Mina and Clark's trip to Peru, July 2004

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View of the Pacific Ocean from LarcoMar, a shopping center in the Miraflores district of Lima, Peru. We stayed in a hotel about a 10 minute walk from the ocean. The view is pretty, but you can see the haze which is a part of life in Lima during their dry season. Huaca Pucllana, an Incan holy site in Miraflores, Lima Mina and the Incan anti-seismic construction at Huaca Pucllana The vertical, separated adobe blocks at Huaca Pucllana allowed it to survive the many earthquakes that have hit Lima in the past
Skeleton of an Incan woman who was sacrificed for having a baby out of wedlock. The baby was sacrificed along with her, and its skeleton was out for scientific study. The strange mix of Miraflores -- some nice homes, and a LOT of security fences and barbed wire to keep out the bad guys Francisco Pizarro's home on the Plaza de Armas in central Lima The Governor's Palace on the Plaza de Armas -- Mina and Lima Cathedral Lima Cathedral inside, made of wood because of the frequent earthquakes in Lima
The choir stalls at Lima Cathedral A mosaic in Lima Cathedral depicting Pizarro's arrival in Peru Three Peruvians hanging out in front of the Archbishop's Palace next to the Cathedral in Lima A Lima cop checking us out You can't go three steps without seeing a street vendor in the Plaza de Armas, although we caught this woman and her kid taking a break
The most common means of getting around Lima is the system (?) of private buses, which we were never brave enough to try -- taxis only for us! More colorful buses in Lima Church of San Francisco, Lima The library at the monastery at the Church of San Francisco -- check out the huge music book, so the whole choir could read it at once The sanctuary of San Francisco
The bones of thousands of Limeños in the catacombs under the monastery A typical, beautiful wooden balcony at the Torre Taglia in old Lima The Church of San Pedro and San Pablo The main altar at the Church of San Pedro and San Pablo A side altar at the Church of San Pedro and San Pablo
The cloud cover over Lima with the peaks of the Andes sticking through Flying in to Cuzco, way out in the middle of the Andes After a few days under the clouds in Lima, the alpine sunshine in Cuzco was dazzling! The Plaza de Armas, Cuzco's main plaza Our hotel, the Plaza de Armas hotel, is the one with the blue balcony
The fountain in the middle of Cuzco's main plaza The Jesuit church on the square in Cuzco Another side of the Cuzco plaza -- more of the wood balconies you find all over Peru Cuzco Cathedral on the fourth side of the Cuzco plaza Entrance sign, Inca Museum, Cuzco
Native American women weaving, Inca Museum courtyard, Cuzco Native American couple dressed in native costume, Inca Museum courtyard, Cuzco Native American couple dressed in native costume, Inca Museum courtyard, Cuzco Original Inca walls at the Temple of the Sun, Coricancha, Cuzco Saqsaywaman, an Incan temple site
Mina at Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple site outside Cuzco Clark at Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple site outside Cuzco The zig-zag walls at Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple site outside Cuzco The zig-zag walls at Sacsayhuaman, an Incan temple site outside Cuzco Mina and Clark goofing around at Sacsayhuaman
More zig-zag walls at Sacsayhuaman Tambomachay, an Incan site with water channels bringing the mountain water into nice fountains Mina at dusk at the Inca-built fountains at Tambomachay A wide view out our Cuzco hotel window A 180-degree+ view of Cuzco's Plaza de Armas from in front of our hotel
A village near Cuzco, with lots of adobe walls and dirt dug up for making more adobe bricks Another view of a village near Cuzco with lots of adobe walls A native Peruvian woman selling woolen goods at a roadside market on the way to the Sacred Valley of the Incas A native Peruvian kid and her baby llama at a roadside market on the way to the Sacred Valley of the Incas Yes, the native Peruvians do seem to really wear the colorful clothes and use the colorful woven blankets that you see in most Peru tourist pictures
Mina above the Sacred Valley of the Incas and the Urubamba River Incan agricultural terraces in the Sacred Valley of the Incas An Native American woman (and her kid's hat) selling her crafts by the roadside at a scenic viewpoint. The view on the rough cliff-hanging trail up to the ruins above Pisac was worth risking the LONG fall if we missed a step. The Incan ruins above the Colonial village of Pisac. The square blocks are from newer (like 1500's) Incan construction and the round, less-well-fitting blocks are from before that.
Clark in front of the Incan ruins above Pisac. The stone knobs casting shadows on the wall to Clark's right were roof supports for a thatched roof. Mina, also in the ruins above Pisac The trapezoid was a common shape in Incan architecture, from storage niches in the walls to windows and doorways. Walking the trail from the ruins above Pisac back to the tour bus (at the end of the forking trail on the right) Back down from climbing the trail to the ruins above Pisac, this was the view looking back up the trail. The same woman and her kid were taking a break and having some lunch.
A vendor preparing chickens in the Pisac market Vendors preparing food in the Pisac market This woman is really keeping and eye on things... Lunchtime in Pisac market Terraces at the fortress at Ollantaytambo, where in 1536, Hernando Pizarro and 70 Spanish soldiers lost a battle to the Incas. Of course, the Spaniards came back later with 4 times the men and forced an Incan retreat. Altitude: 2800m/9200ft
Food storehouses cut from the mountains on the other side of the town of Ollantaytambo from the fortress Close up of the food storehouse above Ollantaytambo Mina on top of the terraces at Ollantaytambo, standing in a trapezoidal Incan doorway Clark looking macho on top of Ollantaytambo fortress Ollantaytambo market seen from the fortress
A view of the top of Ollantaytambo fortress, the part above the terraces Steps from the terraces at Ollantaytambo An Incan warrior presides over Ollantaytambo and the surrounding mountains. This might be Manco Inca, the leader of the Incas who fought off the Spaniards in 1536. Snow-covered Andean mountains on the road from Ollantaytambo to the town of Chinchero Altitude: Probably 5000m+/16,400ft The village of Chinchero, with a traditional market just below the colonial Spanish church. Altitude: 3762m/12342ft
A woman in traditional Andean clothing selling all kinds of things Psst, wanna' buy a Pan pipe? Another view of Chinchero's market We're on our way to Machu Picchu! The train ride from Cuzco takes about 3.5 hours. This was an adobe house we saw on the ride there, and it seemed pretty typical of the homes in the Urubamba river valley. The train ride to Machu Picchu took us along the Urubamba river valley, which gets impressively deep and steep at times.
Another view of The Urubamba River from the train The vendors in Peru never miss a chance to sell their goods to us tourists. We're stopped at the Ollantaytambo train station. Dolls, ponchos, blankets, sweaters... If it's made of wool, you can buy it in Peru! We saw this panorama of Machu Picchu in the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology in Lima a few days after going to Machu Picchu, but I thought it would be a good overview of the site to throw in here. Here we are at the entrance to Machu Picchu
Here's a view of the mountains around Machu Picchu from the entrance trail Mina on the entrance trail at Machu Picchu A panoramic view from the entrance trail at Machu Picchu. Our guide, Darwin Camacho, is standing on the rail telling us about the site. The main ruins are to the left of this picture. A pretty plant and the peak of Huayna Picchu (Young Peak) Every once in a while, it felt like we were walking off the edge of the cliff at Machu Picchu!
A thatched roof in the foreground, with many of the buildings at Machu Picchu in the background Mina in front of the ruins of Machu Picchu More of the ruins at Machu Picchu Some of the terraces at Machu Picchu A closer view of the Temple of the Sun, the darker building with the rounded wall. At sunrise of the winter solstice (mid-June), if you stand at the window at the right of the Temple, you see the sun coming up directly over the peak of the mountain opposite, and the rays of the sun shine on the table in the Temple.
More terraces and ruins at Machu Picchu A view of the Temple of the Sun from directly below All of the buildings at Machu Picchu had thatched roofs back in the days of the Incas. Now that they don't, the ground both inside and outside the buildings gets wet when it rains, and their foundations are settling and the walls cracking a bit. Our guide talked about how the government in Lima pretty much ignores preservation of the site in favor of tourist bucks. A view up the terraces to the Caretaker's hut. I took the next picture from the top of this hill. A 360-degree panorama of the Machu Picchu ruins from the level of the Funerary Rock and the Caretaker's Hut. Huayna Picchu (Young Peak) looms above and behind the bulk of the ruins. Click on the picture to see a QuickTime VR movie of the panorama.
A wider view of the Caretaker's Hut and the terraces Here's the See, we really were here shot of us in front of the terraces What you would see looking out your Incan window in Machu Picchu every morning Reflecting pools to view the moon and sun and stars in A llama grazing in Machu Picchu
A llama portrait A llama kid and a llama mama The central lawn in Machu Picchu, with Huayna Picchu looming above A small botanical garden in the middle of Machu Picchu I think this is the residential section of Machu Picchu
Clark in front of Huayna Picchu Huayna Picchu Terraces and the surrounding mountains It looks like they're working on some restoration in this area Machu Picchu is a big temple area, and one of the most important areas is where they did their star gazing. This stone is called the Intihuatana, Incan for hitching post of the sun. The guide books say that people who knew how to read it could tell when the solstices and equinoxes would occur.
Mina in front of Huayna Picchu The thatched huts in the middle guard the path up to the top of Huayna Picchu, if you want the extra few hours of walking I thought the buildings in the residential section mirrored the lines of the mountains quite nicely. From this angle, the buildings in the residential section still mirror the lines of the mountains quite nicely. Machu Picchu is just not the kind of place you can capture in a picture, so we figured we'd try a LOT of pictures!
The Temple of the Sun from above Climbing off the edge of the earth again Nothing new to say, it's just pretty! More Machu Picchu beauty More Machu Picchu beauty
The Funerary Rock, where they might have mummified their nobility Mina and Clark above the Machu Picchu ruins Pretty blue flowers growing in the rocks on a stairway I thought it was cool the way this mountain stood so tall and narrow Llamafest Machu Picchu!
Prima donna llama In honor of Hiram Bingham on the 50th anniversary of the discovery of Machu Picchu To get to the ruins at Machu Picchu, we took the 3.5 hour train from Cuzco to Aguas Calientes, then took a bus on a dusty road with lots of switchbacks for 30 minutes to get up the side of Machu Picchu to the site of the ruins. This is Aguas Calientes. Cool chess sets in the Market in Aguas Calientes The PeruRail train we took from Cuzco to Machu Picchu and back
Lots of dolls in a vendor's stall next to the train tracks in Aguas Calientes The PeruRail employees do triple duty. The take tickets, serve food and drink, and dress up. This guy, whose name we didn't catch, is a traditional Incan demon who appears in July or thereabouts. The two other PeruRail employees in our train car put on a fashion show with lots of wool and alpaca clothes. A view of Cuzco's main plaza from our train in the hills above The Puma is a symbol of Cuzco, as you can see on a lamp post in the main square. By the way, the main square in every Peruvian town is the Plaza de Armas, or the Arms Plaza. This comes from the fact that the Spanish army would congregate and gather their arms in the center of an Incan town before taking it over, then the colonial city would grow from that starting point. Cuzco cops
On patrol The fountain in the Plaza de Armas La Compañía, the Jesuits' church, to one side of the Cathedral on Cuzco's Plaza de Armas Two more Cuzco cops chatting up a friend A few old Cuzqueños (Cuzco residents) hanging out in the Plaza
Chillin' on the Plaza It looks like this guy ran out of seeds for the pigeons The colonial-era balconies in the Plaza are beautiful Just thinkin'... There was a big city parade coming up, and these kids were practicing up, along with all of their teachers
Practice makes perfect Well, OK, I'll admit that the goosestepping was a little spooky Back in Cuzco, these three approached us, looking to trade a photo for a few soles (around $0.70). They even turned around so the sun would be facing them. This former monastery has been converted into a $00/night hotel. Beautiful, and about 10x the average hotel room price in Cuzco. The monastery's former chapel is now a meeting room
If we couldn't already tell that there are a lot indigenous people in Peru who are still angry at the Spanish, this plaque in the Plaza de Armas left little doubt: To the 500 years, glory and honor to the anonymous victims of the invasion, and to the heroes of the Andean resistance. ...AND THEY COULD NOT KILL US. Cuzco, October 12, 1992. Back in Lima on our last day in Peru, we went to the Museum of Archeology and Anthropology and saw this guy, among others One of the traditional meals in Cuzco is the cuy, the guinea pig. Since I forgot the camera the night we had cuy (yes, I'm serious!), this was the best we could do. This is a quipu. The Incans used knots, the color of the cords, length of the cords, etc. to keep records. Unfortunately, the art of reading quipus is lost to history. Carry Peru in your heart.
Clark Geddie, CGeddie@aol.com