Fields of Barley

Golden fields of barley with snow-capped Andes behind.  Beer is a big seller in Peru and it is heavily taxed, bringing in needed revenues to the communities.  You see a lot of Barley growing

Cusco - Museum of Pre-Columbian Art

Incan Stonework - so impressive!

Don't these stones look like the fake stone at Disneyworld? Well, they are real, and were built by the Incas, entirely by hand-labor, thousands of years ago.

The Incas built as well, or better than, other illustrious civilizations like the ancient Egyptians or the Mayans.  The Incas used all manpower, too, because the only pack animals they had (until the Spanish invaded and brought horses, etc) were llamas and alpacas, which are not strong enough to pull massive stones through the jungle.  Instead, thousands of native Incas did the task, pulling the tremendous stones on logs or stone rollers from the quarries into Cusco.

Rand would have made a magnificent Incan - he is so strong!  Here he is in the Temple of the Moon, a piece of impressive Incan architecture and construction.

Peru is in an earthquake zone and the Incas knew how to construct massive edifices that would withstand big earthquakes.  The stones are masterfully cut to fit together in a perfect, tight interlocking weave. Each stone is pillowed. They are a masterpiece to behold

Cusco Peru - Shaman Lucas

This morning, we had our trip blessed by a famous Peruvian Shaman named Lucas. Lucas made a package of many different symbolic substances that we will bury in Mother Earth in a ceremony tomorrow.  Rand and I heard that Lucas was especially well known for his coca leaf readings, and that people journeyed from far away to seek a reading.  After the group blessing, we asked Lucas if he would give us each a coca leaf reading and he obliged.  Zack came with us to translate and then Tim and Robby were curious enough to join us. Eventually, Lucas read everyone's coca leaves!  The good news is that we all have wonderful futures ahead of us.

Cusco, Peru -

Cusco, Peru - Night Life

Some snapshots of our fun first evening in Cusco - we started by going to Norton's Pub, a bar that had a balcony over Plaza de Arme.  We sat on the narrow balcony having a drink and watching the people and the festivities going on below us.  We had a great time!

After the sun went down,

 we went inside and played darts for a while.  Rand is a dart master and Ellen is happy just to hit the board

We had a wonderful dinner at Boca Restaurant in Cusco last night. Delicious Argentinian wine, Peruvian delicacies like heart, kidneys on the antipasto platter, Guinea Pig on the menu (no takers), Alpaca, which we decided was tough and not very good.  I stuck with vegetarian and had delicious herbs and flavors in my curried lentil soup and grilled vegetable platter.  

Cusco, Peru - Around Town

A few images from our first day in Cusco. 

Cusco, Peru - arrival

It was a long, long trip from San Diego to Cusco, including a layover of 5 + hours in Lima between Midnight and 5AM (giving Rand just enough time to find a driver and explore Lima and environs while the boys napped in the airport).  Our early morning flight then brought us over the Andes into the beautiful town of Cusco, at 11,300 ft elevation.

We are staying at a wonderful Orient Express Hotel called the Monasterio in Cusco.  

They greeted us warmly with coca tea (supposed to help us acclimate more easily to the altitud

e.  Here Zack and Robby are sipping their tea.

The hotel is a beautiful and comfortable combination of luxury, ancient art and traditions (artwork and Cloisters madrigals/chants in the public spaces) and modern conveniences (oxygen piped into our rooms).

We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel and then took morning naps before starting our first day in Cusco.

San Diego, CA - A quick tour of the local fire damage

Here are some pictures of the fire damage in and around our neighborhood. Our hearts go out to our many neighbors who lost their homes or suffered damage. The home right below us burned down and on two streets just around the corner at least six homes were destroyed.

We were very fortunate to have had mostly landscaping and outside damage. Trees burned, including a tall King Palm two feet from the house, and pool and patio furniture was burned. A welcome mat six inches from a door incinerated and scorched the flagstone but miraculously the fire didn't jump to the wood trellis above or the house.

It was clear from how close the fires came that the firefighters were heroic in their efforts to save the house as all around it burned. Firefighting teams from Sacramento, San Mateo, Palo Alto and other far off California towns came to Rancho Santa Fe to save our community and we are incredibly grateful to them.

More picture to come...

End of the Asian Adventure

We are heading home!!! After over 35,000 miles (1/7th the distance to the moon!). We are on our way back home. The people we met, the times we had and the food that we engourged ourselves on were fabulous, colorful and welcome. Talk about diversity.

So much else to be thankful for

Well it has been quite a month: My Mom has launched to her heaven, Asian Adventures, fires in
San Diego, support for friends and friends support of us. As thanks giving nears: we have so much to be thankful for.

Yesterday was the last day of our Asian Adventure. We are back to our abnormal lives.

As the last 10 days have been so full we have not been able to post. So I am going to back fill some of those days and evenings. If interested take a look back in time and you will get some insight into the many adventures of Ellen and Rand.

We love you.
Thanks for being in our lives.