Amazon

Flying over the snow capped peaks of the Andes, we begin to see the ribbons of white rapids and mountain ridges that gradually descend into a flat ocean of tree tops. The green expanse lies featurless, like an ocean except for the serpentine rivers running red with mud. The rivers meander slowly through the flat basin connecting one to another and grow wider.

The hike to the lake lodge is hot and muddy. Nicole is back at the last town, Puerto Maldonado, as her bout with food poisoning has kept her back. A visit to the make shift emergency room, filled up bags of last nights birthday dinner (Hannah´s 13th), and a description of the boat ride, hike and canoe paddle to the lodge has left her thorougly depleted in all apects. She spends a night in the hotel as we continue on.

On the hike we see monkeys, kites, and leaf cutting ants all while trying to keep the mosquitos off. Our guide Herbert helps Ava with her boot which has been sucked down into the mud. Her foot dangles in the air, a clean white sock balancing above a pond of brown.

At night we walk with our head lamps on a wilderness trail where we casually bump into a boa constricter and poisonous coral snake and find tarantulas and other large spiders. The next morning we take a canoe ride and watch the lake birds perched on trees and palms. We find more monkeys, alligators and sea otters. Macaus fly high over head.

Nicole joins us in the afternoon, feeling much better after the antibiotics and some rest. She completes the group an shares an afternoon canoe ride across the lake, happy to finally reach the Amazon forest.

Machu Pichu

We woke up early to drive down to Ollytamtanbo where the train would take us down to Aquas Caliente, the last pueblo before Machu Pichu. The train rode along the Urabamba River which was wildly thrashing itself against the hard granit rock. Nicole kept looking down at the river and talking about her water nightmares. ¨I´ve been in that before and haven´t made it¨.

The snow capped mountains followed us down the river, watching us make our way to Machu Pichu. Upon arriving to the last town, our guide was holding up a sign for ¨Shipman¨, except it wasn´t so flattering with one letter changed to the derogative.

The final bus wound its way up the dirt road and dropped us off at the park gates. Not knowing our guide´s name we sat and ate lunch while he waited patiently for us to arrive - just yards away. Once together we snuck our large packs with the prohibitive mass of food and drink pass the rangers and headed up to the lost city. Our guide Steven gave us a two hour tour of all the special temples and created a picture that made it much more than a ¨bunch of old rocks piled up¨ for Hannah and Ava.

Afterwards, left to our own, we hiked around, up and down, even outside the city. Eating lunch it began to rain and we took shelter under a thatched roofed hut. The rain drove a bunch of the crowd away, and the afternoon sun combined with the mist rising from the valley gave it all a mysterious feel. We sat and took it all in.

The Sacred Valley

George picked us up for our drive to the Sacred Valley. He made good use of his connections to take us to every tourist outfit along the way, even if I told him not to. They all made out as we bought a lot of stuff. George finally made good by taking us to the pisca market and ruins.

After navigating through the arts and crafts, we finally found the locals buying and selling fruits, vegetables, and bread. We filled up some bags of goods and headed towards the hotel\house, which had a kitchen, fireplace and two bedrooms. Finally, a little privacy for the big kids. On the way we stopped by a restaurant for lunch where a pet dear sat on the lawn. Ava had to go out and pet it and that little doe stayed in the grass, lying down with out any fright. Ava spent 5 minutes with that dear and when she left the poor little dear wasn´t through with her. She jumped on her hind legs and tried to pat Ava on the top of the head with her front hooves. Ava let out a scream and George came to the rescue by whacking the dear back. She stayed in her seat all through lunch.

The adobe house we called home was kept us relaxed after our jaunts through the sacred valley and the last Inca strong hold of Ollytamtaybo. There I drank some of the fermented corn brew called Chincha in a surviving inca neiborhood of intact walls, streets and family compounds. At night we would come home to a fire place and beer.

Cuzco

We made our way through the city of 2 million to the heart of the Inca capital where the temples of the Incas were used as the foundations for the Spanish churches.
Cobbled stoned streets and pushy vendors greeted us as we walked toward the plaza de armaz, the city center. Sitting down at a cafe was hard work as we continued saying ¨no gracious¨ to the constant number of hawkers. However, the plaza we picked for the cafe wasn´t the plaza de armas at all, but a different plaza of benches and trees and colonial buildings. Only after finishing the barrage at the cafe and walking around did we find the correct plaza de armas which was a block away. Of course it was much nicer, twice the size, and with two large churches. Through them led the oldest, and main walkway of the Inca, which led into the temple complex that´s now the plaza.

Dinner was a treat as we felt like the tourists at a the Old Lahaina Luau with the peruvian dance show and the mediocre meal. Just like the tourists at home, Nicole and I were put on stage as a dance spectacle for all the restaurant to laugh at. Luckily, unlike the tourist luau at home, only two other tables were in the room, an older couple, and a japanese tourist group of 15. A dance show for an empty house.

At a cafe we met another visitor from the US, Steven Sullivan, who wrote the book for ¨Remember the Titans¨. A pretty interesting guy, but I had never seen the movie and told him our family wasn´t familiar with it. He couldn´t believe it and had to ask them himself because everyone had seen it. Nicole, ever the movie watcher, told him how she had seen it and how great it was. I was astounded and she laughed wickedly at the look on my face. She´s never even heard of Remember the Titans.

The Chicken and home made mayo sauce caught up with Hannah that night as she spent the next two days in her room with the runs. She missed the large military ruin of Sacsaywaman, with oversized stones up to 300 tons and the unthinkable precision cutting. The stones have a number of sides and one would think that they would have to be hefted into place tens of times in order to accomplish the cuts. Better for Hannah as each ruin became another place of ¨old piled up rocks¨.

We left Cuzco on Sunday morning for the Sacred Valley and Machu Pichu. The Churches were in session with mass and bells were ringing. Locals filtered in and out of the old churches, which always had patriarchal paintings of colonial bishops standing triumphantly in glory. The soot of the candles darkened their luster and golden frames.

Coordillera Blanca

Cordillera Blanca -

After the bus ride and a night at a family inn, it was off to youngay, a small town below the highest peak in the Andes (Huascaran) at 6768 meters (22,000 ft) and the second highest peak Huandoy that plays the title role in the movie Touching the Void.

Llanganuco Lodge is an Engishman´s dream that is still in progress. It´s a beautiful spot directly underneath the two highest peaks and on a small plateau that sits just around the corner from a Yosemite like valley of grinded granite. The cliffs tower there higher than El Capitan and valley floor is covered by two lakes. When we arrive, Seth, our visian quest, peyote loving, orthopedic massage specialist from Alaska is filling in for the Englishman who has taken a trip home. Seth, fills in nicely as the improptu resident manager and takes care of everything pretty well, including filling us in on all his unusual exploits and dire experiences. The kids learned quit a bit about an alternative reality. Seth did work hard to take us out as a tour guide through out the area, from the magnificent valley, to the mountain glacier. The glacier was a hard ship as we forded a rushing stream, in which Seth saved the day by carrying Ava across and helping everyone else. All in his wool covered feet and open sandals.

The mornings were beautiful, with no one else at the lodge, and no other whiteys except for Seth. By early afternoon the clouds would cover the snow capped peaks and the clouds would rise from the valley to over take us in fog. The lake that was close to the lodge was frequented by local women and children who were moving there sheep and cow heards in the afternoon after working in the feilds during the earlier part of the day. Their colorful shawls and skirts accented by the local top hat pr derby hat. The older women would walk spinning wool with their spindles and the younger ones would corall the sheep with dogs. The men worked on the farm all day using hand tools and animal pulled wood plows, planting corn, wheat, potatoes, cabbage, lettuce and broccoli.

The nights were started off with shots of Pisco and the chef cooked up some great food with vegetable and chicken, great soups, all with tasty spices. The kids played monopoly and backhgammon, which usually ended in a fight while Seth would entertain us with his stories of mishap.

Ava got a case of insect bites that tortured her at certain parts of the day. After every shower she would spend ten minutes applying cortozone to her numerous welt. Since she was always hugging the two lodge dogs, a Rhodesian Ridgeback and Golden Lab, she paid the price.

March 2009 - Peru

San Francisco -



Hannah hit the mall in downtown and got herself a fitted coat that looked like a 3/4 cotton trench coat. They were coupled together for the rest of the stay. She modified the West Coast look by adding rubber slippers to the ensemble. The fashion runway travelled through Miami and on to Lima.


The fear of getting sick in Peru, a dirty third world country was trumped when Nicole got sick from eating a vegitarian burrito in the San Fancisco airport. She was burping it up for a day and a half and kept saying she should have just thrown up on the flight to Miami. Boarding a plane, in close quarters, Nicole was feeling pretty claustiphobic (she doesn´t even like putting the blanket over her head). I watched her trying to sleep with a vomit bag in her hand. She arrived in Lima with a very sensitive stomach.

Lima -

We`re staying at a small hotel on the cliffs over looking the ocean. Even during their off season the waves are shoulder high. The place in an old upper class English lodge type house that belongs to a famous Peruvian artists. It looks that way from the coffee table books of his work. His daughter transformed the house into a 8 room hotel with paintings, sculptures, ceramics all left displayed through out the home. The old artist, who is 80, lives in a smaller place steps down the cliff, next to the pool.

Of course, Hannah and Ava went straight to the pool. Decorated with a water spouting Puma´s head, the pool became the place of residence as the hotel dogs constantly jumped in the pool after the girls. The old man still works at art every day and would shuffle back and forth from his apartment, across Hannah and Ava´s pool to his workshop where he would weld and grind away at his sculptures. He didn´t speak much english, but got a kick out of the kids and dogs splashing around. The single railing, wet concrete, and 20 foot drop onto the concrete below didn´t seem to bother him much.

Close to the hotel is the plaza to the Barrancio district where we´re staying in Lima. At sunset it´s filled with locals hanging out on benches and lovers holding hands, bodies, and lips like high schoolers. They really like to show their affection. It´s hard to navigate the sidewalks and find a restraurant with all the friendly activity.

As the point man of the group because of my high school spanish, the comedy has been high as Nicole even reminds me of words I have forgotten and she has remembered from earlier in the day.

From Lima its a 8 hour bus ride to the Coordierra Blanca. The video all the passengers just in case one of them happens to be a robber who will make their identity known latter on in the trip. It´s seems to be a good deterent, we didn´t get robbed. Peru is a dessert of sand and ocean until a river from the Andes makes it´s way down and a fertile farmed valley emerges. 4 hours of this until we take one of the river valleys up and into the mountain. Then the road snakes it´s way up into fog, rain and very narrow roads. The gaurd railing consist of 1 foot high cement blocks which are painted yellow and black so that everyone knows that the black abyss below is reall danger to drive into. I think it´s better that we can´t see anything because of the dark.