Albert Webb

Still enjoying playa zicatela! Although yesterday we fought the sun and the sun won! Today Leila is hiding from the sun! We leave here Friday morning, drive to playa ventura for one night, then return to Zihuantanejo for the remainder of our trip. Cheers!... read more

After two days of driving and surviving mordida negotiations with the Acapulco police, we finally arrived to Playa Zicatela, Puerto Escondido, Oaxaca, Mexico. It's a mouthful, and quite the drive, but it is worth it. Zicatela, in our opinion, is becomming the next Playa del Carmen (but, not yet there). Likely though, it will take quite a bit longer due the limited access to the place. And, this we like. Not overcrowded and the beach is open to all. There are markets in town, both modern and traditional. For us, it is very relaxing with the beach, the small shops, the tradition, and Chuck likes the waves. We spent last night watching the sunset and listening to a very talented musician performing live from the beach. This morning we went to the market and bought some ... read more

We left Zihuatanejo Saturday morning to go to Acapulco. Acapulco was Mexico's first resort town and still serves as such. We do not really enjoy resort towns; if we did we would vacation in Florida or Missouri or maybe Hawaii. We travel to Mexico to experience the culture, the history, the nuances of everyday life, to escape the rat race of home and to survive without it. And, Acapulco is just another big city like Minneapolis, Chicago, whichever, where ever. But, it does not offer much for taking in local culture, traditions, history, customs. You can shop, eat, spend time at a hotel beach/or pool. Many people enjoy this type of vacation. We find it to be unsettling. Regardless, we went to Acapulco hoping to attend a bullfight; there's some culture and history! Many people condemn ... read more

Buenos dias! Estamos aqui!! Que Magnifico!!! Yesterday, March 1st, we made it to MSP ontime, 430 in the morning. Our plane left on time, 630 in the morning. And, you guessed it, we made it to Zihuatanejo on time, 11am. We made it through immigration and customs without having to be searched, yay! We got our rental car, it was a manual transmission, Leila did a happy dance - love driving manuals. Chuck thought, oh boy. Chuck was right. Zihuatanejo is like Duluth on steroids! The foothills from the Sierra Madre come right to the water. The town is filled with steep, steep , steep, steep hilly roads that are vey, very, very narrow - Leila thought about crying, but perservered with Chucks support instead. Looking back, we made it to our hotel, probably, in record ... read more

After spending our first weekend in Peru with the Cuba’s, Chuck and I spent 44 of the next 72 hours on a bus. First, we took an overnight bus from Lima to Huaraz. Next, we had a twelve hour bus tour to Yungay and a lagoon. The following day there was another 12 hour bus tour to another lagoon, through a mountain tunnel, and Chavin. Finally, we had another overnight bus from Huaraz to Trujillo where we toured the city and three nearby archaeological zones. Huaraz, north of Lima, is situated between the cordillera blanca and negra. It was a nice town with beautiful views. Our only regret is that we didn’t have more time. It would have been nice to get to know the town itself, but there just was not enough time to do ... read more

Monday the 25th of January we travelled from Cusco to Puno on a tour with Inka Express. Along the way we stopped at Andahuaylillas, Sicuani, La Raya, and Pukara. We left Cusco at 7am and pulled into Puno at 7pm. Along the way the views were either beautiful or heart wrenching. The mountains and countryside was absolutely breathtaking, but there was also tremendous devastation and destruction from the flooding and landslides the first half of our journey. Such beauty and such tragedy! Our first stop was to the small town of Andahuaylillas to visit a small church, which was said to be the Sistine Chapel of South America. The church, both inside and out, was beautifully painted with murals and motifs from floor to ceiling. When we visited, the church was undergoing what appeared to be ... read more

Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru with a population of around 900,000 persons. Arequipa is located in the Andes Mountains of Southern Peru at an altitude of 7800 ft. Temperatures averaged about 75 degrees while we were in the area. Chuck and I arrived to Arequipa the morning of Friday, January 15th. We found a taxi driver who drove us around town to secure a hotel room, reserve a tour to Colca Canyon, drop off laundry and see some sights. For $40.00 we made use of the taxi for about 5 hours. After looking at a handful of hotels, we decided on the Hotel Villa del Carmen. The hotel was clean, small, situated across the street from the Selva Alegre Park, and within walking distance to the main plaza. The nightly rate was ... read more