Peru - the Rest of the Story

So here are a few photo-highlights from Peru …. it was so very difficult to select 40-odd pictures from the several hundred that we have but this will give you a flavour of some of the things we experienced .......

Lima itself (population approx. 10 million) has a UNESCO World Heritage site downtown …… tho’ it is an oasis in a rather bleak and run-down city



….. and the shanty towns are ever-growing ….. this one seems to be climbing a mountain



Cuzco was definitely our preferred hang-out spot with a great central square



And plenty of neat alleys to explore



Even modest villages had some fine buildings





And the Moorish influence was self-evident



My theory that Fatimah’s Hand door knockers define the limits of Moorish architecture held up quite nicely



Agriculture was often quite retro ….. here ploughing with oxen



And here winnowing the chaff



Markets were predictably colourful



Rural Indian women often practiced weaving





While the men crocheted



Children often have hard lives



But a smile is always round the corner



And our activities always produced shy curiosity



Food was uniformly good, except perhaps, Mike’s fried guinea pig tho’ he said it tasted “just like squirrel” – as if I would know.



Amazing what you could find !!!!



Switching now to the Incas themselves. Of course their masonry skills are legendary … how they fitted huge diorite building stones together is quite remarkable, shown here with Dave doing his best to look Inca-like



And even the natural curve of outcropping rock was accomodated ..



And the huge experimental terraced greenhouse in Moray was also unique. To get an idea of size, look at the tiny humans in the centre of the complex



And here they are ....



Even more curious were the salinas, fed by naturally occurring salt-rich streams



That are fed into terraced pools where the water evaporates



Leaving the salt to be ‘mined”



And then transported to the customers



The first leg of the trip was to the rain forest where the new lodge proved to be no hardship whatsoever



Here, Becky examines the “walking palm” which can move 80 cm per year



While the leaf-cutter ants chomp away



And then cart of the prize to their underground compost heaps



Of course much of the vegetation was spectacular, especially the orchids



Phase two was the mountain biking



All the terrain was so arid …. the only snow was on the very high peaks in the distance



Easy to start with …



But then the last third was all downhill with narrow trails, hairpin bends, clouds of dust and plenty of pretty big rocks to circumnavigate



Next came the Inca Trail



Oh so steep



Though the afternoon was in semi-tropical jungle



But still so much climbing



And yet more steps



But all worthwhile in the end. This shot of Machu Picchu has to be one of the most photographed views in the world.



For me, the highlight of the whole trip was probably Lake Titicaca. Sorry, Machu Picchu – is that heresy? But it is so very blue



With the Bolivian Andes in the distance



Being our anniversary, Sharon got a symbolic flower behind her ear



Accommodation was quite delightful with extraordinarily gracious families



And I was introduced to the mean-spirited Pepe



But fortunately, Maggie decided not to bring her own new-found friend back to the US



The Uro Aymara floating villages were very special



Everything was made of reeds; not only the islands themselves but also the houses ……..



……… and the boats



Finally back to Lima for the culinary tour which included a lesson on how to make Peruvian cerviche.



And for now, good-bye and good luck ......