Hotel Inkaterra, Aqua Calinetes, Bear preserve

The hotel had a Bear Rehab & Reintroduction to the wild program. Here are Yogi, Pepe and Coco, the Andian Bear.

Peruvian Delicacy

Strangest Train Ride

Leaving Machu Pichua to Ollytambo, the train stewards put on a fashion show. We were a captive audience. Janet seen here modeling.

Memorable moments on trail to Machu Pichua

Hiking the Inca Trail

We've been so tired, we're falling behind on our blog. The hike on the Inca trail was more difficult than most of us expected. It was 8 miles and expected to be 6 hours, but took our group 8. It was extremely warm, with an evaluation climb on so many rock steps, plus the altitude makes the climb more exerting. The Inca's were no more than 5 feet tall So it was difficult to understand why the rock step ups were so large.

A picnic lunch to remember.

VBT hosted an amazing catered picnic lunch in a meadow for us after a hike to visit the Inca Ruins.  Check out our beautiful tent and  fancy toilets.  We visited with the Medicine man, Shaman, who drummed some tunes and packaged up some items of nature to return to Mother Earth.  We all took  a turn placing an item in the package and held it to make a wish.  We leave tomorrow (Mother's Day, wake up call at 4:30 AM) for an 8 mile hike on the Inca trail into Machu Pichu.

In Cusco, joining up with VBT, hiking tour

We flew to Cusco two days ago to join up with Cousins Howard & Janet (from Long Island) as well as our VBT Hiking Group. This is a charming town, with crazy traffic as well. You take your life into your hands just crossing the street. The altitude is 11,000 feet, so we all feel it sometimes just climbing the stairs. Adrienne is only with us for two nights and took the train with a small group to Machu Pichu (she loved it and has since began her journey home on Saturday. We are touring Cusco city, the Inca ruins and hiking around the hillside.