  Peru
Click to get the inside scoop from
real travelers here at VirtualTourist. See the Peru Travel GuideInside advice from real people on:Overview, Hotels, Things to Do, Restaurants, Nightlife, Shopping, General Tips, Transportation, Off the Beaten Path, Tourist Traps, Warnings or Dangers, Local Customs, Packing Lists or Sports Travel.
 8501 Peru Tips.17535 Peru Photos.0 Peru Videos. Peru Pages by the_dutchman
 the_dutchman's Peru Travelogues | | | | Title [Click to view] | Travel Year | Pictures | | PERU, HOME OF THE INCA EMPIRE | 1998 |  57 |
|
| Page Views: 717 Last Visit to Peru: 1998 | PERU, HOME OF THE INCA EMPIRE by the_dutchman - last update: Sep 17, 2003 |
TOO MANY PLACES TO SEE Peru has to be my favourite country in all of South America, Although Bolivia is a close second. In this trvelogue I will try to show you as many places as possible that are a must see when in Peru, hopefully the V/T will allow me all the bites that are required.
I Would like to start in Lima go south to Nazca, then work our way inland to Cuzco and Machu Picchu then south to Arequipa and Puno.
We will start at the Cathedral of San Francisco in downtown Lima. Here, below the church you'll find two layers of catacombs with the remains of an estimated 30,000 bodies. It is presumed that there are many more that have yet to be found. |
PRESIDENT'S PALACE This is my fourth visit to Peru. On my first visit the entire plaza in front of the Presidential Palace was pavement, soldiers were stationed all around and shooting was going on. Since then things have improved and on my last visit the plaza has been turned into a people place. Even the name has been changed from PLAZA DES ARMAS to PLAZA MEJOR. The picture above is as it was in /63, the one below as it was in /98 and still is. |
The gravel cliffs at Miraflores, overlooking the Pacific ocean seem to be rather treacherous. One earthquake and it could all be gone. Even so Lenora had no problem walking over to the edge to have a better look. From there it was a short walk to PARQUE DE AMOR, (lovers park). This park is designated to lovers with a huge statue and small love quotations printed on the scrolled walls throughout. These areas are a must see. |
NAZCA Before leaving Lima we decided to take a side trip for a couple of days to have a look at the lines high on the plateau made by the NAZCA PEOPLE as long as 3000 yrs ago. The bus trip down there took between 7-8 hrs. In Nazca we checked into a nice small hotel and made arrangements to look at the lines in the morning. The airplane was booked and the next morning we took flight in a Cessna 172, a single engine four seat aircraft. It's a good thing that both my wife and I have our private pilots license or I would have thought that the pilot was out of control. The picture above is that of a HUMMINGBIRD and the one below a SPIDER. There are ofcourse many more pictures of this area but I'll leave that untill another time. I will start a new chapter here as we are about to move on to Cuzco. |
CUZCO or QOOSCO THE CAPITAL OF THE FABLED INCA EM Cuzco is a name that is only second to Inca. Around the world that name can be spoken and every-one knows of which you speak. I will add as many photos as allowed to make this chapter as informative and interesting as possible. Today when one walks into the PLAZA DES ARMAS in the centre of Cuzco, you are taken aback some 600 yrs. As you look around the four sides of the plaza all you see is history. This place really is the "Archealogical Capital of the AMERICA'S The Cathedral and La Compania are two of Cuszo's colonial churches, they frame the plaza. By the way did you know that the Inca build their cities in the shape of animals? Well that is so and Cuzco was built in the shape of the PUMA or Cougar. The church of Santa domingo is built on the foundation of the Holiest site of the Inca. They called it "KORIKANCHA" or Golden Enclosure. The Spaniards tore down that Temple and the Dominican Priests build their own church on that foundation. Just a km or two outside of Cuzco is a fortress that is known as "SACSAHUAMAN" On the Inca plans for Cuzco it is actually the head of the Puma. The fortress is built in three layers from stones and form the head of the puma, some of these stones are over a 100 tons in weight. It is so massive that it took 20,000 men 30 years to shape and position these rocks. Above and below are the pictures of the places of which I spoke, enjoy |
SANTA CATALINA CONVENT The Convent isanother chuch that is found ot the Plaza des Armas in Cuzco |
KORIKANCHA The darker semi-circle of stones at the back is part of the original Inca temple, it was covered with gold friezes. Ater the Spaniards were finished plundering Korikancha, the Dominican priests build the Santo Domingo Church on top of it. Actually this is partially what saved the wall. In 1950 a large earthquake destroyed the church but the walls below it stayed intact. |
TWELVE CORNER STONE This 12 corner stone (count them) is believed to have been carved this way by the mason to leave his signature. |
ORIGINAL INCA WALLS There are many Inca walls left in the narrow streets of Cuzco. |
SACSAYHUAMAN This just shows the magnitude of some of the stones at Sacsayhuaman. My leaning against them has no effect at all. |
THE SACRED VALLEY Not far from Cuzco,a two hr. bus ride is the Sacred Valley. When Pizarro finally got here, that what was being built here was never finished. For example, the temple that was being built at OLLATAYTAMBO was never completed, yet it is said by scholers that it would have been larger than Machu Picchu if completed. Throughout the Sacred Valley there are many ruins and relics of the time that the Inca Empire was at it's peak. Today places such as Pisac, Qenko,Tambo Macha and ollantaytambo have become an enormous tourist mecca, next to Machu Picchu of course. people around theworld seem to be infatuated with the Inca. There is so much mystery that surrounds the Inca and that keeps every-one intriqued. The Inca never had a written language. They kept track of all people, events, commodites by tying various types of knots in pieces of strings or ropes called a "QUIPU". This knowledge was then passed on from one person on to the next. When Pizarro showed up this information of reading the Quipu was finally lost. The only thing left for for today's people to learn about the Inca is either legend or that what was written in the Spanish Cronicles. Even the Cronicles are biased as the Spaniards only wrote that what they wanted the world to know and when finally overthrown, they, the Spaniards, burned a tremendous amounts of books in the Hall of the INQUISITION in Lima. Enough for now, let's hove a look at the Sacred Valley.Above are the ruins at PISAC. |
PISAC Three of Pisac's residents in traditional clothing, with their everpresent smiles. |
OLLANTAYTAMBO RUINS This temple is of an enormous magnitude. Once on top one can witness the huge altar that was in the process of being built. |
STAIRS TO THE TOP Lenora had to rest (me too) a number of times to get to the top. The size of the wall just dwarf her. |
RUINS at TAMBO MACHAY This is better known as El Bano Del Inca. Water from a spring runs constantly. |
| Main Plaza at Machu Picchu |
MACHU PICCHU (THE OLD MOUNTAIN) Finally, I know, we've all been waiting to see what goes here. Well to me there is no other place in the world that can hold my attention like MACHU PICCHU can. Once there I can sit in a trance, be oblivious yo any-thing or any-one. I sit here and dream of days gone by and get goose-pimples all over. Somehow I feel luckier than Hiram Bingham that discovered Machu Picchu back in 1911. He wasn't even looking for it. Fortunately for him, while he was looking for the "LOST CITY OF THE INCA" in the Vilcabamba he came upon a farmer and his son along the Urubamba river and asked them if they knew where the lost city was. They pointed uphill and said that there were ruins up there totally overgrown by the jungle. That,s how he found the ruins. Mind you, lucky for us or we may never have sen such a sight. Did you know that Machu Picchu is the most photographed site in all of South America? I will place some pictures here with their descriptions although there are many others, you know where. The picture right above is the central plaza within. |
FUNERAL ROCK It is thought that this where the Inca practiced various rites of honour to their dead . |
ROYAL TOMB We might be able to guess that this contained the embalmed body of an Inca Chief. |
TEMPLE OF THREE WINDOWS The Temple of Three windows remains as another mysterious secret of the Inca, eventhough Hiram Bingham thought it to be legendary resting place of the Inca. |
INTIHUATANA (THE HITCHING POST OF THE SUN) The name is thought to have arrived from the Quechua: "INTI" for sun, "HUATANA" for hitching post. Many scholars believe it to be a solar observatory. The corners of Intihuatana piont directly to our compass point, indicating that this was a highly advanced civilization. |
THE PRINCIPAL TEMPLE At the rear of this magnificent temple, there is a type of compact altar formed by threee blocks of granite. |
THROUGH THE DOORWAY I just had to take this picture of the caretaker's cabin from a different angle. |
INCA BRIDGE Towards the centre bottom is the Inca Bridge. Not used today but was an intrigal part of ththe Inca's path's at that time. |
ON TOP OF HUANAY PICCHU Huanay Picchu (the young mountain) is the peak that towers behind Machu Picchu. Early in the morning I decided that it was time to look at Machu Picchu from a different point of view. |
THE INCA TRAIL On one of our other trips to Machu Picchu we decided that we ought to try and walk the Inca Trail. In our case the smartest thing to do was hire a porter to carry our backpacks and a dandy job he did. |
TIME FOR A BREAK Make sure that you have adequate water along with you as you attempt the trail. In the far distance you can just make out the ruins of Huinay Huanay. |
RUINS OF HUINAY HUAYNAY This is a much closer look at Huinay Huanay. Just beyond is where we spend the last night before proceeding to the SUN GATE the next morning. |
BIG STEPS It doesn't seem to matter how many steps you climb, there are always many more ahead of you. |
SUN GATE Early in the morning all the trekkers that did the trail anxiously await for the sun to rise and the clouds to lift, for their first glimpse at Machu Picchu. |
MACHU PICCHU "AND THERE IT IS" is all you hear the packers say, finally after one,two or three day treks they are rewarded vith a golden view of MACHU PICCHU in all it's splendor. YES, IT WAS W O R T H IT. Nex t we carry on back to Cuzco then take the train to Puno and Lago TITICACA, with a stop over in Arequipa. See you there. |
AREQUIPA After a bit of a plane ride we arrived in Arequipa. LA CIUDAD DE BLANCO, (the white city) So named because a tremendous amount of buildings are built from compressed volanic ash. This ash is then cut into building blocks. Arequipa is also a very clean city. When we arrived there it was municipal election day. Almost everything was closed, so other than sightseeing there wasn't all that much to do. So at this point in this travelogue we'll let you see what we saw. |
DAY AFTER ELECTION Since customers can't do any banking on the election day,it didn't take very long to create a line-up. This one went around the block. For whatever reason, when i asked a guard as to what was going on he took me inside and after checking my passport was helped forthwith, I didn't argue. |
EXTERIOR OF SANTA CATALINA CONVENT The CONVENT OF SANTA CATALINA is very large. It is a selfcontained walled city within a city. Today after hundreds of years it is open to the public. It is run by the few remaining sisters, whose total at one time numbered over four hundred. Some of the nuns came into this convent from very well to families, as young as three yrs old. They came in with servants and the family had to pay to leave them there. They never saw thee outside world again. They were self contained, what they needed was either manufactured inside the walls or traded with the outside world. This was done with a small carousel next to the front door. You put your money or goods on the carousel, turn it around and you got your goods or money in return, you never spoke or saw any-one. |
INSIDE CONVENT As can be seen by the sign above the door, the convent was a very quiet place. |
CALLE SEVILLE All of the streets within the walls were named after cities in Spain. |
BATHING TUBS These are the bathing and washing tub within the convent. |
SIMON BOLIVAR SIMON BOLIVAR, born in Venuzuela, became the Liberator of South America. Her in Arequipa his existing house has been renovated and is now on display. |
DOUBLE STOREY Double layered walkway is around one side of the plaza. The architecture is very interesting in Arequipa. |
CATHEDRAL ON PLAZA DES ARMAS Every city has it's Cathedral. Arequipa is no different. This twin tower marvel Is located on the Plaza Des Armas. By the way, did you know that almost aa Plaza Des Armas are the centre focal point of the city. |
PEACE PARK Beautiful statues abound in Peru . This one in the PEACE PARK is dedicated to the same. |
GUSTAV EIFFEL WAS HERE This pedestrian bridge carries a gas pipeline. It was designed by Gustav Eiffel. |
POLUICE STATION I didn't get a chance to get inside here to see what happens , nor did I pressure the issue. Who knows, you may never get out. |
PUNO. One of the many churches in Puno. This is the Cathedral of LA MERCED on the Plaza Des Armas. |
TORTORA REED BOATS. The Uros do absolutely everything with the Totora reeds. They built the island,houses,schools and boats. |
UROS The floating islands of the Uros are slowly disappearing. It is a way of life that is now dying out. Most of the men folk now work in Puno on the mainland. |
AMANTANI ISLAND Amantaniis is one of the large islands in LAKE TITICACA.Like so many others, we stayed overnight here with a local family. |
SUN GATE The Gate of the Sun on Amantani is at an altitude of just over 4000 metres. Since it was getting late in the day it was cold up here. |
HUMAN WINCHES All it took was a blow of the wistle and numerous men came from nowhere to help pull this boat out of the water for repairs. Even I gave them a hand, that's me with the backpack. |
MUSIC The male population of TEQUILA giving us a treat of their local music and dancing. |
GETTING TIRED As mentinoned before, there are lots of steps in Peru. Here it takes a total of 540 steps to get to the top of TEQUILA island. |
TIME TO LEAVE THis will have to be the last picture of Peru. I hope that this travelogue has been of interest to you. It has been a pleasure to share. Join My wife Lenore and myself as we walk through the arch ahead and start a brand new adventure in BOLIVIA, yes that's the border crossing just ahead. See you soon. |
> Add to your Custom Travel Guide [What's This?]
| the_dutchman's Peru Travelogues | | | | Title [Click to view] | Travel Year | Pictures | | PERU, HOME OF THE INCA EMPIRE | 1998 | 57 |
|
 Comments for the_dutchman about Peru | | | | |
Geisha_Girl Tue Jun 3, 2003 01:12 UTC
You covered quite a bit during your stay in Peru, Gerry. I can see how it would be your favorite in South America. So much to see in the Inca Empire! | Eliu Sun Nov 3, 2002 16:52 UTC
i wanted to tell you that the new phone number of hostal huaychullo is 2413130 ask for eliu | JudyinPA Tue Jul 16, 2002 12:46 UTC
Lots of great info about some of the history | Valentina777 Wed May 15, 2002 01:26 UTC
Great page, so much info &travelg is super!!! |
|
Best Peru Travel Deals
Hotels in Peru
3, 4 & 5 Star Hotels in Peru. US Based Agency. Great Service & Rates
Luxury Peru
Explore ancient Incan Cities in the Sacred Valley on a Disney adventure
Peru Photo Gallery
National Geographic's collection of pictures from all over Peru.
Sponsored Links |
email me
add as friend
