En Route to the Galapagos

On Monday, May 25 we flew from Lima to Guayaquil, Ecuador our jumping-off point for launching a visit to the Galapagos Islands.  We didn't really do any sight-seeing in Guayaquil, and stayed at a Marriott facility, so it seemed like a town in the U.S. where few
people spoke English.  On Tuesday we went back to the airport for our flight to San Cristobal, the first of the three Galapagos Islands on which we wil stay.  We tried to check in with LAN Airlines and were directed to a long line where we had to pay a $20 conservation fee, and then had some of our luggage inspected for forbidden plants, seeds,bugs, dirt, and other contraband before we could get in another line to get our boarding passes and check our equipages.  Upon arriving in San Cristobal, we snagged a taxi (they're all white dual cab pickup trucks) to the Casa Iguana Mar y Sol. It was a very pleasant accomodation operated by Patricia (from New Mexico), who designed the building, and Luis, her partner, who built it.  He did a wonderful job and in addition makes tremendous breakfasts with coffee they raise and roast themselves.  Papayas and bananas raised on the grounds rounded out the morning menu. Their all-around friendliness and helpfulness made our stay there memorable.

The Casa Iguana Mar y Sol

  

Sun Downers on the Deck

Sunset Over Shipwreck Bay

Bananas in the Yard

Morning View Over the Bay

Sunday in the Park with Perros

Sunday was our last day in Lima.  There actually was some sunshine, for a change.  It was also quite windy and the paragliders who sail from the Miraflores cliffs were soaring high over the high-rise buildings.  We had a leisurely breakfast, then walked along the cliffs to a park a couple of blocks away.  Several of the high-rises posted signs opposing a zoning change which would allow other tall buildings.  Someone explained to Nick that the Mayor was on the take from developers.  We ducked into a church across the park.  This was one of the only modern churches we've entered on our South American travels.  Mass was being said and nuns were holding a bake sale outside.

One of Many Para Sailors Soaring that Day

"No Changes in Zoning"

Sunday Mass

We'd seen a lot of activity in the local park, so we doubled back to check it out.  The park was full of people and dogs, lots and lots of dogs.  It was evidently a special dog day.  Uniformed canine patrol officers were helping dogs through an obstacle course, as the proud owners snapped photos.  There were a number of booths selling all manner of dog equipage:  photographers to take their portraits, pillows available with the portraits, fancy doggy clothing, dishes, bedding and on and on.  There seemed to be a large number of cherished pets, at least in Miraflores.

Urging on the Perros

This One Seemed a Bit Hesitant

A Well-Dressed Lima Dog, Complete with Tiara

 We spent the rest of the day at the Museum of Modern Art, located across the highway from our apartment in the Barancas neighborhood.  There was a very interesting exhibit of works by an artist named Viviana Zargoza, who photographs and then paints large empty buildings.  (At least it was interesting to me.) Walking back to the apartment, we could see a para-sailor flying over the top of our building.

The Museum of Modern Art

One of Viviana Zaragosa's Paintings

Para-glider and Our Building

We packed for a 7 am ride to the airport the next day, and took a last look at the view from the balcony.

Goodnight, Lima.  The Blob in the Center is a Lighted Cross Erected to Commemorate the Pope's Visit

Lima by Day

We had much better guide service the next day.  There were just the two of us and Jean Carlos, our guide with excellent English.  He had no idea why he was named Jean Carlo rather than Juan Carlo, since he was Peruvian.  We were picked up in Miraflores and made our first stop there at the Parque del Amor or Love Park.  The park, along the Miraflores cliffs, has wavey tiled walls based in the style of Gaudi's Guell Park in Barcelona, with inscriptions about "love" from various sources.  The park was constructed about 20 years  ago and the couple, with the woman in a miniskirt, was met with disapproval by the more conservative residents.

Two Couples in the Love Park

Also in Miraflores is the Huaca Pucllana, a Wari ceremonial center dating back to 400 AD.

The structure is composed of adobe bricks spaced so as to absorb earthquake tremors.

Bricks Have Withstood Centuries of Earthquakes

We returned that evening for dinner at the Restaurant Huaca Pucllana, overlooking the illuminated ruins.

Jean Carlos next took us to Central Lima for a walking tour of the city's historic area.  As in much of Latin America, there is a distinct French influence in much of the architecture of the later 1800's.

The Former Train Station, Now a Cultural Center

1865 Photography Studio; Still a Camera Store

We walked around the Plaza de Armas and visited the Cathedral, viewed the Archbishop's Palace, and photographed the elaborately uniformed guards at the Presidential Palace.  Alas, we were too early for the daily changing of the guard, with the goose-stepping guards marching to El Condor Pasa.  Jean Carlos seemed surprised when we told him there wasn't any goose-stepping in the U.S.A.

The Cathedral

The Archbishop's Palace

Guards at the Presidential Palace

 We walked a couple blocks to the Franciscan Monestary and Church.  The catacombs here are lined with the bones of the more than 70,000 individuals interred here (no photos allowed).  The bones have been sorted by skeletal function (skulls, femurs, etc.) and are laid out in geometric formations in plexiglass covered bins.  The practice of placing the bodies in the catacombs continued until about 1900, when neighbors began complaining about the odor.

The Church of San Francisco with Pigeons (Shades of Alfred Hitchcock)

Our last stop on the tour was the Museo Larco, located near the ocean in the San Isidro area.  The museum contains the world's largest private collection of Pre-Columbian art, beautifully displayed in a lovely building.  In addition to a huge collection of ceramic works, there are wonderful displays of textiles and gold and silver objects..  There is also a separate building housing a collection of Pre-Columbian erotic art.  Photos of this won't be posted here - you'll have to ask for a private viewing.

Nick at the Larco Museum

Portrait Vessel from the Moche Period (100-800 AD)

Carved Pipe and Figures, Wari Period (600-1100 AD)

Nazca Period Cat (200 BC to 600 AD)

Inca Gold (1100 AD to Spanish Conquest)

From the museum, Jean Carlos and our driver dropped us off at our apartment.  A very nice day followed by a very nice dinner at the Huaca Pucllana. (Nick enjoyed the alpaca tenderloin; Dee had beef.)

Lima by Night

We did a night tour of Lima, riding on the top of a double-decker bus.  The guide's English was not very understandable, but with all the traffic noise we couldn't hear her anyway.  She asked me how I liked it and I rather rudely told her "no endiendo y no escuchar."

The tour was worthwhile, however, for the stop we made at the Magical Water Circuit of the Reserve Park.  We spent over an hour wandering among the thirteen fountains with music from everything from ABBA and the Beatles to Beethoven's Ninth.  The evening capped off with a 20 minute water and laser show.  It was sort of like  the Bellagio Show on super steroids.

The Dream Maze Fountain, With People Hopping in and out to Avoid the Water

The Fountain of Illusion

The Tunnel of Surprises

The Laser Show at the Fantasy Fountain.  Music:  El Condor Pasa, of Course

Peruvian Culture at the Fantasy Fountain

Flowers and Lasers, Fantasy Fountain

The Magic Fountain

To Lima for Four Days

On Thursday May 21 we flew from Cusco to Lima.  We'd arranged for an apartment for four nights, and the owner, Cesar, met us at the airport with a driver and took us to our lodgings.  We were very pleased with the apartment - spacious and very well-equipped with a washer/dryer for our grungy clothes and a wonderful view of the Pacific from the balcony.  It would be even more wonderful during their summer months.  Lima winter, from about April to October, is seldom sunny. So why did Pizzaro found the capital in the one place along the coast with 6 months of clouds and fog?  He visited in January.

View from Our Balcony, Miraflores Apartment

Miraflores is a very pretty area of Lima, overlooking the Pacific.  There was a nice walk along the cliffs to Larcomar, a large multi-level shopping mall built into the cliffs.  Lots of restaurants, shops and services available.  We ate at a Tony Roma's one night when I was hungry for ribs.

Walkways Along the Cliffs

Restaurant at the Larcomar Mall

One Last Day in Cusco

Wednesday, May 20, was our last day iin Cusco.  We wandered around town, visited several museums, and Nick finally got his shoes shined in the Plaza.  The most interesting of the museums was the Regional History Museum.  It's housed in the colonial house of Garcilasco de la Vega, the son of an Inca princess and a Spanish Captain.  De la Vega, living in Spain after the age of 21, wrote extensive histories of the period and is recognized as the foremost chronicler of the era.

Entrance to De la Vega's Home

That evening, we dined at Chicha, the Cusco presence of Peruvian celebrity chef Gaston Acurio.  Nick had the cuy (guinea pig) on a bed of quinoa, and I had pork.  Both excellent.  We followed this with attendance at a production of traditional local dancing at the Cusco Center of Native Art.

Removing Months of Grime from Nick's Shoes!

Traditional Dances

In this Dance, the Man Proposes, the Woman Demures, and He Picks Her Up and Carries Her Off!

The Sacred Valley

On Tuesday, May 19, we headed north from Cusco to the Rio Urubamba Valley, known as El Valle Sagrado or the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  We're a little confused about terminology.  One of our guides insisted that the only Incas were actually the kings, some having names that included Inca.  The people were Quechuans (still one of the official languages of Peru).  Others speak of the people of the Incan empire as Incans - we'll have to research this when we get home.

The drive up through the Sacred Valley was very beautiful.  The agricultural bounties of the valley provide much of the foodstuffs for the Cusco area.  Potatoes (over 2000 varieties according to our guide), corn, wheat and increasingly quinoa are the major crops.  Until about five years ago, quinoa was mainly grown for local consumption.  As the health benefits of quinoa became better-known, the acreage devoted to its production increased substantially, as well as its price, and the production of wheat has decreased accordingly.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas

Our first stop in the Sacred Valley was the village of Pisac, at the base of a spectacular Incan fortress.  We bought some local corn topped with cheese from a local street seller, watched empanadas being baked in a traditional oven, and posed with some local women and baby alpacas for a typical tourist photo.

Corn Boiled in the Husk and Served with Cheese and Hot Sauce

Making Empanadas the Old-Fashioned Way

Women of a "Certain Age" with Some Very Young Alpacas

 The cliffs surrounding the ruins of the Inca citadel are honeycombed with hundreds of holes in the cliff wall.  These were Inca burial sites for the unmummified remains of the ordinary people. (Mummification was reserved for the "elites", as they are still called today.) The fortress is surrounded by extensive agricultural terracing, while the position overlooking approaches to  Cusco served a defensive purpose in protecting the sacred capital of Cusco.

Burial Sites Carved into the Cliffs

Extensive Agricultural Terracing for Incan Crops

Am I Holding Up the Wall or is it Holding Up Me?

After lunch in the town of Urumbamba, we moved on to the ruins of the Ollantaytambo fortress.  This site is the spot which is one of the few places  where the Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle.  The Incas held the high ground and rained arrows, spears and boulders on the Spanish forces below, then flooded the low ground through previously prepared channels.  The victory was short-lived however.  The Spanish returned with greater forces and the Incas fled to the jungle.

The Mighty Fortress at Ollantaytambo

 Water Still Flowing Through the 500 Year Old Channel

Shucking Corn and Collecting 1 Sol for the Use of the Public Toilet.  The Toilet Also Contained a Shower.  (Don't Know if there was an Extra Charge for Bathing.)

The last village we visited was Chincero, with the highest elevation, at almost 12,400 feet, of any Sacred Valley towns.  The village is famous for the weaving skills of its women, who dance and sing as they weave yarns from llama and alpaca furs.

Chincero Women Demonstrating Preparation and Dying of Alpaca, Vicuna, and Llama Wools.  The Dyes are From Natural Fruit and Floral Sources

We Were Posing with the Llama, and the Local Women, to Much Hilarity, Insisted on Layering Us with Local Outfits