Miraflores, Peru

It’s been over a year since I’ve posted on this blog, but I needed someplace to post the pictures from our amazing and adventurous trip to Peru so I guess I’ll take up blogging again, at least for a few days!

As with all our trips, I pack light and Chuck likes to be prepared. He was definitely loaded down, but in his defense he was packing all of the hiking gear we both needed in his bright yellow backpack.

I was so nervous about flying in to Lima, Peru late at night and then trying to find a taxi to take us to our hotel which was a 45 minute drive from the hotel so Chuck arranged with hotel in advance to have someone meet us at the airport which greatly alleviated my stress. I felt justified in my anxiety because on our last trip to a South American country, Chile, the taxi driver tried to drop us off at the wrong hotel 3 different times. Luckily Chuck had a map and could speak the language or we would have been wandering the streets of Santiago totally lost. Once we arrived in Lima, close to 11 p.m. it took us well over an hour to get through Customs, it seemed like efficiency was not a high priority. The longer we stood in the line the more convinced the two of us became that there was no way our arranged driver was still going to be there and now it was close to midnight! When we finally cleared customs and walked out into the terminal I couldn’t believe the sight (I wish I would have taken a picture!). The whole area was packed with people, many of them drivers holding signs and other taxi drivers trying to offer rides. Amongst all the chaos Chuck managed to spot a big guy holding a sign with his name on it – Hallelujah our driver had waited!

We loaded our gear in a mini van and then the crazy taxi ride adventure began. Chuck was chatting away in Spanish to the driver while I was praying we weren’t going to die on the way to the hotel. You would suppose that traveling after midnight you would not need to worry about slamming into other vehicles and pedestrians, but Lima is a busy place at all hours. The ride consisted of constant horn honking, slamming of brakes, straying into other lanes of travel, and lots of near misses. Let’s just say we were greatly relieved to pull up to the hotel!  

Despite being tired, I didn’t sleep much that night (or really any night of our trip for that matter!). I was too excited that we were finally there, the taxi ride had me on edge and it was noisy in our room with the sound of traffic and barking dogs (there were packs of wild barking dogs all over the place).

 

The hotel room was small, but nice and clean.

This was the view out our hotel window. The air in Lima was really smoggy.

The front of the hotel faced a busy rode, which we walked along to the bank first thing in the morning. We needed to change our money so we could take a taxi to the center of Miraflores. We waited and waited outside the bank with a couple of other people for the bank to open. One lady started pounding on the door for them to open, but no one seemed to be around to open the doors despite the fact that it was clearly opening hours. We finally decided just to walk, which was an adventure. Pedestrians don’t have the right of way so you have to be extremely careful because they will run you over!

I loved the brightly painted buildings all over town.

All South American cities have a Plaza de Armas, which consists of a green park area surrounded by at least one cathedral and usually some type of government office buildings. This was the Plaza de Armas for Miraflores.

We went inside of the cathedral and despite the fact that it was a regular weekday morning they were holding a Mass service that we watched for a time. The cathedrals are so very interesting on the inside, but unfortunately they ask you not to take pictures. When we came out of the cathedral Chuck struck up a conversation with some guy who tried to convince us to let him take us into the center of Lima. There was no way I was getting in the car with some random guy no matter how nice he seemed!

Plaza de Armas and cathedral in the background. Lady cleaning the streets right behind me.

Our plane left from Lima to Cusco that evening so we took another crazy taxi trip to the airport. Chuck was again chatting away in Spanish to the driver while I prayed we weren’t going to wreck, looked out the window at all the fascinating sites, and snapped a few pictures here and there. Chuck asked the driver to take us to Lima’s Plaza de Armas which was amazing even from the car.

I loved peering down all the side streets.

If only we had such brightly fun colored buildings here!

The landscape sure does change as you leave the downtown area of Lima and pass the poorer parts of town.

I felt wave of relief that we had survived another crazy taxi ride as we pulled into the airport, only do see a fist fight break out between two taxi drivers right at the curb. Our driver pulled right into the mix as men were running from all directions to the fray.

  

We narrowly avoided a disaster at the airport. The time of our departure had been moved up an hour and a half and we didn’t realize it until we were eating at the airport. I happened to be looking at my ticket and noticed the departure time was listed different than what we had planned. We had to hurry to the gate where they were already loading the plane. That was the last departure to Cusco that day so we were so glad we made it!

The Andes mountain range is truly an amazing site to behold.

 

Every so often there were these little villages high on the mountain tops. They seemed so remote.

We arrived at the little airport in Cusco and took another taxi ride to our hotel. I was feeling a little bit dizzy during the ride which I think was a combination of the high altitude, crazy driving and the plane ride. Our driver took us right through the central market street. Dizzy feeling accompanied by the smell of meat was not a great combination!

We arrived at the hotel and the first thing they asked us was if we needed oxygen and some coca tea. We declined both, but later that evening I was still feeling a bit dizzy so we took everyone's advice and spent 5 minutes each with the oxygen mask. (Wished I had a picture of that one!)

We meet the rest of our group and spent a fun evening strolling the streets of Cusco trying to avoid all the people who were trying to sell us stuff.

 

 

Cusco

I just loved Cusco! Anciently it was the capital of the Inca Empire so it was such a fabulous old city. We walked and walked and walked all through town.

 

Our hotel in Cusco was great, nice and clean. 

There was this quaint little outdoor courtyard inside the hotel flanked by rooms on each side. The funny thing is that we had to climb two sets of stairs to get to our room and every time we climbed those stairs we were huffing and puffing. We couldn’t believe how the high altitude effected us even with minimal effort exerted.

This was the view over the rooftop of our hotel. On our way out of town, we drove up these hillsides among the houses and it was pretty poor living conditions.

The cobblestone streets were so interesting.

Taking a small break at the main Plaza de Armas.

One of the cathedrals surrounding the Plaza.

This was one of the original Inca walls that still remains standing. It’s amazing how they could carve the stones and fit them together without any mortar.

As we walked along the alleyway we could glance into courtyards when we had the chance. I loved the brightly colored walls and clothing.

We visited the Hiram Bingham museum. He discovered Machu Picchu with the guidance of local indigenous farmers. They do not let you take pictures in any of the museums, which was too bad because there were some really interesting exhibits.

It was so interesting to see the mix of Peruvian people walking the streets of Cusco. There were so many people approaching us trying to sell us all sorts of goods. I wanted to take more pictures of some of the locals dressed in their traditional clothing, but they wanted money if they saw you taking pictures. When we saw the baby llamas, we couldn’t pass up this photo opportunity. Chuck got into a slight argument in Spanish with one of these ladies. He gave one of them the money for both of them thinking they would split it, but the one lady pocketed it all and wasn’t going to hand any over to the other lady. Chuck finally just dished out extra money.

We eventually wondered to the central market. I can’t even begin to describe the various colorful sights and mix of smells.

If you need to eat while in a foreign country, you should avoid a visit to the central market! Seeing all the meat just lying out in the heat and taking a whiff of the potent smell is quite the experience. I had to rush through this section suppressing a gag that desperately wanted to come. This is the reason I was so careful with what I ate! Four of the guys in our group got food poisoning at some point during the trip. Luckily we were all fine during the hike. Chuck actually caught a bug on the way home when he ate lettuce on his hamburger in the airport. I tried to tell him he shouldn’t eat the lettuce to which he told me we were in an international airport eating at an internationally fast food chain so it should be fine. Famous last words! Luckily we got home just as the sickness was coming on. Of course about every 4 days since being home he gets a reoccurring bought of sickness. 

The fruit section was directly adjacent to the meat section but isn’t this a beautiful sight. I loved the all the colors of the fresh fruit and there was such a sweet smell in the air. Of course, there was no way we were actually going to purchase and eat any of the beautiful fruit, but it sure was fun to wonder the aisle and take in all the sights.

The fish aisle I just stayed clear of.

In addition to rows of food, there were rows and rows and rows of all types of goods for sale.

We couldn’t resist a picture with these llama hats. They sure were soft.

After we were done with the Inca Trail we came back to Cusco. We toured the cathedrals and walked through this quaint town again.

I got another picture with the llama ladies and this time I held the baby llama. The llama was trying to eat the ladies clothes.