Eleven years ago, Dutch visitors took a boat out to Cristina and Victor's home on a manmade island in Lake Titicaca. They stayed nearly two weeks in their house on their manmade floating island, on the world's highest navigatable lake in t…
On this journey around the world promoting the idea of do-it-yourself change, and highlighting others who are making a difference, I come across some interesting characters. People who are on their own pilgrimages ... to celebrate anniversaries, t…
I posted a photo on CNN's Travel Photo of the Day, from Machu Picchu on the winter solstice, June 21. Click here to see it on CNN [http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-1148796] and read the description, and let's garner some views and "fav…
A German girl in the hostel broke her camera. Why go to Machu Picchu if you can't take photos? She was going to go to a camera store to have it "fixed." I'm no techie, I said, but I am a photographer. Let me have a look. Maybe yo…
When I bought my one-way ticket to Limerick, the train cashier in Dublin was baffled that I would go live in "Stab City." It's not the most exciting city in Ireland but I liked it quite much and it still has a bad rep. Warring famili…
Elevation kicked my butt for three days and that trek to the Inca site via the pass at 14,800 feet was the hardest thing I've done. Got up at 4 am to make sunrise at Machu Picchu on solstice. So sore I could hardly get up and down stairs. We…
The world wonder of the Incan (Quechuan) civilization of Machu Picchu is perched atop a cliff 7,700 feet high. The bus that takes you there is driven by dudes who do this switchback journey, every day, all day. They make a run for it and the back…
For those of you who know me well enough, you know it's an impossibilty but it happened: I did not pee for 7.5 hours while I was exploring Machu Picchu. I did not want to walk to the gate, get out, and ruin the vibe. A miracle! (I also came…
We woke up at 4 a.m. to make it to Machu Picchu, the sacred Quechua (Inca) city on the winter solstice, before the sun rose. We hiked up above the city and looked down on the temples as the sun crept steadily up over the mountains. As it crested,…
