Inca Trail- Flora

There were many beautiful flowers and thick mossy forests on the inca trail. We came across numerous colorful humming birds, but they are too quick to be photographed.

Inca Trail: scenic views

Inca Trail

Hallucinogenic flowers explained by our guide Wilbur. Coincidentally all our 3 guides at Inca trail, amazon forests and Lake Titicaca were named Wilbur!

We didn't expect thick forests amidst Inca trail.

An Incan site on our 3rd day.

El Camino Inca- the beginning

Like true adventurers, we refused to use modern transportation and instead trek the 45 kms like the Incans did. Scientists know that rich ancient nobles would do this arduous 4 day hike as a pilgrimage to machu Pichu which was (according to painstaking research) "either a temple of holy women, a university or something else". There were also messengers who did this hike at a lightning speed in a couple of hours.

Our group looking fresh at the start at Km 82

The porters are nothing short of superhuman as they seem to enjoy sprinting up hills with 35 kgs attached to their backs and are still spritely enough to wake up at 4 in the morning to make breakfast. Not only would they run past us, but they had enough time to setup camp and cook food for us by the time we made it there!

Cuzco- marches and protests

There is an official elaborate parade every sunday in the main square which lasts more than half a day.

The rainbow colored flag is derived from the Incas who revered the rainbow, and not from Gay rights movement ;)

We saw many protest marches in Cuzco against the high food prices.

Indian influence

The reach of bollywood continues to amaze me. We had Hindi music blaring away in taxis, people asking us about Shah Rukh Khan and quite a few Indian restaurants. Peruvians loved Bollywood, its entire package of family drama, tragedy, dancing and crazy costumes. There were hardly any Indian tourists and coincidentally, the 5 Indians we came across all spoke Kannada!

Cuzco-tourist magnets

We did a very touristy thing of taking pictures with cute animals. But the cute little Llamas were irresistable much to the knowledge of the locals who carried them around the main square or the Plaza de Armas.

Cuzco

Cuzco was a nice change from Lima. Although very touristy, I still enjoyed Cuzco. The white washed buildings with bright blue doors and windows were charming. Cuzco is in the middle of everything. You have to get here to go anywhere including Machu Pichu and the amazon rainforests. Cuzco was the capital city of the Incas. It is very beautiful, nestled in the Andes and is full of old colonial buildings which have been built with the stones of the blown up Inca temples and palaces. The ancient Incan temple of the chosen women (think sacrifices and more sacrifices) on the main square has been blown up and replaced with a catholic church/convent full of nuns who are allowed no contact with the outside world. Seems a bit mean to locate something like this right in the middle of tourist central as the nuns can hear the icecream trucks but are never allowed to get a cornetto. A similar fate has fallen upon all the ancient Incan palaces, including that of the last Incan Emperor - Inca Tupac. All these places are in the middle of the city and to me it is really weird to think that people were sacrificed to the gods in the middle of a city centre.

Lima- Barranco

We landed in Lima on Dec. 12th and had half a day to kill before flying to Cuzco. Lima was my least favorite place in the trip. An ugly populous capital, some colonial-era buildings were its only saving grace.

Lima

Beaches in Lima are highly polluted. We caught the sight of enormous landfills right next to the beaches. The locals were jogging and surfing unconcerned.