South America

Crater of Villarrica

Don’t Skip: Pucon, Chile

Intro to Pucon Many of the destinations in the Don’t Skip series are off the beaten track. That’s not the case with Pucon, which is hardly unknown. As a matter…

Ollantaytambo Ruins

Don’t Skip: Ollantaytambo, Peru

Intro to Ollantaytambo The town of Ollantaytambo lies at the intersection of three valleys, at the western end of the Sacred Valley region in Peru. Traditionally, it was a place…

Glacier calf

Don’t Skip: El Calafate, Argentina

  Argentina: tango dancing, wine, steak, a capital city filled with history and culture: theater, dance, art and architecture. Away from the hustle and bustle of Buenos Aires, Argentina also…

Throwback Thursday: Round The World Slideshow

Below is our photo montage from our first RTW trip in 2008-09.  I’m hoping to inspire myself to get to work on a video from our latest trip. We hope…

Moray

Moray and Chinchero

Concentric Circle Ruins at Moray The concentric circles at Moray were different from anything we´d seen so far. The most widely-accepted theory is that these terraced circles were used as…

Tambomachay

Tambomachay to Saqsaywaman

While Cuzco is an amazing city to explore, there’s so much more to see once you get out of town. Surrounded by the Andes, Cuzco was the heart of the…

Classic Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

The train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo) was like entering the jungle.  Everything got more and more lush, green and wet.  There was less agriculture,…

On Cerro Bandolista

Ollantaytambo

The Road to Ollantaytambo Having left Pisac late in the afternoon after a LONG walk up and through the ruins, we were pretty tired by the time we changed buses in the…

Pisac Ruins

Pisac: Gateway to the Sacred Valley

To travel to Pisac from Cusco is about an hour by local bus, 2.40 soles about 70 cents US.  We sat next to two women who were having a conversation…

Plaza de Armas

Cuzco: Heart of the Inca Empire

Cuzco History Heart of the ancient Inca empire, Cuzco is located in the heart of the Andes at about 11,000 feet.  We’d recently been in Puno, and this was a…