Guest Post from my Mom

I haven´t posted for a while because I have been having a great time exploring Peru with my family!  Here is an update from my mom:

I´m writing from El Albergue Hotel in Ollantaytambo, one of the most beautiful towns in the Sacred Valley of the Incas.  Two days ago we had the opportunity to climb the impressive terraced ruins here and recall the accounts of one of the last major battles between the Inca and the Spanish.  The massive stonework and beautiful mountain views are hard to describe but I don´t have the technology to upload pictures at themoment.

But my two day old memory of Ollantaytambo is now dwarfed by spending  yesterday immersed in Machu Picchu.

The experience of the ruins surpassed even my expectations.  Following the advice of many friends we spent the night before going to Machu Picchu in the tourist trap town of Aguas Calientes so that we could get on the 5:30 a.m. bus up to the ruins, avoiding the massive crowd of tourists that descend on the site daily from 10 to 2.  We had an incredible day there, hiking and stopping to marvel at the views - all told we probably hiked for 9 hours with a one hour break for lunch.  We each took about a million pictures of the incredible stone work that varies from huge boulders to intricate stone courses to sculptural forms, and the spectacular mountain views.  Our constant companions were the Moon Guide on Abbys kindle (we didn`t feel too bad about the clash of technology with history because everyone there was talking on their cell phone or using their iPad for photos) and Ed Ranney´s and John Hemmings´ excellent Monuments of the Incas which combined the best map of the site we saw, with great explanation and far better photos than we could ever take.  Ed´s and Martin Chambi´s historic photos helped us to see the real site in new ways. Thank you Ed!

There are too many more adventures to recount in a short post - from our unexpected overnight in Lima due to a flight cancellation, to the warm welcome from Abby´s host family, to the beautiful Pisac market right outside the front door of our hotel.  We had the opportunity to bring a few of the books we and our friends and family are donating to Abby´s school (thanks all!) and were delighted to see how eagerly the kids clung to the books and mobbed Jim while he read to them.  More stories come when we are home.  Now we are off for more exploration of Ollantaytambo, and headed to Cusco where we will spend the next four days with a side trip to the weaving village of Chinchero.  Thank you Abby for giving us this opportunity for the vacation of a lifetime.  I´m sad that we´ve already passed the half way point!