Glynis & Pete go to Peru, Ecuador and the Galapagos

After breakfast, which was quite slow because it seems you have to eat your fruit before you are offered the hot dishes menu, we had a late start to our day looking round Cuenca.  We started high up above the city at a viewpoint, where a local singer was standing on a parapet in high heeled gold shoes and Andean traditional dress.  Fortunately she didn’t fall off. Then we went to the Panama hat workshop, which was fascinating with demonstrations of weaving, blocking and putting on the hat band.  And of course we had to have our photos taken with hats next to every star imaginable. In central Cuenca we left the car and looked at the main square, churches, the craft centre before shopping for drinks and in Pete’s case a massive ice cream. Our second outing was to look round the shops in the neighbouring streets.  There are some truly crazy combinations of goods such as washing machines and motorbikes in the same shop.  Another shop sold spo...

Yesterday we were hoping to see Cotopaxi; today it was Chimborazo, which was right opposite the hotel.  Early on, we could see the mountains in the opposite direction from the hotel and the cloud was low, so we didn't hold out a great deal of hope, but after breakfast, a second day of fruit then bread and eggs cooked however you want, we went to the car park and the clouds had lifted, our luck was in again. We drove a little way and took more pictures of Chimborazo, before taking a detour through the little town to get better views of Tungurahua and Altar.  Then it was on to Riobamba for a walk through the streets and morning tea and coffee.  Like Peru, the shops have eclectic mixes of goods, Pete particularly liked the washing machines and motor bikes in the same shop! Next stop was the tiny first church in Ecuador at Colta.  Directly across the road, a woman was roasting Cuy (guinea pigs) over a barbecue, but she hid when she saw the camera. Having ...

The hotel remained pretty chilly, so the heaters in our room were welcome, but eating breakfast while cold was a new experience.  Having got used to buffets, having it served is a new experience. Having missed seeing Cotapaxi yesterday, it was fabulously clear today so we got lots of pictures to justify our passport stamp. We headed west from the Pan American highway with good views of Volcan Ilininza most of the way.  In the far distance we could also see the Volcanos nearer to Quito in the distance. The road was incredibly twisty with endless hair pin bends as we drove up and down mountains and through fertile valleys as we headed towards Quilotoa.  Quilotoa is a fabulous crater lake which is almost 4000m above sea level and is just beautiful.  The skies remained clear so we got fabulous views back towards the Valley of the Volcanos.  A path goes down to the lake and the locals have cleverly spotted a business opportunity bringing people back up by don...

We had a later start today, and in so doing had to fight our way through 2 British tour groups at breakfast and in the foyer when we left.  We did a disservice to Diego's car as Pete discovered it was a 2013 model though it has done more than 225,000 km. He has also cleaned it, so it looks a lot better.  The traffic going out of Quito was dreadful again, so it isn't on our must go back list! It had rained overnight and was still cloudy, so it didn't look too hopeful for the valley of the volcanoes.  In true Diego style we didn't approach Cotopaxi National Park from the main entrance; we went via the cobblestones of Humboldt's original route.  Sadly, though the rain stopped, Cotopaxi remained resolutely in the clouds, but we did get a good walk round an old glacial lagoon at 4000m. This is where Diego comes into his own as he is a biologist who has worked in the rain forest, so his ability to spot birds and plants is amazing.  We may not have seen Cota...

Today we had a change of plan from our original tour, so we had a 5am start to get to Otovalo, north of Quito, to catch a fairly new tourist train to Salinas.  It looked as though it would take an unreasonably long time to get from one end to the other, but we were in for surprises. Diego handed us over to Jaime (pronounce in Spanish) who was in charge of all 13 people on the train, 12 women and Pete, though all the rest spoke Spanish.  The clouds had lifted and the sun was coming out as we got underway along the beautiful valley.  The train stopped at every station for an activity and the first was to try some biscuits and jam, which we think may have been bilberry. At the next station, we walked across the road and back in time in Lancashire, to a cotton mill, equipped in the 1920s, with cleaning and carding machines from Manchester, spinning machines from Bolton and weaving looms from Burnley (where Pete’s parents come from; could his Granddad have set one of ...

This morning we had time for a better look round our hotel.  It may not be as nice as the one at Cusco, but the staff are all lovely and it is lovely to look at.  The dining area is particularly spectacular with a statue in the middle.  Apparently she is a Corpus Christi dancer. Breakfast was the same sort of buffet we had got used to in Peru. Our first visit of the day was to the viewpoint at the statute of the Virgin Mary given to Quito by France . Then it was down the hill to the city centre.  Having a guide who is also the driver is very different from Peru, as he needs to find a place to park.  This seems to be accomplished by greasing the palm of a local.  The vehicle is also very different as it seems to be his private car, a rather old Suzuki Grand Vitara which is not cleaned daily like the buses in Peru.  His driving style so far has been ‘interesting’. Once out of the car we walked into the city on the triumphal r...

Today didn’t start well with a 4.50am pick up.  The guide arrived just as we had checked out and collected our packed breakfast and we set off for the airport.  Unlike previous flights, the guide just put us in the queue and didn’t sort out our check in for us.  And in the queue we stood for more than half an hour.  The check in desk finally opened at around 5.40am and after saying goodbye to the guide (who knows why he stayed) we made it through security in just enough time to get ½ hour in the lounge at Cusco. The packed breakfast looked impressive in hotel draw-string bags, but was not so wonderful when we came to eat it.  We started with the sandwich, no butter, and hung onto the rest for later.  Once on the plane we were on the tarmac for 20mins because of an air traffic control issue.  When we finally got into the air, we didn’t have the best view as we were over the wing. A meal was promised on the tickets, but only drinks arrived....

This was our free day in Cusco, but also our only free day for the whole trip, so we decided to have a rest. That thought didn’t last long as we found a walking tour in our guidebook and thought we’d like to see where it took us. It started in the Place de Ames and then headed off back towards our hotel.   As we headed up the hill, we came to more red stone buildings including an arch, more churches and more re-used Inca stones. At the top of the hill was Cusco’s market, an amazing place with tourist textile stalls, veg, flowers, meat, grains, cheese and at one end lots of street food.   The chicken soup seemed to be the most popular mid-morning. Then it was back down to the main square via lots of local shops. Then we climbed back up to San Blas, going further into the alleys than we had done yesterday. We visited the really fascinating Machu Picchu museum and saw some of the artefacts recovered and some films about the discovery and the subsequent scient...

Having arrived last night at our beautiful hotel, which is an old colonial building full of art and lovely little places to sit, we didn’t have to get up too early as our tour started at 9am.   Breakfast was very nice, but the eggs, especially poached took ages, so we were in a bit of a rush, then our guide got stuck in traffic, so we had an extra few minutes to admire the foyer area.   Our first stop was Qorikancha, the palace of the Inca in Cusco, the sad part being that it is inside the courtyard of Iglesias San Domingo, the Spanish having built a church on top of and around it.   Like parts of Mach Picchu, the quality of the building is astounding.   The Inca people did not use mortar and the best building for the most important places features perfectly interlocked stones of varying sizes, all beautifully dressed.   It must have looked amazing covered in precious metals, before the Spanish invaders took most of it. You're not allowed to photograph the...

Today was a major highlight, our trip to the most famous Inca Ruins, but first we had to get there and it is long way even from the Sacred Valley.  It was also a big day in Peru as it was census day, and unless they had special permission, all Peruvians had to stay at home, until the census people had been.  We had our permission-to-move permits and so did our driver and guide, so they picked us up at 7am.  The other slight concern for the day was that the driver would be taking our luggage to Cusco while we were in Machu Picchu; we hoped it all worked.  When we reached Ollantaytambo, we boarded the train for an hour plus journey down into the cloud forest on the east side of the Andes, passing the start of the Inca trail, which looked fairly steep.  Our rail journey was very civilized as we were served drinks and carrot cake airline style while admiring the view of the river cutting its way down the gorge. When we reached Machu Picchu station, we transfe...

The Sacred Valley is just beautiful as you can see from the pictures. We had an early start to avoid the crowds.  Our trip today took us up high above the valley and down to the valley floor. First stop up on the hill side was an utterly improbable sight; hundreds of salt pans terraced into the steep slope and we were some of the first people there.  We walked right in amongst the pans as our guide Julio explained that the water came from underground springs and that the site is managed by a co-operative of families who sell 3 grades of salt to local people and as far away as Japan.  We bought a small pack to recharge our salt mill. Our next stop was the amazing terraces at Moray.  Our guide believed the version of their construction that they are in 3 meteor craters and that the Inca people built them to provide micro climates in which to grow different types of crops.  Whatever they were for they are very impressive. And then it...

Today we had a late start so we enjoyed our view of Puno across the Lake and had a more leisurely and quieter breakfast before our 10am departure for our travelling day.  From Puno to the nearest airport at Juliana is about 1 hour by road right through the middle of  Juliana which has very narrow streets.  It was a 45 minute flight to Cusco.  Sadly the Andes were in cloud, so only two photos from the plane.  We got through Cusco airport so fast our guide hadn't arrived.  He rushed across the front of the airport, very apologetic about 5 minutes later.  We then had another hour and a bit by road to the hotel in the Sacred Valley . Our hotel in the Sacred Valley is quite amazing, set in a group of old buildings. The top picture below is the view from our room!

After a night of waking feeling a bit breathless we wondered if we would be OK.  We went down to breakfast and it was obviously rush hour at 6.30 so we had to share a table. As it turned out we had a nice chat with a couple from California and the breakfast buffet was pretty good, once we'd worked out how to get tea. Having dressed and packed our backpacks for a cold experience, we were picked up at 8am by our guide and driven down to the hotel boat dock which we can see from our room! We had our own boat for the day and set off for the floating islands of Uros, which are very close to shore and can be seen from the other side of the hotel.  Outside on the boat was very cold so we put on our big fleeces, only to find when we disembarked that we needed to take them off again.  We turned left as only half the community is on tourist duty each day.  With around 50 boats per day in high season, tourism is what keeps this way of life going. We ...