Llamas, alpacas and horses, oh my!

Our fourth day started  with an early flight from Lima to Cusco. We knew we were going to be at close to 9000 ft. in altitude and were warned that we could feel a little light-headed. We were encouraged to buy "canned oxygen" for sale in the airport, complete with handy carrying strap.

Here's our friend, Marty, Oxy-Shot at the ready in its colorfully crafted carrier. (We later found these carriers were great water bottle holders.) I think we all felt a little sheepish for having purchased this product, but in the middle of the night we were grateful to take a deep breath of pure oxygen!

Once we were out of the airport, we headed to the Sacred Valley of the Incas, stopping first at the Awanacancha alpaca and llama farm. This reminded me of a petting zoo for adults. We were given a quick lesson on differentiating among alpacas, llamas and vicunas then were set loose, alfalfa shoots in hand, to feed the greedy beasts.

Henry tried to lure a too-well fed alpaca to eat one more stalk of alfalfa.

After we had fed and petted the animals,were treated to our own lunch. We were taken to Wayra where we ate grilled fish, chicken and pork and lots of potatoes. At the end of the lunch, we watched a display of beautiful horsemanship and dance.

Our final stop for the day was Casa Andina, a rustic lodge curiously located at the end of a dusty dirt road in what appeared to be a tiny village with friendly people.

These little girls were more than willing to have me take their pictures.

Nazca Lines Adventure

Day 3 of our South America Spectacular began at 6AM, without benefit of coffee or breakfast, as we boarded the bus for an almost three-hour drive down the coastline from Lima. We were instantly surprised by the terrain. While we had the Pacific Ocean on one side, the other side was arid and desolate. Our guide told us that the height of the Andes prevented rainfall from reaching the area, resulting in the desert conditions. We also noticed the huge numbers of "squatters' shacks" that dominated the landscape.

We learned that the many people who migrated to the city had the chance to "earn" land by living on public, unoccupied land for at least five years. Eventually the government brings in electricity and running water and grants the squatter ownership of the plot he has claimed.

Many, many people who cannot afford cars rely on the micro-taxis that proliferate in the area. These are only three-wheeled vehicles.
After the first two hours of the bus ride, we finally got to stop for a potty break and much-needed coffee. After another forty-five minutes, we finally reached our destination, a military airbase.

There didn't seem to be much activity going on, indeed we saw only one lone guard who didn't have much to do besides keep us tourists in our designated spot.

We finally climbed aboard the brand-new Cessna 12-seater for our trip to the mysterious lines just before noon.  Henry and I were on the bench seat at the back of the plane. This gave me a great vantage point for seeing the lines, as I could lean in front of Henry and take pictures out his window as well as my own.

The pilot told us he would tip the wings of the plane to the left and to the right so all the passengers would be able to see the lines. There were supposed to be as many as fifteen different images, all etched in the desert an estimated 2000 years ago and left undiscovered until the late 1930's when a pilot flew over the area. He happened to notice that the lines of one of the birds were perfectly aligned with the setting sun on the Summer Solstice.

The whale was the first image I captured as our plane tilted and circled over it.

While most of the images were scratched onto flat land, the "astronaut" was on a small hill, facing east.

Here is the monkey, his tail curled in a spiral, his hands clutching...bananas?

This one looked like an octopus.

Spider

Parrot

Hands

The hummingbird was my favorite and quite possibly the longest design. We know that some of the designs were up to 300 meters long -- about three times the length of a football field!

This one was called The Star. The dots around the edge of the circle may align with the movement of the sun.

This is the Pelican, his open beak visible on the left, with stylized wings at right.

The Condor is a major cultural image in Peru.

We had a great view of the wind-swept desert hills as we flew back to the base.

Once we landed, we drove on to a new Doubletree Inn that appeared like an oasis after so much sand and rock.

Following our late lunch, we were back on the bus for another two hours, arriving back at Lima near dusk.

Lima, Peru: Days 1 & 2

 One of the things Henry and I both wanted to do when we retired was travel. Our boys gave us the book, 1000 Places to See Before You Die, and we’ve been checking off places as best we can: the Great Wall of China; Mont St. Michel and the Eiffel Tower in France; the Blarney Stone in Ireland; Hadrian’s Wall in northern England; La Boca in Buenos Aires. Two weeks ago we returned from a 3-week trip-of-a-lifetime to Peru, Bolivia and Argentina. It has taken me most of those two weeks to unpack, put away souvenirs, and sort through the more than 1500 pictures I took on our trip.

On October 1, we flew from Los Angeles to Lima, Peru where we joined a tour group for the first two weeks. We immediately saw the advantages of a first-rate tour when we were met at the airport at midnight and escorted to our hotel. On reaching our room, we found: snacks laid out for us, including sandwiches, fruit, juice, water, and cookies; 

 bathrobes and slippers; AND a gorgeous ocean view.

We were on our own the first day, Friday, so we took advantage of the time to walk around Miraflores, a district of Lima. We started out by perusing the plethora of markets filled with souvenirs. 

While there were tempting items to buy (and we did buy some), there was more to do. I’d read about Gelateria 4D which sounded pretty yummy, and when we stumbled on it, we stopped to see if it was as good as advertised. It was. 

We also found a pre-Incan ruin that was within walking distance of our hotel. The Huaca Pucllana (a sacred site) was built of vast amounts of book-sized adobe bricks, stacked one upon the other.

Our guide told us that the pyramidal structure had served as a burial ground around 500 AD; it was covered over and not re-discovered until the 1980’s.

Henry, always the astute observer of public transportation, noticed as we walked the streets of Miraflores, that besides some of the dirty, crowded buses, there were also small vans with men hanging out the side windows. 

We learned they were hawkers, trying  to get more business for these privately owned vans. We elected to walk back to the hotel instead of trying a ride with the locals.

Day 2 Saturday

At 8:00 AM, we met our guide, Kate, and the other 30 members of our tour group over breakfast. Kate had us introduce ourselves and outlined our itinerary for the next couple of days.  She told us that we had an unannounced opportunity the next day to visit the Nazca Lines, those mysterious drawings in the desert that could only be viewed from the air. We quickly decided to sign up to take advantage of this trip, forgoing a museum visit for the chance to see the drawings of an ancient people. An hour later, we boarded a bus for downtown Lima where we visited the Cathedral of San Pedro and a Franciscan monastery, finishing the morning with the changing of the guard ceremony at the president’s palace. 

The square in front of the cathedral was filled with colorfully dressed ethnic dancers and musicians celebrating a feast day.

In the cathedral, we saw examples of how the Peruvians have adapted Catholicism to their own culture. They preferred the image of a living Christ to a crucified one. Statues of Mary showed an expectant mother instead of a young virgin. An image of Jesus as a young boy had black hair and was dressed as a Peruvian youth.

 The Changing of the Guard at the President's palace:

After the changing of the guard, we walked a short distance to Casa Aliaga, the ancestral home of one of the founders of Lima, continuously occupied by family since 1548. We were served Pisco sours and appetizers while we waited to be seated in the dining room for lunch.

After lunch, we boarded our bus again for visit to a privately held gold museum, replete with 25,000 gold items, Samurai armor, and an ancient skeleton.

We returned to our rooms with time to change for dinner in yet another private home, that of a couple who are dedicated to preserving Peruvian culture. This home held a collection of 1500 Nativity scenes, all on display. After dinner on the terrace, we returned to our hotel for the night.

Note: If you haven’t been keeping track, we started our day at 8am and finished about 10pm. Tour vacations are hard work!