The Amazon rain forest

We saw three caimen last night... The biggest one being 2 meters long. It's amazing how the guides can find them from a moving boat in the dark. After a successful caiman spotting trip, we had to get everything together for our 5am start into the rain forest. There would be no electricity in the morning.

I don't have any pics to share of the rainforest since I didn't bring the iPhone...  it rained and it was muddy. We walked 6K through shin deep mud to Sandoval lake. Once there we saw lots of different types of birds and howler monkeys. We heard the capuchin monkeys, but they were too far away to see. 

There are 7 people in our group: two Canadian couples, a lady from Australia, and Us. One of the Canadian ladies had a real bad time and I carried out her backpack for her (Cheryl was carrying ours at the time). She has a lot of trust since I fell in the mud only a dozen steps after we got off the boat. Haha!

So as I said there are no pics of the rainforest. But here are some pics from around the hotel.

You must stay on the stepping stones

This guy likes to hang out around the kitchen for handouts

Cheryl making up for the early morning departure

A tarantula 

Tomorrow morning at 540, we leave on a 20 minute walk to see a colony of parrots. It's a good thing we took a nice nap today! 😋

Hasta luego 

Amazon bound

We got up early and had a nice breakfast at the hotel. We packed some of our stuff    into smaller bags to take to the Amazon. We boarded a short flight to Cusco and  then on to Puerto Maldonado. 

When we reached Puerto Maldonado, we were met by a local guide and taken by boat to our hotel; where we had lunch and went on a walking tour through the Amazon rainforest in the late afternoon/evening. 

Cheryl got three mosquito bites through her pants. I don't know why Mosquitos like to bite her on the bottom. We just got back to the room and will head out in a little bit for caiman  hunting.

we might not see any because the water is so high. Goodnight from the Amazon! 

PS - trying to understand an announcement in Spanish over the airport PA is impossible.

Lima, Peru

We never did get lunch. We both fell asleep for a couple of hours. I guess we didn't get as much sleep on the airplane as we thought. Our sleep was interrupted by an evacuation alert. Our hotel is connected to the Airport, so since the airport was evacuated, we also had to evacuate the hotel. We did some shopping at a nearby outlet center, had some dinner and drinks.

The view from our hotel room

Sampling the pisco sour.

YUM

Tonight we pack for the Amazon. We'll be out of cell range for three days.

Adios!

On our way

Fun at LAX. An hour and a half to wait.

We're here

Welcome to Lima! The flight was good and they fed us twice. We both got a little sleep. We taxied for over 45 minutes  in Los Angeles. I wondered if we were going to drive to Peru. So Almost nine hours later we landed. A representative met us at the airport and now we are relaxing in our room.

There is a two hour time difference. We will be heading out to find some lunch. Wish us luck!

Another camera post. This time with collage.

Test phone post

Jena says hi 

While the cat's away...

Jim was gone for a week to the overland expo in Arizona, so Cheryl and I decided to do a girls long run in Palm Springs.

Overlooking the Palm Canyon Oasis:



Down in the Oasis:



It didn't take us long to come out the other side...



And head out into the desert.



It is really beautiful!



But the trails aren't marked very well... Where are we?



13.1 miles later, we made our way back out. We were bushed so we booked a hotel for a night.

The next morning, we took a short 2 mile run out to Tahquitz Falls. This part of the desert is completely different than yesterday.





It was a fun fun weekend!
But back to work for everyone tomorrow.

Kauai day 10 - going home

There are a few things I didn't mention ... we went swimming... several times :oD









We got shaved ice... several times :oD



...and now that the kiddos like coffee, we hit Kauai Coffee!



We learned a few things this trip too...

Wasabi Ginger Lay's... YUM!!!



Cheryl really stinks at SUDUKO...



Chris really stinks at steering a kayak...



And most importantly... bananas grow pointing up!



Well, time to say good-bye to Grandma K...



And head home...



ALOHA!!!!

Kauai day 9

Today was our last full day on Kauai. Jim and Cheryl went surfing this morning, so Chris and I went running. Here we are at Shipwreck Beach.



We pretty much took the same path that Cheryl and I did yesterday, but instead of going through the Poipu resort on the way back, we took the Koloa Heritage Trail.



This way took us though the tide pools...



Where we saw a turtle...



We got a good view of Jim and Cheryl surfing...





Surfing and running are over... Cheryl got a little beat up on the rocks and Chris has a bit of a sunburn...



Time to checkout those caves...



And away we go...





We arrive at a big sinkhole...





To get in we have to crawl through the cave entrance:



But it opens up inside:



To the sinkhole:



There is another cave on the other side of the sinkhole (the one behind Chris) the opens out into the ocean. Ancient Hawaiians used to use this cave. They also filmed Pirates of the Caribbean here.



We have never been here before and it was very cool!
Our trip is almost over... ALOHA!