PERU: MACHU PICCHU (Gesundheit!)

The main income generator in Peru is tourism, and the biggest tourist attraction (90% of all tourists go there) is Machu Picchu. It was definitely the draw for our group, and it exceeded our expectations. I was surprised to learn that Machu Picchu was built around 1460 A.D. I thought it was a lot older than that! It was abandoned about 100 years later at the time of the Spanish conquest, then largely forgotten and completely covered over by jungle. It was rediscovered by Hiram Bingham, a historian from Yale University, in 1911. Our guide noted that it takes a lot of work every day to keep the jungle from taking over the site. He thinks it would take only about four years of no maintenance for the place to be unrecognizable. Declared one of the New Seven Wonders of the World by National Geographic in 2007, 800,000 tourists visited Machu Picchu that year, and the numbers continue to grow. It IS pretty amazing. Luckily, February is not tourist season, so MP was relatively uncrowded. For now, you can still walk through the ruins themselves, touch the walls, climb the stairs, and sit on the Incan stone benches. It's hard to imagine that with the exploding tourism in Peru, that kind of intimate contact can continue.
We were unbelievably fortunate in regards to the weather. It was rather ominous, even menacing, all morning, but that only added to what our guide called "the magical, spiritual feeling" of the site.

As soon as we went inside for lunch (at a lodge-type restaurant just outside the area where the ruins are), the skies broke open and it poured all afternoon.

It was one of those places where you have to keep pinching yourself to convince yourself it's not all a dream. Even now, it's hard to believe we were actually THERE. We're glad we have the pictures to remind us!

"The Firm"

NEXT: Machu Picchu Revisited and Climbing the Stairs to Heaven

READING

A must-read for anyone who has been to Peru is Mark Adams's Turn Right at Machu Picchu: Rediscovering the Lost City One Step at a Time. I just finished listening to the Audible version. (I'm adding this review in 2016, seven years after we took this trip.) The book was so much fun that I'm ready to hop back on a plane so that I can re-experience Peru a la Adams. Adams had written for several outdoor adventure magazines when he decided that it was time to experience some adventure for himself. He planned a trip to Peru in honor of the 100th anniversary of the "discovery" of Machu Picchu by Harold Bingham. Adams hired a tough-as-nails Australian guide to lead him in Bingham's footsteps from Cusco to the iconic, mysterious Inca city of Machu Picchu perched among the spires of the Andes. 

Along the way, Adams learned that Machu Picchu is only one jewel in the Inca crown. (He also learned that it would have been much easier to walk the Inca Trail rather than the treacherous Bingham Trail.) His missteps and misadventures make for hilarious reading, but at the same time he masterfully weaves together Bingham's journey and his own, separated by 100 years but still remarkably similar.

Adams discusses many of the places and things we saw on our trip, including Cusco, Saqsaywaman, Huayna Picchu, and of course Machu Picchu itself. But he also visits a dozen or more other spectacular ruins that aren't on the main trail and that most tourists will never see. Read the book and you'll want to see it all yourself, and if you have already traveled to Machu Picchu, you'll realize how much you missed.

PERU: THE ALTITUDE AND THE ECSTASY

One of our big concerns in traveling to Peru was the dramatic altitude changes that we would be experiencing. One of the cities on our itinerary, Cusco, is perched in the mountains at 11,100 feet, and we would be flying there from Lima, a city that basks on the beach--at sea level. Bob has had some pretty serious bouts with altitude sickness over the last few years, and he didn't want to be stuck in the hotel throwing up instead of out seeing the sites and sampling the local cuisine.

We did our best to prepare. Along with our yellow fever, typhoid, and hepatitis shots, and in addition to the malaria pills we had to take, we got prescriptions for the altitude-sickness drug Diamox, and researched whether or not, as Mormons, we'd be allowed to drink what the natives drink for altitude illness: coca tea. (The answer appeared to be yes. It definitely seems to fit into the "medicinal herbs" category. If we've sinned, please assume that "yes" is a typo.)

We first spent a couple of days enjoying the beautiful city of Lima:

View of the coastline from our hotel window.

While in Lima, we began taking our Diomox in anticipation of the upcoming altitude change.

We flew from Lima to Cusco OVER THE TOPS of the Andes Mountains. The view from the plane was spectacular, and we saw several peaks that were over 21,000 feet tall.

The approach to Cusco.

On arriving at our hotel in Cusco, we took the advice of our guide and had a cup of coca tea before resting for an hour or two. (If coca tea is a sin, it was NOT worth it. The stuff is foul.) We also tried to drink LOTS of water to stay hydrated, as both the Diomox and the coca tea are diuretics. (Of course, it was all bottled water since you can't brush your teeth with tap water in even the finest hotels in Peru.) It all seemed to work as both of us felt fine that afternoon and evening as we toured the enchanting city of Cusco.

During that tour (on the same day we flew from sea level to 11,100 ft.), our guide took us up ANOTHER 1,000 feet or so to some Inca ruins called Saqsaywaman. It was our first introduction to Incan architecture and a nice precursor to Machu Picchu. Huge stones are fit exactly together, so tightly that you can't put a piece of paper between them, and without mortar, yet have withstood huge earthquakes that have devastated other structures (including all the structures built by the Spaniards). The Spaniards took the top stones off the walls to build their churches in Cusco, so the bases of the walls are in perfect shape but are missing their tops. There is also a beautiful panoramic view from the top of the ruins from which you can see the huge Inca structures on one side and the whole city of Cusco on the other. Breathtaking.

COMING NEXT: Machu Picchu! (Gesundheit)

THERE WERE FIVE ATTORNEYS ON AN AIRPLANE...

No, that's not the start of a funny joke. Well, maybe it is, but not one I know. There really were five attorneys (and their wives) who flew on several airplanes together over the past week and a half. But let me back up...

Fifteen years ago, five attorneys working for a large law firm in San Bernardino decided to break off and form their own firm. They created what is now Mirau Edwards Cannon Lewin & Tooke. (Over the fifteen years, one original partner, Harter, left the group, and a year ago Tooke took his place.) Anyway, the five have gotten along remarkably well and so decided to test the limits of their partnership bonds by doing the unthinkable: traveling together to distant lands to celebrate their fifteenth anniversary.

After about a dozen destinations were discussed and discarded, they finally hit upon the perfect place:Having heard rumors of fine shopping in South America, the wives readily concurred. Plans were made, tickets purchased, hotels booked, bug spray agonized over, and rain gear acquired for Peru's rainy season. On February 14th, the Grand Peruvian Adventure began.

Stay tuned for more exciting updates.

COMING ATTRACTIONS:

When You Travel with Bob, You Eat Interesting Things.

Bugs and Birds and Bats, Oh My!

The Altitude and the Ecstasy

BUT FIRST, COMING TOMORROW: Happy Birthday, Baby!

WHERE IN THE WORLD?