The city of Quito, the second Inca capital, is built on a plateau and is surrounded by mountains. At this time, it is rainy season and it rains in Quito, surely, almost every day. A few miles away, however, there is no rain. The city of Quito seems to be very beautiful, very beautiful! According to our guide, our hotel was the first hotel built in Quito in the 1960's. Thankfully it has been well-kept and regularly renovated. It is a classic 60s beauty. It ...

We spent the entire day today traveling to Quito, Ecuador. We have a busy schedule ahead for the next four days and the weather forecast is a minimum of 80% chance of rain each day. Let's see. This seems a good time to hand-off some great lessons we have learned so far on our trip. We sincerely hope you gain important insight and enjoy: Profound learnings from our South American Travels, Vol. I BRAZIL No matter what your ass looks like or how old you a...

I slept better last night than I have in months. Months! This includes time in my own wonderful bed. Our accommodations at the Hotel Pakaritampu were great. First of all, it is situated in a climate much like Northern California. The air was dry, cool and crisp—no air conditioning is needed. A soothing-sounding natural steam ran all night long through a stone lined channel built many centuries ago by the Incas. It sang us to sleep and blocked any unnatur...

This is an astoundingly beautiful place! Much of God's world is but this place is full of color, mountains, valleys and history. To me it is the highlight of our trip so far. Imagine walking around towns with stone streets and town buildings originally built in the 1500's Some have foundations and walls, however, built maybe 500 years earlier by the Incas. As you recall from history lessons, the Incas where highly intelligent people whose primary occupation ...

We are spending a total of 31 days in South America which is a long time. But a month is not nearly enough to see all one should see to comprehend it all—even when only a few countries are being visited. We saw important places in Cusco today but after a few hours, it all began to run together and the facts became merely "wows!" Cusco was once the center of the Inca Empire. Its name has reference to being center. At one time the Inca Empire stretched from ...