¡Buenas Tardes a Todos de la Ciudad bonita de Lima en el Perú! Les escribo esta vez para compartir una aventura importantísima de mi vida y también para contarles cómo pasa la vida acá en Perú. ¡Ojalá que leas esta publicación y la disfrutes completamente, saludos de Lima! J
Well everyone long time no see huh? I think the last time I posted was in early October so perhaps it would be a great time to play a little bit of catch up and let everyone back home know how things are going here in the beautiful city of Lima! First off this post will be a little bit of a longer writing because of the fact that our last trip to the south of this beautiful country was very long with lots of historical sites, amazing memories, and numerous cultural points that I am anxious to share with you guys! SO I promise that if you read through this, even if it is long, you will hopefully not get bored because we are going to have plenty to talk about! Alright well enough chitchat I think it’s about time I got on with it!
Well it all started the 7th of November and ended the 15th of the same month, although it might not seem like a long time you are going to learn just how much a Rotary group can do in 8 days! We kicked off our tour to the South by beginning in the ancient Capital of the Incans: Cuzco, a beautiful city with a very large amount of historical tradition and significance for the once great Incan Empire, which dominated life in in the Andes region for several centuries before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 16th century! Our first stop was to the beautiful temple of Curicancha, which used to act as a traditional center of the city before it was partially destroyed by Spanish troops and renamed Santo Domingo. Here we found a very important spiritual center dedicated to the Incan gods of the Sun, Moon, and Stars, astronomical phenomena that the Incans believed guided and watched over their civilization! We saw several different types of important building styles and were taught how and why many of the structures of this great Empire appear the way they do. Continuing on our trip we visited such sites as Q’engo, Tambomachay and Saqsayhuamán, all of which held particular functions in the days of old for the bustling city of Cuzco, some acted as important agricultural sites, some as guard sites, others as the earliest forms of center for transferring information in the form of male runners who would carry goods such as seafood from the coast or information regarding other parts of the empire! It was said that a runner could run 25 Kilometers in one day and that the Incan Leader could enjoy fresh seafood brought all the way from the coast!
Our following day of adventuring was by no means less exciting than the first and as we traveled further and further into the interior of the Valle Sagrado. It became much more clear to me how the Incans believed that the world around them, the water, mountains, sun, how all of those things could be Gods for a civilization. Some of the most beautiful sites I’ve been to and simply the view was enough to take your breath away, I make no joke when you could feel just how ancient that world really was, and maybe it was just me but I tried to imagine Incan families scattered throughout those high terraced walls, living life like they had been for centuries. One of my favorite aspects of this trip as a whole was that the feeling we received from being in these sites were important for many reasons and to many people, not just people with Incan heritage, or Peruvians, but in general just as a human being it was impressive to be standing in one of our father societies, one of the largest in the two Americas, for me that feeling at times simply robbed me of words and a new sense of Peruvian patriotism swept over me, and again I realized just how much this country has become a part of me. Its not a vacation, or a simple tour, it’s a life changing experience that has changed me in some ways I can see and some ways I will never guess at. I could never be more thankful for such an opportunity, not just for this life changing trip but for receiving Peru in general because I couldn’t dream of being in another country, it is as if I was always meant to come here! Well now that I have successfully gotten off on an emotional hallmark moment let me bring it all back with the actually tour!
Alright so where was I? Oh that’s right! The Valle Sagrado was the home of some of the more famous Peruvian animals and plants including the Llama, Alpaca, Condor, Vicuña, Parrots, and Guanaco! We had the pleasure of visiting a wildlife reservation in this valley to become face to face with these beautiful creatures and learn a little bit about how conservationists are working with the government to stop illegal trading of materials like Toucan feathers, and illegally sold furs from animals such as the Guanaco and Vicuña. In the reservation we also were able to view Pumas, and get a “bird’s eye view” of some Condors! 😉 I had to try a cheesy joke at least once throughout this blog, if I didn’t how would I know you were actually reading? Well off we go again back to the straight facts! Jaja! Alright after the Valle Sagrado we went to two very important sites of Pisaq and Ollantaytambo! Pisaq was a very rich agricultural sector of the valley where the people would normally grow Corn and potatoes to keep their nutrition well balanced and healthy in the high mountain altitude. Great terraces had been built into the side of the mountains and it was said that the storehouses of Pisac were so efficient using only the sun and high mountain climate that it was calculated they could keep some vegetables fresh for up to 5 years!! That kind of makes our refrigerator look like a tin can if you ask me! Pisaq was extremely impressive and the work it took to get the terraces etched into the side of the mountains must have been incredible work, really something to appreciate because the Incans were an advanced civilization but they were still working with basic tools made of stone and wood.
Well our next city was just as important and perhaps even more so politically then Pisaq was, the next city on our Great Peruvian adventure was Ollantaytambo! Ollantaytambo served as a temporary capital for the Incan Leader Manco Inca when Pizzarro arrived and conquered the original capital of the Cuzco. For several years Manco Inca was able to defend this great city valiantly but the force of the Spaniards was too much and eventually he retreated to the final capital of the Incan Empire to Vilcabamba where he was finally defeated and the Incan empire brought to an end under Spanish domination. The city was extremely impressive and the great look it had over the mountains was nothing short of jaw dropping, it was quite clear how the incans chose it to be a capital city, it over looked a very low set valley which would have allowed Manco Inca to notice any Spanish assault ahead of time and plan accordingly! After a long day of touring, many names in Quechua, and a great Incan history lesson we were finally ready to hit the “Mack Daddy” ultimate tourist spot in Peru…. Machu Picchu!
It was a very very foggy morning from what I can remember when we left for Machu Picchu, a site that no doubt has gone a long way in changing not only my time here in Peru but life in general for me, how I look at the perspective we all find ourselves in. We were stationed in a small tourist town just at the base of the site and I remember the night before I was trying to prepare myself for the moment I had waited so long for…. What would I be able to say? Would I be able to say anything at all? The second question as you will see later on was a much fairer question, but thats later in the story. So leaving from the small town of Machu Picchu we mounted our bus and before we could believe it we were ascending up the steep sleeps of the mountain ranges and because of the fog that was so heavy around us it felt as if we were diving right into the heavens themselves. About 20 minutes of our serpentine road and finally the bus pulls to a halt. We all got off, got our tickets punched and passport checked, and continued into the site. At first we saw almost nothing because of the density of the mist circling around us, and after several minutes of hiking the guide finally stopped us near a small ledge that overlooked the valley.
Out of the corner of our eyes a small ray of sunlight poked through the clouds and slowly as if the mists were blankets over a slumbering giant they peeled away until finally we were left with a view that at least for me will represent one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. The city of Machu Picchu, jewel of the Incan empire, sitting in the morning sun, there were no words to describe it, just a still peace and tranquility flowed through that place and there was no force I didn’t think that was going to stop it. We had the pleasure of visiting all of the temples, living quarters, and other import facilities including two very well known sites: the Incan bridge, y La Puerta Del Sol. These two sites were extremely important in maintaining the city and La Puerta del Sol acted as the only means of entrance. It was truly a tremendous city to visit and the history I truly believed was living in those walls, you could feel it when you were hiking through the various sections of the city, it was simply there. Now as for someone who loves history as much as I do Machu Picchu was like a kid in a candy store, the techniques they used, the equipment, the beliefs all of it was something I could and did appreciate and more than that, it was a culture I could still see continued today in some respects here in Lima and other places around Peru. Here are the truly important phenomena that this culture of the Incas is not completely gone and it helps influence all of us living here in Peru, no matter what city you are from.
Finally after a long day of touring, numerous hikes, and countless panoramic photos we returned to camp and got to take a short rest before eating and returning by train to Cuzco. After a day that started off at 5:30 in the morning I had finally seen Machu Picchu, jewel of the Incan Empire, from what I could tell it was a day very well spent and one (in my opinion) that I will never forget! The day after we were able to take a free time in the city of Cuzco and a small group of friends I find myself traveling with decided to go to the Plaza de Armas in order to really appreciate some of the beauty of the city. It was not a disappointment, the city center was stunning and of course La Catedral was situated right next to the Central building sets! Our touring in cuzco would not be over quite yet however! The following day we visited to more historic sites of Moray and Chinchero. Alright Moray first! Moray was actually a beginning laboratory for the Incas who were trying to discover at which temperatures and altitudes best grew the crops that they were using to sustain themselves. In order to test these variables the Incas used a system of large agricultural rings set between several medium sized valleys. By encircling each ring with in another ring in ascending order until they were at the same level with the base of the valley the Incas were able to use the temperature changes in each depression to determine at what setting best grew there needed crops. At first glance the site struck me as a religious center of some sort so it greatly surprised me and filled me with some awe when I realized how their system had worked, truly an impressive thing to see. Chinchero was not as much as a city known for any deeply made ruins, or tourist spot, it however was significant because was the city that has been found to adhere most to the traditional beliefs, languages, and religion of the Incas. In essence it is one of the closes places you are going to find still living as their ancestors did so many years ago. We had the pleasure of visiting a fabric-making center where 6 or 7 families lived together and they showed us some of the traditional customs of their culture deeply rooted in the Andean fashion. A very respectable sight for sure and something that I really appreciated, seeing this ancient culture in action is a moving experience I would believe for anyone who saw could see it.
Finishing our tour in Machu Picchu and thereafter in Cuzco we made our final push during our trip, this time to the city of Puno located on one of the highest lakes in the world: Lake Titicaca! About 6 hours by bus from Cuzco to Puno the trip was well worth it and the adventures that would follow the next two days would always be remembered. The first stop was the island of Taquile a very high rocky Isla that reminded me of being on the Greek isles, very beautiful! We were able to hike to the top, take plenty of beautiful pictures and then make a nice peaceful descent back down! Our second visit, which was incredibly memorable, was to the Island of Amantani. On this island we got to try something slightly different, instead of staying in a hotel that night we actually got to live with traditional families on the islands and most of them had been living in the ways of their ancestors for years. Some, like my family for example had limited electricity and only used it for a little lighting, not for cooking, washing, or anything of the sort! It was truly a humbling experience to get to live with a family like that and share a historic culture with them! That night they brought all of us to the center of the Island and gave us traditional clothing because that night we were actually able to have a huge “Welcome” party that was centered on traditional dancing! I don’t know if I have ever had so much fun and I know it was a memory that I am always going to keep! J
After our fun-filled dance night we made our final push on the tour, our trip to the Los Uros or better known as the “Floating Islands”. It was hard to believe but if you can try to picture a huge raft big enough for 6 families with houses, a kitchen, and everything on nothing but floating reeds situated out in the center of the Lake. That is what we saw when we first arrived and I think it had every one of our jaws dropped! It was an incredible process on how they made the islands and the was really a work of human engineering, everything was made out of this reed material that had been growing on the lake I am sure for centuries. Much of their food, boats, houses, all came from this reed and it was incredible to see how a people could actively sustain themselves with one major product, very very impressive! We were able to have lunch on the islands and enjoy the beautiful sun settled on the water. Finally after 7 or 8 days of intense travel, touring, and 
numerous hotels we ended our viaje.
As a whole this entire trip really helped me understand more about this beautiful country and I was really able to see and realize the ancient routes of this culture and how customs started centuries ago can still influence our lives here. I loved it and the connection between Peru and me has never felt stronger than when what it is now after that trip and nearly four months in this incredible nation. I love it, I learn it, and I live it everyday and that for me is a complete dream to live here, speak the language and be a part of what has become my culture. I must say that I could never have asked for a better country for this program and everyday I stay here my life becomes more and more changed in the best way possible. In two days I will be here for four months…. My how time flies when you’re changing your life… ¡Viva Perú! ¡La nación de mi corazón! Te amo Perú ❤
Chucho's Travel: My life changing year in Perú 