Journey from Vermont to the Land of the Incas.
My husband and I flew on a LATAM airlines direct flight from JFK airport in New York to Lima, Peru. It was an overnight flight; we landed at 8 a.m. in Lima. There is no time difference between eastern United States and Peru, but it was still close to an eight-hour flight, so we were quite tired when we landed, and who can sleep comfortably on a plane in economy?
We are met by a driver from G Adventures, the tour group we chose for this trip. The driver takes us on a one hour drive from the airport to our boutique hotel in Miraflores-the upscale neighborhood of Lima right on the Pacific Ocean. Traffic in Lima is horrendous. I thought Boston drivers were bad. Here drivers use a serious of horn honks instead of directional to let other drivers know their intentions. It’s quite chaotic and noisy. I’m so glad we didn’t rent a car.
We are staying at the San Augustin Exclusive hotel right in the heart of Miraflores. We’ll be meeting the rest of our travel group later in the evening. We have one night in Miraflores to start our trip and one night at the end before we fly home. Most of our time in Peru will be spent in the mountains or on the Amazon River.
We fly from Lima to Cusco the next morning. There are six of us. Two newlyweds from Belfast, Northern Ireland, a young man from Singapore, an older woman from Montana and the two of us from Vermont.
We spend one week in the Andes around the town of Cusco. Cusco is the “jump-off” point for people who want to explore the Andes and Inca Ruins in the surrounding area as Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire. The most famous of all ruins is Machu Picchu, (which is named for the mountain not the citadel itself.)
I’m excited to see the alpacas and llamas of Peru (alpacas and llamas are camelid cousins.) I have visited Linda and Bill Ley’s Parris Hill Alpaca farm in Brownsville a few times, so I know a little about alpacas. And I own an alpaca poncho I bought in 1979 that’s still in like-new shape. These animal fibers are strong and long-lasting.
There are two types of alpacas the Suri and the Huacaya. The Ley’s breed Huacaya alpacas. The Huacaya have a wooly, dense, crimped fleece and the Suri have a coat that grows in long silky dreadlocks. The Suri live on the Altiplano plateau in the Andes, these are the animals I’ll be seeing. They are very cute and it seems like every family has one or two in their yards.
Walking around Cusco is fun, but our travel group is anxious to visit the Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu. We take a long mini-van ride through the Sacred Valley with stops at Ccaccaccollo, a community where the women have formed a weavers cooperative with the assistance of G Adventures and a non-profit foundation-Planeterra. These women are being giving access to the tourism marketplace, which helps keep Indigenous communities on their land and in their villages. We also visit a supported pottery cooperative and a farm to table community restaurant.
We catch the Peru Rail train in Ollantaytambo for our journey along the Urubamaba River to the train’s last stop-Aguas Calientes, which used to be called Machu Picchu Pueblo, but it was too confusing, so they renamed the town after the hot spring nearby.
We catch a bus up to the Machu Picchu entrance, you can hike up, but it will add one to two hours to your day and it’s steep and rocky. Your entrance ticket is for one entrance, one exit and timed-you must leave at a certain time stamped on your ticket.
As we make our way up the steep steps, I think about Hiram Bingham-the Yale professor who is credited with “discovering” Machu Picchu (even though the locals had known about its location and were living and farming on site) and what he must have seen in 1911 when the jungle had pretty much reclaimed the citadel.
It’s a blue-sky day, only a few clouds. The sun is high in the sky and it’s getting very warm. As we crest the hill, I look down into the citadel that is Machu Picchu. It took my breath away. How did the Inca build something so big, two miles up in the sky without steel, dynamite or machinery?
I’m not sure how time on the Amazon River could top this sight-Machu Picchu-that will be forever etched in my mind’ eye. But after our week in the mountains I’m ready to give it a shot.
I’ve always wanted to visit the Amazon River. The animals that live there have always fascinated me: sloths, caimans, anaconda, jaguars. We looked at many tours before choosing this one because it was two weeks-one in the Andes and one on the river. Travel to Peru is difficult so two weeks is really needed (an additional week would have been even better!)
We leave Cusco, fly back to Lima, fly from Lima to Iquitos, hop in a mini-van for an hour plus drive to Nauta where we meet of our home for the next week, the La Perla.
Jungle Experiences in Iquitos runs several boats that cruise the Amazon River, from small to large, budget to luxury; the La Perla has 14 cabins and is quite comfortable. Our room has a big window, so we can watch for pink river dolphins and birds while we’re sitting on our bed. The crew and naturalists are fantastic, and the chef made us some amazing meals.
Our time on the mighty Amazon River was spent mostly observing the birds, mammals, fish and reptiles of the jungle. We saw wooly, squirrel and owl monkeys; long nosed bats, Great Blue Herons, leaf cutter ants, fire ants, sloths, a coatimundi, an anaconda and so many birds that I’ve never seen before (and can’t remember the names of).
We leave Cusco, fly back to Lima, fly from Lima to Iquitos, hop in a mini-van for an hour plus drive to Nauta where we meet of our home for the next week, the La Perla.
Jungle Experiences in Iquitos runs several boats that cruise the Amazon River, from small to large, budget to luxury; the La Perla has 14 cabins and is quite comfortable. Our room has a big window, so we can watch for pink river dolphins and birds while we’re sitting on our bed. The crew and naturalists are fantastic, and the chef made us some amazing meals.
Our time on the mighty Amazon River was spent mostly observing the birds, mammals, fish and reptiles of the jungle. We saw wooly, squirrel and owl monkeys; long nosed bats, Great Blue Herons, leaf cutter ants, fire ants, sloths, a coatimundi, an anaconda and so many birds that I’ve never seen before (and can’t remember the names of).
I won’t say we ate our way through Peru, but while in the Andes, we tried alpaca meat (but we didn’t try the guinea pig.) We sampled the Chicha Beer (made from corn) and many local fruits. And did you know that Peru has over 3500 varieties of potatoes-we tried quite a few.
On the Amazon River we tried many types of fish, expertly prepared by the La Perla chef and Jungle Beer (made from Yucca plant tubers.) But we did not try the bushmeat stew that was offered at the Amazon River village lunch we were invited to. And of course, we tried the national drink-Pisco Sour.
We went in December (our winter, their summer) which is rainy season-low tourist season. We didn’t really experience rain until the last few days of our adventure.
I consider us lucky on three fronts-one not much rain and two not many people visiting Peru when we were there. And three-we were lucky to experience an adventure to be remembered for years to come in the “land of possibilities.”
More photos: https://photosbynanci.smugmug.com/Peru-2018