Sick Day for Elliot

Mittens is keeping a close eye on Elliot this morning (by always keeping her back to him, but anyways)..... he’s watching movies between episodes of barfing while I blog about Peru.  

Carrie comes to visit!

Her room was all set up!!

 I went down to Victoria a little early to visit with Darlene before Carrie's flight arrived and as always ... we ate well and laughed alot!!  I was hoping for a heart shaped box of chocolate in my day on this Valentines Day and here she made some dreams come true!!!  She even encouraged only taking one bite to see if it was worth eating the second bite ... and if not, toss!!

 Waiting! Waiting!

 SHE FINALLY ARRIVED!!!

 Mystic beach waterfalls were on the agenda this weekend!!  We did alot of sitting around and drinking coffee, and talking and just chilling out ..... but when we got out ... we went to the most beautiful spot!!

 Here she is letting me take a moment with the sun .....

 WATERFALLS!!!

When Elliot sends me his Photoshop class projects and art

Apparently the middle one is evil 

We made it home from PERU!!!

Its Sunday morning!!!  Mexico City Airport was yucky and a bit of a drag ...

 But we tried to sleep as much as we could to speed the time along!!

 My friend in Cusco who sold me my sweaters for sister and I, gave me a little gift .... so I smile every time I see it hanging from my bag.

So, after an uneventful flight, we land in Vancouver and notice we are a touch early!   Early enough for both of us to wonder if we could catch the 10:45 ferry home?  Once the plane landed, the strangest thing happened ... NOBODY stood up!  You know how people always stand up and wait forever for the doors to open?  Nobody moves - so we look at eachother, see our chance, we grab our luggage and beetle to the front of the plane!  We were one of the first one's off and we are running!!!!  I am texting Gina, hoping she is waiting for us like a getaway car!  We breeze through customs, and run out of the airport in time to see Gina coming up the road!    As we are madly sprinting for the last ferry, Gina drove like a race car driver and got us there with 1 minute to spare at 10:44pm (we dashed off the plane at 9:54).... we ran the credit card and dashed up the escalator only to see Shannon’s luggage handle yank free and send her suitcase tumbling halfway down the escalator!! 🤣😂🤣. 

 Now THIS is an amazing picture!!  FAMOUS last words “it only has to last til the ferry!!”

 But we will both be sleeping in our own beds tonight!! What a finale!!!!!

Heading home from Cusco ....

There was some confusion (thank you language barrier) over the amount of money we paid to this man, who's name escapes me now because its been over a month since we left and I am writing this lol.   But he was great and showed up at our hotel the morning we needed to catch a flight so that we didn't need to pay for a taxi.  He didn't get us a driver back from Machu Picchu on Thursday and we had to find our own way back to Cusco, which was fine, but we did pay him for one ... so I am glad he showed up ...

 Shannon was very proud of the dishpit pans we used during security ....

 Neither of us were too keen on the backpackers hostel we initially booked because our flight was early the next morning and the guy I had been communicating with to pick us up from the airport started to sound super sketchy .... so ... we walked past all the drivers holding names up when we arrived (we never did see a driver holding my name)... and we decided to see if there was an earlier flight to Mexico City ... nope ... so then we decided to take a taxi to the ocean for a nice dinner and evening stroller perhaps?  Well, we were accosted as soon as we went outside .... men were yelling at eachother, and at us, and trying to get us to get in their vehicle .... at one point, I yelled back at them that they were being crazy ... but we ended up walking away with one of them, feeling not bad about him ... but then he tried to pass us off to another driver even though we had attempted to confirm (many times), that HE was our driver ... a point he continued to nod to.  He even got our luggage in the back of the car of this strange guy we hadn't seen, and tried to get us to go with him.  So....Shannon and I looked at eachother, nope.  So, thankfully, I can be pretty forceful too ... and I had them give us back our luggage and we walked back into the airport.  It is only around 4 by now ... and our flight is 6am.  We decide to sleep at the airport and spend our hostel/taxi money on a very decadent dinner.

 At this point, I can't remember what this was, but it warranted a picture ... it was amazing ... oh, it was butternut ravioli in a butter sauce!!!  sooooooo goooooood......

 Desserts were good too ......

 I took this picture for Elliot as its one of his favorite candies ..... bigger than my arm!

 We stationed ourselves down a nice little hallway ... watched movies and slept until 6:30am.

 I sure loved my sweater and silk sleep mask .....

It was a nice night ... beautiful, clean airport ....I know this wouldn't have been the experience in Mexico City airport .... that place is nasty.

Final Day - Exploring Cusco!

We woke up on our final day .. Shannon was planning on taking the day trip to see Rainbow mountain with the girl we hiked Machu Picchu with, but I was out for that trip.  I told her I would be happy wandering around Cusco for the day and exploring the nooks and could do it on my own if she wanted to go on that trip ... but Rainbow Mountain really is beautiful (from the pictures), but the altitude is higher than Cusco (and we were just getting our sea legs at this altitude, no way I wanted to be stuck with a bunch of tourists on a bus with more altitude sickness) ... and it was a whole day - from 5am until 3pm ... long bus ride, crowded, though pretty, mountain ... in the end, she stayed local and explored with me ... so we started the day with a taxi to the Cristo Blanco which was located at the top of the mountain overlooking Cusco.

 We thought it was a good place to start the day and then we could leisurely hike back down the mountain to the town ....

 Such a pretty town .. we had such a nice stay exploring this week ...

 Somehow we found these back stairs that led from the top of the mountain down into town ...

 And then we saw this hole in a building with treats in it ... being run by a cat!!  We bought a drink from him ;-)

 This guy wins for weirdest mask ....

 Best travel companion .. always up for coffee and guinea pigs ... (since that is the local specialty)

 Danica kept telling us we had to eat one ... so we found a chocolate one at a local cafe....

 Oh the streets!!! 

 This lovely lady sold me the black sweater I wore all week, so I went back to her to buy my sister one (and then I bought an extra one for me!  Love it  30 solas!)

 I am such an Amazonion ....

 Kind of embaressing to say but the smell lured us in ... no Peruvian food on our last night ... but fried chicken ... but on the upswing - neither of us got sick this week!!

 Back in our luxurious suite with our final drink of the trip!  And by drink, I mean sparkling soda ... Such a fun trip and our beds were the best ... and we were the only ones in the entire hotel! Which was weird ... but fun.

Exploring Ollyantambo and Mountain Biking through the ALPS - Day 5

After an amazing sleep in our beautiful little B&B, we both woke up with no idea what today would bring.  The only idea was to 'explore'.

When I took off my sleep mask, Shannon was already on the internet ... she looks at me and says "What do you think about going Mountain Biking?"

Turns out, this was going to be the most epic and exciting day to date.  The pictures won't do any of it justice, but this day was superb and will rank as one of my most favorite days. So after a really nice breakfast by our hosts, we walked down the beautiful stairwell from our room and walked to the square where the tiny little room in the back of an obscure building apparently held the office of hte guide we wanted to talk to.

 Turned out, (thank you rainy season), he was free today and would be ready in an hour to take us up the mountain.  So while we waited, we enjoyed a coffee and the view.

 I took a picture from our 'washroom' as our guides (and support car) set everything up to go.

 Turns out Shannon took a picture of me in the washroom too ... just an old ruin ...

Within the first few minutes, Shannon got a flat.  It was promptly taken care of by our guide ....

 It took about an hour to get to the top of the mountain ... and as we cruised down the mountain, we came upon these women who were working.  Apparently they are prepping this building to be a store.

 We then stopped at a little village where 2 women were weaving and when we stopped, the 2 little guys jumped to action, laying out all their grandmas wares for us to check out ... man, they were cute.

 I bought this wallet from her ....

 Then they gave us a potato to eat ....

 I wish we had stood up straight to show the discrepancy we enjoyed through this whole trip!

 Our guide made us take this picture ....

 The guides 9 year old son was a crazy biker!  He was ripping up those trails - he was a great leader ... while his dad kept me company in the back ..... Please note the background...Inca gardens are amazing ... can't build on a mountain side, so they build retaining walls for the flat land ...and that middle line are the stairs all the way up to the top of the mountain!  And if you look to the right, they still work the land today.

 We actually did quite a bit of single track riding, which I found quite difficult because I don't ride too often ... so I walked much of the beginning part of the day in parts that felt too scary .... but by the end of the day, I felt much more confident starting doing more challenging parts of the trail because I got to know my bike a bit better .... we did parts of the Inca trail today ....

 Shannon did amazing ...

 Even though I did walk quite a bit at the beginning, I was still in awe that I was doing this today!

 Once we finished, we biked back to the main square, said our goodbyes and headed for a late lunch!  Soup and Guacamole and chips!

 Best Day!!!  We mountain biked in the Andes Mountains!!!!!