Chris, Sean, and Liz Take on the World

Picos de Europa

2010-07-27T04:29:00.000-07:00

Well, yesterday we spent the entire day at Picos de Europa (the largest national park in Spain). The views were magestic!!! The below pictures do not do the park justice, but I hope you enjoy them anyway.

By the way, we did stay at a lovley British couples house... those pictures are gorgeous, too.

Elizabeth´s bedroom

Views from Elizabeth´s bedroom

Parador de Santo Domingo (a/k/a a castle turned into a hotel)...

2010-07-25T03:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday we went to Dinastia Vivanco, which is a winery in Briones, Spain. We took a tour of the vineyards, the winery, and the Museo de la Cultra del Vino (a museum). The sheer volume of wine that is made at Dinastia Vivanco was overwhelming! Even though the guided tour, of the winery, was in Spanish, we learned some interesting facts and enjoyed sampling some exquiste wines :)

I will let Sean tell you more about the winery, since he is the wine expert on this trip.

After the winery, we drove to Parador de Santo Domingo, which is a castle that was turned into a hotel (we are referring to it as a palace... since that is what it looks like). It is amazing that in less than 24 hours we went from staying at Guillermina´s to staying at a palace!!!

Today we are heading towards Picos de Europa, which is one of the best national parks in Spain! We are not sure if we are going to spend one day or two days hiking, but we are all very excited about this leg of the trip. Since this is tourist season at the park, we tried to call ahead to reserve a room for tonight and we are fairly certain we are going to be able to stay at the house of a pleasant British couple :) We considered staying in a shepherd´s hut, but it appears that we would have had to reserve a hut in advance.

Once again, we are not exactly sure where we are going to be staying today, but we are looking forward to the adventure that lies ahead!!

Staying at an elderly woman's house...

2010-07-23T07:52:00.000-07:00

Well, so far we have stayed in Barcelona, Spain for two nights; Cadaques, Spain for one night (on the way out of Cadaques I decided it would be a good idea to scrape the right side of the rental car along a stone building [for those of you who know us well, the "I" refers to Elizabeth Dennemann not Chris Welch... surprising, I know :)] ... I guess we won't be getting that deposit back!!!!); Perpignan, France for one night; La Seu d'Urgell, Spain for one night; AND San Sebastian for two nights (last night and tonight).

Most of the places we have stayed, thus far, have been rather pleasant! That said, we are currently staying in an elderly womans home!!!!!!!!!! We knew San Sebastian was going to be an extremely busy town, but we did not realize that ever hotel, hostel, and camp ground was going to be booked. We arrived in San Sebastain in mid-evening, so the three of us decided to divide and conquer our immediate tasks at hand... find somewhere to park the car and find somewhere to sleep for the night. We decided Sean would find a place to park the car, while Welch and I tried to locate a place to lodge for the night.

Around our twentieth "there is no room in the inn", we began to feel a lot like Mary and Joseph on Christmas Eve. However, when we were seriously considering just crashing on the beach (even though it is only about 10 degrees celcius, which converts to about 50 degrees fahrenheit), we were approached by an elderly woman. She stated she rented rooms and wondered if we needed a room for the night. We took down her name and phone number, but continued our pilgrimage to find lodging. Finally, after our thirtieth "there is no room in the inn", we broke down and called Guillermaina (the elderly woman we previously met).

All three of us, and Guillermania, boarded a local bus and rode to her house. There she showed us a room that contained two twin beds and a private bathroom... she suggested we lash the two beds together with rope and then all three of us sleep in "one big bed".

Even though Welch was intrigued with the private bath and the private balcony AND Sean mentioned how "very cozy" we would be for the night, we asked Guillermania if she had any other rooms available. She then showed us another room that contained 4 beds, but no private bathroom. Discussing the fact that we had no desire to share two twin beds and we had no desire to freeze on the beach, we decided to take the room that contained 4 beds and share a bathroom with two guys from Finland!!!!!!!!

Right around this point, Sean told Welch and me that we had FAILED completing our task, and he had SUCCESFFULLY completed his task :)

Although it was not the best night of sleep any of us ever recevied, we were not huddling together on the beach trying to stay warm :)

ANDORRA

2010-07-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Most people don't know that there is a country on the border between Spain and France called Andorra. It is one of six European "micro-states," countries that have not been absorbed by the bigger guys at some point over the years.

Andorra (wikipedia article here) is about 2.5 times the size of Washington, D.C. and basically consists of a string of small villages in a single valley in the Pyrenees Mountains.

One of my goals for this trip was to go to Andorra, so away we went!

The drive was terrifying, and I was behind the wheel... yikes!

Some typical driving shots of the area from the same region, following day...

The country's capital, Andorra la Vella, was surprisingly large and bustling (considering the small size of the country itself). Lots of chain stores, high-end stuff, and tourist-centered businesses. Sean and Liz remarked on the drive into the capital that the other small towns of the country reminded them of Gatlinburg... a little too tacky-touristy for their tastes. We also noticed how NEW a lot of the buildings were throughout the country.

The capital city!!!

Buildings built right up to the edge of cliffs. There were a lot of cliffs and boulders that buildings were just built around in the city. Very cool.

One more shot from the city. Here we are along a pedestrian bridge crossing a river.

And that was our quick visit to the sixth-smallest country in Europe!!! We drove in, walked around briefly, and decided to drive out and on into Spain to spend the night in La Seu d'Urgell.

Dali´s Theatre-Museum and Southern France

2010-07-21T07:44:00.000-07:00

From Cadaques we traveled back over the mountains towards Figueres for the final point of the Dali Triangle, El Teatre-Museu Dali.

Dali was born in Figueres in 1904 and, although his career obviously took him all around the world, he lived most of his life in this region of Spain. Formerly the city´s Municipal Theater, which had been gutted by fire in 1939 towards the end of Spain´s civil war, Dali converted the building into a combination art gallery and fun house between 1961 and 1974. Containing a significant portion of his life´s work, including the famous Soft Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon and Portrait of Picasso, as well as numerous large scale works or installations created specifically for the space.

The main entrance of Teatre-Museu Dali, complete with classical sculptures with loaves of bread on their heads or the square´s centerpiece sculpture built from various objects, including a large fake egg, Greek friezes, and driftwood.

Side view of the Teatre-Museu, painted pink and with large eggs and stylized Oscar statues atop. The yellow dots covering the walls are small golden loaves of bread.

Individual sculptures and paintings in a large room become...

a sculpture of Mae West when viewed through a special lense.

Gala Looking At the Mediterranean Sea which becomes a painting of Abraham Lincoln when viewed through special coin-operated viewers (or when one just squints).

Self-Portrait with Fried Bacon

From here we drove north over the boarder into France and stopped for the night in Perpignan, and cute town near the sea. From here, we visited a Cathar fortress and drove through the micro-state of Andorra, but more on that later.

Dali´s Castle and Arrival in Cadaques

2010-07-19T12:02:00.000-07:00

We´ve left Barcelona, but a blog post will be put up at some point describing what we did. On Monday, we said goodbye to Barcelona and hello to the open road. We rented a car and headed NE out of Barcelona, stopping only to grab a really terrible lunch in a hole-in-the-wall cafe in some town that barely has a name. Despite the waiter/chef/cashier´s assurances to the contrary, I maintain that the strange transparent strips of matter on our side salads were some form of plastic.

Regardless, after lunch we arrived at Castell de Pubol, just outside of La Pera, Spain. Forming the southernmost point of Catalonia´s ¨Salvador Dali Triangle,¨ this castle complex was purchased by Dali in 1968 as a present for his wife, Gala. Husbands take note.

After undergoing extensive renovation and stabilization, as only Dali could, the castle served as Gala´s private residence until her death. Dali was only permitted to visit at her express invitation, which was probably a good idea due to her fondness for the strapping farm hands in the area. Surprise visits would have just cramped her style. Gala was entombed in the crypt below the castle, and Dali live there for a significant portion of the rest of his life.

Dali painted the ceiling so everytime Gala looked towards Heaven, she would think of him.

What better way to cover up two unsightly radiators than with a door painted to look like to radiators...

The pool´s fountain, complete with numerous busts of Wagner

From La Pera, we headed to Cadaques on the Mediterranean Sea. Dubbed a ¨grandiose geological delirium¨ by Dali, who summered here as a child and spent much of his later life in a nearby town, this lovely whitewashed vacation town and rocky bay sit nestled in the very tail end of the Pyrenees. With pebble beaches, excellent sailing, and a history of high profile vacationers, including Walt Disney, Mick Jagger, Picasso, and the Duke of Windsor (which would make quite the dinner party), Cadaques is still popular among Europeans looking for a nice coastal holiday. It was here that Dali met Gala and convinced her to leave her husband and run off with him. Since she got a castle out of the deal, it was probably for the best.

Cadaques, as viewed from the white-knuckle, heart-attack-inducing drive through the mountains

From here, we head West towards Figueres for the final stop stop on the Dali express, the Teatre-Museu Dali. Stay tuned.

Arriving in Spain!!

2010-07-19T07:08:00.000-07:00

Sean and I (Elizabeth) flew out of the USA on Friday, July 16th and arrived in Barcelona on Saturday, July 17th. We went to check in at the hotel (by the way... it was the only hotel we had reserved in advance for this entire trip) and discovered the room was not yet ready for us. We then decided to wander around Barcelona and happened upon a open air market.

There were many sites to be seen, smells to enjoy, and foods to taste. Before ordering any food (which was the first time I was forced to speak Spanish) Sean and I stumbled upon a stand that sold meats. As you can see in the below picture, we were able to purchase the pig, the hat, or the hat AND the pig... however, we chose to purchase none of the above :)

We then strolled along the Rambla (which is a large street that runs in the middle of the area) and were sorely disappointed when we discovered we could not urinate or defecate in public!!!!!!!!!!!!

Beach & Basil

2010-07-14T13:34:00.000-07:00

Here are some pics of the beach we go to a few times a week after work. It is referred to as a "cala" in Catalán, which equates basically to "cove." Very cool and secluded, less touristy than most spots.

I also got back awhile ago from an organic farm that provides a lot of the produce to the restaurant. I helped cut basil... and we ended up with a TON of it. I asked them what we were doing with it tomorrow, and I was simply told, "pesto." So I will probably be making gallons of pesto tomorrow!

Enjoy the pics.

The path leading to the beach.

Lots of pines and evergreens mixed with palms.

Scenes of the beach! The dark blob in the water is a mass of dead algae on the seabed you have to either walk or doggie-paddle over the get to the sand beyond.

Hidden away in the rocks here are the remains of a pillbox from the Spanish Civil war in the 1930s. It is pretty well hidden from the outside, but the entrance is completely open.

...so I went down in it. Strewn with seventy years' worth of garbage, but very solid and in good shape.

From the machine gun window you get a perfect view of the cove and the sea beyond.

I also got a really good view of an old German guy practicing nude yoga. Not the exact same thing the Spanish Nationalist forces were looking out for, I suspect. :)

We did the market this morning. Here's a stand that specialized in meats and cheeses.

Then this stupid-ass clown showed up and set up shop right next to our booth. Guess who he dragged out of the crowd to help him get up on that unicycle??? :( It blew. Too bad my cam was in my pocket during the whole ordeal.

Here's the farm. This was a whole row of basil we cut. We cut half of another one after that and ended up with about three huge crates of basil!

The view from the farm, with the town's castle in the faint distance on the right side of the mountain.

That's all for now. I meet up with Sean and Liz on Saturday!!!!!!!!!!!!

Capdepera Market & Castle

2010-07-12T09:36:00.000-07:00

SPAIN WON THE WORLD CUP!!! Last night I went down to the plaza to a bar to watch with the locals and German tourists. It was very exciting and a lot of fun to be in a large crowd when Spain won. Since this is a sleepy small town, though, there were no huge gatherings in the streets or parties or anything. Plenty of cars driving up and down the streets waving Spanish flags and honking their horns all night long though. :)

So, as I said, this is a pretty small town... between this town and the two neighboring ones, there are only 11,000 people total. Because of that, there isn't a whole lot to do, which can be relaxing in a way, but has made me ready for a change of pace later this week, on Friday, when I leave here and meet Sean and Liz in Barcelona on Saturday!!

In the meantime, I did do some fun things this past week. Wednesday is market day in town, and the restaurant where I'm working has a stand there... I went with Sylvia, one of the four owners, to sell some organic sugar and accost German tourists with menus for our lunch special(and then be openly ignored). I also mistook a local for a German tourist... I realized my mistake when I said "Guten Morgen!" and he shot me an icy glare and responded with "Hola." He returned a few minutes later from his errand... Marlboro Reds carton run!!! Wooo!

I also got some time to explore the town's castle, which was built around the year 1300 by King Jaume II. Very very cool! The cylindrical tower at the center was built by Moors much earlier as a watch tower, as it is at the highest point in town. In the 1800s it was shortened by half, gutted, and retrofitted as a flour mill. Neat.

Enjoy some pictures of the market and castle!!!!!

MARKET SHOTS:
Produce!

Olives and pepeprs!

Our market stand. The umbrella was a necessity - it was only 8:30AM but we were already sweating a ton.

CASTLE SHOTS:

From the distance...

One of only two entrances:

The watchtower/mill:

The well to the cistern. One of the earliest parts of the castle complex:

The alarm bells to warn of siege!!

This crucifix dates back to the gothic period and was carved out of orangewood. Part of the original church on site.

These walkways circle the whole castle to provide easy access to all defensive points. I walked along them for awhile. The ground below got lower and lower and lower, and I kept going...

...until this steep slope that was higher than the tree tops!!

VIEWS FROM THE TOP!

The town church:

Mallorca is very hilly and mountainous, as you can see in the distance:

From the highest points of the castle you can easily see the Mediterranean. This was a lookout point for enemy ships coming from Menorca, the neighboring island, and was used as a lookout point long before the castle was built.

Close-up shots of the town below:

BOOM.

Capdepera and THE RESTAURANT

2010-07-05T05:00:00.000-07:00

GREAT NEWS!!!

I'M NOT DEAD!!!

AND THE 20% CHANCE OF THE RESTAURANT PROJECT UNDERGOING A COMPLETE COLLAPSE DID NOT COME TO PASS!!!!! :)

OK, so now I'm in the town of Capdepera, on the east coast of Mallorca. It's a really pretty, very small town!!! The restaurant I'm working for is an organic restaurant with a small general store inside. It was founded less than a year ago by four friends who all moved to the island for various reasons around two years ago. They rented an old run-down 18th century house and have fixed it up really nicely. They live in the upper floors and the lower floor is the restaurant. This floor opens into a large garden which they have turned into the restaurant's terrace, where almost all of the seating is. It is BEAUTIFUL!!! Aside from the four of them, they rely entirely on volunteers to staff it, which makes things really interesting. In exchange for working 5 or 6 hours a day, we get a room (the house has several spare rooms), three meals per day, and two days off per week.

The work is pretty easy so far - reminds me of the same kind of thing I did at Mio's. Lots of cleaning, chopping, and the other night I worked on some tomato plants in the garden!

The people who run the restaurant are extremely nice! I was a little nervous about this whole thing (basically, "What the hell was I thinking when I signed up for this???!"), but now that I am here it is going really well.

Here are some pics:

The terrace:

The bar area inside. Very traditional-looking Spanish bar:

La cocina:

The patio is also home to the group's two black cats. I have coddled them several times but have not yet hoisted...

Here are three quick shots I got of town earlier today. The castle from two angles, and an old well with a horse trough next to it:

That's about all for now. Stay tuned!!

The beach at Can Pastilla

2010-07-05T04:37:00.000-07:00

I forgot to post these - this is the beach where I stayed my first few days here I stayed in a small town outside the capital. I figured the capital would be teeming with people and be very busy at all hours, so this smaller town was more my speed. The water was beautiful here!

PALMA de MALLORCA

2010-06-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Today I took an excursion to the capital of Mallorca, PALMA. It´s a beautiful city and I enjoyed spending time walking around, visiting the cathedral and various other places, and reading the paper. Tomorrow I´m going back to go to the train station to transfer to the other side of the island to the town of Capdepera... I will then go to work in the store/restaurant. Fingers crossed...........!

Below are some pictures I took in Palma today!

A little café that specializes in hot chocolate and ensaïmadas - really good sprial pastries! The café is like over 100 years old!

This olive tree is in the middle of a plaza and is very famous - it is estimated to be more than 800 years old!!!

View of the waterfront, with the port in the background.
This is the interior of the Arab Baths, the only remaining structure from the Moors´700 year occupation of Spain. All that remains of the baths are two rooms - this one consists of 12 columns supporting a dome with skylights. The lights made the room hot - it was the "caldarium" of the baths. The tops of the columns are recycled from other buildings at the time, probably Roman. VERY cool!!
The cathedral of Palma!

This chapel of the cathedral was recently reworked by a contemporary artist. Kind of cool, kind of weird...

That´s all for now!!! Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

World Cup

2010-06-29T13:31:00.000-07:00

Spain just won its World Cup game agains Portugal! I watched the game in a bar near my hotel. Lots of locals... it was really fun!

I spent the earlier part of the day walking through town and laying under an umbrella on the beach, reading. This was a really difficult day. :)

Tomorrow I´m taking a 30 min. bus ride to the capital city, Palma de Mallorca. I will bring my cam so prepare for many pictures and hopefully some good stories!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HOLLA BACK, AIGHT?

ARRIVAL

2010-06-28T08:06:00.001-07:00

I just arrived in Mallorca! Got in an hour later than planned, and there was a near disaster with my luggage, but it was found and I am now at my hotel! I am going to head out and check out the town and the beach but thought I´d share a few pics first. There will of course be MANY pics in the coming days and weeks.......... :)

View from the plane - I just happened to look out the window right when the Atlantic met the coast of Spain! This is the coast of the northwest corner of Spain.

Pictures of my hotel room view and my little balcony.

Taking on the World: SPAIN

2010-06-27T19:33:00.000-07:00

And so begins our next big adventure!

Of course, me being me, I see this trip as a sequel of sorts to the last big adventure Sean and I had in South America (all those entries are still on this blog!). True to form for a sequel, this time around there is a brand new location, a new character (the vibrant and dashing blonde Elizabeth Dennemann), and a wacky road-trip premise (we're renting a car and driving aimlessly along the coast from Barcelona to Santiago de Compostela). However, some things never change: there are bound to be some disasters along the way, winery tours will be excessive, and I'm sure a ridiculous photo shoot will have to be staged at least once.

Blog posts will be just by me at first since I'll arrive in Spain two and a half weeks before S and E arrive. In fact, I'm leaving the apartment in about twenty minutes to go to the airport! My first two weeks should be pretty interesting since I am spending the time on Mallorca - one of Spain's Balearic Islands on the Mediterranean Sea. I will spend a few days relaxing on the beach in a small town outside the capital before heading to the other side of the island to the small resort town of Capdepera. There I will be working at a store/restaurant for the rest of my stay there! I will not be paid in cash but rather in free room and board. It's a little different... but that's the kind of experience I wanted! It should definitely be interesting. Sean and Melanie both agree there is a 30%-40% chance it will be a catastrophe and completely collapse within a day or two...

...I put the odds more around 20%.

LET THE SEQUEL BEGIN!!!

Preliminary pictures to enjoy:

Packing fun!

Picture of where I'm staying the first few days. It's a picture of the Google Maps street view there - click this link to have a look around!!

Pictures of the store/restaurant I'll be at for two weeks:

More to come soon!

CÓRDOBA: Place of Dreams

2008-06-25T06:14:00.000-07:00

After Mendoza we spent a few days in Córdoba, Argentina´s second-largest city. It is a big college town and we did a lot of sight-seeing and several tours. It was a fun place, and we had a really nice hotel with an AWESOME view of the main square! The cathedral is in awful shape, and we were dismayed by this until we saw that it is undergoing extensive renovation, so that´s why it looks so bad right now. There were street performers and carnies throughout the cobbled alleys. We spent two days there before bussing to our current location: BUENOS AIRES!!! Expect a blog entry on this awesome town in the next day or so. Enjoy the pics and captions of Córdoba below!

The view out our hotel window. Top floor facing the main plaza!!

Pictures of the Jesuit Crypt that is now under the busy downtown streets. It was destroyed in the 1800s to make room for a road, then rediscovered in 1989 when the phone company was laying wires. It is really cool and nowdays serves as a museum and cultural center (art gallery, small concert hall, etc.).

Depressing run-down concrete square that just smacks of something one of Argentina´s dictators built, probably in the 1970s. It was deserted, except for a few booths selling souvenirs and textile products. It was truly a study of the grotesque.

Dog asleep in main squre with a mass of pigeon feathers scattered around it. Methinks someone is napping after tucking in to a meal of twitching delights...

Ride at an amusement park in the downtown park. The whole park was really cute, except for this ride. Basically it was a gigantic circle and you sit inside it, with no straps or restraints. It then tilts at an angle and thrashes up and down, back and forth, slowly rotating. We couldn´t stop laughing at it when we heard the metallic heaving and screams.

Pics from another really cool hotel we stayed at in Córdoba. It was more of a tourist-attraction hotel with personal garages and stuff. We were really glad that we came here. VERY nice and super-fancy, with room service, too!

Pictures from an interesting church built in the 1920s. It is missing one of its steeples on purpose - to remind us that, unlike God, humans are imperfect. It had multi-colored stone columns in front and gargoyles and other interesting things carved inside. The outer columns and carvings included all sorts of animals. It sort of reminded me of the Sagrada Familia church in Barcelona, but on a smaller and less-crazy scale.

We are now off to Uruguay for the day! We missed the first ferry (blow) but will be leaving shortly to spend about 7ish hours there in the town of Colonia. Expect an update on that and on BUENOS AIRES in the next few days!!!

Keep the posts coming!!! :)

-- Chris

STILL ALIVE!!! ...and Blog Contest #1 winner...

2008-06-21T15:03:00.000-07:00

We´ve had a busy few days since the transfer to Argentina, but never fear - we´re still alive! Machu Picchu pictures are still coming, but will not be updated today. Sean is busily cranking out the blog post for the past few days since coming to Argentina, so I thought I´d make my own little post to announce that the winner of our first Blog Contest (about two weeks ago!) is none other than MRS. CAROL OWENS!!! (In case you forgot what the first blog contest was, here is the link to it: http://chrisandsean.blogspot.com/2008/06/blog-contest-1.html .) We took the pictures at an ancient burial site in Nazca. The area is so dry that the things that were buried there two thousand years ago have remained in decent condition. Looters tore up the place over the years and now it´s a protected site with some recreations of the burial pits, complete with skeletons and fabrics as they were found (all the valuables had been stolen years ago). The most bizarre aspect of the place was that it was still littered with human bones! Walking along the paths in the sand, we saw hundreds of bone fragments all over the place - some very close to the path. Also just kind of jutting up from the sand was llama wool used in the Nazca´s weavings, and sections of their cloth. It would just sort of blow lazily in the wind across the path. It´s kind of in the middle of nowhere and has not been tended to meticulously. It´s just kind of been left in its natural state, aside from the paths and recreations. As we walked we came upon so many bone fragments and cloth strips that we eventually decided to take pictures of them and make it the first blog contest.

Anyway, I´ll try to put a few pictures of the site up on here tomorrow or the day after so you can all see what a desert covered in human bones looks like. It was truly surreal. For more information on the site, read this article: http://www.vivatravelguides.com/south-america/peru/peru-articles/cementerio-de-chauchilla/ .

Congratulations, Mrs. Owens!!! You will win a Perú trinket for your correct response!!! :)

Tomorrow is the transfer from Córdoba, where we are now, to BUENOS AIRES!!! There has also been talk of adding a third country to our adventures before the return home: URUGUAY. More details coming soon!!!

Much love,
Chris

We´re not dead yet...

2008-06-21T14:28:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts. Several people have already emailed wondering if we´re still alive. Things have just been rather crazy these last few days as we´ve moved from Peru through part of Argentina, but we´re working on several posts as I type.

When last we wrote, we were in Ollantaytambo, Peru for filming of the next Indiana Jones film. From there, we made our way by bus back to Cusco and caught a flight back to Lima. After several hours of delays, we finally flew a red-eye from Lima to Santiago, Chile. In our original plans, we were going to spend a few days in Santiago, but Chile requires residents of the U.S. to pay $130.00 just to enter the country as payback for the U.S. charging Chilean citizens a comparable amount for tourist visas. Thus, rather than blow that much money just to set foot outside the airport, we caught a third flight straight to Mendoza, Argentina. It was an awesome 48 hours.

On the roof of Mendoza´s city hall overlooking the city.

Mendoza is in the heart of Argentinean wine country. Argentina is now the 5th largest producer of wine in the world, with almost half a million acres of vineyards, 70% of which are in the Mendoza region. After a day spent recovering from the jump from Peru we spent a day seeing the various cultural sites in Mendoza city, whic included a run down amusement park (the use of the word "amusement" is pretty generous) called the Happy Boy Fun Park and a snake house dubbed the local aquarium, which one of our guidebooks accurately described as an "underwater freak show" that doesn´t appear to have changed at all since its opening in 1945.

Note the ride is powered by nothing more than an electric fan.

In what appears to be a whimsical display of copyright infringement, Prince Charming is sporting a South American style mustache and Snow White is cross-eyed.

A shot from the opening credits of our upcoming sitcom. It´s Will & Grace meets The Odd Couple. Look for it this fall.

The next two days we visited a few vineyards (called "bodegas" in South America), including one which had an interesting collection of antique wine making equipment and paraphernalia. By the end of it, we´d sampled (and purchased) some wonderful, wonderful wine for next to nothing, several bottles of which we now have safely stashed in our packs.

It´s winter down here, so the vineyards aren´t terribly lush and green. We´ve been assured that it´s breathtaking in the summer.

An antique barrel from Bodega La Rural.

Barrel storage at Bodega Familia Zuccardi.

The bottle cellar at Bodega Norton, with room for 500,000 bottles.

From Mendoza, we took an overnight bus to Cordoba. That´s where we are now, so stay tuned.

-Sean

INDIANA JONES PHOTO SHOOT

2008-06-15T09:32:00.000-07:00

So yesterday we left Machu Picchu (update on that coming soon) and returned to Ollantaytambo for a few hours. It is a quaint, small town with a really famous Incan fortress on the cliffs above the city and I really wanted to see it. It is pretty impressive, as you can see from the picture to the left.

We climbed the 16 terraces to get to the top and pretty much had the site to ourselves. It was then that I realized that it sort of looked... almost... fake. Too perfect, too "archeological" to be true. It had the look of a Hollywood movie set - something that would be constructed on one of the studio back lots for the next big blockbuster. Almost like something out of an Indiana Jones movie, like the production stills and behind-the-scenes pics of the actors on set used to promote an upcoming film, such as the ones included here.

The photo shoot that followed after this realization needs no additional introduction. Enjoy the pictures and captions that follow!! Click the pics to get the full-sized versions - I had to enlarge them and lower the quality to make the blog layout work, but when you click them the quality is much better and they´re bigger!

INDIANA JONES V PHOTO SHOOT

SCREEN CAPTURE SHOTS

Escape from the temple with the Stone of Light in hand after triggering a booby trap, seconds before the spikes and blades shoot up from the ground.

Attempting to unlock the sacred niche using the stones he found by deciphering the temple´s glyphs.

Discovery of human skeletal remains. There may be traps ahead just like the one that killed this sorry bastard.

Spying on the villians who´ve come to loot the place for their own personal gain and/or evil plans.

Scenes from the finale escape sequence (after the villians have died due to their own selfishness), as the entire complex collapses and is swallowed up by the earth.

PROMO SHOTS

BEHIND THE SCENES

Teak taking in the awesome set constructed by the Universal design team.

Reginald, preparing himself on day one of the shoot of the critically acclaimed staircase chase sequence. Set designer María Saavedra can be seen in the background, giving crew members some last minute directives.

Crew adjusting the hidden snap-release spikes for a chase scene to take place early on in the film.

Teak taking a break during the temple escape shoot.

Reginald reviews his lines during rehearsal for the dramatic double-cross reveal and pulley scene.

Reginald and Teak going over the next day´s schedule before heading off to their trailers.

Moray, Salineras, Urubamba, and Ollantaytambo

2008-06-13T20:23:00.000-07:00

The day before yesterday we transferred from Cuzco to Urubamba, a WRETCHED little town that is the first step into the Sacred Valley of the Inca. I had read varied reviews of the town, and wasn´t sure what to expect. It SUCKED. Tons of industrial stuff and really nothing else. And our taxi-motoscooter driver tried to scam us on fare. Nice. Also, the two kind of interesting-sounding restaurants we chose for dinner were inexplicably closed. Awesome. However, it´s a necessary transit hub and jumping-off point to Moray and Salineras, so we really didn´t have a choice in going. The hostel we stayed in was really nice, but the people, and the town itself, had no character and were kind of depressing. Moray and Salineras, however, ROCKED!!!

I recommend clicking the pics of Moray and Salineras in order to best appreciate them. Salineras especially is mind-blowingly intricate!

We hired a taxi for the afternoon to take us to the two sites, both of which were build by the Inca and are pleasantly off the beaten path. Salineras was our first stop. It is a shockingly huge series of "salt pans" - big pools - through which the waters of a salt water spring flow. The Inca discovered that if they collected the water from this spring in pools (the salt pans), the water would evaporate and pure salt and other minerals would remain that could be harvested for use. They constructed about three THOUSAND salt pans on a cliffside, all connected by little channels that can be easily blocked, obstructing the waters to other pools. The sight is amazing and probably one of the most unique and awe-inspiring things I´ve ever seen. For a small entrance fee visitors can walk along the top ridge of pans, and Sean and I had a blast doing it! Pictures don´t do the scale of this site justice.

After the visit to the Salineras site, we were off to Moray, about 45 minutes away. Moray is the site of what is considered to be an Incan agricultural laboratory. They constructed three "coloseums" into the ground, with many terraced levels in each one. Each level had its

own micro-climate, in which different kinds of crops could be grown and developed. The largest of the three coloseums is still in use. The site was almost completely deserted and it was really cool to be in such a strange place all alone. I especially liked the Indiana Jones-esque stairs sticking out of the terrace walls, which we had to use to get to the bottom and back up again. Again, a truly unique sight and something I´ll never forget!

We were ecstatic to get the heck out of Urubamba and on to Ollantaytambo, where we spent a relaxing day catching up on emails and walking through the old town. We will return there tomorrow and tour the Incan fortress in the mountains overlooking the town. It is the last town that still retains the original Incan street layout, and it had a lot of fun character! While there, we also fulfilled one of my trip goals......we ate cuy. Cuy is a common traditional Andean dish - FRIED or ROASTED GUINEA PIG. The g-

pigs are kept in a pen at the restaurant and (as I found out after I ate it) are killed to order. It is gutted and fried in several differnt oils and differnt temperatures and then served whole - head, claws and all. I knew going in to this trip that I wanted to try it - it is cultural, after all. I shared the cuy with Sean and he shared his alpaca steak with me. It tasted like chicken, but was VERY difficult for us to eat, since it still kind of looks like a guinea pig! As Sean pointed out, the problem is all in the presentation. The g-pig is literally just slapped down on the plate over a few french fries. Definitely a meal to remember.

That´s all for now. Tomorrow or the day after we will post an entry on where we went today............

-- Chris

BEST PICTURE EVER

2008-06-13T20:17:00.000-07:00

Day 7 - Lost in the Andes

2008-06-11T18:22:00.000-07:00

So, after enjoying the many and varied sights of central Cuzco, we decided to take a pleasent day-hike into the surrounding countryside to see a few more Incan ruins. Though no reliable maps exist for the area in which we´d be hiking, we had a guidebook with instructions like "Continue along this track for about 50 meters, enough to steer clear of the houses, children and dogs, and then leave this secondary road altogether, striking off to the right and begin hiking east, skirting around fields and depressions."

What could possibly go wrong?

We began by stopping by the central plaza in Cuzco to pick up supplies like water and food for the hike. For safety, I also purchased a compass since, being an Eagle Scout, even if we got lost, I´d be able to find my way back to North America. Knowing he was probably the only outfitter in town who sold compasses at 8 AM, the shop owner was nice enough to charge us a bleeding fortune for a compass that he probably got out of a Cracker Jack box, but such is the nature of supply and demand. We then struck out North-West of the city and visited our first stop of the day.

Sacsayhuaman

Pronounced amusingly similar to "sexy woman," Sacsayhuaman was most likely a sanctuary and temple to the Sun. Only about 20% remains, thanks to the Spanish conquerors dismantling most of its stones for use elsewhere, but it´s still pretty impressive.

From Sacsayhuaman, we headed East along nicely paved roads to Qenqo Grande.

Qenqo Grande

Originally used as a temple, Qenqo Grande (not not to be confused with the more cutely titled amphitheater Qenqo Chico, which is across the street), was also a temple.

Chris on the King´s Throne, which sounds about right, and a row of stone niches for idols.

It was from Qenqo Grande that our trip became a little more interesting. To reach our next stop, we had to cut across some fields and a stream. Uncertain of whether we had actually reached our next destination (another temple complex called Cusilluchayoc), we took some pictures of a bunch of rocks that appeared to be something (as opposed to nothing) and then moved on to our next stop, the easily located and clearly signed Laqo.

The rocks that might be something.

Laqo

Originally functioning as the Temple of the Moon, Laqo served as a temple and observatory. Sadly, little remains (at least as far as we could tell) but more interesting were the archeological digs going on at the foot of the hillside. There, workers were slowly revealing the complementary Temple of the Sun, and have thus far only uncovered some foundational walls and fragments of pottery.

A woman selling trinkets nearby was also kind enough to point us in the proper direction for Cusilluchayoc, the place we´d been looking for earlier. It´s worth noting, however, that we could have just posted the random rock photo from before and none of you would have known the difference. Sadly, neither did we.

Cusilluchayoc

Partially buried underground (whether by Incans trying to hide it from the Spaniards or the Spaniards trying to cover it up, is unclear), Cusilluchayoc is a site with a variety of stone carvings, walls, rooms, etc. It was clearly something...as opposed to the earlier rocks, which I maintain were probably nothing.

Considering our difficulty finding Cusilluchayoc from the directions in our guidebook, one would think that further directions leading up and into the mountains, away from any sort of civilization, would give us reason for pause. If one thought that, one would be wrong. Without a care in the world, we crossed a stream, avoided some dogs and began climbing into the mountains. According to the guidebook, it was just two kilometers to the next site. Two kilometers along a well worn trail to the town of Chilcapuquio.

We would never see it.

The trail was not only difficult to traverse, climbing hundreds of meters into the mountains (made all the more difficult by the thinness of the air), but was also difficult to follow, with forks branching off repeatedly, none of which were mentioned by our guidebook. Thankfully, the scenery in the Andes was nothing if not impressive.

After hiking for far longer than 2 kilometers, becoming completely exhausted and finding ourselves at the base of yet another mountain, we began to get concerned. The trail had become increasingly difficult to follow, as it seemed to fade in and out the further we went. Our courage, however, was renewed when we found some horse manure and recently left garbage, meaning we were still on at least some sort of trail that had recently been used.

This, we realized, was what "rock bottom" felt like. Garbage and horse manure were what cheered us up.

We continued on and half way up the mountain the trail essentially vanished. After much deliberation (and against Chris´ better judgment) I sprinted up to the top to see what I might see on the other side. If there was nothing, we would turn back.

Peering over the mountain

Miraculously, there was a town and a paved road in the distance. We weren´t going to die in the Andes afterall, hallelujah. After spending the next 10 minutes attempting to catch my breath, I yelled down to Chris the exciting news, we met back up and made our way to the town. As it turns out this town was mentioned in our guidebook, so we asked locals for directions to the next major stop, which thankfully was a brief 30 minute walk down a well paved road.

Tambo Machay

Perhaps one of the most impressive bits of ruin we´d seen thus far, Tambo Machay is an amazingly well preserved sacred space and resting or hunting grounds used by the Incans. A natural spring still runs from the mountainside and the stone channels and fountains are still in working order 700 years (give or take) since they were built.

There was one more site on our list of places to visit on our simple, charming day hike. Puka Pukara, a sort of Incan Hotel, was within site of Tambo Machay. At that point, however, we were so tired we didn´t care and this was a close as we got. Enjoy.

And that was our brief stroll in the Andes. When we finally got back to our hostel around dinner time, the word "collapse" really isn´t sufficient to describe what we did. However, after some soup, a variety of pain medications and a good night´s sleep, we left Cuzco the next morning for Urubamba to visit the Incan agricultural laboratory Maray and the salt flats at Salineras, both of which are far more impressive than a bunch of rocks that are probably nothing. Full descriptions and pics are forthcoming, so stay tuned.

-Sean

Quick Cuzco update!

2008-06-09T19:06:00.000-07:00

We are finishing up our third day in Cuzco! It is a beautiful town which has a definite European feel, although as Sean says, "the demographics are a bit off." :) It feels like a slightly run-down small town in Spain, with tons of colonial architecture and, of course, INCAN architecture as well! One picture I posted here is of a random wall in Cuzco. In the middle is a patch of original Incan masonry. It´s very obvious and incredible. Remains of their structures are all over the place here. You can´t walk a few feet without seeing some Incan stonework.

We plan to do a big update in a day or two, but this is just a quick note to say how our past three days have gone. We arrived after the Purgatory Bus Ride, so took it easy that day, resting a ton and getting used to the thin air here. You feel winded just sitting down at first. It´s weird. So...... on our second (technically our first full) day here we did the following: had a big breakfast at some swanky café, went to a religious art museum, then to Qorikancha (important Inca palace), did a tour of the cathedral, had lunch in another café on the main plaza, went to an Andean dance performance (walked all over trying to find the theater - the first one we tried to find didn´t exist), and then went out for a few drinks afterwards. And all of this was on foot! Needless to say, we both fell prey to altitude sickness during the night!!! Sean´s hit first, and then mine. Headaches, stomachaches, nausea, etc. We didn´t do anything today until 1pm. NICE. Reading our tourbooks today, we saw that all the books recommend taking at least two days to adjust, resting, not walking a lot, eating light meals, drinking plenty of water, abstaining from alcohol, etc. So we did a real bang-up job on that.

Anyway, we feel better now and had a mellow day going to a Pre-Colombian art museum, eating some traditional Cuzqueñan food for dinner, and planning our next few days in the Sacred Valley (the valley outside of Cuzco).

Tomorrow we will be hiking to the Inca site Sachsayhuaman and surrounding ruins, some of the hike taking us through farmland and small towns. The day after we´re leaving Cuzco to trek further into the Sacred Valley to Urubamba, a town that will serve as our jumping-off point to Moray and Salinas, two towns in the middle of nowhere with some amazing Incan constructions. The next day is Ollantaytambo with... Incan ruins, and a quaint old town. Then comes the big one - MACHU PICCHU!!!! After that comes the transfer to Argentina.

More updates in the coming days. Hope everyone is doing OK!

-- Chris

Abandonar toda esperanza, usted que entra aqui.

2008-06-07T20:19:00.000-07:00

In the 14th century, Dante Alighieri wrote the epic poem The Divine Comedy, which illustrated the Christian conception of an afterlife as it existed at the time and which is now considered one of the great pieces of literature in the history of Europe. In it, Dante described how when Satan was cast down to Earth from Heaven, the impact of his body hitting the Earth was so great, that it created a giant crater reaching all the way to the center of the Earth. The crater was filled over, thus forming Hell, but the impact also caused the earth surrounding the crater to lift up, creating a mountain. Thus, "Mt. Purgatory" was formed as a place for those who had not sinned greatly enough to be sent straight to Hell. It was there that they would have to wait for eternity, attempting to scale the mountain to cleanse themselves of their sins and ascend to Heaven.

In other conceptions of Purgatory, it is a place of tormenting fire which cleanses the soul, a place merely of limbo-like eternal waiting, or an intermediate stage between life and death.

According to Dante, Mt. Purgatory was somewhere in the Southern Hemisphere of the Earth. Though the Roman Catholic Church no longer officially supports this conception of Purgatory as an actual physical place, I feel I must disagree. I have experienced it and it does involve mountains.

Purgatory, as it turns out, is a 14 hours bus ride from Nazca to Cuzco.

I know...I was surprised too.

We boarded the bus and things started off quite whimsically, with a game of Bingo on the bus. Interspersed with the numbers being called at random were trivia questions and various challenges that the passengers could compete in. To get a question correct gave the winner the right to choose which number was called next. Chris was the first to jump up when the challenge was to make three animal noises into the microphone and after successfully impersonating a pig, duck and a cow, he was allowed to pick three numbers. Now, since we were both playing, one would think that he would have compared our Bingo cards and selected numbers that we both needed, thus increasing the chances of one of us winning. Instead, he just picked numbers that he needed. Then, when he realized what he had done, he was so flustered that he stopped translating the new numbers being called over the speaker for me, which effectively screwed me out of any chance of winning Bingo since I had no idea what numbers were then being called.

After Bingo, it was announced that a movie would be beginning shortly. We were also asked not to use the bathrooms for anything other than urination. Considering the large dinner Chris and I had had shortly before boarding and the already delicate status of our digestive systems, this announcement was cause for concern, since we were only 1 hour in with 13 hours to go and no stops.

Then, the movie began. I generally expect movies in such circumstances to be like those on airplanes; highly edited action films or bland romantic comedies. The bus company Cruz del Sur, however, felt that the 1980 World War 2 epic The Red One, starring Lee Marvin, Mark Hammill and Robert Carradine was the optimal choice as everyone futilely attempted to fall asleep. Thus, for the next 3 hours, we couldn't help but watch such classic moments from American Cinema such as when Lee Marvin spanked a Nazi youth or when one of Mark Hammill´s testicles was blown off, in all its gory detail.

It was also around this time that we started to enter the mountains. There were no streetlights, which is probably for the the best since if we´d actually been able to see the "road" twisting through the mountains, we would have been scared out of our minds. However, we could certainly feel every single curve and switchback as we wound our way through the Andes towards Cuzco and both Chris and I slowly began to get nauseous. We tried to sleep, but Lee Marvin wouldn´t allow it. The film eventually did end, but even then the constant lurching of the bus and the moderately uncomfortable bus seats made sleep little more than a desperate wish.

The next morning, still with hours to go, another film was played. I firmly believe that the bus company people were screwing with us at that point because their selection for the morning movie was Lilo and Stitch...2. This was accompanied by a breakfast of olive paste on a roll and a cookie. After Lilo and Stitch 2 ended, one might wonder what the natural follow up to a straight to DVD children´s cartoon and a WW2 film from the 80´s would be. If you were to guess VH1´s Divas Live, a benefit concert starring Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Aretha Franklin, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain, you would be correct. You would also be out of your %$"&! mind.

There´s nothing quite like arriving in Cuzco, Peru, the capital of the Incan Empire, to the strains of "Man! I Feel Like a Woman!" Were it not for the fact that we knew it would eventually end, we would have thought we were actually in Hell. However, because there was a definite and eventual end to the ordeal, we realized it was all just some contemporary manifestation of the cleansing fires or simply a modern means of travel up Mt. Purgatory.

And that´s how we got to Cuzco. To get back to Lima, we´ve decided to fly.

BLOG CONTEST #1

2008-06-07T20:03:00.001-07:00

The first person to guess correctly on the comments page gets a knick-knack tchotchke gift from Peru!!!

Here is your riddle:

Yesterday between the Nazca Lines fly-over and visiting the aqueducts, we went to a site known as Chauchilla. While there, we found these things just on the ground. We left them there but not before clicking a few pics.

WHAT ARE THEY?

THE NAZCA LINES

2008-06-07T17:18:00.000-07:00

THE NAZCA LINES

NOTE:

Sean and I are at an Internet café in Cuzco right now, composing the THREE glorious entries for you all to read. :) He will be on duty for the, er, colorful bus trip we took to get here, while I am writing about yesterday´s adventures and our first BLOG CONTEST!

Yesterday we left Lima at 4:30am for the six hour bus trip to Nazca to see the famous Nazca lines. It was, in my opinion, one of the single coolest things I have ever seen ... EVER. I have read about the Lines for years and have always wanted the honor of seeing them in person -- it was quite the adventure!!

The basic premise is that between 200BC and 700AD the Nazca people created a series of lines and symbols (called geoglyphs) in the arid Nazca Desert plains. There are some shapes but most of the geoglyphs are of animals. They created them simply by brushing away a few inches of the top layer of sand to reveal a lighter color sand beneath. No one knows why they constructed them, especially since they can only be viewed from the air. It´s a total mystery, and some people think it proves the existence of aliens and UFO´s. They are gigantic and some are really elaborate. There is no wind and hardly any rain in this desert and the lines have survived for 2000 or so years in excellent condition!

The big thing to do is shell out fifty bucks to go up in a four- or six-seater Cessna for a half hour flight over the lines. That is what Sean and I did yesterday!!! The flight was surprisingly not scary, but the constant banking from side to side for people on both sides of the plane to see the lines, along with the air pressure changes as we went up and down, made me start to feel queasy. As the flight continued my quest for the lines became two-fold: to experience the lines and to hold down the sweet beckon of a vom session right there in the plane. Luckily we made it back down OK, without me having vomited all over the place. Sean and I did like that the barf bags supplied by the airline company had a map of the lines on one side of them, and an ad for a hotel/restaurant on the other. We were going to snag one on our way out, but, ironically, thinking directly about vomit would have made me have to use the bag we had just snatched. So no barf bag souvenir. :(

Below are our pictures of the lines. It was the most incredible experience to look down at these lines and see them in person. I have wanted to see these things for YEARS, and I always talk about them in the classroom. Words cannot describe how it felt to see them, and contemplate the people who spent so much time making something they would never be able to see and appreicate like we can today.

Enjoy the pics! I only picked the best, but some are still difficult to make out, just because of the angle of the shot, the light, etc., but do your best!!!

CLICK TO ENLARGE PICTURES OF THE LINES -- THEY ARE MUCH MUCH EASIER TO SEE WHEN YOU CLICK TO ENLARGE THEM. :)

On the dusty, barren road to Nazca.

Waiting for our flight at the airport (basically nothing
more than an airstrip outside of town.)

Preparing to thumb our noses
at God.

Here we go!

Take off!!

Flying over farmland and then desert to get to the lines.

THE LINES:

The whale.

Lines ending in large trapezoidal shape.

Perhaps the most famous of all the geoglyphs. The astronaut. He is on the hillside - a very simple humanoid figure with big eyes and his hand waving.

Two pictures of the condor.

The Monkey!

Spirals and shapes and shit.

Three pictures of the hummingbird.

Viewing platform. All geoglyphs are on the right side. At the top are hands, then a tree, and then the lizard. The PanAmerican highway cuts right through the tail of the lizard. Neat.

Spiral.

AQUEDUCTS of NAZCA

6/14/08 - After the lines, we went to the site of today´s WELCH's BLOG CONTEST, and then afterwards went to see the aqueducts. The Nazca people did not have a reliable source of fresh water, so they constructed underground aqueducts that brought water from the Andes - which are many, many miles away. Our taxi driver acted as tour guide and explained that the tunnels had to be routinely cleaned, so the Nazca build access points along the way. Groups of workers descend these holes in the tunnels with tools to scrape and clean the rocks and come up at the next access hole down the way. The Nazca built spirals that led down to these access holes. They are the cones of Nazca. The amazing thing is that they are STILL USED TODAY to supply water to the people of this town. They are still cleaned annually in much the same way as before. In these pictures you can see our guide showing me the access point, held in place by a 1000 year old tree trunk, along with the point where the aqueduct comes out from its tunnel and flows freely in a canal that leads to the city. This area is now a park, and is of course protected because it is the city´s water source. Butting up to the property was a beautiful farm with workers in traditional Peruvian garb. It was a truly amazing experience to visit this place! Enjoy the pics. - Mr. Welch

Extra Crispy, Por Favor.

2008-06-05T16:58:00.000-07:00

Day II is coming to a close. Thinking back on it, we did a lot today!

We started the day a little late, and were made later still by finalizing our plans for TOMORROW (bus trip to Nazca, and then on to Cuzco). Once we finally got out of the hostal, though, we headed for Huaca Pucllana, a pre-Colombian pyramid complex literally right in the middle of our neighborhood Miraflores. On the way there, we stopped to jam in KFC!!!! WOOOOO!!!!!

At the pyramid, we thought we would be able to get in for free, because the guy in the entrance/ticket booth was asleep when we arrived. His head was seriously just down on the counter, not even with his arms beneath it to cushion it. As I type this, it occurs to me that it would have been nice if Sean and I had checked to make sure he was OK and not unconscious for some serious reason... but we just chuckled and walked on by. NICE. The complex was really cool, and the tour took us all the way to the top of the pyramid! The gift shop had coca candies - caramels made with ground coca leaf! We bought a pack but unfortunatly did not feel anything from it. Enjoy the pictures of the site, the surrounding area, and Sean and I taking in the view!

Also on-site was a little zoo with animals that were common to the peoples who built the complex. We saw our first-ever llama while in South America! There was also a cuy pen - guinea pig. They are neck-snapped, skinned, fried, and eaten here, and Sean and I will probably be consuming them within a few days from now. Deliciosos.

After that we went to the Museo de la Inquisición to see all the dungeons and torture devices used by the Spaniards to make sure everyone was behaving themselves. Sean especially liked the picture to the right -- a mock-up of a condemned witch, complete with a frowning devil on his death cap. It was not as cool as we´d hoped, but still fun. We got a little lost on the way, and got to walk down a pretty intense street with tons of people and vendors. It was fun!

Entering the chamber within...

THEN we went to the Museo Rafael Larco-Herrera. It is off the beaten path but has tons of pre-Colombian artifacts. Ceramics, textiles, metal pieces, and an extra gallery full of erotic pottery! I contemplated putting some of our pics of the erotic art on here and then decided to spare all of you. Needless to say, I´ll never look at a soup ladel quite the same way ever again. Then back to Miraflores for dinner and here we are at the Internet Café.

Upon realizing that I speak Spanish, all our taxi drivers (except for one) have totally h to h´ed it with me. They want to know where we´re from, what we think about Perú, American politics, where were going, the whole thing. It´s been a lot of fun...for me. But let´s face it, it gives Sean a mini-Chris break when I´m chatting up someone else so I´m sure he appreciates it, too. :)

Jammin´ in a taxi.

Tomorrow we take our bus to Nazca at 4:30am, so we might not sleep tonight. I just got off the phone with an airline that will take us up in a Cessena tomorrow to see the lines. Expect plenty of pictures of that experience. In the meantime, if you don´t know what the Nazca lines are, then look no further! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nazca_Lines After that we have awhile to check out the town of Nazca then it´s off for our 12 hours bus ride to Cuzco. Looks like tomorrow might be craziest day yet!

And, as promised, we have included the pictures of the Mother of Peru...with a llama on her head. When it was commissioned, the Spaniards in charge asked for a crown of flames on her head. The only problem is that the word for flame in Spanish is...llama. So the craftsmen, who were Peruvians put a llama - the animal - on her head! LOVE IT!!

Now it´s off for a few Peruvian beers and then maybe to bed, or maybe not? All I know is, we have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, and I for one can´t wait!

Tomorrow, or the day after, we will be unveiling our South America Trip CONTEST for all our loyal readers. There will be prizes. Stay tuned!!! :)

--Chris

Two more pics to enjoy. :)

La Iglesia de Miraflores

Cool fountain in Kennedy Park, near our hostel. There are nightly art expositions here.

A Head in a Box and 70,000 Corpses

2008-06-04T19:25:00.000-07:00

Today was our first full day in Lima. We slept late to recover from the flights down and then enjoyed showers in which the water was only slightly warmer than glacial run-off. Now fully awake and ready to start our day, we took a taxi into the center of Lima to the Plaza San Martin. After munching on some rather dubious appearing (in my opinion) empanadas from a streetside vendor, we made our way to the Plaza de Armas and toured La Catedral de Lima. Most interesting were the remains of Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish explorer who conquered the Incans. A coffin containing his remains was on display, but apparently until the 1990´s the coffin contained the remains of some random church official from the 16th century. It wasn´t until the 1970´s, when Pizarro´s head was found in a box in the catacombs beneath the cathedral, that everyone realized the wrong person was in the coffin. The rest of him was found about a decade later, he was reassembled and is now properly boxed up and on display for all to see. To the left you´ll see the Head Box.

Then, we made our way to the Monesterio de San Francisco. The monestery itself was very impressive, with wonderful architecture, paintings, library, blah, blah, blah. However, the reason we went was to see the catacombs. Beneath the monestary are the remains of an estimated 70,000 people, about 25,000 of whom have been excavated and are on display ¨bargain bin¨style. The bones of the skeletons have been sorted according to type (femurs, skulls, etc.) and are piled in large pits throughout the catacombs.

We saw a few more things that weren´t as interesting and then we went to dinner in what appeared to be Lima´s Little Italy, which I find to be fairly ridiculous. We sat down at a place and after perusing the menu, I told Chris what I wanted and, upon being asked what we should get for an appetizer, I told him to pick whatever he wanted. I then went to the restroom while Chris orded for us. The appetizer he ended up ordering was a combination of beef, tomatoes, onions and french fries. Then, our main courses arrived. Chris had ordered the Peruvian version of Steak and Eggs, which looked great. I had ordered a combination of beef, tomatoes, onions and french fries. In other words, the appetizer that Chris had ordered for us was exactly what I had selected for dinner. So, I got to enjoy the exact same meal twice in one sitting. It was neat. For the record, the menu did describe the appetizer and entree versions of the dish differently, but I still blame Chris and now he has to buy me a candy bar.

And so went our first full day in South America. We had some issues uploading photos today, but we should get it fixed soon. Tomorrow, a torture museum and a statue of the mother of Peru with a llama on her head. Stay tuned.

-Sean

ARRIVAL

2008-06-03T23:27:00.000-07:00

We have arrived!!!

We are both really tired so there will be no pics or anything elaborate in tonight's post. This is just a quick note to let everyone know we are here safe and loving it here so far!

We arrived and had our ride waiting for us at the airport. He gave us a free extra tour of Miraflores, which is the neighborhood of Lima we will be staying in the next two days. It is the safest and coolest neighborhood in the city.

When Sean and I got settled in our room, it occurred to us that even though it was 11:30 at night, we were hungry and ready to take on Lima! So we got a map from the guy in charge of our hostal, who reassurred us that it is safe to walk at night in this part of town, and went in search of food and water. We bought water at a gas station, got cash at an ATM, and had some really good sandwiches and beers at a little outdoor cafe before coming back. Now we are exhausted and are pumped to start our trip tomorrow!

On the agenda for tomorrow and Thursday: catacombs, cathedrals, museums, markets, casinos, ruins, and lots of aimless adventures!!!

Stay tuned!!!

-- Chris

First Post! Woo!

2008-05-27T20:50:00.001-07:00

In but a few short days, Chris and I will be boarding a plane for Lima, Peru in South America! Throughout the trip, we'll be keeping everyone updated on our progress and adventures through this blog. Sorry for the lack of individualized emails, but we're just not that into you. But seriously folks, I'm sure everyone who will actually be reading this will hear from us directly at some point. This will just serve as a journal of our trip so everyone can follow along with what will surely be a comedy of errors filled with hilarious misadventures featuring everyone's favorite golden boys. We hope everyone enjoys the blog and we'll try to keep it interesting. If things in South America just aren't that enthralling, however, we'll make crap up. Enjoy!
-Sean