Many couples and tourists come here to enjoy the park and take photos

A visit to chocolate museum of course we sampled some cacao tea and different chocolates

Urubamba indoors market

Outdoors the market continue with plants.

More colours

Sorry a bit blur photo but aren’t they cute with their hats selling I believe chamomile plants, garlic, potatoes.

Colorful stack of vegetables, indoors market, yuca, peppers, delicious avocados...

Love her hat

Fried bananas and sweets in corn leaves

Piles of potatoes i am not talking about the ladies

Healer who was preparing different combo of herbs, roots, flowers for certain ailments. Thought it was so beautiful. I took discreetly a photo as I was asking her what it was, she didn’t look happy to talk

From the back!

Beautiful lady surrounded by bags of potatoes bathing in morning sunshine. Peru country where they produce so many different type of potatoes, over 500 specimens!

Local fruits

So beautiful, one of favorite photo

A funny looking hat which sometimes was empty, other times with flowers surely has a meaning but we didn’t find out!

Couldn’t get enough of the colors, hats, and bags....

The story behind was crop trial

Las Salinas, such a big area where they built up pools to collect salt

Like I said super dry, it hasn’t rained for months

Each level was meant to be a different crop to see how it will grow

Such a stunning beautiful place

We were only allowed to walk on little path

Very strong winds

It reminded me of tanning area in Morocco

Which felt crunchy, crack noise and strange to walk onto

A stream comes down from the hill and they have built all those pools to collect the salt from it

Beautiful view over different field with on the horizon snow peak

A little climb up the oppposite hill, a bird of prey flying above us, strong wind, met a Brazilian lovely couple up there who kindly hooded my cap as I was struggling to keep it on with the wind. They absolutely loved Peru, so sweet people.

Quite well preserved site

Built up roof to protect mud walls

Pisac

View over village and other site on the other flank

A quick blurry selfie before the group close to us do theirs

Closed up on the muddy, straw, stones wall

Our tiny lunch, boiled corn with cow cheese. We have been looking for goat cheese everywhere with no luck....only cow cheese in Peru nowadays!

The guardian

Door which as you can see I had to squeeze underneath

View over the whole site we explore, climbed up to the temple, and more on the right hand side with a lovely calming sound of river flowing

Type of aloe Vera grass

A beauty

Details I cannot remember but thought it was moon temple

Map of Pisac

View site of Pisac

Explanation of what we are going to do after lunch

I’m on the top of the world....euh, not really!!! But closer 4200m

Valerie and Rojelio

Glass dome and view of Salkantay

Our first lunch together, looking up at the hill to climb

Horse ride

Isn’t it beautiful

Offering to Mother Earth Mama matka

A sense of feeling so tiny in front of such beauty

Here it is Lake Humantay, a jellewery, stunning paradise in the mountain

Too much food and so delicious Albert can’t wait😆

Breath taking view over Salkantay which when we arrive at the camp earlier was behind clouds

Such a beauty, I could not get over it, so worth the climbing effort

Salkantay playing hide and seek with clouds

Still climbing up past the lake...

A caterpillar undisturbed

We are not alone

4600m high, keep breathing.....the oxygen mask will fall down in 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 min.....

Up the hill which doesn’t look like much but it is 4221m high

Now we are walking down

Just can’t stop looking at it and taking photo of it, breathtaking

So beautiful view, still more to climb

And down the hill we go hihehiho! One of the British girl in red and our main guide in front with blue bagpack

The group : German, Spanish, French, British

View from glass dome

My mad horse well carrying a mad woman what a pair! This is the reason why they put a scarf around his ears because he is a wild horse perfect for me

Happy crowd

To see the beautiful mountains range and valley on the other side

Our itinerary

Ticket for Salkantay

My Machu Picchu stamp

So much moss, it could be a good setting for Hallloween

Very green all around, gorgeous view, song of green parrots flying down in the valley. We will see them from closer when we will be walking along the rail train.

So exciting

Found those flowers beautiful in colours, called lobster claws

Saw many as we were walking along Mach Picchu rail train

We are now joining the Inca trail and this is the first Inca site we encounter

Here it is the first sight of Machu Picchu mountain

Our half group, some have left as they are doing only 4 days

Beautiful green color of stones

The Machu Picchu train

Machu Picchu train back to Ollantaytambo, nuts and Chocolat plus drink, 5 days trek over, been to Machu Picchu 😃

Roof window

Going higher

8 am climb up departure to Machu Picchu mountain another 2600 steps going up

Inca bridge

Unfortunately I wasn’t alone

The crazy steep steps so high felt vertigo or may be low on battery...

One last pick before leaving

Are you sure it is there!?!

So tiny

Any comments

Feel like closer to the clouds

Definitely not alone

It’s just behind us

Botanical garden

Any comments....

I love this mist hiding part of Machu Picchu

Stones used for construction of temple

Machu Picchu train back to Ollatabamtab, nuts and Chocolat plus drink, 5 days trek over, been to Machu Picchu 😃

Google map, incredible to see the distance we walked, the little blue mark under Salkantay mountain being Lake Humantay we did the 1st day and finished on the 5 th by climbing Machu Picchu mountain👊🏻

The little harbour where we departed from

Who are those monkeys 🐒

We climbed mama matka, Mother Earth hill and mama parka, Father earth

Amenti Island going in exploration

As we were waiting with an Ozi girl who stayed over with us, we did few yoga stretches was beautiful setting for it

Really really windy up there, little pile of stones are the offering to either mother or father earth

Bus to Puno beautiful landscape, photo taken from the bus

It is time to go home

Sheeeeps

Well all made up for tourists so sad

There is 90 islands and each tourist boat will visit one in turn. Big yellow boat for tourists to go for a little paddle around, as we were mainly french in this group, not many went on board, we had to pay extra for it

Straw which forms the island, has to be redone every 20 years. Feels strange to walk on it

Disney world! no sorry Uros island

Pompoms

Two generations Oscar from Lima and a 16 years old girl from Amani

Look at her belt

Yes my muse

View from top of hill where we climbed for the sunset

On the bottom of the hill, locals were doing some sort of offering and burning part of the hill. Burning land seems quite common unfortunately.

Las Olas, an expensive hotel where rooms have a shell shape, it was fully booked nevertheless we decide to go there for an afternoon tea. They were actually closed in afternoon but luckily we met the German owner and were allowed to have ice cream, tea and to feed the lamas, munch munch

Clouds are getting darker, it was actually thunder in the evening

Locals come up here and drink over a fire, a lovely spot but everything is burned and lots of rubbish

Such a stunning sky was worth the wait in the cold blowing wind

We were expecting to see the full moon but ended up so cloudy

Beautiful donkey Valerie loves donkey so she has been in heaven as we have seen so many

Here are the beaches well keep the sun cream in your bag they are not those pretty beaches with white sand, mind I didn’t check closely too much of a hike back up

We find her asking around where we could sleep at a local house and we were told this lady had room for us

We found her at the school yard with other men and women digging holes not sure why

Snowy mountain range

We are climbing up for the sunset, he is not coming with us

We walk around the island and tried to follow path somewhere very unsure I think only lamas and donkeys used them anyhow we managed to get on the top of the hill and reached the other side of the island

Neighbours

View over the village and other islands

We stayed at some local lady house, lovely garden, huge poppy flowers

Gorgeous donkey at the harbour

They also did vegetarian option and gluten free for me

Urubamba, Eco lodge the owner cooked a banana pancake with honey huge( we thought it was to share) and homemade bread with local fruits jam, was amazing.

Urubamba indoors Market where we bought some fruits, avocados, coffee, chocolate, dried fruits & nuts for the trek

I was worried of being hungry....could barely finish my plate, stir fried of vegetables with ginger & steak \240served with rice sesame seeds, delicious

Lunches during the trek usually started with a soup : veg, quinoa, rice, pumpkin...followed by 7 different dishes meat or fish and different vegetables so yummy

Pisac our only lunch food boiled corn with cow cheese, was ok because I was hungry but tried better in Mexico

Barranco, our last night in Peru Pisco maracuya, passion fruits with finger food filled with cheese, guacamole sauce and chilli one

Paracas, Pukasonco restaurant, an artist who also cook, best fish soup I had so tasty a pure delight

Cusco an organic restaurant where they grew their vegetables, herbs and plants. This is alpaca meat with pumpkin mash and quinoa with eatable flower, delicious

Puno, La casa del Corregidor terra-cotta pot of tea, muna which is local mint tea, found many bushes in Isla del Sol in Bolivia, smell lovely

Chicha morada, Red corn juice with spices was really nice and Valerie is having veggie dumplings

And we tried a chocolate cake with Lucuma ice cream, lovely too

Paracas, Pisco local drink served with salted grilled corn

Kampu restaurant, menu on a black board on the wall, chef explained every dishes, mixed of Asian and Peruvian food.

Cusco, organic restaurant, manzanilla tea chamomile, with fresh flowers

Flags with all the different name for potatoes

3 different potatoes served with alpaca meat and vegetables

A place called Hatunpa, in Arequipa speciality of potatoes

Valerie’s Crepe filled with quinoa and scoop of ice cream, delicious

Cactus were pretty dry very few looked good and this one had lovely flowers

I found the sky stunning everywhere we went

The man built up oasis, sorry blurred photo but I am climbing up a mountain 3 hours up to the summit🤪

Cabaconde church beginning of our 3 days in Colca Caynon

The highest village Tapay

And yes another one flying like a free bird

Such amazing clouds in the sky

Pretty walk down, following river and so much greeness, many chamomile bushes in flower, fruit trees such as figue, avocado, papaya

Are we going to see any condors?!?

Day 2 : Can you spot the bus....

End of the 4.30 hr of painful trek down, we finally reached our bungalow and the good thing is they had a hot natural pool, my legs were happy again!

Yes, that’s the one we took for one hour of crazy cliff road drive, up and up we went with a worried Valerie on board, too close to the cliff for her liking.

Dryness versus greeness

Baby cactus grow from stone😳

Yes, and if I had a big zoom camera you could stop it better but I don’t care as I saw few condors flying in this canyon

Beginning of the 4 and an half hours of walking down in what felt to me like 40 degree & it is 10 am. And obviously no wind, no shade. Yes absolutely my brain is saying “Get me out of here!” They won’t be any photos of the trek down as I just wanted to be somewherelse by the sea or a pool, in a hammoc but certainly not there. Yes you guessed it I didn’t not enjoy that bit!

Around 6am sun rise we started the climb at 5.20 am so we wouldn’t too hot and the mountain as I found out climbing is mostly in the shade apart from top but better with an early start!

Stunning colours

And in the oasis they fill the pools with the waterfall water

The path we took down to the oasis

✨

The reason why the vegetation is growing is because of small water fall

Here it is water bringing life in this dry canyon

The man built up oasis, sorry blurred photo but I am climbing up a mountain 3 hours up tohe summit🤪

Night time barely any lights around so beautiful sky full of stars

Cabaconde bulls fight ring

Our entrance ticket to Colca caynon

Google world map pretty impressive viewing like that. That sort of explains how difficult it was!

Very Spanish inspired little alley

Here is the volcano a constant danger for anyone who leave in Arequipa. They have dig a big hole just before the city but what help is it going to be!?! Unsure

Free tour with a local guide who brought us in this pretty side of Arequipa where the stone used, white as you can see, is from the volcano

So so hot it’s 10 am but as our guide mentioned it, each time we stop we all look for the shade

Just before the bridge where we could see the 3 volcanos

Main plaza, so pretty, I did love this city, lovely, with a great choice of restaurants and shops, clean, hot and sunny and always something going on in that main plaza

Seen few beetles couldn’t help it, saw many colours so that was my excuse😜

We came back later in the day and oh another beetle red this time

El Misti

And one more for the road a silver one😉

Picanteria, la mundial, typical Peruvian food, a Sunday so very busy with family, huge portion served. I had a mutton soup with potatoes, yam, rice and corn so big that i couldn’t finish it. Saw locals having takeaway of what they cannot finish

El chachani summit 6000 m

Departure of our free tour started there with a lovely cup of cacao tea

They also do some cacao class

I had a delicious chocolate cake while valerie enjoyed her hot Chocolat

Another blue beetle on the way to picanteria, they are outside main center of Arequipa. Typical food pastel de papa, layers of sliced potatoes with cheese which we thought we try on the street but it was pasta and cheese. Another dish is rocotos rellenos is stuffed peppers, cut which I didn’t try

Muse of Pisco, We went to the one in Cusco this according to Rojelio our guide during the Salkantay trek, this one was opening in December. We took a photo to send to him

Main plaza such a lively place, locals dancers

That is my turn to pose, strike the pose🎶🎵🎶

Oasis, Huacachina, for the Peruvian elite, place of holidays and for backpackers coming for sand dunes fun time

I like to travel incognito no I just protect my sinuses😜

Man made oasis

Yes you can spot it plastic and there is a lot around Peru, we asked our taxi driver this is not their priority.

Oh one thing so many taxis in some city like Arequipa I believe it was pretty much only taxis on the road and so many.

The buggy was so much fun

Unreal I guess result of earthquake

Sunset

Guanay cormorant

The chick is hiding among the stones on the top, a brown feather little bowl

Sea lions resting or sleeping or posing

On the way to the islands we observe a cluster of birds diving into the sea I believe a group of fishes were close to the surface, was crazy to see

The 3 Graces

Many seals, the water is full of fishes even so we spot a sea lion with a bird. Our guide commented since last year they have noticed the sea lions eating birds, change of behavior which they do not understand as there plenty of fish in this area.

Back in Paracas some pelicans leave here

El candelabra, a mystery, similar to Nazca lines, geologist analyse the soil and didn’t find anything. Purpose, how it was made, only speculation, made by 👽 no ones know. The direction of wind is opposite so very little erosion, it is well preserved

Humbolt penguin

Peruvian booby

Or just cannot be bothered to do anything!

The bird poo is an excellent fertilizer therefore very pricey and of course the island is protected.

We saw a fishermen boat with a pump giving oxygen to divers for shells fish they need a permit to fish in this area

Many birds, we saw lots of Peruvian booby, Inca tern, penguin, neotropic cormorant

You can see the bucket on the side, I was cleverer walk passed him pretend to take boats photos

Got you

I do not want to be in your photo 😂

Sunset

The reason is a clever man thought it could be a business to fed the pelicans ask tourists who take photo of them for some money

So many birds tiny dots are birds

Lovely and a softy Inca at lighthouse B&B

Barranco main plaza at night

Outdoor balcony with mural fresque

I am actually trying to pose as the famous local singer which I of course forgot her name, she has her sculpture close to the bridge, her song his about the bridge

Second bar

Bridge with down bellow massive wood sculpture of an ant

Churros

Huge amazing pub so many rooms, loved it

Very colonial

Train transformed into a restaurant, the queue of people is actually for the bus not for the restaurant

Look at all those bottles

Cake or churros🤔

One bar, love the chandelier

Lovely little restaurant with view over the sea

Famous bridge, Puente de los suspiros (bridge of sight) where you need to cross it without breathing so you can make a wish. I’ve done it and seen tourists with red faces trying to do it too

Celebration of a physical trip

Pisco passion fruit with nibles

Stack of newspaper and very old chair in the corner, a barber chair unsure

And yes I feel like a Queen

Many graffitis

Is you favorite movie in there?

View over the Malecon

My favorite

Saw so many things with El principito, the Little Prince and also Frida

Muna which mint and chocolate and lemon was delicious 😋

Yes I feel like a Queen

S. Dali high in colours, magnificent

So many vultures most of them on top of church which is half way covered being restored may be

Pretty colors

Bar where we went to celebrate our trip and it’s end, love the chandelier

Love it

Blu, homemade ice cream

Tchin tchin Pisco for everyone

Main plaza

Lovely little shop with so many interesting frames

This bar had so many rooms

Life is ahead of us, keep breathing, enjoy the moment.