Peru 2009 -- Finding Our Way

I'm sitting in the only corner of our hotel room here in Cusco where the wi-fi doesn't disconnect me every three minutes. I shouldn't complain though...who woulda thunk finding wi-fi would be so easy in Peru? I thought I'd give another quick update, this one with more pictures. I had to use the crappy Microsoft photo editor for these, so they're not as cleaned up as I'd like them to be.

The legendary Lost City of the Inca. No words can adequately describe the magic of this place. Even the thousands of pushy tourists couldn't detract from the experience. Well, not much, anyway.

Llamas at Machu Picchu on Wednesday morning.

Sonja admiring some of the exquisite stonework characteristic of the Incan empire. The lines are so straight, and the stones carved so perfectly, you couldn't fit a pin between them! No mortar is used, either. Only perfect craftmanship (literally) holds these walls together.

The fortress of Ollantaytambo was much smaller than Machu Picchu, but impressive nonetheless. Even moreso when you consider it was the site of the Incan Empires only win against the invading Spanish Conquistadors.

After exploring the Incan fortress at Ollantaytambo on Thursday morning, we found ourselves in the middle of a festival in the village center. Men and women were packing the tiny village, many wearing traditional clothing.

Local women enjoying the festival, with a bored boy hanging out behind them.

A street vendor in Ollantaytambo.

Yes, this is exactly what it looks like: roasted cuy (guinea pigs). While I did manage to muster up the courage to try alpaca last night (not my favorite), I haven't yet decided whether I will attempt to partake of this particular Peruvian specialty.

The ruins at Pisac, northeast of Cusco, are very impressive in their magnitude and architecture. Some of it rivaled what we saw at Machu Picchu. We stopped there yesterday afternoon after an exciting ride in a local bus from Ollantaytambo.

We leave for the Amazon on Sunday morning, so I will probably not post again until the evening of the 9th. But then I hope to have lots of fun monkey, bird and rainforesty photos to share.

Countdown to Peru: T-minus 10 Days

Ten days from now we'll be hopping on a plane for our 3 1/2 week trip south of the equator. The endless trip planning has frayed our nerves a bit, but it's also elevated our excitement about this adventure. It still doesn't feel quite real...and probably won't until we land in Lima.

A lot of folks have been asking us what we're planning on doing while in Peru, so I thought I'd make a few posts here describing our itinerary. Below you'll see a map of our planned route (click on the image to see it bigger). The dotted lines represent air travel (except for those on Lake Titicaca, which will be a boat), with the solid lines being ground travel (bus, taxis, train or dugout canoes).


The other thing I wanted to do is highlight some of the things we are anticipating the most. I'll post several of these lists over the next couple of days.

5 Places We're Looking Forward to Seeing:

1. Machu Picchu

One of the world's most famous archeological sites, there's no way we could go to Peru without spending a day or two here.

2. Manu National Park

Nine days in the Peruvian Amazon, traveling by dugout canoes and staying in tents and thatch-roofed jungle huts. Need I say more?

3. Lake Titicaca

Ever since I was a little kid I've been fascinated by Lake Titicaca. Probably primarily because it's named Titicaca, really. Our time here at the "world's highest navigable waterway" (12,507' above sea level, required traveling over a 15,500' pass to get there) will mostly be spent staying with a family on Islas Amantani.

4. Colca Canyon

A two-day tour from Arequipa to Colca Canyon will give us a chance to see the amazing Andean Condors. The bus also passes through an altiplano wildlife reserve with an opportunity to see wild vicuña.

5. Isla Ballestas

We still haven't decided about whether or not we'll have time to take a boat tour of these islands, known as "the poor man's Galapagos". The biggest draw for us would be a chance to see Humbolt Penguins. I think we might just wait until we're back from Manu to decide if we want to try to do this.

There are certainly a lot of other places we'll be visiting, but these are the highlights. I'll post a few more lists of what we're hoping to do and see in the next few days.