Tulip time in Holland

Lucky for us, the winter was cold and the lasted longer than usual in the Netherlands.  When we planned our river cruise from Amsterdam to Basel, we thought we would be too late for the tulips.  Thanks to the weather, we were that at the peak time.

Here are some photos from our trip to Keukenhof  (kitchen garden)  http://www.keukenhof.nl/ outside of Amsterdam.

Lima

We took a quick tour of Lima before heading home...Lima has 8 million people and driving rules that we could not decifer.  It seemed that making left turns across three lanes of traffic from the right shoulder was a reasonable thing to do.

View from Love Park

View from our hotel room.

Last view of the Sacred Valley

This is our last view of the Sacred Valley before leaving Cuzco for Lima

Moray Salt Mines

The town of Moray owns a Salt Mine.  Salty water is routed to various tubs for mining.  Each family that has a salt pool makes between $100 and $200 dollars a year from their salt pool.  They also get salt for the family and their animals.

Moray

Moray is the name of the Incan agricultural laboratory that was likely used to cultivate resistant and hearty vareities of plants high in the Andes.

Look at the symmetry of the Inca stairs

 

Another area in Moray with the Glaciers in the background.

Alan was a great Guide!

Making Mummy's

Alan is guiding me to the mummy cave.

Entrance to the mummy cave.

This is the alter where mummy's were made and llama's were sacrificed.

Sacsayhuamán

The ruin outside Cuzco is pronounced "Sock-say-wah-mun".  Our guide Alan said to make it easy for visitors, the locals sometimes call it Sexy Woman.  The size of the rocks is amazing given that no heavy equipment was used in the placement of the rocks.

 Alan said theis a great example of the Inca's precise measurement and precise stonework.  There is no trial and error with this size of stones.  You get one chance to do it right.

The snake below was filled with gold before the Spaniards looted the area.

I highlighted the outline of the llama.