Peru Tour
I promised to post blog entries on here about my Globus tour of Peru but, I nevere got around to it. Part of it was time, I didn't have time to post long blog entries on here. Any readers I have who want to read about my Peru tour should check Globus's Facebook page. I posted daily short entries there. After I got back, I posted 5 pictures I took from the tour.
In regards to the tour itself, it was fantastic. Machu Picchu was incredible. The Incas didn't have metal pipes. They used carved stone instead and, the stones were placed so tightly together the water didn't leak out. Four centuries after Machu Picchu was built, the stone plumbing the Incas built is still working. The Nazca plain drawings were fascinating as well. Lines and trapezoids that stretched for miles. There incredibly drawn creatures you could only see from the sky. Lake Titicaca was stunning. It is the world's highest navigable lake and, the largest in South America. It sits at an altitude of 12,500 feet! While there, our group got to learn of the Uros indians who live on man made islands. The islands were fascinating. They are composed of reeds. Three feet of the reeds are compost while another 4 feet of reeds are in the process of composting. The indians continually add to the reeds. I visited one such island. All totalled, it had over 7 feet of compost and reeds and was floating over 45 feet of water. Every step you took, your foot sank a little. Incredibly, over 1,200 Uros indians live on 50 of these man-made islands. The indians have lived on these islands since the 1950's. Before that, they lived on house boats for over 4 centuries.
Lima was interesting city. It had stunning hotels and appalling shanty towns. It had modern shopping malls and pre-Incan adobe pyramids. It had a yacht club not far from where local fishermen sold their catch on the beach. It had an indian market where you could buy stunning hand made crafts and, McDonalds, Burger King and Pizza Hut. It seem quixotic in my opinion.
One thing I will warn travellers who are going to go to Peru is the thin air at the higher altitudes. It isn't a joke. It will affect you. Any kind of serious exertion will leave you sucking for air until you get adjusted to it which may take a month. A number of hotels we stayed at offered free oxygen because of this problem. Also, travellers could buy bottles of oxygen for themselves. I know at least 1 member of tour did that. Also, you could expect some serious climbs to see some of the sights in the mountains. There were 249 steps alone to get to the top of the Incan site at Ollaytaytambo. Ollaytaytambo was a warm up in regards to Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu was fascinating in another way in that you took at local bus to get to it. The bus zigzagged its way up a mountain climbin 1,950 feet in about 20 minutes. It got interesting when a descending bus met an ascending bus and, they had to try to pass each other on the narrow road.
Another highlight was the train ride from Ollaytaytambo to Machu Picchu. We were in observatory type cars with wide windows. Soaring mountains were every where and, the railroad tracks followed the Urabamba River. As you descended from Ollaytaytambo to Machu Picchu, you could see the vegetation change. Where initially the mountains were covered with grass and weeds and had few frees, when you reached Machu Picchu, they were covered with trees. I would heartily recommend this train ride to anyone. As far as I know, it's the only way into Machu Picchu. Last year, when heavy rains washed out parts of the track, Machu Picchu was cut off and, people had to be helicoptered out. Our tour director was one of them. He showed us pictures.
As I said, the tour was awesome. The Incas did some incredible things. The scenery was breathtaking. The Peruvian people were very nice. The hotels we stayed at were top notch. The food was very good too. I tried alpaca (it tasted like beef) and roasted guinea pig (hard to describe that one). I would definitely encourage other travellers to go there. It will really amaze you.
