I bought this poncho today!! I was not planning to buy anything, but it is so incredibly soft from the baby alpacas that I could not resist the purchase.Within Cusco, we first visited a large Inca ruin site, right in the middle of Cusco!! It was amazing to see the craftmanship of the ruins.We were amazed to see how precisely the stones were cut as the walls were built. The elevation of this was was 11,800 feet above sea level. Walking up and down the steps made me become short of breath very quickly!!It was incredible to see the width of the stones through the door openings!!The stones were huge!!I was impressed with the detail of the rocks as the wall was constructed!How tour guide brought us to this section of the wall to emphasize the enormous weight of the cut rocks!!I have no idea how they cut the stones into such weird shapes and fit everything together!!The Incas designed this waterspout to all water to drain from the upper level!!This statue of Jesus overlooking Cusco mimics the famous statue in Brazil.We kept walking and walking and the wall just seemed to go on and on.The name of this Inca ruin is “Saqsaywaman.” The Peruvians who know English call it “sexy woman.”This is a long-haired llama and he loved seeing us!!These long-haired llamas were fun to see!!This short-haired llama was showing his teeth and wanting something to eat!!I thought this fuzzy alpaca was especially cute!!This guy was quite inquisitive!!This long necked llama was shaggy, but very soft!!This long-haired llama was amazing. The tour guide said he looked like he had dreadlocks. This dog is an actual “hairless” dog. She was quite friendly!!This alpaca was incredibly soft!!They seemed to see fine through their shaggy hair.I thought this guy was very cute!!I was impressed with all the colors of the llamas!!This alpaca was so soft!!This llama was checking everyone out!!This llama had such different colored hair!!He looks shaggy, but his hair is so incredibly soft!!This llama was short-haired!!This was a Peruvian deer that liked to get into mischief and eat the flowers.These women were taking the hair and making different articles.I thought the weaving design was beautiful!The type and color of hat indicates where the ladies are from in Peru.My new poncho is reversible!!We next went to another Inca site within Cusco. I was so impressed with their building precision!! This is looking through a window in a wall and it shows how a series of windows were lined up perfectly!!The doorways had the same trapezoidal design that we saw at Machu Picchu.Over the Inca site, the Spanish built this convent. The straight lines were built by the Incas and the arches were built by the Spanish.This is a view from the convent out over Cusco. In the distance you can see “Viva el Peru”
Today was a very fun day!! We drove to Chinchero and watched a demonstration about how these rural women took raw alpaca, lamb, and vicuna wool, died the wool, and then created hand-made items for sale. These women were incredibly talented!! I came very close to buying this poncho!!This is a menu at a restaurant across the street from our hotel. They are advertising the foods available on the menu. Cuy is guinea pig, ceviche is the raw fish in lime juice and spices, gallina is a Peruvian chicken stew, and anticucho is a popular Peruvian meat dish usually made from beef heart. It was certainly fascinating!!This is a statue of Pachacuti. He was the first historical emperor of the Incas. He is highly regarded by the Peruvian people.We ate lunch today in Chinchero. It is high in the Andes at 12,450 feet above sea level!! The air was so thin that one of our travel mates needed to receive oxygen. They served us a wonderful series of foods. This photo is of a fantastic potato soup with a variety of vegetables and spices.On the table was a basket of things we thought was a decoration assortment of rocks. It turns out that these were corn nuts that were dried and baked to make them nice and crunchy. They were great!!This food was a shock! Next, the woman carried in a plate of cooked guinea pig!! Everyone was shocked!! A few minutes after this photo was taken, she served a series of pieces of guinea pig meat. I did not think I would eat it, but once it was sitting in front of us, most everyone picked it up and tried it. The skin was tough, but the meat tasted like pork. I would probably never order it, but a taste seemed not too bad to try.We enjoyed looking at all the products these women created. From ponchos, to bedspreads, to table clothes, these ladies had made some fantastic products!! My favorite aspect was all the colors!!They provided a demonstration of how they began with raw wool, cleaned it, and started to create thread.It was interesting to watch how quickly their fingers moved to get ready to weave the wool.This massive bedspread was the work of 10 different women each making a panel and then weaving all the panels together. It required several months to create it!!My favorite part of the demonstration was how the dying process worked. The showed different plant parts and insects (in the baskets on top of the table) that were crushed, placed in boiling water and then the wool was placed in the mixture. We were shown different product that created the various colors. My favorites with the blues and purples. It was fascinating to watch!!
Today I checked-off a major bucket list item!! After decades and decades, I was finally able to visit Machu Picchu! It was wonderful to see. We had the son breaking through the clouds when we first arrived, and later it started raining as we walked throughout the ruins.
Machu Picchu is very famous and is know to be one of the seven wonders of the world!! It is also a UNESCO world heritage site. It was built by the Incas and was never discovered by the Spanish when the colonized Peru.
The Andes are very steep mountains. All around Machu Picchu there are these impressive mountains. Machu Picchu is located where the sun rises during the summer and winter solstices. There were impressive buildings all over Machu Picchu. These ruins may be largest in the entire world. The Inca trail is longer than the great wall of China.It is amazing to me that these structures are still standing and in such great shape.It has been great for John and I to have connected and enjoyed such a fabulous trip together after being roommates 49 years ago.It was so beautiful to see the sun break through the clouds and shine directly on Machu Picchu while the other areas were still in shadows.It is jaw-dropping to see how huge the ruins are!!Everyone loves to have their photo taken with the ruins in the background!! This lady was arranging her hand to appear above one of the nearby mountains.I love the Peruvian colors!!These woman were great modeling before the ruins!!I could not get over how closely and carefully the stones were cut!!These walls pointed toward the east. On the other side of the mountains in the distance in the Amazon!The craftsmanship of the cut stones was so impressive!!The Andes are the longest mountain range in the world!! This massive terrace section was overwhelming! I enabled crops to grow on the steep slopes!!All the walls, buildings, and doors just kept going and going!!The doorways were designed to be trapezoids by the Incas because it made them more stable against earthquakes!!This is a famous section of Machu Picchu! This structure was designed for worshiping the “son god.” During the summer and winter solstices, the sun shines directly through two of these windows. It was very impressive engineering to be constructed so long ago by the Incas!!I absolutely loved walking through all the buildings in Machu Picchu!!This appears to be the largest home in Machu Picchu. Since it is the largest, it is probably where the king lived.The beautiful flower is called an Angel Trumpet. The grow all around Machu Picchu.This is the western side of Machu Picchu. I am simply amazed by its size and complexity!!The section shows where the base of Machu Picchu was unstable and a section of the wall has shifted. The Peruvian government has stabilized this section to prevent further damage.These lamas live in Machu Picchu. They largely ignore the visitors and enjoy the beauty and grazing in their home.Lamas and people share and enjoy the same trails throughout the ruins!!It was almost a celebration to walk through Machu Picchu in the drizzling rain. It created a special feeling and reverence.I enjoyed the deep greenery throughout the ruins!!There seemed to be large terraces in every direction!!The construction and design was amazing!!The walls were thick to withstand earthquakes!!This lama peeking his head above the ridge seemed interested watching me walk by.This mountain in the background is actually called Machu Picchu mountain!!
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!!
Fiesta on Wheels 