Flew to Guayaquil from the slow paced San Cristobal in Galapagos to a big city in the south of Ecuador. Managed to wander the entire length of the Malecon for the afternoon and evening. Interesting that there is a fence along one side with police manned entrance points and a river on the other side. This has created a safe place for everyone to enjoy the air and relax in the city. We managed a meal here and didn't venture too far out of here for our short stay. A very modern looking city - if you like cities - pleasant for the time that we had but enough.
Then on to Cuzco, a lovely small city at about 3200 meters so altitude can be a concern. Quickly dropped down to the lovely town of Pisac though Clive was less than thrilled by the collectivo that we got there in - he rejected the chicken bus and only just found this acceptable. After this we were able to find a taxi for a day and then tour buses that are super luxurious for the rest of the trip. It just means that you have to be on the tourist route. These buses come with English guides and often the equivalent of an air hostess who tells you what to do in case of an earthquake or fire and then serves some drink. Well, it employs someone with language skills but oh, what a long day and so little to do.
We saw the major ruins between Cuzco and Machu Picchu. I loved walking up and down the terraces that are at the centre of all of the ruins. These terraces had irrigation and various microclimates for various crops including many varieties of potatoes, corn, etc. So Clive liked the historical aspect and I really appreciated that too but probably because so much was intact and I got to burn up some energy.
We found cute hotels and good food all along the way.
Machu Picchu was a real highlight and I loved wandering around especially later in the afternoon after most of the small number of tourists had left. It was then much quieter and you could just enjoy the mountains, the amazing setting that all of this building took place on and some llamas chewing away on the grass. In the morning, I was busy trying to learn about it and wanted to know more but in the pm just enjoyed. Clive had had enough so he went back to town for a coffee. I walkted to the Sun Gate instead. For anyone going to MP, Ollyantambo is a great town to stay in, Aquas Caliente is real touristy and probably good for one night so that you can get an early start on MP. The compulsory train ride for the 50 km is not near as good as I was expecting but the last 8 km on the bus was hairpin turns (like Sunshine in the old days).
Cuzco is a great little city - probably a wonderful place to study Spanish especially if you like eating - so many good restaurants - not really Peruvian but rather an Italian or other European or North American influence. Peruvian seems too much deep fried meat to me accompanied by rice and chips. As with so many cultures other than China why are there so few vegetables? Lots of indigenous people around and lots of crafts and knitting. We really needed another day to see some more ruins but oh well, we got the idea from the several that we did see.
Went to Puno on Lake Titicacca and then a boat tour to the floating island - that's right floating (the reeds grow and maintain a good base to live on for 30 or 40 years and they make their house from the reeds and eat them hearts as well. Nowadays they make money from tourists - all very well organized this country for the tourists. Then to visit another indigenous group who make meals for tourist groups - they do this on a rotation basis. It feels quite authentic and definitely provides the people with a livelihood - it is about the first time that I have travelled and not felt that the people were being exploited or marginalized.
Then on to Colca Canyon and Arequipe where we are spending the last several days - a holiday within a holiday. We will try out small city touring - wandering around this pretty city center and trying out coffee and foods and generally relaxing. Tough this retiring...
Peru has been much more progressive than I was anticipating. It has a well developed tourist industry and it knows how to charge the tourist for various entrances and so on (a good idea) and then it has developed the transportation and personnel to maintain the tourist industry - from guides to bus drivers to the restaurants if you stay on the tourist loop. Education seems important and everyone has access till at least 12 years of age and then there are secondary schools and colleges though of course those are in centres so harder for the rural population. I guess that the middle class is emerging but I haven't really talked to anyone.
I managed to see an afternoon of high school kids presenting dances in an outdoor stadium. There were at least a dozen groups of boys and girls and there costumes were extremely colorful and the dances fun to watch. Parents, grandparents and siblings were in the audience ...and me! The stadium had a partial roof (probably for the sun so you could still view the mountains on the other half. (Unfortunately Clive was sleeping due to diahrrea and intestinal upset probably picked up from the tour to the indigenous island). The cement floor of the stadium was very dusty and they dance in barefeet, socks and shoes and added beer that they would shake and let if fizz onto the ground. Yes, high school kids used a couple dozen beers in these dances (and the occasional boy managed a couple of swigs of the leftover). We had seen this in the street the week before in Cuzco but didn't realize that it went down to school level. And the costumes that were so clean and must have taken an unbelievable number of hours to make - color upon color stitched on. It appeared that every student in the town must have been in the dances.
Today in Arequipe, we saw a peaceful demonstration into the town square with hundreds of people - something about the villages in the north?? and then a university marching band raising money for the downtrodden. So another interesting morning of opportunity in the town square.
So South America is a pretty doable country on your own - and lots of older people here without tours - pick them up as you go and go as you please. Good hotels, transportation and food. Met quite a few solo travellers as well. South America or at least the part that we have been in has lots of tourists - this has been a good time of year - every hotel has space and many offer discounts and there is space on the tour the next day. The weather has been superb - rainy season starts officially in Dec. but that apparently means that it rains and night and is still nice in the day so anytime seems a good time to come. It will be greener after the rain starts.
The Andes are definitely a mountain range that is relatively smooth, wide open and has lots of scrub - no resemblance to our mountains.
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