Adventuriety / Inspirietry
After the sensory overload of Tokyo, we were all looking forward to a little nature and a slower pace. The charming town of Nikko was recommended both by friends and guidebooks. It is located a little more than two hours north of Tokyo and offers both the UNESCO World Heritage that includes 103 buildings or structures belonging to two Shinto shrines and one Buddhist temple...
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Adventuriety
I have been behind on my blogging more than usual after this past South America jaunt and have spent days at home catching up on Peru, Galapagos Islands and Aruba. It’s not unusual for me to lag behind, but it has been much worse lately and when I finally caught up to our latest adventure I happily reported to Scott who had been asking me on...
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Adventuriety
I feel like a real blogger now. I am in the middle of nowhere…literally. I am sitting in the main area of our “lodge” using the wifi, borrowing a power outlet, drinking a local beer. I have taken many planes and a high speed drug boat (I am fairly certain) to get here. Scott and I have been watching La Reina del Sur, a...
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Adventuriety
Today we woke up early and shared Special-K and Granola with a few bananas. After a double-check of the backpack, Grant, Ashley and I headed out of our apartment and hailed a taxi. In Quito there are a wide variety of “taxis” so you have to use a little caution to get the ones that are licensed. Always grab the ones that...
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Adventuriety
Excursion number two out of three began at 7:00 am this morning. Our adventure consisted of a rain-forest hike, zip lining, a nice lunch and some kind of weird tubing-raft hybrid down a river and hanging with some butterflies. We drove north out of Quito toward the town of Mindo. After a couple hours in the car we stopped for our first activity...
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Adventuriety / Domesticiety
There were three main reasons for visiting Quito on our South American trip. First, Daisy had a desire to see the Galapagos Islands which are Ecuadorian territory and accessible through the Quito airport. Second, my father thought it wouldn’t be a bad place to spend some time. He enjoyed Quito in the 80’s and used the surrounding mountains and volcanoes like Cotopaxi to train...
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Adventuriety
By the time we arrived in Aguas Calientes we had been learning and soaking up Andean history and culture for eleven days and we had seen a lot of Inca ruins, five of the ten “Top 10 Inca Ruins to See (that aren’t Machu Picchu)” according to National Geographic to be exact (we didn’t plan that), and a few others not included on the list....
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Adventuriety
It started raining in the middle of the night and we woke early to soggy everything. At least we could enjoy the hot springs again for a few hours before heading out. Ashley, knowing this, was up before the sun and ready to swim. She impatiently waited for 7:00. Scott got a text, we must be in range of a signal…Get on the Bus, one...
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Adventuriety
Day three would be all down hill and a much warmer hike, but the treat at the end would be an evening of swimming and soaking in hot springs which we were all looking forward to. The day would end with our last night of sleeping in a tent, which I was looking forward to. We spent another cold night, waking occasionally to the sounds...
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Adventuriety
Despite the woolen layers, gloves, hats, sleeping bags, etc. we froze our asses off and were relieved to peek out of the tent and observe the lightening sky on the second morning of our trek. After a warm breakfast of pancakes and hot coffee we were ready for Day 2 and the Salkantay Pass. We got an early and cold start for the toughest day...
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