My father and I have embarked upon a father-daughter trip to Peru. It was his idea, and, of course, I agreed. There have been a few stressful moments, but all in all, we've carried on together pretty well so far.
It has been a busy trip, even before we made it to Peru. We awoke at 3 a.m. Tuesday morning to arrive at DFW airport in time for our 6 a.m. flight on the ever uncomfortable Spirit Airlines. This ride, it turns out, was only the first of may uncomfortable rides we have endured on the journey. We arrived in Ft. Lauderdale a few hours later, rented a car and drove down to Miami. My brother had arranged a seaplane flight for Dad as a Father's Day gift. Dad loves airplanes and flying, so he was thrilled with the flight tour of Miami. We drove back to Ft. Lauderdale, hopped back on a plane and flew to Lima. We finally arrived at our hotel and were asleep by midnight.
Two hours later, we were up again and off to the bus station to catch the 3:45 a.m. bus to Nazca, a town south of Lima famous for strange shapes etched onto the earth by an ancient culture. The bus was a double decker, and we were living in luxury in reclining seats on the first floor. But after seven hours of bus travel, even the most comfortable seats begin to cause some aches and pains. Upon arrival to Nazca, we went to the airport for a flyover of the aforementioned drawings, commonly called the Nazca Lines.
Then we got back on the double decker and headed in the direction from which we came to Paracas, a coastal town about four hours away. The next morning we took a boat to the Ballestas Islands, where live several species of endangered birds, including some cute little penguins, and sea lions. After the boat ride, we hung around Paracas awaiting the arrival of our bus that would return us to Lima. Another five hours on the bus and we were in Lima safe and sound, although exhausted. We enjoyed a delicious dinner in a fancy hotel (arranged by my brother) and hit the sack.
Today we flew to Cusco. There a driver picked us up and carried us to Urubamba, a town near Machu Picchu in what is called the Sacred Valley. I was chatting it up with the driver, translating a conversation between him and my dad about the plowed fields and hay bales and other farm-related things we saw along the way. The driver decided we needed to stop at a local weaver's shop to see how she uses plants and insects to color the alpaca wool used to weave rugs. I was all for this because I had just seen a similar demonstration in Mexico and made a video of it to share with my students. Now, with the video I took today, the students can compare and contrast the weaving processes of different indigenous groups. Exciting.
Tonight we have been relaxing in an incredible resort (thanks again, Chris), drinking coca tea and pisco sours. I'm looking forward to a wide-open, transportation-free itinerary tomorrow. No boats, no cars, no busses, no airplanes. Maybe an alpaca ride would be cool. On Sunday, we will add one mode of transportation to our list when we take a train to Machu Picchu. In the meantime, I'll try to post some pictures of what we've seen of this fascinating country.
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