Peru 2015: Valle de Sur de Cusco (14 December 2016)

     I would have left Cusco if I was not still hopelessly waiting to meet my friend that I have missed dearly. The nice part about Cusco is, there is always something to do, whether it is sightseeing, culinary, cultural, and many others.

     I consulted a tour to see the areas south of Cusco (Valle Sur). That includes Tipón, Pikillacta, and the church in a town called Andahuaylillas.

Tipón, it was actually much more larger than this

    Tipón is old Incan ruin that is situated 3400 meter above the sea level (more details here). It was about 40 minute bus ride from Central Cusco. According to the tourist guide, Tipón is a terrace farm with a developed water irrigation. It showcased how advance the Incans were in terms of architecture and masonry.

      The next stop was Pikillacta, a city built by the Wari Culture in the 500 AD. It was literally translated into 'Flea People' in Quechua. Right before stopping the ruin, we had a bonus trip with an an opportunity to see the models of two set of the fossil remains of old animals that once lived around the Sacred Valley. That skeleton of the armadillo was the largest I have ever seen and I was so amazed by the the natural history of this Andean highland.

Some kind of a dinosaur

A giant Armadillo?

  Here is a Wikipedia introduction of Pikillacta. There was a lot of mysteries around the site and many archaeologists were still trying to solve the mystery. I can only give the very basic introduction of the site so I urge you to visit there if anyone has an interest in history and can afford to travel. The wall were miles long and we only had enough time to see a very small portion of it. We walked through a few rooms and we hopped back onto the bus to get to Andahuaylillas.

Pikillacta, a walled city built by the people from the Wari culture

     Andahuaylillas is located 45 km from Cusco, and its population is mainly made up of indigenous people known as a Quechua (if you do not already know it by this point) who are the descendants of the Incan people. There is an 'Iglesias de Andahuaylillas', one of the most lavish and detailed chapels in Latin America (A visit of it costs S/.10, which is almost like $3 in the US). While nothing looked too interesting on the exterior, the interior is simply astounding and unfortunately, no photography was allowed inside so I hyperlinked a picture of a sample of it below.

There is nothing fancy about the façade about the exterior of this chapel

The interior is golden color with a flavour of Incan culture

     We were also introduced a craft shop with amazing handcrafts (sorry no picture again and we were offered a fermented corn drink called chicha). I was later told that only the Incan royalty was allowed to drink chicha but it could a way to flatter the not-so-history-savvy tourists. We also stopped at a very well known bakery along the road and sampled some buns. I later bought some loaf of bread as a form of quick snack. After we had the quick drink, we saw some exhibits, including the storytelling of skull surgery and an more than twenty varieties of maize. It makes me mad that companies such as Monsanto wanted to reduce the varieties of these corn that human spent millenia to cross breed.

A shot of chicha drink for everyone

Different varieties of corns found in Peru

     I was also delighted I made some friends in this trip. There are all from Southern California and they were siblings and couple. They were Katya, Cristian, and Rudy. They were not the typical 'dumb American' tourists and we had some good conversations about various topics. After the long trip, we were dropped at Plaza de Armas.

Peru 2015: Cusco/Puerto Maldanado (Part I) (12, 13 December 2016)

arroz con venduras y huevo

     I got up at 6AM, and we decided to get some breakfast in San Pedro Market. We ordered the same thing (arroz con venduras y heuvos) and we bought some flowers and brought it back to House Namaste.

Plaza San Francisco

     I was invited to go to Vamsi's home to hang out after we went for grocery shopping at San Pedro Market. He lives on the hill not too far from the northwest side of Plaza de Armas with a woman from Argentina and her daughter. I first thought Vamsi is the father and later found out that he just hangs out with them. Anyway, he made some curry for us and there were fucking delicious. I almost wanted to take siesta and I made it to Plaza de Armas at 3:50.

The dinner in the bus from Cusco to Puerto Maldanado

     My bus to Puerto Maldonado departed at 9:30 and I found a juice place to go on the Internet around 8PM. I went on TESPA bus and I was awaiting messages by my friend. :-( I slept until the following day and I thought it would be an interesting jungle tour. A dinner was provided by TESPA bus company, but it's nothing exciting about it.

     It took the bus 9 hours for the to drive the windy road form the Andes to the flatland in the Amazon Jungle. Puerto Maldonado is located in the Madre de Dios part of the Amazon Rain Forest and a lot of development was done by the Japanese Peruvians during the first half of the 20th century.

The beautiful Lake Sandoval

     The bus arrived at about 6, and we were picked up by the tourist agency at 8. They said the port to the Amazon does not open until 8 anyway so we had to wait. It took us about 45 minute motorboat ride from the port to the dock close to Lake Sandoval. Omar, our tourist guide, picked us up and we started our venture from the river. We walked for three kilometers through the muddy path and we sailed through the lake to my jungle lodge in Tampobata National Reserve.

Ancient Hoatzin birds

     One of the first things I have noticed in the amazon is it was unbearably humid and hot. I was sweating as soon as I walked through the muddy path. Residents tend to get up 4 o'clock, work until 10, and take break until 3, and worked again. The best time to observe animals are also in early morning and evening, when the temperature was not too hot. The food there was absolutely delicious and I have to admit that I had the best meals there in my entire trip in Peru.

heron of unknown species

     The tour I joined was an Ecotour, which means tourism is strictly controlled in protected areas with a well-trained tourist guide in small groups.

     Needless to say, the accomendation was very 'primitive' by western standards (hey, we are expericing in a jungle, not trying to live in luxury!), but there are basically stuff like showers and mosquitos net.

     I could feel that I was sweating constantly due to the humidity. The first activity did not start until 4 in the afternoon when the temperature started to cool down, and animals started to reappear from their naps. Omar took us out to the lake and we some cool animals for a few hours. He was very knowledgeable and he explained a bit of how the Peruvian government was not doing a good enough job to protect the pristine rain forest. We had a dinner afterwards and we were assigned to sit with the tourist guide and so we had some random conversations about lives in Peru.

The lodge

The best fried rice I had in Peru

      The following morning I got up at 3:30 and I was with another tours guide whose name I could not remember, unfortunately. This time, we walked to see a the colorful macaws who like to dwell up high on the trees. We also took saw some gorgeous butterflies as well. We had our breakfast at 7:30 and Omar took over for the last part of the jungle tour. The last part was about jungle survival. Omar took us a walk and taught us some valuable survival knowledge in jungle, including finding herbal medicine and termite turfs in the jungle.

      The tour was official over after we had our lunch, and Omar took us back to Puerto Maldonado. I hung out around the plaza for a few hours with two French tourists. The food we had in Puerto Maldonadowere very bad compared to the one we had in the jungle. We took the taxi back to the bus station. We took the TEPSA bus back to Cusco. It was another 12 hours of mountain climbing switchbacks before we reached Cusco again.

     It was the first time in the life that I stepped into a tropical jungle, and of the course the experience was amazing. The jungle was hot and humid. I started to sweat as soon as I walk. There were also mosquitos everywhere so it is a harsh place to live. However, therwas great biodiversity there and I saw many species of floras and faunas that I would not be able to observe elsewhere. 

Peru 2015: Sacred Valley/Pisaq (10, 11 December 2016)

     I stayed in a sharing community called Namaste House near San Blas Plaza. It was interesting because it is like an ultra cheap version of a hostel with travellers sharing stories with one an other. Also, vegetarians were encouraged and sometimes the hosts' friends would come over and have some interesting conversations and activities. Also, only vegetarian food was allowed to prepare. There also a dog that followed Damodhar Priya, the owner of the house, around.

     I asked my housemates in Namaste about Pisaq because it seemed to be a fairly large and interesting place on the other parts of Sacred Valley and it is easily accessible from Namaste House as well. I took a colectivo from Cusco, and it took about 45 minutes to Pisaq. I took off at about 9 in the morning, and I figured it would took almost half a day to see. The trip was not a disappointment, and in fact, I thought I had found some hidden gems.

The farm terrace

     Pisaq is a small town in the Sacred Valley, situated on the Urubamba River and it is northeast of Cusco. There is a large craft market, as well as there are ruins on the north side of the city. I was more interested into the ruin because the stuff that the markets sell are kind of generic and I had no idea which merchandise are good or not good.

The huge market

Clouds over hut

  







    The ruin is the mountain that overlooked the city from about 400 meters high. It was said that there were several cities there. There were some forts, tunnels, castle, and farm terraces on the hill. I was exhausted and there were a few showers along the way. I came across with some road workers and they shared some bread with me and we had some chats. It took me about another hour to climb to the top, and there was a few ruins that were quite scenic.

The Sacred Valley

The fort

     I spent about five hours walking on the top and I came across with different people. I took a less scenic and more quiet route downhill, and recorded some videos for my friend (for those who know me, they will know who I am talking about). I made it to the market and was a recommended to buy my lunch from a lady who harvests her only flower for her Menu of the Day. It was really yummy and the soup was excellent too. Market food are some of the better experience in dining in Peru. Usually the price is very fair and those ladies could make amazing homemade meals.

The delicious creamy rice and squash

     After that, I took another colectivo back to Cusco. I took some rest, and headed to Avenida del Sol for the coca ice cream and the traditional show at Centro Qosqo de Arte Nativo. I almost cried in tears when I heard El Condor Pasa played the 11 men orchestra.

The 11 piece orchestra at Nativo

Coca ice cream!

Peru 2015: Sacred Valley/Cusco City Tour (09 December 2016)

The residential part of Ollantaytambo

   I got up at about 7 in the morning, dressed up, had some toast and coca tea for my breakfast. I walked around the wall-town too before decided to get my bread for the breakfast. Peruvians tend to get up very early so people are already starting to work in Ollantaytambo. Ollantaytambo is a wall city next to the ruin. It is very small but has its own charm I liked the wall part, as well as its sewage system, and it is right along a river too so irrigation was easy.

     I agreed to meet the taxi driver at 8 in the morning. Kat, the owner of hostel Chaska Wasi, gave me a lecture of how to store money properly in Peru.

   When I met the taxi driver, it was a different driver and the he was a younger man from the taxi driver I met on the previous night. I do not like this kind of dishonesty, and I should have rejected his offer on the spot. One thing I should have done was that I should have taken pictures and showed him that he had to keep his words. The taxi driver could have benefited and continue to be dishonest if he is allowed to and it is not good for the tourism of Peru. We only ended up on to Moray, Salinas, Chinchero, and a demonstration of dye near Chinchero. I was fairly disappointed that the taxi driver was not passionate (probably he was bored of seeing the same things all over) and did not enter chinchero (he just wanted to get things through) and go back to Cusco.

   Anyway, I was carpooled with two American tourists (whose name I have long forgotten). We drove through the back route to Maras. It was a curvy and hilly drive up to the to of the mountain range. Maras is a small village which is about an hour of drive from Ollaytatambo and is fairly remote. I saw a few Quechua people walking along the highway and was certainly a long walk.

   Moray was an experimental farm site built by the Incan Empire and it was built in circles. It was explained that different crops were planted on different levels of the terraces and there, because there was a significant differences in terms of the climate in between those terraces. There was also an irrigation system when water can be drawn to the terraces.

Moray, the experimental terraces built by the Incans

   After that, we visited Salinas. Salinas is a community-owned salt mine in the Sacred Valley. It was still a working salt mine, and it was breathtaking in terms of its scale. I liked the way that it has a good balance between a working mine and limited tourism. It educates people of how Andean people got their salt, as well a scenic site.

Salinas, salt terraces that has been used for centuries

   The taxi driver drove us to Chinchero, which is a small town known for its dye and its half Incan and Spanish architectures. We first arrived to the dye demostration/market. We saw some amazing demonstrations of natural dyes, and of course we were led to the market, which the lady started to sell us things. They expect you to buy some souvenirs and I understand they need money, so I bought a few of the arts (later I found them very generic, so they maybe factory-made), at least they were made in Peru.

   We saw Chinchero ruins from a far, which is a huge disappointment, because I did not have a and I didn't like the taxi driver for not driving into Chinchero. He drove the most direct route back to Cusco. Once I was dropped off at Plaza del Armas in Cusco, I was approached by a lady. She persuaded me to join the last minute city tour by offering me a discount. I took it and the following places were included: Qorincancha, Q'enco, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara.

The Spanish built their own churches over the Incan again in Chinchero

These Incans are master stone masons

    Qorincancha is about 400 southeast of Plaza de Aramas. It was the religious center of the Incan Empire. After the Incan were conquered by Spain. The Spanish superimposed their own Catholic church onto the foundation of the Incan temple, probably used it as a gesture by the Spanish dominate the Incans. Interesting, the part that was built by the Spanish collapsed during an earthquake in 1950, while the the Incan foundation stood well.

    We visited Q'enko, Sacsayhuaman, Tambomachay, and Puca Pucara within 2 hours. It was such as little time for all those sites. The tour guide was very good and very enthusiastic, knowledgeable, and willing to learn new things. I was lucky to have such a tour guide.

Sacsayhuaman, a very large ruin which was just above the city center of Cusco

   

Peru 2015 - Cusco (06 & 07 Dec 2015)

   Cusco was the first city that I visited in Peru and was the city which I spent the longest time in Peru. For those of you who don't know, Cusco is located on a valley in the Andes, and is the most visited city by tourists in Peru. It was the capital of the Incan Empire, which dominated the Andes for about 150 years before the civil war and the arrival of the conquistadors from Spain. What is special about it is it does not have a visible river that flows through the old historic town so water must be irrigated from elsewhere. The old city is listed as UNESCO heritage site (the other two are the Old Town of Lima and Arequipa) because of its cobble stone roads and beautiful architecture.

   I have learned previously that the taxi drivers will overcharge tourists with the taxi to the city so I decided to walk to the city itself. It was 5:30 on 06 Dec in the morning so I figured it would be a good time to walk around and get myself familiarise with the city.

   I took me a while to figure out the location of Namaste House (the place owned by a Hare Krishna practitioner and I would like to experience different types of accommodations  and it would fun to interact with travellers and locals). I was exhausted by the lack of sleep in my two legged flight from Seattle to Lima so I went to a two hour massage session (later I regretted about it and I should have asked Dhruva instead.

   I walked around the Old Town aimlessly and bought some fake hoodies & There are tourist operators all over in Cusco. I went to a pastry shop called Pantastico in Barrio San Blas and the storekeeper (Naysha) showed me different sites (Qorinkancha and Saqsaywaman) and I decided to buy a tourist ticket (Boleto Turistico) to see the various sites. Later two Asian tourists (Calvin and Sofia) came over and we had a good chat for about an hour. I was tired enough and I walked back to Nameste House. Ana, a Romanian Fulbright Scholar that works in Quito, invited me to come to a concert with Incan rock band. It was an awesome performance, but I was too tired to enjoy it. Ana was also tired because of excess rock climbing. We went back to Nameste House by 12:30 at night.

San Blas Plaza in Cusco

Peruvian and Incan flag in Plaza de Armas

Easy tourist money for the local Peruvians

   I got up at about 6:30 in the morning on 07 Dec. I walked to Avenida el Sol to get some Peruvian currency - sol. After that, I walked to the museum and the garden of Qorinkancha to check out some history and artifacts of the Incan time and bought boleto turistico (the ticket where many of the Incan sites would require). At about 11:00, I walked south to Monumneto Inca Pachacutec and learned about the famous Inca Pachacutec and saw the skyline of Cusco from the observation deck. The view was okay. After that, I walked to Pavitos to catch the Coletivo to Ollantaytambo.

   I had some conversations with Sebastien about various topics and experiences in travelling and I admire his willingness to trek despite on . The colectivo went up to the hill to the much less desirable areas of Cusco and it was interesting to see that part of daily lives of poorer Peruvians. The colectivo drove by Chinchero, Urubamba, and finally to Ollantaytambo. Sebastien and I parted way, and I walked up to the ruin using my boleto turistica. It was the first ruin I walked and the scenery was stunning. I stayed there long enough, and made it to the train station to catch the IncaRail to Aguas Calientes six minutes before the train would take off.

   

   

Peru Trip 2015 - Foreword

   Peru (or any South American countries) is never at the top of my list of country to go, due to my lack of ability to speak Spanish, and my worries about the safety in South America in general (which turned out that I was rather ignorant and bigoted).
 
   My main motivation was very simple and rash (you could say it is immature). A dear friend of mine whom I felt I have a strong connection with made a half-joke to me on meeting her in Peru in December 2015. I have not seen her in more than a year and I really wanted to see her. Also, Peru has a rich history with Incas Empire and Andean culture that would be fascinating to see, and I bought a book (A Sacred Landscape: the Search of Ancient Peru, written by Hugh Thompson) in March 2015 during the Seattle Vegfest. I also picked up another used book (Journey to Machu Picchu: Spirtual Wisdom from the Andes by Carol Cumes and Romulo Lizarraga Valencia) and those two had became my read during my stay in Cusco. I left the first book to another traveller Nora (whom I really enjoyed spending two days roaming around Cusco with) and someone else took the second book. I hope both books would be utilized and gives some interesting info to those who are interested in the Andean culture.