In the villages that sit high along the Peruvian Andes, scattered along the Lares region in green valleys and tranquil snow-capped mountains, there is poignant beauty. Ruddy-faced children with dark, dark eyes and dark, dark hair wear the expressions of wise old souls. Plump braided women are clothed in vibrant wool, their hands knotted from years of weaving, cooking and carrying. Ashen men toil, somber, serious.
The poverty that afflicts the indigenous farmers is indefinable by first-world standards. It belies their simple contentment. It’s a wonder.
They greet tourists with casual ceremony. On the one hand, visitors pose cultural intrusion, gawking and marveling at these brilliantly adorned, sandal-wearing aboriginals. Like they’re zoo animals. On the other, visitors bespeak money. Tourists purchase the textiles over which the villagers slave, as they’ve done from childhood, using dyed llama and alpaca wool.
It was with the children that I was most taken. They live in some of the most incredible landscapes in the world, nothing but earth and sky around them, but do they know it? Have they anything with which to compare? Are they happy living with adults who pay them little attention in homes without heat, or is it simply all they know?
During my 10-day trip to Peru in the late summer of 2013, my fellow travelers and I experienced the trek of a lifetime, unlike any other up until that point in my life. My love of nature and culture came together on this trip, and in my 800 photographs I could only capture a glimpse of its true significance.
Note: Hover over a photo or a description to keep it from moving to the next slide.
Peru: The wonderful world of weaving
The women of the Peruvian Andes are artisans. With skills learned during childhood, they weave clothing, blankets, jewelry, purses and works of art using llama and alpaca wool, which they often dye. They keep their families dressed and warm, themselves adorned and the world in awe. Women of the villages wear thick multilayered and colorful outfits, and intricately designed, tenderly stitched hats. Those who live in villages visited by tourists produce textiles for a living, relying on their meager earnings to help support their families, which live primarily off the land.
Peru: The kids
The children of the Peruvian Andes are incredibly well-behaved and good tempered. Perhaps it's because all they have is the land around them and their community, as opposed to video games and cell phones. While they see many foreign visitors, who spend money on textiles and materials female villagers weave from llama and alpaca wool, the children don't quite interact with them. Tourists bring candy or fruit, or sometimes toys, but they come and go. Parents and adults work, older children have chores, and activities are basic. So when our group of 18 spent an afternoon at one village, playing with and talking to the children, it was glorious. My sister and this little one made a connection right off the bat. You can bet this was her first time being swung in the air.
Peru: The kid, just this one
Unrivaled sweetness with a pinch of deviance. That's the only way to describe her.
Peru: The kids, once more
We couldn't get enough of these kids. Their innocence, unlike that of American children who grow up wanting, demanding and questioning everything around them, was new to us. They're raised with practically nothing: how can they want what they don't even know exists? This trio of siblings stuck together, as most siblings are wont to do in the villages. Anytime one of them got some food, he made sure his siblings got some, too, and if they hadn't, he'd share. Anywhere one went, he made sure the others followed close by. He held his siblings' hands.
Peru: The kids, again
While their parents were busy working, weaving or worrying about making sales, the children stared at us in awe. They stuffed their mouths with anything we gave them — we tried to avoid candy, and provided fruit instead. They had names like Benigno, Yessica, Maritza and Magdalena. They had pink, ruddy dirt-streaked cheeks, wore mud-caked sandals, despite the cold. When we showed them our photographs, they lit up, crowded around the small screens, pointing and murmuring to each other in their native Quechua-Spanish hybrid. When we showed them a video we took of them, they squealed. They'd never seen one before. Their village has no mirrors.
Peru: Fascination with photography
As you can imagine, the impoverished villagers who live in the Peruvian Andes have little exposure to modern technologies. Despite the growing presence of visitors and tourists in their villages, the natives retain their culture and minimalist lifestyles. Anytime we took photographs, the villagers — especially the children — wanted to see how they turned out. They were awed each and every time they saw a photograph. One of my fellow travelers, Steve, found a curious sidekick as he was looking through photos on his camera.
Peru: A wave is worth a thousand words
These kids, playing in a taxi on a cold rainy day, laughed and waved when they saw us drive through their village. We were welcomed, not envied, with our warm bus, warm clothes, full pockets. They wanted for nothing; attention was enough.
Peru: Lady with a baby
This is how villagers of the Peruvian Andes traverse the terrain. In the high altitudes, we Americans moved relatively slowly and clumsily, breathing loudly and laboriously, while the natives sprinted around carrying heavy weights on their back — children and goods alike.
Peru: Village homes
Although people in some villages have begun to use building materials similar to those found in Peruvian cities, many still live in homes made of stone covered with straw roofing.
Peru: The Inca throne
The city of Cuzco, nestled at an elevation of about 12,000 feet in the Peruvian Andes, was once the capital of the Incan empire. Construction is booming in the city, which is a tourist hotspot, and its population is around 350,000.
Peru: Incan architecture
If nothing else, the historical Inca empire of Peru is known for its architecture, which is considered to be the most significant pre-Columbian architecture in South America. Inca buildings were made primarily of fieldstone and stone blocks, which were split along their natural fracture lines using stone, bronze or copper tools. Long and high stone walls snake throughout the city of Cuzco, which was once the Inca capitol.
Peru: Cuzco, the capital
Cuzco, the former capital of the Inca empire, is a wonder. This beautiful structure was among many with historical significant and unique purpose.
Peru: Tapestry and textiles
The beautiful works of functional art that the people of Cuzco hand knitted and weaved using the dyed wool of llamas and alpacas.
Peru: Saqsaywaman, puma paw
Saqsaywaman — or "sexy woman" as one of our guides playfully called it — is a walled complex made of large stones and boulders on the northern outskirts of the city of Cuzco, the former capital of the Inca Empire. Cut into the stones are different constructions made in the Inca style, which did not include mortar. In addition to llama and snake constructions, we saw a puma paw cut from stone.
Peru: Llamas, alpacas and goats, oh my!
Dressed in traditional garb, these women and their festively adorned herd waited at the exit of Cuzco's Saqsaywaman with their textiles ready for sale.
Peru: Horsing around
Accompanying us on our journey were three guides, the nine-member crew and a dozen horses and llamas carrying bags and equipment. They horses were smaller and quicker than the kinds we're used to in the U.S. In fact, most animals we saw in Peru, including cattle, were smaller than American animals, probably because they're not injected with hormones and steroids for quick growth. The animals there also seemed unfamiliar with soft petting and affection, likely because they're usually regarded as workers, not pets.
Peru: A land with a view
The Peruvian Andes. Not much more to say. When you're at elevations of 13,000, 14,000 and 15,000 feet, it literally takes your breath away.
Peru: Summitting before sunset
We hiked about 12 hours one day, beginning our trek in the lush green valley of the Lares region and ending about 5,000 feet higher — at an elevation of about 15,000 feet — in the cold. We reached the highest point of our group's Lares trek minutes before sunset and watched as the earth swallowed up that perfect, warm star.
Peru: Summitting before sunset, again
Our group summitted just as the sun was setting. We moved as fast as we could, despite suffering from altitude sickness, dizziness and cold, just wanting to reach the destination camp. But once we stood up there, at 15,000 feet, surrounded by nothing but snowy mountains and a twinkling sky, no one wanted to leave. Using headlamps and flashlights, we descended about 1,000 feet to our camp site in 45 minutes.
Peru: Capturing the summit at sunset
I managed to snap this picture of my sister barely a full minute before the sun disappeared. It was cold, colder than I've ever experienced high up on this wonderous Peruvian mountain, and it was awesome.
Peru: Melting hearts in the freezing cold
For one night we camped at 14,100 feet, in flimsy tents in the snow. It was -10 degrees. The darkness was incredible. The stars were magnificent. The silence was exquisite. The crew with whom our tour group traveled always remained a step ahead so that the staff could prepare our lodging and meals. When we arrived at this camp after dark, frozen and dizzy from hiking 12 hours at high altitudes, we found that the crew had shoveled the snow out from under our tents, prepared our blankets and sleeping bags, and had set out hot tea and delicious dinner. They did this all silently, graciously and, amazingly, in a single layer of clothing and cracked sandals.
Peru: Ice cold
After sleeping — well, attempting to sleep while shivering — at the 14,100-foot elevation in -10 degrees, the crew awoke us with hot tea.
Peru: The crew
This was the crew that traveled with us, cooked our meals and carried our equipment. In order to make money to support their families, they must leave their families for weeks on end when they're lucky enough to land jobs supporting tour groups. Our tour guides: Paoul, standing, left; Dimas, standing, far right; and Bryam, kneeling, far right.
Peru: The ruins of Machu Picchu
It's easy to see why Machu Picchu — "old mountain" in Quechua — is one of the seven wonders of the world. Its incredible stone structures sit on farming terraces in the middle of lush mountains under open skies. It's also a mystery because no one knows definitely the purpose behind its construction. Without a written language, the Inca left no record of why they built the site or how they used it. One theory stuck with me: The Incas were a nation that valued the sun and the mountains as god, so this site was probably as holy as it got. Scholars and nobles are believed to have resided at Machu Picchu with their students — about 500 people total — for only 20 years before disease struck and wiped out the majority of the community.
Peru: Machu Picchu, surrounded by gods
Although it's impossible to know the truth behind the Inca's decision to build Machu Picchu, our trip guide, Paoul, relayed one possibility that moved me, so I'm gonna run with it. It was a holy site: the Incas held mountains in high esteem and considered them gods, so the nobles among them chose to live secluded high in the mountains, in steep terrain, far from water and comforts, just so they could be closer to their gods. The Incas celebrated the very land on which they lived and likely worshiped it at Machu Picchu, a complex of palaces, temples and homes.
Peru: Window to the world
Each palace and plaza in the Machu Picchu complex has windows and openings out of which its residents were able to view the mountains around them, never forgetting that they were living among what they considered gods.
Peru: The tail of the Inca Trail
The very tail end of the famous Inca Trail leads to Machu Picchu, one of the seven wonders of the world. Machu Picchu, or old mountain, is believed to have once been home to scholars and nobles (and their students) who wanted to live among mountains, which they considered gods. Although roads and paths have been paved to and from the historical site, bits of the original Inca Trail are still intact and just a tad steep.
Peru: Inca mythology
The Inca cross, called Chakana, is symbolic of Inca mythology regarding the three levels of existence: the upper world, known as Hana Pacha; the world of our existence, known as Kay Pacha; and the underworld, known as Uri Pacha. The condor, puma and snake are totemic representatives of these three levels and you can find them all over the country, etched in stone, sculpted in bronze or woven in wool. In the town of Aguas Calientes — once known as Machu Picchu Pueblo — there's a statue embodying the three.
Peru: The Uros tribe
On Lake Titicaca, there are some 40 floating islands inhabited mostly by people of the Uros tribe. Their islands and homes are made of totora reeds, which grow in parts of the lake. The men fish and gather reeds, while the women weave and greet the numerous tourists who visit and shop on the islands. The Uros live on practically nothing, although they do sometimes come to the mainland — the port of Puno and neighboring cities — for supplies, food and other necessities. Usually several families will inhabit an individual island, and every member is expected to work and contribute to keeping the island afloat.
Peru: Glorious Gloria
My sister took a liking to Gloria, the matriarch of a small Uros family living on a floating island on Lake Titicaca. Small, plump and chatty, Victoria welcomed us to her home and gave us a demonstration of how she and her family built their home and continue to live on the island. Gloria was prepared with jokes: "If a man is lazy and refuses to work and contribute, we saw the reeds around his house until it breaks off and floats away." The Uros tribe has worked out a rotating system that ensures that tourist visits are evenly spread around the islands.
Peru: The Uros tribe's reed boat
The 40 or so floating islands on the Peruvian side of Lake Titicaca are home to people of the Uros tribe, which predates the Inca civilization. Their boats, much like their islands, are made from totora reeds. They called this one the "Mercedes" taxi.
Peru: Island of Taquile
One of the many islands in Peru's Lake Titicaca — the highest navigable lake in the world and the largest (by volume) in South America — is Taquile Island, home to about 2,200 people called Taquileños, who value community collectivism and the Inca moral code. The island sees about 40,000 visitors annually.
Peru: Wear your heart — and status — on your sleeve
On the island of Taquile, which sits in the middle of Lake Titicaca, men and women adorn their attire with colors and appendages to indicate their marital status. Marriage is a sacred unity for the people of Taquile because it is about more than the individuals and their families — it's about the growth and preservation of a community. Couples endure long courtships and intense wedding ceremonies. Husbands and wives are required to make wedding garments for each other, and later for their children.
Peru: Village view
Like they do in many parts of the country, including the famed Machu Picchu, the natives of Taquile island cut terraces into the land for farming and agriculture. In the high altitudes of Lake Titicaca, however, only specific types of foods and plants can grow.
Peru: Knitting men
Traditionally, it is the Peruvian women who weave and knit — whether it's clothing and blankets for their homes and families, or textiles to sell to tourists. But on the Island of Taquile, men knit as well. Their items, however, are used primarily for sale and sold at higher prices.
Peru: Homemade shampoo
Younger generations of Taquile islands prefer to use soaps and shampoos found on the mainland off Lake Titicaca, but their parents and grandparents still use local plants to make their own. This restaurateur prepared the shampoo using nothing but the plant and some water. He ground it until it became more viscous and then used a piece of wool to demonstrate its capabilities. Who needs bleach and harmful chemicals when nature does the trick?
Peru: Dancing in Lima
Finding — and then joining — a random group of people gathered at a park in downtown Lima was perhaps the best way to end the trip. Sad to leave the poignant beauty of the country and the natives, we needed a distraction, and alas we found it. My dad and sister took a few spins in the center of the group, while fellow traveler Corrina escorted an elderly gentleman.