Arenal Volcano
We were blessed with a full view of the usually cloudy Arenal Volcano on the way into its closest town, La Fortuna. A few clouds had formed by the time we took a late afternoon hike in the area of the 1968 lava flow area. It was in this year the people who […]
Manuel Antonio
We arrived at Manuel Antonio, the town attached to the National Park of the same name, after another bad taxi experience in San José. We had to pass through, since we were travelling from the Caribbean to the Pacific Coast. There are separate bus terminals, though they aren´t too far from one another. The driver […]
Cahuita National Park
White sand, coconut trees lining the beach and reefs near shore? Sounded good to us. The small beach town of Cahuita is on Costa Rica´s Caribbean Coast, about 4 hours from San José, south of Limon. We decided this would be the perfect introduction to the country on our first visit here. High on […]
San José, Costa Rica: Do you know the way?
San José, Costa Rica From the moment we landed, we felt like we were almost home. Over the years I´d heard so many wonderful things about Costa Rica as a paradise of exotic birds, flowers and animals, spotless beaches, friendly faces and a high percentage of folks who care about the environment. More recently […]
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 an agricultural laboratory, to experiment with what crops (wheat, quinoa, other grains, potatoes, etc.) would grow best at different temperatures and under different conditions. It has […]
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 Inca Empire. Even before the arrival of the Inca, the Killke culture dominated this region from about 900-1200 AD. There are countless ruins in the […]
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, and more wild. Aguas Calientes itself (named for thermal springs on the edge of town) was another kind of jungle, the tourist kind. Obviously this […]
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 transportation crossroads of Urubamba. From Urubamba we jumped in a colectivo (usually a minivan or van, smaller and a little more expensive than the bus but considerably faster). […]
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 in Quechua and trading goods. One had bread and the other bananas and they seem to have made an agreeable and tasty trade. So far […]
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 bit lower. We were glad to have arrived by land, since it gave us the chance to adjust to the altitude. There are a number […]