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Batch 1 - point and shoot.
Plaza de Armas - Cuzco |
Locals who chase tourists for photos :) |
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Santo Domingo |
Wandering the streets |
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Sacsayhuaman - Inca ruins that overlook present-day Cuzco |
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Our first pisco sours. Somewhat like margaritas. Yum! |
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On a taxi to Ollantaytambo in the sacred valley. This was a band just walking across the street playing music on the way. |
Wandering the residential streets of Ollantaytambo. |
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View from the ruins at Ollantaytambo towards the town. |
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The hike starts at Chachabamba. See where this is. |
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Ruins at Winaywayna, where we stopped for lunch. |
The agricultural terraces are very steep. |
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Waterways that still work 1400 years after being built. |
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First sighting of Machu Picchu from Intipunku (The Sun Gate) |
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We finish a day of hiking with this view! Not bad. |
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Up early to enjoy Machu Picchu in the morning mist, before the crowds arrive. |
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Intihuatana stone - The sun's hitching post, a sacred stone. Later they realized it also could tell time, like a sundial. |
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Looking down onto some of the agricultural terraces. |
A recreation of how they believe the roofs were built. |
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We took a hike to the top of Wayna Picchu - the large mountain behind the ruins in the postcard Machu Picchu picture. This was part of the trail. It was kind of an intense hike. There are ruins at the top visible in some of the other photos. |
On top of Wayna Picchu. |
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The hike back down. |
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Back in Cuzco |
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Check out the pig head behind Julie in the market. Heh. |
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Sunset in Plaza de Armas. |
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Back to Lima. Sadness. |
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Landing in Lima. It was overcast and grey the whole time we were there. |
| Batch 2 (SLR) starts here.
Cuzco |
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A sugary half-liter of bubblegum-flavored soda. We didn't finish it. |
Wandering the streets. |
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Pretty sure this wasn't really them, but it would have been fun to see. Missed it by about a week. |
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Hiking uphill through the town's outskirts towards the ruins at Sacsayhuaman. |
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Hard to believe the Incas carved these with hand tools with such precision. Nevermind lifting the things. |
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Wide angle of Sacsayhuaman. |
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Panorama of Cuzco |
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Plaza de Armas from Sacsayhuaman. |
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The plaza at night. |
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On the road to the sacred valley. |
The first view into the valley, about 2000' below this overlook. |
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The town of Urubamba. |
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Our guide to the Sacred Valley, Edison. |
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The streets in Ollantaytambo. |
And ruins. |
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Our hotel - El Albergue - was right at the train station. This is where we will get on tomorrow to get to the trailhead. |
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Julie ready for some adventure! |
Pulling out from Ollantaytambo station. |
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Such a beautiful ride. We were lucky to be in the first car which has a forward-looking window. |
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And here we get off - we were the only folks getting off the train here in Chachabamba. From here we hike! |
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The trailhead. |
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Up we go! That's Carlos, our trail and ruins guide. He was awesome. |
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The trains below looks like models from our vantage point. |
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Winaywayna |
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Lunchtime! So delicious. Not a bad view either. |
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Rest stop! |
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The Sun Gate. Rounding this corner, Machu Picchu comes into view. |
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An altar at the main gate to the city of Machu Picchu. Offerings were made here by travelers from elsewhere. |
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If you look at the top of the peak you can see ruins. We hiked up there the following day. |
In the nearby town of Aguas Calientes for the night, after our day of hiking. Tomorrow we go back to Machu Picchu to hike Wayna Picchu and explore the ruins more. |
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A train rolls through at night. Trains are the only way in and out of this town. |
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Enjoying some Chicha morada (Corn beer) in Aguas Calientes. |
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This moth in our hotel doorway was huge, close to 3 inches wingtip to wingtip. BFM. |
Machu Picchu in the morning mist. |
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The sun temple. The window is in alignment with a remote outpost on a far-off mountain peak to the east and the rising sun on the winter solstice. |
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Carlos giving us details of Machu Picchu. Both types of construction on these walls are Inca - they used the seamless block technique for their most sacred buildings. |
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The sun temple from above. |
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The trail to the top of Wayna Picchu. |
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This hike was pretty tough after the hike the previous day. Very worth it though. |
There are more ruins at the top of this peak. |
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Somehow the heights and cliffs didn't bother us much. |
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Machu Picchu from the top of Wayna Picchu. |
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Kinda steep. Check your shoelaces. |
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Made it back down! |
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We had some great light in the afternoon. |
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Street vendors near the market, back in Cuzco. |
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Sunset in Plaza de Armas. |
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In Lima, this is Kennedy Park. Lots of cats. |
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Lima traffic. Wow. |
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The historic district of Lima. |
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Inside the main cathedral in the main square in the historic district. |
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Some skulls in the catacombs underneath the cathedral. Apparently thousands were buried here and when the Spanish came in the 1500s they went and destroyed everything in sight. These skulls were recovered and placed as symbol for all the dead. |
Some giant hymn books. They must have been over 50 lbs each. |
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Sleeping cats back in Kennedy park, near our hotel. |
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A mall in Miraflores. The parasailers came very close to the mall in their passes back and forth, kinda cool. |
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Let's eat! |
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The restaurant we ate at is the one on the cliff. |
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The Lima coastline. |
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Inside a cramped store in Lima. |
| Batch 3 (iphone) starts here.
Flying to Cusco |
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Coca tea. Pretty good actually. |
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I love the last bullet point. Heh. |
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Machu Picchu panorama |
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Aguas Calientes. We didn't make it to the actual hot springs. |
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All images copyright Rich Prillinger, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013
Please ask for permission before use
web at richp d0t com