It's what we do. It's how we do it.

So the last couple of days have been fun. the weather is totally gorgeous here. its been 75 degrees everyday. on thursday i went into the city with the boys and explored, and by "explored" i mean shopped, and when scott got off work, he and natalie and i went to an art museum until marcus got off, then all four of us walked around down by the water. later that night i went to practice with the babies. on friday i went into the city with marcus and waited for scott to get off work then scott and i met natalie at cottelsloe beach, then we went down to freemantle beach and walked around the town and ate dinner at this great fish & chips place. we came back to nat's house that evering (where the babies are staying for awhile) and nat's host family took us all out to the F A N C Y restaurant on the 33rd floor of a building downtown called 365 because it rotated. it was amazing. and rediculously expensive. we figure the dinner bill for the 8 of us came to about $800 au!! crazy!! then we went home and crashed. today (sat) natalie and i went to breakfast, ran errands, rented 6 movies for $6 and video EZY (see what i mean...), and now we are waiting fo rthe boys to get back. they have a game tonight and i am really excited to see them play!!! pictures coming soon!

city mouse

SURPRISE!!!!!

so recently i decided that i was just going to take a leap of faith and fly half way around the world to surprise my little brothers, who are in western australia playing basketball. i wanted it to be a surprise so i didnt tell very many people. i touched base with the pastor of the twins church and made arrangements with them to pick me up at the airport in perth. beyond that, i did not have a plan....

so i boarded a plane in chicago..which was delayed due to mechanical problems..(gggrrrrrrr america airlines), then i arrived in san francisco, only to have them keep us sitting on the tarmack for another 45 minutes b/c the plane ahead of us was having mechanical problems.. (double gggrrrrrr american airlines). upon which i find out i've missed my connecting flight to sydney by 10 minutes and the next flight out isnt until 10:45 pm the next night. not one to be told i can't do something, i argued for other possible options, briefly thinking that i could catch a flight to hong kong then perth..alas it was full. so i begrudgingly accepted a complimentary nights stay at the sheridan hotel in san fran and all my meals paid for the next day and settled in for the evening. trying to convince myself that for whatever reason, i was not supposed to be on that flight.

the next day i decided that i would enjoy my mini vacation in SF and go exploring. i had been here once in high school, and remembered all the place we went so i decided to check out other places instead. so i hopped on a city bus and went exploring. eventually i found myself in Haight Ashbury, which was totally crazy! hippies still do bread here. and if you need any drug paraphernalia, any at all, there is certainly a store here that will sell it you you. it was like stepping into the summer of 1969!

after exploring the neighborhoods of SF all day i headed back to the airport to catch my flight. thank God i am no longer dealing with american airlines (can you tell theya re not my favorite). i am now on a qantas flight, which, with the exception of virgin atlantic, has to be one of the best airlines i have ever flown on. I sat nxt to the nice australian man from Adelaide and is 7 yr old redheaded daughter. they were super nice. he was some big time wine maker in southern au, and he gave me lots of great ideas of things to do in perth. I managed to sleep most of the flight (which is a talent i am fortunate to be blessed with). and arrived in sydney 14 hours later.
notes of importance: I left SF on Monday the 25th, arrived Wed. the 27th. technically Tues the 26th never existed in my world. how cool is that!

after being hearded through customs, surprise!, i have missed my connecting flight to perth by about 5 minutes. no longer phased by this thay put me on one 2 hours later. i finally arrive in perth 26 hours later than originally planned, where i am met by lisa, the pastors wife. she and her husband dean have done great undercover work and have found out for me that both twins are at work and scott works till 3 and marcus until 4. they work very near each other so seeing as it is now 2, we hustle downtown ans go looking for scotts store. (both boys work at mobile phone stores as demonstrators.) we soon find scotts store at about 2:45 and i walk in with my heart racing. i dont see him anywhere so i ask the girls at the counter if this is the store he works at. yes, he is in the back changing, she goes to get him. i hand lisa my camera, and after about 10 minutes he comes around the corner and does a double take at me and just starts screaming :WHAT THE HECK!! YOU'VE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!" it was hilarious. he just couldnt believe i was standing there. after talking to him a few minutes one of the other store employees comes running over and says that our brother just walked by. scott ran out to get him and lisa got the camera ready again. scott catches up with marcus out on the street (who has gotten off work early) and tells him he needs to come in scotts store. someone wants to talk to him. of course marc is not jazzed about this, but scott convinces him and as he walks around the corner and sees me standing there he gets a huge smile on his face and shouts out "WHAT?!?! YOU'VE GOT OT BE KIDDING ME!!!". totally same reaction. it was hilarious.

a very expensive surprise, and worth every penny.

so we have been having fun here. hanging out. checking out perth. their roommate natalie is awesome. yesterday i went to practice with them. today we are going to the harbour and their host family is taking us out to eat. tomorrow is their game, which i am excited to see. other things i want to do while i'm here: learn to play cricket, see and aussie football match, go to the beach, and see a kangaroo. the weather is gorgeous here. about 75 everyday. everyone in this city is super nice. it is a very clean, laid back city. i love it. i would totally live here. and i have come to the realization of how much easier it is to travel when you speak that language, compared to most places i travel to. however, just because we speak the same language doesn't mean i understand a bloody word anybody says. the slang here is RIDICULOUS! basically they take every word over 2 syllables, shorten it and add a 'y' to the end. breakfast is 'brekky', football is 'footy', university is 'uny'. its crazy. plus they way they influctuate their words, i never know if the are making a statement or asking a question. i must look like a dumbass half the time as i stare blankly back at people becausee i clearly dont understand a thing they've just said in english. and it works both ways too...i asked a lady yesterday what the time was and she looked at me and said "I don't know where Kmart is." oh well.

i'm going to go get ready for my day now. I'm heading into town with marcus, until scott gets off work, then going with him to meet natalie at the harbor until marcus gets off work. then we'll probably do something fun and ridiculous until dinner tonight.

have fun back home, mates.
see ya later!
city mouse down under

Jungle- take two

How funny! I just went back and read over City Mouse`s adventure in the jungle and found that we had mainly the same adventure- just a month apart! So, I started the trip to the jungle sick with a super sort throat- seriously that`s a bit of a downer on a vacation, to be sick twice! We got up early on Sunday and took a bus to the airport, a plane from Cusco to Puerto Maldenado, a bus from the airport to a boat (very cool long boats), and then hiked a few minutes to the lodge. And I slept on everyone of those modes of transportation- and later slept in the lobby of the lodge waiting for dinner! We were all pretty wiped out with the heat and all the hiking from the previous days.
On the bus ride they gave us a little basket with banana chips, brazil nuts, an orange and starfruit juice and on the boat they gave us rice wrapped up in a large jungle leaf. This group- Rainforest Expeditions- does a good job. I recommend them if you ever want to go to the Peruvian jungle. We rode on this boat for an hour, slathered in deet and soaked with sweat. The lodge was amazing- all open, with mosquito nets over the beds, no doors, no complete walls, showers with clear curtains so you can really see outside into the jungle while you`re showering- but it`s a cold shower, so not a lot of time for looking around. We took a short hike to a huge tower in the middle of the jungle to look out over the trees. We saw a lump that was supposedly a sloth, and saw some Macaws fly by, which I really wish I could have gotten on film or wish I could remember it forever because it was beautiful. Then we had some free time at the lodge, in which I think most of us fell asleep and at dinner Arturo (our ACTIVE guide) took one look at us and decided that maybe we would save the night hike for another night and all go to bed!
So the next morning we woke up at 4:00 a.m. and took the boat up river and a short hike to a flat boat that we took around a lake and looked for birds. We saw some toucans flying and some monkeys in the wooods, and a way chunky brown heron, and some big birds with crazy hairdos. Then we went fishing for pirranhas. Chunks of meat with a bamboo pole. Pirranhas are little dudes, I imagined something much bigger. I caught one after much persistent trying! Then back to the lodge and out again (I have decided I love maracuya juice. Does Owens carry Passion Fruit?) after a brief nap in the hammock. We went to see the birds on a clay lick. We saw three macaws. Hanging all upside down in the trees and jumping on to the hill of clay. I guess it`s a supplement to their diet. In the afternoon we went to visit the Shaman and see his forest of medicines. We tried a piece of a plant that was like novicane (I`m not sure on the spelling, the stuff they use at the dentist`s office), were written on with a purple dye from a leaf, drank one of his concoctions that was supposed to be for a cold and it must have worked because, my sore throat is finally gone today! He told us about different ingredients, one to cure cancer, one a natural viagra, another a love potion. Quite interesting. After dark, we went on a night hike to look at insects. We saw an itty bitty possum, a rat, a wolf spider, a tiny frog, and some monkeys in a tree. And I saw the leg of a tarantula. At the lodge of all places. I wasn`t much intersted in sticking around to see the rest of it.
This morning the journey back to Cusco. And most of the group went on another bike ride. I decided to decline that opportunity out of fear for my life, but we ate lunch overlooking Cusco. Tonight is our last night here and it`s off to Puno tomorrow.
I`ll be home in a few days, and looking forward to seeing you all.

Machu Picchu

City Mouse, did we go to the same Machu Picchu? I didn´t think it was small at all! We took a 2 hour tour and learned about a lot of places and still I would have loved more time to look around. It was beautiful.
Then we took a bus to Aguas Calientes where we were supposed to visit the hot springs. But, Arturo said they were a bit crowded and dirty so we all decided against that. We´ve had enough of dirty. They did rent bathing suits though- what a funny thought! We were still super dirty but had a few hours to walk around the town and shop at the markets. I visited an internet cafe and drank a latte. Pizza for dinner at 10:00 p.m. after we got back to Cusco and it was marvelous.

Today was a free day, doing a little wandering the streets and shopping. And now I think I´ve spent a few hours on this blog. So I best go pack and take a nap! But first I must tell you of the little boys I met this morning in the Plaza. I just wanted to sit and relax and write in my journal. Well every two minutes someone would come up to me wanting something. Selling paintings, postcards, cigarettes. Wanting a donation to such and such. It was maddening. Two different boys tried sitting with me and talking to me for awhile. One of them was 13 and he lives in Cusco with his brother and sister who are 16 and 18 and his parents live near Lima. He is here for school. He sells "his" paintings all day on the weekends. We talked about the weather and our plans for the day and our families. All in Spanish. He still creeped me out a little when he asked if I was alone or with a group and what hotel I was staying in but hey, it was a nice conversation.

We´re flying to the jungle tomorrow.

The Inca Trail

The Inca Trail. I think that I am still making up my mind about it. I think under different circumstances I would have really enjoyed it.

I started feeling a little sick to my stomach on Monday night, and even considered not going, since I was still having problems breathing as well. The alternative though, would have been 4 more days in Cusco. A city. I am the Country Mouse. So I went. It involved departing at 5:00 a.m. Only five of us were taking the Classic Inca trail, the rest of the group took the Lares Trail. . . and I hear they had nice weather. So Arturo (our guide), Claire (my British friend), Coleen (61 year old), Kim (45 year old physician) and I met up with another group: 4 friends from San Francisco, a couple from San Francisco, a guy from London and our guides Roger and Casiano. We took a bus for a few hours to the starting point Kilometer 82, I think. And we set out. It started really well- flat ground- but as we started going uphill, I started falling behind. We stopped for a lunch.
And let me stop right here and describe the meals on this camping trip. . . Amazing. Whenever we arrived we had a tent set up for us with plastic chairs around a table. Silverware, metal plates, bowls, cups, tea cups. I remember the first meal distinctly because I had not expected the extravegance. Garlic bread, an appetizer (maybe it was avocado and tomatoes), a soup (which were always delicious), and plates and plates of pasta and two different kinds of sauce. Every lunch was like this- a bread, appetizer, soup, and multiple food dishes, sometimes chicken, beef, fish, in wonderful sauces, with rice or quinoa, or potaotes. They even decorated the food like on a cruise with little birds and flowers made of vegetables. Amazing! And the breakfasts were the same, porriage in a cup, bread and jelly, pancakes one day, eggs another. The last day we had a cake for breakfast! Baked right on the trail. And between lunch and dinner we had happy hour with popcorn and crackers and Milo.
Porters. We had 18 porters carrying all our bags, tents, food, chairs, etc. They run up the mountain in front of the group and get set up either for lunch or a campsite before the hikers get there. They carry 27 kilograms each (I´m not sure how much that is), and they all had sweet personalities. There wasn´t much conversation because they spoke Quechua, but they woke us up in the morning with cocoa tea, brought us warm water for washing when we arrived for the day and when we woke up in the morning, and they watched over us at night.
So back to the hike. I think the weather that first day wasn´t bad- brief rain, so I was able to get some photos which was nice. I think we probably hiked 7 hours that first day and all I kept hearing was how the 2nd day was much harder. My stomach bothered me that day but was really unpleasant that night and I think I zoned out a bit because I don´t remember much of that day or evening. We played slaps and a version of spoons for dinntertime entertainment. The bathroom at this campsite was hopefully the worst bathroom I will ever see in my life. It consisted of a hole in the ground covered in logs and surrounded by a log frame with plastic over it for privacy. And that´s all I really want to say about that place.
There was actually no peeing in the woods. Every few hours they had bathrooms. They were disgusting but most were buildings with a plastic hole in the ground that you stood on either side of and there was a flush at the top. I survived.
I had a tent to myself which was unexpected and made me feel a bit bad because someone had to carry that extra tent up but what´s done is done. I was a bit cold at night in my alpaca hat, 2 long underwear tops and a fleece, and long underwear bottoms and the sleeping bag but I didn´t sleep too poorly.
We woke up to rain on Wendesday morning. And rain and rain and rain. And if you thought that it might stop raining and take off your rain coat and put it away, in five minutes you would have to get it out again. And it was uphill. Forever. To Dead Woman´s Pass. My stomach was awful and my breathing was awful and I was way last. By lunch time everyone knew I was a bit sick but thankfully it turned around that afternoon. For the most part. So the morning´s rain was just a misty type rain. As we switched to the downhill portion of our journey it became a downpour. I was freezing and soaked but I really enjoyed the downhill much more than the up. We went down steps that were covered in mud and water and I was so glad someone had talked me into buying the walking sticks at the beginning of the trail because I would have been toast without them. I fell down once- looked around- saw that no one saw me and kept on going. I didn´t get many pictures this day because of the rain and because of the constant fog surrounding everything. I´m sure it would have been beautiful, had we been able to see it. We hiked a lot that day. I think we set off at 6:30 a.m. or something and arrived around the same time at night. It was rough. The most challenging day I´ve ever had, probably. But you have to keep going of course.
Our campsites were all lovely, perched on the side of a mountain and while it poured all Wednesday night we awoke to a bit of a clearing on Thursday. At least we could see some pretty cool Inca ruins on a mountainside a ways away and we had a dry start to the day. And it was a pretty good day because it was mostly downhill. Thankfully, I fell in with the girls from San Francisco and they had a way of getting through the uphill parts- setting goals. Okay, we´re going to make it to that bush there, or we´re going 20 steps up. They made it bearable. We finished around 2:00 this day so it was a shorter day. It rained off and on. Toward the end of the hike on this day we started seeing electric lines and hear the train and it seemed quite out of place after all the quiet of no technology.
There were supposed to be hot showers at this site so everyone got very excited. However, they were closed for maintenance when we arrived. So a few of the girls ventured to use the cold porter shower. Now if the above was the grossest toilet I´ve ever used, I hope this is the grossest shower I ever use. First of all, if you know me, you know I´m a bit modest. And the door on this shower shut very poorly- no lock or latch and there were porters outside the entire time. The water wasn´t just cold. It was like ice falling out of the wall. And the water on the floor. Uggg. Gross, gross gross. But I was a small bit cleaner.
We went to see an Inca ruin a few minutes away and it was pretty awesome. I can´t wait to show the pictures.
So let me tell you what I learned about the Incas. Well, I learned a lot of things but coming to mind right now:

• They built 354 of these sacred sites I think. The ones that the Spainards did not find are the most intact ones.
• They had fountains, and terraces for farming and they did experiements to see which forms of agriculture would work at what altitudes.
• They built their buildings from the natural rock that was at that location- white granite, which when the sites were created would have been polished and the ruins would have been white. Their buildings were created with interlocking stones that no one has been able to replicate. They withstand earthquakes and go in at an angle a bit.
• They didn´t have money, they all worked together. There was some sort of service period where they worked on the various Inca sites for the state and then they got to go back home.
• The Incas were still building- never finished and more and more is found every day.
• The reason the Spainards were able to overrun them so quickly was because they had just had a civil war between two brothers or rulers, or something. Also, it took them a while to realize that they were enemies.
• Some Incas fled to Machu Pichu when the Spainards conquered and lived there for forty years undiscovered. The Spainards never found Machu Picchu.

Forgive me if some of my facts are wrong, and there is much more fascinating info, but this is getting rather long.

So the next day we got up for a 2 hour hike to the Sun Gate. The entrance to Machu Picchu. Did I mention that we got up at 3:30 a.m.? So we had to hike with our headlamps 5 minutes downhill in the rain (again torrential downpours during the night) to this checkpoint. The checkpoint didn´t open until 5:30 a.m. but for some reason our guide wanted to be first in line. There were a lot of other groups at this point. And honestly, when it opened, I thought I was part of the Amazing Race. For 20 minutes we raced through the cloud forest- still in the dark mind you- until I got so hot, I tried to take off my fleece so then I was carrying my backpack, walking poles, fleece and raincover all in my arms trying to run and keep up and finally I just stopped and took my time. I´m not sure what the race was about anyway. Running through the puddles, pushing by people (not me but people pushing by me!), and then there was some uphill so that finished it for me. It was kind of fun though, hiking in the pre dawn light. Hearing all the little frogs chirping. We arrived at the Sun Gate after some steep steep stairs to. . . what was supposed to be Machu Picchu in the sunrise but it was just fog. Everywhere fog. So we hiked down the final half an hour and then the day turned lovely. And we were at Machu Picchu.

In hindsight there were some really great things. The views, the Inca Trail itself was made by the Incas and was pretty cool, and I didn´t get blisters or have any awful muscle or joint pains which was great. But if you decide to do the Inca Trail, I would suggest going when you´re sure the rainy season is over. I wish I could remember what website I looked at that said April was the dry season- ha!

No brake! No brake! Stand up!

So on Monday, I got to try out my first real mountain biking experience. Yeah, sure, I tried the Winona Lake Bike Trails a few years ago and ended up walking the bike more than riding and with bruises all over my legs, but this, this was real mountain biking- and a near death experience. To start with though, I must tell you about Peruvian strikes. They don´t involve people just not working for a period of time until the two parties come to some solution. If the Peruvians don´t like something, they put piles of boulders all over the road and cut down trees to fall across the road. They are downright violent about it. This strike had something to do with the privitization of the water supply, frowned upon by the Peruvian people. The boulders in the road interupted our plan so we may have taken a slightly harder bike route than was planned. Everyone else seemed fine with this. . . but it was probably the most scared I have ever been. There was no way I could have trained for this experience. Only taking Nancy´s cycling class with my bike´s back wheel propped up at a 60 degree angle could have been similar. First we biked up a road with all the boulders and trees on it. Then it was a dirt path with rocks and ruts and dogs randomly running out and barking at you. And then it was all down a mountain. Sometimes, I could look in front of me and see nothing but the great expanse of Cusco out in front of me because it dropped off that much. Again, I have never been more scared in my life. Toward the end, Arturo, our guide, tried giving me some advice, because I was at the end, which consisted of "No brake, no brake, stand up!" I had no idea you were supposed to stand up when going over the ruts. Which left me very sore the next day. And I didn´t really take his advice much- I griped those brakes with all my might. I only fell once. Just a few scrapes. Man, not something I want to do again!
Then we went on a hike, after a brief lunch sitting among some trees. I think it was a 3 hour hike around some Inca ruins. I sadly don´t remember much of it now, even though Monday was only a few days ago. I think the weirdest food of the day was a fried potato with an olive and boiled egg stuffed inside. Interesting.

Inca Trail

I´m headed out. Scared to death.