i recently spent a month in South America. The first half of the trip was focused on a botanical tour sponsored by Plants and Healers Ineternational (PHI). i co-led the tour with PHI Board of Director’s member Turtle. Wither a local guide of Quecha decent was a great help in identifying many plants and providing their indigenous names as well as acting as a butterfly whisperer as seen in the following picture. You can see a photo album from the sponsored trip at the following link.
Before the trip began i had some time in Lima to visit the Censi botanical gardens at the Ministry of Health and various book stores. i stayed at the Dragonfly hostel in the area of Miraflores which is a lovely section of the city. The El Virrey bookstore also in Miraflores definitely had the best selection of places that i saw. The parque del amor in Miraflores also has many nice plants in the landscaping and mosaic tile work reminiscent of Parque Guell in Barcelona, Spain.
Our trip began on December 1st from Cusco. The trip was focused a lot around visiting various Incan Ruins including Puma Marka, Ollantaytambo, Moray, Salineras de Maras, Chinchero, Machu Picchu, Pisac, and Sacsayhuaman. Although Machu Picchu is world famous and on many a bucket list, several other ruins were just as moving in their own way. A personal favorite of mine were the salt pools handed down through the generations since Incan times outside Maras.
Of course we also had a chance to visit various Botanic Gardens including Jardines del Mandor, two at Machu Picchu, the Elipe Marin Moreno Botanic Garden in Pisac and the Parque Del Papa in Pisac. After the trip was over i also visited the Plaza San Francisco Botanic Gardens near the San Pedro Market Cusco.
On our trip we also made some time to visit a host of museums. These included the Chocolate Museo in Pisac, Coca Museo and the Coricancha Museo in Cusco. After the trip was over Turtle and i visited the Contemporary Art Museum in Cusco. i also visited solo the Natural History Museum, Centro de Textiles Tradicionales, and the Regional History Museum in Cusco.
We visited a few markets during our sponsored trip as well including the Main Market in Ollyantaytambo, the Tawa Apu Kuntur herbal shop in Pisac the San Pedro Market in Cusco.
We finished the trip up with a great dinner at the well renowned Marcelo Batata. You can see a further description of our trip at the following link. We will be doing pretty much the same tour from 11/7 to 11/17 later this year. Mark your calendar and feel free to contact me with any questions or interest you may have marc@plantsandhealers.org.
On 12/10 Turtle and i said goodbye to the participants and explored the city of Cusco a bit more before making our way back to Ollyantaytambo. The Magia de Imasmari and Healing House in Cusco were two particular places of interest as well as a host of awesome restaurants offering vegetarian fare.
A couple days later i headed out from Cusco towards Lake Titicaca. This is the biggest navigable high altitude lake in the world set at over 12,000 ft above sea level! En route i took in four sites of cultural significance courtesy of the bus company Turismo Mer. The sites included Andahuaylillas, Raqchi, La Raya and Pukara.
From the lake side city of Puno i headed to the famous floating islands of Uros to visit with the Aymara people who escaped Incan conquest by fleeing to the middle of the lake and constructing islands made of Totora reeds (Schoenoplectus californicus subsp tatora).
After a visit to Uros it was off to Bolivia and the city of Copacabana. There i stayed at one of the most fantastic lodging situations i have ever imagined let alone seen. If ever in town definitely make it a point to check out Hostal Las Olas
and its sister business La Cupula. From Copacabana i visited one of the legendary supposed origination points of the Inca known as the Isla del Sol. The island is home to various museum and archeological sites as well as a scrub type ecosystem and typical traditional agricultural concerns.
After Copacabana i traveled to La Paz the capitol of Bolivia but unfortunately was not able to visit the botanical gardens their due to its distance from the center and effects of altitude and temporary poor health. i did manage to check out the Coca museo which is worth a visit but unfortunately they do not allow pictures unlike the one in Cusco that is also a bit better appointed as well.
From La Paz it was a 14 hour bus ride which included a couple hour impromptu road side stop for construction delays. We crossed the Atacama desert which is one of the driest places in the entire world. We went sometimes for hours without seeing a single plant! Kind of a botanist worst nightmare!!! It also gave me great respect for the plants we did occasionally see.
We ended up in Arica, Chile on the coast which was rather cosmopolitan, upscale and thereby expensive after arriving from Bolivia. The time in Arica was short before embarking on one of the more unusual border crossing regimes i have ever participated in and finally boarding a bus in Tacna, Peru headed toward Arequipa…
Arequipa is a stunning city wherein the old town is made of a white volcanic stone called sillar.
It is the second largest city in Peru and home to many awesome museums, book stores, cafes, restaurants, shops and microbreweries. A favorite food stop was Hatunpa which means big potato in Quecha. Their whole menu is focused around celebrating heirloom potatoes and they have an incredible selection of special Peruvian cervesa too. i visited the Monasterio de Santa Catalina
as well as participated in a free walking tour of various churches and the market. Arequipa is surrounded by hot springs like Yura and also close to the Colca canyon which is twice as deep as the Grand canyon in the USA and has its own hot springs as well!!! i was not able to visit the hot springs or the canyon personally but certainly hope to do so one some future excursion…
After returning to Lima for one more night i flew back to the states and family in Atlanta on Christmas day. Given the chaos in the airport that greeted myself and others upon arrival in Ft Lauderdale that is not a good idea by the way.
All in all my first trip to South America was wholly life changing and inspirational. i have had many friends and colleagues blaze the way including the main inspiration for PHI, Frank Cook. i feel ever so grateful for the opportunity to experience the wonder of this land myself directly. You can see a photo album of my solo journey at the following link.