Peru - Culture and Lamas

We have been off the air for a few weeks while trekking in Peru

Here is the update from our latest leg of adventure, I will split it into a few parts as there is much to cover.

We arrived in Lima Peru to a nice warm sunny day after flying through the day and night. After a sleep in our hotel we headed to the beach, not expecting to surf in Lima but with the surf breaks packed and hire boards abundant, it was time to hit the waves.

The cobblestone beach with a heavy shore dump to be negotiated, certainly something you didn’t want to muck up. We surfed a little both days and looked around the very nice area surrounding our hotel.

For the first time in my (Ads) travelling history, English was the exception and not the norm, we managed to fumble our way through most situations to eat and bargain our purchases.

Traditional village weaving Lama wool

After a few days we were headed to Cuzco which was the starting place for our trek on the Inca trail to Machu Pichu. Cuzco being at an altitude of 11000ft we were going to be at a high altitude and may experience some altitude sickness.

At first we had no real problems with the altitude and didn’t really know what to expect, we were instructed to sleep as soon as we arrived at the hotel and after lunch would be heading out into the town for a guided tour. By the time we woke up, we were breathless, dizzy and headaches, (Cos's lips even went blue...) I certainly didn’t expect this much of a reaction.

After Cos and another trekker nearly fainted during the walk around our guide had some “magic juice” for us to smell. The guide was a local who would also be our guide for the trek., he had many natural remedies and herbs which were his way of helping us deal with what we were feeling. We also ate and drank a lot of the local Cocoa leaves which is the tradition in these parts, many of the people in the mountains chew and use this daily. It contains caffeine and natural cocaine in small amounts which give you energy and help with the acclimatisation.

Before we started the trek we toured some houses, villages and some sites surrounding Cuzco which was the Inca capital before the Conquistadors conquered Peru in the 1500's.

Dinner - No kidding this is part of a traditional diet

 The colour and culture of the people outside the city was amazing. The woman carry everything in bright coloured blankets on their backs, babies, food, shopping. Many people still wear very traditional dress, mixed in with those that have adopted western ways. The villages still have stone aqueducts directing the local stream right through the centre of town. We didn't get to try the guinea pig but ate alpaca for lunch one day.

Plenty of Lamas for wool and food

The town and tours were amazing, it was like nothing I had seen before. It was fantastic to see that it had not all been polluted down from tourism like so many other places that are frequented by so many people.

Next up - Starting on the Inca trail