Around Cuzco

Rene took us for a very special city tour.  He asked if we were interested in seeing the 'real' Cuzco.  Of course!  He suggested that we go to the local San Pedro market.  We walked from Casa Andina to the market.  Along the way, we saw a lot of unemployed men standing in several queues trying to get some work for the day.  They could be paid as low as 15 sols for 8 hours work.  This is really quite sad.  Unemployment is a problem for Peru.  The people here are very hardworking and will pretty much do anything.

Unemployed men waiting to get some work for the day

The San Pedro market is divided into different areas: the flowers, fresh meat, dried goods, fruit & vegetables.  Just outside the market there were local Indians selling fresh herbs and plants for medicinal purposes.  Rene pointed out the things there were unique to Cuzco and at a shop where you could buy items needed for traditional offerings to the gods, he pointed out a dried baby llama carcus.

It was just fascinating to see all the different vegetables and herbs being sold.  Local markets are great places to get a better insight of the inhabitants of each region.

After the market Rene suggested we go to the southern end of Cuzco to see the new most exclusive suburb of Cuzco.  Here there were many half built mansions, poor roads, rubbish and junk everywhere.  This area used to be covered with trees and was very beautiful but as a result of greed of some and those who want to live in an exclusive area, you have this disaster.  There was an area which was protected by an armed guard to stop 'poor' people from entering.  Honestly, it was just ugly.  However, it was interesting to walk around and see what is going on.

Then we walked down to the private university which Rene attended 8 years ago.
We caught the local bus back into the city.  It was 0.60 sol per person.  The local bus is a van with a conductor sitting in the back yelling out the bus route and collecting fares.  The conductor must have good memory as he/she has to remember who has paid and who not.  It was an interesting experience.  We did get to see quite a bit of the real city.

We had a late lunch at the main plaza.  Rene said that it was one of the oldest tourist restaurants.  The food was very good.  The prices were for tourist but still reasonable.

Trout with mushroom sauce

It was raining so we took our time with lunch.  Then we walked to the Temple of the Sun or Qorincancha.  The temple has been incorporated into a Dominican monestary called Santo Domingo.  We saw great examples of Inca architecture and cosmic symbols.  Rene explained the Inca constellations in the Milky Way and how it included condor, llama, puma, plaedies, snake, toad and other constellations.  All this symbols also appear in their sacred practices.  The inca construction here is an excellent example of fantastic stone masonry.  It was a pity that the Spaniards built their church on top of the Inca building.

Cuzco and Saqsayhuaman

Approaching Cuzco

We flew into Cuzco and managed to see small parts of the Andes through the clouds.  Rene our guide for Cuzco and the Sacred Valley met us at the airport.  Cuzco has certainly grown since Peter and I were here back in 1984.

Rene is very passionate and knowledgeable about the history, culture and way of life of the Andean people.  It is good to have him give us another perspective to all the things we are seeing.  Given that most of the books we read were written from a western perspective, we only have one view.

Cuzco's altitude is approximately 3400m so it is quite cool, with the wet weather it can get rather cold.

One way from the airport we drove past the fountain which is the boundary for 'old Cuzco' and the rest of Cuzco.  Everywhere you look, you can see the remains of Inca buildings.  Unfortunately most of them became foundations for the colonial buildings during Spanish occupation.  It is a charming city with the centre being the Plaza de Armas.

Catheral at Plaza de Armas

There are several churches just within a stone's throw of each other in the city.  The local Indians whilst heavily influenced by Christianity will also continue to worship their traditional deities and festivals. This combination makes it so much more interesting.

Many local Indians still wear their traditional costumes and many can be seen around Cuzco.  There are a lot of vendors in the city as there are many tourists.  Here is a photo of an Indian lady with her baby llama.  Their traditional outfits are so colourful.

 Many of the buildings here have nice wooden doors and beautifully carved balconies.

The narrow lane ways and cobbled stone streets add to the charm of the place.

Day 2 at Cuzco, we headed to Saqsayhuaman.  Our first stop was at Tambomachay. It is believed that the Incas have used this complex for religious ceremonies either directly dedicated to the water's worshipping or for other rituals that included the use of flowing water. The Tambomachay site is composed of a liturgical fountain and 3 terraces. The structure has 3 levels and, as it was common among Inca buildings, this one too had been built with perfectly fitting-together unequal-shaped bricks without the usage of mortar. Even after many centuries, the stones look well-polished and strongly stick to one another. At Tambomachay there are 2 fountains that constantly function, at any time of the year. The crystal-clear water is sometimes drunk by tourists who come here, but locals also use it for drinking and washing as well. Rene said that the water is high in magnesium and has healing qualities. Rene explained that this is also known as the Temple of Water.  This area is used for 'cleansing'. According to Rene, the Incas do not really have the Western structure of royalty and commoners.  They have community leaders.  Kind of analogous to aboriginal elders.  These were the people who had lots of knowledge and were considered wise.  They were highly respected and commanded a lot of authority.  They provided leadership and guidance to members of the community.

Tambomachay

The next place we visited was Qenko.  Qenko is a large limestone outcrop.  This great stone, carved with a complex pattern of steps, seats, geometric reliefs and puma designs, illustrates the way the Incas had used the natural patterns of the rocks to depict their cosmological beliefs. The name is derived from the Quechua word quenqo, meaning "labyrinth" or "zigzag", and refers to the patterns laboriously carved into the upper, edge of the stone. Here we walked through a short dark tunnel.  Rene said that walking through in the dark is about overcoming fear.  He took us to another cave where we saw a slab of stone which he said could have been used for medical purposes. We touched the slab and it was certainly cool.  Rene explained how the Incas had  used another rock covered with silver and with the light of the moon, it lit up the cave.

Qenko

Finally we arrived at Saqsayhuaman.  Sacsayhuamán is usually described as a fortress because it is practically enclosed by three slopes. However, the fact that the Incas constructed a fortress in that place is unusual, since at the moment of its construction they did not face major threats. Its shape and location would have responded to other principles, such as the harmony between architecture and landscape. According the zigzag  pattern depict lightning and the 3 tiered of terraces is about lightning, thunder and rain.  The place is about 'enlightenment'.

Saqsayhuaman

Guayaquil & Lima

Guayaquil

We got into Guayaquil from Baltra and were met by our guide Pilar.  She told us that we have a tour of the city.  Given the early morning start and the many disturbed nights at the Galapagos, a city tour was the last the thing on our minds.

However, like good tourist we went along with the tour.  We went to the water front and say the many improvements and development to the city scape.  We then went to the Iguana Park and patted some iguanas.  This was very nice.  Then we went to the oldest part of the city where the city council has done lots of refurbishment to make it nice for tourist.  They have certainly done a fantastic jobs.  The older wooden houses were really nicely done up.  The old wooden balconies were fabulous.  The government is certainly doing a lot of improve and develop the place.

Finally we were taken to our hotel which was very nice.  The first thing we had to do was checkin for our flight to Lima.  Meryl did not have any problems checking in online but for some mysterious reason it did not like my name and would not allow me to do online checkin.  With a little help form the hotel staff, this problem was solved.

We decided to have dinner at the hotel cafe and ran into the lovely french couple waiting with us at Balta airport.  We exchanged Galapagos experiences.  We were interested to note that they stayed at 3 islands and did day trips and walks.  The wife was very enthusiatic about Isabella Island and said that Casa de la Marita is the place to stay.

Another early start to get to the airport for our flight to Lima.  The flight was uneventful.  At Lima Airport we were met by Angie (she is half chinese half peruvian spanish).  She took us to Casa Andina in Miraflores.  Lima airport has certainly changed since I was last here 25 years ago.  The traffic was pretty slow as there was a lot of road works. 

After checking in we went for a walk towards the sea. The coastline was quite foggy.  We were told that it was due to the Humbolt current.  We saw a very large sculpture of The Lovers.  We also saw a newly couple getting their photos taken.

Miraflores is definitely the place to be at for Lima.  The place for upwardly mobile Lima residents.  There are a lot of construction going on.  We had lunch at a cafe just around the tourist area.  We went into a few souvenir malls to check out the local crafts.  We went into a park and nearby church. 

In the evening we discovered that it being Saturday, there was a local market in the park.  There were many stalls with interesting wares.  There was even an open air movie being screened, it was a Laurel & Hardy movie with the characters speaking spanish.  It was rather nice.

The whole area was rather interesting.

Dinner was at a small cafe frequented by locals.  It was really cheap and nice food but far too much.  I felt quite bad about leaving so much food uneaten.  It was a set dinner with soup and fried fish and chips & rice.

Back to the hotel to get ready for our flight to Cuzco.

Galapagos Islands - Day 4 - 8

Day 4 - Arrived at Espanola Island (Hood Island) overnight.  We rose to find a gently raised island with rocky hillets and mostly dormant shrubs giving it a desert appearance.  The black rocks on shore contrasted with the white sandy beach which layed many sea lions.

Beside our little Beluga was the large National Geographic catamaran was moored.  This catamaran can take up to 100 passengers.  Darwin said that it would be too costly to modify the engine to make it compliant with the new clean fuel laws.

Two activities today - the first is to walk along the sandy beach looking out for marine iguanas looking red from eating algae and finches ( we saw 3 types) and lava lizards.  The second activity was to snorkel off a little island off from the bay.  We saw lots of fishes and a few rays.  The water was a little cooler and the sky was a little overcast.

While we were on the beach several panga loads of National Geographic passengers came along.  Some of the passengers looked quite out of place. 

There are over 2000 tortoises breeding naturally but they were on the other side of the island and we were not allowed to walk there.  At one stage there were only 14 left.  Then they brought in a male tortoise from a US zoo to help re-populate the number of tortoise and increase the gene pool.  He is over 100 years old now. 

In the afternoon, we went back for another walk on the island. the landing point was quite rocky.  We had to timed our panga landing in between other pangas from other boats.  During this walk we saw red/aqua iguanas.  These iguanas can dive 15 - 18m to find their favourite algae.  We saw lots of adult and young iguanas.  We also saw where they laid their eggs.  We got into trouble when we did not quite put our feet at the right spots and almost stepped on some nest.  These iguanas lay about between 4 - 8 eggs.

The sea lions were amusing as usual.

We also saw a Galapagos hawk in the distance.  Lucky for us, he sat there in the tree for a long time.

We saw a nice blow hole, breding nasca boobies, blue-footed boobies and one heron.

Day 5 - Santa Cruz

We had a better night as we sailed earlier and arrived at Santa Cruz around midnight and moored there.  So when we got up we were at Puerto Ayora.  It was a lovely view with lots of boats and a tall ship. 

This is the day where 10 more passengers joined the cruise.  They were Nick & Kelly from New York and 8 Chileans all members of the same family.  The Chileans were celebrating Fernado I birthday.  It was his 81 birthday.  They were extremely nice people.  As a matter of fact, everyone just got along which made the cruise especially memorable.

In the morning after Nick and Kelly joined us, we took a panga ride to Puerto Ayora and went to the Charles Darwin Research Centre.  Here we saw Lonesome George - the last of the saddle back tortoise from Pinta Island.  Numerous attempts have been made to bred but no luck so far.  We saw lots of babies of different species.  When they are 6 months old, they are about a side plate size and a dinner plate size at 12 months.  At 3 years, they can be returned to their natural environment because they can withdraw their heads and legs and be safe from predators. 

Darwin told us that the rangers do go and collect the tortoise eggs to help imrprove the population.  A tortoise can lay between 15 - 25 eggs.  When they collect the eggs, they have to mark the top of each egg every careful and place them in the right position in the incubator.  Depending on the temperature during incubation, they can get male or female babies.  When the temperature is higher they get females, however if it got too high, they get males.  There is a band of temperature for males and another for females.

The Chileans joined us after lunch.  In the afternoon we went to the highlands to see giant tortoises.  The Santa Cruz highland tortoises have grown huge roaming around the lush paddocks.  There are heaps of introduced species of trees and shrubs.  The tortoises do not seem to mind,  They are happy munching away.  Their droppings are rather large chunks of undigested rolls of grass.  Males have huge elephantine tails that move from side to side as they move.  Their penises are close to the end of their tails so the bigger that better.  If a female does not fancy a male, she goes close to a tree so that he cannot clamber on top.

Males can weight up to 300 kgs and like to wallow in mud.

These tortoises will travel down to the lowlands to mate and lay their eggs.  They will walk 2 - 3 days to get down to the lowlands.  Basically around the clock to get to their destination without stopping.

After seeing the tortoises we went to see the lava caves which were nearly.  The lava caves were very large, you could walk upright most of the way.  It was only at the end where you had to bend down.  It was very wet and slippery.

Day 6 - Santiago Island
First outing was a walk.  It was pouring with rain.  We walked around a small lake and up a lava ridge which was very lush. We saw lots of incense trees, lots of finches, yellow wobblers, galapagos hawk, lava lizards, ruddy turn stones (migratory birds from the northern hemisphere).  Along the beach we saw over 80 fresh turtle tracks and we also saw a female turtle laying one the sand.  Later on she swam back to the water.

The afternoon a snorkel from the beach.  When we got to the beach we saw 2 galapagos penguins sitting on the rocks.  We snorkelled among many fishes.  It was great expect for me being swept up into the rocks and got scratches on my bum and ankle.  Ivona had some scartches to her hand when she tried to hold onto some rocks.

Later on in the afternoon we went for a walk on the lava rocks.  It was still very hot even though it was nearly 5:00pm.  Fernando I slipped and had a few cuts on his hand.  The lava formations were just amazing. We were there mainly to see the various lava formation.

Day 7 - Genovesa Island

We crossed the equator last night and we will be crossing it again.  There was a lot of sailing to get there.

The view was a crescent shaped entry.  The island itself was the rim of a volcano and quite steep. 

Morning walk along the beach along a creek where we saw lots of red-footed boobies, nasca boobies, blue-footed boobies, herons drying their wings, baby frigate birds waiting for their parents to feed them.  It was a hot morning.  After the walk we snorkelled off the beach and saw more fishes.

Afternoon we snorkelled off the panga in deeper waters.  We saw fur seals and a shoal of hammerhead sharks and lots of fishes.  It was super.  On our way back to the boat, we saw several mantra rays swimming around with their wings out of the water.  They were huge.

In the late afternoon, we took another walk and saw more boobies, frigate birds with their red pouch puffed up.  During this walk we also saw short earred owls.  They were just sitting waiting for their oppotunity to eat a sea petrel.  During the panga ride we also way a few tropic birds that had trouble landing back at their nests because of their long tails.  One bird had to try 8 times before he succeeded.

Given that this is the last night, we had a farewell cocktail with rest of the crew.  They were all dressed up.  It was nice but sad.  We had to pack up so we are ready to leave.

Day 8

We had an early start at 6:00 am to go to Black Turtle Cove to see sharks and turtles.  We went to the coast near red mangroves.  We saw sharks, rays, bonitos, puff fishes plus others.  The most unique thing was to see a pair of mating turtles. Darwin that the males are usually 50% smaller than the females.  In this case, the male was 25% smaller which made it almost impossible for him to succeed.  He was too small to mount the female turtle.  It was all very nice.

Then it was back at the boat for breakfast.

The boat moored at Baltra.  It was panga ride to the jetty and then a bus ride to the airport. 

The airport was rather chaotic with people everywhere.  It was very hot and confusing but we managed to get on the right plane to Guayaquil ready for the next adventure.

Galapagos Islands - Day 3

6 February – Day 3

It was quite a rough night. We sailed from Santa Fe to Punta Pitt on San Cristabal Island. However, luckily for me the sea sickness seemed to be under control. Darwin woke us up at 6:15 am for our morning walk before breakfast. We went on this little volcanic island which had the rarer red-footed boobies. Like all islands here it was full of lava lizards. We also saw sea lions, land iguanas and lots of interesting plants. The terrain is very eroded by wind and water and looked very edgy. It was all very beautiful. We also 2 snakes, they were rather slim which were kind of brown with black dots. We saw red-footed boobies with white feathers and others with brown feathers, blue footed boobies and nasca boobies. We saw a dead rat skeleton. There have been some rat eradition program. Darwin told us that the rangers have to be careful as sometimes the blue rat bait gets eaten by birds and they would kill them. Also if mocking birds were to eat the poisoned rats, they would die as well. It is about finding the right balance. Unfortunately this island also has goats and cats. These feral introduced species are a really problem. There have been extensive programs to eradicate the feral introduced species but clearly it is not easy.

After about an hour we went to the boat for breakfast. Finally I could even eat breakfast. Breakfast was fruit, cereal, yoghurt, fried eggs, funny little frankfurters and toast. The bread was nice. Most of the bread we have tasted since coming here had not been that great. They were mostly quite sweet and more cake liked in texture.

We decided to snorkel first so the boat set sailed to the place where we were to do a boat snorkel. The spot was just off a small but very high rock island. It was fabulous. The water here was very deep but it was full of fishes,marine turtles and sharks. Simply delightful. We snorkel around the smaller part of rock of the island. We were in the water about 1 hour but if felt like 5 minutes.

We returned to the boat for lunch. Lunch was smoked pork served with boiled potatoes and cabbage salad. For dessert we got nice grapes, water melon and bananas.

At 3:00 pm we disembarked at Islas Lobos and there were lots of very cute sea lions. We witnessed two pairs of great frigate¹ birds at their mating ritual. It was so amazing to see the male frigate birds puff up their red pouches. Apparently according to Darwin it takes a lot of energy to puff up. It can take up to 20 minutes to fully blow it up.

We saw a lot of baby sea lions just lying around. Some were younger than 1 month old. They were so cute.  The temptation to touch was so strong but Darwin kept a very close eye on us . NO TOUCHING.

We went back to the boat after about 1 hour. Given that we were early, the boat sailed to the town on San Cristabal. We disembarked and agreed to meet back at 6:30 pm. The town was delightful. Elisabeth joined Meryl and I for the walk. There sea lions everywhere. They just share the space with people. Here Meryl and I posted our post cards. We went into a couple of the local shops and bought more post cards. Post cards were much cheaper here – 25 cents each. We have paid as much as 50 cents each. Postage to Australia is $3.00 which is very expensive.

The tourist information centre was still opened so we went there and got some nice broachers. The person also gave us a CD about San Cristabal as well. That was a lucky find.

We felt thirsty and decided to stop at a local cafe for a cool drink. Elisabeth insisted on buying Meryl and I a fruit juice. Our mango juice was very nice indeed. It cost $1.60 which was more than Elisabeth expected.

The walk along the promenade was just lovely. There were lots of people enjoying the beach and swimming with the sea lions just lying there. It just felt like the most natural thing to do. Being Sunday, there were lots of families just enjoying the nice weather. I would not mind spending a week here. The temperature was just perfect.

Dinner was at 7:00 pm as usual. Tonight's dinner was chicken with an interesting curry flavoured sauce served with mashed potatoes and broccoli baked with tomatoes and cheese. There was also a cucumber salad. Dessert was bananas cooked in some sort of syrup.

After dinner Darwin gave his usual briefing about what is going to happen the next day. Tomorrow we will head towards Espanola Island. In the morning we will do a 2 hour walk. Given that we will be walking on beach sand, we can go bare footed. Later on we will return to the boat and get ready for a snorkel. We should expect to see more marine turtles, fishes and sharks. Can't wait. Then we get back to the boat for lunch. After lunch we will go to Punta Suarez where we should see nasca boobies.

1There are two kinds of frigate birds – Great frigate birds have green feathers on their backs and Magnificent frigate birds have purple feathers on their backs

Galapagos Islands - Day 2

Woke up anchored off the coast of Sante Fe Island.  Santa Fe is one of the oldest islands in the archipelago. The lava rocks here are about 4 million years old.

The first activity for the day was to snorkel off a panga.  We had to organise snorkelling equipment and wet suits.  Meryl and I brought our own snorkelling gear so we were okay.  We did hire wet suits as the water felt a little too cool to be in the water for 1 hour.  The water was quite deep.  The water was just full of fishes, a couple of sharks, some star fishes and more fishes.  Just fantastic.

Later in the afternoon, we took a panga ride to the island and landed on a sandy beach with many sea lions (see photo).  Along the walk we saw lots of land iguanas sitting below the large prickly pear cactus waiting for the flower to drop.

Galapagos Islands - Day 1

Another early morning start to catch the TAME flight from Quito to Baltra via Guayaquil.  The hotel managed to give us some fruit and rolls for breakfast before we left for the airport.  At the airport we met Darwin who is our naturalist guide for the Galapagos trip. There was another couple that were also going on the cruise who also took the same flight.  We did not introduced ourselves until we got to Baltra.

Once at Baltra we had to pay our $100 US park entry fees.  It was a little unfortunate for us as we had already paid World Expeditions the money but somehow it did not come through so we had to pay the $100 again.  Never mind, we will be reimbursed once back home.

After going through the park fees payment and collecting our luggage we boarded a bus which took us to where our panga was waiting to take us to the Beluga. The Beluga was to be our home for the next 8 days.  We found out that the couple was Jim and Ivona from Pennsylvania.  Later on another person Elisabeth joined us as well. The Beluga can take up to 16 guests but until Tuesday it was just the 5 of us.  Fantastic.  On board we met the Captain - Santiago, Boat pursar - George, Pedro - cook and 6 other crew members. Meryl and I got the cabin on top deck. That was lucky was I was seasick for nearly 2 days and needed the fresh air.  I tried just about everything but nothing appeared to work. It was really tough luck as Pedro prepared such wonderful food.

Soon after we got on board we had to go through the emergency drill.

As soon as we arrived you could just see sea lions and frigates everywhere. 

We sailed down a little bit of Santa Cruz island and went for a walk at Cerro Dragon. The last time Darwin was here it was dry but it had rained a few days ago so now the place was quite green and full of mosquitoes. We were also greeted by many sea lions and marine iguanas. They were just simply lying about and carrying on their own business. Along the walk we also saw our first sally light-foot crabs, Galapagos mocking bird, galapagos doves, land iguanas, lava lizards and many new plants as well.  Apart from the mosquitoes and the mud, everything else was just fantastic. Our boots were so caked with mud it was really quite hard to walk properly.  On our way back to the Beluga on the panga we were followed by hundreds of mosquitoes.  I felt like a pin cushion.

At 6:30pm we had the welcome cocktail by the Captain and then dinner at 7:00pm.  According to Meryl, dinner was fantastic.

During the night we sailed from Santa Cruz to Santa Fe.