mr. furley said:
iirc, there's a community of people who live on floating islands of grass or some #### in Peru. can't remember the name of the lake.. but you can take a boat out to travel around their community.
yeah... the uros. although it's basically a big tourist trap. of course, so is pretty much everything else along the whole cusco-lima corridor.@moops
- i'm sure you're aware of this, but our winter is their summer.
- you can stay on the isla del sol (in the middle of lake titicaca) for cheap... you stay with a family, they make you food, etc. we were there during carnival, so there was a huge festival down in the town square, with a rock band and everything.
- make sure the inca trail is actually open... when we tried to take it, we were informed that it was "closed for renovations"
, so we flew to the amazonian basin (still in peru), hung out at an eco-lodge (they made a mean pisco sour), watched the parrots/monkeys/tapirs/etc. actually, the whole amazonian rainforest thing was cool... got to climb up a tree to get above the canopy (green as far as you could see), heard howler monkeys, got a slice of garlic tree bark to keep away the mosquitos (totally works), etc.
- machu piccu's iconic, but there are better ruins in the same area. if you're at machu piccu, be sure to hike up to huayna piccu which overlooks it. also, know that almost everything the guides will tell you is historically/anthropologically incorrect. if you take the bus down, you'll be able to watch the chaski race the bus. it's a total scam, of course (it's not one kid, they do it in a relay), but when the final kid comes on the bus, be sure to cough up some neuvo sol, because all the farming families around there are incredibly poor.
- same thing for cusco, even though it's a tourist trap (although the hostels are good)... there are companies there that sell boxes of trinkets to families, who then sell those boxes to families, who make their youngest/cutest kids stay out all hours of the night selling to tourists. you don't want to make yourself a target (you will be
relentlessly mobbed), but if you see a couple kids alone, just give them some cash without haggling (or toys... the frisbees we passed out were a big hit). we were paying asking price for everything and couldn't spend more than $10/day in peru and $5/day in bolivia (even when staying at the nicest hotel in la paz). cusco is also known for their asian restaurants (i forget what they're called), but they're pretty good... actually, the whole japan/peru connection is fairly interesting, historically/politically speaking. oh, and if there's a soccer game going on, definitely hit one of the watering holes... we were there when cusco beat lima for the first time in decades (i think 40 years) and the place just went nuts.
- at cusco, you can line up all sort of side excursions and any camping/hiking supplies. also, there are a couple internet cafes if you need that sort of thing. the best thing we did was rent some dirtbikes and head out into the countryside. it goes from tourist-trap cusco to fairly authentic peru in a heartbeat... and the kids loved to wait until we got stacked up behind herds of sheep/goats/etc and then pelt us with buckets of water and colored chalk.
- it's worth ducking across the border into bolivia. we were there shortly after a state visit from bush (which prompted riots), but we eventually got in. la paz is cool... played hoops with one of the guys from their amateur team (he sucked, but ran circles around us because he was used to the high altitude). at one of the overlook parks, there's a huge chessboard with these 6' pieces you can move... the city has a surprisingly vibrant latin jazz scene. oh, and there are also all the "gravity biking" tours, where they bus you up to 14,000ft+ and then you downhill all the way to something like 3,000ft. i went through two tires and a rear brake, but they have the bus coming along behind with extra bikes/parts.
- also, the beaches in lima are good... but that equatorial sun will fry you good if you're not careful.
, so we flew to the amazonian basin (still in peru), hung out at an eco-lodge (they made a mean pisco sour), watched the parrots/monkeys/tapirs/etc. actually, the whole amazonian rainforest thing was cool... got to climb up a tree to get above the canopy (green as far as you could see), heard howler monkeys, got a slice of garlic tree bark to keep away the mosquitos (totally works), etc.
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