The Beautiful Children of Peru

This beautiful little girl came running up to us as we approached our hotel in Cusco, and I knew that she would want money for her picture, but I never expected such a priceless pose for just a sol.

 Baby Frank with his Telus bunny - Reed Islands

at the Jungle Village

Jungle Village

Sacred Valley

Hotel at Sacred Valley

Dining Room at Restaurant beside River

Our great guide, David

Donna and her Pisco Sour

Restaurant

Vikuna and Alpaca grazing the restaurant grounds

Baby Elizabeth

The Whole Gang - this was the best group we could ever have travelled with - so much fun.
taken on our last day in Lima, after dining at the restaurant you see in background.

Cusco Revisited

We arrived back in Cusco yesterday aound 4pm.  Had a great trip back.  Stopped at a beautiful restaurant along the river for lunch, there were vikuna and alpaca grazing the grounds and parrots in the garden. Then hit a market in Pisca which was a lot of fun, dispite a bit of rain.
Today we spent the day wandering the city.  Tom and I decided to take the road less travelled and wandered in and out of little streets and alleys.  At one point we had stopped to look at something and the next thing I knew I felt something brushing up against my arm, and there was an alpaca, who knows where he came from.  We found a great little balcony overlooking the Plaza this afternoon, ordered a Cusquena cerveza and just watched the world go by, totally blown away by the view of the city and the mountains behind.  We leave tomorrow, spend the day in Lima, then take the red eye to Houston, spend the day in Houston and arrive home Thursday night.
It has been a great trip, so many more stories to share, stay tuned, love to all.

Donna, Richard, Lynn, Tom, Jane, Ron and Sharon

Suzi, Dianne, Greg

ON TOP OF THE WORLD!!

We were up early this morning to catch the 7am train out of Cusco, thru the Andes to Machu Picchu. What a spectacular ride, I thought I would sleep, but no way, every minute of the 3 hr 40min was interesting. We travelled along the Urumbamba river, which eventually flows into the Amazon.  After the train ride we boarded a bus for a 10 min ride up the mountain.  You have never experienced a switch back road til you´ve gone up this one. A few times we met buses coming down, and we had to back up as it is mostly one narrow lane, mountain on one side, cliff on the other.  As we got close to the top, we could see where archeologists are  working to claim more of Machu Picchu back from the jungle.  When we finally reached the top and got off the bus, both Tom and I said that pictures or words cannot do this sacred place justice. It was a warm day, but the clouds rolled in and out to give us a reprieve from the sun every once in awhile. It was pretty special to walk around and just try to imagine what went on here all those years ago - 1450 - 1540 AD.  We were amazed at the techniques the Inca people used when building this city, they carved water troughs, carved holes in the rocks for drainage. And the size of the rocks, the poor people that had to bring them up the hill, altho they also had a quarry near the top as well.
After a great day, we boarded the train and got off in Ollantaytambo in the Sacred Valley to spend the night. We will head back to Cusco tomorrow afternoon for our last couple days.  So hard to believe this trip is almost over. May not post again, as the computer-internet at our hotel in Cusco and I dont get along  very well.

To quote one of the ladies on the bus  " You must take this place from your head and keep it in your heart."

See you all soon.....

Its all downhill from here!

We hit our highest altitude yesterday - 14,000 feet, on our way from Lake Titicaca to Cusco. When we left Lake T we hit the jackpot, as our driver had got a tip that the road blockade was going to be lifted, we were one of the first buses out and we were so lucky, it saved us 2 hours.  Driving thru the Andes was spectacular, lots of small farming villages every few km, crossing the Urumbamba River. We stopped in Pukara, a small village with a very interesting museum.  Inside were stone carvings found in the area, dating back 1500 years. The one of the god eating the baby was particularly interesting.  Another stop was at an Incan temple.  People travelling along the Incan hiway would have used it as a stopover and to worship and sell their goods. Only one of the temple walls is still standing, but it was the centre wall with massive carvings.  There were 13 stone huts for the "chosen women" - 12 - 14 year old girls that would be offered up to the gods.
Family - you will love this--while we were passing a couple in a narrow pathway, the fellow saw Sharons Canada tshirt, and said "yeah Canada". so we asked him where in Canada he was from, and he said he was from the Netherlands and he loved  Canada because we had liberated them. I couldnt resist so I said " and my dad was one of those Canadians".  He came over and gave me a big hug.  I had a Canada pin in my pocket, so I gave it to him - he got very emotional and gave me another hug - very special moment.
We arrived in Cusco last night at dinner time, and our hotel, once again is spectacular. It is a very old building, looks like a castle on the inside, huge courtyard with fountains, and stone arches.  We had dinner in a hall with a huge table, and there was a violinist playing, it was magical.
The buildings in Cusco are very interesting, alot of the foundations are original Incan foundations, and then they have built on top of them.  The people are not allowed to tear down anything that was built by the Incans.
Today we saw a lot of the Incan ruins, most just discovered in the last 50-60 years, some after the 1950 earthquake.
We went to Saqsayhuaman - pronounced sexy woman.  The government has made this site a national park to protect it, some of the locals were stealing rocks from the walls to use on their own homes. Most believe this was a fortress and because of the huge plaza area, was used for rituals and ceremonies. Some of the pottery that has been found here suggests it dates back over a millenium. We saw the burial preparation site - it was underground but those Incans were so smart, they knew how to place holes in the rocks in just right places and they would place white material to reflect the light to where they were working.
I have to sign off now, my time is up and I am on a Mac for the fist time - keyboard takes some getting used to.
We are off to Machu Picchu tomorrow, will try to post pics when i can.
Girls, I hear there is snow, the snowshovel is hanging on the side of the gal garage .
Love to all, stay tuned......

Tower at sunset

Welcoming committee at the Reed Islands

Farm house

We Drove Lake Titicaca and survived!

Our Hotel in Lk Titicaca - right on the lake

Love her T-shirt

Farmhouse - note the ceramic bulls on arch - good luck

 Farmhouse kitchen                                                  

We left Arequipa yesterday and flew to a small town, Juliaca, and our new guide met us for our 20 minute drive to Lake Titicaca. But there was one small problem - the people were protesting against the government who were supposed to build a new highway so the people can transport their produce and goods  for sale, and the government has renegged on the deal, so they set up a blockade and were not letting cars thru. This meant we had to take the back road which would be an hour or so longer.  Because of the detour, Ron decided to take us to a sight he usually does on the 2nd day, so off we went to visit Sillustani -- some towers that were built hundreds of years ago, tombs to house mummies.  When the spaniards arrived, they destroyed a lot of the towers and stole all the gold that had been buried with the mummies. What is left standing is beautiful, huge towers on top of a high hill overlooking a small lake.  And the fact that we reached it as the sun was setting made it a spectacular sight. We really felt the elevation - 12,000 feet, once we had climbed up the hill, our fingers and toes were tingling.  Then we stopped at a family farm, and were invited in to see how the farmers live. They have no power, they have well water, and use candle light. Got a good picture of one of the ladies in her Tim Horton`s t-shirt!  Now we were off to the back road....only problem was the backroad was not a road at all, it was the dry marshland of the lake and there was absolutely nothing that resembled a road.  We got stuck once, everyone piled out of the coach, the men pushed and we got back in, keep in mind it is pitch dark - except for a beautiful moon, and cold....we then came to the railroad tracks and everyone had to pile out again to lighten the load, we made it over ok. Then we finally got onto what somewhat resembled a narrow, one lane dirt road, and had a standoff with the oncoming traffic at a sharp corner. After 5 or 10 minutes, some backed up, some pulled over to the side, and we managed to get thru. The rest of the drive was relatively uneventful, and we all admitted it was quite the adventure.
Today a boat picked us up at our hotel, and we visited the Floating Reed Islands, these are a group of islands - man made by the Uros tribe, from the totora reeds of the lake, and all the homes and boats are also made from the same reeds.  The original purpose of the islands was defensive, and there are still many watch towers made of the reeds. We visited one island, where 8 families live and they showed us their homes, and sang for us. They are very friendly happy people. We had a ride on a reed boat, stopping at a small island for a cold Cerveza.  We were told by one guide, that a lot of the families now have land on the shoreline, and just come to the islands during the day for the tourists, but the way I look at it, they are still sharing their history with us.
We left the reed islands and our boat took us to the town of Puno, across the lake from where we are staying. We had a great lunch and did a bit of shopping.
Tomorrow we head to Cusco, and again because of the blockade we are taking back roads, cant wait to see more back roads.
Love to all, stay tuned.....

Guinea pigs,Ostrich and Alpaca, Oh my....and that was just lunch

We are now in Arequipa, an absolutely gorgeous 470 year old city.  Altitude is 7000 feet, and we are all feeling some affects...some more than others. There are 2 huge volcanos that can be seen from the city, they are magnificent, they look like a fake backdrop. The streets are narrow, and the buildings look small, but you look thru huge doorways, and there is a huge courtyard, maybe a restaurant or shops. It is so much fun just to walk around, and discover little alleys that you almost miss, only to discover great little cafes or shops.
 We went to the Ice Princess Museum, it was so interesting, an American team, working with National Geographic found the body of a 12 or 14 year old girl that the Incas had sacrificed to the Gods.  She was frozen very shortly after death, as they were at such a high altitude, so her body was preserved along with a lot of the clothing, jewelry and pottery that she was surrounded with.
We are staying in an amazing hotel that was once the Mint, there is a huge courtyard with beautiful stone arches and statues, fountains. It is very central to the Plaza dàrmes which is a great place to people watch. We went to a great restaurant for lunch yesterday and had an authentic Peruvian lunch (their big meal of the day).  I was going to try the guinea pig, until i realized i was looking at his little head and feet, Tom tried it and said it was quite like chicken.  We also went to dinner at a very interesting restaurant (these are all ones that Ron has pre arranged) and were served our meal on a hot stone, 3 small steaks, alpaca - it was very good, ostrich, it was good too, and good old beef.  It is a good thing we are doing lots of walking, as we have been eating way too much.
Yesterday we were walking back to the hotel, and i spotted a motorcycle with a BC license plate, so we stopped to chat - It is a girl -a lawyer from Vancouver who is riding alone across South America, she is 2.5 months into a 6 month trip, she was great to talk to.
I am not uploading any pics today, this computer is very slow, and i think about to explode.
This afternoon we head to Puno-Lake Titicaca, this will be the highest elevation we hit.
love to all, stay tuned.....

Millipede

Friendly Parrot

 Morning on the River

View from a river village

Tom and his new friend

Yagua Village Blowgun demonstration

IT'S A JUNGLE OUT THERE!!

Relaxing in the Hammock House

 Dianne and Suzi heading for the Tukan Bar

 The stairs from the River to our Lodge

Arrived at our jungle lodge around 7pm on Thursday, after a 1 hour boatride down the Amazon River. It was dark and raining, so did not get a great view of the river life, but our next few days more than made up for it. We ended up taking 6 or 7 boatrides and just seeing the villages, the fisherman, the interesting boats that somehow stay afloat, the children washing clothes, bathing, the river is the centre of their life for sure. you can be going downriver and every few minutes you will see the top of a building popping thru the jungle.
We stayed at the Ceiba Tops lodge, named after a 300 year old Ceiba tree, I am pretty sure it was the one that Tarzan lived in, lots of vines hanging down, and apparently is host to over 1,000 different plant and animal species.  I swung from a vine....that is way harder than it looks by the way.
We visited 2 native villages, one being the Yagua Indian tribe, and they taught us how to use a blow gun, Tom got a bullseye on his first attempt........I had to have a few tries, and my foot is healing nicely. They put on a show for us, and of course I had to get up and join in the dancing.
We went to Laisla delos Monos, better known to us as Monkey Island. This is an island that takes in orphaned monkeys or ones that people have caught and tried to sell. We had to walk about 20 minutes from where we got off our boat, thru the jungle, the walk alone was amazing, passing banana, mango, palm trees, as well as many types of flowers growing everywhere. When they started this project, they spent the first 6 years planting trees and creating the food for the monkeys before they arrived.
 The temperature was 107 with high humidity, we were just dripping wet the whole time.  There were 8 types of monkeys, and they were so entertaining. There are about 30 or 40 that hang around the camp and are very comfortable around humans.  Tom found that out when one climbed up and hugged him, then sat on his shoulder and licked the sweat off his forehead for him. Tom had his camera in his other hand, so he just lifted it up slowly and snapped a picture, and the monkey promptly slapped him upside the head, and jumped off.  I guess the monkey thought they were bonding, only to discover we just wanted a good picture. Another one took a liking to Jane and hung off her arm upside down, and stuck his head up her pant leg....he will never be the same.
No luck with the piranha fishing, but Tom did catch a poisonous catfish / I did not know that catfish bark, these do.
We also saw pink dolphins in the river, they are beautiful.

We also visited another village this morning, before leaving the Amazon, and this one, we were able to go into some of the houses and see the school and the soccer field.  The men of the village were busy roofing the community center...a palm leaf roof.
We flew back to Lima today, and just had a fabulous meal at our hotel.  Tomorrow we are up bright and early to catch a flight to Arequipa, sunniest spot in Peru, 8000 ft. altitude, we have started taking our altitude medication.  We will be there a few days, then off to Puno, Lake Titicaca.  Should be able to get some internet access there, but who knows. There are 12 people on our trip, and they are all so much fun, we couldnt have a better group. Love to all, stay tuned.

Guard at Presidential Palace                                                                

Lovers Square                                                         

The girls go shopping                                                

Mosaic --Church in Plaza dÁrmes                            

Presidential Palace, they rolled out the red carpet for us

Virgin Mary - her dress is shaped like a mountain to represent Mother Earth