Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bow lines, sail away from safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails, explore, dream, discover. -Mark Twain And so Dennis and I are off again, on another trip of a lifetime. This time we are headed south of the equator, to Ecuador and Peru. We namely plan to visit the Galapagos and Machu Picchu, two places that we have both dreamt of visiting for many many years. The price and the amount of tourists in these two areas are skyrocketing by the year, so we decided better sooner than later. We flew into Guayaquil, Ecuador last night, a 4 ½ hr. flight from Miami. As soon as we exited ... read more

Chitwan National Park lies in southern Nepal in the grasslands along the border of India. It is home to several endangered species, to include one horned Rhinoceros, Bengal tigers, Gharial crocodiles, Asian elephants and Sloth bears. The rhinos and tigers have been heavily poached to satisfy Chinese appetites, and the number of animals dwindled to depressingly low double digit numbers during the Maoist uprising in the 2000’s when soldiers were taken from their posts in the park to deal with the instability in the country. However, now there is an impressive presence of Nepalese military patrolling the park, and we were told there is 49 military posts within the park’s 932 sq. km. In the morning we started off with a dugout canoe trip on the Rapti river to see some of the 450 species of ... read more

Today we started our trek to the Annapurna sanctuary, which is a circuit of trails comprising hundreds of miles at the foothills of the Himalaya mountains. We were informed that we could not take a bus to the trailhead 2 hours away because there were large scale government protests, to include the bus drivers. There was a noticeable increased police and military presence in the streets, carrying riot gear. However this is par for course in this tumultuous country, so we were not overly concerned. We got a ride from our Sherpa’s friend to the trailhead, and started our hike for the next three days. We started at the town of Nayapul through a beautiful valley full of farmlands and small villages. Our lunch consisted of Daal Bhat that did not agree with Dennis. I joked ... read more

Today was our first full day and last in Kathmandu. It is a hard city to describe; it is truly the 4th world. However, there is something utterly magical and fantastic about this place, and the people more than make up for it's filthiness. We are greeted at every turn with "Namaste," and a half bow. First we met with a travel agent named Ram, who comes from a long line of Ghurka soldiers. He helped arrange for our very own Sherpa guide when we trek in the Himalayas, our rafting, rappelling, and Elephant safari. We later wandered around the city, taking the recommended tourist walking tour to the Durbar Square. We walked past ancient temples, shrines and stupas wedged in between ramshackle buildings. Several parts of this city look as though there were bombed, and ... read more

We woke up this morning at Everest Base Camp (EBC) to find the clouds were still covering Everest. It was soo cold last night that our half drunk cups of tea were frozen solid. It was probably in the low 20’s, but it was pretty cozy sleeping under sheep wool blankets. Our guide said that we would wait a bit to see if the sun burned off the cloud cover, so I happily stayed under the blankets for an extra hour until breakfast and coffee appeared. We poked our noses out again at about 0900, and the clouds began to lift to reveal about ¾ of Everest. We jumped into the Land Cruiser and drove out to a hilltop overlooking Base Camp 2. By the time we arrived, the clouds had completely lifted to reveal Everest ... read more