Latin America

After leaving the floating islands of the Urus we rode the boat 1 hour towards the Bolivian boarder. The entire lake Titicaca was spread out in front of us. The waters turned bluer and bluer as well as crystal clear. Our guide, Miguel, explained to us that the island of Tequile was very unique. The [...]

Mrs. P., Mrs. T., and Jose left early in the morning with a boat to visit the famous floating islands of the Urus.  The Urus used to live around the shores of Lake Titicaca, but started hiding on floating islands when over 600 years ago they heard the Incas were expanding their empire. Floating islands [...]

We have arrived at the shores of Lake Titicaca. What an amazing view of a huge blue lake surrounded by mountains. Titicaca: In Aymara, a language unrelated to and much older than Quechua, “titi” means “wild cat” or “puma” and “caca” means “eternal city” Lake Titicaca is nowadays shared by the countries of Peru and [...]

After the exciting discovery of the crystal skull and finally finding out who and what Pachamama was, we were back on the road again. This time we took the Inka Express bus from Cusco to Puno, which is located at the shores of Lake Titicaca.  What an amazing journey back in time. We saw so [...]

Machu Picchu is divided into specific areas:  agricultural, residential, the sacred plaza, the quarry, and the main plaza (town square). The agricultural district is visible by the terraces.  The Incas used terraces at Machu Picchu for several reasons.  One is to keep the ground from falling down the mountain.  The other is for planting the [...]

Pachamama is above me, below me, to the right of me, to the left of me.  Pachamama is everywhere.  What does that mean?  The llama said to go to the Sacred Plaza. I was getting frustrated and did not realize I was talking out loud.  Ceilo, our guide, overheard me and looked at us in [...]

I spotted a llama grazing on the terraces.  The llamas are very important animals here in Peru as I learned in Awana Kancha.  I yelled up the mountain,  “Are you Pachamama?” Another llama, who was standing on top of the terraces, looked down at me and with a laugh in his voice said, “of course [...]

The crystal skull told us that Pachamama is here in this sacred place of Machu Picchu, but where???? Could it not have been a little bit more specific. Thank goodness I spotted a Chinchilla. Could it be Pachamama? It does look very cute. Chinchilla, are you Pachamama? No, Jose, just look around you. You will [...]