4 May 2014 Sunday. The driver picked us up at 8 am for the drive back to Ollantaytambo where we would catch the 9:10 Expedition train to Aguas Calientes. Here we took a shuttle bus to the top of the mountain on which Machu Picchu is located. As our tour group from the previous days were split up, we had a guide, Olga, all to ourselves. She took us on the easy route from the food storage buildings at the entrance to the observatory on the other end. We learned the following: The non-royal and non-priestly residents of Machu Picchu were carefully selected based upon their ability to work hard. They worked from age twenty to forty. Olga wasn't to clear about what happened once a worker reached age forty. As the location of Machu Picchu ... read more

2 May 2014 Friday. Lima was ok, but we were really looking forward to traveling through the heart of the Inca Empire, and its capital Cusco. The morning was spent flying from Lima to Cusco. We checked into our hotel with enough time for a light lunch (see picture of Linda with her chicha morala drink...by now her favorite...made of purple corn) before the tour started at 1:30 pm. First a word about tour guides. The information they impart does not seem to come from a common source that all tour guides draw from. Each has his/her own version of "facts" that is often contradicted by subsequent guides. It didn't take long for us to accept the input with a grain of salt...judging for ourselves based upon the evidence presented whether to accept the stories being ... read more

We have been planning to visit South America for quite some time. Years ago Linda's brother visited Machu Picchu and raved about it. As it is the only continent, other than Antarctica, that we have never visited it is about time that we go. As retirees, we have a pretty flexible schedule. We wanted to go when the weather was good (no rain and fog obscuring Machu Picchu) and the tourists few (no crowds and lower prices), which meant May, September or October according to our Travelblog research. We originally targeted mid-Sep to mid-Oct of this year. I mostly use frequent flyer miles for my travels, usually reserving 330 days in advance to ensure the availability of seats using the fewest miles. But last fall I didn't have enough miles for two round trips, so waited ... read more

Back on June 19th I received the following message from : "Hi Bob, I'll be in Beaver Creek for two nights, the 5th and 6th December...hopefully having some snow and skiing all day long the 5th, 6th and 7th December. Will you be far away? Regards, Pierre-Alexandre." Just how he knew he would be in Colorado in December when the two weeks prior to arriving would include Sudan, Dubai, Johannesburg, Hong Kong, Scottsdale, and the Grand Caymans, I'll never know. But never one to miss an opportunity to meet a fellow Travelblogger and fellow Moderator, I responded positively. My friend is not a normal Travelblogger. As indicated by his itinerary above, he is probably the most traveled blogger we have. In a six month period he visited all seven continents, and given that the seventh, Antarctica, ... read more

Our daughter Rosanna and son in law Evan spent their summer holidays with us. Besides visiting the sights in our local area we took an overnight trip to Santa Fe as Evan had never been to the southwest United States. 4 August 2013 Sunday. We hit the road at 8:30 am, with Linda and I, Rosanna and Evan, and our two year old grandson Liam, whose mother Tamara stayed behind as she had a doctors appointment on Monday...besides someone had to feed the pets. We took I-25 and US 160 to get to Great Sand Dunes National Park, arriving by 11:15 am. After a quick stop at the visitor center, we parked near the dunes and hiked across the sand to climb the nearest dune. Linda and I only made it part way. Rosanna and Evan ... read more