Ancient Civilisations of Peru

She always wanted to be a queen.

Paracas Bay, birth place of the Peruvian flag.
This is the bay where the Argentinean General Jose de San Martin dreamt of a red and white flamingo flying away whilst
leaning against a palm tree. 

"But you told me there was fish here"

The vast deserts of the National Reserve of Paracas.
Moon like landscape.

Little Aranxa Not happy with Madeline"s performance

The Moche People.
They were a Pre-Inca civilisation dating from 200 BC to 850 AD.

They lived in the coastal valleys of central Peru.
see below.

There is a lot to be unearth . 

Some of their buildings were anti-seismic.
They also had a great irrigation network of channels .
They were very skilled fisherman unlike myself, well i haven't caught a big one yet .

They performed human sacrifices to please their gods.

Original photo

Excavation still goes on.

Front of the Moon Temple.

Close up

The Chimu Civilisation.
They developed in the same valley as the Moche between 850 AD to 1500.
They are known to have the biggest adobe (mud bricks) city in the world .

Main Plaza.
Where they run markets and ceremonies.

This black monument was used for the guarding of the palace.

The Chimu city of Chan Chan  house about 60,000 people.

Add caption

Fresh water spring in the middle of the city.

12 metres thick wall

Pachamama

Usquwillka or  passage of the felines .
This section of rain forest is at 3600 metres above sea level which makes a unique environment  and very hard to handle your breath.

We spend a few days doing "living in tourism" in the Andes of Ayacucho with this amazing family.
Aide the lady of the house cooked delicious meals every day and she only use what the land and the current season
provided, no coles or woolies here mate.
i was amazed and a bit jealous at the simplicity and happiness of their lives at the same time a lot of admiration for
their resilience  after living with terrorism for 20 years .

Just before the start of a big walk we sat down and relaxed. Gabriel our guide got us some coca leaves and showed us how to do the chewing the proper way.  We did tried chewing coca leaves before without any guidance and we thought it was bad.
Now we know the proper way we think it's not too bad.

Water was chilled and fit for drinking just like it has been for thousands of years.

We were heading to the base of this sacred mountain.  It is a sacred mountain and we were heading there to make an offering to Pachamama and Apu Kuntiksi Wiraqucha.

This was our offering to Pachamama. Handmade clay pottery figures of the owl for good luck on our travels. Plus a bunch of flowers......and coca leaves (of course).

Beautiful walk. We saw Puma`s and wolves tracks around the dens, along the way. They stayed out of our way.....but they were there. 

 bringing up the rear in case we lose a man.

Can you see the face in this photo? (not Madeline or mine but another face)

This was our accommodation for a few nights. We had 2 beds but because it was so cold, we all slept in this tiny single bed.  

Landscape at 5000mt above sea level

Madeline's cheeky face after eating her chocolate Easter egg.

The  Candelabra.
No one knows who made this,but there are a few theories like pirates hiding treasures, extraterrestrials  marking landing fields,
Pre-Inca people making land marks for their travels or even some smart arse laughing at us now.

This picture is only a small view of the amount of birds we saw, they went for kilometres.

Islas Ballestas.
It's a wildlife sanctuary off the coast of Paracas, central Peru.

We found Happy Feet's summer camp.

Awesome.

Perfect couple until...... (see 2 pictures below)

Family day at the beach. The baby seal is just a few weeks old.

Until the grass cutter came home. which one of the 2 males was the original and which one was the lover, we'll never know
but they had a blue over her. It must be the way she move her hips.

All the white stuff on the rocks is "Guano" birdshit.  It is harvested every 4years or when it reaches a certain depth. It was one of the main export in this part of Peru back in the mid 1800`s.

Definitely more churches than pubs!

Ayacucho city is located in the Andes of Peru at 2700 mt above sea level has just over 86,000 people and                               more than 36 catholic churches and not as many pubs.

Ayacucho main plaza. You would not believe it in a few hours later

Madeline is growing fast. Louise has got the bag of Coca leaves to keep us going on our trek up the mountain.

Madeline realising one of her dreams for 1 sol or 40 cents. Madeline said they are very soft.

Making sugar cane juice. Yummy.

Angry piggy

Horse racing Andean style.
No safety barriers, no start warning, no starting gates and no saddle , no shit.

Ayacucho main plaza.  
Minutes before they let off another bull, i build up some courage and said to Louise, "i think i am ready to do some
bull fighting now"  then Madeline steps in and said, "i want to go with you dad". I look at Louise for her approval
and off we went.   I love your courage Madeline.

We are all smiles now that the bulls have gone.  Just a moment ago they were pooping their pants.

After the bulls had gone the beautiful senoritas come out

Even the firies had to cool things down.

Pachamanka. It's a quechua word meaning Pacha=Earth and Manka=Saucepan
It's a local way of cooking beef, pork, lamb, chicken and various vegetables under the earth by using
pre-heated hot rocks it dates back to pre-Inca times.

I couldn't eat any more food. Time for a sleep.

Easter Sunday.
Take a look at the time.
The whole town was out.

Christ resurrected.

Cheese and wine for breakfast.
OHH YEEAAAH

Lunch at the Turismo Vivencial.
We stay at a farm with a family that 

When the OFF could't work it was time to pull the magic hat.

bloody big hairy bee

View from our front garden

An old abandon mud brick house

The lady of the house cooked us dinner each night. Mainly whatever was in season or whatever was traded between villagers. No money is exchanged. It is all traded.  It was the season of the potato and choco and fresh fetta cheese. Potatoes for breakfast lunch and dinner.  

After dinner that night we had a ceremony to celebrate "Pachamama". "Pachamama" is mother earth.  Lots of music, dancing and chewing of Coca Leaves. Some of these people in this picture are children of orphans, of the terrorism days of the 80`s & 90`s. Terrorism was pretty big in this area of Peru.