Leatherhead DFAS - Tour to Peru 2007

LAND OF THE INCAS
(Organised by Saga Holidays)

A group from Leatherhead DFAS flew to Lima in late June for a tour of Peru. Lima was founded by the Spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro in 1535 and our first visit was to the Plaza de Armas, where a magnificent 17c bronze fountain fronts the Cathedral, with its side chapel dedicated to his memory. A short walk from there to the Archbishop’s Palace to admire the elegant balconies, skilfully carved in Moorish style.

Plaza de Armas, Lima

Our next day included a visit to the National Museum to view fascinating displays tracing each indigenous civilisation, with life-size replicas of major archaeological discoveries and many artefacts.

We then flew to Arequipa, an attractive colonial-style city built from white volcanic stone, lying at the foot of the dormant snow-capped volcano, El Misti. We visited the Cathedral and Monastery of Santa Catalina, a rambling complex that encloses a complete world within its thick walls - convent buildings, churches, fountains and colourful gardens.

Cathedral Dome Arequipa

in the Treasury of Arequipa Cathedral

above and below, Monastery of Santa Catalina, Arequipa

In the 16c it was the custom for Spanish noblemen to ‘donate’ their second daughter to the Church and there were tales of spacious quarters, servants and numerous scandals. Some of the group visited the Museo Santuarios Andinos to marvel at the frozen mummy of Juanita, the Ice Maiden, sacrificed by the Incas in the 1460s and also ceremonial and symbolic objects discovered with the burial.

Others in the group took the opportunity to travel to the Colca Canyon to the lookout point of Cruz del Condor, where local people displayed their embroideries for sale and the condors soared above our heads.

Colca Canyon

Handicrafts, Cruz del Condor

Condor, Cruz del Condor

Peruvian girl

Our next destination was Lake Titicaca, the world’s highest navigable lake, 3960 metres above sea level. Legend says that the lake was the birthplace of the Inca empire, which began when the founding couple, Manco Capac and Mama Ocllo, emerged from the waters to begin their quest to civilise mankind.

Reed boat on Lake Titicaca

Next by boat to the floating reed islands, which are home to the Uros Indians, an ancient Peruvian tribe who still practise their old-world customs and produce art and handicrafts as generations have done before them.

In 1861, the Peruvian Government ordered two small cargo-passenger boats for Lake Titicaca for trading Peruvian copper, silver, minerals and wool and timber. The James Watt Foundry in Birmingham was commissioned to build the ships in kit form, with no piece weighing more than 3 ½ cwt, the maximum carrying capacity of a mule. The Yavari (see below), as a State Registered Museum, is now berthed in Puno Bay and members of the group enjoyed a stimulating morning of discussion with the current curator.

Unfortunately our onward journey was delayed when we encountered a local political dispute and, with all the roads leaving Puno and Juliaca littered with boulders, we had to retrace our steps. We drove back across the mountains to Arequipa and from there were able to take a flight to Cuzco.

Cuzco, the ‘navel of the world’ in the Quechua language, was the capital of a great pre-Columbian empire; today the city stands as a living testimony to the immortality of the Inca civilisation. In the centre of Cuzco, the 17th-century cathedral in Plaza de Armas houses many wonderful works of art, including an altar of solid silver and a painting of “The Last Supper” where the meal consists of roast guinea pig (a local delicacy).

Plaza, Cuzco

The massive granite walls, fitted without mortar, and remnants of the Inca Temple of the Sun blend with the monastery of Santo Domingo built during the days of the Spanish Conquest.

Santo Domingo, Cuzco

The Temple of the Sun was originally covered in sheets of gold studded with emeralds and turquoise - these are long gone but the perfectly fitted curved stone walls still survive.

Temple of the Sun, Cuzco

Inca wall

Our guide in the gallery explained that the Cuzco School of Painting was distinctive; pointing out that the Christ had bowed legs (just like the locals) from the continual climbing up the stepped hillsides; the Cuzco School of Painting is considered to be the first organized artistic centre in the New World.

Overlooking Cuzco is the immense ruined fortress of Sacsayhuaman - thought to have been built by the Incas as a Temple of the Sun. Here we could see three parallel levels of fortifications constructed out of enormous rocks, some of which weigh an estimated 30 tonnes, which all fit together perfectly.

above and below, Sacsayhuaman

It was here that the Incas are believed to have made their last stand against Pizarro’s forces before retreating down the Urubamba Valley.

Urubamba Valley

We then moved on to the Sacred Valley, visiting the mighty ruins of Ollantaytambo, one of the finest surviving Inca fortresses. Extensive Inca ruins can be seen here, one of them an unfinished temple begun by Pachacuti that contains some of the largest stones ever used by Inca builders.

Ollantaytambo

Next day we were back to Ollantaytambo station for our train to Machu Picchu, following the river valley to Aguas Calientes station, where we boarded the bus for our drive up a zigzag road to the Inca citadel of Machu Picchu. Machu Picchu remained hidden by thick jungle vegetation until 1911, when an expedition led by Yale University’s Hiram Bingham literally stumbled on the mountain-top where the city stood. Machu Picchu was a city of streets, aqueducts, fountains and walkways, home to priests, craftsmen and servants, and most importantly, the mamacunas, or virgins, chosen to dedicate their lives to the sun god. Some believe that the city was the last capital of the Inca kings, who sought refuge from the Spanish in the wild Vilcabamba valley, but the real purpose of Machu Picchu has never been clearly established. The mystery is deepened by the fact that the Incas left no written record of the city, and during excavations, only 173 human skeletons were found, of which 150 were women.

above and below Machu Picchu

Our guided tour covered the stone ruins of palaces, temples, towers and staircases, which are virtually intact, apart from the fact that they mostly lack roofs as these were made of perishable vegetation. Despite all the pictures we had seen before our visit, nothing could have prepared us for the overwhelming spectacle of the reality. All too soon it was time to take the train back to Ollantaytambo but with memories that will last forever.

Leaving the Sacred Valley, we flew from Cuzco to Iquitos via Lima, then to Ceiba Tops on the Amazon River. The bustling city of Iquitos, the largest in the Peruvian Amazon, is completely jungle-locked - 3218 kilometres from the river’s mouth - its only routes to the outside world being via its airport and many rivers. Iquitos played an important part in the 19th-century rubber boom, and its old days of wealth are still evident in the houses covered with Portuguese blue-and-white tiles. Then we began our 40-kilometre journey by motorboat along the Amazon - one place that even the Incas didn’t succeed in penetrating.

At Ceiba Tops

Amazon fishing ...

During our stay at Ceiba Tops, we travelled on Peruvian style canoes to the Yagua Indian community. Indian tribes lived in Peru long before the Incas and their fine traditional handicrafts are still very much part of their lifestyle today. We were delighted to meet native Amazonian Indians; they gave us an explanation of their culture and we had an opportunity to purchase local handicrafts such as seed necklaces and fibre bags.

Yagua Indians

The children found us fascinating and we had a constant entourage wherever we went. Fortunately tourism doesn’t appear to have corrupted their way of life and there was a mutually respectful interest in each other’s cultures.

Amazon Village children

There were other jungle trails and boat trips for piranha fishing and to discover more mysteries of the Amazon - looking for freshwater dolphins, parrots, hummingbirds, marmosets, capybara and the 60 species of reptile, including the anaconda, the world’s largest snake (we fortunately didn’t see any anaconda but did have a tarantula on the step outside one of the lodges).

Finally it was time to leave the Amazon to return to Lima en route for home with one final stop at a hacienda where we had a relaxing lunch and a display of Peruvian horsemanship - then back to our own equally historic but very different civilisation.

June Robinson
last updated 31 July 2007