FROM PERU TO ECUADOR
Second day in Peru: March 12 we drove down the Pan-American highway south of Lima into the desert. The desert stretches 2500 km south and into Chile and is the driest desert in the world. The purpose of this trip was to see the pyramids at Pachacamac. These were first built around 200 B.C. and there were successive civilizations until they were deserted by the Incas in the 1500’s. These cities (we also visited pyramids at Huaca Pucllana) are huge, built out of mud bricks and are very impressive.
Peru has 3 geographic regions: Coastal is mostly desert (Lima gets 4 inches of rain per year) but is where most of the population lives; The Andes; and the interior Rain Forest.
Although Peru generates much wealth from mining (silver, copper and gold) there are millions of very poor people who live in Shanty Towns. There is no welfare system. We drove by one Shanty Town (out in the desert near Pachacamac) where more than 1 million people live. The people are mostly of mixed heritage (largely indigenous Indians). Our tour guide was very proud of his ancestry and referred to the Spanish conquerors with great disdain.
Trujillo: March 13 was another day of archeological sites. We visited the Temples of the Sun and Moon from the period when the Mochicas were the dominant culture. Then we visited the 14 sq. km palace at Chan Chan from the period when the Chimu took over, prior to their defeat by the Incas.
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If you like archeology then you would love Peru. If not, Peru is a land of sand and not very attractive cities. I have never been big on pre-Columbian civilizations which perhaps was obvious to our guide who did remind “Mr. Rum” (rum in Spanish is ron) to pay more attention.
March 14: A day at sea as we sailed close to the equator on our way to Manta, Ecuador. I spent the morning bartering for bottles of wine to drink with dinner for the rest of the cruise, but that’s a story I’ll leave for my next WineWhine.
A Day in Ecuador: With only one day in Ecuador we could not get to the capital Quito up in the Andes. Rather than taking an expensive tour we chose to take a shuttle bus into the small city of Manta (a fishing port where our ship docked). From there we negotiated with a taxi to drive us to the town of Montecristi. Montecristi is the town that invented the Panama hat. Craftsmen still make the hats here. The Panama hat was never made in Panama but got the name when Teddy Roosevelt was photo
graphed wearing one at the time of the opening of the Panama Canal.
Shopping was very good in Montecristi and our taxi driver stayed with us as we bartered our way around. He then drove us back to Manta. The charge for the 25 minute drive each.jpg)
way and his waiting while we shopped was US $ 15.
Second day in Peru: March 12 we drove down the Pan-American highway south of Lima into the desert. The desert stretches 2500 km south and into Chile and is the driest desert in the world. The purpose of this trip was to see the pyramids at Pachacamac. These were first built around 200 B.C. and there were successive civilizations until they were deserted by the Incas in the 1500’s. These cities (we also visited pyramids at Huaca Pucllana) are huge, built out of mud bricks and are very impressive.
Peru has 3 geographic regions: Coastal is mostly desert (Lima gets 4 inches of rain per year) but is where most of the population lives; The Andes; and the interior Rain Forest.
Although Peru generates much wealth from mining (silver, copper and gold) there are millions of very poor people who live in Shanty Towns. There is no welfare system. We drove by one Shanty Town (out in the desert near Pachacamac) where more than 1 million people live. The people are mostly of mixed heritage (largely indigenous Indians). Our tour guide was very proud of his ancestry and referred to the Spanish conquerors with great disdain.
Trujillo: March 13 was another day of archeological sites. We visited the Temples of the Sun and Moon from the period when the Mochicas were the dominant culture. Then we visited the 14 sq. km palace at Chan Chan from the period when the Chimu took over, prior to their defeat by the Incas.
.jpg)
If you like archeology then you would love Peru. If not, Peru is a land of sand and not very attractive cities. I have never been big on pre-Columbian civilizations which perhaps was obvious to our guide who did remind “Mr. Rum” (rum in Spanish is ron) to pay more attention.
March 14: A day at sea as we sailed close to the equator on our way to Manta, Ecuador. I spent the morning bartering for bottles of wine to drink with dinner for the rest of the cruise, but that’s a story I’ll leave for my next WineWhine.
A Day in Ecuador: With only one day in Ecuador we could not get to the capital Quito up in the Andes. Rather than taking an expensive tour we chose to take a shuttle bus into the small city of Manta (a fishing port where our ship docked). From there we negotiated with a taxi to drive us to the town of Montecristi. Montecristi is the town that invented the Panama hat. Craftsmen still make the hats here. The Panama hat was never made in Panama but got the name when Teddy Roosevelt was photo
graphed wearing one at the time of the opening of the Panama Canal.Shopping was very good in Montecristi and our taxi driver stayed with us as we bartered our way around. He then drove us back to Manta. The charge for the 25 minute drive each
way and his waiting while we shopped was US $ 15.
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