Morgan Mare

Machu Picchu, the lost city of the Inca's, was not really lost. There was a family living there when a boy led Hiram Bingham to the site in 1911. However it was Hiram who announced the site to the world and who was responsible for clearing much of the site which over the centuries nature had claimed back for itself. The extraordinary beauty with the impressive heritage of human accomplishment in a challenging location. The ruins are situated on the eastern slope of Machu Picchu (Machu Picchu means old mountain) in two separate areas -- agriculture and urban. The latter includes civil sector ( dwellings and canalizations) and the sacred sector (temples, mauoleums, squares and royal houses). Our journey to Machu Picchu was done on board the Hirma Bingham train. In itself traveling on this train ... read more

Cusco was the capital of the Inca Empire and the oldest continously inhabited city in the Americas. It was founded in the 1200's and amazed the Spanish with its spendor when they arrived in 1535. We took the plane from Lima to Cusco and the sudden 11,000+ change in altitude had us dragging on the day of our arrival but with each passing day our energy level increased as we got use to the thinner air. The city was built upon Inca foundations in the Spanish baroque style with terra-cotta roofs and cobblestone streets. The city has magnificant repositories of colonial art such as the main catheredral (begun in 1559) and La Merced Church ( all statues we saw of the Virgin Mary pose her in the shape of a mountain). the Coricancha ruins which were ... read more

Manta is the primary a sea port and the depature point for the Galapos by sea. We were informed while touring the city that Ecuador is actually the orginal home for the Pananma Hat. It takes about 6 months for a person to make one. They received the Panama Hat name when the Gringos arrived to build the Panama Canal. Our tour also included a stop at a Tagua factory. The Tagua nut is from a palm tree found in the rain forests. It was orginally used to make buttons since the nut looks like ivory plus it can be dyed. Now they are used to make small sculptures. We aalso stopped at a factory that made bags that were used to ship coffee beans for export. Guayaquil, is larger than Manta, with obvious evidence of ... read more

Willemstad, Curacao January 9, 2012 On our cruise to Lima Peru, our first stop was Willemstad in Curacao, a former Dutch colony. Since our only opportunity to go snorkling was in Curacao and our next stop in Aruba, this is what we did. At one of the beaches we stopped at there was an old abandoned fort. Curacao is very close to South America and therefore required defences against both the Spanish and pirates. The accompanying pictures are from the abandoned fort.... read more

In medival times Visby on the island of Gotland was a major power. A good portion of the walls and towers as seen in the accompanying pictues continue to stand. Mare and I were up early and took the shuttle to town before our tour was to begin. Normally mu=ysense of direction is excellent which can lead to some tense moments when we finally realise that we are lost. Needless to say we saw a lot of Visby that was not on our guided tour.... read more