Ramblings about Peru

Ok, so now we're home.  This will be a post without photos.  It's sort of a what-I-love about Peru post and a not-so-much post.

I love that when you get to baggage claim in Lima, the luggage carts are free and there are plenty of them; but toilet paper (and, sometimes, toilets!!) aren't.  We went to a clinic because Gillian wasn't feeling well...we had to pay to use the toilets, and then when we went in, there was no toilet paper.  We asked for our money back.  Smart travelers always have toilet paper.

I love that taxis are super cheap.  We always had to take two because we were too many and they are very strict now about piling too many people into a cab(never mind that the collectivos-cheap buses- are crammed like phone booths in college in the old days).  8 soles( less than $3) to go anywhere.  I hate that the roads are full of potholes and that a two lane road can become a 5-10 lane road.  If you can fit your car in, you deserve a lane.  if you want to turn left, you can use any lane to do that and if you're desperate, 10 cars are all trying to turn left at once. They can actually stop traffic that's going straight ahead.  I think there really is no right of way in Peru.   If you can fit your car into the mix, you can go for it.  The story goes that new cars and cars that don't belong to you are the ones most likely to be in the middle of a mass of cars because no one wants to hit a new car; it's too expensive and if you don't own the car, you don't really care who hits it.

I love that people honk rather good naturedly and don't take anything personally.  If someone cuts you off, it's actually admired that someone could get their car into the small space that's there.  It takes a really long time to go anywhere and no one cares that much.  Road rage seems pretty non-existent. I have made a promise to myself not to complain about commuting on 80 any more.  It's really not that bad here. And, when I drive around, there is actually some space between my car and others.  And I sort of know what other drivers are going to do.

I hate that there really isn't any good mass transit.  There was a BART-like rail being built 25 years ago.  The story goes that Alan Garcia, then president of Peru, stole the money to complete it so it was never finished.  You can see where it was started.  Just in this last election, they re-elected Alan Garcia so he could finish it.  They say this with a straight face.  No one is holding their breath on that one.  I hate that no one seems to walk anywhere.  There is nothing to look at because all the houses are closed off.  You see a huge garage door and a metal gate and a wooden door, all locked up tightly.  When you go inside, everything is in there, including front patios and and all living spaces...no neighbors to talk to...

I love it that food is cheap.  When you eat out, you can feed 5-7 people including bottles of wine for $75.00.  Portions are huge and we learned to order 2 meals for 3 people (the girls and I) and still we couldn't eat it all.  Aji (salsa in Peru) is amazing and you ask for it at every meal.  There are so many varieties and they are all hot, but very tasty.  Drinks are cheap too:  $ 4.00 for the expensive kind.  Wong (the huge food store) has everything.  You can buy whatever you need.  Each check out lane has several employees:  one person to put your stuff from the cart onto the counter, one person to check you out and one person to bag your stuff.  That's per lane!!  No one bagger for 4-5 checkout lanes.  Prices are comparable to what we see here.  There are also these markets that you can walk through from one block to the next that have everything.  You can get tailoring done or hems put in...there's a shop for everything.

Boticas (pharmacies, but smaller) are everywhere and open late.  You can find anything you need at all hours.  The only problem is that everything is behind a counter.  So, to look at shampoo, you have to ask them to show it to you.  You can't touch or read labels unless you ask.  But, since there are so many employees everywhere, it doesn't take too long.  However, there are several steps.  One person shows you the items, one person writes them up and hands you the paper which you take to the cashier, and one person takes the items to the cashier,  and one person checks you out and takes your money.  It's weird because when you need something, you say what your symptoms are and they give you medicine but you don't know if you are asking a pharmacist or a teenage "expert".  Antibiotics are given out for everything and all of our prescription medicines for altitude sickness (soroche) that we forgot were readily available.  Gillian is in heaven because she was recommended to take Panadol Fuerte for Migranes for her headaches and one pill wipes them out.  She has those monthly migraines.  We bought boxes of the stuff to bring home.

The Last Trip

We got back to Lima on Monday, June 27 and after a late dinner at Luis' friends' house until 2:30 am we got up at 6 and left for Ica and the planes to fly over the Nazca Lines. We took Gretta and Flaco with us and had a wonderful time. On our way, we stopped at an artisanal Pisco winery. It was really neat to see the old way of making pisco. The grapes are stomped and then an old wooden press squeezes the last drops out of the grape skins. We tasted pisco and bought some. (This was only the beginning. Friends kept giving us their favorite pisco and we ended up just barely making our maximum to bring in to the US-We can make Pisco Sours for years!!).

Old Wooden Grape Press

We really thought the winery was interesting after years of visiting Napa wineries, this was so different. The whole process is very low-tech and pisco is produced in small batches. It's fermented in these clay pots.

A photo of all of us and the tasting table.

The five of us with Gretta and Flaco

Tasting table

The pisco was all really good. We tasted very little because we were on our way to the Nazca flights and we were afraid we'd get sick. We bought enough to taste later though.

The amazing Gretta and Flaco

We headed to the air field. We had to take 2 planes because only 4 of us could go in a plane. The new regulations require a pilot and a co-pilot now. I hate little planes and flying in general so I was ok with the two pilot regulation. Luis and Marcio went together and the girls and I went on the other plane. The flight was great in that we saw a lot. The pilots really showed us everything and from both sides of the plane. That involved a lot of banking in the plane...queasy stomachs all around. The Nazca lines are really neat. The dunes protect them so winds do little damage. You can really see how immense the dunes are. The sand dunes go along the coast for miles. Nothing grows there. Very desolate.

The dues go all the way to the ocean.

It is dry and not too pretty

Marcio started out well, but did get queasy

We had a map of the lines....about 20 drawings in all. We were told that not all flights are good and it's better to get a recommendation.

condor

spider

Hummingbird

The hummingbird is the clearest, but many of the others are good too. I think they were not as big as I thought they'd be. It was Gillian's choice of what she wanted to do. I think she was happy and I was glad to see them.
After we landed, we headed to another winery. It was a regular winery and bigger than the first one, but still a much smaller scale than we are used to in California. This one is beautiful although it was hit rather hard in the 2007 earthquake that was centered in Ica and Pisco.

Tacama Winery

There were horses and a very nice tasting room. We drank more wine since we didn't have a plane to catch. Peruvian wines aren't the best...a decent white and a light red...ok and drinkable. Off to our hotel where we had pisco sours and a bit of food before going off the next day to Paracas. There was a weird lagoon there and it sort of smelled like a sewer, but we weren't there long and it was ok.

In the morning we went to Paracas to catch the boat to the Ballestas Islands. I was dying to see the penguins that live out there and the other birds. The Ballestas are a prime guano collecting site. There are 2 guards who live there for 2 months and then rotate out. They keep enterprising Peruvians from harvesting their own guano. We had to take them a huge tank of water as there is none on the islands. We saw amazing birds, penguins, and seals. A great boat trip....I got a little sea sick, unusual for me, but it didn't go away after we got off the boat. Turns out I was having my second bout of traveler's tummy and I was pretty sick that night. A real shame because we had a fantastic hotel and I missed dinner and drinks.

On our way to the Ballestas

Girls in life jackets

tons of birds and penguins

more penguins

candelabra-another sand drawing,
not related to Nazca

So cute. Loved these guys!!

Our hotel was wonderful. We had ocean views and a great pool and hot tub. There was only one other guest...it's low season, winter and we got the best service. I think the employees were bored. Even though I was sick, I was sick in a huge white bed...cool and comfortable and great for sleeping.

Luis on our balcony

Beautiful pool

The waiters brought us drinks

Paracas itself is a great beach town. We loved the harbor area and there were tons of jewelry sellers, very reasonable stuff made of stones. We bought a lot of gifts. The girls were able to buy the remaining gifts they needed to take home with them.

Marcio still loves a good pool

I felt better the next morning and was able to eat a little breakfast. Had to. It was the last morning of fresh papaya juice...breakfast was included and instead of the usual buffet, we were able to order whatever we wanted. The waiter kept bringing us more coffee and fruit and omelets...We stayed until the 12 noon check out time. We weren't about to leave a minute sooner. Then a return trip to town for more shopping and home to Lima. three days and 2 nights with our dear friends. What a wonderful way to end our Peru trip....It was going to be hard to leave.

Bolivia, if you dare!!

We woke up early to drive to Bolivia to see some ruins that are sort of the beginning of the Inca empire.  Luis really wanted us to see them.  We stopped in Juli on the way to see a beautiful old church.

Front of church, Juli

 It's being renovated but it has some great murals and wood work.  Also, there are some beautiful paintings.

carved window frames

We continued on to Bolivia.  We needed visas, Luis went in on his Peruvian passport, so he was free.  The 4 of us needed visas, expensive for one day.  We had the real South American run-around...we were sent to many different offices, visas were re-done and spelled correctly.  All of this is because Eva Morales, their president hates Americans, so he makes it tough for us to enter.  Finally, we were done, or so we thought.  We had to get photocopies of our passports-photo page and the stamp of the visa.  Where to go?  Pues, de frente, nada mas.  (Just out front).  But, not on Sunday.  There was no where to go so Luis had to walk back across the border to Peru to do it.  1.5 hours later, we were in Bolivia!

Welcome to Bolivia, but not really!!

But, we are actually quite happy.  We have a 5-year visa and can go back any time!!

Tiahuanaco it the place we headed.  We had lunch, more trout, but this time Salmon Trout..it's pink, fresh, but not as good at the regular trout from Taquile Island.  This site is pre-Columbian, much older than Inca times and the stone work is very sophisticated.  Mysteries abound and no one is completely sure how old they are....very old, definitely BC.

Arches and stone work-earlier than Inca times

The gang

Walls of these heads-commemorating leaders

I have more photos but will add later.  An exhausting day, but so interesting and fun,  And a little frustrating, thanks to the Bolivians.

More of Lake Titicaca

In the afternoon, we went to Taquile Island.  There are no cars there and no hotels, but you can stay with a family if you want.  We just went for the afternoon and had lunch.  We landed on the island and hiked up a beautiful stone pathway.  Although we were getting adjusted to the altitude, Puno is higher than Cusco, so it was still a challenge to hike around the island.  We needed to go slow.  I was told by our guide that people who live at high altitudes have more red blood cells to carry more oxygen. 

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lovely stone pathway

The people who live here are very interesting.  The women spin the yarn for the knitting and weaving
The men do most of the knitting and a man cannot marry unless he can knit well.  I saw men walking around the island knitting hats and women spinning.  I love the idea of a man not being good marriage material if he can't knit.  They start learning when they are 4 years old.  Since they sell their work for part of their income, it's really necessary.  The lake is beautiful and the scenery made the walk so pleasant.

These black scarves protect against the sun

We had a great trout lunch.  I am not much of a trout lover, but the lake fish was super fresh.  We also had amazing quinoa soup.  Lovely little town and wonderful artisan coop where they sell weavings and knitting.  It was a great afternoon.  The island is actually 2 hours away from Puno-so it was a sleepy boat ride back.

Lots of stone arches all over the island

We loved the old stone streets in the little town and even though it was winter, it was warm and sunny although it did get very cold at night.

old stone street the way to the restaurant

Hard to believe it's winter.
Cantua buxifolia or Fuchsia buxifolia
Peruvian National Flower

It was an incredible day:  both on the floating islands of the Uros and on Taquile.  The people on Taquile still speak Quechua while most of the island areas speak Aymara.  I would love to explore more of the island.  Next day:  Bolivia.

Puno and Lake Titicaca

The highest point of the pass

Leaving Cusco was tough...we loved it there.  We took a 9 hour bus ride to Puno over the Altiplano, which is sort of like high dessert, but it's really high, higher than Cusco.  We stopped in several places along the way, saw tons of llama and beautiful scenery.

Check out the altitude!!

An unpruned Alpaca

Puno is not a great city to visit, except for the fact that it's right on the lake.  And Lake Titicaca is beautiful.

Our first view of Lake Titicaca

 We had a great hotel with lake views.  There were llamas and cuy running around in front of the hotel.  The next morning we got up and took a boat to some of the islands on the lake.  The first stop was the floating islands of the Uros.  They build the islands from a plant...looks like a reed...and they build their houses, boats, and other structures with these reeds too.  The reeds are also used for food.  The reeds are baled together like hay, and then fresh loose reeds go on top.

Uro woman and cooking site

The houses are very compact and built with reeds too.  The dress is made by the Uros and very colorful.  It was an obvious tourist show but still we thought it was all so cool.  They make a living catering to tourists.  Some floating islands don't allow anyone to stop and they are the most unspoiled.






The girls tried on their clothes and so did Marcio.

 We loved how bright the colors were.  We went inside a home and found a TV!!!  How??  Why, solar panels, of course!!  They have the life figured out.  They turn the boats into gardens when the reeds deteriorate and build a new one.  Each one has a couple of thousand recycled plastic soda bottles inside for flotation.

Better than land fill!!  Most produce is traded for with fish and textile work.  We also took photos of the women and the wild life:  A rescued flamingo and a king fisher who attacked Luis-turns out he was just looking for fish.  The flamingo was captured because it was injured.  I asked what would happen to it when it healed.  The women said it was up to him-he could go or stay.




All of this was only the morning.  The afternoon was spent on another island.  To be continued.