Hinton Happenings: Ken's Trip to Peru

Ken visited Peru January 24th- February 2nd. I will let him show and tell you all about it. (This post took almost as long to do as it took to go on the trip! I think he did a great job.)

Lima Peru airport. This is a common "Welcome to Peru" marketing picture

We had a layover in Lima that lasted much of the day, and so we left the airport and took a bus tour of many of Lima's downtown area sights. This is one of the many beautiful sculptures/plazas we saw in Lima.

Another beautiful downtown Lima plaza a sculpture.

If I remember correctly, this guy (the one on the horse) was a key figure in bringing freedom to the people of Peru.

This is the façade of the oldest Catholic church (if I remember correctly) in Peru.

A look at the nave inside the oldest Catholic church building in Peru.

One of the alter pieces inside the church.

A couple more alter pieces inside the church. All Catholic churches are soooo.....ornate.

One of the stained glass windows, which was high up in the church.

This church still had up this three-dimensional nativity. I have never seen such a detailed, ornate nativity. It was impressive.

A shot of the plaza and another Catholic church building in front of the Peruvian Presidential Palace.

Another shot of the plaza, with the presidential palace in the background.

A picture from the opposite corner of the presidential palace plaza. Notice the corner of the presidential palace on the left. We walked down the pedestrian street shown in this picture to visit a cocoa factory/market, a historical museum and then to eat at a nice restaurant.

This is a picture of the restaurant we ate at. It looks like it's name is "El Muralla" Notice the hill in the background. Elder and Sister Addison Everett, who were serving a mission here at the time, joined us for this part of our tour and explained that all the homes built on the hillside are homes of poor people. They said that in contrast to what happens in America, in Peru the poor people build on hillsides and the rich people build in the flatter, low lands.

Another "Welcome to Peru" sign at the Lima airport.

This is the view to the left from the front of our hotel "Casa Andina" near the center of the older downtown section of Cuzco.

This is the front of our Casa Andina Hotel in downtown Cuzco. It was only one block away from 3 different, beautiful plazas, including Cuzco's Plaza De Armas.

A picture of the statue and fountain, which was the center of Cuzco's Plaza De Armas.

A picture of the Catholic church building on the north side from the Plaza De Armas.

Another picture of the statue and fountain, with another Catholic church building on the east side of the Plaza De Armas.

This is the fountain and smaller, but more bird-rich, plaza that was near our hotel. It was the opposite direction from our hotel than the Plaza De Armas was. I think this plaza was called the "San Francisco Plaza". Don, Ada, and I spent quite a bit of time bird watching in this plaza, with quite a bit of success.

My brother, Don, and his wife, Ada Lu, in front of an Inca wall. This was near the Plaza De Armas.

Don, Ada, and I in front of the same Inca-built wall.

This picture's purpose is to allow us to compare the Spanish peoples' wall building skills with those of the Incan People. Notice the space & chinking, between the wall's stones in this wall built by the Spanish. Then compare it with the tight, complex fitting stones in the pictures of the Incan constructed walls.

Even though there are various different angles and complex corners in the stones, they still fit so very tightly. Those Inca builders were amazingly skilled. Many of the stones they used are huge, even weighing multiple tons!

Aaron Bybee (brother-in-law to Chris White) sizing up this Incan wall. Chris White was a friend of mine in high school. He was a year or two older than me, but we worked together stocking shelves at Graff Mercantile early in the mornings during our high school years.

A look down one of the narrow downtown streets near the Plaza De Armas. Notice Jolene White Ewell (the white-haired lady walking away in the pic). Jolene & her husband, Rick, were friends of mine at Hurricane High School. She served on the seminary council with me when I served as the seminary president my senior year. Also notice the Inca wall on one side of the street and the many, small vendor's shops on the other side of the street.

Don, Ada and I walked to this smaller and more distant plaza. Although smaller, this little plaza was also pretty and well maintained, just like almost every plaza I saw in Peru. You can see by my binoculars and Peru bird guide, that I was looking for birds to study everywhere we went on this trip. As a result, I added 54 new bird species to my lifetime bird list. Don's pictures of many of the birds we saw were instrumental in allowing us to key down a great number of these new bird species.

Don and Ada exploring one of the downtown Cuzco side streets.

In this picture, you can see the contrast in the Incan-laid wall stones and the Spanish-laid wall stones. I wish I knew the secrets of the Incan wall builders.

This is a picture of the fountain in the third plaza near our hotel. In fact, you can see the front of our hotel just over the heads of the couple standing on the left side of the fountain.

This is looking southwestward from our restaurant window (Papacho's) over the Plaza De Armas. This restaurant came highly recommended, but it was a bit of a disappointment for Don, Ada, and I.

A look at the door and outside wall of a Catholic church building (I think), which was just in front and to the left of our Casa Andina Hotel in Cuzco.

Another angle/view of the same door and wall. I thought the door and alcove above it were quite picturesque.

This is not an LGBT flag, but instead the flag of Cuzco.

Our Peruvian tour guide, Clary (Short for Clarissa), with a Peruvian dressed up as an Inca nobleman.

Playing the Peruvian flute, making traditional Peruvian music.

I thought this sign on the sidehill above downtown Cuzco was interesting.

The circular building structure just to the left of the picture's center was apparently where the Inca's made sacrifices to their gods. This building was evidently the Incan Temple of the Sun.

Jerald Sandberg standing in front of the Incan Temple of the Sun.

Clary in front of the Incan Temple of the Sun in old downtown Cuzco.

Inside the Inca Temple of the Sun. This picture shows how the windows in adjacent rooms align perfectly with each other.

This shows how the Incas fixed an unusual flaw in one of their wall stones. Their accuracy and minute attention to detail is impressive.

A room in the Inca's Temple of the Sun

This pic shows some of the amazing details in the Incan stone masonry. Some of these stones contain holes for waterways in their stone walls. Some of them have interlocking facets like Legos have. For example, male and female fixtures.

A close up of some of the interlocking features. Evidently, they would pour metal in these slots that would hold the stones together, making their walls earthquake resistant or totally earthquake proof.

View from the back of the Inca Temple of the Sun, looking out at their garden. Can you see the creatures etched in the small green lawn in the fore ground?

Snake, Condor, & Puma (?)

Native Peruvian woman weaving her Alpaca wool alongside the wool's source Alpacas. Of course, if you happen to take a picture of them, they let you know that you now owe them some money. (Soles)

Two more women weaving alongside their Alpacas.

At the Inca's apparent Temple of Water. Notice the water flowing from a spring they have captured. (Just above the left side of my hat)

Another Inca fortification that provided a commanding view of the landscape and valley.

Northeastward view from the fortification.

Southwestward view from the fortification toward the Inca's Temple of Water structure.

Interpretive sign at the Inca Qenqo (pronounced "kenko") dwelling site. It was located on the hilltop north of the old downtown of Cuzco, near the Inca dwelling called Saqsewaman. (pronounced "sexy woman").

Looking from the Qenqo dwelling site down onto the area of Cuzco where our hotel was.

A closer view of downtown Cuzco from the Qenqo Site.

Incan constructed storm drainage near Qenqo.

Rick Ewell looking at the Saqsewaman Inca site.

Clary teaching us about the Saqsewaman site. The hill on the left was apparently a quarry site for at least some of the huge stones in the walls on the hill on the right. The following pictures are of the incredible walls on the righthand hill.

According to Clary, apparently the righthand hill and its walls were the base for this pictured Incan water capture and storage structure.

Notice how this very large boulder at the wall's bottom is shaped to be the corner in this section of the wall.

The stone behind Clary is reportedly 13 tons.

The large stone in the middle of this pic is also approximately 13 tons.

The Hurricane High School graduates from our touring group. From left to right: Me (Ken Hinton), Don Hinton (My older brother), Ada Lu Hinton (Don's wife), Jolene White Ewell, Rick Ewell, Karl McMullin, Martha Porter Hunn, Bevin Johnson, Susan Sandberg Johnson, Lesa Spendlove Sandberg, Jerald Sandberg, and Chris White.

A picture of the "White Christ" from the Saqsewaman site.

The "White Christ"

Selfie in front of the "White Christ" that stands on top of the north hill overlooking the old downtown part of Cuzco.

View of downtown Cuzco from the "White Christ" statue. Note that you can see the "Plaza De Armas" and the church just east of it. This is the area where our hotel was and so this is the area I explored in the couple of days we had to walk around near the hotel.

A closeup of the Plaza De Armas and churches and our hotel from the "White Christ" statue.

The Peruvian vendor that won my attention (and money), showing me one of her beautiful alpaca scarfs. I ended up buying 2 scarfs from her, one of them an alpaca wool scarf and one of them a goat-hair scarf. I also bought Kay a Peruvian nativity, and a painted Peruvian gourd from her. She was located in the covered market area near our hotel and just across the street from the Peruvian fountain below.

Beautiful Peruvian fountain relatively near our hotel.

Mural along the street between the local vendors' marketplace and our hotel.

Rear view of the Incan Temple of the Sun. The grassy area in the foreground is the roof of a museum of Incan history.

Tile mural of the ancient Incan city of Cuzco, showing the Plaza De Armas.

Cloth napkin of my favorite Cuzco restaurant, the La Estancia Andina Restaurant & Grill. It was on the west side of the Plaza De Armas, on the second floor of the building. It had big windows overlooking the beautiful plaza.

This is the dish I ordered at my favorite restaurant. It is Lomo Saltado. The meat was Alpaca. This dish was a very popular one everywhere we went in Peru. It is usually made with beef. I ate it several different times. It came with the customary rice and French fries.

Picture of a Vicuna at the Peruvian animal farm. It featured the four similar Peruvian mammals: Alpaca, Vicuna, Guanaco, and Llama. I still struggle to tell them apart.

Llama, Alpaca or Guanaco?

A cute little girl at the Peruvian mammal farm, dressed in her traditional garb, trying to stay busy next to her mother, who is showing how they do the traditional Peruvian weaving.

Some of the 800 or so of types of Peruvian corn.

Some of the 3.500 or so types of Peruvian potatoes

Traditional Peruvian weavers, each dressed in their own village's traditional dress. These villages are all in the Sacred Valley

Selfie overlooking the Sacred Valley of Peru.

Sacred Valley from same place, just a different direction.

Another shot of part of the Sacred Valley, but this is taken from a different vantage point--from the Pisaq Inca ruins.

Don and Ada entering the Pisaq Inca ruins

Some of the farming terraces at Pisaq, with some of the site's dwellings and burial caves in the background.

Another view into the Sacred Valley below Pisaq Inca ruin site.

Selfie at Pisaq Inca ruins site, with their ancient burial caves in the cliffs behind me.

Clary, trying to tempt us into eating one of Peru's famous meats, Cuy. We Americans know it as Guinea Pig. Although I went to Peru planning to eat some, when I found how expensive it was, I decided I was simply too cheap.

This picture and the two below are of the Skylodge "hanging" hotel in Peru's Sacred Valley. It overlooks the powerful Urubamba River, where I caught my only glimpse of the White Capped Dipper (it is a bird).

We were told that in order to stay in this "hanging" hotel, you had to rock climb to it. After your stay, you evidently descend by ziplining back to the bottom of the cliff. We were also informed that along with bedrooms, there is a restaurant of sorts and a comon living area.

Needless to say, we did NOT stay in Peru's famous Skylodge "hanging" hotel. But we certainly did see it. Scarey!

A look at a typical street. This one is in Ollantaytambo (Pronounced Oyantaytambo),

one of the ancient Inca dwelling sites we visited. As was usually the case, the Peruvian people still live in their village near the Inca ruins. Chris White is taking a picture toward me, getting his wife, Sharon, and daughter, Christen in his image. Notice the dog wandering the street. This was the norm everywhere we went in Peru. Just like we have stray cats in America, it seems they have stray dogs in Peru. They roam the streets at will, sleeping in the streets, etc. Not once was I accosted or threatened by one of their stray dogs.

This is the view from the top of the narrow street we traversed. The ancient Inca ruins, Ollantaytambo, can be partially seen in the background on the left hillside. As was usually the case everywhere we went that was a tourist destination, you can see the local vendors' market, which you have to pass in order to access the ruins. Left to right: Martha Porter Hunn, Jolene Ewell, Rick Ewell (back view), and Aaron Bybee.

Chris White and a look back down the commercial street in Ollantaytambo leading from the bus parking area to the Inca ruins entry point. We traveled by bus from Cuzco through the Sacred Valley to this point, Ollantaytambo. Their busses were very modern and comfortable. From here, we were required to travel the rest of the way to Machu Picchu's gateway, Aguas Caliente, by train as automobiles are restricted there due to lack of space, etc.

A look at the terraces built by the Incas straight up from the entrance point.

Selfie at Ollantaytambo ruins.

A different view of the Ollantaytambo Inca ruins.

And yet another view, along with a look at the plentiful tourist numbers.

Notice the food storage buildings (light places) built high up on the cliffside of the mountain in the background. We were told the Incas built them up there because the canyon winds would help dry and preserve their corn, etc.

More Ollantaytambo Inca ruins.

Taking in our local tour guide's instruction. From left to right: Jolene Ewell, Rick Ewell, Lesa Spendlove Sandberg (a distant cousin of ours through John Nock Hinton), Jerald Sandberg, Susan Johnson, and Bevin Johnson. Karl McMullin and his wife, Vivian, are sitting just behind Johnsons. Our overall tour guide, Javier, is in the blue jacket and hat, standing behind our group. He did us a fabulous job in arranging every facet of our Peru trip.

From the village of Ollantaytambo, we were required to take a train the rest of the way to Machu Picchu's Pueblo, Aguas Caliente. Aguas Caliente is to Machu Picchu what Springdale Town is to Zion National Park. My lifelong friend, Howard Stucki, who had visited this part of the world 4 or 5 months earlier, had insisted that this was such a unique and beautiful village, that I simply HAD to stay overnight there and that I must explore it. Thus, upon arriving here at dusk and checking into our hotel (another Casa Andina), instead of joining most of the group for dinner at a nearby restaurant, I bought a bottle of the Peruvian national soda pop, Inca Soda, and drank it as I explored the entire village, street by street. Howard was right. This was an enchanting village indeed. I got sprinkled on by a light rain/mist, but I thoroughly enjoyed my adventure exploring Aguas Caliente. The following 6 pictures are ones I took while exploring it.

A pedestrian bridge (everything here is pedestrian, because auto traffic is restricted) over one of the two mountain creeks that feed into the mighty Urubamba River. Our hotel was positioned tightly between the railroad station/tracks and the Urubamba River.

A panoramic view of Aguas Caliente's town plaza. Even though it was dark and threatening rain, the plaza was busy. I found almost all of the town/city plazas throughout Peru to be amazingly well loved and used, at all times of the day. The plazas seem to take the place of our town or neighborhood parks.

A closeup of the plaza's statuary. Notice the stray dog on the right.

Artwork carved into the rock alongside a sidewalk in the town.

A picture of the Urubamba River, taken from our hotel's restaurant. In order to truly understand the ambiance here, you really need to watch a video. The river is moving fast and furious, making so much noise that you must raise your voice significantly in order to visit with someone right next to you. This picture doesn't show it, however, everywhere we went in Peru, the rivers had trash along their streamside. Even in this remote mountain village, this was still true. Some places were worse than others. In Lima, it appeared the riverside was the local garbage dump. It was sad to me to see such beautiful creations trashed by humans.

This was the view outside my second story hotel room window. It rained most of the night and so everything was wet and soggy when we awoke, ate our complimentary hotel breakfast, and prepared to take the necessary 20 minute bus ride from Aguas Caliente up the mountain to the Machu Picchu ruins. You can see the railway station through the tree's branches. What you can't see is the railroad tracks that lie just below this picture (right in front of our hotel and thus my room). During the day, the trains bring people to & from Aguas Caliente, but during the night, the trains bring supplies into the town. Before going to bed, one of those trains rolled in and then back out. As it approached, it sounded like it was going to come through my room!! After going to bed and inserting my ear plugs, I thankfully never heard another train all night. What a blessing that was.

And finally...….Machu Picchu!!! This is the interpretive map at the entrance to the ruin site. There were two ways to get from Aguas Caliente, up the mountain to Machu Picchu: by small commercial busses or by hiking the Machu Picchu trail. Needles to say, the ancient Inca people that built the ruins did not have the luxury of the first option. Everything that was hauled up to the ruins' site was done on a back, either man or animal. It was overwhelming to consider the backbreaking toil that was required to build, maintain and supply this ancient ruin site and its people. Since the hike method would have been, wet, laborious and time consuming, we wisely chose the bus method.

This is a look from just inside the park's entrance toward the bus loading and unloading site. It is evident in the picture that it was wet there that morning, but it is not as evident that there was substantial fog here. When our tour guides picked us up at the hotel that morning, they informed us that we would postpone out trip up the mountain for about 30 minutes in hopes that the encompassing fog might dissipate for us. Their plan worked great for us as you will see in the following pictures of this amazing place known as Machu Picchu. By the way, the building to the left of the picture is the park's restrooms. As was frequently the case all throughout Peru, it cost money to use the restroom facilities. Even then, some restrooms didn't have toilet paper. Thus, we were counseled from the start to always carry toilet paper. In Ollantaytambo, as I approached the restroom, a stranger to me-a young woman, asked me to check if perchance there was any toilet paper in the men's restroom. I was sad and uncomfortable to report to her that there was none. The usage cost here was 2 Soles. (While we were in Peru, 3 Soles was about equal to $1.)

Our first sight of the ruins. The fog was still pretty thick.

Both Don and I expected the ruin site, which was in the mountain cloud-forest environment, to be very bird-rich. However, the opposite was true. The only birds I saw while at Machu Picchu, were 2 or 3 or the ubiquitous Rufous-collared Sparrows, which were together at the park's entrance. I saw this species everywhere I went in Peru. Neither Don, nor I, either saw or heard any other bird the whole time we were on the mountain that morning. I was astounded!! Don had made special arrangements with Javier, our tour guide, to smuggle his powerful telephoto lens into the park so he could take pictures of the expected birds. He never had occasion to pull out his big lens. That was probably good, though, because there were incognito park rangers throughout the park, watching all us tourists. Our tour guides had warned us that the rangers frowned on professional photographers, and Don's big lens certainly gave him the look of a professional photographer.

Approaching the first view point of Machu Picchu. The structure on the right is a restored dwelling site.

Machu Picchu as seen from the first viewing point. Yay! the fog has lifted to a large extent.

Looking down the mountain toward the Urubamba River from the first viewing point.

view (?) from the second/main viewing platform. The fog has definitely rolled back in.

You can see from the pictures, that the ebb and flow of the fog made the experience both mystical and magical. The panorama changed constantly while we were there, making me want to take WAY more pictures than I would otherwise have taken. Believe it or not, this is just a small number of the pictures that I actually took there.

This gives you an idea of the number of tourists that shared our day's Machu Picchu experience. The park is being loved to death like our national parks in America. Thus, the Peruvian rangers have recently instituted restrictions on the park's visitors. We were only allowed to be in the park a maximum of 3 hours. We had to follow a basic route through the ruins without wandering off from it. We had to be accompanied by a tour guide. Our group of 26 was considered to be too big by the rangers and so, although, I didn't see it happening, our tour guides (we had 2 here) kept saying they were being harrassed by the rangers to keep our group split into 2 groups because of our group size. When we had completed the route, we were expected to leave the park. The higher mountain overlooking Machu Picchu, which was called Huayna Picchu aka Wayna Picchu, and required an additional 1300-step climb to the top was further restricted to only 300 people each morning and evening. Notice one of our tour guides, Clary, at the bottom left of the pic.

Our Peru Travel group

Left to right, Standing: Don Hinton, Aaron Bybee, Ada Hinton, Julie Bybee, Karl McMullin, Vivian McMullin, Martha Porter Hunn, Jim Hunn, Chris White, Sharon White, Christen White, Bevin Johnson, Susan Johnson, Lesa Spendlove Sandberg, Ken Hinton (myself), Javier (our overall tour guide).

Left to right, sitting or crouching in front: Jere Diehl (Our friends from near Sedona, AZ), Vicki Lloyd, John Diehl, Diane Amundsen, Jerry Amundsen, Jerald Sandberg, Richard Ewell, Jolene White Ewell.

This shot is looking back toward Aguas Caliente, although it is hidden behind the monolith in the picture's center. Note the mighty Urubamba River in the canyon's bottom.

Bevin Johnson (on left) listening to our local tour guide, Clary (on the right).

We were instructed that the Incas built each of their terraces with care. Since this region gets so much precipitation, they constructed the terraces in the following manner, so that there would not be any landslides, even in very wet weather. They first built the terrace's front rock wall. Then they filled in the area from the front wall to the hillside, first putting large stones in the bottom, then putting a layer of porous gravel, then they put a layer of sand, and finally they topped it all off with rich topsoil.

Left to right: Sharon White, Christen White (back is to us), Lesa and Jerold Sandberg, Karl McMullin, Vivian McMullin, Jere Diehl (from near Sedona, AZ), and Vicki Lloyd.

We were informed that this structure had something to do with sacrifices (Note the raised, table-like surface in the center of the structure), and it also had something to do with the solstice/equinox--the sunlight would enter through the larger window on the far side of the structure on that solstice/equinox, lighting the surface of the sacrificial alter.

Our overall tour guide, Javier, and his nephew, who joined us for several days of our tour and had his mission call to become a missionary in March.

We were told this cut in this stone helped us understand how the ancient Inca people cut the stones. They would pound wooden wedge-shaped chinks into the stone along the line they wanted the stone to fracture. Then they would pour water on those wooden wedges, causing them to expand and then create a fissure in the granite rock.

Clary, in the foreground, indicated to us that this was another sacrificial room. the right-hand corner has suffered an unusual defect due to settling or perhaps from earthquake.

A few Alpaca are kept onsite to control the verdant grass.

Although we couldn't confirm the authenticity of what we were told due to the heavy fog behind this alter, we were informed that this was probably another sacrificial alter and that the upper outline of the rock's top mimics the outline of the mountains behind this rock.

Another supposed sacrificial alter.

Our tour guides told us these two little bowls in the floor of this room probably had something to do with the solstices/equinoxs, and perhaps associated with sacrifices. Notice that LOTS of places in Machu Picchu seem to be associated with sacrifices. Actually, no one really knows much about the origins of this amazing place and the people that built it and lived here, so long ago.

The large rock & rock wall structure in the left side of this picture is the right wing of a condor that the Incas created with the rocks. You will notice, if you look closely, that there is a Peruvian rabbit-like mammal, called a Chinchila, sitting on top of the rock wall at the base of the large boulder making up the condor's right wing. It is well camouflaged. The next picture, below, shows the little creature in a closeup shot. The left wing of the condor and the condor's body aren't in the picture, because the camera couldn't capture the whole structure in one shot.

A Peruvian Chinchilla is a rabbit-like animal with a long, furry tail. To me, it looks like a cross between a rabbit and a squirrel.

As we neared the end of our tour through the Machu Picchu ruins, the fog turned to a light rain. It allowed us to see how well the Inca's storm-water removal system worked. I was very impressed with their system. At least in the area we were when it started raining, the rain water drained off the floor to a shallow ditch on the low side of the room, then it flowed out the room opening and cascaded into larger and larger collection ditches and cascaded through walls from one terrace to the next lower one, just as shown here.

This was the dinner I ordered at the Hotel Casa Andina in Aguas Caliente. It was absolutely delicious. I can't remember what it was called, but it consisted of several small sticks of asparagus, each of which was wrapped by a symmetrical layer of chicken meat and bacon. Then the salad greens were put on top and a yummy sauce was drizzled over it all. YUMMY!

This picture shows the setting of our dinner at our hotel's restaurant. It was totally open-air and hanging out over the edge of the roaring Urubamba River. Although the ambience was unique and rather magnificent, the river's noise did make communicating with one another rather problematic. I totally loved the experience!

Our local tour guide, Clary, standing in front of the St. Peter's Cathedral. It is located in a rather small community just south of Cuzco. We were on our way from Cuzco to Puno, Peru. She said this cathedral is known as the St. Peter's Basilica of America because of the ornate murals painted all over the walls and ceiling of the interior.

This picture is taken as we were taught by our tour guide at this rather unusual ancient Inca site, known as Raqch'i. It was an unusual Inca site because much of it was built with mud instead of all rock. Here, the foundations were made of stones, but on top of the foundation stones, they built their buildings with adobe-like mud. Right to left: Jerry Amundsen, Chris White, Jolene White Ewell, Rick Ewell, Bevin Johnson, Vicki Lloyd (with her back to us).

Right to left: Jerry Amundsen, Jerold Sandberg, Chris White (partially hidden by our tour guide, Clary), Bevin Johnson.

This is the water source of Raqch'i. The ancient Incas captured a spring, brought the water to this point and created this fountain, where everyone could access the water safely. This water structure is hundreds or thousands of years old (or so we were told).

At the right side of this picture, you can see in the distance, the 3 or 4 story tall central wall/spine of the main building or hall of this Inca community.

This shows a Peruvian woman working in her vegetable garden.

Peruvians playing on a sulfur volcano created by a hot spring.

You can just barely see a portion of some of the hot spring pools in the right half of the picture. At this point in our bus drive, we were nearing the Peruvian Altiplano area.

I was surprised to still see mountains (some of them with actual snow on the top peaks) in the Altiplano of Peru.

This is the view of Lake Titicaca from the window/deck of my Casa Andina Hotel room in Puno, Peru. It was a gorgeous property in a stunning setting. We had access to Lake Titicaca by going out the back of the hotel grounds, through a gate, over a railroad track, and down a long boardwalk over the marsh and rush-covered area to the edge of the lake. Don and I spent both mornings here exploring the bird-rich environment of the marsh, rushes, mud flats, and lake edge of Lake Titicaca. The bird life was magnificent here. In fact, I was surprised at the abundance of bird life all over the Peruvian Altiplano region.

Approaching the floating islands of the Lake Titicaca People.

Christen White taking a picture of the floating island community from our boat.

As we approached the floating islands, we were required to stop at the entry, where our boat was assigned by the local community elders to visit a certain family's small island. This shows the women and a child or two welcoming us as we approach.

Standing on the right is our local Lake Titicaca tour guide. The women and children are instructing us on how the island is built and about life in their little community.

Each little family's area/community seemed to have a watch tower such as this. We are all sitting on a log of reeds that is about 18 inches in diameter. They had to put a blanket on top of it so our bottoms would not get wet from the reeds. You could feel that the entire island was indeed floating. As you walked on the reed surface, it would give a little, and so it took some getting used to.

This is meant to illustrate how they construct their floating islands. First, they cut small sections of old reed beds that are about two fee thick. Then they lash them together by pounding stakes into them and lashing the stakes together.

Next, they place newly cut reeds, in criss-cross fashion, on top of their lashed base, to make the floor of their floating island.

On top of that, they put additional layers of criss-crossed reeds to form a foundation for each of the reed huts that they then live in.

At the end of their educational presentation, each woman had her children gather 5 or 6 of us and take us to their home, where they showed us how they live. Notice they have electricity from solar power in their huts. The woman of the house then dressed each of us in their typical traditional clothing.

After we were all dressed up in their attire, they insisted we take this group picture. It is kind of hard to distinguish who is who.

The woman of the house then wanted each of us to take a picture with her in front of her home, dressed in their traditional attire. After this, she took us to her personal souvenir stand and wanted us to buy her personally created souvenirs. She was not happy if someone didn't buy. I had not been aware we would be in such a situation, and so didn't bring much money with me. I felt badly that I didn't have much money to buy stuff from them. Martha didn't pick up on their system quick enough, and made the serious mistake of buying a souvenir from another woman's stand. Boy, did Martha Porter Hunn get cussed out by her host woman.

This is their miniature representation of their community. Evidently, when getting married, the men take their bride to his family's floating island community to live with his parents and siblings and their families. Thus, families live in their own communities. I thought it was interesting that not one of the women's husbands were to be seen the entire time we were on their little island. I guess they thought the men would just get in the way.

You can see from this picture that they had quite the marketing system. Each tour boat full of tourists were assigned to visit a certain family's island, where they were individually entertained, educated about their culture and then expected to buy that family's created souvenirs.

These two pics are taken from the watch tower on their little island.

Note the solar cell.

After the presentation and selling of souvenirs, they wanted us to take a ride in one of their reed boats for a few minutes. Another method to get a little more revenue.

This shot is taken from near the restaurant we ate lunch at on Taqile Island in Lake Titicaca.

It was quite a hike up to the restaurant from where the boat dropped us off. However, it provided a delightful opportunity for Don and I to get some bird study in.

The local island folk greeting us as we arrived at the restaurant.

All of the island folk were dressed in their native garb. The flat area on the right is just outside the restaurant and where they made their cultural presentation to us.

This native soup was the first food they brought us. It tasted pretty good. I ate it along with the flat bread they gave us.

On the left is Martha Porter Hunn, then Jerry Amundsen and his wife, Diane, Vicki Lloyd, then Aaron Bybee. The person sitting next to me was not a member of our group.

Local island women showing off their weaving skills.

The village elder showing us how they plant their gardens, with our Lake Titicaca tour guide explaining the process.

An interesting entryway into a family's property on Taqile Island.

A grave site/memorial on the island.

Two of the island women working in their vegetable garden, growing potatoes and corn.

A street view in downtown Juliaca, Peru as our bus driver tried to get us from Puno to Juliaca's airport in time. Note all the little tik tik vehicles (to the right of the picture). Until this trip, I thought they were only in southeast asia.

Believe it or not, this is the main road to Juliaca's airport.

This picture captures the common construction method in Peru. They will build one or two stories and will finish one or both of them so they can be currently lived in. They almost always left rebar sticking out of the top floor of the building just in case they might want to build another story or two on top some day. It always looked like the buildings were unfinished. Perhaps they are dodging real estate taxes like the polygamists in Hildale and Colorado City have been doing.

Bevin told me that the metal containers on top of their homes/buildings was for storing water. Evidently, the water is turned off at about 10:00 PM. They fill the tanks each day when the water is running. This stored water then allows them to continue to have running water in their home after the municipal water is turned off each night.

Juliaca, Peru airport and parking lot.

Arriving at the Lima, Peru Temple

Group shot in front of the Lima, Peru Temple

Our Peru travel group: Front row (kneeling), left to right: John Diehl, Lesa Spendlove Sandberg, Jerald Sandberg, Ken Hinton, Diane Amundsen, Jerry Amundsen.

Back row (standing), left to right: Ada Hinton, Don Hinton, Jere Diehl, Rick Ewell, Jolene Ewell, Jim Hunn, Julie Bybee, Aaron Bybee, Vicki Lloyd, Martha Porter Hunn, Susan Johnson, Vivian McMullin, Bevin Johnson, Karl McMullin, Christen White, Sharon White, Chris White.

View of the temple from the back side. I was impressed by the sweet, peaceful feeling that pervaded the entire temple grounds. (I walked the entire grounds a couple of times, checking out the many birds that were there.) As you can see, the temple grounds are much loved by the Peruvian Saints. There were small groups, of all ages, on every side of the temple. The peaceful, reverent, and joyful ambience on the grounds stood in stark contrast to the feeling I had anywhere else in Peru.

Don and I hunted down and Don shot (with a camera), quite a number of different species of birds on the temple grounds, adding to my lifetime bird list.

My stop at the Lima, Peru Temple was, like my entire Peru trip, a very wonderful experience. The only thing I can think of that would have made it better, is if my beloved wife, Kay, would have been willing and able to share this incredible, once-in-a-lifetime experience with me. I missed her tremendously each day and wish we could have shared these amazing memories together.