Clare and Ross go south in the Americas

Did I mention giant tortoises. they live over 100 years, keep growing and migrate 10's of kilometres to lay eggs. There are 12 existing and 4 extinct species

We snorkeled nearly every day and saw an amazing array of fish. Sorry no photos. We swam with turtles, reef sharks, sea 🦁. The sea lions were everywhere and at times liked to swim near (within a centimetre) people. On the beaches they slept.

We flew from Cusco to Lima, in Peru, then to Quito and finally  to Galapagos in Equador. This is a volcanic archipelago still growing from a fault line in the west and folding under in the east. It keeps renewing but doesn't grow. The land is ash and volcanic rock with limited soil and very little rain. There are no land mammals. The only land carnivores are tiny  lizards and snakes. The large reptiles, Land and Sea Iguanas, eat cacti and algae respectively. Sea Iguanas   Land Iguanas

Before tackling Machu Picchu we visited a floating village on Lake Titikaka. Five families live on this man made reed and "peat" island that they built about two years ago. Historically, they were eager, now, they pay no taxes.

Wow - we did it! This is an Inca town, largely intact, perched on the top of and inside a mountain. The Spaniards did not find (and destroy)  this town. Everything was built from granite quarried on site. The mountain was terraced with stone walls, from the bottom up, to prevent erosion at the top. The Incas abondoned the town before it was finished and fled further inland, escaping the Spaniards.