Perú – In the Ancash region and its capital, Huaraz
In Huaraz, I went on some field visits but with me no longer being the center of attention as a visitor (which was nice, though I always get a lot of curious looks especially from children). I visited various govt offices throughout the week I was in Huaraz. One of these was the regional president’s lieutenant’s office who was sort of excited about an American being there and sent me to the regional tourism director to share “my opinions” with her. They were very keen on hearing an outsider’s view of the possibilities here for tourism. I found myself –again- being asked for my opinion on something I am not an expert at, but –again- I felt compelled to talk as if. I told them the truth which is that the land in the Ancash region (where Huaraz is) is quite spectacular and any traveler would enjoy the natural beauty of the area. It is different than Puno in that Puno is the “altiplano”, the high altitude plains where the lands seems to not end. Here, it is somewhat lush but not overly so; lots of mountains, canyons, rivers with lots of mini-rapids, and mountains whose sides are a vertical sheet of rock (and these are couple of thousand feet high from the altitude at which I am at). Switzerland, for example, is not as impressive in the landscape when compared to this region.
Buenos Aires Plaza
I visited a community (called Buenos Aires) where sewage lines were being installed by the town and households were being helped to build a real bathroom not just a latrine. The engineer who was supporting the homeowners in deciding what to build and where, the man of the house was asked how often they showered and he said maybe every other day. Sounded reasonable, given they don’t have indoor showers, given it is cold weather due to the altitude (and hence, cold water), etc. Then another man piped up and said “well, maybe once a week”. After some silence, another man owned up “well, maybe not even that frequently”.
A Land with Great Tragedy in Its Past…
On my one day off, I got to visit the Laguna Llanganuco which is really two lagoons nested in a narrow canyon between the massive Mt. Huascaran and its neighbor peak. The setting between those two peaks is narrow yet magnificent. As we approached, my driver explained to me that in the 1970 earthquake (that killed half the population in Huaraz), a chunk of the mountain broke off. You can actually see this – it is a massive area; hard to gauge from below but easily 500 ft. tall. Well, that chunk would have normally fallen into a canyon towards the base of the mountain. This chunk was not only rock but part of the glacier covering the mountain at the time. It came town with such strength that it fell in the canyon and bounced OUT of the canyon wall and downhill straight into the town on Yungay. This town was obliterated and today the part where the town was is fenced in into a park called Campo Santo (Holy Ground). So many died and so complete was the destruction that the area was made into a burial ground and memorial. The town was rebuilt a couple of kilometers away. It is a very sad piece of history in the region. The mountain stands there as a reminder and the driver told me geologists say that there is a significant crack in the part of the peak that remains and that, at some point, that will come down too…
Laguna Llanganuco, next to Mt. Huascarán
On the Lighter Side…
Here are some observations/experiences/odds and ends:
- I found a tiny restaurant near the hotel and work run by a Belgian and his Peruvian wife. I ate most lunches and dinners there; he is an incredible chef and everything is fresh (he makes the pasta, sausages, pies, flavored pisco drinks, etc.) [good eats]. There is a cast of regulars (to which I belonged temporarily) and it is really nice to go somewhere during this type of trip and be known and get to “catch up” with folks. The owners are very generous and friendly and I sampled most of the flavored piscos with my favorite being the “ginger vanilla” [good drinks] one.
- I have noticed in Puno and Huaraz how much construction there is going on. You see a house that is finished with a second story going up. That is, you see the re-bar going up on the second story. Or you see half walls on the second story. I noted to someone how impressive this construction boom is. I was informed that actually many houses are like that for a long time. Owners do bits and pieces of the expansion as the money comes in and it can take a couple of years before they get to finish.
- I went to the corn and chirimoya (fruit) [good eats] festival in Huari where I was offered the local, special occasion delicacy of the town: roasted cat. No worries, I drew my line at guinea pig!
- I didn’t try cat [not good eats] but I did try at my friend’s restaurant a drink made of fermented potato. It is one of the grossest-smelling things I have decided to taste. I closed up my nose and drank. It actually was OK – as long as you didn’t breathe when the glass was within a foot of your nose. The aftertaste wasn’t particularly pleasant but the upside is that it is loaded with penicillin so it probably killed all the bacteria gathered during the day.
- As a reminder of the geologically active zone I am in, every now and then on a road you see a sign that proudly announces “Geological Fault 100m Ahead”. Pleasant thought as you drive on the cliffside roads around here! Usually the road is interrupted when you cross these faults. Makes sense.
- On our way out of town there is a guarded complex with walls that are between 2 and 3 stories to protect the complex and with guard houses at each corner of the complex. A sign in front of it prohibits parking within X meters from the main gate. The third time passing by it, I ventured asking if it was a jail or a military base. I was told no. It is a site where the local breweries store their beer. Talk about national assets and security! I love it.
- One of my favorites scenes and scents in the countryside are the eucalyptus trees that cover many hillsides. They add a grayish green color to very green landscapes and when you drive close enough to them the smell is just wonderful. I wonder if I can grow them in Atlanta. It can be very cold and hot here so, maybe??
- Coffee here is served as an extract (liquid). You are then to add hot water to it. Well, no one had told me and I had written off coffee here as pretty bad until I learned… It is actually quite good.
- The hotel is one of the few buildings in the town with an elevator. The rooftop terrace has an incredible view of Mt. Huascaran (one of the tallest mountains in the western hemisphere) and its neighbors. I love going in the morning and at dusk to see the sights.
- Internet connectivity is available just about everywhere except the most remote mountain communities. There are Internet cafes just about every corner (I do not exaggerate). I also have had Blackberry access even outside of the towns. Sometimes I have been surprised how far away from towns I can be and still have access.
- I stand by the comments about how great the people are here. Time and again, I get more and more evidence of this.
Perú – By the shores of Lake Titicaca
I made my way from Cusco to Puno on a bus ride that took about 6-7 hours. The road was very well built, the terrain fairly flat (though rising over the distance), and pretty much a straight road. After looking at the views from the bus I was very glad I took the bus instead of flying.
Early that evening, I visited the local annual fair of miniatures, very peculiar and local event. They sell all sorts of things in miniature so that whatever you buy there in miniature will come true for you real life (and real size). Examples: a groom, a bride, a wedding cake (any of these if you want to get married); dollars, euros, Peruvian soles (if you want to have money); cars; laptops or PCs; houses; apartment buildings; etc. It was mostly locals only and I greatly enjoyed the atmosphere.
The Touristy but Nevertheless Curious Uros Islands
Uros Island
Since I had the weekend to myself, I signed up for a tour of the Lake Titicaca zone. There were about 20 of us tourists from a few different countries signed up for this 36 hour tour. We started by visiting the Uros floating islands that are very close to Puno almost inside the bay. These islands are built on the reeds that grow naturally in the lake. The history of the islands is that the local people were being attacked 600 yrs ago or so by the expanding Inca empire. They didn’t want to be subjugated so they moved to the lake itself. The islands have as a base the 3ft-deep root system of the reeds. They pull these reeds together and tie them. Then they begin laying layer after layer of cut reed. Each layer criss-crosses the other. After about 3-6 feet of this, they have their island! They replenish the top frequently as the bottom layers of reed soften up over time. They say the islands have a life span of 30 yrs. They even have a school floating island. (Here is a short clip where the local women send the visitors off with a song-and-dance: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIt7mJ29pZo.) Btw, they are floating but they are anchored J
On a REAL Island – Amantaní
Afterwards we moved into the main part of the lake itself to visit a real island, called Amantani. We were going to stay at the island overnight as the lake waters apparently become dangerous after the mid-afternoon. At the island we were assigned a host family in groups of 2 or 3. The 3 of us who were traveling solo got grouped together. The host family is a local farmer family (there is nothing else on the island) that lives off the food they grow for the most part (they make some arts and crafts that they sell to visitors). I.e., they are very poor. But, someone (an NGO, I suspect) developed a program for them to host tourists at their place and get some income for that as well as a captive audience to sell their crafts. They are actually certified as having been trained. All the houses served exactly the same menu for the 3 meals we had while with the family (the group compared notes on the respective host families) and the food was mild and of the low risk kind – amenable to any tourist and especially good for me after my bout of Inca revenge the prior week in Cusco! We had a private room with OK beds (I sleep on ALMOST anything) and about 3 or 4 wool blankets each; there was neither heat nor electricity available. I slept in my jeans with gloves and my traditional hat. For bathrooms, we had latrines. Actually, fairly nice (as far as latrines go) though I suspect these were built with the tourists in mind. They were better than others I have used in other trips in that the hole wasn’t just a straight down thing but, instead, you flushed things down and it went off through a pipe to the latrine hole proper a few feet away. To flush, we had to carry a bucket of water to drop so it would flush. (Did I share too much? I know some in my audience would want this detail!)
Sunset at Amantaní Island
That afternoon we hiked to the top of the mountain to visit pre-Inca temples and watch the sunset over the lake. The hike was hard as most of us hadn’t been in Puno (3800m altitude) a full day yet and we were hiking to 4100m… The lake is a beautiful blue and the sky picture perfect. You can see in the distance the high peaks on the Bolivian side of the lake covered with snow. Since it is so high there, abt 4100m high, the air is thinner and the color of nightfall seemed different.
After the hike, dinner in each house and then we all got together for a fiesta that was so-so. But we had to dress in local garments (a poncho and a hat for me which felt good because it was cold) and listen to music. We left as soon as we could and sat down to watch the star-filled sky (there are no lights on anywhere around where we were). It was fantastic! Fiesta experience aside, I highly recommend the island experience. Sunday we visited a neighboring island, as beautiful as the first one but a little more developed, called Taquile. We had lunch there after we hiked the island and then trekked back to Puno.
Visiting Projects in Remote Areas of the Azángaro Province
Monday I visited beneficiaries of a project my organization runs to help farmers who raise bulls to sell for meat to fatten them faster and to sell them directly to the market instead of relying on intermediaries (who typically mislead them and take a big chunk of the proceeds). From 1-2 yrs it was taking them to fatten a bull to the size needed to sell, it now takes them 2.5-4 months which means they, at least quadrupled their income. If you consider the money they don’t have to pay intermediaries (minus the costs they incur of selling the bull), their take is even higher. These folks usually start with one bull and slowly grow to have 3-4 at a time after doing this for a few cycles. They emphasized over and over in the various areas I visited how this has helped them get out of extreme poverty to just poverty. They can now send their kids to school, for ex. The way the fattening time was cut was by simply introducing protein in the diet of the bulls. The cool thing was that the farmers already had most of what they needed in the form of waste created after collecting the various crops they grow. Stems, leaves, etc of different crops that remain after the core product is harvested used to be burned but some of these actually are highly nutritious. The only thing they have to buy is molasses and some powder (I forget what it was). One of the ingredients is urea. A funny thing was that on one of the visits they prepared a demo for me of the mix being created. There were about 9 women and each would pour a bag of an ingredient. Then the molasses, the urine and the powder were mixed in a small tub by a woman with her BARE arm and hand! Then that mix was poured over the big pile and all the women stepped in to mix it all well, again, with their bare hands! Imagine me standing there, having shaken everyone’s hands upon arriving and knowing full well I was to shake their hands afterwards!
Farmer preparing cattle feed
Well, God has a sense of humor. As I was a special guest and they are very hospitable folks, they prepared some roasted potatoes, some white cream, and served also cheese they had made. After the mix spectacle, I was expected to eat – otherwise, I would be rejecting their humble hospitality. I had seen a woman rinse her hands so I talked myself into believing they had all sterilized themselves before preparing the food and dug in to eat what I thought was the safest of the fare: the roasted potatoes. I had to try the cheese given how it was given to me but I successfully skirted the white cream (or liquid). Who knows what that was! Cow puke? Curded milk? I didn’t want to find out. I figured I had done 2 out of 3 and that was a stretch enough!!
I did get interviewed while visiting a new water treatment plant by the local TV station in the area. I am guessing it is a small station because we were quite far from the town of Puno in the middle of Azángaro. I was asked what I thought of the water treatment plant. Mind you, I know zilch about water treatment or plants that do so. Yet, I guess they thought the foreign visitor must have been an expert if I had come so far to see it… So, I had to with camera on me be spontaneous and say something half smart. I hope I sounded smart but I missed the broadcast and didn’t get to Tivo it J
Azángaro Landscape
I have to talk abt the scenery here. The land is incredible. There are vast plains surrounded by mountains. That would normally be called a valley but the expanse is so great that “valley” doesn’t conjure the right picture. Since it is early winter and it is the dry season, the grass is browning but you still glimpse some green. I have been very fortunate that I get to go off the beaten path as I get to see undeveloped territory and the beauty of the land as it has always been. They say this area looks a lot like parts of Mongolia, Kazakhstan and Afghanistan. The area of Azángaro is by far the one I liked the most. I could see a biking circuit for ecotourists being developed in that area to go visiting small towns and nature areas. But I guess too many tourists would spoil the sense of “real” the area gives.
I left Puno by plane flying back to Lima (actually, Puno has no airport due to its topography, crunched between the lake and mountains).One actually drives to the town next door called Juliaca – not a place one should visit. A local told me that in Peru they say that if you dream of dogs, you will be mugged but that if you dream of Juliaca, you already have been…
Ever since my childhood I have been fascinated a bit by Lake Titicaca (OK, more by the funny sounding name in Spanish…) Now, having seen the beautiful landscape around it and its deep blue waters, I am definitely entranced by it!
Perú – Second Week in the Cuzco Region (and Lima wrap-up)
I left Lima on a Saturday AM to go to Cuzco, the launching point for visits to Machu Picchu (MP).
Lima Wrap-up
Before I tell you about Cuzco, let me wrap up my week in Lima… Some highlights or observations:
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The city streets are kept very clean of trash and all streets have street signs with their name (not something I have seen consistently outside of US/Canada/Europe)
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Though the city is very polluted, it is not as bad as, say, Beijing
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The food is indeed, as many people told me, EXQUISITE; not a bad meal, not A ONE
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They have this dish called tacu tacu which consists of smashed beans and rice served with beef or seafood. I tried it with seafood. Though I don’t eat calamari and other seafood items, I ate it ALL, except the octopus. The sauce was superb.
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They always serve a plate full of corn kernels to snack on while you wait for appetizers or food. It is a different type of corn than regular corn (it is larger and whiter) and they toast them and put some salt on it. It is quite nice.
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I tried the traditional mountain / Inca delicacy at lunch one day: guinea pig. It took a bit for me to accept the idea I was to take a bite of it but a coworker invited me to her restaurant, her treat, and I could not refuse the hospitality. I made sure I drove a deep work conversation during the lunch so I would not think of what I was eating. Yes, folks, it tastes “like” chicken though it has less meat on it (some say rabbit but I disagree, though it has been 25 yrs since I had rabbitt…). I was lucky enough (God takes care of me) to mention to my colleague that I didn’t want to see a picture of one before eating it. Boy, was I glad I said that flippantly! When ordering, my colleague was kind enough to specify to the waitress to bring it without the head on mine and on hers. Can you imagine if that had shown up with a head??!! I would have likely gagged.
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I visited the Lima city center at night. It was very impressive. Colonial architecture on a grand scale which makes sense since Lima was in effect the capital of South America (more or less) during the colonial times due to the riches of Perú. It was very well policed, lively, and I felt safe.>
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Oh, and did I mention I worked close to Chewbacca from Star Wars? It took me a few days to realize the Chewbacca noise I heard every 15 mins or so was a creaking door around the corner from where I sat…
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Finally, Peruvians are super nice!
Impressions of Cuzco
I flew to Cusco (the oldest continually inhabited city in the continent for the trivia nuts out there) early Sat AM. It was an hour flight and things went smoothly. Arriving to Cusco which is above 10,000 ft is an experience because of the very thin air (thankfully, it was clean which was a welcome change from Lima).
It was actually hot that morning under a beautiful blue sky. Upon getting to the hotel, I was offered mate de coca (coca tea) which helps the body adjust to the altitude (though I wonder if it is more about one not feeling anything; I didn’t perceive any different sensation out of drinking the half-cup size portions). I also took my altitude sickness med for nausea, lightheadedness, etc. (I didn’t have the symptoms – it was a preventive measure). All day long I had the slightest of headaches. Other than that and shortness of breath when walking up flights of stairs, I was OK. However , you are recommended not to do anything for a couple of hours after you arrive. Once I got to my hotel, I felt tired and actually slept about 1.5 hrs (deep sleep as I would have late that night too) until my Cuzco city tour was to pick me up later that afternoon.
Around the town square
Cuzco is quite a picturesque and pleasant town. I liked it a lot. Its main square (“Plaza de Armas”; there is one in practically every Latin American town) has really beautiful architecture. There are sights to see within the town itself and around it. The city tour showed me the key sites in an afternoon (the Coricancha, Saqsayhuaman, etc.). After the tour, I had time to stroll about as I pleased but I pleased to eat and go to bed… BTW, in Cuzco, as in Lima, hotels had 110v outlets; I have had Blackberry access; there have been ATMs everywhere. Traveling is so much easier these days than 20 years ago… (Here is a quick link to a clip from the ruins of Saqsayhuaman and what makes the construction of it so impressive http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH6HtFKz63E.)
Getting to Machu Picchu
The trip to Machu Picchu can be done in several ways. One can certainly do it on one’s own. There are a few things to coordinate and I didn’t feel like dealing with all that given the altitude “sickness” (slight as it was, you feel drained the first day) and the fact I was going solo and only had one day – I could not afford mistakes… There are tons of tour companies that will coordinate logistics if you are not inclined to do it on your own. Due to work constraints keeping my MP visit to one day, I went with an organized tour (the company, “Nuevo Mundo” went above and beyond for me).
Modes of travel include the Vistadome train (roof is partly glass so you can see more and not feel enclosed) which takes 4 hrs. My train left at 6 AM with my pickup at 520 AM. There were later trains but I needed to go as early as possible. Waking up around 445 AM wasn’t an issue as I crashed at 9 PM the night before out of sheer exhaustion… Another way of getting there is hiring a helicopter and getting there way faster – for a price. Finally, one can spend a few days hiking the Inca trail that the Incas used to take to get to MP in its heyday. Secondary trails are being developed and I am sure they would be better than the more popular one…
I had met some interesting folks on the city tour and ran into them again on the trip/tour to/of MP; they were neat people to hang out with and it made the tour a little more enjoyable.
At Machu Picchu…
Visiting the ruins wore me and others out. There are steps to be walked up and down and, though MP is lower in altitude than Cuzco, it is still over 8000 ft high. I strongly recommend that if you want to see it, see it sooner rather than later! However, you can see it at any age, you will just have to go slower or perhaps arrive 2 days ahead to better acclimate. There was a man who I estímate was around 80 yrs old (and who didn’t look younger than his age) and he was doing it! One recommendation I was given but could not do was to stay in the town at the base (Aguas Calientes) so you can go back up to see sunrise (if it isn’t foggy which I heard it was that day) and to hike up to the mountain you see on the famous shots you see of MP (which is NOT Machu Picchu; when you see the famous pictures of MP, you are standing on the mountain called MP). Me? I hope to come back and go up that mountain and then see the rest of the Sacred Valley which probably can use a few days to explore. I have heard a good place to stay is the town of Ollantaytambo.
My impression of MP? Tourist trap? Amusement park? Overrated? Most absolutely not. It is as impressive and magnificent as people say it is and it exceeded even what I envisioned encountering. It is a powerful place due to the history, the architecture/engineering feats, and one of the most beautiful natural settings on earth.
At the end, we visited the market and I had a slightly different experience. While you have to haggle, two things they didn’t do:
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Be pushy or be “cat calling” you to come to their stall; when they did it was very soft and they only did it once
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They didn’t run after you when you walked away to sell whatever object you had tried to haggle on; they left you alone and/or they had a price point after which, they were just not interested. I kind of liked seeing that as they seemed proud of their goods and didn’t seem to feel they had to make a sale if they didn’t get what they wanted.
Visits to Economic Development Projects
Kiwicha field near Mollepata
I visited some development projects my organization had worked on. It was neat to see, as I saw in Tanzania, how my organization makes a difference. My first week in Lima I heard everything about our approach in Peru and was impressed at how progressive they were in advocating the governments at various levels to take on their responsibility, and in building the government’s capacity to do so. The scale of poverty in Peru, while it can be extreme, takes place in a country with more human capacity and better infrastructure than sub-Saharan Africa. We are working to help mountain communities diversify their economic activities so not all are farmers or so those that are farmers don’t all plant the same thing (which depresses crops’ prices). Also, they receive help to find products that aren’t commodity (say, in the textile industry) so they can reach and be successful in international markets, since China and India can produce things cheaper than countries like Peru. They can differentiate their products from the mass scale production that takes place in Asia by producing better designsor distinctive (not mass-produced) products, by developing organic produce or things that can address more discerning developed world consumers (think premium coffees vs. Maxwell House – no offense to any M H drinkers!). Anyway, the economic activities I saw were:
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an artichoke farm (new product being grown in the region and sought after by the U.S. and European marketings), growing proven varieties and continuing to experiment with new ones
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high quality and design textile workshops where the women can work from their homes to produce for the larger entity they belong to and be able to pick up kids from school and take care of them (vs. being at a factory for the entire day) with minimal disruption to their work activity
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jewelry artisan workshops producing (or trying to) for the international market.
Next up: Puno, on the shores of Lake Titicaca, after a 6-hour bus ride with the weekend all mine for tourism
Perú – First week in Lima
NOTE: This is the first of a series of posts that relate my experiences during a 5-week trip to Perú earlier in 2008.
I flew to Lima in a 767 which felt like it was from 1990. Service was not really that great though I had been upgraded to business class. I was a little surprised at that, actually.
The airport in Lima is very modern but the lines were long, especially landing at midnight US time. The taxi ride took about 30 minutes and I finally went to bed around 1AM. The hotel, as many hotels around here, is a smaller enterprise; that is, it is not a chain or a large local hotel. The building itself looks like from the 1970s. You would be amazed at how little concern for safety there is in the design, something probably that would not pass muster in many places… I can open the window (which is over 6 ft wide) almost to the full extent but the worrying thing is that the wall below the window is about 2.5 feet tall. Yikes! All you have to do is trip on some shoe left around and, sayonara room and hello gravity!
The first work day started with the car that was supposed to pick me up not showing up. It was to be sort of an omen for later in the day when waiting for a taxi to take me back took all in all 2 full hours by the clock! And, of course, a good introduction to the trip to remind me to not expect things to be like they are at home – always a good reminder.
I was advised against renting a car due to all the construction going on re-paving streets. I was told the government decided belatedly to tear them up and re-do them ahead of an upcoming international summit – but they were doing most of the work concurrently making driving even more chaotic in this labyrinthine town. However, I also suspect that even with perfectly paved roads, the city road layout was confusing enough that I would not want to drive on them! The area where I stayed was called Miraflores. It is a very nice residential area. Not an area of mansions per se but lots of high rises, nice streets, etc. The hotel, as most places around here, does not have A/C or heating. It seems the weather is fairly mild for the most part (I’m guessing that, when it isn’t, it is not for long enough to warrant the high cost of A/C or heating systems). With the windows open, the climate in the room is quite nice but you get the traffic noise. After a night, you are used to it so it isn’t as bad as it may seem (plus I always have earplugs handy!).
Work is in another district (Jesús María: Jesus Mary, kind of odd-sounding even for a Catholic like me…) with a lot of old houses that have, for the most part, been converted to offices but which retain a lot of architectural charm. Nearby is an old ministry building (about 10 or 12 stories high and monstrously large) which has a very large crack running through the outside of the building caused by the recent earthquake in Pisco – the building has been condemned, thankfully, but the building sits there as a reminder of the risks Lima runs as a large city in an earthquake-active zone… On my first day, lunch was at an early 130PM… I was starving! There is nothing around work that I can tell and a colleague drove me to a restaurant where I committed 3 cardinal sins in the span of 3 minutes. The restaurant was very nice and my colleague told me not to worry… I guess I may have an unfortunate update later on in this email but I hope not! My 3 sins were:
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eating sauces that were cream or milk based (milk here is not always pasteurized)
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eating raw fish (ceviche)
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drinking a lemonade that I didn’t see prepared with bottled water.
If there was a good time to teach me a lesson this should have been it… 36 hours later I was still good – whew!! Of course, a good restaurant would not be a problem but I was still a little out of sorts being my first day in a new country and in a new work situation to remember that…
Another day for lunch we went to a home-style place that had a nice and complete lunch for 8 soles (about $3). It was delicious (chicken soup was the appetizer and it isn’t the run-of-the-mill chicken soup!). With prices like these, I knew I was going to eat like a king!
I found out on the first day I was not to be based in Lima as I had understood before the trip. In fact the first week was the only full week I was to spend in Lima. The flipside was that I was going to get to see a lot of the country. That first weekend I was to leave for Cuzco, the base for going to Machu Picchu, to spend 3 days visiting projects and, over the weekend, go to MP. I was told that some people are affected by altitude sickness upon arriving in Cuzco. The advice is to not do much the first few hours and I planned to heed the advice. Originally I was planning to go on a long weekend later in May (Lima offices were to be closed during an international summit to take place there) to have a good amount of time to spend in MP and its vicinity. However, because I was to go to both Cuzco and Puno for work, it makes better sense to go to Cuzco first (10,800 ft) which is lower than Puno in altitude. That would make for better acclimatization once I arrived in Puno.
Also, since I always like to sample local chocolate cookies, I bought some and also a bottle of Peruvian Malbec wine. Let me tell you, I haven’t had wine so sweet without it being supposed to be sweet! Clearly a case of adding sugar to wine to cover its poor quality… I couldn’t finish it. Of course it cost only $4 – you get what you pay for… I was just hoping that good, basic local wines would exist. I switched to water…
The area of Barranco is a beautiful, seaside part of town. It is just a few minutes from Larcomar, the mall hanging off the cliff by the Pacific Ocean, and offers quite a few options for dining and shopping.
- Barranco
About
Part of the fun of traveling, besides the travel itself, is the experiences that happen along the way. Getting hopelessly lost in eastern France, getting stuck in a public restroom in Versailles, finding a tucked away neighborhood park in touristy Venice, being tossed into a stranger’s car in the Sinai peninsula, discovering the most mouth-watering wines in Mendoza, etc. all enhance the travel experience.
I have a passion for travel and seek to share the experiences and sights with others via this blog. And I hope it also gives others ideas of places to go or dream about going to someday! Other passions include dark chocolate and red wine – for the record!
Follow me on twitter @ilivetotravel or in Facebook www.facebook.com/ilivetotravel and drop me a note about your own travels any time – I love discovering new jewels for future travel opportunities!
My friend Chris, who also loves to travel, and others contribute on occasion to this blog to share their own experiences!
