The lounge area inside Hotel San Antonio Abad in Miraflores, Lima, Peru. I spent a lot of time in these chairs reading in the mornings and evenings.
Drinks at Cala in Miraflores. My Pisco Sour on the left and an algarrobina on the right. Pisco - Peruvian brandy distilled from grapes.
Un plato de piqueo. Left to right are: *Tiradito - finely sliced ceviche (fish) without the onions *Pulpo a la Oliva - braised baby octopus in a white wine/fish broth tossed with purple olive mayonnaisse *Langostinos - prawns with sauce *Causita - tuna tartare in a cylinder of mashed potatoes *Ceviche - lime denatured/marinated fish (lenguado)
Dessert with aguaymanto fruit.
View from our lunch table at Cala.
Monasterio de San Francisco - home of the catacombs and impressive library of antique texts.
Monasterio de San Francisco
View of our lunch spot, Cala, from the road.
View from the front window of Hotel San Antonio Abad.
View from my room of the courtyard in Hostal Rumi Punku in Cuzco, Peru
View of the Plaza de Armas in Cuzco, Peru.
View up the street towards Hostal Rumi Punku.
One of the steep stairwells in Cuzco that that shows how much of a hill the San Blas neighborhood is built on.
Llama or Alpaca?
One of the valleys on the Sacred Valley tour
Pisac market
Pisac Ruins
Waterfall along the Sacred Valley tour route
Salt mines used by the Incas for preserving meat and mummies.
Ollantaytambo Ruins
Storehouses on the mountain opposite Ollantaytambo Ruins where the Incas stored food.
Looking down the terraces of Ollantaytambo Ruins toward the town.
Closeup of some remains of a wall at Ollantaytambo Ruins. In the background, down below, you can see rocks from the wall that the Spanish conquistadors pushed down in their effort to destroy the site.
A doorway at Ollantaytambo Ruins
Huge carved rocks at Ollantaytambo Ruins (with our tour guide in front). The rocks for the site were quarried from a mountain on the other side of the mountain (6km away, and across a river). The Spanish conquistadors destryoed all of the carvings that were on these flat rocks.
Looking down from the top of the Ollantaytambo Ruins.
These walls inside the Ollantaytambo Ruins aren't as ornate as the others - most likely this means they were for sleeping quarters or something else that wasn't sacred.
Sacred fountain at the base of the Ollantaytambo Ruins.
Countryside up in the highlands between Ollantaytambo and Chinchero.
Countryside up in the highlands between Ollantaytambo and Chinchero. It wasn't too far from here that we hit the highest point on my trip - 12,529.5ft.
View from Chinchero looking out at the Inca's birthplace of the rainbow. The mountain in the distance is over 6000m (20,000ft) in altitude and is partially obscured by clouds.
View of Cuzco from one of the switchbacks on the train to Aguas Calientes (Machu Picchu).
One of my first views of Machu Picchu.
The temple of the sun; the only round building at Machu Picchu.
Part of the quarry that the Incas used for stones for Machu Picchu. The fact that the quarry still remains indicates that the Incas did not get to finish Machu Picchu (even after 100+ years of work) - most likely due to word of the Spanish incursion into their land.
