Midori Hotel Cusco

... 14 97;ם יש עוד קצת זמן עד למעבר הגבול מכיון שיעדנ 93; הבא הינו העיר ארקיפ 92; שנקרא 14; גם העיר הלבנה.

... amazing Inca construction. We hiked up to some other ruins across the city and had a lovely view of the valley, city and ruins from above. Ollantaytambo is lovely and I would recommend an overnight stay if possible.

We took a shared taxi back to Cusco for 10 soles each. Our driver was a speed demon the whole way and we arrived back in Cusco in 1hr 45 min. Halloween was underway and children were disguised as everything from ...

... overgrown countryside. The buildings were made from lightly coloured stone and stood grandly on the edge of the mountain cliffs. The view from here was beyond belief, standing back from the edge of the cliff it appeared that everything just dropped down for thousands of meters. In the distance I could see the glacier peaks and below I could see the base of the valley some miles away now. Simply breath taking!

After the visit to the ruins and lunch we continued up the mountain ...

... of mostly rice, we set off for another hike up to the next town. And when we got to the village we visited the home of one of the villagers - the old lady who lived there treated us to some Chicha a alcoholic drink made from corn - yum?!. She liked us so much she gave us a two liter bottle to take back with us - double yum?!?. The last 20mins back had to be done by head-torch, the accommodation didn't have electric either so after our pasta meal by candlelight and a ...

... see the difference, as the Incas were amazingly precise in their workmanship and the Hispanics sloppy and not nearly as perfect.

You could draw a comparison between the two cultures. The Incas were incredible advanced on their engineering, building and designing and like the native North Americans respected nature and worked with it rather than destroy it. Their god was predominantly ...

... was really nothing to do but kick back for a few days and enjoy the sights and sounds of Cusco. We even treated ourselves to a decent hostel with such delights as a comfortable bed and hot running water!

We found we had actually landed smack bang in the middle of an "Andean" festival which was running for another 3 days. Literally, thousands of brightly clad, mainly indigenous people, danced and strutted their ...

... been taking photos to sit between me and the center. Immediately, I could feel a change in energy. A few minutes later when he moved to sit beside me, also facing the center, I could feel the energy return again. Funny thing is that I was only aware of this energy until it was blocked and then released again.

The Salt Mines create a vari-colored beige and brown graphic tapestry nestled ...

... the train made its entrance into Poroy, its final stop of the journey. By then, it was dark outside, a little bit cool and the sky, full of diamonds shinning over us. We all retrieved our luggages and got off the train. Once outside the station, Carlos, our faithful driver, was waiting for us. Safely, he drove us to our hotel, the Novotel, our home for the next couple of days.

By then, it ...

... plane's descent, looking out the window, we could see the Andes with snow on top of their peaks. It was quite breathtaking. It was the first time that I was witnessing such a vista from a plane. The Andes were spectacular and endless.

As we approached Cuzco, the pilot started rocking the plane going from side to side in between the Andes mountains. I felt as if I was in a roller coaster ...

... where farmers work with the same patience and skill that their ancestors must have employed to shape and then move the huge blocks of stone with which they built both their homes and the temples in which they worshiped.

As the train leaves Ollantaytambo to begin the last part of its journey to Machu Picchu, the temple complex known as The Fortress, dedicated sometime in the 15th century to the many deities of the Inca pantheon, can be seen to ...