We're Home

We made it home safely, surviving one final farmer's strike in the Cusco area, although it meant getting up at 5:30 am for an airport taxi ride (6 hours prior to our flight) before the roads were blocked to traffic. Since arriving home I have had 2 sleeps of 14 and 12 hours which has been a blessing.

Here are some things that happened while we were gone for 4 months:

- Canada won the gold medal count at the Vancouver Winter Olympics

- Alberta won the Brier (again) but this time it was Kevin Koe rather than Martin or Ferbey

- Jeff graduated from the University of Lethbridge

- we put our house up for sale, with plans to move into our Okotoks villa

- Rachel passed her PhD qualifying exam

- we missed a lot of bad weather in Calgary (a wet and cool spring)

- the golf season started 2 months ago

- the FIFA World Cup started with the 5 South American teams yet to lose a game.

And these are some of things that we experienced in S.A.:

- Civic demonstrations in most of the countries we visited leading to strikes and blockades that didn't have a significant impact on us but did add hours or detours to some of our trips

- some petty crime incidents (Rhonda's backpack), my pickpocket episode in Buenos Aries, a purse snatch that I witnessed and the drug bust that happened on one of our overnight buses

- Hostel life turned out to be enjoyable, and we will repeat it on future trips

- Rhonda experienced altitude sickness once we started to get near the 4000 metre level which could impact future travel destinations

- Mike developed a bad case of sciatica which will have to be dealt with now that we are home.

We had many highlights along the way, but the top ones were:

- Galapogos - the interaction with the wildlife was incredible

- Colca Canyon - an incredible 3 day hike with a great guide and staying overnight with a local family at the bottom of the canyon

- Mendoza - cheap and very good wine in a beautiful walking city

- Iguazzu Falls - witnesed at 8x the normal volume, from both the Brazil and Argetinian side

- Pantanal - the varied wildlife (including tour friends) that we saw during our 4 days of safari's

- Machu Picchu - the condition of the preserved ruins, and meeting our trekking daughters at the entrance.

Here are some other random thoughts about our trip:

- we had some wild bus rides, with a few minor accidents, but overall they were pleasurable and our timing was incredible when catching connected buses

- with very few reservations made ahead of time, our flexibility worked to our advantage in almost every situation

- our border crossings (about 10) were seemless

- the beef in Argentina and Brazil did not impress us, but the ladies became enamoured with Pisco Sours (Peru and Chile), and Caiparinas made with a liquor called Cachaca (Brazil)

- Caity's energy level (hang-gliding, mountain biking and late night bar hopping) injected some extra energy into us 2 months into our trip

- the stark reality of the Potosi mine tour

- the many Inca ruins and treasures that we saw throughout the Andes mountain chain

- the numerous Parades and costumes that we observed in many cities

- the Adventure Brew hostel in La Paz which had nightly activities and free micro-brewed beer for their guests

- the fun we had traveling with our daughters and Javier

On the downside, our Spanish didn't develop as quickly as we thought it might, Lin wasn't able to join us due to health issues, and my sciatica prevented us from completing the 4 day hike to Machu Picchu with our girls.



Overall, it was a tremendous trip and exceeded our expectations in most areas. One of the best lessons we learned was how appreciative we should be to live in our great country with all of the natural diversity we have and the standard of living that we have become accustomed to. Many of the locals we saw live in tin roof shacks with minimal electricity or heat yet seem happy with their lot in life. The poor silver and zinc miners of Potosi work in horrible conditions that shorten their life span to an average of 48 years, and the Colca Canyon villagers who have to hike 10 km's up a steep mountain trail to get any provisions they cannot self-provide. We really have no reason to complain about anything.



That is all until our next adventure (currently unplanned) but in the meantime we look forward to having the opportunity to visit with and share more of our experiences with all of our family and friends. Adios

Machu Picchu

What a wonderful way to finish off our 4 month adventure. We took a scenic bus and train ride from Ollantaytambo to Aguas Calientes along the base of the Sacred Valley and still fast rushing Urubamba River............earlier year rains had caused a 10 metre rise in the river inflicting much damage to the towns and railway along the way, leading to the closure of Machu Picchu for 6 weeks in February and March. Aguas Calientes itself was still undergoing extensive repairs to the roads and buildings throughout this hillside village which was built at the bottom of the valley below Machu Picchu. The next morning we got up early and caught a bus up the mountain, arriving at Machu Picchu just before the 4 day trekkers came through the Sun Gate on the Inca Trail to meet us at the entrance. Caity, Rachel and Javier were all in good spirits and relieved to have successfully navigated the 45 km trail (and cool nights in a tent). Their guide, Richard, then gave us a wonderful 3 hour tour of Machu Picchu. He has done this over a hundred times but he spoke passionately about this New 7th Wonder of the World and we appreciated his insights. Despite being over 500 years old, and only discovered 99 years ago, the buildings are in terrific shape due to the fact that the Spaniards never found them and plundered them like they did with the rest of the Inca ruins. It was a special place used by the Inca nobility and from the design, great detail was given to the positioning of their sacred places, and it was clear that their smartest minds were involved in the creation of this small city which was home to less than a thousand people (a small fraction of the 15 million Inca population). It was a spiritual feeling to just sit and fall into a trance in this mountain-top treasure. Richard then left us for a couple of hours to do more exploring on our own before meeting us for a late lunch back in Aguas Calientes.

Once there we had a wonderful meal topped off by a nice surprise when he told us that our accommodation for the night (3 rooms for the 5 of us) was included in our package.........this is still a mystery to us since he had booked us into a wonderful hostel that was much more expensive than the place we had made our own reservations for (and this was not supposed to be part of our package). We felt so guilty staying in this palace for 'free' that despite still feeling full from lunch, we felt obligated to have the $9, 3 course dinner which the hospitable manager was offering. I had the Peruvian version of surf and turf...... a spicy, trout appetizer followed by guinea pig, a national specialty down here (which we had all avoided until now). It was likely made more palatable by our pre-dinner outing down the street where we discovered four-for-one happy hour and played several card games during our six rounds of drinks. We all slept well last night, especially the trekkers who were pleased to be back in a bed for the first time in 5 nights.

Today we are having a lazy final day in Aguas Calinetes before taking an evening train and bus back to Cusco where the four of us will have a final sleep before beginning our journey home while Caity goes solo for her final 3 weeks and travels to places along the coast of Peru which we had previously enjoyed, prior to her arrival.

We will post some trip highlights (there were many) when we get home on Friday.

Cheers................mike & rhonda

World Cup Fever

The 2010 FIFA World Cup has just started in South Africa but it has already taken over South America. During our travels the locals have told us that everything would come to a stop when their country was playing..........no one would go to work, and with the 6-7 hour time difference, most games would be on TV during the morning so it would be unlikely that anyone would go to work in the afternoon after the games. Yesterday, we went to a pub in Cusco to cheer on Mexico (for Javier) against South Africa (it ended in a 1-1 draw), and the place was crowded with noisy Mexican fans, some of them wearing Mexican wrestling masks, and the pints were plentiful at 10 am in the morning. TV cameras came into the pub near the end of the game to capture the festivities. Hopefully we will be able to catch another game, with Peru playing while we are still here.

During the week there have been two day trips into the Sacred Valley to see Inca ruins which seem to be everywhere. Most were damaged during the Spanish conquest but it is still easy to visualize the cities that they built. It will make the preserved city of Machu Picchu (not found by the Spaniards) seem even more special when we arrive there in a few days.

We experienced another massive parade while we were in Cusco, this time celebrating the feast of Corpus Christi. Large statues from surrounding area churches (temporarily relocated to have their religious powers rejuvenated) were brought out of the main Cathedral by groups of 20-40 men and carried around the main square, with rest stops along the way using a separate platform carried by young boys trying to emulate their dads. There were well over 20,000 people in the square celebrating the event and we were fortunate to secure balcony seats at a restaurant just before the start of the parade where we were able to view the festivities for 4-5 hours. The parade was repeated the next day, expanding the route to other parts of the city.

We are now in Ollantaytambo, which is the starting point for the Machu Picchu treks. There is a lot of reconstruction going on in this town of 2000 people which is slowly recovering from the damaging rains and mudslides earlier this year. In fact, the train route has been shortened and buses, sometimes running along the damaged track path, are temporarily in use with major road detours snarling traffic........but the show must go on. This morning Caity, Rachel and Javier started their 4 day trek while we remained behind wishing we were healthy enough to be on the trek with them (Mike's sciatica and Rhonda's problems with altitude over 3500 metres have sidelined us.) We have some local exploring to do in the meantime and we will be taking an early morning train on Tuesday so that we can catch up with them just before reaching the gates into Machu Picchu. At least we will all be together when we see the ancient city for the first time and get to experience it together.

We'll publish one more post after this final adventure for this trip.

The End is Near

We only have 10 days to go.........4 months has gone by quickly and we have been having a fabulous time but it will be nice to get back home to see our friends and family.
Rachel, and her boyfriend Javier, joined us in La Paz and we are now a travelling group of 5 gringos although Javier with his Mexican background looks the part and speaks Spanish which has shortened our conversations with the locals. Unfortunately, our good friend Lin from Brantford, Ontario is having some health pr0blems and has had to cancel her plans to join us for the Machu Picchu adventure........we wish her well.
From La Paz we headed west to Copacabana and Lake Titicaca, a huge lake (250 km´s long and up to 100 km´s wide) situated at 3500 metres above sea level with surrounding mountains making it very picturesque. The young ones spent an extra day there touring Isla del Sol (Sun Island) while we continued on to Cusco, Peru so that I could get my sciatica problem looked after by a doctor........she gve me some shots and set me up for some daily physio (electro therapy), and I am starting to feel a little better but the 4 day trek to Machu Picchu is approaching faster and is now at risk for me. I am still hopeful but every step is painful right now so reality is starting to set in for me.
We celebrated Caity´s 25th birthday last night in Cusco at a pub close to our hostal. She outlasted us all, hooking up with some California travelers at the pub and returning in the wee hours. Today, the rest of our group is off on a day trip to Pisac to see some Inca ruins and a market, and our next stop will be the Sacred Valley (an hour away) which will be the starting point for the 4 day trek (45 m´s) along the Inca Trail to Machu Picchu. We are still on the altiplano 3-4 km´s above sea level so the nights are getting very chilly (down to freezing or below) and we are wearing multiple layers.......the hostels all have several thick blankets and electric heaters in the rooms (no central heating systems) so all of the extra clothes we have been carrying around for 3.5 months are coming in handy.
Cheers.