Everyone always wants to know what we paid for a trip, so here goes. For a week in an exotic country, far from home, it was pretty cheap. I could have gone a little cheaper, but it was cheap enough already that we didn’t feel the need to economize on the major items (and we [...]
Entries Tagged as 'Cusco'
What We Paid in the Sacred Valley of Peru, including Machu Picchu
June 9th, 2009 No Comments
Tags: Aguas Calientes Peru · Cusco · Cuzco · Machu Picchu · Sacred Valley · Travel Spanish
World’s longest parade and shortest route
May 18th, 2009 No Comments
We stood on the sidelines for almost an hour, but the sun was getting too hot, so we found one of the many balconied restaurants surrounding the plaza, got ourselves a balcony and had lunch as we watched the parade continue. And continue and continue. We took over an hour to eat lunch, just taking our time, and the parade showed no sign of ending when we left.
Tags: Aguas Calientes Peru · Cusco · Cuzco · Travel Spanish
Cusco – Cuzco – Qosqo and around
May 18th, 2009 No Comments
The route we drove, even in the dark, looked pretty dismal. Just as I was thinking “could they have chosen a worse looking entry to Cusco?”, we came to the top of a crest and there was the entire city of Cusco lit up in the valley below us. Wow. Stunning.
We Are In Peru
May 14th, 2009 No Comments
Well, we’re finally in Peru. After a three hour drive to Miami, across Alligator Alley (which had been closed several nights because of smoke from a major forest – swamp – fire), a few hours in the Miami Airport (which doesn’t seem to have restaurants, only food courts), a 6 hour flight to Lima, a [...]
Tags: Aguas Calientes Peru · Cusco · Hostal Sauce · Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Machu Picchu · Ollantaytambo · Pisaq · Sacred Valley · Sazon Andina · speak Spanish · Urubamba
Forget Swine Flu, We’re Going to Machu Picchu
May 5th, 2009 No Comments
People tell me they’re worried that we’re going to Peru. But put it in perspective. We don’t stop traveling in regular flu seasons. And last year there were 38000 deaths in the U.S. from the regular flu. 38000. And how many with this new flu? 1. O-N-E.
Tags: Cusco · flu · influenza · Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Machu Picchu · Oaxaca Mexico · Ollantaytambo · Peru · speak Spanish · swine flu · swine-bird-flu · Travel Spanish
Our Peru Itinerary
April 23rd, 2009 No Comments
Our first stop, if you don’t count stopping in Cusco to prepay for train tickets to Machu Picchu, will be in the Sacred Valley town of Ollantaytambo. We have reservations at the Hostal Sauce. Yeah, strange name. It certainly isn’t cheap by Peruvian standards, but it includes a buffet breakfast, and they’ll transport us to [...]
Tags: Aguas Calientes Peru · Cusco · Cuzco · Gringo Bill's · Hostal Marini · Hostal Sauce · Learn Spanish · Machu Picchu · Ollantaytambo · Peru · Peru Rail · speak Spanish · Travel Spanish
Getting Ready for Peru and Machu Picchu
April 19th, 2009 No Comments
Although you often hear Machu Picchu called a “lifelong dream” by many people (and it certainly is one of mine), we hope to see much more than Machu Picchu. I’m looking forward to visiting the Sacred valley and staying a couple of nights in Ollantaytambo. Just the name alone is exotic and mysterious.
Tags: Cusco · Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Lima · Machu Picchu · Ollantaytambo · Peru · Sacred Valley · speak Spanish · Travel Spanish
Will the Flu “Pandemic” Cancel Our Trip to Peru and Machu Picchu?
April 30th, 2009 No Comments
I know it’s not a pandemic yet, even though Wolf Blitzer keeps saying that level 5 means that a pandemic is “imminent”. We’ve been planning this trip for a long time, and we certainly don’t want to overreact. We’ve prepaid for the two nights in Aguas Calientes, paid deposits for our rooms in Cusco and [...]
Tags: Aguas Calientes · cancel our trip? · Cusco · flu · Learn Spanish · Learning Spanish · Machu Picchu · Mexico · Oaxaca Mexico · Ollantaytambo · pandemic · Peru · speak Spanish · Travel Spanish