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May 7: Arrival

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This trip started 3 years ago- March, 2020.  I got through the Bolivia  the Bolivia pre-trip and then we were sent home as country after country started closing its borders.  Bolivia closed its borders 2 days after we left!  Well, I loved Bolivia and got a generous refund for the travel company but was grateful to be able to resume the trip now. It's a long way from Kansas to Lima.   Since I had a 5:15 AM flight to Miami I spent the night at a hotel near the Kansas City airport.  It would have gone well except that the 9-year old laptop I'd brought with me because it was smaller and lighter, and carefully loaded up with mission-critical files and gotten up and running a few days before, died. Apparently (using my phone to investigate the problem) it required an updated visual display driver which in turn required a Windows update not possible on my "antique" device.  Well, so much for taking notes, backing up photos, etc.- I was reliant on an iPho...
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May 8: First Day in Lima

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The group wasn’t meeting till 11 AM so I went out for a walk.  I got lost, of course.  I did learn that standing at the crosswalk does NOT give pedestrians the right of way and that even when you have a Walk light the motorcyclists ignore it.  I tried to get cash and the card was declined; realized later I was using the Fidelity credit card and not the debit card.  The latter worked.  Phew! Good group- only 4 of us plus the guide.  The 2 guys from FL were together.  The third was a retired engineer from John Deere.  He spent a year as an exchange student in Costa Rica; the couple are searching for a house in Mexico.  All speak passable Spanish.  I can understand them.  Maybe I’ll pick up more while I’m here. The stand below was featured on a Netflix documentary of street food so of course we had to sample their picarones. Pisco sour- very good.
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May 9: On to Cusco

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We spent the morning visiting a local fishing village before heading to Cusco.  Night heron hoping for a few fish. Poster for tsunami drill- a wise move.
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May 10: Urubamba

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Our first stop was down in the valley; the idea is to give us  time to acclimate before heading to Macchu Picchu. One stop was at a place where they continued traditional weaving methods.  I bought a wonderful, soft alpaca sweater in their shop although it wasn't made on the premises. They're cute but I've read that they don't make very nice pets. We then stopped at the home of a lovely woman who grows coca leaves on a family-owned property in the jungle.  It’s a 7-hour bus ride and an hour walk.  They produce only 75 lbs. a year; it takes 500 lbs. to make a pound of cocaine.  I noticed her teeth were very good- unusual for a 55 year old woman in a developing country.  It’s the coca leaves- a major source of calcium.  Darn, I wish I could take some home.  I bet it would help my osteopenia, too.  We did try chewing a few leaves-not bad.  They were part of the breakfast buffet in many places and I chewed a few every chance I got.  The...
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May 11: A Day in the LIfe

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Overseas Adventure Travel tries to give us a view of life as it's lived by the locals.    Today we had a visit to the school supported by the tour company’s foundation and lunch with a local family.   I loved the school- it was 3- to 6-year olds and we brought things for the school.    The beanbag game I brought was a great hit as soon as the kids were told they were "pelotas"! They sang us a song and then we reciprocated with “Itsy Bitsy Spider”. Among the breakfast offerings. Visit to a ceramicist's studio. Headed to have lunch with a local family.  But first... We were told what to buy at the local market and were on our own.   VERY fresh chicken. If they don't have it here, you don't need it.   Preparations.   Grinding herbs and spices the traditional way.     Bring on the food! The main course. Guinea pig meat in foreground.  It tasted more like beef than chicken; not much meat on it. Visit to a chocolate maker. ...
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May 12 - First Macchu Picchu Hike

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  Well, they say a picture is worth a thousand words.  Not much to add to all these pictures.  Macchu Picchu was magnificent and I can see why it's on so many bucket lists.  We were blessed with perfect weather and minimal crowds. No mortar- each rock was carved to fit. I'd been concerned about the compounded impact of high altitude and the shortness of breath I usually get when going uphill and was grateful that I did fine at a moderate speed.  I WAS diligent about taking the pills to prevent altitude sickness that I'd gotten back home.  Or maybe it was the coca leaves.  :-) A stop at a town on the way- that's Bel, our guide, in the foreground. Ooh, dinner!  Not visible but to the right of the picture:  a couple of blackened skulls of ancestors were on the wall.
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May 13- Second Macchu Picchu Hike

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We did a longer hike today: 3.5 miles, 400-foot elevation gain.  Bel gave us a choice between two hikes and this was the longer one.  We all agreed on that one.  This was a really good group- friendly, curious, easygoing and we pretty much agreed on everything.  We saw the other side of the mountain and between the two days we covered about 80% of Macchu Picchu.  It was a beautiful morning.  It rained last night and if it had been rainy this morning I would have been tempted to cancel.  I don’t do well when cold and wet. T hat very thin trail starting about 1/3 of the way up on the left side is the Inca Bridge.  No, we did NOT walk it. It's just hard to stop taking pictures! And sometimes it's the random occurrences that really make the trip.  My sneakers (the only pair I'd brought) started to separate at the toe- a definite tripping hazard.  Our guide knew where to find this man who repaired both- scraping away the old adhesive, putting...
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