Had a beautiful flight from LAX to Portland on Jan 11, good views of several mountains above the clouds and Crater Lake, etc.  Shelly and Charli Jo were at the airport to meet us, and we were happy to spend a couple days with them.   Then we drove to Walla Walla for Caden's 4th birthday party which was on the afternoon of Jan 13.  He had some little friends there as well as his other grandparents, Cheryl and Kent and Melissa and Rylan too.  It was great to see the family again and tell them about our trip.  We stayed at Carey and Greg's for a couple more nights because there was freezing rain in Spokane/Coeur d'Alene area making driving conditions extremely slippery.  It was nice in Walla Walla.  So we actually got home on Jan 15, and the roads were much better by that day.  We had several days of freezing fog which made everything very frosty and pretty.  Have had some more snow, but our yard still has several inches of snow that arrived while we were away.  Our kind neighbors kept our driveway cleared which was very nice.  We have been trying to catch up with all the mail, the email, the info for taxes, and many appointments since being back.  Also going to the gym regularly trying to get ready for the 28th Los Angeles Marathon which will be March 17.



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

South America and Antarctica

 Since we had never been to South America before we decided this would be a good time to go since it is summer down there during December and January.  So we signed up for a Holland America cruise leaving from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on Dec 20 and ending at Valparaiso, Chile on Jan 10.  That is 21 days.  However, the cruise did not include excursions to 2 places on our "bucket list":  Machu Picchu in Peru and Iguazu Falls between Brazil and Argentina borders.  So we worked with a travel agent and got the trip all worked out to travel for a couple weeks prior to the cruise, so we could visit several places in Peru and also get to Iguazu Falls. 

We left home on Dec 6 and drove to Portland and left our car at Shelly's and flew from Portland to Lima via LAX.  Lima is an interesting city.  It was warm and is almost always cloudy.  We did a lot of walking and also toured the city visiting the main square with government buildings, churches, cathedral, president's palace, etc.  We were the oldest in our tour group, but we were the only ones who went to the top of a church bell tower out of the group.   Lovely views of the city from there.  A large group of volunteer firemen, dressed in red, were in formation getting ready to go into the Cathedral for a special mass.  We also visited an ancient pyramid that was used for burials, and they had simulated mummies there, so we could see how it would have been hundreds of years ago.  One area of the city blocks off a long section on Sunday mornings for the people to be able to have a place to exercise safely--walkers, runners, cyclists, etc.   We got to see part of the Pan American highway that goes all the way from the southern tip of Argentina up to Alaska.

 

 

 

We flew from Lima to Cuzco where we were on a private tour to the Sacred Valley.  We visited the Pisac Inca Ruins and later the Ollantaytambo Inca Ruins.  They still use the amazing water systems developed by the Incas for current irrigation for the nearby farming.  We hiked and climbed to the tops of the ruins.  The rock walls show that the Incas were very unique engineers to cut their rocks for perfect fits at various angles and so tight, you cannot put anything in between them.  It is still a mystery as to how they cut them so accurately with the tools available then.  And how did they get those huge rocks up the mountainsides?  We stopped to do a little shopping at the Pisac market.  We stayed at an interesting  hotel that used to be a monastery.


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From the Sacred Valley, we took that train for 1 1/2 hours to Aguas Callentes.  Then we traveled another 30 minutes to get up the windy road to Machu Picchu which is in a very remote place.  It is such an icredible place.  And we are so glad that we got to spend a couple of days there.  We had a guide for the first 4-5 hours we were there, then we were free to roam about as we wished.  It was nice to have a guide to tell us more about all the nooks and crannies including the royalty section, the workers and farmers section, the temples, etc.  Just fascinating.  There were llamas up there "mowing" the grasss in some areas.  The elevation of Machu Picchu is about 8,000 feet which is much lower than Cuzco which is 11,500 feet with a pass over 13,000 feet to go over.  The high altitudes affected us a little if we were going up hill and hauling luggage, but most of the time we had no trouble.  However, at night at the high altitudes in Cuzco and Puno, we had difficulty sleeping at night.

 

 

 

 

 

After leaving Machu Picchu on the second day there, we took the bus back down to Aguas Callentes and from there got on the train again back to the Sacred Valley where we were met and taken to Cuzco for a couple days.  We walked around the city a lot and also took a city tour visiting museums, churches, cathedral, the main square Plaza de Amas, a huge Inca Fortress, and Inca Baths, etc.  All very interesting.

  

 

 

 

 

 

From Cuzco we flew to Juliaco and were taken to Puno on Lake Titicaca at 12,400 feet elevation.  It is a beautiful area.  We had a boat tour on the Lake and went to Taquile Island, a natural island in the middle of Lake Titicaca with about 2500 residents.  We hiked up and down the island and learned about the history and culture of the poeple who live there.  It was 2 1/2 hour boat ride to get to that island.  After that we went to the Floating Islands on Lake Titicaca.  It was a very interesting place.  We learned that the ancestors of these people fled to the Lake when the tribes north and south of them were fighting.  These people built little reed boats to live on.  Now they have developed how to make reed islands and reed homes on the islands, etc.  They are very colorful and creative people.  They still have some reed boats.  We rode on one of them.  They also have little motor boats to get around in as well.  There are about 70 floating islands and they are all anchored in the same area.  Some are tied together.  They have little shops, church, school, clinic, etc on their islands.  They are not very far from Puno where they can get all their supplies.    Our driver from Puno back to Juliaca tried to find some quinoa growing along side the road.  You will see the photo below.  We were interested to see how this grain grows.  It does well in the high elevations of the Andes Mountains.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We flew from Juliaca, Peru to Lima and then had an overnight flight to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.  From there we got a domestic flight to Foz airport, Brazil at Iguazu Falls.  The Falls are between Brazil and Argentina with Paraguay close by across the Parana River where it meets the Iguazu River.  We stayed on the Argentine side.  Close to our hotel was a little ferry that goes back and forth between Argentina and Paraguay.  We inquired of several people about the ferry and if we could go to Paraguay.  No one had a good reason why we should not go, so we went through Argentina immigration and checked out of the country, got on the ferry.  The fare was only a few dollars.  When the ferry was loaded with 15 or so vehicles and several people, we went on the 15 minute ride to Paraguay.  We went up to the immigration office there only to discover that USA citizens are supposed to have visas for Paraguay.  We had no idea.  We had been told that Brazil was the only South American country that required visas of USA residents.  One cannot buy a visa at this immigration office.  So what to do?!?  The immigration officer was a very nice and kind man.  He was not sure what to do with us, but he did not want to arrest us.  Finally, He said "No problem", and  he stamped our passports with the Paraguay stamps, and told us to go and enjoy the rest of our trip,  and we went back and got on the ferry going back to Argentina.  So that was the end of our Paraguay adventure.  We were delighted to be able to visit both Argentina and Brazil sides of Iguazu Falls.  You will see many photos of  the Falls as well as many critters that we saw in the area of the Falls.  There are spectacular views of hundreds of  Falls everyplace you look.  We also got drenched with spray in certain areas of the Falls. 
It was just wonderful to be able to visit there.  It was very hot and humid  too.  During our whole trip we went in and out of Argentina 5 times which was more than another other country we visited.