We came up the 5 hour trip to Cusco from Puno on one of the luxury buses. As we drove into the city over miles of rocky dirt road I remember thinking to myself that this seems more like every other Peruvian city than the cultural capital of the world (which they tout in signs […]
Peru
Sacred Ruination
We headed out on another tour early in the morning. Day 1 – Sacred Valley to Aguas Calientes. Day 2 Machu Picchu. I know we’ve talked about how tired we are of seeing ruins. Having said that, southern Peru is kind of ground zero for ruins, and there are some pretty good ones. The Sacred […]
Inca Ag With a Grain of Salt
If the Inca had a football team from Moray, they probably would have been called the “Aggies.” From Wikipedia: Moray is an archaeological site in Peru approximately 50 km (31 mi) northwest of Cuzco on a high plateau at about 3,500 m (11,500 ft) and just west of the village of Maras. The site contains unusual Inca ruins, mostly […]
Lake Titicaca Blues (the Color, not Sadness)
Lake Titicaca is the second largest lake in South America (3,232 mi²) and the highest navigable lake in the world (12,507 feet). It is 118 miles long and bordered by Peru and Bolivia. It is also known for its colors. Between the sky and the lake, we saw some of the most blues we’ve seen. Interestingly, […]
Colca
Some people think only of Colca Canyon when “Colca” is mentioned. Our guide dissuaded us of this, explaining that Colca refers to the canyon, a valley, and a river. We took a tour from Arequipa. On the way we went through Reserva Nacional Salinas – Aguada Blancas which contains a vicuña protection zone. There are four camelids […]
Nestors’ Town
That is correct – Nestors’ Town. Nestor’s dad is named Nestor, as is his grandfather. There seems to be a tradition of generosity in the Arequipa Nestors. The title photo is of the view of Misti out of the front door of Nestor’s house. BBQ Nestor’s dad’s parents invited us all over for a barbeque, […]
Postcard on Catholicism
As most of you know I attended The Convent of the Visitation for junior high and senior high school. Visitation is a French order of cloistered nuns. In 1966, my parents and I sat in a room facing a wooden grate that separated us from Sister Mary Helen on the other side. I was being […]
Arequipa Will Keep Ya
We took the semi-cama bus from Lima to Arequipa. The buses here have different levels of service, and their model is loosely based on airlines. The semi-cama is like first class. We actually went a bit higher, but are sorry we did, as we were seated one in front of the other in a single […]
Museo Larco
The Larco Museum is a privately owned museum of pre-Columbian art, located in the Pueblo Libre District of Lima, Peru. The museum is housed in an 18th-century vice-royal building built over a 7th-century pre-Columbian pyramid. It showcases chronological galleries that provide a thorough overview of 4,000 years of Peruvian pre-Columbian history. It is well known for its […]
Prima Lima
We finally took the bus from Trujillo to Lima. It’s a long ride through some of the driest desert in the world. Lima, in fact, is the second driest world capital, behind Cairo. With well over 8 million people and taking up over 800 square miles, this is the biggest city we’ve been in since […]