Cat LIsOmi Adventures

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

We're going on the four-day Inca Trail hike to Machu Picchu tomorrow, so we'll be out of touch. We'll return to Cusco on Wednesday evening, spend a rest day in Cusco, and then fly to Puerto Maldonado (Peruvian Amazon) for four days.

Health Feeling 90% better today; just a slight head ache. Museum We leisurely wandered around town in search for the "boleto turistico" which is required to enter a number of museums and ruins. With our boleto in hand, we visited the popular art museum. One room showcased local winners of a nativity scene competition. Maybe a kids competition? The other room displayed local paintings which I enjoyed much more than the sloppy clay work. Haircut We shopped around for a haircut for Li. The cheapest we found was 15 soles (5 USD). We're still on the prowl. Food We stopped at a market to buy food for our apartment. We stocked on pasta, olive oil, cheese, pepper, tomatoes for dinner and we also purchased cereal, milk, eggs, coke zero, bananas, apples, bread, lunch meat, canned peaches and a few other odds and ends. Picture of boiling eggs & a kettle Research During our walk, we discovered a few free traditional music and dance shows each evening. We'll go...

Arrival Dora & Anita kindly arranged for their family to take care of Li and I while we visited Lima. What a treat! Henry and Jennifer kindly picked us up from the airport and took us to Mamita's house in Surco (near Miraflores). Then, we went with Mamita and Bertha to breakfast before taking a long nap. Driving in Lima That Friday afternoon/evening, Li volunteered to drive us (me, Mamita and Bertha) to the center of Lima. Wow, what an experience. Lane lines, stop signs, traffic lights: they are all suggestions. You have to be careful about cars ramming into you from all directions. Imagine every street in San Francisco being full of gridlock. Every street was jammed with cars that barely moved. The good news is that we saw fireworks from our car (while stuck in traffic) because it was Lima week. Also, on the way back, we took a less packed express way. Whew! Li gets a platinum star for driving in Lima. Buffet The next day, we went with Mamita and Bertha to a buffet with tradi...

Getting There We took a buquebus ferry from Buenos Aires to Colonia del Sacramento, the oldest city in Uruguay and a UNESCO World Heritage site. Upon arrival, we rented a scooter & scooted around town and the countryside. Since I forgot my license, I rode on the same scooter as Li; our top speed was a whopping 15 mph. Road to Nowhere We drove out of town on a lonely country road that disappeared at the horizon- cumulus clouds spotted the blue sky. Tons of multi-colored wildflowers flourished on each side of the road: great for the eyes and nose. Relaxed Town We returned to town for lunch & sightseeing. We climbed to the top of the lighthouse to enjoy a beautiful, panoramic view of the water & fairly empty town. Then, we walked along the ancient city wall to a few benches overlooking the water. We read our kindles for a bit. Books Speaking of books, I finished the "Short History of Nearly Everything". Loved it. Wonderful analogies & context for scie...

As we acclimate in Cusco to the high altitude, we'll catch-up on our blog post backlog: Colonia & Lima. Right now, I'm typing from the bathroom floor. I've been hugging a toilet bowl for a few hours now because I have altitude sickness. I'm drinking water and tea (and it doesn't want to stay down). Recovery should happen in 1-2 days.

On the afternoon before Argentina's daylight saving switchover (Sat), the government decided NOT to switch over the time. This has caused chaos in the airline and other industries. For instance, airlines are changing their departure times 1 hour earlier without notifying passengers so that connecting flights will still be made. We have a flight to Lima on Friday and we're still not sure if the flight leaves at 7:55am or 6:55am.  We'll arrive at the airport at 5:30 to make sure.