Saturday, October 15th, 2022 & Sunday, October 16th, 2022
This will be a quick post because the next two days are mainly traveling!
Today we left Aguas Calientes by train and arrived back to the Ollantaytambo Station where we boarded a bus to take us to Cusco.
Inca terraced slopesCacti along the routeCactus getting ready to bloomLooking at the AndesThe sky is clearing as we travel beside the Vilcanota River
Our train
When our bus arrived back to the city center of Cusco we had lunch at a local restaurant and then went to the airport where we grabbed our luggage and reorganized for our flight. It will take a little over an hour for our flight from Cusco to Lima.
Leaving Cusco, Peru
When we arrived in Lima our group and our group leader said goodby. Some of us would be continuing our travels and some would be staying an extra day or two in Lima. Our flight from Lima was scheduled to depart around 11:00 PM to fly to Houston, Texas.
Leaving Lima, PeruOur flight statsDescending into Houston, Texas
We arrived in Houston around 5:00 AM Sunday morning. We went through customs and said goodbye to our friends, Roseanna from Minnesota and Kathy, from Colorado. We hope to do another adventure together! Once we rechecked our luggage for our flight to Columbus we relaxed in the United Club because we had about six hours before our flight!
We arrived in Columbus on time, collected our luggage and headed home after a fantastic trip to Peru. Road Scholar fulfilled their description of providing a “Taste of Peru: Discover Lima, Sacred Valley and Machu Picchu”.
This morning we began our day walking to the Huaca Pucllana. Today we took a tour of the area with our guide Percy.
Percy, our guide
The tour lasted about an hour and a half. Our guide was very knowledgeable. This temple was built before the Incas. It was a Lima civilization temple, dating from around 500 AD. The clay/mud blocks were placed vertically with space in between because of earthquakes. It was made up of million of these adobe bricks. It once served as an administrative center and a pre-Inca ceremonial site.
We were amazed at the advanced engineering techniques used so long ago! Peru sits on the “Ring of Fire”, an area where many volcanic eruptions and earthquakes happen, so tremors occur constantly but many you don’t even notice.
Huaca Pucllana
This area was mainly forgotten. You could still see the dirt hill that covered the site before excavation began.
The uncovered area of Huaca.
The beginning of restration, investigation, and preservation began in 1981 by Dr. Isabel Flores Espinoza and her team and in 1984 it became a cultural heritage site. The Peruvian government has made the necessary preservation efforts to keep the Huaca intact for years to come! It was now a third of its original size, only 15 acres. Due to the rapid expansion and urbanization of the area in the 1900’s that is why it was much smaller.
The city surrounded the site.Buildings all around!
Archeologists were still working! Our visit on day 2 showed them busy working. You can look at that post to see the excavations still being uncovered!
Its pyramid shape was solid not hollow like the pyramids built in Egypt. The Wari culture took over this site around 700 AD and for them it held significance primarily as a burial site for its nobility. Archeologists found an intact tomb in 2008 that held three people, 2 adults wearing masks and a sacrificed child. Below was a replica of the tombs that were found.
Explanation of how the Wari’s buried the individuals.
Other areas for gatherings/meetingsDepicting religious ceremonyDepicting how it was builtDepicting clay pot offeringsGraves found of Chinese immigrants
In the museum on the grounds we saw some original pottery that was found in the area.
We walked over to the Ricardo Palma house museum. He lived in this home for a long time. He was a famous writer who was noted for creating the genre called tradición which is a combination of history and fiction anecdotes. Unfortunately when we arrived the museum was closed for remodeling. We were disappointed but we did find a statue of him.
Ricard Palma Statue
We walked over to Kennedy Park and looked at all of the art displays by local artists and nearby there were many stalls of various products. We also noticed there were many shoe shine stations. It was popular!
Some of the art for saleShoe shine stationsSome sort of card trading
After lunch we walked down by the ocean to Larcomar which was a shopping area for locals and tourists. It was quite busy.
Larcomar Shopping Center
For dinner we walked to a local restaurant called Veda. It was great because the restaurant was a dedicated gluten free establishment.
After our excellent dinner we walked back to our hotel and we read our Road Scholar information sheet because we join the tour tomorrow morning!
We left Columbus on time for our first flight to Miami, Florida and we were so excited to board our next flight that would take us to Quito, Ecuador for our adventure to begin!
Leaving ColumbusArriving in MiamiLeaving Miami for Quito!
We arrived in Quito on time and met our Road Scholar guide Patricia! There were five of us on this flight. Tomorrow morning we would meet the rest of our group that would be together for the next nine days!
Patricia gave us information about Quito as we traveled on our bus from the airport to our hotel in Quito. It was a 45 minute ride to the hotel where we would be staying for two nights. Our bus driver, Lanning, was with us for our time in Quito. The check-in process at the Sheraton Hotel was easy and we were in our room to get some rest from our day of traveling!
This morning was a walking tour of Auckland with our site coordinator, Len. We walked down past the Britomart Building. Where we were walking was all on reclaimed land! Britomart was named after a Royal Navy gunship, the HMS Britomart.
During our visit, a lot of construction for redevelopment of the city center was happening, there were many orange cones! The city is also getting ready for their hosting of the America’s Cup next year.
Our walk included the Ferry Building (1910) which was once used for the crossing of the Harbour. We walked past the Maritime museum and as far as the fish market. We saw some fish being sold that we’d never seen before.
After our morning walk we had morning tea and an introductory meeting. It was a welcome by Robbie our group leader. An interesting quote was that they are “turning tourists into travelers.” It was explained that we will see and learn about the people, land, flora, fauna, and the icons of the places we visit.
After lunch, Len, our site coordinator lead us on a walking field trip through central Auckland. We walked up Queen St. past the art gallery, Albert Park and the university. In the park he pointed out the pōhutukawa or New Zealand Christmas tree.
We enjoyed some free time after our walk in the city. Dinner was going to be in Davenport at the Esplanade Hotel and we took a ferry to get there and to get back.
After dinner we walked around the island. It was up and down hills! On our ferry ride back we watched the sunset and then the moon begin to rise!
We walked past the Maritime museum and as far as the fish market. We saw some fish being sold that we’d never seen before.
An interesting quote was that they are “turning tourists into travelers.” It was explained that we will see and learn about the people, land, flora, fauna, and the icons of the places we visit.
