Manta, Ecuador

Little Ecuadoreans on Playa El Murcielago

Much of the world’s tuna is caught off Ecuador.  Here they are unloading the catch from a commercial tuna boat that has its own helicopter for spotting schools of fish.

Lima y Cuzco, Peru y Machupicchu (Ma-chew-peek-chew)

Three days off the ship, in order to spend three hours wandering around the hauntingly beautiful complex of Machupicchu,  the Inka Empire’s highest expression of Stone Age technology in architecture.  Worth … every … penny.

“In you, like two parallel lines,
 the cradle of the lightning-bolt and man
rocked together in a thorny wind.”     ---Pablo Neruda

From the port of Callao, took a bus to the Lima aeropuerto; flew LAN to Cuzco, then overnight at our Hotel Libertador.  Disco around the corner outside our window pounded out the insomniac beats till 0315.  Up at 0400, muy cansados, to ride a bus over the mountain two hours to Ollantaytambo train station; train to Aguas Calientes, then bus again up (a dirt road series of hairpin turns) to the Parque Nacional.  Later, reverse.

Dire warnings.  Of course we had planned wild naked escapades before lunch, but, being forewarned, were then afraid we’d be reported to the US embassy.  It might have appeared on our Permanent Record.  Horrors.

 

Como se … llama

 

The famous Three Windows

 Sector Waynapicchu, my personal favorite.  An extremely dangerous climb up a neighboring peak.

Windows to a different perspective.

Just how the Inka accomplished their massive mortar-free stonework is still not fully understood. 

Central Park

Temple of the Sun

Some of the Legos spare parts in Cuzco.

Parks in Cuzco use Minions for trash cans.  Despicable Me would be offended.

Lovely Peruvian:

Her, not him.

Third Stop, Panama City

The beautiful Biodiversity Museum, designed by (duh) Frank Gehry.

Not all structures around Panama City are so nice.

Colorful, but a tad run-down.



This is Mola, an art form stitched by the indigenous peoples of Panama.

Casco Antiguo was the original Panama City, sacked by pirate Captain Morgan in 1673.

The Casco Antiguo lookout tower

View from the tower

Graffiti in the tower

The modern Panama City skyline from the original

“I have in my hand a device capable of accessing the sum total of human knowledge; I use it mainly for arguing with strangers and looking at pictures of cats.”

As we're sailing away from Panama City a storm followed us out to sea.  The high-rise skyline is visible behind the line of rainclouds.

Mexico, first and second stops

First stop Huatulco.  Hurricane Vance (what a stupid name for a hurricane) prevented our stop at Cabo San Lucas.

We snorkeled a couple days here.

Then sailed on to Puerto Chiapas.  Here's Shannon at the Izapa Mayan ruin near Tapachula.

This is how a palm tree would look if its fruit were designed by Tim Burton:

San Diego

Dia de los Muertos

Art festival in Old Town San Diego, which happens to include the original cemetery.