Category: Peru Ecuador 2016

Tomorrow we fly out of Cusco to Lima and from Lima home. So today we took a taxi from Pisac back to Cusco. Before we left we wondered around Pisac people watching and browsing. We bought some souvenirs too. 

In Pisac we stayed at the Pisac Inn. It was a wonderful place although all the doorways were only about 5 foot 10 inches tall. This is the courtyard. 

In Cusco we visited a couple of museums and wandered around people watching. 

We did some more shopping and bought some more yarn. Duke says he is going to learn to knit!

Pisco is Peru’s national drink. It is s distilled wine. This afternoon we did a tasting at the Museo de Pisco. We liked the blended version best. 

The Inca walls and how tightly they fit together never cease to amaze me. This twelve sided stone is a perfect example. 

For dinner we are at Morena. The whole meal was wonderful but the desert, Cacao was especially good. A chocolate brownie with chocolate ice cream served in a cacao pod. 

This morning before we left Sacred Dreams Lodge near Urubamba we hiked to some ruins near the lodge. The hotel dog accompanied us on the hike. 

We took a taxi from Urubamba to Pisac. We are staying at the Pisac Inn. Around 3pm we took a taxi up to the Pisac ruins and walked down to our hotel. It was quite a walk. Around every turn there were more very different and very impressive ruins. 

We had a great dinner at our hotel. 

We left Aquas Calientes on the tourist train this morning and then took a taxi to Sacred Dreams Lodge in the hills above Urubamba. 

This afternoon we visited Moray where indigenous engineers built concentric circular irrigation terraces.  The angles of the sun create temperaure differences between the upper and lower levels and allow crops to grow that normally wouldn’t grow at such high altitudes ( 3,500 meters, 11,500 ft.)

Next we visited Salineras where the saline water coming out of a spring is still used to create evaporative salt ponds to produce salt. The salt ponds were originally built by the Incas. 

All day today as we travelled we have seen lots of people selling flowers. It wasn’t until we passed a cemetery that seemed to be hosting a party that I realized that today is Día de Muertos – Day of the Dead. 

It feels like Machu Picchu is the culmination of our trip but we are here during the last week because it is just the logical end of our loop through Peru. 

This morning we caught a bus from Aquas Calientes up to Machu Picchu and spent about four hours exploring the site. It is s stunning as everyone says – high on a mountain top surrounded by River canyon and more mountains. 

One cool thing we did is hike up to what they call the Inca Bridge. It literally hangs on the edge of a cliff. 

There were throngs of people and this is not the high season it’s hard to imagine what it must be like at Machu Picchu in July and August. 

In Aquas Calientes we stayed at a wonderful new hotel Cabaña. 

This morning we caught the train from Ollantaytambo to Aquas Calientes the town at the base of Machu Picchu. The train followed the Urubamba River through the Sacred Valley of the Inca. The terrain and vegetation changed dramatically as we moved lower. Aquas Calientes is at an elevation of 6700 ft and the fauna is high jungle. 

Aquas Calientes doesn’t have any cars and is pretty much all hotels and restaurants. We bought our bus tickets and entry tickets for Machu Picchu tomorrow. Then we went for a walk down the road and train tracks that we will take tomorrow. The canyon and jungle are beautiful. 

When we got back from our walk we shared beer and fries overlooking the river. The river is a lot lower here because they have taken a lot of the water out to use in a hydroelectric plant down stream. 

This afternoon we checked out an exhibit of 1911 and 2014 pictures of Machu Picchu. Very interesting. 

As we were walking to dinner we saw lots of princesses and Spider men. It seems that Halloween is celebrates here too!

I think I’ll end with this sign we saw today. I guess we will have to keep our clothes on tomorrow!

We had a wonderful dinner in Aquas Calientes at the restaurant El Albergue.