Human Tetris

These are hilarious. Watch the expressions of the people.

Looking in my Garden

Lantana must be butterfly food. This is what I found in our garden. He/She was beating his wings to much in a "happy dance" while eating I had a hard time getting a still shot.

Jiggety Jog

We are home again. Glad to be back. After being gone for 3 weeks we were glad to see our house. Now to get back into the swing of life here.

Nasca and Ica

These are a last few pictures from our last stop of our trip. We went through Nasca to fly over the Nasca lines (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines) and then on to Ica. In Ica, Sara and Elvia met us at the bus station and took us to stay with the Ramos family. They were so kind and had rooms with welcoming signs waiting for us. Carolina and Brenda went out to the Ballestas Islands with us, (http://www.go2peru.com/gal_ballestas.htm), one of our best tours, and then we went will everyone to Huancayo--an oasis in the middle of the desert.

btw, small airplane rides that bank to the left and right a lot=roller coaster rides=rolling stomachs.

Nasca lines--on the right is part of the hummingbird. Lots of other unidentified lines.
The Ramos family, Elvia and Sara
The pelicans were trained. Boys on the beach would feed them for money. This was the closest we have ever been to pelicans.

Volcanic Island. Thousands/Millions of birds lived on these protected islands. The tops of these islands are unnaturally a whitish/yellowish color due to the guano (bird poop). Every four years the guano is harvested and is worth $70/barrel.
Can you see the face on the right side of the arch?

The Cathedral, in the Paracas National Park
Near the top of the dune

Monasteria de Santa Catalina

On Wednesday, we visited a beautiful place in Arequipa. It was too amazing not to mention. This is a very old convent that began in the 1800s I think. The rich would pay a dowry to have their daughter placed there. The daughter, after the first novice years, would then get a house and would often have servants to take care of the cooking and the cleaning. It was a self-contained very wealthy rich community...all women. The families wanted a daughter praying for them, and their solution was to put them here. It is a pretty place and the food we got there for a quick lunch was some of the best we have had here. They paint the walls to tone down the while sillar rock which the sun glares off of. The "streets" are modeled after places in Spain and named accordingly. Here is a taste of what we saw.

Below is the laundry area. A stream of water rolls down the center. To fill the pot, just put a leaf, rock, etc. to stop the hole in the bottom and then put your hand into the center. It will filter the water down your pipe into your pot. I like it when Ryan does laundry.

Condors in Flight

Yesterday, we woke up at 1:30 to head out to Colca Canyon to see the condors take flight. They need the updrafts in the canyon to soar. We probably saw 25 condors taking off, circling above us.

To get back, our driver decided to skip the road problems and took our bus over the dirt roads in a nature sanctuary. There were lots of fun switchbacks and many interestingly placed rocks to avoid, but no angry crowds.

Yesterday, the farmers went off their strike, but the teachers are continuing their strike. We finally found information we can understand. It seems they are striking for more pay (the lament of teachers everywhere) and because the government passed a new law calling for all teachers to have to pass a standardized teaching test (within 3 tries) or be fired. The standardized teaching test would help ensure a quality of education in the teachers before they teach the students. One test was given in February and quite a few of the teachers failed. From the article we read, it seems that the test is fairly basic math and reading comprehension, not the higher subjects of chemistry, physics, calculus. They seem more organized in the square today. Each region or school seems to have its own banner and the teachers are marching behind that banner. From the colors the teachers are wearing, it actually looks like the teachers we passed going to and from Puno that were throwing rocks in the road.

We do have our room for one more night. That part, I don´t mind.

We LOVE our hotel

At the suggestion of Mylene and Chris from our hike, we are staying at this place in Arequipa... for less than the price of your average Motel 6.

Protests in Peru

The teachers have been protesting here and it has made for interesting travel. Our bus leaves relatively on time. We get out of the city relatively easily and then...












The rocks were placed on the road to block traffic and were not being thrown at the cars and buses.



The protests today were worse than what we saw yesterday. We were a little worried at one point they were going to get violent when the police were firing tear gas into the crowds, and "teachers" were throwing rocks at the police. One police took a banner and it started a small scuffle next to our bus. We plan to be in Arequipa for a few days (avoiding the roads) and may just fly to our next destination!

El camino inka a Macchu Picchu

On Thursday, Kari and I started on a 4-day trek to Macchu Picchu. The trek started at about 10,000 feet. The altitude was no problem, since we had been staying at over 11,000 feet in Cusco for several days. The second day was especially gruelling. We climbed 2 passes, including the one below, at 13,828 feet. The views were incredible. Note the hat and gloves. Hmmm... summer in North America means winter in the Andes.We went 45 km, over 3 passes, ultimately ending in Macchu Picchu. The trail was built by Incas several hundred years ago to thwart gringos like us from enterring their sacred area. Our trekking group consisted of Kari and me, two women from Belgium, and a newlywed couple from Ireland. We were a fast, fit, group, and got to Macchu Picchu in 3 days instead of the targeted 4... giving us a 4th day to go back through Macchu Picchu at a more leisurely pace.

The view above is from the Sun Gate descending into Macchu Picchu on day 3. Note the shorts here. We started in a cold desert-like mountain environment, and ended in relatively warm jungle mountains.

We have hundreds more pictures. We will post more of the trek when we get to the land of faster internet connections.

Love,

Ryan and Kari

In Peru

We are in Peru. Our flight was very smooth and shorter than most international flights. We were greeted at the airport and went to the home of Celso and Vera. They were very welcoming. On Saturday afternoon, Luz took us for a tour around Lima. The taxis are definitely the most exciting part of Lima. We'll have to get a video and send it along. We were there for Sunday morning meeting--about 40 people. On Sunday, we went to the afternoon meeting at the home of Jose and Griselda. Afternoon meeting starts at 1pm, so was a mad dash to eat lunch, pack and get across town for the next meeting.
Lima was cloudy and COLD the whole time we were there.
Monday we arrived in Cusco, greeted at the airport by Alfonso and Pedro and the sun. Beautiful warm sun. We could finally take off some of our long underwear. They toured us around the city yesterday. Today we took a tour of the Sacred Valley. Lots of ruins and many answers of "No, gracias" to all the requests to buy any number of trinkets.
Lunch was interesting today. Trying to find a restaurant suggested in the guidebook, I was overconfident of the wrong address and ended up in a very small, interesting restaurant. We might pay for that mistake for the next few days, and we missed playing ping pong while waiting for our food (as we re-read the information about the first restuarnat in the guidebook :-( while eating at our dubious eatery).
We have learned thus far:
1. taxi drivers are crazy
2. a honk means move or get your feet/body run over
3. our hotel is nice, but could benefit from a heater
4. the altitude in cusco is 12,000 ft. and the air is a little thin. it is beautiful during the day and a WEE bit cold during the nights. (see no. 3).
5. we look way out of place and will be approached by each vendor on the street.
6. the welcome from the friends is overwhelming.

(Sorry, no pictures yet.)