Arenal Volcano

We were blessed with a full view of the usually cloudy Arenal Volcano on the way into its closest town, La Fortuna.  A few clouds had formed by the time we took a late afternoon hike in the area of the 1968 lava flow area.  It was in this year the people who lived here [...]

Manuel Antonio

We arrived at Manuel Antonio, the town attached to the National Park of the same name, after another bad taxi experience in San José.  We had to pass through, since we were travelling from the Caribbean to the Pacific Coast.  There are separate bus terminals, though they aren´t too far from one another.  The driver not [...]

Cahuita National Park

 
White sand, coconut trees lining the beach and reefs near shore.  Sounded good to us.  The small beach town of Cahuita is on Costa Rica´s Caribbean Coast, about 4 hours from San José.  The bus ride was uneventful, but slow and HOT.  The fare was fair for what you got, but Costa Rica does not [...]

Do you know the way?

San José, Costa Rica.  From the moment we landed, we felt like we were almost home.  Over the years I´d heard so many wonderful things about Costa Rica as a paradise of exotic birds, flowers and animals, spotless beaches, friendly faces and a high percentage of folks who care about the environment.  More recently I [...]

Moray and Chinchero

The concentric circles at Moray were different from anything we´d seen so far.  The current theory is that they were used as an agricultural laboratory, to experimentwith what crops (wheat, quinoa, other grains, potatoes, etc.) would grow best at different temperatures and under different conditions.  It has been proved that the temperature varies at different levels; [...]

Tambomachay, Pukapukara, Qenqo and Saqsaywamán

The site Tambomachay is only about 5 miles outside Cuzco.  A local bus heading toward Pisaq dropped us off right in front.  The area was used as a resting place, and is most known for its fountains and baths. The Inca Bath is created by two aqueducts that provide clear water year round, making the most of [...]

Machu Picchu

The train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes (aka Machu Picchu Pueblo) was like entering the jungle.  Everything got more and more lush,green and wet.  There was less agriculture, and more wild.  Aguas Calientes itself (named for thermal springs on the edge of town) was another kind of jungle, the tourist kind.  Obviously this is [...]

Ollantaytambo

Having left Pisaqlate in the afternoon after a LONG walk up and through the ruins, we were pretty tired by the time we changed buses in the transportation crossroads of Urubamba.  From Urubamba we jumped in a colectivo (usually a minivan or van, smaller and a little more expensive than the bus but considerably faster).  We crammed in with the [...]

Sacred Valley

 
To travel to Pisac from Cusco is about an hour by local bus, 2.40 soles about 70 cents US.  We sat next to two women who were having a conversation in Quechua and trading goods.  One had bread and the other bananas and they seem to have made an agreeable and tasty trade.  Native Quechua [...]

Cuzco

Cuzco is located in the heart of the Andes, at about 11,000 feet, a bit lower than Puno.  We were glad to have arrived by land and had a chance to adjust to the altitude.  There are a number of stories about Cuzco´s founding, but one of the most common is that the first Inca was [...]