Peru!

Here we go at last... Our pictures and stories from Peru. After negotiating various inept staff and draconian American customs (take off shoes, belt, coats, sweaters left sock etc.) our baggage was safely on its way to nowhere. More on that later. We left Vancouver at 7:30AM on Friday morning on a flight to Los Angeles. Our flight was pretty boring: no food, no movie & no comfort.
Three hours later we arrived in L.A. and got a glimpse of the famous "Hollywood" sign, which was kind of funny so we snapped off a picture. You might have to zoom in. Then we hoped on a bus that circles LAX to get to another terminal and the the Lan Peru check-in. There we were greeted with an enormous line-up and some more inept staff. We stood there for a an hour or so. After finally checking in, we went through American customs again (see above) and onto our Peruvian flight. Lan Peru is pretty posh, nice seats, personal entertainment console, good food. Eight and a half hours later, we arrived in Peru at midnight - local time. There we were informed that our luggage was lost. Undaunted, we walk to the Star Peru check-in line and waited 5 or so hours for our next flight to Cuzco. After much more waiting, we eventually arrived there around 6AM. Without our luggage we made good time to a decrepit back-alley bus station where we purchased two seats on a run-down bus for Pisaq, our first destination.
The Pisaq market, our final destination after over 24 hours of travel. We were doing pretty well all things considered. Pisaq is a nice little town of 2000 northwest of Cuzco. There are some Inca ruins in the mountains above town and an amazing market on Sundays.
We secured a little hotel room before hitching a cab to the ruins. Although the Spanish ruined them in many ways, the site remains pretty impressive with lots to see and nice views all around.
Without the wheel or beasts of burden, the Inca pulled off some pretty neat stuff. Because we were without luggage, we bought the bag you can see Sarah carrying in the market in town.
The joints between the rocks were really well done, and I liked the lichen, so I took a picture.
Because the terrain is so mountainous, terracing was common to allow for better crops. You can see them and some ruins in this picture. The Urubamba River in the background flows down the entire Sacred Valley past Machu Picchu and into the Amazon Basin.
We stopped for a lunch of dry wafers and bad cookies here. Just as a note, this site is well over 3000m, so we spent most of our first few days completely winded whenever we had to walk up the smallest inclines.
This is in the market. Peruvians retain a strong sense of culture and traditional dress remains popular, especially with the women. These are all hand woven belts.
I wanted to take pictures of people, but they always asked for tips, so we have a number of shots like this one. This is on the edge of town.
A street in Pisaq. The town is pretty well maintained with nice well lit streets. On market days this whole area was full of people.
The Sunday market. In addition to the best woolen and alpaca goods we saw in Peru, there was a local food market where meat, fruit and veggies were available. We bought some and we both feel confident saying the peaches, plums, mangoes of a third world country are leaps and bounds better than the rock hard crap they sell in Canada. I also like the wrinkled old people. Lots of character.
The market. It smelled so good here. I would have liked cooking with some of the produce. We didn't get the chance to try a lot of the wierd stuff they had. Though a "cucumber melon" was delicious.
A neat looking old lady. She didn't even charge me for the shot. See the rugs/ponchos in the background? We'd have one if United hadn't lost our luggage.
A typical market stall. There was some real neat stuff here. We walked around a bunch of times asking questions about the stuff we saw. There were bone flutes, wooden locks (really neat), metal trinkets, fossils, countless sweaters/blankets/rugs, neat silver jewelry (Sarah got earrings) and other stuff. We'd go back. To Pisaq and other towns in the Sacred Valley. (This is Sarah in green - that carpet, second in from the right or even the one at the top right were exactly what we spent the rest of our trip looking for. The bottomline - if you see something you LOVE buy it - despite what Lonely Planet may have to say about your country, you will almost certainly not find similar good everywhere.)
We arrive back in Cuzco. Cuzco is a large town, but there isn't much to see there for people like Sarah and I. Still, we had a good time there. This is the Plaza de Armas. Most Spanish colonial towns seem to have one. There were two cathedrals here, though we only visited the one pictured. It's a lot more modest than Old World cathedrals, but there was a very large painting of the Last Supper where Jesus is seated in front of a roasted guinea-pig, a traditional Peruvian dish. I would have taken a picture, but it wasn't allowed. You can Google it though. And no, we did not get a chance to eat guinea pig :(
The Plaza de Armas at night. We felt safe walking around on the well lit streets.
Our hotel in Cuzco. Most of the rooms were facing this central courtyard, where we had our breakfast. It is actually cheaper to stay in a hotel like this than it is to rent in Vancouver - $17 a night with private bath.
Three days after arriving and after having yelled at various airline employees, we finally got our luggage. This isn't a traditional Peruvian meal, but we wanted to show you what $7 could buy: two soups, two entrées, garlic bread, two drinks and a traditional Pisco sour. Traditional food that we could afford was pretty uniform. Lots of types of creamy soups that were pretty good, a large plate with a huge heap of rice, a few fries (no seasoning on either - if you go to Peru, take salt) and an anemic piece of meat, usually beef, chicken or alpaca. Alpaca isn't bad, it tastes like a cross between deer and beef. Also available was coca tea, either in a bag or loose leaf - take that U.S. FDA. On that note, coca is hugely popular in rural Peru. It wasn't unusual to see older people chewing on leaves or with leaves on their faces to help cure various blemishes. It's pretty much considered a cure-all. We know for a fact that it works as a mild pain killer (it is used to make cocaine, after all), but it's also claimed to help digestion (actually, it stops digestion) and altitude sickness. I usually had some with breakfast. When bagged it tastes like a generic tea, and loose leaf tasted a bit fishy - literally. Peruvians do take their coca seriously, efforts by developed countries to erradicate the crops are very poorly received. A popular tee-shirt for sale proudly claims that coca leaves are not a drug. While that's not strictly true (as is the case with caffeine), I'm inclined to agree that the traditional use of coca leaves is harmless and important to many aspects of Peruvian culture. Most people live in poverty (54%) and have to do back-breaking labour to survive. Chewing on a few leaves is no different from taking an aspirin a day. In my opinion, anyways. Anyhow, the interesting thing is that you can find the leaves openly in markets next to other fruit and veggies. Those same veggies you see in the market are not served in restaurants in Peru. In face, going by the places that we ate, Peruvians seem to only eat canned products. The soups all tasted artificial and the calzone I had (which still makes me gag to think about it) was filled with what was almost certainly a mix of canned veggies. Ick. We figure they must think that's what the tourists are looking for. I don't think we really got to eat traditional Peruvian food (with the exception of on Isla Taquile (more to come)) and alpaca.
This is us at the Saqsaywaman (or Sexy Woman, as we called it) site above Cuzco. Although this site is pretty big, most of the structures were taken down to build homes and churches in Cuzco. We're both wearing our Peruvian tee-shirts here (which we had to buy because of lost luggage).
At most sites there were people posing with their llamas. For a bit of money we took some pictures. These women have quite a racket, all they have to do is sit there weaving (for tourists) and get easy hand-outs. Still, it was worth it.
This was one of the highlights of the trip for me. These women were so friggin' cute! I sat down and that one put her hat on my head! It was just plain great.
Llamas were everywhere. We liked this guy's do. There is no cooler animal than the llama and this guy was my fav.
The trip to Machu Picchu is absurdly expensive. First you have to take a government owned train to Agua Calientes, a gaudy tourist town. Then you have to buy a governement issue ticket to visit the site, then take a government issue bus for a half hour trip up to Machu Picchu where you have to pay a government employee to watch your bag and to use the bathroom (it's common to pay for a bathroom, but they charge twice as much here). Then, if you aren't smart enough to smuggle food in (which is actually not allowed - you cannot take outside food into the site. Remi and I had to sneak a mango!), you have to go to the expensive restaurant on site. All in all, for Sarah and I it cost roughly $300 for a one day trip. Naturally, not a penny went to an average Peruvian. As you would expect, Peruvians are upset. Strikes are normal, and on the day of our trip, protestors dropped some rocks on the train tracks and we had to take a bus to Ollantaytambo, then a train to Agua Calientes. The upshot is that we got to see lots of amazing scenery on the way. That last shot is from the bus. We were driving through checkered farmland surrounded by enormous mountains. I spent the entire trip with my nose glued to the window. Interestingly, most tourists on the bus were sleeping. If Machu Picchu is worth their attention, the Peruvian coutryside is not. I can't imagine why anyone would travel so far to sleep through something so amazing. Jerks.
This is the train to Agua Calientes.
Part of the fee to see Machu Picchu goes to the significant police and army personel. Though they are very polite, they sometimes seemed a little lax about their position.
One of the houses at Machu Picchu. Unlike most other sites, this one was only rediscovered recently, so most of the buildings are largely intact.
The site is huge. Buildings are everywhere, and if you were so inclined, it would be possible to wander all day and never see the same thing twice.
Of course it rained, but only on and off, so it wasn't so bad.
Sarah liked her llamas. These ones were tame, so we could get really close. The groundskeeper told us they wouldn't kick, but I'm not so sure about that...
Posing in front of some terracing at the site.
Speaks for itself.
More llamas.
There was a rainbow over the Urubamba river. Pretty neat. That's the upside to rain.
The whole site. It's hard to convey the actual size of the ruins, but you can take our word for it, they're very big. That mountain in the clouds on the right goes up to Wainu Picchu, another segment of the ruins. We didn't have the energy, time or money (yes, it costs more) to see them, but I hear the view from there is incredible.
From the Inca Bridge area.
The next day we left for Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca. This is a shot from the window of the bus. We drove through a high plateau for about 6 hours. The view was incredible the whole way. Lots of farms, villages, llamas, sheep and other creatures. The people looked pretty poor though. Just for completion I think it should me mentioned that the bus company was fabulous and offered a movie (and probably would have offered two) during the six hour trip. I say they probably would have offered two, but the behaviour of a French woman on the bus likely put a halt to that. Apparently she didn't want to watch the movie, it was too loud (although Remi and I had to wear earphones to hear it) and that's not how they do things in Chile. Needless to say, she wasn't very warmly received. She then proceeded to attack and try to claw the speaker out of the ceiling. It was amazing really - her family just sat by while she freaked out. Remi finally told her off en Francais ;)
The high plateau. This is at over 4000m. In Canada this would be a barren wasteland, with a few stunted trees, lichens and mosses. Here they had some modest crops.
In Puno we bought Sarah some alpaca gloves and a hat from this woman. She was very nice to us and had good quality stuff at a good price. I'm glad I didn't bargain with her, because we later saw her sleeping on the street under a tarp - and it gets cold up there.
This is near the Uros Islands, in Lake Titicaca. These are the Isla Flotantes, the floating islands. They are made of reeds and literally float on top of the water. We got to see inside some of the huts, and it seems that people here live in relative comfort. We're pretty sure that it remains damp most of the time. People here make their money through selling junk to tourists and by fishing trout and other fish from the lake. It was so spongy to walk on and I thought we were going to go right through! I can't imagine living on a fake island. They had a demo on how they made it, but Remi didn't post that picture.
On the boat towards Isla Taquile.
Finally arrived.
Sarah liked the look of this character, but it cost me good money for the picture. This guy actually looked at the change Remi offered and then asked for more!!
Isla Taquile is a little island lost in time. The people are happy to be separate from the rest of Peru and retain a traditional lifestyle. Farming is the primary source of food/income, though their traditional and intricate weaving brings in some money as well. The island was very quiet and I enjoyed some much needed peace and quiet after the bulk of the tourists finally took off with the group. I'm pretty sure that we were the only tourists on the island that night.
Sarah on the top of the island - 4050m. She started getting mild altitude sickness here. The problem was then compounded by something she ate in the restaurant. I won't paint a full picture, but suffice it to say that a very basic outhouse did not quite meet her needs that night. Or the next day. Or the day after that. I was so sick!! It basically ruined the last few days of the trip. Thankfully Puno was pretty boring so it was ok for me to curled up in agony in our hotel room for an entire day.
We had both dinner and breakfast (actually I didn't have breakfast because I was horribly ill) with the family. They live in simple one or two bedroom homes with their children and family (brother/mother). They served me simple pancakes with jam and coca tea in the morning.
It was absolutely beautiful in the morning, but Sarah was in no condition to wander. I walked around a bit on my own and snapped some pictures before we left for the dock to get the early boat back to Puno.
The path down to the boats was pretty long, but nice. The views over the lake are worth it. On the way down we were almost run over by a cow, but it was still pretty cool.
On the way back to Puno. Those are the reeds used for the isla flotantes. We spent another day and a bit in Puno, where there was little more to do than explore the markets and look at the people. The shops sold mostly generic stuff, but the local food market was interesting to watch. All kinds of weird stuff for sale, good produce, rotten fish (not on purpose), lots of meat, lots of people wondering what exactly I was doing there. Sarah was confined to her bed a lot, so I had to enjoy the Peruvian experience on my own. After that, off to Juliaca to visit a market that doesn't exist (thanks, Lonely Planet), then we sat in the boring airport for 5 hours to repeat the process to get us back home. All in all, quite the trip. No complaints!

I did learn that I am susceptible to altitude sickness. I was horribly ill (and it wasn't from the food alone) on the day we left from Juliaca (which is a real dump, to be honest - we don't recommend visiting it). Next time I'll take the altitude sickness drugs the whole time at elevation. I never fully adjusted. But as Remi said, it was great. Looks like you get to see the llama video again. The second one was from our cab ride back from Ollantaytambo to Cusco after Machu Picchu. It was the only time I felt unsafe the entire time we were in Peru. The guy topped out at 150 km/hr and took hairpin turns on mountain roads (no guardrails) at 80 km/hr. He got us from Ollantaytambo to Cusco in 1h20min. It took 2.5 hours on the bus.

Anyway, we love Peru! We've got the travel bug now, so we'll have to save our pennies so we can backpack around more often. OH! And on the Maggie note, we boarded her in a kennel while we were away and she was fabulous! We asked them not to let her in with other dogs or come into contact with them at all, due to her recent bad attitude and beating up episodes, but they thought she was so sweet and friendly that they tried anyway. And she played the whole time! They were actually able to put her in to play with a buddy every day. If only she'd do that in park!