This is a restorative posting from 2011, but I have had some many requests for sharing some stories and pictures, I went back and put together this story from a tour I took in 2011.

Touring the best way to visit Peru since there are so many sights and things to see…but they are very long distances apart and some are a little hard to find. Lima is a very artistic city that is worth exploring and very comfortable to visit despite the claims of crime and corruption. Never ran into any issues, threats or discomfort. You can safely walk everywhere.

However, the most fun is visiting and exploring the countryside and small villages in the mountains.

It is amazing to see how farming and building occurred over thousands of years and how some people retain the culture, style and clothing.

What is the most popular (meat) dish in Peru?  Guinea pigs.  In the villages, they live in your home and when hungry…

And the culture and mysterious superstition of land carvings still exist in the modern towns.  More on the Nazca lines later…

Another highlight was visiting and paddling out onto Lake Titicaca and visiting one of the villages/communities that lives on floating islands in the middle of the lake.

Yes, they still live on these reed collections and maintain their culture, but the kids do go to school on the mainland now.

It was an amazing experience to meet some of the people, share stories and learn all the history of the floating islands.

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OK – time to talk about the Nazca lines.  You have to get permission to an air force base and try very hard to get a seat on one of the rare civilian airlines that can fly over the lines.

It looks easy, but the ride is rough and faces enormous g and wind forces that makes the flights difficult for the timid.

But the highlight is how you can see some of the ancient drawings from above that are impossible to see from the ground.

Very exciting to see some of the images that were created for the alien visitors that visited the people thousands of years ago.

and if yup get the time, you can drive for a few hours and find one of the hidden landing sites that was built for the giant alien spacecraft.  These things were huge!  Look at how small the people are at the bottom.  It is quite a hike down and up.

Speaking of hiking, climbing and hiking the mountains is a highlight in Peru.  You do have to be ready for the high elevations and thin air though.

Some of the routes and sites are breathtaking.  Check out this ancient path we checked out.  Any game for that narrow path with no ropes?

And what is the highlight at the end?  Machu Picchu of course.  A place everyone should visit once in their life.  It is memorable and hard to fully appreciate until you visit in person like the Taj Mahal.