Iconic Peru

Today was another very full day. Up at 6:45am, breakfast, and meet in the hotel lobby at 8:00am to start the tour.We took tuk-tuks from our hotel down to the harbour, a bit of a hair-raising experience as there is a lot of traffic. Our small group has a boat to our self for our tour of Lake Titikaka, so it was very comfortable. The lake is huge, so of course we only saw a small bit.Another beautiful sunny day, the weather gods are still smiling on us. The wind is cool though, and the sun is very strong so it's necessary to cover up. Puno bay is very shallow, and filled with reeds. There are lots of birds, and even a few animals. First stop was one of the floating islands or Uros. They are very touristy, but interesting. They showed us how the islands are made, and some of the structures like boats and houses that are also made of reeds. Then we were each invited into a house and encouraged (strongly!) to buy some of the handicrafts. I bought a lovely embroidered piece, not inexp...

Today we had a long drive (almost 400km) from the valley of Cuzco south through the Altiplano to the city of Puno on lake Titicaca. We were up at 6:30am and down for breakfast, finished packing, checked out and on to the bus at 8:00am. Our hotel in Cuzco, the Taypikala is on a very narrow street, so buses can't come to the door. We walk down a 1/2 block to a bigger street, and our luggage is brought down for us. It takes a while to get out of Cuzco, as it is quite spread out. We are taking the Interoceanic highway, which connects Peru, Bolivia and Brazil. The route first takes us along a river valley, and is quite winding.This is an agricultural area, with lots of potato fields and livestock. Andreas points out some corrals on the hillsides. The sheep, llamas etc are put in these at night so the pumas won't attack them as they would if they were spread out. This area is the range of the pumas, but because they are nocturnal, we won't see any. At one point we pass a st...

A free day in Cuzco, but we keep pretty busy! We get to sleep in a little (7am). Nice breakfast at the hotel with lots of fruit including our new favorite granaria. (like a larger sweeter passion-fruit) and an omelet bar. At 9am, Andreas takes a few of us to the Alpaca factory store. They give us a good description of how to tell between the fakes and the real thing, the different grades, and how things are made. The clothing in the store is expensive but beautiful. I fall in love with one of the first sweaters I see and decide to treat myself. Even if I buy nothing else here I'm satisfied. We stroll back towards our hotel, the morning started off cool, but it's warming up now. We stop for a coffee, then back to our hotel to get changed and ready for our cooking class at noon. We are picked up by Melanie our guide for the market part of the tour. Karen and I are joined by a couple from Catalonia, and we walk a few block over to the market. We can\t go into the usual one, t...

What a day! It was wonderful last night to have a good sleep in a comfortable bed. We are up at 5am and have a light breakfast, packing a cheese/tomato/avocado sandwich to go. A few minutes walk down to the Machu Picchu bus stop. There is already a long lineup for the 7am bus, but we have tickets for the 6am bus and just walk on. The bus takes about 1/2 hour up the many switch-backed, steep narrow road. I can't imagine it in the rain. We have a last toilet stop at the gate before we go in. (no toilets at Machu Picchu)A very short line-up to get in. Then as you go through the gate and start climbing up you start to see the amazing views. We take a group photo at one of the view points, then Maren and I head for the Sun Gate while the others go to the Inca bridge. The trail to the Sun Gate is all up, some steps and some stone pavements, not too steep. Quite a few groups coming down from doing the Inca trail. To the Sun Gate it takes about 40 minutes at a good steady pace. I spend...

Last night was much warmer than the first night. Our wakeup isn't till 7:30 but everyone wakes up earlier because it's light by 5am. It's an easy day today, and I'm feeling good. But I play it safe and just have hot chocolate and quinoa porridge for breakfast. The cooks had even baked us a cake! (I tried a little, delicious) Amazing the incredible food with the surroundings. We start out at 9:00am, down the valley. The trail isn't as steep here, and we can all go at the same pace. We stop at an Incan way-station, at at a stream for a break. Reaching the road and our bus by about 11:30am. The bus takes us to a restaurant outside Ollantaytambo rented by G Adventures. There is about an hour to wait for lunch so we relax, and look in the small shop. A great lunch put on by our G cooks for the 3 groups who finished the trek that day. Potato cakes, fried yucca, fried zucchini fritters, rice mixed with veg, chicken, beef skewers.... I know I've missed some other dis...

A very hard day. 5am wakeup with Coca Tea. They bring hot water to the tent as well. It's pretty light by that time. 5:45am breakfast with Quinoa porridge and crepes stuffed with stirfried  vegetables and chicken. We head out about 6:20am. Cool this morning with a breeze. Some clouds on the mountains but looks like a nice day. The "Sexy Llamas" as they have dubbed themselves, are very fast, but I just go slow. We are going up to 4800 meters today. The trail is mainly up, not too steep to start. There often seem to be local women sitting spinning and selling a few goods beside the trail. I mainly walk with the assistant guide Jonathan who is bring up the rear. When a group is over 8 they have 2 guides which is nice. Part way through the day one of the crew insisted on taking my daypack. I felt bad then found out I wasn't the only one. Some very impressive mountain peaks, and we pass lots of Alpaca, llama and sheep. Also lots of dogs. I keep taking lots of short b...