South America

Travel South America;leave the city of the Tango and go the see nature at its best…
It is now time to say GOODBYE to our South American Journey, it is with saddness, joy, a sense of achievement and gratitude to the peoples of Peru and Argentina that we have had this incredible journey of transformation, our lives will never, ever be the same again…

Travel South America;we now head to see Giant otters
From one day being 2,400 meters high wandering around the Inca ruins of Machu Picchu to a couple of days later traveling to Puerto Maldonado (which is located in southeastern Peru, near the border with Bolivia), incredible each experience is as diverse and intriguing as the next.

Travel South America;with wonderful memories of Peru we say goodbye…
In total contrast to what we have just experienced, a beautiful city which is also known as the Paris of South America, it boasts bustling streets, grand avenues, old-time cafes and stylish restaurants, South America has bought a bit of Europe to us!!!

Travel South America;we leave behind the mystical citadel and continue our journey
We are back into civilization; we have left nature, the majestic mountains, rivers, flora and the silence behind…and now ready for the next part of our adventure.

Travel South America;we explore the sacred citadel…Machu Picchu
There is so much more that can be researched, so much more that can be told, however walking the grounds of the Inca’s and feeling the feeling that this citadel gives, seeing the magnificence of the structures, and hearing the silence of this sacred site, has been worth every step that has been stepped on to reach this incredible site…

Travel South America;we stand in awe as "The Lost City of the Inca's" appears in front of us…
Well here go the tears again, the cross is like this (drawn like the logo on my site), which means that the Andean people believe in mother earth, which is the circle in the centre of the cross (my logo has the hands holding the world), then the higher world which is the condor, earth is the Puma and the lower earth is the snake.

Travel South America;we make our way to the Sun Gate walking on the same stone paths that the Incans walked on 700 years ago…
As we walk on these steps, our guide will remind us that these stone paths and steps are the same stone paths and steps that the Inca’s walked on 700 years ago… AMAZING!!!

Travel South America;we trek past waterfalls to reach Winay Wayna…
Apparently from where the site is situated, with views of the waterfalls, from where we have just come from, and the Urubamba River which we see below us, they say that this site was a religious centre associated with water. The Inca’s astound me the more we learn about them the more intrigued I become…

Travel South America;today we are going to see the Eighth Wonder of the World…(part 1)
The gratefulness on their faces was enough to send most of us into floods of tears…we who have so much just don’t appreciate the simple things that these people do!!!

Travel South America;our third day trekking in mystical surroundings…
We can also wander down and sit by the stream, mediate, really become one with nature and we may even be able to see, feel and hear the sounds of the centuries gone by…what an experience, how blessed are we to be able to part of this amazing adventure.

Travel South America;second day of our trek on the highway of the Inca's…
Wouldn’t it have been amazing to have seen this area fully functional as the incredible Incan Empire that it was; what would we have been part of? Just sit on one of the walls at Chachabamba and contemplate the mystery and the mystical feeling that this region brings…WOW

Travel South America;we are walking on the same ground as the Incan royalty did 500 years ago…
Here we are standing in a circle together as a group with our guide telling up to put our hands one on our heart and the other on our stomach, then we turn our palms up, from the heart we give, from our stomachs we receive. We close our eyes with our palms outturned and say a prayer for our safety and for what we are about to experience. With tears in our eyes we set off for our four day trek… what will we see, what will we experience?

Travel South America;let me share with you something very special…
Not knowing what was going to be asked of me I gulped and said “Yes”, with my consent, our guide proceeded to tell me that the vice presidents wife, Felicita, had asked me to be Godmother to her daughter Benedicta…I was left speechless, and with tears in my eyes I accepted.

Travel South America;we're in Ollantaytambo a traditional Inca Village
The temple area is at the top of steep terracing which helped to provide excellent defenses, especially providing protection for the strategic entrance to the lower Urubamba Valley. The stone they used for these buildings was brought from a quarry high up on the opposite side of the Urubamba River – an incredible feat involving the efforts of thousands of workers. Apparently the complex was still under construction at the time of the conquest and was never completed and for reasons unknown, work mysteriously stopped on this huge project.

Travel South America;travelling to the Sacred Valley of the Incas…
As we drive through the valley one of the stops will be at the Inca Salt Pans (Salineras), which will be enthralling. It is literally hundreds of white terraced pools of salt that are harvested for salt and have been harvested this way for centuries, we will see families, including young children, working in these harsh conditions, incomprehensible to think that people still work in these conditions… all this for a pinch of salt…what we take for granted!!!

Travel South America;we are in Cuzco the capital of the Inca Empire…
It is because of internal struggles between the Inca’s that when the Spaniards arrived and occupied the city in 1533, the Incas thought of them as liberators so were conquered with ease. Cuzco was at this time a city of incredible stone architecture with wide squares, big temples and palaces decorated with abundant pieces of gold. The richest temple was Koricancha, dedicated to sun worship and lavishly decorated with gold and silver, and that is still standing today, which we will visit

Travel South America;how exciting we are going to Cuzco on the Orient Express train…
As we approach Cuzco we are also seeing Inca and pre-Inca ruins, colonial architecture, churches that date back centuries, is this real?

Travel South America;another couple of exciting days in Peru…
Lake Titicaca is a most sacred place when it comes to Inca religion and mythology, as it was here that the first Inca King, Manco Capac was born by the sun god, Inti. Manco would create the Kingdom of Cuzco thus beginning the Inca Empire. How awesome we are on the way to Cuzco tomorrow!!! I can’t wait for us to learn more about this fascinating history.

The water in Lake Titicaca comes from a combination of rainfall and

Travel South America;we are on day 6 to day 8 in Peru…
As if what we have just seen isn’t enough we then become mesmerized by the Andean Condor which is the heaviest flying bird in the world actually gliding below and above us, how do they fly? Actually they use the rising thermals to glide while looking for food way down below them, isn’t nature incredible