We dropped our dog off at my mom’s house and headed to the airport Tuesday night. The airline had instructed us to be there 3 hours before our 1:30 am flight, but we were excited, and early. Arriving at SFO at 9:30 we walked up to a non existent line at Taca Air and whipped thru the check in process. I am proud to say that our two checked …

Here's todays lesson on Peru.

Peru is the 3rd largest country in South America, 27 million people live here (9 million in Lima alone). The official languages are Spanish and Quechua. Over half of the population are pure Amerindian origin and many live in remote mountain areas still speaking Quechua or Aymara. There are 50 ethnic groups who …

I woke up this morning to find Grant had been suffering all night with altitude sickness, headache, inability to sleep, and finally nausea. I headed down to the front desk to explain. "No problemo" they gave me some mystery pills and sent up a tank of oxygen for Grant to use for about 20 minutes and pretty soon he was as good as …

This morning we had breakfast with our family then headed to the dock for the next leg of our trip. A 30 minute boat ride away was Taqulie island. It was another hour long hike uphill to the town plaza. During which I decided that the lazy girl who lives inside of me should get a vacation she enjoys sometime too:) Taquile island's population is …

Today we take a large comfy tour bus to Cusco and stop along the way at various points of interest. There are 2 couples on the bus who were also on our islands tour so it was nice to see them again. Along the way our guide explains various features and cultural distinctions. As we passed through the city of Juliaca which it where the airport is …

Today we hiked with our guide, Juan all over Cusco. And I do mean all over, Juan estimated we walked about 7 miles. It was 7 miles of one incredible site after another, our heads are swirling with the enormity of the cultural sites we saw today! The elevation ranged from 11,000 to 12,000 feet so we are still huffing and puffing but it's getting …

Today we toured the “Sacred Valley” which includes many small towns with interesting historic sites.

On the way there we stopped at Awankancha, a conservation project to save the native people’s ancestral process of weaving. The site is associated with 14 communities (420 families) who weave the highest quality pieces. Weavers …

We began the day by visiting the ruins right next to Ollantaytambo which included the most beautiful fountain and an area speculated to be a type of hospital. Afterwards we drove just outside of town where we met our porters and got started on the trek.

Things I learned during the Cachiccata Trek;
Hiking straight up 4,000 feet starting at 8,300 …

The next morning we woke up to rain. We got out of the tent, looked up, and just above us was snow. Uh oh, this doesn't look so good. We waited for awhile but it never let up, and since we were supposed to go up to 15,000 feet our guide decided the pass we would cross would be snowed out. Since we weren't prepared for that kind of weather, and …