Peru: World Class History, World Class Cuisine

Disclaimer: Most of the information presented in this commentary was gleaned from various tour guides under extremely difficult conditions. With the rapid and constant flow of information, most of the time I felt as though I was drinking from a fire hose. I have attempted to highlight some of the most interesting and obscure facts, but don’t take my word for anything. Rather, readers are encouraged to pursue topics of interest from reputable sources.

We finally made it to Peru, located in the northwest corner of South America. Our first attempt was in July 2024 on the day the worldwide airline industry suffered a major internet outage, causing our trip to be canceled. This trip took 20 hours door to door, topped off by a traffic jam when we landed in Lima, Peru’s capital city.

The major impetus for this trip, besides trying to vacate Las Vegas summer heat, was to confirm the existence of and to explore the ancient Inca ruins of Machu Picchu and to verify the more recent claim that Lima, Peru is today the center of gastronomy on the planet.

Our one week tour was arranged with South America Tours, a partner of Trafalgar in Peru. Our group of 30 consisted mostly of well-educated middle-aged and senior citizens, Americans (50% Californians) with some Canadians, Australians and Filipinos. Only 8% of the local population speaks English fluently, so it’s important to have a tour guide who speaks English fluently. Our tour began and ended in Lima, and the remaining time was spent visiting the Sacred Valley, Cusco and Machu Picchu; a multi-modal excursion involving buses, trains, and airline flights.

Lima lies on the Pacific Ocean and is actually part of a coastal desert, which is one of three distinct regions comprising Peru. The highlands, in the Andes Mountains, where Cusco and Machu Picchu reside, and the Amazon rain forest account for most of the country. However, approximately one third of Peru’s 34 million people live in the Lima metropolitan area.

A Tour of an Old City

Our first day we toured the downtown and its surroundings and must conclude that Lima is an old, heavily blighted city suffering from old and inadequate transportation and other infrastructure. For example, inadequate road capacity causes long traffic jams at the airport. Making matters worse, the urban landscape is populated with unfinished new construction, which we were told is the result of inadequate owner capital to complete projects and their desire to reduce property taxes by not completing projects. (Apparently, owners are content to live in incomplete accommodations and are patient to prolong construction periods.)

The districts of San Isidro and Miraflores, where our hotel was located, are much more visually appealing upscale residential and shopping neighborhoods. Walking around those neighborhoods was time better spent. Peruvian people are very polite and friendly, and we were advised that all of our visits would be safe. (Peruvians seem to be civic minded and in fact our guide told us that it is mandatory that all Peruvians vote in all elections, which is strictly enforced to the point that failure to vote goes on your record and could prevent you from getting government services.)

Peru’s Economic Future will Rely on its Abundant Mineral Resources

Our guide informed us that a major economic issue moving forward is how Peru manages its abundant mineral resources and there have been attempts by foreign mining companies with the assistance of local government to displace indigenous people from their land so they can mine for precious and industrial metals. Ten years ago those were Canadian and US companies and now nearly all of that interest is coming from Chinese companies. I hope that these displaced families and the government is adequately compensated for sharing that enormous wealth, and at the very least, are required to build out road and other infrastructure that is sorely lacking and could be a major boon to this nation’s growth.

Peru has a Rich History

Peru is home to the oldest civilizations in the western hemisphere, beginning in 10,000 BC, when people migrated from Asia through the Bering Strait. Evidence of ancient civilizations date back 3,000 years BC along the coast and in the highlands. There apparently is no evidence of ancient indigenous peoples that lived in the Peruvian rain forest. The Inca civilization flourished from the 13th century until the middle of the 16th century, until the Spanish explorers arrived.

Peru’s colonial period began with the landing of Spanish explorer Francisco Pizarro in 1532 and ended with its independence in 1821. Much of the historical evidence of the Inca and other civilizations were destroyed by the Spanish. The Republic of Peru followed thereafter. The Inca Empire at one time extended well beyond its current Peru border, and included land that is today Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia, Chile and Argentina. In those days, Chilean sea bass would probably have been called Peruvian sea bass.

There were several regime changes during that long time period and our guide noted that those transitions seemed to correspond with periods of climate change, especially extreme cases of El Nino, when harsh weather conditions threatened survival and reduced the availability of food, conditions that facilitated regime changes. (An El Nino condition exists now and so the climate we experienced was much warmer and sunnier than normally exists during Peru’s winters. Daytime temperatures in Lima approached 80 degrees during our stay.)

Lima: A Global Center of Gastronomy

During our tour of the old city we had an opportunity to meet with Ignacio Barrios, an established chef with his own TV show, and owner of restaurants there and in California. We toured a farmers market with Ignacio before moving to his Urban Kitchen, where he served us lunch after demonstrating his culinary expertise. I told Ignacio that I was skeptical about Peru's status as the world’s top culinary destination, to which he gave three reasons why it has emerged as such during this century: 1. The existence of five cuisines: Indigenous; Spanish; African; Japanese; and Chinese that are fused together to create innovative recipes using chicken, fish, seafood, pork and, yes, guinea pig; 2. The rich and unmatched variety of produce resulting from the availability of 80 % of the planet’s micro climates in Peru; (combining a cold ocean and desert land plus varied topography and rain forest gives Peru a unique environment for producing its rich variety of cheap agricultural products, including hundreds of varieties of avocados and potatoes. Avocados cost $2.50 per pound and oranges cost 10 cents each, for example.); and 3. The concerted effort of both government and private industry here over the past two decades to make cuisine a top priority and part of its national identity. In fact, there are currently 80,000 culinary students (by far the highest per capita for any nation) and numerous educational programs to support this burgeoning industry. Even The Cordon Bleu has its only school outside France in Lima, Peru.

Ignacio’s lunch introduced us to many new local fruits. He also taught us to make pisco sours, which is Peru's national drink made with brandy from distilled fresh white grape juice. He further reassured us that pisco originated in Peru even though Chileans often take credit for it.

Our lunch featured two classic Peruvian dishes; Lomo Saltado, beef with tomato and onions, and Aji de Gallina, a creamy chicken stew flavored with a mild local chili pepper. Both were excellent and consistently good everywhere we had them on our tour. (I had Lomo Saltado under a different name at the Peru Cafe in Las Vegas and I’m happy to say it was as good as the dish in Peru.)

I asked Ignacio about Peru's production of wine, coffee, and tobacco, given Peru's proximity to Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Costa Rico, which are all well known for each of those products respectively. Ignacio explained that some wine is produced in Peru but more emphasis is on producing pisco which is a wine product; land for coffee and tobacco is better used for growing cocoa leaves, for many high priced legal and illegal uses.

I believe Peru has earned its status as the culinary capital of the world because of its innovation combining unusual produce and fusing them with one or more of its many ethnic cultures.

However, the food quality while generally fresh and wholesome, was not uniformly tasty everywhere. Most surprising, especially considering Peru’s produce diversity was that their local fruits were not very sweet, including papaya, pineapple and watermelon, and baked goods were average at best. Another surprising observation was that for a nation with so many varieties of produce, very few seemed to be used in the cuisine we had an opportunity to sample.

Later that week we lunched at Alfresco, one of Miraflores’ finest eateries, and had seafood ceviche and a fish from the Amazon called Paiche, which couldn't have been better, all for the embarrassing low price of $80 for two, including coffee, dessert, and tip!

Peruvians love our fast food establishments too and Starbucks, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and Domino's Pizza are well represented here. McDonald's was rumored to be here too, although I did not see it.

Flying Back in Time: Sacred Valley and Cusco

The second day of our tour we took an hour flight to Cusco (11,400 feet) and took a bus down to the Sacred Valley (9,000 feet) and visited an indigenous community at nearly 13,000 feet. There we were introduced at their petting zoo to the classic animals of South America, including llamas, guanacos, and the two made famous by their precious skins: alpacas and vicunas. It is interesting to note that the way to test for genuine skins is that they should feel cool to the touch, otherwise they're probably made of acrylic.

They cooked and served us lunch using a cooking technique that they've used for thousands of years: placed food in a ground pit, covering it with hot rocks and other natural vegetation insulation. After 15 minutes they presented us with river trout, chicken, and pork all sided with local vegetables ready to eat. They also prepared us three appetizers: avocado dip (to die for), mango ceviche and a fresh salsa, all unique and all very tasty. They even got us to try guinea pig, which is a staple in their diets but not a favorite of our group or, we are told, of the people of Lima. While eating they serenaded us with traditional flute music, including a song, El Condor Pasa, that Paul Simon had recorded in 1970. ( It turned out that Simon had actually heard their traditional flute music here at this location and years later acknowledged their inspiration by giving them both credit and some cash as compensation.)

Later that week at another village we had an opportunity to sample beer made from corn, very potent and tasty.

The Amazing Inca Empire

The language of the Incas is Quechua. Our guide told us that Incas were systemic thinkers and managed their societies by understanding the totality of their environments rather than isolating and analyzing individual components. This was very impressive as this was centuries before university social systems science programs were introduced toward the end of the last century. Even casual acquaintance with Inca society reveals that they understood math, science, engineering (e.g., earthquake resistant construction), medicine (natural remedies, ayahuasca and DMT), metallurgy (combining gold, copper, silver in coins), farming (terraces to maximize drainage) refrigeration (food storage) and astronomy. Our visits to various ruins made us appreciate the wonder of the Incas; they were able to cut, move and assemble stones, sometimes weighing over 100 tons, in perfect arrangements without obviously any form of machines. That apparently scared the Spanish when they arrived who assumed these amazing feats had to be the work of giants, witchcraft or some other unexplained phenomena.

We also learned that the basic philosophy of these people is to live for today, forget the past and not to worry about the future. It was also interesting to note there is apparently no divorce in their society and young couples are actually forbidden to marry unless and until they've lived together for a few years. These people also did not believe in abortion but rather had programs to place unwanted children with other families, a form of adoption. Although Incas were rumored to make human sacrifices, modern day research of their remains reveals that those “sacrifices” who were put to death were facing terminal illnesses, so actually a form of euthanasia.

In villages there are no police and village elders are charged with enforcing their laws and rules. It is interesting to note that the famous rapper Tupac Amaru Shakur actually took his moniker from the last emperor of the Inca Empire, named Tupac Amaru. “Tupac” means noble or royal in the indigenous language. “Amaru” is a serpent that lives underground and represents knowledge and cosmic renewal.

The Incas had very modern ideas about education and medicine. It should come as no surprise that they were big believers in herbal and natural remedies. For example, our guide advised us that the Incas had identified two strains of potatoes, one to lessen and the second to raise libido, which were used when men went off to war and when they were trying to start families, respectively. And, beyond the use of cocoa leaves used for a variety of remedies, ayahuasca with its DMT, is a psychedelic drug (illegal in most countries) responsible for altering the human state of consciousness.

A Visit to Inca Ruins

We visited three ruins Ollantaytambo, Machu Picchu, and Sacsayhuaman. We took the Vistadome train to Machu Picchu which is the most elaborate and well-known of the ruins. Machu Picchu, which means “old mountain,” is by far the crown jewel of the Inca Empire and considered one of the seven wonders of the modern world. (Our guide pronounced Picchu “pick chu” instead of “pee chu” because the latter apparently sounds like the indigenous word for reproductive male organ.)

Before Machu Picchu, we toured another ruin, named for the peregrine falcon, which is credited for leading ancient indigenous people down from the Yukon down along the west coast of North America to Peru. DNA analysis of ancient remains actually show similarities between Incas and USA’s own such as Hopi and Apache Indians, which today populate the American southwest.

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu came late in the Inca civilization and was built in the 15th century. It became publicly known in 1911 after its discovery by Hiram Bingham, but unfortunately not much is known about how it was built because, as previously mentioned, the Spanish who arrived in mid 1500s did their best to destroy all Inca records as they believed the amazing Inca achievements were not humanly possible.

Our tour took the second circuit, by far the most comprehensive and most popular of the 3 options available. Our guide told us it takes months ahead to reserve and takes 2.5 hours to complete. Machu Picchu has 5,000 visitors per day so we had plenty of folks along side us as we navigated up and down a treacherous narrow path composed of irregular shaped stones, often uneven steps with virtually no hand railings for support. So by now it should be apparent that this is a physically demanding activity, one which should only be recommended for the most physically inclined among us. I am glad I did, but will not dare do it again!

In passing, our guide mentioned that someone using an umbrella while visiting Machu Picchu was struck by lightening in the past so umbrellas are no longer allowed on site. I CANNOT IMAGINE TOURING THIS SITE IN THE RAIN; RAIN WOULD MAKE THIS ALREADY TREACHEROUS PATH COMPLETELY UNSAFE TO NAVIGATE!!

After Machu Picchu, we toured the ancient city of Cusco, the 5th highest city in the world at more than 11,400 feet with a population of 600,000, with many Inca ruins and Spanish catholic cathedrals. Of particular note was a painting of the last supper with a roasted guinea pig shown as the main course hanging in Cusco’s most important cathedral located in the main square. We visited a highly touted coffee Cafe, called Three Monkeys, that allows you to order a variety of coffee drinks and choose the altitude at which the coffee was grown. Good coffee, but come on!

Hotels in Peru are not Fancy but Adequate for an Overnight Stay

The hotel accommodations for our visit were clearly not a high point of our trip. Souma, in Miraflores, the luxury tourist location in Lima was considered 5 star, but clearly would not have that status in the USA. By comparison, the hotel El Mapi in Machu Picchu, rated 4 stars, had good food but austere accommodations and faulty plumbing and clearly taught us that Peruvians have few safety standards compared with us in the USA. To get to and inside that hotel many stairs needed (many without railings) to be traversed to access rooms. Even the main restaurant was laid out on several levels requiring diners carrying plates to navigate up and down stairs. Clearly Peru has no concept of what complying with the American Disabilities Act (ADA) means. (the ADA, is a US law enacted in 1990, that assures accessibility for people with disabilities in public spaces.) Uneven roads and steps virtually everywhere in this country makes you wonder whether any facilities have liability insurance. Generally, hotel physical facilities and room maintenance are sorely lacking, but in some cases are compensated for with attentive service and excellent food.

We also stayed at a Sonesta posada, a reconfigured monastery, which obviously had austere accommodations, but good food, and was rated 3 stars. In Cusco we stayed at Novotel, a restored colonial mansion from the 16th century, which was rated 4 stars but at least had the best accommodations and the best food of the four hotels used for our tour.

Some tourists like to live dangerously and for those there is what our guide called the “scariest hotel in the world”: Skylodge Adventure suites, located in the Sacred Valley, Cusco, Peru, where lodgers pay $500 per night for the privilege of climbing 1,200 ft to access their room-capsules suspended with cables; that cost includes transportation to and from the hotel, guides, a gourmet dinner and breakfast; and departure egress via a zip line.

This Tour is Challenging

By now it should be apparent that I have mixed feelings about our trip, but I am unequivocal that our tour guide, Daniel Pelaez made this worthwhile. Danny was born and raised in Cusco and has been doing this for 25 years and not only handled all of our logistical and administrative needs but continually taught us about the ancient and current day attributes about Inca culture, customs and philosophy. Danny is an excellent ambassador for his people and I cannot imagine getting as much out of this tour with any other guide.

I estimate that at least half of the seven days dedicated to this tour was travel from one place to another. Without our guide to teach and entertain us during that travel I estimate two-thirds of our time would have been wasted. I am not suggesting our trip could have been more efficient but you need to be aware of these facts, and also know that it took most of our group a full day to arrive here and many came a day early to make sure we got here on time. And travel from many US cities requires getting up in the middle of the night to catch connector flights and returning on a red eye. That’s a lot of travel and a lot of downtime, and in my case gave me a lot of time to take notes and write this long review. I’ll let you decide whether it was for better or worse!

This trip has been more like a camping trip than a traditional sightseeing tour. Starting daily before dawn, hiking on horrible steep cobble stone roads, bouncing around on buses on poor roads, having to change vehicles in order to access narrow roads, carrying a back pack all day, having to prepare for all weather contingencies, making preparations for too much sun and potential bug bites, and with no access to decent restroom facilities. (Restrooms often lacked toilet seats and paper.) Unable to drink tap water we had to not only carry but constantly seek sources to refill our bottles. (We were advised not to drink tap water and purified water was made available to us in many places including hotels free of charge.)

This was more like an astronauts’ training regimen than a vacation. Dealing with a high altitude and the burden of repeatedly needing to show passports just added to the stress of the situation. Travel agents in their marketing brochures could do better in advising customers about the harsh realities of taking this trip. I remember touring Chile a decade ago and having the same thought about our tour company at that time!

I suppose the considerable time commitment and ordeal of making this trip should serve to remind us of just how difficult life was for the ancient indigenous people and should make their achievements ever more amazing to us.

Customer Service from the Airline Industry Continues to Decline

Traveling to and from Peru is another story. I have complained extensively about the decline in airline service for several years, but there are some new points I'd like to make here.

Service from the airline industry continues to decline. First, who’s idea was it to make airplane seats and restrooms smaller? The human race has steadily gotten taller and heavier for decades. Our automobiles reflect it, our homes reflect it, and our clothes reflect it. How can the airline industry expect smaller accommodations on their planes to deliver a comfortable and quality experience?

Second, Most airlines have strict rules about carry-on luggage but then fail to enforce them, and even reward violators with free checked baggage if their luggage doesn’t fit in the cabin. On all four legs of our flights to and from Peru we watched many passengers bring at least two huge carry-ons and a huge personal item when they announced that only one carry on and one personal item per person would be permitted. Making matters worse, flight attendants on two flights tried to make us put our small bags under our seats to make room for all the violators. Outrageous!

Three, I remember a time when traveling internationally airlines would serve meals showcasing the cuisine of the destination. I remember being introduced to Malbec wine during a flight to Argentina. During our four flights to and from Peru, all of which were in excess of five hours, we were served only two pathetic meals on the international legs, cold stale tasteless sandwiches. On the other two transcontinental legs we were served drinks and awful cookies.

Finally, when was the last time you visited an airport that wasn’t under construction or you could clearly hear an announcement over an airport intercom? And the signage and personnel advising passengers about immigration and other matters is sorely lacking. I'll leave it at that as I have ranted about poor airline travel for years and have lamented that the Golden age of travel died with 9-11.

A Challenging but Worthwhile Tour

The bottom line, the tour we took can be worthwhile and enlightening but be aware it will require a substantial time, mental and physical commitment on your part if you dare to do it. Whatever else you do, make sure you attach yourself to an excellent tour guide capable of not only handling your administrative and logistical needs but someone who can help you appreciate this amazing ancient civilization.