Posted by Lisa on August 4th, 2007 — Posted in Activities
Karin arrived here safe and sound, albeit a little later than planned on Thursday. After picking her up at the airport, we came home so she could freshen up and see the pad. We then headed down to the beach for a nice late lunch and some pisco sours. 3 pisco sours later, we headed outside to run around on the beach and watch the sunset. We then went grocery shopping, came home, started to watch Stranger Than Fiction (good movie) and headed off to bed. I’m so happy my twin is here and that we are getting some much needed twin time. We do miss Adam (her hubby) and wish he could have come as well.
Yum, empanadas
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Posted by Lisa on August 2nd, 2007 — Posted in Travel
I figure I better finish this update before Karin gets here, which should be around 3. On Saturday Steve and I decided to get up to see the sunrise over Machu Picchu. Luckily, my dad was feeling much better and he and my mom decided that they would go to Machu Picchu a little later. Unfortuately, it was pretty cloudy, so we didn’t really get to see the sunrise. It did get us up there nice and early, and STeve and I were able to climb up Huayna Picchu. It was a tough climb but absolutely worth it. The view from the top was spectacular. We then climbed down the back of the mountain to see the caves. Total time was about 4 and a half hours. When we were done, we went back to Aguas Clientes explored the town some, and had a nice lunch,. Then met up with the rents after their Machu Picchu trip and headed back to the train station and back to Cusco. Saturday also was the day that the new seven wonders of the world was announced (Machu Picchu being one), so there was a big party going on in the Plaza de Armas in Cusco. We did get back to town to late to go, but STeve and I walked around the Plaza de Armas where they had constructed big statues to mark the occasion.
Steve and I before the hike
Still feeling good
Part of the trail
View from NOT the top
Are we almost there?
Getting closer…
WE MADE IT!!!!!!
Trail leading down to the Great Cavern also known as the Temple of the Moon
The Temple of the Moon
Us after the hike
Peruvian hairless dog
Aguas Calientes
The train ride back
Plaza de Armas in Cusco
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Posted by Steve on August 1st, 2007 — Posted in Your Guest Host Steve
As some of you may have been aware, I’ve been working on a photo gallery site to display the best of the thousands and thousand of photos I’ve taken over the last few years. This site isn’t meant to replace the photo sharing that Lisa does on this blog, but to showcase my favorite, more artistic pictures. The new website is tinyPHOTONS. There will be a new image everyday this week (so there are 3 already!), and I plan to add several photos a week after that (but no promises!). I hope you enjoy!
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Posted by Lisa on July 24th, 2007 — Posted in Misc
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Posted by Lisa on July 24th, 2007 — Posted in Travel
First of and foremost, I would like to wish my mom a happy birthday again. Her birthday was July 4, and we celebrated by flying over the Nazca lines. We got up early in the morning, went to the airport, flew to Ica which is a small town north of Lima. We saw a brief show about the Nazca lines, and then we boarded a TINY 8 person plane and started the 2 hour flight. It was amazing, flying over the desert and seeing the lines we saw..
a martian
a monkey
a dog
a spider
a condor
a hummingbird
a pair of hands
a tree
Misc pics
After the flight, we went to this great resort for lunch and live music.
After lunch, we went to an oasis. For me, this was probably my favorite part of the trip that I hadn’t planned on. I mean, Machu Pichuu was amazing, but I knew I was going there. The oasis was just part of our tour, and it was exactly how I have always imagined an oasis. Sand in every direction, hot blistering sun, and then palm trees, birds and water. While my parents walked around and enjoyed the oasis, Steve and I decided to go on a dune buggy ride. It was exhilarating, though we are still finding sand in our shoes! We went on an hour dune buggy ride and then went sand boarding. I’m not much of a snow boarder, and I didn’t want to injure myself before the trip was over, Steve and I decided to use the board more as a sled. It was so much fun, and the desert… What can I say, it was spectacular. I know I live in desert climate, but this was the first time that I have ever really been to the desert. The type that I saw in Lawrence of Arabia.
After a long and exhausting day, we flew back to Lima and had a nice birthday meal and cake at the hotel.
Come back and see what happens on day 3!!
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Posted by Lisa on July 22nd, 2007 — Posted in Travel
My parents left last week, after a terrific visit. One of the highlights of their visit was our trip to Peru. I know that you have been eagerly awaiting an update, and i’m sorry it’s taken so long. I’ve decided to slowly post pictures from our trip, a day each day. We arrived in Lima at about midnight, and we’re picked up and whisked off to our hotel. We stayed at the Melia Lima hotel- which is now one of our favorite hotel chains. Steve and I stayed in a Melia Hotel in Portugal as well, and they were both amazing hotels. The next morning, we got up had an awesome breakfast- in Chile, they haven’t started the whole breakfast thing yet, so usually you only get bread and jam and some ham and cheese. This buffet was basically an american type buffet but better. Anyways, after breakfast, we went off shopping to the vendor district. There was everything imaginable there, and cheap. I was a little disheartened to find out that all the goodies i’ve been buying at La Recova heree in town, is actually, mostly all Peruvian items sold at about 3 times the cost. Needless to say, we were able to find everything we wanted and more. After shopping we came back to out hotel and waited for our city tour of Lima. OVerall Lima isn’t that impressive. I actually like Santiago better, though 1 thing Lima has going for it is that it is on the ocean. After the tour, we went out to dinner to a chifa restaurant- which is a chinese/peruvian fusion restaurant, and had a scrumptious meal. Unlike Santiago and Chile, Peru seemed to have a lot more international foods, and they used a lot more spices in the food.
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Posted by Lisa on June 27th, 2007 — Posted in Activities
My parents arrived safe and sound on Sunday for their annual 3 week visit. Unfortunately, as you know, I’m not as picture crazy as I used to be, but i’ve gotten some. We’ve been busy catching up with each other and talking about our upcoming trip to machu pichuu. A brief synopsis of the visit thus far includes- amazing steaks with a homemade coffee rub by Steve (idea courtesy of a wonderful rub he received from his parents), exploring the downtown area, shopping, cooking, baking, eating, teaching my mom to play mah jongg, la feria, valle del encanto, going to the beach and playing with the leynadog. Since my dad is here, i’ve decided to put him to work, our project is building a fence for the backyard. So far we’ve gone to Easy (similar to home depot), and have priced out options. Tomorrow we plan on going to my favorite town, PIsco Elqui, and if we’re back in time the local technological college is having a wine tasting. I am never one to pass up free booze!!!
Leyna learning to knit
Picnic lunch
Enchanted Valley
At the valle del encanto there is a sign for the “el bano de inca”, to get there, you follow a trail over and through a bunch of rocks and find…
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