Happy Birthday to Me!

I imagine this will be a one-of-a-kind birthday--Machu Picchu!  It was a spectacular day! But it's a long way from Urubama in the Saccred Valley to that magnificent mountaintop!

First stop was the studio of ceramic artist  Semenario. 

As you see, we were invited to meet him--in his studio! 

t was thrilling to hear how his work has evolved, and just to BE in his studio. I could go on and on about this adventure, which is only the beginning of this festive day.

Down the road a ways, we met this lovely woman, Flora, in the bar run by her aunt. Flora is stirring a batch of fermented sprouting corn to make a light beer. The vat she is stirring is for ladies and has strawberries in it.

This glass is for the men, but it was my birthday after all!

Oh, this is the cuy (guinea pig) room, you select your cuy and she will bake it up for you--yikes! No thanks!

Bus, two-hour train ride to Aguas Calientes, then another bus to Machu Picchu. Look at the line of people waiting to go down--

a good time to arrive, I thought, but there were still plenty of folks. Not much waiting to enter and--wow! there it was!

Now, here's the scoop: I don't recall the names of the individual buildings and temples we visited, so I'll post photos and you can enjoy looking at them:

Those steps are killers, let me tell you! There are thousands and thousands of them, some 12" tall.

One more, and I'll continue later, so I can zap this off to you.

Oh, just one more--