Tuesday, January 23, 2007

South America!

Ellen and I went to Peru for 12 days, and had the trip of a lifetime. It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It began, essentially, with Ellen having her passport stolen in Cuzco. This led us to see the insides of police stations and embassies we otherwise would never have seen. Lucky us!
We were not deterred, however, and we continued to whitewater raft, mountain bike, and hike in the Andes Mountains. All sports extreme, with a capital X. This is us after whitewater rafting down the Urubamba River (Class IV Rapids).


This is us on a muddy biking trail, on our way to see some ruins.....




MachuPicchu was stunning, and a great payoff after a 4 day trek up and down ginormous mountains. The altitude was a problem for me, especially with a couple of broken ribs. The highest point was 3850 meters, or 12,628 feet. The air was so thin, and breathing was noticeably harder than the 700 foot elevation of St. Paul!

And here's the spectacular MachuPicchu!
(We could hardly contain our excitement.)

I did go running today, the first time since being in S. America. I was expecting it to be easy, compared to what my body had been going through the last 2 weeks, but it was not. First of all, it's COLD here. Secondly, not only are the roads not plowed, but neither are the few sidewalks we have. So frustrating. Anyway, I guess I'll have to deal with it because I don't see spring arriving anytime soon.

4 comments:

Unknown said...

Sounds like a fabulous trip, and it wouldn't really be an event if there wasn't a little craziness in there! The pictures are awesome. I am so jealous. Good luck running in the snow.

Anonymous said...

I say ditto to Bridget's comment. I am so JEALOUS!!!! Your picturs are wonderful. I sure am glad that Ellen got a new passport that had to be scary! Thanks for sharing. Molly

Katers said...

iAt first, I thought you had shacked up with some guy and was sharing photos, then I looked closer and realized it was Ellen! (No Ellen, I don't think you look like a guy, but the face and hat threw me a curve). I had a real good laugh. Sounds like the trip of a lifetime, I'd love it, except with more liquor and less exercise...

Unknown said...

Ellen, I hate to break it to you, but YOU ARE THE MOOSE.

The pix are MUCH more amazing when you click on them and they are so huge!! Welcome home you two, we missed you something awful.