Today was another fantastic day in Peru!! How day was filled with wonderful sites to see and great people to meet. This was the courtyard right outside my hotel room. I love all the colors in Peru!!I loved the clouds above this church that was next to our hotel!!I loved the simplicity and beauty of the flowers in Peru!!We started our day visiting the local market!! It was amazing to see so many items. These chickens were popular for people to buy.Their market was an eye-popping explosion of color and sounds!!All the fruits and vegetables available for purchase were amazing!!Every food imaginable was there for purchase. Grains to vegetables. Meats to fruits.This woman could cut up a chicken faster than I could watch her move it around on her work counter!!These chickens were amazing to me!!I loved the attire of so many Peruvian women!! Their hats were absolutely marvelous!!These were some of the fattest I have every seen!!I enjoyed watching these ladies do business as the woman with the hat was buying her groceries.These chilies and ginger looked so good!!I loved all the colors of the vegetables and fruits!!It was amazing to walk through the market and enjoy so many great foods!!Peruvians appreciate great and colorful food!!Some items were spicy and others not so much!!There seemed to be no end to the great foods the vendors were selling!!I liked the eggplants and limes too!!I absolutely loved the hat this lady wore as she was selling her strawberries!!This fish was brought in from the Peruvian cost to the Sacred Valley.Peruvians certainly love their bread products!!After we spent time in the market, we rode in “tuk-tuks” to Urubamaba.
John and I had fun sharing a “tuk-tuk”!!After lunch we went to Ollantaytambo!! This was an impressive placed filled Inca and pre-Inca ruins. There were also many shops in the area. It was amazing!!Peruvian people were going through their normal day as tourists flooded the area to see the amazing sites!!I enjoyed the colors of these items hanging between shops!!It was fun to watch the colorful ornaments move with the breeze!!It was shocking to stand before these terraces and realize they were all built so soundly by the Incas so long ago!!Everyone fell in love with the alpacas happily eating along the terraces!!These guys were giving me the look as I took their photo!!It was very fun to watch these playful creatures!!This child was very happy and content withing the colorful bundle carried by Mom!!I thought this guy was especially adorable!!Our tour director talked about how well the Incas used the rocks to make their walls without any spaces or need for motor!!Most people probably do not like this topic. Guinea pigs are common in Peru. The primary reason they are so popular is they are used for food. Our tour director told us how much she enjoyed eating Guinea pig meat. I think I will pass it that is every offered to me. I have know people that had Guinea pigs for pets, so eating them seems quite strange to me.This bull was next to our the path of one walk today. I am glad he was tied up so that there were no misunderstandings!!One of our special highlights today was to go to the Sacred Valley Project!! This non-profit organization is dedicated to improving access to education for young women from low-income families in remote mountain communities in Peru. They have three schools in Peru and give the girls safe places to stay, nutritious meals, access to schools, and mentorship. I was incredibly impressed with the school. The woman in this photo is from Argentina and she runs one of the schools. If anyone is interested, their website is sacredvalleyproject.org.
We had a very busy day today. We started leaving our Lima hotel quite early and headed to the airport. We flew to Cuzco and arranged to have our luggage delivered to our hotel in Yucay. Nothing happens quickly with busy airports with thousands and thousands of people. Once in Cuzco, we drove to a fantastic restaurant at more than 9,000 feet!We next drove to Pisaq and walked all around some fascinating Inca ruins. It was amazing to be in the middle of the Andes and see how steep the slopes were all around us! It was amazing to see the structures still standing that were crafted by the Incas so long ago.These structures and walls were built on the steep slopes by the Incas!!We could look over the valleys and see current communities.These intricate stairsteps were built to create ground for growing crops on the steep slopes. They also prevented erosion of the ground.I was amazed to see how these huge levels were built!!The Andes are beautiful and fierce mountains.These people demonstrate the large size of the fields that were built!!These exposed holes that are now visible show an Incan cemetery!!Each of the built levels of soil are supported along edges by these intricate placement of stones. They form an amazing jig-saw puzzle!!This couple was very nice and I thoroughly enjoyed practicing my Spanish speaking skills with them!!I was quite amazed that a structure made mostly of mud and rocks by the Incas was still standing today!!This friendly woman was determined to get me to buy a hat or scarf!!I liked this bell tower in a local church where we stopped to go shopping. Silver products are plentiful!!
Our group had a wonderful time walking all over Lima!! This cartoon character is very popular and famous throughout South America and we loved having our photo with it!!This is a pyramid within Lima that is being excavated and restored within Lima. For years and years, it was thought to simply be a natural hill in the city. To everyone’s surprise, it was actually a pyramid!This used to be the entrance to Peru’s stock exchange in downtown Lima!!This guy watering the plants in Lima!!Indigenous people performing in the street!!
Unique artwork found in the downtown district of Lima.This was a happy guy selling orange juice!!Unique transportation in Lima!!The church architecture was amazing to see!!The ornate detail was amazing!!I loved the colors with this rose!!This elaborate wooden ceiling was within one of the churches in downtown Lima!!This was an impressive library contained in one of the Lima churches!!The grandeur of this church was amazing!!I loved the loved the colorful design of this Lima sign!!I was impressed with the intricate design of this woodwork!!This bed is in a privately owned home that is open to the public (by reservation) by a family that has lived in this Lima home for 18 generations!!Indigenous dress meets modern technology!!I loved the colors of this woman’s clothing!! The girl in her white dress was very cute!!This chapel within the church was beautiful!! This was one of the more elaborate designs.I was impressed with the detail of this church. The choir sits along the wooden seats on the sides.I really enjoyed the blue colors of this building!!This was my appetizer today. It is ceviche, which is one of the most famous dishes in all of Peru!! It is uncooked fish mixed with lime, combined with corn, and some very spicy chilies. I absolutely loved it!!This was my main course at lunch. It was fish combined with rice in parihuela juices and rocoto peppers. It was fantastic!!Dessert was this fabulous creme brulee and fruit!!After our huge lunch, we went for a walk along the beach!!I enjoyed practicing my Spanish talking to this great couple!!I had fun talking to these four ladies. They loved that I was trying to speak with them in Spanish!! They live in Santiago, Chile and were enjoying a vacation together in Lima, Peru. They were excited that I would be visiting their city next week.This guy was a street performer having fun in Lima. His clothing is similar to some people living in rural Peru.To everyone’s surprise, he suddenly pulled a woman from our group and they started dancing down the street!This woman was playing beautifully to the crowd!!I loved the bright colors in the baby carrier used by mother and child!!We were excited to see the local library!!We all gathered around to have our photo taken with this cartoon character that is especially famous in Argentina.
We have had a wonderful first day visiting Lima, Peru!! Our group is from all across the US. Everyone is celebrating discovering a new country together!I was captivated by all the beautiful flowers! Lima is on the Pacific coast of Peru. Our travel guide made of point of saying that flowers never die, because the climate is perfect for plants to thrive!I enjoyed seeing all the vibrant colors and the delicate designs in the flowers!This is a bit busy, but I really enjoyed seeing so many different colors of bougainvilleas!!Everything seems to grow well in Lima!!I thoroughly enjoyed all the colors of flowers!!This blue flower was one of my favorites!!The details in this flower amazed me!!The cycle of life was an important theme in the “Museo Larco” museum.Christianity was important in the history of Peru!!The value of the cycle of life was emphasized in many ways and important for fertility and prosperous food supply.I loved the delicate detail with the bougainvillea!!This guy must have been important. He was created multiple times and you can see him increase in age as the later sculptures were made!!The range of items in the museum was impressive!!I liked this wooden sculpture!!We saw a large amount of pottery. I was amazed at all the shapes and sizes!!I really enjoyed seeing this piece!! I was impressed with the realistic design.This was my favorite piece in the museum!! It emphasized the amount of gold (and silver) found in Peru!! It is huge!Found is also a highlight of our tour!! The organization makes a point of using the best restaurants and we enjoy many of the classical foods in Peru!! We definitely never go hungry!!
Today we visited Multnomah Falls!! I have seen photos of this waterfall for years and years and finally we had a chance to see it!! It is just outside of Portland and is the most visited tourist attraction in all of Oregon. It is truly a spectacular waterfall!!We started earlier in the day visiting the Western Antique Aeroplane and Automobile Museum. This was a superb museum that had a huge number of vintage airplanes and cars. It was quite impressive.I was particularly impressed with the number of vintage cars they had on display.I loved this impressive car. It made me want to ride in the back seat!This is a classic Ford!!After seeing the airplanes and car museum, we drove the short distance to Multnomah Falls. This was such an impressive waterfall!!I loved everything about the force and beauty of Multnomah Falls!
Near Bend, Oregon is an interesting place called Lava Lands. It reminds me of growing up in Flagstaff, Arizona. There is lava rock and Ponderosa Pine trees. It is a beautiful and interesting place to visit.We were told this “hill” was formed as a vent to the lava under the surface.This lava rock is very, very sharp!!It is interesting to see where the lava stopped flowing and the trees started growing.The lava flow was quite extensive across the valley!I loved seeing the contrasting colors of the lava, plants, trees, and sky!It was a beautiful day to visit Lava Lands!!The bright yellow flowers were interesting!These flowers were vibrant in contrast to the lava rock.We had intermittent rain and bright sunshine.Lava Lands has a rugged landscape.I was impressed by the size of the lava basin!The clouds created interesting shadows on the land.The landscape was amazing!The Ponderosa Pines reminded me so much of Flagstaff!After visiting Lava Lands, we went to the High Desert Museum. I loved the colors of these delicate flowers!I loved the detail with these flowers!I especially enjoyed watching the playful river otters!!I liked this eagle statue!This was especially interesting! It is a stack of quilts that were donated to the museum. What was especially interesting is that each quilt was tagged with the history of the quilt.This car was at the entrance to the museum and I thought it was quite entertaining!!I loved the colors of these berries near the entrance to the museum.
We went to Crater Lake today!! When we arrived, it was a “white out” snow storm on August 23rd!! Later the storm cleared and we were able to see the whole lake!! It was a beautiful experience!!When we first arrived, we were greeted by a huge snow storm!! In the distance is supposed to be Crater Lake, but it was completely hidden by the snow!!The snow was really coming down!! The lake was completely hidden by the storm!!Charlene was almost hidden by the storm!!We kept trying to see the lake, but everywhere we looked there was more snow!!Most of the trees were hidden by the storm too!!There was no one sitting outside the lodge!!I went into the lodge and found this photo above the fireplace. I thought this might be the only view of Crater Lake that we may see.However, the clouds started to lift a bit and we could see across Crater Lake!! We were cheering that we could actually see the lake after our long drive!!We were so excited to see the deep blue waters of Crater Lake!!It was so fun to see the mist, snow, and clouds all around Crater Lake!!The snow next to the lodge was amazing!! This is August!!We had boarded our bus to leave, when suddenly people started shouting that the clouds had lifted further and we had a great view of Crater Lake!! The bus driver found a place to pull over and we ran to the edge of the lake!! What a beautiful view!!The deep blue waters were amazing along with the storm clouds!!I loved all the colors we could enjoy!!Crater Lake is simply amazing!!My friend Connie took a panorama photo using her cellular phone and inadvertently included me in her photo!!
Here is an absolutely wonderful group of people to travel with!!This is the base of the “Big Tree!!” It is absolutely huge!!This is the upper portion of the “Big Tree.” I cannot see the top of the tree while standing near the tree base. It is absolutely huge!!It is 286 feet high!!It is so peaceful to walk in a redwood forest. It is especially soothing!!The size of these redwood trees is amazing!!The trees are massive compared to the size of an adult!!Walks among the trees are peaceful and relaxing!!Everywhere you look there are massively huge trees!!Moss grows everywhere on the trees!!The bright green color of the ferns is refreshing!!
These redwoods are huge!! Standing in front of a large burned section show that the remainder of the tree is alive!!We drove down into northern California (near Eureka) and visited Humboldt Redwoods State Park!! This is a beautiful forest of coastal redwoods!!The coastal redwoods are taller than the redwoods near Yosemite!Our tour director (Susan) and I could barely reach the diameter of these trees!!The deep texture of the wood and bark is amazing!!The trees as so tall, I had trouble capturing their height with my camera’s wide angle lens!!I enjoyed looking at the deep bark with moss growing all over the trees!!This is more of a close-up photo of the mass growing on the trees!!This amazing root system looked like a roaring fire to me!!The texture of the trees was so interesting!!The ferns grew everywhere along with the redwoods!!Susan was dwarfed by the size of the root system!!The depth of the ridges in the bark was impressive!!The texture of the cracks and ridges in the bark was interesting!!The light making it through the redwood canopy created a spotlight on these leaves growing on a fallen redwood!!
Ferns and moss grew everywhere at the base of the redwoods!!The root systems of the fallen redwoods were so interesting to examine!!The bright green moss growing on this fallen tree was interesting!!After leaving Humboldt Redwoods State Park, we went to the zoo in Eureka. This curious black bear was fun to watch as he played in his enclosure!!He seemed to be giving us a curious stare!!The javelina were active in their enclosure too!!The zoo had a walkway that was high in their redwoods. Walking across provided a top-down view of a tree!! This was the most interesting perspective of a tree!!This “knob” of the redwood was interesting. That can be used to make beautiful bowls and furniture!!This owl was a treasure of the zoo!! He only had one eye. He seemed content to let a group of people study him!!
These jet boats were very fast and very fun to ride in!!Just as we started riding in our boat, we were greeted by these amazing seals!!We liked watching them and they seemed to like watching us!!We crossed under this beautiful bridge!!This beautiful bald eagle was the first I have seen in Oregon!! Very spectacular!!There was amazing wildlife all along the river!!This black tailed deer was curious about us as we went by!!High in this tree is an eagle nest!!Look carefully and there is a cute turtle sunning himself on the river rock!!Here is another turtle nearby!!The scenery along the river was beautiful!!I loved all the different colors along the river!!These jet boats cruise quickly over shallow and deep water!!The jet boat drivers enjoy stopping quickly so that everyone is sprayed with water!!This older harbor seal does not move too much anymore. Our boat driver says he spends most of his days sitting on this rock.After our jet boat ride, we stopped along the road to see this amazing tunnel is southern Oregon!!
