What does Peru begin from?

What does Peru begin from? For a Peruvian it might begin with a picture in the ABC book, but for Vladimir Feoktistov the trip over this Latin-American country in 1992 began from the town of Lima. The capital is the face of the country, and Lima illustrates inner and outer contrast of Peru in the best way possible. Here, facing each other are mountains and rainforests (Sierra and Selva), thriving concordantly are "glitter and poverty" of the cities, and overflowing piety and theft, which has become almost a characteristic feature of the Peruvian culture, are going hand in hand. Vladimir did not escape this Peruvian's "absence of complexes" too, and, whether you believe it or not, the things were stolen from the Lima airport cloakroom (that is why the photos taken in the capital city are not presented here).

Another specific feature of the local people is general madness about football, even from women's side. And what is more surprising - the most popular people's art works in the markets and stalls of the capital (meaning: the country) are trinkets and jars in the form of phallus. Even baby's dummies look like a miniature penis. Such are the "complex-free" Peruvians!
Here, in Lime, Feoktistov got acquainted with several tour agencies, defined his further route, hired the guide with the interpreter and "throw himself" in Ikitos: ahead of them was a long descent (two and a half weeks) down the small confluents of Amazon River: Pintuyaku, Chambira, and Nanai.

So, three men in a boat let alone piranhas around and other forest predators (from among fishes). Incidentally, about piranhas. They eat up unlucky drowning people in Hollywood thrillers only. As a matter of fact, for this fish to do any harm to a man it has to be of particular species (out of approximately twenty existing), it needs to smell living blood and be in a group of five thousand of the likes of it. However, in general, this fish is unable to do harm even to a child.
Crocodiles were not noticed (!), as the last of them were eaten by the local residents living along the banks of this severe river. More precisely, the natives had eaten up the crocodiles' eggs.

The Indians dwelling along the tropical Amazon's rivers are not numerous, and almost all are familiar with civilization. Nevertheless, they unanimously insist that Vladimir was the first "white" who visited their shabby huts (to put it more precisely - who landed on their bank). Other "whites", seemingly, did not have the courage to do so.
He was accepted quite friendly and provided with everything - obviously, for a certain pay.

The diet of the natives mostly includes bananas, yucca, yam (a huge potato), and fish. Parrots go for a taste. The Indians live in huts, covered with palm branches, raised on the wooden piles (for the case of flood). Their primary craft is fishing and taking care of plantations where they grow bananas, pineapples, papaya and other exotics. To judge about their wealth, just imagine that a boat like this filled up with various fruits makes as small income as $3 (in local currency). It seems that they never saw a bigger sum.

The destination point of the river trip was Itikos, which is already familiar to us, from where Vladimir set off to Lima to leave his things there and once again plunge into the mysterious world of Peru.

The ancient Inca's fortress Machu-Pikchu overlooks the valley of Urubamba River in the saddle between the two immense peaks 75 km from the town of Kusko. The fortress became the last shelter of the legendary nation dissipated by Spanish conquerors leaded by F.Pissaro in 1532. Now it is a monument reservation attracting tourists from all over the world. And Vladimir appeared to be one of them.

First - by plane over snowy peaks from Lima to Kusko. Kusko is a special town. Apart from having a great number of museums, it is a museum itself. Entering it, you are carried to the epoch of Spanish Middle Ages. And only market places and painted poncho and hats of Peruvian women remind you of the fact that you are still in Latin America.
From Kusko - five hours of the jolty journey in a chock-full train to Machu-Pikchu village. It might be possible to use a helicopter, but who could have known?

The last leg was a coach trip over a serpentine road to a six-hundred-meter plateau where, in fact, the ruins of the ancient town lie. Here, one really cannot spread oneself - it is allowed to walk along the paths only, and if you have an idea to climb some dilapidated structure, you will be immediately hailed by the local arms of the law diligently guarding their cultural heritage. They are right, though, as tremendous endless flow of tourists only provokes sliding of the rocks, which, according to Japanese geologists' data set down, on average, 1 cm monthly, which may turn to extensive landslide in the near future. If you wish it so much, you may climb this high mountain, but Vladimir decided that the views from afar would be enough. This was, is fact, sufficient for him to feel greatness of the legendary place. As it goes darker, the town "closes" and the stares, galleries, town palaces and temples gradually dissolve in the darkness.

The last stroke in the Vladimir Feoktistov's trip over this small country was Titikaka Lake with its islands: straw and stone. Titikaka Lake is the largest in South America and the largest mountain lake on the Earth. It lies at the altitude of 3812 m. There, the air is so rarefied that, at first, it is hard to breath, plus that gas-laden atmosphere of Puno town where Feoktistov stayed! The local climate is very uncertain: for instance, during the daytime the sun would shine mercilessly, while at night Vladimir had to pull over several sweaters.
The people here, too, are not the same as in the Amazon tropics: they wear different clothes (and have more of them on), different views on the world.

Titikaka Lake is remarkable for the monuments of ancient Indian civilization Tiauanako, which remain intact on its southeast coast and the islands. This Indian civilization existed in the Northern Bolivia in the end of 1000 BC - 1000 AD. By now, its remains include the tumbledown structures of residential settlements built of basalt and sandstone blocks, and simply the fragments of separate buildings.

In fact, Machu-Pikchu is not the only cultural monument of Peru. There are many other ancient ruins, which are almost not visited by tourists and, consequently, unknown to wide public. There are many that we know nothing about. If you would like to share any information - welcome to the "Guest book". There you can also ask your questions or, alternatively, please send them to: info@feoktistov-travel.ru. The views of the places visited by Vladimir Feoktistov are available in more detain under the "Photos" heading.

We wish you a nice journey!!

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