Peru, Part III: Tambo del Inka

This is it. The ultimate hotel of our trip.  OK, folks, it may not be the most important thing in life, but this blog is about interiors.  As I may have mentioned, my obsession (and goal) is designing hotels.  
Our trip was not about hotels, but I was very instrumental in having a stay here.
 

 Got good ideas here.  This is classic Peruvian weaves.  Here used for sofa fringe, below traditional Peruvian textile batons (not sure what they are used for).  Other parts of the hotel featured these textiles as the woven abacus.  Very beautiful and colorful.

Peru, Part II: Cusco & Machu Picchu

 Cusco is a wonderful city.  It's the site of the historic Inca empire, but walls with bases of enormous stones raised questions about the heritage.  What I read is that the Killke occupied the region from 900 to 1200, prior to the arrival of the Incas in the 13th century. Carbon-14 dating of Sacsayhuaman, the walled complex outside Cusco, has demonstrated that the Killke culture constructed the fortress about 1100.  At 1100, we could not fathom how these people moved and formed stones that are over 20 tons with 13 angles.  It's very mysterious.  The Inca later expanded and occupied the complex of Cusco in the 13th century and after.

 The above shots are architecture that was of the Spaniard invasion.

 Great markets with traditional woven alpaca wools.

 Locate the marked stone differences. 

The trip's catalyst (raison d'etre) was Machu Picchu.  Pictures, as usual, don't do justice.

Hiked up Mount Montanta, Machu Picchu:

 Okay, I hiked it twice in a row:

Peru, Part 1: Lima

Happy new year!  We rang in 2013 in South America this year.   New year's eve was spent at one of the most beautiful hotels that I have ever visited and I will be sure to post about it soon.
First, however, Lima.  We book ended our trip in this capital city.  It is surprisingly large (about 8 million residents & the 4th largest city in the Americas). The area we stayed was strikingly similar to LA (Santa Monica or even Malibu).  It's summer below the equator, so being on the Pacific in the city...well, it felt good to me!

 Hotel was right on the ocean with a roof top pool.

Architecture ranged from Spanish Colonial, Baroque, Neoclassical, even Brutalist to modern.  There are a lot of districts & we didn't explore it all.

 The shoreline was great and the Pisco Sours were not bad either.

 

I even took a surf lesson!  Really great place to learn.  Nice long easy waves in warm water with friendly surfers and teachers.