Peru #11: Altitude Adjustment

The elevation in Cusco is a crazy 11,000+ feet!  To put that into perspective, the elevation in Colorado Springs (where I used to live) is roughly 6,000 feet and the top of Pikes Peak is at 14,115 feet.

Looking down on Cusco.

Leading up to this trip, I was very nervous about how the altitude would affect me.  So, I did the smart thing and obtained altitude sickness pills, Diamox, from a travel clinic prior to my trip.  I was instructed to take the first pill 12 hours before my arrival in Cusco, and to continue taking one pill every 12 hours until they were gone.  I believe there were around 8 to 10 pills total.  I must say, the pills worked for me.  I did feel very tired my first few days here, but that always happens when I travel, so I can't necessarily blame that on the altitude.  I also had some shortness of breath when climbing stairs, so that probably was a direct affect of the altitude.  I did not however feel nauseous or experience headaches, which is what I was especially worried about.

Peru #10: Mamá Mia

Just like in the US, Sunday May 10th was Mother's Day here in Peru.  There is a lot to say regarding this holiday, and mothers in Cusco in general, so here goes.

One of the first things that I noticed after arriving here was that mothers seem to take their children everywhere with them.  I came to realize (after looking at the women's faces) that most of these women are not actually the mothers, but the grandmothers or even great-grandmothers.  I also learned that teenage pregnancy is a problem here, so that is part of the reason why many children are looked after by other relatives.

Strollers are extremely uncommon here.  I would say of all the babies and toddlers I have seen, less than 5% have been in strollers.  This means that children are either hand held, forced to walk, or carried on the women's backs in traditional blankets.

This is a rare sight in Cusco.

Peru #9: Driving Me Crazy

I mainly posted this photo because I like the mural. 

Transportation here in Cusco is peculiar enough that it deserves its own post.  It is very cheap and easy to travel by bus and taxi.  (I've already talked about the bus system so I won't go into that too much in this post.)  Whenever you need a taxi, there is always one nearby.  And whenever you don't need a taxi, there are always one hundred nearby.  (While standing near a road or waiting for a bus, you will be honked at by nearly every taxi that passes by, which becomes very annoying very fast.)  Pretty much any car here is a taxi.  Some are official taxis, which are marked by signs on the top of the car roof.  Most however are unofficial/semiofficial taxis, which are marked by red and white stickers on the doors of the car.

Peru #8: It's a Wonder

When I told people I was going to Cusco, Peru, the very first thing most people asked me was whether I was going to visit Machu Picchu.  (In case you aren't aware of what it is, Machu Picchu is a "lost" Incan city from the 1400s that was rediscovered to the outside world in 1911.  A few years ago, it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.)  My response was, "I guess so, since I'll be so close."  So, as you tell, I was ecstatic about this opportunity.

Seriously though, I was excited about the chance to visit Machu Picchu, but it was never high on my travel priority list, partly because I had no desire to EVER do the five-day Inca Trail hike to get there.  Thankfully, there are many other ways to get there, ranging from expensive to cheap, and easy to full-on ordeals.  Of course, the way I ended up getting there was a full-on ordeal.

Peru #7: Estudiante and Profesora

My new schedule started this past Monday.  My Spanish class is now from 9am to 11am Monday through Friday.  There are four students in my class - one guy from Washington, DC, one girl around my age from Minnesota/NYC, and one younger girl from Manchester, England.  Our teacher is a Peruvian named Robert, and he seems to be in his mid to late 20s.  He is a great teacher and makes the classes very fun, allowing us to joke around a lot (in Spanish and English.)  All of us seem to be at similar levels with our knowledge and mastering of Spanish, so it has been a great fit for all of us so far.

View from my new classroom, on the third floor.  There is actually a green bird (loro) that is a pet that hangs out at the house across the way.

Peru #6: It´s a Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

My home-stay in Cusco is located in a part of town known as Wanchaq, and in is in the Villa Periodista neighborhood.  We live on the third floor of a five-floor building.  I have called the home an apartment in a previous post, but I guess condominium would be more appropriate since the unit is owned not rented.  The building is located at the end of a small dead end street.  (Dead end streets seem to be pretty common here.)

At the beginning of our street. 

Peru #5: Ch-ch-ch-changes

I hadn't even been in Cusco for a week, and already there were many changes happening.

Peru #4: Volver

On Tuesday (last week), I still hadn't heard anything about my missing suitcase.  I did some searching via the United Airlines website and found out that my suitcase supposedly arrived in Cusco the previous day.  I had a (very friendly) staff member at my school help me make calls to find out for sure.  She first called the United Airlines number at Lima airport, and they stated that my bag arrived in Cusco that day and was sent via LAN Airlines.  (This confused me because I flew Avianca, not LAN, to Cusco, and LAN is not even in the same airline network as United.)  She then called the LAN Airlines phone number at Cusco airport, and they confirmed that my suitcase was there.  Yay!  They also confirmed that I would have to come to the airport to get it, as baggage delivery service was not an option.  Boo!

Peru #3: El autobús y más

For my second day of school, it was time for my roommates and I to learn how to ride the bus.  For the route that runs by our house, we have to ride the El Zorro bus.  The buses here have unique names and often cartoon figures on the windows to help distinguish one bus route from another.  Some of the other names I recall seeing are Batman, Chaska (star), Arco Iris (rainbow.)

El Zorro! 

Peru #2: First Day of School

On Monday morning, neither my roommates nor I wanted to wake up.  We had to get up very early to be at the school at 7am.  After getting ready and having a quick breakfast of pineapple juice, bread, and jam, the three of us took a taxi to school.

The school, Maximo Nivel, is located in the middle building.  (This picture was actually taken the following day.)  If you look closely, you can see words and pictures etched into the side of the mountains.

After arriving, we were placed in a room with all of the other new students, which only included the American boy I met the previous day.  We were given an orientation about the school and the local area.  Then it was test time!

Peru #1: Journey and Arrival

My journey down to Cusco went basically as planned, with a few surprises along the way. 

A New Journey Begins

 

There's no stopping time; it just keeps going by no matter if you're ready or paying attention.  We all know this, but sometimes we have to remind ourselves of this.  Last year, this thought seemed to hit me harder than it ever had before.  (It probably was a side effect of reaching my mid 30s.)  I was happy with what I had accomplished in my life, but I also expected more of myself.

After nearly 13 years in the same career, I excelled at my job, had done some very interesting things, and visited many unique places.  But in a way, I was playing it safe and was no longer growing as a person (or at least not very much.)  I came to the realization that I needed to move on, but to what exactly?  That, I wasn't sure of.  But I decided that I could not let that stop me.  I could not just sit and wait for the next opportunity to find me.  I needed to create a new opportunity for myself.  It was now or never.

Hello Lisa

Sometimes you don't have to go far from home to have one of the most unexpected and memorable experiences of your life.  I've already told the story of meeting one of my (male) music idols, and now I am pleased to be able to tell the story of meeting one of my female music idols.

A Trip Back in Time

My grandma and grandpa are no longer alive, but their house, which is just outside of Cleveland, Ohio, is still in my family.  Since my grandpa worked as a bricklayer for the first part of his life, it's only fitting that the house is made of red bricks.  They built the house sometime between 1945 and 1947.  And by they, I am referring to my grandpa and his father, along with a few other people they knew.

My grandparents on their wedding day in April 1940.  Adorable!

My dad as a baby with his favorite chair and teddy bear. (1948)

Me with my grandparents (at my house.)  They had been married 41 years at this point. (1981)

Nowadays when I am at their house, I love searching around to find old stuff of theirs that is hidden away.  It's kind of like treasure hunting.  Some of the stuff that I find I recall seeing or playing with when I was growing up.  Most of the stuff that I come across though, I have never seen or noticed before...even in plain sight.  As anyone would expect, there are still some old knick-knacks and furniture in the house.  They also had lots of old photographs, yearbooks, greeting cards, and other mementos - which are wonderful to look through.

I am amazed however at how many commercial items there are, even after all of this time.  My grandparents were very clean and neat people, and they were pretty strict with my father, so almost everything they owned was in pristine condition.  Here are some of the treasures that I have found (mostly from the first half of the 20th century.)

All By Myself - Part 5: American Travel Day

*Note: This is a boring post.  But all travel inevitably involves some unexciting periods.  I posted this mainly to give insight into some of the mundane aspects of flying, and how you can try to make the best of it.

I always look forward to going back home after a trip, but dread the actual journey.  The adrenaline and anticipation that I felt on the way to my destination is gone, leaving only antsiness.  I certainly was not excited about spending 24 hours to travel from South America to Central America to North America.

My flight from Santiago, Chile, left just before midnight on a Monday.

All By Myself - Part 4: Ups and Downs of Santigao

My last day in Chile was dedicated to exploring Santiago.  But first, I had to check out of my hotel because my flight was leaving that night at 11:40pm.  As usual, I was running late because I was very tired.  I made a 9:30am reservation for a bike tour, and didn't have much time to spare.  To my agitation, the check out process went ridiculously slow, and my invoice was hand-written!  I can't even remember the last time I received one of those!

In a frantic rush, I made it to La Bicicleta Verde (http://www.labicicletaverde.com/) five minutes late.  As I arrived, they told me they had just called my hotel to see if I was on my way.  I felt bad about my tardiness, but was glad that I hadn't missed out on the tour.  Turned out that I was the only customer booked on the tour, so I guess they wouldn't have left without me anyway.  (Side note: I want to commend the tourist businesses in Chile for accommodating single travelers and not cancelling tours when only one customer is booked.)

In addition to my tour guide, a new employee was in training, so I received two guides for the price of one!  Once again, I felt like I was receiving extra special treatment, which I happily accepted.

All By Myself - Part 3: Chile's Capital to Coast

I only had 3 days to sight-see while staying in Santiago, which made it difficult to decide what to do with my precious time there. Since I wasn't sure if or when I'd ever be back to Chile, I wanted to see as much of the country as possible too.  I was not brave enough to rent a car though.  After doing a lot of research online, I came to the conclusion that a bus tour would the best way to cover a lot of ground as easily and quickly as possible.  By no means was it the cheapest option though.  But when traveling, I have found that it can be worth it to sacrifice money for time.

Finding a bus tour that would accommodate a reservation for just one person, and hit the sites that I wanted to see, was quite difficult.  I wanted to visit a coastal town, stop in a handicrafts mountain village, see the countryside, and tour a winery...all in one day.

All By Myself - Part 2: Chilly in Chile

From Panama City, Panama, I took off at around 1pm for Santiago, Chile, on Copa Airlines.  This was the first time I ever flew Copa, so I did not know what to expect.  Due to some strategery by me during check-in, I once again got a seat in a row all to myself.  (It made me start to wonder if all these planes in Central/South America were flying half empty.)

My gate at Panama City airport.

All By Myself - Part 1: Panama Panorama

What to do when you have some time off of work and a boatload of frequent flier miles...and your husband doesn't?  In my case, I chose to travel on my own, all the way to Central and South America.  My decision confused many people, as most people assume that if you're married there is no reason why you should travel alone on vacation, or want to.  But I knew that this was the right decision for me and what I hoped to accomplish with this trip.

First things first, I had to determine my destination.  My goal was to travel the farthest as possible, to a foreign place that I had never been, for the least amount of frequent flier miles.  There were a few contenders, but I set my sights on South America since I had never visited the continent before.  The route I chose was 60,000 United frequent flier miles round trip, and I feel it was a terrific value since, in essence, I ended up with two destinations instead of just one.

UK - London by day

After two weeks of traveling around the UK, my last full day in the country was also my only full day in London.  There are literally thousands of things to do in London, but I had to narrow that down to a select few.  Having not done my homework properly, I still wasn't exactly sure what I wanted to see and do.

Breakfast at the hotel.  Nothing fancy, but still glad that breakfast was included...and I got to try what I assume was a real English muffin.

It seemed like the most British thing I could do was

UK - London at night

Before spending the night in London, I first needed to get there.  The drive down from York didn't end up being too bad, but that was probably only because of technology.  There were traffic jams galore, but thanks to Google navigation and Waze, the driving route was updated and rerouted frequently since there were many motorways to choose from.  So, somehow, I made it down without actually getting stuck in any of the major traffic jams.

Liters and Pounds.  You do the math.

UK - York

When planning my ambitious itinerary, I needed to choose an overnight stopping point somewhere between Edinburgh and London, since driving straight through would have made for a very long and horrible day.  For no particular reason, I chose York.  It ended up being a great choice as this little town had a lot to offer.

UK - Edinburgh

After an exhausting day of driving through the Scottish Highlands, I arrived in Edinburgh in the evening, and thanks to the stupid GPS, the route to the Bed & Breakfast was much more complicated than it needed to be.  Instead of choosing a route that circled town, it chose a route that went through the center of town, one-way streets and all.  Pooped out, my exploration of Edinburgh waited until the following day, which made it my one and only day to explore this town.

I stayed at The Cameron Bed & Breakfast (http://www.thecameron.co.uk/), which is located in the outskirts of town but within walking distance of the major tourist sites.  At the suggestion of the B&B hostess, the first item on the sight-seeing list in Old Town was

UK - Scottish Highlands

One thing I was most looking forward to on this trip was visiting the Scottish Highlands.  Unfortunately, I had less than 2 days to do it!  I planned out what I knew was a very ambitious route: driving from Keswick, England, to Oban, Scotland, in one day.  Then traveling from Oban up to Inverness, and down to Edinburgh in one day.

UK - The Lake District

The next destination was chosen to view some more of England's natural beauty.  Lake District National Park, in northwest England, has mountains, valleys, fells (hills), and lakes galore.

I picked Keswick as my home base while exploring The Lake District.  I arrived in town just prior to sunset, as usual, so I was happy that I got to take a look around town before it got dark.

 

 View of Main Street and The Moot Hall.  Formerly an assembly hall and now a tourist information center and art gallery.

UK: Blackpool

Leaving Wales for northern England, I knew I had a long drive ahead of me.  I decided last-minute that I wanted to break up the drive by stopping somewhere along the way for some sight-seeing.  Leave it to me to choose a place that isn't really along the way, unless you count adding an extra 40 miles to your drive as being "along the way."  It seemed like a good idea, though in reality it was a big waste of time.  But hey, this classy vacation of mine needed a touch of tackiness added to it.

Blackpool is like no place else on earth because it is like so many places on earth mixed together.  At times, I could have guessed I was really in Santa Cruz, Paris, Atlantic City, a State Fair, Santa Monica, Eastern Europe, Chuck E Cheese, or Washington DC.  (You'll see why soon.)

UK - Northern Wales & Snowdonia

I loved my time in England thus far, but was very much looking forward leaving it behind for a little while to experience Wales.  The main attraction was a visit to Snowdonia National Park.  Instead of getting lodging inside the park itself, I chose to pick a Bed & Breakfast in the harbor town of Caernarfon. 

I arrived late in the day, but there was still enough daylight to explore.  After spending hours in the car, it was nice to walk around the city.  Plus, it was only short jaunt from the B&B to the old part of town.

The street my B&B was on.  Bay windows as far as the eye can see.

Pretty church at the end of the street.

Hole in the Wall Street, because there's a gaping hole in the town wall.

UK - Cheshire, not the cat

On this two-week trip, I had all of the major destinations planned out, but there were still plenty of things that I did on the fly too.  One of those was stopping in the town of Chester, which is located in Cheshire.  (Chester + shire = Cheshire.)  After leaving Stratford-upon-Avon, I decided I wanted to find a nice place to stop for lunch along the drive over to northern Wales.  After doing a little bit of last-minute research online and in my guidebooks, Chester came out on top.

For not knowing anything about the city when I started my trip, I was very pleasantly surprised by Chester.  For starters, it was much bigger and busier than I thought it would be, and that was actually a good thing.  I didn't feel like I was just visiting another tourist town.  This seemed to be a place that real people lived in, worked in, and attended school in.

UK - The Cotswolds & Stratford-upon-Avon

During my trip, I knew I wanted to visit a quaint English village.  What I had in mind, was something like where Kate Winslet's character lived in the movie The Holiday.  I narrowed in on The Cotswolds.  For those not familiar, The Cotswolds is a region in mid/southwestern England with hills and small country villages.

UK - From Heathrow to Devon

Earlier this year, I decided it was finally time for me to travel to the UK.  I knew I'd travel there at some point in my life, but somehow the years kept passing by.  Eventually, I felt like I couldn't consider myself a legitimate world traveler if I had not gone there yet.

I had two weeks to travel, and I came up with one ambitious itinerary.  Not knowing when I'd eventually be back, I wanted to cover as much ground as I could, from top to bottom.

Alone in the city of love

Back in summer 2000, while studying abroad in Spain, I traveled alone to Paris for a weekend.  If I had the choice, I would not have wanted to travel there by myself.  But, the classes were over for the summer and all of my schoolmates returned home.  I had never been to France before, and since I studied French in addition to Spanish in college, I really wanted to go even if it meant going alone.  Turns out, traveling alone wasn't so bad.  In fact, there were even some things that I loved about it!

Stop for Iceland

*Be forewarned, I hope you like pictures.

When traveling, a direct route to your destination isn't always the cheapest option, and that isn't necessarily a bad thing.  Coming from Phoenix, it is difficult to find reasonably priced airfare to Europe, and unless your destination in that part of the world is London, you will HAVE to make a connection somewhere.  Where exactly though?  Making the decision to connect in Reykjavik, Iceland, turned out to best part of my 2013 "European" vacation.

Boulder & Beyond

While on trips to Colorado in the past few years for weddings and business, I had some free time to explore.  My destination of choice - Boulder and the surrounding area.  (As we've established, I'm more of a mountain girl than a city girl.)  Depending on traffic (which can be awful at times due to seemingly never ending construction), Boulder is only about a 40-minute drive outside of Denver.  Here are some of my highlights and recommendations.

Hungarian Idol

Everyone wonders what it would be like to meet one of their idols in person.  I never thought that I would get the chance to meet one of my music idols out of the blue, in a really random place, but that's exactly what happened.  Here's my story...

Tokyo Disney Mania! (part 2)

*If you have not read part 1 of this tale yet, please read that first.

Day 2 - DisneySea

Two days later, on a Wednesday, I was back at it.  After the experience I had at Tokyo Disneyland, I was kind of dreading doing it again.  This time I visited the resort's other park, DisneySea.  The resort does not offer a 2-day park hopper ticket, so I had to devote one day only to each park...but more on that later.

The morning started the same as Day 1, with me arriving at the park prior to opening time.  Since it was the middle of the week and there was rain in the forecast, I was hoping that the crowds would be smaller.  DisneySea is located farther back on the resort's property than Disneyland, so I rode the monorail to make things faster.  (Plus, I wasn't certain if it was even possible to walk to the park from the train station.)  The monorail was packed with people, mostly what appeared to be teenagers.  (Does anyone go to school here?)  Other than for the Mickey shaped windows and hand grips, there wasn't anything special about the monorail.  Oh, and you actually have to pay to ride it.

Toyko Disney Mania! (part 1)

During my recent trip to Tokyo in late Sep 2014, I spent two days at Tokyo Disneyland and Disney Sea.  I know some (or a lot) of people would consider this a waste of two travel days, but being a Disney lover I couldn't NOT visit the parks while in Tokyo.  I had high expectations going into the visit, even knowing that the parks get very crowded.  Overall, I enjoyed the experience but I would not want to relive it...but I'll never say never.

Day 1 - Tokyo Disneyland

I read online that people start lining up at least an hour ahead of time to enter the park.  So that was my plan.  The park opened at 8am, and I was in line by 7:30am (a little behind schedule.)  I can confirm, YES there were long lines!  Once the gates opened, it took at least 10 minutes for me to enter the park due to the length of the line.

Little Bit O' Seoul

I departed Tokyo on Thursday afternoon for a 2.5 hour flight to Seoul.  It was kind of weird flying United between two non-American cities.

Tokyo Express

Here is the first of what I hope to be many post-travel blogs.  I just returned from a trip to Toyko and Seoul.  This post will focus only on Tokyo, with a separate Seoul blog to come.  This was my first time in Japan, and only my second trip to Asia.  My stay in Tokyo was limited to four full days and part of two other days, but it was enough time to get a taste of what the city and country are like.

Major League

At times, especially when I was still in school, sports were a major part of my life.  My interest in NFL football came from my mom, my former obsession with the NBA was courtesy of Mark Price's brilliance, and my enduring fondness for baseball grew due to my older sister.

50 nifty..well, 39 and counting

I may live for foreign travel, but there's plenty to love about domestic travel too!  Growing up in the Midwest and then settling as an adult in the West has given me lots of opportunities to check out the US of A from sea to shining sea...including some of those boring states in the middle.  (To those of you who happen to be from Kansas, sorry.)

Most of my visits to new states came about from long, uncomfortable road trips.  That's the best way to experience a new state though.  Just flying in and flying out does not give you that same excitement as crossing the border and seeing a large sign that says "Welcome to _____________."  (Thought: Why don't these signs exist at airports.  I would LOVE that!)



Starting off..catching the travel bug

This blog is mainly for my personal benefit.  (Which is good, since I'm sure hardly anyone else will be reading it.)  I don't keep a diary or journal, but I would like to put some of my thoughts in writing since my memory isn't getting any better as I get older.

One of the main aspects of my life that I'd like to document are my various travels, so that I can relive them and perhaps others can be inspired or learn something new.