Peruvian Escape

Tourists are not the only ones who enjoy visiting Machu Picchu—llamas and alpacas often take advantage of its sunny terraces.

By the time archeologist Hiram Bingham saw it in 1911, Machu Picchu—built in the 1400's—had been hidden by jungle foliage for centuries. Not even the Spanish had found it.

After being cooked on hot stones covered with cloth and earth, a pachamanca lunch is served—delicious!

Lima's Plaza Mayor has been the historic heart of Lima since the city's founding in 1535.

The sign of a friendly friar

Tiled arcade at Convent of Santo Domingo in Lima, one of the old city's prettiest sights

View of Pisac village, on the way from Cusco to the Urubamba Valley

Agricultural terraces at the Pisac ruins. As happened with many Inca structures, this one was destroyed by Pizarro in the 1530's.

The Sol y Luna hotel, in the Urubamba Valley, has gardens of bright flowers outside—and inside, too, as with this wall mosaic in one of the dining rooms.

The salt flats outside the town of Maras, in the Urubamba Valley, yield potent salt crystals valued for their reputed health benefits.

The deep bowl of terraces at the Moray archeological site was possibly constructed for experiments in growing potatoes at different temperatures and altitudes.

Music in the mountains: a band playing traditional instruments crosses a field high above the Urubamba Valley.

A shaman and his wife assemble an offering to the gods.

Aside from Inca ruins, horizons ringed by towering mountains and skies full of enormous clouds are glories of the Andean landscape.

In Cusco, the Convent of Santo Domingo now stands atop the Incas' holiest site, the Coricancha temple, which was devoted to the sun.

At Palacio Manco Capac, a new boutique hotel in Cusco, there is perfection in the details large and small.

Located at over 11,000 feet, the city of Cusco was the seat of the Inca empire before falling to the Spanish in 1533.

An array of meats—including pork, lamb, beef and alpaca—cooks over a eucalyptus-stoked grill.

At an overlook high above Cusco, an alpaca on display for the tourist crowds.

Cusco's Cristo Blanco statue, a gift from Christian Palestinians who found refuge in the city in the 1940s.

A good fit for Peru's often narrow city streets: a VW beetle.