This tour boat ferries visitors to Peru’s Lake Titicaca, high in the Andes Mountains. A visit to this lake provides a peek into the Uros culture, high-altitude island life and beautiful blue waters to explore.

Llamas are a part of everyday life in Peru’s Sacred Valley, and other rural parts of the country. This one is being led out for a stroll by his young owner.

This photo of three elder gentlemen visiting on a park bench was photographed in Quito, Ecuador shortly after a weekly changing of the guard ceremony.

This main plaza in the historical center of the country’s capital city is one of my favorites, along with the famous piazza in Pisa, near the leaning tower. The city has many historical streets and buildings worth exploring, including the national basilica and the oldest observatory in South America which is also located in Quito’s downtown area.

From Quito, there are a number of interesting day trips you can take to explore this region of Ecuador. For example, you can drive to explore the market and countryside of Otavalo and stop to see the equator, or check out the Saquisili market and stop to have lunch at the Hacienda la Cienega on your way back.

Photo Credit: This photo was taken by the Trek Hound team and is available along with other pictures of Quito through a creative commons agreement on our sister site, Pictures of Travel Places.

It was a cloudy day in Lima, Peru as we strolled the downtown area with a mission to tour the main cathedral.  As we stood on the side street, I was struck by how the run down appearance of the buildings and general area made me feel transported back in time.

With the gray sky taking away my options for a colorful photo anyway, I switched the camera to black and white and started snapping. This photo was one of the many that resulted. It’s simplicity and starkness make me feel like I was able to snap an image through time. Black and white has the power to transform travel photos that would otherwise be lackluster if kept in color.

Do you have a favorite black and white image you’ve posted online? Or one from a tour of Peru? If so, feel free to post your link in the comment section below.

Photo Credit: This and other pictures of Lima, Peru were photographed by the team here at Trek Hound, and made available through an online creative commons agreement with our sister site, Pictures of Travel Places.

Where you can you find a heavy dose of rustic, old-world elegance with a shining view of a snow-capped volcano, complete with practically perfect weather all year round?

Believe it or not, in northern Ecuador, just a couple of hours out of Quito. The place? Hosteria La Cienega. This charming antique hacienda turned hotel and restaurant has been in the same family since the seventeenth century.

Also near Cotapaxi National Park and within driving distance to the Saquisili market, this hotel and restaurant makes a wonderful retreat from the city for quiet relaxation. Offering casual breakfasts al fresco as well as more formal indoor seating with a full menu, the atmosphere was (in this writer’s humble opinion) exquisite. Glitzy? No. Understatedly elegant? Absolutely.

After exploring the interior courtyard’s formal garden and on-sight chapel built into the hacienda itself, we sat down to enjoy grilled fish and steak with rounds of spirit-infused consume, homemade bread and house wine.

Needing to walk off lunch and delighted that the establishment’s management encouraged full facility exploration, we strolled the grounds and explored various suites and communal sitting rooms.

We feel comfortable recommending this hotel and restaurant to those people interested in paying from $12 – $20 USD per plate and $60 – $180 USD per night for accommodation.

Photo Credits: Trek Hound – Additional images of Hosteria La Cienega and the area around Saquisili are available on Pictures of Travel Places.

This article was submitted to the February 3, 2010 edition of Wanderlust and Lipstick’s Wanderfood Wednesday.