My trip of a lifetime started with a long flight from Anchorage to NYC where I caught my LAN flight nonstop to Lima , Peru on Jan 21, 2011. An overnight in the hotel at the Lima airport and an early flight to Cuzco the next morning. That lst day was a walking tour of the old city, with its Inca remains of earlier times. The next day, I had a wonderful guided tour by car high into the mountains above Cuzco and the many Inca ruins. The alpacas and llamas roamed free in many areas. We stopped at an artisans center and I bought an alpaca scarf and Peruvian ski hat.
Day 4 and an early start by bus to Ollantaytambo, where we caught the train to wind down the incredible Urubamba canyon at the side of the roaring river to a stop for us to leave the train at Km 104. With a guide we headed up for the two day short Inca Trek to the mountain ridge far above and a traverse to the back of Machu Picchu. The weather was rainy and cloudy, but from the Sun Gate we could see down into the stunning lost city of Machu Picchu. Late in the afternoon after arrival we hiked through the lost city. Then it was by bus down the 2500 ft nearly vertical road into Agua Calientes , the frontier like little town on the river below Macchu Picchu and at the end of the railroad. A nice small hotel and hot meal and to bed for a 5am wake up. We had wanted to climb Huayna Picchu, but the park had a limit of 200 climbers at 8 am and 200 at 11 am. So, standing in line in a pouring rain and darkness shortly after 5 am, we got the 4th bus with about 40 in each bus. Unfortunately during the night, a couple hundred had hiked up the muddy road in the rain and dark up the nearly 3000 feet from Aguas Calientes, and so we narrowly missed getting any of the coveted 200 climbing permits for either of the two morning times. So we then toured all of the amazing lost city. In the Afternoon we hiked around the cliff like trail cut into the vertical face above the river to an ancient Inca signaling position or place. Ropes helped secure us across some of the faces. Then a bus ride down the mountain again. The town was like a small wild west frontier town, with back packers, climbers, tourists and a truly unique scene. I bought a silver necklace and the Inca emblem in the big market at the train station. Then we took the train ride back up the Urubamba river canyon to Ollantaytambo, where a late day bus took us back to the same hotel in Cuzco. It was an early start the following morning, with an airplane ride back to Lima and the connection on to Quito in Equador. Both Cuzco and Quito were over 10,000 feet high with a single airport runway and the airport right in the heart of the two cities. lst set of trip pictures follows now:
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| Cuzco's central plaza |
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| Cuzco Cathedral on central plaza |
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| Original Inca foundation section under Cuzco Palace |
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| Palace courtyard |
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| Palace surrounding grounds and Cuzco and mountains |
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| 4 main Inca ruins in Cuzco area |
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| about to enter vast Saqsaywaman Inca ruins |
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| Friendly Alpaca and Art in Saqsaywaman grounds |
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| immense stones Inca's brought for miles to this site |
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| Sergry and our wonderful Peruvian guide |
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| Our guide at Inca site above Cuzco in background in valley below |
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| Rail line from Cuzco to Machu Picchu |
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| raging Urubamba River in gorge route to Machu Picchu |
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| thousands foot walls of Urubamba River canyon |
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| Peruvian indian woman at train side enroute |
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| Chachabamba Inca Ruins at start of short Inca Trail 2 day hike to Machu Picchu |
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| In Chachabamba Inca ruins on Inca Trail |
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| Art within Chachabamba ruins courtyard |
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| a remaining section of original Inca trail |
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| Peruvian guide with us on Inca Trail hike |
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| Incredible view of Inti Punku (Sun Gate) down into Urubamba river below Machu Picchu |
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| showing section of Inca Trail on sheer rock face |
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| view from Inca trail near Machu Picchu down into Urubamba River far below |
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| Machu Picchu Lodge just outside entrance to Machu Picchu grounds |
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| a moment and memory of a lifetime observing legendary Machu Picchu at last |
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| Sergey nearby enjoying Machu Picchu below |
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| 2 playful young llamas in grass area within Machu Picchu gounds |
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| Amazing "Urban sector" of Machu Picchu above central esplanade |
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| Mother llama and baby in heart of Machu Grounds |
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| Art hiking thru center of Machu Picchu towards base of Huayna Picchu |
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| view of base of Huayna Picchu at far end of Machu Picchu , the Lost City in the sky |
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| end of rail at Aguas Calientes , the wild west little town at base of Machu Picchu |
I will divide this trip into 3 sections and title the next or 2nd part "Quito/high Amazon jungle" and then 3rd part "Galapagos/Guayaquil" separately. The final day of the trip allowed a day in Lima after the morning flight, so we toured Lima, the downtown, markets and cathedral , street scenes etc. so I have included the Lima pictures here from the trip final day and night in Lima. Lima is a huge city of about 4 million on the Pacific and not an attractive city. Then a taxi ride to the modern Lima airport and the long ride back to NYC, Chicago and Anchorage, and the adventure trip was concluded.
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| Lima cathedral near city center |
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| Lima main plaza in city center |
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| Lima Royal Palace |
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| Lima and huge main cathedral |
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| Lima and river park near city center |
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| Lima and park at river bank near city center |
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| Lima's river edge park near city center |
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| Lima's scenic old covered central market |
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| Lima near city center and street scene |
