F
oraged roots and bark from the
Amazon basin to Andean peaks
infuse the cuisine of the capital
Lima, transforming sea-level chefs
into culinary superstars. Visitors, mean-
while, are pulled like a magnet to the
mountains, up 3,400 metres to wild west
Cusco then down 2,453 metres, by rail or
hike, to the mysterious Inca city of Machu
Picchu, its brilliantly engineered stone tem-
ples and terraced fields built in the 1400s
and abandoned a century later.
Spoiler alert: you'll get your selfie shot
framed by mountains within five minutes of
walking into the Inca sanctuary, unless
Mother Nature decides to obliterate the
background with cotton-batten clouds. Not
good for photos, but it makes walking up
and down the ancient stairways even more
surreal. When the sun finally broke through
at 9 a.m., we found ourselves in the midst of
majestic green mountains looking way, way
down to the Urubamba River.
THE SACRED VALLEY
Though Machu Picchu attracts the world—I
sat beside a Brazilian man on the crowded
bus up the mountain as backpackers chat-
DREAMSCAPES WINTER 2015/2016
46
BEYOND
MACHU PICCHU
BY CYNTHIA DAVID
IN PERU, ALTITUDE RULES.
