Postcards from Peru: Cusco (4)

Peru: Itinerary (1)
Peru: Lima and coastal Peru (2)
Peru: Amazon (3)

Cusco… how do I even start to explain all that this city stands for? A city so deeply steeped in culture and history, and a true testament to the human spirit—the determination and ingenuity of the Incas to build a civilisation at such incredible heights, more than 3,000 metres up in the immense Andes, with their own unique way of life - their unique traditions of farming, weaving, art, worship, architecture, and so much more.

Peru had been on my list of places to visit since I was a teenager. Mostly for Machu Picchu. But as our trip got closer, I started reading about the Andean civilisations, and I think I became more excited about visiting Cusco and the Sacred Valley, than the world famous Machu Picchu.

Traditional dresses

I had started reading the book, ‘The Conquest of the Incas’ by John Hemming before the trip. Leaving the whole colonialism aspect of it aside, just reading about the majestic valleys of the Andes and the traditions of the Incas had piqued my curiosity immensely, on how the world I had read about for months would actually look like. All the names of places I had read so many times - the magnificent capital of Cusco, the mighty fortress of Sacsayhuaman, the sun temple of Qorikancha, the town of Ollantaytambo, the terraces of Pisac, the Sacred Urubamba valley, the last stronghold of the Incas in the Amazon at Vilcabamba - all these names now held a meaning for me. And I was curious to see what stories they would tell me when I meet them.

And I was not disappointed. I wasn't able to visit all these places on my trip. And most of the Incan grandeur I had read about had been destroyed 500 years ago already. But what I found was still incredible. Cusco was still alive, its Incan heritage still beating. And I enjoyed the few days I was there, trying to explore and uncover this Incan heart, long challenged by Spanish colonisers, but which is still intact.

Cusco from above

From Puerto Maldonado, we flew to the Andes, to the town of Cusco. We stayed 2 nights in Cusco initially to acclimatise to the high altitude. Then we were off on the Salkantay trek to Machu Picchu for 5 days. After coming back from there, we stayed for 2 more nights in Cusco, taking a train to Puno after. In Cusco, we mostly walked around, shopped, ate, acclimatised, joined the festivities and mostly soaked in the Incan sights and atmosphere. 


Getting to Cusco

Flying over the Andes

The flight from Puerto Maldonado to Cusco was a short one, just 30 mins. It flew first over dense green forests, interrupted sometimes by wide meandering rivers and once in a while by a solitary road. And then we were flying over the Andes. As we got closer to Cusco, we saw many villages down in the valleys, spread along these valleys and also along the mountainside. And then Cusco appeared, a huge city spread out all along the Huatanay valley. And it was a beautiful sight landing there.


Cusco

Tika Wasi Casa hotel

For the first two nights, we were staying at the Tika Wasi Casa hotel which was up along the mountainside on the same hill as the Incan fort of Sacsayhuaman. The hotel was a cute little place, with a hammock in its garden (my favourite spot on this Peruvian trip), and a sweeping view of the city of Cusco. It was within the Cusco Centro Historico and within walking distance to Plaza de Armas and all the other sights to visit.

El Balcon hotel

The last two days after coming back from the Salkantay trek, we were staying at a different hotel, the El Balcon, near the Plaza. The building was in an old colonial design, with a nice green garden in between. It didnt have a view of Cusco though, as it was in the flat valley in the centre. It felt like in a residential area with lots of small gardens and squares around.

Cusco is located at a height of 3,400 metres, a height at which the human body has difficulty breathing due to a lower oxygen content. So we had kept the first 2 days for acclimatisation to the high altitude conditions, planning to just walk around and not exert much while we got used to thinner air. Still there was so much walking up and down involved, it was tiring. So we slept and rested a lot during this period while also exploring the town a bit.

We drank a lot of coca tea (every few hours). It's made by adding coca leaves to hot boiling water, and letting the flavour seep in. It is said to help with the high altitude. Locals generally chew the leaves on a daily basis, while tourists prefer to have the easier to drink tea version. It took me a while to develop a taste for it, but once I did, I was a regular. It also was very welcome given how cold the evenings got there. We also bought some coca candy for Cusco as well as the Salkantay trek later. It did help, but we still rested a lot more when walking around during the first few days. Also, it was difficult for me to fall asleep the first few days because of the thin air too.

For the next few days we explored Cusco, mostly around the historic centre, its lanes, its architecture, the food, the shopping and the overall feel. And also getting used to the mountain air. We did visit some historical sights like Cristo Blanco, the Convent of Santo Domingo and the fort of Sacsayhuaman but most of our time there was spent without a defined agenda, at the festivals around the Plaza de Armas. 


Walking around

The Centro Historico is the part of Cusco where the Incan capital used to be. When it was destroyed by the Spanish, they built a Spanish style city on top of the old capital. So even though the feel is of a Spanish town, the foundations of the city are very Incan.

Streets of Cusco

The streets of Cusco on the mountainside are quite steep, cobbled and narrow. They are all lined with one to two storeyed houses, painted in white, with orange roofs and blue wooden doors. Many of these houses have flowers in their balconies or outside their doors. And the streets have brass lamps everywhere. There is so much colour and art everywhere, it's a pleasure just to walk through them. (Of course you have to stop every few 100 metres to gasp for breath! And we took Uber quite often too, especially in the evenings when walking up the hill felt like a torture when we hadn’t acclimatised yet). One specific moment I remember is a street violinist playing at one of these streets while we were returning back at night. His music is one of the sweetest, most soothing music I remember hearing ever. 

A square in Cusco

As we were walking, we kept coming by so many grand squares, cathedrals and convents. Each of the squares would have a green space in the middle, and some grand colonial buildings around. Cathedrals and convent abound in the centre, each more impressive than the other. Many of these have been converted to museums now. I remember the Convent of St Assisi being one of the impressive ones. And Cusco looked so fascinating at night, with all the twinkling lights in the valley and along the hillsides. That view is also imprinted in my mind.

There were some streets in town where the buildings had foundations different from the colonial structures above. The base would be made of huge boulders precisely cut and fitted together without mortar, while the building on top would be built in a typical colonial style. Apparently this was the Incan style of dry-stone masonry which was used to build buildings to survive earthquakes. They were so strong, so robust that the Spanish had been unable to destroy them. So they had decided to build their churches and other buildings on top of the old Incan foundations. Many of these were exposed in the earthquakes of 1650 and 1950 when the colonial structures collapsed but the Inca foundations survived and showed up. And since then, many of these Incan walls have been left exposed so visitors can imagine what the town would have looked like centuries ago. I had read about it in my book, and walked around town looking for such structures. There were many and they were impressive, really impressive.

Streets of Cusco

Most streets looked quite similar, with old colonial houses in single lane cobbled streets. But some streets were different, especially one around the Plaza. That felt like a modern street with modern buildings, but most of Cusco felt like it belonged to a different simpler age.

Sometimes it was tough to figure out what part of Cusco was Spanish, what was Incan and what was just touristy. It just had so much to offer, it was fun to walk around. In the centre, there was so much activity at all times, either with the tourists or with the locals. We criss-crossed these streets so much, we had already started remembering them 😂.


Plaza de Armas

Our favourite of course was the main square, Plaza de Armas. It is a grand square with a park in the centre, the Cusco Cathedral and the Church of the Society of Jesus on one side, loads of cafes and shops on another and then a row of wooden buildings with colonial metal balconies overlooking the Plaza.

Plaza de Armas at night

These balconies are now lined with fine dining restaurants. So during the day we would sit at the Plaza enjoying the festivals. And the evenings we would be back there, eating at one of the restaurants with the balconies. The views outside were magnificent, with the whole of Cusco lighted up at night, and the after-festival party goers still having a great time. It was so surreal every night. The Plaza is the centre of all events in town. It is full of tourists all the time and feels so alive. And of course since we were there in May/June, it was festival time, with the Plaza being at the centre of it all. 


Corpus Christi festivals

In May and June, the festival of Corpus Christi is celebrated by Cusco for a week or so, with all the residents of the city taking part in it. And the whole town turns into a party town. Somehow even without timing it, we had turned up on the first 2 and last 2 days of this festive period! On the first day, the 15 saints and virgins from various other churches of Cusco are brought in a procession to the main Cusco Cathedral. What this involves is the residents of those parishes dressing up in traditional clothes and carrying their saints on elaborate platforms (known as andas), parading through town, all the way till the Cusco Cathedral. The processions move through town, with local bands walking in front providing music and the rest of the parade with hundreds of followers, dancing behind as the procession slowly snakes through town.

Corpus Christi festival

And whoever is not part of the procession, all assemble together in the Plaza de Armas. The whole day, they all dance, make merry and enjoy, sitting along the stairs of the cathedral when tired. It felt like the entire city was there to enjoy the festivities. After the saints are enshrined inside the Cathedral, they are said to remain there for eight days, and "debate" the city's future and the behavior of its residents.

On our first day in Cusco, we could hear music from the morning itself. And by the time we reached the Plaza, we could see multiple processions with thousands of people passing through the streets. It was amazing to be there, just sitting in the crowd and watching all the happenings going on. And the after-party did not end till very late at night - we could hear music coming from the centre till at least 2 am. And every day till the 8th day, there is some or the other festival going on. I think we ended up witnessing many of those events.

From the balconies

One of the days, we saw old men and women dressed up in traditional clothes dancing gracefully to band music late at night. One night, there was a DJ in front of the Cusco Cathedral, belting out song after song while everyone danced in the Plaza. In 5 degrees! One of the evenings, we saw groups of young boys and girls doing rehearsals late at night for the traditional dance performances the next day. And one day, we saw another group practising in one of the squares around, choreographing their dance, again in 5 degrees temperature. It felt like there was a festive environment all around, and everyone wanted to be a part of it. And every day while walking back, we would see all the people drunk and partying till late at night. It was like every day was a party day in Cusco.

Last day of the festivities

When we came back from our Salkantay trek, the festivals were still going on. And we saw the farewell processions again around the Plaza de Armas, where the saints were again taken with full pomp and show, accompanied by dancing and music, back to their own cathedrals. It was just so electric to be there at such a time.




Qorikancha and Church of Santo Domingo

After the first two days in Cusco, we were off to Machu Picchu for 5 days, hiking on the Salkantay trek. After the gruelling effort of traversing the Andes, we were back in Cusco for two days of rest and relaxation. Now that I was acclimatised, I finally did some touristy stuff around, while my friends were still doing high altitude hiking to Rainbow Mountain (I was done with hiking for a while) and learning traditional Inca weaving techniques.

One day, I explored the local markets and the temple of Qorikancha. The next day I walked up to Cristo Blanco (the White Christ), a huge statue of Christ located on top of the Pukamuqu hill overlooking the city of Cusco. It reminded me of Christ the Redeemer in Rio.

Street market

The first day, I just walked away from the historic centre, away from where all the touristy sights were. I saw parents picking up their children from a school, and vendors selling stuff like popcorn to those children. I walked through some local markets in front of a church where the locals shopped. There were 100s of different herbs and spices being sold there. And sugarcane too. I had sugarcane juice at a local stall. Then I walked to the San Pedro market, a covered local market selling a variety of local handicrafts and textiles. There is so much stuff being sold here, at every turn. And it was mostly the women doing all the selling. The walk away from the centre felt quite different, so simple, so not fancy, a bit poorer than the other parts. Also, this was the first time when I saw everyone going about their daily lives (as everything in the historic centre had felt more oriented towards tourists).

Convent of Santo Domingo

After the local walk, I went to the Qorikancha or the Convent of Santo Domingo, a Spanish monastery built on top of the original Inca sun temple. The Qorikancha was the most important temple for the Incas. It was plated with gold and housed the mummies of all the deceased Incas. Its walls were built of solid stones, again in the same Inca masonry style where perfect boulders were interlocked without using any mortar.

Inside the Convent

The Spanish found it tough to completely destroy the old sun temple, so they chose to build the church and convent on top of it. It remained so for centuries but in the earthquake of 1950, the Inca walls became exposed and can now be seen by visitors. The tour of the Qorikancha is very informative, talking about what the original temple would have looked like, based on what remains.

View from Qorikancha

One can also explore the new monastery which is still there and quite pretty. The flowers and paintings all around made it look extremely inviting. I loved this tour, including the view of the city from the temple.

Children's festival

When leaving Qoricancha, I again saw people celebrating, this time it was children! There were 100s of children all dressed up in traditional clothes, walking by their parents. They were in groups, and each group had a different attire, maybe based on the parish they were from? Apparently today was the children’s festival day. It was so cute 😄. That afternoon, the Plaza de Armas had been even more decorated. There was a statue of the Inca in the centre, and many children were dancing and showcasing their skills that day.


Cristo Blanco

Ruins of Sacsayhuaman

The second day, I hiked up the Pukamuqu mountain to get to the Christ statue, the Cristo Blanco. I walked past the Sacsayhuaman fort and finally saw the huge boulders of the fort that had been described in the book. They were huge, some of them were even taller than me. And they stood just liked they would have centuries ago. Solid and immovable.

 

Walls of Sacsayhuaman

I still wonder how a civilisation living in such inhospitable high altitude conditions with no horses or access to cement was able to transport such huge boulders from one place to another and construct a fort. Which has survived till today, even after all the Spanish invasions and destruction. Hats off! 

Cusco from high above

After the fort, I hiked up to the Cristo and was mesmerised with the view from the top. You can see the whole of Cusco from there, the valley and all the hillsides covered with houses almost all the way up. I stayed there till sunset, as parts of the city slowly started to move into the shade. It wasn't a very picturesque sunset though as the sun set at an angle, but seeing the city slowly move toward night was memorable.

While I sat there watching the sun go down, I observed many people coming and leaving the statue. There was a Quechua woman there, dressed in the traditional Andean clothing, with an alpaca baby. She was selling some stuff to tourists. And I saw her approach so many of the people there, offering what she had. She was so so so softspoken, it was like her voice had humility. She spoke some English words, and said them so sweetly and softly, I couldn't help but notice her.

And I remembered excerpts from the book I was reading which talked about how the common Quechua people had always been very simple, believing in the goodness of the world around them. They were so simple, they easily became more vulnerable to exploitation by the Spanish than some other cultures. I don't know if it's a stereotype but I felt it at that moment, how simple and soft spoken the woman was. And I felt very sad for all this country and culture had lost over the centuries. And how the simplicity of the population made them easy prey to all the atrocities that were committed on them.

Cristo Blanco

On the positive side, it was also nice to see how Christianity in Cusco had merged with everything Incan, including the festivals they celebrated and how the Christ statue was looking over this Incan town. I realised while reading up for the blog though, that the statue was a gift given by the Palestinian community in Cusco to the city in 1945, in gratitude for their acceptance and refuge during a time of conflict. Given all the conflict going on around the world, actions like this show a positive future - Muslims from Palestine gifting a statue of Christ to Cusco, which follows its own Inca religion too.

Walking down

After spending some time gazing at the beauty of this city, I started walking back into town. But I chose to take a different path than the one I had come by. I just followed Google Maps in the opposite direction, walking on the road and then taking stairs down, which looked like it would take me to the Plaza. (I could identify it from the loud music coming from that side😁). 

I just started walking down the stairs, walking past residential areas, and choosing whichever way looked like it would take me in the right direction. It was a bit scary as there were very few people around and some of the stairs were blocked. I walked past gardens and small houses and so on. It was an adventurous detour thought I am not sure if it was such a wise idea 😁.

San Blas

Though it all went well. When I reached town, I walked through the San Blas area which felt quite artistic. I stopped to check out some paintings and handicrafts being sold there. Finally, I reached the Plaza (we ended up there every evening somehow), and there were festivities going on (again!). Today all the saints were going back to their own cathedrals. I got a place to stand on a wooden platform right in front of the cathedral door. So I got a front seat view of all the saints being taken out of the cathedral and the procession taking them back to their own parish churches. And when I walked back to my hotel, I passed by many of these processions, still on their way back. And as usual, there was music and dancing all evening, everywhere.


Shopping in Cusco

Cusco is a shopping paradise. The streets were all lined with shops, with all kinds of things being sold - art, souvenirs, spices and sauces, warm clothes, sweaters, pillow cases, blankets, bedcovers - the list was endless. And it was all very reasonably priced. We spent a lot of time shopping here. Surprisingly, there wasn't a lot of bargaining going on, just a little bit.

There were lots of vendors selling handicrafts in the streets, not just the shops. Most of the women selling stuff would be wearing their traditional dress, and there was just so much colour on them - I loved them. A lot of them also had small baby alpaca with them. They charged for taking photos with them and their alpacas, which felt a bit too commercial for me.

Textiles were the biggest sellers - warm clothes made of alpaca wool being the most common product. The local weaves and designs are quite intricate, and they look gorgeous. The colours of the clothes were so bright, red being the most popular in the stuff being sold. Also the alpaca wool is really really soft. It was tough to see those things and not buy them! We all shopped so much - I bought a red poncho with Inca weaving, two red alpaca sweaters with traditional designs, two alpaca shawls (which turned out to be Made in China!), and an alpaca throw. There was a clear domination of warm alpaca products in our buying preferences 😆. I generally don’t shop. But in Peru I did, and this was after already buying flip-flops, a headband, a tshirt, a hydra bag and a backpack already.


Eating

We had dinner at the Plaza most often. Restaurants there were our favourites, as they all were on the first floor, with balconies overlooking the Plaza and cathedral. The first day we ate at Morena. The food was good. I had a bout of mountain sickness though and had to lie down on the seat for a while for the nausea to go away. The waiter put some alcohol on my hand to smell, as apparently that helps with the mountain sickness.

One day we had lunch at a local eating place, called the 3 crosses (quite cute) near our hotel, one Indian dinner at Taste of India (we were really craving spice that day), and dinners near the Plaza in Ceviche and Don Pancho. It was always great to have a view of the Plaza festivities. Dinner for me was always the same for me I think - ceviche, I loved it. The food generally was good, though for vegetarians the options were quite limited.


Weather

The weather in Cusco was interesting. It was 20+ degrees C and sunny during the day, and would drop to single-digit temperatures at night. And it was the same every day, with very little variation. We enjoyed the warmth during the days, but always had to carry our jackets along for the cold evenings. The weather was perfect for enjoying though and was welcome after the freezing days in the Amazon.


It is very difficult to capture all that we saw in Cusco. A city so old, so steeped in a mixture of the old Incan culture and newer Spanish influences. A city that has existed for more than a thousand years at such a height, stood the ravages of Spanish rule, and managed to still hold its own identity, its unique charm. It felt like we had landed in a very different Peru than the last one week.

I fell in love with the city within the first few hours, and the love lasted. It was so tough to say goodbye as I felt I had barely touched its history, its deep culture, its deep mountain ethos. It was like I had only begun to uncover a deep reservoir of culture, history and life, but left without truly doing it justice.

I loved staying in Cusco and hope to be back there some time. To explore more, but also to explore the Sacred Valley, Ollantaytambo, the Pisac, Maras and Moray terraces, Chinchero, and so many other places, which I couldn't visit because of lack of time. I will be back, Cusco!

Postcards from Peru: The Amazon (3)

Peru: Itinerary (1)
Peru: Lima and coastal Peru (2)

To explore the Amazon, the best way is to fly to one of the towns there and stay at one of the nearby ecolodges in the jungle. We flew to Puerto Maldonado (PM), which was quite a small town, located at the intersection of two rivers, the Madre de Dios and the Tambopata. These rivers go deeper into the forest and are lined with hotels and ecolodges. If you stay at one of these places, you basically need a boat to leave your accommodation. So any exploration either in the forest or the city has to be booked with the lodge itself.

PM from above

We stayed at one such place, the Hacienda Herrera Tambopata, an ecolodge on the Madre de Dios river, close to town and did a few excursions from there. We went to a nearby lake, for a sunset cruise on the river, as well as to a Macaw Clay Lick deep in the forest. I liked these explorations and all the animals and plants we saw, but somehow did not get the feeling that we were really in the Amazon, as most of the activities we did were quite near town. So the whole experience did not feel as wild as I expected. I think if we had stayed at one of the lodges deeper in the forest, the experience would have been different.

Also, for the entire 4 days we were there, there were winds blowing from Patagonia (called the friajes). So it was cloudy, windy, humid with no sun the entire time, and the temperatures had dropped sharply. What is generally hot and humid 30+ degrees weather turned out to be extremely cold weather and we felt like we were freezing all the time. So the experience was not as great as it could have been, but it was still very different from anything else I have seen before.


Getting there

Our flight was delayed by an hour as the LATAM airlines we were flying were missing a passenger but they did not know who. So they kept counting and recounting the passengers for more than an hour! And not one of the service staff spoke English, so we couldn't ask them much about what they were doing either 😃. The flight to PM was uneventful, all we saw were clouds over the Amazon.

We were received by a person from the Hacienda who first drove us by car through town to the boat jetty. The town looked big enough, though most of the houses were simple, with just one to two floors. And there were some good restaurants to eat too. (We never got to come back to the city as we realised later we would be living in a lodge on the river and the only way to get out is to take a boat to the city!)

At the boat jetty

From the boat jetty, we got onto a wooden boat which took us on the Madre de Dios river to our lodge. By the time we had got onto the boat, it had already become dark and was raining intermittently too. As we moved along the river, the city lights were left behind and there was no light around other than one small bulb on the boat. And that was it! All around was darkness, with a rapidly gushing river under us, rain above and no sign of any civilisation anywhere close by. We did have a few moments when we were wondering what we had gotten ourselves into! 


Hacienda Herrera Tambopata

When we got off at the lodge, all we could see was the jetty. The person asked us to get off and walk towards the reception while he got our luggage. We had to jump off in the dark, and had no clue how he would get our suitcases. Anyways, as we went up the wooden stairs using our phone light, we ended up in a forest with no lights to guide us! And it was still raining!

We tried looking for a path towards the lodge reception but got lost. So we just came back to where we had got off from the boat and waited, as it felt scary to walk into the forest in the rain, not knowing where you were going, with just your phone light to guide you!

Then we finally saw the person come with our luggage on a small wagon, and we walked with him to the reception to check in. That night, we were the only 2 guests in the lodge. And so the owner, the only one who spoke some English, had decided not to come in from town. So there were a total of 2 people other than us staying in this huge lodge and farm in the Amazon, one was the cook and the other was the attendant, both of whom did not speak English.

Anyways we checked in to our “luxury huts”. But when we went to look at our room, it felt like it was not the same we had booked. This one had open bathrooms with no doors, looking out onto the tropical forest, in the wind, cold and rain! We had a few more tense minutes figuring out where we had turned up, and why?! We asked the attendant to shift us to another accommodation, the bungalows. Which at least had closed bathrooms.

We had dinner at the reception and then walked to our bungalows. Since the weather had been cloudy for a while, the solar lights were not fully charged, so the lights around the lodge were not working properly that night. Our bungalow was cute, made of wood, surrounded by vegetation all around. It had a balcony with a hammock, overlooking huge tropical trees. And the bathroom was inside, with no open access to the wild.

All around on the top, there was a metal net. My guess is this would be great in the humid heat to encourage cross-ventilation inside the bungalow. Except that it was freezing cold. And we had a tough time sleeping. First, it was super cold. Second, it took us time to get used to sleeping with the sounds of birds and animals moving (probably monkeys), twigs breaking and the rustling of the wind all night. But finally we slept, as we had been tired during the day.

The next day we asked for 3 blankets instead of the one we had, as it was so cold and that was the only way we could sleep in an open bungalow. It turned out that the lodge did not have a lot of blankets as it was rarely cold there. At that time we were wondering if it was better to stay at a hotel rather than an ecolodge, as a hotel has more modern amenities. And even heaters.

Our bungalow

In the morning, when we woke up and saw the ecolodge in daylight, kuch saans main saans aayee. It felt a lot better in the morning. We woke up with natural sunlight and it felt amazing. The lodge was a beautiful setup with a few spread out bungalows, all encompassed with dense tropical vegetation. There were loads of different kinds of trees and shrubs all around, and even swamps and farms. There were so many varieties of plants, many of them were laden with exotic flowers. Especially red and orange ones. And birds and bird sounds. There were so many natural sounds around, but it was still so quiet. We could easily spend time exploring the lodge itself.

Once we walked around the place, we were able to better figure out how to get from one place to another. The main reception was a two floor wooden building with an open terrace with a few hammocks to chill in the afternoon heat. Which is where I spent most of my time (even though it was freezing). It was also so relaxing there, as if I was only surrounded by nature. And the ground floor was where we ate all our meals. They had an in-house cook who cooked local food for us daily. It was always fun to chat with him. He showed us some local food stuff too. Including a snake in a jar which was a local delicacy. Needless to say, I never tried it.

Our balcony

And there were thousands of birds in the lodge itself, who would keep coo-ing the whole day. We even started identifying some of them, though it was always tough to spot them. There was a typical sound which we kept hearing regularly, like a water drop sound - and that was the sounds of an Oropendula. I never saw one, but heard it regularly - it was my favourite of the bird sounds here. 

The next day a few more people came to stay in the lodge, so things felt more normal as we had company. And it was fun to chat with people around and learn about their experiences. Overall the lodge was fine, even though the first day felt a bit scary. Maybe because its a family run farm turned lodge, the service is not professional enough. We should have realised that as when we were trying to book activities through the lodge earlier, it had been a mess. The people we were communicating with did not know much english. But given how professional the website looked, we had expected the service to be better. Anyways overall our experience was fine afterwards, after the first night of shock.

For the last two days we even moved into the “luxury huts” we had checked out initially, with the open bathrooms. The bathrooms were definitely scary to use, as there were always sounds of the trees and monkeys jumping on the trees next door. Still we managed to live through it, though it was definitely a different experience.

Over the next few days we spent some time going out for activities, and the rest was either relaxing on the reception terrace or exploring the surrounding farms. Right behind reception were the lodge’s cocoa, banana and orange farms. We walked around them a bit, spotting some agoutis and possums too. And of course, a lot of birds were there.

The reception

The rest of my time at the lodge felt very idyllic, lounging on the hammocks. There was no internet at the lodge except at the reception, which was great. There were no roads around our lodge, and we couldn't walk or drive to get anywhere. Across the river, there was a road and a few hotels. But our side of the river felt totally remote. And so the entire stay we felt we were far away from the outside world.

But the weather definitely made the experience very tough for me. It was cloudy, windy, cold and humid the entire time. And it would rain anytime, randomly. In fact I was wearing the same clothes I had brought along for the Salkantay trail (where temperatures drop to -5 degrees at night) in the Amazon!! At least I had the clothes for this weather. Some of the clothes the locals were wearing felt so thin, I wasn't sure how they were dealing with the cold.


The activities

Over the next four days, we left the lodge only for the activities we did around. They were organised mostly by the Somos Selva guides, and somehow always started extremely early morning or after sunset. I think it made sense given how hot the Amazon usually is, but for now, it felt a bit of an overkill as it was cold the entire time.

I went out for 4 different activities, all of which were different: Night walk (1 hour) Sandoval lake tour (6 hours) Tambopata sunset cruise (3 hours) and Chuncho Macaw Clay Lick tour (8 hours).

Night walk

Pink toe tarantula

This was organised by a guide at the lodge itself, who took us out for a walk around the lodge for an hour, to show us the (mostly) insect life that came out of hiding after sunset. Most of these were spiders, and some of them were interesting too. We spotted a praying mantis; a possum on the trees looking for eggs to eat; a small spider who adds trash to its body length, to make it look longer; a chicken spider coming out from its hole (its the second largest spider in the world); a golden orb spider cocooning a moth and a few pink toe tarantula on trees which were scary but also fun to observe under the light. Overall it was fine for an activity to do close by but nothing major to write home about.

Sandoval lake tour

Madre De Dios river

This was a half day tour (almost 6 hours from when we left the lodge) to one of the nearby lakes, the Sandoval lake. We first had a 30 mins boat ride to reach the entry point to the lake, the Tambopata National Reserve. Then we walked on a boardwalk through the forest for 2 kms, and the guide showed us some interesting Amazonian trees. He pointed out some medicinal plants which gave out chilli or avocado or garlic smells when we rubbed the leaves between our hands.  

We saw the parasitic strangler figs which first start wrapping itself around a tree and then slowly over the next 50-60 years eat and finish off the old tree taking its place. We saw some younger ficus creepers growing around the trees, and then one new tree growing around the remains of the old tree, with a hollow centre where the old tree was. Apparently, birds defecate the seeds on top of the trees. They slowly grow roots, reaching all the way to the soil and then surround the tree, killing it slowly. It was interesting to see, but more scary at the same time.

Path to Sandoval

We saw some farmer ants, many different kinds of mushrooms, various flowers and creepers going up trees, and of course many many birds like kingfishers, parrots, blue and yellow macaws, the mother-in-law bird (called so because of her loud birdsong), the tiger heron, a few ibises, many hoatzins (a huge weird looking yellow bird), cormorants and the Great Ani. And then we could hear two groups of howler monkeys screaming at each other from afar. They can really howl!

 

Sandoval lake

Then we reached the Sandoval, a huge lake in the middle of dense forests. We took a small wooden boat, and a local guide took us all around the lake along the forested shoreline. The guides were able to spot some animals on the banks, the rest of the time telling us their stories from this part of the world. We saw the two groups of howler monkeys (with binoculars) we had heard earlier. Given how cold it was, they were sitting on top of the trees, completely huddled up, wishing for some sun. We spotted some yellow spotted-neck river turtles and two black caimans around the lake.

The sightings were less than usual given the cold. But it was so refreshing to be out in the wild like this, and hearing all the stories from the guide. Apparently, there are only four families who still live inside this regulated area and are allowed to engage in tourism activities. They run a shop to sell snacks etc., close to where we got onto our boat. For our lunch also, we stopped at the farm house of one such family. There were a few hammocks and benches there, plus we could buy some snacks from them.

The Puerto Maldonado area has only about 10% local Amazonian people living here. The others have all come from other parts of Peru. The population of the town has grown from 50k to 100k people in the last 15 years. And more and more people are moving in regularly. One of the reasons is the older road from PM to Cusco used to take 2 weeks to traverse while the new road which was completed recently has reduced that time to only 10 hours now.

Earlier logging used to be a major employment provider, but that is not allowed anymore. Of course, tourism is huge here. But the largest employer is gold mining from the sand in the rivers, which is very popular and lucrative, though illegal. It's a tough job as the workers work 24 hour shifts. But they still do it as the profits are high.

The guide also told us about all the illegal poachers and miners in the forests who kill anyone going into the jungle to stop them. From what he told us, a lot of illegal activities are still going on in the Amazon as it's so tough to control.

On the walk back, we saw groups of capuchin monkeys jumping around and making a ruckus on the trees. And then of course took the boat back to our lodge. Overall, I liked this experience a lot as we actually got out into the deeper forest, though not deep enough for me.

Tambopata sunset tour

This was a 3 hour cruise along the Madre de Dios river first and then along the Tambopata river. We mostly cruised along the riverbank, trying to spot animals, with the naked eye initially and later using a spotlight after the sun had set. The river was quite muddy and red, probably because of all the minerals flowing down it.

We first spotted a few sloths with patterned skin, lazing on the trees. They were hanging from the trees, and so slow to move. Next we saw two capybara families chilling in the grass next to the river. But when we went close, they turned ‘statue’. As if that will prevent us from spotting them😁. We saw many groups of hoatzins, which are prehistoric-looking birds. They were beautiful and such a pleasure to observe. Then some Yellow Flycatchers. And lastly a baby caiman. Of course, we didn't see much of the sunset as there were clouds the whole time so there are no sunset photos from the cruise.

Collpa Chuncho Macaw clay lick

This was my favourite of all the excursions we went for in the Amazon. We had to wake up at an ungodly 3 am for the tour. We first went by boat to the city of PM. Then we were driven in a car on the east west highway to Brazil. Once we entered the Tambopata national reserve, we drove to the boat jetty, got onto another boat on the Tambopata and were off to Chuncho. The boat ride was quite adventurous as the pilots swerved the boats very dangerously while trying to avoid all the driftwood floating in the river. We got off onto a small sandy island in the river, and plonked ourselves there for the next few hours. There were a few groups already there, all taking up spots along the island to be able to see the clay lick clearly.

Around the island

From this island, we can get a clear (though far) view of the clay lick, a sand cliff with many kinds of minerals in it which is apparently healthy for the macaws. So daily, 100s of macaws come there and take their time to get down to the cliffs to lick the clay. It's almost a dance that happens daily. There are three types of macaws who turn up here - blue and yellow ones, the scarlet ones, and the red and green macaws - plus some types of parrots also join them for the feasting.

The macaws mostly fly in pairs as they are monogamous, and mate for life. As the macaws fly in, in groups or couples, they first sit on top of the tree canopy. They stay there for hours, chatting to each other and scouring the surroundings for any potential predators. Step by step, they slowly shift down the forest canopy layers, to get closer to the clay lick. The entire group keeps doing this almost in tandem, slowly, step by step.

Finally one macaw who is brave enough, volunteers to fly down to the clay lick and start pecking. And then if no predator jumps on it, one by one more macaws fly down and start pecking. And suddenly there is a riot of colours and sounds as all of them try to lick as much clay as possible, in a short span of time before they all fly away for the day. Or at any moment because of a sound or any perceived danger, they can all just fly away, leaving the tens of tourists with nothing to see in spite of all their efforts in getting there.

What happened with us of course was very interesting, and shows how wildlife safaris work, at their own whim and fancy. When we got off the boat at the small sandy beach next to the river, our guide set up his telescope and then we waited. For 4 hours. We saw the macaws come in, and observed them on the canopies using our binoculars. For a long time. They kept talking to each other but refused to fly down to the clay lick.

Macaws waiting

We kept observing them on the trees, counting them too. I could count only about 25 macaws and parrots among all the trees, but my guide said there were at least 70-100. And then we would count again and keep re-counting to keep us busy. We ate breakfast, tea, lunch (trying out the local guardia fruit) to keep us busy. We walked around the sandbank, putting our feet in the water (it was warmer than the ambient temperatures) to keep us busy. We spotted some Orinoco goose on the island. And some capybara footprints, again to keep ourselves busy.

Then one macaw flew down to the click but within minutes it panicked and then all the macaws flew away, leaving the clay lick empty. Our guide told us to give up and leave. But we didn't. We stayed, just a bit more. And then a stunning scene unfolded.

One by one, the macaws flew back. And then they slowly went down some levels. And then the volunteer macaw flew down to the clay lick. And then the rest of them descended. The blue and yellow macaws. The scarlet macaws. The red and green macaws. All of them. Hundreds of them. And some parrots too. A few blue-headed parrots. Making noises and pecking.

Macaws at clay lick

What a magnificent sight it was. I loved it, enjoying every moment of it. Observing them through the binoculars, how they behaved. It was just so much fun and exciting. It was such an incredible experience, a mesmerising natural spectacle, watching 100s of these stunning birds congregate at one location to eat minerals from the clay cliffs. I absolutely loved it. Such a simple scene, but completely enthralling. The macaws were there for some 20-30 minutes and then they all flew away. And we all felt satiated, having witnessed such a beautiful spectacle of nature.

Capybaras

While coming back, the boat took us around the riverbanks, trying to spot some more animals around. We saw some capybara families, two speckled caimans and capuchin monkeys on the trees. We also saw some people floating on a wooden barge, mining gold from the river sand, of course illegally. Other than that, it was such a pleasant ride back home as the weather had warmed up a bit by then. We reached our lodge by 11am, after spending a whole day out. It felt like the day was so long, we had already seen and experienced so much already by 11am!


Overall, I enjoyed our experience in the Amazon forest. We spotted so many animals and bird sounds and so many unique trees, it was definitely a new experience for me. Also this trip made me realise what is the best way to explore the Amazon. Our experience this time was too sanitised, so for next time I would definitely like to go deeper, into the real Amazon. Maybe even go for a week or two at least (as well as pray that there are no Patagonian winds at that time 😂).

And just like that, our trip was over. While leaving, we again drove through town to the airport. It felt quite small and simple. And then we were off on our next adventure, to the Andes.

Postcards from Peru: Lima and Coastal Peru (2)

Peru: Itinerary (1)

Huacachina oasis after sunset

Our trip to Peru started in Lima. We flew directly from Amsterdam to Lima and stayed there only for a night before taking a 3-day organised tour with Peru Hop to Paracas, Huacachina Oasis and Nazca. Those were quite a busy first few days, but offered us such varied experiences – a peek into the Peruvian countryside, the coastal deserts, an island with unique wildlife, old colonial Spanish plantations, seaside resorts, prehistoric shapes on the ground, and so on - that it was totally worth it.


Getting there

We took a long 13 hour direct flight from Amsterdam to Lima. The first part of the flight was mostly over the Atlantic. But during the second half, it was a pleasure to look out of the window and try to figure out what we were flying over. It being a day flight helped.

We flew over Guyana (and I spotted the city of New Amsterdam), Venezuela, Brazil and Colombia to reach Peru. The most interesting part of the journey though was when we flew over the Amazon forest, it took us 3.5 hours to fly over it! (Apparently the Amazon is nearly twice that of India, it's huuuuge!). Even though I have read about it, actually flying over these forests and seeing how they almost never seem to end made me realise how enormous (and dense) these forests actually are!

The Amazon forest stretches till forever, crisscrossed by multiple rivers and their tributaries. There were also loads of clouds everywhere, in fact most of the flight was cloudy only. When they cleared, we could see miles and miles of green cover, and in between we would spot the many rivers of the Amazon Basin meandering around. And once in a while, we would see a clearing opening up, with some small human settlements here and there. We flew over Boa Vista, a city in Brazil, with no road access within Brazil given the dense forests around. And Villa Rica (in the central highlands of Peru) seemed like a cute village from the top. Sometimes I feel I am done with exploring typical touristy places, and these remote places are the kind I would like to visit, explore and stay in.

Icana river

As we flew, I kept looking at the flight tracker map, and correlating it to what we could spot down below. I spotted the Potaro river, the Cotingo river through the Amazon Savanna, the Icana river (with islands, as in the photo), the Jurua river and its floodplain, and the Putumayo river. Or at least, I think I spotted these from the air 😊. Then we saw many more settlements right before the Andes. Apparently Andean people displaced some of the indigenous people here. Overall, the Amazon felt so enigmatic, so fathomable, what all can and does such a boundless dense forest hold?

Lake Junin up in the Andes

And then came the Andes, starting with forest-covered mountains which slowly turned brown and bare. They were so high and so continuous, that it almost felt like the Andes were a plateau rather than a mountain range. We flew over some emerald lakes on the top of the ranges like Lake Junin (in the photo). There were many dispersed villages on the top too. And then the mountains started to have rugged sharp peaks, they looked more like mountains here. The number of roads and pathways also increased, much more than the Amazon. It's a testament to the Inca civilisation, that they were able to build these road networks centuries ago, and at such heights, given how tough the terrain and environmental conditions are.

Ocean of clouds

And then came into view a carpet of clouds, like an ocean, above which were the peaks sticking out and below which was the coastal plain, and Lima where we were headed to. Apparently, the high Andes lead to a very overcast but dry desert climate along the thin coastal strip between the Pacific and the Andes. And this coastal plain is mostly cloudy, with very little sun.

Landing at Lima

When we landed at Lima, the first view of the city (and country) was a bit underwhelming. We could see rows and rows of unpainted houses all around the airport. Everything was just brown everywhere. Our first impression was of landing in a very poor and run-down place. And it was a huge shock to us, which took a while to get over.

We took an Uber to our hotel, and on the way we experienced some crazy local traffic, with cars driving wherever they wanted, with no lane discipline, and everyone overtaking everyone else! We also noticed that most of the buildings along the road were painted only on one side, the front, with the rest of it unfinished and unpainted. It felt a bit unsettling for sure to land in such a country knowing we will be here for the next 3 weeks.

Cliffs of Lima

Though slowly the drive and our surroundings improved. We drove through a coastal highway, which had the mountain cliffs on the one side, and water sports happening on the other side. Some people were paragliding there, many more surfing. When we reached our hotel, the Hotel Andesmar Miraflores, we started to feel better. It was a lovely little boutique hotel in a nice part of town. The setup was good, the service great and our stay there, though short, was quite comfortable.

We reached Lima late in the evening, and were severely jetlagged. So we quickly changed, rested a bit and then were off. We were meeting a friend for dinner, and he picked a local place for us to eat - Nanka. He drove us there and the drive was through a nicer part of town (the driving was also better). We felt so much better then.

The Nanka offered an international cuisine with a Peruvian touch. The owner came to welcome us to the restaurant, and introduce us to the cuisine. The food was yum and the service was superb.

More importantly though, we learnt so much more about Peru while chatting with our friend. Peru is split geographically (and culturally) into three separate groups of people, the coastal culture, the Andean culture (mostly of the Quechua people) and the jungle culture of the Amazon. Though one country, all these places have their own distinct traditions, cultures, cuisines and also differing economic and ethnic backgrounds.

Street art in Lima

Food is very important in Peru, and fish, corn, potato and chillis are huge parts of it. There are some 250 types of corn, 3000-4000 types of native potato varieties and many types of chillis (from the Andes, the forests and the coast) available in Peru. In fact, the rest of the world was introduced to corn and potato from Peru itself. The cuisine in Peru also changes based on the geography. As well as at different altitudes along the Andes. I was already impressed by the cultural depth and diversity of Peru.

Apparently, culturally Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and Colombia are quite similar. Especially the Andean people in these countries. But economic levels are very different. Venezuela is relatively poorer and many Venezuelans are nowadays moving to Peru for work. He also spoke about widespread South American stereotypes. For example, there are anti-Chilean sentiments in many South American nations, they are considered too arrogant and were not forgiven for having provided support to the UK during the Falklands war.

Peru had benefited from some good leaders in the past, including the Japanese-Peruvian President, ​​Alberto Fujimori. (Apparently there were many people of Japanese heritage in Peru, given the closeness to Japan geographically. And there also exists a whole Peruvian-Japanese fusion cuisine). Also interesting it turned out that my friend himself had never visited the Peruvian Amazon. In fact, after our three weeks in Peru, we would have explored more of his country than he himself had till now! 

After dinner, we collapsed soon because of jetlag and as we had to leave at 6am the next day. So we didn’t get to explore Lima at all that day. (By the way, this was a regular occurrence on our trip, everything started too early in the morning, every day! It was fine the first few days as we were still jetlagged but did get tough soon enough).


Peru Hop tour

We had booked an organised bus tour with Peru Hop to explore the coastal part of Peru. The Peru Hop offers multiple tours around the country including the transportation, guides during the travel and some included activities. They have their own buses which take groups of people from one destination to another, with visits to places of interest on the way. They have guides joining each of the buses, who share stories all through the ride. At the destinations, they provide a list of activities to join if the travellers are interested. And if not, one can choose to explore on their own. You also have the choice to either book the hotel through them or by yourself. The whole setup though organised is quite convenient and flexible, also providing ample time to do your own thing.

We had booked a 3 day tour starting from Lima, with the first night in Paracas, and the second in Huacachina. On the way to Paracas, we stopped at a Spanish hacienda, the Hacienda San Jose. At Paracas we went for a boat ride to the Ballestas islands and took a bus tour inside the Paracas National Reserve. The next day we went by bus to Huacachina Oasis, stopping at a Pisco vineyard on the way. In Huacachina, one could go for dune bashing and sand boarding on the dunes. The next morning, we went to Nazca and did a plane ride to see the Nazca lines. And then we had a long 9+ hour bus ride back to Lima. We also kept talking to the guides all through the rides, and learnt so much more about Peru than we would otherwise. It was a very enjoyable tour and we were able to see so much more, mostly because of Peru Hop. I would recommend them any day.


Getting to Paracas

We left very early in the morning from Lima, and the first half of the drive was spent just in trying to exit Lima 😃. We drove through the Barranco area of twon which was quite colourful and bright. It had a nice hangout vibe, and there were many nice cafes and eating places there, all overlooking the sea. And then we drove through Chorrillos, another nice seaside part of town.

We passed through streets with old and new colourful buildings, lots of them with seaviews. And there were cycling paths everywhere. After crossing these nicer parts of the city, we drove past the less nicer ones. There were many poor and rundown houses along the cliffs. And it took us almost 3 hours to finally get out of Lima (it's a long city).

The weather had been downcast the whole time we were there, cloudy and misty. Apparently the Andes are the reason for such weather, they block the clouds and don’t allow them to leave the coast and move inland. And the weather is like this 8 months a year, cloudy and sunless. Looks like Lima has similar weather to London and Amsterdam in terms of gloominess but without the rain 😂.

After leaving Lima, we drove a few hours along the coast. The road was of good quality. On the one side, there were sand dunes and swamps (known as the Marshes of Chorrillos), followed by the sea, and on the other side were the bare Andean mountains. We passed by a few small villages and beaches. But mostly, the area was quite sparsely populated.

Our first stop of the day was at Mirasur, an eating place on the way where we tried a local spicy Peruvian drink as someone had suggested to us. But for the next 3 weeks, we could not remember the name of that drink 😂. (It was probably the Emoliente).

The Hacienda's Jesuit cathedral

Our next stop was Hacienda San Jose, a Spanish colonial house and plantation in the Chincha region, near the town of Ica. Apparently, the Spanish had a tough time settling up in the Andes mountains, so most of them lived around the coast. And unlike the surroundings, the Chincha area was greener and more fertile. Also, there used to be a port nearby in the town of Pisco. That's why this area was popular among the Spanish and there are four major haciendas around Chincha, the largest being this one.

Courtyard at the Hacienda

The hacienda was a grand wooden colonial bungalow, now turned into a hotel. It had a cathedral next to the house. And many open courtyards for the warm weather. The bungalow was full of old paintings, handicrafts and wares, making it quite interesting to explore. The furniture was all old style. And one could imagine the idyllic life led by the owners here, living in this grand house in good weather, with servants, gardens, animals and orchards all around. The guides told us the history of the place, how it was set up, how it was run, who were its Spanish owners and how it passed down through the family. The gardens also had some unique tropical flowers, all in full bloom all around. It felt all so idyllic, till we heard the real stories of the place.

The living room

Under the hacienda was an extensive tunnel network, 17 kms long, through which African slaves were brought in from the port of Pisco, smuggled into the plantations to avoid taxes. They were quarantined for a few weeks in these underground tunnels, in inhumane conditions, during which most of them died. And of the ones who survived, many turned blind due to no exposure to light for those weeks. So they were killed too. And the very few who survived had to work as slaves in the plantations, driving its prosperity. There was a tour of the underground tunnel too, but I could not stay there for long. It was tough to be inside even with lights and very few people. I can't imagine how it would be to be imprisoned inside there for a few weeks. So as beautiful, cosy and comfortable the hacienda looks, its foundation was anything but that.


Paracas

Paracas National Reserve

And then we reached Paracas (the city is also known as El Chaco), part of the Paracas peninsula. Paracas was a small seaside resort, which may have grown as an entry point to the Paracas National Reserve. All around town was desert land. It barely rained all year. The streets were lined with cactus, it was that much of a desert. The National Reserve was right next door, a desert, and a continuation of the Atacama desert of Chile. Most people came here for the many activities the reserve offered - cycling, ATV riding, paragliding, or just taking a bus tour inside the reserve.

But the city was also fun to explore. It was a small little town on the sea, rustic and rundown. On the one hand, it had some high end resorts, big and fancy, which were popular with the rich of Lima. On the other was the main town, small and simple. It had many small and big hotels, lots of eating places, and of course the promenade, which was the most active in the evening when the weather got better.

Paracas beach

The beach was just about ok, not too clean, with a lot of weed floating around. There were lots of boats moored near the beach. And there was even a small water park in the water, to keep the children happy and busy. But what was more fun were the shops along the beach on the promenade. With local places to eat, and loads of shops to shop around for local handicrafts. I spent most of the evening exploring this waterfront, simple as it was (instead of going for one of the activities in the reserve, as it had been a tiring day on the bus).

Paracas waterfront

I had my favourites, ceviche and chicha morada (a local purple drink made of purple corn) on the waterfront in the hot sun. And then at night, as it was a full moon night, I just walked around, enjoying the sunset on the water, checking out the local handicrafts and chatting up with some of the locals. It was such an idyllic day, just as I had wanted my Peruvian holiday to be.

Breakfast at Paracas

We stayed at a local hotel, the Hotel Riviera Inka Paracas. It was small, clean, and had a gorgeous view of the sea from its breakfast terrace. We had a very relaxing breakfast on the terrace in the morning before an early start again.

We had two trips planned for the next day, the first was a boat ride to the Ballestas islands. Ballestas islands are known as the poor man’s Galapagos, as they are easier to get to, and just like the Galapagos islands (but not at the same scale), they too have a very wide variety of animal, plant and sea species living here.

The candelabra

We took a boat in the morning and first we went along the Paracas Peninsula, where we saw a candelabra (a geoglyph made of rocks), similar to the Nazca lines. We also saw some natural caves around the peninsula. The mountains were mostly yellow but had tinges of red and brown too. Then near the Paracas port, we spotted some seals lounging in the sun on top of floating buoys.

Arches at Ballestas

We were on the open seas for a while till we reached the Ballestas islands. The water was a bit turbulent getting there though. And then the islands come into view, a few large rocky islands, with red and white tinges in the rocks. They were quite sharp and rugged, with some picturesque arches too. I am guessing their remoteness and the ocean winds lead to such interesting structures being formed on this island.

And once near the islands, we saw all kinds of animals there. There were some Humboldt penguins (most had migrated away for the season though). Apparently the penguins had left the island for 2 years due to El Nino and were now just coming back. They looked cute walking down the rocks in their funny walk. The penguins were definitely the highlight for us as I never expected to see penguins in equatorial terrains.

Ballestas island

We spotted many other birds on the islands, like hordes of Peruvian boobies, Peruvian terns, guanay cormorants, vultures and a few Peruvian pelicans. The boobies, terns and cormorants live here in colonies several thousand strong. Apparently all the bird droppings from the island (called guano) is sold as fertiliser across the world, as it's a great natural fertiliser, and a huge source of revenue for the area. The Peruvian government extracts the guano from the islands, but only every eight years. 

The tidal waters move up 2-3 metres on the island and down the same. And these lashing waves sometimes uncovered sea life for us. We spotted a starfish, some sea urchins, molluscs, starfish and a sea lion around. It seemed like the tour was popular as there were lots of boats there, even so early in the morning. Overall, the whole trip had felt refreshing, to be out in the open seas and checking out the local wildlife.

Cathedral viewpoint

After Ballestos Island, we went on a bus tour through the Paracas National Reserve, and the landscape was stunning. Apparently this is the northern part of the Atacama Desert which mostly lies in Chile. This desert land gets no rain all year, so it is just a wide expanse of yellow sandy and rocky land, right next to the sea. Interestingly the mountains had red tinges to it. A lot of salt is mined from this reserve. And nothing grows here. Also apparently the landscape is still constantly changing, given the strong winds and waves from the sea.

We had been warned multiple times to drink enough water, and protect ourselves from the sun. It was really really hot! Though we saw people still doing strenuous activities in the Reserve, like cycling, ATV rides etc.. We were definitely more comfortable in our bus than them 😊.

Beach in red

We stopped at a few places on the tour, first at the cathedral viewpoint where one of the rocky outcrops in the sea looks like a cathedral. And there we saw vultures gliding effortlessly in the sky, with the desert and sea as a backdrop. It somehow felt very meditative to see them like that. We then drove to a beach viewpoint. The beach was red in colour because of certain minerals in the sand. It was such a different beach to be at. It used to be open to people earlier, though had been closed now. And then we were off to our next destination, the Huacachina Oasis.


Huacachina Oasis

The drive till Huacachina was mostly through dry areas, except a short stretch when we saw some greenery near the pisco plantations. We stopped at the Don Pancho vineyard where the guides showed us how pisco and wine was made here. And then we had a hearty lunch on the farm.

The oasis

We reached the Huacachina Oasis in the evening just before the setting sun. I really had no idea about what to expect when we reached there. We were driving by the city of Ica, and moments after the city finished, the oasis came into view behind some massive sand dunes. It is a cute little place surrounded by huge (like really huge) sand dunes all around. And in the centre is a small water body with a lot of palm trees all around it. It is purely a touristy place now, with some hotels and loads of restaurants all along the central lake. A pathway has been made to walk all around - everything here is geared for tourism. And interestingly, just a few kms away, a normal city, the Ica exists.

Sunset over the dunes

We quickly checked into our hotel and then I hiked up the dunes as much as I could (should have left earlier). The whole area was full of people doing different kinds of activities - paragliding, sand bashing and sand boarding, sand skiing etc.. The place was full of people, sitting wherever your eyes could see, till late, enjoying the setting sun. I did the same, plonked myself at a good spot and just saw the sun setting slowly beyond the dunes. It was surreal, like a painting, like a dream. The whole scene was something you don't come across too often. The palm trees next to the lake, the small buildings around, the majestic dunes surrounding us and the feeling of being in another world. I loved this moment a lot. 

Oasis in afternoon

Then I came back to the oasis, and it had emptied out of people - the day trippers had left. As soon as sunset was over, it got eerily quiet and serene. I walked under the palm trees next to the water. And this is when I loved this place the most, for what it was. A green little oasis in the middle of a desert.

Curasi hotel

Then we had dinner at HuacafuckinChina, a restobar around the lake pathway. We chatted with the waiter, a very friendly person from Cusco (apparently the mountain people of Peru are nicer and friendlier than the coastal people). We were staying at the Curasi hotel, a small boutique hotel around the oasis. It had a pool which was welcome given how hot the days were. And we retired early for the night as we had an early morning, again 😃. 

Morning at Huacachina

The morning in Huacachina was even more surreal, with the sun slowly lighting up the sand dunes all around, one by one. And slowly the light came over all the buildings in the oasis. It was a glorious morning, and so quiet as the day tourists hadn't come by - one of my favourites in Peru.


Nazca

The next day, we had the option to drive to Nazca to see the Nazca lines, or chill in Huacachina. I had originally planned to skip the Nazca trip, as it would have become a very hectic day. We had to drive 3 hours to Nazca, take a plane ride to see the lines, and then drive 3 hours back to Huacachina and 6 hours after, to get back to Lima. I wish I had stuck to my original decision 😝. I got influenced and at the last minute decided to go for it.

Palpa valley

So early morning again, we left for Nazca. The drive was mostly through dry and bare desert lands dotted with sand dunes. Sometimes there were mountains which were also yellow, dry and bare. But in between we would suddenly turn up in valleys with small towns, surrounded by greenery all around. I remember a town called Palpa was like that, a sudden green valley in the midst of desert lands. With fields and fields of cactus, fruit trees and maize.

The Nazca lines are shapes created in the desert land by a prehistoric civilisation of southern Peru. There are about 300 such shapes still existing around the current city of Nazca and Palpa. An excerpt from Wiki to describe the Nazca lines in more detail “...created between 500 BC and 500 AD by people making depressions or shallow incisions in the desert floor, removing pebbles and leaving different-colored dirt exposed… Most lines run straight across the landscape, but there are also figurative designs of animals and plants. The combined length of all the lines is more than 1,300 km, and the group covers an area of about 50 km2. The lines are typically 10 to 15 cm deep. They were made by removing the top layer of reddish-brown ferric oxide–coated pebbles to reveal a yellow-grey subsoil…Some of the Nazca lines form shapes that are best seen from the air, although they are also visible from the surrounding foothills and other high places… Because of its isolation and the dry, windless, stable climate of the plateau, the lines have mostly been preserved naturally… including a hummingbird, arachnid, fish, condor, heron, monkey, lizard, dog, cat, and a human. Other shapes include trees and flowers.” Our guide said, there are some 800 small and big shapes, still existing around the Nazca and Palpa cities. And these can be seen clearly only from a plane.

Nazca means a ‘place to suffer’. The land was dry and bare, still a civilization manager to exist there, which built these huge structures in 500 BC! They moved the darker stones above to uncover the lighter coloured soil below. And no one knows why, maybe for understanding astrology? The Nazca also built aqueducts in the area. So clearly they were quite well advanced.

The lizard

We stopped at one spot on the way, where we climbed up huge metal viewing platforms to see two of the shapes from the top, a tree and a lizard. With a highway running between them. I think I would have been done seeing just these, I didn't really need to do the plane ride.

Nazca town

Once we reached Nazca, we had to wait a few hours at Mom’s Cafe before our plane ride. It was quite hot, but I still walked out into town for a bit to check out what a small town in Peru would feel like. It was a simple town, with people going about their lives. There were some tourist shops selling handicrafts, but there wasn't too much other activity going on. So I just bought some small tidbits and went back to Mom’s Cafe to wait. 

Our ride up

And then we took our 30 mins plane ride to see the Nazca lines from above. It was a small plane, with two pilots and 6 passengers. They took us around the area, showing us around a dozen such shapes down below. They would first fly to the location, and then take sharp turns on both sides, so the passengers on each side of the plane got a good look at the figures below and were able to take good pictures of the shapes.

Hummingbird from above

I am sure the lines looked great, but as soon as our plane took off, we got altitude sickness. Maybe it was the turbulent air that day, maybe the hot temperatures, maybe it was the sharp turns, but we both just felt so dizzy and nauseous that we couldn't keep our eyes open. We barely opened our eyes to glance at the shapes below and then would close our eyes again, hoping the flight would finish soon. And this is how our entire plane ride felt like.

Around Nazca

As soon as we got back on land, the local shopwoman gave us some drinks to feel ok. And somehow it did work. And soon we felt normal, having almost a blurry vision of the very expensive plane ride we had just finished! So all in all, it was not a great experience for us, and I wouldn't have minded missing it.

Reading and wondering about the Nazca lines was still interesting though. 2500 years ago, people were creating these large art structures on land, taking so much effort. Why?


Back to Lima

After the not so enjoyable plane experience, we were in for a long day of bus rides. We first got back to Huacachina and had a quick dinner at Desert Nights rooftop terrace. We then continued the rest of the 6 hour journey back to Lima, reaching Lima at midnight. We were tired and didn't really see much outside. Entry into Lima was interesting though. As soon as we entered Lima, we could see so many people partying at night but also a lot of buildings with metal fences - clearly it wasn't a very safe city for the rich. 

Art around Lima

To avoid our travel from getting too hectic, the next day we had booked a midday flight to Puerto Maldonado, the entry to Peruvian Amazon. And we were so thankful for that! So we got a few hours to walk around Lima in the morning and get a feel of the capital city. It was a cloudy and rainy day, so we just walked around a bit. We first walked to the coastal cliffs, watching people paraglide down to the beach and some others surfing on the beach. This seemed to be quite an active part of town. There was so much street art around too, on the walls, on buildings and so on. It was fun to walk past them.

Then we walked through the Miraflores area, first towards the lighthouse for a view of the sea below, and then to Kennedy Park. We checked out the local art in the park and there was just so much colour in all the paintings there. I loved them all.

Lima Street art

Lima Street art

Lima

We walked into a local church nearby, through cafe streets lined with cafes and restaurants, through streets lined with huge cactus trees, past a local market selling different vegetables (and too many varieties of corn), past parks, past bridges with tennis grounds built underneath them (a good use of land for sure) and so on. It was quite an enjoyable walk to explore the area, though we didn't really go far. And soon it was time to say goodbye to the coast and we were off to a different part of Peru, the Amazon.