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Village weaver- Sacred Valley Textile vendor- Olantaytambo June 28 th      My planned alarm wasn’t required as noisy trekkers departing for the Inca trail made enough racket to wake everyone by 6:30am. An early breakfast allowed us ample opportunity to explore the town centre. Our 9:30 ride back to Cuzco arrived promptly at 10:50am. The driver was stuck on the road for over an hour due to a blockade of the road by striking teachers. If we had known that sooner we could have used our time to visit the Inca fortress above the town. At least we managed to take some photos from outside of the terraced platforms and outbuildings.  The extra time also afforded a chance to review optional tours on Friday with our guide Luis.   The route back to Cuzco was a shortcut avoiding much of yesterday’s route. It did provide a spectacular view of the Urubamba mountain range and its glaciers. The snow capped peaks stretch almost all the way from the town of the same name to ...

June 27 th 9pm With one week of our trip completed, tonight’s hotel is the Munay Tika (which means lots of ticks- kidding!)- it actually means “ Jungle Flower”. It is situated along the river in the town of Ollantaytambo, some 90 minutes drive from Cuzco.   Our journey this morning began at 9:30 with a brisk 3 block uphill walk to meet our bus (the street being too narrow to handle anything bigger than a car. With luggage stowed we travelled to the hills above the city stopping at a silver jewelry and wool factory to get “fleeced” of some of our Soles ( So-lays), the local currency. Some of our group were a little inattentive at the orientation and forgot to bring overnight gear (( they thought it was a day trip) so they, the tour guide and bus had to return to the hotel for extra clothing etc.   After a somewhat delayed re-start we set off through some smaller valleys before heading towards an area known as the Sacred Valley, officially known as the Rio Urubamba Valley. It...

June 26 th 10am Yesterday was a relatively lazy day. In the morning a tour of the Iglesia de Santo Domingo and the Qorikancha. The latter was an Inca ceremonial area, known as the Golden Courtyard, which consisted of multiple temples with walls covered in gold sheets. Various religious rites took place within its walls. The walls themselves were built of interlocking blocks, designed and built without mortar in such a way that earthquakes had no impact on their structural integrity.  When the Spanish arrived they plundered the gold and silver within the temples and destroyed much of the courtyard, re-using much of the blocks to build their own ceremonial structure on the ruins of the Inca temple. Ironically the Church sustained almost total destruction in the major earthquakes, of 1650 and 1950 as well as serious damage in the quake of ’84. The Inca walls however, remained unmoved.   After a fast lunch of quinoa soup (Peruvians make really great soups) and grilled trout/chick...

10:30pm Sunday.   A long and tiring day is behind us. We arrived at the main square just before 9am, in time to get a good seat (we actually stood) for the Inti Raymi festivities. Held annually on the 24th of June,as a celebration of the Winter equinox it has become more of a tourist attraction with some loss of its original religious overtones.     Like everything else around here the 9am performance commenced promptly at 10:20am. For an hour and a half we watched a series of costumed dancers parading through the square, interspersed with speeches, in the local Inca based language from key characters in historic costume. (Sort of like watching an opera without the sur-titles.)   Once that part of the festivities ended we returned to the hotel for a fast break before joining a massed assembly of thousands walking towards the historic site of Saqsaywaman, an Inca settlement and fortress 2km out of town (mostly just ruins) with walls comprised of massive blocks we...

Saturday June 23 rd  Following breakfast we spent some time scaling back our luggage load, leaving a bag of unwanted ( and hopefully they will be unneeded ) items with the hotel, for pickup when we return to Lima on July 8 th .    Another hair-raising taxi ride delivered us to the airport for our flight to Cuzco.  The flight, aboard a smaller ( 98 seat) TACA airlines jet, departed Lima at 11:20 for a 70 minute flight which will be remembered as the most visually stunning flight of my life.  Heading in a roughly easterly direction we broke through the cloud cover around Lima and could immediately see the Andes mountains above the clouds. Within 20 minutes the clouds were almost completely gone and and we passed over the lower mountains, while in the distance, snow capped peaks could be seen. The further we flew the lower the snow belt seemed to reach and the closer we came to some really magnificent peaks.  Even though the flight was just over an hour and co...

Day 2 in Lima was somewhat less crazy than day 1, or perhaps our minds were adjusting to the insanity. After breakfast and a lazy start to the morning we taxi’d across town to the Museo de la Nacion. Located in a massive concrete block of a building, the exhibits traced the route of civilization in Peru from earliest times to the present with displays of pottery, jewelry, paintings and textiles. Separate exhibits displayed artifacts and burial sites from local archeological digs while one described the final revolt of the Inca against Spanish Rule in.   Our next stop on our city circuit was the Plaza Major or Plaza de Armas in the city centre. Stopping in front of the Cathedral, we were directed by two Policia Touristica in the direction of Bario Chino (Chinatown) where 5 dollars will buy you a 3 course meal that will feed 2.   The next stop, the Monasterio de San Fransisco ( dedicated to Francis of Assisi and Francis Solano. kept us busy with a one hour tour of the building a...

Lima, Thursday June 21 st   An 8 am alarm signaled the beginning of the first full day in Lima. The restaurant, located on the 8 th floor of the hotel provided an impressive view of the city as well as the Pacific ocean, less than ½ km away. The sky was overcast and would remain that way throughout the day, the temperature hovering between 16 and 18 degrees.   We spent most of the morning walking along the Malecon, a scenic drive/walkway that followed the cliff top south along the western side of Miraflores.   By way of background, Miraflores is one of the principal districts of Lima, and perhaps its most affluent, with over 70 parks and dozens, or even hundreds of high-rises, office buildings and expensive apartments.    Lima has a population somewhere between 9 and 10 million people, and judging by the traffic, they are constantly on the move, Based on my experiences today, the risk of being run over on a crosswalk is probably the Number One cause of death i...

Peru Blog- June 20 th ,       The first leg of the journey takes us from Toronto to Panama aboard a Copa Airlines B737. Luckily the flight is not overly full so we managed to grab an aisle and a window seat with no-one between us.   Lunch, rather early, at 11am is a beef stew with gallo pinto ( rice and beans) – welcome to Latin America. Scotch, Rum and Red Wine are also on the menu, but we have many hours till our journey ends in Lima tonight, so tomato juice seemed a more sensible option.   Sadly, the in flight movie is “Man on a Ledge”   Bad doesn’t even come close to describing it- the plot is thinner than Campbell’s chicken soup and the acting is as limp as the noodles within. I forgot my I-Pod in the car otherwise I could be watching some really classic drama- South Park- Season Six!!!!!! The landing in Panama is smoother than a drive on the 401 and we spend a less than exciting 3 hours cruising the duty free shops before we board our conne...

With 2 days left before the big trip, a sense of frustration is setting in. Most people go on holiday to relax and de-stress , I seem to do the opposite. Travel in Peru is a little bit sketchy and so back-packs win out over conventional suitcases with roller wheels. While most of my family seems to feel the need for 40 pounds of gear for a one week Mayan Riviera laze around the pool, dragging that much on and off buses and commuter planes is not fun.   Having pre-treated everything for bugs ( Sawyer Insect Repellant) it is now time to see what I can squeeze in and not exceed the self imposed 20 pound limit. Essentials like camera, mini- computer, medications, notebook, travel guide, UV Steri pen ( for decontaminating water) come first, clothing second.  Messing things up royally is the season change for Peru. While it is a balmy ( actually sticky) 27 degrees C here in Ontario, night temps in Cuzco drop to 1 or 2 degrees, so we are, essentially, packing for a winter holiday. ...

June 20th 2012 marks the beginning of a 3 week adventure in Peru. Not only is it my first time in Peru, but also my first time entering the South American Continent, PERIOD. Largely planned from scratch, with a little help from Intrepid Tours on Bloor in Toronto, this sojourn has been long in planning, but somewhat short in preparation.   Why now, when we could be missing some of Canada's finest weather?   The Festival of Inti Raymi marks the celebration of the Winter Equinox and takes place on June 24th in Cuzco (aka Cusco) in South Central Peru. Essentially a one day Party, not unlike other Festivities I have attended in Guatemala and Nicaragua, it provides a chance to see the local population at its Folkloric best, reliving the ancient rituals of their forefathers.  Rolling the Calendar back a couple of days, our flight from Toronto connects in Panama before landing us in Lima somewhat late at night on June 20th. Pre-arranged taxi and hotel arrangements should allow us...