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In June we took an incredibly wonderful trip to Peru. It was actually three consecutive trips organized by Ken McFarland many of whose trips we have been on. They are good trips with a nice crowd of people - many of whom we seen on other of his trips, excellent guides and all the logistics worked out. Many of his trips are dance trips (Contra, English, and Scottish) - these weren't - but most of the travelers are dancers.

We started out in Cusco, a very interesting colonial city with lots of Inca remnants nearby - some of the buildings are built on Inca foundations. We then traversed by train to Machu Picchu, the Inca city found in 1912 by Hiram Bingham and through his liaison with the National Geographbic Society got publicized and preserved/restored so that it is a most incredible place to visit. We were also there in 2010 and it was well worth the return trip.

Much of the trip was at high altitude - Cusco is at ~11,000 feet, Cabanaconde a bit over 10,000 feet. We did stop off in a pass that was 16,100 feet. At sea level 20.9% of the air is oxygen, at 11,000 feet, it is 13.7%.

The second trip was on the Amatista, a delightful river boat on the Amazon, Ucayali, and Marañón rivers. We started out in Iquitos, which could be considered a port on the Atlantic Ocean even though it is several thousand miles away. There were thirty of us on the boat. We had two excellent guides. There were two skiffs and we made frequent trips on them to cruise small rivulets, and walk around in the jungle and villages. Birds galore, people in colorful clothing - often selling crafts, isolated villages, many forms of boats, pirhana fishing, gorgeous scenery, other wildlife. And Pisco Sours every night. And we did some English Country Dancing on the deck of the boat several evenings and were also entertained by some of the staff who were also musicians.

The third trip was to southern Peru. We were in Arequipa, another very nice colonial city with interesting monestaries and convents to tour. We then went to Cabanconde, the gateway town to the Colca Canyon. The canyon bottom is ~10,000 feet below the nearby mountains. We saw lots of vicuñas, llamas, and alpacas. To get to the canyon from Cabanaconde we went by bus/van down the narrowest, most winding road I have ever seen and then hiked down the last few hundred feet. On the way back we stopped in a high pass that features Condors flying around.

All in all it was a great trip. I took over 4,000 photographs and selected quite few for these livejournal posts. You can find all the posts (not all the pictures) here.


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As we traveresed back and forth between Arequipa and Cabanaconde there was lots to see. Interesting terrain, isolated villages, beasts of burden, some pretty nice native costumes with hats. I think that particular hat design is local to the region.

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It was time to actually descend into Colca Canyon. We left Cabanconde where we were staying (Altitude 10,784) and went by bus/van to the descent point. We traversed the most winding, treacherous dirt road I have ever seen (some people couldn't even look out the window). You can hike there and takes a few hours down and more up - but none of us elected to do that.

The last few hundred feet of descent were by foot - across the river and there was Llahuar Lodge where people can stay or have a meal. There are hot springs down buy the river and several of us took dips (not me - I did stick my toe in).

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In 1579 a plan was created to build a monastery for nuns in Arequipa; it was built and occupied for a long time - although in 1582 it was severely damaged by an earthquake as frequently happens in that region.

It now operates a museum. It is really a small town with quarters for living and cooking, galleries of art, cloisters, gardens, etc. It is quiite fasinating to walk around in.

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Here is another scattering of pictures taken from the Amazon trip at various places. The river, the birds, the people, our boat, other boats, houses, and of course a Pisco Sour.

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As we cruised along the rivers, took skiffs into small streams, and visitied villages, and also on our boat we saw a large variety of "critters" and their housing.

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A brief video of a sloth

We wandered throught another market in a riverside town. Food to eat or cook, a barber shop, several hardware stores (where in one the shopkeeper was preparing a cake to bake), a pharmacy - part of a "chain" called Inka Farms, some tortoises, clothing and shoe stores, dishes and cutlery.

Perhaps it was at this place that one of us purchased a tortoise (or maybe it was a turtle) took it on the boat, and later that day freed it alongside a river bank.

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As we cruised along the Amazon, Marañón and Ucayal rivers we saw a variety of housing - some isolated houses and many small villages. Many of the houses if near the river bank are on stilts due to the huge variation in water height during the wet an dry seasons. The sign at one of the villages, Centro Poblado de San Regis, said it was founded in 1723.


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A short video passing of the villages:

One morning one of the guides said - let's go fishing for pirhanas. Then he remarked - In Hollywood pirhanas eat people; on the Amazon people eat pirahanas.

We entered a little river looking for a likely spot. It was pretty nice in there.



Much of the time I felt a nibble and when I jerked the rod a biot and raised the hook was empty. I never caugth a Pirhana, but did catch some other small fish. Nut others of us caught some. And then they lit a fire under a small cooker, cooked them and they we ate them.. They are pretty bony.

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There were many small villages along the various rivers. Here is one, Puerto Prado, along the Marañón. It was pre-arranged visit - there were lots of little kids and they performed for us. This village had a generator installed fairly recemt;y - sokething they ar doing at a lot of remote villages. And of course as was common everywhere they had various crafts for sale.

View of the village as our boats docked.



Brief video of some of the kids waiting to greet us.


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