VIVA EL PERU!

I know I told you that I would continue my story on Antarctica....but I have more urgent news to impart. Many of you know that I lived for many years in Lima, Peru, and in an earlier version of me...I was a professional tour escort in South America. I traveled a lot to Peru and because of this, settled there with my first husband.
I really love that country and if any of you believe in past lives.....I was, perhaps, way back when in that other life....part Peruvian Incan.

Maybe that is why I married a Peruvian in the first place, gave birth to two wonderful little "cholitas" (little Peruvian girls)...and feel so at home when I visit there. As you well know, I love that part of the world and right now it pains me a lot to see the suffering that is going on in Cuzco and the rest of the country.

For those that don't read the papers or tune into international news....it is raining in Cuzco. Once called the "naval of the universe" by the early Incan rulers, this wonderful city once completely covered with hammered gold, is now melting in the constant rains of the El Nino pattern that is gripping the weather systems of the World.

In a city that doesn't see much rain at all...this is devastating! A little over a week ago...the river Vilcabamaba which usually crests at flood stage at 17ft....crested at over 37ft! As the Sacred Valley around Cuzco sits at more than 10,000 ft altitude...there is little to no vegetation due to the lack of oxygen in the atmosphere and lack of precipitation. So when it does rain....there is no stopping the torrents that gush down the mountains into the river below. In its wake, these torrents leave devastation, taking with them the humble houses of the locals and washing away roads and in particular the railroad bed and track that takes upwards of 2000 tourists per day to the famed citadel of Machu Picchu.

Declared one of the New 7 Wonders of the World....these glorious ruins now lay vacant as the last tourist was helicoptered to safety a week ago. With no way to get into Machu Picchu and the little village of Aguas Calientes where the daily train from Cuzco stops, there is no tourism. The hotels are empty....the shops are empty.....the restaurants are empty...and the tummy's of the children are growing empty because their parents now have no income. Tourism was and is the only business in this area.

Back in Cuzco...the hotels are trying to hang in...and in the Sacred Valley, friends who have hotels and casitas there tell me that even though the river is raging...their hotels and restaurants are fine.....except there is no business! No one wants to visit Peru if they can't see Machu Picchu.

Everyone tells me it will re-open soon...however letters from the government tourist office say the end of April will see the first tourist back in the ruins of Machu Picchu.

There is so much more to see and do in Peru. There is the wonderful White City of Arequipa with its ancient convent now a fantastic living museum to the Catholic faith. There is the Colca Canyon, deepest and most little known canyon in the world. Here you can hike...or bathe in the hot springs or just enjoy watching the fabulous Condors with their 12 foot wing span float gently above the canyon floor.
There is Cajamarca and Paracas with their fabulous ruins as well...and lets not forget the Amazon Jungle near Iquitos. There is a wonderful river experience aboard the Aqua (see my blog from April 2008)...and near Cuzco you can fly over the Andes to the Manu Biosphere Preserve where you can see all types of jungle animals and birds. When was the last time you saw a Macaw (what we call Parrots) lick with thousands of these colorful birds fluttering and flying in and out?

OK and lets not forget Lima. I love Lima which is now recognized as one of the hotspots of international cuisine. There are wonderful restaurants like Astrid y Gaston and Rosa Nautica built on a pier over the Pacific. Or how about dinner in an ancient Inca ruin at the Huaca Pucllana? Then there are the museums of Lima. There are so many it is hard to count. Do you want to see ancient textiles.....or gold or weaponry....we have a museum for it in Lima....and the hotels like the Miraflores Park and the Marriott are modern structures that offer 5 star accommodations to the most picky guests.
Then there are my friends at the Casa Andina Hotels. Not deluxe...but extremely comfortable and definitely with a Peruvian flare. There are several in Lima's Miraflores district near restaurants and shopping. They also have several hotels in Cusco (wonderful shopping there too) and the Sacred Valley...as well as near Nazca, site of those huge rock paintings in the desert put there supposedly by people from outer space.

There is so much to see and do in my adopted country of Peru......please don't forget it. Just because Machu Picchu is closed.....don't cancel your trip....just rearrange it. The ruins of Machu Picchu have been there since the 1500's and will still be there in the next millennium.
Peru is so much more than the rock outcrops of this ancient city.
VIVA EL PERU!