Exploring Peru

Peru is a land of extreme and intrigue. With a geography that includes desert, highland and jungle, Peru is certainly a land of contrasts. Peru's terrain ranges from glaciated Andean peaks and sprawling coastal deserts, to steamy rain forests in the Amazon basin.

After we left the floating islands on Lake Titicaca (see Levi's blog post for some nice photos) we went to Cuzco and the Sacred Valley. We enjoyed long hikes to several amazing ruins and cloud topped Inca citadels in the Sacred Valley but opted out to visit the now, 'pretty darned touristy', Machu Picchu. We stayed in a hotel which was more like a home stay since the family shuttled us around to see several local markets, advised us as to where we could go to get haircuts, and one night even took Colby and Quinn down to their kitchen so they could help prepare an authentic Peruvian meal. We were well looked after indeed and had a great orientation to the mystic communities that once thrived along the Inca Trail.

We bought our bus tickets to Lima eagerly anticipating our hook-up with my brother Todd and his two kids who were joining our adventure for 34 days to explore Northern Peru and Ecuador. We met without a hitch, spent 2 days in Lima checking out catacombs (churches with thousands of skeletons buried below which of course was very cool for the young boys to see) and trying very hard to find decent food to eat. A highlight was having a personal 5 hour Lima City Walking Tour by an old Swiss fellow named Alfred whom Colby met up on our hostel roof-top. We are feeling fairly seasoned as travellers these days and so enjoyed watching the awe on the faces of Todd, Cleo and Ben as they tried to make sense of the car honking and laughable traffic light system.

Part of our 7 hour hike around Cusco.

To this day it is not known how the Incas managed their stone work.

Daniel, our guide, was especially informative. 

What the people of this area did was remarkable.

Sharing some coca with a local farmer.

Inca ruins everywhere.

A place to worship the moon and enhance fertility. 

We felt very tall in some parts of Peru.