Traveling in Peru, the Bashful Adventurer notices recurring symbols of a condor, puma, and snake. But what is the meaning of this Incan trinity?
Category: Peru
A Lesson in Colonialism at Cusco Cathedral
Of Gold, Guinea Pigs, Last Suppers, and a Somewhat Swarthy Jesus So many visitors are in Cusco, Peru either on their way to or from the nearby main attraction, Machu Picchu. My own stay in Cusco is little more than an afterthought, an interim point as I make my way back from Machu Picchu and…
Convenience in Cusco
Our stay in room 114 at the San Agustin International is short and functional. In Peru to see Machu Picchu, we stay in Cusco a couple of nights after our great adventure on the mountain. After a couple of pisco sours at the El Arcangel restaurant—and a mysterious, yet tasty, green purée for dinner, when I’d…
Seeing the Sign: How Safe Is an Earthquake Safety Zone?
Not until I see a sign in Cusco, Peru alerting me to my presence in an earthquake safety zone—in the dining room of a small restaurant in my hotel—do I really think of temblors. Living in an earthquake-free zone, for the most part, I don’t have occasion to feel the earth rumble. There was one…
A Romantic Dinner in Cusco
By the last evening of our whirlwind adventure in Peru, the Brawny Sherpa and I are running short on time and energy—despite our new affection for coca tea and our hopes of entering a time warp to extend our brief stay here. Low on energy, we walk less than a block from our hotel where…
A Spiritual Altitude Adjustment at Machu Picchu
I am so concerned with the physical challenge of Machu Picchu—how much will the altitude affect me? will my head hurt? will I be able to breathe?—that I don’t spend as much time as I should contemplating the spirituality of the place. Were I walking the Inca Trail, and ascending all of the steps up…
Taxis around the World: Peru
There are so many ways to see a city, on foot, on bicycle, via taxi ride. Some interesting vehicles for hire are pictured in an occasional Taxis around the World series. Here, a three-wheeled vehicle in Pisac, Peru. — Lori Tripoli Going to Peru? You might like these posts: Peruvian Effigy To Peru in a…
Peruvian Effigy
A little disconcerting to this North American visitor are the colorful effigies hanging from trees and lampposts in southern Peru. The Brawny Sherpa and I are in Cusco, the Sacred Valley, and Machu Picchu at the end of February, when carnival apparently extends beyond Mardi Gras. The dolls, I am told, are part of the…
Working Kids
The Worst Sorts of Falls
Contemplating Colonialism, Missionaries, Politics, Priests Fresh from a trip to Peru, I watch The Mission, a 1986 film about missionaries in South America and their efforts to convert indigenous people to Christianity. Starring Jeremy Irons as a nonviolent priest and Robert De Niro as a former slave trader new to the religious fold, politics—a treaty…