Category: Peru
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Me and Huayna Picchu
The next day, after my quasi-religious experience at Machu Picchu, I returned to climb Huayna Picchu — the towering mountain behind it. The peak of Huayna Picchu is about 2,720 meters (8,920 ft) above sea level, or about 360 meters (1,180 ft) higher than Machu Picchu. The Incas built a trail up the side of Huayna Picchu…
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Finding Machu Picchu
I must have been one of the few people on the planet that did not have Machu Picchu on a bucket list some place. To start with, I don’t have a bucket list (why is a long story), and what’s more, the reason for us to go to Peru was not to simply see Machu Picchu,…
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Disappointment and Redemption on Lake Titicaca
As I was learning about Peru, one of the places I was excited about exploring was the floating islands built by the Uros tribe on Lake Titicaca. I loved the idea — with a floating island of your own, whenever you got tired of one place, you could simply up anchor and tow your island someplace else. So…
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Spectacular Beauty — Arequipa to Lake Titicaca
After our explorations of Northern Peru, we headed east to Arequipa to begin our trip across the Andean Plateau to Colca Canyon, Lake Titicaca (Puno), and eventually to Cusco and Machu Picchu. Until we got to Peru, we had spent most of our time in the cities and towns of Central and Eastern Europe. And…
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Peru — Insights into Culture and Civilization
Because I was born into Western culture and have lived my entire life within it, I experience the world through its lens and filters. But I know that is not the only way to see the world, and in Peru, for the first time on this trip, it become obvious. I became fascinated by the pre-Columbian…