One of the many deciding factors to keep us here in New Zealand was the amount of paid holiday Brad gets at the hospital. He gets heaps of time off with the family and for continuing Medical education. After being at the hospital for 6 years, he gets a 3 month Sabbatical. Which he took in November, December and January. He spent the the first part at a conference in Israeli, then he went back to Bhutan to volunteer for the month of November. December was spent at a conference in NYC, a few lectures in Atlanta, and time visiting our family in the US. Then January was spent travelling around South America with his family.
The USA leg of the trip started out with a visit to my family in Atlanta, Georgia. My parents recently moved to Atlanta to be closer to my sister and her family. So easy for us as we get to visit with all my family in one town. We thought it would be fun for the kids to visit a big University town and see where I went to college so we spent a day in Athens, GA. So much fun to be back on old stomping grounds and walk down memory lane with my kids.
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| Between the hedges, home of the Georgia Bulldog Football team. Holds 92,000. Where we spent most Saturday afternoons in the fall. |
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| The legendary Georgia Arch. Myth has it that walking under the arch before graduation will keep students from graduating. |
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| My Sorority Kappa Alpha Theta |
After a quick 10 days in Atlanta we flew to the east coast to spend some time with Brad's family. Brad's Dad had just had open heart surgery a few weeks before we arrived. Brad went back earlier than us to go to a conference and spend some extra time with his Dad and help with the transition of getting him back home.
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| David, the day before he got to go home from rehab. |
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| Grand Central Terminal NYC |
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| Best Broadway play |
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| Owen went to see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with his cousins |
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| Christmas Dinner with family |
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| This was just a few days after David came home from rehab. Defiantly something to toast too!! |
From NYC we went to Park city for skiing with the whole family! There were 14 of us all together staying in a beautiful Airbnb. Ages ranged from 7 to 84. Brad and his sisters managed to get David to Park city as well. Amazing trip and awesome memories. Not much snow that early in the season but enough to keep us all cruising around the mountain together. Brad and his whole extended family are awesome skiers. It was great for my kids to follow their cousins, aunts and uncles around the mountain trying to mimic their skiing. Great way to learn.
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| I never got the photo but all 13 of us manged to ski together a few days. Having the 4 young grand kids bombing down the hill close to Grandma was an adventure in itself. |
We spent close to 4 weeks in the USA, Brad was with us most of the time but because of his sabbatical he had a few conferences and lectures to attend to while we were travelling. From Utah we flew to Houston, found a hotel that would store our bags for us for a month! Still amazed they provided that service. Imagine the stuff we had to leave behind, Christmas gifts, winter clothes, ski gear, fancy clothes, and all that American stuff we load up on whenever we go home. We had tons of stuff. We only wanted to travel with a backpack each to South America, so that meant leaving most of our things in storage. From Houston we went on to Lima, Peru. Had just one day in Lima and then on to Cuzco. You might notice in the photos below there isn't many of Owen. Poor kid got the flu in Utah and became very sick our first 10 days in SA. Because our budget only allowed for low budget accommodation we spent the first week in a backpackers in Cuzco. The sick kid was a real trooper, considering he felt so horrible and had to share toilets and common areas with a whole bunch of people he did not know.
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| Cuzco sits at an elevation of 3300 m/10,800 ft. We noticed right away as walking around town was more tiring than usual, and going up a hill required many stops to get our breath. The Plaza de Armas is the background. We did enjoy Cuzco, however it was more toursity than we imagined. I was surprised to see a Mackers, KFC, Starbucks and Patagonia store all in the city centre. |
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| One of my favourite photos of the girls and I |
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| Shopping was insane |
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| Lindsey spent the first few days with us in Peru then she headed off to her new home for 6 weeks in Cuzco. She signed up with International Volunteers HQ to do some volunteer work with animals. She was placed in a home stay a little bit outside the city and commuted into work everyday on the public transport. She had an incredible 6 weeks, had many adventures, meet some real diverse and interesting people and meet a cute German boy. So yes a successful experience, so much so she didn't want to come back home. But thank god she is a smart, sensible young lady and did get on the flight home. |
These next group of photos are all from the Sacred Valley, which is referring to the high Andean villages, peaceful Inca sites, and frenzied markets. We just had a day to spend here on our way to Machu Picchu.
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| Ollantaytambo Ruins |
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| The locals displaying their homemade wares |
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| Our first sight of Machu Picchu once the clouds cleared at about 7 am. |
To visit Machu Picchu you have two options. 1. Hike the Inca Trail 2. Take a train into Aguas Caliente and then take a bus up to the ruins. We would of preferred to hike however with it being rainy season we opted not to do the Inca Trail and with Owen still being sick, the bus was our best option with him. Because it was off season in Peru we were able to plan the whole trip on the go. We usually have everything researched, planned and booked before we leave but decided to try a different method this time. Luckily we were planning as we went otherwise we would of been in trouble because with Owen being sick everything got pushed back a few days. However, we prefer having everything planned before we go, mainly because it feels more like a holiday without having to be on a device everyday. Planning as you go requires a few hours of Internet everyday booking the next accommodation, transportation, and or activities.
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| The Inca Drawbridge |
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| The steep sided mountain in the Background is Wayna Picchu. Tickets may be purchased to climb to the top. |
They are trying to control the number of visitors to Mach Picchu everyday so they have limited the ticket sales to 2500 per day. I would highly recommend visiting this Great Wonder of the World but try to visit in the off season. It would feel like Disney Land during high season. Lines would be insane. We enjoyed it thoroughly but were very happy it was not more crowded, as it would of taken a little bit away from the whole experience. We also had a very knowledgeable guide which we brought with us from Cuzco who helped us understand and learn more about the history.
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| I LOVE this picture of Lindsey. She went to Machu Picchu a few days after us with some friends from the volunteer organization. She had a much clearer day than we did. Anyone who knows Lindsey knows that she is an animal lover and most love her as well. So this photo with her and the Llama is priceless. It looks like the Llama is photoshopped in but nope it just walked up to her at the exact moment she was getting her photo taken. |
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| The town of Aguas Caliente. It lies in a deep gorge below Machu Picchu. Only accessible by train or hiking. |
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| Train tracks running through town |
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| Only because of my height and blond hair did the locals and Asians want to take their photo with me. I told Owen it was because I looked like a movie star but he didn't believe me. |
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| Keep in mind those rocks behind us were carved by hand and placed perfectly in line with the others. The Incas were some of the worlds finest architects. |
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| Town of Cuzco behind us. |
We left Cuzco on an overnight bus to Arequipa. The overnight bus was like flying premium economy. Much nicer than we expected. The seats were very padded and leaned back somewhat comfortably, we had our own TV screen (only Spanish speaking), and they feed us dinner on the trip. Highly recommend Cruz del Sur bus company. There are however some routes that the buses do get high jacked, we just were not on one of those routes. Somewhat of a sense of relief once we arrived though, every time the bus stopped on the overnight journey I held my breathe until we were moving again.
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| Plaza de Armas |
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| Monasterio de Santa Catalina. A beautiful convent. |
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| The most beautiful hand woven rugs. SO cheap, but so heavy to carry around. |
We were now starting the more adventurous part of our trip. Owen was very happy we were finally done with big cities, Monasteries, Cathedrals, shopping and ruins. According to him, the vacation has finally started, because there are finally some fun outdoor activities to do. We are now in Canon del Colca, one of the worlds deepest canyons.
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Zip lining
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| Rafting (we did not do) |
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| Horseback riding. |
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| Looking for the Andean Condorsat Cruz del Condor |
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| Dancers in the Plaza de Armes of Chivay |
These next photos are of a beautiful hike we did down to Sangalle or the Oasis. We hiked down for one night in the Canyon. Very basic hostel like accommodation at the bottom. I think I paid $16 a person for a bed, dinner and breakfast. Best part of this trip was no Wifi, epic scenery and the swimming pool at the bottom of the canyon.
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| At the start before we were a sweaty mess at the end. |
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| Start of the hike. |
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| Nap time |
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| 5 star accommodation |
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| Restaurant/bar |
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| Reward at the bottom |
From Peru we jumped on plane and flew to Quito,Ecuador. Then had a driver take us to Montanita, which is a surf town on the coast. Known for some of the best surfing in SA. We stayed off the beaten path at a place called Balsa Surf Camp. The place is named after the Balsa wood surfboards that the owner makes on the property. The place had a great vibe, very laid back, offered free yoga classes and amazing breakfast every morning. Would love to go back.
www.balsasurfcamp.com
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| Breakfast |
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| Add caption |
Our plan when we first started planning the trip was going to The Galapagos Islands. However it is was too expensive so we had to settle for a day trip out to Isla de la Plata. This is where we got to see the famous blue footed boobies.
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| Blue footed Boobies |
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| Snorkeled with sea turtles |
From Montanita we flew back to Quito and then took off for the high Andes. We landed in a small village called Chugchilan. We chose this place because it was highly recommended by our friend Darcy and I was quite excited to do some hiking in the mountains. We stayed at an inexpensive ecolodge called The Black Sheep Inn
www.blacksheepinn.com. They are known for their delicious vegetarian food (Owen and Brad barely survived this aspect of the Inn), proximity to great hikes and the owner was a wealth of knowledge about the surrounding areas.
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| Laguna Quilotoa |
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| At a Locals Market. This Man is using a foot powered old classic Singer sewing machine to make some clothes. |
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| How we were delivered to and from the start and end of our hikes each day |
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| We loved this area because it was not at all touristy. No one trying to sell us things or take advantage of us white westerners. Very peaceful. |
We are now on our last leg of our trip. We are now in the rain forest of Borja, Ecudaor. We are with Small World Expeditions, which is a company of professional river guides taking other river loving folks on great river adventures. This company is partly owned by an old friend of ours from Aspen. Brad has done a few trips in different parts of the world with these guys so he was quite excited to bring along his family this time. We spend a few days rafting some class 3 and 4 rivers, and the kids spent a day practicing their kayaking skills. We highly recommend these guys, real professionals doing what they love.
www.smallworldadventures.com
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| This section of the river required a long hike down to the put in. Small World Adventures pays the locals to carry down the kayaks and rafts. This was the Jondachi River. |
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| Water was so warm, beautiful butterflies everywhere! Owen preferred swimming the rapids to being in the boat. |
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| Not much going on here, just holding a sloth after dinner. As you do in Ecuador |
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| A fun, wet hike we did up a waterfall. Kids and Brad were kayaking in the local river. My husband knows the extent of my kayaking skills is swimming next to the kayaking while going down the river. Best for Mom to remain on shore. |
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| Where your chocolate comes from |
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| Homemade moonshine. It had a seahorse floating around in the bottle??? When in Rome. ... |
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| Trying to hike after the Seahorse moonshine was.....interesting. |
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| Beautiful Church tucked away in a small village |
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| The last place we landed before our long journey back to NZ |
