Tuesday, January 8, 2019

Peru: Day One and Two - It Started So Well

We flew out of San Jose and landed in Lima, the capital of Peru. We stayed in a small AirBnb with a rooftop bar and rickety beds. Early the next morning we flew out of Lima and into Cusco. Cusco was the historic capitol of the Incan Empire which flourished between the 1400's to 1534. It is at a higher elevation so we learned about how to adjust eating coca leaves and moving to a lower elevation. We didn't really feel anything but we were moving on to a lower elevation anyway by going to the Sacred Valley where we would be staying for the next few nights. A van picked us up at the airport and we drove into the countryside. The landscape was beautiful with spring green shoots and leaves sprouting across the hill covered landscape.


 We arrived at a small animal sanctuary nestled in a valley. At the start of the tour we saw one of Peru's more reclusive animals, the Spectacled Bear, which are the only species of bears native to South America. 


 
They also had an exhibit for another one of Peru's top predators, the Mountain Lion. There were some of Peru's more frequently seen animals such as Chinchillas, llamas and Alpacas and some birds of prey as well.








But their main goal was to conserve and protect Andean Condors. They have the longest life span of any birds and can sometimes reach over 70 years of age. They are also considered to be the largest flying bird with a wingspan of 10 feet and males weighing up to 33 pounds. The Andean Condor enclosure was huge it included a pond. It was built into the cliff side to resemble their natural environment. It was almost feeding time so we took a seat on bench inside the enclosure and the condors flew right over our heads up to the feeding platform. It was amazing. One by one they flew by and you could feel the wind streak across your face. You could sense how powerful their wings were as they graceful raced through the sky. 




After the tour of the animals' enclosure we were shown the weaving process that the natives have used for hundreds of years. It takes a ton of patience with a single table runner taking nearly a month to weave but the results are stunning. There was also a tiny adorable hairless dog with a little alpaca sweater and it was adorable.




This was also the first place that we learned about how they eat guinea pigs. They keep them in outdoor homes as we saw at the sanctuary. Then we saw them roasted on sticks for sale on the roadside and were glad that we were vegetarians. Soon we arrived at the lodge for a four night stay. It was a very nice setup  and the symmetry was stunning. The cabins were quite quaint using natural wood beams for most of the interior and furniture.



With the huge change in altitude we all had a bit of altitude sickness. Luckily at the front desk they had some leaves that would help with the headaches. You could either chew them or make a tea out of it. Once everyone was feeling better we ate dinner at the main lodge before heading in for the night. 

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