Lima City Tour

Today we will tour Lima. 

This is the lobby of our hotel, Jose Antonio that we were very happy to get to last night. 

Lovers park. I lost few pics here maybe I can find them later. 

Inca kola is yellow tastes like bubble hum is more popular than coca cola. 

An archiogical site devoted by the inca people made of sand and seashells. 

Huaca is an archialogical site. 

Tifa is a fusion of Chinese and Peruvian food. Voting is maditory every 4 years. 

Education is free. 1 mayor for each district. 300 or so Mayors. Pop 11 million. 

Art museum of Lima

Went in a Franciscan church. Saw the bones of pesants who wanted to be buried on sacred grounds. Richer had their own tombs.

This our guide, Washhington— named after George!

  

Another guide, Milagro.  

Plaza major had the changing of the guards.

We exchanged dollars fo soles at the exchange rate  2.75 soles to $1.

We had ceviche for lunch—I've had it several times and each time it has been different. 

Our afternoon will be spent at the Larco, with pre-Incan culture, unlike the church we will be able to take pictures. 

The earring plugs were pretty wild  

Some of the Jewelry looks like what we would wear today.  

Aren't the bathroom signs cute?

Time for an afternoon coffee. 

Randy enjoyed the Panther motorcycle. 

Inn the shopping area. 

We saw these alpaca weavers in the the Alpaca store. 

That evening we were treated to a Pisco Sour, a popula drink. If you shout, "Yapa"  it means you like it and they may give you more! We also learn that Mastiso is a mixture of Spanish and Incan. 

Some of the group went on a planned dinner R & I went out in our own, did a stroll of the park and has an excellent meal at Alfresco. 

A Day in Quito

5.25.14

We had until 3 today to tramp around Quito. BTW, we are in the same time zone as TX. We did a little shopping in the Market and met a group for lunch. Oops the van that is to pick us up is going to be 15 minutes late, but we have plenty of time.

This is our friend John as we wait for our van. The van got stuck in traffic and we had to split up our group of 10 travelers in 3 cabs to make our flight. Our cab had so much luggage that we rode half way to the airport with the truck open! Finally the cab driver saw the imprudence in this, stopped the cab and put a bag between R and me. We will have a 2-hour plane flight to Lima. More later-if internet permits!

Randy's Big Adventure 

After getting our passports stamped Randy realized he left his walking stick in restroom. He was told he could go look for it, but when he did he was stopped, taken into a room to be fingerprinted and questioned about the lost item. I was waiting impatiently especially when I saw airport security take him into a room. Not only was I worried about him, but our luggage and missing our guide. After about 30 minutes they released him with his walking stick, we claimed our luggage and met ou guide. Whew—what a day!

Quito Bound

5.24.14

We leave the beautiful Hacienda after a wonderful breakfast of crepes, bacon an eggs. So much for a low carb diet. We will have 3-hour ride back to Quito. 

You often see houses with rebar sticking out of the top floor. People do this to save money. If they don't finish construction they pay lower taxes. The rebar allows them to add another story when funds permit. 

We are stopping at a market in Lata Cunda. 

Next the Rose Plantation. I took lots of pictures there. 

Lunch was next on the schedule and again we had a a wonderful meal at a beautiful hacienda. 

I enjoyed taking many pictures there. Here are a few. 

There we got serenaded by native folk band. 

Tonight we are back at the hilton and received coplimentary sushi. Tomorrow off to Peru. 

Back to Los Baños

5.23.14

We got seats at the front of the bus this time that let's us know how good this bus driver is. 

We stopped along the way and the cashier showed us her pet. Her daughter was quite cute too. 

Before lunch we stopped at a water in a canyon area. The walk to the waterfall was easy. The walk back was pretty tough. We rewarded ourselves with a chocolate bannana empanada 

After traveling to the Green River area (no rest for the weary) we took a tram ride over the river to yet another waterfall. Very fun. 

A little time in Banos fior shopping. 

This guy made jewelry from the nut from the palm that produces the monkey brush we saw in the Rain Forrest. After our shopping we are off  to the hotel. 

This is a shot of the Volcanoe that was in the news in March. 

Our hotel for the evening, Hacienda Manteles, was gorgeous. It is a family run hacienda with views across the valley that include the Tungurahua Volcano. 

They surprised R with a birthday cake and we all sang HBD2U. His birthday is tomorrow, but  no matter the chocolate  cake with chocolate sauce was great!

 

A Trek in the Amazon

5.21.14

Welcome to the jungle I lost my notes on this day.   I looked down and there was a row of a's. This blog  needs an undo. Basically it was a bus ride with beautiful scenery and waterfalls. 

We got caught up on our sleep and enjoyed. The country side. 

Our taxi to the hotel was a covered canoe. 

We visited a family tha taught us how they lived and cooked over an open fire. They also gave us a lesson on the use of a blow gun. Both R & I hit the monkey target!

5.22,14

On tap for  today was a hike on the Rain Forrest. Unfortunately we woke up to rain but that didn't stop us. We were told to bring our rain gear and off we went.

We learned about the Walking palm and iron palm

Rubber tree used to build a canoe

We had to cross a cavern in a basket. Here is R coming in.  We saw Cork tree harvested for wine corks

Pand a seed pod that the monkeys used for grooming aptly called the  Monkey brush

We were shown how the leaves were braided for the thatched huts to keep out the rain.

We also learned that Bamboo held over a liter drinking water. You can shave the bark of the bamboo and use it for stating fires when wood is wet. 

For protein we learned you could survive on lemon ants. I tasted a couple. Very tiny—like licking a spec off your palm it was pretty good!

Next we got very wet riding a balsa log raft back to the boat. 

The afternoon was spent as a butterfly garden. I used my big camera for those pictures and will need to post later. 

The raft ride was very wet but at less our guide didn't tip us over. 

After the Amazon trek we took a much needed nap and then went out to the village

The locals live simply—everyone was out side enjoying the evening. 

We spent time before dinner visiting with members of the group. Dinner was delayed a bit because of a short power outage. After dinner the rain started again. That will be nice for sleeping.  Tomorrow we go to Banos.