"..on the road again..." I can hear Willie´s twang in my head as I drive up the mountain and over tabletop fields of corn and potatoes. I am in an old car with a driver who knows all the back roads. We nearly get stuck in mud twice, but his zippy sense of direction cuts off a few kilometres I suspect. With great sadness I left Ollantaytambo and headed for the Inca site, Moray. I left the rain in the mountains for the first part of the day. We drove past Urubamba and turned right, over the river and up the mountain. Once we hit the tableland the sky was a perfect blue with cumulus clouds signaling rain sometime that day. The open sky was a nice change from the mountains; don´t get me wrong, I ... read more

There was a cold rain this morning and that meant coming to Internet Cafe to wait for sunshine. I see it now, but the trails are probably still soaking. Best use of time is to upload last photos of village before I take my leave and return to Cusco. I suppose I should pay to see the official Inca ruins in Ollantaytambo this afternoon. Shame to spend all this time here and not do that T-shirt moment.... read more

I lost my watch along the way and really do not need it here. I´m not sure what day of the week it is, and I view this as a good thing. Life is slow here, for those of us who visit. Today I wore a hat and long sleeves to protect my sunburned skin, and walked to nearby village. This series of photos will show some of my day. I get up and shower and enjoy the view. Then I step out to the street and walk around the corner to the restaurant. Typically I get the Continental de la Casa breakfast and chose cocoa tea (thirty leaves or so in hot water), three toppings on an omelette and some type of fresh fruit juice. Then I walk up the street to get laundry or ... read more

It is days later, and whenever I meet travelers we continue to share stories of our impressions of Machu Picchu. A lady from Argentina sat at my breakfast table and with her few words of English and my fewer words of Spanish we managed to commune about visiting this world wonder. She had read about it and been there when she was a child, but this time, she was moved to tears when she got up there. I met some people from Austria and they were going tomorrow. Everyone admits that you haven´t visited Peru unless you make that pilgrimage up to MachuPicchu. This series of photos are of the settlement. The rain that came near the end of my tour sent most of us under thatched rooves. When it eased I worked my way back ... read more

I am typing this blog from the Internet Cafe overlooking the main plaza with the fast computers, not the posh one with good lattes and leather furniture and too slow computers. (see photo for view) Using the internet is much like checking into this tourist town. Buyer beware. The town was created solely to service the tourists going to Machu Picchu. By the sounds of construction outside at the moment, tourism must be booming. Before leaving Canada I had booked a hotel here in the Machu Picchu town. I searched the hotel-bookers site for a clean room with reasonable rate. A couple of days before arriving, I sent an email to request for pickup at the train station and received a cheerful reassurance that my name would be on a sign held by taxi-driver. I took ... read more