Last half of October home leave

It was a great trip and we thoroughly enjoyed it but we will know to plan less and travel less next year when we come, and not add a week in Peru.

After Peru, the next stop was Dallas. The first couple of days, we hung out with Valerie and Kevin. That was very relaxing and fun. On Friday, Chris and I got to have a home visit with Jasper. (His Dad took him out of school at noon so we could have the afternoon with him.) We always have fun with Jasper. He never disappoints. He had grown a lot in six months.

Friday night, we had dinner with Kevin and Bill Day. Saturday we spent the day with David, Rebecca and Jasper. We took Jasper Christmas shopping. He’s a big boy who knows what he wants and he loves to shop. The big hit of toy shopping was “Wall-E”, a robotic toy that Jasper had great fun with. Saturday was also David’s birthday so we arranged a dinner with the family including Kevin and Bill. It was a lot of fun. On Sunday, we spent more time with David, Rebecca and David and took them to lunch before we headed for the airport.

Next stop: Lubbock and on to see Mom. After a couple days at her house, we headed to Alpine with Mom. We spent 4 very busy but relaxing and fun days with Mom who had never been to Alpine. We looked at property, showed Mom the 20 acres where we intend to build our retirement home, shopped and had a great time. And of course, we took her to see Marfa and the Marfa lights. The night we were there, the lights were not as active as they have been most of the times in previous visits. We stayed two more days with Mom at her house before we headed to Houston, our last stop on the journey.

We thought Houston would be really fun and relaxing, hanging out with friends, shopping and going to movies. But in reality, it was very hectic and we had too much to do. We did see one movie and a few friends but spent most of our time shopping for things we wanted to send in our air freight shipment. This included buying draperies for our flat, tennis shoes, tennis shoes, etc, oh and don’t forget the scrubs for Emmanuel. We went to the dentist and voted on Tuesday. Had to go to a different dentist on Thursday. Maintenance, maintenance, maintenance. Chris took the items we had collected/purchased to the air freight company for shipping.

And yes, we are already planning our next two trips!


Ciao!

Donnie

Last day of Peru trip

The last day of our Peruvian visit was very memorable. We saw and visited more ruins but the highlight for the both of us was a visit to the home/compound of a Peruvian couple. They welcomed us into their life. The woman showed us a lot of the herbs and grains she cooks with and also allowed us to try some potatoes dipped in clay. Chris took one bite and had to go for water. She also had a platter of fresh cow cheese, so we ate the rest of our potatoes with cheese; much better than clay.
They are totally self sufficient, raising their own vegetables and cows as well as guinea pigs. They have their own alpacas for making their clothing and also the beautiful rugs, and yes, we brought one home but could only accommodate a small one. They were warm and welcoming and wonderful. What a treat the home visit was! He demonstrated the primitive tools he for farming.
By now we are on sensory overload and ready to get back to the states, but we will always have many fond memories of our time in Peru, and probably return there someday. There is a lot to do and see there.
Additional photos for each segment of this trip may be seen in our public albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp.

ENJOY!

Cusco to Puno & Lake Titicaca

This turned out to be an all day bus trip with several interesting stops. However, since we liked the train so much, we would much have preferred riding the train from Cusco to Puno. It still would have been about as long but so much more relaxing and less confining. (We will remember that when we travel from Cairo to Luxor.) Mostly the trip was long and tiring so we were very glad to see Puno.

Puno is a lovely city and we stayed downtown one block off the plaza. We enjoyed walking around in the evening and found a wonderful place close by for dinner that was probably the best meal we had in Peru. There was a lot of shopping open on both Saturday and Sunday evenings as well as the street vendors. We shopped both nights!

The most beautiful part of this leg of the journey was Lake Titicaca. Nothing could have prepared us for that. It is the highest navigable lake in the world and huge at about 14,000 ft altitude and its huge! My favorite part of our all day lake adventure was visiting the reed people on the reed island. There are several reed islands with reed houses and reed boats. That is their life. The woman Alicia invited Chris and I to come inside her home where they have reed beds and clothes hang on the walls. It was from Alicia that we purchased the red tapestry. We also got to take a ride on the reed boat. What an interesting people and lifestyle!

Next, we took a long boat ride to an island where we were scheduled to have lunch. Islands there are just like the country, vertical. Guide said an easy 45 minute walk. An hour later I was still wondering where the top was. Eventually, we realized we had circled the island completely. I was exhausted; once again, it’s this thing of breathing and walking at the same time at that altitude. We decided we probably won’t make it to the Himalayas after all. Darn! Had a good lunch and then made the 2 ½ hour boat ride back to Puno.

One more brief segment will close the Peru trip. Maybe tomorrow?

Donnie

Machu Picchu

We traveled by train from Cusco to Agues Calientes to see Machu Picchu which proved to be very scenic and overwhelmingly beautiful. We took Val’s recommendation and stayed overnight in Agues Calientes so we could return the next day. It really is too much to take in all in one day; first day with tour guide and second day alone. It is one of the two most spiritual places I have ever been. It is hard to imagine that these were built 6 or 700 years ago. Some restoration has been made but for the most part, it is very authentic and as it was left by the Incas. MP is at about 14,000 feet. It is hard for me to breathe at that altitude, much less breathe and walk at the same time. It’s really hard to describe so I will share the experience with our photos. They say it all!

It was enjoyable to walk around Agues Calientes in the afternoon and evening. We were glad for the overnighter.

On our second day, we had a meditation in a sacred private place we found. Only on our way back to the trail were we told that we were not supposed to be there. Apparently, we weren’t the only ones who thought it to be a sacred place. We enjoyed exploring the places and areas that we didn’t get to see up close the first day and have a few daring moments. (David always said Chris and I were into extreme sports!) We are definitely slowing down but will probably always be adventurous. I certainly hope so. Everyone loved the Alpacas and Llamas and we were no exception!

The other gift of this segment of the journey was the train ride to and from. Neither of us had ever traveled by train. We were in a club car and they served a meal. The train had a vista dome so we could see up and out; very good for taking pictures. Train ride was probably about four hours and the slow going also makes for better pictures.

On our return trip, after we were seated a group of Japanese boarded and two Japanese women sat opposite us. One of them had purple hair in the front and Chris and I were just sure she had discovered Lawrence Kibbedaux in Houston. Lawrence had wanted to get his hands in my hair for years so before we left Houston, I have him one shot at it so he gave me a purple starburst in front. The Japanese women spoke no English and Chris knows only a little Japanese. We had a great fun time with them as you will see by the pictures. Language doesn’t have to be a barrier.

There are many, many more pictures that are or will be appearing in our Picasa Albums at http://picasaweb.google.com/donniedayp

A very memorable time and place!

More to come,

Donnie

Peru Trip - Cusco & Sacred Valley

Chris and I departed Lagos on 30 September for our trip to the US and Peru. We had many interesting trips during that time. We flew into Atlanta and drove to Charlotte NC and hung out with Brice for a day. Had lunch with him at his workplace, a very interesting and eclectic place. Next day, we picked up Paige at Charlotte airport and the four of us drove to Roanoke. On our way, we picked up Ashley at Virginia Tech; what a beautiful place it is! We met big Chris at his favorite restaurant for dinner. Had a great weekend with our Patriarca children. It was good having everyone together. We also got to see the house Chris and Ashley are moving into. They live in a cool part of Roanoke and are walking distance to downtown. The Patriarca children planned a surprise birthday for their father which was fun and very thoughtful.

After driving Paige and Brice back to Charlotte we stayed overnight at the edge of town so we could head back to Atlanta first thing Monday morning. On the way to Atlanta, Chris got pulled over for weaving. We are still laughing about that. Made it to Atlanta with room to spare and boarded our flight for Lima about 5:30 pm. Arrived in Lima at 10:30 p.m. and were met at airport and driven to hotel. We only got to sleep about 4 hours and were picked up and driven back to airport.

The flight from Lima to Cusco was very interesting because we could see that all of Peru is mountainous. Upon arrival we had to get out and walk the last six blocks because there was a strike by the farmers over high gas prices that affected us several times on the trip. Thankfully we had help with our luggage! It was all uphill and actually, the whole trip was uphill and it wasn't easy. The hardest part of being at 12-14,000 feet is breathing; then you are expected to breathe and walk at the same time. That's a little much!

We stayed in an old and quaint hotel in Cusco. Chris took some pictures on of the inside about the last day we were there. As soon as we checked in, we were whisked away for our first guided tour in and around Cusco. We had mild rain the first day which made it seem colder than it was.

On the second day, we went to Sacred Valley. It is called sacred for a reason. Many wonderful surprises awaited us. Many gifts, not to mention the gifts from the angry farmers who left everything from pebbles to boulders on the highways. Seemed like we were driving an obstacle course. While there we went to a village and visited the studio of several Peruvian women who walked us through the step-by-step process of taking the Alpaka wool and dying it with natural dyes, then spooling the wool and lastly creating the design and product on the loom. They said they don't sit down with a design in mind but rather just let it come. We purchased a beautiful table runner from the woman who said she spent three months in making it.

We had a fabulous lunch on our drive between stops. There are a lot of advantages of being on tours like being met at airports and prearranged everything including transportation. There are also some disadvantages like never getting to do anything on your own, not being able to stay as long as you would like at some places and having more time at others than might be desirable. It's a trade-off but in a strange land for our first visit, it was probably the only reasonable way.

The Peru trip continues in separate phases, so we will end this phase here.

Thank you to our Patriarca children for being present and making our visit to the Northeast memorable.

Chris & Donnie