Greetings from the shore of Lake Titicaca. Up this morning at 7 am with a massive headache. My sinuses are completely blocked and my head was pounding. Had a quick breakfast and then we went right across the street to the monastery of Santo Domingo. It was actually kind of interesting, its built on top of an Incan temple complex, and there are a few nice stones and arches. After that we walked along the backstreets to the Plaza de Armas (main square) looking at some more Inca stonework. After that, I went back to the hotel and a bunch of [View Full Entry]

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This morning we had free time. Some people went back to Machu Picchu, some went hiking and some went shopping. I slept in. I haven't gotten a full 8 hours on this trip and it's not making me happy. After breakfast, I went walking along the river across from our hotel and took a bunch of pictures of the pretty flowers there. The group met up for lunch, which was a cream of vegetable soup and stir fry chicken with potatoes and rice. The stir fry was good and I liked the sauce better than the Thai sauce of last night's [View Full Entry]

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This is just going to be a short note, since I only have 1/2 hour before we leave for dinner and I haven´t been to my room yet. Actually, I have no clue where my room is, this hotel is really confusing! Train ride back up from Machu Picchu was nice, we actually got a fashion show by the train crew. Tonight we go to a restaurant where we can watch some folk dancing. I´ll have some free time tomorrow, so hopefully I´ll be able to do more then. [View Full Entry]

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Greetings from Aquas Calientes. Technical, that means hot waters, but it´s also slang for fire water, aka booze.... One set back this morning. We had a pair of sisters traveling with us and one of them did not adjust well to the altitude change, so they have left us and gone back to Lima. Odd thing about our hotel. There were no clocks in the room. It just seems strange to me, I guess I´ve gotten spoiled. Oh, and they had curry chicken for breakfast. That struck me as odd.... Left the hotel at 8 am and headed back to the [View Full Entry]

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First half of the day was getting to Cusco (also spelled Cuzco). Up at 5:30, on the bus for trip to the airport at 7:00. Check in went pretty smoothly, Mauricio was able to print out most of our boarding passes and security was fine. One thing about this trip that I've forgotten to mention that is a bit annoying is that we have to hand our passports in at every hotel. So, Mauricio has had my passport almost as much as I have. Flight to Cusco was good, only 53 minutes. But I 've got to tell you, coming over [View Full Entry]

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Well, my brain seems not to be working this trip, but more on that later... After I logged off last night, I went for a walk on the beach with some of the other ladies on the tour. Watched the sunset behind the cliffs of the bay and watched the hotel men take a couple of sailboats out of the water. Dinner was a buffet for the appetizers and dessert, but we had to pick our entree. Well, it was a little difficult because the menu was in Spanish. But Mauricio translated and I had a yummy chicken breast over risotto [View Full Entry]

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Happy Sunday. One thing I always find hard to remember when traveling is what day of the week it is. But today is Sunday, and that was probably why there was not that much traffic on the Pan-American Highway. Dinner last night was a set menu, appetizer was called la causa, which if you know Spanish means the cause. It is called that because it was an easy dish to serve to the soldiers during the Peru/Chile war. It´s a layer of chicken between two layers of mashed potato. It was pretty good. The main course was similar to teriyaki. It [View Full Entry]

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I apologize if I stop capitalizing things, but the shift key on this keyboard is in an odd spot and I may get lazy. in addition, the at symbol is a bit finicky, so i´m posting my e-mail here so i can re-access it if i need to.... mindysr4@hotmail.com Now on to the fun stuff. Driving around a city is always disorienting for me, since i have no point of reference to figure out were we are. But, apparently, lima is a pretty narrow strip between the pacific and the foothills of the andean mountains. Our first stop was not on [View Full Entry]

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Hi, I only have a few minutes before we leave on the city, tour, but I wanted to stop in and let everyone know I made it okay. Flight was good, even if I did get stuck in a middle seat. And both people on my sides slept through a lot of the flight. We had a long wait at the airport waiting for the final passengers, and one person´s luggage didn´t make it. We are 31 in this group, a bit bigger than I´m used to in Globus tour, but not bad, that means a big bus for most of [View Full Entry]

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So, this morning I decide to charge my iPod before the long day at the airport and guess what? I have my cable, but forgot the adapter.... sigh..... Hopefully I'll be able to pick up another at the airport today. Double checked everything else and that seems to be the only major thing I forgot, so if that's the biggest hiccup of the trip, I think I'll be happy. [View Full Entry]

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