Peru!



It wasn't long after saying good-bye to our friends Stuart and Anita in Ecuador, that we said hello to Duncan in Lima, Peru.



One thing we did was visit a museum that had in its collection a few shrunken heads used as trophies after battles.



We also went to Lima's upscale neighborhood Miraflores where it was nice to see some older people out of the house and dancing in the park.



After our brief visit to Lima, we were off Nazca, famous for the aptly named “Nazca lines”. We spent about half an hour in a small plane flying over the lines. You may need to click the images to bring them up a little larger than just miniatures in the blog - the lines are pale and rather thin. Anyway, here's the Hummingbird...



and the Monkey...




And then we traveled further south in Peru – yes by bus! We went to Cuzco which is in the Sacred Valley and not too far from one of the continent's best known sites: Machu Picchu! I was very excited to see this ancient city that used to be home to some 800 Inca, but was abandoned circa 1550 as part of the Inca reaction to the Spanish conquistadors. Their idea was to relocate everyone from various cities to a more remote area and make a final stand against the Spanish, but really it was no contest. It took only a handful of conquistadors with their vastly superior technology to basically wipe out the Inca civilization. Oh – and the smallpox they carried too. In fact, that did vastly more damage than any battles fought.



For those wishing for a little exercize, you can follow the signs to the nearby summit of Waynapicchu




which is a fairly steep mountain peak....


The reward for doing so is the fantastic view overlooking the entire Machu Picchu site



This ancient city was discovered in 1911 by explorer Hiram Bingham. Despite its size the entire city was hidden from view due to 400 years of abandonment and the constant advance of the jungle. Obviously the site has now been cleared so we can get great views and see the city as it might have looked while inhabited by the Inca.



Oh – did I mention the altitude? Machu Picchu was built near the top of a mountain, and sits at 2430 meters above sea level (7970 feet). The air is noticeably thin up there and makes for hard work trekking all about. We often saw clouds below the city.



So why would a civilization build their city so high? They learned the hard way that low lying areas are under constant threat of mud slides from the steep mountains surrounding the area. Luckily they didn't need to haul fresh water up to the city – they specifically chose sites like this because even up here, some had underground fresh water springs. 350 liters per minute, apparently.

After all that hard work of hiking and climbing a guy needs to relax with a few drinks.



Afterwards, we continued south through the stunning backdrop of the Peruvian andes





and settled in the town of Puno, which lies on the shores of Lake Titicaca, the world's highest “navigable” lake (whatever that means). Anyway, the lake is very high, at almost 4,000 meters, and it is also quite large, measuring over 160 km long.

There remains a small population who live out on these man-made floating islands built of reeds.



Apparently, these people were under constant attack by their aggressive neighbors, and their solution was to abandon the land they traditionally inhabited and build floating islands where they would be safe from invasion. They even built floating farms for their livestock.

The remaining population now depends mostly on tourism from visitors who are interested in this curious bit of Peruvian history. They had the usual kitch for sale but seemed happy.



Unknown to most tourists, it is in the lakeside town of Puno that lies another famous site: Machu Pizza! Mmmm – it sure tastes good to have some familiar food once in a while.



We ventured a little further than most people by catching a three hour boat ride further into lake Titicaca, to Isla Amantani.



It is a simple life led by the inhabitants of the island where even electricity is not to be taken for granted. Everyone has a role to play, and there's plenty of hard work to go around.



It was also here on Lake Titicaca that we saw this fantastic sunset



The next day we continued on to another island. We found it a little odd to see lots of older men knitting in their spare time



We enjoyed a fantastic lunch of some typicall Peruvian food



And then it was time to leave the lake and return to Puno. Fortunately we didn't have to take this boat back. I'm pretty sure it wouldn't have made it all the way back.



We departed Peru and headed for Bolivia... and you'll have to wait for me to publish that blog update where you'll hear how we found ourselves on the wrong side of the Bolivian riot police and got to sample some free tear gas. Stay tuned!