Miraflores, Peru. On the way home

I left Cuzco the next day, catching a flight to Lima.  My plans had been kinda side-tracked.  Lima is the capital of Peru and where I would fly out of, back to Miami and eventually home.   I really wanted a night to take a long hot bath, a good glass of wine and a long sleep before catching my flight home at midnight. But I had been warned many, many times not to stay in Lima overnight.   The travel agencies, the cab companies, even the tour companies all stated that I would be mugged, as an American woman, traveling alone, if I stayed in Lima.  I listened to the warnings and found the Renaissance Hotel in Miraflores, 30 miles outside of Lima.  A cab took me to Miraflores without incident and I spent the evening and most of the next day exploring a very beautiful city and the wonderful people calling it home.

During my one day there I wandered the beaches, stopping for lunch at a wonderful restaurant halfway out on a boardwalk while I watched the surfers waiting for the perfect wave.

The beach was accessible via a huge wooden and stone staircase down the cliff where the city was perched.  I would have loved to have had a bathing suit and a beach towel to enjoy the sun and surf.  Unfortunately, I was packed and I didn't want to deal with wet clothing, sunburns and sand.

The parks along the highway were full of artwork and flowers.

The sidewalks were wide and clean to walk on.

 Their Virgin Mary watches over all the gardens and tourists enjoying the area.

I left Miraflores late in the afternoon to Lima, then flew home to Miami and Charlotte.  It had been quite the adventure and while I'd love to do it again it was probably a once in a lifetime trip.

Peru - last day in Cuzco, Part 2

 Our next stop was a group of lesser known or visited sites right outside of Cuzco.  Ancient developments of walls and terraced gardens are scattered throughout the Cuzco area, showing the amount of agricultural development that supported several different civilizations, pre-Inca and after the Spaniards arrived. Areas known as Puca Pucara, Cusilluchayoc, Qenqo, and Sacsayhuma'n, contained the remains of temples, terraced gardens, and fortified walls, with the remains of ancient reservoirs.  The majority of these sites do not generate the interest that Machu Pichu does. 

An overlook of what was once huge terraced gardens.

 A lot of the terraces are still in use today and when you stop at various overlooks you can see the crops that are being planted or harvested.

Sometimes all that is left is a wall and an idea what was there.

Places along the road that once contained homes, a village or maybe a farm are everywhere.  It's hard to imagine that during the time of the Inca the Andres mountains were home to thousands of people, living and farming in very thin air and creating a culture that leaves modern man puzzled on how they did that.

The new inhabitants of Cuzco have placed their own memorials to the ancient sites.  The population now are mostly Catholic.











Cusilluchayoc  is the remains of a temple complex dedicated to the sun.  There are lots of theories around the complex but what I found fascinating was the underground formations.  The rocks and tunnels that borrow underneath the soil actually make the temperatures cool enough that it could be used for refrigeration of meats.

There are areas underground that may have been used as sacrificial sites; others as food storage, such as meat from successful hunts. 

During the winter months the rock formations can actually make ice in one of the streams or food placed within these areas can freeze.

Part of the theory is that the tunnels are laid out in such a manner that air rushing from above is cooled on the cold rocks.  The cycle continues until the rocks are actually refrigeration sources.

Going from outside in the 70s to the near 40s underground was a chilling experience in a tee shirt.












Sacsayhuma'n is another site that have more mysteries than knowledge associated with it.  The stones that make up what is assumed to be a fortress are placed together without any mortar and even a piece of paper cannot be slipped between them. 

Archaeologists don't have any explanation about the site.





Depending on who you ask or what you believe these stones were placed at this site over 1000 years ago, before the Inca, OR they were molded in place, each stone molded to fit where it needed to be.  These stones are granite, show signs of being exposed to extreme temperatures and there aren't any tools in the vicinity or a quarry nearby where the stones could have come from.

One thing is known for sure, human civilization at this moment cannot duplicate it.

Leaving Sacsayhuma'n we headed away from Cuzco and into the mountains.  Maria had a site in mind that was off the beaten track by miles.  We turned off the pavement and started up a gravel road barely wide enough for one vehicle.  The SUV growled up the mountain, higher than Cuzco until we reached Tipon.  (From Wikipedia: The Tipon complex is located near Oropesa in the Community of Choquepeda, 27 km southeast of Cusco and along the Cusco-Puno road. It contains enclosures, terraces and an intact canal. The upper complex is crossed by the Inca Trail with an irrigation canal.)

Because of the road tour buses do not make this trip and while it's considered a 'must-see' by tourist agencies the site is quiet and serene without a crowd of people trying to climb from the tiny parking lot to the ruins.

The Tipon hydro site

Tipon was built to bring water to a village during the time of the Incas and it still works today.  It is a series of terraces that hold water that trickles from various springs in the mountains.  The terraces have been used for hundreds of years to hold water, purify water and create a home for various plants and flowers that need micro-climates for survival.

The site is beautiful, green, full of birds, wildflowers, etc.  The water trickles down to a series of waterfalls that are are still flowing to a larger stream that continues down the mountain.  Several years ago the village at the base of the mountain ran a new pipe into the stream to provide water to the community without being dependent on 800 year old technology.

 
There are signs stating 'no trash' and ropes across some of the pools to keep people out of the water.  While all of the area is open to the public it is mostly deserted except for locals and people hiking up the mountains to observe the immense size of the site.

I settled down under a rock wall and closed my eyes, just adsorbing the silence here.   It is a wonderful place.

The people of this area are very proud of this site and protect the peacefulness of the mountain.  No tshirt shops, no hawking vendors, no fast food places.  Just the mountain, the terraces and the water.

Our last stop of the day was a pre-Inca site that is believed to belong to the Wari Empire. This area, known as Pikillaquta is a massive pile of mud walls, rock foundations and pits.  Descendents of the Wari were incorporated into the Inca civilization, then disappeared.

Work continues on the site, with the information on the culture very sketchy.

Peru - last day in Cuzco, Part 1

  Since I'd been at this little hotel for almost a week the staff preparing breakfast had figured out 1)coffee, not tea.  2)Make a small pot (strong) then cut it with hot water to ease their trend to make it strong enough for a spoon to stand up.  3) 2 raw sugars.  4) that I would drink about the whole pot if I had time, but would take a travel mug with me for the rest of it.  5)I don't like yak milk. Yak milk is pink!  6) Breakfast for me was fruit, yogurt and cereal.  No cooking required.

 My last full day in Cuzco started at my hotel where my new tour guide arrived at 8 a.m.  Maria is a native of Cuzco, speaks English, Spanish, and Quecha fluently.  I was really surprised to find that my day was just the 2 of us and a driver.  It was a beautiful sunny day when we departed the hotel ready for another adventure.

 Cuzco was the ancient capital of Peru and dates back to Incan times.  I had walked a bit of the old city (where my hotel was) but having Maria with me for the day was great.  She knew the history, the legends, the new city, and all the places I asked about.








The old town square dominates ancient Cuzco and this is where the best examples of Inca construction is to be found, except for the ruins in Machu Picchu.  The forts and churches there were built on top of the Inca stonework and today is a major attraction.











 From the city square 7 different churches can be seen, representing multiple religions.  While Catholic seems to be the most prominent, a multitude of  others are there.

The churches are open to the public at certain times, but not the day I was there.  






The fort built over the Inca ruins dates back to the days of the Spanish conquerors.  The conquerors couldn't believe what they found when they invaded and the construction was so massive they couldn't see any reason to destroy it and rebuild.  Plus the blocks of stones were so massive the invaders didn't know how to move or destroy it.

So they incorporated the Inca buildings into their own.

The forts were turned into the administrative center of Cuzco then into the center of the tourist industry. 

The lego type construction used by t he Inca.

As the conquerors tried to build in and around the Inca stonework attempts to dismantle it revealed how the stonework was put together.

Like Lego building blocks, everything fit together with stone pegs and holes.  The next generations moving into the area left it alone and just built on top of it.  Even a large earthquake that hit in the 20th century didn't budge what had been built in ancient times. 

The connections have the appearance of being precised machined.  I'm sorry, a human hand with a copper chisel and no math did not do this.

In one of the fortifications this gold sheet tells of the people and their lives.

Sitting on a perfect rock wall looking over modern Cuzco.

The modern city of Cuzco sprawls into the distance.  Compared to the elegance of Inca construction it looks clumsy and disorganized.

Mid-day and I was hungry.  I asked Maria for a local restaurant after she rattled off several 'American' selections.  She led me through a shopping area in the old town, then down, down, and down again until she opened the door to this tiny little eatery buried almost 4 floors under the city streets.  The menu was on a chalkboard with today's selection. There was a tiny bar in one corner.  It was bustling with business people and students. 

Today's choices included spaghetti, pumpkin soup and a fish dish.  I had the pumpkin soup and fish.  Pumpkin soup is served cold!  Maria had never heard of pumpkin pie. The meal came with lemonade and water.  It wasn't bad and inexpensive.  According to Maria it was a family business passed through the generations.  The menu gets put up every day and everything that is served as much as possible was local grown or caught.  At night the bar is opened and it was a local favorite.

Our driver dropped us there and returned an hour later for our next adventure.

Machu Picchu, Part 2

Climbing down the ruins was just as much as an adventure as climbing up the ruins.  My legs were beginning to tell me off for torturing them on all these stone stairs at an altitude of 10,000 feet.  Plus it started to rain.  I got lucky.  I ended up falling in with a small group who were perfectly willing to help me down all those wet, slick stone stairs.  When we finally got down to the tourist center I promised them a beer.  At the base of Machu Picchu I took the opportunity to have my passport stamped for the site and then climbed on a bus for a ride down the rest of the mountains.

I was wet, tired, in pain, and happy, happy, happy that I had accomplished something I had wanted to do most of my adult life.

My new found friends who made getting down the mountain possible.

My plans for the rest of the time I had in Machu Picchu included exploring the community at the base of the mountain.  By the time I got back to my hotel evening was almost there and all I wanted was dinner, some aspirin, and a soak in a hot bath.  Exploring could wait until morning.

The next morning I had breakfast at the hotel and then went in search of an adventure.  Number 1 on the list was to find a decent cup of coffee.  I am not a tea drinker, no matter how many flavors are being offered.  Luckily there was a tiny shop just down the sidewalk from the hotel offering a coffee deprived American a wonderful cappuccino.

 

Coffee!  A great cappuccino is a great way to start my morning. 

Beautiful buildings and courtyards.

Coffee and breakfast taken care of, it was time to explore the area.  Across the railroad tracks from my hotel are beautiful old buildings and courtyards with lovely flowers and blooming trees. 

The railroad is the only way in and out of Machu Picchu.

The railroad through the middle of the village.

The village is very small and completely dependent on tourist traffic.  It's safe and clean to walk with lots of wide walkways interspaced with small shops.  If you're interested in shopping, it's an easy thing to do.






Of course when a train cuts through the middle of a village there is no way to escape the noise of the approaching train.  Everyone takes the train in stride, crossing the tracks at various marked locations and waving at it as it approaches with tourists, supplies and mail.

Machu Picchu uses water for power and a large river roars down the mountain along the road.  It looks very intimidating but I kept looking for suicidal kayakers trying their luck.

We use the term 'making mountains out of mole hills'.  Peru doesn't use machinery to accomplish a lot of jobs... like making gravel.  As I walked the road to the local museum and botanical gardens I came across a group of workers, making gravel.  Using sledges, large hammers, picks and shovels, these young men broke large granite boulders into smaller and smaller rocks, until the finished product was gravel.

  

I think a lot of young people would be shocked at what is considered a good job in Peru. The unemployment rate is almost zero, because of jobs like this, making little rocks out of big ones.

The road ends at a local museum and botanical gardens.  It's a nice destination for a morning walk and not so far that my sore legs decided they weren't going to work any more.  The museum had just opened and I was the only guest, in front of all the tour buses.  The museum officials didn't speak any English but it really wasn't necessary.  All of the displays contained panels in several languages explaining the ancient history.

 The museum contains a detailed history of how the ruins on the mountains were built hundreds of years ago, along with painted murals of the Inca building the temples, tools and implements recovered from archaeological  explorations with explanations on how they were used.  I'm sorry, using stone tools to polish huge blocks and copper implements to split the stones doesn't work for me.

The outer grounds around the museum contained a wonderful botanical garden.  I wandered down the path of the garden by myself, smelling flowers and reading signs in Latin and Spanish.  I crossed paths with the gardener and he motioned for me to follow him.  I spent the next couple hours sampling fruits and nuts from the local plants that the gardener handed me.  We couldn't understand each other at all in words, but he kept pulling off a piece of fruit, peeling it and handing it to me while he did the same, or shelling a couple nuts to try.  He pulled down large leaves to show orchids growing in a a crevice in a tree, or a bird's nest in a branch.  

 When we finished the path and came back into the parking lot the first tour bus was pulling up and my private tour was over.  I shook the gardener's hand told him 'thank you' several different times.

I left a large donation for the garden at the museum.

My return trip to the village took me down a gravel path and under a sign that said Butterfly House.  I found a small fenced enclosure and a young native man trying to safeguard and grow a population of endangered butterflies. He had a group of panels hung around the enclosure, in English and Spanish telling about this particular butterfly and how it was almost gone.

Do you see the butterfly?  Look for the eye.

He didn't speak any English but he took me around the enclosure, pointing out eggs under a leaf, cocoons under another.  He showed me the flowers that this species of butterfly used as a food source.  These plants were also endangered.  I don't speak Spanish but we communicated very well.  He told me he had 45 butterflies in this tiny enclosure and with great pride pointed out the one that was perched on a tree right beside of me.  I would have never seen it. When I left the enclosure I left what cash I had left.  He was a one man environmental movement, making a difference one butterfly at a time.  I felt so much pride at seeing his efforts.

My walk back to the village was a lot slower than the walk to the museum.  Lunch found me at a street cafe with a hamburger. I had been trying to eat local dishes the whole time I was in Peru but I finally gave in to the need for a huge hunk of meat.  All I can say is that they make a burger!  Big enough for three people.

While I was enjoying my burger and a glass of wine a local group sat up and played music for everyone sitting around the street cafe.











The group played all sorts of local melody with pipes and drums.  Needless to say I bought their CD and I still enjoy it.


Because the railroad cuts through the middle of the town, freight and supplies are moved from the railroad station without any mechanical assistance.

While I enjoyed my burger, glass of wine and music, a group of young men, the majority wearing blue vests or other uniform shirts pushed wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of supplies up the hill to the stores and hotels.

Anybody need a job?  I guess I'm still amazed that manual labor is the preferred method for getting a job done.

After lunch it was time to retrieve my luggage from my hotel and head for the train station and my ride home to the hotel in Cuzco.