Restless Toes on The Road

This blog contains posts from our experiences from our travels. The planning, the excitement, the pictures, the videos, the goof-ups - you will find them all here.

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Ollantaytambo Ruins Cusco, Peru (6 Oct, 2014) The Wall of the Six Monoliths, the Terraces of Pumatallis, the Inca storehouses are all equally magnificent sights. The history of this place grows more intense as you study deeper into the psychology of the rulers and architects of the times. Tip: Save enough breath to climb up and down, if you want to see the whole thing. It's usually quite windy up there due to the valley which kinda guides the winds straight to you. So, do not forget your jacket even if it seems warmer before you start climbing.

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The Peruvian Food Peru (6th Oct 2014) From roasted corn to ceviche and from cuy to alpaca, you will find everything including international mixed versions of the actual Peruvian local food. Tip: Just like Gunja says "...no matter where you eat and what you eat, always keep the hand sanitizers handy" Try & learn the basics of food ordering in latin Spanish before you visit Peru, because no matter how delicious their food is, several restaurant staff do not speak any english at all besides a few greetings.

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The village-folk at Ollantaytambo Peru (6 Oct, 2014) Meeting the colourful village folk at Olly has been another unique experience. Around 80% of the people in entire region and the surrounding areas of Cusco survive from earnings that they make off tourists. Tip: As you move further towards Machu Picchu from Cusco, prices keep soaring higher. If you want to buy mementos or souvenirs to carry back with you, a smarter option is to buy them at Cusco, since they are reasonably priced there.

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Ollantaytambo, Peru (5 Oct, 2014) Sorry folks! Fell off the grid due to lots of quick moving around and limited internet access at certain places. We mostly move faster than the blog does. Nevertheless, Here we are again! The pictures above are from where we stayed at in the beautiful mountain village of Ollantaytambo. The walls in some of the rooms are the actual Inca stone walls from that time. Some of the hotels and hostels at the foothills have actually been constructed around those walls. Luckily, we had one of those rooms for ourselves!

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Arrival in Cusco (5th Oct 2014) Cusco, Peru A high speed morning cabbie dodging through the streets of Lima & me trying hard not to feel road sick on an empty stomach brought us to the Jorge Chavez international airport. Within a little over an hours' flight in the small Star Peru aircraft we landed in Cusco to be greeted by several display ads selling medications to fight altitude sickness. Mind you, the city is at 11,000 ft above sea level. I must admit, the body does distinctly feel the sudden change in altitude. We taxied it to the city bus stop and managed to avoid getting conned by the cabbie into emptying our pockets for a direct ride to Ollantaytambo, our next destination. We boarded a minivan, called a collectivo locally towards Ollantaytambo whilst Gunja was busy taking pictures along the way as we travelled about an hour and half to reach the small town. And that's Rimaldo, the collectivo driver posing with me after dropping us off at the wrong hotel.......Grrrr!

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The Coastline at Barranco Lima, Peru Barranco is a town towards the south east of Miraflores and displays a breathtaking coastline. We took a late afternoon walk along the coast and couldn't stop being awed by the line of beautiful homes and penthouses along the coast. Past the Ermita church, past the hostels crowded by backpacking travellers, as you walk down the slope towards the ocean, you are treated with tempting aromas flowing out of the kitchens of the nearby restaurants. We stopped by the Rustica right at the beach to grab a selective dinner buffet & and later cabbed it back to Miraflores to call it an early night & wake up early for the morning flight to Cusco.

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Historic Centre & Plaza Mayor Lima, Peru It is known as the city hub for activity & that's exactly what it felt like at the Plaza Mayor. Kids running all over the place, families busy taking pictures of themselves, a tv channel reporting live, a busker drawing crowds with his guitar were just some of the countless events happening at this busy junction. This elderly gentleman is a travelling teacher who has travelled to more countries than he can remember. He introduced himself to us & asked if we were from India and mentioned that Goa in India was one of his favourite places in the world.

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Plaza San Martin Lima, Peru We hopped onto the Metropolitano, the high speed metro bus service that connects various parts of the city. The local transit service assistants were quite helpful in guiding us with the quicker processes and routes. Got off the transit at the Estacion Centrale and walked towards the Plaza Mayor. We stopped & captured some pictures here at the Plaza San Martin.

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Breakfast at Lima! Sure you can tell the level of hunger early morning after the first night stay at Lima. We hogged a splendid breakfast at the café San Antonio in Miraflores. You gotta check this one out - a little upscale but worth the buck. Plans for the day - To visit the Historic Centre in the heart of the city & spend the late afternoon & evening along the coast in Barranco.

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Touchdown in Miraflores, Lima Got here at the B&B at 3:30 am in the morning. The drive from airport kinda felt like the metropolitan cities of India. The host has a beautiful apartment (pic above) right in the heart of Miraflores, very clean and well maintained. After a short sleep, I am up reading for options to visit during the day and evening.

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Hey All! We are back Again, boarding a flight to Peru!

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Notre Dame De Paris Location : Paris, France Totally spellbound for a few hours while we visited the Notre Dame, words can only bring limited justice to the grandeur & splendour of this magnificent creation. It just engulfs you completely within itself. I sincerely do hope still, that more people would spend time appreciating the enthralling beauty and historical significance of this monument, rather than just k-ching, k- Ching with their flashes.

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Picture - Musée du Louvre Location - Paris A place where one could literally spend over a month to closely see the artifacts, paintings & antiques preserved here. It's mesmerizing to literally wander across millenniums and experience history. Tip: It could be task here to avoid the thousands of 'random clickers' for whom travelling only means shooting a picture - Sometimes really annoying when you are there admiring a piece of art. Try visiting the place on weekdays rather than weekends if you really want to enjoy your visit.

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Pic: An afternoon with the GOD of Music. Location: Freddie Mercury Memorial, Montreux, Switzerland. What a awesome feeling it was - to actually spend an afternoon in the company of my great inspiration, the legend Freddie Mercury! I did shed a tear sitting at his memorial, looking at his face a reading the so very apt lines on his memorial stone "Lover of Life, Singer of Songs!" We had the opportunity to write in one of his fan books in which tens of thousands of artists and fans had offered their greetings to him. All I could say is, "Freddie, you define Life, you will 'Live Forever', you shall always Rock On!" I have no doubts he makes heaven a beautiful place with his music! Look around the Lake Geneva- it is so clear why Freddie chose this place when he needed some peace and solitude to write more poetry and music!

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Pic: On the way to Trümmelbach Falls. Location: Interlaken, Switzerland

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Pic: A Waterfall inside a mountain. Location: Trümmelbach Falls, Switzerland. The sound of water inside the mountain grips you and slowly lifts you into a trance; a natural high. One could get totally drawn into those sounds and sights and never want to leave. Seeing and hearing the ambience created by nature is the only way to experience that feeling. Pictures cannot do enough justice to replicate the height and depth of it's magnificence.

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Pic: Bollywood Moment. Location: Interlaken, Switzerland. A lot of you know why we could not avoid posing for these pictures; and the backdrop just made it the perfect setting. All we missed was a mandolin and a playback orchestra. ;). Koi baat nahi! Bade bade deshon mein aisi choti choti baatein hoti rehti hain! LoL!