Peru is blessed with outstanding natural and historic sites, writes VERNEY NAYLOR
WE WERE ALMOST there. Surely only a few more steps? My heart was pounding, my head splitting but Karina, our guide, was determined to give us the best view of this famous site. Would I be disappointed? Would it be too touristy? I needn’t have worried. Standing on a narrow terrace, I took my eyes off the path and looked up and out over one of the most photographed travel destinations in the world (and recently recognised as one of The Seven Wonders of the Modern World).
Down below us the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu were far more spectacular than I had expected: the coloured dots of other tourists wandering among them only serving to show the enormous scale of this wonderful archaeological site in the high Andes. This was a special day for us. We had come to Peru to celebrate our golden wedding anniversary and we were not disappointed.
We started our two-week trip in foggy Lima with visits to the main square, the San Francisco Monastery and the Cathedral. But the highlight for me was stepping through a massive wooden door from a quiet side street into a private colonial mansion, Casa de Aliaga, still lived in by 17th generation descendants of the Spanish nobleman who was granted this land by Pisarro in 1535. It is the oldest and best preserved home in South America and is full of family portraits, old furniture and wonderful Spanish tiles and imbued with an atmosphere of quiet dignity. A tiny internal courtyard took my fancy, with its fountain and stags horn ferns clinging to the trunk of an ancient tree.
We were standing next to the portrait of the present owner when, by chance, the man himself, tall and patrician, entered the room, shook our hands, welcomed us to his home and went on about his business. An amazing link with history.
From Lima, at sea level, we flew south to Peru’s second city, Arequipa, in the foothills of the Andes. Here, at 2,300m (7,600ft), you start to feel the altitude. This was to be a constant feature of the rest of the journey as we travelled higher into the mountains. Headaches and shortness of breath were the main symptoms. I relied mainly on paracetamol, but also drank the coca tea that was freely available at all the hotels. Another effect was a slight loss of appetite which possibly explained why I found the food less than enticing. For instance, in the home of the potato (Peru grows around 2,000 varieties) I was disappointed not to have them prepared in all sorts of exotic ways other than chips, mashed or boiled.
Arequipa is largely built of sillar, an attractive pale volcanic rock, which gives the city an almost ethereal quality and, together with the hilly, cobbled streets, makes this an interesting city to explore. I was beginning to feel that there was a superfluity of over-the-top Spanish colonial churches in Peru, but I wouldn’t have wanted to miss the Santa Catalina Convent. Founded in 1580, this mini-town takes up an entire block, only about half of which is open to the public – the rest is still occupied by the nuns. The part that we were allowed to see is beautifully preserved and maintained; the low buildings lining the narrow streets painted in brilliant blue, terracotta and white are interspersed with cloisters, small plazas with fountains and an ingenious communal laundry.
We then undertook a three-day drive to the northeast across the Altiplano, towards Lake Titicaca, with stops and diversions along the way. The landscape was open and bare with only scruffy grass that herds of domestic llamas and alpacas, as well as wild vicuna, were grazing. We passed over the highest point on our entire trip – 4,900m (16,000ft) – where we stopped to look at the distant range of snowcapped mountains, beyond which arose the headwaters of the Amazon.
We finally arrived at Puno on the shore of Lake Titicaca – the highest navigable lake in the world. Our hotel looked out over the lake to the floating islands made of packed reeds. The next morning we were on a boat, visiting the island of Uros. You get a slightly uneasy, spongy feel as you step onto the thick “mattress” of reed. It was explained to us how this has to be renewed on the top constantly, as the underneath decomposes. The islanders earn a living by fishing, handicrafts and, of course, tourism. So we were playing our part.
Isla Taquile was totally different – definitely not floating. It was quite an effort to climb from the jetty to the village at the top of the hill – the lake is 3,800m (12,500ft). There are no cars or llamas for transport here. Knitting and weaving, as well as tourism, are the main occupations and we were made very welcome, even being persuaded to join the locals in a dance.
A 10-hour train ride the next day took us north to Cuzco, the ancient capital of the Inca empire. The remains of Inca walls are everywhere, even though heavily overlain by Spanish colonial buildings. The mix of conquered and conqueror can be seen all over this bustling, vibrant city – in the faces of the locals, in the cuisine, in the clothes and language.
You could spend days here, but we were nearing our final destination so we headed off, passing through Pisac, famous for its incredible market. Everywhere on our trip that a tourist might stop, there were handicraft stalls – a kaleidoscope of coloured goods laid out to catch your eye. We were now in the Inca heartland and being amazed by the huge ruins and terraces balancing on the hillsides. This is the Sacred Valley and at Ollantaytambo we boarded the Vistadome train for the short ride along the Urubamba river to Aguas Calientes at the foot of Machu Picchu.
Having decided some time ago that a dodgy knee and a new hip would preclude the four-day hike along the Inca Trail, the only way now to reach our goal was by bus, up the very scary rough track that corkscrews up an almost vertical cliff via countless hair-pin bends to the entrance to the site.
So there we were, finally at Machu Picchu with a wispy mist around the peaks and dense cloud forest covering all the surrounding mountain sides. Way down below, we caught a glimpse of the Urubamba river as it carves its way to eventually join the mighty Amazon in the east.
When Hiram Bingham came across these ruins in 1911, they were totally overgrown with creepers and trees, but now the great stone walls stand out from grassy lawns (kept neatly grazed by llamas), as if they were built yesterday instead of 700 years ago.
We arrived in the afternoon when it was less crowded and Karina guided us around the more important parts with detailed explanations about alignments and solstices and stars, until my head was spinning. The next morning we re-entered the site on our own and appreciated how important it is to have a guide as there is a complete lack of signs or notices.
This place is so complicated it is no wonder that people spend whole lifetimes studying it. We were thrilled to be a part of it, even for just a few hours.
This trip, including flights, was organised as a private journey by London travel company Cox and Kings, through their agent Lima Tours in Peru. See coxandkings.co.ukand limatours.com.pe
Getting there:We flew with KLM from Cork to Amsterdam to Lima, klm.com
Hotels in Lima, Arequipa and Cuzco: casa-andina.com
Hotel in Puno:Hotel Libertador Lake Titicaca: libertador.com.pe
Hotel at Machu Picchu:Sanctuary Lodge, sanctuarylodgehotel.com
Further reading:Turn Right at Machu Picchu – re-discovering the Lost City one step at a time by Mark Adams, published by Dutton.