Just a photo of Jen and Brad´s first baby, you can tell its Brads due to the abundance of hair on the thing.
Thursday, August 31, 2006
Congratulations to Jen and Brad
Just a photo of Jen and Brad´s first baby, you can tell its Brads due to the abundance of hair on the thing.
Worldest Funnest Bus Ride
Well after hiking in the canyon, we watched the condors fly out of the canyon the next morning. Thanks to Laura for the recomendation. You stand on the edge of the canyon and the birds fly right out infront of you, its really something to see. Marla got a few photos of it!
After that we got on a local bus again but instead of going back to Arequipa we got droped of on the side of the road, we´re talking 5 houses on each side with no telephone or electricity. There we were supposed to wait for a bus coming from Arequipa going to Puno, which is where we are now.
The only problem is we are going essentially standby on the bus and they are all packed. So we missed the 5 pm bus and by then it was dark, remember no lights out.
We eventually got on a bus that was full but we had to sit in the front with the driver, the buses in Peru have a seperate driver compartment. In there marla was stradling the transmision while I was standing in the door way, with 3 other Peruvian´s in there as well, listening to spanish Bryan Adams songs.
That was ok until we came across an broken down bus. Evidently in Peru when a bus breaks the next bus picks up everybody, which is nice unless your bus is standing room only.
By the time everyone was on we probably had 100 people in a bus with 40 seats and Peruvians don´t travel light, everyone had lugage that wouldn´t have made airplane carry-on standards.
But we made it to Puno even though the bus´ transmission sounded like it was going to die.
After that we got on a local bus again but instead of going back to Arequipa we got droped of on the side of the road, we´re talking 5 houses on each side with no telephone or electricity. There we were supposed to wait for a bus coming from Arequipa going to Puno, which is where we are now.
The only problem is we are going essentially standby on the bus and they are all packed. So we missed the 5 pm bus and by then it was dark, remember no lights out.
We eventually got on a bus that was full but we had to sit in the front with the driver, the buses in Peru have a seperate driver compartment. In there marla was stradling the transmision while I was standing in the door way, with 3 other Peruvian´s in there as well, listening to spanish Bryan Adams songs.
That was ok until we came across an broken down bus. Evidently in Peru when a bus breaks the next bus picks up everybody, which is nice unless your bus is standing room only.
By the time everyone was on we probably had 100 people in a bus with 40 seats and Peruvians don´t travel light, everyone had lugage that wouldn´t have made airplane carry-on standards.
But we made it to Puno even though the bus´ transmission sounded like it was going to die.
What´s going on
Well its been an exciting couple of days. We went hiking in the Colca canyon for 2 days. Its supposed to be one of the worlds deepest canyons so that means alot of up and down.
The trek is pretty cool because its all done with local busses for transportation. Our guide picked us up at 6am and we get to the Arequipa bus terminal and board a bus that is way over sold. We ride that for 6 hours to get the Cabanaconde with atleast 20 people standing in the aisle on road on teh side of the worlds deepest canyon on a road that´s not paved.
From there we hike down 1300 meters into the caynon and stay at a local village, pop 50 people. They made us dinner and then put us to sleep in the thickest alpaca blankest you´ve ever seen, we are in winter at an altitude of 2500 meters here.
In the morning we hike down to the bottom of the caynon to an oasis with swimming pools and bamboo huts. We swim and eat lunch there and then begin our 1300 meter acent out of the canyon. I almost died but marla did very well.
To celebrate the guides opend the local discotech for us where we were treated to all the DJ Tiesto music you could want. They then played the gasolina song over and over again. You´ve probably heard it. It goes something, something gasolina over and over again. All in all good times.
The trek is pretty cool because its all done with local busses for transportation. Our guide picked us up at 6am and we get to the Arequipa bus terminal and board a bus that is way over sold. We ride that for 6 hours to get the Cabanaconde with atleast 20 people standing in the aisle on road on teh side of the worlds deepest canyon on a road that´s not paved.
From there we hike down 1300 meters into the caynon and stay at a local village, pop 50 people. They made us dinner and then put us to sleep in the thickest alpaca blankest you´ve ever seen, we are in winter at an altitude of 2500 meters here.
In the morning we hike down to the bottom of the caynon to an oasis with swimming pools and bamboo huts. We swim and eat lunch there and then begin our 1300 meter acent out of the canyon. I almost died but marla did very well.
To celebrate the guides opend the local discotech for us where we were treated to all the DJ Tiesto music you could want. They then played the gasolina song over and over again. You´ve probably heard it. It goes something, something gasolina over and over again. All in all good times.
Sunday, August 27, 2006
More pics before we leave
Time for Pics again
Saturday, August 26, 2006
this is an acutal conversation with my youngest sister on msn talking about our sister Ash.
courtney dice:
shes staing wiht her loaded psuedo bf in England right now
mars dice:
she has a pseudo boyfriend???
courtney dice:
yes i think so
courtney dice:
she met him in spain at school
courtney dice:
hje was on exchange too form England
mars dice:
ahh what is this boys name
courtney dice:
and he visted her in greece for 5 days, now shes there
mars dice:
do uyou think they have kissed
courtney dice:
and shes says he may come to Canada sometime
courtney dice:
yeah probably
courtney dice:
shes said he has a tennis court, indoor pool and 9 hole golf course at his house!
Remember Pudd tells all!!!!!!
courtney dice:
shes staing wiht her loaded psuedo bf in England right now
mars dice:
she has a pseudo boyfriend???
courtney dice:
yes i think so
courtney dice:
she met him in spain at school
courtney dice:
hje was on exchange too form England
mars dice:
ahh what is this boys name
courtney dice:
and he visted her in greece for 5 days, now shes there
mars dice:
do uyou think they have kissed
courtney dice:
and shes says he may come to Canada sometime
courtney dice:
yeah probably
courtney dice:
shes said he has a tennis court, indoor pool and 9 hole golf course at his house!
Remember Pudd tells all!!!!!!
we are in arequipa
Well we have been in Arequipa for almost a day now. We took the bus from Nazca overnight. The buses they have here are far superior to our greyhound buses. They are more like a big sofa that reclines almost the whole way!
We booked our tickets for hiking in the colca canyon, its the worlds deepest canyon, lots of down and up there. Unfortunetly we are only doing the 3 day hike as our Inca trail guide said we would die if we did the 5 day hike.
Congratulations to my twin sister for having her baby on August 25th, just 2 days short of our aniversary. I am sure I will be his favourite uncle.
We are here for 2 more days then our 3 day hike and then our guide drops us off on the side of the road to catch a bus to puno which is our launching pad for Bolivia. We are down to the last 10 days in Peru!
We booked our tickets for hiking in the colca canyon, its the worlds deepest canyon, lots of down and up there. Unfortunetly we are only doing the 3 day hike as our Inca trail guide said we would die if we did the 5 day hike.
Congratulations to my twin sister for having her baby on August 25th, just 2 days short of our aniversary. I am sure I will be his favourite uncle.
We are here for 2 more days then our 3 day hike and then our guide drops us off on the side of the road to catch a bus to puno which is our launching pad for Bolivia. We are down to the last 10 days in Peru!
Thursday, August 24, 2006
the nazca lines
It seems we are at the computer a lot these days! That means we have been doing alot of waiting for buses:) Currently we have 9 hours to kill in Nazca before our night bus to Arequipa. Nazca isnt the nicest place but its nice and warm and the food is dirt cheap. (we just had big lunch for less than 1 buck each)
The flyover the lines was really cool, the plane was small but it was not scary at all! There are a ton of lines everywhere and cool shapes, but we both thought they would be bigger and more impressive..hehe its pretty cool to wonder how the hell they made them though.
I guess we have nothing left to do but go sit on a patio and drink 1 dollar cervazas...
The flyover the lines was really cool, the plane was small but it was not scary at all! There are a ton of lines everywhere and cool shapes, but we both thought they would be bigger and more impressive..hehe its pretty cool to wonder how the hell they made them though.
I guess we have nothing left to do but go sit on a patio and drink 1 dollar cervazas...
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
We've made it to Nazca
Well after a 2 hour wait at the bus station for a late bus and a 3 hour bus drive, we've finally made it to Nazca.
We had a wait at the bus station to our hotel as there was some confusion about our pick up. We ended up having to phone the airline we're doing our Nazca line flyover with before we could get ahold of anyone who even knew we were comming but all is good now.
Looks like an early evening for us as we're up at 6 to do some flying in a 3 person airplane and then taking the night bus to Arequipa tomorrow, fun stuff!
We had a wait at the bus station to our hotel as there was some confusion about our pick up. We ended up having to phone the airline we're doing our Nazca line flyover with before we could get ahold of anyone who even knew we were comming but all is good now.
Looks like an early evening for us as we're up at 6 to do some flying in a 3 person airplane and then taking the night bus to Arequipa tomorrow, fun stuff!
leaving huacachina
Well we're done our 2 day stint in an oasis town of huacachina and we're of the nasca today. Tomorrow we fly over soemthing called the Nasca lines, which are essentially big crop circles in the form of animals made out of stone.
Its in a 2 person plane!! Marla is excited for that!!
We left Lima at 4 a few days a go so we got into huacachina at night and took a car to the hostel which is outside of town at the oasis, Marla was sure the guy was going to rob us so she pulled out her swiss army knife and was prepared to stab the driver. Luckly for him he was legit and just wanted his 4 soles fare( about $1.50). He'll never know how close he came to dying that night!
Oh and we went sandboarding and dune buggy riding in the desert, it was a blast!
Its in a 2 person plane!! Marla is excited for that!!
We left Lima at 4 a few days a go so we got into huacachina at night and took a car to the hostel which is outside of town at the oasis, Marla was sure the guy was going to rob us so she pulled out her swiss army knife and was prepared to stab the driver. Luckly for him he was legit and just wanted his 4 soles fare( about $1.50). He'll never know how close he came to dying that night!
Oh and we went sandboarding and dune buggy riding in the desert, it was a blast!
Monday, August 21, 2006
Some Random pictures of the trip so far
Here we are at the start of the Inca trail
At one of the many ¨tombo´s¨, Incan town´s, along the way.
Saturday, August 19, 2006
back from the jungle
Right now we're stranded in Cuzco due to a strom. Just got back from the jungle. It was great, say lots of exciting creatures, spiders, snakes, rodents, birds, aligators etc.
One group saw a bush master, big snake, but we were too late in getting there. The huts were very rustic, just candle light but they had solar water so we got to have hot showers:)
Looks like we may have to spend the night in Cuzco and get to Lima tomorrow:) Our upcomming itinerary is to head down the coast to Ica/Huacicina making our way west until we get to Lake Titicacca where we'll cross over into Bolivia.
Oh and would a Holliday let us know when my twin has her baby:)
Chao!
One group saw a bush master, big snake, but we were too late in getting there. The huts were very rustic, just candle light but they had solar water so we got to have hot showers:)
Looks like we may have to spend the night in Cuzco and get to Lima tomorrow:) Our upcomming itinerary is to head down the coast to Ica/Huacicina making our way west until we get to Lake Titicacca where we'll cross over into Bolivia.
Oh and would a Holliday let us know when my twin has her baby:)
Chao!
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
she looked like a viking and he looked like a woman..
Well we survived the Inca trail. It was a lot of fun. The second day is a bit of a pain as we climbed 1400 meters up to 4200 meters of elevation and then down climbed 600 meters to get to camp.
The night before we left we figured we´d try the local delecacy, ginuea pig. We ordered the platter that was supposed to feed 4 people. It came out 1:30 hours later and would have feed about 8 people. We were pretty bloated going into the hike.
That may explain why Chris broke one of our dining chairs on the third night..hehehe it was quite funny..we had just taught our guide how to play yahtzee and then chris broke the chair..
We have also determined that Marla officially eats more than Chris..there is no way that Marla is coming back skinnier..she is a big pig..the food in peru has been great, we eat three course meals for every meal..even breakfast! hahaha
We have also decided that Chris was a llama in a past life as he kicked some ass on the trail...he is considering starting a new career as mountain guide..
Machu Pichu was a highlight as well, (sorry Toni, the sun gate view is pretty great)
We´re off to the jungle tomorrow so we´ll be out of contact for the next 4-5 days.
Oh yeah, if you are wondering about the title of this post, we kept running into an italian couple who would never say hi to us on the trail and she looked liked a viking and he looked like a woman..we thought it had the makings of a great county song..
The night before we left we figured we´d try the local delecacy, ginuea pig. We ordered the platter that was supposed to feed 4 people. It came out 1:30 hours later and would have feed about 8 people. We were pretty bloated going into the hike.
That may explain why Chris broke one of our dining chairs on the third night..hehehe it was quite funny..we had just taught our guide how to play yahtzee and then chris broke the chair..
We have also determined that Marla officially eats more than Chris..there is no way that Marla is coming back skinnier..she is a big pig..the food in peru has been great, we eat three course meals for every meal..even breakfast! hahaha
We have also decided that Chris was a llama in a past life as he kicked some ass on the trail...he is considering starting a new career as mountain guide..
Machu Pichu was a highlight as well, (sorry Toni, the sun gate view is pretty great)
We´re off to the jungle tomorrow so we´ll be out of contact for the next 4-5 days.
Oh yeah, if you are wondering about the title of this post, we kept running into an italian couple who would never say hi to us on the trail and she looked liked a viking and he looked like a woman..we thought it had the makings of a great county song..
Thursday, August 10, 2006
One more day until the Inca Trail
Well today we made the tour of the ¨Sacred Valley¨. We got up to 12000+ feet and visited 2 of the 3 major cities of the Incan empire, Machu Pichu being the other. I´ve gotten alot of sun from being so high up.
Tonight I think is the night that we try the local delicacy, ginuea pig. Should be fun. So far no one has gotten altitude sickness, which is good, though Marla and Gina have both had headaches that came and have since past.
Will be out of contact for the next 5 days as we´re on the trail.
Tonight I think is the night that we try the local delicacy, ginuea pig. Should be fun. So far no one has gotten altitude sickness, which is good, though Marla and Gina have both had headaches that came and have since past.
Will be out of contact for the next 5 days as we´re on the trail.
Wednesday, August 09, 2006
Just got back from Sexy Woman
Well after a day of drinking coca tea to deal with the altitude we went on our first hike today.
A nice 10 km hike that takes us by 4 ruins, including the final one by a ruin called Sexy Woman. Its shaped like a puma's head with 21 teeth. It used to be an Incan stronghold until the Spanish defeated them and knocked down most of it.
We're hiking again tomorrow and resting on Friday in anticipation of our inca trail treck on Saterday.
A nice 10 km hike that takes us by 4 ruins, including the final one by a ruin called Sexy Woman. Its shaped like a puma's head with 21 teeth. It used to be an Incan stronghold until the Spanish defeated them and knocked down most of it.
We're hiking again tomorrow and resting on Friday in anticipation of our inca trail treck on Saterday.
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
we are in cuzco!
So we made it to Cuzco..safe and sound..glad to be done planes for a while (this is Marla). Three days here and then off to the inca trail..so far so good with the altitude...maybe this tea they keep giving us is helping with that.
Well we made it!
We landed in Lima last night. Met Andrew and Gina at the airport, hadn´t seen them in awhile so we were able to catch up for a bit. Also met John Dempster at the airport with a cute blonde. John was heading to Turkey.
We´re off to Cusco for the next few days. We´re hoping this will be just ¨tickìty boo¨, that was for you Shayne.
We´re off to Cusco for the next few days. We´re hoping this will be just ¨tickìty boo¨, that was for you Shayne.
Saturday, August 05, 2006
Friday, August 04, 2006
Well, we just set out all the clothing we're taking on our trip to Peru, Chile and Boliva. Marla's done a great job of getting everything together. Before we tried packing I never knew why anyone would need a 75 litre backpack, but now I know.
It's amazing the amount of things you need to bring, or perhaps more appropriatly, what Marla thinks we need. Penut butter, for instance. Who knew that in a country that grows so many penuts you couldn't make penut butter.
Other than food, we've brought a plug onverter for the power outlets; down their they have 220 volt power and different plugs. Luckly most power adapter's made these day's will down convert to 110 volt, atleast they claim they do. Otherwise the iPod is going to die a quick death:)
It's amazing the amount of things you need to bring, or perhaps more appropriatly, what Marla thinks we need. Penut butter, for instance. Who knew that in a country that grows so many penuts you couldn't make penut butter.
Other than food, we've brought a plug onverter for the power outlets; down their they have 220 volt power and different plugs. Luckly most power adapter's made these day's will down convert to 110 volt, atleast they claim they do. Otherwise the iPod is going to die a quick death:)
Thursday, August 03, 2006
First Post
Our first post. Just a test to see if we set it up right:)
Marla picked me up at work today, my last day for the next 8 weeks. I'll miss it:)
Just an observation: blogspot makes you specify a gender and screen name. I guess they figure only individuals blog, what about families??
Cheers
Chris
Marla picked me up at work today, my last day for the next 8 weeks. I'll miss it:)
Just an observation: blogspot makes you specify a gender and screen name. I guess they figure only individuals blog, what about families??
Cheers
Chris
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