peru: part 1 - beachin' it, high altitude hiking, and the city of kings - and HOME!

"Travel is glamorous only in retrospect." - Paul Theroux

part one of peru, and our overall travels, has come to an end.  whoa!  believe it or not, we've been traveling for about 7 months now, 6 of those in latin america. and due to some new additions to the anderson and tikusis family (and good holiday timing for a break), we're giving our travel clothes a rest for a couple months to hang out in boston and chicago until mid-january (then back to peru to continue south).  hellllllooooooooo america!  

and now that we're reminiscing about all the places we've been, it's getting hard to wrap our minds around it all!  each experience makes it harder and harder to choose our most memorable places.  but...since we've reached our 6 month milestone out of the grand ol' US of A, we'll give it a try:

our TOP 8 (5 was just TOO hard!) favorite places during our travels through guatemala, honduras, nicaragua, costa rica, panama, colombia, ecuador, and northern peru (in chronological order):

- semuc champey, lanquin, guatemala

- monteverde, costa rica

- dominical, costa rica

- ometepe island, nicaragua

- san blas islands, panama

- quilotoa, ecuador

- salento, colombia

- huaraz and the cordilleras blancas, peru

so, if you're planning a latin american adventure anytime soon, one of these places should be on your list :) for now, check out our latest experiences in peru and in joe's homeland of boston, home sweet home america

our lasting memory of vilcabamba, ecuador.  we had to get this old man in here.  he's the symbol of vilcabamba, on nearly every water bottle in town.  if this old man is still kickin, you should probably drink whatever he's drinking

after a somewhat relaxed 3 day journey from vilcabamba, ecuador, we made it to the chill, coastal town of huanchaco, peru, close to the large colonial city of trujillo.  we soon realized that we're in the largest country we've been in so far.  instead of a 3 hour drive from city to city, we'll be adjusting to at least 8-9 hour distances, at a minimum.  so worth it though...

totora reed boats, a barge-type boat about 15 feet long. the hole is where the instruments and fishing equipment are stored and the fisherman actually sit on top of the boat. the Spaniards who came to Peru actually called it “totora little horse” because of the way the fishermen sat on the boat.

close up of a totora boat

some beach-go'ers checking out the seal that decided to come hang out near the beach

the seal was very camera-friendly

peru's national 'gaseosa' (aka pop, or soda for those new englanders :) - inca kola.  sugary, cream soda-y goodness

cancha, a popular peruvian corn snack.  always served with ceviche

yet another beautiful sunset - this will never get old...

a peruvian hairless dog, an ancient breed of dog with its origins in Peruvian pre-Inca cultures. we saw this guy at a pre-Incan, Moche, site, Huaca de la Luna (next picture). The color of their skin can be chocolate-brown, grey, copper, or mixed. They can be totally one color or one color with pink spots. The dogs may have short hair on top of its head (like this guy), on its feet, and on the tip of its tail.

ruins of Huaca de la Luna (Temple/Shrine of the Moon), a huge adobe brick structure (7 stories high!) built by the Moche people of northern Peru.This is one of the original murals found at Huaca de la Luna, found at the ceremonial courtyard.  

part two of our pre-incan ruin hop: huaca arco iris (rainbow temple)

wowee wow! joe in awe of chan chan, part three of our pre-incan ruin hop, the largest Pre-Columbian city in South America, covering an area of about 12 square miles. Chan Chan was constructed by the Chimu, a culture that arose out of the Moche civilization. Chan Chan is a triangular city surrounded by walls 50-60 feet high. 

this pond was right in the middle of the Chan Chan ruins, the home of a few ducks enjoying their historical surroundings. gives you an idea of just how big the ruins are.

lauren getting ready for her shift, guarding the ruins.  i certainly wouldn't mess with a serious face like that.

the large wall surrounding chan chan

showing off some of it's colonial architecture at the cathedral in Plaza de Armas in Trujillo, the city just outside of the ruins

mate de coca (tea of the coca leaf), one of the traditional cures for altitude sickness.  this came in handy during our visit to our next destination, huaraz, high in the cordilleras blancas mountain range.  
luckily, we did a little research before deciding that we shouldn't take any mate de coca home with us - it is considered a schedule 1 controlled substance, same as pure cocaine...  this is a subject of debate these days, as the U.S. government is pressuring the peruvian government to make any use of coca illegal, even in the much more tame 'leaf form,' that natives have been consuming for thousands of years. natives are NOT happy about the US interference in their culture

one reason we are usually able to stay 'on budget'.  this lunch - large bowl of soup, pile of rice, some meat and veggies, and a drink (definitely should have split a meal here) --> 3 soles = about 1 dollar, our cheapest meal yet.  beats anything on any 'dollar menu' out there...

what?!?!  a dark beer in latin america?  this malty treat, cusquena negra, is beginning to restore my hope for finding more decent beers...

the city of huaraz is nestled in the mountains, surrounded on all sides by beautiful snow-capped peaks. supposedly, this mountain, when viewed at a slightly different angle, is the inspiration behind the 'paramount' movie production company logo.

sun setting over one of these peaks, with the city of huaraz in the foreground...

get your coca tea ready - we're going up.  here we're at about 12,800 feet, on our way towards laguna 69, a beautiful crystal clear lake high up in the cordilleras blancas.  before we reached laguna 69, we got a few appetizers (possibly laguna 66 or 67, pictured here) at the beginning of our 5 hour hike.

the beautiful view on the beginning of our hike

this sweet waterfall, in front of the snowy mountain peak, is the run-off from laguna 69 - as you can see, we've got some climbing to do.  
check out that sweet glacier in the back!

a smaller, less magnificent lake (which we dubbed 'laguna 68'), toward the top of our hike

cow pie central! you really had to watch your step here

get your rockin-out faces on... we're almost there! and glad to have a tiny bit of our clothes still dry, for now...

2.5 hours of hiking, a lot of it in the rain (and some snow toward the end) - and we reach our goal - the bright blue laguna 69

very cold and wet joe and lauren in front of the lake.  now lets eat our picnic lunch whilst shivering our asses off!  bring on that tea! wish that the lake actually tasted like powerade.  nope, just a facade.

joe and spatula, feeling victorious after climbing 700 meters to an altitude of over 4600 meters (over 15,000 feet)!  by far the highest any of us (including spatula) have been.

a short break on the way back down, at 'laguna 68.'  the descent proved to be somewhat unpleasant -->; it rained the whole way down and we were soaked to the bone and squishin in our shoes by the time we reached the end - then only a 3-hour soaking wet car ride back to our hostel in huaraz - we've never appreciated a hot shower so much!

out of the mountains, onto the coast.  this was our coastal view for a good bit of the ride while on our ride to lima. peru's topography changes very quickly.  you can start in a mountain climate and arrive in the desert within a few hours. 

this was the road we were on, carved into the sandy mountain

hello big city!  welcome to lima, the city of kings.  while on a bus tour, we saw some sweet street performers, the norm at nearly every major intersection in a big city.  the guy in the left is mid back flip. nice!

convento de san francisco in lima.  after centuries of private and public burials in the catacombs of the monastery, they were reopened.  and...this is what we saw...

soooo many bones.  estimates range a LOT.  our guide at the monastery said they estimated approximately 25,000 bodies; however, our book quoted nearly triple that amount!  so, really, they have no idea how many bodies were buried down there. 

thank you wikipedia for this photo.  we weren't able to take any photos down there.

peru's national drink: the pisco sour.  deceivingly delicious, meaning that you have no idea how much alcohol is in them.  in reality, it is a lot :)  made with pisco, a grape brandy, limes, sugar, and...the topper: egg white.  

enjoying our pisco sours with our wonderful lima host, cecilia.  

our last meal in peru: the chicharron.  yummy pork sandwich complete with a couple slices of camote: sweet potato.  muy rica

home to the US for a bit!  back in boston...lucky enough to not miss every ounce of our favorite fall weather.  and now, we're back to our good old panasonic camera!  

ahhh...autumn

hanging out with the new member of the anderson family, gus!  

gus and uncle joe

we promised benny (our friend liam and rachel's new dog) that he would be in the blog too.  

during our first week home, we're really loving the comforts of home and appreciating them so much more.  you'd never realize how nice it is to brush your teeth using standard tap water until you're away from that luxury for awhile.  it's pretty wonderful.  it's also been great to see all our family and friends (shout out to NYLIM folk!).  and it's only getting better with thanksgiving just a day away.  yummmmm.  

anyhoos...happy turkey day to all.  

tallyho!

lauren and joe