Blogs from Sacred Valley, Cusco, Peru, South America

Family Reunion in Peru During our month in Peru, we were fortunate to travel to all three of Peru’s geographical regions: the Peruvian highlands, the Amazonian jungle, and the coastal region. The first two regions were explored with family, as they were the sites selected for our pre-arranged family reunion. I have compiled all three into one entry, so this post is far too long. My apologies, but I simply did not have time to write a short one. I would suggest just passing on this post, unless you have a lot of patience and interest in Peru, as this is primarily an information based blog. The philosopher returns for the next entry. :) The Peruvian Highlands Our first and most extensive explorations took place during the two weeks we spent around Cusco, Peru, during which ... read more

We were up at 5, suitcases out the door by 5:30, and on the bus to the airport by 6:45 to be on time for the plane to Cuzco that that was then cancelled. Not to fear Raul got us on the next flight and we were in Cuzco before noon. It's all so organized it's impressive. Luggage got loaded on a bus that had our bag lunches and we were on our way to Pisac, a amazing Inca site. Despite drinking Coco tea and lots of water, I felt the altitude as soon as we started walking. Everyone on the trip seemed to experience it differently. I had some shortness of breath and got tired really quickly. But despite that and the rainy weather we got pretty far exploring these ruins, slot of uphill climbing ... read more

The restaurant in Ollantaytambo was gorgeous, - tastefully decorated patio overlooking the beautiful garden by the side of the Vilcanota River. Perfect for a relaxing lunch break! A Mexican couple joined our table and we hit instantly. The gentleman works in New Jersey in the U.S. and commute from Mexico City every weekend. “You fly every week from the Mexico City to New Jersey? No way Man,” I was shaking my head in disbelief! I recall the fiasco we saw in the Mexico City Arrival terminal! Boy oh Boy! I simply said “Wow! You have the mojo”. Flying every week more than 4-5 hours each way and battling the immigration is no joke! We settled in a corner table in the patio and quickly became friends. “Tell me, how the hell do you manage traveling every ... read more

We finished our breakfast and spent some time in the hotel lobby chatting with some local folks who set up their small display of merchandise for sale. I suppose, it is part of the hotel ritual to create the ambience that promotes the Inca culture. In my view, that is great…a multicultural mosaic! We spent some time with the folks. The bus came on time to pick us up from the hotel. It would be a day trip to visit the close by interests; Sacsayhuaman and of course, Pisac and the Sacred Valley in Ollantaytambo. It’s a double deck bus with open top. The day was nice and warm and we chose to sit on the open deck for a 360 view of the beautiful landscape around us. Of course I have another interest to grab ... read more

Along with Dave and Claire we caught a collectivo ( mini bus) to the start of a walk down in the sacred valley. The day started off cool but by the time we were walking the sun was out and the temperature rising. We started off along a fairly flat path winding through the homes of the local people and then the climb began. The scenery was spectacular as we got ever higher. Eventually we came to some salt ponds where the local people extract salt from the ground. We were able to walk amongst them, it was fascinating but looked hard back breaking work. After a quick lunch stop we carried on walking to Maras to get the collectivo back to Cusco. Maras was a sleepy little town away from tourism so quite refreshing. Had ... read more