Day 3 & 4: Exploring Colonial Lima, Flying to Cuzco, Sacred Valley and Pisac Ruins – 5.3.19-5.4.19

Lima, the capital of Peru, lies along the Pacific coast. It is one of South America’s largest cities with a population of almost 10 million. One-third of the people in Peru live in Lima. It has a desert climate. Traffic is one of the biggest problems in Lima. Recently about one million have immigrated to Peru from Venezuela. Since they are taking away jobs from Peruvians it is getting to be a big problem as well.

Many people who work in Lima are vendors or do other jobs that are considered informal. We watched while we saw a man giving the bus driver information of when the last bus had been there. He was an informal scheduler. Informal workers do not pay income taxes to Peru. Only about 35% of Peru’s workers actually pay taxes. This limits the country’s ability to make improvements to the infrastructure and address other social concerns.

Lima was founded by the Spanish Conquistadors in 1535. It soon became the biggest and wealthiest city in the New World. The historic “old city” is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This morning we started our day with a walking tour in the area called “Old Town Lima.”

The old buildings were painted a shade of dark yellow which was their traditional color.

We stopped at Dorita’s stand. She gets up at 4 am in order to cook and be at her stand by 7am. She will work all day until after dinner or until she sells out.

This vender sold hard boiled eggs with a sauce. She also starts very early in the morning and stays at her stand until the end of the day or until she sells out. A lot of mestizos from the country relocate to the outskirts of Lima and are squatters in “Shanty Town” until they get established and find better jobs. Many have very little education.

The Cathedral of LIma located in central plaza, Plaza de Armas. We toured the catacombs here which were under the church.

Other buildings surround the square including the Government Palace and the Municipal and Union Palaces.

After the square we went to the National Museum of Archeology, Anthropology and History. Here we got an understanding of Peru’s history from pre-Inca to the Inca’s with their large collection of ceramics, gold and silver items, and textiles.

Archeologists have found burial sites where the Incas and pre-Incas mummified their leaders in fetal positions surrounded by pottery, food, gold, and silver for the afterlife.

Some of the early peoples must have know about drilling a hole in the skull to relieve pressure within the brain. Skulls were found with holes indicating such procedures.

After lunch we had free time to explore on our own. The two Beths, Jana, and I walked to the coast to see the beach. There are cliffs by the ocean.

On Saturday morning we flew to Cuzco. It has an elevation of almost 11,000 feet and is surrounded by mountains. Cuzco was the capital of the Incas and is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The Andes from my window on the flight to Cuzco.

Dori posing with the Sacred Valley of the Incas in the background.

Visiting the archeological park of Pisac.

Terraces for growing crops covered the hillside at Pisac. At the top of mountain were relics of dwellings.

On this mountain side, there were holes. Mummies in fetal positions were found inside these burial holes. Not many other objects were found probably because of looters.

Another view of some of the terraces and the mountain passes surrounding Pisac Archelogical Park.

This mestizo was selling her textile belts, bracelets, and other items when we were leaving Pisac Archeological Park. This photo cost me 1 sole.

Pepe had our driver stop the bus when he noticed cactus on the side of the road. The leaves were infested with bugs. Pepe took one and smashed it on a piece of paper to show the red coloring. Peruvians use these bugs to get many different shades of red for dying their yarns to make their colorful textiles.

Next we went to our hotel, Agustos Urubamba Hotel. It was beautifully adorned with flowers everywhere and very nice. However, the wifi here was very weak. Real problems for uploading my blog.

Tomorrow we will be exploring the area around Urubamba and rafting on the Urubamba River. Better get some shut eye.

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