Today I have to mow my lawn.  Then my sister and I are going swimming.  Then I have to finish my presentation and make it a PDF... My PDF is messed up again.  I need to reload it... greeehhhh!  Then I might be able to load photos of Machu Picchu and continue the story.  Tomorrow I leave for Florida for a couple of days to work with my client.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

I went swimming with Connie and then we hung out together reading and napping.  Then we went shopping for groceries.  Matt came over for dinner and we went to the movies.  Angl*es and D*mons.  It was good, but little like the book.  More from my trip... It takes about an hour to write one day.  I am still recovering, not just from the trip but from the last three years.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

After lunch, we decided that we wanted to go see the BIG Trees.  It was on a path that isn’t always used.  Our guide said that we might be able to see a jaguar because the trail is not used a lot right now.  We thought she joked about carrying a machete… but she stopped to get one before we left and showed us how to use it.   

So we start out at 3:00… We got in our boots… went down one set of stairs and then turned to the right on to a trail we had not been on before.  We walked about 15 minutes and our guide said that there are two trails… the one in front of us meant that we can walk in a large circle and see both trees, but we would have to walk through mud.  Or the other path that we would go up and back on the same trail.  We chose to take the muddy trail. 

We had walked through many muddy trails… but little did we know that the muddy trail would mean 20 minutes of slogging through ankle deep mud.  As we slogged along, I was laughing really hard.  Matt looked so funny walking through the mud in front of me… at one point he Matt walked right out of his boot because it was so stuck.  Luckily I was behind him… it took all my strength to pull it out of the mud.  Once I slipped and let out a short scream… Matt goes... great Marilyn I am sure that scared away any jaguars in the area. It was such hard work walking, I was worried about falling on my face in the mud…  We finally got to the one tree, which was really large and amazing to see. 

Then we headed off to the next tree.  The mud was not so bad on that path... and we finally get through the worst of the mud… and I stepped on a stick with my right foot and it raised up and triped my left foot and I fell down on my left knee.  (I fell on the knee on January 25^th on concrete)  It hurt quite a lot, but I got up and slogged on.  and walked on not so muddy trails.  We saw the biggest tree.  As we came up to it Irma shushed us... another herd of saddleback monkeys moved above and around the clearing.  The base of the tree was amazing.  We took pictures.  As we were standing there we heard voices and up comes our Brit bird counter and two other people.  The other people swung on a vine so Matt did it to.  I faked hanging from it. 

So then we started back it seemed as if Irma didn’t quite know where to go.  She lead us walking very quickly up the trail.  I had a tough time keeping up… it was beginning to get dark and she confirmed we had our flashlights… after 20 minutes of quick march we saw the sign directing us to the lodge and another ten minutes we were on the trail with the stupid stairs… it was still light and everything was okay.  But I felt as if I had been quick marched out of the jungle. 

I found it surprising before this hike that the jungle we had been in for 2 and a half days was not like the jungle in the movies... not as thick or as loud... this last hike the jungle was more what we expected where we couldn't see the sky for all the lush vegetation.

We took showers while it was light out and then had dinner and packed our bags.  I got an ice pack for my knee.  The next morning we got up and ate, I bought a few souvenirs.  We loaded up or back packs went down the stairs one last time… into the boat.  An hour later we were on the bus, twenty minutes later picking up our bags and two hours later getting on the plane for Cusco. 

Puerto Maldonado... continued.  Okay so we got done with dinner and went back to our rooms got our boots and went out for a night walk.  We saw all kinds of bugs you don't normally see during the day and a little bird wedged in the trunk of a tree.  It was getting kind of chilly, but when I got back to the room I needed to take a shower since I had been sweating during our walks.  The water was not heated.... I got in a did a quick absolution... wet my hair lathered up there and in other pertinent places and then quick rinse off.  I only let out a couple of squeaks....

We got up at 5:00 am to be ready to walk at 6:00... Matt took a very bracing shower by flashlight... he didn't even squeal when he took his icy shower.  What a man.  So we had breakfast and headed out to the clay lick to see parrots and macaws... yes down those stairs just as the sun was coming up.  We got to the lick, they have a grass blind set up and there were already two groups of ten there.  They had not seen any macaws.  We looked out of the blind for a while and everyone left to go to breakfast.  When they left a troop of green parrots came into the trees.   

We then walked over to the tower to see the top of the rain forest.  It is 120 feet up.  The stairs were very narrow and although well attached with multiple lines I could not go up to the top.  Once the tower got above the tree line I stopped probably about 100 feet above ground.  The others continued up and I took photos and  wandered back down.  I sat down on a bench at the side of a huge mud puddle.  When they came down Matt was standing about ten feet away on the far side of the mud puddle.  Irma shushed us and started looking around for an animal.  I turned to look where she was looking and the mammal animal charged at Matt.  At the last minute it turned and plopped in the middle of the mud puddle splattering my glasses with mud.  All I saw was a dark flash and felt the mud.  We were all laughing.  Hmmmmm

Later on in the day we went down the stairs and in the boat to see the shaman.  He showed us around the "hospital" telling us about plants and selling us some cures.  We were there with a German man and his daughter.  He didn't seem to speak much English... At one point I said "enshulgen" and "bitte"... after that they started talking to us in English.  We had dinner with them.  His wife died last year after a ten year battle with two cancers.  He was now suffering from cancer and is not sure of the outcome of his cancer, but he was really enjoying this vacation with his daughter.  His daughter teaches Spanish in Germany. 

That night we all took showers before dinner when it was still warm out.  We went to bed early because we had to get up at 4:00 am to see the endangered river otters.

So the next morning we got up and ate breakfast, while it was still dark.  We headed down to the boat with flashlights.  We took a boat ride up the river for about 20 minutes.  Then we hiked through the woods for about 45 minutes.  Then there was two pontoon boats (and luckily a bathroom) at this lake.  The lake used to be part of the river but was separated from after a storm(?).  As the sun was rising we loaded on to a pontoon and set out onto a lake.  The rudder pushed back and forth moved us around the lake very quietly.  We saw a couple of birds and then we parked along the shore and the guides got out some meat and people started fishing for perrianna (sp) (the fish they show in movies that eat voraciously) (spell check doesn't seem to be working). 

After about 20 minutes the guides said here come the otters... they were coming across the lake... and they kept on coming and coming... and started yelling at us... I put my video on and got them coming at the boat.  The guides were amazed that they came so close.  There seemed to be a mama and daddy and baby... The baby was squealing in the background.  I guess this activity was pretty unique.  

We then went back to the shore and started walking back to the other boat... we were stopped again by our guides who spotted a Harpy Eagle sitting at the top of a tree.  They set up the spyglass telescope and showed us him and took photos with our cameras through the telescope.  It was amazing.  Again this event had the guides really excited.  I guess they don't see this bird ofter. 

When we got back we straggled back up the stairs... and had lunch.  After lunch Matt, Kathy and Jon went back down to look at the clay lick again and I sat around the hotel taking photos reading and relaxing.      



    

Okay where did I leave off... the stairs... hmmmm once we got to the top of the stairs along a path... we could hear people playing somewhere near...  and finally after a total of twenty minutes of walking and ended up at a clearing with a large porch and lodge behind.  It was a very large deck about four feet above the ground... It had a grass roofed building with bamboo walls.  They gave us a wet towel for wash our faces and hands and a cold drink.  I sat down on a sofa and within minutes a black cat came over and leaned up against me to get petted.  They gave us our room number and we walked down a deck/bridge to another grass shack... the room was at the end. 

The building had about six rooms in it each with a private bathroom.  See photos section... Our room had three bamboo walls... the far wall was an open porch railing.  The jungle was about 20 feet from the non wall.  There were holes in the walkway side of the room with three lanterns in the main room and two in the bathroom.  They lit them at night and came around and blew them out at 9 PM.  It had a nice bathroom with pedestal sink and shower enclosed with clear heavy plastic all enclosed by bamboo.  Each room had an open ceiling... open to the large roof above . It gave no audio privacy, but was still really nice.  Each twin bed had a mosketo netting over it.

Once we dropped off our bags, the four of us selected knee high boots... they were already covered with mud... Our guide said put them back at our room when we are done with them.  We headed out for a walk in the jungle with our guide.   Irma pointed out a walking palm tree (they have many roots that start about five foot high and put out new roots to move to get more sun), the erotic palm (the roots look like male parts).  We stopped many times to look at birds and then Irma saw a monkey.  So we stood still and looked up in the canopy to see the monkeys hidden by many layers of leaves... then we saw it.  Then we saw another and another.... all of the sudden there was a herd of 100 squirrel(?) monkies crossing above our heads.  We stood there for about ten minutes while they came into our sight or an instant and away. I got so frustrated that I could not get a photo I took a video.  One monkey flashes on the screen but you can hear them jumping from tree to tree and head them calling.  Ten minutes later a tour group of ten came out of the jungle, they had not seen any monkey.  I think they chased the monkeys toward us.  Thanks...

We continued along the trail... oh yea the mud... we needed the boots because it got vary muddy quite frequently.  We came upon a Brit who was counting birds... He had seen some Macaws near where we were.  We continued along the path and didn't see anything.  When we headed back he had seen the birds, but they were gone by the time we got there. We saw termite dens and little tubes that they breath by...  I think we saw a dusky titti monkey on our way back to the lodge.  If we did not see him the first day we saw him the next day.  Once we got back to the lodge, we relaxed and unpacked my wet clothes and spread them our to dry.  We headed to the main lodge. 

The main dining room was lite by hurricane lamps and candles suspended from tree stumps.  We ordered a pisco sour and enjoyed it as we relaxed before dinner.  It was a buffet of Peruvian food and quite good.  

  

Okay it is 10:30 at night and now I have time to write about my trip.  Part One:  the Amazon Jungle. 

We arrived in Peru late on June 1st.  After a few anxious moments when we could not find our greeter...  we were met at the airport by a women who told us who she was and took us across the street to our hotel.  She helped us check in and we sat in the bar and had our first pisco sours while she got our plane tickets for the next day.  We went to bed, got up and ate breakfast and headed back to the airport to fly to Puerto Maldonado. 

The flight was pretty short, maybe an hour and a half.  We stopped in Cusco to drop off and pick up passengers.  We arrived in Puerto Maldonado on the east side of the Andies Mountains and walked into the small open air airport... a young woman named Irma (pronounced Ear-ma with a roll of the r) was at the door of the airport to greet us.  She lead us to a bus.  Our bags were thrown on top... no mean feet since mine weighed 43 pounds.  The bus had maybe 10 or 15 other people seemed to be three groups.  We lucked out because we were Irma's only clients... The other groups were small compared to a bus load of people, but had ten people each.  

The bus took us to a depot and we were going to leave our big suitcases and take only our backpacks into the jungle.  Low and behold, something had leaked in my suitcase on the flight and all of the sudden, I found myself unloading my oh so carefully packed backpack... and pulling everything that was wet out of my suitcase and stuffing them into my backpack.  I couldn't leave all the wet clothes in a damp, humid, hot environment for four days or they would rot... needless to say I had a really interesting set of clothes with me in the jungle.  ,

We all piled on the bus, which stopped at a store for last minutes supplies for the tourists.  Flashlights, bug spray, etc. ... On the bus they gave everyone a snack in a recycleable grass basket.  We drove to the port down muddy unpaved roads.  They told us they just had some rain and they couldn't drive as far as they normally do because the roads were muddy.  So our boat ride was going to be about and 1 1/2 hours instead of 45 minutes.  Once at the port... we made our way down a muddy banks with helping hands of the staff.  We got in a big canoe with the 10 or 15 people and headed up the river (a tributary of the Amazon River) to our hotel, Posada Amazonica. 

As we went up the river, they served us lunch, rice wrapped in banana leaves, which we could just throw overboard when we were done.  Someone saw a white camen and the boat slowed and pulled over to shore so that we could all look at it and take photos.   A few minutes later we saw the large rodents.  I don't remember what they were called. We pulled over to look and photograph them.  There was a family of about five.  Pictures in the Peurto Maldonado file.

As we were coming up to the port of our hotel... there is a clay lick there that many birds come down to each day morning to lick the clay to give the nutrients that they are missing in their diet.  We saw four red machaws(?) sitting in the trees above the lick.  They were beautiful and right there at 2:00 in the afternoon.  We unloaded from the canoe and made our slippery way up the muddy bank to a flight of steps... hmmmm By the forth day, I would come to hate these steps.  I wish I would have counted them... there were two sets of about 20 to 25 steps.  Just when you tought you needed to stop to catch your breath they would end. They were uneven and some as small as five inches high... a couple were 18 inches high.  Anyway you had to pay attention to not trip on them.  Almost everywhere we went, we had to triverse these steps.  I am in pretty good shape, but those steps three times a day was just plain hard work.

More tomorrow.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

      

       

Already I have to get back to work.  July 1st I have a proposal due for the creative aspect of my work.  I am going to enter my clients sustainable home.  I will try to continue to add pictures and finally get to my commentary about my trip.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Here is a video of the river otters... telling us in no uncertain terms to leave their lake..
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uh1KGGRGZiI
you may have to cut and paste it...

Here is the video I took of some seals lazing of the coast of Peru.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-_DA9h8bQes&feature=channel_page

Sorry to break the news to you, dear Gemini, but the truth of the matter is that the time for fun and games is over for now. It is time for you to buckle down and get to work. Rescue any project that you have let fall by the wayside. You will feel so much better about yourself after having taken that first step toward achieving your goal. Subsequent steps will be infinitely easier than the first.

We got home late last night 12:35 am... I had some coffee to stay awake while driving home and a soda for the drive and needed to let them wear off before I went to bed... so I filled in the extra time by unpacking.  I had problems remembering all of the things that I had purchased.... I stayed up until 3:00 am. 

Matt fell asleep in the car at our normal bed time of about 9 pm.  (we had so many early mornings to see the wild life or squeeze in another monument or two... we got used to going to bed at 8 or 9 pm.)  But I am getting ahead of my story.   

When I unpacked... I only had two pieces of clothes I didn't wear... My bag weighed 22 kilos 50 lbs when I came home and I had to buy an extra suitcase to get everything home... and Matt carried some of my stuff.... and everything in my main suitcase, I mean everything went into the washing machine.  I am on my second load.  We had problems finding a laundry mat close to our hotels and the hotel laundry service was too expensive... $1.00 for a pair of undies and $5.50 for a pair of pants, I bought before the trip for $15.   So being inventive, I washed out three pairs of undies and socks and two shirts in the bathtub of one of the four star hotels we stayed in... rolled them up in a towel to get the extra water off... and hung them up to dry.  It took two nights to get them totally dry.  I packed them away in a plastic bag for the travel.  The last night I had to do one more pair of undies... to make it through the trip.  I confess... I did wear a one t-shirt and shorts for a second day for the drive home yesterday too much trouble to wash, again.  Hmmmm 

Hmmm I can't decide whether to write or put up pictures first.... I haven't seen the pictures yet... so maybe I will do that.  It may take me awhile to get organzied... so bear with me.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

  We flew back June 18, and got in at 6:00 AM on the 19th.  So we mosied up the state of Florida.  We got home at 12:30 tonight... hmmmm more tomorrow.  Marilyn

I wrote this in a email and decided to post it here... sorry no spell check in English here.

Machu Picchu was really cool.  The night before I went to bed with altitude sickness... a really bad headache.  We took the train to Aqua Calentis... met our guide to wisked us up to Machu Picchu.  My headache was better with the lower altitude, but I was tired because of chewing coca leaves all night to try to releave the headache.  I discovered later they have caffine... hmmm

We had a two hour tour with a very dramtic guide... at the end he gave me a birthday gift, a pretty Incan decorated purse. It surprised me and brought tears to my eyes.

Then we wandered for another couple of hours.  I laid down for a while in the shade of a tree while Matt, Jon and Kathy explored.  Once we got on the bus my fatique caught up with me and I really felt terrible.  When we got back to the hotel... a really really nice 5 star I could bearly struggle up and down the steps to get to our room.  All I wanted to do is sit in a hot tub... and soak my aching body.  But the pool was cold and there was no tub in my room so I decided to get a massage. 

I got a Rieki massage I think it is Incan, where they don´t massage you, but bearly touch you, giving their energy to you to restore you mind body and spirit.  I could feel her hands get hot.  My middle finger of my left hand has been numb since I began taking the malaria medicine... when she put her hands over it, my right foot twitched something crazy... I think she told me... me that my left hand is sore because I give to others all of the time and my right foot twitching meant that I don´t get much back... hmmm sounds like me... she also said that my decision was not final, which I think means I don´t have to stay at SCAD. I came out it it much restored in both body and spirit. 

I went back to the room and cleaned up.  The shower was amazing rain shower head so it felt like you were under an rain shower or water fall in the forest.  Once we got cleaned up we went for a drink and dinner.  We met a really nice father and daughter who had just liked the Incan trial. Five days.  They said it was wonderful.  Matt met them the next day.

When we went to dinner, we had a wonderul meal delicious meal.  They gave me a  cake and sang me happy birthday.  It was wonderful.  We were all tired and so happy to go to bed by 8:30 pm.  Ou room included a fire place which Matt lite a fire and we slept the night through to 4:45 am.  I was much restored with a full night sleep after one not so good night and one terrible night sleep. 

We were in line for the buses at 5:30.  I forgot my flash light in Cusco, so while the others stood in line, I bought the bus tickets and a flashlight.

We wanted to see the sunrise and Matt wanted to climb Wayna (sp) Picchu the mountain behind Machu Picchu.  He had to be in line early in order to get the 400 passes to go up each day.  The rest of us decided to not try to go to the summite because we don´t like heights... In addition, 49 people die per year climbing the mountain, so we were both nervous.  We separated, he off to the line for Wayua Picchu and us to the best view of the sunrise. By that time there was enough light so I did not need the flash light. I went up just below the guard shack where the normal of MP pictures are taken... AS I took the first fotos my batter meter came on and said low battery.  I went Matt is going to kill me... I was supposed to get great photos... and my batteries were used up.  Then I remembered the unused flash light and changed out two batteries for the other two and I took at least a hundred fotos... I got absolutely wonderful photos of the sun rise.  There was a cloud floating across the site just before sun rise, It was totally amaing.  I can´t wait to see the fotos on my computer.

Once the sunrise was over and Matt had not joined us... I knew he was going up the mountain... so I decided to walk up to the Sun Gate while Kathy and Jon went up Machu Picchu.  My path is the part of the Incan Trail.  I almost turned back because there was an area that was only 24¨wide with a steep, steep inclide, but I persevered and got to the gate pausing about five to six times to catch my breath and going up some of the steps on my hands and feet.  Along the way I took photos of the MP with my back to the stones.  Did I say already I hate heights.  I met a couple of people at the top and Sacha a professor of Social Sciences from University of Manitoba.  He and I walked back down together.  It took about an hour of climbing to get up there and another 45 minutes to get down.  He was very gracious and offered me his arm on each set of very uneven stairs.  I had a delight time visiting with him he is from the Ukraine orginally.  We talked about teaching, Ph.D.s (he needs to get his in the next five years) and I gave him a tour of MP that we had the day before. 

We waited for Matt for a couple of minutes at the bottom of WP, but when he did not show up I went back to the hotel to check out.  I sat by the pool for an hour or two just process the wonderful days... until the conquering hero came back.  We sat for awhile and then got a tour of the orcid garden...

They have a market between the hotels and train station, I bought a few gifts.  We caught the train back to Cusco... it was a beautiful ride, espically with the mountians and the full moon.   We were picked up by the tour group and deposited back at the hotel we stayed in two nights ago. 

We got another full night of sleep.  Matt had altitude sickness and slept for 12 hours.  

I am in Cosco in Peru.  I am having a wonderful time.  Spent four relaxing and informative days in the Jungle lots of early mornings to watch the wild life.  We saw five kinds of monkey, wild river otters (endangered) and lots of birds and nature.  Then two wonderful days in Machu Picchu.  Was up at sunrise yesterday to watch it rise over the ancient village.  Photos when I get home.  Today we tour Cusco and tororrow to the Sacred Valley then a bus to Puno and Lake Titicaca.  Hope everyone is fine.  Love and kisses, Marilyn    

I leave for Peru in a few minutes.  I am not taking my computer and phone so will pretty much be technology free while I am there.  I am hoping to be able to wean myself from my blogging emailing habit for 20 day.  I want to so much be in the moment.  So I will try to not update while I am gone... but I may not be able to resist... I am keeping a journal so will be able to relate my stories when I get home.

 I hope that you have a delightful time while I am gone.  Love and kisses, Marilyn