<p>Went to some precolombian ruins in Lima’s San Isidro district. “Ruins” doesn’t really capture it, they have rebuilt the whole thing so it’s now in absolutely perfect condition. It’s a 20m step pyramid from which one has a perfect view of the residential towers all around. Spoils the impression completely. </p><p>San Isidro also has a…

Lima continues to fail to amaze. Tried to visit some Inca ruins outside town, but they were closed and a look over the fence didn’t impress. The nearby freeway, oil refinery, slums, and dirty beaches with dead birds that vie for the discriminating traveler’s attention made Lima look good again so we returned. Which takes…

Ok, it serves to stow the third of Peruvian who choose to live in this city. But there is very little to see or do here. It’s main property is size. We chose to stay in the Miraflores neighborhood, which is a little less ragged and dangerous than el centro, but it’s not very interesting…

That last photo was taken with my friend’s iphone. Evidently iphone take photos upside down and then set a flag telling the viewer to turn it around. Some viewers do that and some don’t. Blogger doesn’t. So here it is again, after Android treatment.… Read the rest

Machu Picchu is 400 meters above Aguas Calientes. It’s the #1 tourist attraction of South America. It’s an Inca city on top of a mountain, nestled between two other mountains in an incredibly scenic way, as if the Inca designed it as a tourist attraction 700 years ago. The Spaniards who looted the rest of…

Aguas Caliente is a small village boxed in by high mountains. It has a train station, a bus terminal, and as many hotels, pizza restaurants, and massage salons as can possibly be stuffed into the limited space in between. There is totally no reason to pay this tourist trap a visit – except that it’s…

There’s an Inka ruins park here that covers a large section of the mountainside north of the town. They terraced the mountains and built forts and storage buildings on top. Some look almost glued to the wall. Everything is connected with narrow stairs and footpaths hewn into the rock. The scenery is dramatic. We could…

Took a taxi to Ollantaytambo. The taxi costs 20 times as much as local buses but saves hours of time in diesel-filled sardine cans, so we’ll file this under rich Europeans supporting the local economy. Ollantaytambo has its own Inca ruins hanging impossibly from the hillsides that box in the town. We’ll explore those tomorrow.…

We are in the Inca Sacred Valley, and there are Inca ruins all over the place. After visiting the main ones near Cusco yesterday, we took a local business to Pisaq, hired a taxi, and went up the hills to follow the trail there. The trail hugs the edge of the hill, and the views…

Cusco in Peru’s sacred valley was the center of the Inca kingdom. They fought against Pizarro here, and lost. Today Cusco shows almost no trace of its Inca heritage, apart from some foundations here and some walls there. The city was rebuilt by the Spaniards, often by tearing down Inca monuments to build their own…

Perurail runs a luxury train from Puno to Cusco in the holy valley of the Inkas. It feels like a 1920s Orient Express: everything is paneled with dark wood, there are comfortable big chairs, tablecloths, brass lamps, and vases with real roses. Got an excellent three-course lunch and afternoon tea. The next car was a…

This will be the last country in South America before this blog returns to its mission, promise. We spent a little time in Copacabana’s markets, marveling at cubic-meter sized bags of popcorn, and trying Inca Kola, à pale yellow soda that tastes like children’s bubble gum balls. Getting from Copacabana in Bolivia to Puno in…