Do all good things have to come to an end?

This was the best trip we have ever had. I know I have said that before, but this trip was wonderful.

We found Chile very clean, organized and a bit more expensive than we planned. We would go back to see the south, but we will have to save for a long time. We need Antarctica to complete our list of continents, so we do plan to return.

We absolutely loved San Pedro de Atacama and recommend it to all.

We spent much of our Peru time in around Cusco. The altitude and stairs were a challenge, but we got used to it and are in better shape for it. We would love to go back and see more of Peru.

And then there was the jungle. This was just a small taste of what there is to see and we want to see more. More, more, more! More Peru, more jungle, more travel!

The new travel equipment has been broken in and needs to continue to see the world. We took with us a new Nikon D40 camera with 18-55 and 55-200 lenses. We managed the blog using an Acer 10" netbook. At just over 2 lbs it was easy to carry and transfering pictures was no problem. The only restriction was internet availability and speed. The new travel game we took with us was Bananagrams which is a type of scrabble game in a zippered banana pouch. We tucked everything into our new MEC Pangea 60 and 75 travel packs with detachable daypacks. We're ready for the next adventure.

Lima

We spent our last couple of days in Lima. Right away I felt uncomfortable there. We went for a walk on the first night and noticed a lack of lighting, dust, construction, crowds and the worst traffic yet. The next day we walked to the market and took two pictures. I could not see anything with my right eye at this point so we walked back to the hotel, got in a cab and went to a clinic where I was diagnosed with a detatched retina and told to return home for immediate surgery. For the next 24 hours I was flat on my back until we could get on our plane back home. Don't think I gave Lima a chance and we may go back someday to give it another try.

Sacred Valley

The Sacred Valley of the Incas is 15k north of Cusco as the condor flies or 33k by paved winding road. The valley stretches from Pisac to Machu Picchu and is the best maize growing area in Peru.

For most of the week, colonial Pisac is a quiet, rural Andean village, but on Sunday the famous weekly market takes over.


Furthur along the valley is the town of Ollantaytambo safeguarded by a massive Inca fortress above with temples, hillside farming terraces and walls. The ruins mark one of the few places where Spanish conquistadors lost a major battle. Pizzarro's men were showered with arrows, spears and boulders from atop the steep terracing and were unable to climb the fortress. We can certainly understand that! We hiked/struggled to the top with no arrows or spears in sight.



Known to the Inca as the birthplace of the rainbow, the typical Andean village of Chinchero is at an elevation 400m higher than Cuzco. We were here to see weavers. These people still use pre-Columbian methods including dying.

Fascinating weaving demo, but I found something more interesting to take pictures of. I found a castillos de cuyes or minature castle inhabited by guinea pigs. It's very difficult for me to pass up a good animal picture.

Museums and Incan sites

I'm back with only one useful eye on the screen. We will need to go back into the recent past to finish our story, so I am making use of Mr Peabody's "Way Back Machine" to take us to August 1.

August 1 was the first day on the Incan calendar and the beginning of their earth month. It was also the day I began to lose vision in my right eye.

We began our first day back in Cusco, after our jungle adventure, by visiting the Museo Inka just off the Plaza de Armas. The museum rests on Incan foundations as does every church in town. The sunny courtyard is full of Andean weavers and inside the museum is the finest Incan collection in Cusco. The mummies are worth a trip to this museum.

In the afternoon we went on a city tour to Sacsaywaman (sounds like sexy woman)
This huge site is located 2km from town. In 1536 this was the area of the most bitter battles of the Spanish conquest.

We toured La Catedral, Cusco's oldest church filled from top to bottom with gold leaf and colonial art, especially works from the Cusco school of painting which combines 17th century European devotional painting style with motifs and customs of the Andean indigenous painter. One striking example is the painting of the Last Supper with a roasted cuy (guinea pig) laying on the table.


Next stop was Qoricancha, which is a colonial church and convent of Santo Domingo built on an Incan base. Then on to Tambomachay, Bath of the Inca, with stone baths and fountains.

As the sun set we visited Pucapucara, the Red Fort, with its red earth walls. We thought a city bus tour would be an easy day activity. Ha! More climbing and even more climbing until after the sun went down.

Still more to come

We do have more pictures to post and more to report,but ran into a snag. I was diagnosed with a retinal detatchment while in Lima. Thinking it may have been all the hills, steps and Inca structures. The Lima doctor says I need immediate surgery and I can only see out of one eye, so the blog will be taking a snooze until I can see again.
Stay tuned.

Back to Cusco

Someone in our tour group heard that it was snowing in Cusco, but when we arrived back we found that the temperature had gone up and the street vendors were selling more sunglasses than hats and gloves. The little sheep held by the kids were sporting knitted hats.

One really cute little girl approached us with her alpaca named Oso. I took a picture of her, Dave and Oso and then she asked if she could take a picture of us.

Jungle Fishing

We took it a little easier on day 3 and went by boat out fishing with a stick, line and hook. We went upstream about an hour and then went into a tributary. Dave caught the biggest, smallest, first and the last fish. Not big enough to feed anyone so the guide threw the catfish back in.

One of the best parts of all the tours was that we tried to be as quiet as possible to be able to hear the jungle sounds. The return trip down the tributary was without a motor.

In the afternoon we walked about half an hour to a pond to feed caimens and after supper we went on an hour long night hike where we saw a big tarantula and many other types of insects.

Loonnnggg hike on Day 2

We took a boat up the river for an hour and then into the bush for our 7 hour hike! The guide pointed out and named trees, plants, frogs and insects for us.

The picture of the guide and one single tree is the Justice Tree. It is full of red ants and the natives would tie someone in need of justice to the tree for the night and see if they are alive in the morning. We saw caterpillars that move together as if they were one and the guide teased a tarantella out of a hole for us.

We paddled a canoe along a channel and saw caimans, turtles, vultures, and hawks. Dave asked what kind of turtles they were and the guide told us they were Water Turtles. Hmmm, I think that may have been a little too simplistic.

In the boat and on the way back to the lodge and the boat lost its prop. So here we sat. No way of propelling the boat, no radio, no paddles, and the sun beating down on us. A local boat came along finally, lent the boatman a new prop and off we went to have lunch. In the afternoon we went on an hour hike to see medicinal plants. We were the only ones from our group of 12 that could muster the strength for a second tour that day.

Haven't you always wanted a monkey?

We were taken by boat over to Monkey Island. Expecting to see monkeys in the canopy we brought binoculars, but they came a little closer than that. The hour and a half hike was just easing us into the many hikes we would take in the coming days. Monkey Island is home to Black Spider Monkeys, Capuchin Monkeys, Tamarins, and Squirrel Monkeys and we saw them all up close.

In the evening we went out to look for caimans. We sat in a boat as we glided along the shore as the guide shone a light pointing out the caimans. We spotted 11 and not just eyes, we saw the full animal! Very interesting excursion.
Off to our bungalows to fall asleep to insects and wake up to bird sounds. Best sleep we’ve had yet!

Into the jungle we go

When we arrived at the terminal in Puerto Maldonado we immediately shed a lot of clothes. It was 30 degrees and we came from near winter weather. The town has motorcycles/motocabs everywhere. We were transferred to the river and on to a boat for an hour ride down the Madre de Dios River to our new home EcoAmazonia Lodge in the Amazon Rainforest of Peru. We saw many gold mining dredging operations on the river.

The lodge is located in the middle of 10,000 hectares (25,000 acres) of ecological reserve known as The Tambopata. The buildings are all made from local materials and fully enmeshed with insect nets. We didn't have to worry too much about insects and got bitten when we sent into the jungle.

Our bungalow was open to the outside and we could see the stars through the mesh. Being an eco lodge we had hoped to see solar power, but generators powered the place. When the generators went off at 10pm all we could hear was jungle bug noises and with no lighting at night we saw a beautiful night sky.

The approach to the lodge was a difficult set of stairs that were in the process of being washed away. Took quite a lot of energy just to climb them, but once at the top it all became worth it. The lodge was made up of a series on raised walkways connecting the bar/dining room, reception area, hammock area and the pool. In the middle were some trees full of hanging bird nests complete with birds. They said the birds were called weaver birds. They were black and yellow and hard to take a picture of. The other birds in this area were parrots and a couple of others that I will have to ask my bird expert to identify.

Machu Picchu

0630 to Machu Picchu. The rain had finished and the sky was blue so we headed to the bus to take us up the mountain. It took 30 min on a switch back road. The place looks just like the pictures! We were glad we stayed overnight so we could beat the crowds when the train arrived at 10:00am. We climbed a steep hill to one of the higher points where the llamas were grazing and we watched as the trekkers descended from the Sun Gate down to the ruins. The sun was hot even at that time of day and we decided to take our coats to the checked luggage area to get rid of them. Sure glad we did and we felt really sorry for the people who climbed around the ruins in the 30+ degree temperature in their winter boots and coats. This is not an easy place to get around.Again I felt like a mountain goat climbing over rocks. It was amazing to see how the mist came up the mountian early in the morning and the colours changed as the day progressed. When we found the "Hitching Post of the Sun" stone I made Dave put his damaged hand on it to get full advantage of the energy to help with his healing. I don't think he is a believer, but I figure I will use anything I can find to help.

It’s not noted anywhere I could see, but after watching what others did we found out that you could get a Machu Picchu stamp in our passports. At about 1pm we lined up for the return bus trip down the hill, walked to the hostal to pick up our left luggage, to the train station for our 3:25pm departure back to Cusco. The return trip seemed much longer and we arrived in Cusco at 7:00pm. On board we had a small meal, a cultural dance demonstration and an alpaca fashion show.

We caught the 30min bus back to town and checked into the same hostal, Casa de Campo, but we were put in a lower room with only half as many stairs. It was a much nicer room. I guess we are now regulars. We had left our excess luggage with them and have done the same again for our flight to Puerto Maldonaldo and the Manu jungle.

On our way to Machu Picchu

It was a 530am start to begin our way to Machu Picchu. We took about a 30 min bus ride to the station and found our seats in the Peru Rail Vistadome car with meal service and lap blankets. We watched as the trekkers started their hike at one of the train stops. It was a 3 hr trip to Aguas Calientes also called Pueblo Machu Picchu where we took a room at a hostal for the night. We are going up the mountain tomorrow. It is a good thing I brought a rain coat and Dave decided to buy one in Cusco because it is pouring rain here. We have a super room with 2 walls of windows that overlook the river and the greenery of a mountain. The sound of the rushing water was very soothing and we had a super sleep

The little town is built on two sides of a river with a main street on either side. There are no motorized vehicles and the stone pathways are well built. The paths are lined with wonderful restaurants. We had breakfast at one that came with a cat, a little girl in a walker who was celebrating her birthday and lots of cute children