Well, I guess I'm not too good at doing this blog thing. On the other hand, the pace we have been keeping since we left home has been nothing short of grueling. All but the odd day has started at 6 or 6:30 AM.

Our last blog was when we arrived in Cuzco, Peru at about 4000 metres. We were given coca tea (yes a derivitive of cocaine but with no hallucinations) and told to rest. The next morning we were off for a tour of the city with some visits to ruins. Those I (Ann) didn't do because of the ankle problems but enjoyed the view from the comfort of the van.

The next day was a tour of the Sacred Valley of the Incas which included a visit to the beautiful Inca village and fortress of Ollantaytambo. The fortress is an impressive set of ruins perched on the mountainside overlooking the valley. Another stop was to the fabulous market at Pisac (with fabulous alpaca items as well as silver) and a stop for lunch along the Urubamba river

Ollantaytambois a natural scenario located in the Sacred Valley of the Incas. The Urubamba river, the gulch of Patacancha river, the snowy La Verónica in the Mountain range of Vilcanota in route to the "Bosque Lluvioso" (Rain Forest) going before by the "Bosque de las nubes" (Forest of Clouds) and the indigenous communities.

The Sacred Valley of the Incas and the Urubamba are used inter-changeably to describe the valley that runs from east of Pisac to Ollantaytambo at the western end of the Valley. It is a narrow, winding valley with spectacular snow capped peaks constantly in view. This valley is the bread basket of Peru.

We stayed overnight in Ollantaytambo and headed to Machu Picchu the next morning (after a 6 AM wake-up as usual).

At the time of Columbus' landfall on the New World, the greatest empire on earth was that of the Inca. Called Tawantinsuyu or 'Land of the Four Quarters,' it spanned more than 4300 miles along the mountains and coastal deserts of central South America. The vast empire stretched from central Chile to present Ecuador-Colombia border and included most of Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, northern Chile and northwestern Argentina . It exceeded in size any medieval or contemporary European nation and equaled the longitudinal expanse of the Roman Empire. Yet for all its greatness, Tawantinsuyu existed for barely a century.

The ruins of Machu Picchu, rediscovered in 1911 by Yale archaeologist Hiram Bingham, are one of the most beautiful and enigmatic ancient sites in the world. While the Inca people certainly used the Andean mountain top, erecting many hundreds of stone structures from the early 1400's, legends and myths indicate that Machu Picchu (meaning 'Old Peak' in the Quechua language) was revered as a sacred place from a far earlier time. Whatever its origins, the Inca turned the site into a small (5 square miles) but extraordinary city. Invisible from below and completely self-contained, surrounded by agricultural terraces sufficient to feed the population, and watered by natural springs, Machu Picchu seems to have been utilized by the Inca as a secret ceremonial city. Two thousand feet above the rumbling Urubamba river, the cloud shrouded ruins have palaces, baths, temples, storage rooms and some 150 houses, all in a remarkable state of preservation.

The Incas started building the "estate" around AD 1400 but abandoned it as an official site for the Inca rulers a century later at the time of the Spanish conquest. Although known locally, it was unknown to the outside world before being brought to international attention in 1911 by the American historian Hiram Bingham.

Since the site was never known to the Spanish during their conquest, it is highly significant as a relatively intact cultural site. Machu Picchu was declared a Peruvian Historical Sanctuary in 1981 and a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1983. In 2007, Machu Picchu was voted one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in worldwide internet poll.

Once again, I did not venture forth on the rocks but had a seat with a wonderful view. The day was overcast with an occasional drizzle which actually made it nice for walking. As I sat there, the clouds moved in and out over the ruins creating a truly mystical feeling reminding me of the movie "Camelot".

We returned to Cusco that evening for an early departure back to Quito. After a 4 AM wakeup we rushed to the airport only to find out that TACA was not flying in to Cuzco that morning "because of the weather". Funny thing was that all other airlines were able to comer and go. To make a long story short, we finally got out of Cuzco about noon but only to Lima. We had missed our flight to Quito. We made the best of a bad situation and saw a bit of beautiful Lima, returning to Quito on Saturday on the 12th of February with enough time to do laundry on Sunday prior to our trip to the Galapogos on Monday the 14th.