Animals for Zoey

During our trip we saw a number of animals. A few of them are pictured here. I put this up for my friend Teresa and her granddaughter Zoey. I hope you enjoy them.

Red Poison Dart Frog for making curare

20 ft. Anaconda and Turtle

Rainbow Macaw

Llama in Machu Picchu

4 inch long moth with pinchers

Red Tail Boa

Female capybara

piranha

Caracara--a type of Hawk

Grubs for Dessert?

Pink Toed Tarantula

Home Again

The Overseas Adventure Travel group on the Amazon River and Rainforest Adventure. We had a wonderful time.

We are now home from Peru. It was some adventure too. So many wonderful places to see and we were able to share the experience with our friends. It's hard to ask for more. Here Chet and Larry and enjoying the Plaza de Armas (or main square) in Lima.

Our first stop was Lima, Peru, a huge metropolis of 9 million souls. We stayed in a "suite-type" hotel in the Miraflores district near shopping (The Inca Market) and the beach. Lima is on the "Ocean Pacific" as our guide, Jennifer, told us. After exploring the Plaza de Armas (main square) and the museums, we knew more about the many cultures that have thrived in Peru before the Inca.

The Astronaut
While in Lima, we took at side trip the Nazca Lines. No one knows how the lines were constructed. No one knows why they are still in the desert after hundreds of years. What they do know is they are there and they are amazing to see. We flew over the Lines in a 12 seat Fokker that Chet said was at least 50 years old. We survived to the tell the tale and I'm sure the old Fokkers are surviving too.

Our next stop was Iquitos in Northern Peru. A smaller city by far than Lima, with 1/2 million population. There are only 2 ways to get to Iquitos: fly or float. We flew. We saw our first glimpse of the muddy Amazon. We saw people in dugouts; houses on stilts and a completely different world from modern Lima.



The AquaMarina--our home for 1 week
We were on the Amazon or a tributary for 7 days looking at villages, talking to people, gawking at birds and fish and capybaras (the largest rodent in the world) and learning about life at a very different pace.

We visited a school, which consisted of 20 desks, a very used blackboard, and a couple of posters. There were no books; no supplies. Our group donated school supplies and I started thinking about getting books to the kids in the Amazon. If you are reading this and you have any extra books, please donate them to me as I'm going to be sending out packages of books on a regular basis. These kids really want to learn and they have very limited access to school. Kids in the US do not know how good they have it!

From the Amazon we flew back to Lima and then on to Cuzco, the ancient Inca capital at 10,900 feet. Since we live part of the year at 6300+ feet we did not think we would have a major problem with the altitude, but we were wrong. Life at 11,000 feet is hard. There's not enough oxygen and you do feel it. Most folks in our group had a horrible headache. I just felt compressed like the weight of the world was on my shoulders. Walking that first day felt like walking through molasses. Running was out of the question and climbing stairs was hard too. After a couple of days we all got used to the lack of oxygen and that's when we headed for Machu Picchu which is at 7,000 feet. (A piece of cake by the way after Cuzco!).

Sun Temple and Spanish Church
We learned more about Inca culture. We visited Saqsaywaman and Qenqo, two large Inca archeological sites right outside of Cuzco. We also visited the Sun Temple in Cuzco. The Sun Temple was the center of Inca civilization. When the Spanish conquered the Inca, they built a church over the Temple. Thank goodness they did, as the old temple has been preserved.

We visited town with names like Ollantaytambo and Urubamba. We rode the Vista Liner train to the foot of Machu Picchu to the village of Aguas Calientes. There we boarded a bus that took us up the mountain to Machu Picchu. The switchbacks were amazing! However, once we saw the ruins we were in complete awe of the spectacle and beauty. It's hard to describe how the place made us feel. Some of our group were holding back tears; others were in open-mouthed awe just looking at the place for the first time.


Machu Picchu is one of the 7 Wonders of the Modern World, so it is getting a lot of visitation. To that end, only 400 people are allowed on the site each day. Ingress and egress is carefully watched. Tickets are necessary. Just look at the pictures and imagine what life was like in this secluded valley of the ancient Inca. There we had more questions than answers. No one really knows the true meaning of Machu Picchu--or how it was built--or how many people lived here--or how so much could be accomplished with stone and bronze tools. More questions than answers.

We stayed 2 days at Machu Pichhu then returned to Cuzco and to Lima and finally to the rest of the world. It was something else. I'm still processing all that happened. It was all good. I learned a lot. I'll end with keep saving books for me and help me send them to the kids on the Amazon where there is a real thirst for knowledge.
(what I saw as I looked out the plane window as we left Cuzco!)

Can you believe he received his first balloon and first book on the same day?

Peru

Fokker Over the Nazca Lines
We´re in Lima, Peru for the second time this year. Last time we stopped at the port of Lima, Callao--this time we´re in the city proper. The city is huge. It´s a metropolis of 47 different districts, each with a mayor, and then there´s a mayor for the whole city of 9 million souls!

The Hummingbird
Early this morning we flew to Ica, Peru, in the desert, in order to see the Nazca Lines. My the Lines are fascinating. Not only did we see the animals like the spider, monkey, parrot, dog, hummingbird, and flamingo, we also saw the shapes of the tree, hands, trapezoids and triangles, and of course the astronaut. I´ll post some pictures when I get home. We heard theories about why they are there and how they were made, but no one really knows why or how!
The Spider

While in Ica we went to a museum where we learned more about the people who pre-dated the Inca. We viewed mummies from many centuries ago as well as pots, weavings, quipu, and carvings from the many different desert cultures. Most interesting.

Bird

Tomorrow we board the MS Aqua Marina for a week on the Amazon River. We´ve been warned about heat, humid and bugs, so I think we are more or less ready for the adventure. The downside---we have to get up at 1 AM in order to board the plane to Iquitos on time. We´ve been told that we want to get on the river early in order to avoid some of the heat. I wonder how hot it is going to be.

More later. If there is wifi in the jungle, I´ll try to post.

Two Collections

Whenever I travel, I look for 2 things: flowers and license plates.

I added 3 license plates to my collection! Did you know that the British Virgin Islands has at least 4 different colors of plates? They all look the same except for the background color. I wonder why? Of the 3 places we visited, the US Virgins had the prettiest plate (in my humble opinion).

My other collection is flowers. I wish I had the time and inclination to identify all the beautiful blooms I've captured. In the end, it does not really matter. The flowers just speak for themselves.

Caribbean Hello

We're in the sunny Caribbean. What a gorgeous place. East coast folks go here...west coast folks go to Hawaii. We've spent a lot of time in Hawaii, but after this trip, we might need to come down here an explore a bit more.



We're on the NCL Dawn. It's a working cruise for us. This time I'm lecturing instead of Chet. He's the go-fer and all around helper--an important role as so many things can go wrong. On our 2nd lecture we had an LCD projector that did not project reds. This is not good when you are asking folks to look at color photography. After changing the projector once and the cable twice, we finally got the reds to work! That's what the go-fer does. (As an aside, last month we were on a sister-ship, the NCL Star. The Dawn seems to be much nicer than the Star. Better food, better service, more friendly staff/crew. It makes you wonder what makes one ship "work" so much better than another? If you have a choice, pick the Dawn right now!)



I don't know what island I like the best: Dominican Republic is rural; Tortula, British Virgin Islands is more urban and St. Tomas in the US Virgin Islands looks like home with a tropical tilt. All are wonderful. The water is exquisitely clear. The beaches are beautiful. It's hard to talk without using superlatives. We'll be back.




More later

The Land of the Curly Oak

Vinnie and the Big Guy are now camped in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley. Our lakeside campground is located between Solvang and Santa Barbara, on San Marcos Pass is a little piece of winter heaven.

There’s lots of colorful history in the area. Nearby is the town of Buellton, home of Pea Soup Andersons. Stopping at Pea Soup Andersons has been a family tradition since I was five years old. Next is Solvang, a village settled by Danes many years ago. Everyday we see visitors with license plates from all over North America. Up the road is Mission Santa Ines, built in 1802. The tiny town of Santa Ynez is next. It looks like a turn of the 19th century community. In between the small towns is open land, horse ranches, wineries, and even a casino. The road tees, to the right is San Marcos Pass which will eventually meander to Santa Barbara. To the left is Los Olivos, more wineries, and then Highway 101, The King’s Highway, El Camino Real.

We enjoy the solitude of the lake as well as the charm of the quaint villages. We travel back in time and visit Spanish-era Missions or we'll sip liquid sunshine from one of the many nearby wineries. What I like to do best is walk around the magnificent oak trees that dot the hillsides. Many of the trees have crooked limbs, that is why I call them “curly oaks.” To me, they are a visual reminder of “ancient Califia” before anyone discovered this area. I will never see what that California looked like, but I do imagine how it might have looked when I walk among the Curly Oaks.

Mexican Riviera

Yes, we went on another cruise! This time we went with our friends, Dick and Phyllis, to the Mexican Riviera! We boarded the NCL Star from San Pedro, CA on 27 January with about 2500 other passengers. While not the biggest ship “out there,” she’s big enough with 3 swimming pools, lots of hot tubs, 16 restaurants, too many bars to count and lots of onboard entertainment. We always had something to do. Chet’s favorite activity was listening to Jana Seale, a singer/guitarist. I enjoyed watching movies in the afternoon and hanging out with our friends.


After 2 sea days, we arrived at Acapulco. There we saw the famous cliff divers. Well, we only saw one cliff diver as we were too late for the “five diver” show and we did not want to wait another hour to see it. Anyway, I don’t think we could have survived the onslaught of folks trying to sell us anything from turtles and t-shirts to tablecloths. Having a margarita at the Princess Hotel rounded out our visit to this city of one million.





The next day we stopped in the twinned towns of Ixtapa and Zihuatanejo. Ixtapa is the modern “city” and Zihuatanejo is the old Mexican town. We walked to a few shops in Zihua (as the natives call it) but the highlight of the day was sport fishing with our guides Carlos and Pepino on the Whisky 2. The last time I went fishing, I was 15, so I did not really know what to expect! My orthodontist said that I should be prepared for 3 hours of boredom and 4 minutes of chaos once a fish is caught! So after about an hour, a Dorado or Mahi-Mahi was on a line and that's when the chaos started--for about 10 minutes. I had no idea how to bring a fish in, but with Carlos’ able assistance, I "landed" a 5 footer weighing about 45 pounds. Dick, an experienced fisherman, caught a Dorado about an hour later. He brought it in far more smoothly than I did. It was great fun for all of us. (In case you are wondering, this is catch and release fishing.)


The third port was Puerto Vallarta. There we took a city tour. Not too much adventure that day. We learned that Santa Barbara is a sister city to PV and to celebrate that fact there is a dolphin statue there exactly like the dolphin statue at Stearn’s Wharf in SB.

The last stop was Cabo San Lucas. Cabo is known for small yachts, beautiful beaches and Land’s End. We walked along the boardwalk, looked at the yachts and ignored the beaches (I’m not a beach person). As with anywhere in tourist Mexico there are lots of folks selling their wares. Here we were met by folks selling silver jewelry and tourists buying it. I guess the strategy is successful even if I do find it offensive!

Our last day on the Star was a sea day. The weather changed as soon as we rounded Land’s End on the Sea of Cortez and crossed back into the Pacific Ocean. The sunshine went away and gray skies reigned. We had hoped we had escaped the rainy weather that Southern California was experiencing the week we left…but 8 days did not make much of a difference. We were all preparing for more rain as we packed our suitcases and prepared to disembark the next morning. However, when we woke up at Pier 92 in San Pedro the next morning there was sunshine! What a relief! We left the ship, after clearing customs, picked up our luggage, and drove back to our RV in Santa Ynez where we’ll be for the next few weeks. The next cruise starts on 9 March!