Tag Archives: Machu Picchu

Land of the Incas

We spent over a month in Southern Peru, starting in Cusco, the ancient heart of the Incan Empire. From Cusco we visited Lake Titicaca, the highest navigable lake in the world where indigenous tribes live on floating islands and ancient communal living structures are still in use today.

After Lake Titicaca we endured the grueling trip up to the gold mining town of La Rinconada. Everyone had warmed us that road was the most dangerous in all of Peru because of frequent roadside robberies, in fact two people were shot for their gold on the night that we left, but this did not deter us. At 18,000 ft. above sea level La Rinconada is the highest inhabited place on earth. We spent two days recording a short documentary about life there, talking with locals, exploring the glacier and getting far off the beaten path.

Next stop was Arequipa, Peru’s second largest city, and the perfect place to begin an adventure to Colca Canyon, which is twice as deep as the Grand Canyon and home to the Andean Condor, the largest bird in the world, as well as many distinct ethnic groups.

We ended our journey through the South of Peru at the magnificent Machu Picchu.