Flashback February: Peru Highlights - The Jungle, The Mountains and The Ruins

Many of my friends are heading on a trip to Peru and have been asking me lots of questions so I felt a great topic for February Flashback would be my Peru trip.  I really enjoyed Peru; finding the people, culture and scenery top notch.

Machu Picchu

The Jungle
We took a 3 day journey into the Amazon jungle (via the Rio Madre De Dios) from Puerto Maldonado.  After flying from Lima and then taking a crazy bus ride across muddy dirt roads we loaded some boats and headed up river for 3 hours (not a tour, but certainly an adventure).  We stayed at the Refugio Amazonas in the Tambopata Reserve area.

The facilities are rustic and authentic which made for us, an amazing experience.  Each room is actually open to the jungle on one side.  This can sometimes lead to a "freak out" session when you hear weird things in the middle of the night above your head or see the frog on the toilet in the morning!  And, make sure to get in bed with the netting down PRIOR to all the bugs coming out for the evening and then don't look down at the floor.  I'm just sayin'...trust me on this one!

We saw capybara (rodents of unusual size!), tyra, a host of other neat animals and even caught cayman.  One of my favorite activities was canoeing on Oxbow Lake to see hoatzin (funny looking birds) and beautiful scenery.  The guides were excellent and while we didn't see any jaguars (darn it) we did see lots of other things that we didn't even know existed!

Capybaras - they aren't the prettiest animals 

This is a homoptera nymph (its a real thing - google it!) 

That's one tiny frog!

The Mountains
Coming from the Rocky Mountain area of North America it is tough to impress me, but the Andes impressed me!  The snow-capped mountains viewed from afar off to walking through the hills and valleys was awesome.  One of the unique things we did was to hire a taxi driver for a day near Ollantaytambo to visit the Mora fields, the Mara salt mines, and Huilloc town (village really).  This was one of my favorite days and I highly recommend it.  Why?  First off, Mora farming was extremely advanced for their time - different elevations for different plantings.  The salt mining hillside areas have been around forever and the terracing is filled with engineering and elegance.    And then, to meet and attempt to communicate with the Peruvian people was an adventure.  It was nice to buy directly from them and to see who and how they make their goods.  And, you never know who you might pick up on the side of the road and give a ride too!

Mora farm fields 

Mara salt mines 

We gave a ride to this cute Mayan girl - I just wish I could have asked her all my questions! 

One of my all time favorite pictures - curiosity at its best!

I bought an alpaca table runner from this woman.  

The Ruins
Obviously Peru is known for their ancient Mayan ruins.  Sacsayhuaman outside of Cusco, Machu Picchu in the Sacred Valley and the Pucllana Temple outside of Lima all provide a rich depth of history and adventure.  As an engineer I ate up how impressive their architecture and wall building skills were.  Being able to see these items up close and personal created a better sense of appreciation for these cultures.

Huge rocks with no mortar. Still wonder how they did it!

In Machu Picchu we had hoped to hike Huaynu Picchu for sunrise but it was dumping rain (ugh) when we got up.  Instead, we hiked to the Sun Gate.  To me, this is a much better hike than Huaynu Picchu for a few reasons.  1.  There aren't those crazy high steps and slick rocks, 2.  There aren't nearly as many people, 3.  The view is more expansive in my opinion.  That being said, my perspective might be slightly tainted. The weather cleared for us so we ran across Machu Picchu to the other side of the park to hike Huaynu Picchu.  The problem was that we didn't have anymore food and only limited water.  We figured we might never come back so we had better take the opportunity.  So, after already hiking 6 miles and being at about 10,000' elevation, we hiked it anyway and it about killed me!  And, while some old lady passed me on the way down, I can still say I climbed up the mountain.  Checkmark - been there, done that!

View from the Sun Gate as the clouds lifted. 

View from Huaynu Picchu back towards the ruins.  

If you want to see some other pictures please visit my photo album at TrekkingTrego Public Gallery. All pictures are available for purchase. 

Cheat Sheet - Peru
We used Peru Best Tours, a local tour company, who was reasonably priced and provided expert advice along with amazing service.  They gave us a cell phone to contact them so when we had issues (especially not knowing quiche) we could call and have them help - this was awesome!

Hike Machu Picchu area rather than the Inca trail.  It sounds really cool but I'm telling you taking the train is easy and you go along the same path.  Then, you can spend more time hiking around the ruins and believe me, there are plenty of mountains and elevation gains to go around!

Don't drink the water.  They have a problem with refilling water bottles and reselling them.  Check the cap! Do Drink LOTS (but read the above line first).  Because of the high elevation, you dehydrate fast.  Do drink Inca cola.  Its the national soda and pretty tasty. Its definitely safer than water!

Take time to sit at the Cusco main square.  One of my favorite afternoons was sitting and watching everyone around the main square.  Kids were playing as they came home from school and people were visiting.  This is where you get to experience "real" Peru. At 12,000' elevation its a good excuse to just sit and absorb.  The cathedral is spectacular as well.

Check out a local market!  Be amazed at the gazillion potato and corn varieties as well as the goods that are available to purchase.  It's a fun atmosphere.

This lady had lots of variety of vegetables. 

I didn't realize there were that many varieties!