blarthomore

13 July 2012 All the walking and photo taking can wear one out. When last we spoke, dear reader, I was promising more stories and some pictures. Well as this piece unfolds I am hopeful that you will not be disappointed. Thursday morning started off slow and easy. The breakfast at the Luitpold is very good, too good in fact since you want to try everything. It is not what most Americans expect for breakfast, but then this not a hotel that caters to Americans. It comprises a great selection of rolls, several different types of cheese and cheese spreads, 4 or 5 different types of cold cuts, hard boiled eggs, yoghurt, cereal, coffee, tea, and two different types of juice. Once sated it was off to visit a friend of Glenn’s ... read more

I stayed up until 3 AM finishing all the little tasks before finishing the packing. Only the tech suitcase remained and there was a glitch with one of the tools. I had bought a shotgun microphone on Sunday at Adorama, my camera store of first choice in New York. I didn't,t know which one to get so I relied on the normally good advice of the salesperson. I didn't want to spend a lot of money on a mic. The first one I was shown cost $170. Clearly this person didn't understand what I had said about cost. When I suggested some of the less expensive the sales person was unsure so he asked a colleague and was told that it would work. I tried it at home ans it didn't work. I did some additional ... read more

The guide met us in the lobby. We had already checked out and eaten breakfast. Off to the airport for a short flight to Cuzco or as the Quachua spell it Cosco. Another excellent flight on LAN. So far the airline has been spectacular in service and hospitality. Our guide, Carlos Sottomayor and our driver Jose, met us at the airport. Once loaded into the van it was off to Urubamba in the Sacred Valley. Carlos is a mixtos, his mother is Incan and his father of Spanish decent. He is a fount of information about the Sacred Valley and the Incan civilization. His depth of knowledge and clarity of explanation were as if listening to an historian and an anthropologist. Later the archaeologist in him would appear. The trip to Urubamba from Cosco starts with ... read more

Oh my, I am always uncomfortable with the security check-in at the airports because of my artificial hip. I always set the alarm off and have to go through the ordeal of the pat-down. I was actually hoping for a body-scan machine so I could avoid he pat-down. No such luck. That being said it was not as bad as when I took Beatrice to the airport over the summer at which time I was harassed by both an agent and a supervisor. The agent this time was friendly and respectful. We chatted about how the elimination of the hand-held metal detector was a stupid move by the TSA because the agents were no longer able to isolate the location of the metal alarm so they had no choice by to do the full pat-down; end ... read more