AMAZONAS! (Part 1)

I have a bit of a jungle obsession (I started reading about the Amazon in fourth grade and for years would send my allowance into the Rainforest Action Network, cluelessly believing my $5 really mattered!) and have looooong looked forward to the day when I'd be able to set eyes (and boat) on the mighty Amazon River. And I so associated the Amazon with Brazil that before I was preparing for this trip, I was completely ignorant to the fact that a huge percentage of the country of Peru is part of the Amazon, and that you can go to the actual Amazon river in Peru. As soon as I realized that, though, it was a no-brainer that I had to go.

There are multiple options for visiting the Amazon in Peru, and I chose to go via the city of Iquitos, mostly because Iquitos itself sounded so interesting to me. It's the largest city in the world that is not connected to the outside world by roads; you have to boat or fly in. I chose the latter. Once you're there, these little motor-taxis dominate the city. There are thousands and thousands of them, and sometimes they're coming by in such a steady stream that it's hard to get across the street. And the noise is constant and deafening. It's such a scene!

I only had one night in town before I headed down to the docks--and through this local market that had quite a lot of very interesting offerings, like these roasted worms on a stick...which were made unbelievably gross by the water bucket full of live, wriggling worms beneath the table of roasted ones for sale...

...and got on a boat that took me two hours down the Amazon. THE AMAZON!!!!

I only stayed in the jungle for about four days, but I'm struggling to condense the experience into two manageable posts. So for this one, we'll focus on the human side of the Amazon, and in the next one, the forest itself, animals, etc. It was just so intense! The heat, for starters. The humidity was unbelievable, and then when a storm finally broke it felt like a trap door in the sky had opened and might never be able to close again and surely we were all going to get washed away momentarily. And the mosquitoes! I must have 100 bites on me, despite wearing long sleeves and long pants and lots of bug repellent, constantly.

In just the few days I was there, I saw two of these huge barges full of hardwoods plying up the river toward Iquitos. It breaks my heart, the forest destruction and loss of biodiversity that is represented in this photo. Don't ever buy mahogany, friends! Things are dire.

While passing the winter at the bottom of the planet last year, a bunch of us Polies would get together to watch documentaries once/week, and we watched the entire BBC Human Planet series, which was mindblowing, and none of it more so than the segments covering the Amazon. Which is when I learned that in many places along the Amazon, people have their houses way up on stilts, because during the rainy season (December-May) the river rises so significantly that all these villages that were on land while I was here become villages sitting on the water, and people have to canoe around town, and the anacondas have a field day stealing people's dogs and chickens and other small animals and livestock. And I got to actually see for myself everyone's houses, ready for the water.

Though the rainy season has barely begun here this year, we did still spend a ton of time in a boat, going up and down the Amazon to various spots near the forest camp where I stayed, led by our fearless jungle native, Edwin.

I felt really uncomfortable when we paid visits to a couple of little informal zoo-type places (which you'll see more of in the next post), since those animals were being kept in captivity solely because tourists wanted to come see them. I felt a little better when, walking through a village, we came upon these little girls hanging out with their pet armadillo and sloth. Though I think they knew we were coming, and I am really curious if it is actually completely commonplace for people to have these animals as pets in this part of the world.

This is the bungalow that I got to stay in for three nights. Even the resident dog--who insisted on sleeping on my porch and keeping me awake all night scratching his fleas and thumping his tail against the door like he was knocking to come in--made it into the picture.

Okay, enough for now. Second Amazon post to follow....

Lima

I'm way behind on my posts here, so this news is a week old, but I have finished my amazing, once-in-a-lifetime Galapagos/Machu Picchu tour adventure with my parents and dear family friends. Our last stop was Lima, which I didn't really give due diligence, but which I might not end up giving due diligence, so I'm going to go ahead and mention it now.

My initial impression: grand old buildings and lots of traffic.

We saw the main square, the heart of the city...

...and just about a block away I saw this awesome thing in an old wall. Seems like someone scraped away down to each of the layers of paint that have been on this wall for years and years. Not sure how old the lowest layer would be, but I love how this looks.

We also took a walk along the city's gorgeous malecon, with amazingly great weather and a beautiful sunset gracing our evening.

And we got to check out the one Lima sight that I'd heard of before coming here: the mall that is built into that cliff along the ocean. This might convince even me to start to like shopping.

And so with that, it was time to say goodbye to my sweet and wonderful parents. That we may travel together again.

Cuzco

Cuzco was the capitol of the Incan Empire (and, I believe, the biggest city in the Americas at the time of European arrival), and today it is still a beautiful, proud, culture-drenched hodge-podge of indigenous and colonial sights, food, and people. The lovely main square:

The most iconic combo of this indigenous-colonial mix is Santo Domingo monastery, which is built within the foundations of the most important Incan place of worship in the most important Incan city, Koricancha.

We also drove to the edge of the city, where the Incan ruins of Suqsayhuaman feature these mind-blowingly large boulders fit perfectly together by those engineering geniuses of yore.

Note: kids in Peru are just as darn cute as they are everywhere.

P.S. So are the llamas.

Finally, there was a bit of travel serendipity magic going on, as our first night in Cuzco was a huge event for all of Peru: they played New Zealand in a World Cup qualifying game and won, which means Peru will be going to the World Cup for the first time in 36 years. This picture doesn't even begin to capture the scene in the main square of Cuzco that night, where 10,000 people, at least, were crammed shoulder-to-shoulder and back-to-chest to watch the match on a jumbo-tron-like TV set up on one side of the square. We only watched the first half, but it was an unforgettable culture experience to see so many people so rapt, smell the guinea pigs cooking on grills along the sides of the plaza, and hear the absolute roar of the crowd when Peru scored a goal.

Wow.

Machu Picchu

When a place is as famous as Machu Picchu, part of me is always kind of expecting that actually being there, after so many years of hearing about it and seeing pictures, is going to be a little underwhelming. And for Machu Picchu, the expectations are really high, right?

Well, I'm happy to report that this is one place that actually lives up to the hype and completely exceeded my very high expectations. I'm still kind of dazed at its beauty and the whole, fun process of getting there. As you head further into the Sacred Valley from Cuzco, the road eventually stops and (other than on foot) the only way to Machu Picchu is by train. This lands you in the charming, deep mountain town of Aguas Calientes (itself worth some exploring)...

...before you get a bus (or, again, walk) up the dozen or so insanely steep switchbacks that take up to the mountain on which Machu Picchu archaeological site is based. Again, I'd seen countless pictures of this place before I came here, and none of them did it justice, so my pictures certainly won't achieve that. And I have to resist the temptation to post more of the hundreds that I took. Just a modest sample. And then: go, go, go see it for yourself, if at all you can!

We were insanely lucky not to get rained on during our visit; we could see the rain drenching Aguas Calientes, in the valley below!

The precision of the stonework will never stop amazing me.

View back toward Machu Picchu from the Sun Gate, which is where people who hike the actual, grueling Inca Trail into the site first see the main event. (In this pic you can also see the switchback road up rom Aguas Calientes, and the Urubamba River, below.)

Soooo beyond grateful to have gotten to experience this unbelievable place.

Sacred Valley

Peru! Our first stop was the Sacred Valley (valley of the Urubamba River), heading from Cuzco toward Machu Picchu (with posts on each of those to follow). First, the landscape is stunningly beautiful. Doesn't even look real, right?

We spent an afternoon in the HIGH highlands, at like 13,000 feet, where we had a lunch and our introduction to local staple coca tea.

And then made a stop at Moray, an Incan archaeological site where the Incans did agricultural research and testing through ingenious terraced microclimates.

I would have loved to have spent more time exploring this area above the valley, with its incredibly picturesque sights.

But there was also the valley to explore! Ollantaytambo is a fascinating Incan site as well, and the adjacent town was super-quaint and not totally destroyed by tourism.

The town still relies on the drainage systems that were enduringly well-engineered by the Incans.

We also got our first intro to the alpaca weaving projects and products that we all got obsessed with pretty quickly. My favorite part (other than marveling at how these women have memorized the patterns they are weaving) was learning about how they create all the different natural dye colors. GORGEOUS.