The LAN Checkout Counter in the Lima Airport
It's not as chaotic as it looks!
Well, we are back aboard Soggy Paws at Puerto Lucia Yacht Club, near Salinas, in Ecuador.

We flew back yesterday after about 6 weeks in Peru. We saw a lot of interesting stuff, but still only covered about 25% of what there is to see in Peru. We hope to do another trip to see parts of northern Peru in November or December.

A View of the Cordillera Blanca (White Mountains) from the Airplane
The boat is fine--this is a great place to leave the boat. Very secure, and a nice dry atmosphere. Usually when we come back, there is a green film (mold) on everything inside. But this time, hardly anything.

Our task this month is to get the bottom finished up, and hopefully start working on some of the other 'must do' projects.

Labels: Ecuador, Peru Inland

The Darcourt Family and Friends
July 28th is the 'Dia del Patria'--the day that Peru celebrates its independence from Spain. We managed to show up on our friends, the Darcourts', doorstep for the weekend of Independence Day.

They invited us to join them at their 'summer house' in Chacalacayo, in the foothills outside of Lima. Ani and Edy have recently completed a major renovation that turned their summer house from a 2-room bungalo into a bungalo complex big enough to house all their kids (and a few friends).

Independence Day, Peruvian Style isn't much different than American Style... BBQ, Music, Friends, Kids, Drinking, Swimming, even a little Karaoke. We did it all.

Chickens in the Smoker
The 'Kids' Get into the Pisco (a Peruvian liquor)
Dogs and Old Friends

Our Gracious Hostess, Anamaria
One day during the long weekend, Eduardo cajoled everyone into making an expedition into the mountains. We loaded 3 cars full of people and set off up the unpaved roads. The destination is a small town on a mountain, where the main attraction is a place where people have seen UFO's. A favorite thing to do on weekends is go camping on the mountain to see the UFO's. (Personally, I think there must be a little loco-weed growing up on that mountain!).

Edy Checks the Communications Equipment

The Valley We Drove Up
Everyone except Edy and Ani (who had been there before) thought it would be a nice drive for a couple of hours. But after about 3 hours of driving on rough, one lane dirt roads hanging on a cliff on the side of a steep mountain... including several hilarious and dangerous 'two cars meeting on a one lane mountain road' episodes, we finally arrived at San Pedro de Casta, a small village way up in the mountains. It was totally unexpected... Being so remote, we expected a sleeply little town. But there were tons of backpacker/hiker type tourists, all trying to get up to the camping place (another 45 minutes hiking up the mountain).

The central square was filled with burro's and backpackers. The locals were hustling backpackers... They would load up burros full of camping gear, and the backpackers would walk... slowly... up the mountain, following the burros.



On Top of the World Again

Labels: Peru Inland

The 'Main Highway' between Cuzco and Lima
When we heard it was a 2 or 3 day trek on bad buses on bad roads to go the 'short' way back to Lima (according to the map), we looked at alternatives.

Alternative 1, used by most tourists on a short schedule, is to fly. The best price on the fly-by-night airline was $138 USD. LAN Airlines (the biggest airline in South America) would cost $150.

Alternative 2 was to take the bus on the good roads, the long way around. Cruz del Sur runs a luxury bus for the 21 hour trip, leaving Cusco at 6pm and arriving in Lima at 3pm the next day. This would only cost $62 each. So that's what we did.

We booked early and so got the upper front window seats on the double-decker bus. This bus has 'full cama' seats... wide seats, widely spaced, with a footrest. The very front seat has a little extra leg room so you can stretch out even more.

All in all, it wasn't too bad a trip. We spent most of the night sleeping while the bus driver wound his way around all the mountains between Cusco and the coast. Then we turned right at Nazca and followed the desert-like coast to Lima.

We drove right through the famous Nazca lines. Hard to get the famous perspective from a bus, though, even from a double-decker bus. But we did get a good picture of the sign :)

Road-level view of the Nazca Lines

What They Look Like from the Air (Photo Enhanced)

The Sign that Proves we were There
Here's a link that talks about the Nazca lines.

Our friends, the Darcourts, picked us up at the bus station for a weekend with their family, before we flew back to Ecuador.

Labels: Peru Inland

We got back safe and sound from our 3-day 2-night rafting trip. Here's a photo of our raft going thru the first set of Class 3 rapids. We did three Class 5's and many Class 4's on this trip (and lived to tell the tale).

More pictures of our rafting trip can be found here:

Apurimac Rafting Photo Album

Labels: Peru Inland

Sherry with the ruins and Wyna Picchu in the background
Machu Picchu is one of the few Inca sites that the Spanish never found. Therefore it is pretty untouched, except for the ravages of time. The city is located about 1000 feet above a narrow ravine.

Two mountains tower over the ruins... Wyna Picchu (Young Mountain) and Machu Picchu (Old Mountain). Though the park now limits access to Wyna Picchu to only 400 people per day, we managed to be the last ones up Wyna Picchu for the day.

We took over 300 photos on our 4 days through the Sacred Valley and up to Machu Picchu. But we are off on another adventure, so here is just a few from our trip. Hopefully we'll catch up and post some more later.

The Ruins from Wyna Picchu

Dave got this great picture of a hummingbird

Dave in a Typical Inca Doorway
We are now off for a 3 day whitewater rafting trip on the Apurimac River.

Labels: Peru Inland

We will be in Cusco for about 2 weeks. We have already booked a 4-day/3-night trip that covers the 'Sacred Valley', a train trip from Ollantantambo, 2 nights in Aguas Calientes, and a full day at Macchu Picchu. We leave tomorrow morning on this trip (and not taking the computer). We are NOT going to hike the Inca Trail (my knees are too bad for this trip, and Dave has already done it once).

When we come back from Macchu Picchu, we have one free day, and then set off on a 3-day/2-night whitewater rafting trip down the Class 3-4-5 rapids of the Apurimac River. They claim that this is one of the 10 best rafting trips in the world, and the best one in Peru.

Labels: Peru Inland

We arrived in Cusco on Saturday after a really nice luxury bus ride from Puno. We opted to take the Inka Express bus, a tourist bus, from Puno. We paid $50 each for a really nice tour of the towns and Inca/pre-Inca sites between Puno and Cusco.

The Inka Express Luxury Tour Bus
Some Incan Music at Lunch

Yet Another Souvenier Stop

The Imposing Inca Ruins at Raqchi



Another Artisan Market

Labels: Peru Inland

Our trip from Arequipa to Puno was unforgettable, in the worst sense.

Arequipa Bus Station
We would have normally booked with Cruz del Sur, but by the time we figured out when the strike was really going to be over in Puno, the Cruz del Sur bus had no seats left. So we booked on Cial, a 2nd tier company. It was on the top of the 2nd tier list.

The bus was OK--a shabbier version of the Cruz del Sur buses. But we knew we were in trouble when we started climbing the first hill out of town, and the bus was crawling along at 10 MPH. We knew we were REALLY in trouble when we we finally going DOWN hill and the bus was still crawling at 10 MPH. Finally, at the checkpoint just before the turnoff to Puno, the bus pulled over. This is the in the middle of a wasteland. A few hovels on the side of the road, and otherwise, miles of nothing. It was so much in the middle of nothing that our cell phones didn't have any signal. (But, fortunately, there was a wired phone at the tienda).


The bus driver told us that the radiator was blown, and a new bus would come from Arequipa in 2 hours.


We had already taken 2 hours to go only 1 hour of the 5 hour trip. 3 hours later... the replacement bus finally arrived. We finally got going again at about 3pm. (we were supposed to have been at our destination by then).

Most of the day was driving across Peruvian wilderness... dry and mountainous.


We got to the small town of Juliaca just at dark. We only had then about 30 KM to go... we figured a half an hour at most. But then we arrived at road under repair. In the dark, our bus driver couldn't see where exactly to go (no lighted signs or even reflective cones, and a momentary lull in traffic). So he pulled into the wrong track and promptly got stuck. After futzing around for about 10 minutes trying to get unstuck, they finally told everyone to get off the bus. With the load lightened, he finally rocked the bus free.

Getting the Bus Unstuck
The road continued as a rutted track for another mile or so... 15 more minutes...

Finally arrived in Puno at 7:30 pm, 11 hours later. (for a 5 hour trip). Yes, the bus ride from hell. (no lunch, either).

Labels: Peru Inland

About 2 weeks ago, the transportation workers in Peru declared a strike to protest the new government laws that are going into effect to more tightly regulate driving activities. They have tighted rules for bus drivers and greatly increased fines for violating the rules.


Originally the strike was scheduled for 3 days, July 7-8-9, but some cities decided to strike only for 2 days. We debated whether to try to rush to Cusco before the strike started, but we decided that we liked Arequipa and La Case de Los Pinguinos (our hotel) so much that we'd stay here.

Though the outskirts of Arequipa are very poor and ugly looking, the tourist area downtown is very nice and safe. So we have spent the last few days resting up, enjoying the great internet here, walking around town, and watching the protests.

It turns out that the protests are only a little bit about the new transportation laws. Much of the rhetoric we heard was back on the old theme of the government giving away land rights to 'tribal lands' to foreign mining companies. This has been a simmering problem ever since the agreement was signed last year.

Unfortunately, though Arequipa is only on strike for 2 days, Puno, a city we have to go through to get to Cusco, is on strike for 3 days. We were going to leave yesterday afternoon, assuming they would get tired and go home at 5pm. But before we left the hotel, we heard from several sources in Puno that they were going to keep the barricades up until 10pm. So we decided to stay in Arequipa until this morning. Another

Labels: Peru Inland

The second day of our Colca Canon trip was mainly about seeing the Andean Condors. We left the hotel early. It was below freezing and everyone was bundled up. Our guide told us that the condors don't come out until the sun gets up high enough, so we stopped at some small towns along the way to burn up a little time.

Churches Built to Withstand Earthquakes!


The towns were typical tourist stops. Each town of course has a beautiful church, a square area, ladies selling local handicrafts, and a couple of people with local animals (llamas and hawks) that the tourists pay to photograph.



One town had girls in local dress dancing around the centerpiece of the square. They do this every morning, in the freezing (but sunny) weather. Several girls had on sandals. Brrr! There are 4-5 tourist vans, and everyone taking pictures. The locals are trying to get you to buy stuff or pay for a photo. I hate this side of tourism!


The rest of the town was usually pitiful... adobe houses, very poor people trying to scratch out a living in a pretty unforgiving environment. I once again blessed my heritage.




One amazing part of the landscape is the miles and miles and miles of terraced mountainside. Very little of it seemed like it was being actively cultivated now (but it IS in the middle of winter and dry season). But I assume a lot of it is still left over from the Inca empire 500 years ago.


The condor place is known as Cruz del Condor (Cross of the Condor). Just as promised, the condors were soaring... about 10 of them in all. But after a half an hour or so, they moved on down the cliff and out of sight. It doesn't look like it in the pictures, but its wingspan is 9-10 feet!!




I was feeling really bad... my bout of 'turistas' had come back unexpectedly, and the altitude was still giving me problems, and it was cold. When we got back on the bus for the trip back to Arequipa, I zonked out, even though we were on rough roads most of the way back!

Feeling Like Crap, I Bravely Smile for the Camera!

Labels: Peru Inland

Where we brave the dust and cold to experience vicuñas, alpacas, llamas, native dancing, hot springs, condors, and a very deep cañon.

We spent 2 days 'playing tourist' with a guided bus tour up into the Colca Cañon.

The Colca Cañon is 13,658 feet deep, more than twice as deep as the Grand Canyon in the United States. However, the cañon's walls are not as vertical as those of the Grand Canyon. The Colca Cañon is also home to the elusive Andean Condo.

This was a true tourist trip, with the old 'herd you off the bus' approach, but we only paid $22 EACH for a 2 day trip INCLUDING our overnight stay in a hotel. We saw a lot in 2 days, and had a good bi-lingual tour guide and good safe bus driver. We booked our tour with Colonia Tours, through our hotel, but others booked it through tour bookers in the square in Arequipa. We saw LOTS of other tour groups on the trip, but not all do the same trip. Though we were not offered a choice of hotel for the overnight stay in Chivay, we understand that you can chose between several hotels at various prices.


The first thing that struck us as we left Arequipa was the stark landscape... Miles and miles and miles of cold, dry scrub landscape, with a backdrop of volcanic mountains.


After a couple of hours winding higher on the typical bad Peruvian roads, we made our first stop at the Pampa Canahuas, a reserve for vicuñas, llamas, alpacas and other indigenous species. Dave got some good pics.

Wild Vicuña


Llamas and Alpacas at a Watering Hole
As we climbed higher, our guide offered us coca leaves to chew, which are supposed to help relieve altitude sickness. Altitude sickness is pretty common among travelers in mountainous Peru. We were cresting at over 15,000 feet and going to stay the night at about 12,000 feet... mild altitude sickness starts at about 8,000 feet and gets worse as you get higher. Mild symptoms are mostly wooziness, headache, and shortness of breath. Coca leaves or coca tea are common Andean solutions to altitude sickness (we were offered the same in Colombia and Chile as well). Chewing coca leaves is more effective if you also chew a little lime (calcium). Our guide thoughtfully provided both. Coca is where cocaine (and novacaine) comes from. After a few minutes of chewing the leaves, my mouth felt like I'd been to the dentist.



Though the temperature in Arequipa was pretty cool, it wasn't bad. But the higher we got on this trip, the colder it got. We saw some ice and snow. And the wind was blowing pretty good.

When we got to our hotel in Chivay, we found that though it was a pretty nice budget hotel, it had no heat at all. The tour plan included an afternoon hike to an adjoining village. Both Dave an I were feeling the cold and the altitude and opted not to go hiking. So we had a couple of hours in the afternoon to kill, in our unheated hotel room. We spent the time napping under 20lbs of blankets. (we must be getting old!).

At 6pm, we loaded up in the bus and went to the 'hot springs'. This is natural volcano-related hot springs. There were a lot of tourists there, so there was no ambiance, but at lease we were warm.

In the evening, we were treated to a group dinner and some very nice Peruvian music and dancing. (About 100 tourists packed into a restaurant).

Labels: Peru Inland

We took the 'night bus' from Lima down to Arequipa yesterday. The direct trip takes about 15-16 hours, so most bus companies only offer an overnight trip. Though we missed the sightseeing, most of the route is dry desert... miles and miles of sand dunes.

We used the Cruz del Sur bus line, which has an online ticketing system, just like the airlines, you can reserve, select your seats, and pay online. We opted for the most expensive seats, what they call 'full cama' seats, which almost totally recline. So we had a much better overnight trip than we have on overnight plane flights.

Our plan was to arrive in Arequipa in the morning, drop our stuff at a hotel, and go see Arequipa (yesterday). The only problem is, somewhere in the last couple of days, we both picked up a stomach bug. So we spent yesterday hanging out in the hotel room, catching up on sleep, and staying near the bathroom.

We feel much better today, though not completely over the bug. But we're heading out to see the sights in Arequipa today, and have booked a 2-day trip into the Colca Canyon for tomorrow.


We are staying at La Casa de Los Pinguinos, about 5 blocks off the main square in Arequipa. It is run by a Dutch woman named Alex. It is a really nice place, clean and bright, great beds, hot water, great wifi, etc. Alex is very talkative and is a wealth of information about traveling in Peru. The cost is a little pricey for backpacker budgets, at $30 U.S. for a double with private bath. But they offer a really good breakfast, and Alex came to pick us up herself at the bus station. It is worth a few bucks extra here.

Labels: Peru Inland

We are almost finished with our very fast and very exciting tour of the Cordillera Blanca and Cordillera Negra mountain ranges in Peru. We have taken more than 1,000 photos in 5 days!! We will try to get some time to post a few of our best pictures in the next day or so.

Today we return to Lima, and tomorrow we are booked on an overnight bus to Arequipa, Peru (south down the coast from Lima).
-----
At 6/30/2009 1:38 AM (utc) our position was 09°31.84'S 077°31.43'W

Labels: Peru Inland

On day 2 our goal was to get to the ruins at Chavin de Huantar. But it took us nearly all day of exploring the small towns along the way to get there.

We stopped at the small town of Recuay, where there was a 'barbecue' going on to raise money for the church. Of course, we had to help out. Pretty small town, nice square, nice church.




We turned left at Catac, another small town and headed up into the mountains.


Our next stop was a beautiful lake. (Querococha) Here we paid 2 kids about 50 cents to hold their lambs and pose for the camera.





We also had a little 'Mate de Coca' (Coca Tea), to help rev us up for the altitude. The cutest little girl was hanging out with her mom, who was selling the coca tea.


By early afternoon we passed through the Tunel Kawish, at the crest of the mountain at 4512 meters (14,660 feet). At 14,660 feet, the oxygen is thin and we all got a little woozy. But fortunately we were headed back down the mountain.

We were amazed at the terraced farming going on all over the mountains.


When we arrived in Chavin, we found it a pretty little town. Not much there for tourists except the ruins. We stayed at Hotel Inca, right on the tiny square. The square was beautiful--filled with flowers.



The only restaurant in town that was open was called Restaurant Turistico (Tourist Restaurant). They were serving Cuy, or stewed guinea pig. It is a traditional Peruvian dish. I tried it. It was OK, but I wouldn't go out of my way to find it again.



We spent the late afternoon wandering around town. (It took all of about 15 minutes to see the whole town).

Labels: Peru Inland

We set out from Lima about 10am in Edy's nice 4WD SUV, the 4 of us, plus the Darcourt's bodyguard/driver Carlos.

The first few hours we were on a good road, 4 lane, nicely paved, cruising through mostly dry desert conditions along the coast.

Huge Sand Dunes, One Part of The Incredible Peruvian Landscape
A Glimpse of the Ocean
It was about 2pm when we arrived at the turnoff in the town of Casma. We thought the next segment, from Casma to Huaraz would only take about 2-3 hours. But it turned out that that timing was based on taking the other better road. The route via Casma is an 'adventure route'. Twisty dirt road, going up and up. The GPS said it was only 53 miles, as the crow flies. But we finally arrived in Huaraz just as it got dark, about 7pm!

The hotel, Albergue Churup, turned out to be a very nice place. Great decor, great common room, good beds, hot water, good sightseeing and hiking info. We met some travelers that had been there for 2 weeks!

The Mountain Bus (and Freight) System

The Terraced Mountainside

Passing Through a Small Village

Our Hotel in Huaraz, Churup (very nice!)

Labels: Peru Inland

We are starting tomorrow on a 5 day trip up to the Cordillera Blanca area of Peru with our Peruvian friends, Edy and Ani Darcourt.

Labels: Peru Inland

Well, Soggy Paws is stripped down to the fiberglass and drying out in the nice cool dry air at Puerto Lucia.

So we are headed off to see some of Peru. We are starting in Lima, with our friends Eduardo and Anamarie. If Edy can take the time off work, we are hoping we can go together to visit the Huarez area of Peru. If now is not a good time for Edy, Dave and I will head off on our own to see Cuzco and the surrounding area.

We don't have a real concrete plan on this trip. Unlike our trip to Chile, where we almost had the entire 7 weeks planned out day-by-day. But Dave has been to Peru twice before, and we've got lots of notes from several cruising friends who've visted Peru recentl, plus the Lonely Planet. We also have the Bolivia section of the LP South America guide.. if we get a chance, we'll try to hit the high spots of Bolivia on this trip as well.

For a compact summary of where we went and where we stayed on our travels within Peru, see our Travel Peru page on the website.

Labels: Ecuador, Maintenance, Peru Inland

We flew from Santiago to Lima on Saturday, had a brief stop over with some good friends of Dave's (Ani and Edy Darcourt) in Lima (Callao), and then flew on to Ft. Lauderdale on an overnight flight, arriving in Ft. Lauderdale on Monday morning.

We had a great time on our brief stay in Lima.

Ani took us downtown for a few hours to the Plaza Central in Lima. We just happened to be there for an unusual display... they were celebrating the Peruvian victory known as the Battle of Callao (May 2, 1866). So in the square downtown, the 'Fancy Rifles' were giving a very nice display.




We took a few minutes to go see one of the big beautiful churches near the square. An evening mass was just getting ready to start, so we couldn't stay long.




We had lunch with Anamarie at the Peruvian Naval Officer's Club in La Punta.



(Note the grey day in the background... it was 'fogged in' the whole time we were there. Eduardo says this was very unusual weather)

We took a stroll along the waterfront and visited the Yacht Club Peruano, which is right next door to Ani and Edy's condo. We have heard about the hospitality to cruisers from the yacht club for years, so it was nice to see it in person.


We were so effusive about what a nice place it was, that the manager, Jaime Ackerman, presented us with a YCP burgee.



Ani and Edy also insisted on taking us out to see some Peruvian folk dancing. They made it a family affair and we had a great time, even if they did make us stay out til the ungodly hour of 3am!

Labels: Peru Inland