Traveling in Peru 2019--Part I

Since I met Roland, he has told stories of his South American adventures including riding the narrow, windy road up to Machu Pichu with his  family and fishing on Lago Titicaca. I hadn't even dreamt of the possibility of making a trip to see these places that are such vivid memories for Roland! So when Brian, Norma and Sierra invited us to join them and go to Peru, we didn't need to weigh any pros and cons, we jumped at this opportunity!

Early Wednesday, July 10 we boarded a plane bound for Atlanta, and there we flew on to Lima, Peru. It's only a six hour flight from Atlanta to Lima, but a world away. We spent the night in Lima in a hotel near the airport. In the morning we arose and flew to Cusco where we took a taxi Ollantaytambo. I thought we would simply allow our bodies to adjust to the higher altitudes before rising to even higher altitudes, but there was much to do in Ollantaytambo.

Here's Roland and Brian conversing and waiting for a flight.  So much to anticipate!

Upon arriving in Ollantaytambo, we walked out to the town square and were met by this street artist. We liked his water color paintings, and who wouldn't want to support an artist!?

On to the local market. Here you can see the vegetables for sale. Notably, there are thousands of varieties of potatoes grown in Peru.

Brian purchased this fruit while we were in the market. It resembled a fruit he remembered from Indonesia and since we couldn't take it back to our B & B and cut up, we ate it at the restaurant before our dinner arrived.

Ollantaytambo at night with the mountains in the background. It's a busy, but small tourist town.

Here's Roland and me at the Tumy House B & B. 

Friday, July 12 was a day of visiting nearby sites. The driver who drove us to our Tumy House B & B agreed to do a road trip with us and take us to some sites we wouldn't want to miss. Our first stop was a textile factory and shop. Here we learned how the women made natural dyes and use them to dye their fabrics. 

In the "parking lot" of the textile factory there were a couple alpacas. Who could resist stopping to get a picture?

And still on our way into the textile factory, we see the guinea pigs, or in Spanish, cuy. These are livestock in Peru and several other South American countries.

This is our guide for the tour. She dyes the textiles weaves them and lastly sells them to tourists like us.

The dyes they use today were developed centuries ago. These are the plants that are used to dye the textiles. They use them on cotton, wool, llama and alpaca hair, too.

This woman charmed me and I bought her table runner. I also found an alpaca blanket. These items were pricey, but it's good to support these Peruvian artisians! Their work in beautiful!

Roland found himself an alpaca hat and sweater. Norma, Brian, Sierra and I did such a good job supporting these people, that at the end of our tour, which took longer than our driver had anticipated and he was trying to keep us on schedule, several of the workers dressed us up in local attire and we took a picture all together! That picture is forthcoming because its on Brian's camera.

Next stop was a village with a ruin at the top above it.

This is a familiar sight atop the homes. The ceramic bulls were placed there to bring prosperity and such to the families who reside in them.

A home here in ????????

And now we are at the ruins.

Nice work and durable, too!

Brian and Roland in front of a wall that's much older than them.

We stayed the allotted time in the village (20 minutes!) and then we treated ourselves and our driver to lunch at a restaurant recommended by our driver along our travel path.

Here's my first bowl of quiona soup and  chicha morada (translation: maroon corn drink) of the trip. There will be be plenty of these two items on our journey!  Mmmm!

A view of the restaurant.

 Next stop is Moray. Here we learned about agricultural experiments performed by the Incas centuries ago. The Incas brought in soils from across the Inca empire and used them at different elevations.

We liked this sign because it not only tells where we are but, lets us know things that are forbidden--fires, cattle grazing, motorized vehicles and drones. Drones seem so futuristic! How could drones be here??

A helpful sign pointing the way to the ruins. 

You can see the terraces in this picture and the "floating" steps. They really don't float but are part of the terraces and useful to climb from one terrace to another.

A closer view of the "floating steps".

How'd they make such precise circles??

What can I say about this? Wow!

On to the salt mines--

Gathering salt--

And carrying it away.

The salt spring coming out of the mountain.

Sierra, Norma, Roland and Brian closely inspecting pools of salt water.

The Incas had 30 salt water pools. Today there are more than 2,000.

 Saturday, June 15--Machu Picchu Day for us!!

Taking a train ride from Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu and enjoying the breakfast the Tumy House Bed and Breakfast provided for our early morning pleasure.

Roland and I standing in and iconic setting--with the ruins of Machu Picchu and Wynu Picchu behind us. 

Looks even better without us : )

Here's another view . . . 

Norma, beside a doorway at Machu Picchu. Note the long stone atop the doorway that keeps everything in place.

Beautiful!

Part of a water drainage system built by the Incas.

Terraces, buildings all in the beautiful mountain setting.

The Incas beautiful work set in God's majestic work.

Discovering . . .

Look how the Incas made the rocks fit together with such precision.

Such huge rocks to lift and shape! The Incas were great engineers . . .

And builders!

A field

Their stone blocks fit so tightly together here. No need for any type of mortar--and their work has lasted hundreds of years

After a quick overview of Machu Picchu, we hiked Waynapicchu. It's only 1.9 km, but it's straight up.

On our way up and taking a breather.

These stone steps were made by the Incas and we're still using them.

A view on our hike. That's the Machu Picchu ruins in the distance 

Waynapicchu ruins

Our view of Machu Picchu from .Waynapicchu

Brian makes the picture even better.

View through the walls at Waynapicchu

We made it!

Another view of Machu Picchu.

Resting at the top.

Playing at the top!

And posing at the top!

Let's go back down now.

Back at the base of Waynapicchu

The following pictures are of Machu Picchu ruins. My understanding that the smaller and more irregular stones were used for places that were used daily. While the bigger and more uniform stones were used in the sacred places.

The Incas taxed the people with labor instead of money. That's how all these majestic Inca structures were built.

Sierra stands in the doorway. 

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Such fine designs.

Built in grinding stone. Or should I say built in appliance : )

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There are llamas who get to live here at Machu Picchu. Here they are playing,

resting,

grazing,

and entertaining us with their charm and good looks!

This llama posed for me so I could get a view of him through the doorway.

Have I mentioned the enormity of this structure?

It's good the Spaniards weren't able to find this place!

See how they attached their thatched roofs. We couldn't figure out what those protruding stone were for until we saw this restoration.

Yes, it's enormous!

Last in our day, we took another short hike to a location where there are remains of bridge used by the Incas to make a quick get away.

Here's a view of the bridge.

And another--it's not safe now. Don't try to use it!

So there it is! Our first three days in Peru. If I would have had to go home now, I would have been satisfied. But I'm glad we didn't because Peru is soooooooooo much more! So this will be continued in Part II!