“Still round the corner there may wait, a new road or a secret gate, and though I’ve often passed them by, a day will come at last when I shall take the hidden paths that run West of the Moon, East of the Sun.” – J. R. R. Tolkien, Writer
Peru was the capstone to our two month sabbatical, and it didn’t disappoint.
Lima: We started in Lima, arriving from Mendoza a day late after our flight got cancelled. The airport’s fire engine broke down so all flights were cancelled until they fixed it… we applaud the safety precautions, but it happened to be Phil’s birthday and we’d made reservations at Central, one of the top restaurants in the world, and we missed it (although birthday dinner at Ruby Tuesdays in the Santiago Airport will surely be just as memorable!).
We called the restaurant begging to get in the next night, but, no surprise, they had no availability. They only seat 60 people a night and they book out months in advance (we’d made our original reservations in January for a March 9th meal). The hostess seemed to take pity on us and said we could come in anyway, maybe someone wouldn’t show and we could take their reservation. We showed up, hoping they’d maybe make room for us at the bar. When we gave our name to the hostess, she gave a little smile, said she remembered us and they’d set aside a table for us. We were shown to a lovely little table in the intimate restaurant and our 17 course meal started (with wine pairings, of course).
This meal was one of the best we’ve ever had, and we live right down the street from Goosefoot, one of Chicago’s Michelin star restaurants! The ingredients for each course were sourced from different altitudes in Peru, which made the meal just as educational as it was delicious. The wait staff gave us full briefings on what we ate and drank, and were so proud of their courses that a few times when we were especially emphatic about how delicious it was, they brought us more (which we definitely didn’t need, we left SO full, but you don’t turn down this food!). After a special 18th course for Phil’s birthday, we went into the kitchen to thank the chef (it was the most organized kitchen we’ve ever seen!) and walked back to our hotel with happily full bellies.
While in Lima we also toured the historical part of the city and saw the full wealth of the former capital of the Spanish colonies on display, see our pictures below!
Cusco/Sacred Valley: The Incas were incredible stonemasons and engineers. We had the chance to observe their creations firsthand at Qurikancha, the former site of the Inca’s Temple of the Sun (the Spanish built a church on top of it), and Saksaywaman, the ruins of an Incan religious site that overlooks Cusco. We then headed to Moray, the Incan experimental agricultural site, and one of the most unique historical sights we’ve ever seen. On these terraces the Incas imported soil from every corner of the empire, experimented with seeds and growing techniques, and then exported their results back out to their cities. We felt firsthand why they chose the site: temperatures, wind patterns, and even humidity change significantly depending on where you stand. After Moray we stopped by Maras, 1,000 year old salt flats that pre-date the Incan empire. The salt flats are still mined by local Peruvian families, and the salt is considered some of the finest in the world.
All of this was just a warm up, however, for the main event: Machu Picchu. We arrived at the site at 6am and were greeted by thick fog and rain. We pulled out our trusty guidebook, which was written by some of the premier archaeologists and historians of the site (we’d already read the book once, but didn’t want to miss anything now that we were there 🙂 ), and started to explore. By 10am the fog started to burn off and we ascended Huayna Picchu, the big mountain overlooking Machu Picchu, and were treated to stunning views of the site (and some tricky stair navigation). After coming down, we continued on our self-guided tour until we were exhausted. After 8 hours in the site, we took the bus back down to Aguas Calientes and caught our train back to Cusco.
The next day we flew back home to Chicago, heads still swimming with memories of all our adventures south of the Equator and feeling so thankful for the opportunity to take this once-in-a-lifetime trip.
-Erika & Phil
Taking Two 