park was lively and is also the home of Lima's art museum, which includes over 3,000 years of art. We entered the museum called MALI (Museo de Arte de Lima) and proceeded upstairs to view the permanent collection, which is displayed in chronological order.

Thus, the first displays were ancient pre-Inca artifacts similar to what we had seen in the Larco Museum. Then we saw some metal work. The paintings that followed were more interesting to us, however. While religious paintings can sometimes be a little dry (many versions of Madonna and child), these are more interesting since they have a New World twist. The native painters had been trained in European style painting techniques and subjects. The color palettes are very rich and vibrant. As a result, the paintings are quite unique and beautiful. As we looked at the artist information posted with each painting, we realized that the painter for all of them is "anonymous." This is a little sad to know that the names are forgotten and probably never recorded to begin with.

A centerpiece of the museum is a large painting depicting the death of Inca ruler Atahualpa, which seems clearly historically inaccurate.

We also enjoyed a room devoted to the artist Carlos Baca-Flor. We had not heard of him, but his paintings are lovely, kind of impressionistic. The artist had spent part of his life in Europe, and this is reflected in his work.

The whole collection was definitely worth the visit, and Rob took many pictures, while I did not. We concluded our tour with a piece of cake in the museum cafe!

We returned to the parking area to meet Jose.  He then drove us to Plaza San Martin, which we had only previously seen through the window of a bus. We had been told that it was too far to walk there from the park and also that it might not be safe. Jose drove past the French Building again, and he provided some new information about it: the roof is adorned with replicas of chess pieces. Jose let us out at the Plaza and we enjoyed walking around. The plaza was created to celebrate Peru's 100 years of independence. In the 1920's it was the height of fashion, and then became run-down. The area is now making a comeback. We entered the Hotel Bolivar, built in 1924. The lobby has an impressive dome, but the hotel seems like it has seen better days.
 

Departing the plaza we proceeded along the pedestrian shopping area, Union Street. It was lively today with many street performers (mostly acting as "statues"). The first few blocks were a little rough, but the stores got nicer as we went along. We stopped to admire three buildings: the Merced church, the O'Higgins residence (O'Higgins was a former president of Chile; the residence now houses a university), and the Fotographia building -- lovely art nouveau architecture. It is painted green, but Jose later told us that it had been yellow.

The end of the street let us out at Lima's central plaza (Plaza de Armas), where we stopped to admire the architecture again: the cathedral, the presidential palace, the municipal building, the Union Club, and other offices. We entered the cathedral where we were able to view a side chapel; the main cathedral was closed today. We then walked to the old train station, turned left and proceeded past all of the tourist shops to the San Francisco church, where Jose re-met us. We photographed the exterior of the church but elected not to go inside to see the catacombs for which it is famous.

Jose also took us through the Bar Cordano, where he said many government officials would dine/drink. It has been open for over 100 years and all of Peru's presidents have eaten there.

Jose guided us to the river (Rimac), were we saw a statue of Pizarro. Jose joked that to this day no one is certain whether the statue is of Pizarro or Cortez. We also saw the ruins of the old city wall build by the river and what is left of some house's foundation. We stopped in to look at another site where a house was being excavated. Having seen what we wanted to see in central Lima, we walked with Jose back to his car. At our request, he drove us to Lima's Chinatown -- what a madhouse! It was total chaos with people everywhere; stores set up on sidewalks, motorized fruit carts with loud megaphones, and traffic that absolutely did not move. Obviously it took a while for us to traverse this, but we were enjoying the show. When we reached the main street (Capon), we quickly decided we'd had enough and did not need to get out and walk around (maybe would have been mugged anyway). It was time to return to the hotel anyway -- it was about 4:30 PM. Jose told us that Chinatown is like this every day!

We thanked Jose -- who was great with a good sense of humor. He had told us a funny story about a prominent woman in Lima who was not well liked. Her wealthy benefactor had bestowed the nickname, "Paris Jolie," on her, which he thought reflected a French sophistication and beauty. However, the people altered her nickname to the similar sounding "Parra Chola."  Parra means female dog in Spanish, and Chola is a region in Peru known for its ignorant people. So when she was called "Paris Jolie" everyone mentally translated that in their heads to "Parra Chola," which means ignorant bitch.

Back at the hotel, we relaxed for a bit in the hotel lobby and then walked to the Larcomar Mall for dinner. We passed a group of Americans in a wedding party, which seemed odd. We ate at a Peruvian restaurant called Tanta, which Renzo at the hotel had recommended. Tanta was okay, but not great. We had chicken croquettes to start, then Pollito Nikkei, which was grilled chicken breast served over stir fried rice with vegetables. After we had eaten, we spotted a nice looking Italian restaurant in the mall where we wished we had eaten. Then it was back to the hotel to wait for our transfer to the airport. There was lots of wedding activity at this hotel as well. At 8:15 PM, Julio arrived to take us to the airport. He was again very friendly and talkative, but we were tired. Everything went better than smoothly. By 9:20 PM, we were all checked in and settled in the airport's VIP lounge with a glass of sauvignon blanc.

No trouble getting home. Flying on United Airlines, we changed planes in Houston with very short immigration lines. Then a limo brought us home (driving poorly) from the San Francisco airport.

Friday, June 30, Return to Lima

Prior to today, we in our group had been told that we would be leaving for the airport today at 9:30 AM. However, as we learned last yesterday, those plans had changed. Instead of a (relatively) late start, we needed to depart at 8 AM, so we had another early wake-up. The reason for the change? The teachers in Cusco have called a one day strike and planned to blockade the airport. (As a side note: our tour guide in Lima had previously told us that all teachers in Peru were members of the communist party -- makes them politically active, I guess.) So, with all roads to the airport blocked, Victor our tour guide needed to budget extra time to get there. As it turned out, the drive was not terribly long, but roundabout. The driver took a circuitous route around the airport and approached it from the opposite direction. Even with this strategy, we were forced to disembark about two blocks from the airport entrance and walk the rest of the way. We could see the strikers in the distance but did not take any time to ogle. Then, I'm not sure what transpired, but Victor said something to get the security guard to let us through his gate. Anyway, when we arrived at the airport, our luggage was magically already there? I did take a photo showing the police lined up in riot gear.

The flight to Lima was not eventful. We once again saw the family of Eric and Suzanne at the airport -- this was the end of their vacation. When we arrived in Lima, we were bused to the Barranco neighborhood (next to Miraflores where our hotel was) for lunch. Barranco is known for its lively nightlife and arts scene, although we were warned that safety there is not ideal. Our lunch was at a restaurant called Amor Amar (love at the sea?). Our group was seated at a long table towards the rear of the restaurant, although we had a view to the entire dining room. The food was outstanding. We began with some tapas: a bite size causa with shrimp, then a delicious bite of beef with sauce on toast, and also grilled octopus. For mains Rob and I both ordered seared tuna with garlic and ginger over Chinese vegetables (mostly bok choy) -- really delicious! Dessert was an almond cake with vanilla ice cream and an apricot/alcohol sauce -- also good!

We were scheduled to take a bus tour after lunch of the Barranco neighborhood, but given that we were behind schedule and everyone was a little weary, the bus brought us straight to the hotel, again the Belmond Miraflores Park Hotel where we had initially stayed in Lima. After a quick check-in, we said our good-byes to the group and proceeded to our room. The room is, of course, as fabulous as before (maybe a little better than the first room). It is so nice -- we don't leave. Rob took a long nap, and then we ordered room service for dinner (chicken ceasar salads). We enjoyed a bottle of Peruvian wine called Intipalka, a sauvignon blanc that was actually pretty good.

Then we both turned in early.

Thursday, June 29, Cusco and Sacsayhuaman

It was another early start on this action packed tour, and we were looking forward to our first destination: Sacsayhuaman, an Inca word that translates to "satisfied falcon." Our day began with two surprises: fireworks shot off at 7 AM and another reunion with the family of Eric and Suzanne from our cruise at breakfast -- they were also staying at this hotel!

This site of Sacsayhuaman is very important historically in the battle between the Spanish and the Incas known as the Siege of Cusco. Cusco at that time was held by the Spanish, but recently escaped Inca ruler Manco Inca (who had been a Spanish prisoner) had rallied his forces to try to expel the Spanish from the capital. Although the Incas had some early success in this attempt (probably the only real insurrection of the Incas after the Spanish took over), their attempt to retake Cusco failed in the end. After trapping the Spanish in one building in Cusco's main square, the Spanish were intractable. Their superior arms and weapons could repel any further Inca assault. The Spanish, a little desperate because they were surrounded, decided that their only path to victory was to send a fighting force out of their location in central Cusco and attack the fortress of Sacsayhuaman that overlooked the city and seemed to be the headquarters of the Inca's assaulting forces. They did this but were unsuccessful in breaching the walls of the fortress. However, Sacsayhuaman was not really built to be a fortress and its design actually contained doors in the walls. On a subsequent attempt, the Spanish were ultimately able to get through the doors. One of their tactical advantages was that they were prepared to fight at night, which the Incas were not accustomed to. When the Spanish took Sacsayhuaman, it was the beginning of the end of the Siege of Cusco. The Incas retreated to Ollantaytambo and then ceded that site and retreated further into the jungle. The Spanish did suffer a notable casualty at Sacsayhuaman, however. Francisco Pizarro's brother Juan died in the assault.

Today, the walls of Sacsayhuaman remain, but the structures at the top only have foundations that survive. The Spanish actually took stones from the site to build in Cusco and then ordered the local people to actually bury what remained of the site. They did this to try to erase any visual references to any Inca religious site.

Today at the site there were various folding seats and stage items remaining from a recent ceremony that had been held here. The ceremony was a play performance recreating the Inca's ancient sun ceremony, held on June 24th. The Incas would traditionally ask the sun to be generous and provide good crops. Llama sacrifice was part of the ceremony; the religious leaders then examined their livers for good or bad omens. These ceremonies were re-continued in the 1940's. However, current ceremonies include only a simulated llama sacrifice.

Standing here, we took a moment to appreciate the large magma mound adjacent to the fortress. This was a significant feature as it was considered nature "showing off" its uniqueness. Therefore it represented the power of nature, which commanded respect and needed to be enhanced. It was sacred. It was called "suchuna" or a place to slide. During the Siege of Cusco, the Spanish stood on top of this mound and plotted how they would attach Sacsayhuaman. The flat area between the mound and the fortress is probably built on stone chippings. In ancient times the common people could stay and stand on the flat area, but were not permitted into the sacred areas.

During the Siege of Cusco there were two native groups that fought alongside the Spanish: Chachipujos and Guiyos. These groups had been conquered by the Incas and wanted to throw off their control. They thought if they could support the Spanish in defeating the Incas, then the Spanish would leave and the native groups would have their independence again. Well, as we all know, the Spanish never had any intention of leaving. After their domination was complete, they instituted European style feudalism based on a mining economy, which destroyed the agricultural economy. Everyone, except the Spanish, were worse off.

Here at Sacsayhuaman, there are enormous limestone blocks. Where did they come from? The dark rocks that we saw were mined about seven miles away; they are Andecite. The blue rocks on the trail are basalt (we had also saw these in the trail to Inti Punku at Machu Picchu).

We climbed to the top of the site, which afforded lovely sights down to Cusco.

Wilbur our guide reminded us that the primary purpose of Sacsayhuamna was religious, not military. The writings left behind by the Spanish indicate that there were three towers; two were rectangles and one was round. The round building may have been a water tower. There is evidence that it was buttressed (to hold the weight of the water). The foundation of one of the rectangles has been found, which we could see, but the other has not been found.

There were three walls to defend the site. The outermost wall was built from enormous stones in a zig-zag pettern. This design would strengthen the wall in the event of an earthquake.
 

Rob and I were really in awe at this site, because of its historical significance. We stood below the walls and imagined what the Spanish would have seen when they stood here nearly four hundred years ago.

We also took a picture of our guides Victor (left) and Wilbur (right).

Leaving Sacsayhuaman, we boarded the buses again and set out for higher elevations. Our next destination was a farm that displayed the four South American relatives of the camel: llama, alpaca, vicuna, and guanaco. Along the way we passed two more archeological sites: Puca Pucara, which we could see next to the highway, and Tambo Machay, which we could not see. Victor told us about two other archeological sites in Peru: Choquequirao, which the Spanish knew about (can be reached by a two day hike from Cusco, but a highway is currently under construction to the site, which is also known as Machu Picchu's "twin"), and Quelap (or Kuelap), built by the Chachapoyas (not the Incas) in the sixth century in the northern part of Peru.

The farm, near the town of Corao, was very nice, but to be honest, Rob and I were not terribly interested in the animals. I did want to see what a vicuna looked like.

After a brief stroll through the animal area, we proceeded to the lovely and extensive gift shop, where we both made purchases -- good shopping! The buses then returned us to Cusco. Along the way, we saw piles of potatoes, some under plastic, on fields. They were being spread out to dry apparently. Before arriving at the hotel, we stopped in Cusco at a large central market, which was mostly devoted to food, but also had some souvenir items to purchase. It was fun to walk around, and we bought a smaller version of the bulls that the locals have on their roofs for good luck. We were also able to see what the fruit called chirimoya looked like.

As we were getting ready to depart, a very colorful religious parade passed us by heading to a nearby church. We had to hustle onto the buses or the parade would have blocked us in.

Our lunch and afternoon in Cusco were free time for us, a refreshing break in our itinerary. We decided the best choice for lunch was at our hotel's restaurant, which offered outdoor dining in one of the cloisters. It was a lovely and peaceful lunch. We both had open faced chicken sandwiches with zucchini and side salads -- perfect!

After lunch, we began our stroll around Cusco. We first walked to the main square, but made a detour to a bookstore that I had seen previously from our bus' window. The clerk was unable to recommend anything since she did not speak English (also it did not appear the store had any materials in English), but we did purchase a very good bilingual tourist map, which we purchased for 25 soles (seems a bit high), then we set out on our makeshift tour.

In the square, we saw again the Cathedral that we had previously toured, then passed the church on the square called La Compania, but did not enter. We continued past the square and stopped at Inka Farma for cold medicine. Continuing southwest on this street we came to a nice small square, which was dominated by the church and monastery of San Francisco. We retraced our steps and then walked along the Avenue del Sol (kind of a main thoroughfare) past the Palacio de Justicia to the Santo Domingo Church (which we had also previously toured -- place of the Incas' Temple of the Sun ruins). Then we returned to the main square and walked all around the perimeter, then returned to our hotel. There is most certainly more to see in Cusco, but we were ready for a little rest. Spotting some lounge chairs in the hotel's smaller cloister, we relaxed in the open air.

Tonight, our tour guides have arranged an educational musical presentation. A local musician has brought his collection of musical instruments to show us and to play for us. He has ancient percussion, wind, and string instruments.

He showed us and then demonstrated a musical instrument that I had never heard of. You don't actually play this instrument, but you play an instrument inside of this device, which creates a whole new sound -- very interesting!

At the end he performed two songs that really demonstrated his musical abilities, which everyone enjoyed.

Dinner tonight (our "farewell" dinner) was a few blocks away at a restaurant called Le Soleil. We were presented with a menu that had a nice variety of choices, including vegetarian. I started with a dish called Avocado Curls; they were filled with vegetables. It was interesting but could have used some more seasoning. Rob started with an Andean Trout Roll with a curry sauce. For mains, I had Native Potato Gnocchi, and Rob had Lamb Shank with lentils.

We both passed on dessert to make it an early dinner.

Wednesday, June 28, Machu Picchu to Cusco

Today we spent the morning again at the Machu Picchu site. We rose early for a 5 AM or so breakfast only to learn that we had been misinformed -- breakfast didn't begin until 5:30 AM. Anyway, we were able to get some cold food from the buffet, which had already been set up. Our plan had been to queue up before 6 AM to enter the site when it opened at 6, so that is what we did. As we prepared in our hotel room at about 5:40 AM we could hear the first buses pulling in from Machu Picchu town below. We entered a disorganized line of people that featured some line cutting and some pretty smelly young people. Perhaps they had completed the four day hike on the Inca Trail with no bathing? As we stood there, we saw that Greg and Lisa from our group had the same idea.

The early morning objective for everyone, it seemed, was to climb as quickly as possible to the top to get the best view of the sunrise. Everyone seemed to be doing that. Rob and I, however, made a small detour and enjoyed a little solitude at the lower level for a few minutes before we began our ascent up the steps. At the top, it was rather crowded, and the sun stayed hidden behind the clouds for the most part, but everyone seemed in high spirits nonetheless.

We also enjoyed the views, took many photos, and then headed back to the hotel to meet the other members of our group who were to walk to the so called Sun Gate (this is a name given to this spot by twentieth century explorers; it is unknown what the Inca's might have called this spot). It is also referred to as Inti Punku (Inti is the name of the Sun God).

Our group had two hiking choices for this morning: (1) a challenging hike up to the top of Huayna Picchu or (2) the hike to Inti Punku. Only a few brave souls chose to go to Huayna Picchu; the rest of us chose Inti Punku. Interestingly, both hikes climb roughly the same elevation (1,500 feet), but the difficult hike is steep, while the hike to Inti Punku is much more of a gradual ascent. The Sun Gate was the main entrance to Machu Picchu in Inca times, and it is also the end of what is called the Inca Trail (four day hike to Machu Picchu from down below).
 

The walk to the Sun Gate / Inti Punku has some steps to climb, especially at the beginning, but we experienced mostly a steady hike uphill and a rocky "paved" surface. Apparently, the stones in the path date back to Inca times (although I'm sure that there has been some repair work done). Rob and I set off on a good pace and left the rest of the group behind. There were two notable sights on the trail (other than the eye-popping views of Machu Picchu every step of the way): a way station and a large rock that we later learned was used as a burial site. The trail was not too crowded, and there were a fair number of people at the end, where the gate is located. Many photographs were taken.

The view at the end is impressive, but actually not as good as that about one third up the trail, in my opinion.

After the remainder of our group arrived, Rob and I began our descent back to the Machu Picchu site. At the end of the walk, entering the site, there were a few llamas one could look at!

When we arrived back at the site, we walked a little way in for our final time here at Machu Picchu -- of course, we were reluctant to leave! Visiting this place has been a great experience, especially thanks to extensive knowledge of our guide Wilbur.

Back at the hotel, we had a "second breakfast" of eggs and other hot food, then headed to the room to clean up. We rode the bus back to Machu Picchu town / pueblo, then we strolled through the town (all tourist oriented shops) to the restaurant called Inka Terra, which sits between the incoming and outgoing railroad tracks. Lunch was excellent, although we weren't very hungry. We each had a starter of mixed vegetables, including fava beans, in a vinaigrette -- delicious! For our main, we each had grilled chicken breast in a not very tasty sauce (avoided) with quinoa risotto (did not eat).

At this point, it was time to begin our return journey to Cusco, beginning with a train ride back to Ollantaytambo. The train ride was interupted by a staff member dressed up as ... something! Rob first noticed that something was "up" when he couldn't get into the bathroom -- someone was inside changing into this costume.

This performance was loud and long, but then was followed up by an even longer fashion show, where the crew members modeled knitwear from the store, Sol. At Ollantaytambo, we were transferred onto two smaller buses that would take us to Cusco. We took a direct highway, not the way we came through the town of Urubamba. Finally, as it was beginning to get dark, we made it to our hotel in the town center, the Belmond Monasterio. This hotel is over the top and surrounds two old cloisters from an actual monastery. We checked into the hotel in an actual church with a gold altar -- oh my! Our room was very luxurious, but not overly large; we did have a small balcony that didn't really have much of a view, though.
 

Everyone was on their own tonight for dinner, so we went to the restaurant that our guide Victor had recommended called Incanto. Along the way there (even with a map) we made a wrong turn and got a little lost. Incanto features Italian food and is very sophisticated -- could be in any major city. We ordered a malbec from one of our favorite Argentinian wineries called Navarro Correas, but unfortunately it was out of stock. Our waiter recommended another malbec from Argentina, so we ordered that. It was from the Salta region and the Hess family, a Swiss family who also owns a winery in Napa. It was good, but not outstanding. Dinner was delicious. We shared a green salad, then I had fettuccine with tomato sauce and meatballs, while Rob had parpardelle with a beef sauce -- simple dishes yet so good!

After dinner, we walked the few steps from the restaurant to the main square, which was very lively. What was most impressive was the sight of all of the lights in the hillsides surrounding the town center -- like stars in the sky, magical! Unfortunately, this sight did not photograph well. We returned to the hotel with no wrong turns and turned in. We both remarked how Cusco has charms similar to an older European city with its narrow cobbled streets. We stopped in the hotel bar for a nightcap with a very nice bartender/wine steward.

Tuesday, June 27, Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu!

Today was a busy day! The plan was to depart the Sacred Valley and reach Machu Picchu by early afternoon, but not before a few activities! First, we headed down some side roads in the town of Urubamba to a private school that is partially supported by our tour operator, Abercrombie & Kent. It is called Fundacion Ninos del Arcos Iris, or Children of the Rainbow in English. The school was founded by a Dutch woman, who wanted to help the underprivileged children of this area. We were given information about the school and visited a kindergarten class, whose children were please to sing a song for us. Afterwards, they all wanted to give us high fives, the harder the slap (on their part) the better -- very cute! This seems like a very worthy endeavor.

We then proceeded by bus to the town of Ollantaytambo. This town is notable for two reasons: (1) it is the locatino of a fortress used by Incan emperor Manco Inca during the siege of Cusco and (2) this is the place to board the train to Machu Picchu.

In the siege of Cusco, Manco Inca made his headquarters at Ollantaytambo. However, when the siege ended unsuccessfully, the Spanish then made their way to this fortress. At their first attempt to take the fortress, the Spanish were repelled, mostly because the Incas flooded the area in front of the fortress, which hindered the Spanish horses.  This would have occurred where today stand many souvenir stalls.  However, in the second attempt the Spanish were successful. However, before they were able to take Ollantaytambo, Manco Inca had fled (knowing he could not hold it). He first fled to a place called Vitcos and then ultimately to Vilcabambo Viejo, which he made his new capital. So this site was very important from a historical perspective.

The site had undergone restoration in the 1930's (mostly on the left side, when facing the site) and then in the 1980's (the right side). In addition to being a fortress, the site was important from a religious standpoint. By the way, the word fortress had little meaning to the Incas, since they did not fight wars in this region -- religion would have been more important. As a result, the Spanish did their best to destroy this site, as they did to anything that had religious significance. One of the interesting architectural features that survived, however, were the grain silo storage buildings on the side of the mountains. They were not destroyed, as they had no religious significance. They probably weren't used much after the Spanish came since the economy became focused on mining, not agriculture.

The site is impressive and beautifully restored. However, we had very little time to explore since we needed to catch our train to Machu Picchu. We had only about 20 minutes to walk around. Wilbur provided good information, however, and recommended a book by John Hemming to read for good historical information about the Incas.

After our tour of the site, we boarded the train at the station at Ollantaytambo that would continue along the Urubamba River to Machu Picchu Town (or Pueblo), which lies at the base of the mountain. As we left the town, Wilbur pointed out the valley that leads to the towns of Vitcos and Vilcabamba Viejo. We were told that tourists can visit these sites, but it requires camping. Plus, once you get there, you may have to deal with drug traffickers and/or the remnants of the Shining Path revolutionary forces. We'll pass for now.

The train ride afforded many nice views of the mountain called Veronica (Huacawillka).

We also passed other archeological sites, a hydro power plant, and a view of the pedestrian bridge that marks the beginning of the Inca Trail. The Inca Trail is a four day hike that terminates at Machu Pichhu, sometimes climbing to 14,000 feet. Although there are tourist groups that will do most of the carrying of tents, food, etc., the four days do not offer any bathing opportunities -- no thanks!

We departed the train in the town/pueblo, which appears to have no other purpose but to serve tourists and then got on a bus to take us up 1,500 feet to the Machu Picchu site. The bus ride is one switchback after another with no guardrails! Passports had to be shown for both the train and the bus.

At the top, we immediately entered the Belmond Sanctuary Hotel; the only lodging at the site, where we will stay tonight, but for now, it was time for lunch! Lunch for us was a green salad followed by a veggie burger in pita bread that was actually pretty tasty!

Then, it was time to enter Machu Picchu. As we surveyed the amazing site, our guide Wilbur provided an overview. The farming terraces and residential housing that we saw all face the sunrise. The terraces are for agriculture. The lower part of the site has collapsed walls that have not yet been restored. Machu Picchu is an important religious site. That is because of its connection to nature and the mountains. The river nearly surrounds the entire site. The sound of the river during heavy water flow was important. The Incas manually corrected the flow of the river. Even the sound of thunder would have been an important feature of the site to tie it to nature. It is in a "cloud forest." Machu Picchu was not a fortress and not a palace. Construction began in the reign of Pachacuteq, which started around 1435 and continued until about 1471. The name Machu Picchu translates to "old mountain." Huayna Picchu translates to "new mountain." Another reason that this site was chosen for settlement is that there is a natural spring created by a geologic fault. The Incas built a basin to collect the water, and it was channeled through sixteen different pools. Residents would haul the water to their homes. There were no aqueducts to irrigate the agriculture. The 70 inches of annual rainfall would have been enough for the crops. The housing was divided into high and low areas.

Our first stop in the site was the Temple of the Sun. This was the name given by Hiram Bingham, the explorer who "discovered" Machu Picchu in 1911. It is also sometimes called the Tower. This was a temple, but the Incas' religion was more than simply sun worship. They worshiped nature. They believed there were three worlds: the earth, under the earth, and above the earth. The temple is an excellent example of organic architecture, which uses the existing boulders and builds around them, incorporating their shapes into the overall design of the structure. The temple was a significant site as it has the finest stonemasonry. No mortar was used, and the blocks are very smooth. The temple is also oriented to the sunrise. Another comment regarding the Incas' religion: to them, the winter solstice was considered masculine and the summer solstice was feminine. The rest of the site was not built with such fine masonry, as it would have taken too long to construct. However, the "regular" stone walls would have been stuccoed to prevent the mortar from being washed away by the rain. Other examples of organic architecture include staircases carved into boulders.

We saw other examples of typical Incan architecture that we had seen before: the trapezoid shaped doors (to reduce stress on the lintel stone). There is also the double lintel, which indicates higher status. The Incans did not know about the arch to make an entryway.

Suddenly we were surprised to see some wildlife: an Andean hare, related to the chinchilla -- very cute, looks really soft!

As we continued, Rob asked Wilbur about human sacrifice. The Incas did sacrifice humans but not to the extent used in Aztec and Mayan cultures. There have been found examples of young boys taken to the snowy mountains and left to freeze in an urn (after being dosed with alcohol and drugs). This type of sacrifice would have likely followed a year or some period of having been treated quite well.

We stopped to admire the flattish green area near the top of the site. It is believed that it was built on top of stone chippings (created from the carving of all the rocks). Sixty percent of the construction of Machu Picchu is underground. This includes soil brought up from the riverbanks. If the Incas can move large stones, they can haul soil.

Our next destination was the sacred plaza with the temple of the three windows -- super large blocks. There is a scene here, as well as one other spot, where a stone was placed to mimic the mountain in the scenery behind. The second example of this is the Roca Sagrada, a ceremonial space flanked by two thatched roof buildings. We stopped to take a group photo.

We walked through the residential quarters, which feature large communal areas. The Incas did not have or use furniture. They slept on the ground. They had niches built into the walls for shelves.

As we neared the end of our tour (which would go up to and past closing time!), we passed through what would seem to be artisans' quarters with circles that look to be for grinding corn, but that is not the case. The holes are intended to hold water -- the pools then reflect the sun, "Espeju de Agua," mirrors of water. These pools could be used to view a solar eclipse (which the Incas were not able to predict, by the way). Thus this room was an important site.

The final area we viewed was a giant stone shaped like a condor. The condor represented communication between our world (earth) and the sun (above earth). Below the stone is a cave. This represented access to the world below earth.

Now concluded, our tour was just wonderful. Wilbur is a very knowledgeable guide, who has a lot of enthusiasm for this subject! What a treat to be able to walk this site with him.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel, where we celebrated Greg and Lisa's 15th wedding anniversary as well as Dave's 50th birthday!

Archeology Lecture, Machu Picchu

Jose Luiz Baccante, an archeologist, was brought as a guest of Abercrombie & Kent from Machu Picchu, where he works, to give us on the tour a briefing about the site that we would be shortly seeing. He had an extensive slide show to share with us, and the following represents my notes, certainly incomplete.

- Machu Picchu is a world heritage site, of which there are only four in the Americas. It consists of 60 different archeological sites and 64 monuments at current count (the list is growing). It was connected to the Inca world by roads. The Inca word for shrine is "huaca."

- Machu Picchu first appeared in a colonial document in 1796, a land document. It is believed that in 1714 a reference to Huana Picchu was made. Picchu may mean bird or the wad in your mouth from chewing coca leaves.

- In 1801, the first map of the Vilcabamba area was made. In 1874, a German engineer created a map. In 1881, another German, named Bern, may have found and looted Machu Picchu.

- Hiram Bingham, an American, led the first expedition to find Machu Picchu (by accident) -- even though he was looking for the ancient capital of Vilcabamba. He led three expeditions to the site: in 1911, then again in 1912, and then in 1914-15. An article by Bingham was published in National Geographic in 1913. About 12,000 pictures were taken on these expeditions; Peru has access to about 100. The first photo was taken at the temple. Much vegetation needed to be cut in order to photograph the site.

- Graffiti exists on the site that dates to 1902, however. It is believed that was left by a looter named Augustin Lizarraga.

- Machu Picchu was built by the Inca emperor Pachakuteq, beginning some time around 1450. It is believed there were two phases (or moments as Sr. Baccante called them) of construction.

- The site was valued by the Incas because if was surrounded by the river on three sides (among other reasons, no doubt).

- There were only about 400 permanent residents, mostly growing corn, but they would not have been able to grow enough to feed everyone.

- New sites in Peru are still being looked for. A device called Lidar is used to "look" at what is hiding under the vegetation.

Monday, June 26, The Sacred Valley

Today our day began with a lecture from an archeologist who works at Machu Picchu, which provided history and other information about this historic site that we will be seeing on Tuesday and Wednesday. See a separate blog post for my notes.

After that, our activity was to visit a traditional high altitude farm not too far from Urubamba, but definitely a lot higher. We will be going above 14,000 feet again. Our bus crossed the Urubamba River in the town of Urubamba. The river continues on through the Sacred Valley all the way to Machu Picchu. As we ascended out of the valley, we saw a kind of graffiti carved into the mountainside. We had seen numbers carved before, which indicate a specific local school. This one read "DIMA," which Wilbur told us stands for "Divino Maestre," which means divine teacher, who is Jesus Christ.

We saw fields being farmed and terraces that climb all the way up the mountainsides. Fava beans and potatoes are the best crops for high elevations. Potatoes can grow up to about 12,500 feet. Corn does better in the valley. We saw snow capped mountains named Veronica (also called Waqay Willka, 19,300 feet) and Salkantay (about 20,500 feet). Salkantay is the tallest mountain in the Vilcabamba range of the Andes. We also admired a more nearby mountain called Pitusiray. It overlooks the town of Urubamba at 16,300 feet. A glacier on this mountain is the source of the town's water.

We also saw many eucalyptus trees, which have invaded Peru, brought here in the 1800's from California, but, of course, originally from Australia. The local people like these trees for the wood. They are not a fire danger since the oxygen at this elevation is so thin that fires are not really a threat. We passed through a decent sized little town up high called Chincherro -- it looked nice!

A few more facts that we learned on our bus ride: Peru's agriculture is mostly at higher altitudes since the low altitudes are too tropical and the soil is too thin -- but bananas can be grown there. Llamas cannot carry as much as donkeys. So when Europeans introduced donkeys, llamas became less favored by the farmers. Snow is generally over 16,000 feet, but it will occasionally snow down to 12,000 feet. This is considered a bad omen. It can also hail in the summertime, though.

We passed a beautiful natural lake called Lake Piuray. It is the source of water for the city of Cusco. The bus pulled over to the side of the road so that we could exit, admire the views, and take pictures.

Then, we reached our destination, a local farm where the residents were happy to host tourists like us and teach us about their lives. We were met by the local families, who were all wearing traditional clothing. They were playing musical instruments -- something similar to a recorder plus drums. The women greet us and take our hands to lead us through the gate and into the courtyard. We were invited to sit down and were offered a green herbal tea (minty sort of).

The presentation had many segments: (1) an explanation of their clothing, (2) a display of their herbs and food, including roasted guinea pig, (3) a farming demonstration using traditional hand tools (no oxen can climb up into the mountain "fields;" the farming must be down by hand), and (4) demonstrations of textile making.

I was very interested in the explanation of the clothing. The clothing worn is dictated by certain rules for women and men. For single women: a blanket is worn over the shoulder; the hair is braided loosely with pink ribbons and tiny flowers; a hat is worn adorned with only white flowers; and the black skirt is folded up in the front to reveal a pink "underskirt;" and a purse is carried to hold "goodies" that can be given to suitors. Married women dress similarly, but with distinct differences: The blanket is worn, but is used to carry children or food; the skirt is not folded up and the underskirt is not colorful; the hat is adorned with many colored flowers, not just white; and a "goodie" purse is not needed.

For single men: (1) A poncho is folded over the shoulder with a belt to secure it (this will keep the arms free to work; the belt can also be used as a sling (some type of courtship ritual?); (2) a hat called a chullo is worn with a fluffy tail; the tail has symbols for the twelve months of the year and has three tassels that represent three principals (Don't lie. Don't be lazy. Don't steal.) The single man wears the tail to his front to remind him of those principals. The married man's outfit is similar except that it has no belt and the tassel to his hat is worn behind him. Now that he is married, he has already learned the three principles, so he doesn't need the constant reminder.

For both genders, dark colors or black are worn below the waist. This is to symbolize the sorrows of the past. Bright colors are worn above the waist to symbolize current happiness. At the end of the presentation all of us tourists were dressed up in traditional clothing (to some extent) for photographs. As we left the farm, we said the Quechua word that we had learned "Solpayki," which means Thank You!

We reboarded the bus to take us to our lunch destination. The views in the Andes are spectacular, and we never tired of seeing them.

In the bus along the way, I saw a group of small pigs, so I asked Wilbur what the Spanish word would be. He confirmed that one would say "cerdo," but he also taught me a new word "chancho." This is what one might say unkindly to a fat person.

Lunch was at an old hacienda (Spanish ranch) that is still in the hands of the original family and is open for groups such as ours. It is called Hacienda Huayoccari and is located at the end of a long dirt road overlooking the river valley. In the early colonial days, the Spanish would have operated these haciendas with the native people supplying the labor -- living like slaves, really. In the 1960's, the Peruvian government instituted land reform, which destroyed the hacienda system. This did not go well, as the native people lacked the management skills to run their own farms. Anyway, this particular Spanish family's holdings were dramatically reduced at that time (but not eliminated), and they were gradually able to repurchase much of the land that had been taken from them. Presumably under the new system, the workers were treated and compensated better as well. One hopes. Lunch was buffet style and very good! The most memorable dish was the tuna "causa" and a dessert featuring the fruit called "chirimoya," or custard apple. Rob had a dessert of sweetened tree tomatoes. We had seen this plant before at the hotel. It is a small tree that is bearing fruit that looks like a tomato -- odd! Serendipity strikes when we met the family of Eric and Suzanne on the grounds of the hacienda as we were leaving -- so nice to see them again from our cruise!

Back at Sol y Luna, we had few hours this afternoon to ourselves for relaxing, which was nice. Dinner was again at the formal restaurant. We both started with scallops on the half shell served with a tasty green sauce of some sort. For mains, I had mushroom risotto, which Rob had lamb chops with Peruvian potatoes and spinach. Time to turn in.

Sunday, June 25, Cusco

Today, we rose early to fly to Cusco. The traffic in Lima was light this morning, as one would hope for a Sunday morning. The flight was about one hour long. At the airport in Cusco, there were baskets of coca leaves available to anyone who wanted to chew them, which was supposed to help adjust to the high altitude (Cusco is at about 10,000 feet above sea level).

After collecting our luggage, we then had a short bus ride to the town's center. In town, the main square was closed to traffic due to a large celebration with loud bands playing and many people parading in colorful outfits! It was quite the party. Apparently this goes on for two weeks to celebrate the summer solstice. Our bus driver needed to select an out-of-the-way place to park, but it was no problem!

Our guide here in the Andes was Wilbur, whom we took a decided liking to because of his vast knowledge of the area and its history. He told us that Cusco has about one half million people, some of whom still speak the Quechua language. Most of the people are mixed race, sometimes called mestizo. The native people are sometimes called "indios," but that is considered to be a slur, definitely not nice!

We walked into the main square, which is very large and charming, especially today. In the middle of the square is a large statue of the Inca leader, Pachacuti or Pachakutiq in Quechua. He ruled the Incas from about 1438 until 1472 and was responsible for expanding the dominion of the Incas from the Cusco area to much of western South America. The current layout of the square is about one half of the size that it was during the Inca times. There are no surviving buildings from the Inca times. The oldest buildings in Cusco date from the 1600's, the colonial era. Traveling to Cusco has taken us to the other side of the South American continental divide. The water here flows to the Amazon and the Atlantic, not the Pacific. The Incas chose Cusco as their capital because two rivers meet here. These rivers flow under the streets today.

Our tour then took us into the cathedral on the main square. It was a Jesuit church, but now serves as a museum. The plan of the cathedral was modeled after the cathedral in Seville, Spain. Facing the building, we entered into the left side, which was the original church (the Church of the Holy Family). We passed through this area into the main section. Wilbur told us about the unusual design of the altar, which is separated from the back wall. The cathedral walls are lined with many paintings, some quite large. Wilbur explained that the paintings were all completed by various "workshops" in Cusco. Each workshop would have had a contract with the Jesuits to complete the art in various parts of the cathedral. The workshops were all composed of native people who had been taught to paint in the European style. They copied European paintings. However, sometimes local or native imagery was inserted in the painting (this would have been done with permission). As an example, we saw in the carved wooden choir that below the arms of the choir are carvings of naked women -- definitely not something you would see in Europe. However, this was to add a local representation of mother earth. The choir was made by a workshop called the "Cusco School." Our attention was then drawn to a painting of the Black Christ, who is the lord of tremors. When this painting was brought in the main square, he stopped the 1650 earthquake in Cusco. Now, the painting is brought outside every Easter. Wilbur noted that many of the statues in the cathedral are resting on litters. They are brought outside and carried in a parade. The practice goes back to 1572.

Moving to the altar, Wilbur pointed out that it is silver plated and requires polishing. Another unusual feature of the cathedral is the inclusion of mirrors. Mirrors in churches were forbidden by the pope. Why are they here? The pope granted special permission so that the interior light of the cathedral could be enhanced. I noted that the cathedral was an especially tall building, and Wilbur agreed that it would have been very impressive to the natives when it was built. The Incas had constructed some tall towers, but had no knowledge of arches, so a tall building with arches like the cathedral would have been a marvel to them.

Behind the altar, we admired two large paintings that faced each other. One is of the last supper and has an interesting local influence. All of the apostles, as well as Jesus, have light complexions, except for Judas, who is dark. Rather than drinking wine, they are drinking pomegranite juice. Their meal consists of guinea pig, and there are bananas resting on the table. It is a copy of a Flemish work adapted to the New World. It is one of the most popular paintings in the cathedral and was painted in the 18th century.

We then entered the sacristy whose walls are adorned with paintings of all of Cusco's bishops, going back to Valdiverra, who had come with Pizarro.

The final area (to the right when facing the cathedral from outside) is called the Church of Triumph. This is because it was built on the site where the Spanish were sequestered during the siege of Cusco. This church was built in the 18th century.

We then exited and walked a few blocks to the Church of Santo Domingo. We stopped along the way for a photo op of women in fancy clothes (this is a tourist trap -- they will pose with anyone for money).

This was the first church built in Cusco and was built on top of the Inca's Temple of the Sun. Beneath the cloister of the church are the original Inca walls from the 15th century. Two sides of the walls remain: the east and the west sides. Inca temples were not used by ordinary people. The only people permitted inside were the Inca rulers and the religious elite. The buildings were used to store religious icons and mummies (all Inca rulers were mummified and consulted about major decisions -- as well as paraded around as needed). This temple was oriented to the sunrise. It would have had a lot of gold, which represented the sun. This was, of course, all plundered by the Spanish. In terms of building the temples, the Inca people would have used bronze tools. They did not have wheels or rollers or ramps. They did use levers. Some of the lever rods would have weighed twenty tons! The rocks used to build this temple came from seven miles away, east of Cusco. The labor was contributed by the people as tribute to the Inca ruler. Those in the labor class would have been required to work two months out of the year for the Inca ruler. Construction of the temple would have begun in the reign of Pachacuti (mid 1400's), and it would have taken about thirty years to complete. Inca walls were built to withstand earthquakes. The large blocks were sized to fit together perfectly with no mortar. The walls tilted inward, and the doorways were trapezoids. These doors were designed to reduce pressure on the lintel stone and thus fissures in the stone. As the blocks were laid, a kind of "rebar" was implemented into the construction. A channel would have been carved into the blocks adjacent to each other and this was filled with molten brass to bind the stones to each other. The stones were created with hammers and chisels, some very small. Abrasion with sand and water was another technique used to create a smooth surface. The roofs would have been perfectly level and supported thatched roof in an inverted V shape (not flat). All of this was very interesting, but to see these surviving walls was amazing!

Lunch was at a restaurant just off the main square called Limo. It was excellent. Rob and I both started with green salads then enjoyed a Peruvian specialty called Lomo Saltado, grilled beef with vegetables. For dessert we both passed on the richer options and had a simple fruit salad.

After lunch, we rode our bus to what is called the Sacred Valley towards the town of Pisac. The views we enjoyed were incredible, and we climbed to even higher altitudes -- over 14,000 feet above sea level. As we passed by common type houses, Wilbur pointed out that many (if not most) had statues of bulls on top of their roofs. This is a sort of witchcraft (Wilbur's choice of word). When the house was built, a local person called a doctor or a healer -- really a type of shaman -- comes to bless the house. This is one of about fifty different ceremonies that the shaman can perform. The bulls represent abundance or fertility. Wilbur also pointed out a snow covered mountain called Ausangate, over 20,000 feet (snow levels begin at about 16,000 feet). Arriving to views of the Sacred Valley, the bus stopped to let us out for pictures. The views were spectacular, but the angle of the sun was not auspicious for photography.

We descended into the town of Pisac, which lies at the eastern end of the Sacred Valley.  The valley's river is known as the Urubamba. The main crop is corn -- we ccould see the terracing for the corn go all the way up the mountains. It is amazing! The river travels west and eventually becomes a tributary of the Amazon. Wilbur pointed out a street vendor along the sidewalk selling guinea pig on a stick -- yuk!

We did have one more stop: the Museo Inkariy, which has many exhibits that explore the life of the people before the colonial era. One of the aspects of ancient life that it explores is skull stretching or forming (kind of gross -- seems like something from a B movie). Unfortunately, we had very little time (running behind schedule and it was getting dark), so we left after only a short visit.

Our hotel is in a small city that takes its name from the river: Urubamba. The hotel is called Sol y Luna. It is a super-luxurious resort in the middle of the Sacred Valley that somehow seemed out of place here. Each room is its own casita and is enormous! The landscaping is also incredible, reminiscent of California or Arizona. It was already dark when we checked in, so we would need to see it all tomorrow.

After check-in there was a short break, then we all attended a cooking demonstration which started with how to make a pisco sour, Peru's national drink. Neither Rob nor I paid much attention to the demonstration, but the pisco sours were good. So was a soup that was made with quinoa.

Dinner tonight was at the hotel's restaurant and was very good. I had mushroom bisque with small chicken raviolis. Rob started with a salad. For mains, I had a sort of pork pot pie, and Rob had beef tenderloin. Another action packed day -- time to turn in!