Day 111 to Day 113 Nov 22 to Nov 24 2014 Kenora ON, Ollantaytambo, Peru, Cusco Peru

Night bus from Cusco to Puno Peru (it broke down)

Day 111 to Day 113  Nov 22 to Nov 24  2014   Kenora

Me in Kenora

Tony and I  spent a few hours visiting in the hospital each day.  In the evening we would return to the house eat and watch TV till bed time.  My dad was in quite a bit of pain  and is very weak.  My mom spends at least 6 hours or more a day with my dad.  It is a very long and hard day for her as well. 

Evy and kids in Peru

November 22^nd, Ollantaytambo, Peru

I try to extend our stay in the very comfortable apartment that we had rented but it was not available for the extra days so we needed to go to plan B and go some were else. The couple that we rented the apartment from were very helpful and suggested a couples days in the small town that had been a military outpost for the Incas. I decided to follow their suggestion and travel to Ollantaytambo for a couple of days before we continued to Puno and Lake Titicaca.  The town was only 60 km from Cusco and we got there by mini-van. I was not impressed with myself when shortly after being drop off at the central plaza the kids and I discovered I had forgotten the backpack with the jackets in the top shelf of the van. It was a mad rush to the train station to look for the driver and van, obviously there were more than 10 vans parked at the depot and the same number of drivers. We were lucky as one of the driver recognized us and we found the bag with all their contents still sitting on the top shelf. After that adventure we took a tuk tuk back to the hotel and stayed put the rest of the afternoon.

November 23th, Ollantaytambo, Peru

The women at the front desk of the hotel suggested going for a horse ride to see the Inca terraces. The price was right and the kids were more than willing to try it. She sent her grandson with us to the place where we were picking up the horses and meeting our guide for the day. It was a good thing as Isabel became apprehensive of “driving” the horse once she got on it and the little boy rode with her helping her. We rode thru town and followed the river toward the mountains. It took more than 1 hr to get to place where we turned around. It was an enjoyable easy ride, with interesting comments from our guide and two excited kids riding small calm horses. We went to a small pizza place for dinner where the pizza was cooked on an indoor stone wood fired oven.

November 24^th, Cusco, Peru

We woke up early and had a nice breakfast at the hotel.  After breakfast we walked to the end of the street and toured the main ruins in town. These were built on the side of the hill and the assumptions are they were a military strong hold that protected the cultivating terraces and the trail to Machu Pichu. The climb was on a long run of stone stairs with landings every few steps. We made it all the way to the top and the view was great. There was a path at the top that followed the mountain and we walk on the edge to a second set of ruins. The time touring the ruins was just right for the kids a little short for my taste, but we needed to take the mini-van back to Cusco as we had tickets for the overnight coach to Puno. We were back at Cusco around lunch time. The mini-van dropped us off near the main plaza which was convenient. The walk to the hotel was only 3 blocks but felt like an eternity due to Isabel’s loud and constant complains that she could not possibly take another step pulling the luggage. I booked an afternoon stay in a quiet small hotel off the main plaza to wait for the time to take the overnight couch.