Gene and Jan's Long Trip Too

Day 4 was spent traveling from Cusco, Peru to Manta, Equador where we rejoined our voyage on the Viking Sun.  The 14-hour journey involved one domestic flight, one international flight and finally a 5-hour bus ride across Equador! Midway on the bus trip we made a rest stop at Montecristi, Equador, home of the Panama hat industry.  As we arrived in town we were greeted by the 50-foot high Manabita weaver statue. How a hat is made:  First the straw is placed over a wooden mold where the process is started. Then the hat is held and pressed by a heavy wooden piece that goes between the weaver`s chest and the top of the hat. One by one the straws are intertwined to create the  hat.  The work on a single hat requires weeks or even months to complete.  The price of the hat depends on the thickness of the straw used.  A low-end hat (thick straw) sells for $30, a top-of-the-line sombrero (thin straw) goes for $500.  After four days of t...

Day 3 we visited Machupicchu, the 15th century Inca citadel located on an 8,000 foot mountain peak.  (It was time to test our bodies and see if they had acclimatized to the high altitude.) We awoke at 4:00 AM and traveled by bus to the Ollantaytambo train station where we boarded the PeruRail Vistadome for Aguas Calientas at the foot of Machupicchu. For 90 minutes, the train traveled next to the Urubamba River as it snaked its way along the bottom of the Sacred Valley of the Incas.    We passed through tunnels and between mountains towering to heights of 20,000 feet or more.  The scenery was incredible! At the train station we boarded buses for the 15-minute ride to the base of  the citadel.  (Another switchback road, but this one was paved.)   Once there our adventure on foot began.  Steps, more steps, more... Finally we reached a vista overlooking the massive "Royal Estate" built for the Incan emperor Pachacuti ...

Day two, our bodies continued to adjust to the high altitude.  By now my nagging headache is gone, but my body resisted moving at normal speed.  The itinerary for the day was a visit to a number of scenic and cultural locations. We headed to the Maras Salt Fields in the Sacred Valley of the Incas, our first stop of the day.  The 30-passenger buses labored for nearly an hour along narrow, unpaved trails, often hung on the side of a sheer cliff with a 1,000 foot drop on the other side.  I tightened my seat belt as my bus fishtailed along the wet "greasy" roadway and occasionally pass an oncoming vehicle.  Cresting 13,000 feet, I was amazed to see large scale farming on the plateau.  Crops included asparagus, potatoes (more than 3,000 varieties), rice, quinoa, corn and coffee.  Twenty-thousand (plus) feet peaks of the Andes provide a stunting backdrop. Tractors were seldom used here.  The donkey on the left is hauling a single...

On Tuesday, December 17th, Gene began a 4-day overland tour to the lost city of the Incas, Machupicchu.  Jan was scheduled to go but after suffering fractured ribs in Argentina wisely elected to remain on the ship.  The excursion began with a 6:00 AM flight from Lima, Peru to Cusco, Peru, high in the Andes at an altitude of 11,152 feet.   Cusco, today a city of nearly half-million residents, was once the capital of the Incan Empire.  Though the Empire only lasted about 100 years (during the 15th century), it dominated much of the west coast of South America and controlled a population of nearly 10-million persons.   To help our bodies acclimatize to the high altitude, we began exploring Cusco immediately upon arrival.  Our first stop was at the Convent of Santo Domingo.  After the Spanish defeated the Incas, they systematically dismantled every Inca temple and ceremonial center and built a Catholic Church upon the temple's foun...