For all of the study that’s been done in the “Lost City” of Machu Picchu — not to mention all of the travelers who have waked the ruins of the ancient citadel — archaeologists are still finding clues about the lives of the Inca who lived here.
A group of Peruvian archaeologists from the National Institute of Culture discovered ceremonial offerings buried under Machu Picchu, including three ceramics or miniature aryballos with globular body and covered with stone slabs forming a circle, known as “apachetas.”
“These are likely to be part of a ceremonial rite of payment to the land, the only of its kind found in Machu Picchu,” said archaeologist Ruben Maqque.
He also said that the findings took place at a sector known as Cementerio (”Cemetery”),where there are nine different types of rocks, brought from several parts of Cusco by the Inca workers. There were no traces of skeletal remains, which rules out the hypothesis that the place was an Inca cemetery. However, archaeologists believe that this was an exclusive site for ceremonial rites.
These expert Peru travel tips were given by our Peruvian Expedition Leader, Jorge Salas-Guevara. Expedition Leader Jorge is a favorite among International Expeditions guests, having led expeditions to the Amazon, Orinoco, Antarctica, Trinidad, West Africa, Patagonia and Papua New Guinea. Jorge’s “expertise” on all things Peruvian is beyond refute — his research and photography has been published in history books, and he has worked extensively with the Smithsonian, World Wildlife Fund and National Wildlife Federation.
When visiting Cusco, Peru, find free time to stroll through the streets of the San Blas District. This is where the artisans have made their homes, which have mostly been turned into workshops, classrooms and shops. Here, the older generation of artists share their knowledge and teach their children and grandchildren the handicrafts of Cusco in order to keep the traditions of their art alive. Treasures abound and one can always find that special handicraft that will truly remind them of their magical journey through the land of the Inca.
Don’t Miss: T’anta Restaurant in Lima, Peru. Located in the San Isidro district, T’anta is one of Peruvian culinary star Gaston Acurio’s moderately priced, café offerings. With delicious, freshly juiced drinks and inventive soups, pastas and a variety of options from a New Andean cooking style, Tanta’s sidewalk cafe is a great lunch spot in this trendy Lima neighborhood. (Editor’s Note: I recommend sticking to the appetizers so you can leave plenty of room for dessert!)
Lima is recognized as the culinary capital of South America and is full of really great restaurants. Add a few days in Lima to your next visit to enjoy some of them. Don’t miss ceviche at La Mar Restaurant, a chita a la sal at Costanera 700 Restaurant and a pulpo a la oliva in any seafood restaurants. For dinners you can’t go wrong with Rafael, Central, Fusion and Astrid y Gaston.
When visiting Peru is almost mandatory to enjoy a Pisco Sour, the national cocktail made with pisco, a local brandy. One of the best experiences while in Lima is to enjoy one at La Huaca Restaurant located right in front of a pre-Inca temple. Enjoy a 45-minute tour of the archeological remain and crown it with the local beverage at the restaurant overlooking the remains just when it is illuminated after sunset. (Get traditional Pisco Sour recipe here.)
Shopping in Peru is very good and the main products to look for include alpaca, pima cotton, Andean textiles, silver, pottery, music, coffee and chocolates. While in Lima, there are two places where you can find these products. Both are located in the Miraflores district. The first is the handicraft or Indian Market, an outdoor market with vendors from the whole country. The prices are fair and the offer is wide, but double-check the quality as it is variable. Bargaining is expected here and credit cards are not widely accepted. The second is Larco Mar, a mall that overlooking the bay of Lima, with good restaurants and cafes. Here you will find top-quality stores, all of which accept the main credit cards and where bargaining is not expected but superb quality is guaranteed. As a note, Larco Mar is the second most visited destination in the country, after Machu Picchu.
And one last tip from Kim Guth, our Peru Custom Travel Planner.
A bit of France in Machu Picchu — who knew! Indio Feliz Bistro in Aguas Calientes came recommended to me as the best restaurant in town… although from the outside it seemed just like another basic place with bland food. Talk about not judging a book by its cover: this place was amazing! Each of the eight tables downstairs was immaculately set with crisp linens, attractive dinnerware and a vase of lilies, hibiscus and other beautiful flowers. In one corner was a working fireplace. Everything I sampled would not be out of place in a fine Paris restaurant — minus the prices and attitude. The meal was a dream. The fresh bread and red wine from Chile rounded out the experience.
Spotting the first light-pink river dolphin rippling the murky waters is an excursion highlight for everyone on our Amazon River cruise. After their last Amazon tour aboard La Amatista, our friends at WWF shared five myths about the Amazon’s pink river dolphins they learned from our Peruvian naturalists.
During the day, river dolphins conduct their usual dolphin business. But once the sun goes down, they morph into handsome young men dressed in all white. They come ashore, strictly for the purpose of seducing the wives and women of local villages.
Someone swimming alone in the river could be whisked away by a shape-shifting dolphin to a magical underwater city called Encante. They’ll live out the rest of their lives there, never to return to land again. Perhaps this myth started as a way to get people, particularly youngsters, to be careful when swimming. The dolphins can bite, as can the piranhas that patrol the Amazon and its tributaries.
If you wish to find a rare Amazonian manatee, you must first locate an Amazon dolphin and make peace with it. The dolphin is considered the manatee’s guardian.
Don’t ever make eye contact with a pink dolphin or you’ll have nightmares for the rest of your life.
It’s bad luck to kill an Amazon river dolphin — and even worse luck to eat one. Many Indian tribes still consider them to be sacred creatures and thus bestow a great deal of reverence on them. Rainforest-dwelling shamans have been known to learn medicinal techniques from the dolphins.
International Expeditions was thrilled to welcome World Wide Will from MedjetAssist on a recent Galapagos Islands adventure cruise aboard the Evolution. Now Will shares his adventure!
“Ever find yourself daydreaming about turquoise water lapping over a stark white sandy beach? You know the dream I’m talking about. You’re completely alone, toes digging into fine sand and a temperate Sun warming you from the outside in. The sounds of sea lions playing in the distance, barking at each other and splashing in the cool surf, are carried in on salty sea breezes. An old straw-hat shades your eyes as you gaze out onto a landscape painted by more shades of blue than you ever knew existed. That dream, my friends, is how the day ends on Espanola.”
International Expeditions was thrilled to welcome World Wide Will from MedjetAssist on a recent Galapagos cruise aboard the Evolution. Now Will shares his adventure!
“…After circling Kicker Rock a few times we headed to Cerro Brujo. We landed on a powder-white sandy beach that we learned was close to the exact spot where Darwin first landed in the Galapagos many years ago. To the right of the beach was a large colony of sea lions. Our time on this beach included a walk around the area looking at the wildlife. I saw the first of many blue-footed boobies, more sea lions and scores of the now famous Darwin finches. We also saw iguanas, ghost crabs and my favorite, the Sally Light-Foot crab. When the walk ended we had two options before returning to the ship. We could explore the tidal area or we could go back to the landing spot and take a swim.
“We swam for a good 15 minutes when I noticed that my friend was looking at me with the strangest expression on his face. It was not fear necessarily but it was not calm either. Then I herd this noise behind me. It sounded like a cross between a snort and a sneeze. My heart jumped into my throat and I yelped like a frightened child. When I spun around I found two big brown eyes staring directly at me. It was a young sea lion and he had come to, well, to play. I let my heart slow some and then I dove back under the water and started swimming.
“The rule here is that you cannot touch the wildlife but the wildlife can touch you. So as I swam around, my new found friend swam beside me. He circled me a few times them swam off, no doubt unimpressed with my lack of grace in the water. I don’t think I stopped smiling until I finally fell asleep later that night. I know that I did not stop talking about it until well after dinner. What an experience of a lifetime.”
IE Creative Services Editor Emily Harley spent Thanksgiving on our Amazon River tour! Now she shares thoughts on this unique small-ship adventure aboard La Amatista.
The small town where I grew up from in Kentucky and even Birmingham, where I now live, have history. But they ain’t got nothing on Lima, Peru!
Our Amazon tour officially kicks off after a drool-inducing breakfast at the Swissotel with a tour of Lima’s most historic sites. While visitors to Peru often think about the Plaza de Armas and Spanish colonial history, Lima is dripping with archeological gems and monuments, scattered throughout the city and tucked into its many parks. Our guide Jose, points out the Museum of Italian Art and Museum of Art – designed by Gustav Eiffel – as we circle the Park of the Exposition. A now defunct airplane and statue stand guard over a large park in San Isidro, marking the site of Lima’s first airport. Ominous, empty guard towers mark the four corners of a factory, remnants of the Shining Path’s terrorism of decades past.
Francisco Pizarro founded the “City of Kings” as the capital of Spain’s colonial empire in 1535, and his body is still entombed at the Cathedral in the Plaza de Armas. From this grand central square, our group explored the Cathedral, gilded Jesuit monastery, Iglesia de San Francisco and Casa Aliaga. Most travelers who have researched Lima are familiar with the monastery, cathedral and catacombs of San Francisco, but far fewer have heard of the Casa Aliaga.
Sitting to the right of the viceroy’s palace, Casa Aliaga dates back to 1535, when Pizarro granted the land to Jeronimo de Aliaga. But what sets this mansion apart from the many historic homes you can explore in South America (or the Old South for that matter), is that it remains a family home – held by 15 generations of Aliagas. But far from having thousands of tourists trooping through their home, we are part of a privileged group that gets to walk across the marble staircase and halls to eye-ball the family’s priceless antiques. The current Aliaga daughter married the son of our in-country partner.
Ornate carvings, art, stained glass windows and centuries-old imported tiles reflect the changing tastes and style of both the family and society. The entire home is clustered around a striking center courtyard, with wide, open breezeways circling the yard. How can valuable paintings and furniture be left covered but essentially open to the elements? Hernando, our Expedition Leader, assures me, “It NEVER rains in Lima.”
As we prepare to leave the home, there is a stark reminder that this window into the growth of Lima – from colonial capital to thriving, independent city ñ is in fact a home. Our group entered the home through a small wooden door in a large wall. Like many homes in Lima, Case Aliaga has a front square, tucked behind a protective privacy wall, before leading to the front door. In order to walk across the front square and back into the bustling streets of central Lima, we must skirt a brand new Land Rover.
Nothing thrills the staff at International Expeditions quite like knowing our guests are having a great time. So we love getting videos like this one taken on our January 22, 2010 Amazon River tour by Jamie Myer of Los Angeles, California.
The howler monkey’s large vocal organ is hidden by long black hair on its throat. Using their loud, distinctive call – which can be heard up to two miles away – howler monkeys warn other animals away from their territory.
Learn more about wildlife of the Amazon rainforest and listen to howler monkeys with a virtual visit by WWF.
If you are heading to Lima, Peru in the next month, be sure to check out the “Cow Parade” making its way around the city. More than 80 different cow sculptures are gracing Lima’s parks and public areas, 64 of which will be auctioned off to raise money for various Peruvian charities.
Ten of the statues are in the Plaza de Armas, where these pictures were all taken during a November tour. So, if you’ve ever dreamed of spotting pink cows walking in front of the Government House, now is the time to travel to Peru! Other cows are on display in Scribes Passage, Salazar Park, Love Park, Raimondi Park and Kennedy Park (all in Miraflores) and in other parks around Lima.
Politicians, artists and national celebrities decorated the fiber-glass cow sculptures, and many of the cows are painted to reflect traditional, regional patterns and colors.
The cow parade has been displayed in 50 cities worldwide, and has raised more than $25 million for nonprofit organizations since 1999.
People traveling with International Expeditions on our Amazon River tour or Machu Picchu vacation will have an opportunity to see the cows in Plaza de Armas.
IE Creative Services Editor Emily Harley spent Thanksgiving on our Amazon River tour! Now she shares thoughts on this unique small-ship adventure aboard La Amatista.
When traveling, I make it a personal mission to do three things:
1) Try the local coffee
2) Sample a local beer
3) Find a “non-touristy” place to people watch
My Friday in Lima was perfect for accomplishing all three of these goals! I’ll add the caveat that the San Isidro area is one of Lima’s more affluent areas — a fact which no doubt colored the available choices for beer, people watching and probably coffee too.
There’s a trick to getting a great cup of the local brew, especially when you are clearly not a local. Rather than drinking the coffee served in the hotel restaurant, get to be friends with your waiter and ask for a cup from the kitchen. (Thank you for the tip Hernando!) Peruvians take their coffee stout…and it was PERFECT! Hot, aromatic, tasty and it helped prepare me for a day touring.
After a morning touring pre-Columbian ruins (be sure to read my previous post), I was ready for lunch. IE provides a handy list of recommended restaurants in each guest’s final documents, and I knew from asking around that I had to try T’anta. Owned by famed Peruvian chef Gaston Acurio and just blocks from our hotel, T’anta has gotten rave reviews from the IE staff.
I started by asking our server for his beer recommendation. Again, I was not to be disappointed! For lunch, I tried the papas rellenas, potato stuffed with meat, olive, egg and served with two choices of Peruvian sauces. This is supposed to be an appetizer, but after seeing the portion sizes (and dessert trolley!) I stuck with a smaller dish. Quite honestly, I could wax poetic about lunch for several paragraphs. The relaxed atmosphere, superb people-watching, tasty beer and decadent desserts will draw me back to this café the next time I find myself in Lima (and keep me drooling until T’anta and I meet again!).
Just a block from T’anta is the huge Parque El Olívar, stretching for blocks along the Eastern side of San Isidro. Once an olive grove, you can still find two gnarled trees and an olive press in this park, which seems heavily trafficked by locals. As we strolled the wide walking path, families stopped to feed the birds and fish near a large fountain, and old and young alike mingled while walking dogs and enjoying picnics. A few hours spent in this lovely park is a great way to cap off a day in Lima and prepare for an Amazon adventure!
NEXT INSTALLMENT: It’s time to meet the rest of our small group and head into the Amazon!
For all of the study that’s been done in the “Lost City” of Machu Picchu — not to mention all of the travelers who have waked the ruins of the ancient citadel — archaeologists are still finding clues about the lives of the Inca who lived here.
