In high school, we studied the geography of South America and I wrote a report on the culture of Peru. When I majored in Zoology as an undergraduate at the University of Michigan, I studied Darwin and evolution. My father, who collected antique books as a hobby, gave me a leather bound copy of The Voyage of the Beagle. I admired Darwin’s book but didn’t read it until I decided to travel to the Galapagos Islands this summer. When I found a Smartours trip that combined visits to both Peru and Ecuador I decided to see these places in person.
Ecuador
We flew as a group from Miami to Quito, the capitol of Ecuador. Quito nestles among volcanic peaks with picturesque vistas. We adjusted to the time and altitude by visiting the tourist equator and the real equator on the first day. Here we learned indigenous cultural traditions and saw how people transform cacao into chocolate. We toured Spanish heritage treasured cathedrals and the Quito central plaza at the end of our stay in Ecuador but first, we flew to the Galapagos. The tour group leader greatly simplified this process. He procured for the whole group, the special passports and round trip flight tickets strictly limited by government efforts to protect the islands.
Galapagos
Galapagos National Park Guides led an introductory tour through the tortoise protection and propagation center. The tour introduced us to many of the special species of Galapagos plants and animals. We stayed in a wonderful National Geographic honored Finch Bay Galapagos Hotel facing a lagoon filled with water birds.
The group split in two and visited three separate islands by boat and rubber raft during the stay. With separate guides and schedules, in groups of ten we saw most of the famous species except the flightless cormorants and equatorial penguins. I particularly loved the giant tortoises, the blue footed boobies and the red throated frigate birds. The land iguanas entertained when they ate very spiky prickly pear cactus fruit. The cacti were like no other, evolved as tall trees to escape eating pressure from iguanas and tortoises. Another amazing plant species, relatives of daisies, grew to huge trees as well.
We experienced the volcanic origin of the islands in several ways. We hiked through a lava tube, snorkeled off a black volcanic sand beach and walked along two huge craters formed by volcanic collapses. I hope to return someday to visit more of the islands, but if it doesn’t happen, I left on the flight to Peru quite delighted with what I saw of this enchanting place.
Peru
The guide introduced us to Peruvian history via a bus and walking tour of the city. We visited ancient prehistoric ruins, Inca temple sites and Spanish Catholic Cathedrals. The Spanish clearly adopted a ” to the conquerors go the spoils” philosophy. They tried their best to wipe out indigenous temples and palaces by building on top of them.
To prepare us for the vigorous climb to come we traveled through the Sacred Valley to Cusco and on to Ollantaytambo. An elderly Inca woman demonstrated spinning, wine making, guinea pig raising, art and agriculture tools. Her modern granddaughter sold hiking poles to those who had none. The hike through the ruins here introduced us to ancient ruins of a sun temple, a water temple, and agricultural terraces. Also our guide observed how fit we were as we climbed these ruins. A Shaman demonstrated rituals and objects traditional to Peruvian culture and blessed our journey.
Machu Picchu
We traveled the second part of the Inca Trail through the Sacred Valley via a spectacular train ride. The Urubamba River rushed by as we viewed the two Sacred Peaks out the train windows. We spent the night in a hotel full of exhausted people returning from their hike through the ruins, an unsettling experience. Early the next morning we joined a long line waiting for a bus to take us up to the gate. The buses limited the number of entrants at one time so the ruins were not too crowded. A few really fit hikers climbed straight up a trail through the bus switchbacks, up to the gate, then climbed the ruins. Crazy!!
The Machu Picchu ruins themselves have been extensively rebuilt but retain a mountain majesty difficult to describe. We climbed rock step after rock step, through the grain field terraces to get to the mountain top. The peak contains the Sun Temple, the priest’s and ruler’s palace, and the astronomy observatory. I was very thankful for my Hurrycane to help my old knees up and down so many steps. Thank goodness for the bus back down the final slopes to the hotel where I barely stayed awake for supper. The second day I hiked on level ground to a very interesting museum. Exhibits described the culture, construction, and British rediscovery of the grounds we explored the day before. I also relaxed in a botanical garden full of high jungle native tropical plants.
Return
On the return visit to Cusco and Lima we traveled again through the Sacred Valley. We stopped to explore and gape at the amazing bounty of the Pisac market used by local Inca descendants. We also learned about corn and potato culture, and Vicuna, Lama and Guanaco wool dying, spinning and weaving at the Anawak cultural preservation center. Later, however, I declined the offer to eat fire roasted guinea pig.
After no problems on the many flights from Miami to Quito to the Galapagos to Lima, disaster struck on our flight home. We boarded an early flight to Bogota, Colombia but the airlines cancelled our group’s flight from Colombia to Miami. I became quite familiar with the airport shops as we waited 8 hours to board another plane. Even with this delay, I loved the trip and returned exhausted but exhilarated. It took my knees over a year to recover, however, so I would not recommend this trip to the faint of heart or weak of knee.
