1Lima, Peru
28th October 2007
Las Brisas
My visit to Peru has been much shorter than I'd have liked. In the epic journey I’ve planned for so long, I was going to spend four times as long here, and I actually considered transplanting myself to Peru for a year or two. Edgard’s family had a treat planned for me in what was effectively my last real experience here as a tourist, and it has perhaps lingered with me longer than many of the others I have accumulated.
0Lima, Peru
26th October 2007
The last leg
We had most of the day to take a last look around Arequipa. Since we left Lima a couple of weeks ago it was the first opportunity we’ve had to really stop and take in our surroundings. We’d already visited the must see destinations of the city, yet felt that so far we’d still only got a taste of the place. I’ve already resolved to return here again for further exploration, as well as a visit to the summit of El Misti.
0Chivay, Peru
25th October 2007
Cruz del Condor
Beyond Cruz del Condor, the Colca River sinks to a depth twice that of the Colorado in the Grand Canyon, though here in Chivay, the walls are less steep and imposing. When I first read about this canyon, I imagined the Grand Canyon but twice as deep, and I imagined condors like those described in the Biggles book that first drew my attention to this continent. Neither of these imagined states turned out to be true.
0Arequipa, Peru
24th October 2007
Praying to the Pachamama
The first I heard about the Andean Condor was in the book that first fired my imagination about this continent: Biggles and the Cruise of the Condor. For some reason I’d always envisaged condors as being more like an eagle. Perhaps it was reading about the grace with which they moved. On discovering condors are actually a member of the vulture family, I became a little less interested in them. Nonetheless, my interest in the geology of this particular area had me enthusiastic enough to marvel at the depths of Colca Canyon, and if I got to see some condors, well, that would be fine too.
0Arequipa, Peru
22nd October 2007
The White City
Arequipa is one of the wealthier regions of Peru. Wealthy enough, in fact, for separatist elements to occasionally call for autonomy. Aside from Trujillo, Arequipa is the only other place in Peru I’ve seen to date with areas still displaying concentrated examples of colonial architecture that remind me of Spain. I’m sure they exist in Lima, but I only got to the historic centre of that city at nighttime. I can see why the Arequipeños are so proud of their city. The setting is grand, and the white-ash sillar that forms many of their buildings gives it a perpetually clean appearance under the brilliant sunlight. No wonder then, that it’s called the white city.
0Arequipa, Peru
21st October 2007
Running the gauntlet
I’ve rarely seen a place truly shut down to the extent it feels totally abandoned but today, Cusco felt like a neutron bomb had gone off and a handful of survivors were left scattered on the streets. Today was census day in Peru, and unless people had permission to move about, they had to stay indoors. Foreigners could travel around it seemed, but the locals seemed to be restricted from moving even between neighbourhoods of their home city.
0Cusco, Peru
20th October 2007
Pinnacle
It rained overnight. Heavily. The stickiness that lingered well into the evening had dissipated by this morning, and with it, my fever. I didn’t feel tip-top, but I was definitely feeling better. I am inclined to say that most of the credit for this went to the antibiotics I started taking yesterday; yet I am willing to apportion some credit to the burning desire to see Machu Picchu before returning to Cusco this afternoon, and to the sound of my family’s voices from half a world away the night before.
0Machu Picchu, Peru
19th October 2007
A pivotal moment
When Europeans invaded the Americas, one of the critical factors in their victory was the devastating impact European diseases like smallpox had on the indigenous populations, perhaps killing up to 95% of the population. Oddly enough, when Europeans (or people of European decent) visit these parts of the Americas now, their bodies are ravaged by illnesses you’d think they were resistant to (though admittedly, gastro and its variants can get you anywhere).
0Ollantaytambo, Peru
18th October 2007
Walking in the Valley
As a child, I went through a period when at the prospect of having a school friend coming to visit, I would get so excited I would become ill with a migraine, and the visit would be cancelled. It was over a relatively short period when this occurred, perhaps a year, before I grew out of it and was able to safely invite friends to stay without fear of waking dehydrated and disoriented on the morning of their arrival. I’ve been fascinated with the Inca since I was given a copy of Biggles and the Cruise of the Condor for my 8th birthday, and now, I was finally going to be visiting the most famous icon of their civilisation. But I almost didn’t get there.
0Cusco, Peru
17th October 2007
The Sacred Valley
As much as I loved the Cordillera Blanca, the main attraction for me was always going to be the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu in particular. Each day was another step toward that pinnacle, and today was to be something of a preview of the days to come in more ways than I’d imagined. We were going on a day tour to visit Pisaq and Ollantaytambo as the key attractions in the Sacred Valley.