Five years later we have grown to love Tennessee as much as our home state of Texas. Our adventures as a military family continue in the land made famous for country music and hot chicken. As much as our lives have changed with our twenty plus years in the military, much remains the same. We spend our weekends playing soccer, our winters on the beach, and our holidays with family.
Our final day in Peru took us to Lima. We took a boat out of the Amazon, a bus to the airport, and two planes to finally arrive in Lima.
The Peruvians typically eat the biggest meal of the day at 2:00. Today was no exception. We had a quinoa salad and sea bass. It was excellent! And the view was spectacular; it overlooked a pre-Incan pyramid that dated 200 years after Christ. It was discovered after people began motor crossing over it in the 1960s.
We drove along the coast in the beautiful Miraflores district where locals were surfing, playing soccer, paragliding, and shopping at the mall that opens up to the beach. We stopped here to buy local goods, (coconut candy, chocolate. coffee, and quinoa) to take back home.
Our last stop was at a beautiful archaeological museum, Museo Larco.
This museum showcased a mummy, our guide taught us the significance of various pottery styles, and we awed over this beautiful headdress.
It’s time to go home. We have loved this trip, but we (some more than others) miss our own beds, Sports Center, Diet Dr Pepper, and Ryker.
We now have 8 hours of plane rides ahead of us. We are armed with Bonine and Melatonin in hopes of sleeping on the planes.
Our hikes into the rain forest were filled with great opportunities to see animals, plants, and unique trees. We began the day coaxing a tarantula out of his hole.
We learned about island trees, communication trees, kapok trees, walking trees, and ficus trees.
The walking tree actually walks or moves forward upwards of 10 cm a year looking for sunlight.
But my favorite tree we were introduced to was the red ant tree. This tree is home to a colony of red ants. Thousands of red ant bites can actually kill a person, and just a few years ago Peru’s justice system allowed criminals to be slowly killed by red ants. The criminals were tied to the tree and then died a painful death as the red ants bit them. Our guide retold a story about a robber who got caught stealing goods from a shopkeeper, and the store owner tied the robber to a red ant tree as punishment. Can you imagine?
We ate plants that taste like wild ginger.
We made rope from dried tree palm fibers.
And Keagan got to play Tarzan.
I was dressed in palm leaves, and to the dismay of the boys, gave it a bit of a shake.
We took another rickety boat into a lagoon hoping to spot the local anaconda, but we sadly had no luck. The guide reported the snake was out of the water and ate three days last week, so today he was probably lying low in the water, the same water Evan thought it would be fun to drag his fingers in as we paddled. This picture was taken before any talk of anocandas.
We climbed a fire tower for a sweeping view of the lagoon, and the clouds reflected perfectly into the water.
After a hot, steamy four hour trek through the forest, we headed to the hotel bar. We introduced Keagan to refreshing rum and coconut drinks. He said, “Una mas por favor.”
After lunch we hiked to Caiman Lake. True to its name, we saw caiman.
But the best part of this hike was hearing the howler monkeys. The alphas from two groups got into a screaming match warning the other to stay away. We were right in the middle of a National Geographic episode! Fantastic!!!
The stars here are beautiful! There is so little light pollution, the Milky Way can be seen at night; it’s easy to see how the Incans’ traditions and interests would center around the sun, moon, and stars.
Tomorrow is our last day in Peru. We are headed back to Lima in the morning for one last pisco sour, one last dish of lomo saltado, and one last look at Incan history. Then we are back home to sodas, hamburgers, and our own beds.
We were up early this morning to fly from Cusco to Lima and then to Puerto Maldonado for our outdoor adventures in the rain forest. While driving through the biggest city on the outskirts of the rain forest, it appeared we had taken a trip back in time. It was not modern or city like by our standards by any means. Our open air bus dropped us off at this dock.
We caught a sixty minute boat ride to Tambopata, an ecological resort in the Amazon. This was our boat. Not gonna lie. I found it a bit sketchy taking such a boat through caiman infested waters.
Upon arrival, we were served a special meal “Juanee” to celebrate St. John the Baptist day. It was basically chicken paella steamed and served in palm leaves.
Then we took a quick boat ride across the river into the rain forest on a hike to Monkey Island. This is a reserve for injured monkeys that have been rehabilitated to live in the wild but they are still “domesticated” to some extent. We hand fed them bananas and had the best time being entertained by the three different species.
Back at the shore, we had some fun with the guide’s machete.
We took the boat back to the resort and spotted our first caiman.
Our resort has no wi-if, no television, no AC, and electricity is available if the sun shines. Luckily we are in the dry season and have had a lot of sun. In between meals and scheduled tours, and with no phones, no tv, and no communication with the outside world, the boys have played pool in the lobby with their Spanish teacher.
Tonight is the NBA draft, the annual June must see/must watch event, and the boys have no idea who has been drafted or what is going on back home, and yet, they’ve handled it with lots of patience. I’m making do with the lack of technology and AC with drinks from the bar.
Today’s travels took us to the Sacred Valley, the last home of the Incan empire.
Very few locals own cars, so they rely on taxis to get them to distant places. I’m not sure I could fit in this!
We started the day at an alpaca and llama farm where the wool is harvested to make clothing. The animals got into a tagging war with the grasses.
We learned how the dyes are created with plants, seeds, and insects. A parasite that grows on cactus is crushed to create the brightest red color. Fascinating!
A couple of women took a break from weaving to prepare their potatoes for storage. Their freeze dry method keeps potatoes edible for twenty years! We had the soup with these types of potatoes today at lunch.
In Pisac we had empanadas and shopped at an open air market.
It’s still festival week, so local school groups were dressed in costume and performing in the town square.
We then drove to the cuy capital and had the Peruvian delicacy, roasted Guinea pig. It wasn’t bad but it wasn’t great.
After lunch, we continued our drive to Ollantaytambo, the home of the sacred Incan fortress and sun temple. We hiked to the top and had fantastic views of the valley.
The locals still live in houses built by the Incans 600 years ago! More open air shipping was available here, too. This was a charming city!
Another early start tomorrow takes us to the Amazon.
When I was first introduced to the natural wonder, I never imagined I would be able to see it one day in person. But today I did! It was worth all of the delays, cancellations, and the Covid protocols we had to follow to get here.
We took a bus to Urubamba Valley, a train to Aguas Calientes,
and we stopped for lunch in the charming Machu Picchu community.
From here we took another bus to the entry park of Machu Picchu. Finally! We hiked thirty minutes straight up to find our very first view of the night guard’s house.
We hiked a bit more to find the spectacular view of all of Machu Picchu.
The view was spectacular, but the detailed information provided by our guide was just unbelievable. And to think the Spanish believed the Incas to be savages!
The boys were in awe. They spent the entire tour discussing the history of the Incas with our tour guide Juan Carlos. I think he first believed they weren’t interested, but he was soon overwhelmed with Keagan’s questions. The smile on Evan’s face says it all. THIS is why we travel!
We saw llamas and chinchillas living among the ruins.
Keagan was disappointed that he wasn’t climbing the mountain behind him in this picture because the tip of the mountain was where the Incan astrologers studied the stars, and he wanted to be at the highest possible point. He says he is coming back to do it.
The university of Machu Picchu
The king’s house
The terraced farm land
The sun temple
The gate to the city
What a day! This was everything I imagined and then some!
