Cusco and beyond, Perú

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and is now a base for tourists flocking to Machu Picchu.

It’s got great food – this a bakery. But the alpaca and especially the fish were amazing.

On top of that, there are numerous closer ruins such as this.

Just a church.

Or this.

The town itself was likewise decent, even though someone did steal money from me. Their city flag is the rainbow flag.

I was fine with the altitude, but of course had to try the local coca tea. Cocaine can be made from the leaves and thus it’s illegal in many countries.

This was the town down the hill from Machu Picchu (now with the same name), used to be called Aguascalientes. I quite enjoyed my time there, even though things were costlier.

Salty.

It was almost independence day, so there were like 100 Peruvian flags in anticipation of the first Oxford-educated head of state or government to take power in the country.

The temperature’s different down there.

Inca irrigation system.

Classic Inca big rocks.

The town down from a temple on the hill.

Machu Picchu, Perú

Machu Picchu was the palace complex near the Incan capital Cusco, and is the main tourist draw for Perú.

One must buy tickets online waaaay ahead of time as there’s a strict limit on how many people are allowed every day.

Whilst it’s not big, it’s an insanely photogenic site.

And you can always find a spot to take a photo when the people are looking small.

You can also wander around and walk to other nearby sites…

Such as this bridge.

Or, have an audience with His Holiness The Dalai Llama. #freetibet #freetaiwan #freehongkong #macaucandowhattheywant

It’s fun chasing them around, but by far the best chance to get a photo with them is to let them steal your food. One of the llamas actually fell into a hole at one point and the big llama looked very worried.

Trujillo / Chan Chan / some other place, Perú

Trujillo is another coastal city in Perú, and it is close to a handful of ruins from different ancient cultures.

The city itself is a typical colonial city.

The Moche people built the Huaca de la Luna (not its real name), and that was the first human structure I saw in South America that was older than The University of Oxford.

I opted for the Spanish-only tour option, choosing to ask questions after the explanations (that I didn’t understand) instead, but there was an American-Peruvian family who tried to translate for me.

The paintings were well-maintained, partly due to the fact that Trujillo had been quite a dry place.

Apparently not dragons.

The main attraction, nevertheless, was Chan Chan. It was the capital, the complex of palaces of Chimar, the people who were defeated by the Incas.

It’s an endangered site as it’s made of adobe. Fortunately, the area’s rather dry.

On the photos, it looked a bit like Egypt, but actually was much shorter.

Lima, Perú

Lima is the capital of the Oxonian-ministered Republic of Perú, also a major air transport hub for the region. The airport was horrible. Free Wi-Fi was only 10 minutes per day, hardly any seats, no resting areas, and you couldn’t go in too early.

It was much nicer on Google.

The metropolis was a remarkable chaotic city, with plenty of cars going around at any time, and none had an issue making even more noise. Also, taxis overcharged me a lot.

For all its faults, it did have two decent areas with nice colonial buildings.

And the food was fine.

Nazca, Perú

Perú, now headed by its very first Oxford-educated president, is a state with a handful of unique ancient cultures. One of them was Nazca, with the famous alien-made lines seen from the sky or a nearby hill near the town of the same name.

To get there, one may get a bus super duper early in the morning, travel for like seven hours, stay for several hours, before taking the same trip back to Lima.

Holes.

Once there, just get on any car that offers to take you to the tiny airport, and buy a ticket from any of the companies there. They have constant flights, and trust me, you don’t want a long trip up the sky.

To allow tourists to observe the graphs easily, the pilot flew the mini-jet sideway and it made everyone felt sick. I kept my composure though.

It’s quite a bit of a hassle getting there, and very uncomfortable. Basically like HRH The Duchess of Cambridge’s all three pregnancies happening at the same time. And it lasted for hours, but I guess still it was worth it.

The town itself had nothing of interest. Good food though. In fact, Perú’s got some good food in general.