A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 11 & 12

Saturday, October 15th, 2022 & Sunday, October 16th, 2022

This will be a quick post because the next two days are mainly traveling!

Today we left Aguas Calientes by train and arrived back to the Ollantaytambo Station where we boarded a bus to take us to Cusco.

When our bus arrived back to the city center of Cusco we had lunch at a local restaurant and then went to the airport where we grabbed our luggage and reorganized for our flight. It will take a little over an hour for our flight from Cusco to Lima.

When we arrived in Lima our group and our group leader said goodby. Some of us would be continuing our travels and some would be staying an extra day or two in Lima. Our flight from Lima was scheduled to depart around 11:00 PM to fly to Houston, Texas.

We arrived in Houston around 5:00 AM Sunday morning. We went through customs and said goodbye to our friends, Roseanna from Minnesota and Kathy, from Colorado. We hope to do another adventure together! Once we rechecked our luggage for our flight to Columbus we relaxed in the United Club because we had about six hours before our flight!

We arrived in Columbus on time, collected our luggage and headed home after a fantastic trip to Peru. Road Scholar fulfilled their description of providing a “Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu”.

A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 6

Monday, October 10, 2022

Our day began with a lecture about the Politics and Economy of Peru by Alan La Rue. He was born in Canada and moved to Peru in 1995 and has stayed in Peru.

An interesting fact that he shared was that close to 75% of the workforce in Peru was “informal”, meaning they weren’t on a payroll. The average monthly wage was $250 US dollars of the informal sector. China has become the biggest investor in Peru. Also, Peruvians are obliged to vote and if you don’t vote, you are fined. Mr. La Rue shared many interesting facts about Peru.

After our lecture we took a bus to the Lima airport for our flight to Cusco. As we flew to Cusco we went over the Andes mountains and they were beautiful! Some areas and mountain peaks were still covered in snow.

Cusco’s elevation was 11,152 feet above sea level. We were warned about the effects of altitude sickness. We were told to drink a lot of water, don’t eat a lot, stay away from alcohol, and drink coca tea. We were told to walk slowly, rest, and take our time. We noticed the altitude difference right away. We did have altitude pills to help which we did take and they did help with the headaches.

Upon arrival we transferred to our hotel. After check-in we had some time before Gustavo Leon, who was an expert on the history of Inca and Andean musical instruments gave his presentation. His expertise was on native woodwind, percussion, and string instruments.

Below is a picture of the courtyard of our hotel from our room. We opened our window into the courtyard to get some air flowing because our room was warm and there wasn’t any air conditioning. Unfortunately it was still warm and noisy!

When it was time for our lecture with Gustavo, we met in a meeting room and he had his collection of native and ancestral musical instruments. He was a native of Cusco and he had done research and preservation of Peru’s Andean music. He focused on the origins of the music. He was very talented! He demonstrated and played the instruments for us. We were impressed by his collection and his playing ability.

After the music demonstration a group of us walked with Victor, our Group Leader, to the Belmond Monasterio Hotel. It was a 5-star hotel with incredible artwork and had a beautiful chapel. It was a monastary in the 1600’s. It’s a national historic monument and was originally built in 1592. After an earthquake did extensive damage in 1650 restoration was done and the chapel was added. In 1965 it was remodeled as a hotel.

Below was a picture of the hotel’s courtyard. In the center was a 300 year old Cedar tree and its surrounded by stone cloisters and religious artwork.

We spent some time in the Chapel of San Antonio Abad. It was a great example of gold leaf style art. The chapel was gorgeous.

Dinner was on our own this evening. One of our fellow traveler friends, Roseanna, knew that the restaurant Uchu was owned by a woman from Lancaster, OH. Lancaster is about an hour from where we live and also was Roseanna’s hometown! We decided to try the restaurant. The food was delicious but unfortunately when we talked to the manager, he let us know that we missed the owner, she was traveling. He was kind and sent us a complimentary olive appetizer!

After our delicious meal we walked back to the hotel. The plaza was still very busy!

As we were walking the moon was shining brightly! The moon was almost full.

A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 5

Sunday, October 9th, 2022

This morning we met our Road Scholar group leader Victor. There were 18 of us travelers in our group. We already knew Kathy (from Colorado) that we got to know on our Galápagos Island tour with Road Scholar and Roseanna (from Minnesota) that we got to know on our Road Scholar New Zealand/Australia trip. It was great that we could meet up and travel together in Peru. The fourteen others in our group were great and our group got along well.

After our introductions, we had a speaker, Ricardo Bohl Pazos, who was a geographer. His lecture was “An Overview of Peru”. In the region of Lima, there were 50 districts and 50 mayors. Peru has over 300 volcanoes and 4 are active. He was very interesting.

Our next activity was to board a bus for a tour of the city with our local guide Claudia.

We visited a local fish market and walked out on the pier in Chorrillos, which is another district of Lima.

Our tour also stopped at the archaelogical site that we toured yesterday, Hauca Pucllana! Claudia led us through the site but it was a quick overview. We were very glad we took the tour yesterday where we climbed to the top and also visited the entire area. After our quick tour we ate lunch at the restaurant that looks over the site. The Huaca Pucllana Restaurant served us a Pisco Sour, the classic Peruvian cocktail. As an appetizer we had ceviche which was a traditional dish in Peru. The main course was beef tips, fries, and rice. We learned that most Peruvian meals are served with two starches! This was true almost everywhere we ate local food. The dessert was caramel cheesecake but when you must eat gluten free, my dessert was ice cream.

After lunch we rode the bus to the historic downtown area of Lima. We walked to the Plaza de Armas which was Lima’s main square. Off of this square was the presidential palace, the cathedral, the municipal palace and private colonial buildings. This square dates to the 16th century.

We visited the Cathedral of Lima that was on the square. It was a Roman Catholic cathedral and it was built between 1602 and 1797. Francisco Pizarro founded Lima and set aside land for the church. The current cathedral was the third built on this site.

In the late 1800s the remains of Francisco Pizarro were moved to the cathedral and placed in one of the chapels in the church.

We got to visit one of the mansions in the historic area of Lima. The Aliaga family owned this beautiful home since the 16th century! It was the oldest dwelling in the Americas that has been home to the same family for 17 generations! Earthquakes have caused the family to do some rebuilding over the years. This mansion was gorgeous.

The home also had secret passageways.

As we walked around the town, we came across a Picarones stand. Some of our group wanted to try these. They said they were very good. The Picarones looked like doughnuts. The main ingredients were squash and sweet potato. They are fried in oil and served with syrup made from charcaca (an unrefined sugar base).

Sites as we walked through downtown Lima.

Santo Domingo was a Dominican convent with a pink bell tower. It was an historic religious site that we toured. It had a large courtyard that was lined with Baroque paintings and vintage Spanish tiles (from the 17th century). The monastery was well preserved.

The Chapter house was where the friars gathered to solve their problems and choose their authorities. It also was the place where the University of San Marcos which was the first Peruvian university and the oldest university in the Americas! It was founded in 1551.

We also visited the monastery’s library. It contained over 25,000 antique texts.

In the library in a case was a book written on the 6th anniversary of Dante Alighieri’s death. He was an Italian poet, writer and philosopher who died in 1321! He was best known for La Commedia or The Divine Comedy!

This evening we had dinner at a local restaurant called La Tiendecita Blanca. The bartender demonstrated how to make the Peruvian Pisco Sour which was also served to us!

It was a busy day of seeing Lima.

A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 4

Saturday, October 8th, 2022

This morning we began our day walking to the Huaca Pucllana. Today we took a tour of the area with our guide Percy.

The tour lasted about an hour and a half. Our guide was very knowledgeable. This temple was built before the Incas. It was a Lima civilization temple, dating from around 500 AD. The clay/mud blocks were placed vertically with space in between because of earthquakes. It was made up of million of these adobe bricks. It once served as an administrative center and a pre-Inca ceremonial site.

We were amazed at the advanced engineering techniques used so long ago! Peru sits on the “Ring of Fire”, an area where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes happen, so tremors occur constantly but many you don’t even notice.

This area was mainly forgotten. You could still see the dirt hill that covered the site before excavation began.

The beginning of restration, investigation, and preservation began in 1981 by Dr. Isabel Flores Espinoza and her team and in 1984 it became a cultural heritage site. The Peruvian government has made the necessary preservation efforts to keep the Huaca intact for years to come! It was now a third of its original size, only 15 acres. Due to the rapid expansion and urbanization of the area in the 1900’s that is why it was much smaller.

Archeologists were still working! Our visit on day 2 showed them busy working. You can look at that post to see the excavations still being uncovered!

Its pyramid shape was solid not hollow like the pyramids built in Egypt. The Wari culture took over this site around 700 AD and for them it held significance primarily as a burial site for its nobility. Archeologists found an intact tomb in 2008 that held three people, 2 adults wearing masks and a sacrificed child. Below was a replica of the tombs that were found.

Explanation of how the Wari’s buried the individuals.

In the museum on the grounds we saw some original pottery that was found in the area.

We walked over to the Ricardo Palma house museum. He lived in this home for a long time. He was a famous writer who was noted for creating the genre called tradición which is a combination of history and fiction anecdotes. Unfortunately when we arrived the museum was closed for remodeling. We were disappointed but we did find a statue of him.

We walked over to Kennedy Park and looked at all of the art displays by local artists and nearby there were many stalls of various products. We also noticed there were many shoe shine stations. It was popular!

After lunch we walked down by the ocean to Larcomar which was a shopping area for locals and tourists. It was quite busy.

For dinner we walked to a local restaurant called Veda. It was great because the restaurant was a dedicated gluten free establishment.

After our excellent dinner we walked back to our hotel and we read our Road Scholar information sheet because we join the tour tomorrow morning!

A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 3

Friday, October 7th, 2022

This morning we were down in the lobby of our hotel by 4:45 AM for our pick-up for our tour of Ballestas Islands and a visit to the Paracas National Reserve. It turned out to be a private tour with our guide, Junior, and our driver Antonio. Antonio did not speak much English but Junior spoke English very well.

We’ve been looking forward to this tour because we will see Humboldt penguins. It would be our 11th out of 18 penguin species that we’ve seen in their natural habitat!

Our driver headed south for our first stop which was our boat ride out to the Ballestas Islands. It was about a four hour car ride. We traveled on the Pan American Highway for quite awhile. This road stretches and connects over 19,000 miles from Ushuaia, Argentina to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The road was interesting in places because when we passed through a town, there would be “speed bumps” and crosswalks for people to cross the four lanes. It seemed very dangerous to us but the locals seemed to be used to it.

This is an example of the “speed bump” and crosswalk!

We arrived in Paracas where we would catch our boat that would take us to the uninhabited Ballestas Islands. It was comprised of rocky islands and the Humboldt current was great for the marine life to thrive there. Its cold current pulls up water from the ocean floor, also nutrients and lower temperatures. This made it great feeding for the marine life around there.

Paracas is on the west coast of Peru. We were on one of the first boats over to the Islands. Junior, our guide, made sure we got on the boat, in the middle, and on the left side!

On our ride to the islands, we saw the Paracas Candelabra or it was also called the Candelabra of the Andes. This was a prehistoric geoglyph found in the Pisco Bay. Its origin is still unknown. Carbon dating was done on artifacts found near this giant geoglyph that dated back to 200 BCE but there wasn’t any clue as to why it was made. It was etched two feet into the petrified sand on the hill and stood almost 600 feet from top to bottom.

Our view of the Ballestas Islands as we arrived in our boat.

All the dots you see on the hillside are birds! It was a blanket of birds.

Once we arrived to the islands we saw the South American Sea lions. Of the sea lions we saw there was one LARGE male! The male had a giant, maned head like a lion!

Of course, it was incredible to see all of the birds but our favorite was the Humboldt penguin! The Humboldt penguin adult was about 26 inches tall and weighed about 10 pounds. They are classified as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature and in 2010 were granted protection under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. You can help the penguins by choosing sustainably harvested fish when you eat seafood!

We saw the Inca Tern. They are near threatened. They are known for their white mustaches which both the males and the females have. The Inca tern was about 16 inches long and its wing span was about 31 inches.

We saw Peruvian Boobies which were endemic to Peru. They had a white head and neck. There was some white scaling on its darker back.

The Guanays cormorant was also found in the islands. There was a red patch around the eye and its body was black and white. The Guanays were the main producer of guano. For many years the guano found on the Ballestas Islands was used as a fertilizer for plants.

Peruvian Pelicans were abundant around the islands. They are “near threatened”. They had a colorful bill and a big whitish upperwing area. Its size was about twice that of a brown pelican.

Some of the Red-legged Cormorants that we saw were nesting. They are “Near threatened”. They had a distinctive white neck patch, a brightly colored bill, and red legs.

We saw a lot of the Kelp Gulls. These gulls were native to the coastlines of the Southern Hemisphere and this gull was one of 55 seagulls! They had a mostly white head and body with dark wings, and a red-tipped bill.

Of course the Peruvian Turkey Vultures were hanging around. Their red necks were visible as they scavenged for fish, eggs, and dead birds/animals!

We were out viewing the wildlife around the islands for a little over two hours. When we returned to the docks our guide Junior was there to meet us. He told us that while we were out there on the water a Tsunami warning went off and it freaked him out for a few minutes until he found out that it went off by accident. We were really glad that we had no idea!

Junior walked us to where our driver and the car was located. He suggested we do lunch and our wine tasting experience before we visited the National Reserve. The winery and restaurant were located another hour south of Caracus. Nietto was where we stopped and it was located in the region of Ica. Nietto has been in operation since 1856. It was one of the most visited wineries in the city of Ika. We had a wonderful lunch with our guide and our driver.

After lunch we had a private tour of the winery and its wine making process. After the tour we sampled their wine and pisco, the national drink in Peru. For each of the 7 different wines that we tried, our host had us repeat a Spanish saying before we tried them. Pisco was the last spirit we tried and its alcohol proof was 41%! It was potent. It’s a good thing we had lunch first! The favorite drink with Pisco is the Pisco sour which we tried later in our trip!

After our wine tasting we went to Paracas National Reserve. It was a protected area and there were many archaeological sites in the reserve. It had a dramatic shore line with sculpted rocks from the constant wind and wave action. The Reserve had the desert, the Pacific ocean, and islands.

The Yacimiento fossil area had many cone-shaped marine fossils. These snails were from about 36 million years ago! It was prohibited to take any of the fossils.

The area was desolate looking and we only saw a few people the entire time we were in the Reserve. The road was hard-packed dirt and very bumpy!

La Catedral was once a sea arch but it was destroyed in the 2007 earthquake. Just parts of the rock were left.

Playa Roja or Red Beach had maroon colored sand that got its color from the erosion of porphyry rocks that were igneous rocks composed of coarse-grained crystals.

We stopped and walked part of the beach at Playa Yumaque. During the hot summer days, this beach is popular when La Mina is crowded.

We saw these “Shantytowns” as we drove along the highway. They basically were made from any materials they could find to use. Some don’t have water or electricity. These had popped up everywhere.

Peru has a large poverty rate. The country was making progress and then the COVID-19 pandemic hurt their progress. Peru had one of the highest death rates due to COVID-19 and due to the lockdowns the country has nearly a third of the total population suffering from monetary poverty. Our guide discussed the impacts on the country.

Our day began in the dark and ended being dropped off at our hotel in the dark. We spent over 15 hours exploring together and we were exhausted at the end of the tour but had a fantastic day learning and seeing more of Peru on our own!

A Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley & Machu Picchu Day 1 & Day 2

Wednesday, October 5th and Thursday, October 6th, 2022

Wednesday, October 5th, 2022, Day 1

This morning we left our home in the middle of the night because of our 6:40 AM flight to Houston, Texas.

Masks were not required on our flights but we chose to be careful and wore them on our full flight! We have our vaccinations and boosters.

We gained an hour in Houston, Texas and had a layover of almost 6 hours. Dave purchased day passes for the United Club. It was worth every penny! We had comfortable chairs with charging stations, food, and any drink we wanted. Our layover was long enough that we ate breakfast when we arrived and had lunch before we needed to go to our gate to board for our flight to Lima, Peru.

We decided to arrive a few days early so we could visit the Humboldt penguins in their natural habitat. We would join our Road Scholar group on Sunday.

Both of our flights were on time and actually landed early! The time in Peru was the same as Houston. We didn’t need to worry about jet lag!

The line wasn’t long to go through Customs so once we had our luggage, we were met by a guide from Holbrook Travel and a driver to take us from the airport to our hotel. With the traffic it was about a 40-45 minute ride.

This picture really doesn’t capture how busy the streets were.

Daniel, our guide, gave us a great narrative about Peru, Lima, and things to do before we join our Road Scholar group on Sunday and Roberto was our driver. At one point we could see the Pacific Ocean as we drove along the highway. When we arrived at out hotel, Daniel made sure we got checked in and had what we needed before he and the driver left. By the time we arrived to our room, we were exhausted and ready to call it a day!

Thursday, October 6th, 2022, Day 2

No alarm was set for today! Although we still woke up early. Today we started exploring the city of Lima. Our first stop was the Park Central de Miraflores. This urban park was named because it is located almost in the center of the city.

We walked through it and then down from it was the Kennedy Park. This park was dedicated to John F. Kennedy. A bust of JFK is located in the park.

These parks are also home to feral cats. The picture below showed just some of the cats!

Next, we walked down to the Pacific Ocean. The ocean water temperature was 59˚ F. We still saw many surfers in the ocean catching waves. Most were wearing wetsuits. Brr! We were told this area is great for the beginning surfers. The waves looked big to us but the best waves weren’t around Lima they were located in the northern part of Peru.

Along the ocean were some beautiful parks. The first one we saw was the Parque del Faro.

The Parque del Amor, was a beautiful park overlooking the ocean with a huge kissing sculpture and beautiful mosaic walls. El Beso, the kissing sculpture, was made by Victor Delfin. It depicted the sculptor and his wife kissing.

After walking along the coast we headed back to our hotel where we had WI-FI to figure out a lunch venue that had gluten free options. We walked to where we thought the restaurant was located. After walking an extra mile and still not finding it, we gave up and ate lunch at a fast food restaurant of all places. We didn’t have WI-FI to search anywhere else! After our “delicious” lunch (insert sarcasm) we walked to the Complejo Arqueológico Huaca Pucllana. It was a huge excavation. It was an ancient adobe and clay pyramid that dates from around 500 AD. It once served as an important ceremonial center for the Lima culture. It was closed today and we plan on taking a tour tomorrow. The restaurant, Huaca Pucllana Restaurant, that looks out over the site was open, so we went in and had a glass of wine.

After walking 8 1/2 miles today we were ready to head back to our hotel and rest our tired legs and feet. For dinner we walked to a local restaurant called Joselo By Rigoletto. The food was delicious.