Tag: New Blog

Llamas and More Await!

There were llamas everywhere we looked munching on grass throughout Machu Picchu. The brown and white ones were especially interesting to look at. I was partial to my all white llama that watched me paint for 60 seconds. He was a cheery one. None of the llamas spit on us so that was nice. Did you know that in the wild they fight off predators with their talon like hooves? They are fearless!! They live in high altitudes and their coat keeps them extra warm including their long graceful necks. I decided to do a Tiny Painting watercolor series on these llamas because they were just a dream come true for me to see them.

LLAMA **ORIGINAL WATERCOLORS 10% OFF TODAY ONLY!!**

I would always see pictures of Machu Picchu with llamas walking around it in tourist photos. Seeing them has been on my bucket list for a while. Right when we entered the ruins it was super foggy and misty. Once the midst cleared we saw a brown and white llama immediately munching grass in one of the stone tiers. We were a safe distance away so I got my camera out and started snapping pictures. Chris and I are used to being super respectful of wildlife and try to never disturb them in their habitats. These llamas, however, were very used to people. As we walked up the many stairs to take more pictures of Machu Picchu, you know the classic one I posted in my last blog, there were llamas abound!

When we found an initial photo opportunity we came across three llamas lying down with their necks stretched upward eating the leaves off trees. I stopped to take a picture with them for my nephew because I got him a Machu Picchu book with a llama on the cover. After this amazing experience was complete we got our photo with the mountain behind us. We were discussing how high we would have to climb to get the ‘classic’ photo of the whole mountain and ruins together. We walked on, and up many stairs, then found the spot. That is when we ran into the other person from our group and he helped us with the photo. After this we sat and had the wonderful llama experience I shared in “Exploring Machu Picchu.” After Mr. Llama was done watching me paint, Chris and I sat together marveling at the landscape and remembering our first hike where we both said “Machu Picchu” for the place we wanted to travel the most.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful weekend! I look forward to writing about the journey back to Aguas Calientes, the shops, and the train ride back to the hostel next week. Stay tuned…

-Karen Hilliard

10% OFF TODAY ONLY! ORIGINAL LLAMA WATERCOLORS…

Machu Picchu Llamas Number 1 | Karen Hilliard Art | Watercolor | Original Art | Tiny Paintings — CLICK ON THE PAINTING TO GO TO THE ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR!

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Exploring Machu Picchu

Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Machu Picchu — The Line of People to get in!!

When we finally made it to the ruins, we felt we were walking around in a time of ancient history. Wondering what each place was made from and what the people did while there. What were their celebrations like? What did they do for worship? What were their meals like and sleeping quarters? How did the children interact and play…how did they learn? Papi answered a lot of our questions on the tour but some were still nice to ponder. Chris and I walked around for some time looking for his “Stairs of Death” and we thought we found them. An area was marked off with lethal warnings of falling to one’s death so we thought that area was where the stairs were. Nope. While writing about them in my blog last week I discovered they are in Wayna Picchu.

My friend from Taiwan has been reading these blogs and she kindly shared her photographs from her hike. This is the amazing friend who fell, hurt her leg, got stitches, rode up to Machu Picchu, and then when Papi left…hiked Wayna Picchu because she is tough! Her stitches held up and she said the pain killers were working so good that she did not want to miss out. I get that. Traveling around the world to see something you may never have the chance to go back and see. She put a smile on her face and went up to the top. They saw dancers up there and the “Stairs of Death.” Here are a few pictures she took and shared with me for this blog post. I hope you enjoy them. As I mentioned, Chris and I will have to go back if he ever wants to do the stair hike. For now…let’s head back to Machu Picchu.

We found a lovely spot to take pictures and the avocado guy was nice enough to take our picture staring at the mountain. He set us up and told us where to stand, look, etc. it was nice to have the help and the pictures turned out awesome. After this I found a spot to sit and paint. Chris wandered around and found a trail for us to hike together later, then came and sat with me while I painted. The most amazing thing happened to me at that moment. He sat and a llama came over to smell my paint set. It thought it was good I guess, and then the llama sniffed my face. I kept painting and he looked at my painting, then at Machu Picchu, then at my painting, then at me. This carried on for a minute and then the llama went to Chris for food…which he did not give the llama of course. We sat for a while and just enjoyed ourselves. More to come on Friday!

Have a Wondrous Wednesday and thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Here is a taste of the blog coming out Friday…What do you think it will be about?

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Machu Picchu in All its Glory

Reaching the top of the stairs to Machu Picchu was a huge feat. We met up with Papi and the rest of the group and then proceeded to wait in a very long and grouped up line. There were so many people! We were glad to have our guide at this point of the experience. He led us all in and told us to stop and look around for a minute to take it all in. The midst rolling over the mountains in the early morning light was magical. It felt so surreal for Chris and I and we were speechless. This is saying a lot because we talk all the time. We have spent hours in road trips cross country with no radio in just listening to one another. So, I o have no words, was wonderful. We both just stood there admiring the landscape. Everyone in the group actually, all stood in silence. Then we heard Papu’s voice in the wind.

He was ready to tell us all about where we were, the people who built Machu Picchu, what the ruins represented, and so on. He told us once we were finished with his tour there would be time to explore individually and he would be gone. We were going to miss him and his great sense of humor but we’re so grateful for the stories and lessons he shared. He took us to the mirror pools, a lookout place, explained carvings, etc. we all stood around listening in awe and wonder. I sketched in a couple of places while Papi was talking and everyone enjoyed this. At the end, we all said our goodbyes and one person from our group took a giant avocado out of his bag, then started to eat it! Chris wanted to know where he got it and that will be in a future blog!

After we were done looking at him devour an avocado, we said goodbye to the people from Taiwan and they headed up to Wayna Picchu. I will tell you about their experience in tomorrows blog along with more on my and Chris’s Machu Picchu adventure. When everyone dispersed, Chris and I had to figure out where we were going and we went the wrong way. The ruins are set up on a one way system. We did not know this and a nice gentleman kept telling us we needed to turn around. Every time we thought we were going the right way we ran into him and he said nope, in Peruvian with a lot of head shaking and pointing. Eventually we went the right direction and ended up outside the gate of Machu Picchu super sad that we could not get back in. After waiting around, we heard others talking, followed their lead, and got back in with a stamp. This time…we would not mess up! More on what we saw in tomorrow’s blog and the llamas!!!! Below are some Peru Paintings I am putting on SALE for 10% OFF as a special deal to go with these blogs!

Thank you for reading and Happy Monday!

-Karen Hilliard

For the Original Train Painting Click Here! For the Original Grasshopper Painting Click Here! For the First Llama Click Here! For the Second Llama Click Here! Enjoy 10% off from Today Monday the 23rd Through Saturday the 28th of October!

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Climb to Machu Picchu

The walk in the wee hours of darkness to the base of a mountain with my best friend was amazing!! We had vouchers for the hike up to Machu Picchu and were patiently waiting in line with our passports to cross the bridge. Upon arriving to the line there were several people waiting, which we did not expect. We should’ve assumed there be this many people since it’s such a popular spot in the world but we had no idea it would be like Disneyland. It was unreal. How many people were there at 4 AM getting ready to hike up several steps to the ruins of Machu Picchu.

The bridge over the river from Aguascalientes on the trail to Machu Picchu was very wide to appease the mini travelers, I am assuming. It was modern and well-built, and the signs at the end of the bridge to get up to Machu Picchu were very self-explanatory, which we appreciated. It was super dark so we decided we would take pictures of those signs on the way down, so they’ll be in a later blog. In this blog, I’ll talk to you about how dark it was, the need for headlamps, the mist coming over the mountains, and just the constant laughter of Chris and I while we hiked up trying to stay out of people‘s way who were hiking at a much faster pace.

CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR!

The hike was super dark, and Chris and I were very fortunate that we brought our headlamps with us, as we did forget our tent poles. We packed everything for this trip, including our tent, then we forgot to bring the polls and we’re thankful to stay at all the youth hostels along the way. Luckily, however, we did have our headlamps, which we didn’t need for hiking up to Machu Picchu. As we hiked, we thought about our tour guide and how he had gone up on this hike several times. We wondered if this was why he decided to meet us at the top by taking the bus because his “knees weren’t what they used to be.” We were trying to ponder how many times he climbed these steps to Machu Picchu because we were only on a ten day tour with him and there are 365 days a year. We were also his last tour because of his age so he had to have done this trail many, many times. As we got higher and higher, the sun started to come out, and we were able to see the mist over the mountains, but the mountain still was a shadow like silhouette, black. It was surreal, beautiful, just an amazing experience all around for both Chris and I.

I think my favorite part about the hike was the constant image of seeing llamas when we got to the top. I really wanted to get pictures of llamas and just sit on the grassy knoll of Machu Picchu painting the ruins, while being around llamas. I was really hopeful that this would happen. Chris and I were crawling up the steps and felt like they were so high, almost up to our knees. We had to high-step, and he is six foot four and I am six foot one so us high-stepping is saying something. He was excited to see a part of the ruins where the steps were on the side of a cliff. They are known to just be rocks coming out of the rock and it is a very deadly trail on Wayna Picchu. We did not know this at the time and did not go all the way up to the top. I guess we are going to have to go back someday soon. For now, I will write more about Machu Picchu next week!

Have a happy weekend and stay safe…be careful if you do the “Stairs of Death.”

-Karen Hilliard

Tags Inca Trail, New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Aguas Calientes…The Ice Shower

At the base of Machu Picchu, high in the mountains of Peru, there is a city named for it’s hot waters. The river flows through this beautiful place and hot springs abound. This being said, let me explain about the ice shower experience we all had. When Papi gave us the room assignments he gifted everyone rooms with two people a room. We got a place all to ourselves the whole trip because he called us the honeymooners. He was a super sweet and informative guide on his last tour, for those of you new to my blogs. You can read more about him in previous blogs such as, “Delicious Fruit,” “The Inca Trail Begins,” or “Biking Down the Andes.” He is in all of my previous Peru blogs. Back to the showers that will send chills down your spine.

Chris and I arrived exhausted with tired everything!! All of our limbs ached and when we met Papi he mentioned dinner in an hour. We got the keys to our room and I immediately sat on the floor to stretch. I wanted to take the first shower since all the other places Chris had, because I always needed to stretch first, and when he did, the water was warm for him and cold for me. This time everything was different. He came out of the shower, not long, and I asked how the water was. He said, “my nipples are so hard they can cut glass!” I was not looking forward to my shower, let me tell you…and it was as if ice was coming out of a machine and freezing every part of my body. My hair even felt crispy like it had a frost…no, it didn’t…but in my imagination…it did. We just thought maybe the hotel was older and the pipes had cold water? We were unsure. Our room was in a different wing than the others so we finished up and got dressed, then headed to the hotel lobby to meet up with everyone.

Karen Hilliard Art Blog | Art Blog | Blog | Aguas Calientes | Peru

As we sat down, three more travelers were shaking their heads. One person from our group asked us, “did you have hot water?” We replied no and they said, “man, did you feel that water? It was like ice!!” Yes sir, we felt it, and it was! Other people from other groups were all talking about it as well. I asked Chris if I should title this one, “The Ice Shower,” I should type it in under “Aguas Calientes.” Anyways, we all headed to dinner and walked the lovely streets of the city. Colors surrounded us with the rainbow flag. Aguas Calientes is in the Cusco Region and the flag represents the Inca culture and the pride of the people of Cusco. Along with the rainbows and colorful shops, we spied many weary travelers. All of us were chuckling in our heads that they would soon be more awake after taking a shower!!

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful Wednesday! On Friday we head to Machu Picchu…stay tuned!

Inca Trail Series 1 Number 1 | Karen Hilliard Art | Peru — **CLICK ON THE PAINTINGS TO SEE THEM ON THE WEBSITE!**

**CLICK ON THE PAINTINGS TO SEE THEM ON THE WEBSITE!**

Here are the paintings in this Inca Trail Series so far…Number 1 is from Blog, “Trekking to Santa Teresa”. Number 2, is a work in progress. Number 3 is from Blog “Delicious Fruit.” Number 4 is from Blog “Hot Springs.”

-Karen Hilliard

Tags Aguas Calientes, Inca Trail, New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Still Walking…Arrived!

The walk to the city of Aguas Calientes was a long one. A cool breeze and shade from the trees made the temperature bearable. Chris and I had long sleeve shirts and pants on to keep the bugs at bay. I wanted to tell you about the collage photos in my last blog, “The Walk to Aguas Calientes.” The photos show Chris walking on railroad tracks, which we both did to pass the time. He made up a game of how long we could stay on the tracks hopping from one section to the next. The rails were super slippery and I did not last long but we think he made it to 40 in a row. We had to jump off when a train was coming of course, so this hindered the game a bit, or made it more exciting. We did this for a long time so several of the miles. I love that we always invent new games to play depending on our surroundings and try to fully immerse ourselves in every situation we find ourselves in.

It was fun watching for trains because our injured friend had to take the train into the city instead of walking the last 19 miles. She had hurt her leg and could not make the journey until it started to heal per the doctor’s orders. Stitches are nothing to mess with especially on a trip in another country. As we walked and had to hop off the rails, we would wave and wonder if she was in the train. After several hours passed we actually saw her in one of the train cars and waved. She did not see us but we saw her and were super excited!! I had taken a picture of this exact train as it was coming and then she was on it! What are those odds, we thought? So when I got home, back to the States, I did a little watercolor of the painting to always remember the moment. I later created a watercolor of that same picture for the world to enjoy and I hope it brings much enjoyment. Trains are a wonderful form of transportation and bring to mind so many happy memories for me of the winter season. I often drift off to think about the Polar Express or the Hogwarts Express. It was cute watching Chris wave and hearing, “Do you think she saw us?”

Another thing Chris did that was super sweet was to carry my wet clothes. He tied them to his backpack so they could dry in the sun. He said he would be my clothesline. So sweet! I had taken a shower before we left for ziplining and put my clothes in a plastic bag to dry them later. My sarong acted as my towel for everything this trip. I always carry a sarong after a trip taken in Barcelona, Spain with my cousin before I met Chris. Maybe I will blog about that one sometime as it was just as interesting. Back to the moment of wet clothes…Basically, he got several looks and heads were shaken, to all of this he just smiled and carried on. He is full of wonder and great ideas. My clothes dried by the time we reached Aguas Calientes which was good because it was getting dark. We arrived at dinner time and met up with Papi for room assignments. I will share more about this on Wednesday and the ice shower.

Happy Monday and have a great start to your week. Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags Inca Trail, New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

The Walk to Aguas Calientes

Ziplining was quite a remarkable experience! Our favorite part was when Chris got an eagle soaring next to him on video. On the last line of the day, Chris had to go tandem with the guide because of what happened in the second line. Everyone wanted to make sure he stopped in time. The lines were not originally made for super tall people so his height and weight made him go super fast. The guide went with him, sitting in Chris’s back, while he was laying in the Superman pose. A fitting end to the wonderful, remarkable, day. We wish we could share the video with you all but unfortunately he lost his phone a few years ago. Life’s lessons in always having a back up! One memory we wish did not happen was our friend getting hurt. Right after she got off the line, there was a jagged rock and she tripped on it.

After our friend got taken by ambulance to the hospital, we all piled into a van to go and meet our temporary guide. We were escorted to a restaurant with delicious food and had a nice relaxing time together before we met turbo. The hike ahead was going to be our longest daily stretch spanning over nineteen miles, on foot, in a few hours time. Being very mindful of this, we decided to linger at the restaurant, eat as much as we could, drink relaxing teas, engross in conversations with friends, and prepare mentally for our new guide. We all took a deep breath and laughed when it was time to go. Papa had warned us about the pace set by others and told us to go at our own. When we left the restaurant, things changed.

We met up with not only our new guide, but a new group. They were all adrenaline seekers. Every one of them looked super tired, had bug bites with welts all over their legs, and their feet were in sandals with cuts and boils. The five of us looked at each other and made the decision to chill walk no matter what. Our guide took off and luckily there were so many people on the last leg of the trail that we just followed along. Our guide stopped for us three times at different sections. The problem with this is that the guide and the fast people were done with their break, fully watered, stretched, and ready to go. The five of us just arrived and they all wanted us to start walking immediately because they were ready. The first time our initial group did not take a break and kept going. The next two stops we did not worry about what the new group thought because we had to take care of ourselves at that point. Another lesson learned…take the breaks on the Inca Trail!!

Next week I will write all about Aguas Calientes and the colorful shops at the base of Machu Picchu! Have a safe and happy weekend!!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags New Blog, Peru

Ziplining Through Peru

Chris and I woke up and spent some time together, then we packed up our gear and headed out to breakfast. Everyone was already sitting and pretty much done eating when we arrived. Unfortunately we got the times mixed up and were a tad late to the party. They had all scheduled zip lining and we were not originally going with them. As we all sat around chatting with one another, they convinced us to join them, and we were so glad we ended up going. What an adventure!

Inca Trail | Peru | Machu Picchu | Karen Hilliard Art Blog

Everyone waited for us to finish ordering and eating. They all got hot beverages to sip and enjoy so we felt relaxed instead of rushed. Again, we could not have gotten placed with a better group of people. All the other groups we saw had tired tourists with sores all over their legs from bugs and bushes. The other adventure enthusiasts said their guides had such a quick pace that they could hardly keep up! Needless to say we were so grateful to have Papi as our guide. He was so patient and waited for all of us to go at our own pace, take pictures, and talked us into pretty much all the excursions. When we finished eating, we were on our way to a great experience.

Upon arriving at the zipline course we saw a foosball table. Everyone in our group had a turn as we waited to sign up for the ziplining. There were 3 lines we were going to try and one was super long and the other very fast. The first one was a warm up to get to the longer one’s destination. Chris got the nickname superman after the second one. He decided to try the monkey pose where the person on the zipline is upside down hanging from their waste harness. He thought our guide said to pull up after he saw the river and there was a grave misunderstanding. As I saw him plummeting to his beheading I threw my arms up and screamed “pull up!” Well, he could not hear me because he was too far away and he just gave me a thumbs up, like yes, this is fun! He pulled his head up at the last second, literally, and I almost watched him get beheaded on our honeymoon. The others in our group got it all on tape which was nice because he did not believe us until he saw it. So the name stuck and he became Superman for the remainder of our trip and still to this day. If you ever go ziplining please double check with your guide on what they say to do.

At the end of the last line, our friend tripped over a rock and hurt herself. She had to go to the hospital and Papi had to give us to another guide. This is why I told you all about the other guides and he was no different. The pace was fast and tiring but Chris made sure we went at our speed and stopped for breaks. He said, they won’t leave us here, Papi will be mad. Papi was scheduled to meet us at the entrance to Matchu Picchu and he told this guide we better all arrive in one piece, and we did. So we continued to take breaks but did not meander as much or take as many photos for the last stretch to Aguas Calientes. I feel we took plenty though and had an amazing time. We were glad because everyone in our group decided to stick together and make the guide wait for us so none of us got left behind. They were wonderful people.

Have a fantastic Wednesday, and thank you for reading! Friday will be about the walk to Aguas Calientes!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting, ziplining

Santa Teresa

Finally reaching our destination for ultimate relaxation was wonderful. There were showers where we could rinse off before getting into the magical waters. The divine hot springs of Santa Teresa were there for years prior and in our lifetime they had been sectioned off by mankind into various size pools for mankind’s enjoyment. We were grateful to relax and rejuvenate after a very long hike through the jungle.

Our entire group got ready and went into the waters while Chris and I sat outside of them and waited. The lighting was perfect and the sun was ready to go and sleep behind the mountains. I had a little bit of time to create a painting in my travel sketchbook so I decided to enjoy that moment before dipping into the hot springs. Chris chose to hang out with me and talk to me while I painted. The rest of our group soon realized I was an artist and it became a point of interest in every stop we had after this.

When the painting was finished, Chris and I went into the waters and just looked at each other with a smile on our faces. It was a magical moment for sure. One of those times where everything just felt right, calm, peaceful, and yet exciting all at the same time. When we all got out and the sun had set, we finished the day in Santa Teresa. Our sleeping arrangements that night were wonderful and the group decided to give Chris and I a room to ourselves. Papi and the wonderful people chose to gift us a private room for the rest of the trip as a honeymoon gift. They were all super kind and this was an amazing experience for Chris and I. We slept so good and woke up, joined everyone for breakfast at a local restaurant, and got to walk around the town for a bit.

I hope you all have a marvelous Monday. Here are the paintings in this Inca Trail Series so far…Number 1 is from Blog, “Trekking to Santa Teresa.” Number 2, is a work in progress. Number 3 is from Blog “Delicious Fruit.” Number 4 is from Blog “Hot Springs.” Thank you for traveling around Peru with us, reading these blogs, and Wednesday we will take you on our zip lining adventure!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting

Hot Springs

After taking our moment to relax by the river it was time to trek onward. One girl from our group took off at a very brisk pace to get her workout in so our guide kept up with her, and the rest of us meandered about until we met up with them. We kept a nice relaxing pace so we could take in our surroundings. The smell of fresh water hitting the rocks and the breeze of the trees in the air was magical. All of us helped each other over large boulders and made sure each person did not slip in the wet rocks. It was quite an adventure in many ways leading up to the treat to cross the river.

As we approached our guide, we got our bearings and faced a wire pulley system. There was a person at the end on the other side of the river sending the swing back to where we were. It was a two person swing, no more, no less. The weight was to be distributed perfectly. What we did not know was how fast we were going to fly across the river. Chris and I managed to get a quick picture of our boots crossing the river to remember the experience. Since he and I were so tall they instructed us to keep our feet raised in the air the entire way. They said this was the only way to ensure we would not break our legs at the end due to all the rocks. Well, raising the legs as high as we could, using our core muscles, and holding hands…we crossed the river on a “swing” pulley system. We both laughed as we landed on the other side since it was a sharp, abrupt stop.

**CLICK HERE FOR THE ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR!**

We got out with shaky legs and hands to find another hike ahead to the hot springs. There was a very tall tunnel we had to walk through and it was nice to see the light at the end of it. Luckily, we brought our headlamps so it all worked out. As we neared the sunshine we saw creatures in the distance and were met by some beautiful wild horses. They were dark umber and raw sienna in color and looked completely content around people. Behind them we saw a gravely trail and were told it led right up to the hot springs. The hike to the magical waters was exaggerated and we came upon them quite quickly. After taking photographs of the horses from a safe distance, we walked on through beautiful mountains to take a soak in some lovely natural springs. Next week I will take you into Santa Teresa and write about our ziplining experience. Stay tuned, and have a lovely weekend!

Thank you for reading!

-Karen Hilliard

Tags New Blog, Peru, watercolor painting