Quito Ecuador....
01/03/07 17:03 |
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Thursday 1 March...docked
in
Manta, Ecuador in
the early morning hours--Ecuador's 2nd largest port
city, it is the center of Ecuador's tuna industry &
has a U.S. military post nearby.
Montecristi,
the famous artisan town & the birthplace &
center of production of the improperly named "Panama"
hat--Teddy Roosevelt wore one of the Montecristi hats
when he visited the Panama Canal opening in 1914--the
exceptionally fine superfino hats of Montecristi are
all handmade, taking 5-8 months to make one hat &
are the signature souvenir of Ecuador. Our destination
for the day was
Quito--the
country's capital with some of the best-preserved
colonial sectors in South America...
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Machu Picchu Peru...
28/02/07 17:02 |
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Monday 26 & Tuesday 27 February...started
our day at 6am....off to the
Poroy Train Station for
our prompt 9am departure on the
Hiram Bingham Orient Express train
to experience one of the world's great train journeys.
Built at the beginning of the 20th century to link the
highlands of
Cusco with
the
Urubamba Valley &
the Amazon Basin beyond. The mahogany finishes, fresh
flowers on all the linen covered tables, the delicious
brunch, the music entertainment in the lounge car was
our relaxation as we began our journey....
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Cusco Peru...
25/02/07 17:00 |
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Sunday 25 February...7am
we departed the pier of
Callao Peru (outside
of Lima) & boarded the plane for an hour flight
to
Cusco --the
ancient Inca capital. As we were whisked away from the
airport at
Cusco, we
found a city nestled into the valley, at 12,000 feet
above sea level, of red tile roofs surrounded green
mountains & entered a fascinating mix of Inca &
colonial Spanish architecture: colonial churches,
monasteries, convents, plazas, extensive pre-columbian
ruins interspersed with countless hotels, bars &
restaurants--to our pleasure we snapped a photo of the
local Mormon Church (red brick structure in the middle
of the city...(see
photos at end of Peru photos) Read
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Pisco Peru & the Nasca Lines...
24/02/07 16:59 |
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Saturday 24 February...this
sleepy, colonial-style town & deepwater port
of
Pisco was
surround by the most barren, stark sand dunes...it is a
dry, sunny, hot region...the entire coast of Peru looks
like the sand dunes between Yuma & California...it
was a desolate & harsh environment...our journey
took us through & around the dunes of beige, across
the desert, red toned dunes (called Colorados)
past large chicken farms, oasis of palm trees, huts of
the squatters (people that sit on the land for years
hoping to obtain ownership by rights of long-term
possession)... Read
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