Travel Escape in South America for 5 Weeks

First, we go to Lima, Peru

Lima, Peru is just a big city that always has the same weather. It's gray, damp and in the 70's! The shopping was better there than in the more touristy areas like Cusco and the wonderful towns in the Sacred Valley [that area of mountain towns all around Machu Picchu]. We actually just enjoyed being in a large city and it's hustle for a few days after all the tiny towns in the Caribbean. We ate royally and enjoyed many museums and nice neighborhood of Miraflores. We met several other travelers and enjoyed talking with them. A good city tour made it all worthwhile! It was a good introduction to Peru.

Next, we flew into Cusco just long enough to get a ride to our terrific bungalo in Urubamba that was 2 hours from Machu Picchu. We spent 5 wonderful nights there and it became one of the best parts of our trip. It was certainly the most comfortable! We used it to branch out to small villages each day to discover the character of this country and its native heritage. We enjoyed the Sunday market in Pisac, the village and ruins of Ollantetambo and our lodge town of Urubamba. We especially enjoyed a tour of the wonderful Ollantetambo terrace ruins. And then it was time to get on to Machu Picchu.

Lima Square	Buying Alpaca Wool	Terrific Produce in Peru!	Our "Cabin" in Urubamba	Buying a weaving in Chinchera	Sunday Pisac Market
Display of weavings	Coca Seller	Chuck's new friends	Ollantetambo	Village in Valley	Pushing a Stone

On to Machu Picchu

We left the lodge in Urubamba at 5:45 am to catch the 6 am train for Machu Picchu. The train followed the Urubamba River for 2 hours as it climbed in altitude. We passed so many native ruins along the way that we couldn't count them...there were terraces and stone walls everywhere we looked along the river. It was quite a beautiful trip. We met our guide at the terminal in the town of Aguas Calientes where next we took an exciting bus ride the last, steep few miles straight up to the Sacred Ruins. Having the guide and learning what we could about Machu Picchu made the day much more worthwhile.

Machu Picchu was built by Incas about 500 years ago as their Sacred Location. Its location was kept was a secret until the early 1900's. I won't go into all the history. I will say that it really is one of those places that does not disappoint you when you finally see it. It lives up to all expectations!!! When we would gasp at one astounding view after another, we would try to realize what it must have taken to construct this complex place. The stonework was fascinating. Also the legends and stories explaining the purposes for the different temples were interesting and explained their purposes. It was all quite an adventure to explore and took a good day tp absorb especially at the high altitude.

Starting at Map	First View	We are Here!	Showing height from River	Whole Scene
Stone Work	Terraces and winding road	Building on terraces	Day of climbing

Cusco Peru and On to Argentina

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