Peru
I arrived from Boston, Jillian from the United Kingdom, and Gitty from Germany. We all converged in Lima. Our goal was to visit Cusco, the capital of the Inca civilization high in the Andes, but ongoing political unrest in this South American country made us wonder whether we would succeed.
Wall graffiti like this is common in Lima
Police presence is common even when there’s no danger of civil unrest
So many former presidents in Peru have run afoul of the law that a special prison was built just for them — and it is now full. The last five presidents are currently incarcerated there, although one of our Uber drivers exaggerated that number to ten. As he put it, corruption is no longer the question; the question is how much corruption people can tolerate. “That one probably won’t steal as much from us, so we’ll vote for him.”
The U.S. Department of State advises U.S. citizens to Reconsider Travel to Peru due to high crime, terrorism risks, and civil unrest, with states of emergency sometimes declared in Lima. We decided to risk it anyway.
Jyl and Gitty, having just arrived from Europe, opted to acclimatize to the new time zone in the hotel. I booked a tour of Lima’s historic center, assuming that staying with a group would be safer than venturing out alone.
We were not in Peru to visit Lima, and although the Plaza de Armas (once the Parade Ground, now considered the Main Square) was interesting — flanked by the scenic Presidential and Archbishop’s Palaces on two sides and colonial buildings on the others — it did not strike me as particularly extraordinary.
We started acclimatizing in Arequipa, at an altitude of 2,300 m (7,500 feet), for higher altitudes to come. The second-largest city in Peru and still relatively overlooked by foreign visitors, Arequipa is known as La Ciudad Blanca (the White City) because it was built largely from sillar, a white volcanic stone quarried from one of three volcanoes surrounding the city.
The outskirts of Arequipa as we were landing
The Plaza de Armas (main square) in Arequipa was very festive and crowded especially with the cooler night air
A colonial-era capital, its Plaza de Armas is framed on one side by a 17th-century neoclassical basilica cathedral. Arched colonnades line the other three sides, housing shops and restaurants, and a fountain adorns the center of the square.
The arched colonnades made of sillar stone during the holiday celebrating the National Police
One of the three volcanoes surrounding Arequipa in the background
Sillar stone facades are prevalent throughout the old city center
The plaza was crowded and festive all weekend, as several significant holidays coincided with our visit, the first being the anniversary celebrating the National Police of Peru, where police marched wearing vintage uniforms while military bands played in various corners of the beautiful plaza.
I also visited the Santa Catalina Monastery, a UNESCO World Heritage Site founded in 1579 for women from wealthy families.
In the 17th and 18th centuries at the Santa Catalina Monastery, each nun had her own apartment and servant
Sixteen active Dominican nuns still reside within its walls, although the monastery’s heyday of luxury — when nuns could keep servants and live in their own private quarters — ended in the late 19th century. Liberal reforms, the abolition of slavery and servitude, economic decline, and internal Church reforms all contributed to the changes.
Let us just say that life within the walls was no longer as alluring as it once had been for families who paid what would amount to hundreds of thousands of dollars in today’s currency to secure their daughters a novitiate. On the other hand, the arrangement came with the promise that the novice’s parents would be welcomed into Heaven, so there was that.
We arrived in Cusco, at an altitude of 3,400 m (11,000 feet), during yet another national public holiday: the religious celebration of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. That meant more parades and dances performed by costumed groups from surrounding valleys at another Plaza de Armas. The day is also popular for weddings and Quinceañeras, the Hispanic celebration marking a girl’s transition to young womanhood at 15.
Display of a locally crafted Nativity scene at the Cathedral of Cusco abutting the Plaza de Armas in Cusco, very South American take on the topic
The following day was another public holiday, Battle of Ayacucho Day, which commemorates a decisive battle in the Peruvian War of Independence in 1824 that freed Peru and helped secure independence for other emerging South American republics, including Bolivia, from Spain. On the upside, these holidays kept traffic at a minimum. On the downside, some shops, restaurants, and museums were closed. We heard that Cusco’s Inca Museum was spectacular, but we were unable to visit it.
The Ancient Americas Art Museum, which exhibits art from cultures that flourished in the region before the Inca Empire, including many different vessel shapes and patterns, was of special interest to Gitty.
The Inca Empire has its origin and epicenter in Cusco, from where it expanded to much of the South American territory, integrating the knowledge of the societies it conquered and developing an administrative, political, military, economic and ideological system that allowed it to grow significantly in a little over a century.
MOCHICA CERAMIC PITCHER (1 A.D. - 800 A.D.)
In the art of the pre-Columbian civilizations of the north coast a dragon-like being recurs in representations of their myths in connection with the night and the phases of the Moon. In this pitcher, the so-called "lunar animal", a hybrid zoomorphic character that combines the features of felines, foxes, birds and snakes, is depicted over a crescent Moon.
CHIMÚ-INCA PITCHER (1300-1532 AD), likely depicting a condor.
Cusco: Museo de Arte Precolombino
Cusco, with about half a million inhabitants, lies perfectly in a valley where many trails historically converged. By the 12th century, the Inca civilization expanded quickly because it had clean drinking water and was where scholars of many disciplines (engineers, astrologers, architects) came together. Stone monuments of the Incas are scattered throughout the surrounding valleys in all directions.
They were fascinating to visit and offered insights into the sophisticated social and administrative systems the Incas had developed. Although there are only a few hundred pure Inca people left, most of the population of Peru has approximately 70% Inca DNA and their first tongue is Quechua (the Inca language).
Alpacas roaming free in Sacsayhuaman
Although we visited many other Inca sites, the second most important complex near Cusco is Sacsayhuaman, a 14th century fortress built atop a hill, commanding stunning views over the Cusco Valley. This strategic stronghold served as both a defensive bastion, shielding the empire from potential invaders with its formidable walls, and a sacred hub for important religious ceremonies and rituals.
The Incas cut the hard granite stones precisely to fit together without mortar using rudimentary tools
Sacsayhuaman was constructed using a sophisticated dry-stone technique called ashlar masonry, in which massive, precisely cut stones are fitted together without mortar. The size of those massive stones is astounding, especially considering they were transported from quarries more than 20 kilometers away, where they were sliced with great precision, likely following sophisticated clay models.
Moray is made up of a series of concentric terraces that would have functioned as an Inca agricultural laboratory. Its monumentality, technical complexity, and scenic value position it as it as an icon of Andean agricultural engineering.
One particularly unusual Inca site is Moray, composed of three groups of circular terraces that descend about 150 m (490 feet) from the highest to the lowest point. Each circular “funnel” has 12 levels of terraces, with the largest depression measuring about 180 m (600 feet) in diameter. A temperature difference of up to 12°C (about 27°F) crossed all levels creating diverse micro climes, allowing the Incas to study precisely how altitude, heat, and sunlight affected crop yields of potatoes, maize, quinoa, coca leaves, and more.
They used these controlled conditions to determine ideal ecological zones for different plants, optimizing growth in challenging environments. The knowledge they gained enabled them to share tailored farming techniques with neighboring Andean communities, boosting productivity across varying altitudes and climates.
While Gitty explored Cusco, Jyl and I took the Belmond Hiram Bingham train, a luxury four-hour journey with lunch, live music, and an open bar, to Aguas Calientes (now renamed Machu Picchu Pueblo).
The absolutely amazing Machu Picchu plateau surrounded by mountains tapers to a formation that looks like a giant’s face with mouth, nose and forehead
From there, a bus brought us to the entrance of the UNESCO World Heritage Site we had both longed to visit. We met a private guide who led us on an adventure that far exceeded our expectations. We had pre-purchased tickets for the longest of several available routes through the sanctuary.
As we followed the path upward, the area suddenly opened into a breathtaking panorama of soaring mountains surrounding the plateau that holds Machu Picchu. Seeing the ruins against that towering backdrop literally took my breath away.
Machu Picchu was not always a terraced plateau. It began as a mountain the Incas essentially sculpted, cutting into the hard granite — possibly using some kind of acid wash to make the stone more pliable — to form huge blocks for their temples and other buildings. The tightly fitted stones, set without mortar using the ashlar masonry technique, allowed the granite blocks to flex slightly during earthquakes, which is why so much of the Machu Picchu has survived to this day.
Because of its remote location, the Spanish conquistadors never found this “lost city of gold” they were so eager to discover. Although Machu Picchu was not the El Dorado of Spanish dreams, it had already been stripped of whatever gold it contained by unknown raiders by the time Hiram Bingham “rediscovered” the sanctuary in the early 20th century, possibly only a decade earlier, based on graffiti left on some walls. Like many amateur archaeologists of his era, Bingham got a lot wrong, but fortunately he also got a few crucial things right, which is one reason we can still enjoy Machu Picchu today.
The ruins were more rubble than buildings when rediscovered, but archeologists rebuilt Machu Picchu to what it is today
Llamas don’t have to pay entrance fees to roam the ruins
As at Stonehenge and other World Heritage Sites, the trails, ropes, and other protective infrastructure at Machu Picchu are necessary to manage the global influx of tourists, but they have been installed tastefully and unobtrusively. Because the government limits the number of daily visitors to protect the site’s foundations, we never felt overwhelmed by crowds and often wandered through areas alone with our guide. It was magnificent and I highly recommend a trip to Machu Picchu!
Tambomachay is an Inca archaeological site consisting of a series of aqueducts, canals and waterfalls running through terraced rocks.
The Peruvian landscape is stunning — and we have yet to see the coast or the Amazon Rainforest. Still, we encountered the realities of a developing country dealing with corruption, violence, political instability, and significant disparities between urban and rural areas, despite overall economic growth. Historic Cusco itself is a charming and picturesque city, with many colonial-era buildings and architectural details scattered among otherwise unremarkable structures. Often, you see only the street-facing entrances, and it is only when a door or gate is left open that you can glimpse a beautiful courtyard hidden behind the outer walls.
Many homes are left partially incomplete to take advantage of tax loopholes
At the same time, nearly every city and suburb has an unfinished look: four- or five-story houses where people live on the lower floors (curtains, furniture, and all), while the top level remains incomplete. A provision in Peruvian tax law allows owners to avoid hefty property taxes by leaving their structures perpetually “unfinished.” The upper floor often holds a water tank, laundry area, or simple patio — even as rebar juts out of the incomplete cinder block walls.
At our age, we must have appeared like somewhat spoiled tourists in this mountainous country. Many of the hotels we stayed in had undeniable charm, but our rooms often faced inner courtyards that had no access to fresh air. Where the courtyards may once have been open to the sky, glass roofs now cover them, and the rooms have no exterior windows, air conditioning, or fans, leaving them hot and stuffy. That became one of the reasons we were, in the end, not entirely sad to leave Peru.
First hummingbird we spotted in South America
We were also not particularly taken with Peruvian cuisine. The staples are meat, corn, and root vegetables — lots and lots of starch. Peru is proud to boast over 4,000 varieties of potatoes, a fact we heard repeatedly, and sure enough, most dishes featured at least one of those many types of tubers.
In Arequipa, Gitty discovered that chicken dominated most menus, while in Cusco the meats were more often pork, beef, or alpaca. We had mixed opinions on the flavor and texture of alpaca, but it appears on nearly every menu. In some places, guinea pig, a traditional delicacy, was also offered, and Gitty saw them roasted on street vendors’ grills. Native to Peru, guinea pigs have been an important part of the local diet for thousands of years, much as rabbits are in the U.S. and Germany. Gitty chose not to try it, but Jyl and l did. Apparently it is an acquired taste — and neither of us acquired it.
The Andes are home to four similar, long-necked camelids. The best known is the llama, the largest of them, domesticated and used in the mountains as a pack animal, much like a donkey. Then there is the alpaca, smaller and shorter with a round, baby-faced appearance, valued both for its meat and for its wool, especially the so-called “baby alpaca” wool (similar in concept to lamb). These two species are domesticated.
The other two, vicuñas and guanacos, are still wild and have resisted domestication. Vicuñas produce the finest wool of all, which is a major point of pride in Peru, but fortunately, because garments made from vicuña fibers can cost thousands of U.S. dollars, we had the impression that locals are more than happy to promote products made from baby alpaca instead.
Feeding Alpacas
They’re very friendly…
… and baby alpacas are cute!
The vibrant pinks and purples of the wool are indeed made from ingredients found in nature
We were fascinated by how the vivid colors in traditional textiles are produced. First, dirty wool fibers are kneaded with a mash made from a grated white root that acts as a natural soap, whitening the wool completely. Then the wool is soaked in bowls with different plant materials, often combining two colors to obtain a third — much like dyeing Easter eggs, but far more vibrant.
The reds were especially interesting. Gitty had always doubted that the bright pinks seen in so many indigenous fabrics could be plant-based. But our guide demonstrated by picking three tiny white insects (cochineal beetles) from a prickly pear cactus leaf, crushing them in her palm, and revealing a deep red pigment. She then modified that red with other plant materials to produce orange and bright pink, the colors Gitty was dubious about. We were told that these natural dyes remain steadfast in the wool even after many washings.
Tucked into the Sacred Valley, the Maras Salt Pans offer a fascinating glimpse into centuries-old Andean salt production. Here, salt from a massive deposit inside the mountain seeps through limestone and emerges as a naturally salty stream. This mineral-rich water is diverted into a patchwork of more than 3,000 terraced pools, each gradually filling and then evaporating under the harsh sun.
These salt ponds are fed from an underground stream that absorbs natural underground salt rocks
For several thousand years, more than 600 local families have tended these pans, harvesting the crystallized salt in June and July. Maras Salt is prized not only for its flavor and cultural heritage, but also for its purity. Unlike many modern salts derived from desalinated ocean water, it is free from persistent micro-plastic contamination, making it a highly valued natural product.
Peru has countless fascinating places still to visit, from the Rainbow Mountains to the Nazca Lines, and beyond. But as our plane lifted into the sky, we doubted we would be returning to this South American gem any time soon.
