Cuenca, Ecuador

We stayed in Cuenca for a week, and it felt like much longer, as it had the most "Westernized" feel of any city we visited. Many American ex-pats have chosen to retire or stay for an extended time in Cuenca; I could nudge Larry with a "gringo alert" many times a day, walking down the street. Cuenca is a friendly, inviting, clean, and beautiful city, with cultural attractions including free symphony orchestra performances. It has a major university and the requisite outstanding cathedral, in this case two of them.

We took a double-decker bus tour of the city which wound its way up into the hills overlooking Cuenca for wonderful views of the city. We also enjoyed several museums and looked at many of the churches in the area.

The downside of Cuenca is the feeling that is hard to shake that it is not all a stage set - cities like Lima and Quito, even Loja and Trujillo, "feel" like real cities with a lot of earthy goings-on. Cuenca, perhaps because of the influx of Americans, at times did not feel like a truly South American city. In spite of this, I really enjoyed it and would happily spend some months there.

Lima

We stayed in Lima for a week before traveling to Cusco, and then another several days when we came back from Cusco and Machu Picchu. Lima is a huge city, with over 10 million people, making it just about the size of New York City. I was impressed with the size, the cleanliness of the city (especially after so much time in litter-strewn Venezuela), how busy everyone seems to be, and how welcoming it is. The police on the streets are friendly and helpful, as are most of the people we met on the street in the city center and in the suburbs Miraflores and Callao. I could have stayed in Lima for months, exploring the city's museums and other attractions. Of course there is probably the occasional pick pocket thief, and the city does have bad neighborhoods, but the sense of looking over your shoulder to see who might want to rob you that we have in Puerto La Cruz is nonexistent in Lima.

The presidential palace's changing of the guard on a Saturday at noon is quite an impressive show, with a marching band, decorated horses, and a full processional around the square. We toured the San Franciscan monastery and recommend that tour through the catacombs under the church.

Even just walking around the city is an experience, with new sights around every corner.

Cusco, Peru

We spent a week in Cusco, Peru, which is high in the Andes mountains at 3,500 meters (about 11,500 feet). We took the bus overnight from Lima to Cusco, which takes 22 hours of travel, along the coast and then winding up through the mountains. I started to get altitude sickness on the bus ride and was very ill for three days afterwards, barely able to get out of bed and unable to eat or drink. We took the plane back to Lima, which took 45 minutes (!). So my advice is to fly into Cusco, and then plan to rest for a couple of days before descending to Machu Picchu. Once I felt better, I would get winded walking up stairs or a steep hill.

Cusco is a lovely city, old architecture in the cathedrals, churches, and Inca stonework everywhere. Cusco was the capital city of the Inca empire when it was thriving, but the Spaniards did their best to level the buildings and enslave the Incas. Now Cusco is one of the most heavily touristed cities in South America. You cannot walk in the city without being beseiged by local merchants to sell things, everything from alpaca scarves and hats, sweaters, to jewelry and everything else imaginable. Only a very few beggars were in the streets, however, and most people are very friendly. It is a very safe city and tourists can walk the streets all evening after sunset to see the beautifully lit main plaza and buildings.

Machu Picchu

(Double click on the slide show to see larger images)
In January and February, we took an inland trip to Peru and Ecuador, and the highlight of the trip was to South America's top tourist destination, Machu Picchu. Despite altitude sickness which kept Debby in bed for three days in Cusco, once she adjusted to the height (3,500 meters), and almost non-stop rain, we found the site well worth the high price. We took the bus trip up to the site early in the morning in a steady drizzle, expecting to wear our rain gear all day, but the sun came out after about an hour.

Machu Picchu has been restored to such a genuine site that we almost expected to hear the patter of Inca feet around the next corner as we scrambled over rocks and walked the site. They keep alpacas on the site to add to the authenticity of it. Nestled high in the Andes Mountains, the slopes of the surrounding mountains are so steep that it is not surprising that it was lost until the 1880s and not explored or mapped until 1911 by the American Hiram Bingham, swallowed up by the jungle for four centuries. One story has it that some of the Incas fled to Machu Picchu to escape the Spaniards during their subjugation of the local population and were never found.

Machu Picchu (the name means "Old Peaks" in the Inca language Quechua) was begun about 1400, and was still under construction at the time it was abandoned in the 1500s, in the wake of the Spanish conquest of the Inca empire for gold and other precious metals, and the enslavement of the Incas to mine it. The construction of the walls is to such a precision fit that mortar or other adhesive was used. Farmland was terraced on the mountain slopes. The site includes temples, schools, an astronomical observatory, and houses for about 500 - 700 inhabitants.