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The Amazing New Adventures of Larry and Mark - Peru, Land of the Incas
Lima into Cusco
There are so many pictures which I hope to send that the individual emails may get too
large. So I may find "splitting" chapters into several parts may make it easier to send
out to you and for you to download.
Peru's currency is the sol (plural, soles.) Their value is roughly 3 soles = $1 US
Peru is south of the Equator, which means that our summer is their "winter." However, their weather
is determined more by altitude and location. Peru has great stretches of desert, fertile temperate zone
areas, higher altitude extreme living environments, and high Andean peaks. Huascarán, at over 22,000
feet, is Peru's highest peak and one of the highest in the Andes.
On Monday, June 29, we flew into Lima, Peru, after a flight of about six hours from Miami.
Lima is on the Pacific coast of Peru, and has a population of almost 8 million people.
We walked across the street to the hotel at the airport, and had a very brief overnight,
because Tuesday we were up before 6AM to prepare for our flight over the Andes to Cusco.
This picture doesn't show much, but this photo shows best what Lima's weather is known for-
smog, fog and pollution.
With the sun coming in the plane's left windows, we are headed south to Cusco. In a matter
of minutes we are out of the foothills, above the clouds, and we get our first look at the Andes.
Shortly, snow-capped peaks come into view.
A glacier can be seen here, coming down the valley between the peaks.
This isn't Mt. Everest, but I'm sure glad our plane isn't closer to this peak!
After a flight of a little over an hour, we are now approaching the one-runway airport at Cusco.
This man on the airport tarmac seems to be single-handedly keeping the runway clean.
When we off-loaded the plane, we really didn't know what to expect. In 90 minutes, we went
from ocean-level to nearly 11.000 foot elevation. We all feel like - "where's all the air?" - like
Dr. Nancy and Helen look. As a matter of fact, as we're leaving the airport, we find that cans
of oxygen are for sale here. I don't know if anyone bought one, but I decide to "tough it out."
We're not so tough that we don't decide to try out Peru's alternative to oxygen for altitude
sickness. Within 60 seconds of arriving at our airport bus, native women in Andean dress
are selling us dried coca leaves. I wish I had a picture of it. More on this later.
This metal work on the airport wall symbolizes the many centuries of Andean culture in
Cusco, on a wall reminiscent of Inca building. Much more on this later.
There's artwork everywhere you turn. I snapped this out the bus window.
Some of the things on this plaque look a little strange...............
This is our first view of the streets of Cusco. These streets were built centuries
before the wheel first came to Peru. More on this later.
MORE TO COME SOON!
You may reach me for comments:
Laurence Reich