Peru - Land of Incas

Machu-Pichu was in my bucket list and finally got a chance to visit it two weeks ago. Beside the mountain, the story of Incas has been fascinating me since I read Jared Diamond's book "Collapse".  I learnt a lot more during this trip than before. Humans migrated to Peru some 8000 years ago and started it has a rich history even before Incas such as Nazca (400 BC - 600 BC who created the mysterious Nazca lines. The Incas started from lake Titicaca (near Puno) in 12th century and slowly migrated to Cusco building smaller cities along the 400 mile journey over 200 years. They established the Inca empire in 14th century and made Cusco the capital - a beautiful city 12,000 feet above sea level. The Empire lasted for 94 years until the Castilians  (Spain was not a country then) arrived. The Incas thought Viracocha (the Inca Creator God) has come back to save them (as promised in the legend). This false assumption and the simplicity caused the demise.  Few hundred Castillians (Pizarro's army) defeated the mighty Inca's army in a cunning and brutal way. What a loss - a beautiful culture lost in time - lost because of greed (gold) and Church (we still see the same thing today also).

You can find a lot about Machu-Pichu, Incas and the history of Peru in the Wikipedia. Since I have no expertise, I will not discuss further. Rather,  I will focus on few things that I observed during the trip. During visit to any country, the mountains, the history, the beauty of landscape, the architectures leaves us with the "wow" affect. The food leaves us with appetite for more new things to try. However, it is the interaction with people which magnifies the experience and puts a indelible mark for rest of the lifetime and truly makes us to continue on the bucket list journeys.  I felt that in Peru.

Unforgettable smile
Met this little girl in a small village (few houses). The women fed us a great meal of potato, corn, ceviche, guinea pig meat and coca leaf tea.  They explained us how they weave and  carry on with their daily lives. Saw this girl weaving. Her smile as pure as it can get.  Just watching her how she smiled to all of us was a treat. She looks so beautiful.

 Zeal for life
Met this girl in the hotel lobby in Cusco. She is studying in the local university (travel hospitality). She was inquisitive form the start. We started talking and I showed her some pictures in my phone. She explained me the high country she is from and the life similing along the way.  Amazing spirit - like a bird, soaring above the sky free and enjoying the moment.

A hug for a pencil
Visited a school in the remote highlands area. The school reminded me the school in Thuamulpur-Rampur school, Kalahandi, Odisha which I am involved in as part of IASF organization. It is in a poor area in the highlands. Very few resources. However the school was very clean. They had a pottery teacher teaching the art of pottery from early stage.  The kids were excited to see us - kicked around football.  We shared school supplies which we had carried from here and got a hug for each pencil shared. What a treat!

The Floating Community
In lake Titicaca, there are 91+ floating communities (Uros) who have been living  on top of reed islands for hundreds of years. They live as a community - each one a small house with a big common space for everyone  to share.  One family is responsible to cook each day which everyone shares. Working together as a community, they live their entire life in this small reed islands - amazing!  They build boats of reed grass to travel. This was truly a highlight of the trip.

How do they cook when they are on top of reed? How do they go bathroom. One of the island is built using "natural" reed filtration system for bathroom. You have to take the canoe to go to the bathroom (even in middle of night)!

Dream Food
Finally I saw the quinoa plant. Quinoa and potato has been the staple food for Andean(s) for thousands of years.  It is so colorful plant.  There are 4000 varieties of potato in Peru!!  

Corn : The "golden" curse
The Spaniards invaded Mayans, Aztechs, Incas for gold.  Gold was not considered "valuable" on a daily basis by these ancient civilization. It was corn - the most valuable and they build huge granaries on top of mountains to store it.  I was amazed to see the kernel size of Peruvian corn, they were quite big of what I see here and very tasty.

This was a fantastic trip. The mountains, the food, the culture, history and people was experience of a lifetime.  There is something magical about Andes mountains .. this make me to to get ready for a Himalayan trip.  The whole trip was even more fun as we were a family of 11 people consisting of 3 generations. Finally, I had planned this trip as a milestone birthday trip for my wife.  On the day, luckily morning was a rest day. As usual I was up early and decided to hike to the nearby mountain alone while others were relaxing. I gathered some flowers from the mountain and made a impromptu flower arrangement.

     

Peru is a beautiful country. It is easy to travel - very clean (I was amazed), rich with culture, beautiful gardens, great food and friendly people with zest for life. Go visit the land of Incas! I love to go there again ... but before I go there again, my next trip is to go on a hiking trip to Patagonia (hopefully).