PERU WITH PUNO, CUSCO, MACHU PICCHU, AGUAS CALIENTES, SANTA ANITA AND LIMA. JUNE TO JULY 2011.
Well, it’s now the middle of June 2021 and I have crossed over to Peru, at the river crossing of Deseguaderos. This is a town divided in two, with half in Bolivia. Quite an interesting scenario, the Bolivian side is defiantly the poorer part of the town and lacks the life that the other half has. When you arrive, you can change your Bolivian currency on the Peruvian side, you get a good rate. The journey from Desaguaderos to Puno is about 2 hours and this is the obvious place to stay your first night, in my case I stayed several days. After which I travelled by regular bus to Cusco, journey time about 6 hours and the road is smooth and quick. I was surprised to find Cusco devoid of Turismo, only a few local travellers and the occasional foreigner. June the 24th is the highlight of the Cusco Calendar Season, it’s always full to breaking, with all hotels occupied, but this was not the case. I found many hotels closed and the Inti Raymi Festival very low keyed and could only be watched on television. I then travelled to the village of Aguas Calientes which lies beneath the ruins of Machu Picchu, again all the hotels empty and closed. There was a sprinkling of Peruvians from Lima arriving to visit Machu Picchu, but that was all, after one night took the forty-minute train to the end of the line, which is at the back of Machu Picchu. From there i took a taxi to the Village of Santa Anita, journey time about 45 minutes. I stayed a few nights in a great lodge and enjoyed the wonderful hot springs, bathing and just admiring the great views of the valley and the snow topped mountains. On return to Cusco, stopped at Ollantatambo for a night, which again in normal times is a tourist hot spot, but again empty of visitors. In Cusco enjoyed a further week in San Blaz, just wandering around the old part and taking in this beautiful Inca City. You have to stay in old Cusco, this is where the atmosphere is, I spent quite a time looking for a piece of art and finally found what I was looking for and agreed the price and had the artist role it up for me. This was my second piece, as I had already purchased one in Pulcalpa from an artist who had been a student who studied under Pablo Domingo, a very well-known artist. His art was always so mystical and special. The piece I brought is defiantly in this category. So finally, I returned to Lima and stayed a month in Miraflores, found a very nice vegetarian restaurant, where I lunched most days and just explored in and around the city.
So finally came the day for my flight to Mexico City which was in the last week of July 2021 and I will tell you all more about this visit latter. Peru continues to be red listed in terms of the Covid 19 and for this reason hardly anyone is coming here to visit. I can only say that after traveling a year and a half in Peru and Mexico, I have not been infected by Covid and never felt at any time at risk. The people here are wearing masks etc, but it’s quite relaxed over here. So, let’s see what happens in Mexico, they are not asking for any proof regarding the Covid, so it’s very easy to enter. See you later everyone in Mexico !!…