I haen’t blogged for a long time, but I had a lot of adventures last year, and now I’m sorry that I didn’t Blog about them. It’s been a great way to remember my other adventures, so I’m going to try again.
I’m retired now, so all the old department and academic stresses have gone. I retired in May 2022, and since then I’ve kept busy seeing the headwaters of the Mississippi at Itasca State Park, been to Capitol Reef, Grand Teton, and Yosemite National parks, visited Machu Picchu, Barcelona, and Berlin, along with some other places.
Machu Picchu was most recent, so I’ll catch that up a bit. I went with EF Go Ahead Tours, and enjoyed the tour very much. The guide was especially good.
Day 1: Sept 21: Flew to Lima and met folks at the airport before going to the hotel.
Day 2: 9/22: we did guided sightseeing around Lima, visited the Huaca Pucllana ruins, and ended the day with a ceviche cooking class which was way more fun than I expected and tasted great!
Day 3: 9/23: we flew to Iquitos and took a boat ride for about an hour on the Amazon to the Ceibo Top Lodge. Ceibo is a local tree and there was a huge one on the property.
Day 4: 9/24: we went on a 6am birding boat near the lodge and saw lots of Yellow Crowned Nightherons, kingfishers, ani. Etc. (I can’t find my list).
we took a boat to a Yagui indigenous village and petted/held a sloth, saw some demonstrations, and had a chance to buy stuff.
In the afternoon we fished for piranha, caught 3 in all (which we shared for dinner), then went out to see pink and grey river dolphins!! Way cool!
Day 5: 9/25: we took the boat back to Iquitos, then flew to Cuzco, where we had a free afternoon. I was feeling blah so slept, and then felt way better.
Day 6: 9/26: we visited the Sacsayhuaman ruins, the city, where the Temple of Koricancha (aka Qoricancha) which is now the Convent of Sta Domingo.
Day 7: 9/27: we visited the Sacred Valley and a textile cooperative where we learned about making thread and dying textiles.
Then we went to the palace of Emperor Pachacuti and Ollantaytambo, the Temple of the Sun. We learned about some agricultural practices of the Inca.
Day 8: 9/28: More in the Sacred Valley: visited the Misimiway community to learn about traditional weaving. We had a short hike to the Moray ruins, terraces for Incan ag experiments.
we went to the Mara’s salt evaporation ponds which are pre-Incan and absolutely fascinating!
Day 9: 9/29: we took a bus then train to Aguas Calientes, aka Machu Picchu village, and then spent about 2 and a half hours with a guide in Machu Picchu on circuit 2. Absolutely massive and breathtaking!
Day 10: 9/30: Those of us who signed up for the extension went back to Machu Picchu, and had another 2 and a half hours to walk around and marvel. I’m really glad I did the extension! It was sort of foggy and quieter, and really special. We were on Circuit 3.
In the afternoon, we took the train and bus back to Cuzco to our hotel.
Day 11: 10/1: we took a bus to Puno and on to Lake Titicaca. We visited the Incan ruins at Raqch’i archaeological park, and the Temple of Wiracocha. And visited with a Raqch’i family.
Day 12: 10/2: took a cruise on Lake Titicaca to the floating islands community Uris, where we visited and learned about their island and culture a little.
then on Taquile Island, we hiked up to a restaurant for lunch. Then back down and back to Puno, on the shore of Lake Titicaca.
Day 13: 10/3: visited Sillustani, a pre-Incan and Incan burial area with lots of smallish towers. We flew from Juliaca airport to Lima, where we were to fly out later that day.
But my flight was delayed til the next night, so I got a bonus day in Lima! I went to the fabulous Largo Museum and saw the most amazing Incan artifacts!
