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 to rest and restock on the way through the Sacred…
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 an agricultural laboratory, to experiment with what crops (wheat, quinoa, other…
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 Inca Empire. Even before the arrival of the Inca, the…
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, and more wild. Aguas Calientes itself (named for thermal springs…
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 transportation crossroads of Urubamba. From Urubamba we jumped in a…
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 in Quechua and trading goods. One had bread and the…
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 bit lower. We were glad to have arrived by land,…
San Luis bus company was only 45 minutes late getting started. We left Puno and started climbing. The beginning of the route took us through a number of small, mountain towns. We stopped a few times to let passengers…
Our next stop was the island of Taquile. It was a rainy, steep climb, but we were rewarded with views to Bolivia from the main square. We spent some time looking around, and saw a photo exhibition of pictures taken…
Amantani Island Amantani Island is in the big part of Lake Titicaca, about three hours by boat from Puno. We organized our trip with a local operator recommended by our hotel, and set out early. After a stop and a…