Day 1 – Denver to Lima, Peru

Gear for Peru

I don’t know if it was the lovely October fall temps, the magic of Eldorado Canyon, a wonderful day of climbing, or a combination of all elements; when Brenda confided a recent contemplation of a trip to hike the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu the intrigue was all too contagious. It had been a desire of hers for quite some time to visit this spiritual and historic place. Hearing her talk about the idea sparked my imagination – Peru!

I asked if she wouldn’t mind having company. If she was going to join a tour, than it was possible she’d be paired up with a smoker and that would really be awful. Since, I’m definitely not a smoker, I thought I would plant the seed. I pointed out, “You know, the devil that you know…”. However, I suspected we would have a ***blast***, just like we do when we climb.

We discussed details and did our homework regarding pricing. By the end of that week, plans were in place. Plane tickets and tour fees were paid for a trip in December. I couldn’t believe I was going to go with Peru…and with Brenda! What a thrill to make such “last minute” plans. Whoop whoop!

As I knew very little about Peru or the Inca civilization, I read the following two books. They formed a great basis of knowledge and helped immensely in my enjoyment of the trip. 800 pages of pure excitement, although I enjoyed the latter book a little more!

Christopher Heaney’s “Cradle of Gold – The Story of Hiram Bingham, A Real-Life Indiana Jones, and the Search for Machu Picchu”

About Yale professor and Inca Explorer Hiram Bingham. This is a very well written book, captivating and a quick read. However, in the end, judging Bingham through our current lense of conservation, culture sensativity, and political correctness; one gets a sense that his motives were not pure. Essentially, he took advantage of poor local population by bribing them to find “treasures”. A 9-year old boy led him to the ruins of Machu Picchu and he took acclaim for the discovery. Then, when he got there, he hoarded crate upon crate of material and hauled it back to Yale for “research”. This “research” lasted for over 100 years and the University still hasn’t returned it all back to Peru.

Kim MacQuarrie’s “The Last Days of the Incas”

About the Pizarro Family’s sacking of the Inca civilization. I’m still amazed that these guys accomplished what they did…Machiavelli’s “The Prince” describes how one can go about conquering civilazations and this book came out about 40 years prior to Fransisco’s trip to Peru. Even though he was illiterate, I’m sure he knew of the work, and his lawyers helped plan the take-over. The Pizarro family actually had a company that they formed prior to going to Peru, so whatever loot they found would be absorbed by this company. There were around 160 initial conquistadors who landed in Peru. At the time, the Inca Empire was over 10 million. In a relatively short period of time, their entire civilization was sacked. Definitely read this book, it’s compelling and violent; but amazing and tragic.

So, on December 6th, Brenda and I left Denver for Lima. DIA was not at all busy, as expected for a Tuesday, so I whizzed through security. Brenda was waiting at the terminal. We were both very excited to be on our way to Lima. Our flight left without a hitch and we landed in Houston. We had a couple hour layover and then we were off to Lima.

Brenda and Clare To Peru

The Lima leg was 6.5 hours long. Not Bad!

Brenda Exiting Plane in Houston

We landed in Lima and got through customs okay. It took almost 2 hours, but our hotel was across the street from the airport, so it wasn’t a big deal. In fact, there is a bridge connecting the airport directly to the Ramada Costa Del Sol! The video at the top is of our nearly 200 dollar a night room! Hey, it was convenient.

Ramada Airport Hotel in Lima

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