Being our first visit to South America, Peru seemed like a natural place to visit having one of the 7 wonders of the world in Machu Picchu. What we didn't expect is to learn so much history and get the insights to colonialism and government structure and how the people view it. The Peruvians were great hosts and we learned like many countries in the big cities it can be more of a melting pot of nationalities. Obviously the Spanish influx was significant, but also, Chinese, Japanese and other South Americans.
There are several languages spoken with over 50 dialects and like the US there are regions that are different. Spanish is the official language and the most widely spoken (84% of the population). Quechua and Aymara are also official languages and are spoken by 13% and 2% of the population, respectively. Additionally, numerous indigenous languages are spoken in the Amazon region, reflecting Peru's rich linguistic diversity.
While certain segments of the population (primarily indigenous) were given special government support, there is no welfare system, so everyone works. If you don't work you go hungry and its that simple. Lazy is look down on as a culture. We never saw homeless, which was interesting. There were areas that seemed more impoverished, but really no slums and overall clean communities except in the Puno mining area, were it was the worst.
Guinea Pig is a national culinary stable for many, especially in the rural areas. Cattle were brought by the Spanish, so Guinea Pig, Llama and Alpaca were the meat stables of the past.
There were quite a few flowers that caught our eye, so all those pictures are below.
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| Fresh flowers in all the churches we visited and many times filled the air with their aroma |
Being close the equator makes the weather mild all year round. The coast to the Andes is desert and dry. The Andes bring the weather and green. While we could not see it on the other side of the Andes is the Amazon, which of course is green and dense.
The cities are like most big cities, however a lot of public transportation versus private cars. The construction especially in the rural areas is cement block and plain. Many buildings have no windows and they do not heat their buildings. Many have no HVAC at all.
The streets tend to be very narrow as they originally were for pedestrians, animals and carts. Traffic is chaotic and constant beeping of the horns. Infrastructure like electrical is old and would never meet US codes. WIFI was very prevalent and we could get access for free in just about every place we went.
Currency is Solis (Sols) and the exchange rate was about 3.5 Sols per US dollar. They would except both, however, buying with Sols makes it easier. Most places took Credit Cards, however, some charged the percent cost and some didn't. The street vendors all uses Sols.
Hotels were clean and in several had plugs that support US standard plugs. Breakfast was European style continental breakfast and while similar each had some uniqueness. Bottled water was everywhere and typical cost 2.5 sols or under a dollar for 750 ml. Tea, Coffee and foods were ok to consume, but not the tap water due to both chemicals and other things our constitutions are not used too.
Coca is used a lot in the overall society, but really didn't see any smokers. The few we did seemed to be foreigners.
All our drivers and guides were super nice and helpful. They all spoke good English and after a few days the accent becomes easier to understand. Exotica our tour company did an outstanding job with information, and daily communication to make sure we knew what to expect and where to be and when. Janie and I both would travel with them on another adventure.
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