Machu Picchu (Bless You)

The Galapagos Islands have an amazing array of lizards, birds, volcanic rock, sharks, and pristine wilderness. The iguanas are all over the place, and have no fear of humans at all. Then, right next to them are the famous blue footed boobies. But, the coolest animal of all is this frigate that inflates its chest to attract women (kind of like me) We also saw dozens of giant prehistoric tortoises, the rarest of which was the Zers Turtle not to be confused with the real thing Just an amazing day of seeing things you'll never see anywhere else in the world.

We didn't miss our flight! Flew to Puno today, a 12,000' city that is home to Lake Titicaca (no laughing, juveniles). The lake is home to the Reed Islands, a series of 90 small islands literally made of reeds. There are about 50 people per island and, not surprisingly, their lives are pretty simple--making crafts, fishing, making tourists look like idiots, etc. When we returned, we were greeted by our hosts, Al and his wife Paca. Tonight is our last night in Peru, then off to Ecuador to see a variety of prehistoric creatures.🤢🐦🐸🦎🦋🕷🦂

Today we finally got what we came to Peru for--deathly ill! Oh, no, that was a couple of days ago. Today we went to Macchu Pichu (meaning "Old Mountain" in Incan. It was built over many centuries around 700 years ago, but only discovered about 100 years ago by a professor from Yale (who, appropriately, pilfered everything he found, took it back to Yale, resulting in a beautiful lawsuit between Yale and Peru a few years ago). It was really awe-inspiring, although the pics don't give you a sense of the scope of the village. We hiked all around the ruins, saw their incredible engineering, running water, plumbing, Direct TV hookups (installation was delayed, of course, because the Incan cable man was late). We then thought it would be fun to walk straight up for 3 miles. Most regrettably, shortly after this picture was taken Stephanie was crushed when the mountain she was holding up collapsed. We finally made it back to civilization (theirs, not ours) and bid this in...

Not wanting our friends to feel left out, I decided to join them and was deathly ill the past day. Stephanie (knock on Montezuma) still feels fine. We finally made it to Cusco where I spent the entire day convalescing. So, the trip so far has consisted of missing 2 flights, having a coronary because of the largest spider on earth paying a visit to our living quarters, and feeling wretched, and wretching, for a day. You've got to come to Peru! The fab 5 hiked Macchu Pichu today, and are now the aching 5. I, on the other hand, feel great. So good, in fact, that I ate a Peruvian Guinea pig from a street vendor. Tomorrow we hike to Hyauna Pichhu where we get panoramic views of the mountain. Pix to follow.

OMG, where to start? Well, first of all we have been completely cut off from civilization for the past three days. It was wonderfully liberating, sometimes magnificent, sometimes horrifying, but overall an amazing experience. So let's start at the beginning. We arrived in the Amazon, and stayed at a place called The Treehouse Resort. Aptly named, because our rooms were small tent-like rooms that were up in trees. Our particular room was about 70 feet up in the air. When we got there we took a small boat out to one of the many tributaries of the Amazon and immediately saw many dolphins swimming. So that was the exciting part of the first day, except that night when we went to bed in our Treehouse there was a tarantula. It was about the size of Mom's hand. We had already shooed out the largest beetle in the history (sorry, no pics) of the world, and then we turn off the lights and there's a tarantula on the screen inside the room. Needless to say mom was terrified and I s...

Believe it or not I was spot on about how long it took us to get to the airport. Lima is the most crowded place on earth. It took us 2 hours to drive 250 KM, and 4 hours to drive the last 3 miles. We, therefore, missed our flight, and get to leave tomorrow. Our friends from CT could have ridden their bikes here and beat us to Iquitos. The only picture I could post would be with steam coming from my cabeza. Well, so far today (Tuesday) we have not gotten lost anywhere, which is amazing, but also tempered by the fact that we don't have a car and haven't had to drive anywhere either. Off to the land of giant spiders, piranhas, and assorted creatures that go bump in the night.

Arrived in Peru yesterday. Drove 12 hours to find our hotel which was literally 8 minutes from the airport. Then, got up early, drove for an hour to get on the highway that was 5 minutes from the hotel. Steven's spanish is working remarkably well, particularly when it comes to following directions. Drove to Pisco, a dump of a town with absolutely disgustingly repulsive fish-smelling scents up and down the highway, but also saw the Nazca Lines, a series of geoglyphs made about 1600 years ago, carved into the landscapes by aliens (?), locals (?), or creatures themselves(?). Blow up the pic to see what I mean. The flight was actually not too bad, but the severe banking got old after about 15 turns. Tomorrow we take driving lessons to see if we can really make a 2 hour trip into an all-nighter.

Having just received her degree in entomology, Stephanie now can name virtually any bug that crawls into our room at night. She also has antidotes for all creatures large and small in her carry on. Even the piranhas will be afraid of "Dr. Doom." I feel safe (of course, if I see a spider I'm going to Ecuador much earlier than planned).

10 days until we go to the land of Incas! Stephanie is already packed and ready to go (and that's for our 2019 trip to Cambodia; she's been packed for this trip to Peru since last X-mas). You should see her suitcase. She's got a first aid kit, a tourniquet, Immodium AD, a universal satellite phone, Peruvian cash, a book on Morse Code, an epi pen, and a state of the art defibrillator. Oh yes, she also has a few pieces of clothing. We are so excited to be traveling with our best friends in the world (who will only be taking 26 suitcases with them). The Nazca Lines should be amazing, and climbing up to Machu Picchu should be a blast. Check back often to see which trip in 2020 Steph has packed for !