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The spectacular high Andes, the ancient Inca city of Machu Picchu, the lush Amazon Rain Forest teeming with animals, the pleasant touristy town of Cuzco, the noisy, annoying city of Lima, and the wonderful, kind local people are my Peru. I visited the country twice, once in September 2001, and again in September 2004. I will write about my experiences here.
My comments on the Amazon region and on Lima are complete. Read them by clicking on the links above. I may get around to writing about the Andes some day, but tour guide books like Lonely Planet cover this area well. Suffice it to say that it would be very sad indeed if you were to travel all the way to Peru without seeing Machu Picchu and Cuzco. A special thank you to the people of Peru for their kindness on September 11, 2001. We found out about the attack as we were trying to confirm our flights from a telephone in Machu Picchu. Wherever we went people wanted to be sure we knew about it and invited us to watch the coverage on TV. Sympathy was extreme. Everyone was helpful, except for the employees of Continental Airlines in the Miraflores office, who were distinctly unhelpful. A really special thank you to Grupo Taca Airlines for getting us home only one day later than originally scheduled, and putting me up for the night in Costa Rica when their flight to San Francisco from there was not permitted to enter the U.S. They didn't have to do that.
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