Thursday, 3/7. Simple day. Attended a concert in a school for autistic children. Included singing and dancing performances. Inspiring.

Stood on the Equator, though there remains some suspicion that I didn’t. The French marked a spot in 1736 that was proven 240 meters too far south. The privately owned touristy museum we visited has a line they say is GPS proven, though Wikipedia has unspecified criticism. Google Earth indicates we were 130 meters too far south.

Museum of Ancient Ecuador. The building was an echo chamber, so I could hear very little from the tour guide.

Not much else today. We leave at 4:45 tomorrow AM for the airport to the Galapagos Islands. One night in a hotel on the main island (with wifi I’m told). Then three nights on board a 16 passenger ship. No wifi.

Wednesday, 3/6. Excellent tour of Quito. Began in what was the cleanest, roomiest food market I’ve ever seen. Cheerful people. Hire a cart pusher to follow you around for $1. Huge variety of fruits and vegetables. One stall sold various forms of just potatoes. For a fee they’ll peel the potatoes for you. The fish section was very large, especially surprising since Quito is 4 hours from the ocean by truck.

There is a huge number of various law enforcement personnel everywhere, including a large contingent of “Tourism Protection”. Far more police presence than in Peru or Bolivia.

City square had three sides with pretty historic buildings and one side of ugly city hall. The entire area is a UNESCO Heritage Site, but unfortunately the city hall was built before the designation. The Catholic building is now mostly shops; Ecuador became secular a few decades ago, so the religion lost a lot of revenue and was forced to turn commercial. The square was full of [older] people discussing the state of the country. Some were louder than others.

Next was the old section of the city, cleaned up recently and now a hot spot for weekend socializing. The style is largely French, intended to be an intentional snub at their vanquished Spanish overlords. The group interviewed a prostitute, whose profession was recently ruled legal based on a rigid interpretation of the constitution (the right to work).

Lunch was at an oversight restaurant. The view was good enough to skip the cable car ride up to an even higher oversight. Great food.

Afternoon was free. Visited some very artsy shops with high quality statues, jewelry, and wall art. Watched some more football. Lasagna at a small eatery with the Trip Leader, who is actually living on the Galapagos. (Our tour today was conducted by a native of Quito.) Learned a lot more about the islands.

A good day of lightweight touring. This is partially intentional to let everyone rest up before the Galapagos, where we’ve been warned that the pace will pick up.

Tuesday, 3/5. No photos. Uneventful flight via Lima.

They use dollars for currency following a financial panic in 1999. Limits the ability of questionable leadership to mess with the country’s economy. I’ve gotten Susan B. Anthony coins as change and they’re old coins! I’d never seen a worn-out $1 coin. They don’t look very fancy when dulled.

Highways are incredible. Like being in the States. Quito’s streets appear to be all one-way, making street crossing easier. Ecuador appears (with only a few hours of experience) to be head and shoulders more advanced than Bolivia and Peru. Our Trip Leader, Roberto, mentioned that Ecuador has a large number of USA transplants. The roads alone give credibility to that assertion.

The evening briefing devolved into a mostly Q&A for our Galapagos journey three days hence. I fear the same Q&As will repeated for the next two.

Monday, 3/4. Cusco was the site of the capital of the Incas. A great deal of the city was destroyed by the Spanish, but what remains is impression. Estimates are that they removed up to 200 tons of gold which had been decorating the city. The remaining rocks are stunning. Massive rocks, moved a mile or more to their defensive positions. Some of their stone walls were covered up by Spanish architecture only to have it all revealed during an earthquake in 1950. The Spanish works were destroyed, the original Inca structures were hardly impacted.

Alpacas were present in the ruins. Fearless and very active. They liked to roll in the dirt. Cute.

I passed on visiting the museums during our free afternoon. Settled in a balcony seat watching the central park. Enjoyed life go by. Rain emptied the park, but it was still entertaining.

We had a farewell dinner for Peru. The group is much more sociable now and we’re all looking forward to Ecuador. Tomorrow is a travel day.

Sunday, 3/3. Train return from Machu Picchu. Clear skies. Beautiful view of towering mountains and a very angry river.

First stop was to Ollantaytambo, a ground level Incan establishment. At least it begins at ground level. There is climbing involved. Incas really liked steep steps. Trip Leader: “Nose to toes, huff and puff”. Indeed. Massive stones moved many miles to get to the spot. Incredible attention to detailed alignment of pieces. What makes the location extra special is that it was still under construction when the Spanish arrived and the building ceased, so a lot of the building techniques can be discerned. Extraordinary building techniques. Their grain storage was in buildings across the valley high up on the hill, so the grain dried faster. Incas were climbing fools.

Next was a fabulously diverse lunch buffet. I had alpaca stew; delicious. I’ve now had guinea pig, llama, and alpaca.

Today was a special celebration day of unspecified significance. But one ritual is splashing anyone and everyone with water. Twice we had to close the bus windows. Another ritual was dancing around a tree festooned with household goods. Today we saw the dancing, and the chopping of the tree. If your chop brings down the tree, you’re obligated to arrange next year’s celebration. Consequently, the chopping was tentative at best.

Lastly was another (!) weaving demonstration. If there is a country without a weaving legacy, let me know and I’ll visit. This demo was actually better than most, but I’m still tired of them.

The hotel in Cusco is very nice. I had dinner on my own of mac and cheese, which was supposed to be spicy. I suspect they saw who I was and left out the spice. Bland. Sent out laundry again. $9. Incredible.

Saturday, 3/2. Today began with heavy clouds and rain in the air. But the day ended up being rain-free with gorgeous views.

The plan called for choosing from several options. Climbs to the mountain seen in most pictures (which isn’t Machu Picchu Mountain) is restricted to only 400 people a day and involves scrambles plus cable handholds. Pass. Climbs to the actual Machu Picchu Mountain (located behind most photographers) also has a 400 person limit and rises 2,000 feet above the site. I had the chance and passed, mostly because of potential of cloud cover making the walk a waste. Options 3 and 4 were relatively short walks to the “Sun Gate’ or to the Inca Bridge. While most did one or the other, two of us chose both. Views were spectacular. The Inca Bridge was very impressive. Building a stone foundation alongside a cliff wall while leaving a section missing was brilliant. The log bridge could be pulled back. Excellent defense. The Sun Gate had two purposes. It was the main (and grand) entrance to Machu Picchu and had seasonal importance with a calendar marker at MP. The sun rises through the pass on the summer solstice (or something like that).

Returned to town in the afternoon for a late lunch and free time. I watched a soccer match between Real Madrid and Barcelona. Met two delightful people who shared (too much of) their wine with me.

Machu Picchu totally lived up to expectations.

Friday, 3/1. Before boarding the train to Machu Picchu we visited a shaman(?) to get our spirits cleansed. Long ceremony that loads a host of various material into a wrapping that’s then burned. The tradition goes back before the Incas.

The train was cramped and bumpy. Nice seats though. View was poor since it follows a brown river. The track was laid a hundred years ago not to get people to Machu Picchu but to build a hydroelectric plant. The town of Machu Picchu sits in a sliver of a valley and is clearly a single-purpose center. A large number of people move from train station to bus station. We did the same. Bus ride winds up the mountain slope at an astonishing speed. Entry to the Park is time controlled, so there is a crowd marking time. We all visit the restroom because there are no facilities inside (thought to be a means to get people to leave the park). Entry is followed by a long, steep hike through thick foliage. Our first view of the ruins is from above and is breathtaking. See the view, grab your camera.

We slowly walk through the ruins with frequent stops for interesting tidbits of information. Much the who/what/why of Machu Picchu is based on conjecture. The walking tour is a one way route, to again discourage people to from overstaying. Llamas populate the grounds.

It rained on and off all afternoon, changing the surrounding views constantly. (A theory for the “Why here?” question is its 70 inches of rain per year. Irrigation not required.) One of the key takeaways from the visit is the incredible scenery all around the site. Cliffs covered in greenery. Soaring mountain tops. There is evidence that many terraces were build to hold hanging gardens.

Just breathtaking. Tomorrow we return to do one or two hikes.

Thursday, 2/28. Busy “Day in the Life” segment of the trip. We were fortunate to be here during some kind of women’s day tradition that I can’t find on the internet. Defies description, but it appears to be all in fun. Mannequins are dressed up in weird ways and prizes awarded to the group with the weirdest. A tree is put up, decorated with useful household goods then competitively knocked down on Sunday. The winner gets the goods. A local market makes their mannequin in the likeness of their favorite saleswomen. Foreigners festoon her with confetti and gets hugs. The crowd goes wild.

Had lamb tongue and cheek, plus lamb stew. Preferred the cheek. Had a delicious juice from a local fruit. The “cup” is a plastic bag and straw. Visited a baker with a huge wood-fired oven who also cooks whatever the locals bring to him (for a fee). Guinea pigs again. The oven is hot 360 days a year. Five days off to replace the bricks.

Cemetery is similar to those in Bolivia, but some private ones are much more ornate. They all feature lots of glass for public viewing.

Corn Beer. 1.5% and sweet. Strawberry-flavored option (the “girlie” version). Played a coin-toss game that I was horrible at.

Home-hosted lunch. Traditionally at harvest time everyone helps each other with the expectation of being fed each day by a particular family, so houses are usually equipped with two kitchens and a very large dining room. Got a real lesson in how to convert a living Guinea pig to a main course. Lots of conversation about life in Peru. Courtships are backwards in Peru. Meet, date, move in, have children, buy a house, get married (optional). It was a great time.

Pottery Factory. Frankly Morocco and China had much better products. Lots of Incan reproduction. Not a big fan of abstract art.

Busy day. Tired. Tomorrow, after two weeks of touring, we finally visit one of the two main purposes of the trip. Machu Picchu.

Wednesday, 2/27. A touch of food poisoning impacted my day. We sat on the tarmac for an hour before departing Lima. Met nice bus in Cusco and drove on to our ultimate destination. Several stops.

Massive souvenir center. Baby lama photo ops ($1). Children photo ops ($1). Jewelry, pottery, etc. I’m now among some serious shoppers. Meanwhile, I sat next to the lamas and children and blew up balloons. Kids were happy.

Stopped at a town famed for rotisserie guinea pigs. People drive hours to eat here. Ate a sample. Didn’t really remind me of anything else. Visited a guinea pig growing barn. Cute pigs. No photos due to the sensitivity of a frequent subscriber.

Stopped at a Coca seller’s house. I stayed on the bus. Wasn’t interested. The town is a large source of illegal cocaine. Coca is from the same plant, but it’s mostly legal at 10% the profit. Helps with altitude sickness, dulls the taste buds.

Got to the hotel and went to bed. Nearly missed dinner and it’s entertainment. Went back to bed. Feeling better.

Tuesday, 2/26. Pre-Incan Museum. Lots of pottery, silver, and gold. Very strange rituals involving sacrifices and deaths. Examples: There were tournaments before sacrifices, but authorities are not sure whether the loser was punished by sacrifice or the winner was honored as the sacrifice. Exhaustive display of pottery. Durable stuff.

Visited one of the oldest churches (no photos), including the catacombs. Bones were sorted. Thousands of femurs, then skulls, etc. Considered one of the safest places to be for earthquakes. The artwork in the church was considerably worse than the earlier society’s pottery and metal work.

That was essentially it for the day. Some stayed downtown, some went to another museum. Others followed me to my favorite restaurant, then the Chocolate Museum. I had a large Pisco Sour. Also ordered and shared some coca tea, revered for helping at high altitude. No big deal. We’re at sea level so if there were any effects, we wouldn’t feel them.

Welcome dinner included some dancing exhibition. It was okay. Tomorrow we head back to the mountains.