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Peru 2004

We went to a wedding in Buenos Aires and flew on to Lima for a tour of Peru. We visited Paracas, Nazca, Arequipa, Colca, Lake Titikaka, Cuzco and Macchu Picchu before returning to Lima.

A boat trip from Paracas took us to The Islas Ballestas, formerly the site of a guano industry due to the large numbers of seabirds nesting there, some shown below. There is also a colony of Sealions.

Next we went to Nazca to see the mysterious Nazca Lines from the air: they are mostly thought to be around 2000 years old and some measure more than 1km across with individual lines around 30cm in width.

Then we went to Arequipa, an old colonial town, currently location of Peru's Consitutional Court, and 2335m above sea level. A short break here allowed some acclimatization for the altitude to come.

We continued to climb up to the Altiplano, circa 3500m, on the way to Colca Canyon, a cleft in the mountains more than 3000m deep (not visible from the road), said to attract Condors (but not whilst we were there).

Next we went to Puno and Lake Titikaka, at 3812m the highest navigable body of water in the world. There we visited the famous Islas Flotantes, made entirely of multiple layers of reeds and inhabited by the Uros peoples. Boats are also made of reeds, many with striking carvings front and rear.

We were supposed to move on to Cuzco by rail but a strike meant that we went by road, and thence to Machu Picchu, the forgotten Inca city.

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