{Viva Peru}

Although we returned from our trip to Peru weeks ago, I have yet to get around to putting up pictures on here. One of the problems is that we have 1500 of them. It makes it hard to decide which ones to put up!!! So I am just going to put up some of my faves...


MACHU PICCHU

We got up before the crack of dawn (3:45 a.m. to be exact) and took the bus up to Machu Picchu and were able to watch the sunrise together over Machu Picchu! It was gorgeous. The big mountain in the background is called Waynapicchu, which we climbed.

We got tickets to climb up Waynapicchu (the big mountain you see with the pics of Machu Picchu) and climbed the incredibly steep switchbacks up to the top. They only allow 400 to climb it a day, and we got there first thing and we were still numbers 217 and 218. It was so steep that in some places I had to sit down on the stairs and scoot down stait by stair. Crazy!

The view from the top of Waynapicchu

LAKE TITICACA (Lago Titikaka)

The Floating Islands of Uros on Lake Titicaca

The floating island we went to, Santa Maria. The islands are actually made of reeds and just piled on top of each other. They are anchored to the bottom of the lake so they don't float away, and they just pile new reeds on top to keep it from disintegrating. Super touristy, but very interesting.

The next stop on our Lake Titicaca island tours was an island called Isla Amantani where we stayed overnight with a host family (the mother, Gregoria, is pictured behind me). She cooked us meals and even dressed us up in traditional clothing from the island (pictured below) and took us to a dancing party with the other tourists and host families. It was by far my favorite thing we did.

Doesn't Jay look like Pacha from "The Emporer's New Groove?"

Jay and Gregoria, our Amantani island mom.

On top of the highest point on Isla Amantani-- we hiked up to watch the sunset.

Jay pondering outside our room at Gregoria's house

The outhouse (the toilet is inside...not on top, like it looks I am climbing to). There was no running water, however.

SILLUSTANI

While in Puno, we took a side trip to some ruins called Sillustani. They were funerary towers from a pre-Incan civilization that families were buried in. Very cool.

CUSCO

The ruins of Sacsaywaman- they were constructed in such a way that they didn't need mortar between the stones, and they were so close together you couldn't even fit a breadknife between the stones.



A walkway in Sacsaywaman



The famous 12-sided stone in Cusco



The cathedral at the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. Inside was a sweet painting of the Last Supper where instead of the pascsal lamb on the table, there is a dead chinchilla.



The Plaza de Armas at night. All the little lights in the background are the houses on the hill.

LIMA

Outside the Plaza de Armas in Lima our first day in Peru

The Lima Temple

We went to a bullfighting museum while in Lima, apparently in the dangerous area of town. The manager was really nice-- here he is with Jay posing inside the actual bullring.

PEOPLE

Traditionally dressed women in San Blas, Cusco

My esthetician. Sort-of. I went and got a facial while we were in Cusco. It was...interesting, and made for a good story to tell my esthetics students.

FOOD

We ate clay outside of Puno at a family's house. It was not as bad as you might think. You eat it on potatoes.

Our obscenely expensive lunch outside of Machu Picchu. We didn't bring a lunch inside (they said you couldn't have food, and we studiously obeyed) and we were STARVING by the time we left 8 hours later having not eaten anything all day. Jay had to use his headlamp to make sure it was edible. Any excuse to use that thing.


Salchipapas (cut up sausage) and of course, french fries. They come with everything.

Breakfast every single morning in every single hotel we stayed at-- rolls, cheese, and ham. The only thing that changed was the kind of rolls.

Eating alpaca at a restaurant in Cusco

ANIMALS

A very unfriendly llama we encountered at a local house near Puno. He didn't spit on me, but I think he was close...

A Peruvian delicacy-- guinea pig, known as "cuy." This one was at a local family's house and was SUPER pregnant. We saved our cuy dinner for our last night there, and when it came, we were in the nice area of Lima and there weren't any cuy restaurants, so we missed out. It's probably just as well-- it would have brought back traumatic memories of my 3 pet guinea pigs. Ha.



I'm pretty sure there are more stray dogs in Peru than there are people...

{Pidgeons in Mexico}

A layout for the Supreme Team at GDS:

{Her Lilacs Page Kit by Debra Anderson at GDS}

{Sweet Europe Pics, Part 1}

{This is the "revised" version for the Cornishman :) }

{Making Music Kit by Andrea Gold}

{Template by Andrea Gold; Sandalwood Kit by Lisa Howell}

{Some recent tinkerings...}

{Forest Kit by Lindsay Jane; JanieHmkBold Font}

{Born to be Wild Kit by Melany Violette; Template by Lottchen; LD Remington Streamline Font} **Sorry, I spelled Hard "Rock" wrong...and I didn't save the Photoshop file (and I'm too lazy to go through the extra effort to fix it now :)

{April Doodle Kit by Maria La France; Stitched Alpha by Melany Violette; Cream Tag by Andrea Gold- Making Music Kit}

{Paper by me; ChinaOne Font; Various Brushes; Photo Corners by PhotoGraphic Edges 6.0}

How do you say SWEET in Japanese??

Jay and I left on June 27 for Tokyo, Japan to live in Nagoya, about 200 km west of Tokyo. Our flight(s) over were a little stressful, but it turned out all right in the end. We flew on buddy passes, so we had to fly Delta. That meant we had to fly from SLC to Atlanta, Georgia, and THEN to Tokyo from there. So we barely made it onto the flight from SLC to ATL, and had to spend the night there because our Tokyo flight was in the morning. They were having terrible weather and cancelling flights out of ATL, so there were hordes of stranded people in the airport, most of whom couldnt even find hotel rooms for the night. Luckily we got a voucher before we left Salt Lake so our $300 hotel room was only $50. THEN, to our utter surprise and absolute joy, we were put in business elite instead of coach for the 13 hour flight to Tokyo. Funny thing is, everyone else up there was white. No Japanese people in first class on the flight to Tokyo...interesting.




You wouldn't believe the sweet treatment you get up there. We had food coming to us every 30 minutes, hot towels, toothbrushes, chapstick, socks...the works. The best parts were the fully reclining chairs...modeled by me,




...and the personal TVs, as seen here with Jay.




On a 13-hour flight, you think we could sleep in those huge loungers, but it was way too much fun and I didn't get any sleep. Trans-pacific flight has never been so good...

Tijuana, Mexico at the Centro Cultural. We saw an IMAX movie called "La Fuerzas de la naturaleza," and if it would have been in English, it would have been narrated by Kevin Bacon. Too bad. We decided to forego the tourist street in TJ and venture into the actual city. Once you get off la Revolucion, the rest of the city is pretty cool. There was even a statue of Abraham Lincoln on the street of heroes.