2016 Recap

I'm not sure where 2016 went or why it brought so much ...stuff.  What happened?

Well.
I revisited San Diego and regretted not moving there years ago.
Revisited Peter Luger.  It's the same; Keen's is better.
Fell in love with the Ritz Carlton.
Fell in love with Portland, ME for the millionth time.
Watched a billion musicals.
Won a burger cooking contest. WOOT.
I visited South Korea for the first time.  And ate some live octopus.
Drank at the world's tallest outdoor bar in Hong Kong.
"Ended" my dream renovation.
Celebrated some doggie birthdays.
Did some DIY legal work.  2/2.  littlewoot.
Got creamed in a car accident.
...and got a new car.
John Oliver's worst nightmare happened.
Took my first solo trip.  To Hawaii.  For a second.

Updates

It's been a while since I've updated.  The house is trudging along slowly, Zippy got totaled and I've taken a few small trips here and there.

Looking forward to a break so I can post a few pictures.

Peru Part IV: Thanksgiving in Lima

After three days in the country, it was time to return to Lima to explore what some call Peru's "ugly" city.  The drive from the airport to our Airbnb in the lovely Miraflores neighborhood was quite nice, and reminded me a bit of Chicago.   Seeing beaches at the edge of a city always throws me for a loop though.

While Lima may have the (undeserved) title of being an ugly city, it is home to many of the best restaurants in South America.  J succeeded in convincing/ coercing/ guilting me into parting with some dough to accompany him to a few, so our time in Lima was somewhat dictated by our restaurant reservations to Central and Astrid y Gaston.

Between reservations, we managed to squeeze in some sight seeing in our Miraflores neighborhood, neighboring Barranco, and the historical downtown.

Thanksgiving morning yoga at Lima Yoga.
Yoga in Spanish was challenging.

After my yoga sesh (yeah, I said sesh), we walked down to Hijo de Oyala for some outstanding ceviche.  Hijo's not fancy, but one of the hottest ceviche joints in Lima at the moment, and I was eager to compare it to J's fancy schmancy La Mar.

Unassuming and unmatched.

Breakfast of champions: ceviche de pescado y pulpo.

A stroll between meals.

We then headed to the wonderfully decorated Astrid y Gaston for lunch.  J got pooped on after lunch, which was revolting and hilarious at once.   The rest of Thursday afternoon was spent wandering, then waiting for J to process his photos.  He was on his third week of travel, but I was still ready to go.  I was not a happy camper, but J made it up to me with a Thanksgiving guinea pig outing to Panchita.

Something something food salty.  Astrid y Gaston.

Anticuchos and cuy at Panchita.
One of the best Thanksgiving meals ever.

With a Thanksgiving pisco sour, of course.

Friday was spent exploring the artsy-bohemian neighborhood of Barranco, and eating at La Mar and Central.

So many strays.   :(

Chocomuseo

Huaca Pucllana, pre-Incan ruins preserved in the middle of Lima.
This society developed between 200 A.D. to 700 A.D.

Trumpet flower hat.  Not pictured: the car that stopped
 when they saw what I was trying to do, despite my
embarrassed protestations.
(Or who stopped to laugh at the silly tourist.)

Tiradito at La Mar.

Black conch ceviche.
I could have ordered three of these.

Ceviche mixto.

Art.

Museo de la Electricidad.  Looks like my old stove.

No pictures of Central.  I didn't like it.  So there.

Peru Part III: Cusco again and the Sky Lodge

Warrior III over the valley, on top of our pod at the Sky Lodge

After narrowly surviving Montana, we took the bus back to Aguas Calientes for lunch, souvenir shopping, and a massage before catching a different train back to Cusco.  Ok, I got a massage while J went shopping. We took a train from Machu Picchu to Poroy, this time on Peru Rail.  Slightly more expensive, but with a fair amount of 'entertainment'.  Most of the pictures were taken by J.  He's got the fancier camera.

Baila conmigo!

In any event, Peru Rail provides a nice little meal, a fashion show, and an appearance by a costumed creature.  The gentleman in the costume ran up and down the aisles, occasionally sticking his mask in passengers' faces and violently rolling his Rs at anyone who failed to pay attention.  There was no explanation of its cultural significance, so I can only assume the costumed creature brings good luck.  Especially since he singled me out for a public dance-off.

After four hours of dancing, fashion shows, and chatting with our very entertaining passengers, we finally arrived in Cusco, where we took a pair of much-needed showers.  Then we checked out Pisco de Museo, a Pisco joint in town that happens to be owned by one of J's foodie buddies.  J got drunk.  I was entertained by some dreamy musicians.

Ready with the riot gear.

Can you hear the people sing, singing the song
of angry men?

The next day, we witnessed dueling protests in the Plaza de Armas and enjoyed a tasty breakfast and lunch at Cicciolina.

That's the stuff.

My breakfast.

And back for lunch.

After lunch our Sky Lodge guide came to pick us up at our hotel.  After a thirty minute drive where I was cruelly deprived of air conditioning, we arrived at the base of our climb.  Accompanying us for the climb and the night would be two guides and a lovely couple from NC (Kourtney and Jose).

Your room will be on the second floor.  See the three pods at
the top?  Ours was the highest one in the middle.

The via ferrata climb up to the pods took about an hour and change.  The sun was brutal, and I'm pretty sure I would have succumbed to dehydration without multiple water breaks.   Apparently everyone else was secretly a camel, because I was the only one with the hydration issue.

Climbing and climbing...

and climbing.

Success!  Entering the pod.

Room for four, but just for us.

Bathroom with a view

My view at dawn the next morning.

A magnificent spread (and view) for breakfast

Gotta get down somehow, right?  A series of 6 ziplines spanning 2,000 meters took us back to the base.

Wheeeeee!

Peru Part II: Aguas Calientes and Machu Picchu

Sweaty, from the top of Montana. 

From Cusco, we took a cab to the Inca Rail train station in Ollantaytambo that would take us into Aguas Calientes. Sunday might as well have been designated Transport Day, as we made our way towards Machu Picchu via plane(s), taxi cab and train.

Our chariot awaits.

After a somewhat bumpy train ride, we arrived at Aguas Calientes.  I enjoyed my first shower in at least two days before we headed out to look for food.  If you've ever been to Little Italy on a slow day, you'll understand our frustration at being hard sold time after time into empty restaurant after empty restaurant.  Finally, one lucky lad wore us down and we settled in for some mediocre tourist food.  At least we had our first piscos of the trip though.

First piscos in Peru.  Not the last appearance
of the giant camera.

Sopa a la minute.  I've had worse.
But not on purpose.

At the crack of dawn the next day, we set off for Machu Picchu.  In addition to viewing the ruins, we planned to hike up Machu Picchu Montana, a hike that would take us over 10,000 feet above sea level, and provide us with wonderful views of the Machu Picchu citadel.   There are actually two main hikes at MP, Montana and Huayna Picchu.  Huayna Picchu is the more popular hike, and probably more technical, but Montana is the longer hike and takes hikers higher above the ruins. Only a few hundred are allowed to hike either trail each day, so we booked our tickets well in advance of the trip.

5 am breakfast.  I would
later regret not eating more.

In order to avoid crowds and the strong Andean sun, we booked tickets for the first bus to MP.  Although Aguas Calientes is only a short bus ride from MP, we still needed to be up by 5 am for breakfast.

Aguas Calientes.  Reminded me a lot of
a town in Norway along the Flam railway.  And Andorra.

Once we got to Machu Picchu, bypassed the crowds meandering through the ruins and found our way to the trailhead.  The first 20 feet of 'bypassing the crowds' nearly had me throwing in the towel.  The altitude, combined with my complete lack of fitness and the nearly 2 feet rise of each stone step knocked me on my out-of-shape behind.  But, I'd prepaid my hike entry fee and I wasn't about to waste it.

There's MORE of this?

J and I hiked together for about two minutes before he booked it on ahead of me.  The steps were unrelenting: sometimes cobblestones, and other times uneven blocks, but seemingly endless.  As I huffed and puffed and contemplated my life as I labored solo, I wondered if I'd ever see the top of this mountain.  While I stopped at least 10 times to drink water, snack, and curse my lack of preparation, I found my way to the top 85 minutes after my start time.

85 minutes after my start.

Who says clip-on aviators aren't cool?

After we summited, we began the descent, which took me almost as long as the ascent.  My back and knees were not happy, and the sun was now beating down on us with no mercy.  Also merciless were the tour groups milling around the ruins. J managed to get in a few shots, and I free-vesdropped on a few tour guides, but I was ready to be out of the sun and out of my hiking boots.

Machu Picchu ruins with Huayna Picchu in the background.

Peru Part I: Cusco

Plaza de Armas, Cusco

About a year ago, my traveling buddy (and annoying brother from another mother) J asked me if I wanted to go to Peru over Thanksgiving.  I replied, "maybe," and the rest is history.

Inka Kola.
Banana haters beware:
banana soda exists.  

This was a trip full of firsts: my first trip to South America, my first 6 hour, middle-of-the-night wait in an unfamiliar airport in South America, my first cuy experience, and my first time sleeping in a capsule bolted to the side of a mountain.

Some wares at the Central Market

Just getting to Peru was an ordeal.  J's tickets had already been purchased and he'd be arriving in Lima at 8 am.  The plan was to fly straight from Lima to Cusco upon arrival.  Because I wanted to use frequent flyer miles, my flight times were even more limited, and the only flight that fit within the timeline had be landing in Lima at 1:45am, well before J's flight arrived at 8am.    This meant that I'd be waiting in the airport for hours until he got there.

A little fish roe.  Refrigeration optional.

No problem, until I started reading the State Department's warnings about the horrors that could befall me.  However, it turns out that the Lima arrivals area is full of other exhausted people waiting for their loved ones, and I had a pretty good sleep on a bench, and a pretty delicious $0.70 machine-dispensed cappuccino when I woke up. 

Once J arrived, we found the luggage storage area to stow his ski gear and set off for our respective flights to Cusco.  Due to an unhelpful security guard, I nearly missed my flight.  I think J had a nailbiter of a flight, wondering if I'd be at the Cusco airport waiting for him when he landed.

After we arrived in Cusco, we found our hotel to drop off our luggage before heading towards Cusco's Central Market (open on Sundays only).  On the way there, we cautiously avoided a food festival at the Plaza de San Francisco, which we later learned a was a major gastronomic failure and missed opportunity.

Comida Turistica.  No seriously, this was not a good
way to start the trip.  I was very worried.

After picking up a few souvenirs at the Market, we returned to the Plaza de Armas to grab some lunch and retrieve our train tickets for our ride to the town of Aguas Calientes later that afternoon.  

Panama and the Panama Canal

Plane selfie? Coolest picture I've ever taken!

On November 28th, I visited the Panama Canal, one of the "seven wonders of the modern world."  Connecting the Pacific Ocean with the Atlantic Ocean, the 48-mile long waterway took 10 years and $345 million to complete.

The end result?  A 8,000 mile shortcut that over 15,000 ships will wait up to 24 hours to take!

While the French started the project in 1881, it was the US effort under the direction of President Roosevelt in 1904 that got the project finished.  The first ship crossed the canal in 1914.

How does the canal work?  The Atlantic and the Pacific are connected by a 48-mile long waterway, but it's a series of three locks that connect the higher elevation Pacific with the lower elevation Atlantic Ocean.

Three ships patiently waiting their turn.

Like ships passing in the night

Casco Viejo waterfront (Old Panama)

Ship passing through the canal
(with an unironic Panama hat in the foreground)

Some modern buildings on the
way to the airport