South American Adventure Post 1

Over the past several years we have visited the ruins of the Mayan culture in Guatemala, Honduras and the Yucatan Peninsula, as well as Mexico City.  The Mayan culture peaked about 600 AD and was already in decline when the Spanish explorers landed in the “New World”.    Most of the cities were abandoned by 900 AD.  They Mayans had developed an extensive written language, but since the Spanish destroyed most of the written works, today we can only guess why the Mayan cities were deserted.  Much has also been conjectured over the meaning of the end of the Mayan Calendar in December 2012, but we know the world did not end.  Exploring the cities and pyramids was fascinating and whetted our interest in exploring another lost civilization, that of the Inca.

Like the Maya, the Inca were conquered by the Spanish in the 1500’s, notably by Francisco Pizarro with only 160 men, who founded the city of Lima.  The Inca Empire was large geographically, but only lasted about 100 years, and much was destroyed by the Spanish.  However, unlike the Maya, the Incas did not have a written language as such, but used sets of knotted cords for recording information.  The Inca empire stretched nearly 2500 miles north to south and had a population of about 12 million people.  There was a well-developed set of roads, but no wheeled vehicles and extensive use of terraces for agriculture high in the Andean Mountains.  The Inca or “Quechua” people called themselves “children of the sun” and until they were conquered in 1531 used Cuzco as their capital city.

One city that the Spanish did not destroy remained hidden deep in the Andes, at an elevation of 8,000 feet.  The modern world learned of “The lost city of the Incas”, or Machu Picchu from the American archeologist, Hiram Bingham in the early 1900’s and it is now a popular destination for tourists to Peru.  Bingham also uncovered other ruins in the Urubamba Valley, which we will also get to see and from which much has been learned about the Inca civilization.  Many people ride the “Hiram Bingham” train from Cuzco to Agua Calientes, at the base of Machu Picchu.  We will ride the Vistadome train from Ollantaytambo to Agua Calientes.

Following our explorations in the Andes of Peru, we fly to Quito in Ecuador for several days and then fly to the Galapagos Islands for an eight day cruise of the “Southern” circuit, viewing the unique flora and fauna which formed much of Charles Darwin’s theories on the evolution of species.  We land on Isla San Cristobal and then visit Isla Espanola, Isla Santa Maria, Isabela (the largest island) and Isla Santa Cruz before returning to the starting point.  Many of the species we will see have been isolated from the rest of the world and have developed in unique ways and still have little fear of mankind.

We return to Bellevue following the cruise.

October 10, 2013

This morning we departed on an early (0630) Delta Airlines flight for Lima, Peru, via Atlanta. Our NEXUS passes allowed us to use the TSA Pre-check line, bypassing a large line for security.  This expedited security process allows us to keep on our shoes, belts, jackets, etc, but we still have to remove the metal objects such as cell phones and watches.  Laptops and liquids can remain in the carry-on bags.  There is the occasional random search, and TSA checked Miriam’s hands for explosive residue.  We were still inside the terminal in less than 20 minutes from arriving at the airport, checking in our bags and getting boarding passes.  Our flight left from the South Satellite and we were able to use the Delta Lounge while we waited for the flight to board.  The flight left on time, but headwinds meant a late arrival into Atlanta for our connecting flight to Lima. However, we still had plenty of time for the connection and are now sitting in the Delta lounge on E Concourse. 

The flight takes about 6 hours and we land in Lima after 10 PM.  Since we leave early the next morning for Cuzco, we are staying at the airport Ramada Inn, across the street from the terminal.  By the time we clear customs and immigration we will only have about four hours before we leave the hotel for the flight to Cuzco, about one hour away, but at an elevation of 11,250 feet.  Lima is situated at sea level and stretches up into the hills to about 1600 feet, so if we have any tendency to altitude sickness we will know right away.