Cat LIsOmi Adventures

We visited one of the most complete mineral museums in the world: 4 large rooms of various rocks/gems were on display from around the world. It was quite impressive.  Photo of rocks on display We also stopped by 2 churches & a museum devoted to modern art and currency. One of the churches is the second most opulent church in Brazil because of its gold artifacts. Photo of opulent Brazilian church

For our 2 weeks in Brazil, we decided to focus on 2 world heritage sites: Noronha (famous beaches) & Ouro Preto (a colonial town famous for its architecture and art). Both sites took awhile to get to (not a simple bus ride or boat trip or flight) and 1 solid day of research. (In Sao Paulo, we went to a wifi cafe at 9am and didn't leave until 6pm after we researched & struggled to communicate with folks on Skype). Getting to Ouro Preto We spent about 1.5 days getting to this town, staying overnight at the Sao Paulo airport (for flights) & taking a few bus trips. We lugged our bags over cobblestone streets and found a pousada in an old colonial house, near a beautiful church. Picture of town cobblestones Guitar & soprano concert We ventured to the Opera House next to our pousada to see a Marionette festival. We stayed at this event until a concert started at the church across the street. The church sponsors this concert series in an attempt bring back music to...

Why this island? According to Lonely Planet, this island contains 3 of the 4 most highly rated Brazilian beaches and it's marine park is a World Heritage site; in fact the whole place is a national park. They limit the island to 200 or so visitors a day and you have a pay extra "wildlife preservation fees" to get on/off Noronha. Expectations? As I stepped off the plane, I expected to be overwhelmed by tour operators and aggressive people hawking food, postcards, and other misc things. Not so much. The island is a collection of little (sparsely populated) villages with 2 main food establishments (self-service, home-cooked buffets). Over the course of a week, we only found 1 fluent English speaker at the dive shop desk. 90% of the tourists are Brazilian. (Actually, 2 orkut/Google employees recommended this spot. Thanks!) What did we do? Rode the bus: We took the one bus around town and then walked to various points of interest. Snorkeled with turtles: We swam ar...

Every day, Li and I are washing our clothes and hanging them on a clothing line outside our pousada.  Photo of our clothing drying: This island is ideal because it's warm and there's a gentle breeze. Other places seem to humid (Amazon), too snowy (El Calafate), too rainy, etc. Photo of Li knocked out on our bed: Photo of the front of our Pousada:

Will write a post about our adventures on this island, but for now, I'll mention a few fun books that I've been reading.... War & Peace Li and his father inspired me to start this book. 3/4ths of the book to go! I'm tempted to blurt out certain developments or commentary; however, I don't want to spoil anything for Li. I love following the characters through different life events and paths. The etiquette of the Russian aristocrats tickles me & the vivid descriptions of war, preparation & battle, are fascinating. Looking forward to future developments... I enjoy reading this book on the kindle. 1) it's a free version of the book 2) easy to read/transport around the island 3) super easy to look up new military vocabulary (e.g. cossack) Brave New World Picked this novel from a list of top 100 books of all time (Modern Library). It's interesting and a quick read - I still like War and Peace better. In a nutshell, it's a futuristic peek at ...

Research Li and I spent the entire day researching our next 2 weeks in Brazil. We finally decided to venture North to pristine beaches and the tropical bioreserve of Fernando de Noronha (word heritage site). We plan to hike, snorkle, and scuba dive there. Airport We waiting at the airport for our 1:40am flight (with a connection) that gets us into the island at 10:40am (San Paulo time). We don't expect to have easy access to the internet so we'll post as soon as we arrive at our next destination in the mountains of Brazil. We'll fly the main distance and then take a 3 hour bus to Ouro Preto. Other research We also looked into downloading Portuguese lessons onto the computer. Most of the free sites looked VERY suspicious. They'll teach you your 1-2-3s but also inflict your computer with nasty, hidden malware. Yuck! Rosetta Stone seemed to require a CD or online presence. We'll look into legit sources later...

After finishing up our visa extension errand, we hopped onto a subway and headed for a self-guided walking tour of Sao Paulo. Subway The subway station was packed with throngs of people making their way around town or perusing clothing shops, bookstores, and food stalls. We ordered a sandwich and an empanada-like treat for a standing lunch. The subway system was really easy to navigate: good signage & labeling of trains. Such an efficient way to travel because the streets are full of stagnant traffic. It was nice to take a few connecting trains and walk the rest of the way. Walking Tour We followed Lonely Planet's (Kindle-version) 3-hour walking tour. It took us through the heart of Sao Paolo, past cathedrals, street performers, famous architecture & sculptures, and historic sites. Very nice! Sight along the way Back "home" We're staying at a small Pousada (Zilah) which offers a few clean, simple rooms above its eatery. It was recommended in our gu...

Arrival We took a plane, bus, and boat to arrive at our Amazon lodge in Tambopata. We booked Amazonia Reserva because the lodge has flexible a la carte excursions, good location, and a great last minute booking special. Tapir munching on nuts Hike On the first day, we hiked and learned about the area's logging and mining history along with flora and fauna tidbits. Our guide Jesus showed us a larvae eating a nut from the inside out and encouraged Li to eat the worm. He did! I'll try to upload the video later.... Photo of larvae that Li ate I also enjoyed Jesus' story of fire ants and public punishment. The punishment for cheating used to be tying the naked cheater to a fire-ant tree for 20 minutes. Each bite carries the pain of a wasp sting as the ants swarm to protect their tree. Ouch. That evening, we went on a boat trip looking for caymans. We saw 3 huge white ones. Canopy Walk The next day, we walked on hanging bridges from tree tops. Although we didn't ...

We had a great trip to the Peruvian Amazon: playful monkeys, endangered otters, yummy piranhas, oh my (will post later about it). Right now, we're weathering a 9 hour layover at the Lima airport. We're catching up on reading, writing postcards, and researching Brazil. We'll arrive in Sao Paulo at 8am. P.S. I'm covered in hives. Not sure what I ate or touched but I hope it goes away soon. It's day #4 and I'm religiously taking anti-histamines. P.S.S If any orkut folks in Sao Paulo are reading this post, are you interested in lunch or dinner? Any places that I can't miss?

Inca Trail The trail to Machu Picchu is a mountainous jungle/cloudforest. We completed this 45-km trek in 4 days with the LlamaPath tour group, arriving at Machu Picchu at daybreak on the final day. We chose Llamapath because our coworker (Arturo Crespo) highly recommended this agency: 1) porters are treated like family (very well) 2) attentive & knowledgeable guides 3) happy & hardworking porters 4) thoughtfully planned trip - quiet & "uncrowded" campsites, etc. We were really lucky with the weather. It only rained during lunch & at night. I was also lucky that I didn't have serious altitude sickness or stomach ailments during the hike. Whew! Our route Day 1 We hopped onto a bus for kilometer 82 (our starting point). Surprised that Halloween revelers were still loitering around the discotheques at 4:30am. Group photo at the trail head front row: Marlen, Bernd, Lars, Sandra, Lucia, Carolyn, Katie back row: Cat, Li We met our guides, Santiago ...

Saqsaywaman We hiked up a series of stairs to reach this Inca site, which was a military fortress. The stone walls perfectly fit together without the use of mortar: impressive. Photo highlights from this hike: Stairs Colorful potatoes Stone doorway Halloween We roamed around the city on Halloween, not expecting much. Wow! Tons of parents, kids, and tourists roamed the streets. It was madness! Photo highlights: Getting juice from the market (earlier in the day) Wawa bread to celebrate All Saints Day (Nov 1) Little MJs