Wings over the Andes

With ground transportation nigh-on impossible, Lowell Thomas informatively and quite entertainingly narrates this documentary that shows the topography of Peru from some 20,000 feet up in the air. Landing only briefly, from time to time, they cover a landscape that ranges from alpine to desert. Machu Pichu features as do the legendary terraces. The "Great Wall of Peru" reputedly as old as the Inca still survived remarkable intact in places, too. Stopping in Cusco, we explore the relatively modern city where Juan Pizarro was slain (in 1536). We look at the complex Inca architecture, at the markets, their agriculture and at the llama - and it's insulating wool and apparently very chewy meat. There is also an indication of just how perilous ground transportation is - rickety straw bridges straddling rapidly flowing rivers. Great volcanic craters - now extinct - where the lava looks almost like it's straight from the surface of the moon. A mule train where even the animals get altitude sickness. It's an interesting look at a culture that has changed little over the centuries and the snow-capped Cordieras and the Franciscan monastery in the "Lost Valley" still look astonishing - even if there are only two priests left inside.