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Ecuador and Peru
Ecuador:
Quito,
Galapagos
Peru:
Lima, Cusco, Sacsayhuman, Read the trip journal: (PDF) 9 Pages
Or here for all trip slides on the Amazon Cloud |
The flight: Seattle to Houston to Quito, Ecuador
Our hotel in downtown Quito, the
Grand Mercure Alameda.
At the desk- just where are we? Downtown
Quito near our hotel.
The
Basilica del Voto Nacional.
Quito
Laveta on Quito's
Independence Square
Church and convent of
St Francis
City life
Galapagos Islands, Ecuador
The flight from Quito to Guayaquil on the Ecuadorian
coast, then on to the
Galapagos
Islands
airport on
Baltra island.
We then took the ferry from Baltra to
Santa Cruz
island.
Lava tubes on Santa Cruz
Our hotel in the Galapoagos:
The
Finch bay Eco Hotel
named after Darwin's finches.
This hotel in
Puerto Ayora was
absolutly fabulus with its own beach and extraordinary
restaurant. The hotel was just a five minute walk from the water taxi-
which was just
five minutes across the bay from town.
Laveta relaxing after breakfast. The hotel at night. Dinner with tour-mates
Just one of the many finches that shared breakfast with us
each morning.
Marine
Iguanas: on the path to our hotel!
"Our" 74 foot, motor yacht
Sea Lion
Santa
Fe island:
the Sea Lion yacht in the distance, California sea lions and laveta.
Oputina cactus and
Land Iguana
On
Bartolome Island: Climbing stairs (lots of stairs) to the top.
Group photo
Pinnacle Rock,
Galapagos Penguin and a
Blue Footed Booby
At the
Charles Darwin Research Station
Lima, Peru
Lima:
Plaza Mayor and
Monastery of San Francisco
Lima
Cathedral (with
and its underground crypt)
Lima: around town
Eating at
Haiti's near JFK Park in
Miraflores
Cusco, Peru
Cusco
from the hills above. Our room at the
Sonesta Hotel. View of Cusco from our window.
Walking through town
Plaza de Armas and the
Cusco Cathedral which was simply marvelous inside.
But like most famous churches in Ecuador and Peru- photography was forbidden.
Santa Domingo Monastery which was built on top of the
Koricancha temple.
Koricancha temple ruins with their exquisite
stonework. Note the sacrificial altar.
Our tour group at a glass covered scale
model of Koricancha.
Saqsaywaman just above Cusco
Saqsaywaman
(Sacsayhuman) sometimes pronounced as sexy-woman is the ruins of an
Inca fortress. Mostly destroyed by the Spanish, many stones were
later used for buildings
in the nearby city of Cusco. The stones are intricately fitted and
some are absolutely huge.
Nighttime return to Cusco
Overlooking the
town of
Taray & the
Urubamba River- a headwater of the Amazon
In the town of
Pisac
Cuy... before and after
At
Awanakancha in the Sacred Valley
Our hotel, the
Casa Andiana Private Collection, Sacred Valley
Climbing stairs (lots of them) to the Inca ruins at Ollantaytambo
The town of
Ollantaytambo
from above, at the end of the Sacred Valley
Our Sacred Valley hotel in the town of Yucay: the
Sonesta Posadas del Inca
Note the bowl of
Coca leaves on the table in our room!
Dinner with our tour mates
Perurail's Vista Dome from Ollantaytambo to the town of Aguas Calientes,
Machu Picchu: A jewel of construction in an emerald setting of mountains. Just awesome!
...
...
Back in Lima at our hotel
The Casa Andina Private Collections,
Miraflores
The voyage home: United to Houston, then on to Seattle
Good Documentary (BBC) of the Gallapagos <Link>
Good Documentary (National Geopgraphic) on Matchu Picchu <Link>
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