My back is still tender from my massage yesterday, but I am going swimming today.  I will take it easy in the pool, but I really have not swum since last week... except to paddle around a little.  I have been walking quite a bit...

Hopefully during the day I will get the rest of the pictures loaded onto my fifth PP.  I have fifty slides on each one.  Some of the sides have up to five photos showing details of flowers, architecture, wild animals, even the Nasca lines.  I wish there was some way to load these shows up here... but I haven't figured out how to do it.  Maybe as a video and I can add Peruvian music... I will have to think on that.

Tonight Connie and I are going to the Peruvian event at Armstrong University.  They are going to have food, pisco sours and a movie about two dancers coming back from New York to discover their roots.  I am excited to go.  Hope your day is grand. 

Well today it took all day to put up the Nasca line photos... I tagged the photos I wanted yesterday, but it was so hard to see the beige figures in the beige desert... I had to look at large photos to look again to see the figure to label them.  That happened about three times to get them labeled correctly.  I have three more locations to put in... So one more day or maybe two to get the Power Points done. 

So tonight I am writing another stop here... hmmmmmm

Okay so we get in the car to go to the bus station after killing two hours in Arequipa... we ask our driver/guide when we would be getting into Nasca.  Our itinerary said that we would get in at 12:30 midnight. They said well the bus trip is ten hours... so we will not get in until 4:00 in the morning... I was really pissed.  By this time we had been on the go at a different location for four nights in a row and I was just plain tired.  We were used to going to bed at 9:00 PM because of all our early mornings... and I don't sleep well on moving vehicles.  We said that we were not happy, but there was no point in bitching to them.  It wasn't their fault.  They took us to the bus station bought our tickets and left us to steam. 

The bus was another first class bus, with cushy seats, but this time we were with all Peruvians.  They fed us and then they put on movies (Matt had to ask them twice to turn up the sound (we could not read the Spanish subtitles).)  We watched two movies and then tried to sleep. The road was really curvy and this was a big bus. Matt got a little car sick because of the swaying of the bus.  We switched places so that he was closer to the center of the bus.  They wanted us to close the curtains, but it helped my stomach to see outside.  We finally fell asleep when the bus got on the road along the coast which had fewer hairpin turns.  The ride seemed to take forever.

Then, the stewardess was there to make us get off at Nasca.  They bus had made good time and we arrived at 2:00 AM rather than the expected 4:00 AM.  We stagger off the bus and our pick up person is not at the Nasca bus station.  Nasca at 2:00 in the morning is pretty wild west.  The shops are all shuttered up and the only people on the streets were seem shady.  We were told to be careful of cabs because they can take you somewhere off the beaten track and rob you. That was what was so great about our tour we had never taken a cab in Peru.  The man at the bus station tried to call our two phone numbers we had from our tour and neither worked.  He found us a cab for us that we could trust.  The cabdriver drove us to the hotel (he got went past the hotel by a block and had to back up down the street.)  The town was really scary all closed up.  We staggered to our hotel room, I took a shower and went to sleep by 3:00.  The 9:00 wake up call came early.  We checked out of the hotel before we left for the airport.

We ate breakfast and were picked up and taken to the airport.  Within five minutes we were checked in and ten minutes later we were loading in the plane.  The take off was perfect.  I told my self... they do this every day Marilyn... they do this everyday.  Once in the air the piloet would tip the plane one way and would say this is the "space man" and circle it.  Then, he would tip to the other side and circle it again... then he would go to the next one.  We saw the space man, the whale, the hummingbird, the condor, the frigate bird, the monkey, the spider, and about five other shapes... plus all the the angled, straight lines and geometric shapes.  It was truly amazing to see those old large objects in the high desert...

So we were done with our Nasca events by 11:00 AM.  We went back to the hotel and walked around the now busheling town.  I bought some jewelery made by the artist who sold it to me.   We had a really nice lunch at a local restaurant.   Then we got our suits on and hung out at the pool until we needed to catch the bus to our next stop Ica.

Love and kisses, Marilyn
 

Putting my photographs up into Power Point presentations... Since only about three people are going to see them.  I just feel as if I need to get them sorted and organized.  Carole don't feel as if this is a lot of work... I sit at a computer and copy photos, group them and label them.  I am enjoying reliving my trip.  This is absolutely nothing like slogging through my dissertation last summer. 

In addition I am trying to finish my written description of our trip.  I hope that you are enjoying reading about our travels.  It is nice to document the trip so that we don't forget all of the fun we had and amazing sights we saw.... and anyway I don't have anything else to do with my time off in the summer... Well... soon I am going to finish painting my living room and kitchen.  So anyway don't feel sorry for me I am enjoying this process.  I just can't believe it is taking about three hours to condense 500 photographs into 50 slides.  Oh and I still need to load photos on this blog and in facebook.  I wish Windows Live let me write comments on the photos so you knew what you are looking at... they used too.

This morning I am having a massage and then I have a doctors appointment... so it will be a while before I load the photos upon on PP...   Have a great day!  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Okay today I worked on loading more photos on PP.  I am pushing forward to get these presentations done... but tonight I cannot load any more photos, because my hand is sore.  So I thought I would write. 

I went to the chiropractor this morning my ribs, back neck feel better.  Connie and I went to a Peruvian event at a Armstrong University. They had photos of Peru and some contemporary movies.  We didn't go to the movies, but will on Friday night.  

Our trip to Peru continued.... Arequipa...  Our van got back to Arequipa from Colca Canyon around 4 o'clock.  We checked back into the fancy hotel (the Colonial house that became a mint, then a hotel) Matt and I went for a walk around town.  Looking a shops and wandering around.  We both felt creepy when we saw a man breaking into a public telephone and soon after someone seemed to be following us.  We went into a store and then headed back to the hotel.  Over all Matt was excited because he found some really nice woolens to buy for his mom especially alpaca. 

We ate at the hotel.  The food was great.  We had the restaurant to our selves except we had young man playing a guitar and  pan flute.  It was wonderful music.  I bought his CD.  I took another bath before we went to bed.  We had a later morning that usual.  9:00 AM I think.  We had breakfast in the courtyard.  It was quite cool, but they turned on space heaters.  The food was fantastic.  We were met by a young woman who took us to our first stop a convent right around the corner from out hotel.  There was another tour guide at the convent. 

The convent was amazing.  It was quite big and once housed many women.  The tour guide told us about how the women lived in the 16, 17 and 18th century.  I am not sure I remember this all perfectly.... The novices would start at 11 years old and for four years they would live in a a fairly large room, but all alone.  They would learn religion by memorizing things by rote.  Their families had to be wealthy to support them.   After they became nuns, they could live in houses alone or with other nuns. Each house had four servants.  They also were supported by their families.  By the 1800s they moved into dormitories and large mass dining rooms.  The convent is still in use.   I think there are 184 women living there

The convent was really a beautiful structure painted in bright colors.  It had beautiful courtyards and wonderful flowers.  One courtyard had large jugs lined up side by side with the top open to free air... with flowing warm water down the center... for the servants to wash clothes in... 

When we left, we were met by a male tour guide who took us to the main square, showed us two churches.  When he let us go we bought tickets to see Junita.  She was the young girl that was found in a glacier at the top of one of the near by volcanoes.  It was a really interesting presentation.  They talked about how she was sacrificed during a time of drought.   It talked about her journey walking from Cusco and her  final end.  Then we saw her body preserved by the ice at the top of a mountain.

We went shopping with Holly and Bob and had lunch with them near the church.  It was a relaxing day. 

As we were being driven to the bus station, we asked our guide when could we expect to get into Nasca.  We were shocked to find out we would get in at 3:00 AM.  I was NOT HAPPY about that at all.   I will talk about this later... Love and kisses, Marilyn

Matt left for Switzerland last night.  Connie and I took him to the airport and we went out to dinner to a Sushi restaurant.  It was really good.  During the day and into the evening I loaded photos up on my power point presentations... I also found the names of the places we went.  I had to find the ticket to get some of the spelling Saqsayhuman.  I now am half way through the trip and I cannot believe how long it is talking to put the pictures up.  Connie and I are going for a walk.  Have a great day.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmmm Sunday Matt and I went for a walk out in Richmond Hills.  It is a four mile walk around a square of nature... once you start you can only go forward or turn around...  Almost from the beginning I was getting a sharp pain in my back like a knife stabbing me just above my left shoulder blade.  It is the spot that my massage therapists and I call my traditional spot.  My first chiropractor called it my evil rib.  It took him six weeks for him to finally get that rib back where it belonged. It is the pain is what keeps going to the chiropractor and getting a theraputic massage regularly.  Usually it is just a stab of pain when I reach wrong... I have never had it last for a whole hour.  I got home and rolled around on the floor with a tennis ball trying to relieve it and then put a Thermocare heat wrap on it.  Finally the pain let up.  I have been walking around with the heat wrap for two days.  Last week I was having problems with my shoulder hurting so I could not swim well... now my evil rib.... sometimes it is a pisser getting old.  greeehhh.    Well at least it lets me know in a very major way that the money I am spending on chiropractors and massage therapists is necessary to stay out of pain.  

Yesterday, I worked on the second PP presentation (probably out of five total) of my trip.  I also got in touch with one of my friends in Michigan about getting some judges for the IDEC Regional Conference.  It was really nice to get caught up with her life.  I tried to reschedule my chiropractor appointment, but they didn't call back... I didn't try to swim, but walked with Matt in the nieghborhood in the evening.  It was a nice walk because after the evening downpour the air was almost cool.  It is really hot down here right now.  Hmmmmm

For those of you from Michigan I don't think that I am going to make it north this August.  I spent too much money in Peru and want to spend as much time with my sister Connie as I can.  We are lucky that she had a job here in Savannah this summer... her next job could be back in Washington State.  Hope your day was grand.  Love and kisses,  Marilyn 

I have some students that are interested in hearing about my trip.... a shortened version from the written form.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

I cannot believe how long it takes to load photos up on power point... it is because each group of photos has from 500 to 700 photos to look through to choose the best.... hmmmmmm  My back is painin' me today.  Hope your day is wonderful.   Love and kisses, Marilyn

We had the morning off in Puno.  It is a town nested on the edge of Lake Titicaca going up the side of a very large hill.  We had breakfast and checked out of the hotel and left of bags with the bellboy.  We wandered down the street to the main square.  Stopping in alpaca stores for Matt and Kathy souvenir stores for me.  Jon is not a great shopper. 

We wandered around the shopping street, square and around the cathedral.  We took photos of the scenic views and ate lunch at a beautiful courtyard cafe right off of the square.  We wandered back past the hotel to look at the details of the city some more.  By 1:00 we headed back to the hotel and waited the addition hour to be picked up for the bus.  Mieko was leaving as we arrived in the hotel. 

This bus was pretty amazing.  It had a lower area that was first class.  It had big over sized seats like big leather recliners and even had foot rests.  The stewardess gave us a sandwich box for dinner and turned on two movies for us to watch.  When we loaded it was like old home week.  Andy and Debbie and their kids from London, Ontario were there as was Holly and Bob from Charlottesville.  There was only one person in the area we did not know.  We settled in for the six hour trip joking about the accommodations. 

The hotel in Arequipa was one of the four star hotels we chose to stay in.  It was a old colonial home that had been converted to a mint in the 1800s and then was converted to a hotel by building a new four story tower for most of the the guest rooms. 

We ate at the restaurant in the hotel.  It was in the old part of the house with big thick stone walls and deep set windows.  The food was really good.  Of course we were there earlier than most people because of our early mornings.... The service was impeccable and the chief came up to see if we liked our meal.  We tottered off to bed, but first I had a bath.  This was the first hotel to have a bathtub and I made good use of it, which of course made me late for my 9:00 bed time....

In the morning we were picked up early and took a van around the volcanoes circling Arequipa and headed to the Colca Canyon.  Holly and Bob were in nthe van with us as were three people from France.  It was a long trip through very arid and desolate desert.  We did see many herds of alpaca, llyma and vicyna... and very hardy people tending them.  We stopped half way for a potty stop and some more cocoa tea.  When we crossed the high pass, we stopped and I put up little pile of stones to in memorial to my sister Marci... for Connie and I.  The tree of us together at the top of a mountain... 

As we came down into Colca Canyon, it became greener again.   There is a river at the bottom of the valley and there are small villages situated along the river.  We had lunch in a buffet.  Food was okay.  They dropped us off at the hotel and said our guild told us he would take us to the hot springs at 5:30 if we wanted to go.  Matt was having allergy problems with our hotel room... we looked at others, but they were just as bad.  I think it was the cleaner that they sprayed in the room was molding.  So we opened the windows and tried to air out the room... they air was already quite cool. ...  We finally decided that  needed to leave the room for a while so we decided to walk the three kilometers to the hot springs.  We saw the French people as we heading toward town. 

It was a beautiful afternoon, the sun was shining the water was glittering in the river and we walked along the road to the spring... and we walked... and we walked.  Quite often in Savannah we will walk three miles and think nothing of it.  So three kilometers seemed really easy, but this walk seemed to be three miles rather than 3 k.  Part of if was we were not sure exactly where we were going ... and we thought that each large building had to be the springs... and it wasn't. Finally we asked a farmer if the hot springs were close and she said just around the corner... and darned if they weren't.  The road actually dead ended at the springs.  We were very relieved to be there, but apprehensive about walking back up the incline to get home....

The hot springs had five or six different pools, with separate locker and dressing areas for each.  There were about twenty people in our pool area when we arrived, about forty when we left.  The dressing rooms were not as clean as I would like, I had to balance on my shoes while removing one pant leg at a time and sticking my foot in the suit all while trying to not touch the floor... Once you got your suit on... the water was wonderful.  We sat in the pool for about an hour talking and looking at the the majestic mountains that rose up all around us...  and of course visiting with other bathers... 

Once we got dressed,  we just started up the road...  when up drove our guide with the van.  Yeah!!!!  We were so happy to not have to trudge home.  He said there was a dinner with a show at a restaurant that night if we wanted to go we could join him.  So we said yes.  As the sun went down it really began to get cold. 

By the time we got to the restaurant, inside the restaurant was about 60 degrees... we were cold.  So I order asparagus soup and spaghetti.  The soup was great... the spaghetti... not so much.  Soon after our food came the entertainment started.  They were a good band, but the dancers did a lot of the same dances as before.  The got Matt up to do some kind of Mama Pache (mother earth) fertility ceremony.  Holding corn beer to the four point of the earth and drinking it to Mama Pacha.  We sat with the French people and the girls and Matt were dragged up on the floor to dance.    Once the warm food  warmed up it was a fun evening.  Matt thought that the French man with their group had a crush on me.  I made him sit by me and we used his little English and my non existent French to tease each other during the evening.

When we go back to the hotel, our room was cold... we turned on the space heater, but it didn't do much.  Luckily I had taken a shower when I got back from the hot springs... Matt put on is silk long johns and piled six blankets on his bed to keep warm... I only had one blanket and added a second in the middle of the night.... my hot flashes keep me pretty warm.  This is the first place I could have used my silk long johns, for dinner, night time and during the morning of the next day.... Any I couldn't because of course they were is Arequipa with my big suitcase.   Greeehhh

The next morning we were up at 4:15 am to get breakfast before our 5:30 van.  The hotel dining room was really attractive and I watched the sun brighten the sky with a profusion of flowers in the garden and the mountains as the backdrop... it was wonderful.  The French people and our group piled in the van.  We made a stop in a small village to watch some children dancing in the village square, to look at a church and of course shop at the booths set up all around the village square.  The van left to pick up Holly and Bob who were staying in a near by fancy hotel for the night.  It was really cold on that square.  Once we were all assembled we headed up the canyon about one and one half hours to the place from which the condor fly. 

We stopped a couple of places along the way for the now traditional souvenirs spot... sometimes the women would spread their blanket seemly clinging to the side of the road with the view behind them.... quite often that include a drop off just behind their stalls.  At one point I was worried about two three year olds falling off the mountain... because someone gave them a balloon and they were chasing it while not looking where they were going. 

When we arrived at the condor spot, there were restrooms and I made us of them... there was also the concrete viewing areas.   I walked down to a lower viewing (I did not want to walk up the steps yet again, from the restrooms).  I had hopes that the lower viewing area I would be able see more birds with fewer people.  There were already dozens of vans with hundreds of tourists lining up to see the show and most up at the top of the hill.  Matt got a little mad at me that I didn't go back up the stairs... he had walked up the steps and back down to find me.... By this time I was beginning to feel that I was getting buns of steel from all of the steps in Peru and was beginning to avoid them when I could.  Soon I saw Holly and Bob, Andy and Debbie and their kids and some of the people from the hot springs and restaurant the night before. 

In about fifteen minutes we began to see some movement in the birds. The birds nest in the mountain crevices at night and when the air heats up in the morning they jump off the walls and let the rising warm air lift them up to great heights to glide on the winds.  It took about another half an hour to really be able to see a lot of birds flying, but it was magical. 

On the way back we stopped for more souvenirs and our guide showed us Incan grave sites way up the stone face of the mountain.  One of the truly amazing things about the drive back was the expansive Incan terraced construction for agriculture, that is still in use today.  There was miles and miles of intrequite terraces built all along the river.   We ate lunch at another buffet and then piled back in the van for the four hour trip back to Arequipa. 

A this point in the trip the altitude began to really ware on me.  Cusco was 10,000, Puno 8,000.  Arequipa was also about 8,000 feet.  But when we left there we went up a pass at 12,000 feet to get into the canyon area... and then back down to about 8,000 feet then up again to the canyon to see the Condors flying and back down and up again to go back over the pass to get back to Arequipa.  All of this up and down in about 24 hours.  The the end of the second day my head didn't know what it elevation it was at and I was exhausted.  I stretched out in the back seat to sleep all of the way back in the van. 

More to come.... Arequipa and Nasca next...

Saturday morning with coffee.  Yesterday was a good day.  I went swimming with Connie, but since I had a massage the night before... my shoulder and ribs  were pretty sore so I only swam, actually mostly kicked 200 meters... We went to lunch with a lady from the pool.  It was really nice. I dropped Connie off and went to the store to pick up a few things and came home. 

I have agreed to to find some people from Michigan to judge a design competition for interior design educators.... So I finally had all the information I needed and started making calls.  No one was home or in their offices.  I hope they will call me back today.

Last night Matt came over for dinner.  He has a house he is designing for his best friends father.  They really like his initial design... As we went for a walk, we stratigised how ask for his fee to finish the project.  We watched Doc Holl*wood.... it was a fun movie.

I hope that you have a terrific day.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Those of you trying to use the new Office/Vista... Microsoft has decided to hide everything... the logo on the top left side of the screen is the access point for the menu with New, save, etc... Hit new and you will get a list of the office programs you want to use.... it only took me about three hours to find that!!!!! Be careful when you save that you ask it to put it in documents... or you can only find it by looking at recent documents.   greeehhhhh!!!!!  Why they changed all of this is beyond me... One of my friends, who is a conspiracy (I still cannot get the spell check to work) nut, said they are trying to increase their revenues for the help desk!  It is extremely irritating.

I made my first power point presentation from my trip to Peru... I can't show all 2450 photos... even though each one is brilliant.  I tried to choose 10 photos to show of the first stop of my trip... I ended up with 25 slides... many with multiple photos... but it is hard to tell the story without showing the cool and interesting stuff we experienced.  I was able to photograph three monkeys, I was sure I didn't get anything but leaves... So I am excited about that. 

Hope your day is grand.

Love and kisses, Marilyn

Go to "new" and a list of choices shows up!!!!   Yeah.... Marilyn

Frustating evening... I was trying to start my Power Point of my trip to Peru and could not find the program on my new computer.  When I attempted to re-load it and it said it was on there... so after about two hours of attempting to find the application... finally I gave up.  The box says it has Power Point in the program.  Maybe it is now part of Word.  Hmmmm  Then my wireless connection stopped working... so it was a weird night.  I finally gave up and plugged in my computer just before I went to bed. My spell check is still not working on this blog, either.  Greeeehhhh

Back to Puno, Peru.  Okay so we get up in the morning at about six and eat breakfast and are ready to go by seven.  The van takes us down to the docks for a boat ride out to Uros (need to check and make sure that is right) the floating city of 2,500 people built on floating reeds on Lake Titicaca.  It was interesting because there were about 20 to 30 boats all tied together and we had to walk over about eight boats before we entered ours.  It took about an hour to get out to the reed city.  We were greeted by a group who lived there.  They did a demonistration about how the islands were built and then they showed us around.  A young woman took my hand and showed me her house and sold me a wall hanging of her stitchery.  Her family of four lived in a one room grass shack.  That actually looked pretty comfortable.  When back outside they showed us little areas where they had flamingos and an separate little island inside the big island for their gennie (sp?) pigs.  Then they gave us a  ride in their reed boat.  In the reed boat Matt really became friends with Mieko and I met a family from London, Ontario.  Andy and Debbie(?) and their two kids.  I was really amazed that Debbie had set up the whole tour herself.  They were at the same locations as us for the next three days, so she did an amazingly good job in setting up their tour.  I would love to know how much they spent.  I really don't think we paid that much more for our guided trip where we were picked up at almost every localle and delivered to our correct locations.

We spent about an hour, hour and half on the island and then loaded back into the boat to go to a island further out in the lake.  The boat ride took about an hour and a half and the day was beautiful.  It was a little chilly but Matt and I went up on top to enjoy the ride.  Once we arrived we again had to walk across boats to get to the island.  There was a very steep ramp going up to the village square.  Lake Titicaca is the highest nagivecalable (sp?) lake in the world.  So we were pretty high altitude... and I had to stop about five time to catch my breath to get up the hill.  It was a ramp with a few steps.  Once at the top they had this beautiful village with a town square.  We were allowed to shop and rest.  then we walked up another path to go to someones home for lunch.  There was about twenty people in our group.  They gave us a choice of trout or chicken.  I was a good meal and the view out the window was amazing. It was breathtakingly beautiful.  It looked a lot about how I imagine Greek islands... bright sun, blue sky, sparkling water, and craggy rocks... bright colored houses with beautiful flowing gardens.  

They told us that this island was settled by decendents of the Incas and that you had to be brought up here or marry a native to be able to live here.  The commuity is very tight knit.  They also speak a dialect of the old Inca language. 

After lunch, we crossed over the rest of the island and came down 527 stairs to get down to the dock and our boat.  I didn't count them the guide told me that once I was at water level.  That was really hard.  Again the steps were uneven and made of uneven stones.  There were not a lot of steep drop offs on these steps, but there were some places where I was still clinging to the wall because of smallish drop offs of 10 to 20 feet and the uneveness of the stairs.  The natives of the island, both young and old, went by me like I was standing still with large packs on their backs.  Every once and a while there was a big stone that was waste high,  I wondered about those until half way down I saw a native with a very very heavy load on his back stop and rest the pack on the rock without having to put it down.  Oh, so clever, these people.

The boat ride back was long, but still beautiful.  I spent quite a bit of time on top of the boat and some inside drowsing.  We got back around five in the evening.   We went back to the hotel and accessed our e-mail.  We ended up at the same restaurant as the night before and I had the trout Matt had the night before.  It was the best fish I have ever eaten. 

More to come...

Love and kisses, Marilyn

 

We had a ten hour bus trip from Cusco to Puno.  There were stops along the way to see archeological sites, chruches and even to eat.  We got up about 8:00 had breakfast in the hotel and the driver picked us up and took us to the bus station.  I wish I could remember all the names of these sights we went to, but they are mostly Incan names and they won't stick in my memory back.  I will try to add them in from our iternary.

It was a large tour bus with about 30 passangers.  This was the only time on our trip that we were with a big tour group.  Where we all trooped together to see the sights and even eat together.  Matt and I had the first seat.  Kathy and Jon the first seat on the other side.  Behind them were the people from the restaurant from the night before... Holly and Bob from Charlottesville and Mieko, lately a research person at Harvard, but soon going home to Japan.  We spent the next few days with them. 

The first stop was a church about an hour into the ride.  It was typical of the early colonial churches it was built at an old sacred Inca site center for the area.  I don't know if you can tell, but I don't have a lot of respect for the Spaniards who thought that the Inca's were barbarians because they had no method of writing.  The managed and moved water better and had more roads than the Romans.  They had architecture as with stonework as fine and approperiate to its local as the Greeks other ancient civilizations we are familiar with in Europe.  Hmmmm it makes me mad that Colonial mind set.

Okay... So we toured the church.  Everywhere we went in Peru there were women with stalls set up selling trinkets.  They often were dressed in traditional clothes, with children and even animals in tow.  The square was pretty and I took photos of some amazing flowers.  We trooped back on the bus.  The next sight was about another hour.  It was an archaeological sight.  It was a temple made of adobe and stone.  The central wall was really high. We started visiting with Holly, Bob and Mieko.  This was one of the sights that Dr. R talked about in my Pre-Colombian Art and Architecture class I took in 2004.  There was a village set up around the sight of ancient houses... and people currently living there. 

The next stop was lunch.   The had a buffet that Matt didn't like much.  There was live music and I bought two CD's.  I really like the Peruvian music especially the flute.  Again we trooped on to the bus and continued our southward track.  At some point in time they had a college student come on the bus to try to sell CDs about the work they are doing in restoration of sites.  After a while the add was abnoxious... it went on and on and on... and someone asked her to stop. 

We stopped at a museum connected to an archaeological sight.  We saw pottery and metal work and a nicely designed patio, but it was 4 in the afternoon and this trip seemed to be going on for ever. 

As we came south the country side became more and more desert and seemly desolate.  Once we left that village, the road was under constrution.  This huge bus and going down inclines on to dirt tracks for miles and miles.  We came around the top of Lake Titicaca and that town was nothing like the towns in the north.  It was dirty and kind of scary.  The sun was beginnning to set and we were so ready to be in Puno and a little nervous what we would find there.  Once we arrived it was dark and there was a hold up outside of the bus station because cars were in the way to actually get the bus into the station.  Finally after a lot of yelling and arm waying our driver was able to back into the station.  Because so many people were getting off at the same station it was kind of a mad house until our bags came off of the bus.  We dragged them inside to be met by our person to be wisked off to the hotel.  I must admit it was wonderful to get into a new town and know that there was someone who knew where they were going to take you to your hotel, help you check in and tell you good places to eat.  

We put our bags in our hotel room and walked down to the main square to get dinner.  We found this really nice restaurant our guide had told us about... and Matt ordered  Trout Milinaze (Sp?).  I don't remember what the rest of us ordered, but Matt said the fish was amazingly good. This restaurant had really good bread too.  We found that the bread in Peru even in the best restaurants was kind of dried out.  This was more like good hot crusty Italian bread. We gobbled it up.  We saw the Mieko there, but still did not know her well enough to invite her over to eat with us.  As we walked back to the hotel the town was vibrant filled with people... there was some kind of political activities going on, we think having to do with an elections.  We wandered how through the crowds tummies full and minds content.  

More to come... Marilyn

Okay my goal today was to write some more about my trip....  But I also have on my list... getting in touch with the IRS to find out what happened to my refund... well... I filed electronically... but didn't.  The whole tax file is gone from my computer... but luckily I made a copy... So I am sending off the copy of the only copy I have.  Don't know how the file got erased.  I almost never erase files.  But I searched the whole data base... no taxes 2008.  So that pretty much took me most of the afternoon.  Hmmm At least I will be getting my refunds in six weeks and I didn't have to redo my taxes... I hope!!!!

I feel good becasue I am finally marking things off my list of things to do.  Three things in three days, pretty good eh?!?

Connie and I swam and then had lunch together.  I have a jewlery party to go to tonight in the neighborhood, so we ate together early.  My shoulder was still bothering me so I am not going to swim tomorrow.  Matt and I are getting together to try to go to the beach tomorrow, before he leaves for Switzerland. 

Hope your day was grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn 

I will continue to try to do that more regularly.  I have been spending so much time copying files from my old computer, I haven't put up photos... Jorge was asking about Cusco on the phone last night so here a less than half of my photos... of Cusco.  He stayed in the same hotel in Cusco that we did (20 years ago).   Today I am going to go swimming and then put up more photos and write some more about the trip.  Hmmmmm Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmmmm  Well today I actually got some work done.  I was able to put together the invoices for my client's reupholstery fabrics and her new lounge chairs for the back porch facing the canal.  It feels good to get that done.  It only took me a hour or so... I used Word for the first time today on my new computer... first it was hard to find it, then I could not figure out how to save the stupid document.  My old computer had Office 2004... Office 2007 is very different.  Finally something made me hit the logo... Who thought to put the saving menu there????

Connie and I went swimming this morning.  My shoulder was still bothering me a little.  So I swam and kicked, half and half..   I was able to do about 1,000 meters.  When I got home I mowed my front yard and them iced my shoulder.  I hope it will not hurt soon. 

Still working on my photos from Peru.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Hmmm I relaxed yesterday.  When I went swimming with my sister, my left shoulder hurt... so I only did 400 yards.  Then sat in a chair manipulating my arm and shoulder... hmmmmm

On the way home we stopped at the bike shop.  When I got home I basically played on my computer most of the afternoon.  I played a lot of games on the computer... hmmmm  Then Connie and I went to H*rry P*tter.  It was really good... they did a good job simplifying the book so it was pretty understandable. I was worried I was going to cry at the end, but I didn't.

Last night I sorted and copied photos from my old computer.  I almost have everything backed up.  This morning I have sorted Matts photographs from Peru. 

Today I am going to try to weed my flower beds a little, if it is not too hot.  

Hope your day is great.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

Yesterday afternoon I colored the rug for my client.  I think the simpler color scheme works better.  Three colors with carving and changes in textures to show the different shapes. 

Last night, I went to dinner with Helena and Kathy.  It was nice to see them, but weird to not see Connie and Eliot (her dog) for dinner.  After dinner I sat on the sofa copying my old file from my old computer in preparation for loading them here.  I am hoping I can transfer the photographys by Pisca rather than by CD, but I probably need to copy them too so I have hard copies.  I almost thought about buying a external hard drive to copy my photos.  All the Peru pictures are already on here.  I copied them before I wiped the disks.  Hmmmm

Hope your day is good.  I am off to the pool for a swim with my sister, Connie.  Love and kisses, Marilyn

After an hour with the guy my printer is working... Yesterday I had three doctors appointments for tests and a chriopractor apt.  I have been poked and prodded every which way, but everything is fine. 

My cleaning jag continues.  I regorganized my office last night.  Rearranged my office book case, which stuck out in the middle of the room.... so now I have more room in my office.  I cannot open my one closet door, but I only have a filing cabinet in there so... I sorted and tossed four piles of papers and old catalogues... so I am again making progress.  I still need to sort through the four drawer filing cabinet, my bookcase with my books in it, and files and flat files (where my drawings for interior design are stored) upstairs. I also need to finish cleaning the living room, it is half done and clean the kitchen.  Then I can finish the painting that I got mostly done last summer. 

I discoverd Maijong day before yesterday and I am playing it like some fiend.  Spell check is obviously not working. 

Last night when I went to bed I had a terrible time sleeping... greeehhhh finally hit the sofa at 3:30 and slept.  greeehhhh

Hope your day is grand.  Love and kisses, Marilyn