At last we’ve stopped hauling luggage and changing locations every few days. We’re ensconced in our quirky house in the Galapagos for the next month and have time to write and high speed internet access to upload visuals.
A point form recap to date (details to follow):
- Arrived in Cusco Peru where our guide (David) picked us up and drove us to our hotel in Ollantaytambo (in the Sacred Valley) where we stayed for 3 days making various side trips
- Took the train the Machu Picchu, where we stayed for two days at the Sanctuary Lodge on the grounds of Machu Picchu – it is a life list must see
- Train back to Ollantaytambo and then car to Cusco where we mainly slept for 2 days. The 11,000 foot elevation while climbing over Inca ruins is a killer. We’re both dropping pounds like inmates of a fat farm
- Long 6 hour drive across the Alto Plano (12,000 feet) to Lake Titicaca where we spent 2 days in a hotel and one night living with a farm family on an island in the middle of the lake. No running water. No electricity. No refrigeration. 20 sheep in the next room and one of the most significant cultural experiences of our lives
- Flew out of Juliaca (more about it later) to Lima Peru where we spent one night in the “Marriott Bubble” and then a subsequent flight to Quito Ecuador where we spent another night in the “Marriott Bubble” ….. before a complicated flight – bus ride – ferry – another bus ride and then a taxi to our house in the Galapagos.
We’ve been here 3 days and have settled in; figured out how the water system works (had to recall long forgotten skills in priming pumps); flooded the laundry room while discovering that they forgot to tell us that the washer drain wasn’t connected (you throw the hose out the door……of course). The only grocery store burned down last week so buying food and supplies has offered some interesting challenges. Most importantly, as always, we immediately found a really good bar run by a 30 year old ex-pat lady from Hampshire in England. She’s been an invaluable survival guide.
There’s lot of good restaurants, marine iguanas on the rocks at the end our road, frigate birds, pelicans, herons, and Darwin’s famous finches eat crumbs from our breakfast table on the patio. It’s 85 degrees and, being right on the equator, the Beebys can get sunburned walking across the road.
We’re having a wonderful time and looking forward to exploring the islands in more detail…..but Toto, we’re definitely not in Rome this vacation!
