In June we took an incredibly wonderful trip to Peru. It was actually three consecutive trips organized by Ken McFarland many of whose trips we have been on. They are good trips with a nice crowd of people - many of whom we seen on other of his trips, excellent guides and all the logistics worked out. Many of his trips are dance trips (Contra, ( Read more... )

Back in Arequipa as our trip wound down we went to the Cathedral and another Monestary which had museum sections in it. Definitely a nice city to visit - lots of things to see and easy to walk aroud in. The city is vulnerable to earthquake damage - the last one was 12 days ago - fortunately most don't cause much damage.

Click here for pictures:

( Read more... )

As we traveresed back and forth between Arequipa and Cabanaconde there was lots to see. Interesting terrain, isolated villages, beasts of burden, some pretty nice native costumes with hats. I think that particular hat design is local to the region.

Click here for pictures:

( Read more... )

We spent a couple of nights in Cabanaconde since it allows easy - so to speak - access to the Colca Canyon. It's a nice little town in the mountains. There's not much there - several hotels, shops, no bank or ATM, a church. It is in a farming district. The hotel name where we stayed was interesting: Kuntur Wassi.

Click for pictures:

( Read more... )

It was time to actually descend into Colca Canyon. We left Cabanconde where we were staying (Altitude 10,784) and went by bus/van to the descent point. We traversed the most winding, treacherous dirt road I have ever seen (some people couldn't even look out the window). You can hike there and takes a few hours down and more up - but none of us ( Read more... )

We went by van/bus from Arequipa to the town of Cabanaconde which is the gateway to the Colca Canyon. It was very mountainous and we saw lots of Vicuñas and other similar animals - and of course some people selling goods.

Click here for some pictures:

( Read more... )

In 1579 a plan was created to build a monastery for nuns in Arequipa; it was built and occupied for a long time - although in 1582 it was severely damaged by an earthquake as frequently happens in that region ( Read more... )

As the final part of our June Peruvian trip we went to Arequipa and the Colca Canyon - locations in the south of Peru, Arequipa has a long history from pre-inca times through the colonial period, and now a a modern industrial and tourist center ( Read more... )

Here is another scattering of pictures taken from the Amazon trip at various places. The river, the birds, the people, our boat, other boats, houses, and of course a Pisco Sour.

Click here for pictures:

( Read more... )

Early one morning we took another jaunt into the jungle off a little river from the Ucayali (I think) to a tree house and set of suspension bridges. We went through the covered walkways, climbed the stairs, and traversed across the swinging bridges and had some great views of the jungle from higher up. Some of these are actually lodging where ( Read more... )