*Disclaimer: no humor in this post. (Read on)
Lima to Cusco to Urubamba to Ollantaytambo to Machu Picchu.... in 24 hours!
We were picked up at 5:30 in the morning to go to the Lima airport where we were taking a short, one hour plane ride to Cusco where we then had a driver waiting for us who would take us to Ollantaytambo where we would tour the Incan ruins that day, stay the night at a hotel and head to Machu Picchu on the train early the next morning.
Even though it is summer in Lima, the mountains and town of Ollantaytambo did not get that memo and it rained almost the entire time we were here. I have to pause and give a shout out to my mom who forced me to purchase one of those ridiculous ponchos that I swore I would never wear, but guess what? I have now worn it for two days and consider it an essential piece my wardrobe from here on out. If you see me wearing it, I look like a giant beige turtle. That is just not a good look on me, also considering that I wear my backpack underneath the poncho to keep it dry as well. I had Jane take a picture and I was just ridiculous looking.
Fast forward to today and I spent 8 of the most amazing hours of my life hiking around Machu Picchu. I could spend paragraphs upon paragraphs describing what I saw and learned from our amazing tour guide Pamela but it would not do it justice so I will leave you with the suggestion that you absolutely must see this in your life.... and while you can still climb a bazillion stairs! The private tour guide was worth every cent.
Now to the really "unfunny" part of the post...and our day... Jane and I were at 8,000 feet and had just left the Incan sundial. You can imagine the cell phone reception would be nonexistent up on a mountain that had no electricity let alone cell towers. Imagine my surprise when my phone buzzed in my pocket telling me that I had a text message. I pulled my phone out and saw that there was a text from Jane's daughter, Deanna telling us that Jane's dad had a major stroke and Jane needed to get home as soon as possible. And by "get home" I mean California. It would be almost funny if it wasn't so tragic that we were so far from where she needed to be at that very moment. Our tour guide was wonderful and called ahead to get us on a bus back as soon as possible. We will need to take a bus, a train, a taxi, a plane, and a few other flights to get Jane back to Los Angeles to see her dad
The rest of the evening was spent rescheduling our flight back to Lima. We are trying to get Jane down to Los Angeles as soon as possible and because she was the one who is going to set everything up for Bailey and be his homeschool teacher, we are also bringing Bailey back with us. Jane will most likely stay in the United States for several weeks if not longer. I am super sad about Jane's dad who my kids call Grandpa Richard and I am telling myself that Bailey and I both returning to Los Altos days after we left is the way it was meant to be for some reason that we have not discovered yet.
My heart is with my dear friend and her family as I literally experienced the very same thing with my dad 15 years ago.
I am sure there will be more adventures in our future.
I wish all of you happy and peaceful and healthy 2017.
Thursday, December 29, 2016
Tuesday, December 27, 2016
Gina and Bailey Go Peruvian! (Day #2: December 27, 2016)
It is a bit mind bending to leave one place where it is winter and arrive hours later to summer. It was already really warm when I woke up (at 10:00am!:) Jane and John live in a part of Lima called La Molina and their yard looks like a little oasis, complete with a patio and pool. (This is juse ONE of the hardships Bailey will have to endure while he is here.) Because they are "semi-diplomats", they have some pretty sweet things I would like to have, like a housekeeper and a cook... who is named Justina. I am seriously considering sending Bailey back home and staying in his place! I went downstairs to get some water after I woke up and when I returned to my room minutes later, my bed was already made! It was like I had a visit from the hotel fairy... and I LOVE her!
I got to tour the embassy and the Peace Corps building with Jane and John repectively. Both were super interesting but in different ways. If I had to sum up my trip to the embassy in a single comment, it would be, "Security is a very serious business there." To even get past the driveway there were three levels of guards with varying degrees of weaponry... all of which was purposely visible I am sure! The one thing that struck me as humorous was that while you are parked in the embassy parking lot, there are a bunch of guys that go around and will wash your car while you are doing your business inside! Now that is convenience! The Peace Corps offices are housed in a beautiful old house. The whole vibe there was relaxed and happy. Every single person we were introduced to was super friendly and positive!
One other interesting feautre that I noticed was the "stoplight entertainment"options. Jane seems to know the people who work the intersections by name and gave many soles (Peruvian currency) out as we waited. So far we have been treated to juggling and a purchase of "2017" New Years glasses. I have been told that they will also be selling YELLOW UNDERWEAR (Yes, you read that correctly!)
because that is รค thing here for the new year. Bailey wondered aloud why it matters if you are wearing yellow underwear on New Years Eve is noone sees it? He either has a really good point or I am now terrified to attend the big party we have been invited to!
Upon our arrival home from our errands I saw that the hotel fairy has a sister and her name is RESTAURANT fairy! I almost sobbed with envy when I saw that the kitchen was spotless and there was a beautiful dinner all ready to be set on the table! Decision made. I am NEVER leaving... or I am going to BEG Justina to come live with me. Dinner was delicious, as if there was ANY doubt!
Our luggage arrived and I unpacked and then re-packed again because Jane and I are heading out at 5:00am (2:00am in my body) for our girls trip to Machu Picchu! Stay tuned!
I got to tour the embassy and the Peace Corps building with Jane and John repectively. Both were super interesting but in different ways. If I had to sum up my trip to the embassy in a single comment, it would be, "Security is a very serious business there." To even get past the driveway there were three levels of guards with varying degrees of weaponry... all of which was purposely visible I am sure! The one thing that struck me as humorous was that while you are parked in the embassy parking lot, there are a bunch of guys that go around and will wash your car while you are doing your business inside! Now that is convenience! The Peace Corps offices are housed in a beautiful old house. The whole vibe there was relaxed and happy. Every single person we were introduced to was super friendly and positive!
One other interesting feautre that I noticed was the "stoplight entertainment"options. Jane seems to know the people who work the intersections by name and gave many soles (Peruvian currency) out as we waited. So far we have been treated to juggling and a purchase of "2017" New Years glasses. I have been told that they will also be selling YELLOW UNDERWEAR (Yes, you read that correctly!)
because that is รค thing here for the new year. Bailey wondered aloud why it matters if you are wearing yellow underwear on New Years Eve is noone sees it? He either has a really good point or I am now terrified to attend the big party we have been invited to!
Upon our arrival home from our errands I saw that the hotel fairy has a sister and her name is RESTAURANT fairy! I almost sobbed with envy when I saw that the kitchen was spotless and there was a beautiful dinner all ready to be set on the table! Decision made. I am NEVER leaving... or I am going to BEG Justina to come live with me. Dinner was delicious, as if there was ANY doubt!
Our luggage arrived and I unpacked and then re-packed again because Jane and I are heading out at 5:00am (2:00am in my body) for our girls trip to Machu Picchu! Stay tuned!
Gina and Bailey go Peruvian! (Day #1: December 26-27, 2016)
Welcome to my latest scrapbook of verbal tirades and photos to support them! To catch up those of you who do not listen to my rants of parenthood on the regular, Bailey decided to finish out highschool in Peru, learn Spanish without a workbook, and enjoy the REALLY NICE lifestyle (more on that later) with his Godparents, Jane Divinski and John Alexander, in Lima Peru.
I was SUPER excited to be going there with him and thought that this was LITERAlLY a fraction of the McDonells we usually travel with so this should be a piece of cake right? Well, as it turned out, it was NOT a piece of cake but a cluster of .... not cake. We arrived at SFO about 7:00am which meant that Bailey was essentially comatose and not mentally present so Toby and I did the check-in and headed immediately to the Starbucks for some "morning medication"while Bailey found a nice comfy table to curl up and nap atop of. The first indication of potential trouble came when the flight was delayed an hour. "No worries", I said. We had a four hour layover in Los Angeles anyway. Hmmm... as it turned out, no so much....
The next occurence of concern was when Bailey and I went through security and they flagged what we call the "$10,000 suitcase". It contained LOTS of cameras, computer stuff, plugs and apparently caused some concern for the TSA people because they unpacked it... all. Fortunately our flight was delayed further and Bailey could have had time to give a detailed tour of each item if they so desired.
After making our way to our seats on the plane we enjoyed another hour of quiet (and stuffy) contemplation on the runway because SHOCKINGLY there were many flights into L.A. the day after Christmas and things were being delayed. (Someone should have put a teacher OR a mother in charge of the flight schedules and this would NEVER have happened!) I was still feeling "totally okay"with the delay because we would still have two hours to get from one terminal to the other, grab some food for the boy and leisurely board our plane. NOT MEANT TO BE! Our flight into LAX landed FIVE minutes after our flight to Lima was boarding and we had to take a bus and walk across three continents (only a slight exaggeration I asure you!) to get to our gate. Bailey has a broken arm so I am pulling two bags and wearing a big backpack... it is VERY IMPORTANT to set up the visual here so pause before reading on.... anyway, there was a group of about ten of us that were LITERALLY running through the terminals yelling, "Wait! We are coming!" Again, I need you to picture ME RUNNING... with luggage. The first two words sound like some sort of oxymoron but add the luggage to the image and it was just NOT a good look for me.
We were literally the last people on the bus that took us across the other four continents of airstrips so we could board our plane to Peru. I was SUPER happy I had worn a seater and a scarf as that was making me feel like a wrestler before a weigh in. The flight to Lima itself was uneventful as my companion was unresponsive and asleep for 95% of the trip.
We arrived in Lima about 1:00am and waited for our luggage with everyone else.... and waited... and waited until we were the only ones there except for the exact same ten people who raced through the airport with us. Until that moment it never occured to me that if we had made it with seconds to spare that our luggage would not be nearly so urgent to roll toward the plane.Fast forward (that is a joke BTW) to 3:00 am and I headed to bed with my borrowed pajamas and prayers to the LATAM airline gods that I would be gifted with fresh undies the next day.
I was SUPER excited to be going there with him and thought that this was LITERAlLY a fraction of the McDonells we usually travel with so this should be a piece of cake right? Well, as it turned out, it was NOT a piece of cake but a cluster of .... not cake. We arrived at SFO about 7:00am which meant that Bailey was essentially comatose and not mentally present so Toby and I did the check-in and headed immediately to the Starbucks for some "morning medication"while Bailey found a nice comfy table to curl up and nap atop of. The first indication of potential trouble came when the flight was delayed an hour. "No worries", I said. We had a four hour layover in Los Angeles anyway. Hmmm... as it turned out, no so much....
The next occurence of concern was when Bailey and I went through security and they flagged what we call the "$10,000 suitcase". It contained LOTS of cameras, computer stuff, plugs and apparently caused some concern for the TSA people because they unpacked it... all. Fortunately our flight was delayed further and Bailey could have had time to give a detailed tour of each item if they so desired.
After making our way to our seats on the plane we enjoyed another hour of quiet (and stuffy) contemplation on the runway because SHOCKINGLY there were many flights into L.A. the day after Christmas and things were being delayed. (Someone should have put a teacher OR a mother in charge of the flight schedules and this would NEVER have happened!) I was still feeling "totally okay"with the delay because we would still have two hours to get from one terminal to the other, grab some food for the boy and leisurely board our plane. NOT MEANT TO BE! Our flight into LAX landed FIVE minutes after our flight to Lima was boarding and we had to take a bus and walk across three continents (only a slight exaggeration I asure you!) to get to our gate. Bailey has a broken arm so I am pulling two bags and wearing a big backpack... it is VERY IMPORTANT to set up the visual here so pause before reading on.... anyway, there was a group of about ten of us that were LITERALLY running through the terminals yelling, "Wait! We are coming!" Again, I need you to picture ME RUNNING... with luggage. The first two words sound like some sort of oxymoron but add the luggage to the image and it was just NOT a good look for me.
We were literally the last people on the bus that took us across the other four continents of airstrips so we could board our plane to Peru. I was SUPER happy I had worn a seater and a scarf as that was making me feel like a wrestler before a weigh in. The flight to Lima itself was uneventful as my companion was unresponsive and asleep for 95% of the trip.
We arrived in Lima about 1:00am and waited for our luggage with everyone else.... and waited... and waited until we were the only ones there except for the exact same ten people who raced through the airport with us. Until that moment it never occured to me that if we had made it with seconds to spare that our luggage would not be nearly so urgent to roll toward the plane.Fast forward (that is a joke BTW) to 3:00 am and I headed to bed with my borrowed pajamas and prayers to the LATAM airline gods that I would be gifted with fresh undies the next day.
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