Next Stop: Quito

A uneventful flight and cab ride to my utterly beautiful B & B --The Casa San Marcos.
A colonial mansion that belong to a Spanish noblemen with original detailed woodwork, lovely artwork and antique furniture everywhere. I will write more and post photos in subsequent post.
I arrived, rang the bell, and Jose the night person welcomed me the house and graciously provided tea and showed me to my room. M room on the second floor facing the street with a small balcony.
I decided to go for a walk and eat something. Jose provided me directions to the Plaza Grande the main piazza. It was a beautiful night for walking the historic cobblestone streets of Quito.

The Stress of Foreign Airports..

My cab to Bogota airport is simple. Bogota has a very nice modern airport. I had to figure out my gate information...Sound simple. However, when i look at the modern departure board but my airline is not even listed. Now, i am thinking am I at the correct airport. I asked various people who though both of our limited second language went nowhere. Others kept pointing to the board. Finally, with my stress mounting as I cleared immigration, I found an agent for the airline. His English was impeccable. He explained that the airline had two names and the departure time is what I needed to find my gate. How was I suppose to know the airline went by two names? My gate was 51 all the way at the other end of the airport. I exchanged what money had, spent the rest on snacks and water.

I sit down with plenty of time. I pull my kindle out to read when about 20 feet away two older American guys are loudly taking about how Obama should be impeached etc, etc. It was horrible to listen to these guys one with a southern drawl pontificate on and on. Thankfully, the bus arrived to take us to the plane.

Tour II

After the museum we continued passed the opera theater. Designed by an Italian Architect with an wrought iron canopy. Throughout our walk we passed many universities --- all free! Bogota is known as the Athens of South America. We kept walking to the main square the Plaza de Bolivar. The liberator of Columbia and other South American countries. The Plaza has the Capital on one side, Minster of Justice, a Church and a French inspired Palace. The Plaza is large but the main fountain has graffiti on its base. In fact, one the problems with Bogota is that too many places have graffiti and pasted signs everywhere. The buildings and streets need repair as well to take away the seedy look to the Historic center.
The final places we visit before ending with a well deserved coffee is the Church of Santa Clara and the Museum of Gold. The Museum of gold contains over 55,000 pieces of gold. We visited another museum that had religious pieces used in the mass made of gold, encrusted with emeralds and other precious stones.
We ended after five hours with a wonderful coffee and handshake. Jorge was a top notch guide.

The Moorish inspired ceiling

A death mask

Heed piece worn by high priest

The Tour..

My last day in Bogota and it is time for me to meet my driver/tour guide Jorge. Jorge is well versed in the history of his city and he speaks English well. He is a well traveled man having lived in Germany for two years and the states. Bill would have liked this guy.
We are heading to the historic center. Our first stop is the church La Candelaria built in 1686-1703. The name of La Candelaria is also the name of the historic district. A beautiful church very dark inside with Frescos on the ceiling and a gold plated altar piece.
Next stop was the Museum Botero the most famous artist in Columbia. Botero like to paint big, chubby people. He did wonderful sculpture as well.

A typical Bogota street.

Jorge and moi

Teo's for dinner

I forgot to mentioned that Eduardo the hotel manager introduced me to the chef of the Greek restaurant in the hotel. His name is Teo as is his restaurant. We had a good chat about Athens where he is from and NYC. He said to me to come to dinner tonight and he would make me his house speciality. A whole cooked fish that takes about 45 minutes to prepare for serving. I said ok, I will be there.

It is now 7 pm and I await my fish....my fish arrives a two pound snapper that Teo painstakingly debones at the table. Once everything is separated he pours this wonderful mixture if juice all over the fish giving off the most mouthwatering smell...
I could hardly eat half of the fish..I am full....

Teo and House Manager

The heated flame for the enclosed patio area

Morrison Hotel 114 Bogota

Maybe, I was just too tired from my entrance into the hotel. I already mentioned, I was not having a good day and the grid lock of traffic from the airport to the hotel did not help my mood. The hotel is about 6 months old. It is lovely, the rooms are gigantic. It was just that it had a more modern decor and away from the city center that I usually book. However, now after my first night p, I feel better about the hotel.

I had a good night's sleep. I woke up feeling great. I did some reading in bed and excellent thrasher called The Kill Decision, blog a little, watch CNN, showered and went down for breakfast. I had some friend eggs, toast and a coffee con leche.
I went for a little walk, stopped and got an espresso and hit the ATM at the bank. I came back feeling like I needed more sleep, so as it was early, I went to the room and rested until the afternoon where I would tackle the city traffic and head downtown.

I came down all ready to grab a cab and head out when the manager of the hotel introduced himself to me. We started talking and he gave me a recommendation that he would call a private guide and cab for me tomorrow and take me on a tour of the city. He mentioned the reasonable price and said it would be my best experience. We continued talking about how I found the hotel. I told him from research, Trip advisor and other sources. This seem to please him as he began telling me what a first class operation he ran. I believe him! The hotel is spotless, the WiFi is great, rooms huge and the staff extremely helpful, patience and gracious.

Finally, I was ready to go out and it started to rain. I decided to walk to the around the shopping/commercial district. I was quickly given an umbrella and sent on my way with a smile. I walked a bit and stopped at an Italian place ordered a cocktail and an appetizer. I made it back to the hotel and the information was waiting for me as the manager called me on the phone and gave me the details. All in all, I may not have done much today but relax and walk but it was a great day.

A morning to forget...

Today was one of those days I wondered why I travel. I had this splitting headache a I headed to the airport to fly to Bogota. Cusco airport is not very organized or pretty. There were no departure boards anywhere. My gate kept changing. I was tired, not feeling well and had a day where I should have stated in bed.
The flight and switching o planes in Lima was easy. Lima has a world class airport. I arrived in Bogota and a taxi was waiting to take me to my hotel. The Hotel Morrison 114 because there is a Morrison 84 as well.

Hotel & Cusco City Review

Cusco is a great city to place on your travel list. It has one of the great central plaza surrounded by mountains that I have visited. It is reasonable with great sites, hotels and friendly people. I would recommend starting out in a lower altitude city then proceeding to Cusco.

The Hotel Terra Viva:

Pros:
5 star service/An Victor is fantastic.
Reasonable
In city center
Great WiFi
Good breakfast
Spotlessly clean

Con:
Spotty hot water

I would for sure stay here again

Last Cusco Day and a Great Bar

I was all Inca ruined out, which means I was tired of climbing ruins. I decided to pend my last day walking around the town. I got my shoes shinned in the main Plaza De Armas and then walked over to visit he inside of of the great Cathedral. The Cathedral was three churches. Each part with its own distinct works of art and design. I got the wonderful audio guide and began listening....
I will briefly sum up my impressions. In the first smaller church combined the Inca importance of mirrors with traditional, French influenced religious symbolism. The main portion was a magnificent display of craftsmanship in use of gold, silver and cedar carvings. The Altar had thousands of pounds of the purest silver used for its design. The wooded carvings in the choir and where the priests read from holy books was detailed and beautiful. Most of the area was blocked off to tourist. The final church had a lovely dome ceiling and the original silver cross taken into battle by Pizzaro and the Spanish conquers. Hopefully, these photos will do some justice.

Afterwards, I had lunch at the British Cross Key Pub another great bar I read about in "Turn right at Machu Picchu."

Machu Picchu Recap

I did not realize how much the long train ride combined only 4 hours at the site would be exhausting. Next time, I will stay at the base town a couple of days. This way a number of visits to the site would give me greater confidence in negotiating the treacherous stairs. I would not be as rushed or tired. I did the best I could and was happy to have made it to Machu Picchu.